Marinette was pissed.
Her life had been getting progressively worse since the arrival of one Lila Rossi. Her entire class turned against her in a snap in the face of her lies. Now, she had no friends at school. The only time they spoke with her was to insult her or ask her something at this point.
But really, she was grateful to Lila, in a way. She'd shown her who her friends really were, and they were never really her friends if they'd turned their backs on her in favor of the next new shiny thing.
So Marinette sat alone in the back of the class now, not speaking to anyone throughout the school day. She immersed her life in her studies, being Ladybug, and her commissions as the up-and-coming designer MDC.
But that wasn't what was making Marinette seeth. No, it was the latest post on the Ladyblog.
Hi, Ladyblogger's!
There has been a bunch of speculation about Ladybug and Chat Noir's relationship since their debut, and it's only grown more and more since then! And who can complain, because the pair are obviously made for each other! '
Chat Noir has been flirting with Ladybug since the beginning, and Ladybug has been playing hard to get for just as long. However, I have evidence from an insider, Ladybug's best friend Lila Rossi, that they are, in fact, a couple! It turns out the whole thing was a ruse to keep Hawkmoth from learning of their relationship! Hear more about it in the video!
Below it was an attached video, which had Lila's fake smile plastered as the thumbnail.
"Yeah, it's true. Ladybug and Chat Noir have been super close since their first battle and actually got together soon after that. My bestie, Ladybug, just told me about the date they went on the other day! It was on a rooftop, which reminded me of this one romantic dinner I had with Damian Wayne…"
From there she harped on and on about Ladybug and Chat Noir's relationship, going on multiple tangents that focused attention back on her.
This alone had Marinette fuming, and just before she turned the video off, Lila said something that had her blood boiling furiously.
"...romantic! But you know, I do think that Ladybug really does love all the attention Chat gives her. She's totally absorbed in him most of the time, though she doesn't show it much. She's always been the best actress…" Her voice trailed off as if wistful, and Alya hurriedly threw reassurances at her about how great she was before she continued. "Thanks, Alya. But anyway, she just can't ignore Chat no matter how hard she tries! She's sometimes even got Chat in trouble by distracting him, like those kisses from Dark Cupid and Oblivio. Oh! I shouldn't have said that! She really does make some big mistakes sometimes, though, but I'm sure she tries her best!"
After that was one insult after another, all said like she didn't mean anything bad by it, lowering Ladybug's credibility with each sentence. Marinette had to do several calming techniques after she finished the video, lest she attracts an akuma. Once she was done, she noticed she had clenched her fists so hard the nails had dug into the flesh of her palms. She frowned, running to the bathroom to wash and bandage them.
When Marinette returned, she scrolled through the comments, looking through the peoples' response to the post. A lot of the commenters believed it, to Marinette's dismay, but there were a few calling bullshit that made her smile. Alya would probably take them down when she saw them.
She thought of the post again, growing angrier. The Ladyblog had been closer to the Lilablog since that first 'Ladybug and I are BFFs!' video. The blog had lost many followers because of it, but not enough that it made a difference. It was the only site dedicated to Ladybug that the heroine had an interview on more than once, making it the most credible source, ironically enough.
Marinette couldn't let this continue on anymore though, she realized. The Ladyblog had gone on too far with this, and it would ruin her public image of professionality if everyone continued to use it. If it hadn't already.
But what could she do? Her mind raced through ideas, from taking down her blog (she dismissed it, she wasn't a hacker and she wasn't going to threaten Alya into it), to releasing a public statement about the issue. Then it came to her.
"What if I created a blog?" Marinette said aloud, and holy shit, this was it!
"That's a great idea, Marinette!" Tikki praised, and Marinette jumped while the other kwami's nodded in agreement. She'd forgotten they were there, as they'd given her space to calm down and think.
"Would it work though? My schedule's already busy as it is, wouldn't that be too much?" Marinette fretted.
"Guardian, you could always cut down on commissions, and you have a lot more free time than you had before when you were doing all those favors for your class," Wayzz said.
"That's true, but I don't want to cut down on my commissions, I already have enough people on my waitlist!"
