And on this week in the Kazel tales... I outran the hurricane to go to Halloween horror nights! It was totally worth it and we had lost power anyways so there wasn't much else to do. My poor friend was a bit freaked by the 60 mph gusts while driving but they stopped by the time we got further south. I didn't even have to chainsaw my way back in to my house! Also got power back so that's good news. I hope anyone in the way of that beast stayed safe! Oh and I wrangled a timber rattle snake! (Don't do this! Its super dangerous unless you know what you are doing and have the right tools.) Everyone wanted me to kill it but I relocated the poor baby to an area where very few people tread out in the woods. If you come up on a rattle snake of any species just back away slowly and don't provoke it. Something like 90% of bites are from people attacking the snake to kill it. Just leave the snake alone or call someone to come remove it if you have kids or dogs that might bother the snake.

LilactheDryad...To be honest some of the characters just sorta fell into line on there own. Others when I needed an extra character for a certain even I used whatever characters personality best fit the situation. I wish I could just make a chart but since my writing tends to be fairly fluid everything is subject to change. I don't think Adrien likes Chloe's pet name for him so unless its used for mocking purposes he probably wouldn't like anyone using Adrikins.

sweetXDmelody... Glad you like it so much! Hopefully it will continue to surprise and entertain you!

(Slow Burn Detective AU!) Marinette is used to working alone on the streets of Paris as she strives to take down the Hawkmoth gang. When the thief Chat Noir comes crashing into her life things are bound to get magical, especially when co-detective Adrien returns to Paris and seems to want to be her new partner. Will their fated partnership end in a capture or a kiss?


Stones and Dragons

Marinette finished her text and snuck a glance at Adrien. His brows were furrowed as he silently mulled something over and she wondered if he was having second thoughts.

"So, have I scared you off yet?" Marinette finally asked, burning with curiosity since Adrien was remaining too quiet on their walk back through downtown.

"No, not quite yet. I've just realized that I have far more to learn than a few simple street rules like my father seems to expect," Adrien answered, his tone a frustrated one.

"Yeah, your father was a street detective but he wasn't as deeply involved in the turf wars until… um… he got the Hawkmoth case. He went deep after, but as soon as he got promoted he seemed to cut all ties with the streets," Marinette said glossing over certain facts since it was Adrien's family they were talking about. "He was so good at what he did, too… he really inspired me to take up police work. I wanted to be just like him till I met him."

Realizing what she had said, Marinette slapped a hand across her mouth an apology on her tongue but Adrien beat her to it.

"I understand, Marinette," Adrien sighed with a grimace. "I wanted to be just like him too. But the way he is now? Sometimes I wonder if he feels anything at all. He didn't cut all ties with the streets though. I know he still has a few people that report to him but most of the time they report on you guys rather than crimes."

Glancing at him, Marinette raised an eyebrow curiously. Adrien shrugged, "I was pretty good at sneaking around as a kid and teen, plus I used to talk to Tiki a lot. She hated being followed by my father's street spies. I hate being followed by them too and I tend to ditch them the first chance I get."

Marinette bit her lip hating that she had brought it up, even though it had been an accident. "It's ok, Adrien. I do the same, although most of them won't tattle on me unless I do something really stupid."

Her words didn't seem to help and noting the stiffness Adrien seemed to have acquired she reached up, patting his shoulder. Instinctively, Adrien flinched out from under her touch not wanting her hand to fall any further down his back and feel the stitches since that would be very hard to explain. Seeing the surprised look on her face, he forced a chuckle out of his suddenly dry throat.

"Sorry… the uh bruising… um, hey, do you want a drink?" Adrien managed and moved rapidly towards an open convenience store while calling himself ten kinds of stupid.

"Ah, Adrien, wait!" Marinette called, but he had already slipped inside.

Arriving at the door Marinette hesitated, her phone dinging so she knew that Stormy was on her way. Technically their free passage covered the walk to and from Mime's location. Wandering into stores wasn't forbidden but it was probably also tempting fate. As if echoing her thoughts a group of men a few meters down the street halted, looking her over and whispering amongst themselves. Half expecting snide comments or a gun in her face, Marinette was surprised when they simply crossed to the other side of the street and slipped down an alleyway. Now that behavior was odd, and if she had been in any other part of town she would probably follow them to see what kind of trouble they were planning on getting into. Matter of fact, the whole street seemed unusually empty of both people and cars setting off little alarm bells in Marinette's mind.

