Chapter Text
He’s hot in person.
The show did not do this guy justice. Loose curls of blue hair frame his face. He’s got more jewelry than he had in the show. When he laughs, he throws back his head and you can see the gleam of a tongue piercing.
Thankfully, you have a lot to distract you. Alya is showing anyone who stays still long enough her new article about Honeycomb. Paris’ third hero, as you’ve been titled, has been the talk of the town since you debuted.
The others have received due attention as well, but you’re the only one who consistently shows up with Ladybug and Chat Noir. Alya’s article showcases a big photo of you saving that man from Gigantitan. Your shoulder throbs just looking at the photo, but you have to admit you look cool.
Nathaniel and Marc are showing off a preview of their newest comic. This will be the first edition to include Honeycomb as well as the other two heroes. You’re the first one to preorder a copy. You’ve been the first one to preorder all of their comics, actually, but you’re particularly excited for this one and have no qualms about letting them know this.
Nath grins. “Keep the money, you know we won’t take it from you.” “You will if I have anything to say about it.” You narrow your eyes at him. Since you introduced them to each other, neither of them have accepted any money for the comics from you. Instead, you’ve been slipping it into their bags when they aren’t looking.
“It’s your fault we’re inflicting this on the world.” Marc huffs. “You don’t have to pay for it.” He’s really come out of his shell, you reflect as you snag his bag off the back of his chair. The first time you saw him as Rooster Bold, you’d thought it was Kim at first. The guy knew how to put on an act. Bold’s confidence had been slowly leaking through to Marc’s civilian self. It was nice to see him straighten his back and look people in the face, even if he only did it unconsciously when he got mad.
Speaking of Kim, the Monkey Miraculous had only made him worse. You, Alix, and his girlfriend Undine had been slowly working on developing his sense of timing. His jokes had gotten much better, not least because they weren’t as hurtful. He wasn’t completely oblivious and knew exactly what you were doing, but didn’t seem to care. You thought it was probably because people laughed with him now instead of at him.
He and Undine were talking to Marinette and Adrien, standing hand in hand. They were the talk of the party. Adrien had slipped you a thank you note earlier. You made sure he saw you good-naturedly roll your eyes.
You listen subtly to the conversation behind you until someone mentions the order price for the comic book. It doesn’t take long. Everyone in your friend group is fanatically supporting the aspiring artists.
You slip the money plus a tip into a pocket on the side of Marc’s bag. When you turn to put it back, you bump into a firm chest. Luka blinks at you, amused. Keep it together, idiot. If Marinette of all people is standing next to Adrien without freaking out, you can talk to a cute guy without being weird.
You wink at Luka and hang the bag back where you found it. Mylene shoots you a raised eyebrow over Nathaniel’s shoulder.
Marinette waves you over to sit next to her as Kitty Section takes the stage. The whole class plus extras have gathered on the Couffaine’s houseboat to see their first performance. Now that your secret is already out and both the Couffaine twins have used Miraculouses, you’re not particularly worried about being around Luka.
Well, you are, but more because he makes you want to act like Marinette used to.
Their music wasn’t heavily focused on in the show. It’s good. It reminds you of the Jagged Stone songs that Juleka had recommended. Marinette nudges you. “You and Luka were having a moment, huh?”
She’s enjoying getting to tease someone else about love a little too much. You shrug and gesture to your ears. The music is very loud, to be fair.
You applaud until your hands hurt when the band finishes. Adrien steals Marinette from you and whisks her off to walk along the riverbank with him. You have a feeling that you’ll be third wheeling a lot in the coming months.
Luka joins you at the railing. “You’re Anne, right? I’ve heard a lot about you from Juleka.” “That’s me. You’re Luka.” “Yep.”
You lean against the side of the ship. “You’re good with your guitar.” He smiles. “You sound like this.” Plucking at the strings of his guitar, he slides up to sit on the railing. He seems completely unbothered by the bobbing of the ship on the gentle waves of the Seine.
You can see why Marinette liked him. The melody - your melody - is oddly enthralling.
The deck is quieter now. Captain Couffaine’s loud, cheery voice rises above the low murmur of the others. She’s talking to Kim, the only one who can match her volume.
