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If there was one thing Marinette Dupain Cheng dreaded in her life, even more than fighting vicious akumas and various monsters, it was babysitting Manon Chamack.
Manon herself was fine, and mostly well behaved, as far as 5-year-olds go — she just liked to push the limits sometimes. However, Marinette was beginning to sense a trend — it seemed every time she minded the young girl, something would go terribly wrong.
Like the time Manon and Alya became stuck in a prison of ice. Or perhaps the time Manon was akumatised under Marinette’s watch. Or maybe the time in the wax museum when she became akumatised for a second time (also whilst under Marinette’s watch — or its lack thereof). Or even the time when Manon took one of Marinette’s sewing projects and wouldn’t put it back (Marinette had had to work for hours repining everything in place!).
And yet, like a fool, Marinette continued to agree to look after the young girl. “I am helping my mother’s friend”, she told herself. Helping out Nadja, but also trying to help out herself by keeping Manon away from her most recent projects.
When Marinette suggested that they have a picnic in the park, Manon had jumped at the idea excitedly. So, the two of them filled their basket with pastries leftover from the day before and had made their way to the park.
“So,” Marinette says, placing the basket down, taking out the blanket and laying it on the ground. “Do you want to go play before we eat?”
Manon nodded eagerly. “Can we play Ladybug?”
It was Manon’s favourite game, and, more often than not, she made Marinette play Ladybug. Which always filled Marinette with an undeniable amount of anxiety — which was really fun.
“Oh c’mon, c’mon, it’ll be fun!”
Marinette grunted, “Yeah. Right. Fun. Very Fun.”
She glanced around to see if anyone was nearby — there were a few parents scattered around watching their children play, a man walking his dog, a young couple on a park bench.
“Okay, sure,” Marinette had reluctantly agreed. Hopefully, no one would notice if she accidentally leant into the whole ‘Ladybug’ theme too much.
“Awesome!” Manon smiled, taking off her backpack and pulling out a red and black yo-yo and offering it to Marinette. Of course.
Quite some time had passed when Manon decided that it was time to eat. They sat down as Manon recounted each time Marinette had failed to catch her, the vicious akuma, Homeworkia — a student who hadn’t finished her homework on time and, after being akumatised, was terrorising Paris by forcing citizens to do their time-tables.
It appeared Manon was getting good at giving her fictional akumas backstories… perhaps not so good at handing in homework.
Marinette grinned weakly as she pulled pastries from the basket while Manon mimed out an action voraciously, croissant in hand. Her enthusiastic descriptions of the pretend battle nearly sent her croissant flying. The young girl giggled and Marinette could only laugh in response — her little giggles were infectious.
“Oh, hey Marinette!” came a voice from behind her as she was mid-bite of a muffin.
She whirled around to see the blond who sat in front of her in class. “Oh, uh, h-hi Adrien!” she said through a mouthful of raspberry muffin. She facepalmed mentally, both for her stutters and her impolite way of speaking — oh where were her manners?
“Hey, Marinette!” Manon said pointing at Adrien, her mouth also full of food — great, Marinette had the same level of manners as a 5-year-old. “It’s that boy from all the—”
“Manon!” Marinette cut the girl off, quickly swallowing her mouthful before she could reveal that Marinette had hundreds of Adrien’s pictures plastered across her walls. Well… maybe ‘hundreds’ was an exaggeration, but there was quite a few. “Do you like it when people point at you?” Manon shook her head. “So how do you think that makes Adrien feel?”
“Sad,” Manon said. “Sorry, Adrien.”
Adrien smiled softly at the small girl. “That’s okay Manon. How are you?”
“I’m good, thank you!” the little girl perked up and began telling Adrien all about the game of Ladybug she and Marinette had been playing earlier.
“And then she—” mid-sentence, Manon stopped and handed her half-eaten croissant to Marinette. “That’s my friend from school,” she said. “I’m gonna go say hi to him!” running off before Marinette could argue.
While Marinette sighed and shook her head, Adrien chuckled. He had sat down beside her sometime during Manon’s story — around the time Homeworkia had deceived Ladybug for the second time. Marinette placed Manon’s half-eaten croissant back in the basket.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything?” she asked him. “I brought heaps of food.”
He shook his head. “No, I would like some food, it’s just… diets and all.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”
He laughed. “Well alright then,” he says taking a chocolate croissant. “You’ve convinced me.”
“Well, that wasn’t hard. It won’t be the best, by the way — it’s from yesterday — but I think they’re still good.”
