Miraculous Ladybug, "The Tell-Tale Kiss" ch. 9, rated T

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Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug & Chat Noir
Title: The Tell-Tale Kiss
Chapter Title: Nine - The Break-Up
Pairing/Characters: Marinette (Ladybug), Adrien (Chat Noir), Tikki, Plagg, Marinette/Adrien
Word Count: 1,932
Genre: Humor/Romance
Rating: T
Spoilers: Up to Season 2 (for now)

Notes: This is a new multi-chapter fic though it won't be too long. I've written a few chapters and have the rest outlined. For now, this first chapter is written for my "major" prompt for the Summer Mini Challenge. Characters are aged up about a few years, around 16 years old. Canon divergent from Season 2/3.

Notes for this Chapter: An akuma forces Adrien to set things straight with Ladybug.

Other Links: FFnet | AO3

Summary: Adrien has had enough. If Ladybug won't accept him as Chat Noir, well, then maybe she'll say yes to Paris's top male model? When she gives her answer, he doesn't expect what comes next.

Chapter Nine: The Break-Up

Kitty Section was jamming, and the audience was loving the music and dancing to the infectious beats. Marinette was dancing and swaying with Adrien, who had twirled her a couple of times and then let her settle in front of him. She moved with the music, leaning back into him as he put his hands on her hips. He nuzzled into the crook of her neck, inhaling her sweet scent, and rubbing his nose against her hair over her skin. 

He felt her shiver against him, laughed when he chuckled into her hair, and she began to drive him crazy as she tilted backward against his chest, still moving her hips as her back and bottom brushed up against him. 

When he felt her body this close, he lost himself in her, enjoying the feel of her behind against his thighs. Marinette, the music, and the freedom to touch her like this was all too intoxicating. He was getting far too excited, and he swore his teenage hormones were going to kill him.

Her dancing was driving him crazy. It was too salacious, nothing like a waltz or a slow dance. The music electrofied their senses, like hot mercury running through their veins setting their feelings on fire. 

She slid against him again and he couldn’t help himself, he reached out and took her into his arms from behind, pulling her closer than ever before. They continued to dance, but their swaying slowed enough that he could feel her pulse racing against his skin.

“Adrien,” she said, and his name came out in a breathy moan that he wished he could capture and record so he could play it over and over again.

He inhaled a deep breath against her flowing hair and whispered, “I wish we were alone.”

She tensed in his arms and then relaxed, releasing a chuckle. “Me too. Not just now.”

“Yeah, every moment of every day. Especially at night,” he admitted, and it came out as some sort of lewd confession, but as long as she was dancing against him and he held her within his arms, he didn’t care. He’d tell her anything if he could.

They heard a whistle, and someone yelled at them (most likely Alya) to get a room. Reality snapped back at them, and they jumped apart suddenly as if Jesus was between them. Warmth colored their faces and they laughed at each other nervously.

Before they could tentatively get back into the dance, albeit with a proper amount of distance, someone screamed over the music. The scream was followed by a crash, a shuffling of people, and then more yelling. 

Adrien’s blood seemed to turn to ice when he heard the sadistic laughter, and then he heard Marinette groan.

“Ugh, not an akuma! Seriously, now!?” she lamented gruffly, angrier that it was interrupting the music show and her time with Adrien, not that they were actually in danger.

“Let’s go, everyone!” Kagami had yelled out, and he watched as many of his friends, such as Nino and Ayla and even members of Kitty Section, were leading people out of the chaos and toward safety away from the fray.

Adrien turned to Marinette, who was gone again, but at least he wasn’t worried about where she had disappeared. He knew exactly what came next, and he ducked out of the fleeing crowd hoping no one had seen him retreat behind a thicket of dense topiaries within the courtyard.

“Plagg, claws out!” he said, and the transformation consumed him. 

As Chat Noir, he leapt around light posts, fences, and the tops of trees back to where the akuma had evilized its victim. When he found Ladybug, she was looking at the akumatized victim with annoyance and anger. Clearly, she was not happy about having to fight an akuma now.

“Good, you’re here,” Ladybug said to him brusquely. He gave her a cheeky grin.

“I’m always here for you, m’lady,” he said. “So what do we have here?”

“She claims someone wronged her, a bad boyfriend or boss or something, and blah blah blah, her feelings are hurt and now we have this. Another stupid revenge akuma,” Ladybug said with a roll of her eyes. 

“How dare you call me stupid! It is none of those things! I am sick and tired of all the air pollution that this city has! Trucks and buildings and this stupid Mayor doesn’t care! Our water and air is literally killing us...” yelled the akumatized woman, who had turned into some sort of gothic bat lady with long black hair and a mouth full of dirty teeth. 

She was wearing a flowing purple scarf that she would cover over her mouth. She was miffed by Ladybug’s lack of regard for her existence. 

“My name is Miasma and you’re all going to pay!” she proclaimed. “Especially you two, and then I’m going to take your Miraculouses once I’ve punished you, and then I’ll punish all these people for not respecting our quality air. If you want to live in filth, well, then I’ll give it to you!”

Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other and shrugged like they were not at all impressed. 

