In her trembling arms her fallen partner laid. Her heart trembles as she gazes at him with teary eyes.
Whenever they fought together, she always hates it when he takes the hits for her.
This... is the biggest reason of all.
Her partner opens his eyes and gazes at her with now-faded jade eyes and a weak smile.
"Hey." Her heart breaks even more when she hears his broken, weakened voice, "Let's get married."
"You call that 'romantic'?"
Marc stops writing and turns to his co-writer, "It sounded romantic."
"Sounds like you skipped a few steps and went ahead to setting the oven." Orikko remarks. He decides he ate too much corn and flies to his Holder's shoulder.
"Alright, alright... I got too excited," Marc starts admitting, "Wrote too much fighting... And, swearing..."
"And bleeding. Don't forget about the bleeding." Orikko points out.
"Yeah..." Marc looks back at the draft of the fanfiction he was currently writing on his notebook. He rips the page, crumples it and tosses it into the garbage bin, "Good thing it only took one page. Maybe I'll go for that wedding fanfiction instead."
For his and Nathaniel's next comic, the two wanted to create an AU story of Ladybug and Chat Noir.
To be clear and precise: They WANTED to create a LOVE story comic about Paris' favorite superhero duo.
Even if the two heroes made it clear that they were both seeing completely different people.
Hey. Old admiration die hard.
He and Nathaniel had already listed a lot of ideas, which they divided among themselves. They'll write a couple of drafts, and the best ones will be turned into their next AU comics.
Since the last idea sounded more... violenton paper, Marc decided to toss that idea aside and focus of the wedding AU.
Orikko remembers the time the Guardian of the Miraculous was scrolling online and happens to see a fanart of Ladybug and Chat Noir. In wedding garbs.
"If I ever see another LadyNoir fanfiction...!"
Using the sharp end of a thumbtack that was just lying around, Orikko pops the memory bubble of the frustrated teenager who had just picked up a Volpina doll with one hand, and a medium-size shampoo bottle with the other.
"She said she's seeing someone different." The Rooster Kwami turns to his Holder after popping the memory bubble.
Marc was disappointed. But having just witnessed minutes ago his Kwami using a thumbtack to pop what he can only assume as a memory bubble, he has to agree that the wedding AU would... not please his leaders.
"Okay..." Marc crosses off the wedding AU from the list, "Let's go with... Phantom Thieves."
Orikko shivers in discomfort, "Doesn't that involve, stealing?"
Oh right. Marc realized he just unintentionally recalled a terrible experience the Kwamis had to go through before being entrusted to their rightful human partners.
Marc crosses out another idea from the list, "What about... Beauty and Beast AU?"
"Romantic...!" Orikko swoons at the idea.
A few weeks ago, he and Marc watched a Beauty and the Beast movie, and he absolutely LOVED everything about the movie!
A curse lifted by TRUE LOVE...! Oh! If only that exists in real life...!
"Not gonna work." Orikko flat out replies to Marc, despite swooning just a few seconds ago, "Chat Noir's too cheesy for a proud, yet noble, Beast."
Marc SOOOO wants a Beauty and Beast AU.
Then again...
"Hate to ruffle your feathers, but you're gonna be fried chicken!"
(Villain wasn't feathered or chicken-themed. The Sentimonster they were riding was.)
"Did a skunk pass by here?"
(Skunk villain they're facing. Pissed.)
"Ha! Knit Wit! Good one!"
(Laughed for like more than a whole minute. They weren't even facing a supervillain that time. Just speculating possible villain names.)
"Yeah..." Marc finally agrees as he crosses another idea off the list, "Not all of them were that funny. Sci-Fi!"
"Like..." Orikko thinks back to all the Sci-Fi series and episodes he watched with Marc, "Advanced technology?"
"Yes."
"Outer Space?"
"That's the one."
"Glowing enhanced weaponry?"
"Glad you reminded me."
"Animal companions who fell from the stars? Able to grant powers to fit the theme of the story?"
"I haven't thought about that... but that sounds cool!"
"Well what are we even waiting for?!"
With the ideas fresh on his and his Kwami's minds, Marc begins to write the scenes down on his notebook.
They could already see it:
Two separate stars fall from the sky, landing in front of two teenagers...!
Dazzling... blinding transformations...!
Intergalactic stellar rides...!
Out of this World cuisine...!
"Yes... Yes...!" Orikko kept his eyes glued on his Holder's writing. Even when his Holder was on the 4th page of his story, not once did the Rooster Kwami blink, "Is the romance scene coming after this?"
...?!
Marc suddenly stops writing. He reviewed what he had written so far and came to a conclusion;
Not once, has he written any romantic interaction between his two main characters.
He was so focused on imagining the Sci-Fi action and battles on comic that he forgot to include the lovey-dovey stuff.
...
The thought of seeing sparks fly when weapons clashed does look cool on his head...
Nathan also loves Sci-Fi. He once said he wanted to draw a comic with colors that almost glow in the dark, making the weapons he drew look like they were "popping out" of the page!
Marc takes one more look at his story. He then thinks back to the time he accidentallyoverheard a conversation between his two leaders. They sounded so lively and very, veryhappy when they were talking about their respective "soulmate".
Now that he thought about it... he feels uncomfortable whenever he reads fanfictions where he's being shipped with Caprikid. And if Nathan would ever find his biggest secret...
...
Yeah. Ladybug and Chat Noir are officially taken.
By two completely different people.
And he has to respect their choices.
"Do you think Chat Noir would like retractable claws on both ends of his baton?" Marc asks Orikko.
"Glowing retractable claws?" Orikko emphasizes, earning a small chuckle from his Holder.
Despite not being able to write his intended romance AU fic, Marc was having fun writing an exhilarating Sci-Fi AU fic with his equally inspired Kwami.
The next day, after showing his story to Nathan...
Turns out Nathan had the same thoughts.