Summary: Adrien and Kagami have their long-awaited fencing match, and Adrien learns yet more about his desires when confronted by another Alpha who has made her desire for him obvious.
The moment that Adrien crossed the threshold into the main area of the D'Argencourt fencing academy, Kagami let her sabre clatter to the ground. Sheer shock at the disregard for her prized position was enough to stop Adrien in his tracks as his fencer-girlfriend jerked her head in his direction to glare at him suspiciously.
Then, as per her life's adage, she showed no hesitation, marching up to him and bending into his personal space. Her presence flooded his nose with musk and spice – something like anger – and it mingled with Marinette.
He grumbled low in his throat, the sound tinged with a hint of threat and longing at the strange admixture that left him swimming as the other Alpha stood at a just respectable distance.
She snuffled his chest, seeking out all those spots where he already knew Marinette's scent was strongest and sweetest. What would she think of that? He knew that she wanted a pack, but...
With a glance towards the other assembled students, she chuffed and repositioned him by sliding her hand along his hip in a slow caress, guiding them both into the corner of the room.
Distantly, he recognized that the other students were still watching while pretending to busy themselves in organizing equipment, chattering with each other, and finishing match preparations.
After several moments of silent interplay, the spiking scent of her drawing his nose to her hair as his blood heated dangerously, she pulled back to stare at him. Even with two years of dating as he tried to get over Ladybug and the added benefit of Alpha senses that let him pick up on her moods more easily, she was still difficult to read. That unknown was kind of a thrill. Her molten yellow-brown eyes were glazed with aggression and longing that was so strong she looked like she was on the verge of trying to force him to the ground to either eat him or rut him ... or both at the same time.
"You reek of Marinette." Another lingering breath that puffed up her chest as she flaunted herself and made herself seem larger, more robust, sent shivering pangs through his stomach, spine, and cock. She grinned at that, feral and toothy, and he really wanted to grapple her down to the ground and wipe it off her face. "And rut. Is this why she cancelled our orange juice date on Saturday?"
For the Alpha who had been courting him, in a strange dance that both of them had to feel out and still were, he suppressed another growl and all the other desires. The thought of her taking Marinette on a date, or Marinette taking Kagami on one was gorgeous and it made his blood boil.
Could instincts make sense for once? It was all protect-fuck mate-fight knot-watch love-anger dominate-cherish. If they just told him to do one thing, and not the opposite at the same time, at least he could fight it.
"We met after school and she wanted to give me a gift that she had made while she took some time off school. Her awakening hit her kind of hard." To be fair to her, he should really explain. "Nothing happened, really."
"Other than you scenting each other?" Kagami cocked a brow.
"We just hugged," Adrien insisted roughly. Why did he feel like he was being attacked?
"I can smell that." The Alpha's laugh was as sardonic as any he'd ever heard from her. "The real surprise is that you were able to hold off claiming her right there if she smelled half this sweet."
"I'm not going to take arousal as consent. That's not how this works – not how it ever should have worked."
"A laudable perspective, Adrien, particularly when it concerns Marinette. I suspect that our parents would find it far too progressive, but I do not believe that you are wrong in that, at least." She shook her head, putting a hand to his back so that she could tug him along towards the changing area.
"What do you mean by that?" There was little else that he could do but surrender to her grip as she womanhandled him towards the locker room, even if he had to suppress a growl.
"That's a conversation for you to have with Marinette." Reaching the changing area, she seemed to be willing to let the matter rest, even as the heat of her cinnamon-scented arousal rolled over him in waves. She gestured for him to enter the changing room.
Corded muscles straining in his shoulders, and a bubbling anger he hadn't expected wicking away sense, he found that he didn't like being told what to do.
"What if I want to talk. Now and with you?
A small snarl creased Kagami's lips as the grip on his arm became biting. The scream of violence and threat and attempted dominance had him rising up to emphasize the disparity in their heights.
She just threw him a smile.
"Good for you, Adrien." Kagami nodded, and her hand relaxed, not quite letting him go but instead shifting into an easy squeeze as she pet his arm. Rather than taking on that acrid gun-powder scent of her anger, the sweet musk only intensified.
Challenging her... turned her on. He licked his lips and took in her expression. The feral longing in her eyes was still there, but they had shifted into something strangely warm – especially for her.
She ran the back of her wrist over her nose and huffed out snort. "I think that Marinette's scent may have affected me more than I realized, and it was good of you to stand up to that. It bodes well for you."
"So are we going to talk now?"
"I still believe that we should exercise first. The academy will close in only a few hours, and we will have a great deal of time to talk then." She looked him straight in the eye, and he was surprised to find that it didn't prick at his instincts. "What do you think?"
