Chapter Text
Ladybug dropped her transformation in a shimmer of pink as her feet noiselessly hit the pavement of the alley. She was exhausted after flying through her patrol route in record time tonight. No longer disguised as Paris' most beloved super heroine, Marinette pulled out her cell phone, allowing the cool night air of the 18th arrondissement to fill her burning lungs. She perused the waiting messages before holding the phone to her ear, a small smile spreading across her face when he picked up on the second ring.
“How was patrol?” Luka asked.
“Boring. Lonely. How was practice?”
“You went alone? You should have told me, Mare… I would have joined you.” Marinette rolled her eyes as she pictured Luka's brow furrowing in concern at the thought of her swinging over the streets of Paris alone.
“You’re sweet, but it’s really no big deal. Mostly quiet these days.” she sighed. Not that she missed the days of Hawkmoth. She had to remind herself of that truth. She just missed the teamwork. The thrill of fighting for something. The adrenaline rush as she ran into danger. There’s something wrong with me.
Luka’s voice interrupted her pathologizing, “I thought Chat was on patrol tonight.” The accusation behind the passing comment didn't escape her.
“Me too. Apparently, he has more important things to do these days. He stood me up again-” she trailed off when she noticed a black SUV parked up ahead in the alley, blocking the entry to the street. A couple of men in suits stepped out of the vehicle. Marinette slowed her walk slightly, unsure of the scene that she was approaching.
“Mare? You still there?”
“Yeah-yeah I’m here but… let me call you back in a minute.”
“Is everything ok? Are you safe?”
Just as she considered calling up her transformation, a man in an expensive suit stepped out of the SUV.
“Adrien?” Marinette sounded surprised right before the call disconnected.
~~~
Adrien Agreste slammed the car door shut behind him. He turned to face the man that Yao Jie and Tian Chang had pushed down onto his knees next to the SUV. The man was sweating and babbling in an unfamiliar dialect of Chinese. Adrien could only make out a few words but the man’s fear needed no explanation. And it was warranted. He would not live through the night.
Yao drew his handgun from his waistband. He clearly would not be wasting any more time tonight on interrogations. Not after such a substantial amount of the Paris shipment had been diverted. With millions in product going out the back door, Adrien had noticed the discrepancy in the finances immediately. Any signs of corruption were always handled expediently within the organization. Once Adrien had brought the issue to light, a Red Pole was called in to conduct a swift and merciless investigation. And Yao Jie had proven to be a textbook example of the Red Pole level military leaders that Adrien had become accustomed to. If circumstances had been vastly different, the part of Adrien that was CEO of Agreste Fashion might have appreciated Yao’s efficiency. But Adrien wasn’t here on behalf of his fashion brand tonight. In fact it was hardly necessary for him to be here to oversee operations at all. Just a gruesome formality that couldn’t be avoided.
That’s when he heard her.
Adrien’s head jerked towards the back of the dark alley at the sound of his name. His eyes widened in horror as Marinette Dupain-Cheng emerged from the dark.
“Adrien?” she repeated, glancing from Adrien down to the man kneeling in front of him. He saw her eyes flicker to Yao and Tian, then back to his own face in confusion. “What’s going on…?”
Adrien Agreste’s mind ground to a halt at the sudden influx of information. For some reason Marinette Dupain-Cheng had just emerged from an abandoned dark alley. The use of his name made it clear that she knew and recognized him. He was acutely aware of the handgun his associate was raising as she approached. A multilingual string of profanity raced through his mind.
Then the thought that came across in a familiar growl of frustration: Do something.
His feet were moving before he had fully formed a plan. Putting a hand up to call off the gunman, he ran towards her, arms wide open.
“Sweetheart!” he flinched at Marinette’s look of uncertainty. This is going to be uncomfortable.
Less uncomfortable than a bullet wound. Chat’s voice echoed again in his mind.
As he neared her, she froze. For a moment, he feared that she would back away from him. Please don’t freak out.
Reaching for her, he pulled her close enough to whisper into her ear, “Marinette, whatever happens next, I need you to please.. PLEASE play along. I need you to trust me. For both of our sakes.”
