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Dangerous Games	By : Cat_Eyes Category: +M through R > Miraculous LadyBug Views: 11603 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug. Miraculous Ladybug is the intellectual property of Thomas Astruc and released by Zag studios. No profit was made writing this story.

Chapter List
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- 39
The rest of the week passed torturously slowly, but Adrien had set up the security cameras and monitored their feed regularly. So far, they had shown nothing of interest.
Nino kept in constant contact, assuring him that there had been no new developments on his end, and the police said the same.
Even after their investigation of Marinette’s apartment, the police had turned up very few clues. They said that whoever had planted the bomb had left no fingerprints, there were no signs of forced entry, and the items used to make the device were common and nigh untraceable. The only thing they had was that the bomb had been placed under the couch, and was poorly made, so the culprit was no explosives expert, but knew how to follow instructions and had an eye for detail.
I could’ve told them that, Adrien fumed silently, thinking of the doll the stalker had sent.
Released from work, Adrien was walking home in the rapidly diminishing light. The residual heat of the day lingered, like a cloying blanket laying over the city. It made him tired and cranky. Furthermore, he missed having Marinette around.
Tom and Sabine had been adamant she remain at home until her burns fully healed. Much to Marinette’s obvious irritation, they had refused to let her return to the building where she had almost died.
Adrien sympathised with their plight, but he felt edgy and tense now that she was no longer within shouting distance. He flinched at every small noise, his anxiety over her safety increasing the longer they remained separated.
He neared his building just as Luka was departing. Adrien ignored him, passing him by without a glance as he mounted the steps.
Luka, however, put a hand on his shoulder. Adrien forced himself to relax and not flip Luka over the side of the stoop.
‘What is it?’ he asked tersely, turning around to face him.
Luka withdrew his hand, suddenly looking unsure. ‘I heard Marinette got hurt. Is she ok?’
‘She’s recovering,’ Adrien hedged. No thanks to you.
Luka’s gaze dropped to his feet. ‘Look, if there’s anything I can do to help you catch the man who hurt her, let me know. I’d like to rip that fucker a new one.’
Adrien cocked an eyebrow. The vehemence in Luka’s tone was surprising, and his scowl and clenching fists made Adrien pause.
‘Huh,’ he uttered.
Luka looked up at him. ‘What?’
‘Either you’re a better actor than I gave you credit for, or you really aren’t the stalker.’
Luka’s expression fell. ‘How many times must I say it before it sinks in? I’m not the creep here. I would never do anything to hurt Marinette. I,’ he cut himself off.
‘You love her,’ Adrien finished for him.
‘Yes,’ he admitted. ‘I’ve loved her since we were kids, but she either never noticed, or never cared.’
Adrien curled his lip. ‘Don’t play the pity card. It’s pathetic. Just accept that she chose me over you, and move on with your life.’
Luka started. ‘She chose you?’
Crossing his arms, Adrien stared coolly back. ‘She did.’
Luka’s posture slumped, then he forced himself upright, and hoisted his guitar bag strap. ‘I guess Chat Noir wasn’t enough for her. What a greedy little thing.’
‘Stop it,’ snapped Adrien. ‘Your self-pity is nauseating, and constantly attacking Marinette for her choices only makes you look more suspicious. You should count yourself lucky if she ever accepts you back into her life in any capacity after the way you’ve behaved. If it were up to me, I’d stuff you in a sack and dump you in the Seine. Marinette, however, disapproves of extreme methods. Remember to thank her the next time you see her.’
Leaving Luka gaping behind him, Adrien entered the building.
Storming up to his apartment, Adrien shoved his door open. He blinked in the dim light filtering in from the streetlights, wondering if he’d forgotten to leave a light on when he left. Letting the door swing shut, he took a weary step inside.
A shadow to his left surged forward, and blinding pain lanced his head. Adrien raised an arm, but the attacker struck again, hitting his arm with enough force to send him staggering. Adrien braced his arms against the wall and pushed forward, tackling his assailant around the middle.
