I am going down with this ship

Don’t you know, my lady? Bugs are meant to be squashed.

Rena Rouge: hehe did u see the post I posted to the lady blog hehehe

you would not believe this song has been here for quite so long and that tomorrow’s its date of birth

“Marinette?”

A shadow fell over her sketch book, and Marinette slapped a hand over her current sketch before snapping her head up to greet the person who’d said her name. No one needed to see what she was drawing. Ever. Not even Alya.

The sun behind him cast his body in a silhouette while the light caused a golden halo to dance across his gorgeous blonde hair. It was longer than he usually kept it, and for a second her traitorous heart almost mistook him for a certain bleached white cat.

But he’s gone now… you purified him. He’s your lovable Chat Noir again and he doesn’t remember a thing.

“A-Adrien?” Recognition hit her like a ton of bricks and she knocked her chair over as she clumsily shot up from her table. The surrounding patrons at the outdoor cafe shooting her looks, a mix of concern and annoyance. “It’s been what, half a year since I saw you? Maybe more? How have you been? Your Father said you were away on business.”

Adrien’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment and he reached up to scratch the back of his neck. “Yeah… something like that. I’m doing alright. I’m actually out to get a hair cut, seems my hair grew out while I was away.”

“It looks hot,” Marinette blurted before she could help herself. Liar! It looks like Chat! That’s why you like it!

Adrien blinked at her, and the blush crawled to the tops of his ears.

“I mean, it’s hot because it’s summer! And long hair makes you hot—WARM—makes you warm, so you should definitely get a hair cut so you don’t suffer.” Like meeeee~ She wanted to crawl in a hole. She’d sworn she’d gotten over this useless stuttering back in Lycee, but noooo, here it was rearing it’s ugly head all over again for no apparent reason.

“Uh, so,” Adrien fumbled to change the subject, “how have you been? I know it’s been ages since we’ve seen each other but it feels like I saw you just last week. Weird huh?”

Something about that struck her oddly, but Marinette couldn’t dwell on why. “I’m uh… I’m…” miserable? Sad? Despondent? Love sick? About two seconds away from jumping my partner who will not understand why Ladybug suddenly wants him so desperately?

“I’m okay,” she finally finished resolutely, choosing to stare at the ground than at his face.

“That’s good,” Adrien replied a little slowly, as if he could tell there was something else behind her curt answer. “I’m uhhh, I’m gonna be late for my hair appointment if I don’t get moving, but I’d really love to have coffee with you. We should catch up. I… I miss hanging out with you.”

Marinette started and snapped her eyes up to meet his. “You—Yeah okay! Coffee! I’d love to, Adrien. Just text me the date and I’ll be there.” A blossom of warmth bloomed in her chest that hadn’t been there for awhile.

“Great!” He shot her a smile that was ridiculously bright and infectious.

Marinette was about to pick up the chair she’d dumped over, but Adrien beat her to it. He scooped the chair off the ground and set it upright in a slightly theatrical but gentlemanly way.

“I’ll let you get back to what you were working on, Ma souris.”

“What?” Marinette almost took a seat on the concrete. Her heart lurching so hard she thought she might die.

“I—woah! I am so sorry, Marinette! I have no idea why I suddenly called you that. Wow. Fuck.” Adrien grabbed the side of his head like someone had stabbed his brain with a knife. “I have to go.”

Speechless, she watched him bolt like he was having an existential crisis.

@valin-dana @missmagpieartz because both of your prompts worked well together.

~00~

“Wake up!” he screamed. “Wake up damn it!”

Chat Blanc shook the woman in his arms but it only caused more blood to dribble from her mouth and nose.

“Please, love,” he implored. “Don’t do this to me.”

She was barely breathing and unresponsive.

“Ladybug!! Where the hell are you!? Why are you never around when I fucking need you!?”

He looked around at the destruction he had caused while fighting for the akuma. He’s gotten the butterfly but at what cost? Ladybug had disappeared sometime during the brawl, and Marinette had gotten caught in the collateral damage. He didn’t even know she was there. Chat swore he’d left her back at his place asleep in his bed.

Save her. How can I save her? How the fuck can I save her!? I’m the embodiment of destruction…

The fluttering of butterflies in his stomach made a wave of nausea run through him.

It was an option.

“Forgive me,” he whispered.

It was his only option.

