So there will be some drama coming up and the reason it's PG-13 is because it will include moderate substance abuse in the form of painkillers.

The Tango is danced to: Billie Eilish - Bad Guy

•••••

Show night came around in a flash and Marinette wasn't ready.

The last set of rehearsals that morning had proved a lot more strenuous on her ankle than she thought it would. Her aim was to mark it through with Adrien and then save her energy for the evening, however, being the professional she is, Marinette performed flat out and now she was nursing an ankle the size of an elephant's and a deep fear she was about to let Adrien down big time.

The idea was that they stayed in the competition, she'd promised Plagg and Tikki that she'd aim for a high score again and both the routine and Adrien were ready for this, she however, was not. She sat down in the makeup chair allowing the artist to paint her face and the hairstylist to put her hair into two pigtails.

The routine looked amazing, and even with her injuries the theatrics they added in were perfect. It was based on a children's television programme which Marinette and Adrien were slightly obsessed with.

Miraculous: The Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir was their theme for the evening with Marinette wearing a tight red and polka dot catsuit, complete with thick black belt and chiffon wings, and Adrien; white trousers, sleeveless pvc knee length jacket and a white full sleeve mesh top. Both were wearing masks to complete their outfits, Marinette's making her an everyday Ladybug, whereas Adrien was transformed into Chat Noir's akumatized villain, Chat Blanc.

The routine was good. The costumes were good. Marinette's ankle, however, was not. She thanked the stylists and left towards their dressing room looking for the only thing that could help her get through the show. Her painkillers.

•••••

"What do you mean 'has she been to Marinette'?" Adrien was currently pacing in the hallways of the studio Nino ranting down the phone.

"Listen man, I should have made more of an effort to tell you but Lila's a parasite!"

"A parasite?" Adrien asked, slightly amused by his terminology.

"Yes, a parasite! She'll strip everyone of their goodness and use it to help herself. Whatever this is you've got going on with her, well , you need to stop. She's no good."

"You actually think I'd seriously date Lila? Come on Nino, I thought you knew me better than that."

"After hearing you can parkour I don't think I know you as well as I thought." Nino scoffed on the other end of the phone.

"It's complicated, but part of Luka's grand plan, ok?" Adrien explained.

"Oh, ok! Makes sense, but dude the girl terrorised Marinette during school. Just keep them apart. Marinette doesn't always fall for Lila's lies but concerning you ... well ... I think she might."

"What do you mean 'concerning me'?"

"I've already said too much. Luka seems to know what he's doing and I trust the guy so follow along with him."

Adrien nodded even though Nino couldn't see him.

"Sure," Adrien finally said, "I can do that."

"Excellent. Well good luck tonight dude and I'll text you later."

Ending the call Adrien lent back against the wall and let out a deep breath. This was supposed to be fun. Why had it suddenly become so difficult?

"Hey," Luka appeared next to Adrien, looking the blonde over with worry. "Spoken to Nino?"

"Yeah. Why didn't you tell me about Lila and Marinette, I mean, I'd heard things but you know her so well I thought you would have given me the heads up."

"That's the reason I didn't. You need to fake this with Lila a little while longer, get her to let her guard down and then we can put the plan in motion. If you'd known the ins and outs you wouldn't have done this."

Adrien's head flopped forward as he let out a sigh.

"Of course I wouldn't."

"Look, I know this is hard, but I swear it'll be ok. Just keep going. Marinette's strong and she will forgive when it's all over, just at the moment she can't know. It's not the time. So you keep sweet talking the liar and we'll get to the bottom of it!"

Adrien sighed, Luka was right and he trusted the guy, he just hated the effect it was having on Marinette.

"You look great by the way," Luka said, leaving the hall deserted and Adrien alone again.

What was he going to do now?

•••••

"More tablets?" A voice sounded behind Marinette as she took a couple more of her painkillers.
"Just taking the correct dosage."

Wayhem had made his way into Marinette and Adrien's dressing room, closing the door behind him.

"You know, I can get you something stronger if your ankle is playing you up."

Marinette walked towards the door and reached out to grab the handle, only to be stopped by Wayhem's hands on her waist.

"I can help you, you know, you just need to let me." He whispered down into her ear and she couldn't help but shiver.

"I'm fine, thank you for your concern." She pushed him out the way, trying to open the door. All dancers needed to meet in the green room for a pre show briefing and she was already running a couple of minutes late.

"Just say the word Princess and I can help. The offers there." He dropped her a wink before opening the door for her and indicating the exit.

She could still feel his presence behind her as she made her way into the room, Adrien already there waiting for her. As if he could tell the unease on her face, Adrien moved straight to her and pulled her to his side.

"You ok?" He asked, eyeing Wayhem as the presenter made his way over to Lila.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Marinette replied, pulling together her best smile.

Before Adrien could ask anything else, the production team began to do their usual spiel about how the evening was going to work, and the running order, fire exits excetera excetera. Marinette and Adrien had been moved to last, giving Marinette additional time to rest before the performance, she was quite sure she had Tikki and Plagg to thank for that.

"Adrien, Marinette, a word please."

The two partners were pulled to one side as everyone went about their way warming up and doing last minute costume, makeup and hair checks.

"We've been contacted by a local theme park and they would like you both to attend their fright night tomorrow. It'll be filmed for their social media and they would like you to make sure you post on your own."

Adrien felt Marinette freeze next to him, knowing full well she would rather be anywhere but.

"Is it - um - is it part of our contract?" She asked, her voice slightly shaky.

"It'll definitely help fulfill it." She was told.

"Ok then," she gulped and Adrien thought he'd never seen anything cuter, she looked like a young girl being told she was about to go to the dentist.

