Flashback Cutscene: Twin Rings
Ivan's bachelor party - one year previously…
"I promise I won't get too drunk …Yes, Marinette, I'll behave myself, you just enjoy your movie night with Alya and I'll see you later."
'If I'm asleep when you get home, don't forget to wake me up for round two.' He heard the sultry tones in her voice and was ready to turn around and run back already. 'I love you.'
"I love you too." Adrien's smile lit up brighter than the Eiffel Tower. It didn't matter that they'd been together the better part of a decade, his heart still skipped a beat every single time she told him she loved him. They'd been through so much, but it was their time now, the glistening ring she adorned her left hand with a cementing of their relationship and the commitment to the future.
"Maverick, come on man! We're going in!" Kim shouted to Adrien from where he was waiting in the line for the nightclub. Each of the guys looked dapper in a white suit reminiscent of the Navy dress whites from Top Gun.
Adrien repositioned his hat on his head, moving towards the others in the queue. Everyone was there: Nino, Max, Kim, Nathaniel, Marc, plus others from Ivan's workplace and university group. Each 'bachelor' had a nickname, Ivan being 'Iceman' — his favourite member of the Top Gun team.
As Adrien walked past a group of girls; cat calls, whistles and kisses were blown his way, causing him to look down and blush a deep shade of red. He gave them a little smile before moving on, back to his friends. He hated the attention. Since that day, almost a decade ago, he shied away from attention. He hated people picking him out of a crowd, though he should have expected it. He was dressed in a white Navy suit — even Marinette said she was jealous of other girls seeing him that evening.
"The second best man is back," a rather tipsy Ivan announced as he patted Adrien on the back and pulled him in for a side hug.
Ivan and Myléne, and Adrien and Marinette had formed an unlikely quartet since leaving university. Ivan worked a lot for Félix and Marinette was their go to interior decorator. It was a strange combination of people but it worked.
Ivan and Adrien found out they had a lot more in common than originally thought, and a tight friendship had formed.
"I still think I should have been Maverick," Goose aka Félix announced, folding his arms and looking away.
Adrien had to stifle a laugh as the others chastised him. A bouncer made their way down and spotted Adrien, once again gravitating towards him.
"Adrien Agreste?"
Adrien wasn't sure if he was asking him or telling him. The butch, masculine tone was gravely and hard.
"Um — yeah? I'm mean, yeah! That's me!"
"In."
Looking between each other the group huddled past the waiting line like a group of penguins in battle, each uttering an apology as they bypassed the queue and entered the venue. They were directed to the VIP area and given a booth.
"Yes!" Ivan said. "Adrien Agreste! The best fucking best man ever! All of this thanks to his pretty face."
Adrien laughed through the embarrassment, Ivan's work colleagues thanking him and the university friends being genuinely impressed. His friends, however, well, they weren't holding their punches tonight.
"You're such a tosser cuz!"
"Absolute bellend!" Nino, aka Jester, said. The DJ took his hat off and slung it on the table and instead replaced it with a red one hidden in his pocket. How the hell had that fit in there?
"Any other partners go feral about the costume?" Kim asked, shouting over the loud bass of the music. "Ondine almost had me handcuffed to the bed."
Groaned 'yes's sounded around the group. Marc and Nathaniel gave each other a look over and a quick wink.
"I had to beat Alya off with a stick," Nino said.
"You could have just beat her with your stick," Félix announced, only to be met with a chorus of groans from around the table.
"Geez, Félix, lower the tone, why don't you?"
"Just because you and Kagami are like rampant rabbits, don't tarnish us all with the same brush."
Félix rolled his eyes and leaned in to study Adrien's face. "Don't tell me you and Marinette didn't do the deed before you left the house?"
Adrien's brain decided that was the moment to send a signal for his face to turn into a firetruck… or maybe just the fire if the burning was anything to go by.
"Ha!" Félix exclaimed, "and you all think it's just me!"
Kim stood up and stretched his arms over his head. "I feel the need…"
"The need for speed!" Ivan announced as he rejoined his friends in the booth.
"I was going to say 'a need for a piss' actually." Kim continued his way out of the room and towards the bathrooms, Ivan settling down beside Adrien and throwing an arm around his shoulders.
"You know," Ivan slurred. "I always thought you were a… what did Félix say? Oh, yeah! A posh prick, when we were at school. But Adrien, man, you're like my bestest friend. You and your cousin have changed my life. For the better of course. If it wasn't for you, Félix and Marinette, I wouldn't have been able to afford the dream ring, and wedding and then Marinette's beautiful creation for Myléne's wedding dress. Seriously, guys, you're the best."
