Disclaimer: Don't own etc
AN: Written for Kingxuppu on the Miraculous Fanworks discord.
There were many, many things about being the Guardian that were, if not pleasant, were expected as part of the role.
Worrying about the welfare of the Kwamis? Perfectly normal. But she had every confidence in her friends and the Kwamis ability to make themselves clear if something was wrong.
Making up the various power up potions? A necessary part of the job.
Keeping track of the various Miraculous powered heroes and making sure that they weren't abusing their powers? (Or at least not egregiously misusing their powers. She wasn't going to go crazy over an occasional shortcut.) As easy as simply checking the news.
Keeping her identity secret? She was practically an expert at making bad excuses and hiding away. (And she had excellent support from Alya at least.)
The thing she NEVER expected to have to deal with was the current situation. A headache that she couldn't just lucky charm away, nor could she create a foolproof plan to solve.
"Viperion and Purple Tigress are definitely a couple! I'm telling you, they have chemistry!"
Shipping. It had to be shipping. More specifically, it had to be her own boyfriend doing the shipping. And of all the many, many ships he had to ship, it just HAD to be Purple Tigress and Viperion. (Or Purple Viper, as the shippers liked to call it.)
Alix was almost certainly looking on and laughing. Hard.
It actually made her nostalgic for the days when it had just been Ladybug and Chat Noir. At least the ships were more sensible. (No she did NOT have a crush on her partner. She only wrote a couple of fanfics because she was…curious. No really, it was nothing more.)
"They have sibling energy!" she said and Adrien raised an eyebrow.
"You're an only child. How would you know?"
"So are you!" she replied, ignoring his question. (This would be so much easier if he was Chat Noir. Because if he was, she would be talking to him as Ladybug and put him on the right path.)
"Hey dudes, what's up?" Nino asked as he came to their table. Adrien smiled.
"Nino, you agree with me, right? Purple Tigress and Viperion are shipping material, right?"
"Kinda…Maybe…" Nino said uncertainly. "I don't know dude. I try to avoid doing the whole shipping thing. Feels kinda awkward. And I don't want to jump to conclusions." He put down his lunch and nervously fiddled with his cap. "You know, since the whole thinking Alya-was-into-Chat thing." He blushed and looked away.
"Fair enough," Adrien said with a smile. "Hey Alya, you think that Purple Tigress and Viperion have chemistry, right?"
Marinette very rapidly began shaking her head and mouthing no at her friend.
Alya smirked briefly, before looking thoughtful.
"I'm more in favour of Purple Pig," she said and Marinette nodded enthusiastically. "I think that they have this sort of quiet chemistry thing between them."
"Exactly!" Marinette said. "Just like Rena Rouge and Carapace. They're practically able to read one another's minds!" She looked pointedly at Alya and Nino.
For a moment Adrien seemed to think about it. Then he smiled.
"Viperion and Tigress have a lot of unspoken chemistry!" he said in a triumphant voice and Marinette resisted the urge to groan. "They communicate in sync really well. I've seen them do it!"
Marinette inwardly groaned once more. She had forgotten about the weird twin synching that Purple Tigress and Viperion had.
Adrien was grinning like he'd just proven something.
"Viperion has time travel powers. He knows because he's already seen it!" (And he's her twin brother, Marinette silently added. Unfortunately she couldn't just SAY that without difficult questions about how she knew and secret identities and all that.)
"He doesn't have that effect with Chat Noir," Adrien pointed out. "Or Ladybug."
Marinette closed her eyes and tried to ignore her rapidly growing headache. She was not about to let her boyfriend ship incest! Even though he didn't know it was incest and…well it was something that she didn't want to hear.
"Yes, well…" Marinette flailed as she tried to think of something.
She glanced at Rose and Juleka, who were huddled together in a small corner of the room, with Rose sitting in Juleka's lap. The very picture of a cute couple.
Both of them were very discrete as heroes. Nothing too public and they cuddled and kissed in private places. (Although she had managed to accidentally catch them out as Ladybug, they were well hidden from the public. No pictures of Purple Tigress or Pigella together that unambiguously showed the two of them being a couple.)
"Have you seen pictures of Viperion and Tigress together? They give off sibling vibes like that. Like…like Alya and Nora!"
Adrien and Alya looked at Marinette like she had just grown a second head.
