WhIP

by footfungus

nederlands verhalen over mijn otp

18. Ladybug Four

With Time

PandaWritesPoorly

Summary:

Marinette returns from summer vacation to find that Lila is still in her class. Even worse, she finally made good on her threat to turn Marinette's friends against her. With Marinette still reeling from her sudden loss of friends - and trying to figure out where she went wrong - transferring schools seems like the only option, so that's what she does. Doing her best to hide her bruises - both emotional and physical - she adjusts to her new school life. A (mostly) friendly and eclectic group of kids allow her into their group, but she's can't bring herself to call them friends, not when she is certain she doesn't deserve any.

Featuring a Marinette who blames herself for far too much, a very worried Adrien, and some very nice and very protective quantic kids (+ Felix).

[Complete!]

Notes:

Okay, so this is the first fanfic I've ever written and posted anywhere. Somethings might be a little weird/off, and if so, please let me know! I'll do my best to explain it or smooth it out.

(See the end of the work for other works inspired by this one.)

Chapter 1: First Week Back

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette was worried about the new school year. Last year had ended ...poorly, to say the least. Lila had tried to make good on her threat, but hadn't succeeded completely. So while her friends were distant now, they were still her friends.

That said, they hadn't spoken in a while. After another heated disagreement , Alya and Marinette had agreed to spend some time apart. Take some time to cool off, and hopefully have the other see sense.

It wasn't like the whole Lila situation was all bad. She and Adrien were much closer, and she was actually friends with him, rather than so obsessed. Being the only two who knew Lila was lying forced them to stay together, for the sake of their sanity. Adrien had tried to talk to Alya and Nino, but they hadn't listened, telling him that he'd "been spending too much time with Marinette". Hearing about that had certainly hurt, but at least he'd tried.

He stuck with her, as he said he would. A few weeks after her return, Lila had tried to make some snide comments about Marinette, Adrien had shut that down immediately. Doing so prompted some of her classmates to spend some time with her, and they'd had a fun day. Despite Adrien's interference, Lila had still cornered Marinette often to insult her when no one else could hear, and while the comments stung, Chloe had made her used to this sort of verbal abuse.

Still, Marinette missed Alya. Knowing her and the rest of her old classmates like she did, she knew they would see the truth eventually. They were good people and knew her well. Given all the time they'd been apart, they probably missed her. It would be good to see them all again. Due to this, Marinette was determined to be (cautiously) optimistic about the new school year. This was a mistake.

Marinette lasted one week in her old school when she came back after the summer. One week before she transferred schools.

Monday

Marinette had only just arrived in Ms. Bustier's class and sat down next to Adrien when Lila walked in. This prompted the classroom to break into excited babble as everyone (with the exception of Adrien and Marinette) greeted her. Not one to break tradition, Lila immediately claimed that she was responsible for keeping the class together.

Marinette scoffed internally. Françoise Dupont kept most people in the same class. While some switches weren't uncommon, in all likelihood you would stay with the same group for years. This was common knowledge, but her friends ate it up, showering Lila in praise and thanks.

Tuesday

Marinette was surprised that Lila didn't speak to her at all on Monday. So when Lila approached her just before lunch she wasn't entirely surprised.

"Marinette, I was surprised to see you back at school. I honestly thought you'd get the message - you're not wanted here."

"Back off Lila, I'm not scared of you. Your little threat in the bathroom never came true, and do you know why? Because my friends won't abandon me for some girl with fancy stories!" Marinette wouldn't get shaken up by this liar this time! She knew her friends had her back.

"Oh that's so cute, you think they care about you. I know what I'm doing, but you're smart, so I'll give you a final chance to join me, otherwise your 'friends' will regret ever even seeing you."

"I'll only ever 'join you' when you stop lying, Lila."

Lila smirked, "Have it your way then. Ciao, Marinette!"

Ugh, that brat. She really got on Marinette's nerves. At least now she knew that Lila's threat was nonsense. Marinette's friends wouldn't abandon her, she was a good friend.

Lila was gone for the rest of the day.

Wednesday

Lila is absent Wednesday too. People start to worry about her, considering all her 'disabilities' and such. Marinette and Adrien appreciate the break, and without Lie-la hovering around 24/7, Marinette gets to spend time with Alya. Turns out they both missed each other, and though Alya is still sort of distant, it's nice to be back together again.

Thursday

Marinette is late for her first class, and with Adrien being gone all day for a photoshoot, obtaining notes will be a bit harder. Rushing into class, she doesn't notice the glares directed at her, how Alya is seething in her seat, or that Lila has returned. Then, after class before she can leave, Alya corners her.

"Marinette! What is wrong with you?" Alya is furious and Marinette is confused. Just yesterday, they'd been planning times to hang out after school and now this? The whole class was around, they stared, some glared. Everyone seemed to understand except for Marinette. Had she done something wrong? Was there a misunderstanding? If she could just get a chance to sort this out…

"A-Alya, I-" She's stammering. She can feel they eyes of the rest of everyone else on her, hard and judging.

Nino speaks up, "We knew you were jealous of Lila, but attacking her? Seriously uncool dude."

"I-" Attacking her? What? Then, for the first time that day, Marinette spotted her. Lila, still in her seat by the chair, with Rose and Juleka comforting her, was covered in scratches and bruises. They all thought she'd done that to Lila?

"Save it Marinette! She told us everything. How you threatened her in the bathroom on her first day back last year, how you threatened her again on Tuesday. She didn't even feel safe coming back to school because you've been bullying her all summer! Looking at her now, I can certainly see why!" Alya was not about to let this go.

Marinette was too stressed to properly process that whole chunk of information, but she'd gotten one part she could disprove. Maybe that would be enough to make it all fall apart?

"B-bullying? I-I didn't even s-s-see her all su-" That was as far as she got before Alya cuts her off again.

"Don't play dumb, she showed us the messages. I can't believe I ever called someone so cruel my best friend."

Once again, Marinette has no idea what she's talking about. She glances back at Lila, wondering how she pulled this off. The girl in question visibly winces under her stare, prompting Rose, Rose, to glare at Marinette. They all were. They hated her. Somewhere, somehow, she'd messed up, and now, she'd lost them all. She was having trouble breathing. She had to get out, but as she moves to the door, Alya grabs her wrist.

"Oh no you don't. You do not get to just run away . After all you've done?"

"Like, seriously dude? Teaming up with Adrien's dad to spend more time with him? You know my bro barely gets enough freedom as it is."

Marinette is stuck there, held in place by Alya's hand on her wrist, stuck halfway between her desk at the back and the classroom door in the front. More voices are joining in. She doesn't hear all of it, but she definitely hears enough. It's everyone now, not just Alya and Nino.

"Can't believe you would do that…."

"How hard is it to be a good person?..."

"I'm disgusted that I ever considered you a friend…."

"Bullying? I knew you were crazy, but that was too far. ..."

"Why are we even surprised? We know how obsessive she got over Adrien..."

"Why was she our class president again? Even Chloe would have been better…"

"Poor Lila…"

More and more, the comments never stopped. She couldn't breathe properly, she couldn't see straight. She might have been crying but she wasn't sure. All she could do was stand there and take it as they yelled at her, too many of them echoing some of her own doubts about herself. How long would this go on? How long had it already gone on? She was both grateful Adrien wasn't here, and wishing for him desperately.

The door to the classroom slammed open. Someone new was talking. A distraction. While everyone was looking at the newcomer, Marinette took her opportunity. Twisting her wrist, hard, she freed herself from Alya's grip, and spun around. She tripped, landing on that same wrist, but losing no momentum, falling down the stairs until she arrived at the bottom. Picking herself up, she rushed out of there and ended up in the bathroom. The newcomer followed.

She was hiding in a stall when she heard them come in. Both of them. There were two sets of footsteps.

"Dupain-Cheng? I know you're in here."

Chloe? Now? Nononononononono. Marinette couldn't deal with her right now. Weren't ladybugs supposed to be lucky? A barely audible choked sob echoed in the bathroom. Marinette didn't know what to do.

The footsteps approached her stall, and pushed it open gently. She hadn't even locked it, what a moron.

"Marinette?" Sabrina now. "You need to calm down…" she trailed off, but even in the midst of this, Marinette knew what she meant. She was at risk of being akumatized. Paris was doomed if she was under Hawkmoth's control. She didn't want that, but she wasn't able to focus on anything to keep herself from feeling negative emotions. What was she supposed to do? If she couldn't stop herself from being akumatized, Hawkmoth would win. Chat Noir could get badly hurt, and might even blame himself, her parents would be disappointed, Fu would be disappointed, Tikki would be disappointed. Everyone would be disappointed. She was a disappointment. Lila was right, she couldn't even be a proper friend, how was she supposed to be a proper hero? All because she couldn't defend herself from some liar, everything would go wrong. Everything had already gone wrong. This was all her fault.

Her mind was buzzing, repeating everything over and over, this was all her fault. Her breathing got worse, her vision blurred as more tears came to her eyes. Chloe moved forward.

"It's alright Sabrina, I can handle this. You go back to class." Sabrina hesitated at Chloe's order, but nodded and left the room. Chloe turned to Marinette, she spoke, but Marinette couldn't make out the words. Everything was muffled, and a sort of numbing sense of 'it can't get worse than this' spread over her.

The rest of the day from there is a blur.

An arm around her shoulder, leading her out of the bathroom, out of the school, onto the street, and into the bakery. A muffled, short conversation. A different arm, leading her upstairs into her house.

Being led to the counter, where something cold was put on her wrist. Comments were mumbled at her. Blood was wiped off her knees, and a scratch on her face was tended to. There was little else that could be done, something was wrapped around her wrist and she was led to her room.

A high-pitched voice prompted her to change into pj's and some part of her that could still consider wants told her to sit outside. She stayed there for hours, until she felt herself start to droop with exhaustion, and was ushered to bed.

Adrien hated all-day photoshoots for many reasons, but high on that list was missing things. Though, at least with it being only the first week of school, he couldn't miss much.

At least, that's what he had thought that morning. Now, having finally gotten back to his house that night, he checked his phone and saw a lot of messages. Several from Nino, a few from Alya, a couple from Lila, one from Sabrina, and many from Chloe, but none from Marinette. None of the messages said exactly what had happened, but he got the idea. Something had happened, and nothing good. The texts from Nino, Alya, and Lila, were supportive and comforting for some reason, and the texts from Chloe were angry. Sabrina was just telling him Chloe wanted him to talk to her immediately on Friday.

Reading through the messages from Chloe, all he got was that something had happened to Marinette, and she had gone home early. Yesterday things had been going so well. Adrien was worried, what had happened? Maybe she had just gotten sick?

Adrien couldn't go out tonight to check on her, no matter how much he wanted to, but Chat Noir could.

As he made his way over rooftops to check on his best friend he tried to convince himself that he was overreacting, Marinette was fine, just a little sick. He smiled when he spotted her sitting out on her balcony, she was just-

Oh no.

From a considerable distance, sure, she was fine, but any closer and she was not okay. Her right wrist was in a brace, and there were large bandages on both her knees. Large bruises spotted her arms and legs, and a small cut on her cheek outlined the nearby bruise on her face.

The closer he got the worse she looked, but the worst part were her eyes. Her eyes, which were typically big, and bright, were dull and unfocused. She stared out at nothing and didn't react at all when he landed in front of her. His usually fashionable classmate was wearing mis-matched pajamas, and her hair had devolved into messy and loose pigtails. There was an untouched plate of food on her table with a glass of water to match it.

"...Marinette?" No response. She didn't even blink. What had happened at school today?

He stood for a few moments, unsure of what to do. Part of him wanted to keep watch for akumas, but another part reasoned that if Marinette was to be akumatized, it would have been earlier. Not ...now, while she was so concerningly numb. Another part wanted answers, to rush to his classmates' house and interrogate them. Yet another just wanted to watch Marinette, silently keeping his princess company, maybe that would prompt her to speak.

The latter was the option he ended up going with. Leaning against the side of her balcony, he watched her, while occasionally glancing around for akumas, or even Ladybug. He noticed when, after some time of them sitting in silence, her eyelids started to flutter, her breathing slowed, her already limp body drooped further. Of course. She'd had a long day, she was tired. It was probably impressive she was even still awake.

He stood, and approached her slowly. Mumbling nothing in particular to her about how she needed to rest, he gingerly scooped her up, careful of her injuries, and slipped into her room. Placing her carefully in her bed, he slipped out and went back to his own house.

He didn't sleep well.

Friday

Marinette wakes up on Friday feeling off, it took a moment for everything that happened yesterday to catch up with her. Not long after that, the feelings came rushing back in too, feeling like a punch to the gut. Tears came to her eyes, and she gasped quietly. Tikki floated up to her face.

"Marinette? How are you feeling?"

How was she feeling? Bad, definitely. Scared? She wasn't in any danger, but some part of her refused to drop her guard. Upset, hurt, sad… she was feeling a lot. Yesterday had been… what had she done wrong? Her friends had just abandoned her- no, it was worse, they believed she had been capable of hurting Lila, bullying and attacking her. Hadn't they called her their 'everyday Ladybug'? Did they think Ladybug was horrible too? If they thought both sides of her were horrible, did that make her twice as bad? Did-

"Marinette! Hey, it's okay. Can you focus on me?" Tikki was in front of her face, patient and calm, even amidst her clear worry.

"I-I f-f-feel-" Those two stuttering words were as far as she got before she shook her head and put her hands over her face. Tikki sits with her, comforting her holder the best she could.

When Marinette went downstairs, her parents told her not to worry about going to school, they pulled her out the day before. They were worried and curious about exactly what happened, but didn't press her for details, which was good because Marinette wasn't exactly sure what the details are. They said that they'd start the search for a new school later that day or the next, and that later they'd take her to a doctor, but for now she could rest. They gave her a new phone, her old one needed to be replaced anyways.

She went back to her room, shoving her old phone in the back of an empty drawer. Tikki suggested cleaning, and Marinette nodded, putting her hair in a messy bun, and changing into more comfortable clothes that make her feel …safer, somehow. She missed Tikki's sad smile at her choice.

Wrapping herself in a blue blanket, she went to work clearing her desk, the walls, bulletin boards, everything. Photos, mostly, but also little trinkets, mementos from years of friendship. She worked in silence mostly, smiling softly at Tikki as thanks for the Kwami's assistance.

After a few hours, there is a soft knock at her trapdoor and Adrien poked his head in.

"Hey Marinette, how are you feeling?" He entered her room completely, giving her space, which is good, because that one part of her was still on guard, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I… don't know" She still hadn't figured that out, but he seemed to understand. He looked at her bruised body and sprained wrist in concern.

"Mari… I get if you don't want to talk about it, but what happened yesterday? Everyone at school seems to think I'm a victim, and Chloe says she only heard yelling before she intervened." he paused, gesturing at her, "What happened? What led to this? "

Marinette was quiet, then, "I tripped."

He gave her a look, then sighed, "You can't expect me to believe that."

"I did." It was true. No one had hurt her, she had tripped down the steps, not because anyone pushed her, but because she'd spun too fast. It was her own fault. Her own stupid fault.

He was silent for a moment, then, "Chloe says she thinks Alya tripped you. Or pushed you."

"No! No, Alya wouldn't do something like that! We're- She- I-" Marinette's reaction was immediate, but she slowed, stumbling over her words as she realized she didn't know what to say in Alya's defense. "She- she's a good person. She w-wouldn't do that. She wouldn't."

Adrien looked doubtful, but left it alone. They talked for awhile longer then his phone beeped, he glanced at it and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Mari. I wish I could stay longer, but Father… " He trailed off, but Marinette understood, he had to go.

The two said their goodbyes, and Marinette looked back at the pile of memories. She didn't feel up to sorting through it then. Grabbing a trash bag, she stuffed everything in there, putting the now half-full bag inside of the case she used to keep the presents for Adrien in. She had gotten rid of most of them when she gotten less ... obsessed with him.

The rest of her day was fairly uneventful, the doctor's visit went well, as did the search for potential new schools. She had to wear make-up to patrol, in order to cover up the bruise on her cheek, but that was fine. Chat Noir noticed she seemed off, but all she said was that she was transferring schools.

She missed his concerned look as she swung home. She had schools to research.

Notes:

A quick note about how this chapter is organized: I wanted the first week to be only one chapter, as my focus is primarily on the new school (still don't have a name for it). I originally meant to write out the whole first week, but that was much longer than I wanted it to be. My next idea was to do each day with just a quick summary of the important bits for each day, about 200 words or so. That was going fine, then Thursday happened, and Friday didn't get much shorter.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below!

Chapter 2: A Fresh Start

Summary:

Marinette starts her new school, and meets an interesting group of kids with varying interests who welcome her to their circle.

Notes:

Alright! Chapter 2! It may be a little longer until the next one seeing as I have plans for the next few days, but I hope this is good enough for now.

Also, I honestly didn't expect anything from my last chapter - it being a) so new b) more than a little late to the whole Chameleon-salt train and c) various other reasons. That said, my expectations were shattered, so once again, many thanks to all of you who read it (and especially all you lovely people who left kudos and comments)! I tried my best to respond to every comment. You all made my day!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette stands in front of her new school worriedly. It's a bigger, more expensive school focused on the arts, but with Marinette's portfolio and accomplishments she had gotten in with a good scholarship. Despite being told how skilled she was for someone her age, she couldn't help but feel out of place here. This was a nice school, for nice people, people better than her, both in personality and skill.

A nudge from her purse prompts her to actually start moving. She hugs her bare arms, careful of the make-up covering the bruises, and hopes she can get through the day without anyone hating her. That hope is promptly shattered when she runs into someone, tripping past them and bracing for another fall when they grab her arm, catching her.

"You're lucky I'm like an eagle- talonted at catching things." A cheery male voice said, letting go of her arm after she steadied herself. Someone else nearby sighed in exasperation. Marinette turned.

In front of her is a tall boy with dark hair and a bright face. He was dressed in a blue and white t-shirt and black pants. Next to him was a blonde girl with her hair in a braid, she was wearing a white button-up shirt with a purple sleeveless top over it and dark pants. Marinette was worried. They looked like nice people. Nice people she had tripped over - way to make a first impression. They probably thought she was stupid. Or mean. Or both, why not both. They probably-

"Are you okay? That was a close call." The girl this time, sounding legitimately concerned. Yep, definitely nice people, which meant she didn't belong with them. She had messed up friendship. She wasn't nice.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. I'm really sorry." Though she certainly didn't look the part. She was pale and sickly looking, probably shaky too. She wasn't sick, but Tikki had explained that it was a ladybug thing. Marinette had been through a lot of stress and felt unsafe, and well, predators won't eat a sick-looking bug.

"It's fine, really, it was actually nice of you to drop in." he reassured her.

"I don't recognize you. Are you new?" The girl again.

"Yeah…" She was on her way to the office, where she could pick up a schedule and meet-up with a student assigned to be her guide. Some poor kind soul that would be stuck with her.

"Are you Marinette? Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" What? How did this girl already know her name? Had she been a fan of the LadyBlog, one of those that passed over into Alya's personal blog? Oh no. She'd just gotten here and already people knew about her failed past friendship.

"T-that's me."

"Great! Claude and I are actually your student guides! My name is Allegra." She stuck her hand out in introduction and Marinette shook it. "Have you picked up your schedule yet?"

At Marinette's shaking head, Claude spoke up again.

"Then we shall be your guides! Onwards!" He pointed forwards in a dramatic fashion. Marinette smiled shyly and small, his antics and pun earlier reminded her of her partner. The smile dropped when she realized that her partner was probably disappointed in her. She'd been distracted during the last patrols, and if he knew how helpless she'd been in defending herself, he'd probably want her to give up her Miraculous. She'd do it without a fight of course, Paris deserved a better hero.