"Guardian, you only have so many people on your waitlist because you're such a good designer! It'll probably always be like that, so it won't really matter if you slow down," Mullo commiserated.
"And besides couldn't lover boy help you?" Trixx said with a smirk. "He certainly has more than sunshine, at least."
Marinette groaned at his nicknames, which she still couldn't talk him out of. "I've told you, their names are Luka and Kagami! And I wouldn't want to bother him with that, he has to focus on his music and school."
"Please, you know he always has time for you," Roaar countered with a smirk.
Marinette blushed, and plopped onto her chaise. "I guess I could ask…" she scrolled through her phone and clicked facetime on Luka's chat icon.
Marinette gave him the rundown of her idea for a blog, going over what she had brainstormed, writing everything down as she spoke so she didn't forget anything.
The blog was going to have to be officially run by Marinette Dupain-Cheng and not Ladybug, in case someone tracked her IP address. The glamor and some editing would be able to make the two look different and no one would discover her identity, though it might put a target on her civilian selves' back. It wasn't a major issue though, because she had Luka and Kagami to pull her out of any bad situation as Python and Hydra, the identities they'd taken on after they'd been revealed on heroes day. When Chat Noir had been proven to not take his job seriously at all and just got in the way, Marinette had made the pair permanent heroes to back her up in his stead.
The blog would have four main features:
One would be announcements. They would go there for things she needs people to know, especially when it came to disproving false rumors like the ones from the Ladyblog.
One would be akuma information. It explained what an akuma was, what it could do, and gave a list of all the akuma's to exist and a rundown of what happened for each fight.
One would be for akuma alerts. If anyone saw an akuma, they would go there with it and notify her of the location of the akuma with an image as proof. It would only show up if she approved it, which would prevent any trolling. From there, she'd intercept it. She might even be able to capture it before it evillises anyone if she's fast enough.
The last would be on techniques to calm down quickly. They were to prevent akumas. Things like yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises would be there. Luka also said he could add some relaxing music to this page, making Marinette grin widely.
Luka agreed to help whenever she needed it, and Marinette thanked him endlessly. Marinette set up the site with him still on the call. She had experience from setting up her MDC website, so it wasn't as hard as it could've been.
Hours later, Marinette had finally finished. While setting up the site on its own was a bit of work, she also had to catch the site's' akuma information' page up to date, meaning she had to write out old fights. Sometimes she had to look them up to jog her memory, but Alya had kept good track of all the Akuma's on the Ladyblog if nothing else. She was able to write out all the main points of each fight. Writing the repeats, like Mr. Pigeon, was slightly annoying though.
But soon she finished it, making the entire thing Miraculous-themed, all bold fonts and warm colors.
Now, all she had to do was film the first video.
"Now all I gotta do is film… do you think I should order a better camera?" Marinette wondered aloud. "Yeah…I should do that. I'll have to use my phone for now though…" she answered herself, already clicking open a new tab.
"Nettie, you need to get some sleep," Luka murmured at her. "It's one in the morning."
Marinette's eyes widened, her eyes shooting to the corner of her computer. Sure enough, a bright 1:03 illuminated it. Marinette groaned.
"Sorry for keeping you up so late, Luka," Marinette apologized.
"Don't worry about it, love. Talk more tomorrow?" It was more of a statement than a question, but Marinette nodded her assent anyways.
"Goodnight, Lu," Marinette yawned, her exhaustion catching up to her now that her focus had drifted off the website.
"Goodnight, Melody. I love you."
"Love you too."
With that, Marinette hung up.
The next day, after waking up at noon, as it was a Saturday, Marinette filmed the video. Luka insisted on showing up to play cameraman so Marinette could focus. Marinette ended up wearing the fox miraculous to make a Ladybug and a Marinette. After a couple of takes, they finished the script and went out for ice cream.
When they reached the bridge Andre was setting up shop, Kagami was already there waiting for them.
Marinette gasped, pleasantly surprised, and gave her a hug. "Gami, what're you doing here?" Marinette inquired.
