#akumatizedcamembert

Author’s notes:

This is a sort of reverse love square idea, and they are 18/19 (based on the idea that they were born in 2003 and i wrote this fic for 2022 - although, this is also a 2022 in which the plague-that-shall-not-be-named does not exist). Should still be suitable for most readers as there’s no smut and the worst i’ll write is kissing and maybe a few swears. Superheroes/villains are not real in this AU and the protagonists have never met before as Adrien was not allowed to go to public school, but apart from that, pretty much everything else is the same. Other than that they are now massive nerds.

Announcement post

Character info (with art of their d&d characters made on the reroll app)

7th January 2022 - tumblr - ao3

6th February 2022 - tumblr - ao3

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19th March 2022 - tumblr - ao3

8th April 2022 - tumblr - ao3

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18th June 2022 - tumblr - ao3

9th July 2022 - tumblr - ao3

20th August 2022 - tumblr - ao3

18th September 2022 - tumblr - ao3

13th October 2022 - tumblr - ao3

25th November 2022 - tumblr - ao3

10th December 2022 - tumblr - ao3

17th December 2022 - tumblr - ao3

31st December 2022 - tumblr - ao3

Marinette had spent the majority of November and early December furiously creating new costumes for the December larp event, as it was taking place at the Grand Palais instead of the original arena. Something about the organisers not being able to lease it for the weekend because December was a busy time of year, and the Grand Palais had been frozen over for December. It would also offer some good publicity as people could watch as the game played out on the ice. So they had come up with an in-world reason for it being a slightly smaller frozen landscape and had instructed the players that could make it to the event to bring skates and modify their superhero costumes to look like they had ice power ups. Not being content to just modify her suit, Marinette had created an entirely new one, complete with thermal fleece padding, fur trims on the hood and where the gloves and boots joined the main suit, and blue snowflake gems on the spots. When Alya had seen her handy work, she had begged for a similar suit of her own. Marinette was happy to oblige, as she had been inspired to draw more designs based on the winter suits. And it totally wasn’t just so she wouldn’t have to think about the kiss.

Alya had been teasing her about it for the entire week since and kept referring to Adrien as Marinette’s supermodel boyfriend. But something just wasn’t clicking in her mind. Something about Adrien at last week’s party was nagging at her... He had called her Nettie. Had he even heard anyone call her that before? She couldn’t recall a time when either Alya or Nino had said it in front of Adrien. So how did he know about it? And… the way he said it sounded so much like…

Marinette shook her head and focused on tying her skates up. She hadn’t seen her partner yet, and their texting had ceased altogether since the night before the party, which was suspicious. The lump in her throat was refusing to go, no matter how much she tried to swallow it away. Alya - now dressed as an icy Rena Rouge - could tell how nervous her friend was and was trying her best to keep things positive as they got ready for larping on ice.

“C’mon, girl. I know it’s weird and complicated, but just try to enjoy today, okay? Adrien’s not here, and fighting bad guys is always fun!” Alya grinned at her friend but Marinette still felt apprehensive. What if Adrien was there?

The sound of a megaphone being turned on alerted the pair to the organisers signalling that In Character time was starting, and they made their way to the rink. Marinette wobbled as her skates hit the ice, threatening to slip onto her bum, when someone caught her. Looking up, it was clear that Alya was not the one who had prevented her from falling, as she was stood in front of her looking over her shoulder with a smirk. Gradually looking round, Marinette felt her face flush. He had also made a new suit, with fur lining his hood and blue gem accents dotted all over his black suit. He had even dyed the tips of his messy blond hair blue. If Marinette wasn’t so flustered she would have made a comment about it being over the top, but she couldn’t deny it suited him. His contacts were still the same green cat eyes and his grin was still the same Cheshire cat grin. Marinette felt her heart thu-thump thu-thump thu-thump against her ribcage as if it were a bird desperate to escape.

“Looks like this new power will have a slippery slope of a learning curve, eh LB?”

