Marinette went to sleep just after 04h15, when she dropped the letter off on Adrien's window. She couldn't recall if she'd had any dreams that night, but she supposed it didn't matter. She was practically just… waiting out the clock until it was time to put her plan into action.
She woke up at 08h00, deliberately disregarding the knowledge that she'd had less than four hours of sleep that night. She got ready for class, then went downstairs to get herself some breakfast and some coffee for the day ahead of her.
She bounded down the stairs and left through the bakery. She kissed her parents on their cheeks and took a few pastries for the road. She knew that Adrien wasn't supposed to have sugar before a photoshoot, like the one he was scheduled for that night. She figured he deserved something good, though, after the months he'd been having.
She arrived at the school about 25 minutes before their first classes began and she walked over to the table where Alya, Nino, and Adrien were seated. She placed the box of pastries in the center of the table then took one of the pains aux amandes for herself, leaving everything else for her friends to choose what they wanted.
It felt like every other Monday morning of this school year, with one key change she couldn't help but notice. Adrien wasn't looking at her. Well, he usually didn't look at her, but that day, it seemed like he had been deliberately looking away from her. His face was constantly toward Alya, Nino, or the table, occasionally stealing glances at her with small shifts in his eyes.
Alya and Nino dismissed themselves to go to class after finishing their breakfasts. Marinette noticed that Adrien was still sitting there, trying to figure out what he should do in the face of her letter last night. She took initiative herself and moved to the seat next to him and smiled at him softly, even though she knew they'd have to go inside soon.
"Are you doing okay?" She wondered, briefly, if anyone would think twice about her question. It seemed like no one did, so she just sat there, patiently while she listened to Adrien give the most basic, safe answers she'd ever heard from him.
"Yeah," he replied, plain and simple. "About the same as every day." Marinette couldn't help but notice how small he looked that morning. She extended a hand toward him and hoped, desperately, that he was willing to go along with the idea she'd suggested in her letter.
Adrien blinked slowly before reaching out himself and placing one of his hands on top of Marinette's. She turned her hand upside down under his so that she could hold his hand more properly than she had been a second ago. She bit her lip and did her best to offer him the biggest smile she could muster.
"Shall I walk you to class, princess?" He gave her hand a quick squeeze, raising his eyes. Her bright blue eyes met his striking green for the first time all day and she couldn't help the flutter it caused in her chest. She hadn't noticed before, but his eyes were always the same shade of green.
Whether the 'whites' of his eyes were green from Plagg or white when he wasn't transformed, the irises were always the same shade of green. She wondered how she hadn't noticed they were the same before. They were the green she'd fallen in love with, the green that showed up in her best dreams- keeping the ice blue of her nightmares at bay.
"Let's get going, sweetheart," she agreed. Marinette got rid of the empty box, then the two of them walked to the second floor of the school where Marinette's first lecture of the day was located. He lifted her hand to his lips before he had to let go of it, silently saying he'd see her soon.
That was how the rest of their day went. As far as everyone in their Lycée could tell, Marinette and Adrien were dating. After years and years of the two of them playing a much more literal game of cat-and-mouse than anyone could have expected, Marinette and Adrien were 'finally together.'
They ate lunch together, Marinette got a few passionfruit macarons from the bakery for him, while he stopped at the crêpe stand to get her the one she'd ordered on their 'first date'. The two of them set up a picnic in the middle of the park, expecting to get noticed by Gorille, Nathalie, the paparazzi, or even just some of his fans.
They shared their lunch in peace, which wasn't what Marinette was hoping for. By the time the two began packing up to return for their afternoon classes, though, Adrien had gotten a text from Nathalie. He suspected that the message was relayed from Gabriel and merely sent by the assistant.
' Your father has requested a dinner with you and your new girlfriend. '
' He's in charge of both of our schedules outside of school, just let us know. '
He knew that not taking issue with her referring to Marinette as his girlfriend was going to be a damning piece of evidence and was more-or-less going to confirm their relationship to Gabriel. Marinette had her head leaned on his shoulder as he read and responded to the text.