"Luka invited me. My mother permitted my absence once she heard I would be with you," Kagami said warmly.
"That's great! Now we can all get ice cream together!"
"Yeah," Kagami said with a soft smile, still buried in the crook of Marinette's shoulder. Marinette pulled back, but not before giving her a quick peck on the cheek.
"Hey, my marcato," Luka greeted now that she could see them.
Kagami merely smiled in response, and Marinette grabbed her right hand and Luka's left so they were connected. "Let's get some ice cream!"
Marinette smiled as she uploaded the first video, and officially opened Spot-On to the public.
Alya was having a completely normal day until she opened her blog. She'd finished her morning routine, which of course included calling Lila, and was scrolling through to see the views on the LadyNoir reveal post. She grinned when she saw that, as expected, it had hundreds of thousands of views. She clicked into the comment section, which was also packed, but when she started to read the most recent ones the smile fell from her face.
IloveLadybug: Wow, I thought you had more integrity than this, Ladyblogger. The stuff people do for views these days is honestly disgusting.
ShesBeautyShesGrace: Someone should sue you on Ladybug's behalf, this is slander.
2tired2live: I thought you liked Ladybug? What the heck is this?
LadybugsWife: I'm so angry for Ladybug right now that I just can't… I mean, how could you betray her trust like that? She literally endorsed your blog, and this is the sh* you do to her?!
Alya grew more and more confused as she got further down the comment section. Finally, she found a comment with a link attached to it, and she quickly entered it in a new tab.
There, she found an elegant-looking blog, that was obviously based on Ladybug with its miraculous theme. She clicked on the only video on the home screen under a tab labeled "Announcements".
Ladybug appeared on the screen, a small smile on her face.
"Hello, people of Paris! This is Ladybug, and I'm here to address a few issues and announce the debut of the blog 'Bug-Spot'! This blog will be where you need to get any official info on akuma's, Hawkmoth, and me and my team! Everything posted on this blog will be approved by myself. However, I won't be able to run it myself, though I will have access to it on my yo-yo." She pulled out her yo-yo and showed it to the screen, where you could see the Bug-Spot page pulled up on it. "The reporter I'll be using for this is Mademoiselle Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who I've met on patrols a couple of times. Say hi, Marinette."
On cue, Marinette stood beside Ladybug with a light blush coloring her cheeks. She was a bit shorter than Ladybug, which was made obvious when they stood side by side. Also, Ladybug's eyes seemed to be a darker shade of blue. Even their facial features didn't match. The two looked distantly related, at best.
"Hi, um, I'm Marinette. Nice to meet you!" She greeted shyly. Ladybug chuckled, waving her off. Marinette seemed relieved as she left the frame.
"She's going to be helping me with all this. Now, for the reason I'm creating this blog." Ladybug's face turned serious, a frown settling itself there. "Ever since Stoneheart, I've only given three interviews. One to Nadja Chamack on the Prime Time show, and two to the Ladyblogger, Alya Cesaire. As it turns out, all three of those were mistakes. The one with Nadja was obvious, as she asked too many prying questions. Alya too did that, but when I told her I wouldn't answer, she backed down. For a while, I thought the Ladyblog was a reputable source that would only give facts about me and my team. However, as time went on, this became less and less so. The Ladyblog has deteriorated, to the point where only thinly-veiled lies are posted. I could not, in good conscious, let the people of Paris continue to use such a source." She bored her eyes into the camera, looking dead serious as she spoke her next line. "Speaking of which, let me make one thing absolutely clear. I don't know Lila Rossi, the only time I've come into contact with her is through the three times she was akumatized. She has also expressed a clear distaste for me each time, even going so far as to fake an injury to aid an akuma." Her facial expression went back to normal like the switch never happened. "So thats why I created this blog, enlisting Marinette's help." She smiled, looking away as if something else had caught her attention. She quickly focused back on the camera, though. "Besides all of that, I think it'll be good that I can communicate with the people easier on my own terms. I am not here to do anything but protect Paris, and I won't have to worry about invading questions this way. The site itself has four main features. The first is the one you're using now, called the 'Announcement tab'-"
From there, Ladybug started talking of the logistics of the site, but Alya tuned it out, her own rage and betrayal clouding her mind.
