Chapter summary: Throwing Adrien into water before it was cool. Elder-Adrien gets soaked and is oblivious, Elder-Mari enjoys the show, heart attacks happen. Noses and shoulder touching. Plot talking. Nino knew shit was going down with Gabriel. Elder-Mari still wants ten (perhaps they should see if they can keep one alive first). Learning from the past. Break ins happen. Stealing Pyaar happens. Sneaky Chat. Lila/Volpina happens. Lila/Volpina isn't nice to either version of Mari. More doubles happen. Elder-Adrien talks to Adrien about Mari. WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?! Adrien talks to Mari. They become a thing, people find out.
"What's a Soulmate?"
"It's…Well, it's like a Best Friend, but more. It's the one person in the world who knows you better than anyone else. Someone who makes you a better person—Actually, they don't make you a better person, you do that yourself: Because they inspire you. It's the one person who…who knew you and accepted you and believed in you: before anyone else did, or when no one else would. A Soulmate is someone who you carry with you forever.
And no matter what happens:
you'll always love them.
-Dawson's Creek
Part III:
The four escaped the bakery and headed for the nearby park, coming across Nino and Alya as they did.
"Nino, Alya!" Marinette called, with Adrien waving.
They seemed in better spirits then what they left in the night before.
The elders settled on the park fountain, with the youngers pitched around them, standing.
"Hey, dude," Nino greeted Adrien, with the usual fist pump.
"Hey, girl, how'd the night go?" Alya asked, extremely suggestive to Marinette.
Even if she were over being left out, there was no way she'd let this slide.
"The night went fine…?" Marinette replied, not getting Alya's innuendo, but noticed that Adrien went red, and the elders were giggling.
"Dude, Adrien slept in your room, and nothing happened?" Alya asked, deadpanned.
Marinette blinked. "Uh, no, nothing happened? You were expecting something to happen? What was supposed to happen? We slept? Me in my bed, Adrien on the chaise?" Marinette was extremely confused.
Alya sighed and dramatically fell into Nino. "She's hopeless! Anything could have happened! He could have slept in her bed! Together! Nothing happened! WHY DO I BOTHER WITH YOU, GIRL!" Alya ended up dramatically screaming.
Marinette finally got what Alya was screaming about, and went extremely red. "ALYA!" She screamed back.
Alya and Nino laughed at how red she and Adrien got. "Oh, she finally gets it!" Alya snickered.
Marinette and Adrien were so worked up with their friends they could barely stutter out a response.
"You're both terrible wing-men!" Elder-Adrien snickered to both Alya and Nino.
"Bet you couldn't do better!" Nino said back.
Elder-Marinette blinked. "Who was the one who stuck you in a cage with each other again?" She asked, innocently, and both Nino and Alya stalled. "Oh, yeah. Me." She retorted.
"These guys are hopeless!" Alya motioned to Adrien and Marinette who looked offended. "At least tell me how you guys got together!" Alya pleaded.
Both elders got extremely alarmed at the thought of telling her. "Uh…." Elder-Marinette started.
"Do we seriously tell them out of context?" Elder-Adrien asked, alarmed and worried.
These two didn't know his father was Papillon now. They found out with the rest of Paris who Papillon was, later only finding out that who Chat was, therein finding who his father was.
Elder-Marinette saw that her husband was having a mini heart attack over this. "Respirer!" She yelped, and literally pushed him over the edge into the pool behind them.
They watched in alarm, Nino and Alya completely not understanding, while Marinette and Adrien had some idea why Elder-Marinette did what she did.
Elder-Adrien splash-dived into the pool behind him, "Merde!" He cried as he flew, only to crash up to breathe, extremely startled. "What the hell, Mari!" He yelled, dripping wet.
She stood up and offered him a hand to help him out. "Sorry, Minou. You stopped breathing." She told him, as she helped him out.
He glared at her. "So you…throw me in the fountain? What is it with you and throwing me into bodies of water?! Why even. How does it even work!? Cats and water don't mix!" He nearly yelled, shaking his arms, pooling water onto the grass around him.
"It made you calm down." She noted.
"Yeah, but now I'm also wet." He grouched.
The youngers stared in open fixation (the girls especially) as Elder-Adrien literally stripped his shirts off, and rung them out without a care in the world for the many hearts he was stopping, and mouths that were dropping.
"Holy shit, dude!" Nino said, wrapping his arm around his smaller friend, who looked beyond embarrassed about what was going on in front of him.
