Attention –

They'd foiled him again. Hawk Moth grit his teeth, grinding them angrily. It happened again and again and again.

"Well, Ladybug and Chat Noir," he practically growled. "You certainly have my attention. Your loss."

Bait –

The Akuma grinned triumphantly at the people floating in the air around them. They floated in front of the Eiffel Tower patiently waiting for Ladybug.

She didn't take the bait, instead sneaking up on the Akuma from behind. Chat allowed himself to pause for a moment and just admire his lady. She was so amazing. Then it was back to the fight. Super villains didn't defeat themselves, after all.

Coins –

"Which one is it?" Chat Noir asked worriedly as he stared down at the coins on the street. They were all replicas of the exact same coin – the one that held the akuma.

The current victim just chuckled. "You may want to hurry. I'm expecting company."

"You're not exactly coining that phrase," Chat said.

Ladybug groaned then shot her hand in the air. "Lucky charm!" Because they were going to need it this time.

"A metal detector?" Ladybug asked.

"You want to find more coins, M'Lady?"

Ladybug shot a questioning glance at Chat Noir. "Maybe the coins aren't made of metal? They are magic."

No, no wait. That would take to long. She only had five minutes...

She searched the coins on the ground then it occurred to her. Why would the Akuma let their coin go like that? That's when she glanced at where the victim was floating in the air, smug smile on his face.

"Chat!" then she jerked her head towards the Akuma. He understood, thankfully, and rushed the akuma. Ladybug was right behind him, but they were coming at different angles. So, naturally, he went to stop Chat first. Chat, who bounded up towards him on his baton, flipping and kicking at him, followed by Ladybug who used her metal detector on the akuma. It squeaked very loudly over one particular pocket. She and Chat exchanged glances as Ladybug used the detector to push the guy down. It would only buy them a second, but that was all Chat needed.

Ladybug threw her yoyo at her partner, grabbed his ankle and swung him down towards the Akuma.

This all happened within seconds, and the victim didn't really have time to move as Chat more or less slammed into him.

"Why you," he growled. He hadn't hit the ground, although Chat landed on his feet a few meters away. Ladybug had also rolled to her feet in the middle of the street on the opposite side. The Akuma was glaring at Ladybug and started towards her until Chat called out.

"Ah, ah!" They both looked towards him and he held up a coin in his hand triumphantly. "Cataclysm!"

Two minutes later the Akuma had been purified, the damage restored and the duo had exchanged a fist bump before turning to rush away from the scene and detransform.

Direct –

Marinette felt like a broken record.

"Alya, you need to stay away from the akuma fights! One day you're going to get hurt before Ladybug and Chat Noir can get to you!"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take," the reporter replied as she edited her latest video.

"This is Alya Cesaire, coming to you direct from the akuma battle!" said her voice in the video as she recorded the fight Ladybug and Chat Noir had just taken care of that afternoon. A fight where she was all too close to the action. A fight where she could have gotten seriously hurt... again.

Marinette just groaned and let her head thump on the desk in front of her.

Effort –

Marinette practically flew through the door into her room, slammed it shut, threw her backpack at the chaise and flopped on the chair in front of her computer so hard it rolled a good three feet. Then she let out a frustrated scream.

"THAT STUPID CAT!"

Tikki flew out of her clutch worriedly.

"What's wrong, Marinette?" she asked.

The dark-haried girl glared at her kwami. "You heard him, didn't you? Sitting there, dropping hints, spouting puns, in class! He may as well paint a giant sign above his head that says 'Look here! I'm Chat Noir!' He's going to give our secrets away if he's not careful and he doesn't seem to care!"

Tikki frowned. "I still don't think you should have said what you did. He looked really hurt."

Marinette felt a twinge of guilt, but was still too angry to give in.

"Well we can't be together if he's just going to be reckless! People are going to question him changing that much that fast. Just because we know each other's identities... I mean, I know he's excited and happy it's... I just... Aarg! I didn't think that it would be this hard just to get along with him!" And there was the hurt. The sadness. The insecurity. Maybe she and Adrien weren't meant to be together. Why did that thought make it so hard to breathe? She felt tears coming to her eyes.