Chat Blanc closed his claws into a fist, hesitated for half a second, then punched himself in the stomach as hard as he could muster.

“Haauk!” He hacked painfully. A second later he began gagging and had to clap a hand over his mouth.

The fluttering in his stomach was now in his mouth. The acrid foul taste of akuma scales coating his tongue.

When he was sure another one wouldn’t come up, he took a steadying breath through his nose and closed his eyes before he could talk himself out of this idea.

Chat Blanc pulled Marinette close, cradling her in his arms like a mate, and closed his mouth over hers.

He used his right hand to part her lips, and used his tongue to push the writhing akuma from his mouth to hers.

Chat kept his mouth pressed to hers, and pinched her nose, forcing her to swallow the butterfly if she wanted to breath.

Almost instantly the magic took and she began to fight him.

Chat broke away and held her tightly, one arm keeping her from thrashing while the other kept her mouth held shut. “Don’t fight it, princess,” he said in a low tone. “Don’t fight me.”

“Mmmmmmmeeaaaaaaa!” Marinette screamed behind his hand, tears bursting from the corners of her eyes that had suddenly taken on a purple glow.

Something tiny and red zipped in Chat’s peripheral vision, and bit down on his ear. He swiped the little bug away, ignoring it to focus on the woman in his grip.

“It’s alright. I got you,” he assured. “You’re strong. Just use its power and nothing else.”

She continued to struggle violently for another thirty seconds and Chat was afraid he might break her bones from trying to keep her still.

Then she suddenly went limp.

Black and violet magic pooled around her stomach, and crawled over the rest of her body, leaving a clothing change in its wake. With the wave of magic her wounds began to close over, and the early signs of bruises faded away.

“That’s it,” Chat whispered. “That’s my girl.”

He marveled at her change in attire, curious what it was meant to reflect. Her civilian clothes were replaced by a Victorian steam punk esque style red and black corset. Low cut to tease ample amounts of her cleavage, her shoulders were bare but she had trailing sleeves running down her arms. Her legs were now clad in tight black leggings and short leather boots.

She looked like a damsel from a vampire drama.

He brought his searching eyes back to meet hers, and his stomach dropped.

The outline of a blazing purple butterfly shone before her face.

Chat Blanc knew what that meant.

Hawk Moth was attempting to communicate with her.

“NO!” He screamed, and shook her again. Hoping to draw her out of it. “NO! You can’t have her!!”

A wicked smile curled her lips, and her glowing purple eyes had a faraway look.

“Fight him, Mari! Don’t you dare give in!”

“Don’t worry Chaton,” she murmured, and placed a gloved hand on his wrist.

Magic burned through the leather, and where once his white cuff had been an iron shackle materialized.

“I’ll let you save me~” Marinette finished with a hollow cackle.

~000~

Writing these Floofy-eared Chat Blanc drabbles based off of prompts to help cure my writer’s block.

Sin Ship, Ch. 8

Sequel to this.

***

When Adrien walked into class, Marinette turned bright red and sank into her seat like a turtle in its shell—not unusual for her, she did that kind of thing a lot with him. But Alya couldn’t help grinning at the thought that she knew why things were different this time, even if nobody else did.

Most of the class was here, barring a few stragglers—Nino in particular seemed to have overslept—and overall everyone was pretty happy, as well as fairly oblivious to the change between Adrien and Marinette. After all, they weren’t exactly advertising it.

Still, Alya started when Lila cleared her throat.

“Adrien!” Lila said with dismay, looking at Marinette. She was loud enough that everyone in class hushed, looked at her. “Hey, um, im sorry to say this, but, uh… I saw Marinette chatting with a strange boy late last night?” She turned to Adrien with sympathy. “And… she was… saying a lot of mean things about you.”

Alya blinked. That was… what? Why… what? That wasn’t possible, Marinette had been at Adrien’s last night, hadn’t she? Lila must’ve been mistaken.

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Chloé piped in, examining her nails. Her face twisted into a viciously satisfied grin. “I mean, she’s only had a crush on forever. Maybe she finally got tired of you never showing any interest.”

The whole class fell absolutely silent. They were all staring at Marinette in shock and horror, and suddenly Alya realized—this is what Marinette had meant. This was—she—Lila was lying. She was LYING. And everything Marinette had told her…

Alya choked.

