Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He was tired. So very, very tired.

And annoyed for that matter.

His already tight schedule was packed to the brim with shoots. It left him very little time to complete his school work done, or to even make time for his friends. Worst yet, the only person he spent any of this time with was one singular entity he didn’t want to be near in the slightest! 

Adrien Agreste groaned and he rubbed his eyes. He knew it would be near impossible to pay attention to any lectures with as exhausted as he felt. Was there anything he could do about this? More specifically about the amount of hours his father forced him to work? He pulled out his phone to send Alya a text. He prayed she might be able to help him get the ball rolling. 

He was done with being treated this way. His health wasn't being taken into consideration. Adrien knew if this kept up, he would drop to the floor in a full faint from exhaustion.

“Adrien?” That voice was the sweetest thing he heard in days, despite the tinge of nervousness it held. How long had it been since he heard Marinette's sweet, bell like tones aimed at him? 

Her skittishness always puzzled him. Marinette didn't have any issues talking with anyone else, so why did she always stutter? Sure, even at almost sixteen, Adrien had accolades that most in his class didn’t. World famous supermodel, champion fencer, accomplished pianist were only some of the hats he held. Well, there was also the one he wore moonlighting as the other half of Paris’ superhero duo, Chat Noir, but no one knew that.

Not even his partner.

But for the first time in his life, Adrien had friends, attended a great school, and had little that got under his skin.

He turned around to look at her, and gave the girl who called after him a blinding smile while coming to a pause on the stairs. He was already late anyways, and had a note for the office excusing the tardy. A few minutes more wasn’t going to hurt anything. Hell, he was tempted to just wait until after lunch to turn it in with the office.

Was Marinette skipping class though?

“What’s up Marinette? Heading back to class?”

Marinette nodded in silent reply. Adrien noted that she didn't meet his gaze and her feet shuffled in her nervousness. She flinched when the bell rang, announcing their lunch break.

To Adrien, this was the signal he'd been waiting for. He didn't have to go home for once! Now he could hang out with someone who wasn’t Lila!

Finally, Marinette found her voice. “Ca-can we talk? Alone?” she whimpered.

Panic shot through Adrien at those words. It had to be some collective male instinct to know something’s very wrong when a woman utters those three words in that specific order.

“What’s she doing talking to him? That tramp!”

“If she thinks she can get past Daddy Agreste and the rest of his friends, that charlatan has another thing coming for her. Little slut.”

His green eyes narrowed at the whispers, but the conversation was too far away for him to make out further. Who the hell did they think they were talking about?! Marinette was the embodiment of virtue!

What the hell was going on?

Adrien looked over his shoulder when he heard more whispers, this time from voices he knew like the back of his hand. He scowled at the displeased looks on Alya’s, Nino’s, and Lila’s faces from the second level and he wrapped his arm over Marinette’s shoulder to lead her off elsewhere. “Yeah, Nettie. The park by your place should be able to offer a little bit of privacy,” he replied. They stopped by the bakery, and grabbed some fresh croissants and a piping hot quiche that they could split. Adrien laughed at a particularly funny pun Mr. Dupain leveled on Madam Cheng. Marinette only rolled her eyes with the ghost of a smile.

It took a little while, but they found a secluded spot that would allow them to keep an eye out for any eavesdroppers. Adrien sighed as he dumped his bag to the grass, and he leaned against the broad trunk of a tree. “Man, I could fall asleep right here,” he whispered contentedly. He soaked in the sunlight as it filtered through the leaves. He grabbed a slice of the quiche, humming in delight at the taste. It threatened to rumble out as a purr, he felt so at ease. “Nettie, your parents truly run the best bakery in the city.” 

A small, sad chuckle answered him and he cracked one eye open to look at his friend. Since the day they met, Adrien never saw Marinette look so withdrawn, so defeated. “Nettie?” he asked, concerned for her. His eyes flitted up to the sky, keeping an eye out for purple-black butterflies.

“Let’s eat first. How have you been?” she asked, deflecting his concern.

“Busier than legally possible, I'm sure. I’m honestly about to lawyer up. I won't sweat on it until I speak with a professional, but I’m pretty positive my dad is breaking work laws for minors with as much as he has me doing as of late,” groused the model and he scowled. “I’m going to ask Alya if she can help me get the ball rolling on that. She's always been quick with her research capabilities.” He didn’t miss the flinch that her best friend’s name brought.

Really, what the hell was going on?!

“I-is that s-s-s-so?” she stammered, her hands shaking as she tried to pick up a piece of the quiche for herself. 

Adrien felt his brow furrow once more and he leaned over, placing a hand over hers. “Marinette, what’s going on?” he inquired firmly. Something was happening under his nose, something big. It pained Adrien to realize he’d been so strung out from trying to keep up with school, shoots, and akumas to pay attention to anything else but what was next on his schedule.

Marinette drew a ragged breath as she screwed her eyes shut, only to reach into her bag. Her lower lip quivered as she tried not to cry. “I’m returning this,” she whimpered.

Held out to him was a familiar black umbrella, one that had his initials monogramed on the handle. His heart clenched painfully in his chest as he glanced between it and her in utter befuddlement. “Marinette, I told you before there was no reason to. This is the umbrella—”

“—that led to us becoming friends, I know. Adrien—” She valiantly tried to keep her voice steady. Tears streaked down her cheeks and her lips drew into a tight, thin line as she seemed to muster up the courage to say what she needed next. “—the reason I’m returning it is because I can’t help but wonder if I’m really as much of a friend as I thought I was.” The heaviness of her words coupled with the defeat in her eyes and her posture was an emotional sucker punch to his gut. “Lies do hurt, Adrien. I only wish you could see how much.”

Without warning, Marinette’s eyes bugged out, and she jumped to her feet, bolting out of sight without a second glance back over her shoulder. Adrien scrambled to get to his feet just as fast, gathering up their bags before following in her general direction. He exited the park, looking left and right for any sign of the raven-haired girl. His grip was white knuckle around the umbrella, and he felt despair well within him the longer he couldn’t see her. “Marinette?!” he called out, hoping to see someone, anyone, pause at hearing the name.

Hissing a slew curses in Mandarin at his father, he took off in the direction of the bakery, all the while wondering what made her panic the way she did. His blood froze in his veins when it hit him. 

Paris was not the place to be feeling negative emotions right now. Not with that damn emotional vampire otherwise known as Hawk Moth on the loose. Adrien burst through the doors of the patisserie, and he threw off the bags without a second thought. 

“Adrien?” Madame Cheng’s voice, so similar to Marinette’s, did nothing to quell the nerves taking over him. “Adrien? what’s going on?”

“Did Marinette come back to the bakery?” he asked. His green eyes were blown wide and panicked as he rushed their school bags to rest behind the counter. At least they would be safe here for the time being.

“No, she didn’t. Adrien, what happened? Why would Marinette come home so soon?” Madame Cheng grabbed both of his shoulders, her gray eyes worried not just for her daughter, but for him too. Realization dawned on her. “This is about what’s going on at the school? With Lila Rossi, isn’t it?”

Adrien shook his head. “I honestly don’t know, Madame Cheng. I swear to you, I don’t. We were splitting the quiche we just bought when Marinette tried to return my umbrella to me. It felt like she was trying to break our friendship,” he admitted. He eased the older woman’s hands down. “I wish I could say I know more about what’s going on, but my father’s had me doing so many shoots I can barely pay attention during class. That and I’ve been practically segregated from the rest of the class because Lila has been monopolizing all my free time. I can’t even tell you the last time I spoke to Nino on the phone for longer than a minute. I swear I’m going to fix this, though. I’m going to go find her and I’m going to set the record straight, Madame Cheng. I promise I will. Marinette is the first friend I made on my own and I don’t want to lose her. Not if there’s something I can do to fix it.”

Madame Cheng took a deep breath in before nodding and she plucked up the schoolbags from the floor. “Bring her home safely, Adrien. Please,” she whispered. “After that, we’re all going to sit down and talk this out.”

Adrien nodded as he ran back out the door and down the street the opposite way of the bakery. He got about a kilometer or so before he finally got fed up with the ground eye view. He needed to get a better vantage point...

To do that? He needed to transform into Chat Noir. Once he was sure the coast was clear, Adrien ducked into an alleyway, and he beckoned Plagg out.

“Adrien, why are we stopping? We have to go find Pigtails now! She won’t be able to outrun an akuma for long!” Plagg yowled.

“We are going to find her, Plagg! I promise. I need to get a better view, meaning we need to take it to the roofs. It’s Chat’s turn to look for his princess. So Plagg? Claws ou—”

“ADRIEN!”

The voice startled both holder and kwami. Two sets of green eyes turned to look at the direction it came from and Adrien was forced back a few steps when a red and black blur collided with his chest. His hands came up in an instant and he looked down, only to feel his chest clench in fear.

Tikki, Ladybug's kwami, sought him out.

Adrien moved his hands to let Plagg in. Confusion and terror filled him for his partner's well being. “Tikki? Why aren’t you with Ladybug? What happened?”

No sooner than the words left his mouth, he felt the chill of something tickle his palm. He thought it might have been Tikki’s tears at first, but those were soaking into his shirt and Plagg’s fur as his kwami comforted his other half.

“No,” he whimpered. He didn’t want to see what he thought it might be. 

His heart couldn’t handle it.

Watery green eyes looked past the sobbing kwami, only to lock onto the silver studs he donned the one and only time he became Mister Bug. The tears that built fell freely, and the color drained from his face at the implication. Both Marinette and Ladybug needed him and now he was being forced to choose between the two.

“Tikki, please…” he whimpered.

No sooner than the words left his mouth, his phone buzzed in his pocket in warning before the shrill shrieking of the akuma alarm blared in their ears. To Adrien, it was as deafening as the sound of his heart breaking.

Considering Tikki’s presence, it could only mean one thing.

The girl on the other side of Ladybug’s mask had fallen prey to Hawk Moth.

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long for the alarm to start blaring through the streets, soon followed by the wail of police sirens as they sped further into the middle of the city. 

Was she near Notre Dame when the butterfly caught up to her?

“Why?”

The whimpered question was enough to make Adrien look back down at the two kwamis. Tikki’s normally bright and kind eyes narrowed on him as if he was the offending party. Adrien swallowed hard against the glare and he steeled his courage. 

He had to know.

“What do you mean, Tikki?” he asked calmly. His voice wavered against his will, but there was nothing that could be done for it. All three of them were scared.

“Why, Adrien? Why did you leave her alone?!” Tikki shot out of Plagg’s grasp, getting nose to nose with the young man. More tears flowed freely, anguished and angry, down her face. “She’s been trying to hold on for so long. All in in an effort to take the high road , but no! You left her all alone to deal with it! She ran because she didn’t want you to get hurt when she saw the butterfly!”

His heart stopped cold in his chest. If he was reading between the lines right, he knew Ladybug’s civilian identity.

And according to Tikki, he let her down.

Plagg hissed as he got between Adrien and Tikki. His green eyes narrowed on his other half and his fur fluffed up in agitation. “Now listen here, Tikki!” 

The model's eyes went wide in shock. Oh damn, it must be serious if Plagg isn’t calling her sugarcube the way he always does , thought Adrien.

“You and Ladybug don’t know half of what my kitten has been through in the last three months! Do you know how many hours his old man has forced him to work this week alone? It’s Thursday and he’s worked nearly forty hours since Monday! He’s only averaging about four hours of sleep, and that’s not including patrols, and homework! The only person that’s been allowed to be around him if it’s not his paintbrush head asshole of a father or the secretary is Lila! He’s just as isolated as M- Blech —” Little black and green bubbles issued out of Plagg’s mouth at trying to say his partner’s civilian name and Adrien felt panick. “—as your owner,” growled Plagg.

Tikki shook her head and Plagg’s hackles raised in further protest. Plagg nearly jumped to his defense again when Tikki cut him off. “But he stood aside and allowed that-that insidious wretch to lie unhindered, Plagg! He swore he would have her back! Tell me when that happened!”

Adrien couldn’t lie. It was numbing to see the sweet and gentle kwami lose it! But like Ladybug; he quietly surmised, there was only so much Tikki could take before she cracked under the pressure. The weight of her words and accusations slammed into him, and stole the breath from his lungs. 

He swore to Ladybug that it was them against the world.

Now he had to fight her akumatized form because he broke his promise.

Wait....Adrien thought. He turned away from the bickering kwami’s as his brow furrowed in thought. His green eyes locked on to the studs sitting in his hand.