Elder-Marinette still looked beyond impressed with her husband, and was beyond laughter with the expressions on their young friends.
"Good god, Adrien, you've broke them." Elder-Marinette noted, way too happy about causing this.
Elder-Adrien who was more concerned with drying his clothes, hadn't noticed. "I'm glad you think so. I'm wet over here, and you find this funny." He remarked.
Elder-Marinette shook her head. "No, seriously." She noted, and pointed to them.
Nino was killing himself laughing, Adrien looked almost as if he wished he had brought extra clothes that would fit him, while the girls were slack jawed staring at him in shock and awe.
"Um, Mari…?" Elder-Adrien, looking from them back to his self-impressed wife. "What did I do?" He asked.
Nino laughed louder.
"You took your shirt off." Elder-Marinette stated.
He blinked, and looked down to the shirt he was ringing out. "Yeah? So?" He asked, why was she so impressed with this? Just before, she was trying to keep his shirt on! "I wasn't about to catch a cold. You remember how bad I was the last time." He reminded.
She shivered. "Yeah. No thanks. I enjoyed the show though." Elder-Marinette said with a smirk.
He blinked again. "Show?" He repeated.
Nino was doubling over in laughter, while Adrien had hidden his face in his hands, and the girls were still offline.
Elder-Marinette nodded. "Yep. You've broke them. Congratulations. I need to remember that for the future. Just yank off your top and people break." She giggled.
Elder-Adrien looked beyond confused. "Shouldn't you be the one with palpitations?" He asked, understanding a little why the girls had gone into shock.
Elder-Marinette laughed. "Oooh, don't worry. I've seen more." She reminded, with a lewd suggestive glance to his still wet jeans.
Elder-Adrien nodded. "Well, I would hope so. Since you're pregnant with my child and all." He remarked, finally getting where this was going.
Nino was now on the floor in stitches.
Adrien made some sort of dead noise.
The girls may have fainted.
Elder-Adrien unhappily put at least one of his shirts back on. "But they're still wet, Mari." He near on whined.
Elder-Marinette looked concerned. "I know, Minou. But other people were starting to notice." She said.
She may be alright with her friends being appreciative (because yes, this man is mine, thank you very much): but that's as far as it went. As soon as other people came into it, she would yank to cover whatever she could to cover whatever flesh he had shown (because no, he is mine, and you cannot have him).
And damn it, he knew. Siding up to her face, and staring at her. "Protective over me much, My Lady?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.
She literally pawed him out the way by his nose. "Now, now, Minou, we've got work to do." She reminded.
He grumbled as he fumbled with his now tingling nose. "You have a thing for my nose." He remarked.
She gave him a glance. "And you have a thing for shoulders." She replied.
Elder-Adrien blinked, but shrugged in concede. "So what do we need to do?" He asked, causing the youngers to perk up.
Elder-Marinette looked thoughtful. "What are we gonna do about Papillon?" She asked, this caused both Adrien's to flinch badly. "I know, I know, I'm sorry, but this needs to be done." She apologised.
"Getting dunked back in the fountain seems like better idea than this. Even better, let's go over to the Seine, you can throw me in it again." Elder-Adrien muttered, and she patted his arm.
"You said before that it's my decision, yeah?" Adrien asked quietly, very much trying to ignore Nino and Alya.
Both elders nodded.
Adrien looked conflicted.
Elder-Marinette gave out a concerned awing type noise, and before anyone could say anything she had wrapped him up in a hug, this time around he actually accepted it, and burrowed into her. "It'll be alright, mon petit Chaton," She told him strongly, she felt him latch on harder. She looked past the blonde she had in her arms to her husband. "Seriously. When I get back I'm making calls, and I'm going to waltz up to him, and I'm going to kill him." She said darkly.
Nino and Alya looked to each other. "What's his dad done now?" Nino asked, with a worn sigh, looking between both blondes, knowing something was going on with his father, at least.
Elder-Marinette gave him a glace, before looking back to her Chaton. "Do you want me to tell them, Chaton, or do you want them to work it out?" She asked.
Marinette perked up, understanding what was going on, and turned Elder-Adrien. "Are Nino and Alya still your friends where you come from?" She asked, curious.
Elder-Adrien blinked but nodded. "Yeah, they are. I remember when I told them, Nino did this huge victory dance of being right because he was so sure there was something up, and Alya bought those me those nice croissants that have chocolate fudge and chocolate chips in them, kept the media quiet about it, and also wanted to be the first to hit him one. She of course, would be second behind Mari who already got in first." Elder-Adrien explained.