Lila leaned forward, toward Marinette. “Don’t bother wiggling out of this one,” she said. “I know you weren’t home last night, little miss—”

“Lila,” Adrien interrupted, his voice soft—but in the quiet of the room it carried enough that everyone could hear him. “Did you just admit to breaking into my house?”

Lila froze, her mouth open. “…w-what?”

Adrien looked at her with the eyes of a kicked puppy. “Marinette was with me last night,” he said. “And yeah, she said some mean stuff about me—”

Marinette made a strangled groan, turning even redder, and flopped forward in her chair, attempting to hide her face behind the scarf.

“—but that was because I asked her to,” Adrien said, a languid smile spreading across his face. “You know. For…” He turned a bright red to match Marinette. “Um. Reasons.”

Lila swallowed. “I—wha—I don’t—”

“It was consensual,” Adrien continued, far too innocently. “You… do know what consent means, right?” He grinned. “Unicorn?”

Lila’s face twisted into a snarl, but it was too late. The class had turned their shock and horror from Marinette to Lila… and Alya had already picked up exactly where Adrien was leading.

She jumped on it immediately. “So what’s the story here?” Alya said, raising her phone and switching on the camera. this bitch had lied to her for a MONTH, risked her reputation as a journalist, and most importantly almost RUINED her relationship with her best friend. She wasn’t going to let any of that slide. “Either ‘diplomat’s daughter breaks into home of famous model-slash-actor to spy on him’… uh…”

Marinette moaned from behind the scarf, and a cherry-colored Adrien failed to meet anyone’s eyes.

“…during…” Alya faltered. Right, don’t embarrass them too much. “…private activities,” she said, then returned to charging ahead, “or else you just lied with malicious intent in front of about forty witnesses.” She gestured toward the class.

Lila turned and saw them all, staring at her with shock and judgment in their eyes. (In fact, the only one who wasn’t looking at her was Chloé, who was too busy gaping at Marinette and Adrien.) Her face turned white.

“I don’t think either of those is going to play well on the news,” Alya said. “And since, as Ladybug’s SUPPOSED best friend, you’re a public figure…”

“You wouldn’t,” Lila hissed.

(Original idea here)

(Part 1)( Part 2) ( Part 4 Locked)

_______________________________________________________________________

Chloé hated this stupid app.

How is Adrien not on her list of compatible matches? Clearly the app was broken and not worth everyone’s mind. She and Max have been arguing about it since he overheard her complaining about the app. What made the whole thing worse was that most of the class seemed to agree with him.

“…The whole thing is a trashy only internet quiz for people who have no lives.” Chloé exclaimed to Max just as Marinette and Adrien entered the room.

“It isn’t some ordinary internet quiz. There is so much processing of data, use of algorithmic solutions that would take months to explain and you would not even understand a fraction of. I have yet to crack the formula. But I guarantee that it is more then trash.” Max defended vehemently.

Adrien decided to avoid getting involved and tried to slowly move to his seat, but unfortunately, Chloé’s vision noticed his movement and pounced.

“Adrikins.” She exclaimed in a saddened tone as she pushed passed Marinette to get to him. “Please tell me you don’t believe all the crap about this stupid app?”

The model scratched his head. He noticed Marinette looking at him, he could tell she was curious about his answer. 

“Why do you think the app is not effective.” Adrien deflected. He wanted to avoid talking about his views on the app until he talked with Marinette.

Chloé gasped.

“So many reasons! For one thing the questions are these weird riddles that make no sense! Like why would I even WANT to touch money that is on the floor? I don’t care who it belongs to!” Chloé ranted. “Not to mention it doesn’t let you make a new profile if you delete it! I tried making a new one but it just gave me all of the same information and profile I had before deleting.”

“It is a countermeasure to avoid fraud!” Max answered. “Since you already put in your original name, photo of yourself and age, if you tried putting the exact information in, it will simply reconnect you to the old account to avoid people trying to cheat the system. My test accounts got deleted yesterday because they found out I used stock photos for them.

Chloé rolled her eyes.

“But most importantly is that it completely messed up my matches. Look at these losers!” Chloé showed Adrien the list, she had a few in the 70% range. Adrien did believe some of the guys on that list did go to this school. “Of course if this list was legitimate, you would be on the list.”

Adrien noted that as a point on why this app has credibility.

“Its just a dumb app. You didn’t buy into this did you Adrikins?”

Adrien took a step back, looking for some way out.

“I… uh…”

Thankfully for Adrien, Madame Bustier stepped in.

