Marinette sat at her desk next to Alya and stared at the back of Lila's head. Actually, glared would be a more appropriate adjective. Because Nino just had to be sick today and Lila conveniently had issues seeing the board in her usual seat. So now Lila was sitting next to Adrien.
Marinette barely heard the bell ring for lunch; she was so distracted by the way Lila kept casually touching Adien's shirt or hair. Marinette couldn't say two words without making a fool out of herself in front of Adrien, but Lila did not share the same problem. Marinette couldn't imagine touching his hair by casually pushing a golden strand out of his face the way Lila did. Well she could imagine it, but it made her palms feel sweaty.
Alya poked Marinette in the arm as she stood up to gather her stuff.
"Earth to Marinette, it is time for lunch." Alya spoke slowly, mocking the spaced out look in Marinette's eyes. Dragging her eyes away from the sickening scene in front of her, Marinette stood up and picked up her backpack.
"Shut up." Rolling her eyes, Alya put her arm through Marinette's and practically dragged her out of the room.
"Cheer up; at least she's not as touchy-feely as Chloe. She hasn't even tried to kiss him yet." Groaning, Marinette stared up that sky.
"Did you see the way she tried to hold his hand? She'll probably kiss him before the end of lunch." Alya raised an eyebrow and pulled a reluctant Marinette over to their usual table.
"Have you been watching Adrien? I don't think he likes her as much as she likes him." Crossing her arms and staring across the courtyard as Lila walked with Adrien to another table, Marinette grumbled,
"But he's falling for her lies just as much as everyone else." Pulling some food out of her backpack, Alya shrugged.
"So she stretched the truth a little-"
"No, she lied. Ladybug never saved her, she isn't best friends with Ladybug- I'll bet she's never even met Prince Ali or Jagged Stone!" Marinette stormed, slamming her lunch bag down on the table. She tried to look for Lila and Adrien, but they were no longer sitting at the lunch tables.
Their disappearance only meant one thing in Marinette's mind and she managed to strangle a scream of frustration before laying her arms and head onto the table.
"She's worse than Chloe." Marinette muttered, barely able to believe that such a phrase would pass through her lips.
Alya stared down at her.
"Lila's not worse than Chloe." Turning her head to the side, Marinette muttered,
"Wanna bet?" Alya poked her the top of her head until Marinette looked up at her.
"You're being too hard on her."
"Am I?" Challenged Marinette and Alya thought for a moment.
"You don't get it; you've never been the new kid. It can be hard and scary to try making new friends." Staring at her best friend as if it were obvious, Marinette replied,
"But you were the new kid, and you didn't lie."
Alya shifted a little in her seat and stared down at her sandwich.
"That's because you and I met really quickly- and it was easy. But I thought about it. You know, being at a new school, in a new city- I could try being someone else. Someone cooler." Marinette put her hand on Alya's.
"You are one of the coolest people I know." Alya smiled,
"Thanks," She gave Marinette a sly smile before adding, "but it would mean more if you weren't a giant dork."
Wrinkling her nose at her best friend, Marinette laughed and opened up her lunch. She did her best to keep her eyes from straying to where Adrien and Lila had been sitting. Which was difficult… borderline impossible.
It helped that Alya had pulled out her phone and was going through the latest news stories to search for anything to add to the Ladyblog. Marinette could have easily told her that there was nothing new, but then awkward questions would ensue like how Marinette would know. And short of telling Alya about her secret double-life, which would surely end badly, it was best if Marinette kept her mouth shut.
While listening to Alya and eating her sandwich, Marinette began thinking about lying. She hated lies and the idea of someone spreading rumors to make themselves the center of attention. But when she lied to Alya about Ladybug, was that really any better?
Yes, it had to be. She was lying to protect Alya and her family and to keep them out of danger. But it still felt awful. Marinette was hiding a big part of her life from everyone she loved. They would always see her as a little silly and over the top- maybe even a bit of a mess. None of them ever saw her as a competent and powerful superhero.
