Chapter Text
Marinette woke to the feel of her husband's hands skimming her body, around her waist, up her arms, and finally pulling her hair away from her face. Goosebumps followed his touch. Even though she was barely conscious, she snuggled into him, seeking out his warmth, and he responded by looping his arms around her and drawing her closer. She never wanted to move from this spot.
"Wake up, M'Lady." He pressed a soft kiss against her cheek. "There's an akuma."
Marinette groaned. Leave it to Hawk Moth to ruin yet another moment of domestic bliss. He seemed to be making that a priority lately.
"Come on, Sleeping Beauty," Adrien said, trying to drag her with him off the side of the bed. "Time to get up."
"You get up." Eyes still closed, she flailed one arm until she found something she could grab, his pillow, and hit him in the face with it. All it earned her was a laugh and another flirty compliment. How could he be so coherent at this hour? She was so tired she hadn't even heard the phone's akuma alert go off.
Marinette finally blinked in the dark, squinting against her exhaustion. In front of her Adrien's adoring face smiled at her, so close he was almost nose to nose. A perfect kissing distance.
After so many years of using the cat miraculous, his eyes glowed faintly even when he wasn't transformed.
"Do you think if we just… refused to fight until morning that Hawk Moth would stop sending akumas outside of normal business hours?" she asked.
"Hmm," he said, running one finger over her stomach and drawing lazy circles. Marinette shivered. "Somehow I don't think that's going to work."
His fingers wandered to her side, just to the dip of her waist, and his smile became mischievous. She stumbled out of bed before the tickles came.
"Hey, come back!" he said with a laugh.
"Get out of bed. There's an akuma. We have to hurry." She reached under her nightstand for slippers, just in case they needed to detransform out there, and then for the jackets they always kept slung across the back of the rocking chair. (No children to rock in it yet, but someday…)
The bed creaked as Adrien shifted, reaching under the bed for his own shoes, and she tossed his jacket toward him. It landed with a soft thump next to him.
"Did the alert say anything about the victim?" she asked.
Adrien finished pulling his coat on and stretched. "No," he said as he walked over to her. "It's not far, though. And I can't hear anything, so probably no explosives."
"That's always good news." Marinette scanned their room quickly. Plagg and Tikki slept in the guest room with her phone. The alert would have woken them up too, and she'd expected them to phase through the wall by now.
"Hey." Adrien grabbed her from behind, leaning down so he could press his face into her shoulder, and breathing deeply into her loose hair. "G'morning."
"Morning to you too, alley cat."
The arms encircling her waist squeezed gently. "Excuse me, this alley cat is also your husband."
Marinette hummed. "Oh really?" The wedding was almost six months ago, and at this rate she didn't think he was ever going to stop bringing up that they were married at every opportunity. "I must have forgotten somehow."
"Would you like me to remind you? I have lots of photos I could show you or-"
"Maybe later. I think there's an akuma or something we have to deal with now."
He grunted but let her go as she pulled away and opened the door to the hallway.
"Tikki? Plagg?" she called into the darkness. "It's time to- Oh." The kwamis floated in from their hiding spot just outside the door. Tikki was all smiles, her antennae perky and waving. Plagg had his arms folded in disgust.
"Let's hurry, M'Lady. There's an akuma running amok." Adrien laughed at his own bad joke - as if he hadn't made the same one at least twice a month for the last eight years - and pushed aside the heavy curtain to reveal the glass balcony door. The tall panes diffused the pinpricks of light from the cityscape in the distance. It was picturesque, perfect and still. Cold air and the gentle sound of traffic seeped into the room when he pushed the door open. She could barely pick up the scent of the flowers they were growing out there.
Adrien grabbed her hand, bringing it up for a quick kiss. "Ready?"
"I'm ready for you two to stop being gross," Plagg grumbled.
"He was smiling while we were waiting in the hallway," Tikki said smugly.
Plagg stuck out his tongue. "Traitor."
Marinette didn't bother to hide her amusement as Plagg whispered something about "gooey lovesick idiots" under his breath. Years of experience had taught her that he didn't mean a word of it.
She pulled her jacket more tightly around herself as cold air pooled at her ankles. Wind whistled through the open doorway. It was almost winter.
Adrien gave her a quick hug and a peck on the head. "We'll make this quick. Then we can come back and snuggle until morning."
She grinned through their transformations. "I'll hold you to that."
"Please do!" And without another word, Chat extended his baton and flew up to their roof. Ladybug quickly followed him into the night, cold muscles stretching uncomfortably. Bed and snuggles sounded amazing right now. She landed next to her husband with an ungraceful thud.
He was turned in the opposite direction of their balcony, and it was easy to see what had caught his attention. A swirling, massive storm cloud rotated in the distance. The wind around them felt like it was all being pulled toward the vortex, moaning lowly. Faint blue-black light pulsed throughout the whole thing, reaching from the streets and high up into the sky, where it merged with the dark blanket of clouds above them. It must have swallowed several dozen city blocks.
