Chapter Text
“Ladybug! Behind you!” Her partner called, running up to her and brandishing his sword at just the right angle to pop the little bubble that had floated above her head. “There must be a new super villain in town!”
“Yeah!” Ladybug cheered, balancing on a balance beam as she grinned down at him. “And his name is…” Ladybug looked around, eyes darting from kid to kid until she spotted the little boy blowing bubbles on the bench by the pond.
That had to be him.
“The Bubbler!” She shouted, tying her yo-yo to her wrist and spinning it around. “We’ve got to defeat him and save all of Paris, Black Cat!”
“I’ll defeat him and then you can tie him up with your yo-yo!” Black Cat announced, already hopping towards the little boy she’d spotted. “Then we’ll rid Paris of bubbles forever!”
Ladybug paused, pouting slightly. “But I like bubbles.”
“That’s cuz you’re a girl.” Black Cat complained, sticking out his tongue in disgust for a moment before he groaned at the sight of her puppy dog eyes. “Fine. We’ll rid Paris of all of the evil bubbles. All the good ones can stay.” He glanced back at the kid on the bench, then raised his sword again. “For now.”
Together they hopped across the Hopscotch Board of Confusion, weaved through the Swings of Doom and carefully maneuvered through the Sand Pit of Lava, ending up in front of the boy with the bubble wand who was staring at them like they were the evil ones.
“Give up your evil bubbles, Bubbler!” Black Cat demanded, sword raised and ready. “Or we’ll make you die!”
“No, Cat!” Ladybug scolded, stomping her foot. “We take him to jail! We don’t make people die. We’re the good guys!”
“Awww, but Marinette, that’s no fun! I wanna-“
“Stop revealing my secret identity!” Marinette cried, pouting as she crossed her arms. “You’re not playing right!”
“That’s not fair! You-“
“MOMMY!” The boy with the bubbles began to scream, his bubble wand abandoned on the ground. “Mommy help! They’re going to make me die!”
A woman rushed over and began to speak to the bubble boy and Marinette and Adrien winced, stepping back in unison.
They were going to be in so much trouble.
••••••
“Now, what do we say to Nino?” Sabine questioned, staring down at both of the children as Nino’s mother tried to keep him calm.
“Sorry, Nino.” Adrien grumbled out, arms crossed and turned away.
“Yeah, sorry, Nino. We didn’t mean to scare you.” Marinette assured, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a piece of candy. “Do you wanna play with us? We’re playing superheroes.”
Nino eyed her skeptically but took the candy anyway, nodding as he popped it into his mouth.
“Okay. But can I be a good guy this time?”
“Ooh! Yeah!” Marinette latched onto Nino’s arm and started leading him toward the playground, Adrien following grumpily behind. “I’m Marinette, but when I’m a superhero I’m Ladybug! This is Adrien! He loves cats, so when he’s a superhero he’s Black Cat. We even have superpowers! I’ve got this yo-yo,” She pulled out her yo-yo as evidence and grinned wide. “I won it at the fair last year. And Black Cat has a sword that he can use to fight off bad guys! Who are you gonna be?”
“Um…I can be a ninja turtle?” Nino offered, holding up both hands.
“You can’t be a ninja turtle.” Black Cat huffed, “You’re not a big kid. Ninja turtles are big kids.”
“Yeah!” Ladybug agreed, frowning at her new friend. “Ninja turtles are teen-adjures, You’re little like us.” She paused, contemplating. “Maybe you could be a baby ninja turtle!”
“We can’t take care of a baby!” Black Cat argued. “We have to save Paris!”
“He can be a super baby! He’d have powers too.” Ladybug said, crossing her arms. “He can fight bad guys with us.”
“If you say so.” Black Cat lifted his sword and grinned. “What villain are we going after next?”
“Adrien! Marinette! Time to go!” Emilie’s voice called over the noise, the command it contained causing Adrien and Marinette’s shoulders to slump.
“Dinner.” Marinette answered with a groan. “Bye Nino!”
“Bye!” Nino called, waving shyly after her as Black Cat walked closer.
“Ladybug is my best friend.” He told Nino. “Not yours. Okay?”
Nino nodded, watching as Adrien ran back to his mother.
“Okay.”
••••••
“Can’t we have ice cream on the way home?” Marinette asked, skipping alongside him as their mothers chatted a few steps ahead.
“You know it’s too close to bedtime for that.” Sabine answered, looking back at her daughter. “Maybe, if you two superheroes can stay out of trouble for a day, we’ll get ice cream on the way to the park tomorrow. What do you think, Emilie?”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea.” Emilie smiled back at them. “We’re almost at the corner.”
“Ooh! Race! Race!” Marinette jumped up and down. “Come on, Black Cat! We must race all the way to the castle! The first one there will get to face the baddest villain yet!”