But that would be a selfish reason to want them to know who she was, Marinette reasoned. Maybe she felt bad because she hated the endless web of lies it created. After all, she was running low on excuses for missing class, most of them getting worse with each passing incident.
In an odd way it was lucky that so many of the akuma incidents affected class time since it meant her frequent "disappearances" had a valid excuse.
Marinette was so lost in thought she almost didn't notice Adrien and Lila walking back to the lunch area. Alya glanced at her and over at the golden headed boy and beautiful brunette returning to their seats.
Lila attempted to take Adrien's hand, but he didn't seem to notice as he ran his fingers through his hair. As Adrien's other hand was holding a book, Lila had no choice but to simply take her seat.
"Did you see that? He won't even want to hold her hand." Alya pointed out. Marinette stuck her lip out, utterly unconvinced.
"Or he wants to keep it a secret. Because if Chloe find out, who knows what she'll do." Giving Marinette an irritated look, Alya crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. Aiming for the heart of the issue, Alya declared,
"You're just looking for excuses to be mad at her."
Marinette sucked in a breath and prepared to go off on a nice long tangent about why it was perfectly reasonable to dislike Lila. But that's when Alya's phone beeped.
They put their heads together over the phone as a breaking news story popped up. Alya clicked on the video of Paris's newest super villain, the Shredder. The video showed a teenager with a large purple helmet and a rocket powered skateboard. He flew along the streets of Paris. He touched his oversized orange sunglasses and transformed an entire building into the world's largest skate ramp with a flash of purple light.
People screamed and ran away from the scene, but when the Shredder touched his sunglasses again, an orange light engulfed them. The bystanders began cheering him on as the Shredder rocketed up the ramp and did a kick-flip. As he skated back down the ramp, he transformed another building into a skating bowl.
Alya stopped the video and began throwing her stuff back into her backpack.
"What are you doing?" Marinette asked, although she had a pretty good idea.
"The Shredder is only a five blocks away- I need to be there in case Ladybug shows up."
"We only have thirty minutes left for lunch." Marinette pointed out, but Alya continued to pick up her phone and headed from the main doors.
"That should be more than enough time." Alya hurried to the doors and Marinette shook her head with exasperation. She packed up her own stuff and headed straight for the bathrooms.
Obviously Marinette needed to stop the Shredder, but now she needed to go keep Alya out of trouble too. She locked herself into one of the stalls and Tikki flew out of her jacket pocket.
"You know Alya's probably right about Lila-" Tikki began and Marinette groaned; she did not need a lecture right now.
"No time for that- we need to keep Alya from being shredded by the Shredder. Tikki, spots on!"
Tikki rolled her eyes before being pulled into Marinette's miraculous. A tingle went through Marinette's body as the transformation began. A warm filled her from the inside, tingled to her arms and legs. She felt strong and power as the suit formed around her body like a second skin.
Ladybug climbed out of the bathroom stall and jumped onto the window ledge. She thought to herself that it was a good thing the school's bathrooms faced out at brick wall as she swung her yoyo.
Throwing it around the nearest chimney, Ladybug swung herself up to the rooftops of Paris. Savoring the freedom and power of practically flying over the city she loved, Ladybug made her way towards the Shredder.
It was not difficult to see where the Shredder was as he had transformed everything around him into the world's largest skate park. The city ended and all that remained were ramps and jumps. Also the growing crowd of screaming fans didn't hurt either.
Ladybug landed at the top of the tallest ramp and looked down for Alya. Her best friend managed to find her way onto the balcony of a nearby building with her phone at the ready. Marinette couldn't help thinking if Alya would probably make an amazing journalist one day. Provided she survived her many hair-brained schemes to record Ladybug.
The Shredder performed a complicated grinding stunt on the other side of the skate park. Sparks flared and the crowd went wild as he managed a perfect landing. He smiled and waved as his hypnotized fans. Swinging her yoyo, Ladybug carried herself across the park, landing on a slightly smaller ramp next to the akumatized villain.
The Shredder bowed to the audience and Ladybug cleared her throat.
