Continuing Tales

Smoulder

A Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Story
by MidnightStarlightWrites

Part 33 of 35

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Marinette: For the last time- it was NOT a walk of shame.

Adrien: Well…technically… ;)

Marinette: Number 1. You didn't walk, you- like- jumped home or whatever. Super-hero style! Number 2. Walk of shames happen after a hook-up and we literally fell asleep and nothing else. Number 3. Even if we did do *that*- it wouldn't be anything to be ashamed of.

Adrien: T^T

Marinette: :P XxXx

Adrien: Ok you have a point. No way could I ever be ashamed of you. But I still think it was a walk of shame! I left your house in the same clothes I wore the day before! 3 3 3

Marinette: Did you take them off though? Xx

Adrien:…No my lady ¬_¬

Marinette: THEN IT WASN'T A WALK OF SHAME! Why do you even want it to be?

Marinette: Wait… I know why…how many puns have you come up with about this?

Adrien: None... ;3 3

Marinette: Kitty -_- Xx

Adrien: I don't know what you're talking about. I just want to live up to the slutty blonde model stereotype ;) a slutty blonde model who sleeps with superheroes lolololol.

Adrien: But only superheroes they love of course. XxXxXx

Marinette: Not buying it.

Adrien: Ok eight puns. Nine! Nine! I just thought of a ninth!

Marinette: Knew it! Also you thought the birds and the bees was a literal fairy tale until you were sixteen years old so you aren't living up to any slutty model stereotypes any time soon I hope! Also-also you already sleep with superheroes. You ARE a superhero, silly alley cat, you sleep with yourself every night ;) Xx

Adrien: T^T I don't like what you're implying and Plagg is sitting right behind me cackling. You two are mean! XxXx

Marinette giggled, accidentally bumping against the wall as she typed her response, making sure to delete all the texts referring to their secret identities (as a necessary precaution).

Adrien was on the way to her place, having luckily avoided any confrontations with his carers or father. The pair had been playfully arguing since they'd miraculously gotten away with their accidental sleepover and, as Marinette had predicted, she hadn't been able to sleep a wink since Chat Noir left.

Heading downstairs to the bakery, she leaned into the kitchen to wave to her father, before walking to the register where her mother was.

"Nino and Alya aren't here yet?" she asked, reaching for a pain au chocolate. Chocolate would help the nerves. The heady scent consumed her senses, her father's baking offering a nostalgic comfort whilst she mentally prepared for the sure-to-be awkward encounter.

Sabine shook her head, saying a quick goodbye to a group of customers who'd stopped to buy their breakfast, before patting Marinette's head softly.

"No, they'll be here soon. Have you tried texting them?"

"If I do, they'll know something's up and this is Adrien's moment- not mine," Marinette shook her head, flakes of pasty falling onto the floor as she did so. Under Sabine's disapproving look, she sheepishly cleaned up after herself before nervously fiddling with her hair. "I hope they aren't too upset."

"Well, I'm sure they will be," Sabine supplied gently, smiling when Marinette began to bite her lip. "But you shouldn't worry. They'll handle it ok. You certainly did, and I'm proud of you for that."

Marinette huffed, sitting on the spinning stool behind the counter, the old one her parents sat on whenever there was a lull of customers and they needed to rest their feet. She leaned backwards, staring at the ceiling with a pout, feeling the familiar pang at the reminder that Adrien was leaving in a few months.

"Oooh that's not a happy look."

Marinette's head swivelled to the counter, startled to see Adrien resting on his elbows as he fixed her with a loving gaze.

Immediately, she tried to stand. Unfortunately, she underestimated how far backwards she'd been leaning. As soon as Marinette's heels hit the ground, the stool fell out from underneath her and she toppled head-over-heels onto the ground.

The loving look fell from Adrien's face and he hurried over to help her up.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he said, scratching the back of his head. His eyes flicked over to Sabine before looking down at his feet.

