18 August 2019

Prompt: Poetry (Word)

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug

Character/Pairing: Adrien Agreste, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Rating: K / G / All Ages

Notes: S3-ish with references to Dark Cupid. Adrien's the type of guy who reads Romeo & Juliet and sees the love story. Marinette's the type of girl who can appreciate the love story but knows everything would've been better if Romeo just kept it in his pants. (Which is why, honestly, I think Marinette's going to move on from Adrien well before Adrien moves on from Ladybug. Plus I'm totally here for the drama that is Adrien Not Dealing Well – I've got novels to say on that little gem.)

Underneath my outside face

There's a face that none can see.

A little less smiley,

A little less sure,

But a whole lot more like me.

"Underface" – Shel Silverstein

Adrien Agreste – Chat Noir – was a romantic. An argument could be made that he was a bit of a hopeless romantic, but he preferred to say he was stubbornly persistent. Delusional, a certain spotted superhero might argue. It was just that he had hope, and he didn't like giving up on that hope. Not when something as serious as a soulmate was on the line.

(Because he was the type of romantic that believed in soulmates and destiny, the yins to yangs, the Ladybugs to Chat Noirs. He was hopeless that way.)

He was also the type of romantic that believed in grand gestures and the power of Valentine's Day. It was why he had agonized over writing the perfect poem for the perfect card the year before, and even if he had thrown it out, dissatisfied with his ability to convey his feelings through poetry, it had still found its way to his Lady. Well. That's what he chose to believe, anyway. He had received a Valentine's reply to his poem, after all, so someone had to have found it. And, because he was the type to believe in soulmates, when that ladybug had landed on the unsigned card…well, clearly that meant it was from his Lady, right?

(Plagg had scoffed at that reasoning, but Plagg scoffed at anything sentimental and mushy – unless it was a good, mushy cheese. He was nuts about those.)

This year, Adrien decided, was going to be different. He had spent the entire previous year working on a new poem, and he had set up another romantic rooftop rendezvous, and he was going to recite his poem, and Ladybug was finally going to realize she loved him, and they'd confide their identities in each other, and run off to a private island, and get married, and raise a hamster –

…ok. First things first. He had to actually get her to meet him on Valentine's Day.

Which wasn't going to be a problem. Of course not! Ladybug loved him – of course she'd want to meet on Valentine's Day! It's not like she'd have plans or anything, right?

He groaned and stopped his pacing, reaching up to tug on his hair and cat ears. Why was love so hard? He hadn't thought it was supposed to be this hard!

"Minou? Are you ok?"

He leapt a foot in the air, squeaking as he whirled around to find Ladybug behind him.

"Bugaboo! Of course! Why do you ask? I'm fine!" he laughed nervously. She smiled fondly, but she didn't look convinced. She sat on the patch of roof beside where he'd spent the better part of the past twenty minutes pacing and patted the spot beside her.

He sighed and took a seat, and she nudged his shoulder.

"Spill," she said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Promise!" he laughed. He grinned and nudged her shoulder back. "Sooo…tomorrow's kind of a big day."

Her cheeks turned as scarlet as her suit.

"It's just Valentine's Day," she mumbled. He laughed loudly – practically crowed – and clapped his hands in delight.

"Oh, but it's Valentine's Day! In Paris! The most romantic day of the year in the most romantic city in the world!" he cried. He dipped his head and waggled his eyebrows. "A day for true love, my Lady."

She snorted and looked back out to the city. She could see the Seine from their vantage point, and if she followed its course…

"At least you didn't quote Princess Bride this time," she scoffed.

"It's a classic!" he cried, personally offended. It was one of his favorite movies, after all.

"It's a cheese fest," she tutted. She paused, then grinned at him. "Of course you love it. Your kwami's favorite food is cheese, after all."

"My point, Bugaboo, is that it's Valentine's Day," he said a little louder than necessary, hoping to reel the conversation back in. They were getting nowhere like this.

"All right, all right," she chuckled, shaking her head. "If I'm honest I am kinda looking forward to it this year. It's the first time I'm going to have a boyfriend on Valentine's."

"Exactly! See? It's…wait, what?" he asked, jerking his head towards her. He could not have heard that right. There was no way. Ladybug would have said…

Her eyes had gone wide as she stared back at him, seeming to realize her mistake.

"Oh, Chat, I…I didn't mean…I'm so sorry," she sighed, wincing as she looked away.

"S-so! Boyfriend, huh? That's…that's…new," he said slowly, as if he was trying to chew a particularly tough piece of meat. Digest the information. Wrap his mind around…boyfriend?

…in all fairness, she had told him there was someone else.

"It's…new," she said softly, and while she looked like she regretted him finding out this way, she didn't look like she regretted the…boyfriend. "Like…new new. Barely a month."