No.

No, he hadn’t.

Despite the fact that she was the Guardian now, Ladybug insisted that they keep to the identities rule from when Fu was the guardian. Even with the amount of stress he was under, he saw how much damage the weight of the responsibility had done to his partner. He reached out—More than once, in fact— to help her shoulder that load. He wanted to help her on both sides of the mask so that they both could breathe easier.

Ladybug declined every time, continuously hiding behind the wall that their masks created. 

Now that wall was crumbling because she thought she could do it alone.

“I’m not to blame, Tikki,” he whispered. It was enough to make both the kwamis cease their bickering and Plagg lighted on Adrien’s shoulder with a purr. 

“What do you mean? You—”

Adrien’s green gaze hardened as he looked at the ladybug kwami. “As the American idiom goes: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. Hell, the only way I can be there for her, at her insistence, is as Chat Noir! How many times have I offered to be there for her? To be a shoulder for her to cry on, or to be an open ear she could rant about her problems? I’ve offered to take over the patrols, as I prefer to get out of that mausoleum of a mansion. Guess what? I was shot down. Every. Single. Time, Tikki. You kwamis know what goes on outside of the suits. I know you do. Don’t even try to pin the blame on me when it lies with Ladybug’s stubborn refusal to accept the help offered to her.” Adrien huffed a bit, happy to have gotten that out of his system and he pulled his ring off. 

“I know you two can’t tell me her name because of the magic over you. But rest assured Tikki, whoever it is under Ladybug’s mask? I’m going to save her. Then her and I are going to have one hell of a long talk because this? This cannot and will not happen again so long as I have the miraculous of the black cat. Quite frankly, you two make it sound like she’s been close this whole time.” He held the ring out to his kwami. “Take it and hide, Plagg. I don’t care where you go for now, just go somewhere where I can’t find you.”

Plagg nodded and he gave his holder a weak smile. “You got it. Just promise me you’ll be careful. She knows how you fight after all. That’s bound to give her the upper hand.”

Adrien leaned in, and he bumped his head against his kwami’s with a soft purr. He wasn’t sure if it was to reassure Plagg or himself. “We’ll be alright, buddy. You’ll see. Now go. I’ll see you soon,” he whispered. With a heavy heart, Adrien watched Plagg fly off with the ring. Once the black cat kwami was out of sight, Adrien turned back to Tikki.

His heart broke all over again at seeing her. The poor kwami hovered nearby. She curled in on herself and she sobbed inconsolably. Adrien cupped his hands around her and he pulled her close. Another purr rumbled out of him as he rubbed her against his cheek. Tikki clung to him like he was her only lifeline.

“I’m sorry,” she wailed. Her tears carved new paths as they traveled down his cheek and Adrien purred louder. He needed Tikki to work this out of her system if they were going to save his partner. “I’m so sorry, Adrien. I—” She hiccoughed, and turned her tear filled eyes up to him. She sniffed a few time, and Adrien fished a tissue from his pocket to give to her. “—I shouldn’t be blaming you. If anyone is to blame for this situation, it’s Hawk Moth. You’re right. You reached out the only way you could and she didn’t accept it,” whimpered Tikki. She blew her nose with the cutest little honk, though her face screwed up once again. The level of despair she felt was palpable. “She’s my best bug, Adrien! I’ve been so worried for her, but she—She—” More hiccoughs escaped the kwami as she tried not to dissolve into despondent sobs once again. Adrien brought her in close to hug her again.

While it took a few minutes, Adrien was able to soothe her and he carefully wiped her tears away. 

“I know, Tikki. I’ve been worried about her too. Just remember, we’ve got this. Like I said, once all is said and done, Ladybug and I are going to have a long, long chat. It’s overdue at this point.” Adrien drew in a shakey breath as Tikki nodded twice. With a final blow of her nose into the tissue, she flew up out of his hands. “Ready Tikks?”

“I’m ready, Adrien. Thank you for letting me get that out,” she replied.

Adrien gave her a confident grin as he pinned one stud, then the other into place.

“You needed it. Now, let’s save Ladybug,” Adrien replied.

“TIKKI! SPOTS ON!”

Chapter Text

He was scared.

Scared to make a sound.

Hell, he was scared to breathe!

The last thing he wanted to do was bring attention to himself where he was hidden up on the Odeon Theater. Mister Bug knew he was well hidden however, and his current position allowed him to keep an eye on her. She glided up the road towards the entrance of the Sénat of the Luxembourg Palace.

He couldn’t deny he was confused though. 

She hadn’t made any sort of move for her target.

She hadn’t caused any mayhem or destruction.

Yet...his mind supplied traitorously.

He was brought back to the present by the hypnotizing swirl of her hanfu. It was elegant, yet practical. It was by no means traditional, but held an air of commanding regality that ensnared all who looked upon her. Gossamer sheer panels of white, soft pinks, bold reds, and sunny yellows made up the layers of her garb. The material was so very shiny and looked as soft as a cloud. 

From here, all he could see was the silver strands of her hair. Half of them pulled up into an intricate bun with a set of scales woven in. The rest flowed ethereally down her back and flowed as if caught in an invisible stream. Part of him, the part desperate to know the girl on the other side of the mask, was just as desperate to see her face. The selfish need to learn his lady’s civilian identity reared its ugly head, telling him to hurry down there. He growled at himself.

What he truly needed to do was hurry and deduce where the akuma was on the victim. Once that was done, he could find Marinette and talk things out with her.

Mister Bug snorted to himself even as his heart clenched with pain and sorrow. He still had no clue why Marinette tried to return his umbrella to him.

There was an odd upside to all of this, though. It took a few years, but Hawk Moth finally managed to put out an akuma that didn’t look like a fashionista’s nightmare. 

What killed him is that this wasn’t any ordinary victim.

This was Ladybug.

His partner, the person he trusted the most on both sides of the mask. 

The young woman he still loved despite all the attempts to move on.

Yes, he wanted to learn who she was in her everyday life, but not like this. 

Mister Bug threw the yoyo out, and zipped over to the nearest tower of the Sénat. Battle instinct, honed over years of fencing and akumas galore, screamed at him that he had to be the one to make the first move and control the fight. If he allowed her to get the upper hand, she’d use his ass as a set of bongos and Mister Bug knew it. That was an oddly specific thought... mused the bespotted hero. But he knew it was true, though. Ladybug was like a world class chess player most of the time, able to think twelve deep even at the start of the battle. With nearly three years of using the miraculous behind them, Ladybug was lightning fast with figuring out the best way to use her lucky charms.

SCHINK!

The sound of a blade piercing pavement startled him out of his planning and Mister Bug chanced a glance around the pillar to look down. 

She now faced the open, empty street. Her hands folded regally over the hilt of a sword and his face went through a myriad of colors before settling into an ashen pallor. 

Of course she would have a sword.

She knew how he fought, knew he struggled with the yoyo more than she ever had in the years they were partners. Mister Bug looked down at the yoyo. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he’d be screwed if he called his lucky charm now. Despite his straightforward manner and his desire to even the playing field, there was no guarantee that it would give him a sword. Worst yet, he didn’t have anything besides Plagg’s camembert to recharge Tikki with. If I'd known that there would be a kwami swap today, I would have grabbed some macarons from the bakery before running back out the door, he thought to himself.

Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of sword it was. It was clearly a type of broadsword with a heavy hilt. He couldn’t make out how long it was from here though. Considering the Chinese theme of her garb, could he assumed it was a jian, even a zhanmadao?

It was too straight to be a liuyedao or wodao.

Maybe a yanmaodao?

Then again, it all depended on what era the sword was fashioned from. Mister Bug was absolutely certain that it was too short to be a Ming or Qing era miao dao.

Focus, Adrien... Tikki’s gentle admonishment came through surprisingly easily, putting his attention back to where it needed to be. He hadn’t expected to be able to hear her the way he could Plagg while fighting, not with this being his second run as Mister Bug. He didn’t start hearing Plagg until they were six months in their partnership.

“Sorry, Tikks,” he whispered as he pressed himself tight to the wall. “Can I do anything with the yoyo besides block? Make it like a staff perhaps?” One pulse from the suit rippled over him, and Mister Bug’s brow furrowed heavily at the negative answer. 

In short, he’d have to tangle her up if he could. 

He sucked in a breath from between clenched teeth when he saw the minuscule movements of her head darting left and right.

Was she looking for him across the way? Was she expecting Chat Noir? Or, considering that she sent Tikki to him with the earrings, a flash of red and black?

There was only one way to find out.

With a deep breath in and the cord of the yoyo pulled tight between his hands, Mister Bug jumped down with a determined grimace etched into his face. The moment he was in range, the jian in her hand flashed dangerously in the light, narrowly missing his cheek as she thrust it up at him. He tangled it up in the cord, silently thankful for his foresight and he forced the blade back down to the sidewalk, all the while keeping his boot against the flat of it so she couldn't bring it back up too soon.

Any taunts he had towards his partner died at the tip of his tongue as he took her in.

Oh god…

He knew those sweet freckles, the gentle swoop of her bow shaped mouth. Her eyes, her beautiful bluebell eyes, were locked away behind a strip of pink silk.

Despair welled within his heart, flowing through every facet of his being and his expression crumpled as his hands shook. Tears welled up at the corners of his eyes despite himself.

She was more than his partner.

She was his first friend.

“Oh princess,” he croaked out in absolute misery.

Her Ladybug smirk seemed so foreign against the pale jade tint of her skin and Mister Bug only had milliseconds to react before she pulled her blade— A Ming or Qing Dynasty Jian upon exceedingly close inspection—free. Her jian whistled a few times as it sliced through the air before she held it above her, her other hand outstretched in preparation for either attack or defense.

“I’m not your Purrincess any more, Chat Noir. Or should I say Mister Bug?” she began. She darted in, getting face to face with him as her blade rested against the side of his neck. Her free hand held his chin in her icy grip. 

“You may call me—” Her smile stretched too far across her face, giving him a window into her tormented madness. A single black tear rolled out from under the silk blindfold and down her cheek. “—Queen Verity.”

Chapter Text

He couldn’t help the touch of fear Queen Verity could more than likely see in his eyes. Mister Bug needed a chance to get some distance between them, needed to find a way to even the playing field. With her blade at his neck and her hand holding his chin in place, he was in dire straights right now and he knew it.

“So tell me, my dear, sweet Mister Bug—” Queen Verity’s hand left his chin to caress his cheek. She gently pushed him away, leaving the tip of her jian pointed at him. “—where is your miraculous hiding right now?”

A smarmy grin, much like the one he’d wear as Chat Noir crossed his face and he thought over his response a few times to be sure it was the perfect amount of comedy and sassiness. The moment he went to speak, however, his throat grew tight. He cleared his throat a few times in an effort to dislodge the feeling, but the more he resisted, the stronger the urge to tell nothing but the absolute truth became. “I don’t know where it is,” he managed to ground out.

His green eyes narrowed slightly as the scales woven in her hair wavered before tipping to the right. So not only could she compel the truth, but she could weigh how true the statement was?

Well fuck. That would not only keep him on his toes, but pose a severe problem if she asked him any damningly direct questions. Mister Bug kicked the flat of the blade, taking the focus off him before he rushed in again. He pulled some of the cord from the yoyo taught, using it to block any direct slashes from her. He managed to get her jian and swordhand tangled and he darted behind her, pinning her arm against her chest. His eyes went wide with unrestrained glee as he took in the handle.

“Oh! Definitely a Ming Dynasty style jian! Excellent choice! I love the details on the hilt, ma princesse !” he gushed. He pulled the cord one way to twist it a little more to follow the paths the ladybugs were taking. To his delight, there were small black and green paw prints hidden on either side of the guard. “And look at that! Paw prints hidden away! Does that mean you’re hiding something from me, Marinette?” he added with a sassy coo. 

She struggled against him before slipping down his torso, only to twist in an effort to reclaim the upper hand. “That’s Queen Verity to you, bug!” she sneered as he forced her sword hand up once more. She struggled to bring it back down, but she didn’t have the leverage needed.

“While it’s good to know what your powers are, ma cher princesse , I’d rather like to know what led to this mess,” purred Mister Bug as he kept their arms raised high. He blocked a kick with his own leg, and he used the chance to step in closer. “Tell me what happened, please. I need to know what made you break. Marinette is capable of doing anything and everything she sets her mind to. Why give in to Hawk Moth’s empty promises?”

