Dark Cupid 2.0

Chapter 1: Old enemy, New powers

Betas: Khanofallorcs, Etoile-Lead-Sama, Agrestebug, rosehealer02, genxha, Speckleflower and Malauu-LadyNoir. Thank you all so much!

Cover art credit: Rosehealer02 on Deviantart

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

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Chapter 1 — Old Enemy, New Powers

Adrien sighed as the sedan stopped at Place Vendôme, in front of Van Cleef & Arpels. Unfortunately, the posh car hadn't gone unnoticed and at least a dozen young girls (and boys) had gathered immediately in front of it to peek inside. He heard, "Oh my God!" and "That's Adrien Agreste!" and he knew that he was screwed. There was no way that he could get out of the car and reach the door of the jewellery store. He exchanged an annoyed look with the Gorilla at the front, as his arms folded onto his chest and the index finger of his right hand started tapping nervously on his left arm. He buried himself into the back of his seat and huffed.

The Gorilla sighed and grunted loudly. Then he released the lock to the driver's door and he went out of the car, took his time to lock the doors again and signaled to Adrien that he was going in. Adrien gave him a grateful look.

"T'was nice of him," commented Plagg peeking cautiously out of the pocket of his coat.

"Yeah," said Adrien. "I would never have been able to go past that!" He jerked his head to point at the now bigger gathering of fans that were peeking at him from the car's window. He smiled his model smile and looked at a couple of girls (the ones who seemed to have glued their nose to the window in front of him), which caused them to come out with a loud squeal and start fanning their necks. Good Lord, he thought and sighed again.

"So you're sure about it. Today's the day that you're going to confess," said Plagg.

Adrien met his furry friend's gaze and blushed a little, his heart skipping a beat as he opened his bag. He picked out a red envelope and opened it hastily, revealing a pretty card with printed at the front a picture of him and Marinette smiling. The picture was nothing special, but Adrien smiled softly at it, remembering the day it had been taken, when he had accepted to model some of the clothes of her line. That day, her friend Juleka had ended up akumatised and he and Ladybug for some reason had ended up swapping Miraculous.

There wasn't a particular reason why he had chosen that picture. Or maybe there was, because Marinette was smiling happily and didn't display the usual cringing smile that she seemed to reserve only to him. She was holding his arm, looking at his face and smiling a genuine smile. He opened the card, made sure that it was signed and put it back into the envelope, and the envelope back into his bag.

"Yes," he said eventually. "I have pursued Ladybug for too long. It's time I moved on. She will never reciprocate my feelings."

Plagg observed the sad gleam that shone in his holder's eyes and his ears went flat on his head. "She has rejected you too many times, gamin. You deserve to be happy too."

"Yeah. If she will take me, you mean."

"Nah, you're really blind, Adrien." He noticed the surprised frown that furrowed Adrien's eyebrows and added quickly, "I did tell you that you should concentrate on cheese. But nope, you don't want to listen. At least now you're choosing a much more suitable target."

Adrien winced at Plagg's mention of the word 'target'. He remembered how Kagami had told him something very similar a few months before, and after the initial refusal, he had genuinely tried to focus on the Japanese girl, but he had found that he wasn't able to let himself go, as if in his heart he knew that it wasn't right. And after the trip to New York, he had realised that he had instead started growing feelings for another girl, his first friend, the beautiful, amazing and extraordinary girl who had faced his father to obtain permission for him to go to New York with his class.