Adrien didn't leave Elder-Marinette, but he did look towards his friends. "You know the guy that sends out the akumas, yeah?" He asked, if perhaps he eased them into it, they'd be better off, and apparently they didn't react badly to him the first time round.
Nino and Alya looked to each other, in confusion at the change of subject. "Uh, yeah. He's only the reason why people get akumatized, it's hard not to notice him." Alya started, Nino nodded.
They might not remember when they were akumatized, but they had been there for the majority of the others that had been.
"Well, he has a kwami too. A being that lets us transform." Adrien continued.
Alya cocked her head. "Well, I guess that makes sense…" Alya started, and looked like she was thinking. "So, is it controlling him, or is he controlling it?" Alya asked, genuinely curious.
Adrien looked to his elder self, who sighed. "Papillon is controlling Nooroo. Kwami are not evil by nature, they can't help what actions we do with their power." Elder-Adrien stated, this causes his kwami to show itself, Alya and Nino curiously glancing at him.
"But that doesn't mean it doesn't royally piss us off, you know." Plagg stated.
Elder-Adrien smiled at him. "I don't think Nooroo could be mad at anyone if he tried," Elder-Adrien noted.
Plagg looked like he was thinking. "True." He stated, then hid again.
"Okay, this is all well and good and everything. But what's this got to do with anything?" Nino asked, after looking confusedly to Alya, and noticing both Marinette's had gone silent, knowing it was Adrien's story to tell.
"Well, if his Miraculous name is Papillon, his civilian name if Gabriel Agreste." Adrien stated bluntly, they had not gotten it because he was being too vague.
Both Alya and Nino stared.
Adrien shrunk further into Elder-Marinette nervously when they kept staring.
All of a sudden, "I knew there was something up with him!" Nino burst out in sound.
"Ah, well, that's the same." Elder-Adrien noted with a small smile.
Alya looked calculating between the two. "…You've had to fight him? Face-to-face?" She asked, there was a tinge of sadness in her voice. Elder-Adrien nodded. "What happened?" She asked.
Elder-Marinette gave a look to her husband, and he gave a nod. "He found this really great time of when we were actually fighting him head on to tell him this. He literally froze on the spot, and I nearly lost him." She explained, holding onto Adrien that little bit tighter.
Alya and Nino blinked. "You didn't know before?" Nino asked.
The elder's shook their heads. "We didn't even know who our civilian lives were at that time. Though it was rather easy to find out who I was once we took Nooroo from him." Elder-Adrien explained.
"But you didn't know Marinette was Ladybug?" Alya asked.
Elder-Adrien shook his head.
"He took off as Chat once Gabriel was arrested, I couldn't find him anywhere. It wouldn't have done any good to try to come up with a good excuse to stutter at him to try and tell him when he had no spare second. He used every second as Adrien to hide. The media now knew that Gabriel was Papillon, they were out for anyone who might have known he was before we got to him." Elder-Marinette relayed.
Elder-Adrien sighed, literally seeing the sun coming out from behind the clouds, he got off from the fountain's edge, and lay down on the grass arms spread wide, still trying to dry.
Marinette looked to her elder as the rest took in the information.
"When did you tell him?" She asked.
"Once the media died down enough to allow Adrien to become Chat again. I found him as Ladybug and apologised for not being able to find him sooner, or telling him he could have come and found me if he needed to. I found out this stupid Alley Cat was trying to avoid me." Elder-Marinette started to explain with a fond glare to her husband, who was shaking his arms trying to get the dampness to go away absentmindedly.
"What? Why?" Marinette asked.
"He was afraid that, even after all we had been through I would be disappointed that Adrien turned out to be Chat. He found out years ago, probably around this time, actually, that Ladybug liked Adrien. But he couldn't see how much Ladybug liked Chat too." Elder-Marinette explained.
Marinette stared. "He was afraid that he'd disappoint? It should be the other way around!" Marinette burst out incredulously.
Adrien looked to her with a blink, then gave her a smile. "You could never disappoint me, Princess." He remarked.
Before anyone could comment on his remark, Elder-Marinette squealed and crushed him back into a hug. "You're so cute. I want ten!" She remarked.
Elder-Adrien gave a laugh. "How 'bout we try one, and see how it goes, huh? If we can keep it alive, then hurray: plus one for us!" He asked.
"As long as it turns out like you, I don't care." She replied back.
