Chapter 8: Wishing
"Every wish, every dream, every idea comes to existence only through blood, sweat and sacrifice."
-Ivan Moody
As life got more and more hectic, Marinette found herself wishing for a lot of things.
She wished Chloe and Lila would shut their faces. It would be so much easier to pretend they didn't exist if they were silent... and less people would be akumatized.
She wished homework could magically do itself. Luka and Alya helped her keep on top of it, but it was still a struggle to get all of it done and to the level she wanted it.
She wished she could spend more time with her friends. She was now consistently having to bail on a lot of things and she missed them. Sure, they got to hang out as heroes of Paris, but while she knew that, they didn't.
She wished Chat would tone down his flirting with Ladybug. She could admit that she didn't mind it: it granted a normalcy that she loved. However, it was reminding her of how little time she had to flirt with her own boyfriend. Speaking of which...
She wished Chat would tone down his flirting with Viperion. And it wasn't because she was jealous or it bothered her... but that it didn't. It made her feel... weird, almost the opposite of jealous- whatever that was- especially when Viperion flirted back. They'd go back and forth and Ladybug would get this weird feeling in the pit of her stomach that had an involuntary smile spread across her face. She would usually and quickly stomp down the feeling and smile under the guise of annoyance at Chat's tomcat behavior but...
She wished Adrien was less of a good person. If he wasn't so inherently... good and kind and caring, it would be so much easier to get over her crush on him. With everything going on, she'd been even more stressed. It must have been so obvious because Adrien asked after her well being. It was sweet of him but it fed the fire inside of her and she was almost desperate for it go out.
She wished for an afternoon off where there was no homework to be done, no people to help, no designs to be designed, no friends in need, no bakery to help out at, no akumatizations, no anything so that she could be free to cuddle up to Luka and listen as he created beautiful melodies for new Kitty Sections songs. In the rare time they did have together, he put her first. Even when she asked him to play a new song for her, he'd gently decline in favor of her resting because she wasn't getting enough sleep as it was.
She wished being Ladybug didn't come with such heavy responsibilities and burdens. Even with Master Fu's help, it was still a lot. She had to lead the team, game plan everything (although Chat had been offering more and more plans), patrol, know which miraculous would do best in any given situation, decide who was worthy to be trusted with said miraculous, protect Master Fu's location, fix the damage of the akumatized, and so much more that it felt like she was drowning no matter how much she got done.
She wished she could trust more people. She wanted to tell someone about everything. Tell them about Hawkmoth, Master Fu, and her being Ladybug. She also wanted to possibly give other members more responsibilities. Maybe another user could also be in contact with Master Fu so she wasn't the only one having to go back and forth all the time. But who would she trust with such a heavy burden? Knowing that one mistake, one slip up, could lead Hawkmoth to the Guardian? No one, at least that's how it felt at the moment.
She wished she could share more and put more trust into Chat Noir. He had been her partner for such a long time and their bond was so strong. He was an obvious choice to confide in and trust. But...
Marinette really wished she hadn't see the future with the white cat.