“Alright Class, Everyone to your seats”

The class quietly stopped talking and moved back to their seats.

The designer was watching the model in the seat in front of her. What did Adrien think of the App? Did he want to tell her that he believes in it completely and wants to try going out with her? Is he angry about it and feels that she is now standing in the way of his potential relationship with Kagami? 

Marinette shakes her head, this was not gonna turn out like her nightmare from last night. Besides, Adrien wanted to meet her in the locker room, not in the library, her nightmare was now not gonna come true….. she hoped.

She noticed Adrien look back at her.. He mouthed the word ‘lunch’ to her. She could tell he was confirming their meet up that day. She gave a quick nod. Adrien smiled and turned back. The brief smile giving her a touch of comfort.

 I apologize for being late, their was a discussion in the teacher’s lounge about an interesting new phone app.” The red headed teacher confessed.

“Was it Soulmate Searcher?” Rose asked. The blond rising from her seat as she asked.

“I believe that was the name of it. My colleague mentioned that their sister was trying it out and has a date with someone they met on the app.” Ms.Bustier replied.

“Are you thinking of trying it out?” Myléne inquired.

“There will be plenty of time to talk about that stuff after class.” The teacher said with a soft smile. Though she didn’t let on She was the one that had tried out the app and was in the teacher’s lounge messaging her date for Friday. 

As class began, in the corner of the room sat a brunette that had interestingly kept herself out of the whole discussion about the app. She looked at the app and at her profile. She had not answered a single question, if she wanted to match up with the guy she wanted, she needed to be careful.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Adrien! Where are you going? I really wanted to continue our conversation from earlier.”

“I am sorry Chloé. I am in a hurry, I have something really important thing to do during lunch. We can talk later.” Adrien answered as he quickly headed out of the class.

Marinette wondered what the model was referring to, she could of sworn that Adrien wanted to talk with her during lunch. Something important must have come up. Marinette got up from her desk and held in her sigh. Maybe it wasn’t that important that they talked.

As she was about to head out for lunch, her phone buzzed.

 at the locker room 

Marinette turned red, she was the important thing he needed to do. She mentally slapped her self for phrasing it that way.

“Important message?” Her best friend cooed.

“I well umm.” Marinette stammered.

“Relax Marinette, I am just teasing.” Alya assured.

She went to her ear.

“Don’t worry about yesterday, that is staying between us.”

“Thanks Alya.  You are the best.” Marinette whispered back before heading out of the classroom.

“Hi Alya.” a familiar voice called from behind the reporter.

“Oh hey Lila. Hows it going?”

“I am alright, I just wanted to ask if you know anything about the new app that has gotten popular. ‘Soulmate searcher’. I heard Max and Chloé arguing about it and I was curious.” The exchange student inquired.

“Oh its great! Pretty much the entire school is trying it out. Are you thinking about getting into it?”

“Well, I am usually apprehensive about trying out apps that give out personal information. I imagine Adrien and Prince Ali would be the same considering how popular they are.”

“Oh its completely safe. Max has tried hacking into it over a dozen times, their cyber security is solid, and I can assure you Adrien has an account.” Alya eased.

“Oh that is a relief. But do you think the app is just a silly quiz or do you think there is more to it? I wouldn’t want to get my hopes up on meeting my soulmate on here if it doesn’t work.”

“Well Nino and I have a compatibility of 85% as of this morning, so I would say it matches up pretty well. Ivan, Kim, Myléne, Rose, Marinette and Juleka say that the match ups were accurate.”

“Marinette said her match ups were accurate? Who did she match up with? I am sure they are a great guy.” Lila prodded with a faux smile that would fool most people.

Alya hesitated, she realized she was getting into some dangerous territory. She couldn’t just reveal Marinette’s list its personal.

“I shouldn’t be talking about who was on her personal list. Everyone’s list is only visible to them and it would be an invasion of privacy unless she told you directly.” Alya answered.

“Of course. I just felt bad that Marinette and I haven’t been getting along and I wanted to see if I could help her get set up with one of her matches. Perhaps putting in a good word for her.” Lila lied

“Thats really nice of you Lila. but you don’t need to worry about Marinette she will be fine.” Alya said with confidence.

“Thats good to hear. Please let Marinette know that if she does want help she can reach out to me.” Lila answered. “I think I will give this app a go. Thanks Alya.”