"Bonjour, Monsieur Shredder." He looked up sharply at her while she gave him a little wave. Smirking, he gestured to the park around them.
"Ladybug, what do you think?"
"I think I preferred Paris the way it was before." The Shredder's expression darkened and stomped his foot. Oddly enough it reminded Marinette a little kid who did not get his way. Or Chloe.
"No, this is cooler." Ladybug raised an eyebrow and gestured to the crowd of people.
"And enslaving a crowd of people? Is that 'cool'?" The Shredder jumped onto his skateboard and used the rockets to zoom up the ramp towards Ladybug. As a precaution she began to swinging her yoyo.
As he skated, the Shredder yelled,
"I am the best skateboarder in the world!" The crowd below his cheered in agreement, and the Shredder pumped his arm as he reached the top of the ramp. His face darkened when he saw that Ladybug was not cheering. He reached up to his sunglasses and asked,
"Aren't I?"
Ladybug just barely managed to backflip out of the way of an orange beam.
"If you're the best, you don't need a crowd of cheering people to tell you so." Ladybug shot back, dodging yet another streak of orange light. The Shredder glowered at her and then looked up as something tapped the top of his helmet.
Chat Noir slid down his staff and smirked at the Shredder.
"She would know, she is the best." The Shredder reached for his sunglasses and Chat had to launch himself out of the way of an orange beam.
Flipping mid-air and shrinking his metal pole, Chat landed next to Ladybug. He gave an elaborate bow.
"Bonjour, my Lady." Ladybug shoved him out of the way of another orange beam and called after him,
"Late as usual Kitty."
Giving her one of his signature quirky smiles, Chat extended his pole and attempted to push the Shredder off his skateboard.
"My apologies my Lady, you know how I hate to displease you." Ladybug struggled not to smile as the Shredder grinded along Chat's pole. She swung her yoyo in an attempt to entangle the skater, but he used the rocket launchers on his board to fly out of the way just in time.
"It would please me more if you stopped calling me your lady." Ladybug did not get a chance to see Chat's reaction as she swung her yoyo to a chimney to chase after the Shredder. He had rocketed down the ramp and attempted to power up a ramp the size of a skyscraper.
Swinging after the Shredder, Ladybug felt the string of her yoyo give out from under her. It's normally taunt surface loosened into nothing more than a pile of string, sending her falling towards the ground. Eyes wide, Marinette wondered if were possible for her magic yoyo to lose its strength. It had never betrayed her before. She looked up to see the chimney the yoyo was hooked around was beginning to crumble.
Ladybug fell as the chimney's bricks disintegrated and stopped supporting her weight. Struggling to pull her yoyo back in time, Ladybug managed to reel in her yoyo, but couldn't swing it out again as the wind pressed against her on all sides.
Arms grabbed her, pulling Ladybug to safety. Marinette looked up to see Chat Noir launching them both through the air to the nearest rooftop. He only released her once Chat was certain she could stand on shaking legs. Ladybug stared at him, feeling her face go red.
"Um, thanks Chat… I should learn to look before I leap."
While he attempted a relaxed stance, Chat looked tense and serious as he replied,
"But that's who you are. You jump in head first. That's one of the things I… admire about you."
Ladybug cleared her throat and attempted to speak, but it was like the fall had stolen all the words out of her. She turned towards the crowd of people who had gathered around the Shredder on the ground.
"The akuma has to be in the skateboard. " Chat muttered and Ladybug nodded, her eyes trained on the crowd below.
"We have to find a way to get him off that board." Ladybug replied, trying to concoct a plan." Chat's cat ears perked up and he run towards the edge of the roof with his pole in hand.
"I have an idea." He jumped over the side and propelled himself down below into the crowd. Twirling her yoyo, Ladybug grumbled to herself,
"It usually helps to tell me the plan." Swinging herself to the ground near the Shredder, Ladybug announced,
"Monsieur Shredder, if your head gets any bigger you won't be able to fit your helmet." The Shredder turned on her, sending another ray of orange her way. She moved out of the way and turned to see Chat cheering among the crowd.
