Chasing Ladybug 📸 (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic)

A Retelling: 12 | A Tortured Sculptor's Heart

Adrien stands outside the Dupain-Cheng bakery the next morning, eagerly waiting for his, unsurprisingly, late girlfriend. He'd go inside, but Tom had caught Marinette and Adrien making out in her bedroom—again—and he didn't have the guts to face her father again so soon.

Tom didn't have a problem with their relationship, of course. He's rooting for the pair to have a happy ending! He just didn't want to the two spending so much time together—alone—in her bedroom without 'adult supervision' in the house (ultimately, he's scared of Marinette becoming a teen mother).

Adrien's also glad her father didn't get akumatized again.

"Bye, Mama! Bye, Papa!" Marinette shouts to her parents as she runs past the front counter, and before she can open the door, Adrien beats her to it. "Good morning, Buttercup."

"Good morning, Princess." Adrien waits until they're out of her parents' sight before he bends down and kisses her quick. "I'm sorry about last time. I hope I didn't get you in trouble."

"Surprisingly, I'm not grounded," Marinette says. "But I did get a long lecture... about... you know..."

Adrien didn't know. "What?"

Do I really have to say this out loud? This is so embarrassing! Adrien and I aren't even at that point in our relationship yet. "Stuff like... protection," She says, hoping he'll get it now.

"Protection from what?"

"Teen pregnancy."

Adrien's eyes widen. "WHAT?!"

Students from the front steps look over and Marinette grabs her boyfriend's hand and leads him off to the side. "Shh! Adrien—"

"Wait, do your parents think we're having—"

"I told them we're not," Marinette assures him.

Adrien stares down at the sidewalk. "W-We're not even at that point in our relationship! The most we do is hold hands and kiss, and trust me, I know that can't get you pregnant."

She rolls her eyes. "They just want us to be careful if we do... decide to do... that." She opens her purse and reveals her kwami pressed in the corner, hiding beside a pack of condoms her mom gifted her. "My parents want me to carry this around in case we, you know, change our minds..."

Embarrassed, Adrien covers his face with his hands and wishes more than anything he wasn't standing here having this conversation right now. "Oh, I'm going to throw myself off the Eiffel tower," He mumbles into his hands. "How am I supposed to face your father now? I can't look him in the eye anymore! He thinks we're having—"

Marinette stands on her toes and kisses him. "Let's not worry about this anymore, okay?"

"But your dad—"

"Look, I explained to my dad that we're both young and smart sixteen-year-olds in a new relationship," She begins to explain, holding her boyfriend's shaky hands. "We're still getting used to everything, especially our secret identities. I made sure he knew and understood that we're not even thinking about that yet."

"Your dad's going to kill me next time I come over for dinner," Adrien wonders out loud, still worried. "Isn't he?"

Marinette rolls her eyes again. "Don't worry. You have nothing to worry about."

"Hey, when your dad was akumatized a few years ago, he was terrifying!" He reminds her. "I wasn't even Adrien; I was Cat Noir! Fighting your father made me want to find the closest litter box."

Marinette blinks. "I did not need that mental image," She says, laughing. "Besides, my father wasn't that bad."

Adrien abruptly stops walking and looks down at her. "You were trapped in that weird vine-cocoon the entire time. You didn't see it. Your dad was beating, smashing, throwing me around left and right. He's a hundred times stronger akumatized, by the way."