Author's Note: Yay, death. Why am I tormenting myself like this? Oh right, deals. Sigh.
Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous
Chapter 3: Retrogamer
It was official. Adrien was not okay.
Nino prided himself on knowing Adrien's signs, personality and likes as he was his boy's best friend, only second to Marinette in his knowledge. Too bad he was now beating himself up for not noticing the change in Adrien until Marinette had asked him about it.
He had forgotten how skilled Adrien could act when he was determined not to reveal his problems. Nino knew that yet he still managed to miss every sign from his friend for an entire week.
He had been a terrible friend.
Well, it was not too late. And he wasn't going to even wait to confront Adrien. Afterall, the boy had been avoiding them with his father and it's not like they could easily talk at lunch too. So it was to everyone's surprise except Alya's when he raised his hand.
"Ms Bustier! There's an emergency, may I leave?"
"What type of emergency?"
Nino only grabbed Adrien's arm, dragging him out of the door. "Bro emergency. Thanks, dudette- madam!"
"Nino, wait! What are you-?!" Adrien's cries were cut off as the door slammed shut.
"What happened?" Marinette asked, to which Alya only replied, looking proud. "My boyfriend is doing good."
Adrien tried to shake off Nino's hand, which was turning out to be far harder than he initially thought. That was weird as he had years of practice shaking off people's grip.
It ended up with Nino eventually letting go himself once they had entered the locker room, a good place for privacy as Adrien had quickly found out whenever he needed to 'vanish' for a while.
Nino had an uncharacteristically stern expression when he turned to face Adrien. "Shusher got you, didn't she?"
Adrien found himself immediately tensed and Nino could see his friend throwing up an emotional wall, crossing his arms, he asked instead, "What are you talking about?"
"Don't answer a question with a question, dude! I know you!" Nino waved his hands in the air, exasperated at his friend's obvious attempt to hide his pain. "There's something wrong with you!"
"Have you not considered the possibility of stress?" Adrien asked, trying to deflect his friend's suspicion.
Nino gave him the flattest look Adrien had ever seen on him, clearly, Nino was not happy about his attempts to shift the conversation.
"Adrien, dude, we are best friends, right? Bros?" Nino asked seriously.
"Yeah…?" Where was he going with this?
"That means you can talk to me. Or if you don't, at least I will be here when you can't hold it in anymore. I would even be on Akuma Watch if needed!"
Okay, Adrien has a lot to ask about that but… "Akuma Watch?"
"You know, 'AK'? The one where we announced on the class chat to make sure no stupid butterfly get to us?" Nino explained willingly even when he kept a careful eye on Adrien, "Alya always complains she has to be on perpetual Akuma Watch with Marinette, she knows Marinette is too optimistic to really get targeted easily though."
"Oh." Adrien didn't know that, hell, he had been wondering what the random 'AK's in the chat was. There were a lot more last week too…
"Hey, whatever Shusher made you hear, you know it isn't true, alright?" Nino touched his shoulder gently, "Alix and Kim are getting better too. Marinette's disaster of the day speech really put things to perspective."
"Marinette is a really good friend, isn't she?" Adrien mumbled, "She set up a lot of sessions to hang out with them…"
"Which you should have participated in!" Nino said, pulling Adrien to sit with him against the wall. "Or at least talked to us."
"It would just cause unnecessary worry." Adrien muttered, avoiding his friend's eyes.
"We will worry whether you hide or don't hide it, Adrien." Nino comforted him, a hand on Adrien's back. "I should have noticed earlier and you are far too good an actor when you want to be."
Adrien closed his eyes. Sometimes he could still hear the nagging doubts in the back of his mind, but if he voiced them out, would it mean he acknowledged the existence of weakness?
"Hey, it's alright. You don't have to talk about it if you aren't ready to. Just know I'm here, alright?" Nino gently reminded Adrien.
Nino's words were painfully similar to a certain bug's. It was a relief and yet why does he feel scared?
Would Nino leave him if he knew?
Stop it. He needed to stop it. "Yeah, thanks." Adrien finally said quietly.
"I won't tell anyone if you don't want them to know. Bro Code and all." Nino patted his chest, a spark of concern glittering in his kind brown eyes and repeated, "We are here. Me, Alya, Marinette… We are on your side. So don't just shut yourself off."
Adrien gave a small laugh, one that was truly genuine after so long. And it seemed like Nino recognized it too. "You trying to become a knight or something?" He joked.
"Hm… I think that isn't a bad idea. If I can protect you and my friends, wouldn't that be nice?" Nino teased back, concealing a layer of seriousness under the humour.
"I wonder what you will protect us from. Alya's wrath? Food fights? Kim's dares?"
The look in Nino's eyes grew determined and he had on a serious expression that Adrien was taken aback at, "I guess… Anything that could hurt you."
"Woah, that… is sombre, dude."
Nino smirked then, "What can I say? I'm dating a girl that would not stop running into danger!"