Marinette hadn't noticed how she had zoned out- staring at the pavement intensely when she was supposed to be following her guides. Not even five minutes at her new school and she'd already messed up twice. Great.

Shaking her head quickly, she looked up to see Allegra and Claude peering at her in concern.

"So t-to the office then?" She had to get their attention off of her. They nodded and the trio moved on, Claude keeping up regular chatter with puns sprinkled in. Allegra would groan at each one. When they arrived and her schedule was in hand, the tour began.

This school was way bigger than Françoise Dupont. She'd barely been started the tour and her head was already spinning.

"Don't worry, it'll get easier with time." Allegra said as they lead her to her third hour. At Marinette's confused and slightly panicked look, she continued, "Most new students typically say something about how confusing the school is. I figured you would feel the same."

"O-oh, yeah. Sorry." Was Marinette supposed to be talking more? Was she making them uncomfortable with her silence?

"No need to be sorry! We always like meeting new students! That's why we volunteer to show people around." Claude responded.

Eventually they had gone through her whole schedule, Allegra and Claude were in a few of her classes, as were their other friends Allan and Felix. When they'd told her this Claude had excitedly declared that they all must meet.

Entering the library, Marinette trailed behind Allegra and Claude as they looked around for their friends. Marinette was worried. Were they sure they wanted her to meet their friends? When it came to friendship she didn't exactly have the best track record. In fact, she probably had one of the worst. How bad of a friend do you have to be to lose all but two of your friends in a day. She was such a-

"There they are! Allan, Felix, you have to meet this gem that we've been showing around! It's crystal clear to me that we'll all get along." Claude ran up to a table with two boys sitting together. One, blonde and dressed in dark clothes, was reading, and the other had short dark hair and a green hoodie. He also had headphones on, slipping them off at Claude's approach.

Allegra and Marinette arrived at the table, as they did they heard Claude ask, "Are you reading a book on anti-gravity, Felix? Because it seems impossible to put down." Felix sighed and put the book aside.

"Alright, Claude. I will put my book aside temporarily for the sake of introductions." He turned to Marinette extending his hand, "Greetings, I am Felix Voclain." Shaking his hand Marinette said, "Hi. I'm Marinette, um, Dupain-Cheng".

'Marinette um Dupain-Cheng'? Really? She probably made a terrible first impression. They probably all hate her now, like everyone back at-

"And I'm Allan."

"Resident Mom friend" Claude finished for him. "He has, like, a grocery store worth of snacks on him."

"A bit of an exaggeration, but I really can't argue with your point."

Claude and Allan slipped into a friendly conversation and Felix went back to reading his book. Allegra looked at her phone and turned to the table.

"Marinette and I should get to class. It's not very close, and school starts soon."

At this, Felix glanced at his watch and nodded. He began packing the few things he had out back into his bag, apparently having the same thought.

"Yes. Allan, Claude, it would be for the best if you began heading to your class soon as well." He turned to the girls, "Ms. Dupain-Cheng, Allegra, have a pleasant rest of your morning." With that he left the library, as they moved to follow, Claude stopped them.

"Wait! We're all going in the same direction, we should walk together. After all, Allan hasn't gotten a chance to talk to Marinette. How can a mom properly adopt a child without time to fill out the papers?"

Allegra sighed but waited, "Allan isn't actually anyone's mother you know."

They were walking out now, and Claude gasps dramatically, "You shouldn't speak to your mother that way, young woman!" Allegra rolled her eyes, he turns to Allan, "She didn't mean it Mom. She's just a teenager ."

The amusement clear on their faces made it clear this was all teasing. Marinette smiled softly at their antics. She hoped that she would be able to find some nice friends here- no, that wouldn't happen. You blew friendship last time. No one will befriend you, at least not for long . They'll all abandon you eventually too . You're-

"So, Marinette, what art class are you taking?" Allan's voice cut into her thoughts.

"O-oh. Um, I'm taking fashion and design."

"Really? What sorta' designs do you make?" At his question Allegra and Claude dropped their bantering to listen hear her answer.

"Um, I design and make most of my own clothes. And, um… a few other things…" 'A few other things'? What was she even saying? She can't even be more specific? Not to mention that they probably thought she was trying to brag about making her own clothes. Moments like these are probably why everyone turned on you.

"Didja' make this?" he gestured to her outfit, a green shirt with quarter length sleeves and blue jeans. It wasn't the most fashionable outfit, but something told her to wear it. The longer sleeves also meant she could use less make-up to cover her bruises, even if the weather didn't exactly call for long sleeves.

They had reached the girls' first class, but Claude was excitedly making a little spinny motion with his finger, so Marinette raised her arms a little and spun in a small circle. Claude made a pun and Allan gave a thumbs up. She tugged her sleeve back down as the boys walked on, no one needed to know about her bruises. They would only worry about her, until, of course, they found out it was just because she was a clumsy idiot. Then they would just laugh at her.

Allegra lead her to a bench in the front row of the class, and the two sat down. She was quiet for a moment then, "Hey, where did that bruise on your arm come from?"

"...huh?" Oh no.

"Your sleeve slipped and I saw a bruise. It looked pretty bad, are you okay?"

"Oh...um, I tripped, that's how this happened too…" she raised her right arm, where a brace still sat on her wrist.

"Must have been quite the fall. When did it happen?" Allegra's voice held something that Marinette couldn't quite place.

"I, uh, Thursday…" Was it really only Thursday that everything went wrong? It wasn't even a week, and here she was leaving her friends for a different school and trying to replace them. No, they weren't her friends, she'd messed that up…

Allegra looked concerned, so she continued, "I'll take the brace off tomorrow, I just… my parents and I figured it would be best to wear it today… 'cause I'm going back to school." Marinette didn't want Allegra to think something was seriously wrong with her wrist. This was one of the worst sprains she'd had, but she was clumsy, it really wasn't a huge problem.

Allegra nodded, and the two continued to talk until class started.

When the bell rang for lunch, Allan led Marinette to the cafeteria after they both got their lunches. They sat down at a table while they waited for the others. Felix joined with his own home lunch, Claude and Allegra soon arrived with hot lunches from the school.

They spent a lot of time talking, trying to get to know Marinette as well as help her get to know them. She learned that Claude was here for acting, Allan was here for music. He was familiar with all types, but preferred more modern music. Allegra played the flute, and Felix the piano.

"If you do not mind me asking," Felix turned to Marinette, "why have you transferred in during the second week? It seems as though if you were switching schools, you would transfer during the summer."

Marinette froze. What should she say? What could she say? That she had failed at friendship? She liked these people, she didn't want to have them realize she wasn't worth their time. She couldn't say nothing… her silence would probably concern them, and then they wouldn't like her.

"I, uh… there was… a delay! Something was wrong with my paperwork? So I… um, yeah." Lying? She was no better than Lila now. What was wrong with her? But what else could she do? If she told them the truth… no, she couldn't do that.

If the others noticed her panic and discomfort, they didn't comment on it. The conversation moved on, but Marinette still felt a twist of guilt in her chest. Deceiving them would only delay the inevitable. One day they would realize that she wasn't worth their time and she would be alone again.

Marinette waved goodbye to the others as she began her walk home at the end of the day. They were nice-

Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone going off. Looking at it, she saw a message from Adrien.

Adrien: Hey Mari! How was your first day at the new school?

Marinette: I like the school I met some nice people

Marinette: Hey! Shouldn't u be in class right now? :( u cant have ur phone out in class, youll get in trouble

Adrien: I'm very sneaky! :)

Marinette: Pay attention! U only have another 10 minutes

Speaking of when his school would be out, Marinette should hurry. If she didn't she wouldn't get home before Dupont's day ended, and would risk facing her old classmates.

One good side-effect of being a secret superhero was that Marinette was in very good shape, so she was easily able to cut her 10-15 minute walk home into about 8. She walked into the bakery and was greeted by her mother.

"Hello sweetheart! How was your first day?"

"It was pretty good, the people that gave me a tour were nice." Hugging her maman, she headed into the back, waving at her papa as she headed up into the house.

Dropping her bags as she entered her room, she flopped on her chaise. Tikki flew up to her, sitting on her head.

"You did so well today! I'm proud of you!" the Kwami chirped.

"Ughhhh… Tikki, I can think of several ways I messed up. They probably hate me. Then I'll have no friends, because Adrien will leave me too, and then I'll grow up to be some crazy hamster lady who never leaves her house and-"

"Marinette! You didn't mess up, those four that you met seem very nice! I'm sure they don't hate you."

Marinette was silent for a moment, then, "It feels so weird going to a different school… I've been going to Françoise Dupont for so long. I've known most of my classmates since école… well I knew them." Her eyes welled up, her voice cracking, "Where did I go wrong Tikki?"

The Kwami's heart broke, she hated this. Marinette was one of her best chosen in many centuries, she didn't deserve this. The girl's tendency to blame herself for everything certainly wasn't helping her to move on. Tikki wanted nothing more than to set the record straight, and get to get even with all those people that had hurt her, but she couldn't do that. Instead, she settled for nuzzling her chosen's head, reassuring her that she would get past this.

Even if Marinette wasn't open about how she felt in regards to this, Tikki would be able to tell. By this point Marinette was aware of the side effects of miraculous use, she just wasn't aware of all of them. Ladybugs used their coloring as a defensive mechanism. Their bright colors and patterns warned predators to stay away. When Ladybug holders felt particularly stressed, uncomfortable, or threatened, they typically favored brighter colors and patterns. It wasn't a conscious choice, but made them feel better. Anyone that knew Marinette would probably notice the strange choice of clothing she'd been wearing lately. Not that they would recognize the coloring for what it was, no, only other holders would recognize to be on guard, even if they couldn't consciously tell why.

They sat together for a while, letting Marinette cry. She had very little homework, as it was only the second week so she could wait for a little while.

That is of course, until Tikki saw a pair of purple wings float into the room.

"Marinette! Akuma!" The girl sat up immediately, wiping the tears from her face and steadying her breathing. Focusing on thoughts that were not negative, she watched the akuma. I don't want to be akumatized, I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I am better than you Hawkmoth. I don't need a supervillain to fix things. I refuse to let you twist me into your minion, Paris needs me.

The butterfly hesitated for a moment before flying back out the window.

Marinette sighed, "Well, I guess I should take care of that. Tikki, spots on!"

As Ladybug exited Marinette's room, she spotted for the akuma again. It was hovering around Françoise Dupont, waiting for one of the students leaving for the day to get upset.

As worried as she was about going anywhere near her old school, Ladybug reminded herself that it was Marinette that they would be upset to see, not her alter-ego.

Swinging over to land on the roof, she was relieved to see no one had noticed either her or the akuma yet. The last thing she needed was for Chat Noir to hear shouts of 'Akuma!' and interrupt his daily life. He'd probably be even more upset when he realized Ladybug was already on the scene. He already was probably disappointed in her for being unable to focus on patrol, then to find out she couldn't even handle an akuma that was still just a butterfly on her own. What kind of superhero are you? You can't even pay attention when you're supposed to be patrolling, then you can't even do the one thing you're good for? What a failure. What an absolute disapp-

"Hey! Ladybug!" Someone was shouting for her, trying to get her attention, but her mind was spiralling, she barely registered their voice. So focused on belittling herself, she didn't notice her breathing getting more erratic, her emotions high.

She didn't notice, but the akuma did.

-total failure. Fu will probably come for her miraculous himself, or Chat will. That is, of course, if she doesn't mess up enough for the earrings to fall into Hawkmoth's hands before then. She wasn't worthy of this, Tikki probably-

A body tackled her to the roof, before she could even register what had happened, she was scooped up and carried to another nearby rooftop. She was set down, two gloved hands on her shoulders.

"Ladybug, hey, are you okay?" her partner was worried, but calm, "Can you breathe with me?"

Ladybug's mind slowed, processing what had happened. She'd been after the akuma, then she'd… she'd done the one thing that you shouldn't do near an akuma. She'd started thinking negatively, and now, the one thing that she'd wanted to prevent had happened, except worse. Not only had she dragged Chat out of his everyday life, but she'd worried him by nearly getting akumatized . She really was a failure.

"Ladybug?" Right. Her partner. She had to focus if she wanted any chance of her miraculous staying with her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She finally met his eyes, he wasn't angry. Of course he wasn't he was worried about her, he was just good like that. "I was going to cleanse to akuma, and then- I just- I'm sorry!" her words came out fast, rushed.

"You don't have anything to apologize for." he was still looking at her, his hands on her shoulders, grounding her. "You didn't do anything wrong". He looked over her shoulder, watching something.

"B-but I- I'm sorry. I did , I was try- I was going to, supposed to-" her mouth wouldn't co-operate, she was speaking basically nonsense, starting and restarting the same sentence in a bunch of different ways. "I'm so sorry, I just-"

Chat turned back to her. "No. You don't apologize for this Ladybug. You did nothing wrong . I'm worried about you, and I'll listen if you want to talk to me, but there is nothing for you to apologize for." He looked into her eyes, reassuring and patient.

He glanced over her shoulder again, and she finally realized what he was watching. The akuma . The one that had now targeted her twice. Ladybug exhaled, and stood, turning to the dark butterfly. Chat took a step back, giving her space.

She threw her yo-yo, finally capturing the butterfly. Chat came up from behind her, looking at her, concerned.

"Hey, Ladybug, do you want to talk? At least what you can tell me, and we can go somewhere less-"

"Hey! Ladybug! Do you have time for an interview? Is there an akuma in the area? Any message for the citizens of Paris?" Alya's voice rang out over the people still around the school. The reaction was instant, Ladybug stiffened and tears came to her eyes. She rubbed her right wrist, remembering the last time they'd spoken

"Somewhere less out in the open, was what I was going to say…" Chat noticed her distress. "We don't have to talk."

"No! I can talk! You're fine. I just-" her voice cracked, barely noticeable to someone without her partner's hearing. "-don't really want to talk to Alya right now."

"Meet me at the Eiffel Tower, I'll talk to Alya." She nodded, swinging away as he dropped down to speak with the young reporter.

When Chat reached the top of the tower, he was met with a rare sight. Ladybug was sitting, hugging her knees, eyes unfocused and teary. He hadn't seen her so upset since… the whole Stoneheart mess probably.

When he landed next to her, she looked up at him and his heart almost broke at the sight of his lady so upset. He sat down beside her, ready to listen to his partner.

Ladybug wasn't sure where to start. She wanted to talk to Chat, he was her friend, and should be aware in case something happened. On the other hand, he was her partner, who couldn't know any details of her personal life.

"Chat, I- I don't know. I just-" her voice cracked, thinking of everything that had happened. Her throat closed up. "I-I don't understand. I messed up…"

Chat leaned in to her, offering silent support. "What happened? If you made a mistake I'm sure you can fix it. I'm sure your friends will forgive you…" At the word 'friends' Ladybug stiffened, a sharp intake of breath making him trail off. He looked at her, there were even more tears swimming in her eyes, and he couldn't help but raise his arms in an offer of a hug.

He was surprised when his typically reserved partner immediately dove for it, burying her face in his chest. He hugs her tightly, worried.

"I don't know . I messed up, and I don't know-" her voice cracks again,"-what I did wrong! " She's shaking as she sobs quietly.

He holds her for a few minutes, watching for black wings, but none come, she is free to feel bad.

She pulls away, wiping tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry Chat. I shouldn't-"

He cuts her off, "No. I told you, there isn't anything for you to apologize for."

She smiles sadly, if only he knew how badly she'd messed up. There really was something for her to apologize for. "I just-" She exhales, steadying herself, "I just think I've had a rough past few days. I'll be okay." Another lie, but she was Ladybug . She was supposed to fight akumas, not be targeted by them. Though maybe it wasn't such a huge lie, in a few days she may not be better, but she'd be better able to fake it, at least as Ladybug.

"You're a tough one, m'lady. I hope things get better for you." The hero stood, offering a hand to his partner. She shook her head softly, standing on her own - though a little unsteadily.

"I hope so too. Thank you, Chat Noir." she hugged him quickly, before approaching the edge of the platform, yo-yo in hand. "You're the best partner I could ask for."

With that she swings away.

Notes:

As you can tell, I jumped around the school day a bit. It'll probably be rare for me to actually write out a full school day, I'll mostly try an focus on the bits that are more important (story-wise or character-wise). So I hope none of you were hoping too much for a full school day.

Once again, thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below!

Chapter 3: A Revelation and An Invitation

Summary:

Marinette and Chat Noir have a talk on her balcony, he learns something new. The Quantic Kids and Adrien finally meet.

Notes:

So, there's a bit of a time skip here. The first half is the last day of September, and the second half is the first day of October. No one got up to much during September, the Quantics tried to get closer with Marinette who was simultaneously trying to keep them at a distance so as to avoid hurting/disappointing them too. They're persistent though.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette eventually adjusted to the classes at her new school. Despite her fears, the group she met the first day stuck around. She'd never mentioned them to Adrien or her parents beyond the first day, for fear of the disappointment when they left her behind.

It was late September now, the month was almost up, and they only seemed like they wanted to stay. She'd been invited to join them on a few after-school activities, but she'd always declined - she didn't want to get in their way. She didn't want to be rude though, so maybe she should start going…

Currently though, she is finishing her homework on her balcony. Maybe she should go to bed soon, she is tired and it's late…

She looks up when she hears something- or some one rather, land on the railing.

"Chat Noir. What are you up to this late?" She isn't surprised to see him, everyone knows that he goes out more than Ladybug. She is surprised he decided to visit her , there had been several akuma attacks in the past few weeks, but Marinette hadn't been anywhere near them.

"A knight should be sure to check on his purr- incess." he grins at his own pun, "How are you?"

"Puns aside, I'm… okay" A lie, but he doesn't need to know any different.

He looks at her strangely, she can't place his expression. "That's good to hear. Last time I saw you, you didn't look so good."

"What do you mean? I don't remember the last time we talked." Had they talked recently and she'd just forgotten him? Had she ignored him? She knows she's a bad friend, but surely she isn't that bad.

"I… don't think you realized I was there. You were kind of… out of it." He rubs the back of his neck. "It was a few weeks ago..."

A few weeks ago? So like, early september? She was 'out of it'? When would that have- oh. Oh. That Thursday. When she'd messed everything up. She unconsciously rubs her wrist, which he notices. Now she comes to find out Chat Noir visited, and not only did she ignore him completely, but she worried him . Her breathing becomes unsteady, Chat looks at her in concern.

Here she is, thinking about making new friends while she is mistreating the few ones she has left. How can she even consider making new friends when she'd messed up so badly last time . All she has left is Adrien and her partner, and she can't even be good to them. She can't do anything right. She's horrible. She's-

"Marinette!" Chat sounds slightly panicked. She looks up, a purple and black butterfly flutters nearby. She sighs, focusing on something other than her current train of thoughts. She is tired more than anything. She's also not about to worry Chat even more.

She stares down the akuma, daring it to come any closer. When it floats away to land on a nearby rooftop, she flops backwards on her chair. That was what? The 5th - 6th? - Akuma that she's had to deal with. She really isn't cut out for this hero stuff with all the ones that she's caused to fly her way.

"Marinette? Are you okay? I didn't mean to upset you." He sounds apologetic, because of course he is. "I'm impressed with how quickly you fought it off though."

"It's really not impressive, 'practice makes perfect' as they say…" She is staring at the sky, careful not to think about how she's feeling - that akuma isn't far.

"...Marinette, what does that mean?" He's approaching her, and his voice has an edge to it that wasn't there before.

"Hm?"

"'Practice makes perfect'. What do you mean by 'practice'?"

"Oh. That. I mean that's not the first akuma that's I've attracted this month, plus the 2 last school year."

He's sitting on the edge of her chair now, "How many akumas have you attracted?'