He takes a bite and moans. “Oh, sugar, my one true love!” Marinette laughs at his antics. He holds the pastry up to his face, as though he’s looking it in the eye, and says, “I’m glad I don’t eat and tell,” and Marinette has to stop herself from spitting out her lemonade.
“So,” she says when she has recovered and he’s back to eating his croissant like a normal human. “What brings you to the park?”
He swallows. “Photoshoot — what else?” They watch as Manon plays with her friend on the playset. “There was a scheduling issue though and the shoot ended quicker than expected, so I got some free time.”
“Oh, that’s so good.”
“Yeah, so I thought I could go for a walk, then I saw you and thought I’d say hi.”
“And then Manon started talking and you couldn’t get away. Oh, Adrien, I’m so—”
“Marinette,” he makes eye contact with her. “It’s fine. It’s not like my walk would have even been half as fun as Manon’s storytelling — talk about ‘edge of your seat’ kinda stuff!”
Marinette giggled softly as she refilled their glasses with more lemonade. “She does know how to tell a good story.”
“So,” Adrien said. “What do you think about the newest Mecha Strike update?”
Their conversation had jumped from video games to school, macaron flavours to their taste in music (who knew that Adrien Agreste had a soft spot for Taylor Swift!). Unfortunately, it seemed all too soon when Manon waved goodbye to her friend and made her way back to Marinette and Adrien.
“Marinette!” the girl cried, launching herself into Adrien’s lap, the boy not seeming to mind. “Can we play Ladybug again? But with Adrien this time? Please Marinette?”
Marinette glanced at Adrien, who was smiling back at her. “Well, I suppose that’s up to Adrien — you should ask him.”
“Adrien,” Manon tilted her head back so that she could see him. “Adrien, would you like to play Ladybug with Marinette and I? You can be Chat Noir.”
Adrien nodded. “Of course I’d like to play with you,” he tells her. “It sounds… purrfect M’lady.”
“Yay!” Manon shrieked in excitement, jumping from Adrien’s lap and grabbing a cat-ear headband from her backpack and offering it to Adrien. “This is going to be the best ever!”
As Adrien put the cat ears on, Manon ran over to a nearby tree. She found a long, semi-straight stick on the ground and gave it to the blond boy to use as a baton. “You just lean on it a lot,” she had told him as she pulled the leaves off of it. “Or try to use it to impress Marinette — Ladybug.”
Marinette couldn’t stop herself from giggling.
“Is that all Chat Noir does?” Adrien asked, eyebrows furrowed. “He doesn’t do anything else with his baton?”
“Well no,” Manon shook her head. “But he uses it to defeat akumas, and I’m not a real akuma! I’m just Manon. And that would hurt me.”
“Oh,” Adrien said, his cheeks flushed pink.
“Okay,” Marinette chuckled, grabbing the toy yo-yo and standing up. “Let’s do this. You’ll never get away with this Homeworkia!” She cried, beginning to spin the toy. “I won’t let you get my Miraculous!”
As it turned out, Adrien played a fantastic Chat Noir. The puns flowed naturally and the flirting almost felt real, like it really was Chat. but he looked too ridiculous in the child-sized cat ear headband to ever be the cat-themed hero.
“Watch out M’lady!” he had called as Manon — Homeworkia — shot imaginary sheets of maths work in Marinette’s direction. “I’ll save you!” he called as he dived in front of her — his improvised sacrificial tendencies almost mirroring Chat’s.
“No!” Marinette cried. “Chat Noir!”
“Hahaha,” Manon chuckled evilly. “It seems that Homeworkia has gotten Chat Noir! No one is safe from homework! Not even heroes!”
“You won’t get away with this, Homeworkia!” Marinette called as she kneeled down beside Adrien, who was rolling around on the ground, feigning pain and agony — Marinette hated to think about all the potential grass stains he was imprinting on his pure white jacket. “Chaton, it’s going to be okay. I’ll capture Homeworkia’s akuma and save you!”
He stopped writhing in her arms and winked at her. “M’lady, is it division first? Or addition?” Marinette was taken aback for a bit before remembering that Homeworkia’s schtick was torturing her victims with math work.
“I… I don’t know, Chat — I’m failing maths!” Not a total lie. While she wasn’t failing, she certainly wasn’t at the top of her class.
“M’lady!” he cried. “Can you at least tell me the gradient of a line?”
“Ummm…” she flattered for a moment. “a ²+b²=c²?”
He broke character and blinked at her several times. “I’m pretty sure that’s Pythagoras’...”