It was a choice to be made together. Neither of them in control. To dominate or be dominated was always a prison in its own way, and both of them had lived their lives in gilded cages.
"I- I think that's actually a good idea."
"I'm pleased that you do."
He changed hurriedly in a fumble, keeping Marinette's scarf separate from his clothes when he stuffed them into his bag, trying to preserve the scent. It was still so strong and sharp that he wondered if it he had to. It was like it would never wash out.
He met his girlfriend on the piste, and they fell into their routine, Kagami smirking at him hungrily, eyes alight with glee and heat as she offered him a salute with her sword. They began.
"Mommy and daddy are fighting again," came the snickers of one of the other fencers from the crowd of spectators.
A flush worked its way down Adrien's throat when his sensitive hearing allowed him to pick up the soft, snorted reply, "Daddy, why are you and mommy wrestling? Can I play too?" A low wolf-whistle followed.
It was one thing to fantasize about you and your girlfriend knotting a cute, caring, supportive classmate while in the privacy of your bathroom; it was quite another to hear your fencing teammates chortling over the idea of you holding a "deciding match" with that same girlfriend
Kagami's pheromones poured out, heady and threatening and spicy-sweet through their matches. Each round grew progressively more fraught and furious until they lost themselves to the slippery hot exchange, each match tense. Sabre tips caressed as they felt each other out, tested for movement and intention before falling on each other time and again.
Instinct warred with training, coaxing him to grumble and chuff and surrender to hyper-agression, ignore reserve and skill, and he saw the same in her stilted motions. It was a second, or even third layer of challenge. Who would win as they danced around each other, forgoing their piste and ranging the gym, though not quite so wild as they were that first day? More than that, who would break under the swell of instinct and dive forward with a clumsy-aggressive thrust that they needed, but would only be a loss because they had broken.
Been broken.
Their judge gave up and left them to their increasingly sloppy motions; skill was slipping away, but reading of tells, subtle motions, and reaction times were tested, improved.
Even though both their bodies were finely-honed, and those oppressive Alpha tendencies kept him – or her – from getting hard, they were aroused. Blood diverted to their straining muscles by frantic hearts as they panted and sweat, crashing into each other and withdrawing, never satisfied because there was always more to give and more to take.
Even though need-aggression dripped from her – a sickeningly disgusting scent from any other Alpha, but from her something exotic and forceful –, it wasn't enough to overpower the lingering sweetness of Marinette that almost felt like it was a part of him. Kagami radiated longing with each thrust, parry, or feint, the heat coiling and mounting with every match.
Eventually, they came to a stop, weaving around each other, and Adrien didn't even know how. They must have cooled, slowed, gradually ramped down their fight, but he couldn't remember it – or anything about the fluid interplay of their battle.
He just found himself staring down at her, both their fencers' cages laying on the ground. Sweat matted her hair as she gulped down air and her brown eyes were liquid fire, earthy heat. They gleamed with hunger and want, not all of which was directed towards the tempting omega they could both still smell inside of his skin and soaked into the scarf that he had in his bag even all the way on the other side of the room.
The tang of her possessive and aggrieved pheromones was hot on his tongue as he just held off from panting. She was scenting the entire room, trying to coax him to do the same by bearing her throat in a show of unexpected vulnerability just for him, calling on his own instinct for dominance. The other Alphas grew taut with agitation and - and fear.
He liked that scent too, though he hated himself for it.
They were afraid of him and Kagami, and they should be. And if they were afraid, they wouldn't threaten him. His heavy eyes half shut, he leaned into Kagami to take in more of her; and she did the same, reveling in scent-marking him as he did her by easing her wrists along his shoulders while she held him and she slid her throat to the ridges of his chest while also accepting his nuzzling of her hair.
They were only about two steps away from rutting in the middle of the piste to seal the agreement that was as obvious to them.
No one would ever take Marinette. She was theirs.
He didn't think that, not willingly or consciously, but instinct screamed it.
It was all so obvious, not to his fretting and unsteady mind, to the boy who hadn't been taught how to be a man or an Alpha, but he knew it nonetheless deep in a hidden part of his heart and gut.
Together, he and Kagami could keep anyone safe, and that was what an Alpha did, so of course they needed each other.
That was the resolution he clung to and that allowed him to get through the verbal chewing out by Monsieur D'Argencourt. Their instructor had ripped into him and Kagami for their shameful display. They'd practically been fucking in the middle of the gym (That seemed to be a running theme for Adrien today). Kagami standing tall next to him, hand locked with his, they weathered the scorn that made him think of his father, the anger and the chastisement, even if he was a little guilty for having bathed the entire room in his aroused musk.