As one, Ladybug and Chat Noir took off toward the danger.
***
Dark nights were always a struggle for Ladybug. Her night vision wasn't nearly as good as her husband's, so when her feet touched down two rooftops away from the edge of the wide cloudy pillar and he grabbed her and jumped off a few seconds later, she wasn't really that surprised.
"Where's the akuma?" She swung her head around and spotted him, ensconced in the cloud wall. Blue and black costume, with a cape fluttering behind him. Ladybug could barely make him out, even with the glow of the clouds backlighting him. He was stretching his hands toward them. They'd probably just avoided an energy beam of some kind.
Chat dropped them onto a second-story balcony but didn't let her go. A drizzle started, and the rain mixed in with the chill. She pushed into him for warmth.
"Let's make this quick," he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I know you hate the cold." And then he blew a raspberry and raced up the wall and onto the roof, out of her immediate reach.
The akuma screamed in rage in the background. "You two should be iced over like my heart! All will be frozen like Gale!"
"Sounds like someone has a tempestuous relationship."
Ladybug shook her head with a smile. They'd been doing this for 10 years. She'd hoped his senses of humor and timing would have improved, but no. That was her kitten through and through.
While Chat provided a cover of taunting, Ladybug surveyed what she could of Gale. Goggles that glowed, probably giving him some enhanced night vision. She would be the only one of the three at a disadvantage, then. And based on the commentary and the big, tacky broken heart symbol on his chest, they were probably dealing with a breakup or a confession gone wrong.
There wasn't much in the area to work with. This was a generic street. Lampposts. A couple flower pots. Still a few cars on the road, even this close to the akuma. The people of Paris were too desensitized for her liking.
Gale floated closer and Chat took the opportunity to jump off the roof above her and use his baton to launch himself toward their enemy. Gale shot a narrow beam of ice blue light directly at him.
Ladybug felt her stomach drop and threw her yoyo without thinking. It wrapped around the bottom of the baton and she yanked, knocking an empty pot off the balcony and onto the street below in the process. The crash was swallowed by the rushing wind. But it changed Chat's trajectory enough that he slipped underneath the beam and rolled harmlessly onto the next roof. The light hit a window, coating it with a thick layer of ice, and she thought she heard a faint, "Thanks, Lovebug!"
Before she could decide if a tactical retreat to get some power-ups would be helpful, Gale dove in her direction, black cape streaming out in a line behind him.
Ladybug braced for impact.
"Get away from my wife!" Chat Noir snarled.
Gale was only a few meters away when her husband knocked him out of the sky and they both tumbled to the ground. Gale looked dazed. Ladybug threw her yoyo down and fished Chat up to her level before leaping onto the roof above and calling for Lucky Charm. It was a rectangular mirror, about a meter long, and curved like a bow. She set it gently against the railing.
"Shooting the beams back at him, probably," Chat observed. He took a step forward, reaching to cup her face. "Are you okay?"
She leaned into his warmth while he brushed her cheek with his thumb. "Me?" she said. "I've just been standing here. How are you?"
He shrugged, dropping his hand. "As indestructible as always, M'Lady. And glad I'm not a cat-sicle right now."
"Frozen solid isn't a good look on you," she said, looking away from the hand that he'd dropped and trying not to miss his touch too much.
Later.
She turned her focus to Gale, who was rising to his feet shakily. The wind wasn't helping him. He stumbled more than once. Was there something there they could use?
"You're making that thinking face again," Chat said, leaning into her space. "It's very beautiful. Will you marry me?"
Ladybug felt her cheeks flare up in a deep blush and shoved him. She leaned over the railing and called down to the akuma. "Are you okay? I know relationships are hard when the other person-"
"No!" Gale found his footing, and he glared up at them before slowly levitating. "She did nothing wrong. I hated to turn her down. No one should have to go through pain like ours!"
"Oh, just like we used to be," Chat said happily. "Glad we're past that part."
Ladybug shuddered at the memories, but if anyone had asked she would have said it was the sudden drop in temperature.
As Gale and Chat traded a few barbs about whether or not it was better to get akumatized over it or let her go, Ladybug studied their enemy. One tiny detail she hadn't noticed before jumped out at her: a flower pinned to his lapel. It was the only part of his costume that wasn't blue or black. It pulsed a faint purple. Perfect.
She'd lost the thread of the conversation. Gale raised his hands and shot a beam straight at them before she could react. Chat had just enough time to jump in front of her and push her head down to shield her from the blast of ice, but it never came. Instead of a blue beam, it was black, a wide, sweeping void.
She reached out under Chat's arm, lassoed the akuma, and flung him back into his own stormcloud.
"Are you hurt, Chaton?" she asked. He wasn't frozen. He didn't look hurt, just like he was focusing on something in the distance.
He blinked and looked down at her, confused. "No, I don't think so." He checked himself over, twisting his wrists and shaking each foot. "Not frozen."
"That beam was different," she said. "It could have had some other effects."
"I really feel fine." He frowned. "Why are you so worried?"