“You’d give in too if you had no one left to rely on!” she spat. “All thanks to a bunch of lies and a threat made in the bathroom more than a year ago. She’s not going to stop with me either! I have to stop her before she hurts anyone else! So do me a favor, Mister Bug, stay out of my way. I won’t stop until the truth comes to light, and I won’t abide anyone standing in my way. I have nothing and no one left to lose any more. I don’t have any friends waiting for me on the other side of this anyways.” More tears, black as pitch, rolled down her cheeks as she spoke, but they never soaked through the blindfold. 

Mister Bug couldn’t help but shake his head in dismay. “ What about Alya, Nino? Adrien? Even then, you still have me. Nothing Lila could ever say will change that,” he whispered consolingly. Their arms lowered and one hand came up to cradle her cheek in a comforting gesture. The other, just in case, stayed on the wrist of her sword hand. 

He wasn’t in the mood to get skewered after all.

Queen Verity leaned into the gentle touch for a brief moment and Mister Bug tenderly swiped a tear away. Her pain, her heartbreak was all but palpable. His heart seized in his chest when he saw purple argon magic light up her face and her expression morphed back into torment. She wound back with her left hand, landing a solid punch to his jaw that sent him flying through the tall window into the Sénat. He groaned as he crashed into one of the reading benches, the hardwood shattering upon the impact.

Holy hell, his lady had a strong arm. That must come from working in the bakery with her parents. 

Hey Tikki? Remind me to never piss Marinette off to where she punches me like that again, he thought, knowing the kwami would hear it. The gentle wash of sad amusement came over him through the suit.

“Here goes nothing,” he groused as he rose to unsteady feet. His hand flew up, sending the yoyo towards the ceiling. “Lucky Charm!” Now was as good a time as any. He needed to keep Queen Verity’s focus on him for as long as possible. He still didn’t know where her akumatized item was.

A fencing sabre dropped in his hand and he sighed in relief. “Thank god! Luck has me two for two!” he praised. It wasn’t a moment too soon as Queen Verity shot into the library space, her sword raised and ready. Mister Bug blocked the swing, catching her in a deadlock.

“You don’t know me, Mister Bug!” Queen Verity screamed in his face.

“That’s where you’re wrong! I know you better than anyone!” he insisted, pressing down further on the blade. Their swords sang as metal slid against metal, the weapons going around in a circle before freeing both combatants. Mister Bug flipped back, jumping over the ruined table in an effort to put space between he and Queen Verity.

“NO! All you know about me is from when you saved me!” The whistle of the blade slicing through the air made him lean back, though his eyes crossed slightly at how close it passed by his nose. “You know nothing of how I’ve suffered! My reputation is in ruins!” The harsh clanging of their blades rang through the space as they dueled in earnest, only to have the shrill alarm of the earrings cut into the fight. “Lila Rossi destroyed every bridge and lifeline! All with her lies, Mister Bug! But all they see is me as the villain!” They deadlocked again and Queen Verity snarled as she grabbed the hand with his yoyo. “I’m only giving them what they want at this rate. They want to believe her? Fine. I’ll show them how misplaced their trust is in that lying wretch!”

“You never answered me, majesty,” panted Mister Bug. “What about Adrien?”

“What about him? He lied to me too, and I deserve to know why,” Queen Verity hissed. “I’ll get the truth out of everyone who’s wronged me, Mister Bug. Just stay out of my way.” With that, she released his hand, only to send her foot into his sternum with a kick so powerful it sent him through the shelves into the next room. 

Time seemed to slow as he flew through the air, but his eyes locked onto something purple on her left hip. Her purse! he realized with glee. He sent the yoyo flying back out, wrapping it around her before tugging the string taut. It hauled him back to her and he tackled Queen Verity to the floor. “You’re wrong, you know,” he whispered. His chest heaved and the earrings beeped shrilly once again. “I know you better than anyone, Marinette. Your power is the truth? Go ahead, point your sword at my heart and ask me anything. I’ll even turn over the miraculous if I can’t answer in a complete truth.”

His akumatized partner seemed to think it over as he brought them to their feet. “I could just as easily wait for your timer to run out. Why offer that?”

“Like you said, you deserve to know the truth,” he replied with a nonchalant shrug. His sword hand itched to cut the purse from her hip, but he needed to wait for the absolute right moment.

Queen Verity’s brow furrowed as she looked off to the side before understanding dawned on her face. Mister Bug cursed under his breath, extending into a full lunge in an effort to damage the item, but his akumatized partner blocked him and jumped back.

“Nice try in your attempt to distract me, buggaboy, but it didn’t work. Good luck trying to catch me now that you have to recharge,” she said, backing up towards the broken window. With another insanity laced grin, she jumped into the air, gliding through it as if she was in a kung fu movie. 

“NO! MARINETTE!” Mister Bug screamed. He threw the yoyo out, hauling himself into the air before calling it back to him. With the hangtime, he threw it out again, hoping to tangle her in the string before she could get too far. He wasn’t counting on her to turn midair and swing her jian, deflecting the yoyo and sending it right back to him. The shrill beep of the earrings rang through his ears again and his chest constricted as she gained more distance. “DAMMIT!”

Mister Bug swung down into an alley, crashing to his knees as the transformation fell. Angry tears fell down his face as he hit the ground with his closed fist. 

He couldn’t save her. 

Even as Mister Bug, he couldn’t save her.

What kind of partner was he?!

Heavy sobs shook his lithe frame. Adrien never felt so stupid or naïve. His advice, his insistence that lies didn’t hurt people…

It was his fault Marinette was akumatized.

“Adrien?” Tikki’s soft, sweet voice drew his attention and he pushed himself up, sitting against the wall. “Don’t lose hope. We know two things for certain. Where the akuma is hiding and where she’s going.”

“You were right, Tikki…” he whispered. “It is my fault. I told her to take the high road.”

Tikki shook her head as she hugged the apple of his cheek. “No Adrien. You gave advice for as much of the situation as you knew. Marinette didn’t tell you about Lila threatening her. She should have. You would have had her back sooner if she did. But what’s done is done, Adrien. All we can do now is make things right. You realize what that means, don’t you?”

Adrien nodded as he used his shirt to wipe his face. He drew out Plagg’s wedge of camembert and offered it to Tikki. “Yeah. Everyone’s going to be hurt in the aftermath. To be honest, I can’t help but wonder if they don’t deserve it for turning their backs on Nettie the way they did.” Tikki sat down in his palm as she took small bites of the smelly cheese. He couldn’t help but laugh at the faces she made. “I’m sorry, Tikki. I didn’t think to grab any macarons while we were at the bakery both times.”

Tikki shook her head. “It’s okay. I just don’t understand Plagg’s obsession with the stuff. Just give me another minute and we’ll be ready to go, Adrien!”

Adrien nodded and his head tilted back until he looked at the sky. Such a soft blue, like her eyes.

Marinette didn’t deserve this.

She never deserved any of this. Not with everything she’s done for everyone in their class, himself included. All the more, he could see how she felt this might be her only recourse. 

If Adrien had his way, she’d never feel that way ever again. 

He was going to do everything in his power to make things right for her. It might not mean restored friendships with those in their class, but they would know the truth in the end. Yes, they’d be hurt, and they’d feel the guilt, but it was nothing less of what they deserved in his estimation.

As for himself? Adrien knew he had a great deal of grovelling to do to earn back Marinette’s trust. He wasn’t losing her friendship if he could help it.

If it took throwing his father under the bus and leveling his own lawsuits against the man for working him too much to make it clear they’re both victims in this case?

So be it.

Chapter Text

His booted feet pounded against the rooftops, his eyes narrowed as he ran at a breakneck pace. He needed to reach their lycee before it was too late. His heart sped up at the sight of pink and red flowing before him and Mister Bug threw the yoyo out again.

He landed just slightly behind her as she watched the front of the school with hawkish intent. “Were you waiting for me, ma cher princesse?” he asked teasingly. “To be honest, I wasn’t too keen on missing the fireworks. Are you sure we can’t keep those between ourselves?”

Queen Verity gave a derisive snort and her head barely turned to look over her shoulder. “I wasn’t waiting for you, no. I’m waiting for them to return. Where Alya is, so is Lila after all,” she replied. “As for the fireworks?” She turned to face him fully, the tip of her jian pointed at him. “What fireworks? There’s nothing between us, Mister Bug.”

He didn’t even have to fight the truth as he spoke this time. “By fireworks, I meant kisses. It doesn’t matter that you’ve been akumatized, you’re still the girl I love,” he whispered.

The scales didn’t even waver as they tipped to the right, confirming his reply to be nothing but a complete truth.

Okay…

Mister Bug could admit he wasn’t expecting that.

Then again, he always swore he’d love the girl on the other side of the mask, no matter who she was. He loved Ladybug, which meant he loved Marinette. The more he thought it over, the more he realized it was really and truly as simple as that. Everything he loved about Ladybug, Marinette showed in spades as well. Leadership? She was still the class rep because no one did the job better than her, much to Lila's consternation. Bravery? Check two, as Marinette was always doing what she knew to be right, despite how it looked to others at first. Beauty, brains, with a touch of kickassery? Oh hell yes. Marinette had taken quite the shine not just to fencing, but hand to hand as well. 

The absolute final plus in all this? No more lamenting to Plagg about having to choose between the two girls when they were both one in the same. He was free to love her now that he knew and understood all the sides of her. He'd be the one to pick her up from this absolute low and hold her high when she succeeded.

She was everything he wanted and more.

If her shocked stillness was anything to go off of, she wasn’t expecting that statement either. “You can’t love me,” she whispered in disbelief. Her sword hand shook, lowering the tip of the jian further. Mister Bug took a tentative step towards her, his hands outstretched. “All of Paris knows you’re in love with—”

Mister Bug held a finger to her lips as his other hand lowered the tip of the sword down to the roof they were standing upon. “You. I love you for everything you are and aren’t. You’re akumatized right now, but that doesn’t make me love you any less.” Again the scales tipped completely to the right, even without prompting from her power set. “I can’t lie when you compel the truth. Your scales even confirmed it, Marinette, twice. Once with prodding and once without,” he added with a small, sad chortle. “You are the girl I love. So please, mon coeur, let me help you. We’ll expose Lila together. I just need you to give me your object so I can free you from Hawk Moth.”

As if the name summoned the emotionally stunted vampiric asshole, purple argon magic lit up her face once more as she hissed in pain while clutching her head. Her hand closed around his wrist as she snarled once more, and Mister Bug couldn’t help the shocked scream that left him as Queen Verity sent him flying, face first, towards the wall of the school. He brought his arms up and tucked his head in, knowing there was no chance at changing his course at this speed.

Sure enough, he crashed through the door frame, and into the courtyard though he was back on his feet in an instant. 

“Mister Bug?!”

The shocked voice of Alya Cesaire did little to help his mood. “Get out of here! Hurry!” he ordered sternly. “That goes for everyone! Get out of the school! Now!”

“What’s going on?! Where’s Ladybug?” 

A sinister laugh sent a shudder right up his spine and Mister Bug turned to look at Queen Verity as she daintily landed in the ruined door before taking a graceful step towards him. “Yes, oh mighty Mister Bug…” she purred. Her jian whistled through the air three times before she leveled it on him. “...please tell us. Where is Ladybug?”

The feeling of her compulsion had no effect on his next words and Mister Bug gave her his patented Chat Noir smirk. “M’lady is out of commission for this particular fight, but don’t worry. She’ll be back in the spots soon enough.”

Again the scales dropped instantly to the right, which further increased Mister Bug’s confidence. If Queen Verity was nervous at the truthfulness of his reply, it was hidden in her eyes behind the silken blindfold. 

“Marinette?! Seriously?! You got akumatized because you were exposed for the whore you are?!” Alya screeched. 

Mister Bug looked over to her in shock, though he didn’t miss how the scales dropped instantly to the left at the blatant untruth. 

His Princesse? A whore?!

What the hell was going on in this school?! More importantly, what the hell happened between Marinette and Alya?!

“Who are you calling a whore?! She’s, like, the embodiment of absolute virtue!” Mister Bug sputtered, his hand waving up and down in a frantic motion in Queen Verity's direction. "How could you ever believe something like that about her?! She's much too good, too pure for a label like that!"

Alya shook her head as she glared daggers at the akuma. “You obviously don’t know her like the rest of us do. Even then, it’s clear we didn’t know her at all,” spat the blogger. Her phone was at the ready, though it was by some small miracle she hadn't started recording yet. Maybe it was more because of the threat Queen Verity posed?