"Which is why I should have been the best man!" Félix announced, clicking his fingers and calling the waitress over. He ordered everyone a beer, before moving around to sit on Ivan's other side.
"Nope! It's this posh twat here." Ivan slapped one hand to Adrien's chest, before turning his head to Félix. "Did I say it right?"
Félix laughed out loud, slamming a hand down on Ivan's shoulder before hearing the serenading words of Kim in his ear, Adrien just about picking up on the tune.
"You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips,
And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips."
A chuckle left his lips before he shuffled in closer and began to sing in Ivan's other ear.
"You're trying hard not to show it, Baby.
But Baby!
Believe me, I know it!
You've lost that loving feeling."
Suddenly the table, plus the others standing nearby began to sing.
"Woohoo that loving feeling
You've lost that loving feeling
Now it's gone, gone, gone.
Woah, oh, woah"
"Woah!" The sound of a new voice broke the air as Luka stepped forward presenting himself to the group. He looked different to when Adrien had last seen him. What had it been? 4 years?
"Luka!" The announcement of his name had everyone standing and greeting him, friendly smacks on the backs and the general 'where have you been?' were passed through the group.
Adrien moved forward ready for his turn, knowing full well Luka had just spent 8 years training in the Guardian's Temple, and it looked as though it had taken its toll. Luka looked dishevelled and unkempt. His usual blue tips tied back in a bun and the edge of a snake tattoo peeking out from his shirt. He looked a lot more built than Adrien remembered and Adrien guessed it was from the additional training at the temple. He remembered how badly Fu's was so he could only imagine what Luka had been through.
"How are you doing, Luka?" Adrien asked, Luka looking around before responding.
"Meet me outside." As Luka's breath hit Adrien's nose, he couldn't help but wince. The smell of alcohol and smoke was strong, almost paralysing. If he thought Ivan had drunk a lot, it was nothing on Luka. What had he been doing?
Adrien watched as Luka thread his way through the crowds and out into the patio area of the club, heading for a quiet corner. He messed around in the back pocket of his jeans, pulling out a lighter and a clear plastic bag of wrapped cigarettes. Taking one out, Adrien looked at it curiously. It wasn't a normal cigarette, it looked slightly different. It looked like… The smell hit his nose and made him wince.
"Since when did you start taking drugs?" Adrien coughed, trying to move the smoke out of his face.
Luka shrugged nonchalantly. "Sometimes you need it to take the edge off life."
"Are you back for good now? Have you completed the training?" Adrien looked to where Luka used to wear his Miraculous, noticing his wrist was bare.
"She took it from me," Luka said, his eyes focused somewhere in the distance. "Apparently, Su-Han ordered it. The Guardians… well…" Luka let out a laugh, one so out of character Adrien couldn't help but fall back a little.
He watched Luka. He had changed a lot over the years, this year's reunion making it more obvious than ever before. Maybe he had to change, that he had no choice, but this wasn't a good change. It was unnerving and uncharacteristic.
"I hear congratulations are in order," Luka said, continuing to look out into the street. He was swaying side to side, every now and then catching his step and moving back. How much did he have to drink tonight? This was far from normal for their usually calm, and sensible friend.
"Thanks." Adrien reached to rub the back of his neck, an uncomfortable feeling encompassing his body.
"Was it big and romantic?" Luka took a drag on his cigarette and turned to Adrien, making him move backwards in shock. His eyes were blown out, full black taking the blue away and creating an eerie edge. What had they done to him?
"I –" Adrien coughed, a sudden awkwardness at the conversation. "I proposed on the college steps."
"Let me guess; with your umbrella, wearing your blue scarf and handing her a new love poem and lucky charm bracelet."
"Am I really that predictable?"
Luka shrugged. "Something like that."
"Ivan helped sort out the staircase. The day before I'd planned to propose, something was dropped on the steps and cracked a couple. He managed to find the exact stone and recreate them."
Luka snorted. "Stone! Of course. Let me guess, Félix funded it too."
Adrien didn't know what to say. He wasn't used to this attitude of his friend and he wasn't sure what was causing it. Was it the training? The life experiences he'd had in the last 8 years? Or was it the fact he was stoned and drunk?
"Truth or dare?" The sudden arrival of a question peeked Adrien's curiosity.
"Truth." Not sure what Luka was playing at, Adrien decided to humour him.
"As a man, do you think you're real enough for Marinette?"
A shiver progressed down Adrien's spine as he noticed Luka was looking at his ring. Not his miraculous ring, still hanging from his neck. No, Luka was staring at the 'Twin' ring he wore instead. Placing his left hand over the top of it, he hid it away. Something he hadn't done in years. He focused on keeping his heartbeat level and breathing even. Did… did Luka know!?
