you won't make yourself a name if you follow the rules

Adrien wraps his arms around [Marinette]; Nino hugs them both for all he's worth. "She would have turned forty-two yesterday," Adrien murmurs, and huffs, as though something's amusing. "Father still does not know where his towel is, and I don't think he wants to."

"—Huh?" Also, ew. If Nino must imagine one of the Agrestes naked, then teasing Adrien about showering during akuma attacks in hopes of showing Ladybug the goods is much more fun.

noirshitsuji

It's in the eyes, I can tell, you will always be—

Adrien's ride is pulling up; Nino stops caring about the lyrics. "Dude!" he calls as soon as Adrien's door opens. He pauses the track, drops his headphones around his neck, and grins back at Adrien's wavering smile.

—Wait.

Nino rechecks his texts, just to be sure:

Adrien: my future cat daughter 😸

Adrien: Audio on!

Scrolling through the account books doesn't change the numbers: the bakery revenue has dropped compared to last month. Again. Marinette ought (Sabine thinks) to be able to survive secondary education without stressing herself to death over things she has as little control over as Hawkmoth's impact on the income of businesses in his strike zone; Marinette ought to save her design earnings for her future except for that part she spends on making herself and her friends happy; it bothers Sabine enough that the new PvP game Marinette is cheerfully pummeling Tom on is something Marinette bought Tom 'because you're the best', read, because she realized there was a reason Tom was putting off buying it for himself, even if Marinette doesn't know what the reason—

Knock-knock-knock-knock.

Sabine thumbs off her tablet screen and goes to open the door. It's Adrien, tie knot loosened and without the jacket to match his slacks, trembling and fidgeting with the ring he always wears. "May I hug you?" he blurts out—then blinks, dropping his gaze to Sabine's eyes from somewhere a little above her head.

"Lucky me," Marinette deadpans, "I get to be the crazy cat lady."

"I mean, if you want to spend your life cleaning up after unappreciative little beasts you only see when they want food." Chloé's eyeroll and disdainful shrug are almost audible.

"Do you mean cats, toddlers, or men?" Adrien wonders, to great amusement; Juleka actually shrieks laughing.

"Not cats," Rose says. "Chloé has obviously never met one."

"She told me she likes to look at me," Adrien continues, folding his arms. "And she's usually more interested in looking at what I'm wearing. That's fine! That's my job! I am glad she tells me I'm good at it! But if you think that means she's in love with me, then you must be shallower than I thought. And I already thought I've met deeper puddles by spilling my coffee."

"Trixx, let's pounce," Alya murmurs in the shelter of two pairs of legs and Carapace's shield, and Rena Rouge stands up for Pegasé to take their place, so no one will see more of him recharging than a flare of blue light. Not that anyone's really looking, Rena's pretty sure: the people whose chairs face either cluster of heroes are pointedly intent on their phones ("twelfth time's the charm?" mutters one, raising his phone to his ear), or their neighbors ("—just like the purple devil, wouldn't it, to frame somebody?" says one; another begins "do you think Ladybug's really—" and stops dead), or the news ticker (een Bee: seeking them out "an utterly awful way to thank) over TVi replaying aerial footage of the fog-shrouded Shellter dome. A few more are watching the emergency department's waiting room exit: a teenage boy Rena half-recognizes comes out and is immediately engulfed by a sobbing woman chanting "al-Ḥamdu lillāh, al-Ḥamdu lillāh," who might be his mother.

Which means no one is willing to notice the tear tracks forming down Rena's cheeks.

Adrien snorts. "If Ladybug thinks her victory depends on Chat Noir doing something that'll take him out of action, she'll sacrifice him in a heartbeat. She always has, and he's always gone along with it."

"Sometimes when she doesn't think, too," Marinette mutters.

"Yeah, sometimes he jumps the gun—or the shark—and she hates it whether it was her idea or not. That's not my point."

norakwami

Concatenated: hopefully this part won't matter, but if you can't find T for a bit, don't panic, P needs a conspiracy buddy

Concatenated: there may be something to panic about but I don't know yet, I hope it only rates mild concern

Or The Tiger: I hope you know this conversation is greatly concerning!

Or The Tiger: see you tonight?

Concatenated: I thought you'd never ask