She shrugs making a 'I dunno' noise, "Lost count, at least 5 or 6? Sorry about the extra work though" She can tell something is upsetting him, it must be that.

"The extra work isn't relevant Mari!" Oh, never mind. "I'm worried about you! First you're covered in bruises, then I find out you've been attracted 5+ akumas! What's going on? Are you okay?" If it wasn't late, he'd probably be shouting, but as it is, he has to settle for exaggerated hand motions, and worried looks.

No. No, she's not. She's Ladybug though, and she has to be. She can't not be okay because then Hawkmoth would win. As Marinette she didn't want to stress the few people she had left, because then she would be alone. Lila wanted to destroy her, and being not okay would mean she'd won …right?

Chat is looking at her, his brows furrowed under the mask, as she stares at the sky. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she said, "I don't know. It's not like I'm attracting akumas 24/7 so… I don't know. I… just, I'm worried."

"About what?"

"My friends, if I can call them that, I haven't known them long. What if they leave me?" The unspoken 'too' hung in the air between them, "Like, I don't even know their birthdays, what if I miss them-" she sits up suddenly, startling Chat.

Her hands cover her mouth and she looks horrified. In a voice barely above a whisper she breathes, "Adrien thinks I forgot his birthday. Oh no. What kind of friend does he think I am? It's not like I can tell him…"

Now Chat is confused, but Marinette's obvious dismay is his first priority (and despite what she may think, not just because of the akuma still nearby). "Hey, princess, it's okay. I'm sure this Adrien guy won't think you're a bad friend just because you forgot his birthday."

It really isn't a big deal, Adrien and Marinette hadn't been that close back then, there's no reason for her to worry about it.

"But I didn't." She's contained her feelings by now, but she's clearly still thinking about it.

Now Chat Noir is really confused. Marinette had not gotten Adrien a present, he would have remembered that. Chat Noir isn't supposed to know that though, so he has to ask, "What do you mean?"

"I got him a present, but he doesn't know."

"If you forgot to deliver it-"

"I did deliver it, but… something happened."

Chat Noir has the feeling that when she finally tells him what happened, he won't like it. Call it a sixth sense, but he has a feeling in his gut. Maybe he should leave it here, but curiosity killed the cat and all that.

"What happened?"

She turns to him, serious, "You cannot tell him this. He'd be really upset."

"Marinette, if you-" She cuts him off.

"No. There's no point in telling him now."

"Fine." He wasn't lying to her, technically. Chat Noir can't tell Adrien, because well, duh.

She flops backwards again, "I… made him a scarf. I forgot to sign it, so I snuck into his house during Bubbler's party to add a card. The next day though, he told Ni- his friend it was from his father. I don't know what happened, but I decided not to tell him."

Chat Noir doesn't know how to feel. There's a war waging inside him of different emotions and reactions. That's not a problem for now though, so he pushes everything down. He can deal with that later. For now though, he has some questions.

"Why? Why would you do that?" He has to know.

Marinette's face takes on an almost dreamy expression, "You didn't see him Chat, he was just so happy . With how awful his father is, you don't realize how rare that is - for him to be that happy. He was so happy thinking his father made him a scarf, I couldn't just take that away from him…"

Her expression sours some,"So that's why I won't tell him, even if it means he leaves me for better people. Besides, at least I know he likes the gift. Winter is coming soon, so he might wear it again."

Oh he would definitely wear it again. He won't be wearing any other scarf ever again. He glances over at Marinette, she is staring at the sky again, but her eyes are unfocused.

"Mari, he won't leave you. I know you well enough that he'd be hard pressed to find 'better people' to leave you for."

At her rueful smile, he continues, "As for now. I think you should get your beauty rest - not that you need it." He winks at the last part, but his mind wants to be a million miles away.

She groans, and it turns into a yawn.

"...okay." She gets up from the chair, and slips inside through her trapdoor. "Goodnight, Chaton"

"'Night Marinette." As much as he wants to go back to his house, he has that akuma to deal with. Contacting Ladybug, he sees she isn't transformed right now, because why would she be?

Chat sighs, what is he supposed to do? He decides to wait for a few minutes, otherwise, he'll just go find a jar or something, though he's fairly certain that won't work. Maybe-

"Hello Chat Noir." A small voice behind him, but it isn't Ladybug. He turns to see a little red Kwami. He doesn't remember her name.

"Hi. You're Ladybug's Kwami? Is something wrong?" The universe really was against him just going to his house and thinking things through wasn't it?

"No, she's doing f- she's not in any danger, just sleeping. I got your message about the akuma." The Kwami smiles at him, "Thank you for waiting. Where is it?"

"Uh, it's over there." He points. Surprisingly enough, it hasn't moved far from the balcony. Perhaps that is due to him and his thoughts on the scarf.

The little Goddess darts over and grabs the butterfly between her two paws. She closes her eyes, there's a small white glow, and a white butterfly flutters away. Turning back to him, she says, "Thank you. You should go home and rest now. Tell Plagg I said 'hi' please?"

He nods, then turns to head to his house. He has too much to consider to properly rest though.

It's towards the end of lunch the next day, Marinette and her group are talking in the library. They are all going to hang out after school and are discussing places to get food. Marinette is debating if they would hate her more for accepting or refusing.

"Oh!" Allegra's sudden exclamation pulls her attention back to the conversation, "There's a place I've been meaning to try - I can't remember the name… I've heard good things about it. It's, um, over in the 21st arrondissement - a bakery."

Marinette is certainly paying attention now, but just for the sake of confirmation she asks,"Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie?"

"Yes! That's it! Have you been there? What did you think of it?"

Is this some sort of sign? This is a chance to accept their invitation, without it being weird. She wants to smile, this turned out well. Maybe Ladybugs are lucky after all, "Um, actually, I live there. Uh, we could hang out there after school… if you want?"

For a moment, there is silence at the table, and she wonders if maybe she messed up someh-

"YES!" Claude stands and shouts excitedly, slamming his hands on the table. Several people shush him, including Felix, "Sorry. But yes! Yes we do want!"

"I'm with Claude." Allegra gives Marinette a side-hug, "I like the plan."

"Sure thing, 'Nette. Sounds good." Allan smiles from his spot across the table from her.

Felix nods. "Yes. I take it Tom and Sabine are your parents then? Will they be okay with the four of us coming over?"

"Uh, yeah, but um, I can ask them." She pulls out her phone to text her parents and the others look at each other excitedly. Not only did Marinette agree to join them, but she invited them over. Progress!

Marinette: Hi maman! Sorry to bother you but can i bring some people home from school with me?

Maman: Oh course sweetheart! We can't wait to meet your friends!

That was a surprisingly quick response, especially considering the shop is probably pretty busy now. Hmm.

"They said it's fine." At this, Claude lets out an excited whoop, for which he gets shushed again.

"Class will be starting soon, we should head out. If we stay any longer, Claude may get us banned from the library." Felix stands, packing his stuff. The others follow suit.

In the hallway, they go their separate ways, with Marinette following closely behind Claude and Allan to the class they all share. Claude is dramatically enacting the reactions they will all have when they try the 'glorious wonders' that will be the bakery goods.

He's still going by the time they are making their way to their seats in the back of the class. Suddenly, Marinette stumbles on the steps, she starts to fall backwards, when someone grabs her wrist.

Alya . It's her first thought, and she flinches, remembering the yelling, the anger, the-

Then her mind catches up, she's at a different school now. Alya doesn't even know where she is. Marinette isn't heading for the door, she's heading to her seat, next to her frie- next to Claude and Allan. It isn't Alya's hand on her wrist, it's Claude's. He isn't trapping her here, just making sure she doesn't fall.

When he sees her reel herself back into reality, he trades his worried look for a grin.

"This is exactly why I don't trust stairs, they're always up to something. "

Marinette groans, but there's a smile in it. Sitting next to Allan, she chides herself for scaring them.

He turns to her, "You good? That was quite the tumble you could have taken there."

She nods, "Mhm. Sorry to scare you guys-"

He waves her off, "Nah, it's not your fault. We're just glad Claude caught yah' in time."

"Can't have our new best friend fall down the stairs!" Claude calls from his seat, "What would we all do then?"

Best friend? Did he just-? No. Marinette, you've learned your lesson. These people are just being nice to you. You don't want to be a disappointment to them too. After last time, you don't deserve friendship. These people don't deserve to get hurt by you too.

As Marinette pulls herself out of her thoughts, the teacher walks in and class starts.

"So we'll just head home with you now?" Allegra looks to Marinette for confirmation. They're all heading out of school at the end of the day.

"Uh, yeah. If that's okay with you guys? Unless you guys have anything else to do…?"

"Nope!" Claude is clearly excited, Marinette doesn't know why he so happy about this though, "Which means we get to spend more time with you!"

Allegra is about to say something when she gets cut off by a voice calling across the courtyard, "Hey! Mari!"

Five heads turn, four in confusion, and one in surprise. A blonde boy in nice clothes runs up to them.

"Adrien? What are you doing here? Fran- your school doesn't get out for another 10 minutes…"

"I had a photoshoot in the area, and we finished early! I wanted to see if we could catch you in time o pick you up." He notices the bewildered group behind her, "Are these your new friends?"

Not that anyone (excluding Plagg) knows, but this is Adrien's main goal - meeting her new friends. Once he'd sorted through everything that she'd told Chat Noir last night, he realized that she'd mentioned worrying her new friends would leave her. He had to meet them for himself, if they were the type who would leave her for something so small as missing a birthday she didn't know about, he'd have to do something .

After how devastated Marinette had been at losing everyone at Françoise Dupont, he wasn't about to let someone put her through that again. Not if he could help it.

A stiff looking blonde boy speaks up, "We are, and you are…?"

"Adrien. Adrien Agreste." At this, a braided girl gasps.

"Marinette, you're friends with Gabriel Agreste's son? How did you manage that?" She turns to Marinette in shock.

"Because she's Marinette, that's how!" A tall boy in blue speaks up, "I'm Claude! Do you know how much a polar bear weighs?"

Adrien's eyes light up, he likes this one, "Enough to break the ice!" He finishes immediately.

Claude grins, "No one has ever answered that correctly before!" Turning to the pig-tailed girl he asks, "How many friends like him are you hiding from me?"

The girl in question groans, "You two should never have been introduced." She doesn't want to lie, but she can't exactly say she's partners with the Chat Noir, so avoiding the question is the way to go.

"How many celebrities is she hiding from us? Next you're going to tell me she's got Jagged Stone in her contacts!" Allegra knows she sounds superficial, but she's suspicious of this boy. She suspects Marinette has some serious self-esteem and confidence issues, and hanging out with some preppy rich boy sounds like a good way to get them. If this is a toxic friendship, she will end it.

"Um… "

"Actually," Adrien says, putting his arm around his friend's shoulders, "She does! She designed his glasses and his latest album cover!"

A boy in a green hoodie that reminds him of Nino speaks for the first time," That's where I recognized your name from! Holy cow, Marinette!" He raises a hand and gives Marinette a high-five.

"That is an impressive feat. Especially for someone of our age. How did you receive the opportunity?" The tall blonde boy looks impressed.

Before she can answer, someone behind them clears their throat. Adrien turns to see his driver, clearly waiting for his young charge to move this along.

"Oh! Sorry!" He turns back to the group, "So, Marinette, do you want a ride home? I can give your friends a ride too if they want one."

Marinette turns to the group, "Is that alright? I know we were going to walk, but I wasn't expecting Adrien to show up…"

Claude is the first to answer, "That's fine! I've always wanted to ride in a fancy car!"

The rest of the group gives various nods and 'that's fine's. Following Adrien into the vehicle, they buckle in. As the car starts, Adrien asks, "So where to?"

"We were all going to head back to my house actually." Marinette pauses, "I'm sure none of them mind that you're joining us now…?" She doesn't want to make any of her guests uncomfortable, but she doesn't want to exclude anyone. Normally she wouldn't think it would be a problem, but she doesn't like the looks Adrien and Allegra are giving each other.

Allegra answers for all of them, "It's no problem."

Notes:

Don't worry, I will be picking up next chapter where this one left off. As we get further into the story I have more things planned so there will be less skipping and jumping around timeline-wise.

Oh! Another thing - if anyone has some good puns/dad jokes please comment them. With Claude and Adrien together for the next couple of chapters I'm going to need them. You don't even have to try to find ones that fit, I have a list of puns that I might be able to use in the story so even if it doesn't work for now, it'll probably show up eventually. But yeah, puns and dad jokes - Google searches can only go so far.

Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below!

Chapter 4: Talks

Summary:

The Quantics and Adrien sort out a misunderstanding while Marinette has a chat with someone from Françoise Dupont.

Notes:

Thanks for the puns and dad jokes, I added them to my list! Most of this chapter was written before chapter 3 was posted, so none of them will show up until chapter 5.

This chapter is a little shorter (well, I don't know about word count, but page-wise) than the previous ones, but I hope you enjoy regardless!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

They pull up to the bakery, Adrien and Claude take a break from the puns as they exit the car with everyone else. Allegra, Allan, Claude, and Felix take in the bakery, making their first impressions.

Marinette, on the other hand, is staring both longingly and apprehensively across the street at her old school. Any minute now the bell will ring and all the students, Ms. Bustier's class included, will pour out of it. Marinette is well aware that some may come this way looking for snacks.

Adrien notices her gaze and steers her inside after the others, who are now speaking with her maman at the counter.

"-help you today?" Her voice fades as she notices Marinette walk in. After glancing between both her daughter and the four teens at the counter she makes the connection, "Oh! You're here with Marinette?" at their confirmation, she waves them behind the counter.

A school bell is heard, Marinette's immediate discomfort is noticed by the boy at her side.

"Can we head upstairs now, Sabine?" Adrien doesn't want Marinette downstairs if there's any chance of seeing anyone from Françoise Dupont.

"Oh course, dear!" to the other four, she adds, "Just head on up, Adrien and Marinette can show you where everything is."

They make their way upstairs, waving at Marinette's father working with dough in the back as they went. Eventually Marinette leads them to a pale pink couch in what must be the living room.

"I'm going to go get snacks. You guys, uh, get to know each other? I'll be right over there." It probably isn't a far enough distance to qualify her telling them, but she hasn't had new guests over in a long time.

"So, Adrien. How did you meet Marinette?" It's the blonde girl, who is currently Adrien's top concern in the group. The kid in green, and the blond boy seem like they're just more withdrawn, and Claude is friendly, but this one seemed a little too interested in Marinette's celebrity contacts. If she's just here for Marinette's connections, something will have to be done.

At the question, Marinette almost drops something in the small kitchen. Adrien has the feeling these four may not know about why she transferred, or even where she went before, so he keeps his answer simple and voice sweet, "I let her borrow my umbrella one day. She was one of my first friends outside of modelling!"

"That's very nice of you." She sounds wary, and it's less of a compliment and more of a statement.

The other three on the couch have caught onto the girl's behaviour and look confused.

"Hey, I don't think I ever got your names. Outside of Claude of course." He would like to know their names. Not just to Google them.

"That is true, I apologize for that." The blond boy extends his hand, "Felix Voclain."

Adrien shakes the Felix's hand, he recognizes the name, the boy's father is a well known businessman.

"I'm Allan, and this" he points his thumb at the girl, "is Allegra." He says her name like a mother would a misbehaving child.

Marinette arrives, carrying a tray of various pastries. As she sets it down the door opens.

"Dup- Marinette . Have you been avoiding me?" Marinette had immediately stiffened at Chloe's voice, but has relaxed slightly.

"C-Chloe! What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, obviously ," she rolls her eyes, "Honestly, that question was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. You just disappeared on us, and Adrien wouldn't tell me where you went! Some friend he is!"

He smiles sheepishly, "Sorry, Chlo…"

She holds up a perfectly manicured hand, cutting him off, "Save it. I'm here for Marinette." Turning to the girl in question,"You look like you healed well…"

The pig-tailed girl glances nervously at her guests, "I d-did. Um, what did you need from me?"

Chloe's face falls, and she looks away, "I-I'd like to talk to you." glancing at the strangers around her, she adds, "in private …?"

Marinette looks surprised, "Oh. Okay, uh, follow me." With that she heads up the stairs to her room, leaving Adrien with her new friends.

Allan is the first to speak, "Allegra, you got sumthin' you want ta' share with us?"

The girl turns to Adrien, "I don't like you."

Before any of the other three can say something, Adrien speaks, his voice cold, "The feeling is mutual, at least, until I'm sure you won't be hurting Mari."

Allegra looks shocked and offended, "Hurt Marinette? I would never. You on the other hand, I'm not so sure about…"

Before Adrien can add anything, Claude interrupts, holding his arms up peacefully, "All right, you two. I don't know what started this, but maybe you should both explain yourselves."

"Yeah, we don't wanna' start a fight." Allan adds in.

Adrien nods, fine, he can do that, "I don't know what gave you the idea that I would hurt Marinette. She's the kindest person I know and my closest friend." His face colors a little,"I care about her a lot, and the last thing I want for her is for someone ," At this he glares at Allegra, "to not treat her the way she deserves. So I have no ill will towards her. You on the other hand, I'm not so sure about."

The entire time he was speaking, Allegra was getting more and more mad. At this point, she is fairly certain he wasn't any sort of toxic person to Marinette, but to imply she is, and on what grounds? With him finally done speaking she's ready to-

Felix speaks up, "I would like to know your reasoning for being rather accusatory towards towards my friend. As for you Allegra, I'm sure he has good reasons. It would do you well to keep your cool."

The once friendly feeling of the room has cooled. Allegra takes a deep breath to steady herself, turning once more to Adrien, waiting.

"I wanted to meet Marinette's new friends to make sure that they - you guys weren't being…" he pauses, looking for a word or phrase, " conditional with your friendship. She'd mentioned a few things and I wasn't sure if it was her anxiety, or the people she was with."

Allegra seems to have relaxed some," And why did you dislike me in particular? You seemed fine with the others."

"You were the most focused on Marinette's celebrity connections. I didn't want her being used by you for that."

"Fair enough. I suppose it would be fair if I explained myself then. Marinette strikes me as someone with ...confidence issues." at this, Adrien seems troubled, but Allegra continues," A rich model seemed like as good a person as any to give them to her."

Adrien nods as Claude pipes up,"Now that we've moved past all that, we should get to know each other! All we really know about you is your name, and that you think Marinette is just as great as we do!"

Adrien is about to respond when the trapdoor opens. Chloe walks down, followed by Marinette. Something about the two girls seems off, but he isn't quite sure what. They stand awkwardly for a moment, before they give an equally awkward hug and Chloe walks out the door.

Marinette turns to her guests, clapping her hands together, "So! What were you guys up to? Got any ideas on what we should do?"

Earlier

Chloe's face falls, and she looks away, "I-I'd like to talk to you." glancing at the strangers around her, she adds, "in private …?"

Marinette looks surprised, "Oh. Okay, uh, follow me." With that she heads up the stairs to her room, leaving Adrien with her new friends.

When Chloe enters her room, she closes the trapdoor behind her. The blonde looks more uncomfortable than Marinette has ever seen her.

Taking pity on her former bully, she speaks first, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Chloe takes a deep breath, " I'dliketoapologize."

Being well versed in deciphering rushed speaking, Marinette knows perfectly well what was said, but out of surprise and confusion she reflexively asks,"What?"

" I would like to apologize to you . Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I'm… sorry." The normally pulled together girl looks frazzled and uneasy. This isn't her element.

Marinette's mind has caught up, but she needs more than that . "What exactly are you sorry for? And what brought this on? Start from the beginning."

Chloe pauses - thinking,"The beginning? I guess that would be when I became Queen Bee. Like, when Ladybug actually chose me. I guess it...made me start thinking."

Marinette was silent, though it was less out of respectful listening skills and more out of fear of breaking this strange spell. Who is this person and what did they do with Chloe Bourgeois? Should she be dealing with an akuma right now?

