Miraculous Contempt Chapter 3

Marinette sat on her bed and said with a miserable voice, "I don't know what I'm going to do, Tikki."

"Don't worry. I'm sure he didn't mean what he said."

"Yes, he did. You heard him; he was talking about laying awake at night and dozens of examples of me doing him wrong. This isn't just some bad day that we just have to wait out. And when I asked him if he was going to leave Ladybug, I thought I was being paranoid, but he said he had to think about it! There's actually a chance that I might lose him!"

Tikki said, "Cat Noir isn't going anywhere. All you have to do is show him that you trust him."

"But I don't know how to prove him wrong about me. I don't even know if he is wrong anymore. He won't be satisfied until he knows who I am"

"Marinette, you know the rules. You two have to keep your identities a secret; even from each other."

Marinette fell onto her back and wailed, "I KNOW! THAT'S WHAT MAKES THIS SO HARD!"

Tikki knew that the easiest solution would be for Marinette to tell Cat Noir her secret and she definitely didn't want that to happen. She thought hard and said, "Maybe if you could prove that Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth that would make it up to him?"

"That won't work," Marinette replied. "Right now, he won't listen to what I say about Gabriel. I have to patch things up with Cat Noir, then we can find proof together."

Tikki told her, "Maybe what you need is some time to relax. Call Luka and the others; see if they want to hang out."

Marinette sighed. "I don't know if I should distract myself, but I might explode if I don't. Alright, I'll call them."

In the Agreste Mansion, Adrien was still sitting on his couch, thinking when he was surprised by his ringing phone. Adrien wasn't sure if he was annoyed to be bothered in a mood like this or grateful to have a distraction at a time like this. Still, he picked up the phone. He took one look at the caller ID and knew he was grateful and not annoyed. "Hello, Marinette," he said warmly.

"Hi, Adrien. I was wondering if you and Kagami wanted to join me and Luka at my house and play a few board games."

Adrien sounded like he was tired and his exhaustion was slowly fading away when he said, "That sounds like just what the doctor ordered."

"Really? Are you having a bad day?"

"Not anymore. Are Nino and Alya coming?"

"I asked, but Nino was busy and Alya wanted to spend time with her family; especially Nora," Marinette said.

"Hah, that makes sense. I'll be there."

"Great! I'll call Kagami next. See you later, Adrien."

"Bye, Marinette." Adrien hung up and was annoyed to know what he had to do before he left. He walked over to his desk and stared at the ring, not wanting to put it on. But he had to, just in case.

As soon as Plagg appeared, his arms were crossed. "Don't think that you've gotten out of talking about Ladybug."

"Look. I know you don't agree with what I said, but can you honestly tell me why anything I said about the way she treats me is inaccurate?"

"She . . . Well . . . listen, her keeping her secret from you is just the way it needs to be."

Adrien asked, "Why?"

Plagg was about to give him a reason, but then he remembered how Adrien was able to deflect every reason thrown at him. So he just said, "I don't know. That's just the way it's always been.

Adrien said, "Great. You tell me it's for the best, but you can't tell me why. You're starting to sound like Father."

Plagg instantly felt horrible. Adrien eventually said, "If this conversation is over, I'd like to get going."

Plagg nodded, taking the easy way out of the moment. "Alright," he said weakly.

When Adrien arrived at her house, he was led up the stairs to Marinette's room. There, he found Luka and Kagami, but something was clearly missing. "Hey, what happened to all the pictures of me?" Adrien asked.

Marinette's pupils nearly shrank into oblivion. She thought she would die of embarrassment if Kagami didn't kill her first. Adrien explained to Luka and Kagami, "Marinette is quite the fashion fan."

Luka and Kagami knew the real reason why the pictures used to be there as well as why the pictures were gone. It would make things so much worse if Adrien found out, too.

"At least she was last I checked. Marinette, are you not still a fashion fan?" Adrien asked.

