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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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Marinette hugged Adrien close all morning. She only got up to use the bathroom and prepare a light breakfast, but she came right back to comforting him as he struggled with this latest discovery, drifting in and out of an uneasy sleep.
For years, Gabriel had been his only family. He’d worried, stressed over, and loved his father, only for this revelation to force him to question his entire relationship with the older man.
She didn’t comment when she felt tears soak her shirt, his frame shuddering with the force of his suppressed emotions. She rubbed his back, and combed her fingers through his hair, but had no idea what to say. So, she remained silent and let him process things in his own time.
Plagg watched from the windowsill, eyes closely trained on him. He would drift over every so often, and curl into the crook of Adrien’s neck and shoulder, purring softly. Tikki would approach as well, patting his hair where she perched on his head. They would only leave after he’d drifted back to sleep.
Marinette’s phone was bombarded with messages from Alya and Nino, lighting up silently on the bedside table. She sent them both messages saying they were all right, but an unforeseen revelation had forced them to hold off on their plan.
She should have known that wouldn’t be good enough to placate them. They continued to ask her why, and what happened, growing increasingly desperate and abrupt.
With a frustrated huff, she sent them another message saying they’ll be informed in due time, and to stop harassing her.
Her irritation must have come through, because they stopped after that.
Marinette kept holding Adrien, and stroking his hair, as he half woke up, whined pitifully, then fell back into troubled sleep.
It wasn’t until midday when Adrien stirred into full wakefulness. He blinked up at her through bloodshot eyes, their usual brightness gone.
‘Hey,’ she whispered.
‘Hey,’ he croaked back.
She winced. ‘Go shower. I’ll make you some lunch.’
He shook his head. ‘Not hungry.’
Tapping his nose to get his attention, she wagged her finger in his face. ‘Ok, you’ve made me say it. You need to brush your teeth. Your breath is stale. Go on, Monsieur, some routine will do you good.’
He let out a weary sigh, but relented. While he was cleaning up, she made him an omelette and toast, setting it on the kitchen counter dividing the living room from the kitchen. She also set out biscuits and cheese, inviting Plagg and Tikki to eat with them. Usually, they ate by the windowsill, but Marinette felt Adrien needed the additional support.
He looked more like himself when he emerged, but still haggard with exhaustion. It was evident in how he carried himself; shoulders slumped, and his head down. His footsteps dragged, and his gaze never lifted any higher than necessary.
Marinette bit her lip. ‘That’s a little better, isn’t it?’
‘A little,’ he agreed, sitting at the place she’d set for him.
He picked up his cutlery, and began to eat. She ate her own portion, then encouraged him to eat more of his.
‘I can see you’re hurting, but your body still needs sustenance,’ she murmured. ‘Please, for me?’
He gave her a wan smile. ‘For you, Love.’
He ate three quarters of his meal before admitting defeat. Marinette nodded, praised his efforts, and stored the rest in the fridge.
They then migrated to the couch, where Marinette turned on the tv for background noise. Adrien lay back against her, so she rested her arms over his chest in a casual embrace. She noticed he liked to stay within reach, the physical contact a necessity for him.
Suddenly, a burning hatred for Gabriel forced bile up her throat.
‘I despise your father,’ she growled.
Adrien stiffened, then turned to look up at her. ‘What?’
‘I remember when we were kids. You practically lived for his praise, hoping and hoping he’d pay the slightest bit of attention to you. But every time, he let you down. He managed every minute of your life, made unreasonable demands on your time, and was somehow completely absent at the same time. Quite a feat, wouldn’t you say?’
Adrien stared at her, his mouth hanging open.
‘Throughout it all, he was Papillon,’ Marinette went on. ‘He warped people into the worst possible versions of themselves for his own gain. He almost killed you more times than I care to count, and still he claims to love you. He has some audacity, the prick.
‘He lied about his actions, he never answers your questions or shows up when you need him, instead closeting himself away in his evil lair. Even now he’s making you sad. I hate what he’s doing to you, how he’s making you feel. I ought to punch him in his stupid, anaemic candy cane face.’
To her surprise, Adrien laughed. She looked down at him as he reached up to caress her face.
‘You have no idea how much I love you,’ he whispered.
‘What?’ she stammered, flabbergasted.
‘Only you would threaten to punch your boss, my father, and Papillon in the face, because he made me sad.’
‘Of course,’ she replied, heat crawling up her cheeks.
‘I guess Father isn’t your idol anymore.’
Marinette let out an indelicate snort. ‘How I ever came to admire that smellfungus is a mystery.’
Adrien choked on a laugh. ‘Smellfungus?’
‘It means someone who deliberately finds fault in every little thing. Sums up Gabe pretty well, don’t you think?’
