Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or it's characters.
Chapter 46,
Adrien enjoyed watching Ranboo's little videos. But what he liked more then that, was being able to spend a little quality time with Marinette. Then they heard a knock at the door.
"Hey kids. I thought you'd like a small snack, so I brought some tea and small finger sandwiches." Nathalie said and as she entered the room.
"Wow. Thanks Nathalie." Adrien said and Nathalie smiled at him.
"Oh, it's no problem. What have you two been up to?" Nathalie asked curiously.
"I was showing him some videos from this funny guy on the internet." Marinette said and Adrien rose an eyebrow at her.
"Oh, you think he's funny, huh?" Adrien said with a tiny smirk and Marinette shrugged.
"Well, sometimes he does make Cat Noir puns that deserve a good eye-roll, but he can be funny." Marinette said and Adrien chuckled softly.
"Sounds real fun. Perhaps you could show me those videos sometime." Nathalie said and Adrien's eyes widened.
"Really? You'd wanna see them?" Adrien asked, clearly surprised and Nathalie giggled warmly.
"Yes, I would, hon. Just not at this very moment in time, because I gotta make tea for your father. But maybe when Marinette returns to working on the project, you can show them to me too." Nathalie said. Adrien wasn't 100% sure if she meant it or not, but he did enjoy how personable Nathalie has been these past few days...
"Sure, that sounds fun." Adrien said and Marinette smiled at them.
"Any idea when Mr. Agreste will be done with his phone call with the mayor?" Marinete asked and Nathalie shrugged.
"Mayor put him on hold. A frivolous ploy to come up with a quick idea to convince Gabriel to publicly support the mayor or some other nonsense like that." Nathalie said, waving off the topic.
"I'm hoping a glass of tea will relax Mr. Agreste. Well, as relaxed as he could be anyways." Nathalie said with a giggle before walking out of the room.
"She's surprisingly nice." Marinette said and Adrien nodded.
"Yeah... she is..." Adrien said with a smile. Marinette smiled at him, sipped her tea, then grimaced slightly.
"Too hot?" Adrien asked and Marinette shook her head.
"No, no, it's not that. I just like to have some sugar or honey in my tea." Marinette said and Adrien nodded.
"Oh, I kinda forgot people did that. I can ring chef to bring some sugar if you'd like." Adrien suggested Marinette shook her head and stood up.
"I don't need that; I can just get my own sugar. After all, how can I be a pastry chef's daughter without being able to find sugar in the kitchen?" Marinette said and they both chuckled at her half-joke. Marinette went down the stairs she turned towards the kitchen, but she paused when she heard voices conversing.
"It's compelling isn't it?" A young girls said. The voice was eager, greedy, and somehow familiar.
"It's interesting, but I'm not sure I would describe it as compelling." Mr. Agreste said and Marinette blinked. She looked briefly into Mr. Agreste's office and that's when Marinette saw Lila. She hid herself once more and contemplated what to do.
"How could it not be compelling? Marinette and Cat Noir making out on the streets of Paris." Lila said and Marinette's breath hitched while a deep blush grew on her face.
"I don't appreciate your tone young lady. And besides, they may be a touch flirtatious, but I've yet to see a picture that involves a kiss. It's quite difficult to quote 'make out', without a single kiss, dear girl." Mr. Agreste said. Was Marinette hearing this correctly? Lila had caught her and Cat Noir together?
"Oh, whatever. Point is that freak found herself in the arms of one of those so-called heroes of Paris. I mean I could care less about who Cat Noir spends his time with, but Marinette could be knocked down a peg with this information." Lila said.
Cat Noir...? That can't be right, unless... Lila was actually following her instead of Cat Noir. Marinette's eyes widened. How long had Lila been following her?
"I'm sure this information could be useful for something, but aside from frivolous gossip, it's a waste of my time." Mr. Agreste said and Lila gasped, insulted.