“Glad I could help.”

Lila kept up her smile as she left the classroom, once she was out of Alya’s sight. Her eyes narrowed and her smile vanished.

Marinette is someone who has a clear crush on Adrien. Alya telling me that Marinette will be fine with her list means that Adrien must be Somewhere on the rankings. I need to find out how high and Beat that percentage. But to do that. I need to find her list… or I need to see Adrien’s.

Lila smiled at the thought. Adrien was a much easier target, all she needed to do was find him, and then she can find out everything she needs to know.

_______________________________________________________________________

Marinette quickly headed to the locker room where Adrien was patiently waiting.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting.” Marinette answered as she caught her breath from sprinting.

“Its fine Marinette. I am glad you could make it.” Adrien responded with a soft smile that made the girls heart melt.

“So… what did you want to talk about?” Marinette asked with cautious optimism.

Adrien felt himself blush a bit.

“I was gonna ask about what you thought of the app. The one we were both using this morning. You know…” Adrien scratched the back of his head with his left hand. He felt awkward.

“O-Oh! Um, well. I think that its a bit more then just a random set of questions like chloé said.” Marinette starts off. She wanted to say that she believed it full heartedly, that it was as if cupid himself crafted the perfect matching system for her and Adrien. But she remembered the dream she had last night, she remembered how angry he was in her dream. She needed to know what he was feeling about the app. “Though of course its still updating! The profile could change at the drop of a hat while its calibrating. I remember Alya mentioning that it could fluctuate and any number set up now isn’t set in stone.”

“Even if its 100?” 

The question hung in the air just as much for her as it did for him. They were both aware of their compatibility test score.

“I never heard of a case like this. Do you think it was a bug?” Marinette asked. internally thinking that he was not pleased that they were both 100% compatible. She felt her heart crack at the thought.  “Alya mentioned that she and Nino were only at 85% and they are super close. So… I can’t be certain.”

“I don’t know. It might be possible that something glitched out. It did only recently get a global release.” Adrien answered. He looked at her closely, waiting to see her relived reaction that she doesn’t need to take this so seriously. Truthfully, he didn’t entirely believe something happened. The more Adrien thought about it, Marinette did seem like someone that he could align with on a lot of things. Sure they had different perspectives and even did have some differing opinions, it made them both learn. If he was being completely honest, she was one of the people he is glad was high on the list. 

Marinette tried her best to disguise her sorrow from the thought of their 100% was somehow not valid. It hurt to think about. 

“But considering it was with you. I can believe it was a high a number at least. So it being 100% could be valid.” Adrien answered.

Marinette’s face blushed at his words. Did he just say that he thought she and him were highly compatible?

FUCK! I just said that I honestly thought that Marinette and I were highly compatible. She had given him the chance to dismiss this as anything serious and I messed it up! Why did I say that? Sure I think its true but she will be angry just like in my nightmare and get akumatized. Adrien mentally screamed

“It is possible.” Marinette spoke up. “ I can’t see how having someone I already know being compatible with me would be a bad thing.” 

“There is also the course of the profile correction. We still have 13 more days of fine tuning our profiles. So things on the list could shake up, should you want that.” Marinette answered quickly.

“Thats true. No need to jump in on this too quickly.” Adrien sighed with relief. Marinette was handling this rationally, which made sense, Marinette always knew how to clear her head and look at things objectively. That was why she was so good at figuring out how to help people. 

It is one of the reasons I like her. Adrien’s thought surprised for a second but he quickly recovered and snapped back to the conversation to catch her response. 

“Yea… no need to think to much of it.” Marinette agreed, her tone a touch sadder then before.

“Yea. I am glad we both aren’t overthinking this too much.” Adrien smiled softly. “I am glad we could talk about this.”

“Of course…” Marinette was doing her best not to let her face betray her feelings

Adrien turned and started to walk off before stopping just short of the door. 

“Marinette?”

“Yes?” Marinette jolted, not expecting anymore words from the model.

“After the profiles are complete, and if we are both number one on the other’s list. Do you want to… give it a shot?” Adrien asked as he tried to keep his tone steady, His face was beat red as he was doing something on complete impulse. “If you want to that is. You are free to say no.”

Marinette felt her face burn at his question.

“Yes! I mean sure. It is worth trying out.” Marinette responded.

Adrien turned to her. He had a soft genuine smile that made Marinette feel as if cupid had struck her in the heart once again. But what he said next made her feel like Cupid dropped a tank on her.

