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“Please,” the Peacock Holder says, “do your best to stay out of trouble. I may be able to save you now, but…one day, one of us will fail.”
“I promise you I do not do it on purpose,” Emilie responds. This must be the mysterious Mayura that does not appear often — ever since the Peacock Miraculous was reclaimed, she’s been out there. But photos are few and far between — less common than photos of Ladybug and the new Chat Noir.
The New Chat Noir doesn’t officially go by Chat Noir, either, but the public doesn’t have a better name for him than “new Chat Noir”. He hasn’t said anything about it thus far, so it will continue to be his name.
Emilie checks the time on her watch. She has an audition coming soon. Will she have enough time to get there?
“Do you have somewhere to be?” Mayura asks. “I can…give you a ride, perhaps.”
“A ride,” Emilie says flatly. “On what?”
Mayura plucks a feather from her fan. “Something that suits your beauty, of course.” The feather drifts to Emilie’s ring.
The creature that emerges is an onyx griffin.
Emilie lets out a hum. “Interesting. Are you aware that I am taken, Mayura, and I will not tolerate any shenanigans of the sort?”
“Oh, I’m aware,” Mayura says with a smirk. “I don’t need things to go anywhere. It’s enough just to get a reaction from you.”
…well.
Emilie, frankly, does not have time to process this.
“You’ll be able to control it,” Mayura says. “Go now. And good luck.”
…why is Mayura wishing her luck of all things?
“Thank you,” Emilie says.
“Or perhaps I should say ‘break a leg’ instead?” Mayura asks with a wink.
What is going on? Is Emilie really well-known enough for someone to recognize that she’s an actress? Emilie shakes her head. That has to be it.
Emilie mounts the griffin, and flies off to her audition.
Adrien, Nathalie, and herself are at dinner.
“How was your audition, Mother?” Adrien asks with a smile.
“I barely made it in time,” Emilie answers. “The akuma attack happened as I was getting out the door. I would have been hurt if it weren’t for Mayura.”
Nathalie busies herself with her food. It is incredibly suspicious.
“In fact, Mayura actually helped me get to the audition on time. It is only thanks to her that I made it. Though I didn’t account for that in my plans, everything still went well. About as well as a given audition can go, I suppose.” She sighs. “I am uncertain if I’ll get the part, but…”
“Well, my fingers are crossed that it’ll be your big break!” Adrien says.
Emilie reaches over the table to ruffle his hair. “I hope so, too.”
Dinner moves forward. Adrien talks a little bit about his classmates — his deskmate Nino Adrien probably has a crush on, and Marinette who recently started dating Félix. Emilie heard the news, not that she keeps up that much with her sister and her husband anymore. The two can be ubiquitous when they wish to be. Which is rather unfortunate for her, because they’re always lauded as the ‘good’ couple while Emilie is disgraced due to the fact that she loves Nathalie.
She’s glad they’re married, at least. She has built a family, and that is enough for her.
Emilie’s out buying groceries when there is yet another attack. Business continues as usual, because they’re used to it at this point, but…
She wonders if Mayura will be there to come to the heroes’ aid. Not that Emilie really wants to see Mayura again, because that means Emilie would be in danger somehow, but still…
Hmm. Emilie has a theory — is her wife really flirting with her in the form of a hero? Why? What would be the purpose of such a thing?
She shakes her head. It’s completely preposterous.
“So, um, Mother,” Adrien says, spinning a ring on his finger that…hasn’t been there for too long, “what if I were hiding something? Something big? And I was worried about what you’d say if I told you.”
“Adrien,” Emilie says, crouching slightly to meet his eyes (he’s getting taller every day, she doesn’t look forward to the day when he’s taller than her), “whatever it is, I will not judge you.”
“What if it shakes the foundations of everything?” he says, breaking eye contact.
“Adrien.” Emilie places her hands on Adrien’s shoulders. “I know you have a crush on that classmate Nino of yours. It’s okay. I am not my parents — you have two mothers.”
Adrien’s face turns scarlet. “I, um…I don’t know. It’s still scary. And no, I’m not going to say anything to him about it — he has a girlfriend, I can’t do anything about it.”
“I’m sorry,” Emilie says. “These things happen. Not everyone lucks out with the love of their life straight away.”
“Thanks, Mother,” he says, hugging her.
***
“Duusu,” a voice says, “fall my feathers.”
Emilie switches on the light.
“Do you have something to inform me about, my love?” she asks, looking straight at Nathalie (formerly Mayura).
Nathalie curses. "I had hoped to tell you of my own volition."
"The flirting was all too obvious." Emilie crosses her arms. "I already knew."
"Oh," Nathalie responds. "I see."
"Well, love of my life," Emilie says, stepping closer, "what are your thoughts?"
Nathalie kisses her. "The fact that you already knew is quite attractive."
Emilie hums. "Well. I can show off more of my knowledge, if you'd like."
Around two weeks later, a letter shows up in their apartment mailbox. It's feedback from Emilie's audition.
"Good news," Emilie says. "I got the part."
She sets down the letter right as Adrien and Nathalie both attack with hugs. She laughs.
She loves this. She can't imagine a life where things are different — no, she doesn't want to.
Her family is everything, and all the parts of her true family are right here in her embrace.