That never stopped Alya before, though, so why hold off now?

“Is that so?” Queen Verity leveled her jian on Alya for a moment before lowering it to the ground again. “Why don’t you tell Mister Bug all these truths you find so self evident? After you’re done with that, you answer a few questions for me,” she ordered imperiously.

“You’re just going to stand there?” Alya seethed as Mister Bug dusted himself off before he leaned against a nearby pillar.

“Telling the truth isn’t going to kill you, Alya. Besides, I’ve been trying to figure out what got Marinette into this whole mess to begin with, and I know exactly how her current powers work. If that means allowing her to use said powers for a minute or two so I can finally get the bigger picture?” He gave her a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders as he rose one hand in the air. “Eh! C’est la vie!”

Alya harrumphed as she looked between the hero and the akumatized villain. “Lila shed light on some things that made all the more sense. She’s always ditching us, always flaking out on promises, claiming other responsibilities. It all came to a head when Lila got lost in an unsavory part of town the other day and saw Marinette walking into a cheap motel with two thugs. She’s been whoring herself out, and she has the gall to call Lila a liar? She’s no better. It makes sense on how she’s been able to afford such fine fabrics as of late,” seethed the blogger.

Mister Bug wasn’t watching Alya as she ranted, but the scales woven into Queen Verity’s hair. They fell to the left in an instant. “Wow. She didn’t even need to use her power; which is to compel the truth by the way, to have that statement weigh in as a complete falsehood,” he said as he kicked off the wall. “Princesse …”

“I’ve told you before, bug, it’s Queen Verity now,” she snarled. She rose her jian at Alya, who had the grace to quail at the sight of the sharp looking sword pointing at her.

“And I’ve told you that it doesn’t matter that you’ve been akumatized. You’re still Marinette, and I love you,” he replied fiercely. The scales tipped to the right again this time, and Alya’s brow furrowed in befuddlement. 

As misguided and fairweather as she was, Alya was anything but stupid after all. Which is exactly what he was counting on. This was the real reason he allowed this to happen, and it would work in his favor later on.

How it would work in his favor, though? He still wasn't sure of that part just yet. Again, he wasn't near as fast on the uptake as Marinette was when it came to planning. He'd figure out a way to make it work, one way or the other. He was confident about that much.

“They tip to the left when it’s a lie?” Alya asked. A slight case of Schadenfreude over took him at the fearful waver in the Ladyblogger's voice. 

Queen Verity nodded as she took a step forward. “How fast they fall to either side determines how true or false a statement is for that matter,” she explained imperiously. The jian turned towards Mister Bug and he grinned, knowing she was going to use him as an example. “For instance? Where’s your miraculous?”

“I don’t know,” he replied easily, thankful for Tikki's luck that no damning questions were asked of him. The scales teetered for a minute before tipping halfway to the right. It was a half truth, as he knew Plagg was somewhere in the city. 

The jian turned back to Alya, who looked a little less afraid now, if not a little green around the gills. It didn’t take an astrophysicist to realize she was thinking over everything Lila told her about Marinette and how much wasn't adding up.

There was also the fact that he, as Chat Noir, had given Marinette several bolts of cloth before his father started ramping up his schedule, but he didn't have to divulge that information. It was bad enough that Hawk Moth might have heard his confessions about loving her.

“I have two questions for you. The first of which is where is Adrien Agreste?”

“I don’t know. The last I saw, he was leaving the school with Marinette. I haven’t seen him since,” Alya stated. She couldn’t help but back up as the jian came very close to touching her. The scales wobbled before tipping fully to the right again, which made Mister Bug choke on a laugh.

After all, he was standing right there, not that Alya knew that. The scales must have picked up on that before determining it to be the truth. Gotta love that quantum masking magic, he thought to himself.

“Hm...You might have seen him bolt back here to the school without realizing it. No matter, I’ll find him in the end. Last but not least, where is Lila Rossi?” Queen Verity’s voice was low and threatening, and Mister Bug saw Alya shiver at the cold tone her former best friend addressed her with.

“She’ll be returning to the classroom any minute now, with the lunch break being almost over,” Alya said. She gasped fearfully as she hit one of the pillars, the tip of the jian still aimed true for her chest. “Now would be a good time to engage the akumatized victim, Mr. Bug.”

Okay, that was a faster turnaround than he was expecting from Alya. It was as close as she was going to get to admitting she was wrong.

Right now at least.

“Her and I have been going back and forth for the majority of the break. Quite frankly, I need a little more time to build up a plan. I’m not as lightning fast as my lady after all,” he replied. It was a white lie. He was waiting for a better opportunity to get the purse, but he wasn't willing to tip his hand. Would he have to call for another lucky charm? The first one fizzled away when his transformation fell earlier. 

“How is she out of commission for this fight? Does this mean you know who she is now?!” Alya demanded.

“The hows and whys aren’t relevant and don’t concern you. If you must know, her kwami sought me out. We’re only human under the masks after all,” Mister Bug replied. He didn’t want to tell a blatant untruth now that Alya knew how Queen Verity’s powers worked in detail. At least his answer was truthfully vague enough to tip the scales in his favor.

Quite literally, as the small scales gently tilted to the right.

“I suggest, for the last time, that you stay out of my way, Mister Bug. We wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened at the Sénat after all,” the queen cooed with fake concern. Her jian lowered and she gathered Alya up beside her before jumping to the second level. The muffled sounds of screams from their classroom met his ears, but he dashed for a blind spot to detransform in.

Honestly, part of him needed to process what Alya said. So Lila started a rumor that Marinette was whoring herself out, and that was why she was flaking on her friends and other commitments? As sick as it made him, it made the comments he overheard before the lunch break make all the more sense.

“Tikki?” His voice cracked as he addressed the kwami and he felt more tears spill down his cheeks. 

He was emotionally wrecked, but he didn’t have the luxury of time to process it.

Try as he might, he couldn’t help the pain in his chest when he thought of how Queen Verity—Marinette, he reminded himself—screamed that he had no idea what she was going through.

Because of Lila and his father, he really didn’t. He wasn’t there to support her or even pay attention to their surroundings. If he had gotten wind of this rumor, he would have squashed it in an instant by admitting he gave her the fabrics.

Granted, that would have revealed his identity to Marinette, but she was the guardian. She was going to have to learn who he was sooner or later.

The gentle touch of the kwami against his cheek let him know she was listening, pulling his scatterbrained thoughts back to the matter at hand, and Adrien cupped her against him. “It’s going to be okay, Adrien. I purromise,” Tikki whispered before kissing the tip of his nose. Adrien couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up at the kwami’s cat themed pun. 

“Be honest with me, please. I know that rumor is only the tip of the iceberg. What else have I been blind to?” he asked.

Tikki shook her head as she hid her face. “Please, Adrien, don’t make me relive that,” she whimpered.

Adrien’s brow fell into a worried furrow as Tikki settled against his palms. “That bad?”

“Worse,” came the small admission.

Again, his stomach rolled threateningly and Adrien brought a hand up to his mouth to fight off the wave of nausea that crashed over him. He honestly did not want to think of what Marinette had endured all this time. 

He had to fix this, had to set the record straight with the class. 

He should have exposed Lila ages ago. Should have told Alya and Nino much sooner than this. Would they have believed him, though, if they didn’t believe Marinette?

Could Mister Bug honestly and truly help in this matter?

Adrien’s eyes snapped open as the epiphany hit him with all the force of a supernova.

There was no way to Miraculous Mister Bug the situation away. Feelings were going to be hurt and friendships shattered in the wake of all this. But Mister Bug and Chat Noir weren’t the ones needed to set things straight.

Marinette needed to hear the truth from him on why she’d been left to fight on her own. That was one of the reasons she was akumatized, because she thought he abandoned her and that he condoned Lila’s actions. 

Adrien didn’t need a miraculous to save the day this time, he realized as he jumped to his feet.

All he needed; now more than ever, was to tell the truth.

Chapter Text

Adrien was running the scenario through his head as he ran up the stairs. He had to be careful not to lay it on too thick, lest Queen Verity and Alya catch him in an untruth. He opened the door, bursting into the classroom, but dead silence and wide, fearful eyes met him.

He went still when he heard the whistle of the jian through the air and he felt the flat of the blade settle on his shoulder.

“Marvelous timing, Adrien. Now do me a favor and close the door. Then you’ll take your seat. We don’t want to cause a ruckus, now do we? I’m not ready to deal with Mister Bug yet and I don’t want to give away my position here at the school.” In that moment, while suppressing a full body shiver, he understood how Alya felt downstairs. Marinette never spoke to him this coldly, even when she was upset or annoyed with him. 

Adrien swallowed against the lump in his throat as he turned around to close the door behind him and his eyes found a fair chunk of their classmates as he was guided towards his seat. Ivan had Mylene wrapped protectively in his embrace, the two of them both ashen faced and cowering at the desk Ivan normally sat at.

It was the same for Rose and Juleka, though the smaller blond was in silent tears. Alix and Nathanael were against the back wall by Kim and Max, all four of them looking afraid of the akuma at the front of the class. 

Chloe and Sabrina were at their normal desk as well, with the blond taking a bold stance in front of her friend, but still looking worried as her sapphire gaze flitted between Adrien and Queen Verity. Lastly, at Marinette’s normal desk, Lila was cowering into Alya’s bosom, while Nino gently clasped Alya’s shoulders while standing behind her. Adrien’s chin tipped up as she raised the jian, forcefully turning his gaze back to her.

“Nettie—” he began.

Queen Verity tutted condescendingly as Adrien was forced to back up towards the corner of his normal desk. “Don’t talk. You see, we’re about to have a very special live stream done on the Ladyblog. Don’t worry, you’ll get your turn to talk too. First on the list is Lila though.” Again, her insanity laced grin stretched too far over her pale jade face, and a black tear rolled out from under her blindfold. 

Adrien steeled his courage, knowing he was very well gambling with his life at this moment. If she struck him down here, there would be no Miraculous Cure to bring him back. 

They’d be fucked up shit’s creek with a hemorraging canoe.

“Nettie, talk to me, please,” he pleaded. 

His chin tilted up further and he sucked in a breath from between clenched teeth as the skin near the point pinched.

A cold laugh almost made him shiver. He could not, would not, show her fear right now. He was pretty sure he knew what he needed to do to help her. “You want to talk to me that badly, Adrien?” The ice of her words made goosebumps erupt all over his skin. The jian lowered as she closed the distance between them, her free hand coming up to cup his cheek. “We’ll talk soon. Just be patient and wait your turn. I’m interested to hear your side of things despite the fact that you left me to the wolves,” she said. Another black tear rolled down her cheek as she forcefully grabbed his chin. “But you will address me properly. I am no longer Marinette. I am Queen Verity. I don’t want to correct you, Adrien, but I will if my hand is forced. Markov? Are we ready to go live?”

“We are,” came the reply and sure enough, Adrien saw the little robot hovering nearby. 

“Good. Take your seat Adrien,” ordered the queen. Markov flew over to Alya and she gave him a frightened nod to go live.

“Hey there Paris! This is Alya Cesaire, your one and only Ladyblogger. Today, we have a special livestream taking place, with none other than the akumatized victim, Queen Verity,” she trembled out.

“Thank you, Alya. Now kindly step away to the other side of the classroom or over here with Adrien.” Her voice was colder than he ever heard it before, as if she was forcing herself to be void of emotion for this exchange.

Lila screeched, clawing at Alya’s arms as the other girl did as she was ordered. She looked directly over to Markov, who was out far enough so that both Lila and Queen Verity were in the shot. “Ladybug! Chat Noir! Hurry! She’s going to kill us all!”

The scales dropped instantly to the left, which made Alya gasp into her hands. She grabbed Adrien’s arm, pulling him in close in a huddle while Lila continued to wail ineffectually to the camera. 

“When she points her sword at someone, it compels them to tell the truth. The scales seem to act on their own however, weighing how true or false a statement is. How fast they fall determines the severity of the truth or falsehood for that matter,” Alya whispered hurriedly in explanation. 

“So if they fall to the left, it’s a lie?” he queried. Adrien wasn’t supposed to know anything about how the akuma’s powers worked after all. Alya nodded as her grip tightened and he gave a derisive snort. “To be honest, it’s not that shocking considering Lila is a liar,” he added, more than loud enough for the class to hear.

