"—just supposed to be a fact-finding mission; a patrol for finding clues! That's what we agreed! You were not supposed to engage! What if he—"
"—What exactly was it that he said about bug bites? And what did it have to do with tongue? How old was he? What was he—"
"—and with the power of good luck on his side, and you still figuring out how to direct the bad luck at other people, you were at a severe disadvantage tactically. You are lucky you came out of that with nothing but a bruised shoulder and smoke in your eyes! Do you know how worried I was listening to you fighting and the groans and grunts and, and—"
"Was he at least good at puns? No, you know what? Puns aren't good enough. He's not good enough for you. Don't fall for the puns, Emma."
"Adrien, honey, would you focus for a second please?"
"I am focused! Some boy was flirting with Emma! A bad boy!"
'Tennis,' Emma decided, eyes bouncing from one parent to the other. 'It's like watching a tennis match.'
She'd been home for all of five seconds, long enough to de-transform, when she'd been caught in an avalanche of hugs and kisses by her parents. For several minutes, they searched her to make sure she was okay, then they'd sat her down on the couch, handed her a plate of cookies and cheese (the latter of which was obviously for her kwami) and proceeded to give her the dressing-down of a lifetime.
"This is why we typically avoid telling parents when we can," Plagg groaned in Emma's ear. "It's always the same… well, Adrien's bit is knew. Most dads wait until later to panic about their 'little girl' getting hit on by a guy."
"And you!" Marinette spun on the kwami who suddenly found himself in the spotlight. He stood to immediate attention, dropping his cube of half-eaten cheese and staring at the terrifying mamma-bear about to maul him. "You said she wouldn't be fighting until later when she either had a partner or found some clues. That was more than a clue! That was Tikki's new holder! Her new abuser!"
Plagg drooped heavily under the guilt placed on his tiny shoulders. Abuser. He didn't like that word.
"It was a mistake," he said quietly. "We should have prepared for something like this."
Adrien snorted and crossed his arms, glaring daggers at his former kwami.
"Damn straight," he said. "You forgot to mention one of the thieves was a teenage boy."
Marinette leveled him with a flat look.
"For heaven's sake, Adrien, Emma was just in a fight and—"
"And she did fine," he said. "Better than fine, she held her own against a Ladybug— Stigma whatever." This gave Marinette pause, and something finally clicked. Adrien took the opportunity to continue. "Emma took five years of mixed martial arts training, and is going on eleven years of ballet. She's a strong girl, and she knows how to defend herself. I'll work with her to show her the ins and outs of the Black Cat's weapons too, but for a first fight, she did amazing. Not only that, but she verbally kicked some butt too. Only problem is he seems to be on par with her in that department…"
Everyone else in the room stared at him.
Marinette blinked slowly and said, "That… actually kind of makes sense."
"'Course it does, I didn't just completely disregard our daughter's safety." He sent a wink Emma's way, and she relaxed into the couch cushions, and finally took a bite of a cookie.
Marinette took a calming breath. "Alright," she said, glancing at her small wrist watch. "It's late. We'll talk about a Chatte Noire training regimen tomorrow." She place a kiss on Emma's forehead. "Night sweetie. Don't forget to brush those teeth."
Emma refrained from rolling her eyes. "Yeah, mom, I know. I'm not five."
That struck Marinette harder than Emma would ever realize.
"I know."
'Chilocorus stigma, commonly known as the twice-stabbed lady beetle, is a native resident of the United States and Canada, but does not live west of the Sierra Nevada. The two-stabbed lady beetle is found widespread in California.'
Emma glanced at the picture of the black ladybug with two prominent red spots on it's shell, then clicked on the Wikipedia page.
'C. stigma mainly lives within terrestrial/arboreal habitats, primarily feeding off aphids found in these habitats as well as scales (such as pine needles scale, beech bark scale, and—'
"Blah blah, boring, blah!" Plagg complained. "You've been researching forever! We need a cheese break!"
"We've been searching for twenty minutes," Emma deadpanned. "That hardly qualifies as 'forever.' And if you want some cheese, just go get it yourself. You don't have to hide from my parents anymore."
