A Game of… Bug and Chat?

Written by: JuliaFC

Betas: Agrestebug, Etoile-Lead-Sama, Khanofallorcs

Big thanks to: Genxha and Khanofallorcs for all their great help!

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc; TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Written for: Fictionalinfinity

oOo

Chapter 10 - New Beginnings

Adrien lost count of how many hugs, kisses on the cheek, selfie and autographs he was asked for in the following few minutes. Especially the autographs, which all three girls, and even the mother, seemed to be determined to collect for everyone they knew. Then the coffee came, and he managed to get his hands back for a while. Although the fight for who was going to sit next to him started, and he had to be very careful while sipping his coffee, to avoid incidents involving his clothes. Or worse, the kind woman's couch. He ended up in the centre of the couch, with Janine and Josephine (he found out that this was the elder sister's name) on each side.

Eventually, his coffee finished and he managed to take advantage of the moment that Josephine and Juliette had brought the cup back into the kitchen to pick up the envelope and hand it to Janine.

"So… Alya told me what happened and I'm really sorry," he started, making sure that she picked up the envelope. "Has Nathalie been here yet?"

Janine's eyes hardened. "Yes, she has. She's a horrible woman, poor you for having to deal with a person like her every day."

Adrien sighed. If only she knew… that in reality Nathalie was one of the nicest people he had to deal with at home! But he didn't say that out loud; he didn't want his fans to pity him. "You say that because you haven't met my father," he said eventually.

"He does look very stern from what I remember of him on TV," Janine said and he nodded. "It must be hard for you since your mother disappeared." She gave him a dreamy look and sighed deeply, and he lowered his gaze, not feeling confident enough to look at her.

He didn't know what to say to that. But as he was thinking of how to get out of the question without digging a deep hole for himself, his phone started buzzing. He gave it a quick look and saw a message from Kagami.

[Kagami: Are you going to be long? Do you need rescuing?]

He sighed as he noticed the curious look Janine had given to his phone. Josephine and Juliette chose that very moment to come back inside the sitting room, followed by their mother who was carrying a tray with a few croissants and pastries.

"Was that your girlfriend? The Japanese girl?" asked Janine suddenly.

Adrien felt blood rushing to his face, but before he could answer, her mother intervened, "Janine! Are these questions to ask our guest? Leave him a bit of privacy!"

Adrien smiled brightly at the remark. "Thank you, madame. But it's okay, I don't mind answering this question." He turned to Janine and looked at her as he said it, "Yes, it's the Japanese girl. Her name is Kagami. She's a good friend of mine, she gave me a lift here."

"She's not your girlfriend?" Three sets of brown eyes looked at him hopefully, and he felt his face getting warmer.

"No?" He saw their eyes shining with happiness.

"But the media…" said the youngest girl, Juliette. She was a couple of years younger than him, he had learned.

"Oh, the media know nothing," snapped Josephine and then snorted. "All those programmes we watched saying that he was getting hitched, and here he is, telling us that she's just a friend."

Getting hitched? "What?" He couldn't stop himself, he had to ask.

"Ah don't worry, just stupid gossip programs." Then she gave him a sly smile and looked at him pointedly. "Then if you're not engaged with that girl, it means you're still available…" Janine and Josephine drew closer to him and he started feeling a bit hot.

"Not really," he had to say. They both moved back and he breathed better.

"So you do have a girlfriend?" asked Juliette.

"Is it the girl you were seen with that time at the cinema? The one who wore her pyjamas and the towel in her hair?" This was Josephine. He blushed profusely and a triumphant smirk appeared on the three girls' face.

"So you both seem to be having a thing for going around town wearing your night clothes huh?" Adrien couldn't help but blush more at Janine's question. His right hand ran to the nape of his neck as he smiled nervously at her.

"More coffee?" asked their mother. He put his hand up in a negative gesture.

"No, thank you." Drinking more coffee would have only caused a little problem he was starting to feel become a bit more difficult to deal with. Last thing he wanted was to have to use the bathroom in a fan's house. No, that wasn't the best idea at all.