The air sang as the jian sliced through it, pulling Adrien’s focus back to the akuma slightly behind him.

“You’ll get your turn to talk soon enough, Adrien. Now please keep your lips shut or do I need to find another way to keep them busy?” snarled Queen Verity.

So help him, he couldn’t stop the hot blush that came to mind at her words, nor could he stop his truth compelled inquiry from tumbling out. “Do you plan to keep them busy with your own?”

You could hear a pin drop with as silent as the room became following that statement and Adrien couldn’t help but delight at the crimson rouge that combated with the jade tint of her skin. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound, as his mother used to say.

“Because if you are, I won’t deny I’m down,” he added with a smug purr at finally getting Marinette’s akumatized form off kilter. The red tint deepened and the sword shook. This was good. His Nettie was still there, in all her flustered glory. 

The icing on the proverbial cake was that the scales in her hair dropped to the right without hesitation.

“That was fucking pog, Agreste,” breathed Kim from the back of the room.

Queen Verity sucked in a breath from between clenched teeth at the reminder that they weren’t alone and she grabbed Adrien’s chin in her cold fingers. “Remain silent,” she growled threateningly. She patted his cheek twice before straightening again and her jian pointed straight at Lila once more. “As for you, Lila Rossi—”

The weight of the power in her words could have leveled a mountain when coupled with the victorious sneer that warped her crimson stained lips. 

“What lies have you told?”

Adrien had to admit it, that was a brilliant way to phrase the question. There would be no wiggling out of it on Lila’s end. Sure enough, Lila jolted forward with semi-fake tears in her eyes as she slammed her hands on the desktop, probably to proclaim her innocence that she would never lie. The words wouldn’t come however and her pallor changed from red to green, then blue as the truth forced her to choke on her falsehoods. 

Finally with a great gasp, Lila cried out “I started the rumor Marinette is whoring herself out! She’s not bullying me, in fact it’s the other way around. I never met any celebrities I claim to have connections with. Jagged Stone has never had a kitten. I never showed Clara Nightingale any dance moves because the only thing I can do is twerk. Marinette didn’t steal the test answers, steal my necklace, or push me down the stairs. I faked all of it so I could get rid of her and have Adrien all to myself…” Falsehood after falsehood fell from her lips, tumbling into the light of day and forever ruining the image she painted of herself to everyone. Finally, after what seemed ages, Lila finally quieted, having last admitted—More than likely the first lie she ever told— that she stole her late grandmother’s favorite brooch when it was supposed to have gone to one of her aunts.

“That’s quite the extensive list of lies, Lila,” Queen Verity jeered. Her blade didn’t not lower in the slightest and Adrien looked between it and Lila. “Is it true you have a vendetta against Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

Lila ground her teeth as she looked at his akumatized love with abject hatred burning in her eyes. “Yes,” she seethed finally after a minute.

“Why?”

Lila slowly rose to her feet, not once taking her feral stare off Queen Verity. “Because you knew from the beginning I was lying somehow. I hated how long it took to break you, to turn you into the villain in your friends eyes. I hate everything you stand for, and if I had the opportunity to change things, I wouldn’t stop at assaulting you between classes, to painting myself as the victim when we’ve been caught those few times.” Lila sneered, her expression pure evil as she never once blinked or averted her gaze. “Instead, I’ll ask Hawk Moth for another akuma once you’ve been purified and I will kill you. After all, Ladybug would bring you back with the Miracle Cure and akuma victims aren’t supposed to remember anything they do. But I do, and I’ll savor the memory of torturing you before I finally end your miserable, insignificant life. Every time you cross me, or just when I feel like it, I’ll ask him to let me do it again and again.”

“So you know Hawk Moth’s real identity then?” Queen Verity’s sword lowered and she ran her thumb against the ledge. It was said with an air that she didn’t really believe her. After all, Lila was a liar. “Markov, cut the broadcast. The public has seen enough.” He barely heard Markov give the affirmative, his blood pounding in his ears.

With the live stream cut, Adrien would have the slight element of surprise. The public wouldn’t know first, even if it was the truth. Adrien barely realized that Queen Verity didn’t have her jian pointed at Lila any more. 

What was her aim here?

Was she counting on Lila to lie?

“Of course I do. It’s Gabriel Agreste,” Lila said nonchalantly.

Adrien didn’t watch Lila or the class when she said this, despite the disbelieving laughter that erupted through the class. They all saw that Queen Verity wasn't pointing her jian at Lila, so how could that be the truth? Gabriel Agreste was an asshole, but that didn't make him an emotionally vampiric super villain!. Instead of joining the rest of the class in their hilarity, his eyes snapped to the scales on Queen Verity’s head.

His heart sank when they fell to the right in an instant. Not even a minute amount of hesitation.

“Is that so?” Queen Verity turned her back to Lila hiding the falling of her scales with the movement. But Adrien could hear the unsteady waver in her voice. He knew that waver all too well when Ladybug was losing hope during an akuma battle. So far, it seemed that they were the only two to realize that it was the truth. Instead, her jian pointed back to Adrien and he started.

“Markov, put the broadcast back on,” he said, his demand calling order back to the class. He was going to have an audience of epic proportions, damn it! Especially if he had to take his own father down in the aftermath of all this. What better way to get his father—No, Hawk Moth. There was no excuse for his actions. Adrien refused to relate himself to a terrorist—off Chat Noir’s and Ladybug’s scents by being swamped by the press and more than likely child services and other important bodies of government that regulated business laws.

I have to get a copy of that footage from Markov to show Marinette. All of it, even though I’m sure I’ll be sick if I hear Lila’s voice admitting she’d murder her in cold blood for fun again. She deserves to know what happened. I doubt even Max realizes the truth right now, he thought, his heart rate thundering from the stress. “You want the people to know the truth, right majesty?” Adrien got to his feet and he took one, two, three tentative steps toward her. “I already know what you’re going to ask me. Why would the Sunshine child of Paris, Adrien Agreste, abandon his friend?”

“It was something to that effect, I won’t deny.” His chin tilted up as she closed the distance, his green eyes never once leaving her face. He didn’t want to show too much fear, despite the fact that her blade was now at his throat once more. He was in more danger as his civilian self than he was a Mister Bug at this rate. “Care to enlighten me as to why I was left to the wolves? Do you have any clue how I’ve been suffering?”

He didn’t have to fake the despair that filled his voice and made his tear fall. “I’m sorry, but no. I don’t know. My father has had me working crazy amounts of hours for three months straight. I’ve barely been able to talk to Nino or anyone else at school, much less on the computer or on the phone. All my chat logs are being heavily monitored, and the only person I’ve been allowed to talk with for any length of time is Lila. That’s why I was excited we were going to have lunch together today,” Adrien whispered. His heart hurt, so much, for every truth Lila admitted.

Assaulting Marinette, spreading rumor after rumor to ruin her to their peers and the other adults in their lives. He wanted to take away everything that hurt her, replace it with every ounce of love in his heart for her. He had to get through this, get through to her, first.

Get the item.

Catch the butterfly.

Run off and purify it.

Somehow.

It’s too late, no escape. No turning around. I can’t show fear, but she knows I’m scared anyhow. We’re too far from the start and I’m in too deep.  No turning back, there's no other path. I know this road is my destiny. I’ve got to stick to this plan, because there’s no Plan B, he thought as he steeled his resolve further.

“I’ve been so exhausted that I’m barely able to pay attention in class. If it’s a lull, Lila has usually latched herself onto my arm and I’ve gotten to the point that I tune her out completely because I hate hearing her voice. I don’t want to know what lies she’s saying to make herself look better to the class. I know that’s apathetic at best, but I’m just tired of trying to keep face with her.” The scales tipped to the right, and Alya gasped behind closed hands at the weight of the truth he told them. 

“I never wanted you to feel like you were alone, and for that, I am so sorry. I don’t want to lose you either. You’re the first friend I made outside of my father’s realm of influence, the first one I made all on my own, Marinette—” Adrien couldn’t help but suck in a breath from between clenched teeth as the tip of her blade pinched the soft skin under his chin at the utterance of her real name. He felt the smallest trickle flow down his neck and under his collar. His green eyes looked towards the ones hidden behind the blindfold, if only with the smallest touch of defiance. “—I’m not letting you go that easily. Not if there is something I can do, anything I can do, to make it right between us. I’m not letting you go for anything and I will get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness if I have to.” Again the scales tipped to the right in an instant, showing the strength of his resolve.

"Move aside, Adrien." The command was soft, but he gladly stepped to the left, if only to keep his eye on her purse. Queen Verity pointed the jian towards Lila once more. "Why isolate Adrien as much as you have me, Lila? You know he loves coming to school. What was your aim?"

Lila snarled, looking upon his akumatized lady love with nothing but absolute disdain. "Because I had to separate the two of you if my plan to ruin you was ever going to work. I had to head off any attempt that Adrien would come to your defense like he did the other times, and to that effect, I started talking to Mister Agreste. I had to be the one to command Adrien's attention, no one else. He's mine, and I will not allow him to be further sullied with illusions of friendship from the rest of these sheep. So his schedule was overloaded with shoots, cutting into his time spent here with you, Alya, and Nino. Miss Sancouer was watching his chat logs in real time to make sure he wasn't sneaking texts to anyone but me, unless it was school related. I used a Pavlovian technique to train him into ignoring what I said here at school. That way, when I said something negative about you, he wouldn't call me out on my lies. I told you before. I told you I'd take all your friends away and that Adrien would be mine. At least I held to half of that."

"Is it really half when you've been exposed as a monster who delights in ruining other peoples' lives?" Adrien seethed. "I will never be yours. I am not a possession, and if you even look at Marinette after all of this is said and done, you will regret it. No one threatens the people I love and gets away with it." Adrien watched as the sword lowered to the ground before looking back to her face, revealing that she was crying harder than ever at his words. Adrien closed the distance further.

Only two more steps to her.

“I should have had your back from the get go. I feel sick knowing the truth, Marinette. I wish I’d known Lila threatened you, right before I gave you that advice no less. If this is the high road, it’s not worth this pain. The truth might hurt, but at least everyone would have been better prepared to deal with Lila and her lies before all of this. I’m sorry I put you through this, Marinette.” Adrien’s hands came up and he pulled away the soft pink silk over her eyes. The sclera were black as pitch, the irises electric blue. “I can promise you this, though. I will always be there for you from here on, much like you’ve been for me. You won’t ever have to be alone so long as I’m there. I care about you far too much, as more than a friend, to ever allow you to feel like this ever again.”

Adrien dipped his head down, guiding her closer with one hand as the other settled on her hip. His lips were just about to brush hers when his fingers curled around the strap of her possessed purse.

From behind closed eyes, he could see a purple glow over her face.

Chapter Text

Purple argon magic lit up her face once more, but it wasn’t anger that morphed her features as Hawk Moth spoke to her. The tears in her eyes, the agony that creased them were clear as day now that they weren’t hidden behind the silken blindfold she’d wore. Queen Verity couldn’t help the scream that tore itself from her throat. Everyone jumped when her blade fell from her hand and clattered against the wooden floor, putting all eyes on them. What looked to be purple lighting spread all over her body and she crumpled as her knees gave out from the onslaught of pain. More black tears flowed freely, a seemingly never ending stream of ink.

Oh god.

All this time…

He thought traces of Marinette had been peeking through when he saw those tears fall.

Adrien held fast to her, his arm slipping around her torso to keep her on her feet. His brow furrowed as fury blazed in his green eyes in the realization of what had been happening all this time. “Stop hurting her, Hawkass!” he snarled, though the lighting sparked from her to him at the same time. He couldn’t help the hiss of pain that escaped him when it felt like a ghostly hand wrapped around his spine and squeezed as hard as it could. He leaned in close to her ear, knowing the villain would hear him. “What would my mother say if she knew you stooped to this level?” he hissed with utter disdain.

The lightning grew in intensity, and Adrien bit back his own cry of agony. How had she endured this so long? “Nettie, listen to me. I need you to follow my lead, okay? We’re getting out of here and I can help you from there. I promise,” he whispered. “Just nod for me, Nettie. Yes or no?”

The movement was jerky, but Adrien felt her nod twice against his shoulder. Without waiting a second more, he kicked up the jian and with an agonized bellow, threw it at the window, shattering it and giving them their exit. He forced his legs into motion, running towards the glass. 

The pounding of footsteps behind them. Alya’s scream of “On your left!” was the only thing that gave Adrien enough warning before Ms. Bustier’s chair went sailing across the room through the rest of the broken glass, thus clearing the pane for them. 