"Is it…that guy, the one you'd mentioned before?" he asked, and he hoped his voice didn't sound as thick as it felt. Like he was choking on tears.

"No," she said, shaking her head. Her smile looked like his voice felt. "That…that other guy and me, we're just friends. It took me a while to realize that. My boyfriend is…someone else I know. He knew the other guy, you know. He's been really great about…there was a date. Only it wasn't a date. But it was kind of a date? Anyway. It was bad, and it made me realize some things. About who was there and who wasn't. About who I actually cared about and how much. And now I have a boyfriend, and we're taking it slow, and I'm really happy, and…tomorrow's Valentine's Day."

"So you have plans," Chat said, trying to smile. She nodded.

"I have plans," she confirmed. She bit her lip and looked away from him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Chat. I just thought…well, the less we know about each other the better, and…I know you still like me, so I figured it would be kinder to not…y'know…flaunt the relationship."

"No," he said, smiling weakly. "You're right. I'm happy for you, m'Lady. He's a lucky guy."

Her smile was beautiful. Enough to break a heart.

"No," she hummed, running her fingers against her wrist, like she was tracing a bracelet or something, "I'm the lucky one."

And Chat Noir could only smile as he looked back to the city below because yeah, she was.

– V –

Adrien spent twenty minutes in front of his bathroom mirror the morning of Valentine's Day trying to remember how to smile.

He was a professional model. Smiling should come as second nature. He was just…having a little trouble with it that morning.

It was a little easier when he walked into class and saw Alya and Nino sitting next to each other, making goo-goo eyes at each other. He slid into the empty seat next to Marinette – his usual seat, as Nino had taken hers – and smiled, and the smile was a little easier than it had been the rest of the morning.

"Good morning, Marinette," he said. He tried to sound happy, or at the least polite. "Happy Valentine's Day."

She looked up from her phone and smiled. Her cheeks were pink – pinker than usual.

"Happy Valentine's Day," she said with a warm smile. He liked her smile. She reached into the bag he hadn't noticed by her side and handed him a pink box. "For you."

"Me? Really? Thanks, Marinette!" he said. His heartache was momentarily forgotten as he opened the box to find a collection of handmade chocolates. He took a bite of one and nearly died – they were delicious! "Oh, wow, they're amazing! Thank you!"

"It's nothing, really," she said with a smile. Alya snorted.

"Yeah, these are nothing," she said as she leaned over the desk, waving her own box in Adrien's face. A quick glance around showed that matching boxes were on everyone's desk – even by Lila. He smiled at Marinette, proud of her for that. "But I wonder what you made for Lu-ka?"

Marinette's face went from pink to Ladybug Red in less than a second. She glanced back at her phone, biting her lip in a little smile, and Adrien felt something clench in his stomach. Chest. Stomachy-chest.

"Cut it out, Alya," Marinette sighed. "I didn't do anything too special."

"He's still taking you out for dinner," Alya teased, poking her side. Adrien frowned at that. Why was Luka taking Marinette out to dinner on Valentine's Day?

"It's our first Valentine's," Marinette mumbled. Alya's grin turned wicked, but Adrien felt that clenchy feeling in his stomach-chest again. Their first Valentine's? As in…together? Like a couple?

…when had Marinette and Luka become a thing? How had he missed that?

"So did you write him a poem?" she asked. It was enough to pull him out of his mini-spiral, and he raised his eyebrows at her. He didn't know Marinette liked poetry, either.

"You write poetry, Marinette?" he asked. He frowned when her entire body seemed to convulse and she started choking.

"W-what?! No! Hate it!" she laughed, shaking her head furiously. She hesitated before shrugging. "It's…I'm impartial. Poetry is nice, I guess. I've never given it much thought?"

Alya snorted, and Marinette shot her a look.

"I didn't write Luka a poem, Alya," she said. She smiled, glancing back at her phone as it lit up again. Adrien barely saw the lockscreen before she grabbed it – it was a picture of Luka and Marinette, posing for a selfie with Luka's lips pressed to her cheek. Something clenched at that, too. "I made him a hat. And some chocolate. No big."

"I'm just teasing," Alya said, nudging her again. She glanced up from her phone and smiled, and Alya, sensing her friend was going to be distracted for a while, turned back to Adrien. "What about you, Agreste? Any plans?"

He thought about the poem he had spent the past year perfecting.

He thought about the box of candles and roses and chocolates that was sitting in the corner of his room.

He thought about Ladybug, smiling like Marinette was smiling at her phone as she talked about her boyfriend.

"Of course not, Alya," he said with a perfect Model Smile and forced laugh. "It's Valentine's Day. Why would I have plans?"