Adrien looked at the time on his phone while he'd had it out. "We should get back to school," he whispered to her. "I don't want to be the reason your tardiness streak ends up getting even worse." She knew the comment was warranted. They probably held the same record for number of tardies in the school.
The accuracy of his comment, though, didn't stop her from reaching out to poke him in his side. He hadn't expected it to tickle, so neither of them anticipated his laughter, but it was bright, cheerful, the most genuine laugh of his that either of them had experienced in months. She found her heart pounding and her saliva felt difficult to swallow.
"Yeah," she responded with a blush dusted over her cheeks, "we don't want to be late." She stood up now that she was finished packing up her stuff. He put the last of his things into his bag and handed her the water bottle that was on his other side. She leaned up to give his cheek a soft, appreciative kiss.
' Your shoot for tonight has been postponed. You and Mlle. Dupain-Cheng are expected to be at the house for dinner with your father at 18h00. '
' Yes, Nathalie. ' He conveyed the information to his girlfriend, who knew she would have to go home and change before the two of them would have dinner with Monarch Gabriel that night. When they got back to the school, Marinette walked Adrien to his classroom because it was on the way to hers.
"I'll walk you home after school?" She nodded and Adrien leaned down slightly to give her a soft kiss on the forehead. It felt familiar to both of them and he suspected that fact shouldn't surprise him. He'd kissed Marinette's forehead when she thought she was with Chat Noir, and he'd kissed Ladybug's forehead on multiple occasions as the two of them grew closer.
Adrien sat down at his desk and couldn't help but think about the girl he'd begun 'dating'. He'd read her letter no less than a dozen times since she'd dropped it off at his house and one thing kept sticking with him. Her plan had said 'We start dating and get his attention.' It hadn't been mentioned if their relationship was going to be real or just an act for his father and he couldn't bring himself to ask her.
He knew he'd wanted to date her. What he'd said to Gabriel was a convenient cover-up, but now that Adrien knew that Marinette and Ladybug were the same… Well, he'd never been particularly good at keeping his feelings to himself.
He knew, though, that that wouldn't do him any good to focus his attention on. So, he finished up his lessons and found himself staring into space, waiting out the clock until it was time for him to see her again. "I got a text that I don't need to go into work tonight," Marinette said in lieu of a greeting when the two met up after classes.
"That's probably for the best," he informed her. "I don't want to know what kind of havoc my father would wreak if he found out that he was the reason you were late to have dinner with him."
They said bye to Alya and Nino before leaving the school. Still hand in hand, and partially surprised by the fact that their friends didn't question their apparent new relationship. The two of them were still holding hands when they walked into the bakery and her parents didn't blink twice at the 'couple'.
The two of them went up to Marinette's room, which wasn't different than usual. Marinette couldn't help but wonder when Adrien had become so ingrained in her life that seeing the two of them together didn't garner any reaction.
When the two of them got up to her bedroom, he sat on her chaise and she sat down in her desk chair, looking at him intently. "Do you want this?" She hadn't meant for those words to be the first out of her mouth, but she couldn't take them back. "I didn't even ask, I just assumed you'd go along with my plan and that was rude."
"Of course I do," Adrien responded, "I've wanted this since we were 14. Granted, I didn't think that this was how we'd start dating, but I mean, I love you and there's no one I'd rather be with than you, Marinette." Marinette's eyes widened in surprise when he finished speaking.
"I," she began, blushing brighter by the second, "I meant stopping Monarch. I mean, things are probably going to change for you when his identity comes out and I want to make sure that that isn't going to cause any problems for you. I… Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to date you, too, but I don't want you to resent me or our relationship because your father is probably going to prison, at least."
"Oh…" He rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous habit. It was a habit of his that she hadn't remembered seeing in a long time, no matter what persona he was in. "Well, yeah. I've also been wanting that since I was 14. I'm not necessarily as excited about that, but I'm happy to be back, working by your side, bugaboo."
He hadn't expected for her to practically leap from her chair, but the next thing he knew, he was being enveloped by her. She held him in a hug, face curled into his chest, he even had a suspicion that she had been crying. He leaned into her chaise a bit, happy to just hold the girl who had thrown herself into his arms.