"Oh, just get in here, girly. No one's going to shoot you for stepping in," an older voice called, making Marinette jump guiltily.

It was rather unlikely that a random person would gun her down so, tossing her hopefully unneeded paranoia to the wind, Marinette moved fully into the store. The older gentleman sat behind the counter covered in tattoos, as Marinette raised an eyebrow at him he revealed teeth in a grin that had long ago been sharpened into points.

"There, isn't that better than fretting on the street?" he asked, making Marinette shrug and glance around the store.

It was an average looking place with aisles stuffed with every imaginable fast-food product and snack available. She wasn't really tall enough to see the very back but she assumed that there were probably freezers back there along the wall. Hopefully Adrien was there as well.

As if he heard her thoughts, Adrien's voice suddenly piped up from somewhere behind the shelves, "Uhhh, sir, there is a very large reptile back here!"

The man laughed, "That's Fang, mate! If you get some jerky he'll eat it right out of your hand!"

"Uhhh, ok…" Adrien called back somewhat hesitantly. After a moment they could both hear a bag crinkling.

The man's eyebrow rose, "He's a Friendly little thing, isn't he?"

Marinette sighed rubbing at her forehead, "I'm starting to believe he's an idiot. I'm Marinette and he's Adrien. Thank you for letting us come into your store."

"Name's Stone and I needed some entertainment. I heard there was a lively young thing stirring up the streets. Happy to see the description I got wasn't too far off," Stone answered offering a hand over the counter.

Marinette took it as a car screeched to a stop outside the store making both of them turn their heads in curiosity. Three doors slammed open and men in colored ski masks seemed to boil out before rushing towards the store. Marinette yanked her hand back, already knowing these people were not part of Hawkmoth from the way Stone was swearing.

"Stay down!" Marinette snapped towards the shelves in warning to Adrien before the four men pounded into the store with guns already drawn.

"Keep your hands where I can see 'em, girly," the green-masked man snapped coming around to Marinette's side as the red-masked man broke off to start searching the aisles. The third black-masked man remained at the door while the fourth in a blue mask, and most obviously the leader, leveled a gun at Stone.

"You know what we're here for. Fill 'er up," he drawled, tossing a heavy black bag onto the counter.

Stone grinned, "Sorry, mate. But the alert's already out and the safe's on lockdown. If you Dragons run to the car now, you might all make it."

The green-masked robber, pointing the gun at Marinette, twitched nervously making her glance at him and she saw Adrien moving down the aisle with what looked like batons in hand.

"So our plans were exposed by one of your little spies. Well, we can always take you guys as hostages for both information and our safety," the Boss-robber said, his gun falling slightly

"Um, I would make an awful hostage," Marinette said, making all eyes turn to her. "The Hawkmoth Gang really doesn't like me and will most likely shoot at you, more for the chance of hitting me in the crossfire."

The Boss snorted, sarcasm dripping as he spoke, ''Yeah, I'm sure you're this far in their territory alive without being liked at least a little. Just like I'm sure old Stone managed to get out the alert before we got in here."

Stone grinned, flashing his sharpened teeth at the men, making them all flinch. "The alert's been out, mate. It's why we let this pretty young thing snoop around tonight. We thought we might need her."

"Hey, I haven't snooped at all!" Marinette cried, glaring at Stone. "And what are the odds that this would happen just because I came?!"

Stone chuckled keeping his hands up, although his posture was totally relaxed, "Your luck speaks for itself, sweets."

"Enough wasting time!" the Boss shouted, suddenly his gun wavering between Stone and Marinette. "Now, I'm only going to ask nicely one more time. Fill the bag up or I will take the keys off your corpse."

Stone laughed, scratching at his face and drawing all eyes back to him. "Good thing I don't carry keys then," he answered easily, knowing it was the wrong thing to say as he shot Marinette a sly wink.

Marinette hated being used and she hated that this nice quiet sick-visit had been allowed with an ulterior motive in mind. No matter how much she hated it, Marinette couldn't just allow these robbers to pull the trigger on Stone and at best maim the older man. Adrien, she sensed, was in the best position manageable and trusting him to make his move to keep her from getting shot, Marinette dropped her hand.

"Hey!" yelped the green-masked robber watching her, then jerked forwards as one of Adrien's batons smashed into the back of his skull.

The Bosses eyes twitched towards them, realizing too late that the threat was not Stone but Marinette. By that time she had already let the weight in her hand fly. Unfortunately for the Boss robber, he was left-handed and the weight smashed dead center into his hand breaking bones and throwing off his aim as he pulled the trigger.

