Work Text:
“Is everybody here? Okay, let’s start.”
A black, octagon-shaped box with a red design drawn on the top in Sharpie was passed around in a circle, and hand after hand reached in to grab something.
“I got a-” began a small voice, before another cut it off.
“Shhh! Don’t tell!”
“Okay, okay!”
“Room for one more?” asked a small, shy voice from the door, causing a small commotion.
“Adrien! We didn’t think you’d be able to make it! Sit down, sit down.”
“You can sit next to me!” said a blonde girl, and the red-headed girl in a plaid vest looked momentarily hurt. “But we’re sitting in twos-”
“Come sit next to me, I don’t have a seat partner yet, and everyone else has already picked something,” said the last child in the circle.
The shy boy smiled, gave a tiny “thank you,” and sat down.
The girl in pigtails next to him on the other side taught him how to reach into the box and take something, and their hands brushed against each other as her hand left the box and his entered. They glanced at each other for a moment, and then she turned away, blushing. The boy didn’t seem to notice; his hand closed around an object before passing the box.
The last child was still smiling about making a new friend when he reached into the box, but the smile fell from his face when he realized that there were now more children than objects, and he was left without. The old man smiled, and said, “you can have mine, come see me after we’re done meeting and I’ll give it to you,” and he nodded, a little proud to share his object.
The old man’s eyes looked around the room, meeting each child’s, who looked back at him with excitement and resolve.
“The objects you hold in your hands are very special,” the old man told them. “Do not tell anyone what you have. Each of them has a special power that only you can use. We’re going to start with two people, and then call more people into play as the game goes on. Do you follow me so far?”
Twelve nodding heads.
“One of the grown ups is going to start sending people to make mischief. They’re Hawkmoth. They want to take all of the objects in your hands so you can’t play any more. But there’s two of them in particular that they want.”
“Let’s start with the earrings and the ring. Don’t nod! Your friends can’t know who you are. If you have the earrings, you’re the Ladybug. It’s your job to catch the Akuma and stop the mischief. Once you stop the mischief, you can also make the people who were causing it clean up their mess. You also get to ask for a Lucky Charm, and if you do, I’ll come over and whisper a clue to you to help you stop the Akuma.
“If you have the ring, you’re the Cat. You’re the Ladybug’s partner, because remember, if the Ladybug is stopped, the Akuma doesn’t have to stop causing mischief or clean up their mess. You also have a special power called Cataclysm, which means if there’s something you need to be taken out of the game, we can either move it or pretend it doesn’t exist.
“These are the objects Hawkmoth is sending the Akumas out to take. No matter what, you can’t let them have them. Okay?”
Blue eyes looked thoughtful; green, a little awestruck. Ten other children looked a little disappointed.
“Do we get to take turns who’s who?” the blonde girl asked, after a minute, trying not to pout. “I want to be the Ladybug.”
The old man smiled. “No, there’s something better. Each of the objects you have in your hands are special and have their own powers. The Ladybug and the Cat can invite their friends to play, too. They have to be careful, because if the Akuma catches you, they get to take your object away, but your powers can help them catch the Akuma and stop Hawkmoth. Everyone is going to get their own special time to play.”
“Well, I’ve got a comb that looks like a bee!” she announced. “What does that do, that’s as good as the Ladybug’s powers?”
A collective groan went around the room. “You’re not supposed to tell everyone, Chloe!” the redhead sitting with her said. “It’s a secret!”
But the old man nodded, bringing his hand up to stroke his tiny beard. “She asks a fair point,” he said. “The Bee, for instance, gets to tag anyone- child, grownup, even Hawkmoth- and the person that she tags has to stand still for five minutes while everything else happens around them. And, just to throw a few other powers out there, the Turtle gets an umbrella, and everyone under their umbrella is safe for five minutes after they say “Shellter!”, and the Fox gets to say “Mirage!” and everyone has to play pretend whatever the Fox says. They’re good powers.”
A short boy pushed his square-framed glasses up the bridge of his tiny nose. “Isn’t this fundamentally identical to Capture The Flag, but with more steps?”
“The game is essentially Capture The Flag, but with more steps,” the shy blond boy’s father summarized to the gathered adults.
“So why don’t we just have them play Capture the Flag amongst themselves?” Chloe’s father asked, turning a pair of lens-less glasses in the shape of a stylized butterfly over in his hands.
“Please, just, work with me on this. It’s what I can come up with to keep the kids entertained while Emilie is down for her nap.”
“Sending a bunch of kids running around with the contents of her jewelry box?” another parent asked. “Gabriel, think this through. The Butterfly is going to end up getting lost and the Peacock is going to end up getting broken and it’s going to end up being a whole thing.”