He turned again towards Janine and picked up his wallet, taking a twenty euro bill out of it. "Look, I really wanted to say sorry for having upset you, and thank you for helping me out. And… I wanted to return your money to you. I never intended to take it from you, by the way, but thanks." He handed the bill to her and she moved her hands to say no. "I insist. This isn't my father's money, it's my money. Please allow me to return it to you."

She took the twenty euro note and smiled softly, and then stood up to hand it to her mother. "Thanks then. That was Maman's change." She sat down again and opened the envelope he had brought with him, taking out the picture. "Wow, the Ladyblog lady was true to her words, she really blew the photo up!" Adrien felt a bit embarrassed seeing the picture again, but the expression of pure delight on Janine's face made it completely worth it.

Then he saw that his phone was buzzing again, and he stood up, smiling at the moans of the three girls. "Sorry to disappoint you, ladies, but I think it's time for me to go home." He showed them his phone and Kagami's message asking again if he needed rescuing. "My Japanese friend is worried for her car, she doesn't want to leave it unattended."

"Well, yes, it's not the best idea in this neighbourhood," their mother agreed.

Adrien opened his bag and took out his hoodie, hat and sunglasses, which he promptly wore, raising a few giggles around the sofa.

"Thank you for your hospitality!" He shook hands with Janine's mother and gave a hug to the three girls (who of course didn't waste the chance to give him another kiss on the cheek), but eventually managed to get out of the door and started walking quickly down the stairs.

"Phew… I thought they were never going to let you go," said Barkk from somewhere inside his shirt.

He smiled at the kwami and patted her on the head. "Yeah, me too… but now I really want to go back home." He reached the ground floor landing and opened the gate of the building, smiling softly at Kagami who was tapping her index finger hurriedly on her watch, before quickly entering her car.

"Deed done?" she asked with a smile, and when he nodded, she commanded the car to return to the Agreste mansion.

oOo

When Adrien returned home, Mrs. Tsurugi had just finished her meeting with his father. So Adrien waved bye to Kagami and, after listening to the whole schedule that Nathalie had managed to alter for him for the next three days, was finally allowed to return to his room. He didn't even turn the lights on, or look around, and rushed to the toilet. After having taken care of the most urgent matter, he took his time to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. He was glad that tonight wasn't a patrol night, because he really needed some sleep, and he intended to do just that as soon as he was getting out of the bathroom. But as he put his hand on the door handle and opened the door, his eyes were suddenly met by artificial light, which surprised him, counting that when he came in just a few minutes before the room was in complete darkness.

He thought that Nathalie may have forgotten to tell him something about his schedule. He thought that maybe his father, very uncharacteristically, wanted to wish him good night. But what he didn't expect was to step out of the bathroom and find Lady Noire laying on his bed, flat on her stomach, her chin resting on the back of her hands. As soon as she saw him, she sat up, legs crossed, and smiled at him. He nervously smiled back.

"Huh? Lady… Noire?" he managed to say and gulped awkwardly.

"Bonsoir, Beau Gosse(1)! I was waiting for you," she purred. He gulped again. Beau Gosse?

"H-hi… what do I o-owe the h-honour…" He was stammering and he kicked himself for doing it. His hands felt like ice blocks, although the place felt suddenly very hot. What was she doing there? And on his bed? And… beau gosse… what? Why?

She picked something up from her side pocket and threw it to him. He caught it automatically and then looked at what he caught and his heart started racing. The Ladybug earrings?

"Put them on," she commanded.

He immediately obeyed, but then gave her a really questioning look. "What… why?" he asked breathlessly, as Tikki appeared near him in a twirl of pink light. She smiled at him and looked at both of them expectantly.

Lady Noire stood up from his bed and walked towards him in what looked to him to be the most sensual way he had ever seen her walking, twirling around her long tress with her right hand. She smiled softly at him and used her tress to catch him, wrapping it around his back and drawing him closer. Was he dreaming or something? Adrien felt like combusting on the spot. He must have fallen asleep in the bathroom and must be dreaming now. Yes, that must be it. There was no chance in hell that his Lady was going to be in his room, at this time of night, flirting so blatantly with him. Wasn't it?