“Thank you Marinette. It would be pretty nice if one of my best friends turned out to be my soul mate.”

Marinette could feel her face heat up.

_____________________________________________________________________

THERE I FINISHED part 3 (I don’t know how both Part 1 and part 2 got over 1000 notes. The notes usually start to dip after the first part.)

Today’s drabble is dedicated to @appledoom47​ to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope your day is full of loveliness and joy. <3

“Keep that up and it might stay like that,” Adrien warned, poking Marinette’s cheek.

She blinked up from her sketchbook. “I was frowning again?”

“More like glaring.”

Marinette sighed and looked down at her drawings. “I just can’t seem to decide what I want to do for this project and I’m running out of time.”

“Maybe you should step away from it for a little bit.”

“Did you not just hear me? I literally don’t have time.”

Adrien eased the sketchbook away from her. “Come on.”

“I’m not kidding, Adrien.” She reached for her book and he held it out of reach. “Give it to me,” she growled.

“You obviously need a break and since you aren’t willing to give yourself one, I’m imposing one.”

“Fine, then I’m breaking up with you,” she huffed, getting up and following him into the kitchen.

Adrien slid the sketchbook on top of the refrigerator. “No, you aren’t,” he grinned. “Go sit back on the couch.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Fine, let’s transform and take a run.”

“No, I need to work.”

Adrien’s expression softened and he pulled her into his arms even though Marinette stayed stiff. “Hey, will you look at me please?” She rolled her eyes up to him and he gave her a small smile. “It’s really important to me that you don’t let work take over your life, okay? I don’t want to lose you.”

“You aren’t going to lose me.”

He chuckled softly. “You just threatened to break up with me for putting your sketchbook on top of the fridge. And I’ve seen this behavior before. I don’t want you to go down that path.”

Marinette’s shoulders sagged. “I think the stress is getting to me.”

“I can see that.” He kissed her forehead. “So right now, we’re going out and get something to eat and talking about anything other than fashion and when we get back, maybe you’ll be able to look at your designs with a fresh set of eyes.” He shrugged. “Or maybe not. Maybe I’ll just have to keep you occupied well into tomorrow morning to make sure you’re really relaxed enough to get back to work.”

Marinette smiled and went up on the tips of her toes to kiss him. “It may be a lot of work,” she warned teasingly.

“I think I’m up to it,” he grinned. “May I take you to dinner, my Lady?”

“I’d love that, Chaton.” Marinette linked her arm through his and turned her face to kiss his shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“We save each other, whether from evil butterflies or evil sketchbooks.”

She laughed as he led her to the door and out into the fresh air she desperately needed.

Prompt List

@adrienbaedrien @lexilolita

So is that just her own schedule and she was keeping it up to date with everything she knows about Adrien then? That’d honestly be a lot less creepy and a good explanation.

Still a bit stalker-ish having all that stuff about Adrien on there in the first place but it’s an improvement

What if it has all of her friends’ schedules on it? Like Marinette is just that much of a meticulous planner that she keeps track of what everyone is doing and when so she knows when they’re free to talk or hang out? 

“Sorry guys, I want to go with you but art club is fixing to start. And after that Max is trying to train for the next competition.”

“Hangout after school with the girls? No wait, it’s Wednesday and Juleka has to help her mother and brother with work and cleanup on their boat.”

“I have to call Alya—oh wait, it’s 6:30. She’ll still be on that date with Nino. I’ll wait till later.”

“Friday night movie? Kitty Section has a gig at the park that evening. Maybe we could go there instead?”

“Okay, we want to set up a party but with everyone’s schedules, it seems the only availability will be Saturday five weeks from now where everyone can make it because Kim has a swim meet until noon and Adrien will have a photoshoot starting at four.”

Now Lila is part of the class and the classmates are wrapped around her finger. Adrien tells Marinette to take the high road. Alya gets onto Marinette about not being considerate of Lila. Lila pulls her pity parties to make it seem like Marinette doesn’t want her around.

Marinette finally has enough. They want her to be considerate of Lila? Fine. She’ll be considerate.

So she starts adding Lila to her planner, as much as it grates her to have anything featuring Lila in any of her stuff. But okay, she does it. Alya is pleased, thinking Marinette is trying to include Lila and be on better terms with her. Adrien is pleased, thinking Marinette is trying to help Lila be a better person. Lila is pleased, thinking Marinette is giving in.