Marinette glanced at her mother. The two women exchanged a silent conversation the way only women can; a gentle nudge of the head, a widening of the eyes, a crinkling of the forehead- all conveying secret suggestions and opinions. Adrien, of course, was completely oblivious to it.

When Sabine winked, turning around and busying herself with reorganising a macaroon tray, Marinette grabbed Adrien's wrist and tugged him down so she could press a sweet morning kiss to his lips. The stricken look on Adrien's face almost made her descend into giggles again. His eyes frantically turned to Marinette's mother to see if she'd noticed the kiss- only to sigh and clutch his chest when she saw her back turned.

Adrien pouted, and was halfway to quietly admonishing Marinette for kissing him in front of half of her parent's (not because he didn't enjoy her kisses- but seriously what if they kicked him out for being improper?!) when he noticed she'd slipped away to grab him a croissant.

She was instantly forgiven.

"So," Marinette breathed, apprehension fluttering through her insides. If she was feeling anxious, she could only imagine what Adrien felt. "Nervous?"

Adrien nibbled the corner of his croissant, shuffling closer to her.

"I feel better with you here," he replied, busying himself by tearing pieces of pastry into edible chunks.

Marinette smiled, resting a hand on his arm and giving his bicep a squeeze, rubbing it a little when she realised he was shaking. His face was paler than usual and she wondered if it was due to nerves of lack of sleep.

"They aren't going to hate you for leaving, you know that right?" she whispered, hoping her tone was soothing enough "I didn't, did I?"

Adrien sighed, finishing his croissant with half his usual zest.

"I know but… I hate to upset them, almost as much as I hated telling you," he groaned, running a hand down his face. It seemed like he was already on the verge of tears- and Marinette's heart went out to him.

She was about to say something else when the bell on the bakery door began to chime. Both of them jumped, trying to look like they weren't just having a serious conversation as Nino and Alya walked up to the counter, offering cheerful greetings.

"You can do this," Marinette whispered into Adrien's ear, linking her fingers with his own.

"Oh yeah! Favourite morning of the week!" Nino punched the air in mini celebration as Sabine handed over his usual order with a chuckle.

"I have to admit, Monday morning's suck less when your pastries are involved," Alya yawned, leaning over the counter to press two kisses to Sabine's cheeks.

"It's always a pleasure to make sure you kids are well fed," she chirruped, offering Alya an apple turnover with a mischievous grin. "Besides, it means that Marinette is out of the house early for a change."

"Mama!" Marinette cried, pouting in betrayal as the bakery rang with laughter.

Adrien squeezed her hand and she wrinkled her nose in response.

Once pleasantries were out of the way, the four of them headed outdoors to the small park near Marinette's house. They had enough time to lounge on the grass before heading to school and the day was shaping up to be gorgeous. The air was crisp and promising, the sun already bright in the sky. It almost seemed a shame that such a wonderful day would be spent finishing their remaining exams along with their history presentation.

"I have the USB," Alya declared. Being the most organised out of all of them (even beating Adrien), she'd been the one trusted to keep their presentation slides safe. "Do we need to add anything?"

"I think we're all good now," Marinette supplied as they settled on the grass. Nino stretched out, placing his head on Alya's lap and taking off his cap as he stared at the few clouds rolling by.

"So, I guess this was our last project together," he pondered aloud, more to himself than the group.

A heavy silence settled on the gang. Marinette tucked her legs underneath her, leaning up against Adrien, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. Alya began running her hands through Nino's rapidly-growing hair. All of them were thinking the same thing, feeling the inevitable hands of time ticking by, ready to change their lives forever. Soon, moments like this would be few and far between. Monday morning pastry dates before school would be a thing of the past, grumbling over shared teachers, texting each other in class to try and get each other in trouble, all of these memories would be left behind like grains of sand dropping to the base of an hourglass.

"It was fun though," Marinette smiled softly, words dripping with a melancholy she couldn't contain. The word 'was' hanging in the air.

"Yeah," Alya sighed, hands stalling in Nino's hair.

