35. Chapter 35

"Big news, y'all!"

Alya was beaming at them from the computer screen. She had texted both Adrien and Marinette that this was a vlog that was Not To Be Missed, and they had both assured her that they would be watching her live, just like they did every other week. Marinette had taken off from work a little early, and now she and Adrien were curled up on the couch together, watching Alya onscreen.

"So I've been here in Russia for almost a week," Alya started, grinning. "I was researching an ancient Ladybug/Chat Noir pair- though that's not what they were called, of course, but I'll get to that later- and I happened to be talking to another historian, once that is friends with the woman I've mostly been talking to. And this guy had heard about my research, and he wanted to tell me about something he had found when going over the historical records."

"More users?" Marinette guessed. "Not Ladybug and Chat Noir?"

"It's possible," Tikki told her. "Likely, even."

"So there were some reports of some strangely-dressed people in a small village in southwest Russia- oh, two centuries ago? A bit longer, even? He was showing me some printouts of the reports- he was really nice, had it translated into French already for me- and he said that right around that time, there were reports of famines and wild storms, one storm so strong that a river reportedly changed course! We couldn't go there, of course- it was too far away, and hard to get to, and I have quite the full itinerary already- but he showed me pictures and video footage of his tour of the site. Of course there's not a whole lot there anymore since stuff filled in a bit and there's trees growing in what was supposedly the old river bed now, but it was cool. There were cliffs that had crazy cracks in them- and supposedly those happened after one of the storms, too.. The landscaping is just..." Alya shook her head, apparently lost for words. "It's strange. Jagged and smooth all at once. Some of it has had geologists shaking their heads trying to figure it out."

"Rouge spirits," Tikki said at once. "Just like you heard about up north. They scarred the land. The users- they were probably from the temple in Tibet, just there to deal with the spirits. Not people who were already there, like at the castle."

"That would make it harder to blend in then, wouldn't it?" Marinette asked. "Like, small village, mysterious newcomers that arrive just when two superheroes turn up out of the blue to fight the demons causing crop failure? It wouldn't take much to put two and two together and realize that oh, hey, those visitors must be those strangely-dressed superheroes."

Tikki made a face. "Yeah, that was the problem with having all of the Miraculous in the temple in Tibet. Sure, the users were all well-trained before they went to battle and sure, we learned a lot, but then when the need arose for us to help somewhere, it was hard to blend in. Users just arrived, fought for however long it took, and left again."

"So I decided to look more into those records," Alya was saying on-screen. Plagg, finally awake, floated over to see what the fuss was about. "And one user- hang on, we actually commissioned an artist to do some sketches of the superheroes from the descriptions of the locals. Here it is!" She held up a piece of paper. On it was a drawing of a tall, thin man in red robes, decorated in gold and black with images of dragons. Black dots decorated his face in the general pattern of a mask, though the top extended into his hairline. The second figure was a woman, dressed in a white dress with black boots and gloves. She wore no mask.

"Dragon and Goat," Tikki said immediately. "Oh, I remember that! Some Russian witch had tried to bless her crops and instead managed to summon the demons to curse them instead. The Rat had to keep an eye on her for almost twenty years and summon other users to come and help whenever things went awry."

Plagg snickered. "Which they did. Often. She never learned."

"I kind of want to commission this guy to do all of my illustrations for superheroes, since he did such a great job with these," Alya said. She was grinning. "I'll put his details and a link to his website in the description box below, in case anyone is interested in seeing more of his stuff. But aren't these great? But like I was saying, these outfits plus the stuff going on at the time screams superhero. And what's possibly the most exciting part of this- in my eyes, at least- is that this confirms that there were famines and storms that weren't what they seemed and were likely magic-caused by something that Miraculous holders could fight!"

"Ooh, that's right," Marinette realized. "Because she has those other reports of famines around the time and place where Miraculous holders were meant to be. So this really strengthens her argument for looking into those more."

"And I have some other instances- not as well supported, of course- where there was a Miraculous holder at the same time that there was a famine and strange storms," Alya continued, unknowingly echoing Marinette's words. "So I'll reach out to more historians with this information, and hopefully I'll get more information. I'll keep you updated on that. Keep your fingers crossed for me!"

"That was a gorgeous painting," Marinette said as Alya started to update them on the Ladybug and Chat Noir that she had intended to go to Russia for. She had commissioned a drawing of them, too, but they hadn't been completed yet. "Though I think it would be cool to have drawings from different artists all over the world, each doing the Miraculous holder from their region."

