Comme Neuf
Marinette was bored. So unbelievably, completely bored. Chat Noir, Adrien, Peter, and Spiderman had all only been gone for two days, but it’d been the longest two days of her life. She’d tried hanging out with Alya and focusing on school but she still found herself obsessively stalking checking Adrien and Peter’s social medias.
The only thing Adrien had posted to Instagram was a photo of him in Times Square beneath a giant billboard with a picture of him on it, along with the caption: ‘WINTER CATALOGUE AVAILABLE FRIDAY’. However, she shouldn’t have been surprised; his account was filtered through Nathalie before he could post anything.
Peter was the exact opposite, practically using the social app as a personal journal, posting multiple times a day. He’d posted a video to his story of him, Adrien, and Felix running through the streets, dodging passerby’s, yelling something about an Elmo. Accompanying this story, he’d posted multiple physical posts, one of Tony Stark asleep on what looked like an apartment couch, a movie playing on the tv behind him. It was captioned ‘thanksgiving and he’s never seen Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. His other most recent post was a photo of him and another dude, tagged as theforceiswithned, a dark sky above them as they posed along a busy street, neon signs illuminating them.
“They look like they’re having fun,” Marinette said to Tikki, flopping down on the bed. It was late but she couldn’t seem to stop refreshing her feed. “I’m not sure why Felix is there, though.”
“He wasn’t the nicest last time we saw him, now was he?” Tikki frowned as Marinette rewatched Peter’s story for the billionth time.
“He was a reprehensible menace last time,” Marinette snorted with derision. “I guess him and Peter are friends now, though.”
“Is there anyone Peter isn’t friends with?” Tikki asked, settling on Marinette’s pillow.
“If there is, I don’t think I’ve met them.” A thought occurred to Marinette and she opened the search tab, typing Spiderman’s name into the search handle. “Good lord,” she said, clicking on the first result.
“What is it?”
“Spiderman has eighteen million followers!” The extent of Spiderman’s influence was a staggering contrast to the other accounts she’d been stalking. Adrien had what, nine million? Along with his own helping of fan accounts, and Peter only had a hundred or so. Since when had the suited hero surpassed the supermodel? Also, since when did superheroes have social media? If Spiderman wasn’t careful, he could accidentally give away his identity.
Scrolling through his posts, Ladybug quickly realized that Spiderman used his account as a community outreach of sorts, promoting various petitions and charity organizations, along with the sparse image of himself or ad for an interview he’d done. His latest post had been a photo of a wax figure of himself, location tagged as New York. At least he was taking a vacation, Marinette reasoned.
His bio innocently boasted the tag line of ‘friendly neighbourhood spiderman’, despite the fact that his impact so obviously extended beyond a single neighbourhood.
“Is that a lot?” Tikki asked.
“For someone I know personally, yeah! Here I thought Adrien was the more famous one.”
“I think you should go to bed.” Tikki’s suggestion had a lot of merit, and she’d been suggesting the same thing for the past two hours. Obviously her New York visiting pals were either hanging out with Ned or asleep and there would most likely be no more content that night.
“Do you think I should text Chat?” She’d already texted him goodnight, to which he’d responded in his usual manner, but she missed him more than she’d care to admit.
“Go to sleep Marinette! You still have school tomorrow.”
The next morning caused Marinette to really wish she’d heeded her kwami’s suggestion earlier. Chat had sent her a message at six a.m. of all times and she hadn’t been able to fall back asleep after her phone’s bright screen had sufficiently seared itself into her corneas. Even more obnoxiously, the message hadn’t been of any significance. It had been a meme in English that she didn’t understand, even after putting it through google translate.
“Up early and for what?” She grumbled to herself, dragging her feet as she entered the empty kitchen and prepared herself breakfast. “No one is even here to praise me for it.”
Tikki was still asleep and her parents were already down working in the bakery. She shot a text off to Alya but didn’t expect anything to come of it; Alya would still be asleep at this time. Texting Chat it was.
[ What are you doing up at this hour you silly kitty? ]
[ Isn’t it like 5:00 there? ]
His response, as always, was instantaneous.
[ no? ]
[ I mean yes ]
[ it is indeed five in England which is where I am ]
[ but it isn’t too early for me ]
[ Okkkkk? ]
[ How’s your cousin? ]
[ he’s currently gloating ]
[ just got a new job ]
[ a very fancy one and not going to lie ]
[ I’m jealous ]
[ Whaattt is being a superhero not fancy enough for you ]
[ mdr ]
[ no no I love being chat noir ]
[ but my day job is… less than desirable ]
[ at least in my opinion ]
Chat had talked about disliking his other job on many an occasion. From what Marinette could gather it was your typical, gruelling, entry level job, working for his dad’s company or something of the sort. Either way, he complained about it with regularity, often either preceded or succeeded by a few snide comments about his father. Her kitty’s home life seemed to be a bit of a disaster. Marinette just tried to listen when she could.
[ Have you talked to your dad about quitting? ]
[ have you met my dad? ]
[ that was a stupid question sorry but you get what he’s like ]
[ if I tried that I’d most likely get disowned on the spot ]
[ sorry I have to go ]
[ my cousin is currently screaming bloody murder at my friend ]
[ attempted homicide is a part of his morning routine apparently ]
[ À plus tard my lady ]
[ Good luck chaton ]
[ Something tells me you might need it ]
[ <3 ]
Marinette set her phone down with a sigh, wondering who Chat’s friend might be and whether homicidal tendencies ran in the family. She hoped not.
For possibly the first time in her lycée career, she was at school before Alya. In fact, when the redhead arrived, she looked straight past Marinette twice before realizing that it was, in fact, her friend and not a hallucination.
“Did I miss something?” Alya glanced at her phone. “Am I somehow late? Did you die and is this your ghost trying to tell me to find your body and avenge you?”
“No, I just woke up early for once,” Marinette said, rolling her eyes. She didn’t really have much to be tired about the last few days – the Papillon hadn’t sent out any akumas and her motivation to do patrols had dropped considerably now that there was no chance of running into her masked friends.
“Do I need to call an ambulance?”
“What?”
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng simply doesn’t just wake up early and arrive at school on time!” Alya flailed her arms. “The only time I’ve seen you here earlier than I am is when you’re trying to talk to Adrien about something.”