Something felt off. Something wasn't quite right, but she couldn't think of how to quantify it. "It could have some delayed effects," she finally said. "Just look out for them?"
He nodded, watching the cloud wall until a disheveled and glowering Gale reemerged. "Figure out what to do with the Charm," he said. "I'll buy you some time." And then he was off.
The mirror gave her a distorted image of the roof around her, adding to her gnawing uncertainty that something was wrong. The sooner they finished this fight, the sooner she could set everything back to normal, so she picked up the Charm and started looking around.
Turning the beams back on Gale was too straightforward, and they would only get one chance. If they got the black instead of blue, they would waste the element of surprise. So what else was around that she could use?
A car screamed around around the corner as Gale chased behind it, trying to hit its wheels and freeze it in place.
Perfect.
Ladybug leaped down to the street, cradling the mirror. She'd have to be in just the right spot to get the angle she needed. Where was Chat?
He leapt into her view, delivered an overhand blow that knocked the akuma off his feet, and then turned tail and ran when Gale popped up from a graceful roll, murder in his eyes. Chat yelped as a blue beam narrowly missed the tips of his ears. Ladybug flinched but stopped herself from calling out to him. She couldn't give away her position.
Most of the traffic had been coming from the north, so she headed up the street, keeping an ear out for the hum of an approaching engine and an eye out for her often hapless husband – who just happened to be sticking his tongue out at a supervillain, his eyes sparkling with joy. She could see it even from half the street away. He looked okay, and that eased a little of the worry she had about him. Later she would have to thoroughly look him over and make sure–
Ladybug ran into a lamppost.
The mirror slipped out of her hands and fell toward the cement sidewalk. She scrambled to catch it, knees buckling with the speed with which she dropped to the ground. She hadn't realized that Gale had been aiming at her until she felt a rush of cool air wrap around her and was temporarily blinded by a dark void, empty as a pit.
The lights of the surrounding buildings were the first things she saw, like the pinpricks of stars, before her vision zoomed back into view. She blinked. Nothing felt wrong. She wasn't injured. And she had managed to save the mirror.
Gale was flying toward her, her partner was hot on his tail, and a car was rounding the corner. Ladybug raised the mirror to waist height, using it to bend the headlights' beams directly into Gale's face. His straight flight path twisted and curled until he painfully bellyflopped in the middle of the street. Chat Noir landed gracefully beside him, pinning him to the ground with his staff.
"No," Ladybug commanded. "Get the flower. It's on his lapel."
Her partner gave a quick nod and flipped Gale over. Ashen flower dust was all that was left a few seconds later. The mirror was heavy, but with her enhanced strength, it was easy to fling it into the air and set everything to rights again. The wind died down, leaving only a faint rustling in the leaves. The clouds parted instantly, leaving a perfectly clear night. No hint that anything strange had happened here just a few minutes before. Ladybug helped a slender brunette man to his feet. His face was kind, and his smile was sheepish.
More flashes of blue bounced off the buildings around them, sending her into a defensive stance, but they were only police lights.
Officer Roger was a familiar sight, and his thanks were familiar but no less genuine even after all the years. She and her partner were left alone in the middle of the street five minutes after the fight ended, and the sliver of uneasiness started to creep back in. It was too still. Everything felt empty, like she was back in the void beam.
"I'm going home," her partner announced.
And because it was cold and she was tired and she probably wasn't going to find any answers by the side of the road at three in the morning, she followed him. Bed would fix most of her problems right now, and everything else could wait until morning.
She followed him through the window and transformed back without a word. The rocking chair moved only slightly when she flung her jacket back onto it. She stretched, rubbed her eyes, and walked toward her bed. As she reached to pull the blanket up, she looked down, surprised to see that Adrien was already lying there, and her stomach curled with uneasiness. She shouldn't be climbing into bed with him. It felt so wrong.
He felt like a stranger.
And that was the final thought that sent her heart and thoughts racing.
Adrien was staring up at the ceiling like his life had ended. "What did that black beam do?"
Marinette slipped into bed, lying stiffly next to him, far enough away for another person to fit between them. She didn't want to voice her thoughts. Didn't want to think that she hadn't purified the akuma properly. Didn't want it to be real. She shut her eyes against the darkness of their room. "It's probably just a weird aftereffect," she whispered. "It'll be gone by morning."
The black pushed against her eyelids and they flew open again. The bed frame creaked as Adrien flung the blankets off and stood. "I'm sleeping on the couch."
"What?"
"It'll be gone by morning, right?" He grabbed his pillow. "I'll be fine for one night."
"Oh." She knew should protest. This was his bed as much as hers. They could share without feeling weird about it.
But she did feel weird about it. And she didn't want him to stay. The door closed behind him with a soft click.
Marinette breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she found herself finally alone in her room. She started to stretch out before she remembered that she should probably feel bad about having the whole bed to herself when someone she'd loved for a decade was sleeping on the couch. She curled up into a ball instead, and didn't get much sleep.
The void had settled inside of them.