Adrien nodded, grinning. "Yeah, that would be cool. You should text her that. You'd get different art styles, then. But I like her idea of having the drawings, both to go with her article at the end and for her book. That would make it a lot more interesting to page through."

"It makes it easier to picture the users." Marinette nodded. "Also, then it's not just maps or pictures of the land."

Tikki flew into their faces, frowning. "Shh! I wanna hear what she learned about Lady Red and Black Leopard!"

"Oh, those are cool names. I'm jealous." Adrien grinned at Tikki's renewed shushing. "Okay, okay we'll be quiet now. Probably."

Alya wrapped up ten minutes later with a quick reminder that she would have to miss the livestream the next week as she would be traveling during her normal time.

"I'll spend the time getting caught up on subtitling things," Alya told them. "Since I know I'm behind! And maybe I'll post pictures of the duo if those drawings get finished up in time. But I'll be back the following week. Stay Miraculous, everyone!"

"Well, that was nice," Adrien said as the livestream screen went dark. "And she actually found a decent amount of information, too. I'm always surprised by how much gets saved over the years."

Tikki giggled. "Well, people do keep journals and diaries. And the historians knew what Alya was looking for before she arrived, so they probably had plenty of time to look things up and have everything in order to present to her when she arrived."

Adrien nodded. He remembered Nino commenting on that after his first trip to see Alya. Apparently Alya had arrived and was greeted by piles of photocopied journal pages and paintings, bookmarked history books, and a list of places to visit. They only had a limited amount of time in each place, and the historians tended to be as eager as Alya to make the most of their time together.

After all, it wasn't every day when one got to try to find hints of historical superheroes in the old journals. They would get listed in Alya's article and in herbook, thanked for their help, and obviously they got paid for their time. It was an attractive offer now that Alya had the funding and backing to actually make her book a reality.

"When is Nino going to visit her next, do you know?" Marinette asked as she retreated to her sewing table. She had a commission in-progress, silvery fabric and leather clashing yet coming together in a spectacular fashion. "He went for a few days when she was in Greece, I know, but has he decided on when he's going next?"

"Not when she's in Russia, that's for sure. She's in the middle and that's ages away and expensive to get to." Adrien had to think about it. "I don't know. Alya isn't exactly close right now. He probably won't be visiting a whole lot until she gets back to this part of the world."

Marinette made a face. She knew it was expensive for Nino to fly out and visit Alya, especially when the flights were longer and he would have to take a long train ride to get to where she was, but she didn't think she would be able to handle being away from Adrien for as long of a time as Nino and Alya had been apart, not now that they were dating and used to seeing each other every day.

Marinette started sewing again, and Adrien dug his books out of his bag. He wanted to get a good start on his work for the weekend, mostly so he and Marinette could have one of their stay-in dates Sunday evening. Adrien got distracted for a few minutes thinking about the date and how he could maybe make it a little more special- he was getting flowers for sure, even if he hadn't entirely decided how he was going to get them without alerting the press. Admittedly, though, the press had been bothering them less as of late- apparently their story was no longer selling, which really wasn't a surprise. No one in London cared about a French model that much. Still, it didn't hurt to be careful.

Maybe he could persuade Abbey or Sarah to pick the flowers up for him. He'd just have to send the gift card along with them and give the best instructions he could about what kind of flower(s) and how much he wanted. They would probably be willing to do it, too. It would be in return for a bit of teasing, of course, but it was never mean-hearted at all.

Pulling himself out of musings over flowers (what kind would Marinette like best?), Adrien refocused on his work. He had readings to do for his Physics of the Universe class and he really wanted to understand the piece about dark energy.

It was a lot to take in. Adrien had to read the piece through slowly, taking notes as he went. It was interesting and there were a lot of complex theories there, but oof was it ever a dense piece.

Adrien had just started re-reading the piece for a fourth time when Marinette let out a squeal of excitement. He glanced over to see his girlfriend staring at her phone with a look of glee on her face, commission forgotten in her lap. She looked up and waved her phone at him.

"Ivan and Mylène got engaged!"

"Oh?" Adrien hopped up- it was time for him to take a break, anyway- and headed over. On Marinette's phone screen was her Facebook feed, with a large photo of Ivan and Mylène in front of the Eiffel Tower. Ivan was down on one knee, bringing him pretty much to eye level with Mylène, and he held a tiny box. She swiped to the next photo, where Mylène was kissing Ivan, who apparently hadn't managed to get back up again.