"But the kitchen is so far awaaay…" he whined. "And… I forgot how to get there. You live in a very big house."
She sighed and combed her fingers through her hair. "I really need to do this research," she said. "Get a one-up on Stigma if I can. Mom already told me the normal weaknesses of a Ladybug like the cold and that, because he's a guy, he's actually going to be weaker than my mom was as a Ladybug, which is kind of nice."
"Yeah, that's typically why the girls are more drawn to Tikki," Plagg explained. "But since you seem to know so much already, let's get some cheese!"
"There's just one thing I don't understand," she sighed, clicking on another link. "Why is his suit different? Did he request Tikki to make him look like that? Was it a personal decision?"
"Not likely," Plagg said. "Often times, the suit will reflect the needs as well as the personality of the Miraculous wearer. If the holder wears the Miraculous with the intention of being sneaky, and going around stealing stuff, bright red isn't going to do much for him, but black will."
"So why is my suit mostly the same as my dad's?" she asked. "Why doesn't it reflect my personality?"
Plagg shrugged. "My guess is, your drive to be like him. He and Ladybug were part of your drive to be a hero, so you took on the suit as part of your personality and drive."
"Well that's… interesting, but not altogether very useful information." She sighed and turned back to her computer, opening up another tab. "Time to keep searching." Plagg whined again.
"But cheeeeeeese!"
"Hey, Nino, just calling to see if you wanted to meet up, shoot some hoops, or play Mega Strike… geez, what number are they at now? Fifteen? Anyway, just wanted to catch up, hang out, talk about why you didn't tell me you got my daughter a cat." Adrien sighed and rubbed his brow. "Call me when you get the chance— and don't just keep ignoring me!"
He hit the 'end call' button, and turned to Marinette.
"Could have been a little less passive aggressive, but it was a good effort," she said.
He groaned and collapsed onto the loveseat beside her.
"I just don't get why he wouldn't tell us," he said. "We're in the know in all things Miraculous. We might not have volunteered to put the suits on again, but we still could have helped. Plus… she's our daughter. A little warning would have been nice."
"Just remember to hear him out," Marinette suggested. "There could be a good reason he and Fu didn't tell us… could be he didn't want us setting up a three way communication link with her to distract her on patrol and in battle."
They exchanged sheepish looks.
"Yeah, we maybe could have thought that one through a little better," he admitted. "Not a bad idea just… poorly executed. Maybe we should just be on standby for when she calls."
Marinette hummed in agreement, and they sat in contemplative silence for a while, Adrien running absentminded circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. Then he huffed in laughter.
"When did we become 'The guy in the chair'?" He asked.
Marinette gave him a look.
"You watched Spider-Man again, didn't you?"
A charismatic grin. "Yeah, but you and I are cooler than Ned."
"Cooler than a high schooler in a computer lab? I hope so."
They both jumped when Adrien's phone exploded into song.
"Teenage mutant ninja turtles! Teenage mutant ninja turtles! Teenage mutant ninja turtles! Mutants in a half—"
"Nino might throttle you if he finds out what your ringtone for him is."
Adrien grinned, and never would that mischievous smile not be known as the "Chat Noir" grin.
"If he finds out," he repeated. "Now, shhhh! I need to put on a serious face."
He cleared his throat, put on a straight face, and answered the call.
"Nino, time and place; we need to talk."
Yay! Part Four is up! I realize these one-shots turned chapters are short, but I figured if I don't post often, then I might loose motivation, so short chapters more often it is! If ever there is a time when I don't post for a while, rest assured, I will make up for it with an extra extra long chapter. :)
Alsoooo... Thank You SO MUCH to everyone who has reviewed this story! I realize I am TERRIBLE about writing back to you guys, and I'm going to try and change that starting now... and I'll try to go back and reply if it's not too late.
Special thanks to you guys for keeping me motivated with this project! (You guys sometimes literally make me so happy that I squeak, and then the people around me give me that sideways look like, "What the heck?") ^-^'
Until next time!
~TygerSong