When she could form a coherent thought, it was this.
The Ladyblog is ruined.
When Lila walked into class, she was prepared. She had stories of a late-night call with Damian Wayne, her 'long distance boyfriend', and a late-night visit from Ladybug where the two had a sleepover, talking about their boyfriends. Alya had given her usual good morning call, and she'd already given her some hints that something happened last night.
So when she gave her cheerful "good morning everyone!" and everyone glared at her, including Alya, she knew something was up.
Lila morphed her face into that of a confused and concerned friend like the actress she was. "Is everything okay?" she asked.
Alya stood up, pushing against the desk in front of her harshly. "Is everything okay? You bitch, you ruined me, and you're asking if everything's okay?!"
"Alya, what're you talking about?!" Lila cried, tearing up.
"Your interview! It was all lies! Not just that one, all of them! Ladybug said so herself! What else have you lied about, huh?!" Alya yelled, taking an aggressive step forward.
"L-Ladybug said that? But, but she, why, I mean…" Lila's mind was going a mile a minute. Somehow, Ladybug had let Alya know the truth. She needed to dig herself out of this hole and fast. "Oh, this must be because of yesterday!" She burst into tears. "We, we had an- an argument, and, and Ladybug, she said she didn't wanna be my friend anymore cause I told you guys about her and Chat!" She blubbered, wiping away her tears hysterically. Alya started to look conflicted, and Lila repressed a smirk. "I-I thought she'd cool down and we'd talk about it later, you know how hot-headed she can get… but she said she didn't know me? I was only trying to be a good friend to you, Alya!"
That seemed to break her, making her come over and hugging her, murmuring sweet nothings in her ear as she rubbed her back, apologizing over and over again.
Her face hidden in Alya's shirt, Lila finally let out a victorious smirk.
Marinette entered the classroom quietly, wondering what effect Spot-On would have on Lila and her cronies. Much to her disappointment, she found Lila and Alya on the floor, with Lila sobbing into Alya's shirt and most of the class, headed by Alya, crowded around her and comforting her for… something.
Of course Lila had managed to spin the story to put her in a good light.
Notably, the only stragglers of the class were Nino, Max, Alix, Kim, Juleka, and Nathanial. They just looked conflicted.
Chloe was ignoring the world as usual.
With a shrug, she made her way to the back and heard a sharp cry of her name. She turned around, and the ones comforting Lila were now glaring at her.
"Yes?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"How dare you! I bet you tricked Ladybug into making that blog with you! Just like you to take advantage of someone at their lowest," Alya said with a scowl.
"Um, Ladybug was the one who came to me with the idea. I only helped her like anyone else would." Marinette said, annoyed.
"Like we would believe you Marinette. I can't believe you would sink so low as to trick the heroine of Paris." Mylene said, scowling.
"Look, if you won't listen to me, then fine. We can talk if we can have an actual two-sided conversation." Marinette sat down, and right then the bell rang.
In the middle of fifth period, an akuma alert sounded, making Marinette groan. It wasn't in their area, so they wouldn't be evacuated. She raised her hand and asked to use the bathroom, quickly getting permission. Marinette transformed, making her way to the akuma's location. Python was already on-site and gave her a quick run-down of the akuma's abilities. It was calling itself "Madame Murder," as she was a convict who'd failed to escape the facility she was being held in. She had the power to mold her body into any shape and size.
Hawkmoth had upgraded his akuma's over time, choosing more and more dangerous people to help them out. From meta's to criminals, Ladybug had fought at least one of their akumatized forms. The worst was when the Flash decided to pay Paris a visit. The less said about that the better, though the Justice League did agree that they couldn't help with their war against Hawkmoth, though Batman did offer to look into his identity. Ladybug would've been stupid to refuse his offer, and had just recently met up with him to give him immunity to miraculous glamor. It was a spell only a guardian could do, that a past bee she met through the miraculous taught her.
