#plot fic

—

No, Marinette decided she was not.

Well, at least a little less after watching the boy hungarily and messily scarf down 12 (yes, 12) filled croissants.

“You’re gonna regret that later.”

Adrien only shrugged.

“I’ll die with dignity.” He said, chocolate and jam covering half his face.

Marinette passed him a few napkins, chuckling as he flushed pink and quickly scrubbed his face.

“In my defense, salad isn’t quite as messy.”

“What about dressing?”

Adrien sat straight, placing his ring and middle finger on the bridge of his nose. Marinette could almost see the outline of glasses.

“Too much sugar and oil,” he spoke in a perfect impression of Nathalie, “you’re father expects clear skin for shoots.”

Marinette snorted, “So you had rabbit food? That explains a lot.”

“Like what?”

“Like why you looked miserable 99% of the time.”

“Touché.”

The two sat in her living room, not quite going into her bedroom not for fear of finding embarrassing, but it would be hard to explain why she had a detailed chart of akumas and Gabriel Agreste in her room.

“So-“ she knew why, but she wanted to ask, “Why grow a spine today?”

“Ouch,” Adrien smirked, “that was harsh.”

“Yeah, well.”

Adrien nodded. It was fair. Why today? After his talk with Ladybug, giving up Plagg, and training with Master Fu he decided why stop there. If he was going to change into someone worthy of a miraculous he had to start with the person that got Fu’s attention.

He could hardly tell Marinette though.

“I can’t think of an answer that would satisfy you.” He warned.

“Then how about the truth?” She turned her body on the couch and waited.

Adrien sighed, leaning back to let the food inside him settle. He turned his head to face her, his hair beginning to curl around his cheeks and a top his head.

Marinette blinked. He looked exactly like Chat like this.

“Guilt, for being a bad friend when I knew what Lila was doing bothered you.” He dropped his eyes from Marinette’s gaze. “Not bothering- it hurt you. I’m also trying to change myself. I learned something recently that really put my world on its head. It changed my perspective on who I was and who I want to be. I want to be better than ‘Adrien Agreste’.”

“But that’s you, that’s who you are.”

He shook his head.

“I dislike half the things I do. I don’t eat, don’t dress comfortably or how I like, and I don’t speak out. I didn’t against my father and I guess against what was happening to you. I can never say sorry enough.”

“Well, I didn’t reach out either.” Marinette gave a weak laugh. Adrien watched Marinette fiddle with her food, and sat up.

“You can talk to me. Tell me about these last few months. If you want to, that is.”

Marinette shrugged.

“I got a lot done, like how I used to before Alya and you came to our school.”

“I already knew you can be productive.” He nudged her gently.

“I guess it was a little lonely.” She didn’t want pity. So she didn’t look at him. “I missed class events. They didn’t invite me because my invite got lost or was sent to the wrong number. Then they didn’t invite me because they forgot. Then, they just...didn’t.”

She steeled herself, and kept going.

“They didn’t talk to me. They didn’t come to things they promised beforehand, or help me on projects, or include me in anything! Every single thing I’ve done for them, because I wanted to, because they were my friends it all disappeared like none of it mattered.” She had to calm down. She felt her body begin to warm up, and dissolve the numb she had put around herself. “I...didn’t matter.”

She didn’t know if Adrien responded, she was too focused on stopping the negative thoughts. She had to be numb, Hawkmoth can’t akumatize numb.

Adrien opened his mouth, but before anything came out the two heard a large crash followed by screams on the street.

They whipped around to face one another, eyes wide.

“Akuma.” They both breathed out.

“I have to go!” Adrien jumped up, immediately wincing. He was beginning to regret his sugar spree.

He felt a lacking on his finger. He had to get to Fu as soon as possible.

“Yup, go ahead, be safe!” Marinette rushed, all while almost pushing him out the door. Once the lock clicked she let out a breath and a small smile. “See you soon Kitty.”

