Miraculous A La Mode

Snippet:

"Come in"

Kagami looked straight ahead at the door in an unfaltering gaze, waiting for the servants to open the door to her mother's treasure room.

As the doors opened, a faint light of gold and rainbow reflections flew out of the room, leaving a pathway of light for Kagami to walk through.

She bowed deeply, "You called me, mother?"

Tomoe Tsurugi sat at her chair surrounded by her hoard like a queen would on her throne, with an unimpressed expression hiding through her spectacles.

"I have received a letter from the Guild, everything appears to be in order for your visit to France"

Kagami stood up from her bow, looking at her mother with an unmoving expression. 

"You will be leaving tomorrow through the teleporter, do not be late"

"I won't let you down mother"

An electrifying breeze tousled Kagami's hair,  

Snippit: Gold- He found it. He found her. She froze as he burst from the stairwell, her keycard still clutched in one hand. Felix skidded to a halt before her, fists clenched, blurred vision coalescing. The words broke free. “I am not Adrien.”

He was hunched over, gulping the cold conditioned air. It burned worse than the sewer fug had. There was more.

These words were a defiant growl, “I am Felix!"

Chloé's deep blue eyes were saucers. A protracted silence grew between them; no motion and the only sound in the hallway was Felix's panting breaths.

After an eternity her head snapped to the side. With eye contact broken her posture shifted into that easy aristocratic dismissiveness. Yet her first response was something mumbled and sincere, "Of course you are."

The spring unwound.

She, too, was not done. She looked back at him with her chin up and her smirk restored, "You're also filthy! Where have you been, playing in the sewers? Eewww. I always knew you were strange, Felix, but this is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous."

Relief; relief more acute than freeing himself from death's grip below. Felix very nearly collapsed on suddenly shaking legs. No- he did. Down on one knee, he gritted his teeth around a taunting smile of his own. "It's called work, Chloé. You might have heard of it."

"Of course I've heard of it. Plenty of little people do-" she paused, craning her neck to look around him. "Felix, you're bleeding. Ewww- all over the marble, and the rugs!"

He hadn't even regained his feet when she had his arm. His exhaustion made him weak and she yanked him along, keycard opening the door to her suite. She didn't even slow down, pulling then pushing him into her bathroom. Felix stumbled, still mentally reeling from so much contact. His hackles were up but she didn't give him time to bite back.

"Clean yourself up! Oh my God, you're such a mess. Wash! Wash everything! No, forget it. We'll burn those clothes." She swept around to her vanity and opening it pulled out bottles, boxes, and scissors, throwing them in his general direction. "That's something- hold on-"

She pulled out her phone, pacing.

Snippet: “Hey, Luka? Can I…ask for a favor?”

The sound that drifts from Adrien is a shy one, but it pushes determinedly past the sad piano trying to muffle it, so it must be important. Luka catches him rubbing the back of his neck, and smiles in return.

Is it wrong to feel a little proud? After all, even just a week ago, Luka is certain that Adrien wouldn’t have dared ask at all. His inner melody had seemed to waver lately, too, like someone introducing an unfamiliar instrument to a well-practiced orchestra. The sound is still a little strange, but it seems like Adrien is finally starting to adjust to it.

Snippet: “No one will disturb us here.”

The door slid closed behind them. It locked automatically with a loud beep. The sound went almost unheard in Marinette’s small studio, overrun with quiet pops and whirring. Something resembling a spinning top made its way across the floor. Marinette kicked it aside. “Sorry. Everything’s a bit of a mess here.”

“No, I… I love it.” Félix really did. Every inch of her room was covered with miscellaneous tech, with sketches plastered on the wall with cellophane tape, with pillows and blankets, full of comfortable clutter arranged into an organized mess. The place looked alive—and he adored it.

Snippet: “Stop,” Sabrina hissed, tickling the palm of his hand with her swishing, feather skirt, “I told you this section is forbidden-“

“I thought you said music is forbidden,” he murmured faintly, his feet leading him to the sound despite the many dangers Sabrina reminded him of. He had a way with getting away from trouble, and enormous bird creatures couldn’t be all that different from the police. “It is not forbidden, Mr. Graham de Vanily simply prefers the silence during Christmas time.”

“That is not the sound of someone who prefers the silence. In fact,” he climbed up the staircase with a slight giddiness tickling the ends of his lips upwards the closer he got, “that might be the sound of someone who took a peak at the Opéra-comique.”