Stone barely flinched at the gunshot, lunging across the counter trying to land a punch of his own. He missed since the man had fallen back with a scream, dropping his gun while clutching at his hand. Without a second thought, Marinette swept the robber's legs out from under him. The Boss robbers scream was cut off as he slammed heavily into the ground and the black-masked robber guarding the door swung his weapon up to fire. A moment later he stumbled back, his gun never making it level, as Marinette's other weight caught him square in the forehead.

"You witch!" The Boss robber moaned, drawing her attention back down to the ground.

"Oh shut up and go to sleep," Marinette snapped, delivering a swift blow to his temple before he could cause any further trouble.

"You alright, Marinette?" Adrien asked, moving beside her as she shook out her hand.

Before she could answer, a voice cried, "The hell?!" and Marinette was shocked to see the red-masked robber who had broken off to search the aisles come around the corner nearest the door.

He seemed to be the only intelligent man of the whole group because he took one look at his scattered partners and took off for the door leaping over his one fallen comrade. Adrien was off after him like a shot and he just made it to the door as Marinette screamed "Adrien, stop!"

Hearing the panic in her voice, he did, slamming his hands into the door frame to keep himself inside. The last robber was just ahead of him on the sidewalk and a moment later bullets strafed the street, hitting the car and man as he dove head first through the waiting car's passenger window. The car ripped away from the sidewalk and into the street even though the guy's legs were still sticking out of the window. Adrien, on the other hand, recoiled violently backwards even though no bullets came anywhere near him. Marinette grabbed him from behind, hauling him past the downed robber before spinning him to face her. Swiftly, she checked him for bullets holes, obviously not trusting him to say he hadn't been hit, unlike the red-masked robber.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, Marinette," Adrien soothed, wrapping her in a hug since he could see the utter panic in her eyes. He wasn't too surprised when Marinette returned the hug clinging tight for a minute as she seemed to listen to his heart beat.

"You got one lucky smart lady there," Stone said, finally coming around the counter while sending a kick into one of the robbers who seemed to be trying to stir.

"She is," Adrien replied, allowing Marinette to pull away as she turned to face Stone. His hand remained on her shoulder as a comfort to them both.

"What's the play, Stone?" Marinette called, her voice dead steady even though Adrien could still detect the slightest tremble in her body.

"Well, you two thankfully made a mess of these fine idiots so there shouldn't be any retaliation against the people per se. You'll probably have more to add to your files, though I'll share a secret. This isn't a drop point for cash like those idiots thought. However, neither of you are Hawkmoth and I don't think you're supposed to be poking your nose into anyone's business right now. So I think you should probably go out the back. You're clear and were never here," Stone answered jerking his hand towards the back door. "Some idiot called the po-po, otherwise we'd let you out the same way you came in. Might want to move a little quick since I have a feeling you two shouldn't be here when the they show up."

"Probably not," Marinette agreed grabbing Adrien by the arm as she moved towards the doors. "This does not make us even, though."

Stone laughed, "We are Hawkmoth, sweets. We don't care about being even. How about next time you cross us, we aim to maim and not kill?"

Marinette's wordless snarl for an answer made Stone laugh harder as she dragged Adrien through the doors.

"Wait, why can't we just go out the front?" Adrien asked pulling his arm from her death grip.

"We were never here and I hate getting shot," Marinette answered somewhat cryptically as she pulled out her cell phone to type a swift message to Stormy.

"But I thought police were slow to respond in this area, though. Why the rush?" Adrien asked as they slipped between shelves.

"Because that's the way my luck works. We didn't get hurt, bad guys were taken out, so instead we get caught by our own people and hauled up before Gabriel by morning," Marinette huffed, "or whoever is in charge of our precinct since Gabriel is out of town right now. He'll still hear about it, I'm sure, since that one guy did make it out and he should survive the wounds he sustained. Besides, considering how smug Stone was… they knew this was going to go down so there's probably someone on their payroll waiting in the wings."

Adrien processed this information as they made it out the back door, only to find a youth standing in the alley kicking at something on the ground. Her head snapped up as the door shut behind them, and then she waved at them before darting down the back alleyway.

"Yep, we follow," Marinette said before Adrien could ask. "They wouldn't send a child if it was a trap. It's an unwritten rule that even the Hawkmoth Gang follows."