The kwami studied her for several seconds before sighing. "You need to look at it from his point of view, Marinette. For most of his life, he's grown up thinking that he has to be perfect. Then he becomes a super hero and can act however he wants to, but only when he's in his suit. Now that you both know who the other is, he's probably having a hard time separating those two lives again and you need to give him time to come to terms with it all."

And there was the guilt again. Adrien may have anything he's ever wanted when it comes to physical possessions, but she knows he doesn't get love or attention at home. She'd had an idea when it came to Adrien and she'd gleaned a lot when it came to Chat and when she found out they were one and the same, she thought she'd been prepared to give him that attention that he craved. Because that's what he was seeking from her when he acted like that, wasn't it.

She wiped away the tears in her eyes and flicked her gaze up to Tikki, still a little angry. "That doesn't make it safe."

"There are a lot of excuses you could use. You two did just start dating. That's bound to mean changes."

"But not like that."

Tikki shrugged. "I've seen it happen before. It's a change in his life, so it could bring out parts of his personality that he normally represses."

And there went all of the anger, replaced by horror. Of course Adrien had been repressing things he wanted to say and do – trying to be the perfect son for his father. Would he start acting like that around her too? Repressing what he wanted to say and do just because she didn't approve? That wasn't what she wanted. She just didn't want him to out his secret identity, because there was only so much the magic could cover for.

She suddenly felt absolutely terrible for what she'd said to him and groaned.

"Tikki, why do relationships have to be so hard?" she asked.

The little fairy floated up to her, chuckling softly as she patted her cheek. "Anything worth while requires effort. Especially relationships."

Marinette sighed. "I should probably take him some cookies as an apology gift," she muttered. "But that doesn't mean that he should be that reckless still."

"Then you need to talk about it like adults," Tikki said matter-of-factly.

And that was the final nail in the coffin of Marinette's temper. "I'll go get started on those and take them to him tonight," she muttered, slumping over to the trap door and lifting it up. Before she got half way down the stairs, though, she paused and glanced over at her kwami.

"Tikki... Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Tikki smiled. "You'd do your best, Marinette. That's all anyone can ask of you."

The teenager smiled and went to start on her apology.

Farewells

It had been 2 weeks since she'd seen him. Fourteen long days of his (supposedly) short tour through Europe as he did several shoots for the coming clothing lines. Alright, she and Adrien had texted and video chatted and skyped, but it wasn't the same. Now she waited on the train station platform, shifting nervously from foot to foot because she'd missed him. Not having him there just wasn't the same.

The excitement churned in her stomach as she remembered what he'd said when she'd seen him off. "Farewells aren't so bad because they make the resulting hello that much sweeter." The silly, cheesy cat. And yet, she wanted it to be true.

Just then, she saw him approach through the crowd his blond hair distinctive.

"Adrien!" she called out, waving her hand excitedly.

He turned to see her and a stupid, silly grin split his face. He ran towards her, scooped her up and twirled her around.

"Mari!" he said into her neck. Then he set her down and kissed her.

She couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, his cheesy line had been right.

Gentle

If there was something that Marinette loved about Adrien, it was how kind he was, how much he cared for others and how caring he was towards his friends. He treated each and every one of them like they were made of gold or more, like they all had so much worth. His gentle words of comfort, his happy words of encouragement, his firm words of support...

Somehow, he was everything she wished she could be and more.

And she loved him for it.

Hero

"Adrien!" Alya yelled out from beside Marinette, who immediately panicked.

"Alya!" she hissed.

Naturally, her best friend ignored her and continued to wave.

"What are you doing?" the dark-haired girl asked, panic beginning to rise in her chest.

"Research," Alya replied as the blond walked up to them with a smile.

"Hey Alya, Marinette," he said with that heart-melting smile. "What's up?"

Alya grinned and took out her phone. "There's a discussion online about how Ladybug and Chat Noir aren't really heroes because, as far as we know, they haven't had any training. So I'm asking around to see what people think are heroes. Do you mind telling me what you think and can I put it on the blog?"

The blond looked almost as shocked as Marinette felt. Not heroes? Well, sure, they hadn't had official training, more on-the-job kind of experience, but they were getting better, right? And who else could take care of the akumas.

The look that suddenly fell over Adrien's face almost made Marinette step back. Sure, she'd seen him looking cute and sweet and adorable and sad and frustrated and worried, but this... She'd never seen him look almost defensive like this.

"Sure. Put me on."

Alya's grin widened and she held up her camera.