--

“I know I totally made this decision, but I’m so damn tired and running without a suit on through impending doom after busting my ass this morning is a terrible consequence.” Adrien wheezed, finally arriving at Master Fu. Plagg phased through the door with the ring immediately, before Adrien could raise an arm to knock. 

“Took you long enough kid.” 

Adrien couldn’t take a breath to glare at his kwami, only muttered a Claws Out. 

Chat Noir raced to where the screams sounded the loudest, spotting his partner’s dark red hood in the midst of the chaos. 

“You look winded.” She smirked when he landed.

“No way,” he gasped, “I just like taking deep breaths of air. All at once.”

She snorted, then pointed to where a dark purple figure was in the center. The Akuma was levitating in the air, black streaks coming from their eyes and down their face and neck. The Akuma’s power wasn’t completely known yet, it seemed to be hitting people with a beam, but there was no physical reaction from the victims. 

“You think it’s Rossi again?” Chat asked, unable to make out who the Akuma was, however it did look like it had a feminine shape.

“Then the city would be on fire.” Ladybug looked at those running away. It seemed that everyone hit was collapsing, some hunched over and others openly sobbing. “What is she doing to them?”

“Let’s dodge her beams and kick her butt?” 

“Sounds like any other fight.” Ladybug pursed her lips. This akuma didn’t feel right. 

“Ladybug and Chat Noir!” The akuma screamed, desperately into the air. “To make this pain stop, I need your miraculous!” 

Chat wanted to run in, claws blazing, but Ladybug looked hesitant. She wrapped her arm around his waist and swung them to a rooftop on the side, out of reach but within ear shot. 

“What are you doing to these people?” Ladybug shouted, the victims beginning to wail.

The akuma only cried, without the petty malice of other Akumas. “They’re experiencing their worst guilt ten times over. All their regrets, their mistakes are flooding them once again.” 

Chat’s eyes widened. “Oh geez.” 

“Okay we really have to avoid that.” Ladybug muttered. She lunged, searching for something to break. The Akumas form was skintight. She scoffed, Hawkmoth needed to upgrade his designs. 

“Oh god, he’s a freaking designer. What the hell, Agreste.”

“Meowch Bug, what did I do?” Chat called, whipping his baton towards the akuma. Fu taught him earlier, the cat miraculous is supposed to handle the brunt of the work. Distractions were fine, but his job was to hold them down. The baton hit the akuma in the gut, wrenching her out of the sky and slamming her into the pavement. 

Ladybug could now see her closely. Her suit looked like melted plastic, blues and purples bleeding into one another and held together with what looked like black string tied around her waist over and over. 

“Where’s the akuma?”Chat placed a glove on the string, and suddenly screamed in agony. 

“Chat?” Ladybug suddenly panicked, seeing her partner put a bloody hand away. The material of the Akuma’s suit immediately spiked into sharp, glass-like shards upon contact. It has been the first thing to have pierced through the magic fabric of their suits.

“What the fuck?” Chat immediately jumped back, the akuma breaking out into a broken laugh. 

“You can’t stop me. I’m Remorse incarnate.” She hiccuped, flying into the air once again. “My emotions are my weapon. My guilt is your downfall.”

Ladybug pulled Chat out, ducking behind a building as he tended to his hand. 

“How’s your hand?” She could see it begin to heal, the leather of his suit building over the torn skin. 

“It’s fine, I’m worried about Plagg though.” He furrowed his brows.

“What is it?”

“I got a good look at her.” He turned to Ladybug, clearly upset. “It’s Alya Cesaire.” 

--TAGLIST--

“Yes! No? I’m feeling a lot.” She hadn’t felt this much in a while if she were honest with herself. Ever since Lila returned everything had been mildly numb. The panic in her heart and head felt familiar, and a tad comforting.

“Are you disappointed?”

Ladybug didn’t know how to answer. A few weeks ago, she would have been jumping for joy. But Chat was so pushy about his feelings he disregarded her own. Adrien didn’t want to disrupt the flow of the class, so he also wasn’t concerned with how she felt either. Regardless, she was cast aside.

