Blue Hearts And Paper Cuts

x v i

"Adrien."

Seeing him here, beside her, threw her for a loop.

This was... her brother? The person she quote, grew up with, unquote. The person she treasured with all her heart, her best friend.

This was the idiot who put himself in danger, got himself hurt, which hurt her in the process, by the way.

This was the idiot that scared her to death, harassed her at one point and... the person she kissed and cuddled.

"What..." Adrien cleared his throat lightly. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" He joked.

She stared at him, before reaching over and removing his mask. Then her hands went up to his hair and tussled it right way and... there he was. Yeah, this was her idiot cat.

Marinette couldn't help but smile because... good lord, Adrien was Chat Noir. Adrien, in a world where they weren't siblings, were dating. Which was a weird thought to process, but now she was slowly coming to term with it.

She touched his face gently, because of all the times he put himself at risk, and how hard it must have been to keep this secret. Adrien allowed all the touches. Until she hit his shoulder.

"Ow! Mari?" He cried.

"You absolute! Idiot! I've been so worried about you as Adrien, then Chat Noir, and you've gotten hurt!" Despite saying that, she hit him again. "You're thoughtless! Reckless!"

Adrien tried to shield himself from her hits, but he wasn't doing too well. "M-Mari, c'mon, it's a part of the job description!"

"The job description includes Ladybug, doesn't it? Don't! Be! So reckless!"

"Now, now children, don't fight." Fu came back and set down two steamy teacups in front of them. The man sat across from them and he had his own mug, taking a careful sip. "But Adrien, you've forgotten the most important part."

Marinette had settled back in her seat, but her head snapped to Adrien as Fu said he missed something. "What more are you hiding from me?"

Adrien rose his hands up defensively. "Well, I... Might have lied to you about Ladybug." He chuckles lightly.

"Lied? About what?"

"Well, you know how I said that in the real world, you weren't Ladybug?"

There was a silence before Marinette started to hit him again. "You... freaking... idiot."

Adrien tried to shield himself again, until an orange colored rod came between them.

"Not that I mind too much, but I need my partner to be in one piece for this final battle." Volpina came in from the garden, her flute stopping Marinette's blows.

"Volpina!" Adrien was grateful that she stopped Marinette's hits.

"Lila, I'm glad you were able to join us safely." Master Fu had already set down another teacup for her.

Marinette looked over at the vixen, holding back any indignant huffs or crass comments. "You're Volpina?"

Lila dropped the transformation and she was back in her dress, taking her mask off. "Yours truly." She sang.

"So... You coming from Italy to make a contract with our fa—" Marinette stopped and cleared her throat. "With, with Gabriel, was that planned or was that a coincidence?" She questioned, glancing over at Adrien at the mention of his father's name.

"She was summoned per request of Adrien." Master Fu supplied.

Marinette looked back to Lila, eyeing the necklace on her neck. "Why...." She turned to look at Fu, settling back in her seat. "Why was Gabriel given a miraculous?"