Something in the Night Cover Picture
Something in the Night
is an ongoing Miraculous Ladybug fanfic, written by konekat and published at Archive of Our Own.
It’s been seven years since Ladybug up and vanished from Paris. Adrien has finally moved on from all of the pain and questions that she left him with. Or so he thought, until he comes across a spotted stranger slinking through Paris in the night.
While this story has been dormant since March 2017, the author remains reluctant to declare it a Dead Fic.
Something in the Night contains examples of:
- Bedmate Reveal: Marinette finds out that Chat is Adrien when she wakes up the morning after Burning in the Night. In turn, Adrien wakes up to see her seemingly about to walk out and Not Staying for Breakfast, but she turns to face him and reveal herself before leaving.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Upon returning to Paris, Marinette convinces Tikki to transform her and let her go for a late night run as Ladybug, promising to stay out of sight. But when she hears a scream a few blocks away and is alerted to a gang rape in progress, she intervenes, which ends up reuniting her with Chat.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Comes up for Chat Noir between the cops and Ladybug. When he sees Ladybug's panicked reaction to the police arriving, he chooses to conceal her involvement in the fight, and allows her to spend the night in his apartment. Despite the awkwardness the next morning, he chooses to stick to his story and files a false report, which, lucky for him, is supported by the victim's account.
- Da Chief: Chief Roux, a police officer who's hated working with Chat Noir since long before his promotion. His predecessor, Chief Robert, was more The Commissioner Gordon.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Marinette's realisation that Alya set up her job with Attitude knowing that Adrien worked there and didn't tell her:Hélèn: Maybe you, me, and Alya can get together sometime. I haven’t gotten to talk to her in ages!
Marinette: Yes!
It was great to know that Hélèn and Alya already got along well. Hanging out with the two of them would probably be… a trip. A fun, really crazy trip. Marinette was exceedingly grateful that Alya was already familiar with—
Her mind stopped short.
Alya knew this company well, right? She had been the one to tell Marinette there was a designer position open. And Alya knew Hélèn. So what if...
Hélèn: Marinette?
Marinette: Hélèn… Just how familiar would you say Alya is with Attitude?
Hélèn: Alya? Pretty familiar, I’d say. She’s done a few pieces on us, including meeting with one of our designers and a few of the models last season.
Marintte: The models?
Hélèn: Yeah. She set the appointments up with Adrien. You know, I’m kind of surprised she never said anything at the time about knowing him from high school.
Marinette: (Oh hell no.) - Hero with Bad Publicity: Ladybug's abrupt and unexplained disappearance after the capture of Hawk Moth has not made her popular in Paris, to the point that even rumours of her returning are greeted with anger. Meanwhile, while Chat is still popular with the public, there are those on the police force who don't like working with him.
- I Will Wait for You: Adrien waited at the park for Ladybug for weeks after their scheduled meeting fell through, and comes back a number of times over the next few years around the anniversary of Hawk Moth's defeat. Marinette herself hangs around the park a few times when she's back in Paris, but they never see each other.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Ladybug and Chat Noir made plans to reveal themselves the day after Hawk Moth's defeat, but Marinette gets roped into a surprise farewell brunch that morning and ends up stuck in traffic on the other side of Paris with her parents when the time comes and her flight that afternoon prevents her from trying again. Adrien naturally feels abandoned, and when Ladybug does reappear in Paris seven years later he's not in the mood to hear her explanations.
- No Name Given: The story begins immediately after Hawk Moth's capture, but we learn nothing about his identity or motivations, simply because he isn't important to what happens later with Ladybug and Chat Noir's relationship.
- Noodle Incident: It's been stated that there are other reasons for Adrien's issues besides Ladybug's disappearance, but it nothing has been explained yet.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: After Chat Noir makes a false report to conceal his encounter with Ladybug and defends it to a suspicious Chief Roux, he talks with his secret keeper Thomas and tells him the same story. Thomas replies, "I didn’t think you’d lie about something like this," and later praises him for how well he's stuck to his agreement over the years, causing Adrien considerable guilt about deceiving his closest friend on the force.
- Poor Communication Kills:
- Ladybug's failure to tell Chat in advance that she's planning to study in the US and would be leaving soon. She had good reasons for it, and she wouldn't have left if they hadn't caught Hawk Moth in time, but the end result was that when she failed to make their meeting he had no way of knowing where she'd gone. It should also be noted that they never had a particularly specific plan regarding meeting at the park and identifying each other.
- Marinette walking out on Adrien the morning after their night together. As the author sums it up:
konekat: Originally, I had planned for Marinette to just BOOK IT out of there after saying sorry. But I really didn’t like that. I wanted this to be the result of both her AND Adrien’s decisions. And beyond that, she’s hopeful—after all, Adrien finally heard her out (somewhat) the night before. She’s terrified of going back in there and starting another fight, but she’s hoping that he’ll come out and stop her. Of course, Adrien’s decision not to stop her is tainted by the fact that he woke up to see her already dressed, so obviously he thinks that she doesn’t want to stay. And, on the other hand, Marinette wrongly interprets his silence as anger with her, so she thinks that he doesn’t want her to stay. - Secret-Keeper: Chat Noir's agreement with Chief Robert required him to reveal his identity to one officer as an emergency contact, namely Thomas.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: At the height of Ladybug and Chat Noir's argument over her leaving Paris without telling him ahead of time:Ladybug: How many times do I have to tell you!? It was an accident! I tried to get to the park, but everything from that day on went wrong.
Chat: Quit yanking me around! I don’t know what to believe anymore. I can’t do this!
(He leans forward and kisses her, leading into a consensual but somewhat agresteive sex scene in the side story Burning in the Night.) - Stealth Hi/Bye: Chat Noir pulls this on Ladybug (both out of costume, but he can't see her face and she can't see his) when he walks in on her in his kitchen getting a glass of water.Chat: I should have thought to offer you a drink. Do you need anything else?
Ladybug: I’m good. So long as you don’t give me any more heart attacks.
Chat: I wasn’t the one sneaking around someone else’s apartment.
Ladybug: (chuckles) No, you were just sneaking around your own apartment. Are you actually a goddamn cat or something?
Chat: (laughs) Sorry, just a force of habit. - Stranger Behind the Mask: Not only is Hawk Moth not Gabriel Agreste (as would be later revealed in canon), he's a complete stranger to both heroes.