Adrien’s name sparked a memory in the back of Marinette’s mind. “It’s Friday, isn’t it?”
“…yes?”
“The Agreste winter collection catalogue is out today!” Marinette exclaimed, whipping her phone out and typing a frantic text to her mom. “I preordered it and it was supposed to be delivered by this morning! I completely forgot I was going to wait until it arrived before going to school.” She groaned, shutting off her phone and clenching her fists in front of her face.
“You still have seven minutes until the bell rings, but that’s a ten minute walk,” Alya observed.
“I’ll run!” And run Marinette did. She tripped over multiple people and sidewalks on the way there and back but by god did she get that catalogue, plopping into her seat just as the bell rang.
“Impressive,” Alya said, slipping Nino a folded euro bill.
“Were you betting on whether I would make it back in time?” Marinette huffed but could barely bring herself to be annoyed as she looked down at her precious fashion magazine. Adrien was plastered across the cover spread in a crisp velvet suit.
No need to drool, you have a very attractive boyfriend of your own and Adrien is your good friend, she reminded herself. I wonder if I should get Chat something from Agreste for Christmas. Clearly the brand is catered towards beautiful blond boys.
The teacher was yammering on about something or another as Marinette continued to flip through. Her designer eye overtook her desire to ogle as she took mental note of fabrics and styles Gabriel Agreste had decided to make the forefront of winter fashion. There was a lacy suit, a bit of an odd choice, but on Adrien it looked effortless. And then she reached the underwear category.
Goddamn, the Agreste brand had splurged on the models this time. Whatever strapping man had posed for the glossy black and white, artistic shots at the beginning of the section had clearly had his muscles carved by the gods themselves. Monsieur Agreste was strict when it came to how much skin his son could show in a shoot (loopholes were commonly found by photographers when the time came for swimwear shoots) and so Marinette knew there was no way the frankly steamy images were of her classmate.
At least, not that classmate.
No sooner had she turned the page before the owner of the stunning body’s face finally looked up at her. And Marinette shrieked.
Everyone turned to look at her, the teacher pausing her explanation to frown.
“Is there a problem, Marinette?”
“Sorry,” Marinette said, hastening to slam the catalogue shut. “I thought I saw a spider.”
Ever so carefully, once everyone had gone back to doing their own thing, Marinette risked another peak. Yep, that was still without a doubt Peter Parker. Peter Parker with the rippling muscles, washboard abs, and…she wasn’t going to think about it.
“Did you know Peter did modelling?” Marinette hissed, sliding the spread over to Alya. Alya flipped through, eyebrows raising more and more with each passing second to the point where Marinette thought they might disappear into her hairline.
She said nothing, passing the catalogue down to Nino, who let out a low whistle. This seemed to draw Chloé’s attention, of all people, and she glared at Marinette from across the room. Unfortunately Mme. Bustier chose that moment to leave the room and Chloé decided to storm on over, snatching the book from Nino’s hands.
Marinette got the extreme pleasure of watching Chloé Bourgeois go through the seven stages of grief right in front of her, you know, minus the bit about acceptance and hope. But boy oh boy weren’t the other six a trip.
“Fuck Peter Parker!” She finally declared, stamping back to her seat, Marinette’s book still in her hands.
“Hey!” Marinette complained but couldn’t go after her as their teacher returned, prepared to continue her lecture.
By the time lunch came around, Marinette had resolved to put her pride aside and go get her catalogue back from Chloé. Alya gave her a look that said ‘are you sure you want to die today?’ but Marinette had already made up her mind. She was a girl with a goal.
“Chloé!” She called out, catching up to the blonde by her locker.
Chloé slammed her locker shut so hard Marinette was surprised the whole row didn’t fall right over. “I know, I know, I fucked up. Will you stop harassing me about it?”
Marinette blinked, completely unsure what had brought about this bout of ferocity from Chloé. Of course, she and Chloé weren’t usually on the best of terms, and Chloé often had gigantic mood swings, but this time seemed different. There was real emotion in Chloé’s eyes, and it wasn’t just anger.
“Sorry, I just came for my book,” Marinette said, pointing numbly at the catalogue that was still clenched firmly in Chloé’s hands.
“Take it.” Chloé roughly shoved the book into Marinette’s arms but she stood there, firmly rooted to the ground and staring at Chloé, considering.
“Well?” Chloé rolled her eyes. “Are you just going to stand there and stare at me or what? I gave you your stupid Parker shrine book, now get out of my face!”
“Are you and Peter…okay?” Marinette braved, daring to bridge the gap she’d always kept between her and Chloé. Chloé had never been nice to her, but the more time went on, the more Marinette was beginning to realize that little feuds were stupid, that it was time to leave these sorts of things in the past and put her best foot forward. And baby steps were key. Even if Chloé didn’t want to talk (and Marinette was kind of hoping she didn’t), it was a start. At least Marinette could say she tried.
“Why should you care?” Chloé’s tone had lost some of its venom as she walked around Marinette, sitting down on the locker room benches. Marinette had never even seen her so much as touch those germ-ridden benches. Maybe it was a day of new experiences for all of them.
“Because, like it or not, we’ve all gotta look out for each other.” Marinette stood next to her and, after a moment’s hesitation, sat down too. “Sometimes you just need someone to talk to, and I know that would normally be Adrien or Sabrina or someone who isn’t me, and I know we don’t have the best track record but I’m willing to put all of that aside right now. There’s something going on and I don’t want you to go through it alone.”
Chloé pursed her lips, dragging the toe of her Chanel boots along the wooden floor. Marinette had always hated to admit it, but Chloé did have great fashion sense. It was one thing she’d always secretly wished they could connect over, even if they did seem to be sworn rivals.
Finally, Chloé spoke. “I completely, totally, utterly screwed things up with Peter.” She stared at her hands, picking at her perfectly manicured nails. “He was nice to me and I straight up rejected him.”
“…rejected him?” Marinette couldn’t help her first thought. Had Peter asked Chloé out?
“Not like that, Dupa- Marinette, although I wish you could see your own expression right now. No, Peter was actually nice to me, and not because he had to or we’d been friends forever or anything like that. He’s far too nice for his own good.” She took a deep breath, but Marinette didn’t cut in. Better to let Chloé talk, to get the whole story, before she shared her opinions.