Wasn't it?

He gulped.

"There was a game, which you didn't know about and I'm sorry for keeping you in the dark. I really am," she whispered into his ear, giving him shivers. "And there was a winner… who deserves to get his prize." She gave him a kiss on the cheek which left him beet-red in the face and breathless. "Come on, I know you know the words."

A shiver ran down his spine as the full weight of what she was saying hit him like a brick in the head. "A-are you sure?" He felt so stiff and his heart was pounding so madly in his chest that he thought he was going to pass out there and then. But when he saw Lady Noire nodding, he said it breathlessly, "Spots on."

Lady Noire moved slightly to fully take in the flash of pink light wrapping around him and her gaze softened even more when the familiar polka-dotted and black spandex covered his body.

"Hi…?" he muttered shyly and smiled nervously at the warm smile of pure triumph Lady Noire gave to him.

"I knew it was you, but I needed to be 100% sure, Minou." She blushed profusely and made to move off a little bit, but he held her close and she widened her eyes.

"You were talking about winning games… and prizes…" It was his turn to grin now and her turn to blush beet-red. "And why… this?" He looked at the polka dotted costume on him and the black costume on her, and raised an eyebrow. "Why not… the other way round?"

She looked down. "A girl can have her own… dreams to check out…" Then her eyes got a determined look in them; she moved her gaze back to hold his and stared at him for a very long time.

A VERY long time. She cupped a clawed hand on his cheek and Adrien felt like melting. "Aw… were you dreaming of Mr. Bug, M'lady?" He smirked and she turned even more red. "You were!… Aw, I'm flattered. I always wanted to be the man of your dreams!"

She released him and gave him a soft push on his right shoulder. "Stop," she groaned. "I couldn't help it, okay? It was Alya's fault, she kept rubbing your pictures in my face and saying how much your eyes looked like Adrien's… and eventually her words sank in."

She tried to backtrack, but Adrien caught her and lifted her chin with his hand, forcing her to look at him in the eyes again. "Was that why you were looking at me so intently this morning?" She nodded slowly and his heart went into overdrive. "Did the prize… you were talking about involve any… kissing…?" he asked breathlessly as his lips moved slowly but steadily towards hers. He thought his heart was going to explode into his chest when she nodded again.

She gave him a lovesick look that was probably mirrored closely by his own, because he had never felt more lovesick in his life. It was going to happen, and now. And he wasn't going to forget it this time! "So, with your permission…" he whispered softly before closing all gaps.

Their lips met, voraciously. He felt as if a whole kilowatt of electricity had suddenly gone through his gut as he wrapped his arms around her waist and she pulled herself up, straddling him with her legs. He didn't know how it happened, but he ended up covering her jaw and her neck with kisses, laying on top of her on his bed, her hands running through his hair and his own hands exploring her waist and her back. When he pulled himself on his elbows to breathe and looked at her, her eyes looked back with such adoration that he felt a knot in his throat thinking at how lucky he had been.

"If I knew that your prizes were so enticing, I would have worked harder to beat you at UMS3 in the past!" She gave him a smack on the shoulder and tried to wriggle out from underneath him.

"Ha, you never! You would never be able to beat me at that, mister!"

"Wanna bet? I might have won in the past, if I had had the right motivation!" He pouted, and they both ended up laughing and hugging each other, rolling on the bed, until their stomachs started hurting. They eventually laid flat on their backs on the bed, holding hands. Adrien didn't want the moment to end, but eventually, he decided that he needed to ask or he may regret it the day after. "By the way, M'lady… would you mind giving me Plagg back? I enjoyed the company of Barkk, but you know, I have a whole stash of Camembert in that press, getting stinkier every day." He sat up and pointed out Plagg's press, feigning disgust.

