A MariChat / Adrienette Fanfiction Story
I do not own anything from the show "Miraculous Ladybug" apart from this plot and some of the characters and/or details. All the credit and rights belong to their rightful owner, Thomas Astruc.
Chapter 22 - Treading in Deep Water
Alya raced outside of the school grounds and down the stairs looking for Marinette after her confrontation with Adrien. She was about to head in the direction of Marinette's house when she heard a snuffle from behind the bushy hedge that was beside the staircase walls.
"Marinette, where are you? Are you ok?" She cried out trying to seek confirmation.
"Go away," Marinette yelled back in a blubbering mess.
"No, I can't do that gurl."
"Yes, you can."
"Nope, not gonna happen," Alya called back as she moved around the side of the hedge.
"Just leave me alone!" Sniff, "I just want to be alone right now," Sniff, sniff, "I don't need your advice right now, especially after that stunt of yours involving Luka! There's no way in the world that he would've been so blunt and forward towards me when he already knows how I feel about Adrien!"
Alya shifted her weight uncomfortably as she went to begin her apology, "Look, Mari. I… I'm sorry, I… We didn't mean to hurt you. It's just…"
"JUST WHAT!" Marinette angrily snapped back, cutting Alya's apology off short, "I don't care if you're sorry that what just happened was going too far! Hell, you of all people should know exactly how I feel about both of them. And don't get me started on you using Luka to get what you wanted out of Adrien!"
"Mari, you need to calm down or you'll get yourself Akumatized," Alya calmly tries to snap Marinette out of her enraged state.
"Calm down? You want me to calm down after being betrayed by my best friend by using another close friend to find out how the guy that I have the biggest crush on feels about me. Are you happy now? You should be! We finally know that he likes me back! Heck, the whole school knows by now thanks to you!" Marinette snapped back again, glaring at Alya with a worn look of betrayal and tear-stained cheeks as she got herself off the ground ready to storm off to anywhere but here.
Alya sighed and stepped in front of Marinette with her arms out to the side as Marinette tried to barge her way past. Marinette stops at one of the arms being held out to stop her and turned her head away in the opposite direction in every attempt not to look at Alya in the eyes.
"Mari," She began.
"Don't you Mari me Alya!" Marinette cuts in.
"You know I was only trying to help. I was ALWAYS trying to help! ALWAYS! Even with you two constantly dancing around your extremely obvious feelings towards each other! It's not my fault if HE's too blind to see it for himself and you were way too shy and timid to do anything about it! How else was anything ever going to happen between you two?" Alya raised her voice back before pausing briefly to calm herself.
"Mari," Alya softly whispers as she slowly wraps her arms around Marinette in a loving hug from behind, "You know I love you. You're my best friend in the entire whole. All I wanted to do was get Adrien to realise something for himself that he was too blind to see on his own and make you, the bestest ever bestie in the whole entire world, the happiest gurl in the world too. Is that a crime?"
"No," Marinette whispered back, dropping her head as if in shame.
"Am I happy that you've been hurt in the process? No. Am I happy that our dear cinnamon roll has finally awakened from his slumber and is finally seeing you in the light for the first time? Hell yes! Was I expecting his reactions to be as bold as they were? No, but man you should have seen his face, now that was priceless!" Alya continued.
"WHAT?" Marinette squeaked as she turned around in Alya's arms, "What face?"
Alya let go of the embrace, grabbed Marinette by the hand then started bolting back towards the school entrance, "We don't have time for that now, Mari! We need to get you cleaned up and to class before the bell rings. We don't want 'lover boy' to see you looking like this now either!"
"Aaaaalllllyyyyyaaaaa!" Marinette squawked as she was being dragged back into the school grounds and escorted directly towards the girls' bathroom.
Adrien and Nino were already in class, laying low after everything that has just transpired and waiting for the next lesson to begin. Adrien had his head on his desk, covered by his arms, groaning with Nino doing his best to offer some moral support to his best friend with little success.
