Marinette ignored the harsh glow of the screen on her eyes as she scrolled through her laptop, looking at websites that would probably get her arrested.
In her defence, she was doing it for a good reason. Which usually meant it was for the safety of the miraculous.
But no one needed to know that.
“Marinette,” Tikki said, floating by her owner. “I’m sure whatever you’re searching for can wait for a few hours, while you sleep.”
The fashion designer groaned, running her stiff fingers through her hair that was sticking out in various directions.
“No, Tikki, it can’t because if it goes too far,” Marinette said, closing a tab furiously. “It’s going to destroy our planet as we know it.”
Tikki stared at her, completely unfazed. “Well then take a break. I’m sure the world is not going to end in the next few seconds.”
Marinette paused her blindingly fast typing, considering Tikki’s offer.
Her answer was an immediate and resounding no.
The other kwamis who had come to support Tikki’s point sighed in annoyance.
“Really, Guardian,” said Wayzz, floating next to Tikki, “I would very much like it if you listened to Tikki; what you are doing is nothealthy. Also, Master Fu once told me, if you take a break, sometimes what you’re looking for appears right after.”
Thatmade Marinette pause. And her rumbling stomach, but we’re just going to ignore that for now.
“Well,” Marinette stretched the word out, her eyes flicking from kwami to kwami. “I supposeI could take a few minutes break.”
The cheers of the kwami echoed around the penthouse.
Marinette sighed in bliss as she took a sip of her coffee, feeling a little less tired than before.
“Coffee,” she announced, carefully sitting on her couch. “Is god’s gift to Earth.”
“Nah, Pigtails,” Plagg said, floating in front of her. “It’s cheese. Always and forever.”
He groaned in delight as he gobbled up a large piece of cheese.
Giving him the stink-eye, Marinette turned back to her laptop, continuing her search.
“If I could just find the name…” Marinette took another sip of her coffee before typing furiously again.
“If I may ask,” said Nooroo, blinking his large eyes. “What exactlyare you looking for?”
Marinette stretched her back, cringing at the loud crackit let out. “I’m looking for an alien. His name is Thanos. Or something like that.”
“Then I suppose we can help each other.”
Marinette froze as the familiar, smooth and silky voice of Damian Al-Ghul rung in her ears.
She turned around slowly, cringing at her state, slipping her confident mask on.
“Al-Ghul,” she said coolly, straightening her back. By now, all of the kwamis had flown into their respective hiding places, knowing who Damian was. “What are you doing here?”
Currently, Damian was perched upon her windowsill, which, for your reference, was quite high up in the sky.
“First,” he asked smoothly, deep voice rippling. “May I come in?”
At her suspicious look, he held his hands up, leaving him in a precarious position. “I don’t have any weapons. I have not come here, intending to fight with you.”
At Marinette’s signal from behind her back, Plagg and Wayzz flew around Damian, scanning him for any weapons.
Plagg flew in front of her after a few seconds, casually saying, “He’s clear, Pigtails.”
Toocasually.
Marinette saw the look in his eyes and mentally pinched her nose because it meant that Plagg wanted to tell her something.
It could wait.
“All right,” Marinette said, suddenly aware of her hair and how it must be looking. “Come in.”
Before she had even finished her sentence, Damian was already leaping inside, like a cat.
Oh kwami, Marinette thought, suddenly having an inkling of what Plagg wanted to tell her.
She really hoped she was wrong.
Once Damian was standing in front of her, Marinette stalked towards him, eyes cold as ice. “Now answer my question from before, Al-Ghul. Why are you here?”
Damian gave her that infuriating smirk, the one she still remembered from when he kidnapped her two weeks ago.
“I assume we are both looking for the same…alien,” he said, looking slightly annoyed at the thought. “Thanos.”
Marinette raised her eyebrows, unwilling to believe him. “I suppose we are. Provided you are telling the truth.”
“I am,” Damian said, looking more annoyed now. “Some of my assassins are going off track, assassinating people who they shouldn’t be. I have been forced to dispose of them, their actions drawing too much attention to the League. I did my research a week ago and came across the same name you did, as well as the word ‘miraculous.’ I suppose that explains your involvement as well.”
Marinette was intrigued now, Wayzz’s confirmation that Damian was telling the truth reassuring her. “Well, did you come across the term infinity stones?”
“I did.” Damian looked and soundedcompletely confused, proving to Marinette that this was something out of their world, something that none of them knew.
“Well,” Marinette knew she was making a terrible decision and she should probably stop herself but two minds were better than one right?
“How about working together to figure this out?”
Marinette would remember Damian’s expression for the rest of her life because it was thatpriceless.
chibi oops i mean bust commission for @gabriel-fucking-agreste, for her fic running out of oxygen. this was supposed to be a chibi commission but i swapped to a bust cos i couldn’t get this image outta my head lol. as if his life falling apart isn’t enough, now he’s stuck babysitting 2 extra kwamis who hate each other, on top of the needy cat one with the bottomless stomach :’D
Is “Evolution” going to be the first episode in the series where someone does NOT get akumatized?
I can’t wait to see and reunion with Nooroo and the other kwamis.
Later: Gabriel getting the miraculous HAS to be a disruption of the timeline, because otherwise future Fluff that Bunnyx is using could tell them who Monarch is.
Listen if you think Marinette won’t beg Duusu and Nooroo to bring her stuffed animals to life once she rescues the Kwamis you are WRONG and need to RETHINK YOUR LIFE
@etiepe commissioned me to create a few costume designs (here done in pen and marker) for their Echnida fic! I had a lot of fun trying to come up with what an adult Adrien would look like, in the context of the fic, as the butterfly miraculous holder. Below the cut, there’s also a watercolor comic of a scene later on in the fic.