“Time to jump, Nettie,” he ground out. She nodded, frail and feeble, against his chest and her arms wrapped around his chest as he jumped onto the sill. She took over, holding tight to Adrien and leaping towards the skyline with a grace he’d only seen when she was in her spots. 

After putting distance between them and the school, she finally collapsed against a roof not too far from where they fought initially. She shoved him away, but Adrien had to be careful not to take it personally. Hawk Moth was still punishing her, still forcing lightning to cover her body. “Nettie—”

“I am—” She couldn’t even finish the sentence as another scream rent the air, her back arching at an unnatural curve. “Miraculous? NO! I won’t!” 

Angry tears fell against Adrien’s cheeks as he ran over to her, and he snatched the purse from her hip. He ripped it with a savage snarl on his face, and soon the purple miasma surfaced and dissipated, leaving Marinette there. Her eyes were glassed over as she looked at the sky, tear tracks angry and evident against her pale skin. With the softest breath of “Oh shit,” she teetered, falling against the roof in a dead faint. Adrien fell to his knees, scooping her tenderly up in his arms. “Tikki! Spots on!” he cried. He got to his feet, keeping Marinette held against him with one arm while the other swung the yoyo out, capturing the akuma in the process. 

Get Marinette back home first, and then we’ll summon a lucky charm and repair everything from there, Tikki told him gently. 

“Sounds like a solid plan, Tikks,” he whispered as he released the now purified butterfly back into the sky. His brow furrowed as he looked back at the yoyo before he looked back at the unconscious countenance of the girl he loved. “But we’re following the butterfly first. I have to be sure.”

Mister Bug cradled Marinette tenderly against him, taking care not to jostle his fragile cargo as he carefully followed the little white butterfly at a distance. He wasn’t sure if Hawk Moth could sense them after the evil energy was dissipated, but he didn’t want to take the chance he could either. It was slow going, and by the time they reached the Place de Vosges, the butterfly broke off going towards the mansion. Mister Bug scowled as it flew up near what he thought was a ventilation grate at first, but it slipped through a small opening on the west side of the roof that closed right after that, giving it the appearance of a flawless shingled pattern. 

Mister Bug felt his throat go tight and he held Marinette closer to him. 

Hawk Moth had killed him in battle how many times?

All this time, it was his own flesh and blood that attacked Paris again and again. Hurt his friends, their families.

Marinette whimpered a little against the column of his neck, drawing Mister Bug’s focus back to her. “Easy, Nettie. I’ve got you,” he whispered tenderly before jumping down to the entrance of the bakery. Sure enough, her parents came running out once they spotted them and he tenderly eased her over into Mr. Dupain’s embrace. “He was in the midst of punishing her when I got the object, so I don’t know how severing the mental link like that is going to affect her for now. Hopefully, she’ll wake up once I’ve cast the miraculous cure,” he whispered. He felt so drained, emotionally and mentally. 

He needed to decompress and sort out all the information one step at a time. 

“Mister Bug?” Madame Cheng’s voice brought him pause as he prepared to throw the yoyo again. “Is Ladybug alright? We didn’t see Lady Noire at all during the fighting.”

He mustered up enough of a grin to put their minds at ease. “She will be. We’re only human after all, despite the fact that we’re super heroes.” Mister Bug tenderly stroked a stray lock of hair behind Marinette’s ear before he cleared his throat. “I’ll be by later to talk to Marinette though, after she’s had a chance to rest,” he replied.

Madame Cheng looked between the two teens, and nodded before gathering him into an embrace. “Thank you for keeping your promise,” she whispered in his ear. He stiffened a bit in her hold and she chuckled softly. “Her earrings are missing. We’ve speculated, more than once, she’s Ladybug. Besides, how could she go through two years of eating cookies every day without leaving a single crumb in her purse or getting a single cavity?” Both couldn’t help the small laugh the question prompted and Madame Cheng patted his cheek twice before pressing two macarons into his palm. “Your secret is safe with us, don’t worry.”

Mister Bug swallowed thickly and nodded, and he cleared his throat as he looked at the three. “Please don’t let her blame herself. She’s been through more than should be allowed,” he said. Without waiting for a reply, he threw the yoyo and launched into the sky, taking to the rooftops so he could call for another Lucky Charm and the cure. With that finally complete and with a heavy sigh, he called off the transformation and sank against a wall. 

“I don’t know if I can go back there, Tikki,” whispered Adrien as he held out the first macaron to the kwami. “The mansion, I mean. I’ve been living under the same roof as a terrorist all this time.”

“You’ve been safe all this time, only because he’s never suspected you’re Chat Noir. Once we find Plagg, we’ll work something out. There’s still the fact you have to tell Marinette you know who she is,” Tikki said between bites. A look of absolute relish covered her face as she took large bites. “Oh man...I don’t understand how Plagg eats cheese. There’s nothing better in the world than Tom and Sabine’s cookies and macarons, well, except Marinette’s macarons!” 

Adrien smiled softly at her praise for her holder. “You’re not wrong there, Tikks. Speaking of Marinette, I need to have a talk with Max and Markov first and foremost. I need a full copy of his footage before he deletes everything,” he whispered as he got to his feet. 

Tikki wiped the crumbs from her mouth and she did a small loop de loop in the air. “I’m ready to go when you are, Adrien! Just say the words!”

The classroom was an absolute madhouse once Adrien walked back in, his green eyes narrowed on everyone with blatant disappointment. He stopped briefly back at the bakery to grab his school bag, all the while thanking Marinette’s parents for keeping it there while he was looking for her. The twinkle in their eyes at seeing him lifted his spirits ever so slightly, and they sent him back to class with a full assortment of pastries to hurry and eat considering his lunch got cut short. 

Adrien was silent as he took a seat in the back of the class, alone. He didn’t miss the hurt on Nino’s face when he did that. His stern silence said everything words could not. Ms. Bustier cleared her throat, calling order back to the class and she went about her lecture, and Adrien halfheartedly took notes on it. He muttered a small curse as his pen ran out of ink and he reached into his bag for another only to see Plagg and Tikki curled up around each other. He smiled at the sight, but didn’t put the ring on for now. He didn’t know if wearing both jewels at the same time would trigger the wish or if he had to actively merge the two kwamis for it. 

Better safe than sorry in this case. 

His thoughts swam back to when he picked up his bag, as Mr. Dupain told him Marinette was still sleeping. He’d hoped that she would have woken up, but he’d heard from several classmates that all they wanted to do after coming back to themselves was sleep for days. 

A small grin turned up the corner of his mouth.

Marinette wouldn’t be waking up til tomorrow or the day after at this rate, given her penchant for oversleeping. 

His phone buzzed in his pocket, reminding him of yet another function Nathalie scheduled during his school hours, and he frowned.

I’m not going. I’ve missed more than enough school because of my schedule being overloaded. In fact, clear my schedule because I’m not doing anything for the brand until after I’ve spoken with a lawyer.

It took about ten minutes to get a reply, but it was a short, succinct affirmative. 

Good. Nathalie and Gabriel knew they were in hot water now. Even better, because it would force both of them to keep their distance from him. Adrien wasn’t in any mood to talk to either of them, now that he knew their secret. 

The only wildcard was the Gorilla. Adrien wasn’t sure how in the loop the man was. He’d test those waters after getting picked up. 

The rest of the school day passed in a haze. He didn’t say a single word to anyone, save for Max and Markov to get a full copy of the footage. The rest of the class tried to talk to him, however, but the glacial coldness he radiated kept driving them off. Adrien walked through the courtyard, only to have a single hand lay on his shoulder. 

“Adrien?”

He breathed a small sigh of relief at hearing Kagami’s voice. Granted, they hadn’t been on good terms since their breakup, but the gentleness in her voice was something he missed. “What’s up?” he asked.

“How’s Marinette?” 

Adrien couldn’t help the smile that came to his face at her inquiry. “Last I knew, sleeping like a log. I’m headed over there now to check on her. I need to apologize to her for my part in everything. I just hope she lets me. Besides—” He held up a thumb drive before pocketing it again. “—she needs to hear what was said when Lila and I were under Queen Verity’s truth influence. It’s the only way she’s going to know I’m sincere.”

Kagami nodded slowly. “I don’t know everything that happened, but please let her know I am thinking about her. Tell her to call me when she’s ready,” said the fencer. 

“I will. Have a good day, Kagami,” he whispered. Adrien exited the double doors, and he was surprised to see Chloe standing near his sedan. 

“Adrien,” she began.

“Save it, Chloe. I’m not in any mood to talk to anyone from class right now, given everything that happened,” he snapped.

She winced, but took a deep breath. “I deserve that. If you’re not comfortable going back to the mansion, you’re welcome at the hotel. I just wanted you to know that,” she whispered. Chloe swallowed thickly before she turned to her limo and she gave Adrien one last hurt glance over her shoulder. “Your normal room will be unlocked if you need it.”

Adrien only nodded as he climbed into the back of the sedan and he let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “We’re not going back to the manor, nor am I doing any of the scheduled events for the brand until I’ve spoken with a lawyer.” He clicked on his seat belt, and the Gorilla gave a silent nod.

“Are we getting your friend some flowers then?” came the smooth, accented bass of the Gorilla’s voice. 

Adrien smiled as he looked out the window. “I like that idea. I wanted to go by to see her, now, but having that ready might help to soften the ire she might still feel at me,” he replied.

“Adrien—”

His green eyes looked up in the mirror as his bodyguard carefully maneuvered the car into traffic.

“Don’t hold onto that negativity. You can apologize, but she doesn’t have to accept it. You need to brace yourself for that reality. If you’re really going to fight for your friendship with Marinette, it’s going to take a lot more than flowers and pretty words. Actions speak much louder after all.”

Clarity must have bloomed on his expression, before taking on a hardened mein. “There’s one last thing I need to talk to you about. Is it safe to assume you watched the live stream?”

“I did.”

“Lila told us Hawk Moth’s identity.”

The Gorilla gave a derisive snort. “I trust her to tell the truth as much as I trust Hawk Moth to just give up the ghost,” said the older man.

Adrien’s green eyes narrowed slightly and he chose his next words carefully. “The scales in Queen Verity’s hair weighed the truthfulness of the statement. How fast they fall tells that. They fell instantly,” he whispered.

Understanding seemed to bloom on the Gorilla’s expression as he merged lanes. Adrien could tell they were almost to their favorite florist judging by the surrounding buildings. 

“Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth,” finished Adrien. The words left a disgusting aftertaste in his mouth, but it was forgotten as the wheels of the sedan screeched as the Gorilla hit the brakes and turned the car around, going further into the city proper. He floundered for a second as he tried to brace himself on something, anything, to keep him from going every which way across the backseat. “What the hell?!”

“All this time I’ve been on the payroll of a bloody terrorist?! I’m tendering my immediate resignation with that bastard, but you, I’m sticking with you, Adrien. In fact, if I have my way, you’re never getting within five meters of him ever again,” he growled, his tones laced with blind, simmering rage. “Shit, I turned us away from the florist.”

Adrien couldn’t help it. His rich laughter filled the car until tears streamed down his cheeks. Those tears turned into ones filled with anger and sorrow all too fast as the events of the day caught up to him.

“I think the florist and seeing Marinette will need to wait for now, Adrien. You’ve had a hard day,” whispered the Gorilla as Adrien leaned forward, hiding his face in his hands as his shoulders heaved. 

It took several hours for Adrien to emotionally unpack the day. “I’ll definitely be by tomorrow, Mr. Dupain. Thanks for letting me know how she’s doing,” Adrien said into his cellphone as he walked the length of his suite. The Gorilla brought him to Le Grand Paris after all, and was currently standing guard outside the door to keep anyone and everyone from coming in. “Thank you. Honestly. Yes, I’ll be there first thing in the morning if she wants to go to school. If she doesn’t, I wouldn’t blame her. I’m not too keen on going in myself either. Breakfast? I don’t want to impo—” A soft, strained laugh escaped him. “We’ll be there, Mr. Dupain. Thank you for the invitation. Have a good evening.” Finally, he placed the phone down before taking a seat on the sofa. 

Adrien was more than thankful for the privacy afforded to him right now. Adrien leaned forward, his elbows rested against his knees and his fingers steepled in front of his face. He could help but stare intently at the jewels sitting on the coffee table. 

His ring.

Marinette's earrings.

Beside them, his half eaten meal and the two currently snacking kwamis.

