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It is another one relatively normal late night taking place in Marinette’s room. She, in all of her pink-pyjama-and-ruffled-hair-glory, crushes a cookie in half to hand the bigger piece towards Tikki, who is floating somewhere above her shoulder with a thoughtful expression.
Briefly she dips the baked, sweet dough into the glass of milk in her left hand, waiting for it to soak, and then gets to sink her teeth into her guilty midnight snack.
A tiny, rational part of her feels, knows, it’s actually a bad idea to be eating this late and of all things, sweets too, but this responsible spark is quickly squashed by the persistent nerves, she is currently very much trying to stress-eat away.
She will probably wake up with a stomach ache, but right now, she can’t find it in herself to worry about it. Even Tikki (imagine her surprise) didn’t start a scolding rant of how she will regret it and how she should look after herself more and how she will realize in the morning that the Kwami actually was right. Incredible, but true, quite the opposite is happening: Tikki is sharing this bad, yet needed moment with her and she is incredibly grateful for it to be so.
A content sigh escapes her smiling lips when she took the last sip of her milk and put away the smooth glass.
She loves these nights. These rare moments when her Kwami and additional supportive mother-role, Tikki actually allows herself to be acting like a weak human too. It’s oddly calming to have her best friend by her side, in these late hours, sitting on her shoulder while nibbling on a half of cookie. And she may feel crumbs fall onto her bare feet and can imagine what her hair probably looks like, covered in tiny bits of cookies, and in any normal situation, she would presumably be a little worried about her later appearance in school as she won’t have enough energy, talk about even time, to take a shower, but now?
She couldn’t care less.
Marinette is taking pleasure in avoiding every part of logic right now, because she knows once she will get back into harsh reality, it’s going to be nasty.
Folding her arms behind her back and shifting a bit on her bed, the girl lets the comfortable atmosphere take all of her worries from her. And whatever little concerns are still nibbling on her conscience, she is swallowing down along with the sweetness of her divine father’s work.
She feels a little like floating on a cloud. Or swimming on a water mattress in the wide sea. Free of all mundane and pesky burdens, that’s what she is.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng is the personification of chill. Would there be a miraculous for mental calm and inner peace, then she would be it’s embodiment, that’s for sure.
,,So are we going to adress the elephant in the room, or not?” Tikki’s clear voice chirps up, her tone indicating that while she may sound neutral, she’s actually a little more than motherly annoyed. Typical Tikki behavior, always trying to make her look at the situation more reasonably.
And while she crazily adores and really respects the god, that’s absolutely not happening.
Closing her eyes once again, Marinette savors the calm rooted in her bones with an absent hum.
Air brushes past her earlobe when a Kwami flies up to her peacefully smiling face. ,,Marinette, we are not going to just ignore it.” After a second of silence, she rightfully chooses to correct herself with growl. ,,I am not going to ignore it.”
She’s calm. Calm. What is that feeling all over her body again? God-fricking CALM.
Still she decides to not disrespect her Kwami, by completely ignoring her. She’s just calm as heck, not rude. Her hands blindly reach forward and feeling a tiny body collide against her skin, she grabs the god and presses a loving kiss to her head.
,,Have I ever told you, you’re basically the sister I never had? You mean so much to me.” she whispers and then proves her words by kissing her Kwami once again, trying to pour every ounce of her love into the action.
Tikki stills in her tight embrace of a lover in seek of physical affection, before softly pressing against her cheek with her tiny, warm paws. ,,God, you’re sweet. And clingy, but mostly sweet.” They hug for a minute, -well if it counts as a hug if the center of contact is only her face since Tikki’s about the length of her cheek, but yeah still,- hug. ,,But don’t you try to sap yourself through this, Mari. We will talk about this no matter what.”
Marinette winces silently, her smile dropping. ,,Even if I’ll tell you, you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me?” She is sure she’s currently radiating pleas through her skin instead of calm, but yeah, it was nice as long as it lasted.