“Adrien is friends with me because, for the longest time, I was quite literally his only friend. Now he’s just friends with me out of pity because now he’s the one with all the friends and I’ve got… well I guess I’ve got Sabrina. But Sabrina and I have never been normal friends. Sabrina is my friend because her dad is the chief of police and my dad’s the mayor. It’s in her blood to worship the ground I walk on, and I know you simply won’t believe me, but I have tried to change that in the past. I tried to make it an equal friendship but Sabrina didn’t take to it. So instead she’s just been acting like an assistant of mine this whole time. She’d never disagree with something I said.
“And then there was Peter. He came at me with a no-nonsense approach, made it clear he didn’t give a damn who my father was, and told me he wanted to be friends with me despite the fact I was a raging bitch to him. And we made a great team, for the heist. For once I wasn’t really caring what others thought of me and I was just having fun. So of course, obviously, the next time I saw him I had to screw it up.”
“Screw it up?” Marinette asked, thinking back to how Chloé had pulled Peter aside to speak to him that day before class, how they’d been in the classroom when she’d arrived, looking impassive as ever.
“I told him, quite plainly, that people like me weren’t friends with people like him. What I meant was that he’s smart, funny, strong, nice, and I’m awful! But of course it came out mean and he took it as I don’t want to be friends with him. But I do. I really do. So I called him in New York and he got all mad at me which makes sense, but then I told him I’d talk to him on Monday and I have no idea what to say.”
Marinette thought for a moment. Chloé looked truly upset; the usual fire in her eyes had flickered out in favour of a burning sincerity. “Just tell him what you told me,” she said. “Peter appreciates honesty and he has a way of drawing it out of you. Just try not to get mad at him within the first few minutes and it should be alright. Make sure you tell him it was a misunderstanding and acknowledge his feelings.”
“…what?”
“You know…tell him you understand he’s upset and you would be too?”
“Oh, yeah, I can do that,” Chloé said, standing up and smoothing out her skirt. “I know you were just listening because you’re trying to get with Adrien and I’m his friend or whatever, but…thank you. You really didn’t have to waste your lunchtime sitting here with me.”
“No problem, I didn’t have any lunch plans anyways.” Marinette stood up too, clasping her hands behind her back. “And I’m actually not trying to get with Adrien anymore. I’ve got, uh, a boyfriend.”
“Really?” Chloé paused, looking her up and down, eyebrows raising. It was a look Marinette was used to, a look she’d regularly give people to size them up before going right for their insecurities. But this time, the look didn’t make her feel uncomfortable. “All this time I thought you only had eyes for Adrien.”
“I did, but then I realized I could barely bring myself to speak to him. I knew Adrien but I didn’t really know him, you know? Seeing him hangout with Peter made that clear.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chloé snorted.
“Him and Peter are inseparable, they’ve got inside jokes that I couldn’t even imagine Adrien coming up with, and…and I don’t know! They’ve shown me that there’s a side of Adrien I couldn’t get to know if I was idolizing him. I’ve been under the impression that he was a shy, innocent boy, and now he’s anything but. I don’t know if that was Peter bringing it out or if I’d just never seen it before because I was terrified of looking him in the eye, but it showed me that I needed to get to know him first before I could say I liked him. Either way, I’m with someone else now, who I know inside in out and who knows me the same way.”
“Shame,” Chloé shook her head.
“Shame?”
“I thought you and Adrien would be good together.”
Marinette felt her jaw drop, eyes staring dumbly. It was a good few moments before she got her wits about her enough to formulate a response. “Haven’t you actively been trying to keep me from interacting with him since the beginning?”
“Only when I was scared you were trying to keep us apart, and to my credit you were. It took me awhile to realize that you were looking for a different type of relationship with him than I was.”
“Welp!” Marinette shifted awkwardly. “Now you can go right ahead with whatever you were planning because I am no longer into Adrien like that. Go crazy.”
“I care about Adrien, but not like that.” Chloé gave her a small smile.
“No offence, but why did you suddenly stop being a…a…”
“You can say bitch, it’s fine.”
“You said it not me,” Marinette laughed slightly.
“Maybe you just stopped seeing me as a bitch. I’ve been working on myself for awhile, ironically inspired by the very person who now wants nothing to do with me. I also completely, and I mean completely screwed up being Queen Bee and for the longest time I thought I was in the right there. But I wasn’t. And it took a lot of growth for me to get to a point where I could admit that. Maybe one day I’ll get the chance to tell Ladybug I’m sorry, but for now I guess you’ll do.”
And just like that, it was like the girl who’d teased Marinette her whole school career faded away, just leaving Chloé in her place. Sure, she was still sarcastic and brutally honest, but there was something beneath all that, too. Marinette didn’t know a lot about Chloé, nor had she ever tried to, but she’d caught glimpses of her rocky family life over the years. Everyone had their struggles, Marinette knew that, so why had she overlooked Chloé’s so easily?
“Chloé, can we choose to leave the past in the past?” She braved, holding her hand out as a sign of truce.
“I don’t shake hands,” Chloé, in true Chloé fashion, said. “But I’d like that. I can’t promise I’ll be an angel all the time, or that I won’t let my emotions get the best of me, but I can promise I’ll try.”
“It’s not about being an angel. It’s about being the best person you can be.”
“Thank you, Marinette.” Marinette braced herself for the ‘Dupain-Cheng’ that usually followed her name when it came from Chloé, but it didn’t come. Instead, Chloé walked out of the locker room, off to carry on with her life, leaving Marinette to go about hers.
And in some ways, nothing would change. And in others, nothing would ever be the same.
Chat was back on patrols the next evening, Spiderman by his side. But Marinette decided to be mischievous, to not concern herself with Chat just yet, instead turning to Spidey. She was in a good mood that night, and good moods always made her want to tease.
“Have a nice trip?” She asked, grinning up at him.
“Oh yeah,” Spidey replied, catching onto her little game instantly. “Always good to be back in the old neighbourhood, swinging around and catching up with the-”
“Forgetting someone, My Lady?” Chat interjected in an affronted tone.
“I was asking Spiderman how he enjoyed his trip.”
“You know what, fine! Two can play that game. Please, Spidey, tell us everything.” Chat popped out his baton, leaning against it and fixing Spiderman with an expression of exaggerated interest.