And he had a friend who is fighting in the midst of that danger.
Adrien punched Nino's arm affectionately, "Thanks, dude. That really helped."
"I hope! I'm not that good at this…" Nino gestured vaguely, smiling.
"Well, I think you are doing good." Adrien returned the smile, "I definitely think I feel better."
"Sweet. Now if we go to the arcade to destroy some things, I bet you will feel even better!" Nino got up, lowering a hand in offer which Adrien took.
"Destroying things is my speciality." He said under his breath, a finger sliding over a flat silver ring as Nino opened the door to head back to class.
Marinette perked up substantially when she saw the boys coming back into class, each giving sheepish grins to the teacher. She couldn't help the relieved smile that spread across her face when she saw how Adrien's complexion had lightened up noticeably and the cheerful light had returned to his vibrant emerald green eyes.
She scribbled something on her paper, tearing it and passing it to Alya who immediately tapped Nino's shoulder to pass the paper. Nino gave her a thumbs-up once he read it, mouthing, 'No problem'.
She was going to return to the class when Adrien shifted, placing a folded paper on her table, giving her one of those beautiful smiles of his. She nearly spluttered and was saved by Alya taking the paper and opening it, then showing it to her. Marinette ended up smiling brightly, warmth surging through her chest.
'Marinette and Alya, thanks for worrying about me. Nino invited me to the arcade, you guys will be coming, right? ;3'
Alya had to stop Marinette from practically melting from excitement in her seat.
"Marinette, this could be a double date! You have a new chance to show Adrien how you feel!"
Marinette paled, the blood draining from her face as she momentarily imagined a date with Adrien.
"Oh no, ohnononononononono! It's a double date, Alya!" Marinette shook her head in her hands, starting to panic under the pressure. "What am I going to do?!"
"Have fun?" Alya had to try very hard not to sound amused and from Marinette's raised eyebrow, Alya did not succeed. "Marinette, girl, you need to stop down spiralling and just talk to him." She gently advised her friend.
"You know I can't!" Marinette practically squeaked from embarrassment.
"Can't what?" An approaching male voice asked.
Marinette let out one of her iconic shrieks, jumping into the air and dived behind Alya, leaving Adrien to stare puzzledly with a limp wave. Nino stepped to Alya, pecking a kiss on her cheek before whispering. "Downward spiral?" He nodded in greeting to Marinette.
"Downward spiral." Alya giggled, trying to pull the poor flustered girl from behind her.
"If you are busy… it's alright, you know?" Adrien asked, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, his green eyes glinting in apprehension.
"NO! It's fine! Arcade, fun," Marinette softened, almost melting when her own bluebell eyes looked into Adrien's, "You need it…"
Adrien very noticeably perked up immediately, nodding to himself. "Good… That's good! I wouldn't wanna waste ditching my bodyguard for nothing!"
"Hey, Alya?" Nino asked.
"Yeah?" His girlfriend responded slyly back.
"Is it just me or Adrien seems far happier that Mari is coming than us?"
Alya's lips curled into a smirk. "He's so dense."
Nino mirrored her smile though his was more resigned, "Dorks, the both of them."
"Nino, where's the arcade? I never went before!" Adrien's eyes sparkled like a little kid's eyes at Christmas, there was even a bounce in his steps.
"Glad he's doing better," Alya commented on the blonde model's energetic smile.
"Me too." Nino smiled warmly, wrapping an arm on Alya's waist. "Well, babe, shall we bring our boy on his first arcade excursion?"
Alya slapped his shoulder playfully, "Okay, babe. Let's hope you have enough money. We can't exactly let our boy pay, can we?"
Alya laughed at Nino's groans.
"Tikki, what should I do?" Marinette whispered softly, holding up the purse to her face, which allowed Tikki to see the lovestruck expression she had. "He's so excitable!"
"Woah! It really has two pads!" Adrien exclaimed, curiously checking out a brightly coloured arcade machine.
"What do you mean, dude? It always has been two-player!" Nino asked, puzzled by his friend's newfound sense of wonder.
"Or one-player where we see some professionals annihilating it on both pads," Alya added, amused at the boys' reactions.
"I knew my dad bought me the custom one! I thought I misread the game!" Adrien stated, further examining the game.
"You have a Dance Pad at home?!" Nino exclaimed, "That's it! I am so sneaking my way into your house, dude!"
"Yes, he is almost like a bouncing kitten." Tikki giggled, covering her mouth as her big sapphire blue eyes blinked intelligently at Marinette.
Marinette stared and sure, she could see it… "Uh, right. Plan to get Adrien to like me?" She whispered to Tikki distractedly
"I don't think you need one! Just be yourself!" The Kwami encouraged her.
"So stutter like an idiot around him. Gotcha." Marinette grumbled in exasperation.
"I'm serious, Marinette. You will be fine!"
"Mari! Get over here! Show Adrien what it means to be a pro!" Alya called, her phone out to record.