,,Sweet and I love you too, but yes, even then.” Tikki replies, appearing to be way too focused on ending her right now and then with absolutely no trace of mercy or a truce in sight.
Aha, compassionate and innocent Tikki was only the starting phase after all.
Is there a return button for this Miraculous? This was not supposed to happen.
,,But, but, but,-“ she shifts to be standing on her knees, minding the low ceiling to not hit her head. Happened and she’s not wishing to be a unicorn for a week again. Chloe and her attitude made sure of that.
Tikki lifts her paws in a way that tells she’s only wasting her time trying to argue herself out of this misery. But, Pop quiz: Is unreasonable Marinette reacting to that?
No, no or of course not?
,,I don’t wanna talk.” she mumbles half-heartedly and crosses her arms as she moves her knees closer to her chest to embrace them, trying to hide herself once again.
Tikki floats closer and sits down on her arm, effectively breaking through the physical barrier. ,,I know, but it’s important we figure everything out. I know it’s bugging you,” Marinette lifts her head to shoot her a glare because of the pun, but Tikki unaffectedly only continues in her mildly scolding tone. ,,and we both know what could happen when you keep it inside instead of talking to me. Paris doesn’t need an akumatized Marinette or worse, Ladybug, rampaging through it’s streets.”
Of course, Tikki is right. Miraculously she somehow always is.
But still Marinette is not quite ready to abandon the comforting peace that fast. It’s like she’s suggesting for her to leave her warm bed to jump into a pool of freezing water instead. She hates the coldness, so you can probably guess her position to this arrangement. ,,I know,” she groans, dragging her cold hands over her face. ,,But does it have to be right now? It’s like,” her hands reach for her cell phone to take a quick look at it’s screen, her eyes squinting at the unexpected brightness. ,,two in the morning right now.”
There goes another frustrated groan for her. (Her luck) ,,Oh, shoot. I’m dead. We’re writing the history test tomorrow. And guess who didn’t study?”
Marinette falls backwards onto her cover again, her arms over her face, trying to mimic herself dead already. Even that would be definitely less pain- and stressful.
Tikki looks down at her in silence, her legs tangling in the air. ,,I thought you were second best in history class?”
Ah, snap. Why did she have to born as such an honest and talkative person?
,,And wasn’t your last essay about the Second World War just as successful as the others and you got an A for it?” Tikki now actually smirks at her with her arms crossed. ,,I think you’ll do well with improvising, Marinette. I would be surprised if not.”
The bluenette moves her arm slightly to glare at her one-eyed.
Tikki’s amused expression is nowhere near to calming her annoyance. ,,So, will you start talking then, or should I?” she asks rather innocently.
,,Forget what I said before. I hate you.” Marinette says while pushing up to climb through the hatch, leading to her balcony. It turned out to be a difficult maneuver as her legs were wrapped round with her cover and she stumbles, but eventually and after some traitorous snickers from Tikki, she managed.
Now she is standing at the railing, briefly wondering if transforming and joining Chat at his turn of patrol would delay this topic and conversation. True, it would be a little like cheating and Tikki will probably hit her with these tiny Kwami-paws of hers, but what a girl doesn’t do to save some peace, right?
She is startled from out of her musings when Tikki’s high voice suddenly speaks up from behind of her. ,,So, since you’re the guardian now, we should firstly make sure we’re both on the same page with this.”
Sadly her piercing glare is nowhere near as effective as her mother’s and doesn’t seem to be shuting her Kwami in anywhere near the future too.
,,Why do you make it sound like I’m about to terribly misuse the Miraculous?” Marinette asks incredulously after snorting once, her fingers mindlessly tracing the cool surface of the metal beam.
Tikki stares her down with these bright blue eyes able to look into her very soul, and the girl shifts a little.