That wasn't proper.
He couldn't even bring himself to care that the other Alphas looked ill, while the Betas were confused, or that his father would catch wind of this too.
They were banished from the academy for the rest of the day, only being given enough time to gather their things from the locker room.
The moment the stepped outside, Adrien shouldering his bag, Kagami wheeled on him and her lithe form slammed into his chest, forcing him to scramble back into the wall as she grabbed his head and pulled him down into a violent kiss, hands ranging over his cheeks, throat, and broad shoulders.
Thought gave way to nature as he responded to the robust and fragrant woman in his arms, arms curling around her waist as he tried to mount a defence against her probing tongue. Kisses and even heated passion were nothing new between them, though she'd always spared him during her ruts before he awakened, but this fury was something else entirely.
She consumed him, the odor of her need and just her flaming inside of his skull, heart, and groin. It was fire and ice; something that could burn, soothe, warm, freeze, or kill in equal measure, and it was a thrill – the exact opposite of Marinette, but good because – because it was safe, a danger like Ladybug's lightning that fit into him and worked alongside of him.
Because Chat Noir was dangerous, and, Adrien realized, he could be too.
Just being dangerous didn't make you bad. Everything depended on what you did with that power.
Her tongue explored his teeth as he refocused on her, his bag falling to the ground as he cupped her rear. The muscle was firm as he pawed and squeezed the curve of Kagami ass, delightfully small and taut in his aching, itching palms.
"Adrien," she gasped as she pulled away, and he loved the breathy weakness of her.
"Kagami, what are we doing?" He trembled, struggling against himself to keep from kissing her again as she licked him under the chin – took his scent and teased her teeth around his throat, threatening, but comfortable.
"You don't know what we've just done?" she asked, face pinching up in confusion.
"We had a fencing match."
For a moment, it seemed like she didn't know if he was joking.
"Yes," she offered, taking a few deep breaths to cool herself, and he couldn't help but regret the way she pulled back. "We fought, neither of us conceded defeat, and we both accepted that, yes?"
"It was just that I didn't really feel the need to win or lose – I mean, I still want to, but-" He didn't know what to say; he just wanted her to close the distance between them again. Her trim, muscular figure had fit into his arms so – so differently from Marinette's soft form, but no less comforting. He longed for it. Maybe he just longed to hold anyone – anyone who he could love or who could fight for him.
"But it is enough to fight and test yourself. The struggle is an end unto itself," she offered with a knowing smirk. How could she understand him better than he knew himself?
"I guess that's true."
"I... do not wish to pressure you, as we have made that mistake before," she offered tentatively, shifting so that she now leaned back to the wall next to him. "But I took this as a sign of your acceptance of me – of us."
Could he accept her? His revelation regarding their combined abilities that could let them keep each other safe – keep an Omega or a pack safe (Ladybug, Luka, Marinette, even Chloe) – made it... so damnably tempting. They could start a family – have a real family – just like they could have a real home: Marinette.
If – if she'd accept them. He wanted that. All of it. Was that – could he be that greedy and not be a horrible person?
Kagami's want and need were obvious, visible and almost palpable on his tongue and flooding his nose, as she waited for him.
She hesitated for him.
He wanted all of this.
His father made him feel like wanting anything was wrong.
It was time to set that right. To be selfish for once.
"Would your mother mind if I visited your home so that I could take a shower?" He sniffed his shoulder and only thrilled at the conjoined smell of their exertion.
Kagami cocked her head.
"Not in the least, Adrien. She is quite pleased at the prospect of our mating. One of her great concerns is that a weak partner would distract me from my training. Another Alpha who could care for himself, and address the needs of a pack if necessary, would be... a relief to her." Kagami put a hand to his chest, splayed over his nipple, as her ragged breathing picked up. "Would you like to join us for – for a shower and dinner?"
"I – yeah." He nodded. "I- I think that I do want to stop by the Tsurugi estate for a shower."
His girlfriend, and maybe a – a mate who was everything that he needed to make sure that his home stayed his, could be his or, at least, would be safe even if she didn't want him back, grinned.
For now, that seemed like it was enough.
Author's Notes
The next chapter, which is really just an erotic evolution of the sword fight that began here, and an extensive conversation once their heads have cooled, will be posted in the next few days. It's nearly done already, save for some finishing touches.
I hope that you enjoyed the contrasting relationship dynamics between Adrien and Kagami, and that his hormonal fixation and decisions regarding a pack fit well with what we've established thus far. Kagami isn't just a means to an end, though; he sees her - as she views him - as a partner who can actually support and defend him. That, along with love and kindness, is something that he never got from his "old" family.
Kagami will have more to say on that next chapter.