“I’d be glad to. Every morning, I awoke to the national anthem, ‘Party in the USA’ by Miley Cyrus, ironed my New York Mets jersey, wandered down to the nearest hot dog stand and got a hot dog for breakfast. Then I’d get on the nice, clean subway without nearly dying and head on upstate to Avenger’s headquarters.”
Marinette got the feeling he was mocking them, but she honestly didn’t know enough about the United States and their customs to debate. The ‘Party in the USA’ bit didn’t quite seem true, but then again, she didn’t actually know the national anthem. It could very well be. Was that something that changed with the presidency?
“Okay, I’ve heard enough,” Chat said. “As you might be aware, I’ve been away from Ladybug for a great many days, and I think we’ve earned some alone time.”
“Great idea,” Spidey said. “Matter of fact my new ‘manager’ has been repeatedly requesting to call me for the past thirty minutes. I’m going to kill him.”
“If you kill him, I don’t think you get to be a hero anymore,” Chat pointed out, snickering.
“Well now, Chat Noir, I don’t think that would be too much of a grievance! Honestly, I think I’ll be doing the world a favour! He’s already booked me sixteen – sixteen – press conferences for this coming week alone! I’m going to be repeating myself at each and every one. There’s honest to god only so much a human being can pull out their ass before they start to get the runs.”
Spiderman left that little analogy to hang in the air as he raced off into the night, and Marinette could hear him saying, “Hello? What have I told you about calling me every second of the day? You’ve booked a what? For when? You know what….” Before the rest was lost to the wind.
“Seems like a good night for patrol,” Chat commented in a news announcer’s voice, baton shrinking as he returned it to its place behind his back. “Bit of wind, might slow things down, but it’s otherwise looking good weather-wise. I’d say-”
“Chat, are you going to kiss me or not?” Marinette interrupted, an amused smile playing at her lips.
“My Lady!” He placed a dramatic hand over his heart. “So forward! Don’t you know we have a patrol to be doing? No canoodling until after our due diligence as heroes!” He took off, cackling manically to himself.
Nothing like being cockblocked by your own boyfriend, Marinette thought as she started her own patrols. Not that she’d intended on doing anything cock-related. Honestly! But a hello kiss would’ve been nice. After all, he’d been gone for like, four days. Four long days that Marinette had had to spend all to herself. She’d showed up with the intention of teasing him, not the other way round.
“You’re getting slow,” Chat said when she finally arrived in the park.
“I had lots to think about,” Marinette lied, toes daintily landing in the cold grass. “Namely, what I was going to do to you when I got back here.”
“Do…to me?” Chat’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he gulped.
“Wrong phrasing,” she laughed. “Say to you?”
“You’ve got something to say to me?” Chat tilted his head, confused, as Ladybug got more and more flustered.
“No! I mean yes! I mean… shut up.” She folded her arms across her chest, letting out a small sound of discontent.
Chat let out a ringing laugh, a sound reminiscent of joyful church bells, wrapping his arms around her. “I missed you, Buginette.”
“If you’re going to make fun of me, then your sentiments are not returned,” Marinette mumbled into his chest, but it was difficult to pretend to be annoyed when he gave her the best hugs, the smell of his cologne almost definitely getting in her hair. Not that she minded. Some of the best nights were the ones where she went home smelling of him.
“Were there any akuma attacks while I was gone?” Chat asked, fingers running through the ends of her ponytails. Marinette reached up, almost subconsciously, pulling them out of their ribbons to allow him easier access.
“Surprisingly, no. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you or Spiderman were the Papillon, except that’s literally absurd.”
“I can vouch for Spiderman; man is way too obsessed with the philosophical implications of all of his actions to do any actual evil. As for me, I’ve got an award-winning smile and super awesome biceps so it definitely can’t be me.” He pulled away from her to flash her one of his signature grins.
“Because all supervillains are ugly,” Marinette rolled her eyes, dancing away from him.
“Nah, I can’t be the Papillon. I can barely handle one kwami, let alone two.”
“Chat, not ever have I thought that you were the Papillon. Calm down.”
“Just gotta make sure. Now come back, I didn’t get my hello kiss.”
“I thought you didn’t want one, something about due diligence, if I remember corr- mmph!” Marinette’s sentence was rather cut off by her boyfriend more or less swallowing her face. He pecked quick kisses all over her face before settling back on her lips, rocking his whole body forwards.
“I missed you,” he breathed, pulling back to rest his forehead against hers.
“I missed you too, you stupid cat.”
“I can’t wait,” Chat said, causing her to pause.
“Wait for what?”
“Until I can tell you who I am.” He blinked at her, like it should’ve been obvious. Ah, so they were back on that subject again. Why was it that every time things were going good, he had to ruin it by bringing up this subject, as though talking about it more would somehow make it less taboo?
“We can’t, Chat, what are you saying?” Marinette stepped back, running a hand through her own hair.
“Once we defeat the Papillon, there will be nothing stopping us,” he said it like it was easy, like it was a natural conclusion for one to reach.
“What if the Papillon isn’t the only supervillain we have to defeat?”
“Then I’ll defeat whoever else we need to. It’s okay, I know some day I’m going to be with you. And not just like this.” He gestured between them. “Whatever it takes to be with you.”
“Chat, we shouldn’t make promises we can’t keep,” Marinette said, head beginning to spin. Why, why was he bringing this up?
“Okay, but here’s the thing. I’ve been studying Spiderman for awhile, and I think he’s figured something out. I don’t know what it is just yet, but he’s figured something out that we don’t know about. Maybe he knows how to defeat the Papillon!”
Maybe that was the thing Master Fu and Spiderman had been so secretive about. What was it that Spiderman had said when he’d burst in?
“I’ve found him.”
He’d found him. Her stomach dropped.
A few things became very clear to Marinette in that moment. Firstly, Master Fu and Spiderman were keeping a potentially dangerous secret from Chat and herself. Secondly, they were both betraying her trust in its entirety. Thirdly, the most horrific of it all.
Spiderman knew the identity of the Papillon.
“Come on.” Marinette grabbed Chat’s hand, determinedly storming out of the park.
“Uh, where are we going?” Chat asked, confused by her sudden change in demeanour.
“We’re going to speak to the Guardian of the Miraculous. He’s been playing a very dangerous game.”