She wasn’t disappointed that Chat was Adrien or vice versa, but maybe she was disappointed in them as a person.

She wanted so badly to reveal herself, if only to see what his reaction would be. To turn the question back on him. Instead, she squashed her curiosity. Revealing her identity now could be even more dangerous.

“If I’m honest, I don’t know how to feel about you,” she held back, watching her partner deflate, “I think I have to get to know you again. From scratch.”

Hope filled the boy’s eyes.

“I’m okay with that. Whatever makes you feel comfortable.”

Ladybug frowned. She had thought it was mostly due to her avoidance of Chat Noir, but he hadn’t called her a pet name all night. It seemed like he was holding back.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything Bug.”

“You don’t call me your Lady anymore.” Her face remained passive. “What’s up?”

She didn’t want to ask if he found someone. She didn’t want to ask if he had stopped loving her

Adrien blushed, cheeks finally uncovered to show how bashful he can be.

“I- you said-“ he stumbled, “I thought you didn’t like it.”

Ladybug hummed. She felt some relief flood into her body. She took a few steps to the edge of the roof and took a seat. Adrien followed suit.

“I didn’t like it in the middle of a fight.”

“I know, I act stupid sometimes-“

“No,” She turned to him, a flicker of feeling in her chest as she met his eyes. “Don’t apologize for acting like yourself. Just for the poor timing.”

Adrien smiled at that. He dug his hands into his pockets, squeezing his fingers.

“Honestly, it was Marinette that changed my mind.”

Ladybug choked on air.

“The bakery girl?”

“Multimouse, baker, class president, designer.” Adrien smiled, “She is a girl of many hats. Makes them too!”

She felt the lilt of smile struggle to surface. Adrien had always been Chat, silliness and all. Why hadn’t he shared that part of him? Or had she not seen it in a cloud of model perfection?

“What made her change your mind?”

“She wanted to stand up to this girl at our school, Lila. She isn’t mean like Chloe, but lies a lot.” Adrien’s brows furrowed. “To make friends, gain popularity, I don’t know really. But it drove Mari up a wall.”

Ladybug lifted her eyebrows. “Mari, huh? Guess I’m not the only one graced with nicknames.”

Adrien must have been getting cold, his cheeks were dusted with color.

“Marinette kept trying to call her out on it, Lila even lied to me too. You knew that though.” He recalled her outburst in the park. “She gets akumatized so often and it’s such a headache. I told Mari to let it go, since it wasn’t hurting anyone.”

Ladybug’s fingers felt cold. It started to climb up her arms and shoulders.

“Doesn’t it hurt her?” She spoke so softly, almost afraid to say it.

Adrien looked at the street below. Suddenly being so up high without his suit made him feel uneasy. He felt vulnerable.

“Lila has taken over the class. She almost got Marinette expelled, and would have too if I hadn’t threatened her.” Ladybug’s head snapped up. “She’s been using anything and everything to hang off me and use my father. She uses everyone.”

Adrien lifted his fist out of his pocket and slammed it onto the cold gutter. Ladybug didn’t jump.

“She makes me uncomfortable, she talks badly about my friend. She makes promises to the class with her lies and never follows through.” His father’s image flickered in his head, “People like that really are the worst aren’t they?”

He shook his hair out, enjoying the ends to curl up randomly instead of styled to perfection. It was weird to see him like that, like he had finally put down the front he’d been wearing.

“Anyways, Lila never took no for an answer. The only love I’ve know is from Chloe who was the same. They don’t care about my space, my feelings, my voice.” He looked up at his lady in red. “Mari probably felt the same about Lila. You probably felt the same about me.”

Ladybug felt confused. She didn’t want to let Adrien off the hook like that, but she could see he was learning about something he had no experience with.