"Come on my dude, cheer up. Everything's going to work out, trust me, I know how Alya works her magic and everything will be back to normal again," Nino chirped, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"But Nino, it's never going to be normal again!" Adrien exclaimed, poking his head out of his arms, "Things are never, ever going to be the same between Marinette and me, not now! And what perfect timing too! Right before Marinette and I have to present out Shakespeare assignment to the class!"
"Well, it should make an interesting viewing then," Nino casually tried to downplay the situation.
"Seriously Nino! Then tell me, how will it look for me when she's too mortified to show her face in class after what just happened? I will probably fail the assignment and once word gets back to my father, I will probably be forced back into homeschooling again. I refuse to go back to that life!" Adrien shouted back while gesturing out the classroom door.
"Hmmm, I suppose you do have a point there," Nino contemplated while rubbing his chin with his fingers and thumb in thought, "still, I wish I had some popcorn ready for the fireworks that will be on display if she does turn up!"
Adrien groaned and rehid his face back into his arms before he spoke again with a muffled voice, "Some friend you turned out to be."
"Harsh," Nino mocked, pretending to be hurt by his comments.
It was at that moment that Ms Bustier walked into the classroom, closing the door behind her, ready to commence the next lesson. "Good morning class, can you all please take your seats and settle down so that I can do a quick roll call, then we can get straight into our last few Shakespeare presentations."
"Yes Miss," the students replied as they got back into their seating arrangements.
"Agreste, Adrien?"
"Present," Adrien poked his head up and flatly replied before resting his chin on his folded arms.
Ms Bustier looked over at Adrien with a puzzled yet concerned expression before continuing with the roll, "Bourgeois, Chloe?"
"Sorry Miss," Sabrina piped up, "Chloe went home early as she was too distraught after what happened earlier," she turned to glare at Adrien, making sure she got eye contact before folding her arms and turning away from him.
"Ouch," Nino whispered, "At least we don't have to worry about the wicked witch of the east for the rest of the day," He winked, receiving a nod from Adrien in response.
"Bruel, Ivan"
"Present Miss."
"Cesaire, Alya?" the class stayed silent.
"Cesaire, Alya?" Ms Bustier called out again but still, the silence remained.
"Does anyone know where Alya is?" Ms Bustier asks with a worried tone to her voice.
The classroom door slammed open, "Sorry we're late Miss!" Alya and Marinette wheezed, both out of breath from running to their class.
"Ah, Alya, Marinette, I was getting a bit worried about the two of you. Now that you both are here, can you please take your seats so we can finish our roll call and we can get started?" Ms Bustier replied calmly with a sigh of relief in her voice.
"Yes Miss," the girls both replied as Alya closed the door behind them and they both took their seats.
Nino nudged Adrien to get his attention, "See, I told you my girl would work her magic," he whispered as Ms Bustier continued calling out the roll. Adrien just rehid his face again and groaned once more.
"Nino, just kill me now," Adrien groaned.
"Now that we are done with the formalities, I'm really looking forward to what you all have to present for us today," Ms Bustier called out with an air of excitement in her voice, "Do we have any volunteers to go first then?"
"We'll go first!" Rose cried out, almost jumping out of her seat and over her desk as she stood up with her hand raised to the sky. She looked over to Juleka who just smiled up at her and gave a single nod.
"Thank you, Rose, Juleka. Please make your way up the front so that we can get started," Ms Bustier beamed.
Slowly but surely, each duo got up and took their turn at presenting what they had learnt about the Shakespeare play that they had chosen and now it was Adrien and Marinette's turn.
"Thank you, Kim and Alix, for your interesting take of Shakespeares' 'Taming Of The Shrew'," Ms Bustier applauded, slightly befuddled as the pair returned to their seats. "Adrien, Marinette, it's your turn to tell us about your play Romeo and Juliet. I'm excited to know what you have to present us with."
A few "oooo's", 'Wolf' whistles and sniggers could be heard as they slowly got out of their seats and made their way to the front of the class.
"Shhh, settle down please," Ms Bustier firmly called out, clapping her hand to get everyone's attention.