“None of us wants to be in charge of childcare for the entire party,” Gabriel’s assistant explained quietly. “The children are much younger and more energetic than we are, and would quickly run us ragged. With this strategy, each adult, as the Akuma, can be cycled in for short shifts to supervise the group of twelve, then rotated out for another adult in quick succession, allowing each of us to maintain most of our stamina and only minor interruptions on our own conversation. The children, in turn, are constantly presented with new and interesting stimuli and feel like they are interacting with each adult in turn. This both optimizes quality time with the lowest possible burden.”
“Okay, but if the Ladybug or the Cat turns out to be Adrien, and the other one is that girl who’s been making heart eyes at him all year-”
“Master Fu has distributed each piece of jewelry completely at random and before announcing the significance of each. Each child had a completely fair chance. If you like, I can even call Adrien in to sit with us every so often, so that the other children can have more of a chance to shine outside.”
“I don’t think that would be very fair to Adrien,” someone commented.
Gabriel shrugged. “Adrien was born with an enormous amount of privilege and sometimes we need to let other people take center stage. He understands this.”
A woman in the back snickered, and Gabriel glared at her. “You had something to say, Anarka?”
“Well, the last time you asked him to sit with us, he snuck out the minute your head was turned.”
“I’m just saying,” the girl with the pigtails murmured to Master Fu, “It would be a lot more fun if a lot more people got to be superheroes. It’s no fair that the Cat and I get to run around and have fun and everyone else just got to react.”
Master Fu frowned thoughtfully, stroking his beard again. “You know that the more people with their jewelry, the more likely it is an Akuma brings any of it to Hawkmoth? And then the fewer superheroes your team has, and the more powerful the villains are?”
She folded her arms adamantly. “I trust my friends. They’ll do a good job.”
He nodded, then walked to the table where the octagon box was sitting. “Okay, Marinette, you can bring your friends their jewelry. Have them give it back if they think they’ll be in danger, but if you think they’ll do a good job, they can have it as much as they want. I think you’ll be a good Guardian.”
He lifted the box, and held it out to her, but she took a step back.
“Wait a minute! Are you sure you want me to be the guardian? What about you? Don’t you want to play any more?”
He loosened his grip on the box, and it started to fall, until Marinette stepped forward to catch it.
“I’m not getting any younger, and if Hawkmoth ever comes after the whole box, he’s going to need someone who can block them. It’s time someone else takes a turn.”
The girl took a deep breath, and then nodded. “I won’t let you down.”
The old man laughed quietly. “You could never let me down, Ladybug. Now, I’m going to go inside and make myself some tea. Can you have Nino come meet up with me when you see him? I want to hand off the jewelry we’re sharing permanently.”
Marinette smiled widely, then extended her hand. “Can I give that to Nino instead?”
Capture the Flag, but with more steps was getting wildly out of control.
Gabriel massaged his temples, trusting that the massive amount of gel in his hair would keep it in place.
He had planned for two, maybe three, heroes in play at any given time- but now there were seventeen. Where they had picked up the extra five children from, let alone the jewelry they were playing with, was anyone’s guess. He’d tried everything- sending Akumas out in pairs, having his assistant Nathalie step in as a permanent supervillain until keeping up with the logistics gave her a migraine, trying to run both the Butterfly and the Peacock roles at any given time, sending out the same Akumas multiple times but with different instructions every time. The children were just being far more creative than he had anticipated, and branching off with their own storylines completely unrelated to the primary game. There was a while when Chloe, after being told for the fourth time that she was not allowed to just be Ladybug because she wanted to, decided to storm off, and pulling a step-sister out of nowhere to sub in for her- which is when he noticed that Juleka’s brother, or, perhaps more relevantly, Anarka’s son, was also playing.
A game that should have taken an hour or two felt like it had dragged on for seven years.
The last straw was finding Adrien and Marinette in his office having some sort of a crisis. He couldn’t hear what they were shouting about past his heavy doors, but they went silent when he pushed the doors open.
“Okay, you’re done,” he told them. “Give me your Miraculouses. Adrien, go to your room. Marinette, I’m calling your parents so they can bring you home. All this ruckus is going to wake up Emilie, and you know she has to get up early tomorrow morning.”
“Wait a minute,” Adrien said, his eyes going wide. “You’re not wearing the Akuma glasses. Why are you asking for our Miraculouses?”
Marinette, shorter, was eye level with Gabriel’s chest. He realized too late that she was staring directly at the Butterfly brooch he wore on his chest. There was no way this was going to end quietly.