"I was starting to think I'd never hear that name again," she admitted. He knew pretty much immediately that his suspicion was correct, she was crying. He kissed the top of her head and held her a little closer to him. He knew he'd missed getting to call her nicknames, but he hadn't expected the same from her.
"Don't make me think you like it, or you'll be stuck with it for the rest of your life," he jokingly threatened.
"Please," she responded almost immediately. "After tonight, bugaboo, little bug, buginette, my lady. Any of it, all of it. I've missed you so, so much, chaton." It had been so long since she'd called him chaton and her request seemed to suddenly make sense. She'd been calling him every pet name under the sun, except the ones that were theirs .
It was nice to be her sweetheart, her knight, even her love . Nothing could have prepared him for the welling in his heart, or the tears in his eyes when, for the first time since the day Cat Walker had reemerged, he got to be her chaton.
The two spent as long as they could just enjoying having their partner back. At 17h00, though, Marinette knew it was time for her to get dressed for her first, and probably last, dinner with her boyfriend's father. Marinette set up the screen on the side of her room, behind which she changed into a full-length dress. It wasn't a ball gown, but it was fancier than the dresses she usually wore when she went out with him.
She swapped out her normal purse for a larger one, knowing that her usual purse wouldn't be able to hold nearly as much as the pocket dimension of her yo-yo. The two left the bakery at 17h30 when Gorille arrived in the car by the side door. Sabine noticed that Marinette was more dressed up for her date with Adrien than usual, but it didn't register as being odd.
A few customers mentioned seeing information about Marinette being out with Adrien earlier that day, so Tom and Sabine both assumed that the two young adults just went public with the relationship they'd been in for months. Adrien held the door to the car open for his girlfriend before he went around to get in on the other side. "Are you ready, love?" She bit the inside of her lip and nodded, ready as she was going to get.
She took a deep breath and smiled at her person . "With you by my side, always." He smiled, pleased with the answer she gave. He placed his hand in hers and she passively moved her fingers across his hand, occasionally stopping to hold his ring. The ring that served as a reminder that this was real, they were back together, as the Cat and Bug Team.
When the two of them got to the Agreste Mansion, Adrien excused himself to get changed for dinner while Marinette wandered the foyer. She could see the butterfly motif throughout the room and it made her feel unsettled. She wondered if she would have pushed harder for him being Hawk Moth when she was younger if she had been inside of the house more when she first came up with the theory.
"You look lovely," Gabriel greeted, making Marinette practically jump out of her skin. "Is this design one of yours?" He stepped closer to her and she turned around to greet her host for the evening.
"Good evening, M. Agreste. Yes, I created it soon after I finished the portfolio I submitted to the internship program." Her heart was pounding inside of her chest and she couldn't do much aside from hope, desperately, that he couldn't tell just how worried she was about the outcome of their dinner.
"You seem anxious, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng," he noted. She didn't know whether she looked anxious or if the knowledge was a side effect of him being attuned to the Miraculous of Emotion. She released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding, then nodded momentarily. The nod was followed by a shake of her head.
"I'm fine," she lied in an attempt to assure him. "I've just never had dinner with someone so powerful before." A grin spread onto Gabriel's face at Marinette's claim. He was certain she had no idea how correct her statement was. Marinette looked back around the room, trying to find a safe talking point.
"Very well," he responded. "Shall I help you find your seat this evening?" He gestured widely to the doors to the dining room and she smiled politely at him.
"That's very kind, sir, but I believe that it would be better for me to wait for Adrien. He'll be back soon. I was hoping to get a chance to admire your decor a bit longer while I wait for him." She kept as innocent a look on her face as she could, worried that he would be able to see Ladybug's determination hiding right under Marinette's timidity.
She knew it was a fine line to walk, polite defiance in the face of the man she'd gone head-to-head against for the last 4 years, but she knew that she was on a mission. He looked at his timepiece and accepted her refusal. She couldn't help but notice that the pocket watch he'd pulled out was a similar size and shape to the Rabbit Miraculous.