They crashed in a tangled heap, arms and legs flailing as they tried to land more blows. Suddenly, the intruder kicked Adrien in the face, snapping his head back and bloodying his nose.
‘It was meant to be me,’ a familiar voice snarled. ‘I planted the bomb, I was supposed to rescue her, and be the hero who saved the day. She would have thanked me, loved me. You ruined everything, you glorified whore.’
‘You almost killed her, you crazy arsehole,’ Adrien growled back, as he rubbed his dripping face on his sleeve.
‘I would have saved her,’ he repeated. Lunging to his feet, he kicked Adrien in the guts hard enough to roll him over, before sprinting for the door.
‘She will love me,’ the intruder called as the door swung shut behind him.
Adrien tried to stand, then winced as his abused belly clenched and refused to straighten. Holding his stomach, he remained on his knees, watching helplessly as the assailant fled.
Plagg flew out of hiding. ‘Why didn’t you transform?’
‘Because he might not have known who I am. Considering what he said, and how he behaved, I’m almost positive he doesn’t know.’
With a pained groan, Adrien slumped to the floor, curling into the foetal position.
Plagg rolled his eyes, heaved the landline handpiece off the cradle, and dialled Nino’s number.
‘Hello?’ Nino’s distant voice called.
‘Get to Adrien’s place, now,’ Plagg told him, before hanging up.
‘That won’t give Nino the wrong idea at all,’ muttered Adrien.
Plagg just told him to shut up.

Nino barged into the apartment in a panicked mess, looking wildly about until he saw Adrien sitting on the couch, caught in the stream of light shining in from the hallway.
Peering through the gloom, he asked, ‘why is it so dark in here?’
‘Turn on the lights, will you please?’ Adrien said as he stepped inside.
Nino did as instructed, then winced sympathetically as Adrien pulled his shirt off to examine his stomach.
‘Damn, Adrien. Did your old man finally snap or something?’
Adrien just gave him a flat look. ‘Marinette’s stalker was here. He didn’t like me stealing his thunder, and wanted me to know it.’
Nino’s eyes widened and his skin turned ashen. ‘Fuck. Where’s your laptop?’
‘Bedroom, on the nightstand.’
Booting up the laptop as he returned, Nino sat next to Adrien while he prodded gingerly at his stomach.
‘That’s gonna leave a mark,’ he muttered.
‘What happened? What do you mean by stealing his thunder?’ Nino asked.
Adrien reiterated what the attacker had said, and pointing toward the spot he’d been hiding while waiting for Adrien’s return.
‘Shouldn’t you call the police? You know, tell them about the assault and the fact that the stalker was in your fucking home?’ Nino stressed.
‘I will,’ he nodded. ‘But the stalker’s voice was familiar. I can’t place it, though.’
‘So, you’re checking the camera footage to jog your memory?’ Nino guessed.
‘Yeah. Ok, let’s see what the cameras caught.’
They watched the footage carefully, leaning in closely when the timestamp neared Adrien’s arrival. A figure in a dark hoodie crept into the building, his face concealed by shadows. The new cameras followed his progress up the stairs, and into the top hallway.
They watched as he picked the lock on Adrien’s door, and slunk inside.
‘Anything?’ Nino prompted him.
Adrien shook his head. ‘All I can say is that we can finally rule out Luka as a suspect. I saw him leave the building as I was entering, and unless he’s learnt how to teleport, I don’t think it’s him.’
‘Finally,’ muttered Plagg from his hiding place.
Nino stiffened. ‘Dude, that’s the voice from the phone. I thought it was a murderer. Who’s there?’ he asked the room as he stood up.
Adrien hooked his belt loop and pulled him back down. ‘Relax, it’s only Plagg, who is supposed to be a secret,’ he added, meaningfully.
‘What’s a Plagg?’ asked Nino, suddenly looking unsure.
‘I’m a who, not a what,’ came the acerbic reply as Plagg drifted over from the kitchen.
Nino yelped and flung himself over the back of the couch. ‘What the fuck is that?’