Marinette gently patted Tikki in her pouch and hurried over, "Alya, I'm not great…" She said humbly.
"Yeah, right! You are a monster in games!" Nino encouraged her, hitting the buttons, "One-player, double pads is a go!"
"Nino! Wait-!" But the song began to play, one Marinette had much practice on, she moved instantly, her body driven by muscle memory at the catchy rhythm. She planted her hands on the bar behind her and all but flicked her legs madly and accurately. Halfway through, she bit her lip in concentration and kicked off her shoes, starting to get into serious gamer mode.
"Woah…" Adrien was watching with slack-jawed amazement.
"Told you, she's awesome," Alya smirked, keeping her phone steady to record Marinette's utter obliteration of the current high score.
"Wait till she gets going. Especially in the FPS games!" Nino exclaimed, "I swear, Marinette's insanely good in anything related to games. You should hear the bets everyone makes now that they are aware of Marinette's rad skills."
"You guys done complimenting me?" Marinette grinned, glancing at them, barely even breaking a sweat. A huge 'S' shone behind her, her record shining at the top for all to see.
Nino hopped over to key in her name on the dancing machine, "Should we destroy every record in here?"
"Before that…" Alya pushed Adrien onto the pad, "Doubles, the two of you! Let's see how good our favourite formerly homeschooled boy will be against our residential champion!"
"Alya!" Marinette tried to stop the blogger from making things worse but then Adrien gave her one of his sweet smiles, his eyes gleaming in competitiveness so she resigned herself. "Fine, you're on!"
Alya could tell Adrien had regretted his decision. He was being figuratively beaten, wrapped up in a bag and tossed off the cliff by Marinette's quick movements with ease. The boy was decent but against Marinette who was playing with little to no ferocity all while staring at Adrien dreamily and still winning… Adrien had gotten frantic and it really didn't help with his dancing at all.
Nino was having a blast about it though… So was she.
It got worse when after a few more humiliating defeats in other games, Nino himself groaned at being destroyed in music rhythm games, they moved on to a favourite of the older generation, the Fish Hunting game.
Marinette swiped the card twice, adding up the points before hitting the button for the medium rod, the points needed for it being deducted.
"What are you doing?" Adrien asked, inching closer to peer over her shoulder.
Marinette, being too focused on all the games barely even flinched at him, smirking, "Catching some fishes, duh."
Alya watched as Marinette aimed her cannon at the closest fish around her area, carefully stacking up points to build up the options for stronger netting. Nino prodded Alya's arm, "Babe, isn't this game supposed to be difficult?"
Alya did not respond, mostly because she didn't really know. But it must have been, seeing as how some of their followers from previous games were gawking even more as Marinette captures fish after fish after… was that a stingray? Even without much knowledge on the game, Alya could tell it was an impressive catch!
"Woah, Marinette! That's amazing!" Adrien gushed, staring starry-eyed at the growing point counter which was already hitting the 3000s. "I heard this game is hard."
"Not really." Marinette shrugged nonchalantly as she nabbed a shark. "My parents play the game sometimes and once you know the technique, it's easy."
The game switches to bonus mode and Marinette begins to smash the button rapidly, scoring multiple fishes in one shot of her cannon. The other players of the same game seemed to nod approvingly at her skill.
"Impressive, young lady." One of them, an older looking man, spoke up, smiling kindly across the game console, he himself was angling his joystick and hitting the button in skilled practice.
Marinette beamed back, "Why, thank you!" She glanced at his counter, fingers not stopping and giving an appreciative hum, "You are not so bad yourself!"
"Heh, practice makes perfect." The man replied, hands slowing slightly which Marinette mimicked as the rush of fishes vanished, instead they both tensed, eyes sharpening in focus.
"What happened?" Alya hissed, not sure why they suddenly dropped the conversation to stare daggers at the screen.
Adrien bounced to answer, "The best part of the bonus round!"
As soon as he said it, six… no, more sharks, stingrays and any super rare sea creature sped across the screen.
Shots fired.
Alya watched, almost entranced by the videogame screen animations showing the high speed firing, nets exploding so quickly that she couldn't keep track with what had been caught. She only realised it was over when Marinette let out a breath, leaning back in her seat, the screen returning to normal.
The man whistled at the points Marinette had racked up, "You are quite a skilled little thing!" He told Marinette, obviously impressed.
"Practice makes perfect." Marinette returned his comment from before, smugly enjoying her winnings. She twitched the joystick, clearly wondering whether to keep playing or move on.
The man had a joyful smile on his face, ending his game and adding his tickets to his card. "Ha! My son would like you, he was always going about calculations and data to win his games."
"Really?" Marinette cocked her head, "That sounded really familiar."
"He's your age. Maybe you have met him-?" He was cut off by a sudden excited shout from the crowd.
"Marinette!" A voice called from the crowd, one Alya easily pinpointed. "I was 98.7% sure it was you. Who else could easily defeat the high scores of-!"
