Fic: Define 'Emergency'

[soc_puppet]

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug
Summary: When all of her superhero friends reveal their secret identities to her one by one, Marinette decides that something has to be done.
AO3 link: Yay, fic!
Wordcount: 1064
Ships: Ladynoir (very minor)
Notes: For sweetmeatdale, who suggested the premise on Discord; previously posted here, with a very minor edit made since.
Fic: Define 'Emergency'


Finding a time when she could round everyone up to talk to them was, unfortunately, the easy part. Since she almost obsessively kept track of her entire class's schedules, Marinette was able to narrow down a good window that they would all likely be available for the time she needed them. Telling everyone and actually rounding them up was... slightly more involved.

She told Cat Noir first. She was almost sorry to ask him to bring Chloe along when she mentioned wanting to meet up with him for a chat the next evening; almost. He managed to hide his wounded kitten eyes fairly quickly after he realized it wasn't for anything like a date, but she still caught a glimpse of them, and had to remind herself firmly that it was for the greater good. And then she remembered why she had to call this meeting in the first place, and her doubts vanished again.

Rounding up everyone else took a bit longer. She delivered the various Miraculouses to them in order based on how much she trusted them with it, the difficulty she anticipated them having in getting away, and how disappointed she was with them. Kagami was the first one she delivered to, followed by Alix. Ladybug trusted Kagami would not misuse her Miraculous, knew she would have the most difficult time getting away from her home, and had a decent enough excuse for thinking that what she did wouldn't matter too much. Alix she trusted reasonably well, and, more to the point, had probably already heard most of this from her future self besides.

Alya was down farther on the list, almost at the end; she might have a bit of difficulty getting away, but Ladybug doubted it, and she had been very disappointed in her friend. She really thought Alya had understood the importance of secret identities when Marinette had taken the Fox Miraculous back after Rena Rouge's debut. Kim was at the very end, if only because Ladybug wasn't sure how well he could resist the temptation to use the Monkey Miraculous for fun pranks. Nino, Max, and Luka were in the middle, with clean records but no particularly pressing engagements that Marinette knew of.

Ladybug herself was the first to arrive at the scene, but waited at a near-by rooftop until all of her compatriots had shown up before stepping into their field of vision. Murmured questions of what this was all about, and did anyone else have any idea why Ladybug had asked for all of them to show up, were cut off abruptly when Ladybug clapped her hands for attention. "Thank you all for showing up," she said. "I have something very serious to discuss with all of you.

"It has come to my attention that each and every one of you has revealed your identity to a civilian. The same civilian, as it would happen." She looked around at the collected heroes, eyes narrowed, taking in their guilty winces and sheepish smiles. "This has endangered not only you, but also your loved ones, including the very civilian you entrusted with such sensitive information." Now the guilty looks intensified, and the heroes were looking at each other or down at their feet, as if finally realizing exactly all the ways that revealing their identities to an unrelated civilian could go horribly wrong.

Good, Ladybug thought. She let them stew in their guilt for another few moments, then spoke again. "Since there is nothing we can do to undo the damage you have caused, I have decided to try and make the best of it." At this, her compatriots—her friends—perked up a bit. "With the cat out of the proverbial bag—"

"She used that expression just for me," Cat Noir told Carapace giddily, in a voice that was just a bit too loud to ignore. "I told you she was warming up to me recently! Marinette must have reassured her that I'm actually a pretty okay guy in my civilian life—"

"As I was saying," Ladybug interrupted forcibly, cheeks crimson. Cat Noir shrunk a bit under her glare, grinning sheepishly. "Now that Marinette Dupain-Cheng knows all of your secret identities, I've decided to deputize her."

Cat Noir perked back up. "Does this mean that Multimouse is coming back after all?"

Rena Rouge's attention snapped to him. "Hold up, are you telling me that Marinette had a Miraculous and I didn't know? And that she got her Miraculous privileges revoked?"

"Oh, man, you should have seen her, Rena!" Cat gushed. "So smart and fast, she really saved mine and Ladybug's bacon when Ms. Mendeleiev got turned into Kwami Buster, it was amazing to see her in action—"

"I'm afraid that Marinette will not be using a Miraculous again, except in the event of an extreme emergency," Ladybug interrupted again, face almost as red as her mask. "The same as Ryuko and Queen Bee—with the exception of Ryuko being here tonight," she added, nodding at the heroine, who nodded back. "Instead, if I ever need your help but am unavailable to deliver your Miraculous to you personally, I will have Marinette deliver it for me. This does not mean you can go to her first to ask for your Miraculous, unless it is a very big emergency and I am unavailable.