Adrien rolled his eyes. ‘I told you, that’s Plagg. Seriously, how can you know I’m Chat Noir, but not know about him?’
‘What the shit are you talking about? No one ever mentioned sentient soot sprites in the comic books.’
Plagg let his head fall back with an exaggerated groan. ‘Look, Short Life. I’m a Kwami; we grant powers. I gave the kid here the power of Destruction. Without me, there’d be no Chat Noir.’
Nino peeked over the back of the couch. ‘Because of you? Wait, what do you mean “we?” Are you saying there are more of you?’
‘Oh, for the love of,’ Plagg trailed off, muttering darkly to himself as he floated away.
‘Ladybug has a kwami too, though Tikki is much nicer than Plagg,’ Adrien explained.
Clearing his throat, Nino stood up and straightened his clothes. ‘Right, of course.’
‘Yeah, way to be cool, Buddy.’
‘Shut up.’
Adrien didn’t bother to suppress a snigger.
‘Did anything useful come up on camera?’ Nino enquired, sitting beside him once more.
He shook his head. ‘The guy keeps himself carefully covered at all times, even when he was running away. Fuck.’
‘You said his voice was familiar.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Would you know it if you heard it again?’
Adrien crooked a finger over his lips as he thought. ‘It’s hard to say. The guys voice was distorted by rage. Maybe if I heard them when they were angry, but most people are fairly civilised in day to day interactions.’
‘And it’s not like you can deliberately piss off every person you come across,’ Nino added, equally thoughtful.
Adrien released a gusty sigh of frustration. ‘This is getting us nowhere. We’re basically back at square one.’
‘Not so,’ Nino disagreed. ‘We know he’s not Luka. We also know he really hates you. If we could just get your memory to cooperate, we could have this bastard. See, we’re closer than you think.’
Adrien offered him a wan smile. ‘Thanks, Man. Help me up, I need to see the police.’

Adrien fell back on his bed with a groan. The police had taken longer than he had anticipated, and had confiscated his laptop for the investigation. He could still check his emails and conduct his other business arrangements on his phone, but he felt blind and underprepared without his laptop.
‘I miss the bigger screen,’ he moaned.
‘Quit complaining,’ Plagg said. ‘You’ve probably sped up this investigation considerably with this contribution.’
Adrien perked up. ‘The sooner the case ends, the sooner Marinette can come back.’
‘Yeah, that too,’ Plagg agreed, absently. ‘More to the point, the sooner it’s over, the sooner things can go back to normal. I miss the peace and quiet.’
As Plagg continued ranting about the benefits of long, peaceful days, Adrien’s mind drifted back to Marinette. He hadn’t seen her in a couple of days, and he missed her with an ache that was almost palpable.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and rang her. She picked up almost immediately, her voice warm and breathless. He asked bout her day, her health, and her family. She responded that she was bored, her skin itched, and she missed him terribly.
He then told her about what happened during his day, and his frustrations with his inability to place the stalker’s voice, but played down the pain in his abdomen. Marinette’s breath caught, then she begged him to look after himself and remain safe.
He assured her he was doing everything he could, and that he was unhurt. Privately, he was glad she had not been in his apartment that day. The thought of her being caught alone and vulnerable twisted his guts into painful knots. In that moment, he silently thanked Tom and Sabine for their stubborn insistence she remain with them.
Finally, they wished each other a good night, and hung up.
Adrien felt cold and bereft. Despite Plagg snoring on the other pillow, Adrien realised he was alone on the top floor of the apartment building. If something were to happen to him, it could be hours, or even days, before someone realised something was amiss.
Rolling to his side, he hoped Marinette was faring better. As she was surrounded by her loving family, all of her needs ought to be taken care of. She should want for nothing while she was there.
As it should be, he thought.
But a small part of his mind reminded him there was one need her parents wouldn’t be able to fulfil. Adrien smiled as sleep overtook him, fantasising about all the ways he could make Marinette quiver when he had her in his bed again.
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Dangerous Games