Adrien played with the blades of grass brushing against his converse, lips scrunching as he did so. Feeling Marinette's gaze on him, he looked up. Their eyes met and he inched forwards, placing his forehead on hers. Warmth spread between them, and the tenderness in her touches gave him the strength to say what he didn't want to.

He pulled away, arm moving from Marinette's waist back to her lap so he could hold hands with her again.

"Guys," he coughed, cleared his throat, stalled. "I have something I need to tell you both."

Nino and Alya shifted, their attention completely on him. Perhaps through their years of friendship, they'd picked up on Adrien's emotional cues the way he had for them. Adrien forced himself to stop playing with the grass.

His heart beat slowly, yet every thrum was painful, as if it was being wrung out like a wet sponge.

"Is everything ok bro?" Nino asked, leaning up onto his forearms.

Alya looked at Marinette, a worried question sparkling beneath her bespectacled gaze. In response, Marinette shook her head- not saying a word.

"Fine," Adrien reassured before he could help himself, cringing at the accidental lie as he hastened to correct himself. "I mean, they aren't but they will be?"

"What's this about? Are you in trouble somehow? Is your dad giving you trouble?" Alya blurted out, unable to contain herself from seeking answers. "Do you need help? You seem upset."

"No, no! It's not ugh-" Adrien stammered, stumbled over his words, panicking the longer he dragged it out. He wasn't good at confrontations. The adults in his life had tried to drum out his confrontational side at a young age, but Plagg (and Ladybug) had helped him in that regard- at least as Chat.

But as Adrien? He was still weak.

Simultaneously, he felt a soft rummaging from the inside pocket of his jacket and Marinette resting her head on his shoulder. The painful throbbing in his heart stalled. Taking a deep breath, he tilted his chin, holding himself proud. He would not run away from this.

"You know how I'm taking a gap year to help my dad with his company? Well- in order to do that- I have to- I mean- I'm moving to London for the year. With my dad. To help him with the new HQ."

The worlds dropped from his mouth, danced on the breeze. Alya and Nino were silent.

At first, Adrien wanted to panic, but a voice of reason told him to stay quiet, to allow his friends time for it to sink in.

Nino was the first to speak.

"So… you're leaving?"

Adrien's shoulders collapsed. He'd been tensing them unconsciously.

"Yes," he rasped, hating the way Nino's voice cracked.

Alya shifted until her legs were free from Nino's hold. Shuffling closer to Marinette, she placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Did you know?" she whispered.

Marinette nodded.

"I found out not too long ago," she replied, the soft smile back on her face. "And yeah, it's terrible, especially because we just got together but you know, it's only for a year, right?"

"Yeah!" Adrien chirped, jumping on the optimism bandwagon. "It'll suck but I can get you all cool stuff from London! And we can have skype dates, and there's always the internet for gaming! Besides England's only an hour behind and it's only a short journey on the Eurostar. It's not like I'm going missing for a whole year- I'll come and visit. It's going to-"

He paused when he heard a sniff, muscles subconsciously tensing again.

Nino had his face covered, his shoulders were shaking, and Adrien's face fell when he saw the tears streaking down his best friend's face.

"It doesn't change the fact that you're leaving bro," Nino choked, shaking his head. "It doesn't change the fact that you're going away, that things are gonna change, that I'm losing the first best friend I ever had."

Feeling his throat grow tight, his eyes begin to burn, Adrien stood up. He held his hand out to Nino.

"Bro, come here. Please?" he implored, begged, and was relieved when Nino took his arm away from his face. When Nino accepted his hand, Adrien pulled him to his feet and straight into his arms, wrapping them around him in a fierce hug.

Nino buried his face into Adrien's shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm being an idiot," Nino warbled, voice muffled by Adrien's jacket. "You're moving away for a year. S'not like you're not coming back or you're moving to the mars- though that'd be cool."