Adrien hummed an agreeing note. ‘I’m sure he’d love to be called Gabe, too.’
‘I suggest he get used to it. That’s all I’m going to call him once you and I are married, and there won’t be a darned thing he can do about it.’
Adrien was silent for a long moment. ‘Was that your idea of a proposal? ‘Cause I gotta say, I am totally on board.’
Marinette felt her blush return, fiercer than before. ‘Well, I mean, I would marry you. Obviously. We’re like soulmates. Also, you’re my partner, and my best friend. We were meant to be together, despite the situation and your shitty dad. Uh, what was the question?’
Adrien stretched up to kiss her soundly on the lips. ‘Maybe not the smoothest proposal, but once you get me a ring, I’m all in. Just make it a pretty one. I like to be wooed.’
Marinette ceased her flustered rambling and nervous hand gestures. ‘You really want to marry me?’
‘I’ve mentioned this before, have I not? I want the whole shebang with you. A house, a family, everything. I want that future with you.’
Marinette felt her eyes prickle and her throat close up. ‘I want that too.’
Marinette’s phone rang in the bedroom, catching her attention, and distracting her. ‘That’s probably Alya. She and Nino have been frantic since you cancelled our plans.’
Adrien drew back with a frown. ‘Shit. I’d better call Nino. You tell Alya to come over, and we’ll have another meeting.’

Alya and Nino hammered on the door, demanding entry and explanations. Marinette opened up for them, while Adrien sat them on the couch and told them about his discovery of Gabriel’s secret identity.
It was the first time Marinette heard the story in full, so she perched on the arm of the lounge beside him, one hand firmly gripping his shoulder.
‘That son of a bitch,’ Nino exclaimed, slamming his fists on his legs. ‘I always knew he was a colossal fuck-nugget, but this is beyond the pale.’
Alya’s face was ashen. ‘No way. What are you going to do? Will you report him to the police? Notify the media? How will this affect you, or our plans for the stalker?’
Everyone turned expectantly to Adrien, but he just shook his head.
‘I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it, to be honest. As for the stalker, at first, I wanted to put the whole thing off and try again another time. But, I say we go ahead and strike while the iron’s hot. We’ve done all the set-up, it would be stupid to waste the opportunity.’
‘Are you sure?’ asked Nino. ‘It would be no problem to say that your date was successful, and that you plan to go on another next week.’
Adrien shook his head. ‘Father’s duplicity is hard enough, and I feel like I can only deal with one crisis at a time. Let’s get this arsehole out of the way, so we can focus on the other arsehole later.’
‘I suppose you have a point,’ Alya conceded.
Marinette looked around. ‘So, we go ahead as planned.’
They all nodded in response.
‘In that case,’ Alya said, ‘I need to get Marinette here going. She needs to be all prettified before your date.’
‘She’s always pretty,’ Adrien mumbled.
Alya, Nino, and Marinette cooed, while he hunched his shoulders and blushed.
At Alya’s insistence, Marinette collected a pile of clothes from the bedroom, her cosmetics, other toiletries, while Adrien introduced Tikki and Plagg.
Then Alya ushered her out the door, as Tikki darted into her purse. She waved over her shoulder at the guys as they remained on the couch, watching them go with wide eyes.
‘I think you scared them,’ Marinette said while they waited for the elevator.
Alya waved a dismissive hand and blew a raspberry through her lips. ‘Adrien will thank me later. Trust me.’
Marinette smiled, happy things were beginning to look up.

At a quarter to six, Marinette waited in Alya’s and Nino’s loungeroom for Adrien to arrive. Unaccountably nervous, she twisted a lock of hair around her finger and paced, her shoes leaving indents in the carpet.
‘What are you so fidgety for? You and Adrien aren’t really going on a date, you know. Even if you were, you’ve been sleeping with him for a couple months now. There are literally no surprises left,’ Alya told her.
‘I know all that,’ Marinette returned, ‘and it’s not the “date” part I’m worried about. It’s the whole thing. What if the stalker doesn’t take the bait? What if he does? What if someone sees Adrien and I transforming, and releases the news to every media outlet in Paris?’
Alya placed both hands on Marinette’s shoulders. ‘Calm down. You and Adrien are going to make a fabulous exit, you’re going to transform without a hitch, and go back to your place and clobber that creep into paste. Also, you look super-hot. I totally outdid myself with your hair and makeup. Yay me.’
Marinette looked down at herself. She adored her dress. It was of a soft, white lace that hugged her figure, her modesty protected by a white, spaghetti strap shift. It had long, tight sleeves, and flared out at the hips, the hem ending halfway down her thighs. She wore strappy wedges, and had a purse to match.