"No, that's not fair. It needs to turn out like you, or else I'm taking it back." Elder-Adrien said, shaking his head.
"You can't take babies back, Adrien." Elder-Marinette told him, in concern, letting Adrien go when he tapped her forearm for her let him go.
"I know. But it needs to be like you." Elder-Adrien responded.
Elder-Marinette shook her head fondly at him, he was still on the grass, but his eyes had closed in content, missing that the youngers were looking at each in slight alarm that they were going to be parents one day.
Suddenly, that contentedness vanished, and he sat up quickly.
"Where are we in the timeline!" He near on freaked over.
Elder-Marinette blinked. "I don't know, why?" She asked.
Elder-Adrien quickly looked to Adrien and Marinette frantically. "Do you know Ali, or Lila?" He asked, in a hurry.
Both Marinette and Adrien blinked at each other. "We dealt with Ali the day after yesterday. Who is Lila?" Marinette asked.
Such a name got a bad response out of Elder-Marinette, she shivered and groaned, while Elder-Adrien held up his hands in front of him in a pseudo cats' claws.
"You didn't start out with Lila on a good foot did you, Aimé?" He asked.
She gave him a glare. "She started out as a compulsive liar and a thief!" She retorted.
Elder-Adrien smiled. "Yeah, yeah, and it also couldn't have hurt — Bah!" He switched. "Losing focus here! That means she'll show up tomorrow at school!" Elder-Adrien said, back to being frantic.
Elder-Marinette looked concerned. "Yes? So? What's wrong?" She asked.
"I need to sneak into my old home." He muttered.
"Excuse me?" Elder-Marinette exploded. "How is that a good idea? What will it accomplish?" She asked, startled, while the children looked alarmed.
Elder-Adrien looked to his wife. "It's the only time I'll be able to get back Pyaar before he moves her." He said.
Elder-Marinette's face fell a mile. "You're serious. Gabriel has Pyaar?" She asked.
He nodded. "And I know exactly where she'll be." He said.
Elder-Marinette actually gave out a groan. "We're seriously gonna do this? Right under his nose?" She asked.
Elder-Adrien blinked. "Technically he'll just be leaving the room, so it's not completely right under—"
"That doesn't make me feel any better!" She screeched.
Elder-Adrien just gave her a look, and she groaned.
"Are we really doing this?" She asked. "Pyaar is dormant. She's not waking up anytime soon after that accident I was told—" She saw his pleading cat eyes. "Oh, Fine. I hate you." She said, crossing her arms, and turning away.
The children looked confused. "Wait, what are we doing?" Marinette asked.
Elder-Marinette beat Elder-Adrien in giving her a look. "What makes you think you'll be doing anything? I don't need any more of us in close proximity to Papillon than I already have. Zero was my limit and its already over by two." Elder-Marinette told her.
Adrien blinked. "So I'll need to be involved somehow." He said. He could count. The two she mentioned, was him and Plagg.
"Yeah. We need to make sure he sees you so he doesn't think you've done it." Elder-Adrien started, holding his head on his hand and looked like he was thinking this.
"I hate you." Elder-Marinette reminded him scornfully.
Elder-Adrien gave her a look. "Oh, I know."
It ended up being planned that Nino and Alya would have nothing to do with it, (much to their annoyance. But they would be needed at school), Marinette somehow wormed her way into the operation, and would be staying by Elder-Marinette's side during most of it, while Adrien would time his leaving his bedroom to coincide with his father leaving the room, while Elder-Chat would sneak in behind him, and once Gabriel was out the way, would Adrien follow his elder self.
Chat would sneak into the mansion via Adrien's window, while both Mari's would wait until Chat let them in the room via its window.
Chat wound his way down the stairs, after giving a time limit to Adrien, getting behind the column just as in time for Gabriel to march out the room, and for Adrien to come down the stairs.
"Hello, Father!" Adrien called as they passed like ships in the night in the room: Adrien coming down the stairs, Gabriel walking across the hall.
Gabriel gave him a glance over, before hurrying off, not once seeing Chat bolt into the room behind him. As soon as Gabriel was out of the way, Adrien bolted after his elder self.
He watched as he de-transformed and went over to the window the let the two Ladybugs in, who also de-transformed once they got inside.
"So, what's so special about this room?" Adrien asked, curiously.
Elder-Adrien gave him a smile, and went over to the portrait of his mother, only to pull it open to reveal a safe.
