Going new places is so much fun especially playing Pokemon Go. My town does not have the best selection but then again I don't really live near a metropolis... Welp we are about 93 pages in to this story folks and I'm not even halfway through my plot yet... I'm gonna die...
averageStar, Two-tailed-fox-lady... Thank you, thank you! I am glad you are enjoying this story so much.
mdmpinkie9088... The stone is round with a T like marking through it so above the top of the T would be the head which will be black and to either side of the Leg of The T will be red making it look kind of like a ladybug. eventually it will get spots too. The stone starts off grey and will be slowly changing through the story. Right now it has gone from shades of gray to slight coloration.
panteabooks... Yes eventually she will become Ladybug. Sorry this is a slow burn and slightly intricate story so we have to get a base down first.
Aquacharles... Chat does know how to fight since he has been through fencing. Mostly though he just knows street fighting and whatever moves he has picked up along the way. Marinette has the true martial arts background so Chat has to rely on his greater speed and strength to counter Marinette. He is a good fighter on his own though, I find it more fun that way.
Marinette is a detective who can't keep a partner while hunting down the notorious Hawkmoth gang. Chat is the new cat burglar on the streets who never gets caught. After Marinette gets handed his case it's it won't be long before their fates collide especially when monsters start roaming the streets
(Luncheon)
The precinct was quiet when Adrien arrived the next morning, a small grin on his face as he thought about last night. The bout he'd had with Marinette was amazing and he honestly couldn't wait to see what surprises she had up her sleeve when they went parkouring later that night. Making his way across the second floor Adrien sighed when he saw her door shut the papers for the day untouched in her box. Marinette was late.
Plagg snickered from his pocket at his kittens sigh and with a grumble Adrien moved to an empty desk to set down one of the Styrofoam cups he carried in his hand. People in the precinct were arriving now and several of them eyed him with open curiosity though none of them approached him as they went about their own business. Several minutes passed in silence before a tap at his shoulder made Adrien jump an almost growl slipping out before he silenced it. Marinette grinned at him as he turned and Adrien eyed her more than a little surprised. She had snuck up on him!
"How did you do that?" Adrien asked looking a little stunned.
Marinette cocked her head to the side curiously looking slightly confused. "Um… do what and what are you doing here so early?"
"Oh I was waiting for you actually. Some of the paperwork I have to finish is annoying and if you aren't too busy I was hoping for a pointer or two. I even brought you some tea as a bribe." Adrien answered deciding not to admit the fact that she had snuck up on him. Handing her the cup Adrien watched as she took an appreciative sip of the liquid her shoulders relaxing a bit as she let out a sigh.
"I suppose I can accept your bribe. Come on in and lets see what you have got." Marinette said turning and going back to her door. Collecting the papers left over from yesterday she unlocked the door and pushed it open, holding the door to prevent the hinges from shrieking. Adrien followed and was about to shut the door but stopped as Marinette called out "Just leave it open otherwise the nosey parkers will just be worse."
Adrien frowned at her then glanced out the door realizing that the few people who were in were all watching the door intently one of them even moving a bit closer on the pretense of checking a nearby closet. Biting back a growl Adrien moved to claim his seat in her spare chair.
"Are they always this bad?" Adrien asked
Marinette shrugged out of her jacket the paperwork she had to do that day already spread across the desk. "Yes, they know I'm on desk duty and they know that your father would never assign you as my partner. This is the second or so time you have been seen coming into my office so they probably want to know what's going on. Plus you brought me tea."
Adrien grimaced his heightened hearing picking up a shuffle of feet as someone tried to sneak closer to the door and listen in on the conversation. "I see." he growled tilting his head towards the door and Marinette shrugged her eyes showing her distaste at the listener. then all the sudden Adrien grinned as an idea struck him. "I shouldn't take but a few minutes of your time though. I just have a few questions about a form and then I will be out of your hair."
Marinettes lips twitched into a small smile as she saw right through his little act. She had been curious as to the real reason he was here, but playing this game of subterfuge was more fun. "That will be fine I have some free time right now before I get to work anyways."
Adrien sat pulling out a folder he had tucked into his waistband and flipped it open to a blank sheet of paper. Swiftly he wrote on it, 'you want to get breakfast in a bit?'