Laughing nervously, Ladybug clung to Chat Noir as he raised her to her feet and began skating alongside her. Before long, Viperion and Ryuko had joined them, along with Rena and Carapace, and the partners’ arms had been unlinked in favour of aiding their accelerated skating. Even Queen Bee had tagged along, possibly because they were the only heroes attending this particular event and she didn’t want to be on her own. There were still a few of the miniaturised Parisian landmarks dotted around the rink, painted blue and white to match the ice and donned with Christmassy decorations, and the group deftly weaved between them whilst a few “civilians” leisurely skated around. A muffled thud came from the Arc de Triomphe being pushed over, and the heroes spun around to face the akuma. Glaciator was back. Ladybug knew exactly how to deal with him. She looked over to Chat Noir only for her heart to sink as she saw that Ryuko had grabbed hold of his arm and the pair were skating off to one side. Rena and Carapace partnered up and sped to the other side to flank the akuma. Only Ladybug, Viperion and Queen Bee remained, the latter of which raised an eyebrow.

“If either of you think you can pair up with me, you can forget it.”

Viperion gave Ladybug a small smile. “I know who you really want to be paired up with.”

Ducking her head, Ladybug tried to hide her blush. “I mean… we’re supposed to be partners, that’s all…”

“Is that why you looked so dejected when he rushed off with Ryuko?”

As if Glaciator could hear their conversation, he bellowed at the pair approaching him that they were with the wrong partners. Chat Noir and Ryuko nearly fell over as Glaciator hurled several scoops of brightly coloured ice cream at them and they sped off in different directions. Viperion gave Ladybug a small smirk then turned to glide after Ryuko, leaving an opportunity for Ladybug to go after Chat Noir. She hesitated until Queen Bee rolled her eyes and pushed her in his direction, muttering something about her being utterly ridiculous. Trying not to fall flat on her face, Ladybug threw herself into skating full pelt towards Chat, though she hadn’t thought about how to slow down when she got to him. “Chaton!”

Chat spun around just in time for Ladybug to slam into his chest, sending both of them sprawling over the frozen floor. “Ice of you to catch up, milady. But maybe slow down a bit next time so we don’t break the ice!”

Snorting, Ladybug propped herself up on her gloved hands to look down on him, then nearly fell back down as all the blood in her body rushed to her face. They were so close. Too close. She was straddling him and if anyone hadn’t seen her crashing into him just moments before, it would look incredibly suspicious. Even he was blushing from their proximity, and his expression was one of confused surprise. Ladybug threw herself off him and landed on her bum. Chat snickered as he sat up and straightened his costume. “It seems you really need to work on your glacial awareness, milady.”

Ladybug groaned and she swiped at his outstretched hand before actually taking it and allowing him to pull her to her skates. They both blushed again as they stood upright, their chests nearly touching, then they turned as Glaciator knocked over another nearby set piece trying to get away from the other heroes. He spun around and lifted a purple painted scooper at Ladybug and Chat Noir. “I’m Glaciator, the mean ice cream man, and I am your number one fan!” He then dug his silver scooper into a bucket strapped to his hip and threw the resulting scoop of ice cream at the pair, making them jump slightly apart.

“If he’s such a fan, why is he acting so chilly towards us?”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir are made for each other! But they have been standing under the mistletoe and have done nothing about it!”

Eyes widening, Ladybug turned to Chat Noir to find her expression mirrored on his face, then they both raised their gaze to a sprig of mistletoe hanging from a lamp post above them. Ladybug groaned. This was just like at Alya and Nino’s party. And if Glaciator’s remark was anything to go by, it would happen almost exactly the same way as it had then. With an added audience looking on from the perimeter of the rink… Looking back at Chat made her stomach sink, as his face had flushed and fallen. He clearly didn’t want this. Ladybug slid backwards a half-step when Queen Bee yelled across the rink at them.

“You’re so lame, just kiss already!”

Chat let out a breath, then closed the distance between them, giving Ladybug a smile as her face flushed a deep red. “It’s tradition, right milady?”

Swallowing thickly, she nodded, then took a deep breath, inhaling Chat’s sandalwood cologne. The same cologne Adrien wore… She didn’t have time to dwell on that fact as Chat quickly leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. It was exactly the same kiss as at the party. His lips moved against hers and she felt a jolt of excitement run up her spine as she responded. One of his hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer whilst the other cupped her face, and she found herself sliding a hand up under his hood to entangle her fingers in his hair just as she had a week ago. Just as she had a couple weeks before that on her balcony… Suddenly Chat’s breath hitched and he pulled back, recognition in his eyes. “Ma-?”