Max froze at the edge of the crowd, his intelligent hazel eyes going wide behind his glasses as his gaze shifted sharply from Marinette to the man she had been conversing with. "D-Dad?"
The man shot to his feet so unsteadily that if the chair wasn't glued to the ground, Alya would have sworn it would have been knocked clean over. "M-Max! I didn't think you would be here this early!"
Alya was surprised to see Max's eyes hardened and narrowed, " 'This' early?"
The man, who is apparently Max's dad, flailed. "N-No, I didn't mean I was waiting or anything! Just… enjoying games. That's right! I was playing the games here!"
Ouch, that was almost on a 'Marinette freak out' level…
Max seemed to grow even angrier at that, "Well, don't!"
"Max?" Nino mumbled, his head moving from Max's cold expression to his dad's increasingly panicked one.
"M-Max… I know you-"
"No, you don't," Max growled, which was uncharacteristic enough that everyone there could sense the impending doom. "I hate it when I see you. So don't come near me ever again at all!"
Max turned on his heel and stomped away, leaving behind a shocked crowd, leaving behind his father who looked downright depressed. Marinette only cast one fleeting glance to everyone around her and she bolted after Max. Adrien looked uncertain but he followed Marinette a beat later.
Alya and Nino exchanged a silent glance. Both of them didn't notice that when Marinette and Adrien had vanished, so did the man.
Max's father remembered the conversation he'd had with his ex-wife on the phone
"I'm sorry. Max really doesn't want to see you." She told him sternly.
"But-" He had protested, his heart aching to be with his son.
"He's young. Give him some time."
"It's been years, dear-"
"We are not married anymore." was her curt answer. "I respect Max's decisions. You should too."
The call died.
It had only been a month since then and he had tried. For a maximum of a year before he had tried to scope out Max's hangouts and friends. Max was not the only one who understood the power of data gathering, so he had kept a watchful eye out on his son whenever he could, while waiting paitiently until Max felt ready to see him again.
Clearly, it might be a 'never'.
He didn't see the butterfly land on his arcade card but he heard the voice.
"Retrogamer. Your son sees fit to not accept you. I shall give you the opportunity to regain your bond with him. You've lost your son's heart. I'll give you the opportunity to win him over. All I ask in return are Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous."
"Yes, Hawkmoth."
The signature black fog enveloping his body left nothing to be answered. Retrogamer smiled sinisterly as the dark energy transformed him, granting him the power to prove himself to Max.
"Max! Max, wait up!" Marinette sprinted, catching the boy by the shoulder and forcing the boy to a stop. "What was that?"
"Sorry, Marinette. I should have not let you witness something like that." Max answered, his tone far too cold and robotic for Marinette to be satisfied.
"Is it some family trouble?" Adrien inquired, stepping up to them but keeping a respectful distance, looking completely out of place.
"There is no trouble." Max droned, making Marinette and Adrien narrowed their eyes at that. The scene at the arcade clearly screamed 'trouble'.
"Max. Look." Marinette gently guided the boy to a nearby bench and sat beside him, trying to speak to Max in a comforting tone "Family problems are hard to deal with but it gets worse if you tell your parents you didn't care about them. They get hurt very easily over it."
"Yeah, right." Came a soft protest and Marinette had to force herself not to respond to the hurt oozing out of Adrien. She desperately wanted to help him too, but Max needed her right now.
"It's tough. You have to talk about it. Get both sides of the story." Marinette continued, keeping her voice calm and comforting, the way her mother did for her when she messed up. "It will help the understanding and even if the relationship is still strained, at least the two of you would put in effort to work it out slowly."
"And you should talk before you lose the chance forever," Adrien added, schooling his features to try not to show the pain. "At least your dad seemed fine with listening…"
Max looked at both of them for a moment and then back to the ground. "Emotions make everything glitch."
"I know." Marinette offered a soft smile, "If it helps, try to think of the problem in a logical manner. Get the data then conclude. And if your emotions mess up your calculations again, maybe try to find out which emotion is worse. Anger? Sadness? Pain? Put it in a kind of system, figure out why you feel that way. Would that help?"
Honestly, Marinette wasn't sure if emotions can ever be classified like maths but if a system helped Max understand himself a little more… it doesn't hurt to try.
"I… see." Max's eyes cleared and determination set in his facial lines. "I could try that."
"I knew you had it in you!" Marinette cheered.
Adrien gave a small smile, stepping to whisper in Marinette's ear, "Guess I wasn't needed. And that was amazing, Marinette. You handled that so wonderfully."
Marinette blushed. Hard.
Adrien's voice in her ear. Adrien complimenting her. In. Her. Ear!
It took serious effort not to squeal and faint right there.
Max must have noticed from the slight quirk in his eyebrow, "Thank you, Marinette. If possible, I would like to-"
"Max! Son! Where are you?"