Marinette raised an eyebrow at him a little surprised that this was his real reason for coming to her and wrote below it 'I brought my breakfast but I haven't got anything for lunch because I was late.' then since she could practically hear their listeners sweating said out loud "You just have to fill in these two boxes. The computer stuff isn't that hard to do either." Since she knew anyone listening would be curious about the growing silence between them.
Adrien smothered a snicker swiftly writing 'I can get you something if you would like.' As he said "I see I guess I just didn't know where to put things down."
Marinette nodded a small thoughtful hum coming from her as she wrote. 'Strawberry tarts from the nearby café are really good. So are the sandwiches.'
Adrien grinned at her closing the folder and standing up "I'll go take care of this then. Thanks for your help again."
Blinking up at him Marinette opened her mouth to ask him to wait but Adrien was already at her door.
"Oh hello I didn't see you there." Adrien said patiently as he swung around the door frame out of sight.
Marinette suppressed a groan as the listener fumbled an explanation before practically running off. Adrien leaned back into her doorway catching her eye.
"I'll be back I'm sure. Paperwork is not my thing." Adrien said with a dramatic sigh and Marinette snickered recognizing that he was lying about the paperwork. All of his forms had been filled in perfectly fine as far as she could tell.
"Sure thing Adrien. Door is open anytime you need anything." Marinette answered noting that it was far too easy to fall into a banter with him.
Adrien nodded as he smiled before walking off to go get them lunch. He didn't care what anyone else in the precinct thought about it. Adrien was going to eat lunch with Marinette whether it was in her office or at a café.
"You know it's too bad I can't sneak in her window as Chat." Adrien murmured to himself as he entered the stairwell. If he did no one would see him enter the office and he could probably hang out longer without arousing suspicions or curiosities. The down side was he knew Marinette would not appreciate Chat showing up at the office and unless he felt like revealing himself to her it really wasn't a viable option.
As if to enforce that thought, Plaggs tiny claws dug into him through his shirt making Adrien hiss in surprise. Stopping for a moment and opening his jacket he glared at the kwami who sneered at him. "Don't even think about it. Actually I think I want to go home before you try and do something that dumb."
Adrien rolled his eyes. "Plagg I wouldn't actually try that. She would either kill me or arrest me simply on principal. You just want to go home to be lazy and eat cheese all day."
Plagg nodded "Exactly. I'm claiming my wheel of cheese and day off starting now. Besides by the time you get back it will be near lunch and you can go back to irritating Marinette. It not like you have anything else to do today."
"I'm not irritating her! Unlike some cranky partners Marinette enjoys my company." Adrien snapped thinking how it would actually be nice to not have Plagg making snarky comments from his pocket all day for once. "Fine I will take you home."
Plagg gave Adrien a sharp toothed grin "Make sure you bring an extra set of clothes to run around in with her and you are not allowed to sleep with her."
Adrien choked nearly missing the next step. "Plagg! What the hell?!"
Plagg cackled knowing he had needled Adrien badly. Turning the color of a cherry Adrien squished him and leaped down the rest of the stairs determined to get Plagg home as quickly as possible.
Marinette was quite pleased with herself as she stood to stretch out her back. She had completed a vast majority of the work she had to do and now all she needed was to drop off what she had done in there appropriate locations. Leaving her door open in case Adrien came back with food while she was gone, Marinette made her rounds papers in hand. She got sidetracked in the evidence room when one of her coworkers asked for her assistance so it was actually close to 1pm by the time she was able to head back to her office. Thankfully Adrien hadn't come to find her yet so she didn't think he was back with food. As she crossed the floor heading to her office she noticed the odd looks she got and wondered if Adrien was in her office waiting for her. Coming around her door however Marinette was met with a rather nasty surprise.
"What are you doing here?" Marinette demanded making Chloe nearly jump out of her skin. She had been looking through one of her desk drawers and Marinette was glad that she locked all of her files and important things up.
Chloe flushed slightly at realizing she had been caught snooping and slammed the drawer closed. "If you must know Sabrina has my purse and I was looking for a mirror."
Chloe was dressed in a slinky black tube that was barely long enough to call a dress and a yellow semi sheer shawl covered her shoulders. Her hair was curled about her face and other than the shortness of her dress Marinette had to admit that Chloe did know how to dress to impress.