“You care about this girl enough to threaten Rossi?” She chewed on her lip, trying to focus on one point of Adrien’s face as to not get overwhelmed.

“She’s the only one who has cared so much about other people’s feelings in our class. She talks through their problems, helps them with their projects, keeps them company when they don’t want to talk at all.” His eyes shone. It was so dark, but he may as well have been wearing his mask.

“And I let her down.” He sighed, “The least I could do is have her back.”

“Maybe, let her know you have it? So she doesn’t feel so..” Ladybug didn’t want to finish. Adrien nudged her shoulder with his own.

“So, did you learn anything new about me?”

Ladybug thought to herself.

“You’re more timid than you let on.” Adrien frowned at that response. “You’re more thoughtful too. You aren’t this boistroseous personality that you like to show off, and you feel more guilt than you probably should.”

“I can’t really tell if any of this is good or bad LB.”

“It doesn’t really have to be one or the other,” she decided, “it’s you. For me, that’s enough.”

—

“It’s getting late. And we haven’t talked about a plan.”

“Yeah,” Adrien looked toward the direction he came, “not feeling up to going home, yknow?”

“Your dad would be worried.”

“He doesn’t notice. I’d like to say his behavior is explained by being Hawkmoth, but he’s been like this since before superheroes and akumas. My mom’s disappearance really messed him up.” Adrien looked down at his hands.

“It messed you up too,” Ladybug defended, “and you didn’t become a supervillain.”

Adrien winced. She wanted to slap herself, it was too soon.

“Ladybug.” Adrien turned, “you have to take the Black Cat miraculous.”

Her jaw dropped.

“What? No.” She stood up. “Why would you even say that?”

“It’s not safe under that roof.”

“It is with you!”

“We can’t risk that.” Adrien dusted himself off, rising to meet her.

“I just can’t be without my partner Adrien. I won’t.” Her heart was beating so fast. Was he giving up?

“We’ll figure it out. You can leave it somewhere I can get it and transform.” Adrien paused. “That might be riskier actually.”

“So then keep it!” She wrapped her arms around herself, “you need to be there with me.”

Adrien smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“We both know you’ve been able to handle akumas yourself for a while now.”

“What happens if I get hurt? You need to be there to help me, you’re supposed to have my back!” Ladybug was furious. How could he do this.

Adrien nodded, seeing the argument.

“Why not train with the old man then?”

Both heroes snapped towards the new voice. Plagg poked his head from Adrien’s hood.

“He could get better at his job, and Fu can hold the miraculous until he’s ready.” The small kwami looked unamused, as he always did, but Adrien hadn’t seen him this serious in...well ever.

“He already has a full schedule, when would he have the time?”

Adrien felt a little annoyed they spoke without him.

“You managed to get more free time, what did you do?” Plagg already knew the answer. He knew Ladybug was Marinette and he knew that humans were still to blind to see true value in one another.

Ladybug looked away, and pulled her hood down.

“I prioritized my responsibilities.”

“There you go!” Plagg turned to Adrien, “drop your friends.”

“No!” Ladybug protested. Adrien looked taken aback.

“Plagg that won’t fix things.”

“They don’t care about your friend, hanging out with them means hanging out with sausage hair, and its a few hours every week that you can dedicate to training.”

“Those are his friends!”

Plagg snapped to the heroine, green eyes ablaze. For a moment she was reminded that she’s talking to a god. One of destruction.

“Adrien, I know I haven’t been around in a few hundred years. But training was always put first. This isn’t a hobby you accepted. It’s a duty.” Plagg stared his chosen down. He let the kid have fun, but he can always whip him into shape.

“Ladybug, he’s right.”

She felt something twist inside her. Was it fair to have Adrien lose his friends too? They were everything to him.

Adrien read her mind.

“I needed them and school for a lot of reasons. I wanted to get away from my father and the constant supervision. Chat Noir isn’t a curse, it’s a freedom, and if I want to keep it and my friends and you, I have to work for it.” Adrien looked determined, like he wasn’t going to take no for answer. He slipped his ring off and handed it to his kwami.

