Chapter 2: Silver tongues

Marinette knew she was not going to be able to talk to the new guy just like that, especially with the teacher present, and at least not without creating a scene. Which is why she tried to focus on the class ahead of her.

She ignored the text from her phone and paid attention to what Mme. Bustier was talking about, but her mind was not on her side as the curiosity grew more and more within her. They were reviewing some Geography? History? Marinette had totally forgotten what class they were on, too many things in her mind to keep track on now.

"Now, for this month's project, this is intended for you to expand your knowledge on a different country, I expect you to do a full research of your choice's culture, geography and politics so if you please choose a partner to work with, remember, this is a work of two."

Marinette didn't have enough time to react when most of her classmates were calling out for Lila, of all people, to partner with them.

"You have been all around the world Lila, I'd love to partner with you,"

"Don't listen to this doofus, I'm sure we would do an amazing job together."

Marinette wanted to slam her head against the desk, were they for real? The only ones she didn't see throwing themselves over Lila were Chloé, who was surprisingly paying attention to Sabrina's ideas and Adrien who hadn't even moved from his seat, probably to shrink away from Lila's line of sight.

Marinette turned around to see even Alya had joined the mob around Lila because she just had to have the first scoop of Lila's 'trips' and Marinette had had it.

"Everyone, you are so kind," Lila smiled in that saccharine way that irked Marinette "but because I've been so behind in my assignments, don't you think it would be best for Adrien to partner with me?" she looked at the blond "it would be best to catch up with all of you, right?"

Marinette glanced at Adrien's shoulders who slumped when the chatter of her classmates agreed with Lila's words. She felt bad, she could ask Adrien to partner up with her instead, but her classmates would then turn it against her like the day before and-

"No pos si, this is way worse than I thought" someone said to her right that made her turn to notice Mauro standing on the steps next to her seat, but he was looking at her classmates instead of her "it would be funnier if they started to caw like seagulls."

"Huh?"

Mauro just snickered to himself and turned to Marinette "anyway, would you like to partner up with me?"

Marinette couldn't tell at that moment if her luck had turned for better or worse.

"S-sure," Marinette said, "Mauro, right?"

"Hey, you remembered my name" Mauro smiled "wait, the teacher just said it not so long ago."

Marinette eyed him closely. He didn't seem to be wearing a miraculous of the sort, but his fingers were all covered in smudges of blue ink, while the front pocket of his shirt held what seemed to be a fountain pen.

"Yeah uh, and you mentioned it yesterday," she said, looking for a reaction but Mauro just grinned.

"I again, apologize for that," he said, and then in a lower voice added, "I promise I will explain it all about that too."

And with that he pointed to his seat and walked back to his seat, giving Marinette two thumbs up signs just as the teacher called them all back to their seats.

"Does everyone have a partner then?" the teacher asked as Lila raised her hand "yes Lila?"

"As I was telling my lovely classmates, I think it would be best for me to work with Adrien, that way I could also catch up with my delayed homework."

"That is a very valid point Lila" she turned to Adrien who just kept his shoulders straight, and even if Marinette couldn't see his face, she could tell he was giving Mme. Bustier a model smile, the one that didn't reach his eyes "Adrien, do you think you could partner up with Lila for this assignment?"

"I, yes of course Mme. Bustier" Adrien said, hint of dejection in his tone.

"Very well then, as for the others?"

"Think we can convince Mme. Bustier to add Nino to our group?" Alya turned to Marinette but she shook her head.

"Actually," Marinette raised her hand "Mme. Bustier, I will be working with Mauro."

"That's excellent Marinette" the teacher smiled, looking at Mauro's nodding expression.

"What?" Alya whispered while the teacher took the names of the other pairs "I thought we would pair up as usual."

"He is new, and approached me first to ask" Marinette muttered back, keeping her tone as calm as possible "but hey, now you can work with Nino, isn't that good?"

"I-" Alya didn't get to say more as the teacher called for their attention back, so they could continue with their lessons.

By the time lunch period started Marinette could feel a cloud of stress in the classroom, she was so glad of the bell ringing.

"How about we all go to the library?" Nino turned to the girls "that way we can start as a group and help each other out?"

"That sounds like a great idea" Alya smiled "we will have this done in no time."

Being in the library with Lila clinging to Adrien's side while telling more and more lies to their faces? Marinette wanted to say no so bad.

Adrien's phone beeped at that moment, his face a mix of relief and disappointment -was that even possible? - as he read the message.

"Sorry guys" he stood up and gathered his bag "Nathalie just sent me a message, it seems there was a change on my schedule, see you later?"

"Oh, sure bro" Nino fist bumped him "good luck with that."

Adrien nodded and waved at the girls, an apologetic smile as he turned to Marinette and walked out of the classroom, soon followed by Lila who ignored the three friends still on their seats.

"Well then, we could get going and-" Alya got a message too, frowning as she read it "oh?"

"What's wrong?" Marinette looked at her friend but Alya was smiling as she put her phone back in her pocket "what was it?"

"Looks like my mom wants to have an official meeting of my boyfriend" she looked at Nino "is it ok with you babe?"

"I uh, sure! Of course, I am" Nino smiled, "it sounds important after all."

"Sorry, Marinette,"

"It's alright" she smiled, "see you after lunch then."

The pair waved and walked out of the classroom, leaving Marinette with a weird thought in the back of her head. As it what had just happened was very…coincidental.

She looked behind and spotted Mauro, still on his seat, looking at the window until he noticed Marinette's stare, grinning back at her.

"You did that," was the first thing she said, walking towards his seat and crossing her arms "how did you do that?"

