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

the Future: part 3

Cat Noir's miraculous blipped warningly. "Uh, I'm sorry Marinette, but I really can't stay!"

Marinette came rushing back from behind the screen, her sweater thrown on hastily and her tights still on only one foot. She fell on her face but quickly stood up again.

It bizarrely comforted Cat as such a normal Marinette thing to have done.

"No! Cat, no. You can't go out there. You'll get into all kinds of trouble if you learn too much about the future!"

"The future?!"

"Yes, so, don't worry. I know you have to transform back, but... it's okay here, ...Adrien."

Cat Noir's pulse was a thunderclap in his veins. None of the sounds he made were words.

"Look, it's just a bit different now, we don't all have to hide our identities so much. You need a safe place right now until the timeline is sorted, and thi-s .. is ... it. This is your safe place in the future, so, just stay calm and we'll figure everything out."

Marinette had both her hands on his shoulders now to reassure him. But her grownup face and the strangely lingering knowledge of her pink cami were still undermining that reassurance. Still, they also backed up the idea that this was the future.

So as the last warning blipped and the Miraculous released a tired and hungry kwami from empowering Adrien, Marinette was right there with them.

"Plagg."

"Nice to see you, Marinette," Plagg crowed, looking around the room with his usual indifference. "There isn't anyway a 'safe place' like this has got something to feed a poor starving Kitty is there?"

Marinette scooped her hand under Plagg with a giggle. "Oh, Plagg. You're going to be so annoyed when you get home and find you've already eaten that whole wheel you left out all night. Remind me to pull another out of the fridge when we go downstairs."

She walked across the floor to the middle of the room and held Plagg up to talk to face to face. "Do you see the little houses lining the ceiling? Yours is the black one in the middle. All your stuff is in there."

"Ooo," Plagg enthused, "my own place, and above the best baker in Paris! The future is bright!"

Adrien looked at the houses in astonishment. They were beautiful mini houses, almost like for dolls. But he could see there were twelve, one for each Chinese zodiac and two in the middle for the yin and yang; Plagg and Tikki.

"Is this... for all the Kwamis."

Marinette looked over her shoulder, still forgetting her loose tights. "Uhh, kind of. I did a fashion show based on the zodiac and had this idea for the centre piece on the ceiling. A neighbourhood of spirit houses, one for each spirit animal and one each for the main two. It's come in handy from time to time. As I said, this is a safe house, so any Kwami is welcome here. Haha." Marinette could feel her cheeks pinch she smiled so hard, trying to sound convincing, which was odd, because she hadn't been lying.

Adrien felt the funny nervous feeling he got whenever he spoke to Marinette. Was awkwardness contagious?
He turned his eyes away from her, trying to regroup, but his eyes landed again on the chair covered in men's clothes.

Marinette yelped. "Oh, such a mess! Silly me, I was... designing! My menswear line .. and left these he-eeeee--!" and she tripped on those tights around her ankles. The sorry heap she became groaned so pitifully Adrien finally laughed softly.

Adrien turned and saw the wall of photos behind the hatch to downstairs.
The photos weren't all stuff he'd seen in Marinette's room before. There were still plenty of photos of him, but fewer as a model, and more as a friend, which made his heart grow warm.
There were some of the whole class, and then of couple's in the group. None of them surprised Adrien, and he smiled at the idea of Ivan and Mylène still being together. Before he could learn anymore, though, the familiar photo of Cat Noir and Ladybug kissing caught his attention.
It had been one of his secret favourites before the whole Couple of the Year thing and the awful argument with Ladybug after that. It was hope that if they could fall in love without remembering anything, then they could fall in love again. But now it was loaded with painful rejection and that horrible trash can thing.
It was surprising to see this, the cover version with the phrase 'Couple of the Year' framed so prominently on Marinette's wall.