"It's just like, someone believed in me you know?" she stops, "Oh, of course you don't, but imagine that you do okay?"

Marinette rolls her eyes, but lets her continue.

"I- Ladybug's only experience with me was all the akuma attacks and she still trusted me with a miraculous. She believed in me. She thought I could change…" She trails off lost in her own thoughts.

Little did Chloe know that Ladybug had had years of experience with Chloe. Years of being bullied by her. In all honesty, Marinette isn't sure why she chose to trust Chloe, but something in her had told her that Chloe at least deserved a chance. If the Chloe before her was anything to go by, maybe she had been right.

"I wanted to live up to Ladybug's expectations. I didn't want to disappoint her, but I wasn't sure how to do that, like, obviously, I had to be nicer, but I didn't know how ."

The blonde takes a breath, and continues, sounding unsure and vulnerable, "I thought that being nicer meant not being mean, so I just avoided people, and tried to leave them alone. Like that ridiculous liar Rossi! Normally I wouldn't let her even try to steal my spotlight - or my Adrikins-" She cuts herself off looking at Marinette strangely, then continues,"I thought I was being better - I even gave Sabrina gifts! That she could keep! Not just borrow! But… something still felt off, and I didn't know why! It was ridiculous - utterly ridiculous! I hadn't been mean for months! I hadn't fired any employees or made anyone cry! Then… I heard the yelling from the classroom and I guess I realized, a true hero isn't just not mean, they also, like, don't let other people be mean. They don't do nothing, they do something . They do something positive . So I figured I had to start doing that too.."

Chloe is looking at the ground, she is shaking slightly, and hugging herself tightly, Marinette takes a step forward, and places a gentle hand on her shoulder, Chloe looks up and meets Marinette's eyes with her own, which are brimming with unshed tears. Marinette is struck with how exposed Chloe seems. Underneath her self-centered persona she cared about what others thought about her- the same as any other teen. And she felt bad enough to actually apologize to Marinette, in honestly the most sincere Marinette had ever seen her.

"Chloe. Thank you. I don't know if my opinion matters much to anyone- but I think that you've done pretty well. I think you're being a pretty good everyday hero."

"Dup- Marinette , uh, um, Thank you. And for your information- hearing that from the likes of you is nice." Chloe may have been using the same phrases as always, but the fire behind it is gone, Marinette is going to need time to adjust to this, "I mean Adri en called you our 'everyday ladybug' for a reason- that's um, actually another thing I should maybe talk about…" Chloe is sitting on Marinette's chaise, alternating between staring at the wall and messing with the edge of the cushion. Distracted as she is, she doesn't notice Marinette's immediate change in posture.

At the words 'everyday ladybug' the pig-tailed girl immediately stiffens,her mind is reeling, she hasn't heard that phrase in so long and- no. This is not the time for this. Chloe's issues are more important- she needs to focus.

"...just so good . I didn't like it. I had always been told I was special, better, and then there was you. You were poor- sorry. You weren't rich like me, and yet, you- you seemed happier , your parents spent some time with you and I just-" Chloe takes a breath, and Marinette takes a moment to figure out what Chloe is talking about. She missed some, but from what she can gather, Chloe is apologizing for bullying her all those years and trying to explain herself. But why? No, no. Marinette, focus. Chloe is talking again , "I just didn't understand. You weren't supposed to be better than me. So I- I decided to fix that. I didn't like that you - any of you were better, happier than I was. I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that. None of you did- well maybe some of ou- my idiot classmates do now - but um. Yeah, that's all."

Marinette is silent, she's shocked. Of all the things she expected from today this was not it . Even once Chloe came to visit, she wasn't expecting this . Chloe is apologizing to her. She can't help but wonder why? She knows why Chloe feels like she has to, but Marinette has to wonder why the girl thinks Marinette is worthy of an apology. She'd only ever told her the truth…

Chloe doesn't seem to have taken her silence well. She stands slowly, looking fragile and starting towards the trapdoor, "So, um, that's all I wanted to say, goodbye Marinette…"

Marinette shakes herself out of her thoughts, she has more she wants to talk to Chloe about, and she's not about to let her walk out of here upset, "Chloe wait. I- um- thank you. For apologizing and, for being honest, and um, thank you."

Chloe turns to her, eyes hopeful, "Do you think, that um, maybe we could talk another time? I had, some other things that I wanted to talk about, but I would like some more time to think about them, they have to be awesome enough for Chloe Bourgeois after all!"

"Sure, Chloe, we can do that."

Chloe puts her hand out, Marinette stares at it questioningly, then Chloe says, "Your phone , Marinette, I'm going to give you my number, you should be honored."

Marinette hands over her phone, Chloe seems to have pulled her persona back on, and Marinette wonders how naturally it comes to her, how easy is it to pretend not just that she's fine, but that she's great when she feels like such a mess inside?

After typing for a bit, Chloe takes a selfie, looks at it, nods, and hands the phone back,"There, now you can contact me yourself, just don't bother me too much.

Chloe walks out the trapdoor, followed by Marinette. At the bottom of the stairs, they stand for a moment, and Marinette can tell that Chloe isn't sure how to end such a conversation. After some hesitation, Marinette gives Chloe an uncomfortable hug, which she returns, before walking out the door.

Marinette turns to her guests, "So! What were you guys up to? Got any ideas on what we should do?"

Notes:

I'll continue to take any puns and dad jokes you've got for me, I'm trying to build up a good amount.

By the way, does anyone know if there's an agreed-upon birthday for Marinette or Adrien? Birth month even? I'd like to know before they've passed in the fic (hopefully none of them were in September). Same goes for the Quantics/Felix, but that seems less likely.

I'll be deleting comments from the Lila anon from now on.

In other news, I've made a tumblr! It's blank for now, but I'll probably use it to mostly post references for outfits, akumas, etc (Not usually one to post things- it scares me). There's nothing much there for now, but at least I can make things known without having to post a chapter.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below!

Chapter 5: 2 Truths, 1 Lie, and Many Puns

Summary:

The Quantic kids and Adrien get to know each other.

Notes:

Hot off the presses! I typically have these finished a day or two before I post them to give me ample time to edit them, but I've had a busy last few days. I wanted to get this chapter done though so that I can get to the next one, so I powered through it. This is one of the longer ones (page-wise) though it's got a lot of dialogue (which isn't my strong suit).

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

There is an awkward silence for a second. Those at the couch were not expecting Marinette's reappearance and are not about to tell her what they had just been discussing.

Claude, ever the actor, is the first to recover, "We were about to get to know each other! All we know is each other's names and that we all are friends with you! Do you have any ideas on games for that 'Nette?"

Marinette pauses, thinking, "Um… I guess… Two truths one lie? Or never have I ever? Are those okay?"

"Ooh! I haven't played those in a while! Okay, we all know how to do those right? We'll start with two truths one lie, then we can move on to never have I ever. Does anyone have anything to add or that they're worried about?" The group glances around at each other Allegra shakes her head slightly, but Adrien cautiously raises his hand.

Marinette notices, "Adrien?"

"I've never heard of either of those before. What are the rules? How long do they take?"

There is a shocked silence from the group, but Marinette just sighs,"Right, okay. Um, I can explain them. But, um, do you guys want to head to my room first?" With everyone looking at her now, she panics, backtracking, "Not that we have to! Of course! I just, um-"

"Sure thing, 'Nette." Allan offers her a calm smile, and everyone nods, standing to follow her into her room.

Marinette goes first, holding the trapdoor open. Adrien is next, plopping down nearby on her case. As the others entered, she grew anxious, she liked her room, but they probably thought it was dumb, so pink and probably very immature looking, they would hate it, they would hate he-

"Ooooooh! I love your room Marinette!" Claude sounds as excited as ever. He and the others are looking around her room.

"I like it!" Allegra declares. She gestures toward the chaise, "Can I sit here?"

Marinette nods, and Allegra sits on one end of the chaise, Allan sits at the other end, cross-legged.

Felix sits, leaning against the side of the ladder leading to her bed, "It is certainly befitting of you."

As Marinette sits against the case that Adrien is on she says, "Thanks. I'm glad you guys like it."

Wheeling her desk chair to move it closer to his friends, Claude says, "Like it? I love it!" As if to emphasize his point, he spins in the chair, throwing his arms in the air.

"So, uh, how do we play these games?"

"We can explain them as we go. We're starting with two truths and a lie, right?" Marinette pauses, double-checking.

"Yep!" Claude is slowing now, looking faintly dizzy.

"Okay, so, um, it's pretty straight-forward. We take turns listing three things. Two truths, one lie, and everyone has to try to guess the lie."

Adrien nods. "Okay, that makes sense. Who's going first?"

"I can." Allegra raises her hand slightly, then pauses, thinking, "Um, let's see… I play the flute, I have 3 siblings and I do calligraphy.

Claude excitedly opens his mouth to answer, but she raises her hand, cutting him off, "Nope, sorry Claude, but I think Adrien should answer first, then Marinette, then the rest of you. We've known each other longer and these are pretty simple starter ones. You'll all know the answers."

Claude gives an exaggerated 'harumph', but turns to Adrien, who is thinking.

"Umm, I think the lie is… the calligraphy?"

Without a word, Allegra turns to Marinette, who is considering all of the statements. She knows the first one is undoubtedly true, as for the second and third… she isn't as sure. Calligraphy is pretty specific, so that could go either way. Siblings… she knows Claude has three siblings, but Allegra only has two little brothers - at least to her knowledge, so, "Is it the, um, siblings?"

"Yep!" Claude and Allegra say in unison. She turns to him and he shrugs sheepishly, "Sorry 'llegra. I just got excited." She rolls her eyes.

"I have only two siblings, little brothers."

Felix speaks up, "Perhaps to even this out, we should alternate between Adrien and Marinette having turns, and one of the four of us having turns. Otherwise there will be several rounds where many people know the answer."

"Alright! I can go next." Adrien thinks, "Okay. I play Ultimate Mecha Strike III, I take fencing, and do fashion design."

"Fencing."

"Ulimate Mecha Strike III"

"Fencing?"

"...you don't do fashion design" Claude is the last to answer, but he seems the most certain of all of them.

Adrien nods, grinning, "Yep! As Mari here will be quick to tell you, I know nothing about designing clothing."

"He really doesn't"

If the others thought it odd that the heir to Gabriel Agreste's company knew nothing about fashion design, they kept it to themselves. After a brief pause, Allan spoke up,"Let's see… I bake, I have a little sister, and listen to Jagged Stone."

"Is it the little sister?"

Marinette is pretty certain about Allan's lie. She knows he has a little sister - she's seen pictures - and is well aware that Allan is just as big a Jagged fan as Adrien as herself, so that leaves only one option. "I'm pretty sure you don't bake… right?"

Allan nods, "Mhm. Pretty sure you're the only baker here, 'Nette."

Claude claps his hands together excitedly, "Marinette's turn!" Everyone turns to her.

"Oh!" Right. It was her turn now. Should she try to stump them? It could be fun to reach out to her more far-fetched interests, and come up with a more complex li- no. She would keep it simple. Her lies didn't need to be big, only what was necessary. "Um… I knit, I love hamsters, and I'm a terrible runner."

It's part of the game. Why do I feel bad about lying to them? It wasn't like she was lying for the same reasons as Lila did, but the guilt still burned through her, a familiar feeling from all the excuses she made for her alter-ego.

"I think it's the last one!" Claude is the first to speak, drawing her back.

"I'm with him." Allan jerks his thumb at Claude, and Felix nods.

"Same here. I mean, have you seen her when she's running late? She looks like she's an aspiring olympian!"

Adrien laughs, "It is impressive."

Marinette nods, and Claude cheers before turning to Felix, "Felix! Your turn!"

"Alright. I do calligraphy, I have a dog, and I enjoy poetry."

"You don't have a dog do you?"

Marinette nods in agreement, Felix does not have a dog- to her knowledge.

"Indeed. However, I do have a cat, his name is Pluto."

" Felix , that was so easy ." Claude whined, "You gotta' challenge him! I'll go next, because I haven't gone yet, and I shall be challenging!"

Allan raised an eyebrow at him, and Claude concedes, "Okay, not that challenging. Here we go! I am a thespian, I have a golden retriever, and I do origami."

This was easy - for Marinette at least- Adrien, on the other hand, "Uhh, definitely not the first one… the origami?" He didn't seem certain.

"Nope! I lamentably lack a pupper pal in my life. It's tragic ."

Allan and Felix both give him a look. The latter says, "Claude. You do not have space for a dog. Not only that, but your father is allergic."

"But it's so ruff without a doggo in my life."

After the proper groans and eyerolls from most of the group, Claude shouted, "Speed round! Allegra go!"

"What?"

"List three things, quick go! Then Adrien will guess, you'll correct him if necessary, then we move on in the same order, going as fast as we can! Speed bonding! Go!"

"Alright, fine. Bullet journaling, I used to do gymnastics, and ballet when I was little."

"Ballet!"

"Nope, gymnastics, your turn."

"Um, I understand Morse code, I speak chinese, and I play the violin."

"...Morse code?" Allegra is cautious, Allan nods in agreement, and after a moment so does Felix.

Claude on the other hand, confidently declares,"You don't play the violin!"

"Yep! I do piano."

"Okay, so it's my turn now?" Allan speaks,"Well lets see, I've got a goldfish, I cook, and I cosplay."

"Goldfish?"

"Nah, I don't cosplay, that's more Claude's thing, if any of us." The boy in question grins.

"Okay, um, my turn now?" Marinette thinks, "I have a fear of wasps, I do embroidery, and I love horror movies."

She seems to have managed to stump most of them, except for Adrien who, after spending a good amount of time with her over the summer, knows the red herring. Claude seems fairly confident, but again waits for the others, who agree on the wasps being the lie.

"I disagree with my friends here, I believe the lie to be the horror movies!" Claude is once again correct and does a victory spin in his chair at Marinette's nod.

"So, wasps, huh? Get a scare when you were little or sumthin'?"

Marinette hesitates at Allan's question. What is she supposed to tell him, that her magical earrings make her feel like the wasps are going to eat her? As if . She feels the guilt bubble up again as she lies, "Yeah, uh, something like that."

"Felix go! Remember, this is a speed round!"

"Hmm. Okay, I know the meaning of many common flowers, I prefer nonfiction books, and I am an only child."

"The flowers?" At Adrien's incorrect response, Felix gives a small smile.

"Actually, I prefer fiction books."

"Aaaaaand now it's my turn! Okay! I have two brothers, I am the youngest and I know the passwords of two other people's phones in this room."

For whatever reason, Allegra groans at that. Adrien seems to miss that, as he says,"the passwords?"

"Nope! I have two sisters, and one brother."

The game continues for a few more rounds, Adrien and Marinette can't help but notice that Claude gets every one right. Finally, Adrien caves,"Claude, how are you so good at this?"

Claude smiles mischievously,"I have become very good at reading people. Facial expressions are a good thing to be familiar with - especially when you can't speak." at Adrien's confused look he adds, "I act, but I also do a lot of miming."

Eventually, the game ends when Adrien says,"I have never told a bad pun, I can speak Japanese, and I'm a morning person.

"Adrien." Marinette said flatly, "You're only supposed to tell one lie."

"I did."

"I believe him Mari. There is no such thing as a bad pun!"

Marinette shakes her head, "That's where you're wrong."

"We'll just have to prove it to her then! Guys, I'm putting the game on hold, Adrien and I must do a pun-off! Dad jokes are acceptable as well."

"I like the sound of that!"

Other than Adrien and Claude, only Allan seems to be enjoying this. The other three are rolling their eyes and groaning in preparation for what's about to happen.

"The new clock was the tock of the town."

"What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh!"

"Lumber companies have many board meetings!"

"Shepards are sheepish people who don't like staff meetings!"

"What do you call someone with no body and no nose? Nobody knows!"

"Hey, do you know why a nose can't be 12 inches long

"No, I do not. Why can't a nose be 12 inches long?"

"Because then it would be a foot!"

"Of course! Hey, I decided to sell my vacuum cleaner - it was just gathering dust."

"What do you call an elephant that doesn't matter? An irrelephant."

"What do you call a pampered cow? Spoiled milk!"

"The first carpenter to sail around the world took his screw with him."

"A comedian stopped at a fabric store on his way to a gig - he was looking for new material!"

"If I had a nickel for every bread pun, I'd have a pun per nickel."

"Some puns are so corny they hurt your ear."

"Seven days without a pun makes one weak."

"Wanna' hear a joke about paper? Nevermind - it's tearable."

Claude holds up a broken pencil from Marinette's desk, "Hey, Adrien, want to borrow a pencil?" He glances at it,"Nevermind, it's pointless."

This is the last straw. Marinette starts laughing, at first she tries to cover it up, but is unsuccessful - her glee overtaking her. Adrien looks over to her in surprise, then his face softens and he laughs with her.

Allegra smiles,"Felix, I think we're the only ones here with a normal sense of humor."

"Indeed"

Claude looks delighted, in between his own laughter he throws his arms in the air and proclaims, "I have won the pun-off!"

Marinette's laughter eventually dies down, but a trace of a smile remains on her face as she asks, "Okay, what's next? Do we want to continue 'Two Truths One Lie', or do we want to move on to 'Never Have I Ever'? Or, um, if you guys wanted to do something else…?"

"'Never Have I Ever' works for me!"

"Alright." Marinette turns to Adrien, "So, um, there's a few ways to play this one? It can vary depending on who you ask? But I don't know what rules you guys play by…?"

"I do not recall when I last played this game, however, considering our purpose is to get to know each other, we could simply move in a circle and list things we have never done before."

"And then! If you have done it we can hear your cool story!" Claude excitedly adds onto Felix's suggestion. "I'll start! Never have I ever… been outside of France."

"Really?"

"Yep! Never left!"

"Well it looks like you're the only one Claude…" Allegra comments, "I've been to England."

"As have I." Felix adds.

"I've got family in Canada." Allan looks to Adrien and Marinette, "What about you two?"

"Uh, I've been to China a few times? For, um, family."

"I've had photoshoots and fashion shows in other countries before, but Father has me there for work, so I never really get a chance to look around or explore." he shrugs, "But I can typically see some landmarks, so it's not all bad."

"That sucks dude," Allan looks at Adrien sympathetically, "Your Pops should really lighten up on ya'." It's such a Nino thing to say, Adrien and Marinette share a look that the others can't quite decipher.

"Allegra, your turn!" Claude startles them out of their thoughts.

"Why me?"

"Because you were first in the last game, and we should probably follow the same order." he shrugs.

"Right. Me then. Okay, never have I ever… had a cat."

Marinette and Claude raise their hands in agreement. He pouts dramatically though, mumbling something about allergies. Adrien looks down at his overshirt in an annoyed manner, and Marinette hears something that sounds like 'lag'.

"Uh, we live in a bakery, so pets are kind of a no go…"

"Obviously I have Pluto." Felix hold up his phone, displaying an all black cat with green eyes.

"We had one when I was little." Allan says, "I've only got some blurry memories."

"Uhh, same here! It wasn't very well behaved though… it also got into our cheese a lot ." Adrien says the last part as though directing it at someone in particular, the others were confused, as was Marinette. She wondered if Adrien was still mad at the cat about the whole cheese-stealing thing. In the time the two had really known each other, Adrien always seemed to have Camembert on him. Maybe it was a habit he formed to protect it from the cat. Strange, but whatever, she wouldn't judge.

"Uh, anyways! Is it my turn?" At the others' confirmations Adrien nodded, thinking, "Okay, so never have I ever been to an amusement park."

"Really?!" Claude seems horrified, "Even our resident grump has been to an amusement park!" Felix rolls his eyes at the moniker.

"I take it I'm the only one then?"