Marinette blushed, “I said I was failing maths!”
Marinette looked up to see Manon doubled over in laughter at her and Adrien’s exchange.
“Avenge me, M’lady,” she nodded at Adrien and slowly, while Manon was too busy laughing at them, she crept up to her and grabbed the young girl from behind, hoisting her into her arms.
“I’ve got you, Homeworkia! It’s over!” she said into Manon’s ear as she still giggled away.
“But you haven’t even used your lucky charm yet!” Manon reminded her.
“Oh?” Marinette said, and held her open, empty palm out in front of the girl. “You mean my lucky feather?”
Manon went quiet. “No.”
“Oh yes, Homeworkia. I know your secret weakness — tickling!”
“No!” Manon laughed as Marinette began tickling her. “No, not the tickles!”
“I wonder where you’re the most ticklish, Homeworkia…”
“Fine! Fine! Take my akuma! Just no more tickles!”
Marinette stopped tickling the girl and took the pencil — homework wand — from Manon and pretended to break it, before using the yo-yo to ‘cleanse’ the imaginary akuma.
“Bye-bye little butterfly,” Marinette and Manon said at the same time.
“Well done, M’lady,” Adrien says as he comes to stand beside Marinette. “Another successful battle, I’d say.”
Marinette scoffs. “Not that you were much help, Kitty Cat. You were too busy making puns the whole time!”
Adrien’s eyes take on a new glint and Marinette was caught by surprise. Before she could even take in what she had just called him, he cuts her back. “Well of course not, Princess. I was too busy watching you, of course.”
Marinette blushed. “Ah well,” she stutters out. “Um, I just… yeah…”
“That was so good!” Manon shouted in excitement. “Can we play again? Can we Marinette? Can we?”
“Well—” but before Marinette could continue she was cut off.
“Well it looks like you’ve had fun,” Nadja said as she walked over to the group.
“Nadja!” Marinette’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry, I lost track of time!”
Nadja chuckled. “It’s fine Marinette. Your mother told me I’d find you here,” she turned to her daughter. “Did you have a good time with Marinette?”
Manon nodded. “Yes! And then Marinette’s boyfriend Adrien came to play with us! Well, he’s not her boyfriend but he is her friend and he’s a boy so that makes him her boy friend but not her boyfriend. Even though she wants him to be her boyfriend!” Marinette and Adrien both blushed.
“Oh,” Nadja’s eyebrows raised and she glanced between the teens before looking back at her daughter. “Well… that’s good to hear,” she says. “Why don’t you go grab your stuff.”
Manon nodded and ran back over to their forgotten picnic blanket where she had left her backpack, but not before grabbing Adrien by the hand and dragging him with her.
“Well,” Nadja said to Marinette. “It seems like she might have a bit of a crush on Adrien… and I don’t think she’s the only one,” she raised her eyebrows suggestively.
“Adrien was just… going for a walk? And Manon started telling him about the game we were playing, so I invited him to join us?”
Nadja chuckled. “It’s fine Marinette. He seems like a nice boy. And Manon likes him.”
“Yeah,” Marinette says quietly. “He’s really nice.”
She made small talk with Nadja until Manon returned with her backpack and Adrien in tow — the latter also carting the picnic basket.
“Oh, Adrien you didn’t need to pack that—”
“Nonsense, Marinette. You provided the picnic, I shall clean it up,” he turned to Nadja. “Hello Ms Chamack,” he greets. “How are you?”
“Hello Adrien,” she returns the greeting. “I’m quite well, thank you. And you?”
“I’m doing great, thank you,” his ability to charm adults comes from years of practice dealing with them.
“Well, I must thank you both for entertaining Manon today. I’m so sorry that it was so last minute, Marinette.”
“Oh, it was fine. I think we all had a lot of fun today,” she looks at Manon and the young girl nods her head.
“Yes yes yes! Thank you Marinette and Adrien for playing Ladybug and Chat Noir with me!”
“That’s okay Manon,” Adrien says. “Thank you for being the best akuma.” Marinette notices that he has shed his cat ears and she remembers the yo-yo in her hands and quickly gives the toy back to the girl.
“Yes, Homeworkia was an excellent opponent,” Marinette adds. “I look forward to battling her sister — Study Mania — in the future.”
Manon’s eyes light up. “Yes please!”
Nadja laughs at her daughter’s antics. “Well, I suppose we should be off. Once again, thank you for watching her today.”
“All good, Nadja. See ya, Manon,” she waved as they began walking away.