"You're not being an idiot!" Alya cried, jumping to her feet, Marinette not far behind her. Her own eyes looked remarkably bright and her breath caught as she spoke. "It's ok, honey."

"Alya's right," Marinette urged as the girl in question pressed a comforting hand to Nino's back, "I cried so much when Adrien told me. He cried, I cried some more, then we both cried at the same time. It was a total mess of snot and tears."

The four of them huddled together, ignoring passers-by as they stared at the emotional display.

It was a while before Adrien trusted himself to speak.

"You can't lose me Nino. We're brothers, and that's never going to change no matter where I am in the world," he vowed, pulling away from their hug so he could place his hands on Nino's shoulders. "I could be in Antarctica and I'd be showing pics of you to my new penguin buddies, talking about my best bro in the whole world, and the penguins would be totally jealous of our bond."

Nino offered him a watery smile, which Adrien returned.

"Growing up sucks," Nino grumbled, stepping away and rubbing his eyes until they were free of tears.

"Agreed," Marinette agreed, ruffling Adrien's hair fondly.

"It's the suckiest," Adrien whined, melodramatically flopping a hand against his forehead. It seemed to do the trick with easing the tension though, as the other laughed in response.

"I'm going to miss you, newbie-buddy," Alya confessed, lightly punching Adrien's arm. "We joined school at the same time and now you're leaving me with these old timers! You better make sure the present you said you were gonna get is something mega-awesome to make up for it."

"I will Alya, it'll be the most awesome present in the entire world. It'll make Ladybug's yo-yo look like a kid's toy!"

From behind Nino and Alya's backs, Marinette poked her tongue out at him. Adrien quirked his lips by way of apology, but he knew she understood it was in jest- if her fond eye roll was anything to go by.

There wasn't much else to be said, and time was running short, so they began the slow trek towards school. Marinette and Alya, sensing that the boys needed some time to be together, fell a few paces behind.

The sun was still shining, the trees were as green and vivid as any other summer day, birds tweeted, time moved on. In the comfortable silence which fell between herself and Alya, Marinette pondered how the future could be so frightening and so bittersweet, so exciting yet so uncertain.

She was brought out of such musings when she felt Alya slip her hand underneath Marinette's arm, so the pair were linked at the elbow. Once again, she felt that familiar flutter of sisterhood, of total belonging.

"Everything's going to change now, isn't it?" Alya said and, for once, she seemed more insecure than Marinette did.

"Sort of, but also not," Marinette hummed, tilting her head to the side as she awkwardly darted around a harried looking businessman, not wanting to break her link with Alya. "I mean we have each other, don't we? I don't think that'll change just 'cause we're going to different universities."

"Since when did you get so wise, Madame Freak-out?" Alya teased, bumping her shoulder.

Marinette paused for a minute, thoughts wandering to the snoozing pink bundle in her bag, then to the boys in front of them, the girl beside her, her parents in the bakery they left behind.

"I've had help," she replied with a knowing smile, fingers brushing against one of her earrings.


"I need help!" Adrien yelped, coughing up what must have been several bags of flour.

Marinette and Tikki exchanged amused glances. It was early evening and the pair, plus Kwami, were tucked away in bakery kitchen, making bread as a way to get rid of the tension from the day. Though their History presentation had gone off without a hitch, the solemn mood from Adrien's revelation had remained, hanging like smog on an otherwise bright day.

So, hoping to be a good girlfriend, Marinette thought it would be a fun idea to have some quality time with Adrien by teaching him something she'd learnt to do almost as soon as she'd been able to walk. It would at least be a welcome distraction.

There was just one tiny, and hilarious, problem.

Adrien was absolutely terrible at baking.

In hindsight, it made sense. After all, he was a rich kid, he had all his dinners made by a chef and only ever stepped foot in the kitchen to steal snacks and cheese for Plagg (who, at that moment was alternating between napping in between cooking utensils and laughing at his chosen). However, once Marinette had shown him what to do, she'd been certain he'd be able to pick it up in no time.