"I've been to one, though not for a while because of-" Marinette cuts herself off, because again, she can't just say 'because I'm Ladybug', adding a (hopefully) nonchalant shrug she continues, "it's just been a while."

The others are seemingly too distracted to question her slip-up, Allan questions Adrien first,"So why not? Ya' not like heights or sumthin'?"

"Father says that I must maintain 'a prestigious image' at all times, and that amusement parks and their attractions 'do not allow for me to adhere to such a standard'."

"I don't think I like your father…" Allegra has the same face she did when she saw Marinette's bruise, and Marinette still hasn't figured out what it means, having only seen it twice now. Is it bad? It looks bad, it probably means Marinette messed up, though she isn't sure how she managed it this time around.

"It's fine, I'm pretty used to it anyways-" he is cut off by Allan.

"That really doesn't make it any better…"

Adrien laughs dryly,"You sound like Ni-" he cuts off abruptly, glancing at Marinette who has stiffened almost imperceptibly, he puts an arm on her shoulder gently, trying to draw her back. "-one of my other friends." He says the last word like he isn't sure of it.

The whole interaction was short, honestly rather quick, but certainly didn't go unnoticed by the other four. They cataloged it in the back of their minds, they may discuss this later. They tried to keep track of things that seemed to upset Marinette. While they may not know quite what happened, they still didn't want to upset her and did their best to avoid things they thought might… remind her of whatever it was.

The game moved on and they made it through several rounds before Claude says,"Never have I ever met Ladybug!"

Adrien immediately lights up, "I have! She's so cool!" No one notices Marinette's light blush at this. She's heard Adrien rave about her alter-ego before, but compliments will always fluster her.

"So have I, or at least I've seen 'er in person." Allan's comment surprises Marinette. "Happened to be around near the end of an attack."

When did that happen? Did she honestly miss one of her few fri- one of the few people she knew at an akuma attack? She was supposed to protect them, not miss them! What kind of a hero was she?

"Lucky! I've never seen her except on the news and stuff." Allegra interjects, and Felix nods in agreement.

"Same here." Marinette shakes herself out her self-critiquing. At her comment Adrien looks confused.

"Yeah you have!" Now Marinette is confused… what? He continues,"Remember when A- Timebreaker? When there were two Ladybugs and two akumas?"

Oh. Huh, she'd forgotten that Marinette and Ladybug had both been spotted together before. Thank you Adrien for that, it could be handy for protecting her identity in the future.

"Oh… yeah, I forgot about that."

"How do you forget meeting Ladybug? " Claude seems appalled.

"Well, we didn't really meet. Also, um, I like Chat Noir better." It was only natural, he was the better hero after all. Paris only favored Ladybug for her ability to clean up the damage.

Adrien's face lit up even more, but he didn't add anything.

Claude nodded, satisfied, "True, he's pretty cool."

The group continued to discuss (or gush in some cases) the two main heroes. Suddenly, Adrien's phone beeped, and after glancing at it, he sighed. Marinette knew that face.

"Sorry guys, I have to go. Father is having me practice extra piano for a musical competition that's in April."

Allegra frowned at this, her face seeming to begin to stray towards that expression, though her voice betrays nothing as she asks, "Concours d'arts musicaux?"

"That's the one."

"I hope to participate too. I wish you the best of luck."

"You too!" Adrien leaves and everyone settles back into their spots.

"So what should we do now?" Claude is spinning in the chair again.

"Homework." Felix and Allan speak in unison, and Claude groans dramatically, but nevertheless plops down on the floor to begin work. After an hour or two, Felix glances at his watch.

"It may be best if we head to our own homes now. It is rather late and we would not want to intrude."

Allan frowned, "It's not that la-" he glanced at the time,"Nevermind, we should be going."

Marinette nods and helps them pack up their stuff. As they head outside, her parents stop them.

"Oh, Marinette, are your friends going home?" her Maman asks as she finishes ringing up a customer. At her daughter's nod, the woman says, "Wait one moment dears." She heads into the back.

She emerges with four bags presumably filled with various pastries. "For you." She distributes the bags to Marinette's new friends, " Thank you."

"Ma'am, this isn't necessary, at least allow us to pay." Allegra is the first to recover from the surprise, but Sabine isn't having any of it.

"No payment is necessary. Especially for you four, and any friends of our daughter."

"... Uh, well thank you." Claude and the rest give various thanks to the woman, who shakes her head again.

"No. Thank you. " She turns and goes back to tending to customers. Marinette walks the rest of them out, and they say their final goodbyes as they head in their respective directions.

Marinette headed back to her room and lays down on her bed. She and Tikki talk for a little bit, but Marinette is exhausted mentally - today was quite the day - and she wants a moment to just think. After about 10 minutes she's about to get up when her phone goes off. Glancing at it she sighs.

Akuma Alert:

Type 1

Eiffel Tower

More information and updates available.

"Tikki, spots on!"

Notes:

For anyone that's wondering, "Concours d'arts musicaux" is French for "Competition of Musical Arts" (according to Google Traslate, I don't know French).

Some of the puns probably make more sense for an American setting, forgive me.

Next chapter we've got our first akuma attack - at least the first one that we actually see. It's pretty clear how Marinette has been dealing with (and how she was affected by) the whole incident, but how is Ladybug doing? That should be the focus of the next chapter (hopefully).

I'm on tumblr! I got talked into posting the chapters there too, so I'll be doing that shortly - if you prefer to read fics on tumblr, head there. If chapter is giving me trouble or delayed for whatever reason, I'll let you know there. If you were confused about the 'Type 1' akuma bit, I'll try to explain that there. Basically, though, I figure the government would have come up with a way to scale the danger of different akumas.

Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below!

Chapter 6: Dressmaker

Summary:

Ladybug and Chat Noir fight an akuma. Marinette makes a couple of lists.

Notes:

Well, here we are - my first made-up akuma. This one wasn't supposed to be more than a simple concept, but then my friend loved it and now we've got a decent background character who I may add in occasionally. He's great.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Ladybug exits Marinette's room, immediately heading to the Eiffel tower. She's done this often enough that she's on auto-pilot while her mind is focusing on acting right.

Marinette might be a mess, but Ladybug is fine. After her little melt-down with Chat on the Eiffel Tower, she was determined not to let that happen again. She is a hero . Heroes don't have a melt-down over the simple fact that she'd messed everthingupsomuchshe'soterribleutterfailurec-

No. No. That's for Marinette . Ladybug is fine. Maybe a little more focussed on professionalism in the past few weeks, but that's to be expected after that whole incident. Paris depends on her and she won't let them down too.

Arriving on a rooftop nearby she surveys her surroundings. It doesn't look like there is much damage, but it's a type one, so that was to be expected. There seems to be some sort of event going on though - everyone around looked kind of dressed up.

Footsteps behind her, "Evening, M'lady!"

Pasting a gentle smile on her face and speaking in an easy tone, she turns to him, "Hello Chat. Do you know anything about the akuma?"

"Nope! Just got here."

She sighs, pulling out her yo-yo, "Right, let's see if the news has anything…"

Chat is about to suggest she check the Ladyblog, but thinks better of it. Alya may be a good source, but in the past few weeks, Ladybug has favored more professional news organizations. He doesn't know what happened, but after their talk last month, he's been trying to avoid upsetting her. He doesn't know what caused her tears, but he hates the thought of her so upset.

She certainly seems better now. In all honesty, the next time he'd seen her she'd already looked better, so maybe she just had a tough time adjusting to her new school - a few bumps in the road that'd smoothed with time.

"Okay, definitely a type one..."

That's a relief, sometimes the alert gets it wrong and they go in expecting one type only to be met with another.

Ladybug continues,"He goes by 'Dressmaker'. He shoots glitter from his ...tentacles? Okay. If someone gets hit then they're wearing a dress… they're pretty tasteful."

"Are you telling me this akuma isn't a total eyesore?"

"Oh no, he definitely is, but his victims look great." She turns her screen to him, where a man is wearing a dress… with tentacles? Yep. The akuma is wearing a glittery ball gown with three distinct colors. The top is hot pink, the middle is gold, and the bottom is a bright light blue. All the colors are entirely glitter and Chat can't tell if it is just glitter or a very glittery fabric. Out of the middle there are four appendages that can only be described as tentacles - thrashing about, spraying glitter everywhere. Sure enough, when someone comes in contact with it, their outfit changes to a dress, though no one seemed to have the same one. On top of his curly hair sits a tall, heavily jeweled crown, with a blue flower gem in the center.

"That's quite the outfit."

"Isn't it? But I guess there's been worse ones. Though I'm pretty sure we're going to have an afterimage of his dress burned into our eyes by the time we're done with him."

Chat nods, but looking at the akuma again on his own baton, something about the colors struck him.

"Wait, look at the colors on the dress…"

"What about them?"

"Pink, yellow, blue… isn't that the pan flag?"
"Oh hey you're ri-"

Ladybug gets cut off when a blast of multi-colored glitter shoots just past the two heroes.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir! Hand over your miraculouses!"

The Dressmaker is on a nearby rooftop, having climbed up with his tentacled dress.

"Sorry buddy! Not happening! Don't you know how this works by now? My lady and I make a fur- midible pair! We're going to win!" Chat Noir's grin grows in response to his partner's customary eye roll.

"You'll never defeat me! All of Paris will try a dress!"

"...'Try'? I thought your goal would be for all of Paris to wear a dress?" Ladybug is to the right of the akuma, but pauses in her approach after her question.

"That would be ideal wouldn't it? However Ladybug, people are welcome to change out of them, I wouldn't force someone to continue an experience they didn't enjoy."

"Aren't you forcing them to do that right now?" Chat is impressed, this is one of the more considerate akumas they'd had, but as always there is a bit of a questionable leap in logic there.

"I am forcing them to try it." Dressmaker punctuates his statement with a glitter shot at both heroes, who easily dodge,"As I said, they are free to do with their makeover as they please."

Out of the corner of his eye Chat Noir notices Ladybug gesturing for him to back off. Shrugging, he says, "Well all of them certainly look purr -ty. Un- fur- tunately, I have a prior engagement and simply must be on my way." Giving a quick salute, he turns and jumps several rooftops away before using his baton to meet his partner at the top of the tower.

Seeing his two nemeses back off, Dressmaker resumes giving people glittery make-overs. After watching for a moment to make sure he wouldn't try to scale the tower, Chat turns to Ladybug.

"Everything alright Bugaboo?"

Even as she rolls her eyes at the nickname, he can't miss her small smile.

"Yeah, everything's fine."

"Then why-"

"I'd prefer to not get my suit turned into a dress. I think the easiest way to defeat him would be to catch him off guard. While he's distracted with his makeovers I can wrap him up with my yo-yo."

"Any ideas on the akumatized object?"
"It's got to be that crown."

He nodded, that had been his thought too, "Well, there's no time like the present!"

"I mean… I'm sure there are some people that could consider this a learning experience." She sits down, leaning against a beam in mock-relaxation.

Chat gives an over-the-top gasp of disbelief and goes along with her - she didn't joke very often so he treasures every moment he gets, "What's this I hear? Ladybug suggesting slacking off- during an akuma attack no less ? Is this the end? Has Hawkmoth got you under some spell?"

She swats at his arm playfully as she stands again, "Rest assured Kitty, this bug is under no one's spell."

"Well, I'm certainly under your spell."

She shook her head, and though he may have imagined it, he is fairly certain he saw a light blush on her face.

They swing off the tower in unison, quietly landing on the rooftops once more. Dressmaker wanders around, glitter flying about, unaware of the heroes approaching. A yo-yo shoots out behind him, quickly wrapping around his tentacles - restraining them.

"Hey! How dare you!"

Walking up behind him, Chat Noir plucks the crown from the man's head and throws it one the ground before stomping on it harshly. The delicate headwear breaks into pieces and a dark butterfly flies out.

Ladybug retracts her yo-yo and quickly purifies the butterfly. With the akuma gone she realizes that the fight was so simple that she hadn't called a Lucky Charm. Technically, she didn't need to have one - she could just use her yo-yo - but without a timer going, she'd have no excuse to get away from Alya if the girl comes along. There wasn't a lot of physical damage, but this is the one thing she's supposed to to, so she can't just not .

"Uh... Lucky Charm!" a red and black spotted figure falls into her hands. Her ever curious partner leans over her shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Uhh… a demon? I think?"

"Odd, but okay."

She shrugs tossing it in the air, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

As the small bugs went about their jobs, the two heroes finally turn to the victim.

A curly haired man stands before them, looking disoriented. He's dressed in a white dress with blue flowers.

Ladybug sees that the crown has turned into a blue flower hair clip. Picking it up, she holds it out to him. "Um, I'm guessing this is yours. Do you remember what made you upset Mr…?"

"Oh! Just Leonardo is fine." He accepts the clip, putting it in his hair. "Someone said something about how men shouldn't wear dresses - usually that wouldn't bother me, but it's just been one of those days ya' know?"

She nods, understanding. Her hands fly to her ears as her earrings beep, "Well, for what it's worth, I like your dress. Bug out!"

She waves at Leonardo and her partner as she ducks into a nearby alley. She and Chat have patrol soon, so there is no use going home.

"Spots off." She detransforms once sure she is alone, and Tikki flies out of her earrings, landing in her open hands.

"I think Hawkmoth might be running out of ideas, that was the easiest akuma yet!" Tikki bites into a cookie as she speaks.

"Or he's just bored. With all his free time you'd think his akumas would look at least semi-decent."

Tikki giggles at the comment as she finishes her cookie, having eaten quickly.

"Ready Tikki?" at the Kwami's nod, Marinette transforms back into Ladybug.

Ladybug quickly makes her way back to the top of the tower, where her partner is waiting for her, having not had to recharge.

"Long time no see, Ladybug."

"I'm sure you managed to live without me for all that time Chaton."

"I did, but every second was agonizing."

"How do you do it everyday then?"

"Even I'm not sure. I think it must be magic."

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Alright, whatever you say kitty. Let's start patrol." Jumping from the tower she shoots out her yo-yo to swing to the rooftops. Chat follows behind her. The two take off across the rooftops along one of their usual routes.

They'd been out for about an hour, and Ladybug is starting to get tired. Not that she will say anything of course, but she'd had a long day - much more eventful than usual. Their patrols typically wouldn't last more than an hour and a half, so she only has to last another 30 minutes. Just 30 more mi-

Distracted and tired as she was, she lands poorly on a rooftop, tripping on her feet and almost faceplanting, if not for the fact that she manages to correct herself. Despite her hopes, her partner certainly notices her stumble.

"Woah, Ladybug are you okay?" he sounds concerned.

Of course she can't even manage to get through a whole patrol, who does she think she is? "Yeah, I'm fine." She adds a smile at the end to really sell it, "Just tripped."

Somehow he doesn't seem entirely convinced, "Are you sure Ladybug? You look a little tired…" He looks over her, seemingly as proof of his statement.

She holds back a yawn, "What are you talking about?" Her eyelids decide to take his side - fluttering closed for a moment too long before snapping back open, "I'm fine."

He gives her a look, "I think we should cut patrol short. We could both use some rest, and we can't protect Paris if one of us falls off a building."

"No, no! We don't need to-" Can't even last one patrol and worrying her partner, what an idiot.

" Yes we do. Before you protest, I get the feeling you would sooner run yourself into the ground than admit that you're just as human as the rest of us. You need to rest too."

She opens her mouth to protest more, but all that comes out is a yawn, and she immediately blushes in embarrassment. Chat grins.

"See, I was right! Now go home."

She sighs in defeat, Chat Noir isn't going to let this go. Taking out her yo-yo she turns in the direction of her home,"Goodnight, mon chaton."

With that she swings away, hearing him call out a goodnight to her before he presumably turns to go to his own home.

Landing on her balcony, she says, "Tikki, spots off!"

Her Kwami comes to float in front of her, "Marinette, Chat Noir was right, you should rest."
"I know…"

"However, I wanted to talk to you first. I suppose it could wait until morning if you don't think you can stay awake. Your health is important."

"No, no, I'm fine." She had climbed into her room, and now is sitting against her cat pillow, looking at Tikki.

"That's what I wanted to talk about Marinette. I don't think you're fine. It's been almost a month since you left Françoise Dupont, and I don't think you're handling it very well."

"What?"

"I'm worried about you. I think you're dwelling on it, and it's making you scared to move forward. Marinette is stuck, and I've seen such a difference from how you acted before then, and now. Ladybug seems to have found a way to move forward though. As Ladybug you talked to someone - briefly - and I think it might have helped. I know most holders have a different mindset when they transform, and I think it might help a some if you brought a little Ladybug into your Marinette life." The Kwami brings one of her paws to rest on Marinette's face, looking at her chosen with concern.

"I don't know Tikki…"

"It's okay Marinette, it's only a suggestion. I just want to see you move on, and I know your friends do too." She kisses Marinette's forehead softly before floating over to the small bed on Marinette's desk.

Marinette sits awake for a few minutes, not sure what to think. Has she not moved on? She certainly moved schools… but was she dwelling on what happened too much? She tried to avoid thinking about that Thursday in general so surely she wasn't. Tikki said that Ladybug seemed to have moved on. Was that true? Was Ladybug better? As Ladybug, she just tries her best to act like she did ... before . Ladybug only thought like Marinette when she was alone (during akuma attacks so that there's no threat of attracting an akuma). Ladybug hadn't gone through what Marinette did though. She has to move on right? So that means accepting what happened. She should make a list.

Taking out a small empty notebook from behind her bed, she starts writing.

Things to Accept:

Okay, what did she need to do? Write the things she avoided thinking about and...what? Just come to accept that they were true. That sounded right…

You messed up.

Everyone Most people at Françoise Dupont hate you

You don't know how to do friendship properly.

That last one makes sense. She'd been pretty friendless before Alya and now… well she had a group of people that she enjoyed hanging out with, but they were just being nice. Okay, what else?

People want to believe you're a bad person

It was like Lila said, she only tells people what they want to hear.

You're a terrible hero, and Paris deserves better.

That one hurt, but it was true. What kind of hero attracts as many akumas as she has? That's probably why Tikki gave her this advice. Best to tell Marinette before the earrings are gone and she can't tell the girl anymore. Preferably, the earrings would be with Chat or Fu though, not Hawkmoth.

You're an obsessive stalker-ish creep.

No one actually likes you.

Because if they did then what would that make her…? Her old classmates had thought her crush on Adrien was weird, and they'd all turned on her so quickly. She knew those people for years. They were good people, they were smart, she could trust their opinions.

You shouldn't be trusted with responsibility

She'd been class president, and had been pretty terrible at it. They'd said so. As Ladybug, come on, it doesn't take a lot of research to know she'd messed up quite a bit. Even her first akuma battle managed to go wrong.

She continues with her list, eventually making about two pages. Reading them makes her want to cry, but that's against the rules… rules, she should make a list of rules to follow. She's always been good at following rules.

Rules To Be Better:

Don't cry

Smile

Be nice to people

Apologize when you mess up (again)

If someone needs a favor, do it

If asked, you're doing good

Laugh at jokes, even when tired/sick

When tired/sick, do not show it

Take care of akumas as quickly as possible

Only lie if absolutely necessary - honesty is important

Adrien, Claude, Allegra, Allan, and Felix have been nice enough to be put up with you, don't make them regret it.

There, that seems right. There is space to add to either list if necessary. Marinette reads over each list a few times. Reading over the facts helped make them feel less bad, that would lead to acceptance right? She would try to read them before bed when she could. As for the rules, she would memorize them, that would make sure she didn't forget and accidentally break one.

Notes:

Marinette, honey, no. (So close, yet so very very far)

If anyone is wondering why the lucky charm is a demon, I spent far too long looking for something that would be symbolic of her current state (because her lucky charm is worried too) and finally found this, so I went with it.