Since she had never finished her guardian training, Marinette ended up relying heavily on previous guardians to teach her. Through the miraculous, she was able to link her mindscape to previous users as long as they were deceased, and they trained her. She probably would've lost the war against Hawkmoth long ago if it wasn't for their help, especially former Ladybugs. She was now able to summon weapons from her miraculous in civilian form and concentrate her Ladybug luck wherever and whenever she wanted, though she almost never used it in her civilian life. The only time she had was to get herself separated from a group so she could transform. She could also use creation magic to make anything she wanted, and could sometimes know exactly what she needed without the Lucky Charm's guidance. Tikki said it was a sign of her beginning to master the Ladybug Miraculous.
Madame Murder noticed her and Python conversing, and with an unholy screech threw a volley of daggers their way.
Ladybug and Python split to dodge them with ease. Ladybug had taught both Python and Hydra to bond with their miraculous enough to train with past users, making them far better fighters in and out of the suit. Ladybug was proud of all the progress her partners made.
Ladybug analyzed the akuma's person, looking for their object. The only thing that looked out of place was a shank at her side.
Right then, Chat Noir came in, hopping in front of a few spectators. "M'lady, looking as gorgeous as ever," he greeted, a smirk on his lips.
"Chat, look out!" Ladybug yelled, noticing M. Murder spotting him and throwing daggers at him. With a yelp, he hopped out of the way, however, he paid no care for the civilians behind him. Ladybug's eyes widened, snapping over to save them, but it was already too late. The blades sheathed themselves in a total of three people's bodies.
Ladybug saw red, and that wasn't just because of the blood leaking out of their cold bodies.
From there, she blanked, but when she grounded herself again she was standing behind the cuffed akuma victim and Hydra and Python were hugging her.
"Your okay, the civies are fine, your cure brought them back," Python murmured while Hydra cooed in her ear.
"R-really?" Ladybug whispered. She felt Hydra nod against her.
"Yes, hime, they're just fine," she said.
"Okay, okay, I'm fine now guys."
"Are you sure?" Python asked, hesitant to let her go.
"Absolutely," Ladybug replied in the most authoritative voice she could muster.
They slowly let her go, ready to jump back in if she needed it. Ladybug found herself appreciating their presence just then, more so than usual.
"Thanks, guys. Let's get outta here, yeah?" Ladybug asked.
"Sure, LB," Python agreed, and Hydra nodded her assent.
"M'Lady! You're better! What made you go all wild like that though, huh?" Chat asked before they could go. Hydra snarled at him.
"You mangy cat, you're not worthy to be in the presence of Ladybug-hime right now," she hissed.
"M'Lady, are you just going to let her treat me like that?" Chat asked, scowling at Hydra right back. Trembling with rage, Ladybug faced him.
"We'll talk about this later, Chat Noir. Midnight at the usual spot. For now, go, you're about to de-transform," she gritted out. He was still so inexperienced with his miraculous that he still needed to leave after using cataclysm. She didn't know when he used it, but apparently, he had.
Chat beamed at her. "See you then, M'Lady! Already miss you." He bowed and winked in what he probably thought was a charming manner, then went off with his staff. Ladybug took a quick breath in and out to control her rage. She then looked at the civilians who had died and withheld bile as their dead bodies flashed in her mind again.
She walked over, quickly checking on them. They were all shaken, but almost everyone in Paris had died during an akuma attack at least once, so they left after she calmed them down.
The trio made their way to Marinette's place, their usual meeting spot, as her parents didn't check on her often because of how busy they were with the bakery.
They opened the door and hopped into the room, de-transforming once they were inside. The kwami's zoomed away, Sass and Longg going to the mini-fridge Marinette had gotten for them that was stocked with eggs and meat, while Tikki made her way to the cookie stash.
The trio made their way to Marinette's chaise silently, making a cuddle pile around Mari. They were quiet for a while, only Marinette's occasional sniffles breaking it. Finally, she spoke up.
"I'm taking his miraculous."
"Are you sure? You know you need to keep the balance," Kagami murmured, though she didn't sound against it.
