Chapter 13: Epilogue
Marinette hid the silver cellphone in her purse as Adrien placed his plate of food next to hers and sat. "Hey, Marinette, how's your morning been?" he asked.
She smiled, "Just fine, thanks, how about yours?"
"Great, just great, though I do miss being in Mademoiselle Bustier's class."
Marinette nodded her concurrence. She took a bite of her lunch with her left hand while working on her sketch with her right. Adrien snuck a peek at what she was doodling.
"That's really great art, Marinette! What're you working on?"
She blushed lightly, "It's just a landscape. I thought I'd give it to Lila when I visit her tomorrow. You know, something to cheer up her room a bit."
Adrien swallowed and rubbed the back of his head. "You're going to visit her?"
Marinette bit her lower lip and nodded, "I know we didn't get along last year, but nobody deserves to wind up in a mental institution, all alone, and without friends." Adrien smirked at her. "What?"
"You just never cease to amaze me."
She rolled her eyes and returned to her drawing. Nino and Alya joined them. "Marinette!" Nino sighed, "It feels like forever since I last saw you! How was your summer?"
She her lips curled up slightly, "Kinda quiet, actually. How about yours?"
"Weeelll…" he started, but Alya elbowed him in the ribs, "quiet, very very quiet…" he babbled.
Marinette and Adrien laughed. "I think we need to catch up, wouldn't you agree?" Marinette asked.
"How about Friday night?" Adrien asked Nino with unnaturally narrow eyes.
Alya and Nino exchanged a look and Nino hastily responded for the two of them, "We've already got plans."
"Oh. In that case, what about you, Marinette? Got any plans?"
Her eyes popped. "Pl-Pl-Plans? Fr-Friday?" She locked eyes with Alya, took a deep breath to steady herself, and then turned back to meet Adrien's soft gaze, "No, I don't have any plans on Friday, and yes, I'd love to do something."
"Awesome!" he exclaimed. "It's a date, then."
She grinned. "Yeah, a date."
Ladybug pulled out a fresh cheesepuff, squeezed a few drops of light blue liquid on it, and gave it to Plagg, who swallowed it whole.
"Mmm," he moaned in delight, "Master Fu always made me take medicine straight up. This cheesepuff regimen is so much nicer!"
Ladybug turned to Chat Noir and tried not to get lost in the way her embroidered mask highlighted his gorgeous green eyes. "Are you still both taking those vitamins I gave you?"
Chat nodded, "Morning and night, as prescribed."
"And getting ample rest?"
Chat smirked. "If you mean is Plagg sleeping the day away? Then yes."
She smiled and stroked Plagg's ear. "Well, I declare you both back to one-hundred-percent. But don't forget to keep your stock of camembert up; we've now seen what dumpster-diving for two weeks does to this poor thing."
Plagg did a backflip in the air. "See, I told you that camembert was necessary!" Plagg slipped back into Chat Noir's insulated camembert pocket and took the doctor's order very seriously.
"Thanks again for helping him," Chat sighed as Ladybug returned the vial of elixir to the bottom of the miracle box and started closing it up.
"Of course, that's what guardians do," she smiled. "Although Tikki was right—he's a tough little guy. I don't think any of the other kwamis would have fared as well under those kind of conditions." She removed the peacock brooch and rubbed her thumb over it gently. "Duusu's still struggling, and probably will for some time."
He squeezed her shoulders gently. "But she's with the guardian now, she'll make it." Ladybug nodded absentmindedly and returned the brooch to its spot. Then she traced the empty hole where the butterfly should have rested.
"Do you think we'll ever get Nooroo back home?"
Chat took her hand in his and used his other hand to tilt her chin to face him, "Yes, Milady, I know we will."
Marinette dropped to her belly and rolled to hide behind the barrier. A deep breath in, eyes closed, listening for any sound that might give him away. Her finger was poised on the trigger, tense with anticipation. Then, she heard it like a whisper-the careful footfalls of her opponent. She pounced. Her months of training both on the rooftops of Paris and in the gym were put to good use as she took three running steps, a massive leap, and did an aerial cartwheel right in front of him, placing a well-aimed shot right at his chest at the height of her arc. She landed on her feet and lifted her weapon in triumph. "Haha! I win!"
Adrien's laser gun dropped to his side and his jaw fell open. "How did you… what in the…" he babbled.
She lifted her nose in the air and tucked her laser gun in its holster. "I'd offer you best out of thirteen, but I'd probably just kick your tail again."
His eyes popped and his hand to the small of his back in a peculiar manner, but then he shook his head and laughed. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng… who would have guessed is a lasertag extraordinaire? You're incredible; it's like you spent the summer training or something."
She blushed furiously. "Well, I-I-I mean, I did take a few kickboxing lessons this summer…" She was stammering again.