If you want to see the reference slide I put together for Leonardo, it can be found here. It's quite the outfit he's got.

The next thing I've got planned on the timeline is actually the first akuma I thought up for this story, and has a much bigger impact on the story and characters. That said, I'm tempted to put a short chapter in between to give an idea on how the Quantics feel about all this, so I may do that next instead. I'm really looking forward to the akuma though, and you'll have to put up with (looking at the timeline) another two akuma battles pretty close together. These ones will probably last longer than Dressmaker though, and serve more of a purpose than just a 'check-up' on Ladybug.

As always, thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below!

Chapter 7: The Best Group Chat

Summary:

Some text interactions of the Quantics and Felix and what they've thought of Marinette up to this point.

Notes:

A short chapter - just a quick catch-up. Next update will be Saturday, and oh boy we've got another akuma. If I'm so insistent on writing them I should probably figure how to actually write fights.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Kid Mime: So! Wat do you all think of our new frend that weve had 4 a weeekkkk! Because I love herrr! We r going to keep her right!?

Melodie: Oh you bet we are. I'm a little worried about her though, I mean did you see that bruise?

Melodie: Also she is precious and very sweet. If she doesn't seem uncomfortable with the arrangement, we should keep hanging out with her.

Felix: Are you referring to the bruise on her face? It did seem unlikely to have been caused on accident.

Melodie: WHAT BRUISE ON HER FACE?!

Kid Mime: SHE HAS A BRUISE ON HER FACEEEEE?! MOMMM SOME1 HURT UR NEWEST CHILD!

The Mom Friend: Wait wat? When did you see that Felix? r you sure?

Felix: On Thursday, when she seemed overly tired. She was falling asleep in class and her palm wiped some make-up off of her face. She excused herself to the bathroom when she realized, but I did see a rather concerning bruise on her face, and there seemed to be scratch above it. I assume you were referring to another bruise?

Kid Mime: HOW MANY BRUSES DOES THS PRECIOUS ANGLE GIRL HAVE!?

The Mom Friend: enuf that im concerned

Melodie: The make-up means that she's hiding it, and come to think of it, she is dressed rather warmly for the current weather.

Melodie: I meant the bruise on her arm, it was pretty big.

The Mom Friend: yea long sleeves an pants in early spetember is kinda wierd

Felix: While I find this to be disconcerting, we would do best to avoid jumping to conclusions. It would also be for the best to avoid mentions of her past school - when it was mentioned on Monday, she seemed rather uncomfortable.

The Mom Friend: yea we don't want to make assuptions and i don't want to upset her

Melodie: She'd better have just fallen…

Kid Mime: Al' no murder

Melodie: …

Kid Mime: DOES ANY1 NO HOW 2 GET OUR AMAZING MARI TO HANG OUT W/ US? I ONLY GET 2 SEE HER AT ACHOOL AND IT SADDENS MEEEEEE

Felix: She may just be shy, it would be best to give her time to adjust to her new environment.

Melodie: I do hope she decides to join us soon though. I think she seems like a pretty cool person, especially if she could get out of her shell.

The Mom Friend: allegra, give er time dont want to force her it might make her uncomforable

Melodie: I know, that's not what I meant, I just worry about her.

Kid Mime: Im with u there. i wory about her sometimes something just… i dunno

Felix: It is understandable to be concerned. It seems likely that she may have rather low self-esteem, and lacks confidence in herself. That, as well as the fact that we still do not know where she got so many bruises.

Melodie: I think we were right about why she was wearing longer clothes, did you guys notice she's wearing short sleeves now.

The Mom Friend: poor thing at least she heeled now

The Mom Friend: does anyone no y mari was so tired today

Lovable Grump: I noticed, but she did not mention any reason in particular.

Lovable Grump: …

Lovable Grump: Claude, I'm changing my password again.

Kid Mime: NOOOO pls we all have fun nicknamesssss

Felix: Your nicknames have a tendency to be longer than my actual name, which makes them unnecessary.

Melodie: Accept your fate Felix. Claude can not and will not be stopped. Also Allan, I don't know know about Marinette. She did seem pretty tired today though….

The Mom Friend: hmm…

Kid Mime: FEEEELLLIXXXXXXX NOOOOO UR NAME IS SOO BORING NOWWWW!

Felix: That is unfortunate for you.

Felix: It is not the first time that Marinette has seemed overly fatigued. She does commissions does she not? Perhaps one of her projects kept her up.

The Mom Friend: maybe she should take on les if shes being overworked

Kid Mime: *mom instincts activated*

The Mom Friend: im just concerned about her health

Melodie: He's got you there, Allan.

Kid Mime: I CANT WAIT IS SCOOL OVER YET

The Mom Friend: only a little longer

The Mom Friend: then to mari's

Kid Mime: I KNOOOOOOOOO

Kid Mime: I CANT WAIIIIIITTTTTTTT

Kid Mime: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Felix: Claude, you should calm down. You do not want to overwhelm her.

Melodie: I'm excited too! She actually wants to hang out with us after school and she invited us over to her house!

Kid Mime: do u think i can finally get her number

Felix: I doubt she's interested in your memes Claude.

Kid Mime: but i cant even send her cute baby animal oictures

Kid Mime: or texxt her good moring

Melodie: You mean texting her good morning like five minutes before first hour? After you've already seen each of us in person anyways?

Kid Mime: YES!

The Mom Friend: all of u guys need to pay attention in class

Kid Mime: :(((((( fine

Melodie: Why did she give us a bunch of pastries and thank us?

Felix: Perhaps she thought we were rather nice guests. Though I will admit I thought it rather odd as well.

Kid Mime: as much as i like baked goods i don't get it? I feel like were missing something? It seemed liek she was thanking us for soemthing else? all we did was come over

The Mom Friend: did anyone notice that there was a school right across the street?

Melodie: Hmmm.

Felix: As much as I wish to get satisfactory answers, it is not our place if she does not wish to share.

Melodie: Fine, switching topics: Thoughts on Adrien?

The Mom Friend: u mean the boy you accused of bullying her

Melodie: :( I just thought he seemed suspicious

The Mom Friend: u meant well

Kid Mime: PERSONALY I DONT NO Y SHE HID SOME1 SO GREAT FROM US

Felix: Marinette was correct. The two of you should never have been introduced.

Melodie: He seemed nice. (Besides the puns) I liked him

Melodie: He's got my approval

The Mom Friend: thats good i dont think it wood be good if two of her friends didnt get along. He seems to understand when shes upset so thats cool very good

Kid Mime: does our mom have another child now?!

The Mom Friend: …

The Mom Friend: …maybe

Kid Mime: :)

Felix: Moving on, I'm impressed with the connections she has at such a young age.

Melodie: RIGHT?! WHAT KIND OF BEAUTIFUL TALENTED STAR HAS BEEN GIFTED TO US?!

The Mom Friend: allegra stop snooping on the internet we just agreed not to do that sort of thing

Melodie: …

Melodie: Fine…

Kid Mime: i still didnt get her number :(

Felix: Perhaps you could ask her at school.

Kid Mime: BUT THATS SO FAR AWAY

Felix: It really is not.

The Mom Friend: let him be dramatic

The Mom Friend: its his middle name

Kid Mime: it is

Kid Mime: as my unofficial official mom, he wood no

Notes:

So basically, they're worried, but want to respect her privacy. I could have just said that, but I love their interactions. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They're all just such sweethearts.

One thing I forgot to put in the note at the end of chapter 6 was my reasoning for Marinette getting to that point. I forgot one big reason (I'm sorry. This is why i need to write things down.) But for the most part it's that Marinette often takes the blame/apologizes for things that aren't her fault, so I feel she is quick to blame herself. That, combined with how she sees the good in people, I think she could have trouble identifying that she isn't at fault for how things turned out at her old school.

Okay, so this past weekend I was struck with the ability to write - don't ask I don't understand either - so basically now I'm writing chapter 11. Yeah, I managed to write the next 4+ chapters in a day. As much as I'd love to post them all now, I need to keep a regular schedule for the sake of my sanity and still need to edit them a bit. But hey, at least there's no chance of waiting too long now.

I really love seeing your comments so don't be scared to write one! I can assure you that it's one of my favorite parts of this.

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below! See (well, not 'see') you guys Saturday, with an akuma that doesn't like being lied to.

Chapter 8: The Revealer

Summary:

Claude begins scheming. Ladybug and Chat Noir deal with an honesty akuma.

Notes:

Here we go! An honesty akuma, which was one of things I thought of when this story could barely be considered a story. It's weird to be here, the timeline I've got planned for this story moved faster than I expected. The reference slide for the akuma can be found here!

Anyways, this is the beginning of... a lot. Buckle up buttercups, this is going to be fun!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette's phone dings on her desk as her friends classmates are standing to go. She crosses her room to pick it up, glancing at the screen, "Oh hey, Adrien got his phone back! He says that he wanted to let us all know that he got into Concours d'arts musicaux!" She starts tapping at the screen, probably sending a congratulatory reply, "Isn't that great?!"

Allegra smacks her palm against her forehead, " That's what I forgot to tell you guys! I don't know how I forgot. I got in too!"

"You did? That's wonderful, Allegra!" Marinette gives the taller girl an excited hug.

"Yay! I'm jealous you two will get to spend a bunch of time together though, don't forget the rest of us when you guys become stars!" Claude joins in the hug, pouting slightly.

"As if you'd let me forget you."

"Never!"

"That's great Al', do you know when it is yet?" Allan gives her a hug too.

"No, but it won't be for another few months."

"Congratulations, Allegra!" Felix stands off to the side giving her a smile that she probably can't see. Claude grabs him by the shirt and pulls him into the hug.

"There is no escaping a group hug, my friend!"

Felix sighs, accepting his fate for a moment and joining their hug before pulling away and straightening himself out. The other four break apart too.

"I'm so happy for you!" Claude is shaking in excitement.

Allegra shakes her head, smiling, "Claude, it hasn't even happened yet."

"Still!"

Eventually they do manage to get downstairs. As they say their goodbyes, Claude holds up his hands, "Wait!"

"What is it Claude?" Felix and the rest turn back to him. Marinette pauses in closing the door, looking at him questioningly.

"I have forgotten my textbook in Marinette's room!"

"Oh, you can come back up and get it then." Marinette opens up the door to let him back in. He races in.

"Do ya' w-" Allan starts to shout after him before Claude calls down.

"No need to wait for me! You may go on without me, my pals!"

Allan shrugs, "That answers that question then." He waves, "Bye 'Nette!" The three turn and walk back to their respective homes.

Marinette shuts the door and exhales heavily, allowing the smile to fall from her face for one of the first times that day. That is, of course, until she hears Claude bounding back downstairs. At that, she fixes the look back onto her face, turning to greet him.

"Find it okay?"

"Yep!" He holds it up triumphantly.

She opens the door for him, "That's a relief."

He smiles at her, "Thanks for having us over again, Mari. It's fun."

She shrugs it off, "It's no big deal-"

"We really enjoy hanging out with you, ya' know."

If Marinette had allowed herself to imagine him saying anything of the sort before, she may have reacted differently. However, as it was, she considered such a statement completely unrealistic and her surprise showed. She'd honed her acting skills in recent weeks though, so she was able to recover quickly, "Aw, you guys are sweet. It was nice having you over, goodnight Claude."

Claude smiled at her, giving her a quick hug - seemingly on impulse - as he skipped out the door, "Goodnight Marinette!"

She shut the door, and as she did, his smile faded. He didn't want to worry her - thank his wonderful acting skills for allowing him to pull that off - but she sounded more than just surprised by his simple statement - which would have been concerning enough on its own. She seemed completely caught off-guard, shocked - astonished even - and though he thought he'd noticed some hopefulness, it had gotten crushed immediately. The pig-tailed girl had better acting skills than he would have given her credit for, making him think through some things he'd filed away in the back of his mind as 'off' about her before. By the time he arrived home, he'd come some rather concerning and alarming conclusions. Pulling out his phone, he started putting a plan together.

He wouldn't allow this to continue.

Marinette had actually gotten a reasonable amount of sleep when she woke up the next day. She'd slept in a little, which was a nice and surprising rarity. Checking her phone, she sees Claude's usual good morning text.

Directly above it is an akuma alert. Darn it.

A type five too, fun . It could take a while, so she decides to quickly scribble a note to her parents that she would be out today in case they came up to her room. Saturdays can be pretty busy, but type fives are pretty annoying, and she didn't want them to worry. Better safe than sorry.

Turning to her desk, she found her Kwami, still resting,"Hey, Tikki, you up?"

"I am now. What is it, Marinette?" the little Goddess sat up, looking to her chosen.

"There's an akuma - type 5."

"Okay, let's go de-evilize it!" She floated up to be at eye-level as Marinette spoke the words.

"Tikki, spots on!"

Feeling the magic wrap around her, Ladybug takes a moment to prepare herself to go against another akuma. It is her job, yes, but keeping up the act when she is in front of a few people is very different than all of Paris. Not to mention the added stress of magical monsters and probably Alya.

She hasn't spoken to her as Ladybug since before… that Thursday. As Marinette, not since she left.

She exhales deeply. Ladybug doesn't have time for this, not with a type five on the loose. Shoving everything deep back down where it belongs, she hops out of the bedroom. Swinging in the direction of the akuma, she focuses on getting her mind back together. It is a little ways away, so she has time.

Ladybug is definitely approaching the akuma now. She can see plenty of citizens out on the streets. They look pained, and a few are speaking rapidly, many are crying. Others look upset or surprised at the very least. One couple seems to be in the midst of an impromptu proposal… interesting timing?

"Ladybug! Over here!"

Ladybug lets out a genuine smile for a moment at her partner. He's one of her favorite people, and- no focus. If you can't even stay on task you don't deserve your miraculous. Quit smiling you moron.

She lands beside Chat Noir, "Sorry I'm late. Last time I'll let myself sleep in."

"I get that feeling. You let yourself get a few extra moments of well-deserved beauty sleep and Hawkmoth slaps you across the face with a dose of evil butterfly magic."

"Heh. You been here much longer than me? Anything on the akuma?" Joking with her friend partner was something she didn't earn today. She'd already treated herself to a few extra moments of sleep anyways. Time to actually do your job you airhead.

"Yeah, it's going to be risky for us. We should really try to avoid getting hit…" Chat takes a moment to survey the area, making sure the akuma isn't going to sneak up on the duo. She gives him a quizzical look before he continues, "It's an honesty based akuma. She's got two abilities. She can hit her gavel, which lets out a wave - if you get hit, it'll slow you down- all of this is from observation. Don't worry, she hasn't seen me yet. Anyways, what we got to really look out for is when she throws her gavel - or the other circle-thing. If someone gets hit by either of them, they spill their guts. Seriously, these people just, like, let it go. It looks like you can hold it off for a little, but it looks painful? I'm not sure. I think people'll tell more if someone asks them a question."

"Yeah, okay we definitely need to be careful. Our secret identities are on the line." Stupid, he already knew that.

Chat Noir nods, bowing, "Shall we?"

Ladybug scoffs, taking a few steps before leaping off the roof heading towards the akuma that has wandered a few blocks away. Her partner follows behind her dutifully.

Ladybug finally laid eyes on the victim. She has long hair and is dressed like Lady Justice but without the scales and sword. In place of the blindfold she has glasses. Her wrists are wrapped in thick, heavy chains, which trail behind her on the ground, ending in a ball, her ankles similarly have a weighty pair of ball and chains cuffed to them. Despite the burden, she moves quickly and purposefully, holding her arms aloft as she wanders the streets. In her hands she holds a gavel and a circular wooden sound block. Ladybug observes her for a moment longer, waiting to see her abilities in use.

She doesn't have to wait long, soon enough the akuma hit the gavel to the sound block several times, releasing blue crescent shaped waves that rush out towards the people closest to her. Some get out of the way in time - others not so much. They slow considerably, and one unlucky soul gets hit by two and could probably end up losing a race to a snail.

Ladybug decides she'd done enough surveillance. She quickly puts herself ahead of the akuma, but stays on the roof. She shoots out her yo-yo, and as much it would be nice to wrap-up this akuma quickly (Chat would have liked that pun), she knows better. Type fives are never quick, and never easy. So while she is aiming to have her yo-yo wrap around the woman, she mostly wants the akuma's attention. Knowing their goals and views on their task often helps to defeat them,

The akuma notices the weapon immediately, hitting it back with her gavel.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir! So you've finally decided to show up, huh? I am The Revealer, I was hurt by the truth being kept from me, so I'm going to make sure no important truths are kept from anyone! All secrets must be revealed, including yours!" She punctuates the statement by throwing each of the objects in her hands at the superpowered pair.

Ladybug steps out of the way, and Chat bats the one aimed at him away with his baton, "Thank you for the exposition, but I'm afraid some secrets are meant to stay that way. Purr -haps you could encourage good communication instead?"

"No! Lies will persist without my intervention."

"I can agree with you there - no one like a liar." Ladybug really sympathizes with this woman, she knows firsthand the pain lies can bring about, "But forcing people to tell the truth in this way could hurt more people than it will help."

"If they lied," the akuma bangs her gavel a few times, before throwing it and the block again - summoning new ones to replace them, "then they deserve any pain this brings about!"

The gavel hits a man walking with one of his friends. He immediately collapses - much to the concern of the friend. They drop to his side, and evidently hear many surprising and upsetting things. They pull out their phone, dialing a number before speaking rapidly both to the person on the other end and to the man when he snaps out of it. Grabbing their friend's wrist, the pair hurry away.

Many similar scenes are playing out all over - Ladybug can hear the yelling of a woman who was cheated on and crying from various others. The akuma is blind to the hurt around her and continues throwing things.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir!" The Revealer has focused back on the heroes, "Paris demands to know the identity of the so-called heroes protecting them. How can we trust those that we know nothing about?!"

Dodging the projectiles, Ladybug calls back, "It is for our own safety that our identities are secret. We get the job done, that's all you need to know." She hooks her yo-yo above her, swinging to get behind the akuma.

"Even we don't know each other's identities." Chat chimes in as he ducks beneath the gavel aimed at his forehead. " Purr -tty sure that how superhero-ing works."

The gavel keeps flying and hits someone standing nearby, "Babe! You good?"

Ladybug freezes - only her momentum keeps her moving - she knows that voice, even if she hasn't heard in weeks. Nino .

Nino. Which means… if he's talking to someone here - at an akuma attack - someone he called 'babe' then that could only mean…

She recovers, turning her head to the voice, and seeing him, and on the ground near him is Alya. She's clutching at her chest and speaking rapidly. The heroine hears 'Ladyblog', 'not good enough', and 'jealous of my best friend', but can't make out much more. The last statement throws her for a loop. Jealous of her best friend? She hasn't seen Marinette in weeks, what is there to be jea-

Oh.

Lila.

Nevermind, she gets it now.

Stupid girl. Why would anyone be jealous of you ? You're just some fool playing superhero until they find someone better. You're not anyone's best friend because no one would want to spend time - Wait hadn't Claude said-

A crescent wave goes right past her face, snapping her out of her thoughts. Turning to Nino and (the now-recovered) Alya she says, "Get out of here. It's dangerous."

Alya is holding her phone, still recording, "Girl, I'm fine, I already got hit anyways and this isn't live so nothing important can get out." she looks to Ladybug, winking, "Unless you need some back-up?" She and Nino turn to her, smiling eagerly.

Ladybug stiffens slightly, though the pair don't notice. Someone else does though, "She's right. You two need to get out of here." Chat blocks another gavel with his baton as he lands near them. Ladybug recovers, nodding in agreement before swinging back into the battle.

"Finally see sense? Have you decided to let Paris see your truths?"

