MiraculElse #31: And Knowing Is Half The Battle
by DFC
(Timeline: Season 4, Christmastime.)
'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house... there wasn't very much that stood even a small chance of waking up Marinette Dupain-Cheng, no matter how much he, she or it might stir. And that was saying quite a bit, given that more than a dozen tiny (non-reindeer) creatures shared her room with her, in a matter of speaking.
After a long week of preparing for the big day, getting her presents for everyone just right, helping her parents manage the holiday rush in the Boulangerie and otherwise running her ragged... Marinette was out.
She curled up under the bedsheets, settling down for a long winter's nap, or at least one that would put her out until morning.
As it was, however, there was one thing that could do the trick.
"Wake up, Marinette," said a strangely familiar voice.
Mrrph.
"Marinette..."
Hrrb grrphfl?
"Trust me, Marinette. You're going to want to see this."
Slowly, the words began to register as Marinette awakened... and once she placed who it was and why they sounded a little strange at first, she sat up in a hurry.
"B-Bunnyx!" she gasped. "The... the Bunnyx from the future!"
"The one and only," the hero grinned.
"Oh, no," Marinette fretted, diving for the ladder down to bedroom floor-level. "What's happened? Who broke the timestream this time? Who all will we need?"
"Relax," Bunnyx directed her. "Seriously, stop running around! Nothing's wrong. No paradoxes, no invaders from the future."
"There... isn't?" Marinette wondered. She walked over and checked the Miracle Box, just in case; it showed no signs of having been tampered with. "You told me that when you show up here... now... it's a matter of the gravest importance, something that makes the risk of traveling through time necessary," she pointed out.
"Mmmmm... yeah," she smiled. "Most of the time. But once in a while, I can make an exception for a good cause."
Marinette stared her down. "So what are you doing here?" she asked.
The older hero reached out, presenting Marinette with a small, leather-bound journal.
"Giving you this."
Marinette took it and stared at it, hesitant to unclasp and open it at first.
"I... thought that you weren't supposed to pass on knowledge of the future," she argued. "That knowing future timelines could change them and the one we're on now."
"Mostly true," Bunnyx agreed. "But this isn't exactly... future knowledge. It's things that are true right now, but that you just don't have the experience to know yet. You'll see. Go on, open it!"
Encouraged, Marinette opened the journal up and turned to the first page. She stared at the writing for a long moment.
"This... is my handwriting?" she marveled. "But it's nothing that I've ever written... but that I'm going to?"
"Exactly. Most of it is things that you wrote, as notes for yourself," smiled Bunnyx.
"But not all of it?"
Briefly, Marinette skimmed through the book, drawing a bit of alarm...
"Don't jump ahead too far just yet," Bunnyx warned her young friend. "The farther you go, the friskier it gets."
"Um..."
Marinette flipped back to the first couple of pages and studied what it was that she had written there. Will have written there... she reminded herself. Time travel makes tensing statements so tricky sometimes.
...What in the...
"...Am I reading this right?" she blurted out.
"Uh-huh. This is an owner's manual for the proper care and handling of one Adrien Agreste," grinned Bunnyx. "Keep reading."
There was no doubt at all that she would.
As Marinette perused the pages, her mind boggled at what she saw. In her own handwriting... and sometimes in other people's, as well... she found very detailed notes as to what Adrien did... does... will? find stimulating and exciting.
Places where he's the most sensitive to touch... where the mere stroke of a finger against the inside of his forearm, for instance, can send him flying, Marinette marveled. Phrases that make him melt. Shoulder and neck massage techniques that can reduce him to quivering jelly. So many things that he's enjoyed greatly. Other things that he's found startling or more unpleasant, instead. Juuuust the right angle to breathe into his ear... and what to say when I do!
"This is... I can't believe what I'm reading right now," Marinette declared. "This... this is all real?"
"Uh-huh," Bunnyx confirmed. "Like I said, this isn't exactly future knowledge. These are all things that are true about him right now! Though even he doesn't know a lot of them, because no one's ever tried these things with him."
Marinette blinked, then blinked again, grasping just how powerful these insights could be if used properly.
"The future heroes had a discussion," explained Bunnyx, "because we know that things are very complicated for both of you at this time, and, well... we decided to give you a little Christmas gift to move things along a bit. A little boost. Actually using what you're reading there is up to you."
Flipping forward, Marinette's eyes began to widen...
"And that's why I said not to skip ahead too much," Bunnyx explained. "The early sections are simple, casual things, stuff that you could do right in front of your parents and they'd never even blink. But the farther you go, the more... intimate the details get?"
Marinette's reddening face was evidence of that.
"I... we... but... no way!" she gasped. "That?"
Bunnyx stole a peek at the current page. "Oh, yes. You told me that one personally," she winked. "Maybe you ought to..."
"...go back to the first part. Yes," muttered Marinette, warily.
"You'll be ready for the intermediate chapters later on," giggled Bunnyx. "Maybe save the last sections for a special occasion or two."
"So you're telling me that... it's going to happen, though!" Marinette cried out, wrapping her head around the concept. "That Adrien and I are going to... how else could I know all of this?"
"Oh, that is completely up to you. For instance, I know all of it, but I've never so much as kissed Adrien," Bunnyx answered her. "But I know what I've been told, and by whom. Just because you know now that you can make Adrien's hair stand on end with a single touch... or with a few spoken words... or, eventually, how to absolutely blow his mind and make him your love slave for life... that doesn't mean that you have to do any of that. Or to do it the same way that the journal describes, either. It's just... useful knowledge."
Marinette turned back to the book, studying it for a moment, then had another question occur to her. "Now... most of this is my handwriting," she reasoned. "But if the rest of it isn't... and you didn't write it... who else knows Adrien's deepest secrets like these?"
She looked up once more... but her heroic friend had disappeared, just as mysteriously as she'd arrived.
'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house... well, you know the drill.
Adrien Agreste had mixed emotions when it came to Christmas, for many reasons... the unbridled excitement of a child awaiting Santa Claus (even though this particular young man had actually met Santa Claus in person once) was something of the distant past for him, for example.
But Christmas was still Christmas, and there were joys still to be had. A family gathering was likely going to be brief enough to be bearable, then a gift exchange with his school friends later in the day... and if he could manage it, an evening trip to a familiar balcony to deliver one more special gift was called for.
Adrien rolled over, mostly asleep, imagining what the look on her face would be as... she opened the... box...
"Wake up, Adrien," said a strangely familiar voice. "I have something here for you that you're really going to want to read."