Adrien followed them at a jog with Marinette's phone dinging every so often. Three turns later, the youth stopped, pointing at a street that had cars passing.

"Thank you for guiding us here," Marinette murmured offering a piece of candy she pulled from her pocket.

The youth nodded with a smile, snatched the candy, and took off back down the way they had come.

"Friendly people, aren't they?" Adrien commented following Marinette back out onto the sidewalk.

"You should see them when they aren't friendly," Marinette retorted. "You did well back there in the store, by the way. But how did you avoid the one robber? I thought you had taken him out when you came slinking down the aisle."

Adrien chuckled, "Thank you, but I didn't run into him? I was already coming towards the front when you called for me to stay down so then when they came bursting in, I ducked back behind some of the shelves. I figured I might have to take someone out but when I peeked around and saw that guy's gun pointed at you, I decided to help first and hope I didn't get caught in the meantime. I didn't even realize the other guy was back there until he was already running for the door. You saved my tail when you yelled for me to stop."

"I really didn't want you getting shot the very first time you ever came out with me. I don't know how I would ever explain it to your father much less the Whisperers," Marinette sighed, then stiffened as she looked up and saw a police cruiser parked on the side of the road facing them. "Crap"

Adrien saw the car a split second later as the door opened and a red-haired male looked at them in surprise. They had both frozen in the middle of the sidewalk and since they were the only people out at the moment, it was impossible to hide.

"Marinette?" he called, an obvious question in his voice.

"Hey, Nathaniel. Why are you here?" Marinette answered, moving up to the door with a very confused Adrien in tow.

"Sh-shouldn't I be asking you that question?" Nathaniel mused, his cheeks pinking slightly.

Watching the interaction between them, Adrien felt an inaudible growl coming to the back of his throat. If Plagg had been there, the little imp probably would have been sniggering in his pocket. Nathaniel, Adrien realized, had a crush on Marinette. It would be cute… if it didn't make Adrien want to strangle him.

"Adrien and I went to say 'hi' to an injured friend. How about you?" Marinette stated with a shrug.

Nathaniel looked a little downcast at the mention of visiting a friend and he stared at Adrien oddly as he finally answered, "I got loaned out since I'm apparently the only available sketch artist in the city. I'm surprised to see you in the area, though. I didn't think you wandered out this far…"

"I don't usually unless I'm invited, this area is filled with butterflies," Marinette cautioned just in case Nathaniel didn't know.

Nathaniel blinked, then looked around hearing the sudden rush of sirens coming their way. "Are you getting into trouble again? I just heard on the radio that there was a shooting right near here."

Adrien bristled slightly at just how fond he sounded and it took a bit of effort to stay silent. He could feel his impassive stone-face settling on his features though he kept an eye on those around them. At the sound of the sirens, people were vacating the street completely and it made him uneasy. It didn't help that Nathaniel was so obviously crushing over Marinette, jumbling his words, and dammit making Marinette smile. Irritation slowly building, Adrien clenched one of his hands out of sight, feeling his nails dig into his palm. He had to remind himself that Nathaniel hadn't been able to keep up with her, even though he had tried, and Marinette had never introduced him to the Whisperers.

Marinette shrugged, "I always find trouble, or it finds me. I was just showing Adrien here the area since we were visiting. It's not my fault some idiots decided to try to rob a place."

Nathaniel sighed, looking between the two of them, "Does that mean you were never here?"

"We would prefer it," Adrien affirmed, making Marinette and Nathaniel glance up at him.

Marinette's phone dinged again breaking off her part of the staring contest as she glanced down at the device before nodding, "Nathaniel, it was good seeing you again."

"Oh! O-of course!" Nathaniel managed as the two of them started to move past the vehicle. They had made it all of two steps when he suddenly he called, "Ma-Marinette, are you-um-going to the-uh-ball?"

"Marinette is going with me," Adrien intoned, his voice cold as he faced Nathaniel with an icy glare.

He was done playing with this freckled redhead and being ignored or looked at with distrust. Since Adrien couldn't openly stake his claim as Marinette's partner, he wanted to make sure that Nathaniel knew that Marinette was not an option at the moment. Marinette smacked him in the ribs with an open hand but Adrien took the blow without even flinching.

Nathaniel, at both Adrien's words and this interplay, visibly deflated. "I-I see…"

"We'll see you there, ok?" Marinette asked. At his affirming nod, they continued on their way to the car as Stormy pulled in just ahead of them.