"Sorry ma'am, but Chat and I have good reasons for the lies we tell." Do you though? Not all your lies are about your Ladybug identity. Sometimes you just lie because you want to, sounds like someone else you know…

"I doubt that! You don't feel the weight of your lies on your chest! You need me to show you just how wrong you are! Without me, how are you going to know all that you've done wrong? How will you make things better?! For that you need the truth!"

Ladybug scoffs quietly, muttering under her breath, "Ha! Joke's on you lady, I already know that I've messed up big time! There is no righting my wrongs - truth won't help me." She's quiet, and distracted with blocking more attacks. She misses how her partner's fake ears twitch before he shoots a confused and concerned glance her way.

The Revealer hits her gavel several times, spinning in a circle and sending the glowing crescents everywhere. Ladybug returns to the rooftops and Chat Noir isn't far behind. Seeing the heroes are out of her range, the victim moves on to reach more areas.

"Uh, Ladybug, you good?"
"What?" Ladybug hears concern in his voice and her stress sky-rockets, what did she do?

"I just, uh, thought I heard you say something…? I thought maybe I should check on you…" He cocks his head, green eyes looking at her patiently.

You know the rules. You've memorized the rules. The rules are there for good reason and you can't even follow them correctly.

She's memorized the rules, and she knows them by heart and could recite them top to bottom, left to right, and she knows the last one well. It's one of the more important ones, with them now numbered it's #11.

Rule #11: Adrien, Claude, Allegra, Allan, and Felix have been nice enough to put up with you, don't make them regret it.

It's since been edited to include her partner, because unlike those she originally mentioned, he doesn't even have a choice. His obligation to Paris requires him to put up with her idiocy on a near daily basis.

Stupid stupid stupid stupid you brainless numbskull. You've broken one of the rules, he's worried about you now. For absolutely no reason. Fix this - now.

"Oh no, I'm fine kitty." She puts on her most convincing smile, and pumps her voice with false sweetness and happiness that she doesn't feel, "I think I just needed some more rest, that's all!"

He keeps looking at her,"Are you sure? If something's wrong…?"

"No, nothing's wrong! I just need to be sure to get proper rest today, that's all!"

He smiles at her weakly, "Alright, if you say so…"

"Mhm! Now, lets go get that akuma!"

"Right!"

The duo swings toward the direction they last saw the akuma head in. Ladybug's thoughts trail behind her as she goes.

Stupid stupid stupid stupidstupidstupidstupidfailure…

It was just past noon, and they'd been at this for well over three hours and had gone through several Lucky Charms. Nothing seemed to be working, and it was hard to concentrate on setting up a trap for her when she was set on hitting them over the head with a gavel, or playing a painful game of frisbee with the sounding blocks, not to mention all the close calls with being slowed by a neon crescent wave.

"Maybe we should take a lunch break…" Chat has his hand on his knees, breathing heavily. They're both tired, and have lost the akuma again.

Ladybug is about to protest - they need to do their job - but looking at her partner, doubled over and clearly overworked, she realizes he certainly deserves a break. He's worked hard today, not to mention that she'd worried him earlier.

"Yeah, maybe we should. You certainly deserve one - be sure to eat something. Maybe check in with some people so they don't wonder where you've been all day."

"Bug, you deserve one too. We both have been at this all day. Besides, you must be tired out from being so radiant all day long." He winks at her.

She huffs, folding her arms and turning away so he doesn't see her blush. She is blushing from the compliment thank-you-very-much. She certainly doesn't have any sort of crush on her partner. That would be unprofessional. She has a crush on Adrien and only Adrien . Not Chat Noir too - nope, no way.

"Farewell, my lady, enjoy your break!" Chat waves goodbye as he leaps away.

"Same to you, mon minou!" Ladybug heads in another direction, swinging from roof to roof until she lands on a familiar balcony.

"Tikki, spots off!" The Kwami in question shoots out of her earrings. Tikki waves tiredly at her as she floats down to presumably rest somewhere inside. She certainly deserves it - Marinette spent most of today transformed, with only a few very short breaks.

The tired and overworked girl flops onto her bed as soon as she's inside. She wants to sleep, but her body refuses to shut down. Maybe it's because she hasn't eaten at all today. She's fairly certain there's leftovers in the fridge if she wanted them, but stairs seem like so much effort after hours of rooftop parkour. Her leg muscles are done with movement for now.

Her phone dings. Checking the screen she realizes that her friends have been messaging quite a bit while she was out, and there's several messages asking about her. That's right, she never responded to the good morning text from Claude - they're probably worried now, good going.

Kid Mime: ･ﾟ: *･ﾟ:* Good morning my stars! *:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ

Felix: Good morning, Claude.

Melodie: It's too early to be up do you wake up early just to send a text?

Melodie: I know you're not a morning person how do you do it?

Kid Mime: i'll never tell

Kid Mime: my secrets shall remain that way for all of eternity

Kid Mime: i'm taking them to the grave

The Mom Friend: youd better not be heading there any time soon

Kid Mime: i dont plan on it

Kid Mime: whats this?!
Kid Mime: Allan isnt the last one up!

Kid Mime: this is almost unheard of!

The Mom Friend: im not?

Kid Mime: nope, Maris been quiet so far

The Mom Friend: huh

Felix: Perhaps she is sleeping in. She likely needs the rest.

The Mom Friend: that she does

Kid Mime: also unheard of! Today is a day of surprises!

Melodie: Marinette honey I hope we don't wake you up.

Felix: I am fairly certain that we won't. She may just have her phone off, or maybe it isn't near her bed.

Kid Mime: maybe shes talking with adrien. I still wnat his number especialy now he has phone back

Melodie: How did he lose it again?

Kid Mime: i dunno

Felix: If I recall correctly, he did not perform as well as expected on a photoshoot, so his father decided to remove distractions, I believe he was pulled out of school for some time as well.

The Mom Friend: translation his dad sucks

Kid Mime: translatin allan is totally going to kidnap adiren

The Mom Friend: no I won't

The Mom Friend: … not yet at least

Melodie: I'm in

Felix: You are all terrible influences on each other.

Kid Mime: u loooooveeee us! :))

Felix: …

Felix: …

Felix: I do.

Kid Mime: YAAAAYYYYYYYY!

The Mom Friend: awww

Melodie: You're all adorable.

Kid Mime: u no who els is adorable?

The Mom Friend: marinette!

Kid Mime: ding ding ding!

Kid Mime: where is are favorite fabulous fashionista?
Kid Mime: i miss herrrrrrrrr

Kid Mime: :(((((

Kid Mime D:

Felix: You just saw her yesterday.

Kid Mime: but i stil miss her

Melodie: Oh got to go for a moment.

Melodie: I'll be back eventually

The Mom Friend: careful theres a akuma out

Melodie: I will!

The Mom Friend: you better

Kid Mime: maybe she's been kidnapped!
Kid Mime: we must find her

The Mom Friend: im sure shes good

The Mom Friend: jus getting wel deserved rest

Head Searcher: the hunt is on!

Head Searcher: she wil be found!

The Mom Friend: fe' i can hear u sighing from across paris

Felix: Indeed.

Felix: Claude, it is very unlikely she has been kidnapped.

Felix: I agree with Allan's guess.

Also Head Searcher: wat's that Felix?

Felix: Nevermind.

Head Searcher: never fear! our cool, cute, and creative companion will be saved fromthe clutches of evil

Also Head Searcher: nice job with the alliteration

Also Head Searcher: ur on a roll today

Head Searcher: thx

Felix: The worst part is that I am unsure whether Allegra would be another voice of reason or if she would join in on your nonsense.

Melodie: What?

Melodie: Oh, hmmmm…

Head Searcher: do it do it do it!

Marinette smiles as she finishes reading the texts she missed. She hates to have worried them, but they seem to think she just slept in so they're fine. Deciding that she shouldn't leave them hanging any longer, she hops into the fray.

Patisserie Princess: hi!

Patisserie Princess: im ok guys!

Melodie: Hi!

Felix: As I said.

Felix: Good afternoon, Marinette:

Kid Mime: YAYYYY!

Kid Mime: (つ・・)つ(・・)

Kid Mime: (つ)つ(・ヮ・)

The Mom Friend: u get some rest mari?

The Mom Friend: its past noon

Patisserie Princess: nah, i didnt sleep in much

Patisserie Princess: just lost my phone

Lies. They deserve better than that, they deserve someone who can be honest.

Kid Mime: u should sleep some! U deserve it!

Patisserie Princess: thx, but i've got to go again

Kid Mime: noooooooooooooooo

The Mom Friend: take care of urself

Melodie: Yes, please do. Have fun with whatever you're up to.

Felix: Farewell, Marinette.

Kid Mime: buh-bye!

Patisserie Princess: ( ･ω･)ﾉ

Marinette sighs, putting her phone down. Her smile fades eventually as she just stares at the ceiling for a while, thinking of nothing in particular.

After some time she exhales sharply and sits up. Sticking her head over the side of her bed she says, "Tikki, are you up? I think it's about time we get back to that akuma!"

"Really? That was quick… alright Marinette, let's go!"

"Tikki, spots on!"

Adrien is halfway done with his lunch when his monitor dings. He's been eating at his computer, keeping tabs on the akuma. Plagg is sitting on the desk, munching on some camembert.

Clicking on the link, he sees that above the footage added this morning, Alya has added a quick clip to the front of the Ladyblog, "What's up Ladybloggers? Alya here! After what was presumably a break for the heroine, Ladybug is back!" The camera turns around, showing a red and black spotted girl leaping across the rooftops. Alya continues with the commentary as she follows, "One question that remains on most everyone's mind is where is the back-up lately? I know I for one would love to see Rena Rouge or Carapace out in the thick of it! Anyways, due to the nature of this akuma, I will not be filming this live. Alya out!"

Adrien closes the tab, turning to Plagg, so had been watching with him, "Plagg, I've got to go! Ladybug is out there again, she needs me!"

"Sheesh kid, does your partner have any chill?"
"This is serious Plagg!"

"So is your health! The two of you have been at this all day and have only been on break for an hour! You haven't even finished your food!"

"But Plagg-"

"No. Adrien, you need to at least finish eating before you head back out there. And don't just stuff your mouth, you're going to be moving a lot. Can't be much help if you make yourself sick."

At Adrien's doubtful look the cat continues, "Besides, you two have very different personalities. Cats are lazier, and rest more. Bugs are constantly buzzing around, you two are there to balance each-other out. Too much of either mindset would be bad." he stuffs some camembert into his mouth, swallowing before he adds - almost as an afterthought, "Never leave a Bug and a Bee together on a project - they'll work themselves to death."

Adrien sighs, Plagg is right - he won't be much use if he rushes out now. His Lady must just eat quickly, "Fine. But I'm only staying here another half-hour; 45 minutes tops!"

He resumes eating, albeit at a slightly faster pace.

"Fine by me, kitten."

Despite the break, it's been another six hours and the akuma is still around. People are starting to get upset, I know, I know, I need to do my job better - be better, please stop yelling at me.

Chat seems to be similarly over tired, having coming awfully close to snapping at a few people. She really needs to step up her game.

They've finally tracked down the akuma again, and they drop in front of her, ready to finally end this.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir, ready to admit defeat?"

"Nope." Chat's tone is clipped - he dropped the puns and bantering some hours ago.

"That's a shame, it would make this so much easier!" More hits of the gavel before she tosses the items out of her hands again. It's a formula they're well-adjusted to by now and they dodge the projectiles tiredly. Ladybug swings behind The Revealer to be opposite Chat. When it looks like she's distracted by the feline hero, Ladybug shoots her yo-yo out, aiming to restrain her arms to keep more projectiles from being thrown.

The spotted weapon has almost reached its mark when the akuma turns suddenly, holding her gavel out where the yo-yo is headed. The string makes contact and loops around several times.

The woman grins, letting it go.

If it had been earlier in the fight, or if Chat had been closer, or even if Ladybug had eaten or gotten more rest, maybe things would have been different, but as it was, when the yo-yo wrapped gavel came flying back at her, Ladybug's reflexes are too slow to do much good.

The wooden mallet makes contact and Ladybug is down.

Notes:

Should the attack have lasted this long? Probably not. Did I want to make them suffer through an all-day akuma attack? You bet!

Foreshadowing? It was unintentional, but it's there.

A quick note on the music competition - I don't think I ever really explained it. Basically middle-school musicians tried out, and the winners get to practice regularly together to perform a concert in the spring. The concert will be hosted at a local school, but which one will it be? Hmm...

Once again, the reference slide for The Revealer can be found here!

I'm tempted to post early in honor of Halloween? Or a bonus chapter maybe? Mostly because it feels weird writing so far ahead of what I've posted. That said, I really have to keep myself on a more reasonable schedule when it comes to updating this. Eh, we'll see.

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below!

Chapter 9: Her Truths

Summary:

Chat Noir learns Ladybug's truths. It's not at all what he expected.

Notes:

A bonus chapter! You can thank my best friend for pushing me to do this. I'll still be updating on Saturday as usual, so no worries.

I guess I should do a warning for strong language? By that I mean Chat Noir says 'damn' and 'bullshit' and that's really it. Anyways, onto the chapter!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chat Noir reacts on instinct, he sees the gavel make contact with his partner and he sees her collapse. The akuma makes a move to get closer, but he shoves her back with his baton.

Racing over, he skids to a stop when he gets to her. She silent so far, but her face is scrunched up in pain and her hand is digging into her chest. He scoops her up into his arms and heads to the rooftops. He has no intention of trying to learn her secrets, but better him than all of Paris.

Her breathing is heavy, and he frowns down at her. They've seen enough people get hit - even talked to a few - that they are both well aware of what happens when hit.

"It's like everything you've ever lied about is weight, and it grows heavier with every second you don't come clean." The words of one person rings through his head.

They've yet to see anyone last more than maybe ten seconds, but as usual, his Lady is able to persevere longer than most. He winces in sympathy as a whimper escapes from her.

"Just a little longer, Bugaboo, there's still people around. They should learn to mind their own damn business. " This would be the story of the decade though. Everyone is well aware of what the heroes' most relevant secret would be - their real names.

It's been a minute and she still hasn't spoken a word, he's really pushing it now, but there's a few really persistent stragglers. She's curled up tightly onto herself and he's noticed tears of pain escaping her tightly closed eyes.

Pulling a few quick moves, and some tricks, he loses the last of them. Finding a suitable rooftop, he sets her in the corner.

"There you are. I'm going to be on the other side of the roof, 'cause I'm not leaving you alone, but I'm not going to listen to what you say. You value your secret identity, and I trust that you have good reasons for what you've lied about."

He turns and has taken not even three steps, when she speaks softly. It'd be barely audible to anyone else, but with his heightened hearing - especially in the suit - he hears it clear as day, and that - that was not what he was expecting.

Not in the slightest.

She felt the weight on her chest immediately, it was so much. She felt herself get lifted, and didn't understand how someone else could bear such weight.

Her mind knew that the weight would stop increasing if she just spilled it all. People wanted to know. They had to know. They deserved to know.

No! These things needed to be kept secret. What were they again? It didn't matter, she wouldn't say them anyways.

The weight on her chest kept growing, she could barely breathe.

Don't tell. Don't tell. Do not tell.

She felt the person carrying her jump some more, every movement hurt - a reminder of her burden. It hurt so much.

This wouldn't be happening if she hadn't lied. This is all her fault.

What had she lied about anyways?

She could feel the words on her lips, it would be so easy to say it.

What was 'it' again?

A rough landing, her eyes pricked with tears. It hurt so much .

Why wasn't she allowed to talk? She can't remember.

No, focus, she wasn't supposed to say anything.

Focus.

Focus.

Foc-

A voice. She realizes she's no longer in someone's arms - somewhere else now - she doesn't register the words, or recognize the voice because everything hurts so much and-

One word gets through to her.

'Lied'.

They know.

The voice knows.

The voice wants to know the truth.

Her eyes spring open - blind to her surroundings - as she releases the hold on her tongue. She speaks her truth:

"I'm a disastrous, catastrophic disappointment at everything I do, and everything I'll ever try."

What?!

Ladybug, no! Chat Noir rushed to her side, but it would seem she wasn't done. Her eyes stayed unfocused, staring at nothing as she worked on her heavy breathing - preparing to continue.

"Ladybug, what happ-"

"I can't do anything right."

"No-"

"I'm useless, incapable of being good in the slightest."

"No! no-" She just keeps going, and he can't stop her. He clutches her arm tightly, because what else can he do? Each statement came laboriously - likely due to how long she managed to hold herself silent, the pain on her chest must be unbearable.

"I'm a horrendous hero, Paris deserves better. Chat deserves a better partner."

"NO! You're a great partner! I-"

"I messed up, this is all my fault-"

"Ladybug, please-" He didn't like anything about this. The words alone would hurt his heart, but the way she was saying it made it a million times worse. They'd been at this all day. He'd seen those hit cry, he'd seen them scream, he'd even seen a few laugh, but none of them, none of them had done this.

She said it all with such certainty . With full acceptance of every word coming out of her mouth as if it were an absolute fact .

Wasn't this akuma supposed to make people speak the truth? Where did these sickening lies come from?!

"I deserve everything that's happened to me. They were all right." She was crying now - tears of resignation - and paired with her sad smile it just stomped his heart into the ground even further. He wasn't even sure if they were sad tears or if she was just in so much pain and it was probably both, but he was crying too because neither option was good.

"I'm obsessive and creepy. A-" even like this she stumbles over her words, catching herself - even as it clearly pains her "my crush would never be anything but disgusted by me."

He wasn't even remotely upset at the mention of a crush, partially because he already knew, but mostly because that didn't matter right now. What happened? Who is 'they' and what did they do to her?!

He has to remind himself not to crush her arm because with how tightly he's gripping it, he should be worried about leaving bruises.

"I don't deserve my miraculous and Tikki. No one should ever trust me with anything, especially something so important."

He knows that his heart would break if she sounded sad, but anything, anything would be better than this-this-this numbness . He's almost sobbing at this point he's just so upset, what happened? Why does she think any of this is remotely true? Why can't she see how spectacular she is?

He's angry, he's sad, he's- he's- he doesn't know what he is . That really didn't matter right now, because Ladybug is his priority.

"I'm a repulsive moron that no one could ever legitimately like. No one in their right mind would want to spend time with-" she cuts herself off, as if something is occuring to her. For a moment his heart soars. She's finally done . But no. No, she shakes her head and continues, "Everyone already knew I was a terrible person, but no one told me because it was so frightfully obvious that they didn't realize I didn't know."

What sort of nonsense is she even spewing right now? He doesn't know how much longer he can stand this-

"I'm a moron. She was right all along, I should have known better. She tried to warn me, but I wouldn't listen and I messed up."

Going off the fact that everything she's said so far is complete bullshit, Chat is willing to bet that this 'she' was very, very, wrong.

Maybe a cataclysm to the face would help set 'her' straight…

"They're all right to despise me, they were right."

"Ladybug!" Was there no end?

"No one is with me willingly. No one would actually want that."

" What do you mean? Where is this coming from?" he can't see with all the tears streaming from his face.

She freezes and he once again hopes that she's finally done , but no, no she isn't. Not by a long shot.

"I mean," oh, right, he'd asked her a question and now she would answer, "that everyone who spends an extended amount of time with me does so for two reasons."

Oh this'll be good.

"They may hang out without me because they're good people and it's the right thing to do - like my fr- classmates. Or they have some obligation to, like my parents, or Tikki, or Chat Noir. Or they'd do it for both. I know I'm not actually worthy of lo-"

No, he can't listen to another second of this, please , "Ladybug, my lady, please stop! None of this is true and I can't bear to hear another second of it . Stop, just stop! " He's on his hands and knees beside her, his tears dot the roof and he's the only one here that is remotely upset and that makes it so much worse .