Marinette isn’t. She’s just being petty.

Whenever Lila spins some story about something she has to do in the future, Marinette jots it down on the schedule as well. So there end up being a number of group activities that Lila doesn’t get to join in on or doesn’t get invited to and if Marinette is confronted, she points to Lila’s claims that she was supposed to be doing some important thing or meeting some famous person at that time.

“I wanted to invite you to the movie, Lila, but I knew you were supposed to be attending the luncheon at the animal shelter in your honor that day and I didn’t want to distract you from that.”

“Oh, I didn’t get an extra ticket for the upcoming Jagged Stone concert because Lila said she was going to be meeting with Prince Ali at that time. I’m so sorry! But hey, I have Jagged Stone’s number! Maybe you can talk to him and ask him for another ticket since you saved his kitten and all? You could probably get better seats, even!”

And if someone calls her on planning things when Lila can’t go?

“Sorry guys, we can’t have an end of the year party since Lila can’t make it. And we can’t just leave someone out.”

And suddenly the class is less concerned about Lila being unable to attend outings.

Lila starts backtracking on some of her lies to try to get around this. 

“Oh, they had to cancel my award ceremony because the Prime Minister got sick!”

Which makes Marinette pout because “Oh, that’s sad to hear. I had even been working on a banner for it and everything.”

But Lila can’t suddenly cancel too many things because that will start to look suspicious.

Then there are the instances where Marinette gathers up other classmates to go to some “activity” Lila claims to be having to “support Lila”.

“Lila is doing a special modeling shoot at the park this Saturday! We can bring her a packed lunch!”

Only the group goes to the park and there’s nothing. Everyone else is confused and they just end up having a picnic instead.

And Marinette makes sure to only include things that Lila says in front of other people so Lila can’t claim she’s making up her schedule. Then when her lies start to pile up, Marinette keeps track of those, too.

“You say you have a trip to Brazil this weekend? But last week you said you were going to Russia?”

Eventually, other classmates are going to start questioning it, too. If at first out of concern because they want to keep track or think Marinette is mishearing Lila. Then they’re bound to start noticing that things aren’t adding up.

“Hey, Mylene and I volunteered for that cleanup at the park and we didn’t see you there.”

“I thought you were going to the movie premier, but we couldn’t find you.”

“How are you going to two different countries across the world in one day?”

And Marinette just gets to sit back and watch the chaos unfold.

Today’s drabble is dedicated to @damelicorne and @squellybell to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY month! I hope your June is full of the best things! 

___

“Would it be too corny to get us matching shirts?” Adrien grinned at his girlfriend before returning his attention to the wall of Jagged Stone-themed items at the merch booth. “Because I think we could both rock that dark purple V-neck with the Jagged logo.”

Marinette laughed. “If you get the shirts, I’ll get us the enamel pins and keychains.”

“It’s a deal.”

They paid for their items and Adrien took Marinette’s hand and led her through the loud crowd filling up the event hall. There was a quick stop at the restrooms to change into their new merch and then they were winding their way through the other fans once again. They found their specially reserved seats in the front where Penny told them they would be and let security know they were there to take them. 

“I can’t believe Jagged and Penny did this for us. These seats are really nice!” Marinette turned around to look out at the quickly filling auditorium. “This is going to be amazing.”

“I’ve been so excited for tonight,” Adrien beamed. “It couldn’t get here fast enough.”

“I feel the same way.” She squeezed his hand and sat back in the seat. “Do you remember the last time we came to a Jagged concert together?”

“I do. It was my first one. Alya tried to get me to hold your hand.”

“She did not!” Marinette gasped. “Really?”

“Yep,” he grinned. “She kept nudging me toward you and I was a flustered mess. I didn’t know how to say no without being mean.” He put his hand to his chest. “You see, I was desperately in love with Ladybug at the time.”

I made a comic! I even drew a background! Yay me! (Okay all this was an excuse to draw the second panel. I love seeing Chat’s eyes glow in the dark.)

This is part of my Floofy-eared Chat Blanc AU! If you like this AU and want to read more you can check out my Chat Blanc fics here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1305218

Reminder that I am taking commissions.

Some Like It Hot

Summary: Adrien Agreste is a disaster-prone science teacher who falls hard for the lady fireman living across the street.

