Chapter Text
In Unity, There Is Strength
(Based on the story United by 11JJ11, set in the universe of Miraculous Ladybug)
Written by Clomer
The following morning, Marinette was startled awake when her phone rang at about 10 in the morning. The duo had stayed up on the tower up until about 3, when they discovered a crowd had started to gather at the base of the tower despite the early hour, cameras and phones pointed at them. Feeling a bit shy, they decided they wanted some privacy, so they headed back to the bakery.
“Hello?” Marinette sleepily mumbled into her phone, only then realizing that Adrien wasn’t with her.
“Good, you’re still alive! I was worried that your Dad was gonna kill you.” Alya’s voice greeted her. “Wait, did I wake you up?
“No! … yes.” Marinette’s initial reaction of embarrassment overridden by not wanting to lie to her friend about something so trivial with all the other things she had been forced to keep secret.
“I was worried about you, girl. Your parents did not look happy when we left, and then you didn’t call me yesterday. Are you ok?”
“Yea, my parents did kinda freak out at that news, and to be honest I kinda freaked out right back at them, too. We’re past that initial shock, though, and my Dad has taken a liking to him. He’s actually letting Adrien stay here, with me.”
“Well, that news did come out of nowhere. I mean, you’re MARRIED? I get that you needed to keep your dating a secret, but wow, girl, that was a bit over the top, don’t you think?”
“We hadn’t intended it to be public yet. Our objective was to get Adrien out of his abusive home as quickly as possible, and away from that monster he called a father.”
“Aren’t there other ways you could have done that? Wait, did you say abusive?” Concern was suddenly evident in Alya’s voice”
Marinette paused, not sure if she really wanted to have this discussion, but decided to press forward. After all, she knew she could trust her friend. “Yes. He showed up at some of our dates with bruises.
“Marinette, this is serious. You should go to the police!”
“I’ve thought about it, but Adrien just wants a clean break. Besides, he says his bodyguard tried to report it on multiple occasions and nothing came of it. Gabriel Agreste is a powerful man.”
Alya paused for a moment, taking that news in. “Does he know, yet? About the marriage, I mean.”
“Yes. Adrien went over there to break the news yesterday. It didn’t go well.”
“There are lots of degrees of ‘it didn’t go well.’ How bad is it?”
“Adrien’s not allowed back on the property, and he’s been completely cut off. In short, he got disowned.”
“Ouch. Well, I’m glad he has you. He didn’t deserve that.”
“On that, I agree. And, frankly, I’m glad I have him, and that he’s free of his father’s control.”
“How’s he doing? I mean, it can’t be easy being cut off from your family.”
Marinette paused before answering, remembering how shaken Adrien had been the day before when she found him wandering the streets with Ezra. “He took it pretty hard. He just cried into my shoulder for a good hour. He was in better spirits by the time we went to bed last night, though. I think he’s coming to realize he has a new family, now.”
“Marinette,” Alya said, after another pause, this time with a serious tone. “How are you feeling, really? I know your motives for getting married are noble, but are you really sure this is what you want? I mean, marriage is a pretty significant thing. I’d hate for you to realize in a few years that you rushed into it just to get him out of a bad home only to realize that you aren’t happy.”
“Alya,” Marinette was a tad exasperated. “I wouldn’t have said yes unless I was sure. When he first proposed, it took me two weeks to give him a response, because I wanted to be sure, and he made it clear that he wanted me to be sure. I’ve known for a while that I was going to marry him, it’s just that his home situation, and some other factors, moved the timeline up a bit.”
“Well then I’m definitely happy for you.” Alya stopped, thinking. “Other factors? Marinette, you’re not pregnant, are you?”
“WHY does everyone keep thinking that? My Dad said the same thing!”
“Sorry! I was just trying to wrap my brain around these ‘other factors!’ So, what do you mean by that?
Marinette took a second to respond. She could see why people would keep thinking she was pregnant, what with the secrets and the apparent suddenness of her wedding. She wished she didn’t have to keep these secrets from her best friend, but it still wasn’t safe for her to know.
“It’s a private matter, one that I’d rather not discuss. Maybe someday I’ll tell you, but not today.” Marinette was a little surprised to hear herself say that. 48 hours earlier, she would have flat out said not ever, but in that time frame her secret identity went from being hers alone to four other people knowing. What shocked her the most was that she was okay with that. The true ramifications of their identities being out there weren’t yet clear, but she had the feeling that as long as it didn’t become broadly known it would be beneficial. She knew in that moment that she would eventually tell Alya, but had to make sure the time was right.
After a moment, Alya responded “I’ll respect your privacy, but you know this is going to bug me until I know.”
Marinette giggled softly at Alya’s unintentional, unknowing bug pun. “I know, and I’m sorry. But this is important to me.”
“I get it. Well, really I don’t, but … Gah, you know what I mean!”
Marinette’s giggle turned into an outright laugh. “Yes, I understand.” Then, in a more serious tone, “Just please don’t pressure me on it.
“I promise.” Then, changing the subject, “Listen, Nino feels really bad about how he blurted out about the marriage thing. He knows that he messed up your plans for how you were going to break the news.”
“Well, that’s true. That definitely wasn’t how we planned on telling everyone. I’m not happy about how he forced our hand, but I don’t blame him. He was genuinely curious and wanted to know what was going on.”