This is the first time you’ve spoken to Luka in his civilian identity, and you only met Viperion briefly. He’d pulled you out of the way of an ice cream blast from Glaciator. You’d thanked him, but he’d only shook his head and muttered something about failing to save you before. It was the first time you’d thought about what wielding the Snake meant. How many conversations have we had that I don’t remember?
“What happened to your arm?” “Dislocated it during the Gigantitan attack.” “That was the giant baby in the park, right?” “Yeah. It wasn’t bad, really, it was just that the kid didn’t know how to control his own strength.”
There’s an outburst of coos and cheering behind you. You turn to see Marc and Nathaniel, both redder than Nathaniel’s hair, breaking apart near the opposite rail. You snort. “Finally.” “Their inner melodies harmonize well.” Luka turns back to face you. “Marinette and Adrien’s do as well. There are a lot of couples here that will work well together.”
“Do you have someone here?” You know he doesn’t.
“No. I’m still waiting for the person that can sing the words to my tune.” Does he say anything that isn’t a music metaphor? “Me too.”
He smiles at you and shifts closer. “Your melody is one of the nicer ones I’ve heard. It’s completely unique. I’ve never heard anything like it.” Is he flirting? Does he suspect something? What the hell do I say to that?
You’re saved from having to reply by your phone dinging. The sound is quickly repeated from every other phone on the deck. You open the notification and are met by pictures of Paris’ streets frozen solid under sheets of ice. Frozer? I thought he happened later in the show?
“We should get off the boat. If the Seine gets frozen, we don’t want to be on it.” Luka takes your hand and pulls you toward the gangplank. Everybody except Captain Couffaine follows. “I ain’t abandoning ship for no flash freeze, magic or no magic.” She snarls, marching up the stairs to the bridge.
Luka hesitates. You squeeze his hand and let go. “Go. You can’t leave her here alone.” He pats your shoulder, hands his guitar to his sister, and runs after his mom. You lead the way over the gangplank and race after Marinette and Adrien.
As you run down the boardwalk, a hand shoots out and drags you behind a stack of boxes. Adrien wrinkles his nose. “We can’t have just one day of peace, can we?” Marinette’s peering around the edge of the stack at the Couffaine’s ship. “Once they all find someplace to hide, we can go. If we leave now they’ll see us.”
You open your purse. Pollen floats up and joins Tikki and Plagg, hovering between you and Adrien. “We’re giving another Miraculous out, right? Who is it this time?” Marinette looks over her shoulder.
“Nathaniel. Master Fu should have the Goat Miraculous ready once you get there.” “Me?” “You. Unless you want me to do it?” “No! No, I can do it.”
Marinette trusts you enough to let you hand out a Miraculous to someone in her stead. Warm excitement bubbles in your chest.
Adrien elbows you. “Someone got a picture of it. Know this one?” “His name’s Frozer. Philippe, from the ice skating rink. The akuma should be in the blades of his skates.” Marinette straightens. “We’re good. Chat and I will meet you and Nathaniel at the Eiffel Tower.” “You know he’s probably hiding with Marc?”
“Say that their hiding place isn’t safe and move them to separate spaces. Make sure Marc stays with someone.” Ladybug and Chat Noir flash into existence and leap away over the boardwalk wall.
You race in the opposite direction. You’ve long since memorized the fastest way to Master Fu’s apartment from anywhere in the city. When you knock on his window, he hands you a tiny black box. “Good luck, Honeycomb.”
By the time you reach the riverfront again, you’re breathing hard despite your enhanced stamina. It’s been around twenty minutes. You hope Chat and Ladybug are doing alright. It takes you another five minutes to actually find Nathaniel, crouched behind a crane on a loading dock nearby to the Couffaine’s boat. Marc and Max are with him.
“This isn’t a great place to hide.” The looks on their faces would be hilarious, if you had time to appreciate them. “Honeycomb?” Max stares at you. His robot beeps from where he’s muffled in his jacket.
“An akuma could shove this crane aside like it was a feather, and crush you in the process. Come on.” you gesture for Max to get on your back. He balks. “There is a 75% chance that that isn’t safe.” “There is a 100% chance that staying here isn’t safe either.”
He bites his lip, but obeys. You swing first him and then Marc to join Kim and Undine behind some bushes against the boardwalk wall.