Oh no… Marinette had forgotten one little detail… Max was not the only one upset at that encounter.
"Max, run!" Marinette grabbed the boy's hand and made a break for it. Not noticing how Adrien had slipped away.
"Max, I want to talk to you! Please don't hide from me again!"
Okay, maybe she made a hasty decision. Can anyone blame her? Akumas tend to target people to harm them, not to talk. Then again… Evillustrator… She sighed deeply.
"Max, do you want to go to the akuma or…?"
"I will go," Max replied faster than she thought he would. "There's a 76.3% chance he would not harm me and the possibility of defeating the akuma could be potentially increased from 56.1% to 82.9% if I'm with him and that I report everything that happened to the Ladyblog in real time."
"Max, you are so brave!" Marinette praised but added, "Just… don't make this a daily thing. Alya is a problem on her own."
"Noted."
Marinette stopped running and let go of Max. "Good luck."
Max nodded, running towards where he heard his father's voice. Once he was out of view and a quick check around proved that there would be no witnesses, Tikki flew out of her purse, poised for transformation.
"Tikki, Spots On!"
"Woah, how am I late? I was so sure I was so early, retro games are still a thing!" Chat Noir said, landing beside Ladybug as she surveyed the current situation. He almost jumped out of his fur when he saw Max running towards the akuma. Wasn't he usually the logical one? "The akuma's name is Retrogamer, by the way."
Ladybug didn't respond, her eyes tracking Max's path.
"Fine, I will bite. Why are you letting that civilian run towards the akuma? Especially with how adamant you are about the Ladyblogger." The feline-themed hero queried.
"The akuma is Ma- the boy's father." Ladybug reported, "He told me he would try to reason with Retrogamer, despite the low rates of it." Ladybug flipped her yoyo out and accessed the bookmarked page of the Ladyblog, showing it to Chat Noir, "He also said he would keep up to date on what's happening with our favourite blog."
"I'm starting to wonder how many teenagers exist that do not care for personal safety."
"You, of all people, shouldn't say that." Ladybug flicked his bell, glancing at the page for the latest update which coincides with what the Retrogamer is doing. "Huh, a house."
"Shapeshifting. Three guesses on whether inside will be a whole slew of games. Retro games." Chat Noir emphasised to make sure Ladybug had gotten his joke before, he was slightly pleased and annoyed when she gave him an eyeroll. "Wait or try to get in?"
Ladybug flicked her attention to the Ladyblog again, "Wait. I want to believe Max is doing his best."
Chat watched her worried yet trusting expression and nodded, dropping to sit on the rooftop. "As you wish, Milady." He paused then smirked, "While we wait, how about a little date?"
"I really wish you can be serious for once!" Ladybug grumbled, irritation sinking into her tone.
Chat Noir closed his mouth with a snap, not daring to let out whatever had whirled into his head at the insinuation.
He might really need that therapy sleepover afterall.
Max had to admit, the interior was quite systematic, and has a certain pattern for maximum efficiency in between moving to different games.
His father's akumatised form is thankfully not hideous, he had seen the atrocities that came out. One of which Nino had been very vocal about.
His father had a brown outfit, resembling a robot, streamlined yet slightly clunky. More like armour actually. He still had a brown domino mask but not much of his original features had been altered.
As his father busied himself making things comfortable, Max scanned the games. These were definitely from before he was born. Some he even recognised, like the Space Invader game or the very popular, even in this technological age, Pacman game.
Max tapped video to scan the interior and quickly uploaded it to the Ladyblog. Admittedly, only Alya has the right to post any main updates though she gave the class minor access to the class seeing as they all have a tendency to get roped into akuma-related situations. However, he needed the information to be on the front page and the latest updates so, with a silent apology, he hacked it to gain him full admin access.
He will definitely have to remember to change it back and apologise to Alya. She tends to be very possessive of her blog.
"So, Max!" His father piped, a picture of awkwardness and anticipation. "What do you want to play first? We used to play this in the old days!"
"Street Fighters? Race Cars? Sonic?" The man bounced towards the Pacman console and presented it proudly, "Or Chomp chomp?"
Chomp chomp?
The bafflement must have shown on his face because his father wilted. Right, how to approach this situation?
Probe and stall?
Huh, maybe a little robot to help with his data gathering and problems would be nice. It could even be a friend…
Ah, out of topic. He cleared his throat, "Street Fighters. I would like to fight you…" He swallowed, it was hard to pretend to be civil, especially when your conversation happened to be a ticking time bomb in the form of your akumatised father. "...Dad."
The bright beaming smile from the man made Max feel… What he realised is guilt. And another emotion. A warmer one. Max decided analysing it could wait.
"Smart boy." Ladybug praised, smiling at her yo-yo.
"Retro-spectable." Chat punned and Ladybug wanted to smack his head so badly for that terrible pun. "Thanks to him, if we need to break in, we wouldn't be in unfamiliar surroundings."