Oh how wrong she'd been.

Over the past thirty minutes, she'd had to watch Adrien attempt to make a simple loaf of bread three times. The first one he dropped on the floor, the second he added too much water until it resembled a soup (not knowing that Plagg had woken from a nap and had also been adding extra water whenever Adrien wasn't looking). Currently, he was on his third attempt and seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"Well," Tikki murmured in her ear, "at least he's not thinking about London anymore!"

Marinette, having long since finished with her own dough, had to stuff her finger in her mouth to prevent herself laughing.

Swiftly, and only once she managed to turn expression neutral, Marinette stepped towards the counter where Adrien currently had his head in his hands- getting dough in the golden strands which framed his face. Marinette, quite wisely she thought, decided not to comment.

"What do you need help with kitten?" she asked wrapping her arms around his waist and nuzzling into his back.

"Everything," he whined, placing his hands on her arms as though they were a lifeline.

"Wow," Tikki snorted, resting on Marinette's head. "Couples who spend lots of time together do start to sound alike!"

"You tell 'em darling," Plagg cackled from his spot above them on the ceiling rack, where he was nestled in between a colander and a ladle. His amusement was short lived, however, as Adrien threw some water at him, and the cat-Kwami ducked out of the way with a hiss.

"Look who's talking you two," Marinette quipped.

Noting the way Adrien's head was bowed, as well as the tension she could feel in his spine as she cuddled him, Marinette turned to the Kwami and asked for a few moments alone with her partner.

Tikki nudged Plagg away, no doubt to watch some TV on Marinette's tablet. Before they left, she made sure to remind them to keep it down- as her parents were in the apartment above cleaning up after dinner.

When they were alone, Marinette side-stepped Adrien, dropping her face to the counter to prod and poke at the dough. It was a bit harder than she would have liked, but it really wasn't bad for a third attempt. Still, she decided, Adrien needed more encouragement than constructive criticism for the time being.

"It looks good!" she declared, standing up and placing her hands on her hips, relieved to see Adrien sigh. "You want to do the fun thing now?"

"What the fun thing?" Adrien asked warily. "You said this was going to be fun and I've made it a total disaster."

Marinette smirked, leaning close and standing on tip toes. Her fingers walked up Adrien's chest until they were at his collar and her eyes sparkled with mischief. She could feel Adrien gulp.

"Hmm? What's this?" she asked rhetorically, eyebrows wiggling. "Have I discovered something the oh-so-perfect model student, model son, and actual model-model Adrien Agreste can't do? Have I possibly found something he isn't- dare I say it- good at?"

Recovering quickly from his surprise, Adrien pulled her into his embrace, placing his hands on her hips and fixing her with a Chat Noir smirk.

"Perhaps, but do you know what I am good at?" he purred. "Something I'm pretty sure I know you like."

"No, what could you possibly mean?" Marinette crooned, tapping his nose.

The smirk grew as he bowed down to her ear and, if the shiver that went up her spine was any indication, Marinette was quite certain she'd fallen into a trap. But it was too late to take her words back.

"I'm great at underwear modelling," he whispered, placing a light kiss on the tip of her ear.

Almost immediately, Marinette pushed against his chest, her face turning a brilliant shade of scarlet.

"Oh my god REALLY!?" she cried.

Adrien laughed, leaning back on the counter, his head to the side. In the light of the slowly setting sun he might have looked angelic (messy blonde hair, smudges of oil and flour all over him, flawless skin) were it not for the infuriating grin on his face. In that moment, Marinette absolutely loathed him.

Stupid gorgeous boyfriend.

"What's the matter Princess? You don't like all of this?"

He stood up straight and, to add insult to injury, began to flex his biceps inches from her face. Marinette, taking a leaf out of Adrien's own book, chose to dip her fingers in the small dish of water and flick the droplets at her boyfriend's face. He immediately stopped flexing, jolting backwards with a startled yelp.