Sometimes, it still confuses her onto how.. bonded they have actually become over the years. Taking part in each other’s lives and despairedly needing and taking comfort, they have naturally grown together, have formed to be a team. Marinette can’t imagine her life without the cookie-loving, strongly moral Kwami anymore. If Tikki would once disappear from her life, it would probably feel more like the lack of a limb. Her presence is something she has grown to love and cherish. It would be strange otherwise, because they do live together, share secrets and memories, motivate and solace each other from the beginning on. Fate (read: Master Fu) pushed them together and even if they both had no say in this, it was destined to be like this.
Apparently it is destined, written in the stars, for her to tortured by her very own friend too.
What a way to go.
A faint crinkling in eyebrows appears on Marinette’s face. She is annoyed, tired, frightened, but mostly -could it be any different- just annoyed. Fear and Physical such as mental exhaustion are nothing the future Guardian of the Miracle Box should be lead and fueled on. And since they are apparently talking about her newly added guardianship now, she can as well start to act like one then.
Tikki cautiously settles her weight on top of the back of her hand and immediately starts humming with a serious expression. The incoming responsibilities and rules seems to bother the god at least just as much as her.
Marinette can only try to comprehend how difficult it’ll be to be the guardian. Master Fu always made it look easier than it actually was, but he had his own appartment, a non-existent circle of friends and relatives than she has, too. She saw the books, saw at least how many hours he probably spent reading, decoding the Miraculous spellbook and brewing power-up’s so she and Chat could protect Paris against another victim of Hawkmoth’s influence.
She is just a teenage girl with loads of homework, parents who own a bakery and sometimes ask for her help. On top she needs to keep track on her designs and commissions as she wants to have a future in the fashion industry. Also she’s a part-time Heroine, Friend and Daughter too.
She will wear herself out, she can already see it, but it’s not like she has any other chances anyway.
Passing the Box away to someone else?
-She will lose her memory until the day she met Tikki, not even mentionned that passing it way means she will just push her burden onto someone else unfortunate enough to be fitting the scheme of a Guardian to protect the Miraculous instead of her. She’s really not that kind of person to do that.
What else, maybe just ignore her responsibilities?
-Yeah, ...not happening.
She will just have to try to do her best and nurse herself through it with Coffee and Midnight snacks. It’s not like she’s not used to it, running low with Superheroing both at nights and days and with school at early daylight, what’s one more responsibility really.
,,Marinette, please listen,” Tikki whispers into the nightly view in front of them. Faintly people talking and laughing can be heard, cars driving over still wet pavement after rain as Paris is one of the cities that never sleeps. Sadly, the same saying goes for the persistent crime activity too, she of all people knows. ,,I know you are afraid, really I am too, but you’re not alone. You have me, You have Chat, even -I can’t believe I’m saying this, but- Plagg too.”
The slim line of her lips softens at the mock mention of her partner’s Kwami. These two love each other, no matter how persistent they try to conceal it with bickering and annoying each other.
,,You are strong. You are confident. You are Marinette. Ladybug.”
Marinette straightens in determination, her fists finding their place to rest on her hips. Tikki is right, she’s not alone with this, she has her people behind of her. She can do anything. ,,I am strong. I am confident. I am-”
,,Hey, Marinette!” Chat’s blond mop of hair suddenly appears in front of her. He is standing on the roof across from her and waves happily, his baton comfortably laying in his other hand. Such an endearing picture, Marinette feels her heart warming at least ten degrees, Chat is all but glowing and shining in his glee.
Still it changes nothing of the heart attack she almost died of. ,,Jesus, that cat.” she curses under breath, trying to calm her stuttering heart with a hand pressing to her chest, before quickly playing it off by returning his gesture of a felicitous wave of palm.
,,Salut, Chat Noir!” she yells back, her hands coming to cup her mouth to intensify her voice. No matter, how unexpected this meeting is, it’s calming to seen him this happy after the whole situation with another form of another akumatized Chloe, Miracle Queen. At least, one of them seems to not be having a panic attack right now, that’s relieving.
,,Not cat-naps here, I see?” he shouts again, the baton in his hand twirling in between of his gloved fingers when he grins, humored with his own joke.