"Why in the hell would I have a mirror in my desk?" Marinette asked annoyed by her presence already.
Chloe sneered at her, as her features twisted into a thoughtfully fake expression. "Oh why indeed, do you always like looking like trash?"
Marinette bristled but forced herself to remain calm. "At least I can bend over in my clothes. Is that why you always keep people around you? So you can have them bend over to pick up all the things you drop so you don't show the world what color underwear you are wearing this week?"
Chloe stomped her foot starting to lose her cool especially since Marinette was winning this verbal sparring match. "This is a designer dress! It probably cost more than what you could ever dream of making!"
At her words Marinette rolled her eyes. "Chloe I design better things than that tube dress in my sleep. As for the money, that isn't something to brag about. Instead of spending it on an ugly dress why don't you do something useful with it?"
"Like what? Buy you a decent wardrobe?" Chloe hissed fuming
Marinette sighed already tired of trading insults. Usually when Chloe showed up she traded a few insults and left unless she wanted to show off something her daddykins had bought her. Ninety percent of the time Marinette replied out of habit not giving a care in the world as to what Chloe thought or said. Right now though Chloe was making no move to leave which was odd and rather annoying. Marinette had completed a good chunk of her work but she wanted to finish so she could take a nap and get out to parkour a bit early.
"Alright enough with the trash talk what do you want Chloe?" Marinette demanded sharply when Chloe made it obvious she wasn't about to shut up.
Chloe actually flinched back for a second before making an indignant noise. "I came here to tell you to stay the hell away from my Adrien."
Marinette froze her jaw dropping and then she started to laugh. "A-are you serious?! You came to my office, interrupted my work, all to tell me to stay away from Adrien?! He is his own person and if he wants to be around me he can. Hell, he can do as he likes until he is assigned. Until then he is free to shadow whomever he wants! What is it with both you and his father trying to control his life? You guys do realize he is an adult right?"
Chloe folded her arms, her perfect nails digging into her skin as she hissed "I don't know what you did to put him under your spell but you need to take your bad luck with partners somewhere else. Adrien is going to be my boyfriend and I won't have him working with a piece of trash like you!"
Marinette felt the first trickles of fury sear through her, but right as she was going to send Chloe into orbit with her scathing reply a voice cleared itself from the doorway. Both girls turned to see Adrien standing in the doorway holding a takeout box in his hand. Wondering briefly how long he had been standing there, Marinette sighed seeing the stony look on his face and tense way he held himself. Chloe however squealed and wiggled her way towards him not registering the annoyed look in his eyes.
"Adrikins there you are! Did you get me something to nibble on? You know how picky I am so I hope it's not too fattening!" Chloe warbled moving to throw her arms around him.
Adrien moved the box out of the way to keep it from being crushed in her overenthusiastic greeting then jerked his head to the side to avoid the kiss she tried to plant on him.
"Chloe…" Adrien tried but she grabbed his free arm snuggling right up against him as she pushed him towards the door.
"Come on Adrikins we have some where far better to go than here and tonight we can go on a date! I already have the whole evening planned out and…"
"No Chloe." Adrien broke in and before Chloe could start her meaningless chatter again he continued. "I already have plans for this evening and you are not going to be a part of them."
Chloe gaped at him as he coldly shook her off then moved past her towards Marinette. "B-but Adrikins I-I thought we…"
Adrien shot a cold glare in her direction setting the take out box on Marinettes desk "You thought what? I was your newest toy to play with now that I am back in Paris? I'm sorry Chloe but not all of us can play our lives away. Now I have a job to do and I wish to do it well. We are friends. That's all and right now you are interrupting one of my mentors work."
Chloe gaped at him her jaw opening and closing somewhat uselessly. Then her gaze settled on a stunned Marinette and she jabbed a finger in her direction. "You, you will pay for this." She sneered making Marinette frown at her.
"I haven't done anything but my job. You should leave before you embarrass yourself any further." Marinette snapped
Chloe gave a disgusted huff and spun away shrieking for Sabrina with her very next breath. The people who stood outside the door had to swiftly move to get out of her warpath and they were clearly watching the drama with avid interest. Most of them still remained even as Chloe's voice faded and Adrien let out a small growl advancing to the door before Marinette could stop him.