"So, what's your opinion on what a hero is."

"Heroes are people who care about others. Training and experience help, but that doesn't define a hero. Heroes are people who will give up their time and energy and sleep and comfort to help someone else. A hero can be someone who smiles at a friend and lifts them up. Or a hero can be a fireman who just wants to save lives and will risk their life to do so. Or a hero can be a cop, putting their lives on the line to make sure that the city is actually safe. Or it can be girl who wears a red-polka-dotted suit and stops magical super villains from destroying a city. We come across heroes every day, most without any sort of training whatsoever. And considering that Paris is still standing, I'd say that Ladybug and Chat Noir, while not perfect, are pretty dang amazing heroes. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to go and look it up in a dictionary."

Marinette couldn't help her hanging jaw and she could feel her cheeks had gone bright red, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the model in front of her.

He paused for a moment, looking something up on his phone. Then he read aloud. "According to the dictionary, a hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities." Then he glanced up with a challenging gaze that kind of made Marinette's heart do flip-flops. "Never says anything about training. So I guess that answers that question."

"Thank you so much, Adrien Agreste!" Alya said in her chipper interview voice.

The blond smiled. "No problem."

The red-head shut off the phone and then squealed. "You're the best, Adrien!" With that, she shot forward and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm going to get a few more people and edit them all into a video. I'll let you know when it's up, ok?"

Adrien nodded. "Thanks."

"Come on, Marinette," Alya said, dragging her still dazed friend after her. She didn't notice the tears in her best friend's eyes or the warm, grateful smile Marinette managed to shoot Adrien before they disappeared inside the school.

Indiscreet

Marinette wanted to bang her head against the desk. Chloe was sitting there preening, singing Queen Bee's praises and... she really just needed to get a sign that said 'I'm Queen Bee!' and find a way to hang it over her head.

Didn't she know the meaning of the word 'discreet'?

Then again, Chloe had always been the most 'indiscreet' person she'd ever met.

Jello

"Adrien," Plagg said warily, "what's this?" He was looking at the squares of green gelatin that sat on a plate on his table."

Adrien, for his part, grimaced. "We had a pot-luck in school today. Someone brought this. It had cheese in it so I thought you'd like it."

Plagg could only stare in horror. "Who would ruin good cheese by putting it in that?!"

The model sighed. "Apparently Sabrina."

"I knew I never liked that girl," Plagg said with a huff.

"Oh, come on, just try it," Adrien said with a sigh.

Plagg looked torn. He couldn't very well let good cheese go to waste, and yet he couldn't exactly eat that.

Finally his greedy side won out and Plagg carefully took a piece of cheese-laced Jello and stuck it in his mouth.

"Huh, not so bad," he said.

Adrien wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disgusted.

Kittens

Adrien walked in the door to his apartment with a relieved sigh. He loved teaching, he really did, but that didn't make his job any easier. Honestly, he almost wished they could go back to fighting akuma. Almost.

"Marinette?" he called out, checking to see if his wife was home.

"Rough day?" he heard her call from the other room. He walked into her sewing room to see her hard at work as usual.

"Eh, it wasn't so bad. Although I think super heroing is probably easier."

She didn't turn to look at him, but he did see her grin as she pulled the bundle of material away from the sewing machine and cut the threads dangling from it.

"There we go," she said with a smile.

"So what have you been up to?" he asked. "Still working on that commission?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I finished that up this morning. I actually made this for you."

With that, she held up a large, very comfortable looking sweatshirt that said 'Papa Cat' on it.

He grinned. "It looks great, Mari. Why did you put that on the front of it?" he asked. Not that he was complaining. Anything that had to do with cats.

"Well I had to," she said nonchalantly. "If we're going to have a kitten."

Adrien froze.

Wait... what?!

"Mari... are you saying what I think you're saying?"

She turned around and beamed up at him. "If you think I'm telling you I'm pregnant, then yes."

Before she could even finish he'd rushed forward and scooped her up into his arms, whirling her around.

"Adrien!" she admonished playfully. He stopped her from protesting more by kissing her.

Light

He knew he should have talked her out of it, but he'd thought he could handle it. He'd really, really thought he wouldn't have this much of a problem with that red, glowing dot that would not go away and he just had to stop it...