She couldn't be certain if it was the camouflaged Miraculous or not at a glance. She was struck by the knowledge that if it was , the plan just got more complicated for them. Adrien had told her that Gabriel kept the Miraculouses in his safe, so neither of them had anticipated that he might keep any of them (aside from the butterfly) on his person.
"Of course," he agreed, "I hope you enjoy what you see. I still expect both of you in the dining room at 18h00." She smiled and nodded, not sure what else to do. When he walked away, she glanced up the stairs, seeking out her boyfriend. She took a moment to check the large grandfather clock in the hallway, 17h53.
Seven minutes. Marinette had seven minutes to rethink her plan. If Gabriel had the Rabbit Miraculous on his person, he would be able to travel through time to a point where he would have the upperhand over the two young heroes. She took a brief glance around and (as far as she could tell), the Burrow was nowhere to be seen, whether it was Gabriel's or Alix's.
Marinette counted her lucky ladybugs that she'd denied walking with Gabriel so that she could see that he'd had it on hand before beginning the next phase of her plan. ' Hey, bunny! Time to get downstairs so that we can get dinner started. Hop to it! ' She knew the text wasn't the most subtle thing she'd ever said, but he had said it himself- no affectionate nicknames would seem suspicious.
She didn't think they were particularly monitoring his texts, but she desperately was hoping to never find out if that was the case or not. ' I'll be there soon. If you talk to Nathalie, shell be able to show you where well be seated. ' He knew that Marinette was going to be bothered by the lack of apostrophes, but it was the most subtle way he'd been able to convey his solution to her problem.
She understood the plan and placed her phone into the same pocket that Tikki was in, allowing her to see the same text. Tikki made a mental note of the first jewels that she should get, as soon as the humans were seated for dinner. When Marinette reached the dining hall, Nathalie approached to take her purse and jacket, tohang them in the closet.
"Thank you, Mme. Sancœur," Marinette responded politely. She handed over her items before a blush developed across her face. She stepped in line, following shyly after Nathalie. "Where will they be stored during our dinner? My period started this morning and I'd rather not be without my products during the full dinner." Nathalie nodded in understanding.
"Of course, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng. They will be in the closet to the right of the front door. If you need any assistance in finding them, please let me or Victor know." The man Marinette had only known as Gorille smiled at her from behind Nathalie, letting his name be known to the young lady.
Marinette nodded in understanding and stepped back into the dining hall, just as Adrien approached from behind her. "Good evening, father," he greeted as the two of them entered. He led Marinette to her seat and pulled out her chair for her. Her chair was closer to him than she was to his father, but when it was the two of them sitting across from their villain, it felt like the two of them couldn't be seated close enough to one another.
Tikki left to uphold her part of the plan. Plagg had been officially commanded to not enter the safe under any circumstances, but the two traveled through the table, then walls, then the painting. Plagg was holding Tikki's hand to guide her while keeping out of the view of humans. Unfortunately, without Plagg's night vision, Tikki couldn't do much aside from feel around blindly when she entered the safe.
She was able to eventually find the Miraculouses that she needed first and picked them up. When she did, though- they found an oversight with Marinette's plan. The Kwamis could pass through the walls, but the jewels couldn't. "Plagg," Tikki gasped, "I can't do this!" Plagg had never heard her sound so defeated.
"Of course you can, Tikki," he tried to assure. "If you've found the ones you need, just come on and we'll go back to Marinette. There's no reason to doubt yourself."
"I'm not," she clarified, "I can't pass through with the Miraculouses. They can't come through the safe with me. I can get out, but they can't come with me. I can't disappoint Marinette. She believed in her plan so much and I can't be the reason it didn't succeed."
"You're being ridiculous. You're the planner. You always see a solution when it looks like there is none!"
"I can't see anything in here, you stinky sock!" He flew around and looked at everything near the painting, trying to see anything that would act as a solution to their current problem. He looked at the outside of the safe as best as he could.