"I'll protect you, and we'll have a great time." He pulled her close, squeezing her into a side hug.

Marinette hated horror and now she was going to live her own horror evening, with the guy she was crushing on, who had her nemesis as his girlfriend.

When was she going to catch a break?

•••••

Finally, after what felt like a year of waiting Adrien was positioned on the stage ready to perform. He was so proud of Marinette this week, with everything going on she still managed to pull together a routine which he now suspected was his favourite. It was dramatic, imaginative and sexy, just as a tango should be.
When the week started out he had his doubts, after all, their Argentine Tango scored so well how could they match it with a 'normal' tango. However, he soon found out there was no such thing as a normal tango and this was major winner's territory, if he did say so himself.

He gathered himself into his role. A superhero cat whose father had played on his emotions making him destroy the Earth, a father who was restrictive, condescending and a nightmare. Huh? Suddenly he felt like he didn't need to act at all.

The music started up and Marinette walked onto the stage, ending face to face with her once partner now enemy. She pushed her hands up his chest, only for him to grab her wrists and spin her around. She pushed herself away from him and they began their first solo sections. Adrien advancing on Marinette; cross one foot, tap the other to the side, cross, tap on the other foot, arms scooping in front and behind of his body hitting the accents in the music.

"White shirt now red, my bloody nose,
Sleeping', you're on your tippy toes,
Creepin' around like no one knows
Think you're so criminal,"

They joined in tango hold, slowly turning towards the front as they proceeded into their step taps down the room towards the camera, taking it into a side chassé in promenade. Adrien led Marinette into pivot turns as they commenced back to where they came from before separating from each other by throwing their arms away and behind them. The looks on both their faces were intense, the need to defeat and protect all merged into one passionate package.

"So you're a tough guy
Like it really rough guy
Just can't get enough guy
Chest always so puffed guy"

Adrien spun Marinette around him as she released her sore leg from the ground in a kick, commencing into a step tap section Adrien had named 'crazy feet'. He spoke through it in his head. Step, tap, bring it back, step back, together, head, head, (don't get whiplash) and repeat. It was like a sudoku puzzle with no end in sight.

"I'm that bad type
Make your mama sad type
Make your girlfriend mad tight
Might seduce your dad type
I'm the bad guy, duh"

The dance continued and Adrien worked hard to keep his thinking face one of aggression and passion, not one of constipation. Perform, perform, perform.

Finally, they'd made it to the end. Marinette walked up to him and pulled on his jacket, the dance finishing as though she was about to give him a spell breaking kiss. The lights went out and the emotions got too much for him. He quickly placed his lips against hers, pulling back as the lights returned leaving Marinette shocked and disoriented. Her lips still puckered and adorable.

"You two ok over there?" The presenter started to laugh as Marinette stood frozen and Adrien beamed at the mischief he just caused.

Noticing his partner didn't seem to be moving, Adrien scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the judges. The sounds of oh's and awe's sounded from the audience and the presenter couldn't help but jump in.

"Adrien Agreste, every woman's dream man," Adrien lowered Marinette down onto her feet and laughed along with the presenter.

"What kind of partner would I be if I didn't see to M'Lady? Got to make sure I keep her ankles well for next week."

"I like the positivity there," she laughed before handing over to the judges. Nooroo was the first to speak.

"Not the best I've seen you do as it lacked a lot of content, but that's not surprising with Marinette's issues these past couple of weeks. You sure you should still be here and putting yourself through it, darling?"

Adrien flinched at his words. How dare he?

"I think she did a great job, and I trust Marinette to do what's best for herself and our partnership. It's us against the world." Adrien held out his fist to Marinette who pounded it straight back. Her eyes still looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Plagg,"

"I love Miraculous so this was right up my street. Just needed a cataclysm to end it and it would have been perfect." The audience laughed along with Plagg's joke, "anyway Adrien, your confidence and performance ability is improving by the week. I'm looking forward to you doing something a little different soon though, I think I'd like to see you step out of your comfort zone just a little bit more."

Adrien and Marinette smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Tikki?"

"Firstly, I need to agree with Nooroo. Your routines are usually filled with content however this one lacked some of the more intricate tango footwork you could have added in. I know the reasons why it's not there today and that's fine, but we are heading deeper into the competition now and you need to be throwing everything you can at the routines. However, what you did perform was faultless. The steps and head were strong, your frame was exquisite and the performance you're putting on is fabulous. I'm hoping you're still here next week and like Plagg said it'd be nice to see you do a different style to these safe ones."

Marinette changed feet as they went to the fourth and final judge only for the intense pain to shoot through her ankle. It took her breath away and caused her to collapse into Adrien's side. Feeling the shift in her movement he pulled her closer, supporting her the best he could without it looking obvious.

Neither heard what Dusuu said as they were preoccupied with each other, nodding and smiling at the end of the feedback and thanking the judges. The way Marinette was supporting herself against Adrien signalled to him that she could hardly walk. Without a moment's hesitation he scooped the girl into his arms again and walked over to Wayhem to receive their scores.

Six, eight, seven, seven, not too bad at all, keeping them comfortably towards the top of the leaderboard again.

"Marinette, do you want me to carry you?" She shook her head in response before hobbling off to the dressing room.

"You've done enough Adrien, don't worry about it. I'll ice up and be back out in a jiffy." He nodded and watched her hobble away before turning towards the green room and the need for a drink, his fingers pressed firmly to his lips. He'd kissed the girl and he liked it.

Adrien never saw the tears run down Marinette cheeks as she made her way to the dressing room, or the fact she took four painkillers instead of two. After all, she needed to stay in this competition, she couldn't let Lila win.

•••••
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