After a rather long phone conversation with Felix that Peter would’ve entirely preferred to opt out of, he landed back in his room, shedding his suit and flopping down on the couch before realizing he wasn’t alone. In fact, he wasn’t sure how he had managed to ignore the person who was now in his room, back to him.
“Um,” Peter braved, prompting the person to turn, and Peter’s brain ceased to function.
A young woman with long, dark brown hair that ended in silver tips faced him. Her skin was a warm brown, contrasted by a familiar orange gem that was set in her forehead. Massive, fiery wings spread out behind her. All this disaster was really just wrapped up by the fact that she was completely naked.
“Being human is fucking annoying,” she declared, taking a rather wobbly step forwards, holding her arms out in an attempt to balance.
“Suluu?” Peter said incredulously, determinedly gluing his eyes to her face.
“Shape-shifting is one of my powers, you simple bitch. You miraculous holders don’t get to have all the fun. We kwamis can use our own powers, it just usually turns out a bit more potent than we’d previously intended.”
“Can I inquire as to why you chose to turn into a human female and stand naked in my room?” Peter asked, now staring at an extremely interesting article of clothing in his closet in the loft. He was not going to look at his now-human kwami while she was naked. It just felt wrong on so many levels.
“Well, after all that travelling, I wanted to stretch my spine and the best way to stretch it would be to turn human, naturally, so I did that, but it’s really something different to be human when you’ve never- eep!” Suluu interrupted herself by falling flat on her face as she tried to take another step, her wings frantically flapping to bring herself back up. Peter glanced back in her direction at the noise instinctively but quickly looked away again.
“Okay, well can you please just… I don’t know! Get on with it and turn back into your usual kwami self?”
“You’re putting pressure on me!” Suluu covered her ears with her hands. “I can’t do anything if you’re yelling at me!”
“I’m not yelling, it’s just kind of awkward sitting here when my kwami could turn into literally anything yet she chooses to turn into a hot ass woman!” Peter tilted off the side of the couch and crashed to the floor before he could stop himself, but decided to resign himself to his fate.
“This is classified as hot ass?” Peter could see Suluu check out her own derrière in his peripherals.
“No, I mean! You know what, this is weird. I’m not having this conversation. Change back!”
“O-kay!” Suluu yelled back, wings fluttering anxiously as she closed her eyes and screwed up her face in concentration. “It’s not working!”
“Well what’s going to make it work? I can’t very well have you sitting there with all your wings and gem in forehead and being naked forever!”
“I need soup or something,” Suluu said. “I haven’t eaten since the spicy rice at May’s house and as a human it is definitely taking effect.”
“Wait here, I’ll go grab you some.”
“Nuh uh uh.” Suluu held out a hand to stop him as Peter got up from the floor. “Hold it right there. I go with you, remember? Need I remind you that we’re currently in the same house as two supervillains?”
“Two supervillains who I’m sure would be very interested to know why I currently have a woman who looks twenty-something and has wings and interesting head jewellery in my bedroom.”
“I’ll wear some of your clothes!”
“Suluu, that will look worse.”
“Why.” She planted her hands on her hips, seemingly determined to stare him down until he relented. “Why would that look worse, Peter?”
“Fine. I’ll grab you some stupid clothes. I don’t know if they’ll fit though, I’m a twig.”
A few moments of Peter pointedly looking away later, Suluu was dressed in a hat, a baggy sweater, and a pair of athletic shorts.
“Can you walk?” Peter folded his arms across his chest, watching as Suluu did her very best to stumble forwards.
“I’ll just move my wings under the sweater and then just glide. If someone comes into the room, I’ll just stand. It’ll be easy.”
With a gnawing sense of dread, like a prisoner to their last meal, Peter lead Suluu down to the kitchen, doing his absolute best to stay quiet. And for the most part, all was well. Suluu boiled the water with a simple touch of her hand and Peter began to make the soup until he remembered that it was almost midnight. And Nathalie would surely be on the prowl.
“Eat!” Peter said hurriedly, forcing the pot into Suluu’s hands. “Fast!”
But it was all in vain. He could hear the soft click-click of Nathalie’s heels as they made their way to the kitchen.
“On the floor, on the floor!” Peter said.
“Okay, okay, I’m done,” Suluu hissed, setting down on her feet and just in time as Nathalie opened the door to the kitchen.
“Mr. Parker?” Nathalie’s eyes landed on Peter first, before they slid to Suluu. Peter could see her taking in Suluu’s appearance, the fact that she was wearing his clothes…and the fact that Suluu couldn’t walk properly as she tip-toed gingerly over to the sink to place the pot in it. “I wasn’t aware you were having a guest.”
“I wasn’t aware either,” Peter said. “In fact, Suzanne was just about to leave. Weren’t you Suz? She came over to do some homework but then we kind of lost track of time.”
“Would you like me to drive her home?” Nathalie said curtly, giving him the most dangerous look he’d ever seen on her face.
“No, no,” Peter waved her off. “She doesn’t live too far, I’ll walk her home.” His heart was pounding in his ears as he lead Suluu to the front entrance, opened the door, and sent Suluu on out with a pointed glare.
They made their way out the gate and down the street before Peter rounded on her.
“What the fuck, Su? You better transform back and now.”
“Sorry!” Tongues of flame engulfed Suluu’s body and a moment later, returned to kwami form, she flew into the air, Peter’s clothes landing on the pavement.
“How about we never do that again?” Peter said, grabbing his clothes and engaging his web shooters before swinging back up into his room. “Especially in a house with two supervillains, that was way too risky.”
“I’ve never tried it before, I thought it would be easier to switch back, sorry.” Suluu settled down on the bed, wings drooping.
“I’m not mad,” Peter said, hanging his clothes back up. “I’m just worried about what Nathalie is going to say to me.”
“Why are you worried? You’re Spiderman,” Suluu’s large eyes searched his face.
“Being Spiderman doesn’t mean I can just get out of anything.” He changed into his pyjamas, listening for any sounds of Adrien in the next room. “Did Adrien not come back yet?”
“I don’t hear him,” Suluu said, zipping across the room and phasing through the wall, returning a few seconds later. “Don’t see him either.”