Lady Noire laughed and also sat up. "Of course, Chaton. I never intended to keep you away from Plagg long term. I should never have taken him away from you that way, really, and I'm sorry that I did." She smiled softly at him. "Claws in," she whispered, and as her transformation fell, revealing Marinette, his heart started thumping madly again.

"I knew it was you, my cheeky fortune teller," he said and stroked gently her cheek with his thumb. "But it was amazing to see anyway!"

She smiled softly and was going to say something, but as she opened her mouth to talk, something black zoomed in between their noses and Adrien was left staring into Plagg's electric green eyes.

"Why is my cheese press locked, kid?" Plagg frowned and folded his paws on his chest.

"Because your stinky cheese was making me sick," answered Barkk, popping out from somewhere behind Adrien's head. "And besides, you can go through matter, so why are you complaining?" She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Tsk," snorted Plagg. "Says the one who stank my favourite hiding place with her beef sticks. Adrien, you better wash that shirt before you go to school in the morning!"

"My beef sticks smell so much better than your stinky Camembert!" Barkk stuck her tongue out again at Plagg and dashed away giggling, as Plagg groaned and followed her.

"You better give me my Sugarcube back, kid, or I'll lose my wit here with this cheeky bitch!" He stopped on his tracks and looked sheepishly at the two teens on the bed and added quickly, "By the way, for her, that's not an insult!" And then he resumed dashing after the God of Premonition.

Adrien laughed at the remark, following with his gaze the black shape of Plagg flying around his room. "So I suppose we can't keep her, Plagg?" He chuckled. "Her love advice was very useful, I was hoping you could settle with her."

"NO WAY!" shouted Plagg, appearing from the top level of his bedroom just long enough to glare at Adrien. "You get rid of her, or you get rid of me. We can't live under the same roof!"

"He's right!" agreed Barkk popping her head from behind one of his video games.

"That's where you were. Let me catch you!"

"No way! Come and get me, Stinky Cat!"

"Adrien! Sugarcube, please!" was the last thing Adrien heard Plagg say before he disappeared again.

Adrien sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay… Spots off…" he muttered and his transformation fell, making Tikki reappear in front of them. She dashed away immediately, probably looking for Plagg.

Adrien took the earrings off and gave them back to Marinette, who returned his ring to him. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the familiar sensation of the metal wrapping around his right ring finger. When he looked at Marinette, he could see her frowning.

"I'm sorry I took your ring away from you, Minou. And Plagg too. I… didn't think it through," she admitted, looking down.

"Very uncharacteristically of you," he commented, but as she nodded, he added, "Don't worry, M'lady. Barkk was a lovely companion for a few days and she actually helped me a lot and gave me some very good advice, I wasn't joking. She… she's quite a character."

"I haven't been able to know her very well, because she's always been in the Miracle Box until now. But I was surprised by how useful her power has been during the last fight," Marinette mused. "We should consider finding her a holder."

"She also has a thing for Sass," whispered Adrien into her ear, to which Marinette giggled. "Either that or she just talks about Sass a lot!"

"I heard you!" said Barkk, popping her head from behind a book.

"You know he's right, Barkk, stop pretending!" Plagg popped his head from his press and smirked. "You've always had a sweet spot for the Snake!"

"Repeat that and I'm going to make you pay for it!" Barkk held her breath and rushed inside Plagg's press. Both Adrien and Marinette started laughing at the scene.

"Since you know her so well now, would you mind suggesting a holder for her?" Marinette looked at him expectantly, and his heart started racing again.

"Uh… you mean… you really want to… share some responsibilities?"

She moved closer to him on the bed and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck, looking at him straight in the eyes. "When Alya suggested it today, I didn't like the thought, but the idea is growing on me. We're partners, after all, and responsibilities feel lighter if shared."

Adrien smiled one of his brightest smiles and wrapped her up in a hug. "Thank you! I promise I won't take this responsibility lightly!

She gave him a tight squeeze, but didn't break the hug to answer, "I'm sure you won't!"

"Barkk is very sassy, very energetic", Adrien mused. "She has clear ideas of what she wants and is extremely good at giving advice and at growing your confidence. Do you intend to give the Miraculouses permanently this time, or only temporarily again?"