She chooses to ignore the pun in favor of saving her energy for later. She has a feeling she’ll need it. The whole Guardian-thing is still waiting to be finished after all. ,,Can’t sleep!” she yells over to him, leaning further onto the railing to support her weight. Her hair falls forward and hides her exposed collar as she smiles at him ironically.
This is probably one of the first conversations they ever had not based on defeating an Akuma or talking about potential leads onto Hawkmoth’s identity. And surprisingly, it’s making her feel more sad than she could have expected.
,,That’s really unfurrtunate, Purrincess!” He continues their yelled conversation with a sympathetic wince. ,,And this cat would love to keep you some pawsome company, but my feline ears can hear the Hero-stuff calling for me again!“
She was about to groan at his rapid fire punning, when a near by window from the side of a house opens after a dull bump and a familiar head pops out of it, blinking up at them sleepily.
,,Nette,” A disheveled Nino nods up at her in recognition as she feels an embarrassed blush coloring her cheeks. ,,Chat,” he turns to repeat the gesture to the, frozen in shock, Hero. ,,Man, I get that you’re both sleepless wrecks, and just wanna chat friendly since you both live on will power and only. I get that. Really. I have Alya, she can be even worse and refuse to sleep in for a week, and I’m good with both of you, we’re friends,” with a second glance to Chat, he frowns and squints his eyes at him as if not quite believing in his existence anymore. ,,kinda, so could you both please kindly shut up, before I will be forced to end this amazing relation, we’ve grown by yelling at you.”
Nino stifles a yawn with his hand before speaking up again. ,,So now, I will go back to sleep and you will keep quiet. Do you have anything to say to this?”
Seeing no immediate answer from neither Marinette nor Chat, who are both busy with dumbly staring at their common friend, he hums satisfied. ,,I thought so.” Then he slams the window closed again with a ,,G’night then, dudes.”
Marinette first actions after this oddly specific turn of events?
She is rubbing her arms trying to get some feel back into them again.
Chat’s first actions after Nino disappeared into his room again, are apparently making a straight beeline for the girl leaning on her balcony with goosebumps rushing down her every being. Only when he is standing on his baton in front of her, about a meter parting them as he leans towards her, he speaks up in a hushed tone as if he’s afraid Nino would hear him and kick his feline butt for real this time. ,,Did this really just happen?”
Marinette mutely blinks up at him, her hands uselessly clamping together in seek of warmth. ,,A tired Nino is a pissed Nino.” she shrugs. It’s no secret that if you take the sleep from Nino, he will search merciless revenge. She knows him from child years on and had to learn it the hard way. Having a Moroccan boy beating you asleep with a pillow, all the while screaming, definitely left a nasty memory to remember.
Cat eyes wide and green wander over her shaking posture as if examining an uncommon riddle. ,,You feel cold.” he says then obviously, almost as if a little surprised, her body is able to react to the change in temperature at all.
Marinette muffles the humorless snort at his bewildered expression. Her kitty is too smart sometimes.
,,Obviously,” she whispers back with an amused smile, unconsciously leaning towards him as well.
Chat puffs out his tanned cheeks and let’s be honest, the flattering angle on his face makes him look like nothing but a gorgeous pufferfish. ,,I purrsume you should go inside then. We can’t have the princess freezing, can we?” he answers with a teasing lilt and grin.
Go inside? Where Tikki is just waiting for her to finish to harass her into talking again?
Marinette quickly shakes her head to shake off the terror. ,,Actually we can. I’m not that cold. More like mildly refreshed.” she lies while shifting on her icy feet. Her toes are completely numb and the feeling, or more like the lack of feeling, is spreading, moving up the length of her legs.
The Hero gives her a mock, disapproving glare. ,,And I’m supposed to believe that now?”
,,Well, it would be certainly nice of you,” she says with an innocent smile and an unnerving stiffness in her back.