“Okay love birds, we need your help here now!”

Blushing at the applause from the crowd, the pair turned to see the group still trying to subdue Glaciator and leapt away from each other towards the ruckus, trying to focus on the game and not each other. These revelations would have to wait until the game had finished and there weren’t a bunch of onlookers. Glaciator was more difficult to deal with this time around, possibly due to the icy terrain, and because there were more of them fighting him at once. Also probably because Ladybug and Chat Noir kept stumbling every time their eyes met or they got close to each other, which slowed things down a bit. Eventually the group freed the butterfly figurine, wiped the purple paint off it, and helped André out of his costume.

There was a brief pause for lunch, with a festive buffet spread for the role-players and organisers. Most people were hungrily tucking in, making the most of the small bites of turkey sandwiches, various cheeses, mini gateaux and glasses of champomy, but Adrien kept trying to catch Ladybug who kept making flustered excuses and rushing off. Did she not want to talk to him now that she knew who was beneath the mask? If he had figured it out then he was sure she had too. Though he knew she wasn’t as taken with Adrien as she was with Chat, so was the revelation that they were one and the same too much of a shock to her? He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before turning to the buffet. He guessed he would just have to be patient with her.

After a couple hours of eating and resting and a zamboni repairing the ice the heroes’ skates had torn up, the game was back on. The next akuma was a man dressed like an ice sculpture called Frozer who had an assistant following him with a giant tub of snow which he kept digging into to throw snowballs at the heroes. Ladybug continued to avoid going near Chat, much to his dismay. It made things awkward when she was nearly hit by Frozer and Chat had to leap to push her out of the way, as she had begun stammering and scrambled away on all fours as fast as she could. He understood that they needed to focus on the game for now, but they would need to talk at some point. Preferably before Rose and Juleka’s party on new year’s eve… And the way she was avoiding him made him think she really wasn’t happy finding out who he was. Adrien sighed again before returning to the group to cleanse the butterfly they had extracted from Frozer’s skates, ending the game and receiving a cheer from the audience.

The road was slick with rain. Not that it was visible thanks to the street lamps being broken.

Perhaps that was why Ladybug hadn’t been able to dodge the akuma’s hit on the darkened rooftops; she hadn’t seen it coming. Chat Noir had night vision. Ladybug did not.

Time had seemed to slow down as Chat reached out a hand for the falling heroine. The raindrops suspended in the air around her, forming a sort of halo around her head only visible to him. Her expression was intense, twisted into one of horror and fear, and Chat felt it take an icy hold around his heart.

She had fallen with no power-up to save her…

Without thinking, he had attempted to push himself off the bat akuma after her, but was caught by the scruff of the neck and pulled higher and higher into the heavy clouds. He cried out for his lady but lost sight of her as they breached the storm, surrounded by stars in the now clear night sky. Scrabbling for a hold on the akuma, Chat became desperate. He needed to de-akumatize them and fast.

Where had Ladybug said the akumatized object was?

The belt!

Chat snatched it and ripped it in two, releasing the butterfly and causing the now civilian to transform and stop flying upwards. The two plummeted and Chat had to direct the civilian to grab hold of his waist so he could use his baton to slow their fall.

All he could hope was that Ladybug had managed to do the same with her yo-yo…

Having deposited the civilian on a rooftop, Chat had leapt around the city to try to find his lady. His heart hammering in his chest as visions of what could have happened to her swam around his head.

She had to be okay.

She just had to be…

He skidded to a halt as black spots came into view, plastered over the unmoving frame of a body lying on the road.

“No…”

Leaping over confirmed that it was Ladybug. She was completely still and the rain had soaked her hair. As gently as he could, Chat wrapped an arm around her and pulled her up, cradling her as tears stung his eyes. “L-Ladybug?” No response. “My lady, don’t do this to me.” Still nothing. “The suits are supposed to keep us safe. Why- wh- Ladybug, please…”

As Ladybug continued to remain silent, Chat felt the sobs wrack his body and the tears overflow.