Marinette said in a panic, "No, I still love fashion." Her heart did a backflip when she realized that Luka and Kagami, who knew what was really going on, were mentally substituting the word "fashion" with the word "Adrien". She continued, "I mean I don't love fashion!"

"You don't"

"Yes. NO! I mean . . . I don't love fashion the way I used to!"

Adrien said with a heavy heart, "That's so hard to hear, Marinette. You've always had such talent for fashion design. Are you giving up on your dreams?"

"NO! YES! That's not what I meant! I still want to be a fashion designer, but I've fallen for a different style of fashion?"

"Oh. That's . . . good."

First, they all played a game of Monopoly. They were in two teams, and Adrien and Kagami won. Adrien held a celebratory fist up in front of Kagami and said, "Pound it."

Just out of a feeling of obligation, Kagami did pound it, but she lacked joy and enthusiasm. Adrien didn't want to, but he couldn't help but think, "It's not the same."

Luka told the others, "I brought boards and markers. We can ask a question about one of us and see if their boyfriend or girlfriend can guess the answer they wrote on the board." Everyone other than Luka was nervous about the test, but no one wanted to say that. So everyone acted like they were excited about it.

Everyone grabbed a board and a marker. Firstly, Luka asked, "Let's see if we all know what animal is our significant other's ideal pet."

Everyone wrote on the left side of the board their ideal pet and wrote their guess for the other person's pet on the right side. Kagami still wasn't excited about any of this, but she wanted display confidence, so she said, "I'll go first." She showed them her board. "I put 'bird' on each side, because I'm sure we will agree on this."

"Uh," Adrien said uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck, unable to look her in the eyes.

"What? Everybody knows Adrien is allergic to feathers," Marinette said amused. Marinette's previously amused face froze when she realized what she had just done.

Kagami was trying not to look embarrassed. What really stung wasn't that she didn't know that, it was that Marinette knew something she didn't.

Adrien showed them his board. "If it helps, I might have liked a bird, if I wasn't allergic." His board had 'cat' as his guess for her pet and his pet was of course 'hamster'.

Luka asked, "So, what did you put, Marinette?"

Marinette was suddenly nervous. "You know what, I think I want to change my answer."

Luka said, "Oh no. That would be against the rules." Luka grabbed the board from her while she incoherently tried to speak and he showed the others.

"Marinette, your ideal pet is a hamster, too?" Adrien asked.

Marinette faked a laugh as beads of sweat ran down her face. "Ha ha. Yeah, what a funny coincidence." Marinette thought that Luka would kill her if Kagami didn't get to her first.

Adrien, completely unaware of the effect their answers were having, asked, "What did you put, Luka?"

"What does it matter? We didn't get them right," Luka said almost aggressively.

After that, Adrien finally noticed that Luka was upset about something. He said in hopes of cheering him up, "I have a question I'm sure you two can get right."

Marinette thought, "Thank goodness."

"Let's see if we can guess the other person's favorite video game." This question went even better. Well, for them it felt worse, but in the grand scheme of things, it was better.

Kagami showed her board which had the name of a mobile game for casuals. Marinette had to stop herself from dropping her jaw at such a choice for a favorite video game.

Adrien said, "Actually, I put . . ."

Marinette thought quickly, "Don't say Ultimate Mecha Strike lll. Don't say Ultimate Mecha Strike lll. Don't say Ultimate Mecha Strike lll."

"Ultimate Mecha Strike lll."

Marinette thought, "Not agaaaaaiiin."

Luka said confidently, "Well, I'm sure that Marinette and I got our guesses right. I put, 'Marinette doesn't play video games.' Video games are too violent for her."

This time, Marinette couldn't help but drop a jaw. That was just about the worst thing he could have written.

Adrien snapped his fingers and said, "I remember now; you weren't here for the tournament."

"What tournament?" Luka and Kagami both asked.