Prompt #5: Damsel

AO3

“No, no, no,” Adrien said, frantic as the smell of burnt popcorn and smoldering paper filled the air.

“No, shit, fuck,” He said, again, more urgently as the too familiar shrieks of the fire alarm went off.

He threw the smoking bag in the sink and turned on the faucet before rushing towards the windows.  An admittedly desperate attempt to air out his flat before–

Fuuck.

Adrien watched in horror as not one but two fire trucks, sirens blaring, were deployed from across the street.  The sirens’ doppler effect a painful soundtrack to his mortification as the trucks rushed past to the light only to make an urgent U-turn to reach their side of the street.  Below, he could see his neighbors filing out, expressions bored.

Oh god.  This was definitely not the first impression he wanted to make.

One of the fireman, a slight woman in bulky fatigues approached.  His neighbor pointed up towards his apartment and shrugged. She looked up and Adrien ducked.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Why didn’t he just stay in the kitchen?  How lazy was he that he couldn’t stand for three minutes and count the one, two pop like the bag instructed?  How sensitive was this stupid fire alarm that all it took was a measly bag of popcorn to ruin his day, his week, his new fire-free lead on life?

He had two bachelor’s degrees, a masters, and spoke four languages.  But somehow he was incapable of operating a microwave?

Adrien risked a glance out the window.  The trucks remained but his neighbors were gone.

Maybe they realized it was a mistake and were going to leave.  Maybe Adrien wouldn’t have to face anyone over this at all. Maybe–

A firm knock at the door told him he’d been caught out.

“Sir, is everything all right in there?”

Swallowing his pride Adrien stood up from his place on the floor and sheepishly moved to answer the door.  

“I’m so sorry,” He said, words babbling out before he even had the door open.  “It was a mistake, I left the kitchen for just a minute I swear and the stupid popcorn button doesn’t actually make popcorn and– oh.”

His voice trailed off on a mortifyingly soft whisper as he met the woman’s laughing gaze.

Eyes as blue as springtime flowers.  Cheeks dusted with freckles like dandelion seeds.  Dark hair pulled back into a high ponytail that didn’t even reach his chin and lips pressed into a restraining line, holding back a smile dimples couldn’t hide.

“You know you’re supposed to evacuate in an emergency right?”

Thump.

“I…”

Tha-Thump.

“Is…” His voice cracked and he felt his cheeks turning so red he could die.  “Is it an emergency if I was just an idiot? I didn’t want to meet my neighbors this way.”

“Don’t worry about them.  The tenants here are pretty chill.” She leaned in, almost conspiratorially.  “But if Kim gives you any grief just tell him Unit 56 still has his underwear whenever he wants to collect.”

That startled a laugh out of him.

She grinned.

“Besides,” She said. “We’re all used to it. The system here is pretty old and operates on a trigger.  This isn’t the first time this has happened.”

Great.

An over-active fire alarm.  Just what he needed.

His distress must have shown on his face because her grin softened into something more understanding.

“Bit of a firebug?”

Adrien rubbed his face with both his hands and nodded.  “I have the worst luck.”

He was expecting some sort of scolding but when he dropped his hands she was still giving him that softsame smile.

“Don’t sweat it, hot stuff.  We’re all a little unlucky in something.” She reached forward, lightly punching his arm, igniting him.

ches

1. Port Elizabeth (South Africa)

2. Unknown

3. Nairobi (Kenya)

4. Pretoria (South Africa)

5. Aburi Botanical Gardens (Ghana)

6. Cape Town (South Africa)

7. Pretoria (South Africa)

8. Harare (Zimbabwe)

9. Windhoek (Namibia)

10. Windhoek (Namibia)

To @kushandwizdom this is a rather unfair portrayal of Africa as a whole since half of these are literally just South Africa.  So Instead to add to this post and better dispel the myth of Africa as the vast wasteland of poverty most people think, I found a much more mixed collection of pics from various countries.

Luanda, Angola

Agadir, Morocco

Lagos, Nigeria

Cairo, Egypt

Port Louis, Mauritius

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Algiers, Algeria

Tripoli, Libya

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Tunis, Tunisia

A redneck neighbor once asked my mom (in the 80s) if they had cars in Peru. Sigh.

Hartford, Connecticut

New Orleans, Louisiana

Camden, New Jersey

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

McDowell County, West Virginia

Flint, Michigan

Washington, D.C.