"Whoa!" Adrien remarked, his kwami coming out of hiding.
"Secrets!" Plagg remarked.
Elder-Adrien gave a laugh, and released his Plagg from his shirt. "Just like last time. Though we might wanna hurry this time." Elder-Adrien stated, as the girls and Adrien came in close.
Plagg nodded and zipped off into the safe to unlock it.
As soon as the safe was open, Elder-Adrien pushed it over.
"So that's how you got the book…" Elder-Marinette muttered, as she noticed the Miraculous book, while Marinette's kwami gave out a cry of dismay.
"Don't worry, Tikki, I'm taking the pin too." Elder-Adrien told her, taking both the book and peacock pin before shutting the safe and portrait. He looked to Adrien. "You need to go." He remarked.
Adrien nodded and bolted for the door, closing it behind him, they heard Nathalie speaking to him about how he was going to be late, and Adrien apologizing to her, and gave the excuse he forgot something in his room he needed for the day's classes.
They bought it, and as soon as they stopped speaking both elder's transformed along with Marinette and got out the house as fast as they could.
Marinette split off from the elders, when they split: Chat needed to take the treasures back to Fuu, while Ladybug didn't say what she needed to do but did say they would meet up with her and Adrien later, with a statement to not let Lila get to her.
Which she didn't understand at the time. But she shrugged and turned to go to school.
Well, when she said she didn't understand, she very well understood once she got to school, and everyone was talking about her, what she had done, her impressions.
And she was leading Adrien seductively into the library.
Yeah. She understood now.
Adrien saw her out of the corner of his eye, gave her that false help-me look, which meant he was handling it, and if she really wanted to, she could barge in whenever she wanted.
She ended up gnarling on her phone when she got a text message from Adrien saying the "Evil Seductress" was wanting to meet him up at the park to discuss the Miraculous superhero Volpina, seeing how he kind of waxed lyricals about Ladybug (oops).
Yeah. She could totally understand the whole "Don't-Let-Lila-Get-To-You" spiel her elder had given her.
She never saved this tramp before!
Marinette ended up following them to the park, and behind the bin.
Adrien saw her, and winked discreetly at her that Lila thankfully didn't see.
He was handling her, and he looked mighty bored doing it.
Though, she could see that he was starting to get alarmed at how forward this woman was being with him, even after telling her he wasn't interested in her that way, like she was apparently to him and thought that she was better than Marinette.
But before she could do anything, Ladybug swooped down and saved the day.
"Ladybug!" Adrien called out, relieved, stood up and went over to her, happily.
She gave out a smile. "Hey, Adrien, how's school?" She asked, there was the unspoken "do I need to tear up a bitch called Lila?" in her words.
"School is fine." Adrien blinked, acknowledging her unspoken question, that no, she didn't need to hurt her. "Have you met Lila?" He asked, innocently.
Lila had stalled, stunned on her bench staring at Ladybug (who was unmistakably older).
Ladybug looked to her politely, but held a frown. "…I can't say that I remember." She started.
Lila recoiled.
"Lila, was it?" Ladybug called, politely.
Lila could do nothing else, but nod at her.
Ladybug smiled at her. "Nice to meet you! You seem like a new face. Are you new to Paris…?" She asked gently and politely.
Lila finally snapped, scoffed. "As if! You're a Snatcher!" She near on yelled, and ran off angrily.
Ladybug blinked in confusion: she had handled the situation differently, yet still the same outcome.
Marinette came out from behind the bin and walked over while Adrien looked a little confused.
"What just happened?" He asked.
Ladybug seemed fixated. "What's a snatcher?" She asked, seeing no one around she de-transformed.
Marinette and Adrien looked to each other and shrugged.
But Ladybug sighed. "You might have to deal with her being akumatized soon. I apologise, I handled it differently, but it was still the same outcome. I can never tell how to handle Lila. Chloé is the one I can handle better." She remarked.
Before they could ask her what she did differently, Chat suddenly polled down from wherever he was hanging from.
"We've got a problem." He said, and with no one around, he was able to de-transform.
"What's wrong?" Elder-Marinette asked.
"We're picking up doubles." Elder-Adrien commented, lifting up his outer shirt collar, to show the two peacock pins.
"Seriously? I thought you were gonna give her back to Fuu?" Elder-Marinette asked, as the children looked curious.
Elder-Adrien sighed. "I tried. Wayzz told me to keep her for the time being, and to give her to Adrien before we leave." He told her.