“Bye Manon,” Adrien called, waving as well.
“Bye Adrien!” Manon waved back. “And Marinette,” she added as though the navy-haired girl was more of an afterthought.
As they walked away Manon began recounting to Nadja about the game they had been playing and telling her how cool Adrien was.
Marinette laughed. “I think someone has a crush on you,” she sang teasingly.
Adrien sucked on his teeth. “Do you reckon you could let her down easy for me?” he joked. “I don’t want to get a reputation as a heart breaker.”
“Teen heartthrob Adrien Agreste?” Marinette made to grab the basket from him but he pulled it back. “Sweetie you could delete an Instagram post and you’d break every heart across Paris — nay the world!”
“Touché,” he said. “Come on, I’ll walk you home.”
“Are you sure? I’ll be fine — my place isn’t that far,” she tried to take the basket again but he just placed it in his other hand.
“Of course, what kind of Chat Noir would I be if I didn’t walk the princess home?”
There it was. That name again. Princess. The way he said it, the way it rolled off his tongue. It was so familiar. She knew it well.
“Touché,” she mirrored. “Fine. I’ll admit defeat. You can walk me home.”
He laughed. “Oh, darling, I wasn’t looking for permission. I’m Chat Noir, I do what I want.”
A small part of her felt as though he wasn’t just talking about the game of Ladybug. And so, she allowed him to walk her the small way back to her house. No conversation flowed between the two of them yet it didn't feel uncomfortable, just natural.
“Well,” he said as they reached her door and she pulled out her keys. “I must say, I did have a lot of fun today — better than a photoshoot, or even just a walk in the park.”
“What?” she laughed. “You liked playing a game of imaginary Akuma attack with a five-year-old and eating old pastries?”
He considered it for a moment. “Well, the company was good.”
She laughed and pushed the door open. “Would you like to come in?”
He shakes his head. “Thank you, but I think I should be heading home.” He gestures across the road to a car that has just pulled over. His bodyguard’s car.
“Well,” she says. “Just know that you’re welcome anytime,” she reaches out to grab the basket and this time he allows her to take it.
“I might just take you up on that,” he grabs her free hand and lifts it to his lips, placing a light kiss of the back of her hand. “M’lady.”
She can’t really bring herself to react, even when he starts backing away, but she imagines that her face is a nice shade of red.
“I’ll see you around, Princess,” and now it all made sense. “Oh, and by the way — nice yo-yo skills,” he winked and turned around, crossing the road to the car.
She stood at the door watching until he had gotten in the car and it drove away.
Maybe cat ears did suit Adrien…
“But like, you know who he is?” Marinette argues. “I’m not asking you to say it… just to like… not confirm it but, like, also not deny what I’m saying, if you get me.”
“I’m not going to do that Marinette!” Tikki cuts back. “You know the rules!”
“Yes, but also, I’m the guardian and I think it could be very beneficial if I know who he is, ya know — makes it easier to coordinate miraculouses, don’t you think?”
Tikki seemed to consider this a moment before shaking her head. “No, I don't think so. I’m not confirming it for you.”
“Ah, but see, you’re not gonna deny it either so that just tells me—”
“HE’S NOT CHAT!” Tikki bursts and then covers her mouth quickly. They both glance towards the trapdoor but after a few moments pass without Marinette’s parents showing any interest in the commotion, Marinette continues.
“Yes but see, I don’t believe that.” she shrugs. “I’m just saying, it might not be the worst thing ever if we knew each other’s identity.”
“Do you not remember the whole ‘Chat Blanc’ ordeal, Marinette?” the kwami questions.
Marinette considers this before shaking her head. “See, if this was going to end badly, Bunnyx would have already showed up to stop me.”
“There really is no stopping you,” Tikki groans.
“Once I get something stuck in my head?” Marinette says, scribbling down notes on her latest project. “Not a chance.”
She takes a few more notes, making comments about the type of fabrics to be used, the shades she thinks would look good, before she hears the telltale thump of someone landing on her roof.
“Well,” she says, putting her pencil down and looking at Tikki. “I think I’m about to go get myself some answers.”
As she went to scramble through the trapdoor to the roof, a head pops down the greet her.
“You did tell me I was welcome at any time, M’lady,” Chat smirks.
Marinette scoffs and shakes her head at him — that was an answer enough for her. The response she gives him isn’t in words, but rather in actions. She raises her arms, taking his face in her hands and pressing her lips against his.
Maybe babysitting wasn’t so bad.