“Send me an address in the morning. I don’t have a shoot so I’ll start my first lesson then.”

Plagg smiled, “I’m proud of you, kit.”

“What if you get into trouble?” Ladybug watched the exchanged helplessly.

“I’ll be as susceptible as anyone else.” He shrugged, “and you have my back.”

“What about your friends?”

Adrien grinned, wide and delighted.

“Guess I’ll move to the back.”

--TAGLIST--

--

“What makes her emotions different from any other akuma?” Ladybug muttered to herself, watching as Chat wrapped his hand. 

“I uh- may have called her out on being a bad friend to Marinette.” Chat said sheepishly, “This is some backwards karma though.”

“We got to talk to her boyfriend, he probably saw where the akuma landed.” Ladybug paused. Or since he was nearby, would Nino have been one of the first to be hit?

“Or maybe we could use some of that Ladybug Lucky Charm action?” 

“I don’t want to use it without knowing where her akuma is first. If I de-transform and her beam hits me, we’re all goners.” 

The two heroes poked their heads carefully around the corner of the building. Remorse continued to wail, throwing her beams unto unknowing civilians. 

“Pretty sure her akuma is in whatever that string is around her waist.” Chat scoffed, rubbing his palm.

Ladybug tried to get a better look at it. The suit was simple, so it was easier to see he was probably right. There was also that nasty defense her suit had around the string.

“So how do we get it off?”

Chat stared at Ladybug, then gestured towards her own suit.

“Magic? Bad ass karate skills? Whack her with your baton- which by the way is cooler than mine and I’m jealous.” He snorted, and tapped the shoulder of her chest plate. “You could have your pick, really.”

“It’s not that simple Chaton.” Ladybug rolled her eyes.

Still, she didn’t have many options. She called for her lucky charm, careful not to call attention to it. In her hands fell a small, polka dot cell phone.

She gave it a confused look. “Is the lucky charm confusing Remorse with Lady Wifi?”

“I mean it doesn’t matter- you still have to manage to get close enough without hurting yourself.” Chat responded, as Remorse’s suit glittered with sharp shards. “She does run the Ladyblog, you could probably get close.”

Ladybug shook her head, she couldn’t see anything lighting up in her vision. Though she did have an idea, a very very bad idea.

“There’s only one person that could get close to Remorse right now, and that’s the baker girl.”

Chat’s eyes narrowed.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Chat Noir, she’s the only one that could get close to her. Plus she has experience with akumas- remember she was Multimouse.” She tried to reason, already deciding how she could avoid Remorse’s beam and spikes outside the suit. It was live bait.

“That was one akuma, and she shouldn’t have to fix any of this! It’s Alya’s doing and our responsibility.” His teeth were almost bared. “That akuma hurt me, cut through my suit like butter and there’s no way I’m allowing this.”

“Then what do you suggest?!”

Chat huffed, “An illusion- why not call Rena Rouge?”

Ladybug stilled. She bit her lip and glanced back at Remorse.

“Out of commission.”

“What’s that supposed to-“

“Found you.”

Ladybug reeled backwards, Chat beside her as Remorse watched them from above. Her hair hung loose and the black tears on her face dripped onto Ladybug’s cheek. She gave the heroes a sickly smile.

“Bickering huh? Friends bicker. But can always work through things.” Her eyes became glassy, Remorse had a far away look. “Can always work it out, as long as you talk about it.”

With a loud, piercing wail Remorse threw a beam. It landed by Chat’s feet as he jumped out of the way. He quickly wrapped an arm around Ladybug’s waist and extended his baton, taking them to the next roof top.

“We don’t have any other options!” Ladybug shouted.

“Well Marinette is not one of them!” He snapped back.

“Mari, mari, mari, mari. She misses me.” Remorse’s suit vibrated, racking with sobs. “She misses me, she misses me.”