Marinette crossed her arms over her chest, masking her frustration with that of a different sort. He couldn't know how much he was affecting her, or she'd never have a moment's peace.

"Are you done?" she frowned, eyebrows knotting closer together when Adrien chuckled. Well, she supposed, at least he'd cheered up a little.

"Ok, ok, no posing in the kitchen," he submitted with a small salute. "So, what's the fun thing?"

Taking a big sigh to calm herself (when did the kitchen get so hot?) Marinette picked up the dough ball in both hands.

"Papa taught me that whenever you have lots of pent up aggression you should slam some dough on the counter," she explained. "Like, for example, I'm worried about how well Volpino and I will work together without you but when I do this-"

She slammed the dough onto the counter, where it landed with a satisfying slapping noise. Marinette sighed again, smiling, and turned an encouraging gaze to Adrien-

"I suddenly feel a lot better! It's not like the worry has totally gone away, but it's a great stress reliever. I was thinking that when you're in London and we're not around to talk when you're worried about something, you could try doing this instead? Here."

She moved out of the way, offering him space to try on his own.

Adrien plucked the dough from its (slightly squished) spot on the flour-strew surface. He played with it cautiously.

"So, I just think of something that's worrying me?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," Marinette replied, trying not to look at his forearms, or the way his fingers played with the dough, and failing miserably. "You just think of the worry and slam me hard onto the counter."

Adrien froze, the dough flopped from his fingers and hit the counter with a soft splat.

Marinette wanted to die.

"I meant the dough!" she squeaked. "The dough! Not me- I mean why would I want to be slammed onto a counter that's totally ridiculous! Slip of the tongue- silly Marinette hahaha," kill me. Kill me now. "ANYWAY! Yeah you just think of a worry and-"

Her ramblings died a quick death. Her feet left the ground and, before she knew it, she was perched on the edge of the counter, Adrien's arms either side of her body, pinning her there.

"-And slam you onto the counter?" He supplied, his voice rougher, and deeper, than she'd ever heard it.

Her skin tingled, lips parting. Anticipation worked its way up her spine, as she lost herself in Adrien's heated gaze. Her heart seemed intent on bursting through her chest.

Wow, was all her brain could conjure as Adrien closed the gap in order to kiss her senseless, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

"Umm…"

"HEY! LOVEBIRDS! Quit being gross for two seconds and pay attention to me!"

Adrien broke the kiss to rest his forehead on Marinette's shoulder.

"Plagg I swear to god I'm going to MURDER you," he growled, his whole body shuddering.

It would have been funny, if Marinette hadn't been thinking something similar.

"We're sorry we had to interrupt," Tikki interjected, sounding genuinely apologetic. "You can kill Plagg after we get rid of the akuma hanging out near your school."

"Hey!" Plagg hissed.

Marinette blinked, still drunk on Adrien's sudden boldness, her legs flopping over the countertop. Luckily for her, Adrien recovered quicker, and helped her back down, wrapping her arms around her waist tenderly.

"Of, course there's an akuma, there's always an akuma," he pouted.

Feeling a wave of empathy, Marinette leaned up on tip-toes to kiss his cheek.

"It's ok, there'll be other times, more bread making, more umm-" her eyes darted to the countertop, hoping Adrien would catch her meaning- "that."

Adrien himself, seemed to realise exactly what he'd done, and his cheeks turned a remarkable shade of red that could rival even Marinette's blushes.

"Cool, cool, that's great, that's err-" he stammered.

"Top notch?" Marinette offered, slipping out of his hold and sashaying over to Tikki. She could practically hear Adrien's jaw drop, and felt altogether too proud of the fact. That, plus the fact that she was actually able to walk after what had just transpired, gave her a nice little ego boost.

"Oh, come on am I ever going to live that down?!" Adrien cried.

"Not a chance Kitty," Marinette replied, meeting his eyes as she transformed right in front of him. "Not a chance."

Smoulder

A Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Story
by MidnightStarlightWrites

Part 33 of 35

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