The pair looked back to the class waiting for everyone to settle before looking to each other for confirmation that they were ready to start.
Adrien took a deep breath to calm his nerves before reading off his notes in front of him, "Marinette and I chose to research one of Shakespeare's most famous plays in history, 'Romeo and Juliet' and found out how some of the topics that are mentioned are still relevant or how they have evolved over the years and still affect us today."
"The biggest topic that we came across was gender equality and how even though many years have passed since the play was originally written, there are some cultures who still follow the traditional practices and rituals today," Marinette chimed in.
Adrien began to relax realising that he was worrying about nothing as they completed the rest of their oral report to the class.
Clapping, Ms Bustier exclaims, "Well done both of you, you did your homework with this one didn't you. Now then, which part will you be rein acting for us today?"
"Um, well Ms Bustier, we decided to do part of the finale but with our own little twist. We chose to switch the gender roles around, so we have Romiette and Julien instead of sticking to the play's traditional roots," Adrien squirmed as he noticed the smile turn into concern on their teacher's face.
"We hope you like it," Marinette chirped as they moved into position, Adrien laying down on Ms Bustier's desk as if he was lying in an open casket with Marinette looking over him ready to continue from where they had decided to start from.
"Pst, Nino? Are you gonna be filming this?" An excited Alya whispered.
"Hell yeah! Wouldn't miss this for the world!"
"Great! Call me crazy but I've just gotta hunch about how this is gonna go down," Alya winked.
"Same here. I just wish I had some popcorn for the show," Nino pouted before facing back to the front and getting ready to press record on his phone.
Marinette began reciting her lines with sadness and anguish in her voice,
"O, my love! my husband!
Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not advanced there.
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favour can I do to thee,
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Julien,
Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars."
Adrien all of a sudden started to feel like they were alone studying in the park just like before, with Marinette's words washing over him. He couldn't just lie there anymore and slowly cracked open his left eye, the one that was closest to her and watched her theatrics as she spoke before placing her right hand next to his on his chest.
Adrien reached for Marinette's hand, holding it gently and catching her off guard mid-sentence, "Closed in my true love's hand?" he gently whispered.
Marinette jumped from the unexpected touch, un-nerving her and causing her to look down at Adrien as she attempted to continue with her lines, "F...f...from this wor...world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!"
Adrien opened his other eye and continued to whisper to her, "Hath been our timeless end."
"Ar...Arms, t...take your last em...embrace!" Marinette continued to stutter.
"Left no friendly drop to help me after?"
"And, lips, O you. The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss."
"I will kiss thy lips," and with that, Adrien reached up for Marinette's face and pulled her in for a passionate kiss.
Marinette cycled through a series of emotions at that moment. Firstly, she was shocked and wanted to pull away, this wasn't part of the script. Then she realised that Adrien, the crush of the century was kissing her, so she started melting and returning the kiss. Then she remembered where they were and what they were supposed to be doing, setting her into a downward spiral and setting off another anxiety attack. With eyes wide as saucers, she pushed herself away from Adrien with a squeak and kept walking backwards until she hit the backboard then sliding down to the floor, her breathing short, sharp and heavy. Adrien sat up confused by what was happening around him.
"Oh heck!" Alya jumped out of her seat racing to Marinette's side behind the desk. On reaching Marinette, she realised the bluenette was in serious trouble and needed urgent medical attention, "Ms, we need to get Marinette to the nurse's office!" she cried back trembling with urgency in her voice.
Ms Bustier had come down the steps right behind Alya, "Oh my! Ivan, can you please carry Marinette down to the nurse's office immediately. Alya you stay with her until the nurse sends you back to class please," with worry and concern all over her face.
"Yes Ms," they both replied, Ivan scooping Marinette up off the floor bridal style before they raced out the door.
Hi Guys,
Sorry for the delay with this chapter, I was suffering from writer's block during the course of writing this chapter which caused the delay. I hope it was worth the wait.
Thank you all for your continued patience and support, it means a lot to me.