Dragging her hand along her face with exasperation, Ladybug shook her head. Poor guy, it was his first big plan and it had already failed.
Ladybug decided it was time to use her Lucky Charm. She threw it up into the air and felt the magic tingle through her. As it fell into her hands, Ladybug stared down at a jar of honey. Obviously her lucky charm only wanted to send her vague and random objects meant to make her think.
Before she could figure out what to do with the honey, Ladybug needed to jump out of the way as the Shredder headed straight for her. The jar slipped out of her grip and shattered on the ground, sending honey everywhere.
The Shredder pointed at Ladybug and yelled out to his crowd of fans,
"Get Ladybug, we need to prove that I'm the greatest skateboarder in the world!" The crowd yelled and grumbled, storming after her.
Ladybug turned around to find herself face to face with Chat. He winked at her and then wrapped his arms around her. Ladybug struggled, but her brain was beginning to find a plan in the middle of the insanity.
Chat dragged Ladybug over to the Shredder and awaited his instructions with a blank face. Ladybug struggled against him, but hesitated at hurting Chat. After all he wasn't in control of himself- or was he?
"Take her Miraculous." Ordered the Shredder, and Chat began to reach for Marinette's earrings. He stopped and settled a hand on her shoulder. Ladybug could practically feel his smiling.
"Actually I don't think I want to."
Chat extended his pole, trying to catch the Shredder off balance. The skateboarder fired up his rocket boosters and headed straight for the both of them, ready to run them down.
But something stopped his skateboard mid-ride, sending him flying off. Ladybug looked down at the skateboard trapped by the sticky, sweet honey caught in its wheels. Chat twirled his hand dramatically, inviting Ladybug to break the board.
She managed to extract it from the sticky mess and break the board over her knee. As the little black butterfly flew out of the board, Ladybug opened her yoyo and entrapped the little bug yelling,
"I release you from evil!" Catching the yoyo, Ladybug allowed the pure white butterfly to go free. "Bye, bye little butterfly." She murmured before throwing the largest portion of the honey jar into the sky.
A flurry of ladybugs filled the sky, instantly fluttering around the ramps and returning the world to normal.
Chat and Ladybug fist bumped and then looked over at the Shredder, who was actually just a ten year old boy. He looked up at the both of them with a confused look on his face.
"What happened?"
Ladybug bent down to his level and looked at the orange and purple skateboard, which was still broken. This only meant that his board had been broken before he was akumatized. Ladybug picked up the two halves of the board and handed them to the little boy.
"I'm sorry about your skateboard." He wiped his nose with the back of his hand.
"I broke it trying to show my brother that I'm just as good as he is. I guess I'm not. Jerome was right; I'll never be the greatest skateboarder in the world."
Chat sat down next to the little boy and smiled.
"You want to know something- I wasn't always this good at saving the world." Ladybug raised an eyebrow and Chat gave her a sheepish look, "Alongside my Lady of course. But I practiced and I kept working, and even now I'm still figuring things out. We're always learning- and some of us take longer than others." Chat looked at Ladybug with a gleam in his eyes, she had the feeling he was trying to compliment her again.
An older boy resembling the little Shredder walked over to them. He took the skateboard from Ladybug's hands and shook his head.
"I'm sorry Phillip; I knew you weren't ready to try that move. I shouldn't have tried to push you before you were ready… Do you want to teach you a flip using my board?" Phillip wiped his nose and looked up at Jerome with wide eyes.
"You'll let me use your skateboard?" Jerome put his hand on Phillip's shoulder and helped him stand up.
"Sure, we can't have you getting rusty before you get a new board." Smiling, Phillip let his brother lead him away.
Ladybug and Chat watched the two brothers walk off. They looked around to notice the attention they were beginning to draw from the crowd of confused people.
"I believe it's time we take our leave." Chat said, and the two went flying off towards the rooftops of Paris.
Ladybug stopped on one of the roofs. She sat down to look at the two brother's walking back through the streets. Chat took a seat next to her, his eyes focused on her.