“I’ll pass along that message. Now let me ask you this – do you want the news of your marriage to stay on the down low, or is it OK for me to tell everyone? So far, I haven’t said anything to anyone because I don’t feel it’s my place, not to mention that this is a scoop that the media would love to get their hands on. Nino is also sworn to secrecy until you say otherwise, by the way.”
Marinette considered for a moment before responding. “Keep it on the down low for now. I haven’t had the chance to talk to Adrien about how we want the news to go from here, and this needs to be a mutual decision. I imagine that we’ll be making a public announcement soon, as there’s no way we’ll be able to keep it quiet forever. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are already rumors.”
“It won’t leak from me, I promise. Well, I gotta go. I need to sort through all those pictures that were taken of Ladybug and Chat Noir last night that were submitted to the Ladyblog. Apparently, they were up on top of the Eiffel Tower until like 3 in the morning just resting in each other’s arms. It’s awesome how close those two have obviously become!”
You have no idea, Marinette thought as she blushed, glad that this was just a voice call so Alya couldn’t see it. “Thanks for calling, Alya. I gotta go check on Adrien, probably downstairs bonding with his in-laws, telling each other embarrassing stories about me.”
“If that’s true, it means they love you, Marinette. Don’t lose sight of that.”
“Thanks, Alya. Talk to you later!”
Adrien was, in fact, downstairs with his in-laws. He was covered from head to toe in flour, wearing a baker’s apron, with Tom showing him the ropes of a baker’s life. He looked up with a big smile when he saw Marinette come into the kitchen.
“My Lady!” He exclaimed, setting down the big bowl of pastry dough he was stirring and rushing to his wife’s arms.
“Chaton!” was all she could say before their lips met and arms wrapped around each other.
Tom smiled as he saw his daughter and son-in-law embrace. Glancing over at Sabine, he said, “Were we ever like that when we were newlywed?” Sabine just giggled in response.
Just then, all 4 of them jumped as their phones simultaneously sounded with an Akuma alert.
“Never fails.” Adrien muttered as he broke the kiss and pulled out his phone, Marinette doing the same.
“Mr. Pigeon. Again.” Marinette said in an exasperated tone as she glanced at her phone. “What does Hawk Moth see in that man? It’s not like he’s ever going to succeed.”
“Sorry M. Dupain,” Adrien said, looking over at Tom. “We’ll have to pick this up after we flock on over to Pigeon man.”
“You can call me Tom,” he responded, for the umpteenth time as Marinette and Adrien ran out of the kitchen.
Mr. Pigeon was marshalling his flock from the Trocadero, exactly where he was the first time he was ever akumatized all those years ago. A large crowd had gathered around him, growing by the minute. Ladybug and Chat Noir sat in the distance, still out of sight, observing before striking.
“Yes, my pretties! We will set a trap for that nasty Cat and Bug and take their miraculouses! Then Hawk Moth will grant us all the power we need. No one will ever mistreat you ever again! Broo Brooooo!”
“He hasn’t changed, has he,” Ladybug observed.
“No, and I don’t think he ever will.”
“What, no puns, this time?”
“I’ll always have puns for my purrfect Lady!”
“Well, I think we both know what to do.” She was about to call for her Lucky Charm when she noticed Alya and Nino off to the side among the crowd, her phone pointed at the akuma. “Looks like Alya’s here, filming for the Ladyblog.”
“Along with about half of Paris. I think people have realized that Mr. Pigeon is not really dangerous, and when he appears it gives them a chance to see us in action.”
“Well, let’s give them a good show. Lucky charm.” Ladybug lacked her normal enthusiasm when calling upon her power, just wanting to get this over with. As was typical for Mr Pigeon fights, she wound up with a large bag of popcorn. It was around the fourth or fifth time they faced him that it just started giving them exactly what they needed rather than providing a means to acquire it, almost like the Miraculous itself was tiring of this particular villain.
Ladybug and Chat Noir nodded to each other, and then she chucked the bag into the air directly above Mr. Pigeon, and then in one smooth motion, flung her yoyo at it. As the two objects connected, the bag burst, sending popcorn raining down on the akuma and his flock, resulting in a gasp from the onlookers as the heroes jumped out of their hiding places running toward their adversary. Taking full advantage of the chaos of the birds scrambling for some food, Ladybug slid under Mr. Pigeon’s legs, tangling him up in her yoyo string.
“Cataclysm!” Chat noir cried out as he touched the bird whistle, releasing the akuma within.
The crowd erupted in cheers as Ladybug went through the ritual of capturing the akuma and summoning the Miraculous Ladybugs, though the latter didn’t really do much as Mr. Pigeon hadn’t had time to really do any damage.
“Ok, people!” Ladybug shouted to the crowd. “Let’s give Mr. Ramiez some space.”
Mr. Ramiez looked around disoriented at first, then a look of sadness and embarrassment crossed his face. “Oh no, not again!”
Chat Noir patted him on the back. “We’ll come as many times as we need to.”
Alya came running up to the trio, phone still in hand filming. “Ladybug, Chat Noir, that was awesome! A new record, I think. I’ll have to check the footage to be sure, but I’m pretty sure it was less than ten seconds from when you engaged the akuma to when you captured it!
“Ten seconds …” Chat commented before sneezing. “I guess we’re going for a purrfect speed with him.”
Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Yea, well that just means we can get back to what we were doing all the faster.” Turning to Mr. Ramiez, she added, “You good?”
The man sighed. “Yea, I’m okay. Thanks for saving me again.”
Ladybug nodded before flinging her yoyo off into the distance. “Bug out!”