"Marinette, if Nora had the slightest idea that I was a superhero, she'd probably never let me leave the house again," Alya said and Marinette winced. Bad example.
"Yeah, not cool dude," Nino added. "I wouldn't be cool with my little brother being a superhero with me."
Okay, a really really bad example. She glanced over at Rose and Juleka once more. She didn't want to bring up the idea of twins. That was a little too close to the truth for her liking. And with Alya there…well she wasn't ready to risk it just yet.
Still, she had something up her sleeve that she could play. Something Adrien couldn't possibly deny. The experience of the love expert in the class.
"Rose," she called over to the other table in a fit of presumably bravado (or insanity) "Who do you think Purple Tigress is attracted to to?"
"Oh that's easy," Rose said with a slight squeal. "Pigella. They feel like me and Juleka together." She gazed lovingly at Juleka who blushed slightly as she smiled back.
"You don't think that Purple Tigress is with Viperion?" Adrien asked hopefully and Juleka's face screwed up in disgust.
"Ewww, no, he's m-" She abruptly stopped as she caught herself. "They're siblings."
"Juleka is right! Purple Tigress and Pigella are the perfect example of true love!"
Marinette smirked at her boyfriend as Rose continued.
"They're so cute together! Just like Ladybug and Rena Rouge!"
Marinette somehow somersaulted over her chair and Alya smirked, clearly suppressing her laughter. (Even then, Marinette could have sworn that she heard a snicker.)
"She has good taste," Alya said as she looked directly at Marinette. She was still smirking. "Ladybug has a nice ass."
"I-gah-buh."
"But everyone knows that Rena Rouge and Carapace are together," Alya finished with a shit-eating grin on her face. Marinette glared at her best friend, who grinned back. She was having far too much fun with this, Marinette could tell.
"That's only because she's in denial," Juleka said and Alya's face darkened with embarrassment and her grin vanished.
"Actually I think it's because she wants to be in a polycule with Carapace and Ladybug!" Alya blurted out and Marinette's eyes widened. "But Ladybug doesn't swing that way and Rena Rouge likes and respects her too much to much to make a move and…" Alya groaned as she placed her face in her hands. Marinette stared at her friend as Nino petted her gently.
"Alya…" she began, not entirely sure how to react.
"And Ladybug is in love with Chat Noir!" Rose finished and Marinette abruptly choked on nothing. (Adrien seemed happy to hear that for some reason. Oh Kwami, it would be really awkward to discover that her boyfriend actually shipped her secret identity with someone else.)
"An-an-anyway," she said when she finally recovered. "You heard Rose. They clearly don't see one another like that."
"Well I certainly can't argue with the results. Who knew that Rena Rouge wanted to make a polycule with Ladybug and Carapace?" Adrien said, looking at Alya with amusement. Alya groaned again and stood up.
"Well that was awkward," she said, not looking at Marinette. She pulled Nino to his feet. "I'm going to go now and make out with my boyfriend and ONLY partner." She winked at Marinette. "Have fun lovebirds."
With that, she walked out of the room, with Nino following her.
"If I could prove that Viperion and Purple Tigress are dating, then would you accept it?" Adrien asked and Marinette sighed in exasperation.
"I told you Adrien, they're not dating!"
"But…if, say, irrefutable proof came out…would you accept it?"
"What do you mean irrefutable proof?" she asked. "Which they're not because they're siblings."
"If they were to make a public statement that they were…or a photograph of them kissing or something like that would show up…would that be enough?"
"Well yes," Marinette conceded. "But you heard Rose. She knows all about love. And she's never wrong."
"I bet you ten euros that I can get proof that Purple Tigress and Viperion are dating in the next forty-eight hours."
"Deal!" Marinette said as her competitive side came out. "And in return, I bet that I can get evidence that Purple Tigress and Viperion are siblings!"
"Deal," he said, his eyes dancing with amusement, like he knew something she didn't.
(Sometime later that night, shouts of "ADRIEN!?!" and "MARINETTE!?!" rang out across the Parisian night sky. Apparently he actually DID have an advantage that she didn't know about.)
AN: I pretty much speed ran the ending there. Still, I made it by the skin of my teeth. And yes, that was a reveal at the end there. Because making a reveal using shipping is funny.