"Yeah. I can't let him out there anymore. This is long overdue. I'll just use the mouse miraculous for the cat."
"That's a lot of pressure, Nettie, are you sure?" Luka asked, concerned. Marinette nodded.
"I've trained using all the miraculous except the cat at once, Luka. I can handle just three, even if two of them are the most powerful."
"Okay, but if you ever need help me and Gami can help."
"Yeah," Marinette whispered.
For the hours leading up to the meeting with Chat, the group watched movies huddled up together. Luka wanted to watch Disney Movies and Anime, Marinette liked fashion shows, and Kagami was in favor of action, so they took turns picking movies. At one point, Luka had them binge The Promised Neverland, which was fun. Luka liked Emma, Marinette liked Norman, and Kagami liked Ray. They ended up getting into a few arguments over which character was best, which evolved into a shipping war.
"Noremma is basically cannon," Luka had pointed out.
"Norman said he liked her, not that she loved her! You're misinterpreting it! And besides, you could feel the sexual tension when Ray was exposed as the traitor," Marinette argued.
"That's ridiculous! Emma and Norman are way cuter than those two!"
"If I may, I'm partial to Emma and Ray. When Emma threatened Ray, he was totally thinking she was hot. I would agree."
Luka and Marinette stared at her, betrayed.
In the end, they agreed on them being a polyship. We do stan an OT3, after all.
Eventually, it turned 11:45, and they had to make their way to meet Chat Noir.
"Do you have a plan?" Luka asked. Marinette rolled her eyes in a duh manner.
"I want you two to stay back, and come out only on my signal. I'll be able to remove his miraculous on my own, but I need him to keep still so I can curse him. In fact…" Marinette made her way to the miracle box, which was disguised as a box of thread. She took out the bee and turtle miraculous, giving the turtle to Luka and the Bee to Kagami. Kagami slipped the clip into her hair and Luka put on the bracelet on the wrist opposite of the snake miraculous.
"Kagami, I want you to Venom him on signal to keep him still. Luka, summon Shellter to prevent anyone from interrupting us," she instructed. The two nodded.
"Tikki, spots on!"
"Pollen, buzz on!"
"Wayzz, shell on!"
Chat Noir was having a good day. Sure, there were some downsides, like when he heard of Ladybug and Marinette's new blog, but he would talk to Marinette about that later. Lila hadn't been akumatized about it yet, so she probably had the situation under control, but that was very irresponsible of Marinette. She could be so inconsiderate sometimes!
And Ladybug wasn't totally in the clear either, calling Lila out like that. Though Chat would give her the benefit of the doubt, as he didn't inform her of the situation. He was sure that she would apologize and take down her blog at Chat's word, because even if she played hard to get, she was obviously in love with him.
His Lady could be such a Tsundere sometimes. It was frankly adorable.
She even asked him to meet up! She hadn't done that in awhile, which thrilled the cat-themed hero. Maybe she'd finally confess her love for him? Maybe she got over her inhabitions? Oooh, maybe it was an identity reveal! Finally!
Chat hoped she didn't bring those other heroes, though. He didn't know what it was Ladybug saw in them, but they were obviously after Ladybug. He'd seen the looks they'd shot Ladybug, they were after his lady! They probably only wanted her for her body (god she was sexy) or her Ladybug persona. Chat saw the real Ladybug though, and he's way better than those wannabe heroes. Ladybug was smart; she'd realize that and take their miraculous back. Ladybug was only human, she obviously made mistakes, otherwise, the two of them would've been dating as superheroes and civilians as soon as Fu gave her the miracle box and couldn't stop them from doing what they wanted.
But everything would work out in the end. And Chat was a patient guy. He was also understanding. Really, what would his Lady do without him?
He finally saw Ladybug swinging his way, and shot her a flirty smirk when she landed in front of him. "Hey, M'Lady. You look stunning as always," he said, running his eyes down her delicious body. God, sometimes he hated that he had to wait. The first thing he'd do when they finally got together would be having some alone time, if you caught his meaning. Too many nights alone in bed with just photos and a fleshlight could attest to that.