Without warning, Luka threw the stub away and faced Adrien directly. He squared his shoulders, his movements giving every indication of someone who was preparing to fight. The hard set of his jawline was made extra sinister by the blackness of his eyes.
A tense moment passed between them, neither man blinking, or backing down. Then the moment was broken by a call originating from within the club. "Hey Luka! We got more shots!" Pausing for a moment, Luka smiled at Adrien, then headed back into the venue – bumping into people as he made his way back in.
Taken out of the party mood, Adrien decided to leave. His mind was spinning and something told him that, for tonight, he needed to keep out of Luka's way. Heading towards the exit, he gave one last glance into the room and began to head off, only to see Félix staring back, his phone in his hand. Félix frowned, Adrien shaking his head and giving his cousin a small smile. He turned around and walked away, heading back home and to his fiancée.
He began to walk in the direction of his and Marinette's apartment, hoping she wouldn't be too disappointed that he was crashing her chill time. She'd been working so hard recently, and Adrien knew she had the whole night planned - from a hot bath, to watching a romcom and eating sweet treats. As he headed towards his apartment, he heard the telltale thwack of a yo-yo above his head.
Please don't spot me, please don't spot me!
A second later, Ladybug was standing in front of him with a small worried smile on her face and a nervous twitch in her hands; fingers tapped against each other in her nervous twitch.
"Hi, Adrien. It's been a while."
"Uh, yeah. A while."
"Have you got a new job?"
His eyebrows creased as he considered what she meant until he looked down and noticed his outfit. "Oh, um, it's Ivan's bachelor party. We're dressed like Top Gun. I'm Maverick."
"Oh, that's cool! It suits you."
"Thanks."
They remained silent, he could tell she felt as awkward as he did. It had been so long since they were face to face, so long since his letter to her and he wasn't sure what he should say or what he should do? He'd grown over the years, the sting of the dishonesty in his youth easing off with the development into his adulthood.
"So, it's been a while," he said. A moment passed, then they both chuckled.
Her eyes softened as though this was the olive branch she'd been waiting for.
"Yeah, it has. How have you been?"
"Good. I'm – I'm back with Marinette. We're engaged."
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Well, that's amazing news."
"Yeah, we're getting married next year."
She nodded, a smile crossed her lips and brightened up her eyes. "I'm happy for you."
"Thanks. Well, I best be going. I want to get home to Marinette. She wants to see the costume, you know."
Ladybug smiled a little wider. "I'm sure she does. It's been nice talking to you, Adrien."
"You too. Maybe we could… actually, it doesn't matter. Goodbye, Ladybug." He took a deep breath, glad that the years of therapy had taught him how to control his panic attacks and move past them. Seeing her didn't hurt as much as he expected and maybe, just maybe, there was a way past this. With her sudden reappearance he would be lying if he said he didn't want to see her again, his hand gripping tightly on his Miraculous a signal that maybe it was time.
Level 19: Discovery
Present Day…
Adrien moved forward and pressed his lips delicately to Marinette's almost wishing the gentle movement would wake Sleeping Beauty up from her unintentional slumber.
He whispered her name against her ear, his voice filled with longing. "You have no idea how much you mean to me," he breathed, his words dripping with a mix of desire and vulnerability.
Grabbing her IV laced hand, he lifted it to his lips and kissed the back of it before laying it back on the bed. He placed a hand on her stomach, awe circulating through him as he envisioned his child growing underneath it. Heading towards the doorway where Luka was standing impatiently, Adrien was blocked by the rather large frame of his father-in-law.
"Be careful," he whispered, taking Adrien into a hug. "She needs you. They both do." A shocked expression coated Adrien's face as he looked at Tom's glistening eyes. He had no idea how Tom knew, but the forlorn look in his eyes was all the evidence Adrien needed that he knew a lot more than what he was letting on.
"I'll be back, I promise," Adrien whispered.
Walking to the door, he glanced back before heading out of the room and into the crowded streets of Paris.
"Where's everyone else?" Adrien asked, his mind purely on the upcoming attack. If he had to leave his Lady it had to be for a reason. A quick glance down at his watch almost took his breath away. Where had the time gone? They were almost set for their trap against the psychopath, hopefully putting a stop to it all. To think only 24 hours ago he was standing alongside Marinette and his friends as they mourned the death of one of their own, Adrien almost on the receiving end of funeral planning himself.
"They're all in position. We just need to go via The Liberty to grab an extra Miraculous that Ladybug gave me."
Adrien began to run through the thoughts in his head. She hadn't given anyone any more Miraculous', he was sure she would have told him. His mind ran back to their last conversation, attempting to piece together this information. But there was a clear void in his memories.