To the class's utter shock, he jumped at the little light again as it moved. He ignored them. They didn't get it. They didn't understand just how wrong it was to have something that small dodging away from him at any second, like it owned him, like he couldn't touch it.

Oh, he'd show it! He would!

The rational part of his mind pointed out that he really, really couldn't catch it, and he knew it was right. And yet he. Couldn't. Stop!

Marinette, who held the laser pointer and who had been explaining their project now seemed to move the dot around in a bit of a daze. Like she couldn't really believe this was happening.

Adrien went to stand up again, sheepish.

But then it moved again!

He jumped after it, and then groaned internally. He could almost hear Plagg laughing at him now.

Stupid cat instincts.

Marriage

The bride looked stunning. The designer gown with the flowing material pooling at the back to spread out like a river of white. Her hair done up in gorgeous curls under a veil that Marinette had designed herself.

"Oh... wow," she heard Nino say and glanced over to the two men standing and watching Alya walk down the aisle. Marinette grinned at them and then blushed as Adrien raised an eyebrow at her, pointed to his chest, to her, and then to himself again. She felt the ring on her finger and her stomach dropped. She suppressed a smile and sent a subtle gesture for him to stop. This was Alya and Nino's day, not theirs. They would have their own day next month.

Somehow, that thought just made the whole ceremony that much better.

Notes

"Hey, Marinette," a familiar voice called out. Marinette's whole body froze for a moment, but she managed to turn around and face the gorgeous blond coming in her direction.

"A-adrien!"

Beside her, Alya gave a fond sigh that Marinette ignored.

"Yeah, sorry to bug you, but I was wondering if I could borrow your notes from History. Nino didn't take any and I need to know what went on."

Marinette tried to suppress her wince. That had been during the akuma fight.

"Uh, s-sorry, I upheld got – got held up! – because of the fight Akuma – Akuma fight! – and didn't notes take. I mean, take notes!" She was really getting sick of turning into a blubbering mess around her crush.

"Oh. Too bad," Adrien said sympathetically before glancing over at Alya. "Do you have the notes?"

"Right here," she said, patting her backpack. "Marinette was just going to copy them. Would you like to join us?"

Marinette stared at her friend in amazement. Somehow, she felt like she was in heaven, despite the fact that her knees felt like jelly. That was brilliant!

"Oh, sure! Just let me tell my driver," Adrien said with a grin and stepped away with his phone in his hand.

"Do you love me, girl?" Alya asked with a grin.

"YES!" Marinette squealed and threw her arms around her best friend.

Oxen

"What?" Ladybug asked as she looked down into the street full of what looked like cattle.

"Those are oxen," Chat said. "I think. They could be bulls."

Marinette blinked and then glanced over at Chat worriedly. "Bulls... as in bull fights... as in..."

Of course, at that point, at one end of the street, a man dressed as a Matador flashed his red cloak.

Both of the heroes swore under their breath.

Partridge

"What's this?" Ladybug asked as Chat handed her a cage. "Don't tell me you're going to make some sort of canary joke." She blew on her hands, trying to keep them warm. The suit helped a lot, but still...

"Please, My Lady," Chat said, sounding almost offended. "If I were to do that, I'd get you an actual canary."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "So what's this?" she asked, pointing towards the brown and white striped bird in the cage.

Chat's grin grew and she knew he was about to make a joke.

"It's a partridge. I couldn't carry a pear tree around, but I figured this would work. Merry Christmas, My Lady."

Ladybug sighed and took the cage, but couldn't quite keep the smile off of her face. "Oh, Chaton."

Queen

Chloe sat on the window seat in her room, staring out at the Parisian skyline. Usually it gave her a sense of her own power and position. It made her feel like a princess... no, like the queen she was. She had everything she ever wanted. Power, money prestige, good taste, even a miraculous, recently.

She had everything.

Except what she really wanted.

She couldn't get it out of her head. Adrien and that...that...

She buried her head in her arms.

What was the point of being a queen if she couldn't get the one thing she wanted?

Round

Adrien looked at his eyes in the mirror and frowned. He didn't like those eyes. Those round, human eyes. It symbolized the mask he was growing to hate. Inhuman, slitted eyes... that's what he wanted to see.

"Plagg," he whispered. "Claws out."