"Hey, Chat," she murmured, a light blush on her face. His smirk grew; only he could make her like that.
"So what's on today's agenda?" He purred, leaning towards her slightly. Her face reddened more, and she lifted her fingers to fidget with them. Aw, was she nervous? His Lady really was cute.
"I, um, I was thinking, and…" she looked away, while Chat watched her eagerly. He had a feeling that she had only good news. She muttered the next part, and Chat wouldn't have caught it were it not for his miraculous-enhanced hearing. "...maybe we could, um, have a quick kiss?" Her voice shown with hope, small as it was. Her face the same shade as her suit, her eyes edged to the side to look at him, and he beamed.
Yes yes yes yes yesyesyes!
He knew today would be a good day!
"Of course, M'Lady! You know you only ever have to ask. Though, I do wonder what brought this on? Finally decided to stop playing hard to get?" He wiggled his eyebrows seductively. Ladybug swatted at him, giggling lightly. It was a sound Chat could listen to for the rest of his life, he thought dreamily.
"It was because you're so, well…" Seeming to be at a loss for words, she just gestured to all of him, giggling again.
"In that case," Chat whispered huskily, grabbing her and pulling her in by her arms. "I'd be a fool not to take the chance." With that, he closed in on her, capturing her lips.
And oh. It was better than he ever imagined. Her plush, pink lips were the softest thing he'd ever felt, better than any of those expensive pillows on his bed. They were plump and pretty little things, creating the most wonderful feeling against his. He groaned into her, getting hard. He was about to capture her bottom lip in his mouth so he could taste and tease her when she suddenly removed her left hand from his back and grabbed his right hand.
Slipping off his ring.
Chat de-transformed, leaving Adrien Agreste in his place. Ladybug pulled away, taking his ring with her.
No. Why would she… It didn't matter. Adrien lunged, trying to grab the ring, but something hit his back, and his muscles tensed up, making him fall onto the ground. He tried to move, but couldn't no matter what. When he looked up, he saw Ladybug flanked by a new bee and turtle, a green hexagonal barrier behind them he recognized as Shellter. She opened her yo-yo and slid the ring inside.
"What the hell, M'Lady! Why're they here, and why'd you take my ring?!" Adrien yelled, struggling to move, though no matter how hard he tried he never so much as twitched.
Ladybug's face was blank as she stared down at him. "Adrien Agreste. You have been found unworthy of wielding the miraculous. You have let innocents die, abandoned your duties on multiple occasions, sexually harassed me, the Ladybug holder and Guardian, and been proved incompetent as a hero."
"What! What're you talking about, none of that is true! I'm an amazing cat!" Adrien objected.
Ignoring him, she continued. "As Great Guardian of the Miracle Box and holder of the Ladybug Miraculous, I curse you, Adrien Agreste. May you never have the ability to wield a miraculous again or communicate in any way of your time using them. May you be cursed with horrible luck for the rest of your days for misusing the Black Cat miraculous."
Ladybug started chanting in a strange language. When she uttered the last syllable, Adrien felt excruciating pain strike him. He tried to scream, but his vocal cords didn't listen, a small croak coming out instead.
It seemed to continue on forever before it finally settled in a small circle around his right hand's ring finger.
Where he used to have his ring.
Adrien stared at the blistering red skin and passed out.
When the trio entered Marinette's room, Coquille D'Émeraude, Honeybee, and Ladybug de-transformed, Coquille D'Émeraude and Honeybee giving their miraculous back to Marinette who put them back in the miracle box, then she grabbed the mouse and fox, putting them both around her neck. When she was done, she turned back around to face them. "Transform, we need to make an announcement video about Chat's retirement."
"We can do this tomorrow, hime," Kagami reminded her, clearly worried.
"No. I want to get this all over with now, take a long shower, then fall asleep between you two. Please?"
Kagami and Luka shared a look, but nodded, resigned. Marinette beamed.
"Sass, scales slither!"
"Longg, bring the storm!"
"Trixx, let's pounce!"