As he pulled back from her, he saw her attempt to smooth the look of confusion from her face. She understood. Thank God.
“I wasn’t expecting you so soon!” he spoke a little too loudly, clearly for the audience. He cringed inwardly and tried to calm his nerves.
Act better.
Before Marinette had a chance to respond, he reached a hand up to the side of her face, holding her still as he pressed his mouth to hers.
To her credit, she didn’t freak out, but she was too shocked to return the kiss in any sort of believable way. “Keep smiling.” he said, dropping into sotto voce as he pulled away from her lips.
Taking her hand, he turned around, gently leading her towards the SUV. As he approached the vehicle he spoke to the men, switching back to Mandarin. He held the door open as he handed Marinette into the back seat and shut the door behind her.
~~~
Marinette was dreaming. Some sort of horrible, confusing dream. A nightmare. In which she meets Adrien Agreste in a dark alley and he kisses her right after begging her to go along with it and speaking Chinese.
But in this dream, Marinette can’t wake up.
She found herself staring at Adrien as he continued speaking Chinese to the man kneeling on the ground. Marinette’s Mandarin was not very good and the few words she recognized weren’t helpful enough to grasp the content of the conversation.
The body language, however, spoke volumes. She had never seen Adrien look so dark. His anger seemed palpable. He paced a few steps before abruptly turning to kick the man. Marinette gasped, automatically fumbling for the handle of the door. Why won’t it open?
The man on the ground fell forward onto his hands and knees before Adrien Agreste, grunting in pain as Adrien landed a few more powerful kicks to his ribs and side.
Marinette began to pull more frantically, but the door clearly only opened from the outside.
Before she had time to think any more about intervening, Adrien spoke again to the two men standing with him, then opened the door Marinette had been pushing on. She fell forward into him, but he gathered her into his arms and pushed her back inside the vehicle climbing in behind her. She struggled to push away from his grip. “Adrien!” she hissed, “What the hell-?” but he cut her off in a voice that was so quiet and stern that it frightened her.
“Marinette, close your eyes.”
He wrapped one arm around her, the other pulling her face into his neck to shield her view. She was vaguely aware of how good he smelled. Like cedar, sandalwood, and mint.
Then she heard the gunshot. Muffled. Some sort of silencer. So close. So very close.
She startled but Adrien held her tightly. There was a muffled scream and it took Marinette a few seconds to register that Adrien’s hand was clamped over her mouth.
Her muffled scream.
“Shh shh shh. It’s ok. It’s ok. You’re ok.” he was frantically shushing her. She could feel his breath by her ear as he whispered hollow reassurances. Her heart was racing and she felt like she couldn’t breathe. Panicked, she tried to call “Spots on!” but Adrien wouldn’t release her and it came out as more muffled screaming.
The next few minutes felt like hours as Marinette’s breathing and heart rate returned to normal. Adrien seemed to sense that she was regaining control and began to relax his grip as well.
He spoke calmly under his breath to her and Marinette marveled that he was so unrattled by witnessing a murder.
No, an execution.
“Marinette, I’m so sorry that you were here for that. They’re coming back so I need you to listen very carefully in order for us to both live through this. Are you listening?”
He kept a hand over her mouth but she nodded her assent, trying not to let the fear show in her eyes.
“Tonight, you happened upon a crime in progress. To these men, you would have been considered a loose end. A witness. They would have killed you without hesitation. The only way I could think of to save you was to lie. I promise to get you out of this situation as soon as I can, but in the meantime I need you to act the part as if both of our lives depend on it, because if they find us out, they will kill us both. Can I trust you?”
Meeting his gaze as resolutely as she could manage, she nodded again. He eyed her warily as he slowly removed his hand from her lips.
Pushing herself up and off of Adrien, she cleared her throat before addressing him, “What was the lie?”
Adrien glanced out the window at the sound of footsteps approaching.
“Adrien, what did you tell them?” she demanded.
“I told them that you’re my wife.”
The front doors of the vehicle opened as the two men, presumably having disposed of the body, got into the SUV.