They all blinked. "…Did he say why?" Elder-Marinette asked, curiously.
He shrugged. "If he did, I didn't understand it." He said
Elder-Marinette face palmed. "Oh yeah! Lila might still be akumatized. So, yay." She remarked sarcastically.
Elder-Adrien groaned. "Yay. I thought we were going with let's not get Lila akumatized?" He asked.
"Oh, I tried, believe me. She called me a snatcher and ran off angry." She retorted.
Elder-Adrien looked like he gave out a defeated sigh. "Maybe she was always meant to be akumatised." He said.
He then gave a blink, seeing something in the younger Marinette and turned to Adrien. "Oh, and Adrien?" He called, Adrien looked to him, curiously as Elder-Adrien came in close enough to whisper that the girls couldn't hear him. "Be gentle with your Mari, okay? Especially after confrontations with Lila, even Chloé sometimes, she is extremely aware of the monetary differences between herself, you, Chloé and Lila, as well as confidence and self-esteem levels between them all. You'll be surprised to know how little Mari thinks of herself." He whispered.
Adrien blinked, but looked to Marinette, who was looking to where Lila had run off to, looking upset, so he looked back to his elder self and nodded.
Hopefully he would get to tell Marinette that it didn't matter who she was (Ladybug included), because it didn't matter to him. Lila didn't initiate the same responses in him like Marinette did.
Seeing her upset over this, made him protective. He never liked seeing either Ladybug or Marinette upset.
So, he took what his elder-self said to heart, he would protect his Lady from people who would demean and belittle her, people like Lila and like Chloé.
In the end, like how Elder-Marinette predicted, Lila did become the next victim for the akuma's, and she was still indeed infatuated with Adrien, and hated Ladybug for getting in-between her love for Adrien.
The children found this rather annoying, as even if they hadn't told each other, they knew who they wanted to end with.
And Lila didn't equate into that equation.
But they did have fun pretending they didn't know each other in civilian life.
Though that pretence quickly dropped into a: are-you-freaking-kidding-me look when Volpina carted of an illusion of Adrien.
Chat gave her an annoyed look, which clearly spelt out the look, which Ladybug returned. "She is apparently, serious," Ladybug replied, then yo-yoed her way out of the house, following Volpina towards the Eiffel tower.
All the way glaring at her partner. "Don't you dare ask her what does the fox say!" She yelled at him when he opened his mouth.
He deflated, then pouted.
They were able to deal with Volpina, turning her back into Lila, who was still extremely angry at Ladybug and stalked off in a huff that rivalled Chloé on a bad day, just worse.
But, it wasn't something that could be dealt with now, so they went back to school.
Marinette was still mulling over what Lila had said to everyone at school, that she had heard in passing. Lila had connections, Lila had the well-off parents, Lila knew celebrities, wealthy people like Ali and Jagged Stone well enough to be their friends, she was from Italy.
Marinette knew the likelihood of all those things being lies, because for one, Lila did not know Ladybug (nor did the girl actually like the superhero, once she realised that Adrien liked Ladybug and Marinette over her). But knowing this didn't make her feel any better, because everyone believed her.
And no one would believe her.
Why would they.
Marinette was just Marinette.
Marinette gave a quick glance to Adrien who was walking by her side, and looking towards the school they were walking to, thoughtfully.
She knew this boy needed her, as both her versions. But to her it made no sense why he should. She understood how anyone would want Ladybug: she was the superhero.
Why would someone like Adrien, want her, even with a father like his, he could have anyone he wanted, he could have Chloé or Lila in a heartbeat with a greeting and even fewer words.
Why would he pick her?
Why did he pick her?
Why did—
Marinette was brought out of her negative thoughts when the very boy that was walking next to her gathered her up in his arms, and was nuzzling into her hair.
Adrien watched as they walked towards school that Marinette turned more into her headspace, barely focused on where she was (though she probably knew on some level that he was still walking by her side), he watched as she got increasingly sadder and confused. He gave a quick glance around there was no one that could have brought this on…
He mentally stalled when he caught sight of the school.
"Be gentle with your Mari, okay? Especially after confrontations with Lila, even Chloé sometimes, she is extremely aware of the monetary differences between herself, you, Chloé and Lila, as well as confidence and self-esteem levels between them all. You'll be surprised to know how little Mari thinks of herself." His elder-self had told him.
He looked to her and she looked about ready to cry.
No, no, no, no, no!
Not her, never her!