When you land for the third time, Nathaniel moves to get on your back, but you stop him. Pulling the black box from your top, you hold it out to him. “Nathaniel Kurtzburg, heroes are being called from all over Paris to join in the fight against Hawkmoth and his akumas. It is now your turn. This is the Miraculous of the Goat, which grants the power of Passion. Should you choose to accept it, you will use it to assist us against Frozer, and return it to either me or Ladybug when the fight is finished.”
He stares at you blankly. “You want me to help you?” “We do.” “If I can really help, I will.” Carefully, he opens the box. You lunge forward to prevent him from dropping the Miraculous when Ziggy emerges in a burst of light.
“Welcome to the herd, kid. To activate your powers, say “Bleat it.”” Nathaniel looks at you. You give him an encouraging smile and hold out his new hair clips.
“Ziggy, bleat it!”
“Nice suit. The fur’ll get kinda hot, but it’s good for this particular akuma. Have a name for yourself yet?” Nathaniel thinks for a second. “Caprikid.”
You nod. “Press the bottom of your paintbrush to get your comm.” He does, and you show him how to turn it on and attach it in his ear. “Tap it twice to connect to Ladybug and Chat’s. Do that whenever you transform. When you connect, say “Caprikid, signing on” to let them know you’re activated and available to contact.”
“Honeycomb, signing on.” “Caprikid, signing on.” “Yo, Caprikid, good to have you on the team!” Chat’s voice rings through the comm.
“Ready?” Caprikid sets his stance and nods. “Come on, then.”
—
You hand Master Fu back the Goat Miraculous and flop down on your mat with a groan. “God, I’m tired.”
“You all did well today.” Master Fu hands you a cup of tea. “Caprikid was the last new hero we needed. For the next ten weeks, we will allow them to grow their skills with their Miraculous.”
Marinette yawns from where she’s tucked into Adrien’s side. “I can’t wait for this to be over.” “I’m going to sleep for a week.” Adrien mumbles into her hair.
You sigh. “Agreed.”
—---------------
For all your complaining, the next ten weeks go by too quickly. You feel completely unprepared to be closeted in Master Fu’s apartment with fourteen other heroes in full costume. The atmosphere is more serious than you’ve ever felt it as Master Fu solemnly explains the plan. If the plan goes wrong, Gabriel will realize his son’s identity anyway, so Adrien chose to be in civilian clothing for this meeting. Plagg is floating beside him. Nino as Carapace is shooting his best friend perplexed looks.
“I asked my father to take me to the New York Fashion Week.” Adrien, for once, isn’t making puns. “It’s the farthest away from France. Once our plane lands, you will act. We’ll be seven and a half hours away, and even my father can’t make a plane fly faster.”
Bunnyx raised her hand. “Why don’t we start when your plane takes off? That would give us double the time.” “No, it wouldn’t. Besides the danger of being in the air with helpless civilians and a desperate madman, my father could probably make the pilots turn the plane around midair.”
“Does everyone understand the plan?” Ladybug stood up. “This will be dangerous. No one here will judge you if you back out, but we need to know now if you do.” No one spoke.
“Okay. Tomorrow is the big day. Tell no one about this, and be here in costume by six A.M.. Do not be seen getting here.”
You landed softly on the roof of the Agreste Mansion. Ladybug rolled to disperse her momentum as she touched down beside you.
You had activated your Miraculous’ stealth mode, and your normally bright yellow costume was almost entirely black. Ladybug’s red had turned gray, and it was odd to see her so muted.
You tapped your comm three times. All’s well. Ladybug tapped back. A second later, Pegasus spoke in your ear. “Excellent. Proceed with due caution.”
Max, as Pegasus, was acting as both the mission’s emergency transport and communication hub. You had worked out a silent communication method using taps. He translated your messages for the rest of the team.
Adrien had messaged out that their plane had landed ten minutes ago. Mylene was traveling with him and his father under the guise of a young conservationist trying to find a meaningful way to impact high society’s view of the natural world. Her power of multiplication as Polymouse would make her the best backup for Adrien in case it came to a physical fight on his end.
Carapace, Viperion, and Rena Rouge were now on the roof with you and Ladybug. They would stick with you as you infiltrated the house and stand guard as you entered Hawkmoth’s lair. The rest of your temporary Court were spread out over Paris, each with their own section of city to patrol. Ivan as Minotaurox was with Pegasus, in case of a sudden emergency. He could protect Pegasus or be portaled to anywhere necessary to assist the attending hero.