"Is that some pathetic excuse for a joke? I bet my bottom dollar that there are 20 newspapers and tv personalities that would be interested in these pictures." Lila said and Marinette thought she was going to cry.
"Hey- give that back!" Lila shouted and suddenly a black object was thrown from the office and smashed against the dining room wall. Nathalie emerged from the kitchen when she heard the noise.
"Goodness." Nathalie said when she saw the camera. She looked up at Gabriel and Lila; and though she was subtle about it, she noticed Marinette too.
"Oh Nathalie. It appears that I have accidentally dropped Ms. Rossi's camera. Could you have another one shipped to her house." Mr. Agreste said and Nathalie pulled out her phone.
"Done. You should have a new camera within an hour." Nathalie said and Lila growled at them.
"I cannot believe you did that! You were the one who wanted me to keep a close eye on Marinette to begin with." Lila complained and Marinette's eyes widened. Nathalie stepped closer and stood beside Marinette.
"Perhaps, but I have no intention of involving newspapers. Now I appreciate your natural ruthlessness, but I think you need to remember where your loyalties lie." Mr. Agreste said and for a moment Lila was silent. She contemplated what to do and say next.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Lila said, crossing her arms and walking to the front door. Nathalie turned slightly; not only acknowledging Lila's departure, but also concealing the fact that Marinette had heard what they said.
"You know, I still think it's bogus that you don't care that she's so close to Cat Noir. If it's important to her, it should be important to her, it should be important to you." Lila said before leaving.
"Impetuous child." Mr. Agreste said.
"Would you like a glass of tea, sir. I got a new container of orange infused honey." Nathalie said with smiled timidly.
"My favorite. Thank you Nathalie." Mr. Agreste said. Nathalie turned and since Gabriel wasn't watching her, she put a hand on Marinette's shoulder and they both went to the kitchen.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that." Nathalie said and Marinette set down her cup of tea.
"I can't believe Mr. Agreste had Lila follow me." Marinette said.
"It's wrong, I know." Nathalie said simply, as she grabbed the honey.
"You know, I knew Mr. Agreste was protective of Adrien, but following his friends is too much." Marinette said.
Nathalie bit her lip. What was she suppose to say? Correct the girl and tell her that Gabriel had her followed to find out if he could get proof that she were Ladybug? That he were Hawk Moth only interested in finding the two miraculous' he needed to save Emily? No, it was better to allow the girl to believe Gabriel was simply overprotective.
"I agree." Nathalie said and then Marinette thought of something.
"Is that why he chose my idea over Adrien's for the contest?" Marinette asked and Nathalie looked at her.
"Perhaps a little. Would that change the way you feel about the show?" Nathalie asked.
"Well, kinda. I mean, it's creepy that he devised a whole contest just for me to intentionally win. It's like cheating." Marinette said and Nathalie shrugged.
"Maybe it is... but your friends all seemed to enjoy the idea of doing the show with you." Nathalie said and Marinette bit her lip.
"Well... I may not like how I got into this position... but maybe I could have more fun with this, then I thought." Marinette said and Nathalie rose an eyebrow at her.
"Such as?" Nathalie asked and Marinette smiled.
"well if he purposely picked me regardless of my idea, then in some way, he's get to keep up some sort of illusion that he's doing my idea because he thought my idea was a winner." Marinette said.
"I suppose that's correct, to some extent." Nathalie said.
"I have been so worried about doing something or saying something to make Mr. Agreste mad and then he'd kick me off the project and run with my idea... but this all has to do with me... which means that I could basically treat this show as a Marinette original; 100% Marinette. Actually 100 is too low, 120 because I get to do the show with all my friends. This is our show, not Gabriel's." Marinette said boldly and Nathalie smiled at her.
"Well, it's not sure if Gabriel would like that, but you have my support." Nathalie said and Marinette smiled.
"Alright then. In that case, this show just got a lot more fun." Marinette said and they both laughed.