Alya had styled her hair to fall in soft curls to her shoulders, with light makeup enhancing her features.
Marinette pirouetted, feeling beautiful and desirable. She giggled when she nearly toppled off her shoes.
‘Easy there, M. We can’t have you spraining an ankle before the main event.’
Tikki sighed from the coffee table. ‘In all the years of my existence, I’ve always thought my Bugs never looked lovelier than when they’re in love.’
The doorbell rang, halting further conversation. Alya raced to the door, gesturing for Marinette to get into position. She stood beside the couch, and nodded.
Alya opened the door, revealing Adrien standing in the aperture.
His jaw dropped. Staring at her with wide, unblinking eyes, he tried to get his mouth to move, but no sound came out.
Marinette suppressed a giggle, choosing instead to approach him, and held out her hand.
‘Shall we get going?’
‘Wait,’ Alya called. She snapped a couple of photos, then shooed them out the door.
Adrien held her hand as they took the elevator down, staring helplessly at her. She eyed him in return, admiring his classy suit and complimentary colours.
Once they were outside, they walked around the nearest corner before ducking into a dark recess. There, Marinette pulled two earpieces from her purse, handing one to Adrien, then placing the other aside until they transformed.
She called on Tikki, then clipped the earpiece in place, before bounding back toward their building over the rooftops. Adrien copied her, running parallel with her over the adjacent blocks.
‘Ladybug here,’ she announced, declaring her presence to their network.
‘Chat Noir is online,’ he added, his voice crackling in her ear.
‘Nino present. Don’t be a dork, Adrien,’ Nino put in. ‘I’m set up and waiting at the rear of your apartment block. No suspicious activity yet, from this angle or the front. The cameras have caught nothing unusual.’
‘Alya reporting. I’m en route, ETA five minutes.’
‘Good. Nino, you’re going to have to be extra vigilant until Alya sets up,’ Ladybug said.
‘I know. I’ve got Adrien’s laptop, and I’m monitoring things from every angle. Damn this thing has some range.’
‘It ought to,’ Chat Noir grumbled. ‘I paid a lot of money for that thing.’
‘Ok, Chat Noir and I are approaching our stations. How’s everything looking?’
‘All clear,’ Nino answered. ‘Luka’s just left, and everyone’s heading into their apartments.’
‘I’ll be in position soon,’ Alya huffed. ‘Just gotta get up these stairs.’
‘Ok, Ladybug, Chat Noir, you’re clear to enter. The lobby and stairwell are empty, but I don’t know how long that’ll last,’ Nino warned them.
Ladybug exchanged a nod with Chat Noir, standing on the opposite rooftop. While he leapt down to his own balcony, entering through his apartment, Ladybug entered via the front door. She crept up the stairwell, then lay in wait behind a corner on the floor directly below hers. She hoped no one else found her there.
‘I’m ready,’ Alya finally told them. ‘No one’s come along yet.’
‘I’m ready, too,’ Chat Noir stated. ‘Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long.’
After an hour, Alya reported movement outside the front doors.
‘A man, slight build, average height, and wearing a hoodie. He must be sweltering. He’s entering the building now, and looking pretty shifty.’
‘That’s gotta be him,’ Chat Noir hissed. ‘Get ready, Ladybug.’
Nino kept them updated on the man’s progress, monitoring his movements with the security cameras.
Ladybug tensed when she heard his footsteps pass. She waited a moment, then followed the sound up to her floor. A dark shadow preceded her, skulking around the corners with careful steps.
Once the man reached the top floor, he approached her door, and picked the lock. The door swung open on creaking hinges as the man slipped inside.
‘Got him,’ Chat Noir whispered.
He and Ladybug converged on the door, then followed the intruder inside.
Chat Noir took point, leading Ladybug through the dimly lit space. The stalker wasn’t in the main room, nor was he in the laundry or bathroom. Ladybug caught her breath as she and Chat Noir descended on the bedroom.
They burst into the room with a roar, frightening the man who had been pawing through her laundry hamper. Chat Noir snarled and leapt forward, but the man weaselled around him, and fled for the door.
Ladybug stood in his way, but an elbow to her face knocked her aside. She collided with the wall as the man ran by, Chat Noir close behind.
Pushing the pain to the back of her mind, Ladybug followed.
This was it, this was what they’d been preparing for. Finally, her fears could be laid to rest, and she could forget this whole ordeal had ever happened. She would not let her tormentor get away.
In the hallway, Chat Noir had blocked the stairway down. Clearly panicking, the intruder glanced back to see Ladybug in her doorway. Out of options, he ran up the flight of stairs leading to the roof.