You’d discussed every possible angle of this plan. You’d recruited as many heroes as you could, accounted for every feasible possibility you could come up with. All that was left was to execute it.
Adrien had outlined the Agreste Mansion security system for you and given you the override code for the alarms. Viperion threw a rock at the edge of the front porch. The security guard walked over to the porch railing, looking into the bushes. Ladybug snagged him with her yoyo and yanked him up into the air. As he drew level with the roof edge, Rena clapped a cloth over his mouth.
He continued to flail for a moment and then went limp. Ladybug lowered him to the rooftop and Carapace helped drag him away from the edge and strip him of his radio.
—
“Master Fu, is this chloroform?” You looked up at him doubtfully. He peered at you solemnly. “It is much kinder than hitting them over the heads, don’t you think? A headache, yes, but not a concussion.”
—
You hooked your top to the roof edge and slid down. As you dropped onto the porch, you flung a sticky glob of yellow slime at the security camera mounted to the wall. It had been Adrien’s idea and Marinette’s cleverness with Master Fu’s potion book that had gotten you your Honey Bombs. You adored them.
The others joined you on the porch. With no ceremony, Ladybug kicked the door down. You could practically hear Adrien’s lovestruck sigh.
You Honey Bombed the cameras in the hall while Viperion and Carapace tried mostly successfully to stick the door back in place. Rena and Ladybug took down the three other security guards who had come running from all different parts of the house.
The four radios were smashed. No need to alert the guards in the back gardens.
Your first and hopefully only stop was Gabriel’s office. You clipped a tiny camera to your collar and turned it on. The others did the same. Pegasus confirmed that the cameras were recording.
Carapace deactivated the security cameras using Gabriel’s computer while the rest of you poked and prodded at the big painting of Mrs. Agreste, trying to figure out how it opened.
“I’d give anything for a Cataclysm right about now.” Rena muttered. Carapace was clattering away at the keyboard behind you. “Hold on, don’t push any of those buttons. They’ll probably set off an alarm if you press them wrong. Let me look through the security camera footage.”
You saw Viperion slide the lever on his bracelet to activate his Second Chance. Carapace stood up. “Got it.” Before he pressed a button, Viperion grabbed his arm. “Look closer. It didn’t work.”
Carapace returned to the computer. You bounced nervously on your toes. Every second seemed like an hour. “Okay.” Carapace pressed five buttons on the canvas.
The entire portrait lifted up and away into the wall.
Ladybug led the way down the short corridor and into a dark room with a giant shuttered window in the ceiling. “This is the part that was shown in the show.” You whispered. “That window opens to let the akumas out.”
“Help me search. The rest of you keep on guard and watch our backs.” Ladybug went to one wall. You took the other.
The other three looked, but didn’t touch. You’d agreed to have the smallest number of people moving things as possible, to hopefully avoid triggering any alarms. You reached for a glass jar. Viperion stopped you. “Trap.” You nodded and moved on.
They’ll be brooches, probably silver, but they could be shaped like anything.
The search turns up no results. This isn’t surprising. If the Butterfly is here, it will probably be with the Peacock in the safe.
The five of you move on. The corridor from Gabriel’s study goes on past the Akuma Room and opens into an underground garden. Lights automatically come up as you enter, and your group freezes. Nothing happens. Viperion shrugs when you look at him, so you continue into the room.
You scan the flowering bushes, but come up empty. The glass case with Mrs. Agreste in it stands tall and sad near the end of the garden. You don’t linger over it.
If I was angsty and depressed over my spouse dying because of Miraculouses, but I still hoped to bring her back with them, where would I keep mine?
You lead Ladybug past the case to the far wall. Tracing your fingers over the surface, you find lines. There’s a compartment in the wall.
The group moves with practiced efficiency from that point. A small explosive was attached to the wall. Carapace activates his Shellter to protect the team and the comatose Mrs. Agreste. The wall blows.
—
“Bunnyx, listen carefully.” You take Alix by the shoulders. “We need a very small explosive to open the safe. It can’t be strong enough to damage the Miraculous inside, and it has to be containable by Carapace’s Shellter.”
Bunnyx wrinkles her nose. “I have no idea where I would find that, but-” “Not now, you don’t.” You interrupt. “But, in the future, if you ever come across such a thing, now would be a great time to use it.” You blink pointedly at the Rabbit’s Watch, dangling from its chain at her waist.