Snippet: “I’m really sorry about constantly having to love and leave you like this… Follow me all the way up here, off world, and every single time I end up hiding out for a few hours because your sun is evil.”

This was a conversation that seemed to be on an endless loop for how often they had it or similar, always the same apologetic notes trying to hide the concern an octave lower. Fingers began to run through the blond’s hair as they often did when allowed to help soothe with them, a chuckle rumbling in his throat. It was meant to be a serious moment but when his chest was being shamelessly used as a shield close enough that the edges of glasses could dig in it was hard to treat it completely so. This was one of the very few things Félix would allow himself to do when anywhere remotely public and the muffled noises it caused are always adorable, a treat even. His boyfriend will know he knows, such is the way of empaths, and yet seems content enough to leave the feeling be.

“I’m amazed you trust me not to start some kind of diplomatic incident the second you’re not keeping an eye on me to be honest. You’ve met Ma, it’s not impossible lets face it.”

It earns a mangle between a snort and the first hints of laughter before pulling away silences it. Even though the illusion remained firmly in place the tiredness was visibly seeping into his eyes and threatening to etch lines there. Be that as it may even that is unable to completely drown out the mischievous sparkle in the grey or the way long nails continued to knead the back of his shirt. The melody shifts to something more soothing with the same hint punctuating wherever it pleases.

Snippit: Sabrina squeaked. Luka was trying to figure out how to handle this rapidly devolving situation when Kagami cut back, "These people are my friends. If you are present, then my purpose here is clear."

She grabbed Chloé's hand and stalked off with the other girl, towards the opposite end of the boat.

Chloé stumbled after her, wailing, "Wait-what- what are you doing?"

"Keeping you out of trouble."

The remaining three watched them go. Sabrina stepped in closer to Luka again. "Are they gonna be okay?"

Luka hummed, "It's an unexpected change of key, but sometimes that is exactly what is required."

He slipped his arm around Sabrina's waist and she snuggled back in. He would never get tired of how simply natural it felt to hold her. From the contact their melody drifted up into his mind once more.

Rose's quiet squee brought things back into focus.

Luka turned with Sabrina in the sweep of his arm. "We've got a playmate for you today."

She peeked up at him, but almost immediately nestled her head back in as they walked, "What did you break this time?"

Luka feigned a stagger, "Why do you think it was me? I'm hurt, shocked and hurt."

Snippet: Felix had a certain… disdain for Paris.

Not hatred, no, of course not. It was a beautiful city—if a bit smelly—and home to one of his favourite people. It had good food; the people were toxic but friendly, just how he liked them; and with the blessing and the curse of his cousin’s face, Felix could get people to stop and admire everything he did.

It was also home to his least favourite person, who just so happened to be the city’s local supervillain as well as an international terrorist.// That was fine.

Felix didn’t have any business with his uncle. Not on this trip.

It’d been three years since they’d struck a deal on that fateful day. Three years since Felix stopped living with a perpetual cloud of fear over his head. He was a free man at last. There would be no more threats, no more blackmail, and no more death.

He hadn’t come back to Paris since. Despite claiming he was innocent, he didn’t put it past Ladybug to string him up by his ankles from the Eiffel Tower.

Today was a special occasion, or else he wouldn’t bother risking her wrath, or that of his uncle. Though he had nothing to fear from Gabriel now, the less he saw of that man, the better.

No, today was the beginning of rehearsals for Paris’ fashion week. Something Adrien couldn’t normally get out of, even though he was now nineteen and legally an adult.

Hence Felix’s emergency visit to Paris.

Adrien hadn’t specified why he wanted out of rehearsals, but Felix hadn’t dared to ask either. He and Adrien hadn’t always gotten along, but things had been downright frozen between them for a while. Adrien knew that Felix was the one who had impersonated him and sold out the Miraculous to Monarch. He couldn’t understand why Felix had done it, not until Gabriel was out of the picture, so to him it seemed an unforgivable act of selfishness.

And perhaps it had been

Felix still didn’t regret it, nonetheless.

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He typed quietly in the lively solitude of the cafe. Though he was tired from the repetitive modelling, he hadn’t come here for caffeine.

That made the cup of coffee in front of him all the more surprising.