Miasma pulled back the scarf and opened her mouth. The most toxic purplish black smoke shot out from her dirt-stained maw and polluted the whole area, sending the people still in the vicinity to their knees into coughing fits. They gagged and cried, the smoke hurting their eyes as well, and then their skin started to turn grey and dry.

“Ugh, seriously?” Ladybug said. “Chat Noir, hold your breath and steer clear of the smoke if you can, and then try to distract her! I’ll work out a plan. I think the akuma is in her scarf.” 

Ladybug shot her yo-yo at the akuma victim with a vengeance. “Why don’t you shut your mouth?” The yo-yo neatly lodged into the Miasma’s mouth, plugging her up and blocking the smoke. The akuma whined, and as Ladybug was about to pull her yo-yo back, Chat Noir jumped up behind the lady and tried to restrain her. Ladybug retrieved her yo-yo and tried to back up her partner, creating a web that would catch Miasma.

She put up a good fight, dodging him and trying to shoot toxic smoke at him. She managed to avoid Ladybug’s web too, and when she spit her filth at Ladybug’s yo-yo line, it was so toxic that the wire started to smoke and decay.

“Uck!” Ladybug cried, jumping as she avoided a blast of Miasma’s power at the last second.

“Hey, m’lady, if you have a plan I think now would be a good time to get it going,” Chat Noir said to her. She looked over at him and saw him struggling as Miasma had upped her game, sending streams of pollution all over the area trying to hit her target. Chat Noir was great at deflecting and dodging, but even Ladybug knew he couldn’t keep up this act for much longer.

“Lucky charm!” Ladybug called, and from her power an unexpected item appeared in her hands. She looked down at it bewildered, trying to make sense of what she was supposed to do with it. 

“Is that a fan?” Chat Noir yelled at her as he was dodging attacks.

“Hrmm,” Ladybug said, and she looked down at the fan which had a filter attached to it, and had a cord to plug into a power source. She took scope of the area looking for clues on to what her plan would be next. When the idea came to her, she grinned and jumped over to one of the power strips that the band used for their concert. 

“Hey, Miasma! You want to clean up the air pollution? Well, let me help, starting with you!” Ladybug plugged into her fan, and instead of blowing air as expected, the fan started sucking in all of the toxic smoke that lingered within the area. Ladybug turned it on turbo-suck, and as Miasma blasted her with her poisonous power, the filter on the suction fan turned everything black and dirty to something clean and sweet smelling.

“Chat Noir, now!” Unbeknownst to Miasma, Chat Noir was right behind her ready to strike. He pilfered the scarf off her shoulders and then with his Cataclysm, destroyed it and released the akuma. Ladybug was ready, catching the butterfly, purifying it and setting it free. She let loose her Miraculous Ladybug, and the destruction caused by Miasma was quickly erased. The woman who had been akumatized was back to normal, looking at the ground bewildered. 

Chat Noir made sure the woman was okay, and then he and Ladybug celebrated with their routine fist bump. 

“Gotta go, m’lady,” Chat Noir said, retreating quickly as his ring beeped. 

Ladybug watched him take off, and even though she was also going to lose her transformation, she suddenly felt worried for Adrien. She hadn’t seen him as Ladybug since they kissed in his bedroom and she challenged him to find her. With things changed since he’d gotten close to Marinette, she knew she needed to clear the air with him.

She launched her yo-yo and perched on a smaller building looking for him. When she spotted him, her earrings beeped again, but she was determined to see him as soon as possible.

Jumping down next to him, he turned to her in surprise and she grinned at him. “Hey, stranger.”

“Ladybug!” Adrien immediately blushed. “Um, I didn’t expect to see you…”

“So, have you found out who I am yet?” Ladybug said, crossing her arms. “Or did you give up?”

“Well, you see…” He scratched the back of his head nervously. “I...well, things sort of got out of control and I realized that I have feelings for someone else…”

“Oh…” Ladybug said with a quick frown, trying to play along. 

“I’m sorry, Ladybug,” he said, but he was playing a part too. Ladybug didn’t need to know that he knew her identity. It was better that she believed he didn’t know until she was ready to tell him herself. He continued,  “I do really like you and admire you but...I’m falling for Marinette. I know she’s your friend…” 

Ladybug put up her hand and shook her head. She inhaled a heavy breath and forced a kind smile. “Look, it’s okay. I really do understand, Adrien. Please believe me when I say that I still like you very much. I hope we can remain friends.”

“Of course,” Adrien said enthusiastically. “Thank you, Ladybug! I still think you’re the best.”

Ladybug grinned at him, and when her earrings screeched a warning at her that soon she’d transform back, she waved to him and threw her yo-yo to leave. “Well, I gotta go!” She blew Adrien a kiss. “See you around, Adrien.”

Adrien smiled goofily and watched in the direction she went. He chuckled to himself, and he looked around the chaos seeing that everyone was coming back to the courtyard. Even Kitty Section had returned, and he saw Nino and Alya waving at him to come back. He was sure that Marinette would come back too, hoping Alya had texted her that the show was still on.

He returned to his friends after heaving a sigh of relief. He was glad that he’d squared things away with Ladybug, but he knew that it wasn’t a total breakup. No hearts were truly broken in this as Adrien was with Marinette, and the fact that she was Ladybug was just a bonus.

.