You can visibly see the comprehension dawning on her face. She opens her mouth to speak, but a sucking, echoing pop cuts her off. You both spin around to look behind you.
A small case sits innocently on the table. There’s a note in Alix’s handwriting with the exact make and model of the explosive. It’s signed with a winky face.
You hand her the note. “Memorize it.”
—
As soon as Carapace drops the shield, Ladybug is forward and pulling aside the rubble that was once the safe door and most of the wall.
You don’t know what that safe was made of, but there’s only a small hole right where the explosive was. It’s glowing red-hot, but just big enough for Ladybug to draw out two small silver objects. She hands them to you and reaches back in for a large, heavily bound book. She puts the book away in her yoyo, but Miraculous can’t be stored in another Miraculous, so she takes one back from you as your group races for the hallway.
If one of you is captured, the other Miraculous will still be safely away.
You have the Butterfly, you realize with a glance at your hand. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap rings in your ear.
“Message received.” Pegasus replies. “Please confirm.” Again, Ladybug taps five times at her comm.
“Understood. Camera footage transferred to the police.”
—
“Adrien, really, are you sure?” Marinette looks at her boyfriend anxiously. His jaw is set. “I’m sure. He doesn’t deserve the reputation he has. He deserves to go to jail.”
“And your mother? She can’t stay in that case forever.” Adrien’s eyes brim with tears. “She wouldn’t want this. If the first responders can save her, that would be incredible, but she wouldn’t want to live like this.”
Master Fu places a gentle hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “I am glad that I made the right decision in choosing you as the Black Cat.”
You turn away to give the couple privacy as Marinette hands Adrien, now fully crying, tissues.
—
“Chat Noir says that Hawkmoth is aware of your presence. Get out.” “Working on it, Pegasus.”
“He’s slipping.” Rena Rouge comments lightly. “We’ve been in the house for almost half an hour.”
As she speaks, you fly through the mansion’s front door. You split off from the group and leap over the fence, swinging off to the left of the house. Ladybug will be traveling the other direction. The other three will deactivate if necessary, then reactivate as soon as possible to join the rest of your Court on patrol around Paris.
You take the longest route you can think of back to Master Fu’s apartment. Rooster Bold waves to you as you fly by his perch on a lamppost.
You can’t wave back. Your other hand is carrying precious cargo.
By the time you slip into a back alley to deactivate, your hand hurts from how tightly you’ve been holding the brooch. Pollen sags into your bag, exhausted. She’d taken as much of the magical backlash as possible from you.
You pin the Butterfly Miraculous to the inside of your bra, muttering an apology to Nooroo. The walk down three streets to the apartment complex is the most terrifying experience of your life. Eyes seem to be watching you from everywhere.
Marinette is just entering the elevator when you push open the door to the lobby. She holds the elevator door for you. As soon as the doors close, you break into twin grins.
Neither of you dare to speak until the door of Master Fu’s apartment closes behind you. Pegasus and Minotaurox are in the backroom. Neither has seen your civilian identities before, but they weather the shock well. Master Fu turns to you with an anxious face. In unison, you present the brooches to him.
“At last, my mistake is rectified.” He sighs. There isn’t much time to reflect, though. “Voyage!” Pegasus’ portal springs into life. Master Fu, grimoire safely in hand, waves goodbye as he steps through.
Not even you know where he’s going. That secret rests with him and Pegasus.
“As few people as possible must know where these Miraculouses will be. When all is safe, I will return to Paris and reunite Nooroo and Duusu with the rest.”
Pegasus deactivates and hands the Horse’s Glasses to Ladybug. Max Kante leaves the apartment and returns quietly to civilian life, not to reactivate his Miraculous until Master Fu returns safely after Hawkmoth is behind bars.
Ivan hands Ladybug the Ox Miraculous and leaves a few minutes after Max. The two are placed back into the Miracle Box. You hand over your comb, just to be safe, and leave Pollen munching macarons with Tikki.
You take your place sitting in the shade in the tiny park beside the apartment complex. Above you, Marinette watches your back through Master Fu’s window. One by one, your classmates stop by the park in their civilian identities.
Some only pass by you without speaking to you or appearing to notice you in any way. Some stay to chat with you for several minutes. All of them leave their Miraculous behind them.