"What are you thinking about, kid?" There was a slight nervousness tinged in Plagg's voice and Adrien looked at the two kwamis.

"I'm not going to merge the two of you for the wish. I could never do that to you, so please, don't worry. The only thing I can think of Hawk Moth wanting the two of you for is so that he can wish my mother back to us. She's been gone a long time. If she's dead, let her rest in peace. I've mourned her enough." Adrien gently stroked the top of Plagg's head as Tikki sat in his other palm when he offered it to her. "No, I'm thinking I need to strike first, tonight if possible. Marinette isn't in any condition to be fighting after what happened, and quite frankly, I don't want him near her ever again. Tikki? Plagg?" Two sets of eyes looked up at him curiously and Adrien's green eyes darkened with the rage that he'd been bottling throughout the afternoon.  

No one, not even his own blood, was allowed to hurt the people he loved, much less Marinette. 

Queen Verity would be last akuma on record if he had anything to say about it for that matter.

"How would you two feel about making a change?" he asked tentatively.

There was a small look exchanged between the two and after a moment of suffocating silence, Plagg gave him a wide, toothy grin. “We might have a few ideas to help with that,” he replied.

Adrien matched Plagg’s grin as he leaned forward. “Then let’s get started.”

Chapter Text

Marinette groaned in utter agony when she heard a knock resound through her room. “Go ‘way!” she moaned. The knocking continued however, soon syncing with the pounding in her head. Why the hell did her head hurt so bad? It felt like she cried for a day straight!

“Marinette?” Her maman’s voice was sweet and soothing in stark contrast to the hammering of her blood against her skull resonating and rippling through her body. “Honey, you’ve been asleep since yesterday afternoon. Try to get up to eat something please?” The bed dipped as Sabine joined her on the mattress and Marinette turned over. 

“Since yesterday? I can’t remember anything since the lunch break,” she groused, curling up and pulling the blanket over her head. 

“There’s a reason for that, Nettie.”

The sound of Adrien’s voice, in her room and nearby, made Marinette bolt up in a panic from her blankets. Sure enough, the blond was seated at the foot of the bed at a respectful distance from the two women. Even half awake and her head pounding, Marinette could tell Adrien looked haggard as hell.

What was she not remembering?

Sabine smiled as she made her way back down to the end of the bed, carefully navigating over Adrien. “You two need to talk, so I’m going to go help Tom finish up breakfast. I’ll knock when it’s ready,” she said simply.

Marinette could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. Oh god, she must be a mess right now! Sleep mussed hair, possible splotchy complexion due to not washing her makeup off! Worst yet, Tikki couldn’t exactly talk her down right now because—

Oh.

Oh god…Fractured visions of yesterday finally came back to her.

The akuma.

Her running as far and fast as she could, the broken echoes of Adrien calling after her as she hid in a nearby alley. Her tearful order to Tikki for her to take the earrings and to find Chat Noir. 

“Don’t blame yourself. You’ve been fighting alone for too long, Nettie,” Adrien’s voice cut into the sudden swell of self-reproach she could feel building. “To be honest, if I were in your shoes, I would have given in much sooner than you did. It would have only taken me a week.” His whisper was tinged with anger.

At himself?

The situation?

Both?

“Before I say anything else, you need to watch this. It’s footage from when you were akumatized yesterday. I know we’ve always said that the victims shouldn’t watch their actions lest they be stricken with the guilt they don’t deserve to feel, but it’s not yourself you need to focus on. It’s Lila and I, and what we said when under your influence,” Adrien said. “In all honesty, you weren’t a destructive akuma. Don’t worry about what you did, because all you did was expose the truth.” A ghost of a grin quirked up one corner of his mouth. “Once you’re done, we’ll talk, but by that time your parents might be done with breakfast. If you’re up to it, we’ll talk then. I still have something else I need to give you. One thing at a time though.” He pushed his tablet over to her, and Marinette looked between it and him, utterly flummoxed. Adrien’s phone buzzed a few times and he looked at the screen.

“I’m sorry, but I need to take this call. Where the video is concerned, I got the full edition from Markov, which you won’t get on the Ladyblog. Just watch it and I’ll answer any questions you have after breakfast,” he said, and resolutely, he got off the bed and climbed down to the trap door. Marinette heard him greet someone, a Jacquelyn Monet by the sound of it, before he closed the door behind him.

Still confused, Marinette looked down at the screen to the video just waiting for her to press play. Should she press it?

“I think he’s right,” Wayzz said as he floated beside her. “Focus on what he told you about the video, not yourself.”

Marinette swallowed thickly. “I don’t want to see myself as a monster, Wayzz…” she whimpered.

“You’re not a monster for getting swept away in your emotions, Marinette,” offered Longg as the rest of the kwami drew close. 

“Will you all stay nearby? I...I don’t want to attract another butterfly again,” she whimpered.

Roarr brushed against her cheek with a soft purr. “Of course we will. Press play and let’s see what happened.”

It was hard, but Marinette did focus on what was said, and the little things in between. Her brow creased in curiosity at seeing the way the scales fell on their own, more specifically in the way they did when Lila claimed Gabriel Agreste was Hawk Moth. She didn’t have time to pull Adrien back up for more questions though, as her mother knocked to let her know breakfast was ready. How was Adrien handling things in the aftermath? More specifically the issue with his father overloading his schedule and how much school he’d missed. She didn’t even want to focus on what Lila threatened in her monologue. 

They’d deal with her another day, if the French authorities didn’t handle it first that was. She’d been caught on live stream threatening violence against a french national after all.

Marinette trudged down the steps, only to squawk with indignance at what she was wearing. Her mother changed her into her Chat Noir themed pyjamas. Across her sleep shirt read “Chat’s Purrincess”. 

Adrien saw her in this!

“Wayzz!”

The kwami all giggled at their guardian’s antics and the turtle kwami placed a gentle flipper against her cheek. “I don’t think he really minds, Marinette,” he offered wisely, if not with the slightest bit of humor.

Marinette gave them the slightest pout as she pulled on fresh, albeit comfy baggy clothing. She wasn’t in the mood to go back to school this morning. 

To be honest, she needed a mental health day.

How were they faring, though? As much as she was hurt by her classmates, she still worried about how her actions affected them. All of them took into Lila’s honeyed words.

They deserve whatever they got for choosing to listen to her instead of coming to you, said the snide, salty voice of her subconscious. 

Marinette sighed, as she didn’t want to embroil herself in more negativity. That was just asking for another butterfly to show up. Slowly, she made her way to the main living space, and she looked at the table. Adrien was seated on one side with an empty chair beside him while her parents were on the other. At the end of the table was Adrien’s bodyguard, the Gorilla, much to her surprise.

“You watched it all the way through?” asked Adrien.

“I did. You’re right that we need to talk alone on the whole matter,” Marinette replied.

Adrien nodded. “I’m sorry I had to leave the room when I did. That was my lawyer. I’m filing charges against the brand for breaking the work laws and for attributing to the forced truancy of a minor. To be honest, I asked to be called out today. I’m not up for seeing them,” he admitted.

Marinette knew who Adrien meant. She was in the same boat after all. She slipped into the seat beside him as her mother began loading everyone’s plates up. 

“We’ve called you out as well, Marinette. You two need to talk things out, and from there we need to talk about how we’re going to approach this issue with what Lila Rossi said on the live stream yesterday. Nadja is itching to cover it, considering she’s the daughter of a diplomat for another country. This could mean a lot of trouble for the Italian Consulate again.”

“As if Salvini and Di Miao didn’t cause enough trouble,” rumbled the Gorilla. Marinette’s jaw dropped in shock at actually hearing the man speak.

“You think that’s a shock, you should hear him sing along to Taylor Swift,” whispered Adrien, his tone light and playful.

The laugh that sputtered out of her shocked everyone at the table, but Marinette couldn’t stop the guffaws at the mental image of the hulking man teeny bopping to “Shake it Off”.

“She’ll be alright, just a private joke between us,” Adrien grinned. Marinette couldn’t help but look at him from the corner of her eye. There was something freer in how he was acting today, despite the heaviness yesterday lumped on them. 

Marinette was certain she never rushed through her breakfast as fast as she did that morning. Adrien matched her pace though and soon the two teens excused themselves to go back upstairs. Marinette sighed as she took a seat at her desk and Adrien on her chaise, and she wrung her hands in nervousness.

“I’m sorry,” Adrien whispered from across the room. “I should have never given you the advice I did where Lila was concerned. I would have never told you to do that if I’d known she threatened you, Marinette. I just…” He sighed heavily, his green gaze cast to the floor in shame. “I just wanted to be the one to give you a different solution for once. Everyone in the class flocks to you, or used to, because you had the answers for everything. I just wanted to feel that way, being the one that could offer sound counsel to Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It doesn’t help that in the experience I’ve had before starting up in public school, lies told by the tabloids had no power so long as you ignored them. That’s all I’ve ever seen Lila as. A walking, breathing click bait tabloid. I never expected it to come to this. I’m so deeply sorry you had to get hurt this badly for me to see the truth, Marinette.”

Marinette rose from her seat and silently padded over to the chaise. She sat beside Adrien, and took one of his hands in hers to bring his attention to her. The other hand rose his chin so he could meet her gaze. She wasn’t surprised to see tears gathered at the corners of the grassy green orbs. “Real life is hardly like a tabloid, Adrien,” she said, her voice soft and gentle. “The longer you allow lies like that to run rampant, the more power they have in a social setting.” He nuzzled her palm, his eyes closing in contentment, but the tears still spilled down his cheeks. 

Try as she might, she could not hold it in her to shun him, not after his eloquent apology nor the fact that he was here with her in a show of solidarity. 

More than that, he was as much a victim of Lila’s machinations as she was. “What did Lila mean when she said you’d jumped to my defense before?” she asked.

“I’m not the offspring of Gabriel Agreste for nothing, Marinette,” he whispered, though there was a slight smirk on his face. “As much disdain I hold for the man now, I did learn a thing or two from him in getting people to do what I want them to. Needless to say, I told Lila either she got you back into school and left you alone or there was no chance at friendship from me. She tried to twist it to something more, but I kept firm. There’s been a few other times I’ve nipped a few things in the bud before they could start.” His face screwed up once again as he thought of what was said yesterday. “I hate that she Pavlov’d me. Normally I can keep a step ahead of her, but—”

Marinette shook her head and she cradled both his cheeks in her hands. “No no no, Adrien! You’re not to blame for this! You were targeted just as much as I was, only with different intent! If anything, I should have seen sooner how run down you were. I should have asked you if you were alright but I get so flustered around you and I’m afraid of saying the wrong thing, and making you hate me! If I ever made you hate me,  then you’d move to another school and then I’d never see you again and you’d never talk to me again because I’m such a walking disaster of a human being! Then we’ll never fall in love, get married and have three kids, and chubby little hamster called—YEEEE!” She didn’t know when she started pacing or when Adrien started laughing, but she couldn’t help the surprised squeak that left her mouth when he took her by the hand and pulled her into his embrace.

“You’re the least of all to blame, m’lady,” he whispered. 

Marinette could hardly believe he was trying to kiss her, but then his words clicked.

M’lady …

Her finger flew up, pressing against his lips to stop his momentum. If he kissed her now, she’d lose all pretenses of sanity and forget to ask anything else later. She was already starting to spiral just feeling their smooth softness against her digit.

“What did you just call me, Adrien?”

I know we’ve always said—

She and Adrien never said anything about akumatized victims not watching themselves on the Ladyblog. That was Ladybug and Chat Noir that said that.

Why would Adrien say that unless he knew she was Ladybug?

We’ve always—

Warning: Marinette.exe is taking too long to respond...

Adrien had the grace to look sheepish and he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand while keeping the other wrapped around her. “I...That is...Uhhh...Have I told you how utterly meowvolous I find you?” he offered by way of explanation.

With a cat themed pun?!

Marinette.exe has stopped working. Please reboot.

She could feel the corner of her eye twitching as the pieces started falling into place. The few times she heard Adrien drop a Chat Noir level pun... Darkblade , her mind supplied readily. She simultaneously groaned and laughed at it despite herself at the time. Their actions during Oblivio made so much more sense now too. The same with Dark Cup—

“OH HELL NO!” screeched the designer as she flung herself to the other side of the room. “You do NOT get to drop your identity on me like that with a goddamn cat themed pun!”