“Why do I have a feeling he’s getting himself into trouble?” Peter leaned against the door jam that lead into the bathroom. His spidey sense had subsided while he was in New York but it was now back in full force. Maybe it was a side effect of living under the Papillon’s roof, or maybe it was a sign that something big was coming, Peter didn’t know the difference. He toyed with the idea of renting out a hotel room, just for the night. Something about the night felt off, a slight edge to the air he breathed. His own paranoia was becoming almost taxing.
“I’m not going to be able to sleep,” Peter told Suluu as he returned from the bathroom.
“I feel it too,” Suluu said. “I think it’s best if you don’t.”
They exchanged a glance and the next moment Peter’s face was being covered by his mask before they both headed out into the night.
Adrien had never seen the building they stood in front of before in his life. It was a nondescript massage parlour, not one he would’ve tagged as containing the secrets of the miraculous. But Ladybug had no qualms as she rapped firmly on the door.
No one answered for a good few minutes and Adrien was beginning to feel stupid.
“My Lady, are you sure this is the right place?” No sooner had the words left his mouth than the door flew open to reveal a dark interior. A few streets away, a police siren went off.
“Come on,” Ladybug said, stepping inside.
The door swung shut behind them, and all the hairs on the back of Adrien’s neck seemed to stand straight up. Something was wrong.
“Master Fu?” Ladybug called out tentatively. Out of the shadows drew Master Fu, clutching a black box to his chest.
“You two should not have come here,” Master Fu said, looking between them. “Something odd is stirring.”
“Something sinister,” Adrien breathed. He’d only spoken to the Guardian a handful of times before, and knew that Master Fu viewed Chat Noir as rather reckless and irresponsible. But this time he was looking at him in a way Adrien never wanted to be looked at. A mixture of fear and understanding was inscribed on his face.
“Do you feel it, Ladybug?” Master Fu stared at Ladybug who was gripping onto Adrien’s arm. She couldn’t see in the pitch black, he knew, and could only hear Master Fu’s disembodied voice.
“I didn’t, but now you two are starting to creep me out.”
“You two should stay the night, I’m not sure the world will be safe tonight,” Master Fu said, adjusting his curtains to make sure no light was let in.
“Do you know what is happening?” Adrien whispered.
“I wish I could know with certainty,” Master Fu said. “I can just feel that whatever is going on out there is beyond our scope.”
“Let me in!” A banging came at the door and Adrien leapt into the air, his stomach leaping into his throat.
“That’s Spiderman!” Adrien said. “I recognize his voice!”
“Wait.” Master Fu moved around him and Ladybug, moving to peer out the door. “Spiderman, how can I be sure that’s really you.”
“The basement,” Spiderman’s low voice could be heard through the door.
Apparently that answer was good enough for Master Fu and he opened the door, letting Spiderman in, hastily shutting the door behind him.
“Spiderman?” Ladybug said. “What’s going on out there?”
“Thank god you two are safe. I don’t know what’s happening, but it’s weird.” Spiderman slid to the floor, burying his head in between his knees. “People are just out, roaming the streets, in some sort of trance. It could be the Papillon’s doing, but I don’t know how. There’s no villain that I can see mesmerizing people or anything.”
Adrien moved to try and look out the window but Master Fu held out an arm to stop him.
“Spiderman, did you notice anything out of the ordinary besides the people?”
“No, that’s what’s scaring me. Why weren’t you effected? Maybe I can’t be effected because of my DNA and Ladybug and Chat Noir are transformed, but why aren’t you out there with everyone else?” He peered at Master Fu.
“This building has many enchantments on it,” Master Fu said. “But Spiderman, I think you should get Helios and take care of this.”
“What about us?” Adrien said, suddenly insulted to be left out. “If Helios can go out, then we should be able to too.”
“I’m not sure I want to,” Ladybug said softly. “We don’t even know if this is the Papillon’s doing. Who knows what’s going on.”
“I’ll go,” Spiderman stood up. “I’ll go get Helios and I’ll see what he can do. If he needs your help, I’ll call.” He carefully stood up, slipping out the door before anyone could protest.
And so they stood, in complete darkness, no one daring to speak, lest they break the silence. Adrien didn’t know how his night had gone from teasing Ladybug to the sort of fear that only comes from unknowing, but here he was.
No one even moved until the civil defence system went off. The alarm had never sounded more deafening in the silent streets.
“What’s happening?” Ladybug all but sobbed. Adrien wanted to respond, but he couldn’t. His baton was blinking, a text alert on it. He didn’t want to open it.
[ worse than thought send backup ]
[ sentimonster ]
[ giant wolf ]
[ Mayura nearby ]
[ people are injured ]
“Helios needs us,” Adrien said, looking down at Ladybug and showing her the message. “Should we go?”
“It’s our duty to protect, is it not?” Ladybug said, steeling her resolve. “Let’s go.”
“Be careful,” Master Fu said. “Helios is the only other backup you’ll have.”
“That dude is crazy powerful,” Adrien said, giving Ladybug a reassuring smile. “We’ll be fine.” And so they left the massage shop, Adrien glanced back at the dark interior. The long shadows of the quiet night seemed to leave the darkness rather blacker than before.
His first thought as they stepped out into the street was that everything was very much not fine. It was as Spiderman had described; people were wandering the streets, empty, blank expressions on their faces. None seemed to have any particular direction, but the second Chat Noir and Ladybug stepped into their midst, their faces turned to grimaces, beginning a sluggish walk towards them.
“Uhhh, My Lady?” Adrien said timidly. “What’s the plan?”
“Fine Helios, I guess. We find him, we find the sentimonster.”
The duo took off into the air, avoiding the hands of the small crowd below that tried to grab at their ankles.
Helios was not a difficult person to find. His glowing lasso made it rather easy, as was his flashy costume. The text Spidey had sent hadn’t done the situation justice; the giant wolf was like a hound from hell, about the size of a building with teeth bigger than Adrien and glowing red eyes. It was not the sort of hound mortal eyes had ever seen. Mayura was atop a nearby building, surveying the scene.
In fact, Helios looked like a bug compared to the sheer size of the dog.
“What can we do to help?” Adrien asked, landing next to Helios, who barely even glanced at him. He seemed to have his hands full with shoving civilians out of the way in his pursuit of the hellhound. Even so, there was a light in his eyes that spoke louder than words.