Felix glanced up at the hand that had set it down, and thus the man attached. The waiter winked. His hair was black with blue and pink tips, his outfit slightly wrinkled, and his face alight with a bright smile. Great. Someone cheery and unprofessional. Exactly the type of person that he usually tried to avoid.

Still, Felix spared the waiter a second glance, mostly because of his distinctive appearance. Then he pushed the cup of coffee away and attempted to resume his work. “I didn’t order this.”

The waiter leaned with one hand on the table, looming frustratingly into Felix’s space. He continued to grin. “I know. A little rabbit told me you’d like it.”

“I believe the phrase usually goes ‘a little bird told me’.”

“I know.”

Felix leaned back slowly, abandoning his computer for the moment to more properly examine the waiter. A small nametag on his chest read ‘Luka’. His eyes glimmered with mischief and concealed knowledge.

“Well, Luka If you don’t mind, I am quite busy at the moment and would appreciate some alone time.”

“Sure thing, Felix.”

He hadn't mistaken Felix for Adrien, like most in Paris did. That alone caught Felix's attention. But he also made no move to leave, and Felix was hardly in a social mood.

He took the coffee at last and sipped it—mostly as an excuse to not continue the conversation. But as the rich flavour hit his tongue, he glanced up in surprise despite himself. “Breve?”

Luka winked. “The little rabbit told me that too.”

Felix set his cup down slowly. He’d always preferred creamier, sweeter coffees to the more concentrated, bitter varieties. For some reason, that continually surprised his peers. Something about how his coffee was sweeter than his demeanour, he was sure.

“Who is this rabbit?” He asked suspiciously.

Luka’s smile never faltered; he shrugged innocently and said, “Enjoy your coffee,” before he just walked off.

Felix glared at his back. Great, a mystery. Last time he’d uncovered one of those, he’d discovered the identity of a terrorist and secrets dating back twenty years. He’d also sold out the entire world to protect his own self interests, so there was that too.

“He’s cute,” Duusu piped up from Felix’s pocket. “You should ask him out.”

snippet: Finally the girl with a ponytail by the counter looked up, tossing her phone back inside her green apron. Icy blue eyes met his steel blue ones and suddenly Luka forgot how to breathe.

Not because she was pretty or how her blue eyes were so vibrant that he wanted to cower away under her gaze. But it was because he knew that face. He knew her college. And that face was popular anywhere, actually and the fact that nobody in the store really cared to point it out, baffled him.

“What can I get you?” she asked. This was the first time he heard her voice up close. Luka wasn’t sure how to react.

And the fact that she said it so . . . kindly made things crazier.

This girl wasn’t known to be nice in his college.

Oh Jules would holler if she’s with Luka at that exact moment he froze, unable to say what he wanted.

He might’ve stared too long because she glared, raised her hand in front of her face and waved.

“Hi?” she asked.

Snippet:

Chat Noir was used to Ladybug being a little late to patrol, and he was usually very early for them, but when he got a message from her before he transformed saying she would be late, he was confused to say the least. It was nearly fifteen minutes past their planned start of the patrol when Ladybug landed on the rooftop along with another miraculous holder.

“Sorry I’m late, Chaton. I had to introduce a new holder to her kwami.” Ladybug held her hand out to try and have the new heroine step forward, but it was clear she was still nervous. Her outfit was like nothing he would have expected from a miraculous holder.

She was wearing a large purple and silver hoodie with gold and black stripes, her hood was pulled up which covered most of her purple locks. The top of her hood had small fluffy striped ears which Chat thought was just adorable. She had on a pair of thick leggings that were obviously very fuzzy on the inside which could be seen from the apparent claw marks that seemed to tear them open causing golden fluff to spill out furthering the tiger aesthetic. On her feet, she had a pair of slippers that had to be based on her kwami.

The tiger girl waved slightly but didn’t dare move forward. Chat could see how scared she was not only with how she presented herself, but how her cat features reinforced her body language. He looked at Ladybug with a questioning tilt of his head, but she was looking at the purple hero expectantly which shifted to a look of helplessness. He couldn’t let his lady feel like that, not when he could help.

Chat moved forward and gently took one of the new heroine’s hands and kissed her purple knuckles like he did for Rena. “I’m Chat Noir, it’s wonderful to meet another hero. What’s your name?”