"I've known Marinette for a long time, and while I have yet to reveal my own identity to her, she has proven she can be trusted with yours. I believe that she will do quite well with this new responsibility."

After that, Ladybug fielded a few questions, then told them that she would be by to collect their Miraculouses within the next hour or two, so they should get back home shortly. Cat Noir was the last to leave.

"I think Marinette will do a good job with this," he told her. "She's always risen to the occasion for as long as I've known her."

Ladybug smiled at him. "Thanks, kitty; I think she will, too." Impulsively, she kissed him on the cheek before sending him on his way.

----

One week later, Ladybug had to call another superhero conference to define what, exactly, constituted the sort of emergency that actually justified her fellow heroes asking Marinette for their Miraculouses. "And no, Kim, wanting to beat Alix in a dare is definitely not one of them!"

--Fin--

I have no plans to write anything else in this universe, but maybe Callmedale can be convinced...

Comments

[alexseanchai]

(hey so uh how married to this title are you? bc the first ML fic of about this title that anyone is likely to think of is siderealSandman Truth and Consequences, and I certainly did an epic double-take even though I noped out of the fic about when I figured out it was going to involve Ladybug and Chat Noir not trusting each other anymore, which is to say, before I read further than the summary. not that you need to change the title, of course, it isn't as though AO3 hasn't got dozens of ML fics titled something like "Criss-Cross Love", but.)

[soc_puppet]

(Ack, thanks for the heads up! No wonder it sounded like such a good title to me... *edits*)

[alexseanchai]

👍🏻

[soc_puppet]

Phew! Okay, I think I'm settled.

prompt idea

[phoenixdaisy.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you're open to requests for this AU, but if you are I'd like to see what happens with Alya and Lila in this. Lila claims to be Ladybug's best friend, but now Alya knows that Ladybug trusts Marinette - who says Lila is a liar, and has tried to poke holes in Lila's stories since she found out about Lila's interview on the Ladyblog.

Re: prompt idea

[soc_puppet]

I can't say I'm planning to do anything more with this premise, but I'll pass the thought on to Callmedale, who definitely is planning more 👍

(Between you and me, I rather imagine Alya started becoming suspicious of/doubting Lila before telling Marinette, or why would she tell Marinette her secret identity before telling Ladybug's best friend who already knows who LADYBUG is?)

Re: prompt idea

[phoenixdaisy.livejournal.com]

That's a fair point, though as of the episode Ladybug it seems like Alya believes in both of them, for the most part: Marinette could never have done what Lila is accusing her of, not even in jealousy, but also that Lila isn't intentionally lying to everyone and that she's either misunderstanding what happened (maybe Marinette knocked her down the stairs on accident) or in some kind of frame-job that's going on (I wouldn't be surprised if she suspects that Chloé is behind the expulsion thefts, she doesn't like anyone but particularly dislikes both Marinette and Lila, and gets away with everything).

Re: prompt idea

[soc_puppet]

I checked with Callmedale, and this was his response:

I know that after the whole expulsion she was definitely more wary of Lila so I’d probably consider something along those lines
I don’t know if this version would have something as drastic but similarly any kind of trouble where Adrien takes Marinette’s side might help her draw that line
Also she might’ve used Rena more in this so Ladybug might’ve had something to say to her about the other fox
Like taking the time to elaborate on that
“I look just like volpina”
“Yeah but this time you’re the hero”
Conversation that I’m paraphrasing

Im just imagining her planting a few small seeds of information that the distrust is there whether she means to or not and Alya being smart enough to start piecing together that at the very least the Ladybug’s best friend part was sorta suspect

But yeah small things like maybe pulling Rena and Chat into a hug and calling them her best friends, nothing intentionally malicious but enough that she would eventually catch on

He also said he might be by later with more, and will reply directly if that is the case 🙂

Re: prompt idea

[phoenixdaisy.livejournal.com]

That's cool. Thanks for chatting about it with me, anyway. :)

Re: prompt idea

[soc_puppet]

My pleasure 😊