Before he could fully realise what he was doing, he had turned to her and gathered her into his arms protectively, while nuzzling into her hair.
"…Mari…" He breathed.
He couldn't let her keep doing this.
Not while he could put a stop to it.
Adrien tightened his grip when she gave out a sob.
"I'm sorry…! I'm sorry!" She repeated.
Adrien looked down to her, she had grasped his shirt and he could barely see she was crying her heart out from is angle, but he knew she was.
"Hey, hey," He started, holding her close and rubbing her back comfortingly. "You're alright, there's nothing to apologise for." He told her.
She shook her head. "How – why – did you…?" She tried gasping out.
Adrien held her, not understanding what she was trying to say, nor even why she was apologizing out of the blue, but he had an inkling what, thanks to his elder self. "This is about Lila, and most likely Chloé as well, isn't it?" He asked gently. He felt Marinette ceased up in his arms, and he held her tighter. "I thought so." He told her and nuzzled into her again.
"But why me?" She asked, even if she wasn't ready to hear his response, especially if it were to be negative, she'd a least have closure.
"Why I chose you, huh?" He asked, she nodded. "It was my choice, no?" He asked her.
She pulled back a little, but he didn't let her go. "Well, yeah, but—"
Adrien shook his head. "Not up for debate, Mari. I chose you because I wanted to. It wasn't because you are Ladybug. It was because of everything that makes you, you. Yes, Ladybug is a part of you, and she shows through sometimes when you're a civilian, especially when you're dealing with Chloé, or your responsibilities as class rep. But that's only a part of the reason. There are many others, for example, you still have my umbrella after I gave it to you, you didn't need to take it, you could have very well have thrown it back in my face if you wanted to." He explained, and smiled when she looked appalled that he thought anyone could do such a thing.
He took hold of her chin to make sure she was looking at him. "But at the end of the day, you shouldn't care about what Lila or Chloé think about my choice, because it was mine, and mine alone. I'll make sure they know it too. I don't think of them in that way, they may be my friends, but who knows with them, that's as far as I feel about them." He told her, then his expression changed, and became softer. "Are…you alright with that? I never did ask if that was why you were upset. While it's my choice, it's also your choice as well. You never did respond very well to me as Adrien, or as Chat…" He trailed off, looking rather confused as well.
"Non!" She nearly yelled, and shook her head, while holding onto him tighter. "That's not what was going on! I'm alright with you! Both of you!" She tried getting out as fast as she could, but looking so lost as she did. "I can't—How —" She tried to explain, but looked into his eyes, convinced she needed to get this out.
"…You're my choice too." She was finally able to come up and say.
He blinked at her, then her words settled. "Truly?" He asked. She was crying after all.
She nodded. "I couldn't speak to you when you were Adrien because I was nervous you wouldn't like me—"
"Which you don't need to worry about. Seriously, I'm just as bad as you." Adrien placated her.
She giggled, but nodded. "And as Chat, I thought you flirted with everyone, so it annoyed me." She told him truthfully.
Adrien blinked at her. "You do realise, now, that I've only flirted with you, right?" He asked her.
She nodded. "I know that now." She told him.
He smiled at her, and nuzzled into her hair again, causing her to giggle again.
They jumped apart when the school bell rang.
"We should go." Adrien said.
She nodded and started off, only pausing when Adrien took her hand. "Marinette?" He started, she looked back to him. "Don't worry about Lila, Chloé, or anyone else, for that matter, alright? You don't need to worry. And if you are, you can always talk to me, and I'll tell you what's going on. I won't lie, I promise." Adrien told her.
Marinette blinked at him. "Same goes for you, too, Adrien. I won't lie to you," She replied.
He blinked at her. Sometimes her insight was scary. He chuckled at her. "You've got it, Princess." He told her, then led her off into school.
There they met up with Nino and Alya.
"Hey, girl!" Alya started, waving her hand at them, then took in that they were holding hands, and grinned. "Well, something happened." She said slyly.
Marinette and Adrien looked to each other, but didn't let go of each other's hand. "Lila happened." Adrien stated.
Alya and Nino blinked. "What do you mean?" Alya asked, while Nino frowned.
"You have on your Ladyblog that Lila knows Ladybug, right?" Marinette asked.
Alya nodded. "Yeah. She gave that interview this morning—" She stalled. " —But…then you came in this morning….and you didn't have a clue who she was…" Alya trailed off.
Adrien looked to Marinette who looked like she was mentally counting.