Much to Marinette's chagrin, Adrien explained, "Marinette competed in an Ultimate Mecha Strike lll tournament. And I almost played on her team."

Luka asked tiredly, "Let me guess; that's the game you wrote on your board?"

"Yep," Marinette squeaked.

"Just like Adrien."

"Yep." Marinette thought Kagami and Luka would kill her together if she didn't jump out the window to make it stop first. Between her embarrassment, Kagami, Luka and herself, she had no idea how she was still alive at this point.

Kagami hadn't had any luck up until this point, but she was eager to prove herself, so she said, "Let's see if we want the same number of children."

Marinette said sporadically, "Can't we do something easier like favorite instrument or flavor of ice cream?!"

Luka said with just as much determination to prove himself, "No. Number of kids it is."

When they finished writing down their answers, Marinette and Luka showed their boards. Marinette wrote three and Luka wrote two. Marinette said, "That's pretty close, right? I mean we'll have plenty of time to talk about that slight difference, right?"

"Kagami, what did you write?" Adrien asked.

Kagami hesitated before she slowly turned her board around. Her answer was zero. Adrien spoke with that voice that makes you think there are violins playing sad music in the background. "But . . . But Kagami . . . zero isn't enough."

Kagami explained, "I just thought since we both have such big career goals, that wouldn't leave much time for child raising."

Adrien didn't seem to recall telling her about any big career goals of his, but he said, "We can figure out how to do both. Lots of successful people make good parents."

Kagami debated in her mind whether or not to say what she was thinking. After a few seconds, she said, "Our parents didn't figure out how to do both very well."

Adrien couldn't look her in the eyes anymore. He looked down and said nothing. There was an uncomfortable silence that lasted for what felt like a long time. Eventually, Adrien said, "I think I need some air. Marinette, is it alright if I go up to the balcony for a while?"

"Of course."

As Adrien started walking, Luka was about to tell him how to get there, but he apparently knew the way already. "I'm going to go. Thank you for inviting me over," Kagami told Marinette and Luka.

"Don't you want to talk with him when he gets back?" Marinette asked.

"Honestly, I would rather not." And with that, she walked down the stairs and then out the front door.

Marinette couldn't stop thinking about Adrien. She knew it was going to make her look even more suspicious, but she told Luka, "I need to talk with him." Her concern for Adrien overruled her other fears.

Luka was nervous, but he couldn't exactly tell her "no". He merely nodded weakly. As Marinette walked towards the balcony door, Luka picked up Adrien's answer that was never shown to the others. Of course, it was "three". Luka had a growing suspicion. So he decided to take a look around. What he found, under her bed, was a box. Having little to no respect for privacy at the moment, he opened the box and saw a picture of Adrien. He picked it up and underneath was another picture of Adrien. Underneath that was another, and another, and another along with larger posters of Adrien. She had taken them off the walls, but she never got rid of them.

Marinette climbed up to the balcony and found Adrien leaning on the guardrail. Marinette said, "I wanted to assure you that things normally go a bit better than that when I invite people to my house. But now that I think about it, visits to my house usually end with an akuma attack."

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out for akumas."

Marinette joined him and said, "Maybe it won't come to that if we talk about it?"

Adrien looked back to make sure the door was closed. Marinette knew what he was thinking. "Kagami left already. She won't hear you."

Adrien nodded. "I'd like to tell you this is the first time I've had doubts. But the truth is . . . my relationship with Kagami has never really been what I've wanted."

"What do you mean?"

"Before I started dating Kagami, I was in love with someone else. I'd rather not say who she was, if that's alright."

It was most certainly not alright with Marinette, but she wasn't going to push him. Adrien continued, "It didn't take her long to become the girl of my dreams. I was convinced I would marry her after just one day. Now, I've been dating Kagami for five weeks and I still don't feel that way about her. It's like there's . . . like there's . . ."