The corner of Adrien’s mouth turned up in his signature Chat Noir smirk as he struck a pose. “What’s the matter, m’lady? I told you I was devastatingly handsome under the mask,” he purred. He darted in, chasing her towards her desk and Marinette let out a scream of surprise as she tried to avoid him. “What’s the matter, bugaboo? Did you fall for my roguish charm after all?”

“Adrien Michel Gabriel Emil Athanaeus Agreste, if you do not stop chasing me around my room I will dangle you from the Eiffel Tower with my yoyo!” Marinette jumped up, catching the safety bar for her loft bed before hauling herself up to the mattress. She prepped herself to jump, aiming for the unopened skylight that she’d push open while making her escape. “Tikki! Spots on!” she called out, jumping…

Only to stumble when her legs didn’t give her the height she needed. 

“Allow me,” Adrien purred as he positioned himself near her desk. “Plagg! Claws out!” Marinette’s blue eyes went wide as black and green magic covered the model and he lunged at her with an ear to ear grin.

There was a huge difference between having figured it out and seeing it with her own eyes.

The boy she loved was her goofy pun cracking partner.

Marinette couldn’t help but shriek again as Chat Noir cradled her against his chest, launching them out of the skylight and out in the Paris morning air.

Chat Noir kept one arm tight around Marinette as he leapt from building to building. The other rooted around in his pocket, and his green eyes glittered as he pulled out the silver studs. “As I said, I have something to return to you,” he cheesed as he settled her earrings in her palms. Tikki came out of hiding the moment Marinette was holding her miraculous and the little red kwami squealed with glee. 

“Tikki!” Marinette almost sobbed as she pulled her in for a tight hug. Chat couldn’t help but sniff back a tear or two when he heard kisses and apologies being exchanged between them.

“Put them back on already, Marinette!” urged the kwami as Chat found them a secluded spot. He set his lady love on her feet and Marinette joyfully pinned the earrings back into place. 

“Let’s try that again, shall we?” she asked Tikki with a grin. “Tikki! Spots on!”

Chat Noir couldn’t help but feel his breath was stolen as Marinette transformed in front of him. “Wow...It’s one thing to know, but a whole other one to see it,” he whispered. 

Ladybug gave him a shy smile with a nod. “I thought the same thing a minute ago,” she admitted. “By the way, kitty--” She stepped in close, tip-toeing her fingers up his chest before flicking his bell. “--you’re it,” she purred before planting a kiss on his lips.

It was all too brief but so perfect at the same time, he mused as his legs turned to jelly. She said you’re it, Adrien. Get to chasing her already! Plagg yowled in his mind. 

Chase? 

Yes! Chase! He’d catch his bug and kiss her back! Chat Noir started laughing as he ran after his partner, following her from rooftop to rooftop towards the Arc de Triomphe and further past that to the Eiffel Tower. Chat managed to catch up to her on the beams and his arms wrapped around Ladybug’s waist as they tumbled to the top most platform. 

They were face to face, out of breath and panting, but smiling ear to ear all the same. 

“My lady,” Chat whispered. He leaned in closer, their breaths mingling. He felt her leg tangle with his, drawing him closer against her still. She was breathtaking, she was glorious.

He wanted to be hers and hers alone.

“May I?” he asked, so soft he almost missed it despite saying it himself.

“By all means,” replied Ladybug. Her eyes closed as she tilted her head to the side, and her arms looped lazily over his shoulders.

Chat met her in the middle, their lips gliding over one another’s as if they’d practiced this all their lives. He couldn’t help but smile against her mouth. They fit perfectly against one another, as if it was always meant to come to this, and Chat felt Ladybug’s leg tighten over his with a small, but sharp intake of breath. What did he do to cause that reaction again? Her hands fisted his hair as both their jaws dropped at the sensations washing over them. They met again, this time with tongues caressing and teeth occasionally clacking. Just the mere act of kissing her proved better than any of his fantasies.

Even though everything was wrong, it was so, so right at the same time.

The whir of the lift coming to life made one of his cat ears twitch in reaction. Just barely, he could hear voices.

“Hawk Moth is going to have a bevvy of broken hearted girls on his hands soon,” whispered Ladybug as Chat pulled away, not wanting to be caught by the people on the lift below. 

He couldn’t help the guilty wince that crossed his features at the mention of the villain.

“Have I ever mentioned how astoundingly amazing you are?” he offered.

Ladybug gave him a soft laugh as they settled on the edge. “Only with every other breath. I’m just me, kitty,” she whispered.

Okay, distracting her seems like it’s working, he thought to himself. “But you’re boldly brave. Constantly captivating! Delightfully decadent even!” he continued and Ladybug shoved his shoulder with a small rouge on her cheeks. Chat couldn’t help the mischievous side of himself that peeked through as he leaned in beside her ear. “Evocatively enchanting. Furiously fabulous. Gloriously graceful.”

“Chaaaaaattttt!” his Ladinette whined in embarrassment.

“Nah ah ah. I’ve got twenty six of them, one for each letter of the alphabet! After yesterday, my heavenly heroine, you need a massive dose of compliments and serotonin.” Chat brought her gloved hands to his lips, kissing it while never looking away from her bluebell orbs. “I will tell you every single one of them if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Quit trying to distract me!” Ladybug groaned as she tried to scooch away from him. “Seriously. We have the whole day to start planning on how we’re going to confirm Hawk Moth’s identity.”

“Illustriously innovative!” Chat added, just a little louder than intended.

“Chat?” Aw shit, there it was. The questioning tone of voice she took with him that he could never resist.

“Jubilantly judicious?”

Her sweet bow shaped mouth turned down into frown and Chat grinned sheepishly. “Chat Noir? What’s going on?”

“Kaleidoscopically keen? Lustrously lucent?” His arm raised to rub at the nape of his neck, further betraying him by letting his partner know he was hiding something from her.

Ladybug grabbed his bell and hauled him in, nose to nose. “What. Did. You. DO?” she ground out.

“Meowvelously merciful?” he whimpered with a tense smile, but not before stealing a peck on the lips. “Naturally noble, ostentatiously opalescent!”

Her bluebell eyes narrowed at Chat’s further attempts to deflect. “First off, that last one is oxymoronic. Second, Chat Noir --” He couldn’t help but feel she was instead growling out his surname. “--you’d better come clean now before I do as I promised. I will dangle you off the tower if you don’t spill the beans. Right. Now,” she ordered.

Chat cut his gaze back down to the newcomers that were filing out of the lift. “Not here,” he bargained. “Unless we can talk the staff into keeping the top level clear for a bit.”

Maribug’s eye twitched slightly, but she could feel the seriousness of his words all the same. 

“Pragmatically precious,” he added with a whisper. The blush he could see under her mask was more than enough okay for him to keep going. As much as she was wanted to be in the loop, she was enjoying the affection and attention he was showering upon her. Again, Ladybug didn’t comment, but instead jumped down to the level to speak with the guide and the visitors to the French monument. After a bit of talking, everyone nodded and filed back over to the lift, leaving the two teens alone once again.

“Privacy attained, Adrien. Now what’s going on?”

“Quintessentially quotable,” he grinned before rubbing the back of his neck once again. “So you watched the video, right?”

“I did. I saw the way the scales fell to one side when Lila said what she did. Let me guess, she was lying?” Ladybug asked.

Chat Noir shook his head. “Quite the opposite. When the scales fell to the right, the statement was a whole truth,” he began, explaining how her akumatized self’s powers worked. Ladybug was ashen faced by the time he was done. “Don’t worry, I didn’t stay the night there last night. In fact, we were at Le Grand Paris while Tikki, Plagg, and I did some planning,” he said as he rooted into his pocket again. He was nervous about telling her this, but he had to rip the plaster off sooner or later.

“That still doesn’t tell me what you did, Chat,” Ladybug sighed, seemingly growing exasperated with his hedging on the matter.

He swallowed nervously. “What if I told you that after what happened yesterday, I didn’t want him anywhere near you? That I wasn’t going to give him the opportunity or the satisfaction to ever hurt you again?” he whispered solemnly. “I refuse to stand by and watch someone I love be hurt the way you were, Nettie. I don’t care if the perpetrator is my own flesh and blood, I will get my pound of flesh in recompense for your honor. After everything he’s done to you and me, I couldn’t give him the opportunity to let him even see you. So Plagg, Tikki, and I did some talking and we made a plan.”

Here it was, the moment of truth. Ladybug was already hanging off his every word as it was.  

“We ambushed Gabriel Agreste last night, fought him, and retrieved the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous,” said Chat Noir as he looked her straight in the eyes, all the while holding out the two miraculous to his partner, their guardian.

Ladybug’s eyes seemed to shrink down a bit and Chat Noir felt a sense of dread come over him at the now terrifying look on her face. 

“Lovebug, you’re rousingly romantic, succinctly sweet, tantalizingly tempting! Let’s not lose our heads here!” Chat Noir stammered out nervously as he got to his feet. The two miraculous were still proffered to Ladybug and she took them one at a time, dropping them into the yoyo. He was sure they’d be in the Miracle Box upon returning back to the bakery.

“I love you. You make me want to throttle you at times, but I love you so damn much it scares me. You, sir—" Her finger tapped his chest three times in was a pulled back poke. "—are so overprotective it drives me bat shit crazy! Not only that, but I’ve wanted to take that pinstriped monstrosity he has the audacity to call a cravat and shove it down his throat, preferably with a couple of teeth, for how he’s been treating you the last few years!” Ladybug screeched. “And what do you go and do?! You decide you’re going to be the one to go it alone!”

“Utterly unflappable!” squealed Chat Noir as he dodged her yoyo. She was seriously going to string him up and over the side if he didn’t put some distance between them. “Vibrantly valiant! Gah! Wondrously witty! Xenogenically xenodochial!”

The yoyo zipped passed him again Chat jumped up to the light post in an effort to keep dodging her throws. “You had to really stretch for that one, huh kitty?” came the amused, but still pissed off response.

Chat shrugged as he swung around in a circle on the pole. “Not a lot of adjectives that start with the letter X, but I like to think I made it work,” he purred. He flipped upwards, trusting his upper body strength as he flagged himself against the steel. “Come on m’lady! Don’t blame a cat for wanting to keep his bug safe and snug! What would you have done in my position?”

“Don’t get me started on rhetoric, you yeast-loving youth!” Ladybug growled as he dodged her yet again. 

“You stole my letter y compliment!” groused Chat as he launched himself back down to the platform. It was a mistake however as he felt the cords wrap around his arms and torso. He was turned, only to be nose to nose with his lady again and he gave her a nervous smile. “I said meowvelously merciful, right?”

There was a playful gleam in Ladybug’s eyes as she flicked his bell. “You did, kitty, but we passed the letter m a little while ago,” she purred. “So what’s z?”

“Zanily zephyrous,” Chat grinned, his eyes betraying his nervousness.

“A crazy breath of fresh air, huh?” she laughed. “I’m glad you like my crazy.”

Chat’s grin widened as she closed the distance and he hummed in delight as she kissed him again. “I love your brand of crazy. It’s kooky and cute all at once,” he murmured against her lips. Another kiss, this one deeper than before made his heart thunder against his chest. “Does this mean I’m forgiven?”

“Not just yet,” Ladybug replied, the mischief in her voice thick. She pressed a single finger against his chest, sending Chat over the edge with him still trussed up in the cords of her yoyo. He let out a surprised scream at first, but it soon turned into raucous laughter as he swayed side to side in front of the tower.

Sure there were still the matters of their classmates they had to deal with, or the fact that Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur were currently being detained for their crimes against Paris and the rest of the world.

In that moment, none of it mattered.

They were safe, they could deal with it in normal ways again, feel fully again, after almost three years of bottling emotions. 

While the road ahead would not be easy, Chat Noir surmised as Ladybug jumped down to a beam level with his height, catching him by the bell as he swung towards her like a metronome. Her lips pressed to his again, prompting a purr to rumble up from his chest as he locked one foot in the cable so she could release it.

"Now, sit down and tell me everything that happened last night. I need to hear how you got the drop on him," Ladybug said. Chat did as he was told, leaning against the steel while she snuggled into him for the time being. 

It wouldn't be easy at all, but they’d traverse it the way they were meant to from here on. 

"So Gabriel was getting swamped with phone calls from lawyers, the brand, the press, and he finally exited his atelier last night close to midnight. I don't think he knew or cared if I was coming back to the mansion that night, but he jumped out of his skin when he saw me standing in the hall with a plate full of cheese and cookies—" he began.

Together.