"Yup, Max knows the importance of information gathering." Ladybug's lips turned up, "The most powerful weapon in battle has always been information."
"Now, if he could pinpoint where the akuma is hiding," Ladybug added, waiting for the next update.
"He needs to be quicker. Who knows how long Hawkmoth will let them play in the dollhouse." Chat Noir reminded, refreshing the page on his baton again and crowed. "The arcade card, Milady!"
Ladybug couldn't help the grin as she scanned the latest update. "Max is a genius!"
Chat mirrored her victorious grin, "I'm ready anytime, Milady."
Ladybug smirked confidently, "Looks like it's game on, kitty!"
Chat grinned, "Games? I prefer cat and mouse myself!"
"Ugh."
Max wasn't really trying. Sure, he was aware that he could be a bit of a sore loser. His statistics flared in elaboration that Max quickly shut it down, focusing on at least prolonging the fight with his father.
Hawkmoth must be getting impatient… seeing as that iconic glowing purple butterfly-shaped mask kept flickering over his father's face. Possibly Hawkmoth was even angry because his father ignored it with barely a glance or reaction.
Max had to note that, despite the lack of reaction, his father was starting to sweat and their surroundings were glitching.
Hawkmoth had demonstrated that he had a bit of control of the akuma but does he have a safety lock that lets him threaten the akuma if they do not listen to him? It's sad the akumatised victims forgot what had happened. A waste of possible data on the workings of Hawkmoth's abilities.
Hmm… Maybe he could start a data collection on Hawkmoth, find his lair, weaknesses?
The ping of the game pulled him out of his reverie. Oh right, he needed to talk to his dad.
"Dad?"
"Yes, son?"
Max had to swallow harshly as the familiar wave of energy threatened to topple him into the too human part of him. "You are akumatised."
His father gave him a puzzled look, "Isn't that a good thing?"
"Not at all." Max kept his calm, stepping away from the console. "I would prefer to have a talk with you when you are normal."
His father stared at him, eyes dark and hard behind that mask. The flickering light of the butterfly mask did not help Max's growing apprehension.
"You will run away again." His tone went flat, curt, and possessive.
"I won't," Max answered with the same seriousness, the mask flickered again and this time his father seemed to be listening. "I just want to talk to you about Mum-"
And then cold crazed eyes settled on him. Max could practically see the numbers he had calculated shot down to despairingly low percentages.
"Stay."
His father pushed him, sending him colliding with the closest console and all of a sudden Max's hands stuck. The game began to play the starting music and he found himself playing the game without his will.
Max tried to force his hands to move the way he wanted them to but whatever his father did… He's stuck playing the game. With no way to reach for his phone to give this new tidbit to the heroes.
And the statistics said… The heroes were going to drop in any moment.
Max had completely messed up!
"You understand, right?"
"Yes." Chat Noir suppressed the hiss threatening to burst out, muttering under his breath when Ladybug turned away, "I'm not an idiot."
"Remember to recharge and get back as quickly as you can." Ladybug once again instructed, poising to jump on top of the house-like building the akuma had constructed.
"I get it already!" Chat grumbled, sitting on the tip of his elongated staff, letting it fall in an impromptu pole vault, and roaring his signature attack, "Cataclysm!"
The crackling energy spread in a surge, corroding the house in seconds, revealing a distressed Max and a waiting akuma. "Hi~, did we miss the housewarming party?"
"Max? Are you alright?" Ladybug asked as soon as she landed beside Chat Noir, her yoyo swinging, covering Chat's escape route.
The games moved. And Max shouted at the same time his father engaged Ladybug. "Don't touch any of the games!"
Ladybug flipped out of the way, "Thanks, Max! Chat, what are you doing? Get out!"
Chat flicked his eyes at Ladybug to Max and reluctantly nodded, disengaging with a quick shot of his staff. He stumbled into an alley and released his transformation. "Plagg, here." He fed his Kwami some Camembert.
"Are you okay, Adrien?" Plagg hovered, the cheese clutched in his paws or whatever passed as hands for the tiny gods.
"Are you trying to get more cheese from me?" Adrien gave a wry smile, pointedly looking at the cheese that Plagg was not devouring.
"I'm serious, Adrien."
Adrien sighed, "Just eat the cheese, Plagg. We have to get back."
He expected Plagg to howl about 'needing to savour it' so he was kind of surprised and thankful when Plagg inhaled the cheese and floated to the ring in preparation.
"Thank you." Adrien wondered if he actually saw the soft blush on Plagg's face when the magic of the transformation washed over him and he was back to bounding on the rooftops.
Ladybug winced at the sharp jab on her shoulder, somersaulting backwards to add more distance. She knew the man was a pretty good gamer but the guy can fight, akumatised or not. If Max hadn't informed her that there's a high probability of the man having abilities to mimic the games' mechanics, she wouldn't be able to keep up. Thank goodness her own father made her play some of the old games too.