"Okay," Adrien said, following Luka as he moved closer and closer to where his mother's boat sat. He must have missed something the night before, maybe Marinette had circled back to give him something? It wouldn't be too surprising.
Luka nodded, pulling a cigarette from his back pocket as they continued.
"I thought you'd quit," Adrien said, watching Luka light the end and place it in his mouth.
"I had. Stressful times, you know." They continued to walk, Luka leading the way down the steps and onto the river side, where crowds were gathering ready to start the celebrations of Bastille Day. Luka stopped and turned, grabbing Adrien's arm.
"Come with me." Luka grasped his arm a little tighter and began to guide him through the crowds and towards the docking ports of the Seine. They knew this area well. The home of the Liberty.
Adrien looked down the river path studying each of the boats. It had been a while since they'd been down here, yet the memories of band sessions on the boat deck still replayed in his mind as if they happened yesterday.
"Reminiscing?" Luka asked with a slight chuckle, Adrien nodding along in agreement.
"We spent a lot of time together on the boat."
Adrien kept in step with Luka, following him up on board The Liberty as they made it there.
"I take it, you know?" Luka asked.
"I know Marinette is Ladybug," Adrien admitted, stepping up behind Luka on the boat.
"It's about time."
Luka headed down to where his old room was, Adrien following along like a lost puppy. "Listen, Luk. I know you need to get something but there's a murder about to take place and Marinette's in the hospital. Is there any way of speeding this up?" Adrien stood impatiently as Luka rummaged around the room.
It was disorganised and a mess. Adrien suddenly felt guilt creep over him. Was this to do with what happened at the temple? Had they done something to him?
"Luka? Are you okay? Do you need to talk?" A sudden thought struck Adrien hard. He must have heard about the Temple being burnt down and his mentors dying. The shock they felt about Su-Han must be nothing compared to what Luka felt.
"Naa, I'm good. Just need to tie up some loose ends and then we can go."
Luka continued to move about his room, throwing books and boxes everywhere as he searched.
"It must have been hard hearing about the Temple? I promise, as soon as Marinette's okay again, we'll look into this and find out what happened. Félix is there at the moment, perhaps he knows something..."
Luka stilled and turned around. "Félix is in Tibet?"
Adrien nodded. "He's looking at property out there. He might have seen something that could help us."
This news seems to have motivated Luka to keep looking for something, Adrien growing more and more impatient from the wait.
"Luka seriously, we need to –"
His friend stood back up presenting an envelope to him. "You don't know the whole truth, Adrien. She was going to give it all up, but you wanted to get back with her so she decided against it. She left this with me and asked me to pass it onto Chat Noir."
Taking the letter from Luka's hand, Adrien looked between them before ripping it open with shaky, uncoordinated hands and with a deep breath, he began to read.
'Dear Kitty,
I'm sorry this is coming in the form of a letter, but I know if I did this face to face you would easily persuade me to find another way, to stay, and I wish I could, I really do, but the guilt I feel is just too much. It's slowly killing me!
I know we've talked about our other halves over the years, that we know little bits and pieces about our lives, but what you don't know is that I have done something irreparable and it was my own lack of judgement which caused it.
I broke up with him today. The single most excruciating day of my life. Not only am I losing him, but you too. I can't apologise enough for this, it's selfish and undeniably cruel yet I have no other choice. I will be handing the guardianship to Luka. As you know he's been training for this at the temple and I think he'll do a great job.
But I need to let you know, if I never saw you again, I love you Kitty Cat and although I could never offer you my love the way I wish I could have, or the way you deserved, I still want you to know that I DO love you. I always have and always will, I just wish fate hadn't been so cruel.
Please know I will always welcome you with open arms, whether I know you or not,
Yours always,
Marinette Dupain-Cheng'
Adrien's eyes remained on it, the words soaking in. She'd loved him always and for so long, just as he had loved her. He needed to get back out there, to catch the killer and put them all at peace.
"Luka, listen. I think it's Nathaniel. The killer! No one else saw the designs, we need to go stop him! NOW! He's out there and Mr Ramier isn't safe."
Looking up to make sure Luka heard him, his eyes zoned in on the hoodie his friend was sliding over his head, the hoodie which was oddly familiar – the colour and style. He'd seen it somewhere before, he just needed to remember where. Luka's back was to him, and he couldn't help but feel the unease as he took in this new appearance.
"It's your fault, you know," Luka said, his head turning as he looked Adrien over.
"I know, I shouldn't have let her leave the house—"
"You shouldn't have done anything with her, Adrien. You should have just left her completely alone." Luka turned back around. His eyes showed deep, dark, empty pits. Any sign of his friend, well and truly gone. "Truth, or dare?"