"Sugarcube," he began with a smirk. "Have you ever picked a lock before?" Tikki tried to argue the ethics of picking the lock, but when Plagg reminded her of their situation, she agreed to go along with his plan. Plagg talked her through the process, keeping an ear out for the three clicks that denoted the locking mechanisms coming undone.
When the third one came undone, Plagg held himself where he could stop the painting from coming open all the way. It didn't have to be a big gap, thankfully. It just had to be big enough at that point to get through two Miraculouses that were just barely thicker than a coin. Plagg left first, poking his head into the foyer to look for Nathalie and Gorille.
Nathalie was focused on her tablet while Gorille was to the side, admiring the newest action figure that he'd added to his collection. The kwamis were able to stay low to the ground, just high enough that the jewels would keep from dragging across the floor. They got them under the door to the closet and Plagg helped prop Marinette's bag open so Tikki could put them inside.
The two Kwamis met fists in an all-too-familiar 'Pound it' gesture before they flew back through the joining wall. They went just below the floorboards into the dining hall where the three humans were talking about Marinette and Adrien's recently kindled relationship. Tikki flew back into Marinette's secret pocket, indicating the first step of the mission was complete.
"This conversation is lovely, M. Agreste, though if you'll please excuse me, I have to powder my nose." Marinette had never had a reason to say that and the words felt fake. She knew that they were more or less always fake, used as a polite way of excusing oneself to go to the restroom. She hoped her nervousness would be mistaken for embarrassment in this instance.
He nodded in understanding and Adrien pulled out her seat so that she could stand up. She left the dining hall and when she did, Nathalie was already standing by the door to the dining hall, ready to offer any assistance that she would need. Marinette smiled and made her way toward the closet to pick up her purse.
Tikki had placed the jewels into a smaller cosmetic bag that Marinette took from the larger bag. Nathalie led Marinette to the restroom before she returned to her desk. When Marinette put on the jewels, two kwamis appeared before her. "I need you to keep your voices down," she whispered before Trixx and Wayzz could excitedly celebrate that she was there to rescue them.
"Of course, guardian," Wayzz agreed. Trixx, however, was more eager. He bit his tongue to keep himself from getting too excited about her appearance.
"Trixx, Wayzz! Unify!" Marinette was thankful that the lights of the bathroom were able to cover the light of the transformation. "Mirage!" Marinette summoned. Just as soon as the dress was covered by the costume of the transformation, it was back as an illusion that covered her from head-to-toe.
She stood in the restroom for a bit longer, making sure that her illusion kept her secret covered from every vantage point, but knew that she didn't have time to waste before the Mirage would end. She left the restroom and returned her cosmetic bag to her purse in the coat closet before she stepped back into the dining hall.
When she sat back down, she wasn't expecting to be immediately asked a question by M. Agreste. "How are you liking your internship so far?" His question sounded benign, or it would have if he hadn't been the one in charge of her internship. She was worried that the question would be a minefield to navigate, but she was ready.
"I love this internship, M. Agreste," she responded, genuinely, "working with you and your design team has been a dream come true. I've wanted to be a designer ever since I was a child, and I wasn't sure that I was qualified to become a design intern, much less one of yours. Thank you, so much for this opportunity, Sir. If it weren't for your kind acceptance, I think I would be working in a women's shellter , doing double the work to make a fraction of the difference than I am at your company."
When Marinette said shellter, a small green orb enveloped the pocket watch that was attached to his waist when he had shown it to her earlier. It broke from the chain and fell to the floor, being silently caught by Tikki and Plagg before it was able to hit the ground. The two of them worked together to carry it to Marinette, as silently as they possibly could.
Marinette slid the turtle Miraculous off of her wrist as the pocket watch was placed at her feet by the kwamis. Marinette knew that she'd had at most one minute left of her illusion and couldn't help but smile as Adrien drew his father's attention to the painting of their family that loomed over the dining table.
She had to be very careful to make sure that Gabriel's attention was otherwise fixated, or she would risk him seeing the orange light that would accompany the removal of the Fox pendant. When Gabriel appeared to be staring at the painting of the once happy family, Marinette removed the necklace as quickly as she could before immediately stowing it in her pocket.