"Do you people have nothing better to do than gossip idly? Perhaps I should tell my father he needs to add to the workload so you all are no longer so bored." Adrien snapped his voice positively icy.
Suddenly everyone was rushing to get away, the silence of the floor breaking into the shuffle of feet, papers, and chatter from more than a dozen sources. With a curt nod to those who still dared to stare at him he shut the door in their faces throwing the lock for good measure. With an almost silent hiss in distaste for all the drama Adrien turned to find Marinette opening the box he had set on her desk, her expression unreadable. With a slight gulp Adrien realized he didn't know what to expect from her. She could be grateful or annoyed at his invasion but since she hadn't said anything yet, he in turn wasn't sure what to say.
"Geez Adrien this is practically a picnic! How much food did you buy?!" Marinette asked shifting the treats in the box to empty spaces on her desk as she dug through it. "Oh well I guess this means we will have a snack to take with us to parkour tonight."
"Am I still welcome?" Adrien asked his voice soft in volume but it was stiff.
Marinette tilted her head looking purposefully confused. "Of course silly. You are always welcome Adrien, besides what else would you do? Go on that date with Chloe?"
She went back to emptying the box, swiftly popping a tart into her mouth since she could still feel Adrien's gaze upon her. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw his shoulders relax and Marinette knew that she had made the right move. On one hand she wanted to scold him for snapping at the gawkers but on the other she had felt a blaze of satisfaction seeing them all run for the hills. No matter how she felt Marinette knew she would have to address this odd sense of prickliness that came from him at times, but for now she was hungry and she didn't want to make him regress into his stony cold personality. Either that or run him off. Adrien, Marinette realized had plenty of people telling him how he should act, speak, and move. The last thing she wanted was for him to think she was going to be the same. After a moment of hesitation Adrien moved to her side seeming to realize that for now she wasn't going to scold him or kick him out. Eyeing the items she was pulling Adrien happily began explaining what each thing was as well as why he got it. Marinette already knew what most of the food items were, but Adrien looked so enthralled she let him rattle on as she nibbled at one of the chicken pastries she favored.
"You bought enough food for five people." Marinette chuckled when he finally paused for air and she shoved a cookie into his grasp when he seemed unable to decide what to eat first.
"I wanted to try a little bit of everything since I don't have a dietitian telling me what I can and can't eat." Adrien admitted biting into the cookie.
His eyes crossed in happiness but Marinette frowned looking at him oddly. "A dietitian?"
Adrien paused one eyebrow rising then he realized what he had said and sighed. "I used to do modeling. It was something my father got me into at a young age and I think he wishes that I had stayed with it. When you are a model you have to stay within a certain weight limit and so I had a dietitian."
The way he said dietitian made Marinette see at once that he had hated it, but he had bowed to his fathers wishes, burying any sign of resentment. It was clear his father had tried to rule his life with an iron fist and now that Adrien was an adult he was rebelling in more ways than one. Marinette frowned thinking of several questions she really wanted to ask but she really wasn't sure how to ask them. Adrien flopped down into her spare chair with a happy sigh then glanced back at her. Nibbling on a pastry Marinette had an odd thoughtful look on her face as she clearly struggled internally with something. Adrien had a feeling he knew what it was and realized that Marinette was far too polite to straight up ask anything about his past. It was nice actually to have someone concerned and honestly curious about his past. Mostly people only wanted information so they could use it against him later. Marinette he knew would never do that. Besides everyone at the station could see how his father was and Adrien knew that Marinette saw how their relationship worked far clearer than the average person.
"What do you want to know?" He asked making Marinette jump.
"I-I um well… I, are you sure?" Marinette stuttered sitting in her own seat. "I mean you don't have to answer any questions I have and it's totally none of my business anyways…"
Adrien chuckled at her garbled mess of an answer and reached over to pat her arm. Instantly she went silent, a blush heating her face. Swallowing his own smile and blush Adrien leaned back in his seat.
"Ok well how about I just tell you how I started?" Adrien asked
Marinette nodded mutely her eyes flickering to his before shying away. Her hands grabbed another pastry and she curled her legs up clearly ready for whatever he had to say. Adrien for his part popped a tart into his mouth savoring the sweet slightly bitter taste, a taste that mirrored his memories. He knew that Marinette would wait patiently for him to collect his thoughts. The only real question in his mind was just how far did he want to go back?