This was your least favorite part of this plan. You needed to get the various Miraculous back somehow, and no one was to know each other’s identities unless necessary until after Hawkmoth’s defeat. The other heroes had just been told that civilian you was helping out and could be trusted to get the Miraculous back to Ladybug.
You sat there, slowly accumulating more and more jewelry. You were terrified to put them in your pockets, lest one fall out, but you didn’t like wearing them either.
Thankfully, nearly 4 hours after you’d sat down, you made it back up to Master Fu’s rooms without incident. The Miraculouses were placed back in the Miracle Box. In total, six were missing. Mylene would send the Mouse back with Adrien once they landed without incident in Paris.
According to Marinette, they were on their way back and had been since Gabriel had realized what was happening. Adrien and Mylene hadn’t been suspected.
You, Adrien, and Marinette would keep your Miraculouses. They were used to fight all crime, not just magical akumas. Marinette had been taught by Master Fu to put the magical barrier around the Miracle Box - apparently, you didn’t need to be a Guardian to do that. Once the Mouse was back, the only ones missing would be the Peacock and Butterfly.
At 4:38 PM that afternoon, a plane landed at Charles De Gaulle Airport. When Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur emerged from that plane, they were met with a battalion of police officers headed by Roger Raincomprix.
Mylene ended up returning both the Mouse and the Black Cat to you because Adrien was taken in for questioning along with his father. He was quickly released. You returned Plagg to him the same day.
When the footage from your cameras had been delivered to the police, they had stormed the Agreste Mansion. Mrs. Agreste was found and removed to hospital immediately. She died there 32 hours later.
The comatose woman kept in a Snow White-esque glass coffin in the basement was more than enough to send Gabriel to jail for the rest of his life, even without the ample evidence that he had been terrorizing Paris with monsters for months.
Nathalie got a twenty year sentence with no possibility of parole. She would likely live out her sentence and be released eventually, but you weren’t particularly worried. She had never been dangerous on her own, only with her beloved employer spurring her on.
The Couffaines offered Adrien a room with them, which he accepted. He crashed at Marinette’s or your house a lot, but it made all of you feel better knowing the Couffaines stood behind him. Captain Couffaine had to be talked down from storming the jail when Adrien let some details about his childhood slip.
Once Master Fu returned, he officially passed the Guardianship over to Marinette. “I will be here to guide and advise you, but I am too old for active service now that there are younger people to take over.”
Marinette promptly gathered all of the heroes who had assisted in the recovery mission together to thank them and to offer official admittance into Paris’ Miraculous Court. It was unhealthy for all the Kwamis to be locked up, dormant in their Miraculous all the time, she reasoned. Even if it was unusual to have such a large Court, the circumstances under which they had proven themselves as users were unusual.
Master Fu smiled his knowing smile and said nothing.
—------------
“Up here!” You screamed down to Max, who had just emerged into Marinette’s room. He looked up and saw your head poking through the trapdoor to the roof. “Hello.” “Hi. Come on up, Kim’s looking for you.”
It had taken you a full twenty minutes to wrestle an impressive number of pillows and blankets through the two trapdoors and up onto Marinette’s little rooftop porch. The furniture had been either pushed to the side or included in the mass of softness now coating the floor.
Her little table was near the railing, covered with goodies that people had brought with them. The floor around the couch had been so thoroughly stacked with pillows that you could roll off it and onto the floor and not fall more than a couple inches. Kim was testing this with great enthusiasm. The chairs had been draped with blankets to create a fort, which Nathaniel and Marc were using for shade as they argued over a plot point in their newest comic book.
Your other classmates and friends were draped over each other in piles all over the roof, wearing pajamas and munching on cookies and muffins. “Dude!” Kim greeted Max enthusiastically and started regaling him with a tale about his recent exploits as King Monkey.
Who’s missing? I think it’s just the guests of honor.
“They’re coming!” Rose stuck her head up through the trapdoor. You quickly shushed everyone and switched places with Rose, closing the trapdoor behind you.
Adrien helped Marinette up through the door to her room. “Well, this will be a good surprise. I can tell, my parents were giving us weird looks.” You laugh and gesture to the roof. “See for yourself.”