Or perhaps he had simply decided that it would be easier to kiss his new fiancée if he was on her level for once.

"That's great!" Adrien exclaimed as Marinette scrolled down to comment on the news. "That's- wow. Wow, we are at an age when people get married, aren't we? That snuck up on me."

Marinette nearly choked laughing. "I know people our age who already have kids- and yes, that is plural. They're proper adults and everything."

Adrien let out a somewhat squeaky noise at that, rather like a dog's toy. "Multiple kids?"

Tikki giggled at him. "When we started binding with humans, some people had kids in their teens. Not in all cultures, though, and not everyone, and it was late teens, mostly, but..."

"Oh, gosh." Adrien made a face. "And here I am, still in school!"

"Almost done with school," Marinette corrected. "Unless you're going to do a Master's program in the future."

Adrien shrugged. He hadn't decided yet if he wanted to continue, though if he did he would definitely go to a university in Paris so Marinette could get a permanent job while he got another degree. He thought he might imitate Ben and do a couple years of work before deciding, because.

"Mylène says that Ivan proposed in front of the Eiffel Tower, right where they landed when Ladybug and Chat Noir saved them after the Stoneheart battle," Marinette reported, reading the block of text Mylène had posted with the photo. "Where Ivan confessed his feelings- or, rather, where Ladybug passed over Ivan's song lyrics so Mylène could read them," Marinette read with a laugh. "Aww, I'm glad I got to be part of their love story! They're so sweet together."

"And you suggested the song in the first place too, didn't you?" Adrien grinned at Marinette. "It seems like your parents aren't the only shippers in your family."

Marinette turned a lovely shade of pink. "They were cute together! I saw the way they looked at each other and I had to help!"

Adrien just grinned and kissed her.

Ivan and Mylène's engagement was still on his mind the next day as Adrien went to classes and holed himself up in the library to study before his final, mid-afternoon class. They were the first people his age that Adrien knew who were getting married, but that was probably more due to the fact that he didn't know a ton of people his age well enough for him to know if they were married or engaged at all.

...that was pretty sad, actually. Maybe he should actually try to talk to the other models he worked with more.

Sighing (and getting a dirty look from a student studying nearby), Adrien turned his attention back to his notes on angular velocity. He was pretty sure he understood the most recent lesson, but he wanted to review before trying to do any of the practice comprehension questions.

One hour ticked by, and Adrien dove into the problems at the end of the chapter. He had to work a bit slower than he would have liked thanks to the amount of writing in each question, but he was getting everything right on the first or second try.

And then Adrien's phone lit up as a message came in. He glanced over for a moment, slightly distracted, then ignored it for another few minutes as he struggled with a problem in his homework. After a few more attempts, Adrien gave up on the problem for the time being and picked up his phone. He had a couple emails- his tutor was apparently rescheduling their Tuesday meeting, which was a pain but he would manage, and a professor was reminding them about an upcoming due date- plus a text from Nino. He opened it eagerly, wondering what his friend was up to.

Nino: Hey quick question can I visit next weekend

Nino: I want to talk to you guys about something

Adrien grinned, setting his phone aside to check his planner. He didn't think he had anything scheduled or any big projects due shortly after the weekend, but it didn't hurt to check. A quick skim told him that his schedule was largely free- he had a rough draft for a short research paper due on Tuesday, but it was largely done save final edits. He could deal with having a visitor, and it would be nice to see Nino again.

Adrien grabbed his phone to text Marinette. He knew she was busy, but Tikki might respond for her, which was just as good.

Adrien: You don't have anything going on this weekend, right? Having a visitor wouldn't be a problem?

Message sent, Adrien turned back to his textbook. The problem didn't make any more sense than it had before. Adrien was starting to suspect that there might be a translation issue going on, or maybe it just wasn't very well worded. He snapped a picture of the problem in the book and sent it off to Ben, then moved on to the next problem while he waited for a response. He had only gotten as far as writing down the key details when his phone lit up again.

Nino: and if you need further persuasion I can bring stuff back to Paris for you/Marinette

Nino: if you have anything you can send back atm that is

Adrien had to think about that. Did they have anything to go back? They had sent back a decent enough chunk of stuff during their summer visits, things that they were sure they wouldn't need over the rest of the school year. Marinette had stuffed her suitcases with screen-printing screens that she knew she wasn't going to use again for orders but that she thought might be usable for her own projects, since they weren't specific to the band that the order had come from. There had been a couple summertime outfits that had also already made a return to Paris, but not too many since they would have warm weather again before they left.

