Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug And Cat Noir- Season 4, Ep. 18.7 Mister Noir

the Future: part 1

It had been a long time for thinking about how it would happen.

The details were fuzzier than he'd like, but he had been paying attention to different things than he would now.
At 14, Adrien had been more absorbed in the wonder of his future -- the friends and family he'd acquired and the happiness he felt.

It had been the best night of his life.

But over the years leading up to it, Adrien was racking his memories for clues as to when it was going to happen.
It was now the fifteenth year, and he hadn't seen the pink polka dots yet. It was silly, but they were the one stand alone clue he had. Well, and the other big thing. But that was supposed to be a surprise. He was getting nervous and excited. It was probably driving Marinette crazy. But he wanted to be ready.

Why had he had both Miraculous? There was never a reason to have both. Both was dangerous. If you had both, you had the power to have any wish of your heart, but at a terrible price. Could both miraculous be used without doing harm?

He supposed they must.

But the bigger question it seemed, was how?

Marinette never removed her miraculous. She was right not to. He never took off the ring. It felt... wrong.

So it gave him all kinds of weird feelings when he walked into the bedroom that evening and found the earrings just sat there, on her desk, while she was showering.

"Are you okay, Marinette?" He called through the open door to the bathroom.

"Hmm? Yes I'm fine, what's wrong?"

"You've taken off the earrings?" Adrien held them, afraid to leave them alone. "You didn't even make sure I knew you weren't wearing them. Is something wrong?"

Marinette thought of how sick she'd been that morning -- everything needed washing. Her hair, her miraculous, the floor..
Adrien had blissfully missed it, being out on deliveries from early on in the day--what "luck" the bakery was so busy, and crime really wasn't today! Oh the lengths she was going through to make sure he didn't suspect anything until she announced it tonight! How was she going to explain this?

"I was feeling really itchy today. The, uh, earrings were chaffing and Tikki and I thought I should put them out for a moment while I showered. She cleaned them for me too." That was true at least, poor Tikki.

Adrien looked around for Tikki. She zipped to his side and gave him a sheepish shrug.
This was it then, Adrien knew. His chest felt full as excitement burbled up from deep inside. So many things would become true tonight. But he felt, for some reason, he had to stay cool. Years of being a superhero, probably.

"I'm not comfortable just leaving them there.."

"It's okay, Adrien," Marinette stopped the shower and grabbed a bathsheet. "We're both right here, Tikki's here, everyone has their miraculous today; we're as safe as it gets right now. I'm probably just having a reaction to something. Did you use different laundry powder?"

Adrien smirked. "Classic deflection; it's my fault of course."

Marinette whipped open the shower curtain, the hot water coming off her beet red face as steam only added to how annoyed she looked. He couldn't help laughing.

"I am NOT being either irresponsible nor accusative, Mr. Agreste. I'm just saying I needed to take them off for a couple minutes. It's not like when we were kids and things kept getting out of hand." She stomped off to the divider she used for changing on the other side of the beautiful loft bedroom they shared above her parents' bakery.

Adrien took a moment now to gaze around the room. He took in the beautiful little houses Marinette had built for the Kwamis, lining the ceiling in a hexagon, with one each for Plagg and Tikki in the centre. He remembered when she described the project to him, and how his enthusiasm had surprised her.

Adrien made the decision to put in the earrings himself. If this was it, he didn't want to risk losing them.

"You think it's tonight?" Tikki pipped in his ear.

Ah, of course Tikki had been paying attention. She was sharp.

"Well, it'd better be soon, all this waiting is giving me indigestion."

Adrien chuckled softly. "Plagg, you work too hard to seem less observant than you are."

Tikki glared at Plagg, who shrugged and winked at Adrien.

Lost in their own conversation, Adrien hardly heard Marinette as she carried on grumbling at him from behind the screen. He stared at the wall of photos. Their friends and life memories displayed too freely for this adventure. Well, he couldn’t do much about that. He did, however, find the old photo of the time Ladybug and Cat Noir had been named Couple of the Year and another fifteen year old newspaper article they kept framed. He hung them more prominently than usual, which, if his recall was any evidence of, would be enough.

"What are you doing? Or is my decorating skill coming under scrutiny too?"

Adrien's smile should be banned for global warming, Marinette's mind offered as one last huff. But it was no good, she was already over it. She smiled back and padded softly to the bed in just her new cami and skirt to get her sweater.

Adrien's gasp made her spin to him. He was staring at her with an intensity she easily misunderstood. Marinette smiled coyly and posed. "Like it then? I made it for the spring line next year."

Adrien himself had forgotten he was supposed to be getting changed. He'd gotten his shirts and trousers off after the delivery when he'd found the earrings and got distracted. Standing there in just his pants, he did seem to be waiting for something. But he shook his head sort of absently and said, "I like the pink."

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows together but was still smiling. "Well, maybe you need a closer look, Kitty."

She walked up and took Adrien's hand, trying to lead him back with her. But Adrien smiled oddly and moved slowly, saying "that happens, but not ..."

Suddenly there was a crackling sound and Marinette fell back, landing mercifully on the bed as Cat Noir landed awkwardly atop her, covering her in a bright red throw with black spots.

"What was that?!" Marinette cried.

"Ladybug?!" Cat called, hopping up, visibly confused. He spun quickly, his motions gaining a strange panic, "What happened?! Where are we?"

Marinette was instantly alerted to trouble and checked around the room, but it was fine. Everything was all right. Only, Cat was strange. How had he transformed so fast?

Marinette finally looked at him properly and was struck first by his height. She could look him right in the face, and what she saw was a little boy who was trying to puzzle out how he knew her.