"There's something missing." Adrien was shocked that she knew exactly what it was like. Marinette continued, "It's like you're interested in half of who Kagami is; the half that's easy to notice; the half you knew you wanted. But the other girl had this other half underneath; the half you never knew you needed."

Adrien said, "That is exactly what it's like. And to make things worse, I don't feel that way about the other girl anymore. She made me feel like reaching the stars was easy, like any pain I had inside was healed whenever I saw her, like I was complete for the first time. But no one makes me feel that anymore. She was my light. I had light. And I'm terrified that I'll never get that back."

As a tear formed in Adrien's eye, Marinette said, "Come here," and she gave him a hug. This intimate moment was easy to misinterpret from a distance. That's exactly what Luka did from the streets below.

Adrien left through the front door. He noticed who was standing just to the right. "See you later, Luka," he said, not knowing the gravity of the situation,

"You will see me right now."

Adrien stopped and looked at Luka, perplexed by his tone. "What's up?"

"Tell me what's going on between you and Marinette."

Adrien didn't feel comfortable talking about the previous conversation. And he didn't understand Luka's suspicion. "Marinette was just talking with me about something I'm going through."

Adrien's vagueness wasn't helping him. "I think there might have been more than just talking going on," Luka said.

Adrien squinted, and said, hesitant to make assumptions, "What are you getting at, Luka?"

"I'm getting at the fact that Marinette is cheating on me with you."

Adrien rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. I didn't think you were that paranoid."

"Don't play dumb with me! I've noticed how many times each of you sneak off and don't give a straight answer about where you were when you get back."

Adrien thought, "Alright, fine. That is weird. But I'm sure Marinette was never lying about what she does."

Luka continued, "You heard all those answers in that game we played. You two seem pretty close."

"Look, Luka; she's just a friend," he said, not knowing that a fan dies every time he says those horrible words.

"'Friends' don't keep all those pictures of 'friends' on the wall."

"Sometimes they do. Not everyone keeps everything digital."

"Everyone knows that she had all of those pictures because she had a crush on you. And I know you must have noticed. Why else would she constantly stutter around you?"

Adrien started saying, "Look, Marinette just . . . has . . . an . . ." Adrien's voice slowed until it stopped completely. He thought, "Actually, that would explain the time she professed her love to me, thinking I was a wax sculpture. And the letter that matched her handwriting. And pretty much everything." Adrien said out loud, "Oh. That might not be impossible."

"Now, let's talk about those answers you two gave," Luka said.

Adrien was sick of Luka's accusations and the day had put him in a bad mood. Adrien said furiously, "Luka, it's not my fault that you two are all wrong for each other or that you don't know each other very well! Seriously, Luka; how did you not know that your girlfriend plays video games!?"

Adrien turned around and started walking away. As he was walking around the corner, he was already regretting what he said. He stopped, sighed, and turned around, saying softly, "Luka, I shouldn't have . . ." It was in that moment that Adrien saw a fist hurtling toward his face. Luka punched Adrien, sending him spinning back around. Adrien leaned on the wall, opened his button up shirt and whispered to Plagg, "Find somewhere to hide."

After Plagg flew away, Adrien faced Luka with a hateful expression. "Normally I would try to fix things with kindness and understanding." Adrien cracked his knuckles and growled, "But you picked the wrong day."

Author's note: Thank you for reading and I hope you come back for more of my work.

(This next part was added in later.)

I have a YouTube Channel now. I review fictional couples, talking about how well their written, how good their chemistry is and the story of how they get together. My first video is –

Spider Man and MJ (Homecoming and Far From Home) - Couple Reviews by MVPKnight

My second video is –

Cortana and Master Chief – Couple Reviews by MVPKnight

And my third video is –

Spider-Man and MJ (2002) – Couple Reviews by MVPKnight

I would provide a link, but that's actually against the terms of service here.

My channel title is the same as my penname here, so you might be able to find me by typing it into the search engine.