“Someone go after Mayura,” he said gruffly, flinging his lasso towards the dog. “She’s controlling it directly but she’s weak. If someone can take her down or distract her, this sentimonster will be that much easier to stop.”
“I got her,” Ladybug volunteered. “You two have destructive powers, you’ll be better at taking down this thing than I am.”
“Amok’s in the collar,” Helios said as soon as Ladybug had raced off, zipping above the dazed civilians’ heads. “I’ve been trying to keep the civilians away but it’s difficult. I don’t know what’s manipulating them, I just know it’s turned them into brain dead zombies. Doesn’t help that the dog tries to eat me every time I get close.”
“Do you have a game plan to get the collar?”
“You could call it that,” Helios muttered. “But my kwami recently reminded me of a power today I have yet to try out. Perhaps my phoenix song could pull these people out of their daze.”
Helios looked away and Adrien followed his gaze. Ladybug was fighting Mayura atop the building and, as they watched, used her lucky charm. It usually wasn’t a good sign when she used it this early in the battle, and Adrien watched as something long and thin fell into her hands.
“She doesn’t know what to do with it,” he yelled over the wolf’s snarls as it neared them. Ladybug’s face was screwed up in concentration as she looked around, dodging Mayura as she did so.
“I do,” Helios said. “Distract the dog. I’ve got something to do.” He leapt impossibly high into the air, casting out his lasso and zipping towards Ladybug.
Leaving Adrien to face off against the giant dog. He wasn’t a fan of dogs, cats were far more his forte, and this giant mutt was just another strike against dogs in his mind.
“Uh…good puppy?” He attempted, doing his best to sound brave as the dog learned down at him.
It growled in return, snapping its massive jaws at him. So Adrien did the only thing he could think to do. He jumped, flipping through the air, and landed on the dog’s back. It was a mistake.
The dog’s hairs grew longer, wrapping around his ankles and trapping him to its back. What the fuck hell kinda dog was this?
“Helios! Ladybug!” Adrien couldn’t waste his cataclysm on this, he had to save it for the collar if Helios had other uses for his phoenix powers rather than the incineration he’d used to destroy things in the past.
But when Mayura landed in front of him, Adrien was beginning to think he had no other choice.
“Looks like you’ve got yourself in a sticky situation, kitty,” she cooed, voice honeyed as she slowly approached. Ladybug landed on his shoulders, having assessed the selectively ensnaring hairs from afar. Adrien was glad at least one of them was intelligent.
“Take one more step, Mayura, and it’ll be the last thing you do,” she threatened, swinging her yoyo at her side.
“Where’s Helios?” Adrien whispered to her.
“No idea, I had to go retransform. He said he knew what to do with the lucky charm”
Just then, over the very same civilian defence system that had issued the warning came the telltale sounds of the phoenix song, this time a short, shrill melody that felt like it reached right into Adrien’s soul, grabbed it, and thrust it back into him as hard as possible.
It seemed to have the intended effect on the civilians, as Adrien could now hear them screaming and running away. Only, they weren’t just running from the dog.
Helios descended from the sky, but Adrien wouldn’t have been able to tell it was Helios still if not for his suit. Giant, gold wings stretched the width of the street, bringing him to a landing in front of Adrien. His skin was no longer just that; large scales, like a suit of armour, covered every inch of him that wasn’t already protected by his suit. The dog’s hairs tried to latch around his ankles, but they failed to find purchase, just sliding off, as though the suit was covered in a thin layer of oil.
“I MacGyver’d that bitch!” Helios said exuberantly, sending Ladybug and Adrien a beaming yet odd smile before turning to face Mayura. “New game plan. I’ll get the collar, pass it to Chat, Chat cataclysms it, Ladybug uses her lucky charm, then I take Mayura for a little joyride.”
Mayura hesitated. Adrien could still the the frayed fabric from where Helios’s rope had burned through her suit the last time. Despite the fact Helios had clearly outlined their plan in front of her, she had no idea how to act.
But Helios didn’t give her any time for consideration. He flapped his wings, the force sending her flying backwards, and he flew through the air, zooming past the dog’s gnashing teeth to reach the collar. The dog bit him, but it didn’t seem to be able to penetrate his scales. And a dog that big couldn’t move fast. The most it could do was stamp in place and attempt to throw him, but that did not dissuade Helios.
“Chat!” Helios called, flinging the giant collar in Adrien’s direction.
“Cataclysm!” Adrien cried in response, raising his hand before the giant collar could crash into him and Ladybug.
“Miss Lady, your lucky charm,” Helios dropped it over their heads as he flew off, golden rope snatching up Mayura and disappearing off onto the horizon with a powerful flap of his wings.
Ladybug caught the charm as the collar dissolved around them, releasing both an amok and an akuma which she readily purified. The dog shrunk until it was just a puppy, sitting on the pavement and staring up at them.
Adrien and Ladybug exchanged a look. Could the Papillon akumatize animals now? Had he always been able to do that?
A family came rushing out of the crowd to collect it as Ladybug restored everything to normal, her magic ladybugs fixing the scene as they usually did. And yet Helios did not reappear.
“How did they get hypnotized in the first place?” Adrien asked Ladybug. She usually had a better sense of how things worked than him, but this time she seemed stumped too.
“The Papillon is finally picking up his game, it seems. Maybe it was part of the akuma’s powers? Since it’s a literal dog, we don’t know what its motivations were. We don’t know anything.”
“Hey, but at least we saved Paris again!” Adrien attempted his best Chat Noir smile, holding up his fist. “Bien joué!”
Ladybug returned it, but she looked thoughtful. “We don’t even know where Helios took Mayura. I wonder what he’s doing with her.”
Two flaps of Peter’s wings brought him and Mayura all the way to Le Havre at the edge of the English Channel. He didn’t hesitate to drop her on the beach, well aware of the way the flames on his anklet were gradually reaching their demise.
Maybe it was because he was suited as Helios and now possessed Suluu’s senses, or maybe he was just adjusting more, but he now knew what Helios had been talking about, that one time they’d found Gabriel’s secret lair.
‘I can sense it on her, the foreboding of death’, Suluu had said. And now Peter could tell what she meant. It wasn’t so much that Nathalie looked sickly in her suit, much was hidden beneath her purple skin. But he could smell it on her, feel it on her, the draining of her life force at its root. Something about her just felt weak. The world was full of obvious things which nobody by chance ever observed, and this felt like a moment where fate intervened to open his eyes. He had given people chances in the past, allowed them to make their own choices, but when did the ability to choose descend into mocking cruelty? When did he have to draw the line and step in?