Adrien's face split into one of those dazzling model smiles and Marinette lost her balance. He slipped his arm around her waist to prevent her from falling, but that only made her knees shake more. "And there's the Marinette I know and love." Her eyes flew open at the word 'love.' "Want to go get some ice cream or something?" he asked softly.
Her tongue suddenly felt very thick. Rather than risk making a babbling fool of herself, she nodded. They returned the lasertag equipment and laughed together as they relived the more impressive moments from the game.
As Marinette animatedly recounted that she'd been so shocked when he did a barrel roll off one of the obstacles that she'd dropped her laser rifle and-and insisted that was the only reason he'd gained a point-Adrien had that warm feeling of serenity, of home, wash over him again. He laughed and casually teased off her objections, which caused her cheeks to flare pink again. There weren't many things he was sure of, but he knew in this moment he was happy, and was glad that she was happy too.
Adrien gently took Marinette's hand as they strolled into the quiet Paris evening.
"Chat, would you mind shaping those loaves?"
"No problem, Mr. Dupain," Chat trilled and started kneading and rolling the dough between his hands, just as Marinette had taught him.
"Here, Chat, try this," Sabine insisted, poking a croissant in his mouth as he worked, "it's a new filling… too much nutmeg?"
He pondered as he chewed, then shook his head, "Nope, though you might want to consider adding a little cardamom—it would really set off the other spices nicely."
Marinette giggled. "You guys are the worst. Chat came here to hang out, not be turned into your personal assistants!"
Chat's smile stretched from ear to ear. "I like helping out."
Marinette tapped her lips as she examined the pile of homework in her lap. "Well, in that case, do you have any idea how to calculate the rotational speed of the galaxy by using redshift?"
"Well, Miss Dupain-Cheng…" he crooned, finishing the loaf he was shaping and then leaning so he was mere centimeters from her face, "…it's your lucky day, because this Kitty's an astronomy ex-purr-t."
Marinette stroked her chin. "Is that so?"
"It is. Although, I don't know why you need to study the galaxy—your eyes are already more brilliant than the stars."
"I dunno," she countered seamlessly, "I've been surrounded by an awful lot of dark cat-ter recently." She poked him in the inky blackness of his chest. "You could say I've passed the event fur-rizon…"
"Knock it off, you two—" Tom chortled from the brick oven, "—there's no escape velocity paw-sible for bad puns."
"Tom!" Sabine warned, "let those two get to work! They'll never overcome the gravi-tail-tional pull of your hilarity!"
"No, no, Dad," Marinette cried, clutching the countertop and pretending to get sucked toward her father by her toes, "don't spag-cat-tify me!"
They were all laughing so hard that they barely noticed the AkumaAlert flashing across the television screen in the corner of the bakery. "Oh drat, looks like I've got an appointment," Chat sighed. "But I'll come right back and relieve you of your astronomy woes, Purr-incess." Chat bowed to Marinette's parents, and made for the door.
"That's right, because I don't know what I'd do without my ex-purrt, Sir Paw-king! No, no, Feline-stein!"
His laugh faded as he spun his staff and flew toward the battle.
"I'm going to finish my homework upstairs," Marinette scrambled, still smiling, and raced up the stairs and out of sight.
Sabine gently rubbed Tom on the back as she watched her daughter race from the room. "I do like that young man," she gushed. "I'm so glad Gabriel's given him a bit more free time. He's so much happier now than he was last year."
"Shh, Sabine," Tom frantically exclaimed, "Marinette hasn't left yet, she might overhear you!" Sabine shrugged and turned to the television to watch the news footage. "Though, I do believe he's got to be the worst parent on the planet—what kind of father doesn't notice that his own son is Chat Noir?"
Sabine smiled and replied, "Now now, if I'm not mistaken, it took you several months..."
Tom blushed deeply, "Well, if you weren't so principled, you might've told me."
"It's a good thing I am so principled, otherwise everyone-"
"-yeah yeah, I know," Tom muttered, "everyone would know, worst of all-the two of them, and loved ones would be in danger and the magic wouldn't work right and yadda yadda yadda…" Then, he murmured under his breath, "Still, I can't fathom how you sorted it out so easily."
Sabine laughed quietly and kissed her husband. "Mother's intuition."
"Ladybug and Chat Noir have arrived and are now fighting the villain calling themselves…" Nadja Chamack's voice reported from the television screen.
Tom wrapped his arm around his wife and devoted his attention to the news. "I do love watching our daughter work," he sighed, kissing Sabine's hair gently.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~Fin~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note: This has been such a fun project to work on! I hope you all enjoyed it; drop me a line if you did! I may have to make fanfic a more permanent part of my stress relief arsenal. Happy Holidays, everyone, and take care! -Mommadon