Stare

Sometimes, Chat Noir couldn't help but just stare at his lady. She'd point out the stars, but she shone brighter than the moon. She'd point out the city, but nothing could surpass her glow. She'd point out the land marks, but they always looked so much better with her near them.

Then she'd catch him and he'd just send a wicked smile at her. She'd roll her eyes, look away and leave him to stare some more.

Turtle

"You're a what?" Nino asked the little...thing hovering before him.

"A kwami."

"No, I mean what animal?"

That caused the being to blink a bit. "A turtle. Isn't that obvious?"

Nino sighed. "Not really, dude. But that's cool."

Urn

"Master?" the butterfly kwami's eyes opened wide as Gabriel came storming into the room.

"An urn?" he growled. "He compared my creation to an urn!"

The kwami sighed. This would not end well.

"Nooroo, Wings Rise!" Gabriel bit out.

Twenty minutes later, the critic was being dragged out of his apartment by an akuma. Ladybug and Chat Noir got there and saved him easily enough, but Gabriel still left the room in a much better mood.

The Kwami just shook his head and sighed.

Vixen,

Rina Rouge was nothing like Volpina. They may have looked similar, but Rina Rouge was uplifting where Volpina had been condescending. She was encouraging where Volpina had been discouraging. And she was honest. The counter to that went without saying.

Chat called Rina Rouge a 'Vixen', but Ladybug didn't think the name fit at all. Rina – Alya – would always be sly, clever and intelligent, but she would never be a Vixen.

Wild,

Ladybug backed away slowly. It was another akuma attack and they'd somehow gotten to Chat again, but this time, it wasn't mind control. No, he stalked her on all fours, eyes watching her like a tiger would its pray. Except didn't tigers have normal eyes? Not the slitted ones that were just staring at her. He looked so different, wild and terrifying.

"C-chat," she said slowly, holding her hands up and really wishing she had her yo-yo right about now. The Akuma had managed to get it from her hands. "Come on, kitty. It's me."

He didn't hear her, crouching down and preparing to pounce. She watched him warily, waiting for just the right moment. Then he leapt and she dove under him, turning and racing for her yo-yo. She needed a lucky charm to deal with this cat.

She hadn't counted on his reflexes being even better than a cat's.

No sooner had her hand closed around her yoyo then he was on her. She closed her eyes and braced for pain. Instead, he was rubbing his head against her stomach and purring.

For several seconds she just watched him, and then she sighed. So much for her wild cat.

X-Ray,

"It looks like you've broken your arms, legs and chest mulitple time," the doctor said worriedly to Marinette. "It's worrying. Can you explain this?"

Marinette sighed. "You can ask anyone at school. I'm just about the clumsiest person you will ever meet, and I go to College Dupant."

The man's eyes widened. "The one with all the akuma?"

She nodded. "One and the same. Whenever anyone gets hurt, Ladybug's magic fixes it, though."

He glanced back down at the x-rays before him. "Oh. Well, then. That explains it."

Marinette breathed back a sigh of relief. One bullet dodged. Thank goodness Miraculous Cure didn't leave scars too.

Yearning

Once they figured out who the other's chosen was, Plagg and Tikki would get together during class and just try to forget the drama that was their chosens' lives. After all, Marinette yearned after Adrien and Chat Noir yearned after Ladybug. It had happened before, with previous chosen... but that really just made the whole thing that much more ridiculous to the two ancient beings.

Zoning (Out)

"Marinette?"

The dark-haired girl jumped when an elbow nudged her in the side and she glanced up to see Mme. Bustier staring at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Um," Marinette said, feeling her cheeks heat up and glanced over at Alya who just watched her in amusement.

The traitor.

"If you would please pay attention and not zone out, I would appreciate it. I do put a lot of work into teaching you what you'll need to know for Lycee, and it is important, no matter how cute you may think the back of the person's head in front of you is."

Several people in the class snickered and Marinette wanted to sink into her seat. Mme. Bustier must be having a bad day for her to say something like that.

"Y...yes, Madam," Marinette muttered.

Fortunately, Adrien turned around at that moment and smiled at her. That, of course, made her feel infinitely better.

So she went back to trying to take notes.

Of course, not 5 minutes later, she was staring at the back of a blond head, zoning out again.

xXx

List given by sctwilightvampwolfgal at the ABC Challenge thread in the Ladybug Challenges forum. It's a fun place. Come check it out. :)