Her golden eyes widened, darting between Chat Noir and Ladybug. Chat thought he might have overdone it, and was about to backtrack when a soft voice answered him. “Prple Tigrss." It took him a moment to realize she said Purple Tigress in her mumbling, but once he processed her name his eyes lit up. “You said Purple Tigress?” A small nod in return had his smile coming out in full. Chat turned to Ladybug quickly. “Bugaboo, you got me a little hiss-ter? Thank you so much, I love her already!”

Letting a purr rumble in his chest, he circled his new hiss-ter gentle butting his head against her head and shoulders. He normally wouldn’t act so much like a cat, he was definitely playing it up, but it was clear his new sister needed some cheering up. He never had a sister, but he hoped he wouldn’t lose her because of this.

“Chaaat-” Ladybug’s warning tone made him freeze in place, until another sound caused both of them to freeze. A giggle. It was small, quiet, and a bit shaky, but they both heard it. Purple Tigress laughed.

“It’s nice to meet my big purr-ther.”

Chat internally cheered. “I like the sound of that!” He moved back in front of her, his tail wrapping around her leg on its own. “Will you be patrolling with us? You’re the first extra hero to join us for patrol, how cool!”

He turned to Ladybug for confirmation, but instantly froze seeing tears in her eyes with one hand covering her mouth.

“My lady?” Chat didn’t know how to take her reaction. He’d never seen her like that before, and the situation seemed to be an odd one for such a strong reaction. “Are you ok?”

Purple Tigress also turned to see Ladybug’s reaction, her head tilted ever so slightly as she watched her. Ladybug wiped the tears out of her eyes as she took a breath and moved forward.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just so happy.” She took one more breath to hopefully get the shakiness out of her voice. “Chat, this is Purple Tigress. She’ll be patrolling with us, but she’s not going to be fighting with us unless she decides to later.”

Chat was obviously still confused, but he moved on figuring he would get to talk to Ladybug later. “Your costume is so interesting. I guess since you won’t be fighting you don’t need to really look like a hero.” Her outfit looked so comfortable, he was kinda jealous. On her right hand she had large golden claws which made his own look rather small, and on her back she had a large interesting design. “The black and gold rose on your back is really cool!”

Her back instantly straightened. “R-rose?”

“It’s beautiful.” Ladybug commented, placing her hand on Tigress’s shoulder. “It’s a large part of your hoodie’s back, I know you can’t see it now, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still a part of who you are.”

Tigress lowered her head and pulled on her bolas which tightened the hoodie around her face. “I don’t want it behind me though.”

Ladybug pulled Tigress in for a small hug. “We don’t always get a choice about these things.” She opened up the hood and looked up at the purple girl. “We have to make the most of what we have no matter how hard it is. Are you still up for patrol tonight?”

Blinking the tears out of her eyes, she nodded. “I’m already hre.”

Ladybug looked at Chat who didn’t know what to do. He obviously knew something was going on, and the situation was a sensitive one. Chat wanted to do something, to help his new hiss-ter, but didn’t know how to help.

“Chat, I’ll lead the patrol tonight. Stick with Tigress and make sure she can jump across the rooftops.” Ladybug instructed. Her partner nodded quickly and moved up next to the new heroine.

“You should get the hang of it purr-ty quickly.” He lowered his voice to a whisper, “And even if you do fall, trust me it doesn’t hurt as bad as it would normally. I have lots of experience with that.”

Snippet: Then, Chloe finally noticed it: Marinette had a ring on her finger. A nice one, too. Chloe imagined she would've bought Marinette one just as expensive if they hadn't broken up. Chloe looked around the room, wondering who she could possibly be engaged to. Her first thought would be Adrien, of course, if Marinette hadn’t made it incredibly clear while they were dating that she was over him. Her next thought was Kagami, but she didn't have to look far from Adrien to see that Kagami was clinging to his side, their hands intertwined. The more she looked around, the more she realized that everyone here was either not single or someone Marinette would never date.

“Chloe?” She jumped from the noise behind her. Luka. “It’s good to see you.”

Snippet: Ladybug interpreted it as cause for alarm and grabbed his arms, twisting them behind his back. Félix yelped from pain and grimaced, unable to hide the blush rising to his face. His cheeks dusted pale pink and he died inside a little, even though Ladybug had no time to pay attention to it.

“You're Ladybug,” he breathed, stating the obvious. Panicking, he quickly added, “I-I didn't know! I thought—”

Another pair of feet landed beside them. Ladybug whipped her head around, startled. It was Luka in his Viperion suit.