Marinette moved her hand to her chin and started staring in mid air, surely concentrating on the question. After a couple of minutes, she looked at him and said, "Permanently. I don't think that the temporary holders idea worked well last time. It only slowed us down in battle, and still put the holders and the Miraculouses in danger, eventually. I'm really gutted that I now need to choose all new holders even for the Miraculouses that I had already assigned. And being with the holders permanently will help their bond grow stronger, which will be more useful in a fight."

"That's all very good reasoning," said Adrien. "If that's the case, I do think I have an idea for just the people we could give the Dog and the Snake Miraculous to!" He reached for her ear and whispered something into it.

She looked at him and smiled brightly. "That's a great idea, Chaton, well done! You're right, Nathaniel would benefit a lot from someone as sassy and as decisive as Barkk in his life. He was also one of the nicest but most cunning akumas we ever had, and has a great sense of justice. He's surely worthy of a Miraculous. And I can see your point about Marc getting Sass. Definitely worth a try." She messed his hair with her hand and suddenly widened her eyes and stared at him.

"Huh?" he wondered.

"Nothing, just… with your hair messed up you really look more like Chat Noir!" She giggled softly.

"That's the reason why I spend about an hour every morning to fix my hair…" As he said that, he felt Marinette's hand reaching his hair again and messing it even more.

"I kind of prefer you like this, Chaton," she said. "We should make a deal. I keep my hair down and you keep your Chat Noir hair."

"No way!" Adrien pouted. "Everyone in town would recognise me if I did that."

"Nah…" Plagg popped his head out of his press to say, "People are blind here. Nobody will notice anything… and you could stay in bed an extra hour!"

Adrien rolled his eyes and huffed loudly, and Marinette giggled on his side. "Oh it doesn't matter, Chaton. Keep your hair as you like it in public, as long as you let me ruffle it when it's only us." She gave another quick ruffle to his golden mop and when she finished, he smirked and wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her closer.

"That I can definitely do," he said, sealing his deal with a kiss.

oOo

The following evening, a certain red-head and another certain black haired teenager found a black-red polka spotted box in their school bags and got the surprise of their lives.

But that's another story.

Note:

(1) - Yes, you guessed it. "Hot stuff" in French.

Author's Note:

And there you go *sighs* another story comes to an end! As usual, I feel so deflated and sad :( I really enjoyed writing this story and I hope that you also have loved it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Just so you know, the idea for this story came when I saw this wonderful art at kamerimuu's twitter page a couple of months back; if you follow me on FFN please type twitter dot com / kamerimuu / status / 1283682145551228928 / photo / 1

I must say I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get almost any reviews for my chapter 9. What was wrong with it? I know it didn't have Marinette in it, but it was a very much needed part of the story and it had to be written. Oh well… I hope you will like the ending! Double reviews on this one? Pretty pawlese? *OWO face*

PS: a couple of notes. First of all, the awesome Rose Manley is publishing a comic version of this fanfiction on her deviantart account, you can read it here. If you follow me on FFN, just take the spaces off from here: w w w dot deviantart dot com / rosehealer02 / gallery / 74950906 / miraculous - a - game - of - bug - and - chat

Secondly, when she read the ending of this story, Rose started pushing for a sequel. So I ask you all here… do you want to read the story of Nathaniel and Marc? Please let me know… AFTER telling me what you thought of this story, please :P

Third, I am very proud of having contributed to the Adrinette zine "In the Rain" with a story that is still unpublished, "The Eye Opener". The zine will be out on September the 30th, and at that point I will be allowed to publish the story in English here. I may publish the story in French and Italian before that date, so if you see it popping on your email, pay attention to the language the summary is written on ;)

Fourth, I am in the middle of writing another story, with a much more angsty and darker tone, and will publish it soon, please stay tuned for "When Magic Fails". I may post a sniplet later, if you ask nicely :P

Thank you so much for following me and for all the lovely comments, favs and follows.