They made their way up to the balcony and went roof hopping until they found a rooftop with decent enough lighting for the video. Fennec played a quick tune on her flute, and in front of her appeared Ladybug and Chat Obsidienne (Marinette with the Black Cat). She held up her flute, focusing it on Ladybug while Chat Obsidienne stayed away.
"People of Paris, this is Ladybug. I'm joined today by Python and Hydra," she gestured towards both of them, who flanked her, "and this announcement is about Chat Noir. Noir was not the best partner or hero, to put it lightly and after much deliberation, his miraculous has been revoked. Earlier this morning I removed it from his person, and he will no longer wield the cat or any other Miraculous. He is officially retired. That said, Paris has a new black cat. Meet Chat Obsidienne, she'll be working with us from now on." Obsidienne came into the screen to stand next to Ladybug. She wore a skin-tight black suit that was closer to Ladybug's spandex-like material. She had a hood with black cat ears on top that twitched at every sound, and a belt that doubled as a tail, her baton holstered to it. Her torso was littered with toxic-green pawprints making their way from her left hip to her right shoulder; as if a cat had walked on her. Her mask and black combat boots had highlights in the same shade of green.
"Nice to be here, Ladybug," Chat Obsidienne said, waving at the camera. "I promise to uphold my duty to Paris and be the best cat I can be."
Ladybug gave her a small smile before continuing. "I put my complete faith in Chat Obsidienne, so make sure to welcome our new hero! Bug out!"
Fennec ended the video and dismissed her illusions, which faded into an orange smoke.
"Alright. Now, we can go home," Fennec sighed, relief coloring her voice.
With that, the three heroes went back to Marinette's.
The next day, after school ended, Plagg had an uncharacteristically serious look on his face. Marinette had been working on the embroidery for Tim Drake's suit when Plagg floated in front of her and asked to talk.
Marinette quickly turned off the machine, sensing the importance of what Plagg was about to tell her. "What is it, Plagg?"
"Do you remember when you and Tikki found the Grimoire on Adrien?"
Shit. He was using Tikki's name. Marinette nodded.
"Well, we also found the peacock miraculous with it."
"What?" Marinette whispered, her eyes wide.
"Adrien didn't recognize it, the idiot, but it was in this safe by the book. All of it was behind a portrait of Emilie Agreste."
"Shit. Are you saying…"
"Gabriel is Hawkmoth."
"But he was akumatized, wasn't he?"
"He akumatized himself, bug. Only reason I didn't tell you earlier is that Adrien ordered me to stay close to him."
Marinette hissed. "He ordered you!?"
Plagg nodded, sagging slightly. "He learned he could do that pretty early."
Fury coursed through her. Kwami's were never to be ordered unless they don't give you any other choice. Only those who abused their kwami's gave orders like that without good reason. And Marinette had a feeling this wasn't the only order Adrien had given Plagg.
"Akuma! Marinette, calm down!" Tikki warned.
"Bug, bug, I'm fine now, it's okay," Plagg raced closer and hugged her shoulder. Marinette's eyes shot around the room, spotting the akuma flying towards her. Marinette called on her transformation, quickly capturing the akuma and purifying it.
She dropped her transformation and went into a meditation position, evening out her breathing and thinking through her situation as calmly as she could while keeping her emotions locked down.
Plagg was abused. This was not okay. However, Marinette couldn't do anything about it. She had already cursed him, and he now had potent enough bad luck that she doubted anything would ever go his way in life again, no matter how hard he tried. He would serve his sentence through a long, frustrating life, never being satisfied.
That would have to be enough.
Plagg would recover, he was strong. Adrien was deranged enough to see himself as a good person, so he probably only made Plagg do some of his dirty work. Which likely included stalking her.
Marinette suddenly found herself extremely glad kwami's couldn't be forced into revealing the identities of holders. Small mercies, she supposed.
But it's okay now. Plagg's safe, she was safe, Tikki was safe, her lovers were safe, the other kwami's were safe, everyone important to her. Was. Safe.
Marinette exhaled one last time, letting a sense of calm wash over her.
"Plagg, I need you to tell me everything you know about Gabriel Agreste."
Things weren't perfect, but they were getting better.