Maybe Marinette had ideas of what could go back. She was the one with more outfits and stuff from her sewing, after all.

Marinette: Nothing on my schedule! finished my commission yesterday and haven't started the next yet

Marinette: so having a visitor would be fine I think

Adrien grinned. That's what he had thought, but it was important to check. He would hate to have Nino over if Marinette had planned an outing with her coworkers or had a commission she wanted to focus on and she didn't want the distraction.

Adrien: we'd love to have you! When will you arrive?

Nino: Fri evening! Will text you the time when I know exact time

Adrien turned back to his homework, grin on his face. It would be fun to see Nino again, even if it hadn't been that long since their last visit. As time went on, it seemed that he missed Paris more, not less.

This weekend couldn't come soon enough.

Adrien froze three hours and twenty-two minutes later. He was an idiot. A actual idiot. How could he have forgotten the one key detail about Nino's visit? His friend would be staying with him, of course, and there was no way that they would be able to hide the fact that he and Marinette now shared an apartment. If they hadn't originally been next-door neighbors, they would probably just hide Marinette's things and see if Marinette could stay with Abbey in her old apartment for the weekend, just sleeping on the couch or something. That still could have been dicey- what if Nino decided to go knock on her old apartment's door if she was running late for something and Abbey answered instead?- but it might have worked.

But there would be no way for him to hide that she was no longer living next door. There was too much of a chance that Nino would see Abbey with Marinette when Marinette went in or out, and Marinette would have to either borrow Abbey's extra key or knock whenever she wanted to head in. And Nino might want to see Marinette's apartment, and it would be blatantly obvious if he saw Abbey's apartment that it was no longer Marinette living there.

"I'm so stupid," Adrien groaned that evening as he and Marinette sat down to dinner. He had explained the whole problem, since he hadn't explained who their visitor would be before, and now Marinette looked nervous as well. "I mean, what else could I have done, though? I couldn't exactly just tell Nino that no, I didn't want him visiting. That wouldn't be at all suspicious."

"You could just tell your friend the truth," Plagg pointed out from his spot on top of the fridge. He didn't like all the stress during his dinner. It gave him indigestion, and he found the whole thing ridiculous. "You've been dating, you forgot to mention it before. Whoops."

"He's right, you know," Tikki agreed. She had found the whole cloak-and-dagger evasion thing just as perplexing as Plagg did. "There's no need to get too upset about it. You were going to tell him eventually, right?"

Both Adrien and Marinette made a face at that.

"I kind of wanted to keep on waiting to tell them at this point," Adrien admitted a bit sheepishly. "Like right now, it's just a 'whoops forgot to mention that' moment. If we keep waiting, it could be a pretty funny reveal once we get back to Paris if we play things right."

"Yeah, I want to see Alya's face when she learns about it," Marinette agreed. "And if Nino finds out about us, then he'll tell Alya and we'll miss that. And if Alya knows, it's really likely that it'll spread enough for Adrien's father to find out."

They both puzzled over the problem for several moments before Marinette spoke up. "What if I go back to Paris to visit my parents that weekend, then? If I'm not here, as long as my stuff isn't laying around all over the place, Nino shouldn't have any reason to suspect that I'm living here. Then all I have to do is arrange the trip without my parents mentioning it to Nino, so he doesn't figure out that I set it up after he talked to you about visiting."

"Maybe just pretend that you already made the reservations," Adrien suggested. "And you meant to mention it earlier, but you just forgot. They'll probably be so happy about seeing you that they won't mention it to Nino."

"That sounds good." Marinette paused for a moment, then glanced around at the apartment. "Uh, so after dinner I need to buy those tickets, and then we need to do some serious cleaning."

A/N: Marinette totally thought that Adrien had been talking about having one of his school friends over for dinner lol

Is the continued secret-keeping entirely for the sake of future shenanigans? Absolutely.

Also, because I keep getting questions about it (this is why you should read author's notes, people): please pay attention to the story rating before asking about the status of Adrien and Marinette's physical relationship. I'm not going to change the rating and as such have to keep the content appropriate for younger fans. There might be a few more obvious hints of stuff going on behind the scenes in some chapters, but it's not going to get more direct than that.