"Well," Mauro opened the pocket of his shirt to retrieve a neatly folded piece of paper, the edges covered in ink "this is how I did it."

He placed it on the table for Marinette to pick and unfold, where she found a small paragraph written in bright blue ink.

"Lunch time arrived, the students already eager to grab something to eat after a long day. The heroine could tell her energy was not enough to deal with the liar, even as her friends were still ignorant to the deception. As she braced herself to endure one more time the lies, the strings of fate worked in her favour, her companions summoned away by events so common, it was as a magical coincidence."

Marinette read the paragraph, reread it and turned the paper around. It… it was just as what had just happened, with a little more tackiness in it but the situation was too similar.

"How…"

"I told you, magic."

"That doesn't-" she groaned "what kind of magic?"

"I'm guessing your little friend didn't tell you" Mauro sighed and stood up, waiting for Marinette to move so he could get out of the desk "I am a silver tongue, I have… a kind of magic with words."

"So you are clever with words,"

"Actually no, I'm not that eloquent when I speak, hence my mess up in reaching you" he smiled "I meant it more… if I read something, something out loud? I can make it become real, like the paragraph you just read"

Marinette had had enough share of magical experiences to not doubt of what she had just heard. But even then, it was way too difficult to believe.

"Of course I have a lot of limits, can't go around popping things out of books and all, who knows what could go wrong if I did, and when I write it? It is way more difficult, I have to make it very compelling and descriptive," Mauro said as he waved a hand around "and you stopped listening to me."

"What? No, I" Marinette handled over the paper "it's too hard to believe."

"Hm, and a guy in a purple suit hypnotizing people to be super villains while a girl in a jumpsuit and an anime cat boy fight them is like a daily thing."

Marinette frowned at that as a giggle came out of her purse, opening to reveal Tikki's bright eyes.

"He has a point," Tikki zoomed out and faced Mauro "hi! I haven't seen a silver tongue in centuries, so nice to meet you."

"Oh, nice to meet you too ma'am" Mauro smiled "and, again, I apologize for scaring you yesterday," he turned to Marinette "I did mess up sending you the message like that."

"So, how is it that you found out I'm…you know," she glanced at the door but no one had returned or passed by, giving them still time to talk "you couldn't have read it somewhere."

"Hm? Oh, no that was just pure logic" Mauro shrugged "you are brave, loyal, kind of impulsive but also very intelligent" he started to list, ignoring Marinette's flushed cheeks "plus no one else in here has been, possessed so-"

"You mean akumatized?"

"That," he snapped his fingers "an odd choice of word but whatever, and let's not forget you do have a similar hair style and voice."

"Then that means everyone else knows I'm-"

"Sorry" he held up his hands "before you panic, no, I can assure you no one here knows about you or Cat boy-"

"Chat Noir-"

"-your identities" Mauro rolled his eyes "I know because I saw your story Marinette. And I was asked to come here and help you out, that of course if you wanted it."

Marinette looked at the paper and the ink on Mauro's hands, the way Tikki wasn't frazzled by his presence or how in all this time she hadn't felt her gut telling her Mauro was lying. The guy had laid down what he could do, no sketchiness, no vague meanings, something Marinette hadn't seen that often, and she had dealt with Hawkmoth way too much to know about sketchy guys.

"But you just manipulated my friends," the word, for some reason, felt strange in her mouth "you made them leave and popped out scenarios for them to, isn't that what Hawkmoth does? Manipulate?"

To her surprise, Mauro didn't flinch or frowned, but his smile no longer looked bright.

"When I read something, I bring a part of the story, of the words to this world," he pulled out a book from his bag, tattered and worn on the edges, "but when I write it, I try real hard not to do what you just said" he looked at the book as he flipped some of the pages, looking for a specific one "I try just to set the steps and the characters do the rest on their own."

Marinette looked again at the paragraph, how there were no names in it but Marinette had felt she was the heroine Mauro wrote on the paper. And it wasn't as if he wrote what the others reacted to. Just as he had said, the stage was there, but Alya, Adrien and Nino all filled it on their own, with their experiences and routines.

"How different is if the words are already there,"

"Here, let me show you," Mauro pointed, at last, a page from his book, cleared his throat and started to read out loud.

Music, like an ocean, often carries me away!
Through the ether far,
or under a canopy of mist, I set sail
for my pale star.
Breasting the waves, my lungs swollen
like a ship's canvas,
night veils from me the long rollers,
I ride their backs:
I sense all a suffering vessel's passions
vibrating within me:
while fair winds or the storm's convulsions
on the immense deep
cradle me. Or else flat calm, vast mirror there
of my despair!

As Mauro read each verse, Marinette felt as if her face had been splashed with salt water, the taste on her lips as a tune filled the classroom, melancholic and slow, like a serenade towards the ocean itself. Her lungs filled with air and she could feel herself no longer in the classroom, but in a distant place with the ocean colliding against the rocks, the wind messing with her hair.

And just as Mauro finished the last verse, she was back in Paris, in her school, with the cool breeze of autumn and no longer tasting salt on her lips.

"Wow," she looked at Mauro "that's Baudelaire, isn't it?"

"Ironic I chose a French poet but yes," Mauro put the book back in his bag "I want to help you Marinette, I really do. You deserve a chance to feel, to heal off the damage that has been done. But only if you want me to if not, I can pull myself out of this narrative."

Marinette looked at him, at Tikki that was smiling at her, and to the empty classroom, where soon it would be filled with people that had turned their back against her, that had pushed her aside after calling her their "every day Ladybug."

She took a deep breath and offered her hand out for Mauro to shake.