“A villain at my house?” Adrien questioned as they lined themselves up on the corner. “But-“
“Go!” Marinette took off and Adrien hurried after, only able to pass her in the last moment because his slightly longer legs gave him a bit of an advantage. They both crashed into the gate, out of breath and full of giggles, until the sound of someone clearing their throat snapped through their haze of fun. Adrien looked up, coming face to face, (or as face to face as one could get when one was a child looking at an adult) with his bodyguard. The man huffed and Marinette squeaked. “I told you! It’s Monkey Man! He’s going to take you to the top of the Eiffel Tower and then-“
“Alright, Marinette. Enough of the games.” Sabine scolded. “Tell Adrien goodnight. Your papa has dinner waiting.”
“Goodnight, Adrien.” Marinette reluctantly spoke. “Do you wanna play superheroes again next time?”
Adrien’s eyes seemed to sparkle as he nodded furiously. “Yeah! We’ve got lots of bad guys to take care of!”
“Yay!” Overjoyed, Marinette hugged her friend, wrapping her arms around him tightly. “I love you, Adrien. You’re my bestest friend.”
“I love you too.” Adrien grinned, hugging her back. “You’re my bestest friend too.”
“Come on, Marinette. Your dinner is going to get cold.” Sabine urged, nearly ready to pry her daughter away herself.
“But I don’t wanna go! I wanna stay with my Adrien!” Marinette clung to Adrien who only giggled at the way it tickled his sides to be grabbed so tightly.
“Here we go again.” Emilie laughed. “I’ll grab mine and make a run for it.”
“No!” Marinette yelled, tightening her grip on Adrien’s middle. “I wanna stay!”
“We’ll see Adrien again tomorrow, Marinette.” Sabine chided as she tried to remove her daughter. “Let him go and I promise we’ll come to the park early tomorrow evening.”
Marinette thought about it, then looked to Emilie.
“You promise too?”
“Cross my heart.” Emilie assured, a hand on her son’s shoulder. “As early as we can.”
Marinette released Adrien and his mother hurried to guide him inside.
“See you tomorrow!” She called as Adrien waved, his mother pulling the door closed in between them as quickly as she could.
“Come along, Mari.” Sabine pet her daughter’s head. “Papa made your favorite for dinner tonight.”
“Ooh! Hurry maman!” Marinette called as she burst down the street. “What are we waiting for?”
••••••
“I thought you were a Ladybug?”
“Today I’m a Princess!” Marinette informed Nino as she climbed to the top of the monkey bars. “I’m stuck up here in my castle!”
“But you climbed up there yourself!”
“Well…yeah!” Marinette huffed, clinging to the bars below her so she didn’t fall. “But now there’s a big, mean creature guarding my castle so I can’t get down!”
“A big creature?” Nino repeated, pulling his arms into his chest and glancing around nervously.
“It’s not real, Nino.” Marinette assured, locking her legs into the bars and hanging upside down. “It’s a pretend creature! And it won’t let me down. So I have to wait for my Prince!”
“Can I be the Prince?” Nino questioned, one hand on the monkey bars. “I can climb up there!”
Marinette frowned and shook her head, letting herself fall to the ground. She twisted and landed on her feet at the last second and Nino looked at her with wide eyes.
“No. Adrien’s my prince. He’s supposed to be here early. Ms. Emilie promised.” Marinette looked around the playground, a small pout breaking out on her lips. “Maman said I had to wait for Adrien to get here to get ice cream, but it’s getting dark. I miss him. He’s my bestest friend.”
“Marinette!” A sudden cry came from the other side of the park. Marinette looked up just in time to see Adrien running at her, waving furiously to get her attention.
“He’s here!” Marinette squealed, running to meet her friend with a hug. They clung to each other, pulling at one another so tightly that they eventually tripped and ended up in a pile on the ground, giggling as Nino looked on.
••••••
Emilie collapsed onto the bench next to Sabine, sighing as she watched her son interact with his friend.
“Long day?” Sabine questioned, chuckling at their children’s antics.
“Seemed like it’d never end.” Emilie complained. “Adrien’s demands to go with Marinette to ‘big kid school’ just keep getting worse and worse. He’s always grumpy, won’t focus on his lessons, and no matter how hard we try to explain to him that it’s not safe he just doesn’t understand.”
“I still think it would be plenty safe for him to attend Marinette’s maternelle.” Sabine spoke. “It’s private and very secure.”
“I think so too, but Gabriel,” Emilie sighed. “He’s convinced Adrien will be recognized and he’ll be…I don’t even know.” Emilie shook her head. “And to make things worse, Adrien’s piano instructor was an hour late today. Adrien was beside himself. I told him that he’d made a commitment, a promise, to his instructor and us and that he needed to finish his lesson before we could come to the park, but he decided breaking his promise to his instructor and to us was better than breaking his promise to Marinette and refused to touch the piano until I threatened him with not coming to the park at all.”
Sabine couldn’t stop the laugh that left her. “If those two don’t end up married..”
Emilie whined. “Oh, don’t make me think about that! They’re still so tiny.” She glanced over to the children, watching as Adrien helped Marinette onto a swing and began gently pushing her along. “They really are made for each other though, aren’t they?”
“That’s what they keep telling us.”