"OH MY GOD, YOU'RE ACTUALLY—" Alya near screamed catching several onlookers, but Marinette rushed to stop her from speaking.
Alya looked like she just realised that if Marinette's elder self was Ladybug, then her best friend needed to be when she was in civilian form.
"Shh!" Marinette hissed.
Alya was freaking out, but she had enough sense that there was a good reason she didn't know from the start.
Alya gave a huge exhale. "You didn't know her." She restated.
Marinette nodded.
Alya whacked her forehead. "Bah! I'm too slow! Nino, whack me!" She ordered her boyfriend.
Nino blinked at her in surprise. "Dude, what?" He asked.
She drew up to him. "If Marinette doesn't know Lila, then how does Ladybug!?" She hissed.
"But—then —Oh crap." Nino stumbled on.
Marinette looked to Adrien. "We have weird friends." She stated, causing him to give out a short laugh.
"HEY!" Alya screamed, steaming.
The warning bell went off.
"We should probably get to class…" Adrien started, tugging slightly on Marinette's hand he was still holding.
Alya gave out a growl. "You, girl, owe me a years' worth of croissants, I swear." She swore.
Marinette nodded. "I know."
They started walking.
"So you said Lila happened. What did you mean?" Alya asked, hauling Nino along by his arm.
"Lila likes Adrien." Marinette started.
"But doesn't like Ladybug." Adrien recalled.
"Okay… and?" Nino asked.
"Well, we first heard of Lila from the elders, remember?" Adrien asked.
Nino and Alya nodded. "Oh yeah! That's why they told us to be at school!" They said.
Marinette and Adrien nodded to them. "That's right. But because of what was going on Ladybug appeared in front of us, Chat later on, and it got Lila mad because Ladybug couldn't remember her." Adrien stated.
"She does, remember her that is," Marinette reminded. "I don't think Ladybug likes Lila that much, from what she was saying. Even though Ladybug was nice to her, politely telling her that, no, she doesn't remember being her friend, nor saving her. But asked if she were new. Lila yelled at her calling her a snatcher." Marinette explained.
Adrien shrugged. "She apparently changed what she said from the first time. But still calling Lila out, made her angry enough Papillon akumatized her." Adrien finished.
Alya and Nino freaked. "She got akumatized?" Nino asked.
"Forget that!" Alya screamed. "I DIDN'T CATCH IT ON VIDEO!"
Like that was the biggest crisis.
It caused Marinette and Adrien to laugh. "Yeah. That's the worst thing, ever." Marinette laughed.
"Yes! It is! You guys should have told me!" Alya screeched.
Adrien blinked. "You do realise you shouldn't know. And I really hope you haven't stated to the world who Ladybug and Chat are…" Adrien stated in worry.
Alya scoffed. "Duh, no. First off, the older Chat told me not to, and secondly, I was there for that Papillon conversation, remember? I'm not gonna do that to you guys." Alya stated.
Both Marinette and Adrien sighed in relief.
"So we might also have a problem with Chloé…" Adrien started, seeing that they were close to their next class, which had Chloé in.
Everyone scoffed. "When do we never have a problem with Chloé?" Alya said.
Adrien looked to them. "I'm serious." He stated.
"Sorry, bro, what's wrong now?" Nino asked.
Adrien clasped Marinette's hand a little bit harder. "I'm not exactly blind that Chloé doesn't like Marinette." Adrien noted.
Nino and Alya looked about ready to celebrate. "Oh thank god, he realises." They sighed.
Adrien glared at them. "She's never liked when my attention is of her. So she'll be worse now I'm with Marinette. Just thought you would like to know. So you can be prepared." Adrien said with a shrug, but a grin to Marinette, who gave out a good natured eye roll.
Nino and Alya literally froze. "YOU'RE WHAT?!" They both screamed.
Both Adrien and Marinette had to stop walking. "We're together." He noted again.
"SINCE WHEN!?" They screamed.
"Nice way to tell everyone." Marinette muttered, seeing their classmates peer out the door.
"Since lunch time." Adrien told them.
"That was a bad way to tell us, dude." Nino told him.
Adrien shrugged. "Well, I killed two birds with one stone. It worked, I needed to tell you about Chloé, and that we are now together. Why not put them both together?" Adrien stated, it caused Marinette to giggle.
"Why you!" Alya started, but was cut off when Marinette yelped, pointing to their incoming teacher, which made them flee into their classroom.
A/N: IS IT AKUMATIZED OR AKUMAITSED?! Seriously!?