Chat Noir grinned, his predator’s instincts piqued, as he pursued. Ladybug chased close behind, hoping Chat Noir could keep himself from throwing the other man over the side of the building.
The intruder burst out of the access door, Chat Noir nipping at his heels, and Ladybug only a step behind. He whirled as he searched for a viable escape route.
‘Got nowhere left to run, Freak,’ Chat Noir teased.
Ladybug stepped forward. ‘Surrender now, you have no other alternatives.’
‘Don’t I?’ the man asked.
Before she could stop him, he ran for the edge. Chat Noir pounced, lunging over the side of the building as the man fell from view.
Ladybug shrieked, grabbing Chat Noir’s tail before he could fall too. Intellectually, she knew he wouldn’t be hurt from that height, but there was no guarantee of the other man’s safety.
She hauled Chat Noir back up, while he dragged his prisoner along with him.
They collapsed against the concrete, panting, though the stalker still struggled weakly.
Approaching them, Ladybug helped Chat Noir to his feet, then they turned to face the stalker. Chat Noir gripped the stalker’s arm, and threw his hood back, revealing a pale face and a shock of red hair.
‘Nathaniel?’ she gasped.
She distantly heard Alya’s and Nino’s exclamations of surprise, but she could only focus on the eyes staring intently back at her.
‘Why?’ she asked, faintly.
Nathaniel staggered to his feet, Chat Noir still hanging on to his elbow.
‘I love you Marinette, and you love me, too. You just needed to be reminded of that. That’s why I left those gifts for you. You liked them. You liked my gifts; I even portrayed your epic battle against Papillon with dead beetles and butterflies.
‘My feelings for you are why I left a pebble in your balcony door track, so I was alerted whenever you came outside, and why I planted the bomb. When it went off, I was going to jump in and save you. But that,’ he spat, gesturing in the direction of Adrien’s apartment, ‘ruined everything. I tried to get him to leave you alone, by showing him how much of a slut you are, but he kept coming back, despite your ongoing fling with Chat Noir. It’s all ok though, because I still love you.’
Ladybug shook her head. ‘You’re deluded. When did you even put the pebble there?’
‘No,’ he protested, shaking his head. ‘I love you. I put it there when I was helping you move in, so I could take pictures of you. I’d hear the thunk, and get my camera. Remember when I told you I’d gotten into photography? I have all these amazing lenses now, so I can take really good photos from a great distance. Because that’s how much I love you.
‘Remember when I was Evillustrator? Did I not prove my love for you then?’
‘You yelled at me for leading you on,’ she argued.
He waved a hand as if it didn’t matter. ‘I was only angry. I don’t even remember it. Water under the bridge. We can start anew. You’ll see that you love me.’
‘He’s insane,’ Chat Noir observed, curling his lip.
Ladybug was still staring at Nathaniel. ‘But, what about Marc?’
Nathaniel tilted his head, his expression blank. ‘What about him?’
A chill swept up her spine. Turning her back on him, she murmured for someone to call the police.
Suddenly, Chat Noir cried out. Ladybug turned around to see him clutching his belly, while Nathaniel raced toward her.
‘I will prove my love for you, by getting you way from this menace,’ he yelled.
Before she could register what he was doing, Nathaniel closed the distance, hooked his leg around hers, and shoved her shoulders.
She fell, landing heavily on her back, the breath knocked out of her.
‘What the hell?’ she wheezed.
‘I truly am sorry,’ Nathaniel said, then reared his foot, and kicked her in the gut hard enough to roll her over. ‘This is for your own good.’
Chat Noir sprinted over, his heavy footfalls echoing loudly in the night. ‘Get away from her, arsehole.’
Nathaniel tried to duck under the uncontrolled swing of Chat Noir’s baton, but Chat Noir curved it back around, clouting him in the side.
Nathaniel dropped with a pained yelp, whining and curling up on his uninjured side.
‘Stay where you are, if you know what’s good for you,’ snarled Chat Noir.
Nathaniel only answered with a pitiful moan.
Chat Noir helped Ladybug to her feet. ‘Come on, Milady. Let’s get you inside.’
They had just entered the stairwell when Nathaniel’s chuckle forced them to turn back.
Turning around slowly, they saw Evillustrator standing behind them, hand poised over his tablet as he began to draw.
‘Oh no,’ Ladybug groaned.
Chat Noir huffed an annoyed breath. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
Evillustrator grinned. ‘If you don’t mind, Chat Noir, I have some business to attend with Mademoiselle Ladybug.’
Chat Noir was about to reply when an overlarge paper plane appeared under him. It took off, faster and higher than it had any right to, taking Chat Noir with it.
‘Now it’s just you and me, Ladybug,’ Evillustrator said, striding toward her.
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