Dramatic Irony: A Miraculous AU

ʚϊɞ ep. 10: pew pew pew

¸.• ʚϊɞ • song of the chapter • ʚϊɞ • .¸

"Left Hand Free" by alt-J 

She needs to get back to Alya and formulate a plan. Marinette sprints all the way to her base without taking a look back. Adrien no doubt is watching from above one of the bridges, or back with Nino forming their own plan.

"Brief me," Alya says as Marinette stumbles in to catch her breath.

"I was so close but Adrien hit me from behind." She paces, a hand on her chin. "He's too observant."

Alya holds up a hand, narrowing her eyes behind Marinette. One of Marinette's favourite things about her friendship with Alya is that she takes laser tagging as seriously as she does. It's more fun that way, they're both so competitive. Alya takes aim and shoots. Faintly, they hear the sound of a power-down. Adrien had been following her.

Quickly, she whispers to Alya, "He needs to be distracted for one of us to get to Nino."

"And leave this unattended?!"

"It doesn't need to be watched if we're with the two people who would be a danger to it," Marinette reasons. She hums in thought.

Alya points to the base across the way. "I'll get to Nino, you distract and take care of Adrien. But that also means you need to keep him away from here."

"I can handle it," Marinette says.

"Alright, Ladybug," Alya whispers, winking.

With a small laugh, Marinette shushes her best friend. They then break away silently. Marinette stays a while longer to navigate where Adrien might be. She plans to draw him to the corner base, far away from theirs.

Squeeeak. She lightly jogs to the sound of a sneaker catching on the rubber floor. Sure enough, Adrien is approaching the ramp. Thank goodness it's dark, or else she'd probably be a blushing mess. It feels like her Ladybug mask; allows her to be free of awkwardness.

Pew.

He gasps in surprise and looks up to where she stands, directly blocking his way to their base. "You're pretty good at this Marinette," he comments.

She swallows. With flaming cheeks, she says, "You're pretty good yourself, let's see if you can catch me."

With that, she ducks and swerves around a wall–coming to a small maze of corridors that lead to the corner base. She prays he follows.

ʚϊɞ

Marinette is a literal shadow. She is easy to catch, but impossible to hold onto. Whenever Adrien finds her, leaning against a wall, aiming her gun at him, or just lightly jogging, she's gone in three seconds. Normally, this would have frustrated him, but Adrien feels laughter bubbling up inside him. He's never seen her so carefree and confident.

Turning the corner slowly, he aims his gun at her. Marinette leans against the wall, a foot propped against it. She says, "What do laser guns and churches have in common?" 

Adrien hesitates. Marinette stares, a small smirk settling into place. 

"Pews," she says. 

He fires but she's swerving around the corner, laughing at her own joke. Adrien stops short at the laugh. It feels good to laugh again. 

Finally, they reach a base, but not the one Adrien had originally hoped. Nino and Alya seem to be in a frozen firing stance. They both wait for their power to come back, and judging by the light on his and Nino's base, it seems she's already done some damage.

Pew. Dun-dun-dun.

Adrien groans as his power goes out. Marinette stands with ease beside him and begins shooting directly at the circle center of their base. It continues to dim, dim, dim. But then she turns and sprints away, before either Nino or him gain any more power. Why would she leave when they're still all defenseless?

ʚϊɞ

It doesn't take long for the laughter to catch up to her. The look on both Nino and Adrien's face was priceless when she turned to leave. And distracting Adrien had been easier than she expected.

Approaching the center base, Marinette props her gun on the window facing directly into Nino and Adrien's base. The center is a difficult target from this far, but Marinette aims nonetheless.

Pew.

Pew.

Pew.

Pew.

Pew.

Pew.

Pew.

Pew.

PEW.

The entire room flashes red, signifying Alya and her triumph. 

It's another week peeps. I've been listening to "Call Your Mom" by Noah Kahan a lot, it's such a comforting song––I recommend. 

Have a great day/night wherever you are!

– The Fangirl