So, building an arcade-like building, sticks people to games and was able to siphon the games' mechanics to use in real life… Damn, Hawkmoth had really thought this one through.
Max was flicking the joystick madly, eyes focused on at least staying alive in the game because who knew the consequences that could happen if he lost. Which made it more impressive when Max still managed to warn her. "Left! Ladybug!"
She reacted, barely escaping the touch of Space Invaders, she jumped off the regenerating house's wall and kicked the akuma at the back, sliding back onto her feet. The house was fixing itself far too quickly, a tidbit she wished she knew before she had made a plan to send Chat Noir off.
He had better hurry back here soon.
"Ladybug, give me your Miraculous!" Retrogamer demanded sharply.
"No. Shouldn't you be trying to make up with your son?" She called to him.
"Then stop standing in our way!" The akuma charged, roundhouse kicking her so she moves backwards, blocking with her arms all while keeping an eye on the hopping game consoles.
"Me? I'm trying to help you!" She sent a punch of her own, missing completely when the man dodged to the side, causing her to slap her hand on the ground, flipping upwards so she could at least try to kick the akuma.
She missed. Retrogamer grabbed her leg and tossed her, right towards the waiting console. She tried to orientate herself but there was nothing for her yoyo to grab that wasn't a console or the things outside of the rapidly fixing house, which would make her yoyo useless. But she cannot be taken out of the fight either!
Think, Ladybug, THINK!
Thump!
"In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have left." Chat Noir held her protectively in his arms, his staff sticking out from the console meant to ensnare her.
She breathed a sigh of relief, pushing herself off her partner, "You sure took your time!"
"I tried." Chat shrugged, retracting his staff and taking position beside her. "What's the plan?"
Ladybug eyed the now-sealed off battlefield and the akuma conversing with Hawkmoth, she slid her yoyo back into her hand before throwing it into the sky. "Lucky Charm!"
"A disposable camera?" Chat identified, shifting ever so slightly to the front of Ladybug, acting as a shield while she scanned the area for clues.
Chat grinned brightly when he noticed the growing smirk on her face. "Orders, Milady?"
"Free Max!" She tossed the camera to him, "I can take Retrogamer on again."
"Game start!" Chat Noir whooped, Retrogamer blocked his path but he slid, extending his baton to trip the akuma right towards Ladybug's waiting fist.
He rolled back onto his feet and to Max's side. "How's the game going on?"
"Wonderful." Max deadpanned and Chat touched his charged hand to the console, reducing it to ash. Max wrung his sore hands and reached for the camera Chat was holding out. "What does Ladybug want me to do?"
"I'm quite certain she wants an EMP."
"An EMP?!" Max looked incredulous as he beheld the camera in his hands.
Chat gave a dreamy sigh, "She's so demanding…"
"Chat, stop playing around and hurry up!" Ladybug yelled, using her yoyo to throw a console at the akuma, who dodged it.
"See?" Chat turned to Max again, "I read before that with some alterations, a camera can function as an EMP, except I don't exactly remember…"
"Can your baton conduct electricity?" Max suddenly said.
Chat Noir pulled it out, "Not sure but… It's magic so…"
"Good enough!" Max snatched the baton and plopped down on the floor, dismantling the camera. "Defend me."
Chat gaped at Max's order, "For the record, only Ladybug can order me around and she will kill me if her plan doesn't work."
He suspiciously felt that Max had laughed at that then he remembered something. "You have a soldering iron on you?"
"No, but I have this rare metallic glue that works without heat."
Huh, Chat Noir didn't know that.
"Chat, look out!"
"Wah?!" He instinctively reached for his baton, only to remember it was with Max. And Max is behind him! Without much choice, Chat let the console hit him, feeling his hands taking hold of the joystick. "Sure, I would play." He took a closer look at the screen. "Wow! Pacman, I haven't seen that in ages!"
"Chat, are you serious!?" Ladybug yelled, tangling a few consoles together as she kicked Retrogamer. "Can you never stop getting roped up in the akuma's effects!"
Chat twitched, cat ears pressed harshly against his hair, a growl rumbled out of his chest, "I'm trying, alright?!"
And he used the console he was stuck on to slam another and send it flying. "I'm not that useless, Ladybug!"
Ladybug faltered for a moment, surprised at his answer, not seeing the akuma rushing her. Chat growled again, leaping into a bound and smacked the console he's on at Retrogamer's face. "Sorry, Max's dad!"
How does Chat know that's Max's father?
"You alright?" He turned to check on Ladybug.
"I-I'm fine. Thanks." Ladybug straightened her back, "Max, are you done?"
"Yes! It will stun Retrogamer for approximately 3.7 seconds but I'm sure you will manage." Max clicked a button at a console, short-circuiting it.
"Max… You need to be disciplined!" Retrogamer roared in fury and threw the remaining working consoles at him and Max… Didn't flinch.