Chat frowns down at her, his mask crinkling at it’s top edges in concern. She in return purses her lips at him in challenge. And then slowly, she can see his resolve crumbling, his shoulders dropping in signs of accepted defeat.
She had been about to grin in victory, when she is suddenly swept of her feet by a pair of Superhero arms.
,,Chaaaaat,” To say she’s annoyed is an understatement. A huge understatement.
She’s pissed Ladybug-style with a careful hint of Multimouse.
Chat however is having none of her. The arms tighten to try to keep her wiggling and fighting body from escaping as he moves them closer to the trap door. ,,Lemme go! That’s sexual harassment!’” she hisses into his chest, her fists banging and throwing punches at the wall of protective Catboy, who is way too strong, way too unbothered by her aggression and actually a little too nicely warm for her liking, just carrying her like an overexcited husband his wife.
When did Chat become this strong again? Or is it just her weak mortal body keeping her from flipping him the way she’s itching to? As Ladybug it seemed particularly easier to flip him back then, this midday.
,,Put me down right now!” she screams angrily, partially hoping Nino won’t make an appearance again to yell, but not really caring a damn anymore too. ,,I will call the police or Ladybug,” she perks up at her mentioning her alter egos name. ,,Ladybug! Do you want me to call Ladybug? I have her number! Trust me I will not refrain from calling her so she can yo-yo over here and swipe your cat ass all over the floor! You have no right to act against my well-deserved, basic human rights!” she ends passionately, almost with a hint of philosophy in her speech for freedom.
They stop just at the edge of the hatch. They have reached their destination. And Marinette’s mouth snaps shut with a click of teeth, before she turns to look at her partner, who is about to throw her into the pool with the one and only mommy shark. ,,Chat, you don’t want to do this. We’re both mature enough to talk this out, you won’t regret it.” she finishes lamely. She is losing her grip, he will absolutely climb down there and force her into her bed. She can see it.
Panic and fright overtaking her reactions, she whines and grips onto him tightly. ,,Please, Chat. Don’t do that. We’re friends right? FRIENDS,” she blinks up at her partner, her most pleading expression plastered on her face. ,,We’re partners.”
His eyes snap to her face in surprise, before understanding peaks through. ,,Mousinette, as your knight in shining leather, I presume it my responsibility to make you finally sleep. You will thank me later,” he says, as he bows down, his grip adjusting on her back, so one hand of his can open the hatch.
Marinette clings onto him like a life line, her legs and arms wrapping around his waist. ,,I will sleep, promise! Just put me down!” she squeaks.
He has the audacity to fricking giggle at her. She can feel the vibration of his laughter in her whole body, being held flush against him. ,,You’re so dramatic, Purrincess. It’s just sleep. It’ll do wonders to your mousey head, you’ll see.”
He crouches down to sit on the frame when she shrieks again not really thinking anymore. ,,Don’t! I will smother you in cookies and croissants!”
He stills in his actions for a holy second. ,,And eclairs?” The awe in his voice is clear.
Her head bobs along with her hair. This is her last chance to convince him to let her go. If it means she’ll have a hungry Hero visit her from time to time to eat, then so be it. ,,You can have anything you want. And everything for free.”
Chat hums deeply. ,,That’s a really mice offer, Princess, I think I’ll make good on that promise,” he laughs. ,,And you only want me to put you down? There you go.”
Suddenly the lap, she was oddly sitting on, is no more. Instead she is falling down and hits the mattress of her bed with a dull sound.
Looking up to yell at the Cat, who tricked her, she sees him half-laughing, half-grinning in satisfaction down at her, his head upside down. ,,Bonne Nuit, Marinette and thank you for agreeing to feed me!” he chirps happily, before he closes the hatch and disappears into the night, leaving her to curse after him.
A blur of red flies up to her bed and Tikki, who is very much trying to conceal her laughter, floats in front of her nose. ,,So, are you ready to talk then?” she asks then, humor filling her blue eyes.
Marinette grabs a cushion to swallow the groan of frustration.
~