“You have to stop this,” he said, landing heavily beside her, scales clinking. “It’s killing you.”
Mayura panted up at him, brows knit tightly. “You know nothing of which you speak, Helios.”
“I know who you are, Nathalie Sancoeur. I know who you work for, I know the miraculous is damaged, and I know this isn’t the way to make him love you.” His statement left her staring at him, face morphing into an expression of horror. He’d hit it right on the mark. Of course, he’d had his suspicions, but looking at her now, it was confirmed. Nathalie had fallen in love with her employer. One who was doomed to never love her in return. After all his talk of choices, this was Peter’s chance to make one. Save Nathalie from an untimely fate, or let her continue to kill herself and commit evil? He knew what he had to do.
“What are you going to do to me?” She managed, struggling to sit up in the sand.
“For now?” Peter leaned forwards, hand reaching towards her neck. “I’ll be taking this.”
He pulled the peacock brooch off her, closing his fist around it. Mayura’s transformation fell around her, leaving her just as Nathalie once more, coughing.
“You can’t do this,” she croaked. “You can’t leave me here.”
“Then prove to me that your intentions are pure, prove to me that you’re good at heart and I’ll take you back.” Peter pulled his rope out, and it wrapped around her wrist. Barely a second passed before she let out a shriek, the rope beginning to burn her.
Peter retracted, it, crouching in preparation to take off. “That’s just what I thought,” he said, then launched himself off into the night.
As soon as he’d landed back in his bedroom, Peter let his transformation fall, passing Suluu a cinnamon candy.
“What are you going to do with the peacock miraculous?” Suluu asked, apparently not too tired after the night’s activities.
“Fix it,” Peter said simply. He hadn’t given too much thought to it, nor did he quite know how, but the best way to figure it out was to try first.
He reached into his bag, pulling out a long metal strip that he clunked down on his desk, taking a seat in his chair and placing the cracked miraculous in front of him. “Okay Su, how are these things made?”
Suluu flitted over, hovering in front of the brooch for a moment before speaking. “They’re made up of thousands of tiny little fibres, all different materials designed to best hold the magic. In order to fix it, you’re going to have to reattach all of them.”
“Great.” Peter cracked his back before tapping the metal strip. Two robotic arms rose from it, poised above the miraculous. “Looks like I’m not getting any sleep tonight. This baby is time-sensitive.”
After carefully arranging the miraculous so that it wouldn’t move when the robotic arms touched it, Peter called upon his Spiderman mask, letting it cover his face and send him into augmented reality. Two gloves appeared on his screen display and Peter put his hands in them, calling up an extremely magnified image of the miraculous. It was time to operate, brain surgeon style, on the tiny piece of jewellery.
Lucky for him, his internal computer classified all the materials for him, labelling various strands of copper, silver, tungsten, and others. It was slow going as the robot replicated his actions, carefully retrieving two sides of the same fibre and fusing them together, but it was getting done. After all, a phoenix holder had been one to break it, so it was only fitting a phoenix holder was the one to fix it.
Some time around nine the next morning Adrien entered the room, probably wondering why Peter had missed breakfast, but there he was, still working on the miraculous, in his own little world, just about half done.
“Peter?” Adrien called tentatively, snapping Peter out of his trance.
“What’s up?” Peter turned to him, suddenly becoming very aware of how tired he was. And hungry. In fact, he was practically falling apart at the seams and the only thing keeping him together was his drive to fix the miraculous.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, Helios gave me the peacock miraculous after last night’s kerfuffle and I’m just trying to fix it before I give it back to the Guardian.”
“You’re what?” Adrien blinked, carefully shutting the door behind himself and creeping closer.
“It’s broken, so I’m fixing it.”
“How’d he get it off Mayura?” Adrien watched as Peter returned to his work, tiny sparks flying off the robot as it applied heat to the metals within.
“I’m assuming he took it,” Peter replied through gritted teeth as he struggled to extract a particularly difficult strand. The work helped him avoid reacting to Adrien’s statements. He had to pretend he knew nothing, it was better that way for all of them.
“So he knows her identity?”
“Presumably.”
“You know, Ladybug is under the impression that you know something you’re not telling us.”
“She’s right.” Peter cursed under his breath as a spark flew towards him, singeing his shirt.
“What?”
With a sigh, Peter sent his masking away, turning to face Adrien. “I know a lot that neither you nor Ladybug are prepared to know. The knowledge you garner by your own volition is more often than not free. The price is paid later down the road, not for what you learn, but for what you know. And right now, neither of you can pay that price.”
“Will you tell me eventually? When I need to know?”
“One day, I’ll tell you everything. But for now, the less you know, the better. You just have to trust me on this.”
“I do, Peter. I do.”
It was at least a good few hours before Peter was done. Adrien came and went, occasionally bringing snacks and water to keep Peter’s energy up. Nathalie, apparently, was taking a ‘personal day’. The first personal day Adrien had ever seen her take, and he told Peter as much. Peter had the tiniest of inklings it might have something to do with her being dropped off in Le Havre in the early hours of the morning and stripped of one of her employer’s most worldly possessions.
“And now, the final test,” Peter said dramatically, holding up the fixed miraculous.
“You’re not going to use it, are you?” Adrien looked at him with worry in his eyes. Yes, that had been Peter’s original plan, but now he could see how that might be a bad one, especially if he’d somehow made it worse instead of fixing it.
“Nah, I’ll just suit up, push pure energy through it, then get the energy signature reading off it. If it’s fixed, the energy shouldn’t leave the miraculous.”
He proceeded to do just that, hoping and praying that it would work. Really, it was no loss to him if it didn’t, minus the hours he’d spent on it, but something deep within wanted to fix it. It had been a moment where he could choose to do nothing or do something and he was giving it his all to do something.
And it worked. The miraculous absorbed the energy, leaving nothing left save a slowly grinning Peter and a dumbstruck Adrien. Pushing his equipment to the side and dispelling his suit, Peter carefully lifted the miraculous up into the weak light late fall brings, peering at it as though he could see the secrets it possessed.
“Just like new.”