Marinette goes first, by Adrien’s insistence. A cheer goes up as she opens the trapdoor. “What is this?” She laughs, looking down at you. “When you talked about what you would do after Hawkmoth’s defeat, you said you wanted to sleep for a week. I can’t do that, but you can sleep the day away with everyone who helped.”
She tears up a bit, forcing you to stand on your tiptoes so she can hug you from her place on the ladder. Adrien ruffles your hair. “After you, my lady number two.” You pinch his nose. “One point for the rhyme, negative two for the unimaginative nickname.”
When you emerge back onto the roof, you turn to help Adrien up before realizing that it’s unusually quiet. Everyone’s looking at you with big grins. “What?”
Marinette leans forward. “This party is at my house. You really thought my parents would be able to keep the secret?” “No, but I did hope they would try.” You admit.
Adrien leans against you from behind. “We’ve got a present for you too, busybee.” “That’s ominous.”
Marinette straightens. The Kwamis are floating out of their hiding spots by their owners, taking places around her. “Anne Monet, Holder of the Bee Miraculous. I, the Guardian of the Miracle Box, hereby name you as my successor. In the case of my giving up my Miraculous or being unable to continue my duties, you will continue to protect the secret of the Miraculouses.”
You only realize you’re crying when Alya hands you a tissue. “You can’t- what about you, Adrien?” “I don’t want that thing. God knows I’ve had enough responsibility in my life. I have no idea why you would think that a suitable present for everything that you’ve done for us, but if it makes you happy, you’re welcome to it.”
You actually do start sobbing then. It’s been a long time since you felt like you belonged anywhere.
Marinette hugs you again, tighter this time. When you finally break free of the over-excited mob, you make your way over to the snack table and get a glass of water. Luka joins you. “Congratulations. You deserve it.” “Thanks.” You smile shyly. You still haven’t quite gotten over your puppy crush on the musician.
Luka leans against the railing next to you. He’s really close. “Would you like to go get Andre’s some time?”
Your brain stops working for a heartbeat.
“What? I mean, me?” “You.” He confirms, smiling softly.
You stutter for a second, then forcibly stop yourself from babbling. “I would like that.” He leans in closer.
“She said yes!” A shriek from behind you snaps you back into reality. The entire porch is looking at the two of you and Alya is visibly vibrating and being held back by Nino. You flush. Luka, also rather red, nonetheless pulls you over to the blanket fort. Marc scoots over to make room for you.
You stop Luka from sitting down next to you. “Don’t you have something you need to ask someone else?” You jerk your head at the papers sticking out of his guitar case.
He grabs the papers and waves at Juleka, who joins him as he advances upon Adrien. Luka holds out the stack of documents and looks at Juleka. She mumbles “Be a Couffaine.” “What?” Adrien looks bewildered.
Juleka tries again. “You should be a Couffaine.” “I should-” Adrien’s eyes fill with tears as he reads the documents. He looks up at Luka searchingly. Luka’s smile is teary too. “We would like you to adopt us as your siblings, if you don’t mind. Our mom’s already signed the papers.”
Adrien hands the adoption papers to Marinette and throws himself at Luka and Juleka. Your eyes water watching him openly sob into Juleka’s shoulder. Marc pats you on the back.
“We’re going through all the dramatic moments quickly, I see.” Nathaniel snorts. Marc swats him with his pencil case.
The rest of the day passes in blurry half-asleep moments. You snooze with your head on Luka’s lap as he plucks idly at his guitar, then in a pile with Marc and Nathaniel. Adrien snores loudly with his head on your back while Plagg snores even louder on the pillow next to you. Marinette embroiders on a strip of pink cloth and chats with Mylene about how much better Nooroo and Duusu are doing.
Adrien borrows a pen from Max and cries again after he signs the adoption papers. Juleka leaves to deliver the papers to their mom at that point, overwhelmed by all the people. Luka rubs his back and lets him sniffle into his chest. You could have sworn that you heard Adrien mumble “Someone wants me?”
Luka replies, voice firmer than you’ve ever heard it. “We want you.”
You smile to yourself. The summer air is warm. Kim and Alix are arguing again. Mylene and Ivan are whispering to each other on the couch.
Marc is using Nathaniel’s back as a rest for his sketchbook. Max is giving feedback on Rose’s draft of the lyrics for Kitty Section’s newest song.
You bury your face deeper into the pillow and drift off to sleep.