"What's wrong?" He asked, for a moment Ladybug thought he might try to take her hand, but he seemed to decide against it. She sighed and attempted to put her jumbled thoughts into words.
"Just… lying. He became the Shredder because his brother lied- making him think he could do some trick or that he would never be good enough."
"But he made up for it." Pointed out Chat, and Ladybug looked at him. He made it sound so simple, like the world was back in balance because one good deed canceled out a bad one.
"What about Volpina?"
"Not her again." Groaned Chat,
"Fine, what about us? We lie- we have to lie. To families and friends- even each other. You're the only person who knows about this part of my life- but you can't know anything about the normal me."
"But I want to." Chat murmured, but Marinette pretended not to hear him. Because she couldn't be tempted to tell Chat. He was one of the most important people in her life, he was her partner- but they had a job to do. And revealing the truth would get in the way of that.
Ladybug stared out over the city,
"I just want to understand… lying is bad, but…"
"Lying doesn't make you bad. If you lie, that doesn't make you evil person. It can be a bad thing to do, but it's not as simple as that. Volpina lied because she wanted attention- which is a bad reason to do a bad thing- but inside she can still be a good person. Just like you lying about your identity doesn't make you a bad person."
Marinette looked into Chat's soft green eyes. For the first time since meeting Lila, Marinette felt like she could understand. Things were still complicated, but that's because she'd been simplifying the world into good and evil. And maybe that was not how the world was supposed to work.
Ladybug took Chat's hand and squeezed it.
"Thank you… I needed that." Chat smiled at her and she had to look away. It was that look he sometimes gave her that she didn't know what to do with. Like she was the center of his world.
He leaned a little closer and whispered,
"When we were fighting Volpina, I… would you really have given up your Miraculous for that boy? Adrien?"
Her throat went dry. The answer was obviously yes, but at the same time… how would Chat react to that? To knowing she was so willing to sacrifice her powers- her life for Adrien?
Ladybug said a silent prayer of thanks as her Miraculous beeped.
"I would have done the same for you." The words came out on their own, as if she had no control over them. A part of her wanted to take the words back and hide them back away in the deep dark corner of her mind that they came out of.
But they were true. If Chat's life was at risk, she would do anything to save him. She just didn't know what that meant.
Before either of them could respond, Ladybug pulled out her yoyo and sailed away. The entire time her mind was clouded with her new thoughts about good and evil. Well, actually she was thinking about Chat. But she was also trying not to think about Chat.
Ladybug slipped back into the girl's bathroom and stepped out of the bathroom as Marinette. Tikki was nestled sweetly in her jacket pocket, taking a well-deserved nap. Once she woke up Marinette would give her the customary cookie and they could talk. Maybe Tikki could help her sort everything out. And yet… Marinette wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about Chat- not that way. Because it meant crossing lines she wasn't ready to cross.
Marinette checked her reflection in the mirror and sighed. In a way some things felt clearer, but others felt hazier. Being a teenager and a superhero was complicated business.
Walking out of the bathroom and back to class, Marinette showed up in time for Alya to finish giving her excuse as to why she was late to science. Obviously she was showing her newest video on the Ladyblog.
Chloe snickered when Marinette walked in. She looked down to find she has stepped in a piece of toilet paper from the bathroom. Struggling to extract it from her shoe, the teacher turned her attention to Marinette.
Blushing and still trying to be subtle about the toilet paper, Marinette mumbled,
"I got locked in the girl's room." The teacher gave her a foreboding scowl over her glasses. Clearly she was not in the mood for excuses. Marinette pulled the toilet paper off her shoe and held it up as proof. The teacher simply pointed to her seat and Marinette quickly scooted over to it.
She did a quick scan of the room and was relieved to see that Adrien was nowhere in sight. Not only did he miss her embarrassing little episode, he wasn't sitting next to Lila.
Relaxing into her seat, Marinette sat back and listened to Alya's whispered retellings of Ladybug's latest adventure with the Shredder. At least some things were easy to predict.