"And you need to chill!" Max clicked the flash again and the consoles collapsed into a useless heap, he skirted around his 'victims' and aimed the EMP at his father. "Now, Ladybug!"
"Excuse me." Ladybug rummaged in Retrogamer's pockets and pulled out the arcade card, snapping it cleanly in half.
"Time to de-evillise!"Ladybug shot out her yoyo, catching the butterfly neatly, "Gotcha! Bye bye little butterfly."
She released the butterfly and took the EMP, tossing it up. "Miraculous Ladybug!"
Chat gave a little 'oh!' as his hands came free which he promptly placed back on the somehow still there and working machine. "Huh, looks like he teleported them from somewhere. You didn't know that."
Ignoring Chat for now, Ladybug extended a hand to the disoriented man, "Sir, are you feeling alright?"
"Ah. Yes. Thank you, young lady."
"Dad!"
"Max?" The man turned to face his son who looked weary but thank goodness, not hurt. "I'm sorry for-"
"It's fine. I would like to talk to you. Are you free?"
"What? Really?" The man practically leapt to his feet. "Of course I'm free! Where do you want to go? How about that old restaurant you used to love-?"
Max coughed, "Just a nearby cafe will do."
"Of course… Of course!" The man trailed behind Max in glee, the boy waving goodbye to the heroes as he went.
"Chat… We should have a talk of our own… What are you doing?"
"Hm?" Chat didn't look at her, humming as he played the game, making Ladybug check his screen and almost gawked.
"There's such a level in Pacman?"
"Yup."
"And you were playing this throughout the fight?"
"Yeah. Before you complain I wasn't focusing, I had to. Who knows what would happen if I lost? Besides the Cataclysm." Chat shrugged, "Plus it's fun."
His ring beeped and he cringed. "Ah, two minutes. Guess the high score has to go. See you later, Ladybug."
"Wait!"
Ladybug felt slightly guilty when Chat looked far too surprised at being stopped by her, especially when the timer is beeping.
"Is something the matter?"
Ladybug fumbled for the words. She had been pretty insensitive today, forgot that maybe, maybe her partner had not recovered from the Shusher incident and-
As usual, Chat Noir read her mind. "Okay, I will see you tonight. Midnight, at the Eiffel."
"Yeah! S-Sure!"
Chat winked even as his ring hit the last pad, bowing to plant a kiss on her knuckles. "Well, goodbye, Milady."
It took her a few seconds to shake out of the confusing mess of her mind to stop staring at where Chat had disappeared to and head back herself.
"Marinette! Adrien!" Alya shouted to get their attention as she ran towards them. "Where have you been?"
"Around." Both answered sheepishly. Alya raised a questioning eyebrow.
"You guys didn't get caught up in the akuma attack, right? It was Max's father. Is Max alright?" Nino questioned next.
"Y-Yeah. Max left with his dad after Ladybug purified the akuma. I think they are fine." Marinette informed them easily as if she had forgotten that Alya might have seen it from recording the fight.
Which led her to…
"So… Did you manage to see the sizzling new development of Ladybug and Chat Noir?"
Alya couldn't help the grin when Marinette groaned into her hand.
(line break)
When she swung onto the top of the Eiffel Tower, she was slightly surprised to see Chat Noir already perched at the edge, legs dangling freely as he whistled a song.
"Purrfect night, isn't it, Milady?"
She lowered herself to sit beside him, taking the time to scan her partner, relieved when he looked alright. "Are you doing okay? After… You know…"
She did not miss the minute stiffening of Chat Noir, he beamed, "No problems at all. Were you purrhaps worried about me?"
"Of course." She is but it really got easily overshadowed by her worry for Adrien instead. "Some friends of mine had some problems too so I helped. I'm sorry that I didn't think of asking you how you're doing this last week."
Chat seemed to sigh, "It's not your fault. There wasn't an akuma attack and we didn't really restart the patrol after dropping it for sleep."
"But you are doing better?" Ladybug pressed, moving her face closer, causing the catboy to scoot slightly away.
"I am. A friend… He noticed and he told me he will be there even if I don't tell him what's wrong."
Ladybug had to suppress the smile at Chat's tone of affection and reverence. "Do you want to tell me?"
Chat Noir eyed her for a few seconds and shook his head, making his hair flutter. "No can do. A cat needs its secrets."
"But-"
"It will be too close to my civilian identity and I know how much you don't want to reveal it." Chat cut off and Ladybug tried to pretend she did not hear the bitterness in his words.
"Maybe you could try saying it as vaguely as you can?"
"No thanks, Milady." Chat raised a hand to stop her, smiling gently. "The fact you even bothered to talk to me about it makes me happy already!"
Isn't he too easy to please?
She opened her mouth to maybe prod him a bit more when Chat gave a mischievous smirk and plopped his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes. "Just for tonight."
Ladybug's eyes bugged out though she quickly softened. If her kitty wants comfort then she will provide.
"Just for tonight."