Ladybug saw the thread clearer now. It had tiny black markings, what looked like words scrawled on top of one another that ran around the akuma’s waist again and again.

“Is that-“ Chat looked dumbfounded, “a fucking text thread?”

“Hawkmoth is getting way too literal now.” Ladybug held her charm up, the phone still covered in red and black dots. There was no way it could be this easy.

Her earrings beeped.

“Chat, we don’t need Marinette.” She was going to detransform soon. She turned on the phone, and her screen flashed back. It was hers.

Remorse began to ascend higher. Ladybug snapped towards her partner.

“Remorse is gearing up, and she’ll blow soon.”

“You still don’t tell me anything!” Chat yelled, exasperated, “What are you going to do? What exactly is the plan?”

“This is Marinette’s phone, and ‘she’ is going to send a message, which will disrupt the text thread.” She stood near the edge of the roof, the chaos becoming increasingly louder as more victims began to yell. “But you’re going to use your baton to stop her from seeing it.”

If Ladybug knew anything, she knew how frustrated Alya Cesaire could get.

-

Remorse felt like she couldn’t breathe. With every person she hit, it was like sweet relief. For just a moment, she felt sane and innocent. She would chase that, throw thousands of people into the pits of their own personal guilt-filled hells if it meant peace in her own head.

But she would be able to breathe again, feel the peace permanently if she only got the miraculouses.

“Hey Cry Baby!” She heard an annoying cat yell from across the square. She whipped around, seething.

“You feel bad sure,” he narrowed his eyes, a fearsome glower on his features, “but I know someone who feels worse.”

“Shut up!” Remorse screamed. She threw a beam, missing the insufferable hero by mere centimeters. His baton extended far, prodding her sides by the thread. Immediately her suit reacted.

Its spikes lurched for the baton, but quickly it moved to her other side. Over and over it tapped at her sides, causing her suit to go crazy, the shards covering her midsection.

“You think you can get my thread that easily?” She snarled.

“Not trying too!” He grinned.

She felt something burn and buzz. Her thread extended, by five words. Remorse’s eyes widened, her intuition could feel the new words on her person, but couldn’t read them. The shards of her suit obscured her vision, building around the thread as the cat continued to irritate it. Irritate her.

“Stop!” She tried to fly backwards, his baton only following. “Stop it, you mangy cat! She messaged me!”

She could almost make out the last word, but the shards quickly grew as a light and annoying tap hit her side.

“Ugh, I’ll do it myself!” Remorse shrieked, moving the shards and ripping the thread away. It layed frayed and twisted in her hands. She searched desperately for the new message.

“You miss me, you miss me.” She chanted, struggling to find the tail end.

“Need a hand?” A black and red blur swung by, faster than Remorse could account for. Suddenly her palms were empty.

“No!” She wailed. She looked at the far rooftop, Ladybug’s hood up and eyes stormy. The heroine took both ends, ripping the thread with ease.

Remorse feels herself begin to fall, when her world turns black.

—

Alya woke up in Chat Noir’s arms. Which she would be more excited about, if he wasn’t frowning.

“This is yours.” He muttered, her phone in his hand. It was dimly lit with a new message.

“Thank you,” she grabbed it gently, not meeting his eyes. “Where’s Ladybug?”

“Probably left to detransform.” He shrugged, setting her down. He stretched, and looked as the citizens around were helping one another up and wiping their faces.

“Can I ask you something?” She was confused about what exactly happened, but she knew the feeling of an akuma well.

Chat pressed his lips in a thin line, but nodded.

“When your job is to destroy, how do you deal with the aftermath?” She felt like a reporter, but an empty one. A thinly veiled question to solve her own feelings.

Chat relaxed his shoulders, and answered his friend honestly.

“I take responsibility.”

He pole-vaulted away, leaving Alya in a sea of civilians watching her with wary, swollen eyes. She looked down at her phone, and opened the new message.

This user has blocked you

--TAGLIST--