When the next course was brought out, Marinette bumped her water glass into the very edge of her fork, 'accidentally' knocking it to the floor. Adrien offered to pick it up, retrieving it and the pocket watch simultaneously. He thanked the attendant who gave Marinette a new fork and returned the now soiled one, sliding the pocket watch into his own pocket.
With the Rabbit Miraculous safely stored with her chaton, Marinette gave Tikki a soft pat in her pocket. Tikki knew what the signal meant and went to retrieve Plagg from his place on the floor below Adrien, practically begging for table scraps from the cheese course that had been served while they were in the atelier the first time.
Plagg, though reluctant to move, went along with Tikki, returning to the safe where the Miraculouses were being held. Marinette, meanwhile, was starting to feel uneasy in the face of using two completely unrelated Miraculouses at the same time. Adrien reached out and started scratching gentle circles on her back to give her silent support.
He took out his phone and sent Marinette a quick text, hoping that Tikki would see it when they delivered the next round of jewels to her bag. ' Honey, please bee careful. Make sure you're not overdoing things. ' Texting under the table was difficult for Gabriel to notice from his place across from them.
Adrien didn't know how many Miraculouses the Kwamis had managed to gather when they next returned to the dining hall. Tikki dropped off the Bee Miraculous with him before she returned back to their quest of putting as many into Marinette's bag as they could get. The next course was served and Adrien rubbed the back of his neck.
What had usually been a nervous habit was a tactic to avoid being noticed as he slipped the bee comb into the underside of his hair. He knew he'd eventually need to transform to use Venom, but he didn't want to make the call too early, before the Kwamis had a chance to save all of their friends.
Right before dessert was served, Plagg returned, resting himself on his kitten's lap, happy to be able to return to somewhere he could rest instead of having to continue running back and forth between the atelier and Marinette's bag in the closet. Adrien wasn't certain they'd finished when he saw Plagg, but when he saw Tikki he was confident.
They'd gotten all the Miraculouses that they could. The only one left was on Gabriel, hiding under the ascot that he'd been wearing for the entirety of his reign as Paris' supervillain. Adrien wasn't mad at his father. He knew he should have been, but he couldn't. While his father was a terrorist, he had also led to some of the greatest moments of Adrien's life.
Including this one.
"Pollen!" Adrien began, "Buzz On!" It only took a moment for Adrien's words to register in Gabriel's mind.
"Fluff! Clockwise!" He made the demand as quickly as he could. Nothing happened, though. He was still himself, Gabriel Agreste, seated there in his white suit, not a speck of blue to be seen. "No matter, then. Nooroo! Dark Wings, Rise!"
Nathalie and Gorille ran to the dining hall when they heard Adrien's yell. They ended up arriving just in time to see Gabriel's transformation wash over him. Hawk Moth lunged toward his bee themed son. He was so single mindedly focused on stopping whatever weak tactic his son had thought up that he hadn't heard the next words that came from Adrien's mouth.
Gabriel was stuck, mid-lunge, stricken by the stinger of the Bee Miraculous wielder's top. Marinette stood up and as nonchalantly as she could removed the Butterfly Miraculous from the collar area of Hawk Moth's costume. She left Gabriel atop the dining table in the pose that matched Naruto's run.
Marinette picked up her bag from the coat closet, in addition to her jacket. "Your family has security cameras, right?" Adrien nodded and picked up Nathalie's tablet from her desk, logging in to pull up the feed of Gabriel turning into the supervillain.
"Think this is gonna hold up in court, my lady?" Adrien's smile stretched from ear to ear as he looked at his girlfriend. After years, he finally had his girlfriend, and they took down the bad guy. He played the clip over and over, almost wishing they'd done more to Gabriel, but knowing that it wouldn't do any good now that Hawk Moth was stopped.
She held out her fist to him. " Bien joué, " they said in unison for the first time in months.
Also, I'm planning an epilogue and a chapter 6.5. As always, follow me on Archive Of Our Own if you want to be the first to read my fics instead instead of just whenever I remember to upload them here! Love y'all!
