You Will Not Touch Him

Chapter 2

Marinette lay back with her eyes closed as she relaxed on the blanket spread out over the lush grass.  After her busy morning shift at the bakery that finished only an hour earlier, she savoured the warm sunshine while Tikki dozed in her purse.  Marinette had come down to the park to help Alya look after her twin sisters for the afternoon, but the Place des Vosges was more crowded than usual with groups of people dotted all over the lawns.  She supposed everyone was glad for the chance to get some fresh air after being forced to spend much of the week indoors due to bad weather.

A shadow fell across her, “Hey Alya, Marinette.”

“You made it!” Alya greeted her boyfriend Nino with a kiss on the cheek.

“Yeah.  Chris got invited to a birthday party so I’m free for a few hours,” Nino explained, referring to his little brother.  “I tried calling Adrien, but my dude isn’t picking up.”

“He probably has to make up for that photoshoot that got rained out earlier this week,” Alya suggested with a note of disapproval.  Adrien's father kept him over-scheduled at the best of times, but during the last few months it had only gotten worse.

Nino flopped down on the blanket.  “Probably.  I left him a message to come down here if he’s able to escape.  So, did you bring anything good?”  The question was directed at Marinette, who snorted in response.  “Have you met me?”

“You know my girl always comes prepared,” Alya chided gently.

Marinette sat up, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light, and reached into the picnic basket to extract three mille-feuille.  Nino’s expression brightened.  “You’re the best – ahhh – second best, dudette!” he hastily corrected after a look from Alya.  The girls chuckled at his momentary discomfort before Alya patted his knee in reassurance.  “That’s OK babe, she is the best.”  Marinette reached across with one arm to squeeze her best friend around the shoulders in thanks for the compliment.

The trio ate in companionable silence, listening to the sounds of the park while Ella and Etta played nearby.  The music from the carousel drifted through the air, just discernible over the nearby chatter and rustling of leaves in the light breeze.  Marinette’s thoughts drifted to Adrien.  She hoped he would be able to join them later despite his father’s overbearing restrictions, and she had packed a few of his favourite passionfruit macarons just in case.  Although Marinette had resigned herself to the fact Adrien would likely only ever see her as a friend, her feelings for him had not abated.  She liked to think she had developed better control of her emotions over the couple of years, but lately he would catch her off guard with a soft look or kind smile that made her revert back to the worst days of her clumsy incoherence around him.

Marinette was disturbed from her introspection by shouts from near the park entrance.  Predictably, Alya’s first response was to whip her phone out in case there was an akuma.  “What’s going on over there?”  They all knew that Hawkmoth could strike at any time, even on a beautiful spring day such as this.  Marinette spied a shock of blond hair crawling backwards across the gravel pathway. “Is that...is that Adrien?” but her blood ran cold even as the question escaped her lips.  There he was in the flesh, purple suit and silver balaclava looming over their friend.  It had been more than a year since Hawkmoth was last seen in public.  But why was he attacking Adrien?  Why was he demanding Adrien’s Miraculous?  He hadn’t been Aspik for a long time and Hawkmoth shouldn’t even know anything about that, the Second Chance having erased those events for everyone but Adrien.

Marinette winced as Alya’s vice-like grip dragged her, stumbling, closer to the confrontation.  “Come on girl, we have to see this!”  Alya was already in reporter mode, but Marinette was too distracted by the exchange between Adrien and Hawkmoth.  She gasped as their words finally registered in her mind, thoughts jumbled as her brain whirred a mile a minute.  He wanted Adrien’s ring?  But only one of the Miraculous was a ring, and that belonged to...no, it couldn’t be!  And what did this have to do with Adrien’s mother?  She had been missing for several years.  Did Hawkmoth know something about that?  Was he involved?