She inhales suddenly - sharply. He glances at her in surprise, seeing her looking around in confusion, her breathing clearly returning to normal now that the weight is gone from her chest.

"Oh, Ladybug, you're back. Oh, thank Plagg." he puts a hand on the side of her face, finally drawing her eyes to him.

"Chat! W-what happened?! You-you're crying? I'm so sorry! I-"

"No, oh, Bug, don't ap-"

He's interrupted by screams from the street. The akuma.

"Oh no! The akuma! How long have we been up here?!" Ladybug stands, rushing to the edge, looking over and surveying the area below. He comes to join her from behind.

"Ladybug-"

"I'm sorry Chat, I don't know what happened, but can you just hold up until we defeat The Revealer?"

Can he hold up? What about her?!

"I can manage."

"Okay, thank you, I'm sorry about this."

Before he can tell her stop apologizing , she swings away, he follows behind worriedly.

Her mind is abuzz with thoughts.

What did you say?!
How did you mess up this time?!
You hurt Chat! You made him cry!

Marinette is probably just that much of a disappointment!

You got hit by the akuma, moron!

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

You're a disappointment!

A failure!

Despite their best efforts, the akuma continued to wreak havoc among Parisians for another hour or so. Ladybug keeps sending worried glances her partner's way. He seemed angrier than earlier. He is certainly a better asset in this fight than her - his exhaustion seemingly gone.

She misses the concerned looks he sends her way.

Finally, Chat seems to get entirely fed up with this whole ordeal, and when the akuma is distracted by Ladybug, he hits her over the head with his baton, cracking her glasses which release a butterfly. When he realizes what he did he slumps in relief and disbelief, laughing quietly.

Ladybug is quick to react. Shooting her yo-yo out, she quickly cleanses the akuma.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

She's not going to bother with an unnecessary lucky charm - there's no reason this time. She sees a few people stop in the middle of spilling everything, others return to their normal speed.

"Well, glad that's over!" She turns to her partner, holding out her fist. He bumps it, giving her the saddest 'pound it' she's ever heard.

…

She must have really upset him…

"Hey, you okay Chat?"

He gives her a look of disbelief, shaking his head laughing quietly, "Yeah, um can you meet me at the top of the tower in, like, 30 minutes?"

"Y-yeah. I can do t-that."

He nods, "See you then!" With a two-finger salute, he's off.

She stands for a moment - worried. She knows what this is about, but she wishes it hadn't come so soon. It's selfish, she knows, but she'll miss Tikki.

He's finally going to take her miraculous away.

She's pacing frantically, in her room. She's been back for a while now, and has about 15 minutes until the agreed meet-up time.

"Marinette, calm down, you're going to wear a hole in the floor!" Tikki floats up to her, landing on her head.

"But Tikki, I don't know what I said when I got hit! What does he know?! Probably my name! Who knows what else? Ooohh, I messed up big time…"

"Marinette, it's fine, it was a mistake, you were overworked and tired, no one can expect you to be perfect! Even if he knows your identity, it's not the end of the world, all true Ladybugs and Chat Noirs have learned the identity of their other half eventually. Besides, it's no added danger, we've learned that Hawkmoth won't be able to learn your identities from each other!"

"Still…"

"If it makes you feel better, maybe you should wear one of your Ladybug outfits?"

Months ago, Marinette had been inspired to make a small variety of Ladybug-themed outfits complete with a mask. It was partially for fun, but also in case there was an akuma that seemed likely to cause her to time-out at an inconvenient time, then her identity would still be safe - if she was able to change into one that is.

"... you think so?"

"If you're so worried about talking to him face-to-face, this way you can still have a mask on, but I can be there too if needed."

"Okay. I guess so…" Strangely enough, it did comfort her some. At least this way when he took the earrings away he wouldn't have to look at any more of her awful face than usual.

Going to her closet, she shoved past everything to get to the back where there was a small variety of red-black spotted outfits with masks hanging from the hangers.

"Maybe this one? Dresses are good for first impressions!" Tikki flitted over to a hanger bearing a red and black spotted knee-length dress with long sleeves. It had the usual mask, and plain black leggings. It would certainly be warm enough for this weather, it's one of the ones she made specifically for colder weather.

"Yeah, that one's good."

By the time she's changed, it's about time to go. When her the Kwami isn't looking, she slips the miraculous box into the pocket of her dress.

"Ready, Tikki?"

The kwami nods, and Marinette transforms, her outfit changing to her usual hero-ing outfit. Ladybug leaps from the balcony in the direction of the well-known landmark.

She ignores her empty stomach's protests and the aching fatigue of her muscles. She can rest once she's home again. Chat is nice, he'll bring her home before going to Fu's.

Ladybug is nearing the top of the tower when the exhaustion finally gets to her. She meets her partner's eyes just as her own slip shut and she collapses - right off the side.

Notes:

Ladybug, falling off the Eiffel Tower is generally considered a bad idea.

I guess this is my last update of October? See you in November!

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below!

Chapter 10: His Truths

Summary:

Adrien returns home after the akuma and has a talk with Plagg. Chat Noir talks with Ladybug.

Notes:

I love Saturdays, it's so fun getting to update.

Warning for strong language again? Adrien says 'fuck' once.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chat Noir slips into the open window.

"Plagg, claws in."

Adrien wanders to his bed, flopping onto it and pressing his face into a pillow. He doesn't scream, just covers his face and shuts things out for a moment. He can tell Plagg is nearby, forgoing camembert temporarily to watch his chosen.

Adrien flops onto his back, staring up at the ceiling blankly.

"Plagg?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"What do I do?"

The Kwami sighs heavily, sounding like the age-old God he is for once, "Adrien, that's a tough question."

"But you heard her right? You heard what Ladybug said?"

"It's complicated. When I'm in the ring, I'm not exactly aware of things, but you had a strong enough reaction and dwelled on it enough that, yeah, I know."

"I just- I- how?!" The boy's eyes well up again, thinking of his precious partner, saying such terrible things - about herself no less - with that awful numb acceptance.

"Bugs are good people kid, but they have their flaws."

Adrien shoots up, staring at Plagg in disbelief, before he can speak Plagg holds up a paw, "Hold up, let me finish kitten. Bugs have flaws, many of them are double-edged swords, people often see them as positive traits, missing the cons - unless of course they reach this point."

He floats over to his cheese stash, because Kwami knows he's going to need it. Adrien moves to his desk chair, spinning listlessly.

"They see the best in people, even people that probably don't deserve it. Yes, this means they can get allies everywhere, but often they can be blind to flaws. They care about their friends a lot. People that they're close to are lucky to have someone like that in their lives. Often though, once someone is close to them, bugs can become blind to their flaws. Lots of Ladybug holders had the habit of holding the opinions of others above their own instincts. That's all well and good, but your Bug has crossed the line from humble to hateful - targeted solely at herself."

"But what happened? How did Ladybug get to this point?"

Plagg has several guesses, having witnessed a good amount first-hand. Pigtails got isolated by her friends, but as he said, she still held them in high regard, not trusting that she was in the right. There was that whole business with the Volpina girl, and the final incident that he and his kid had missed. He'd heard form Tikki though - the two tried to meet up when they could - apparently baker-girl was so far gone she was even blaming herself for the fall down the steps. Not to mention that she still wasn't blaming her old classmates for what they'd done wrong. Holding all that on herself. That's a lot of guilt to carry.

Yeah, the bug's fallen far, his kid was going to have to work extra hard to pull her out this pit - on both sides of the mask. Without a reveal yet though...

"But Plagg, how could she get this bad? What about her Kwami - Tikki. Wouldn't Tikki do something?" Adrien was distraught over this.

Tikki. Tikki probably didn't even know. She had a lot of the same flaws as the Bugs, but she'd never let one of her ladies get so bad without intervening. No, Tikki was probably still in the dark.

"Kid, you thought she was fine until the akuma made her spill her guts, so you've got to have realized your lady is quite the actress."

Adrien looked shocked, "But surely she can't keep up an act that long? Her Kwami's got to be with her, like, all the time!"

Plagg shrugged, "Kitten, your bug's a stubborn one. I'd be willing to bet all my camembert that's exactly what she's been doing."

"For how long?!"

"How long have you thought she's been alright?"

"... fuck!"

Well said, Adrien. Well said.

Chat Noir sat on the Eiffel tower at their usual spot near the top, well-above where normal citizens could reach. He's a little early, but that's fine. He talked with Plagg as long as he could, but his antsiness got to him eventually. He just couldn't sit still any longer, he transformed, and well, here he is.

He sees a red spot in the distance. It swings from rooftop to rooftop, and his eyes never leave it. It's her - his lady. His poor, precious Ladybug.

She continues on her way, eventually scaling the tower with practiced ease. She looks tired and after today, he can't really blame her. She reaches him, and her big, beautiful, blue eyes meet his own for one brief moment. Then her eyes roll backwards into her head and her whole body slumps - falling backwards, back toward the ground - from hundreds of meters up.

"Ladybug!"

He reacts instantly, reaching towards her before realizing that's useless - she's fainted, not slipped. Slipping his baton from his back, he jumps over the edge, sliding down the bars, passing her quickly and catching her with ease. Unsure of what to do, he brings her back to their spot to check on her quickly so he can decide what to do from there.

It may be an overreaction, but his first thought was to check her pulse, followed closely by her breathing. Both are fine and he lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

This is unprecedented. Should he take her to a hospital? Do magical suits get in the way of medical procedures? How did she faint, or rather, why? When would she stop worrying him?

"Wha…?" Ladybug shifts, propping herself up slightly on her elbow.

"Ladybug! Oh thank goodness! You scared me!" He hugs her to him, then lets go, holding her an arm's length away. Looking over her carefully, he still can't see what's wrong. Perhaps it's just over exhaustion?

"Chat! What happened?" She's looking at him in confusion.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?"

"Huh?"

"You just dropped off the side of the Eiffel Tower! Ladybug are you feeling okay?!" He still refuses to let go of her, not that she's in any danger right now. He's not letting her anywhere near the edge.

"Yeah! I'm fine! I'm just a little tired, you know? An all day akuma fi-" She gets cut off when her stomach rumbles quietly. Her face flushes red.

"Ladybug. When did you eat last?"

She breaks eye contact, looking away at one of the bars.

" Ladybug ."

She mumbles under her breath, seemingly forgetting that at this distance he can pick up anything, "...yesterday…"

His grip tightens slightly. " Ladybug. Are you telling me you were running around the Parisian rooftops all day today - and you ate nothing ?! Did you even drink water ? Or anything for that matter?!"

"Uh, well, um… no."

He sighs.

"But you know, it's fine! When I get home I'll just-"

"No. Nope. Do not even finish that statement, because you just fell off the tower so it is not fine." He knows he sounds angry and he feels bad, but he's not angry at her. He's mad at himself, and this whole situation, and whoever 'they' and 'she' are, but he's not mad at her. Worried? Definitely.

"Just - stay here. I'm going to get you something to eat, and please stay away from the edge. I will be right back."

Ladybug nodded, leaning back against part of the tower as he disappeared over the edge. What a moron, this is their last night as partners and she's worried him, and now he's running errands for her.

Hugging her knees to her chest, she stares upwards. The sky is clear tonight, she can see some stars. The moon is really bright.

She feels tears prick her eyes - she'll really miss the views of the city from the rooftops. From the different landmarks. She'll miss her partner, she'll miss Tikki, she'll miss all of it.

A tear rolls down her cheek and she stiffens.

Rule #1: Don't cry.

Because what right does she have to be upset? These are the facts plain and simple, she's messed up and these are the consequences. Blinking away the tears, and wiping the escapee off her cheek, she rests her chin on her knees. Staring over the city, she focuses on not feeling.

A blond head with black cat ears pops over the edge. He smiles softly at her, handing over two energy bars and a water bottle.

"I would have gotten more stuff, but I figured that it would have been harder to bring up."

"O-oh, no it's fine." She accepts the refreshments and uncurls a little to set them in her lap.

Chat sits beside her, watching the city as she eats slowly, sipping from her water occasionally. Putting the two wrappers in her yo-yo, she finishes off her water and puts that in there too.

Chat glances over at her awkwardly. Oh , she realizes, he doesn't know how to start . He's so nice and doesn't exactly know how to tell her she's a complete and utter failure. She figures she'll make this easy on him.

"I, uh, brought the box."

"...what?"

"T-the box. The miraculous box. F-for when you take my earrings b-back to Fu…"

His eyes fly wide at her words. What did she do wrong this time? He grabs both of her hands in his, looking at her intensely.

"Ladybug. Look at me." Doing as she's told, she makes eye-contact with his green eyes, "Listen to me carefully. I am not taking your earrings away . You are the best hero Paris has, and an amazing and beautiful person. "

Ladybug is confused, and shakes her head slightly. "Bu-"

"No. Ladybug. I don't know what happened that you got to this point, but I'm worried about you, and as your friend and partner it is my obligation to talk to you. You are an inspiration to this city and myself, and I won't allow you to think about yourself in such a way."

"W-what are talking about? I messed up. Y-you know my identity, r-right? I g-got hit, s-so that me-"

He interrupts, but she continues and they speak over each-other

"-means I'm a failure…"

"You didn't reveal your identity-"

He registers her words and a gloved hand flies to her face, cupping her cheek, "Oh, Ladybug, no."

"What?"

"You are many wonderful, beautiful, spectacular things, but you are not a failure. "

"B-but-"

"No. I don't know what's going on in your other life, but when you got hit, you didn't say your real name or anything like that. It was worse if I'm being honest… the first thing you said - the first words that left your lips were, 'I'm a disastrous, catastrophic disappointment at everything I do, and everything I'll ever try.' And you just kept going . The whole time you were out you kept saying such terrible things about yourself."

Her heart drops. That little candle of hope that she'd been wrong about everything snuffs out.

"R-right, a-and The- The Revealer m-makes people s-s-say what's t-true…"

He smiles sadly at her, "Oh Bugaboo, I think that you've misunderstood. The Revealer made people say what they considered the truth. Sure, that's a lot of facts, but in your case, it was a whole lot of nonsense."

Maybe the candle could be relit after-all…

"I know our identities keep us from revealing too much about our lives, but what can you tell me?"

Her eyes well up, and she looks away. "I- I don't know. I just… all my friends… they just… I-" She doesn't know what to say or how to phrase it, finally settling on mumbling, "...they're not my friends anymore…" and isn't that the understatement of the century. All the pain of Thursday and every other incident comes rushing at her, the tears well up and she screws her eyes shut. She's not going to cry in front of Chat again. What would her think of her then?

He notices, pulling her closer, hugging her gently, "It's alright, Ladybug, it's their loss, I'm sure it hurts. You can cry."

She hugs him tightly, "I-i-it-it d-does!" With that, the waterworks start, and she sobs quietly into his shoulder.

He holds her close, pulling her into his lap to better embrace her. He comforted her quietly to the best of his abilities as he watched the sky for akumas - Hawkmoth wouldn't surprise him, Ladybug is allowed to feel any emotions she pleases. It's one of the worst side-effects of akumatization - too many people decided that bottling everything up is the only way to go, and it never ends well.

The girl in his arms has quieted down now. Glancing down, he smiles softly when he realizes that she's fallen asleep. It's honestly not much of a surprise, given all she was up to today she had to be exhausted. He's not in much better shape himself.

A beeping from her earrings startles him back to attention. She hasn't been transformed long, and didn't use a Lucky Charm, so her Kwami must be purposefully ending the transformation early on her own.

He sees a flash of pink light, but focuses on the horizon - he won't look at her face.

"Chat Noir?"

He recognizes the voice, "Hey. Tikki, right?"

"Yes. Thank you for taking care of M- my chosen."

"It's no problem. We're partners after all."

"Still." the Kwami pauses for a moment, thinking, then, "You can look at her."

"What? But-"

"Don't worry Chat Noir, she has a mask on."

He looks down, and sure enough, Ladybug's magic suit has been replaced by a warm-looking dress and leggings. On her face is a familiarly patterned mask, only clearly hand-made. Wow, she thought of everything didn't she. Tikki rests on her forehead, a gentle paw resting lightly on her hair.

"What did she say?" The Kwami's warm tone cools.

"What do you mean?"

"Kwamis are not entirely aware when their holders are transformed, and similarly to Ladybug I do not know what she said when she got hit. I have a vague feeling based on what you told her earlier, but I'd like to know specifics." Her small face is entirely serious and displays little emotion, but he can see some anger behind the mask.

He sighs, looking away as he recounts everything she said. It's not hard to remember because it's branded into his mind permanently. That doesn't mean it's easy to repeat all the horrible self-hate. By the end of it his eyes have welled up again, and a glance at the Kwami before him shows she's in a similar state. She covers her mouth in horror

"Oh M-" Tikki gets cut off by a bunch of bubbles. She shakes her head, looking down at her precious girl.

"It's alright. You didn't know - neither of us did. At least we know now…" It's a small comfort - who knows how long this has been going on - and they both sit in pensive silence for some time.

The Goddess' big eyes met his, "I think you're one of the best black cats Plagg has had in a long time…"

His own ring beeps and Plagg flies out, "I've got to agree with you, Sugarcube. I really like this kitten."

The cat goes over to join Tikki, looking down at the heroine they were resting on he muttered, "Stupid baby bug."

Tikki and Adrien protest in unison, "Hey!"

"Relax, I didn't mean it. This little-bug just needs to see sense."

"She does…" Tikki plays with Ladybug's bangs solemnly. Plagg notices her look and rests a paw on her back.

"Oh, hey, Teeks' this isn't your fault, your bugs are just stubborn."

"I know, but still … oh that stupid girl ." She makes the closest equivalent to a fist that the Kwamis are capable of, clearly thinking of another person, maybe the 'she' Ladybug mentioned earlier. She pauses in realization, "Oh, Plagg you're warm ."

"'Course I am, it's fall, got to start heating up for winter. Kid's probably not doing too bad himself."

Adrien startles, "I don't feel any different…"

Tikki smiles at him from beside Plagg, "Of course not, but you're noticeably warmer - to us bugs at least. Ladybug and I are already feeling the effects of the cold, not a lot - it's not even November yet, and we've got a little stamina - your warmth probably contributed to Ladybug falling asleep on you." She glances down at the girl, "Sorry about that by the way."
"Oh it's fi-"

"Trust me T, he doesn't mind at all ."

Adrien makes a face at Plagg as Tikki giggles.

They sit like that for a while before Adrien has to ask, "Tikki, is Ladybug okay? What can I do?"

She sighs, looking away, "I'm not entirely sure. You can't be present in her everyday life without a reveal, I'm not entirely sure she's ready for that. But you can be there for her. Just check up with her - talk to her. She needs more people like you in her life right now, as many as she can get. Now that I'm at least aware of how she's feeling, I can try my best to help, but Kwamis are no substitute for human beings." She looks into his eyes, "Your species is an interesting one… just stay with her, be there for her, she needs time and she needs people who care."

"I can do that."

She smiles sweetly up at him, "I know you can Adrien."

Another moment passes then, "I should probably wake her up."

"Huh?"

"This is cute and all, but she should sleep in a real bed."

"So should you kid."

Adrien's words are choked off by a yawn as realizes just how drained he is. Fatigue has finally caught up to him and rest sounds wonderful .

"Should probably transform back though kid. Bye Tikki." The Kwamis hug quickly as he speaks the words and Chat Noir takes Adrien's place.

"Hey, M- Ladybug . Ladybug! There you are sweetie, wake up please."

The heroine grumbles and moves a little, and Chat can't help but smile at her again.

"Ladybug, come on, you have to go to a real bed now."

"Listen to your Kwami, m'lady."

Another moment, then Ladybug opens her eyes, looking around in tired confusion, "Wha…? Oh."

"There we are! Time to go home now, okay?" Tikki floats at eye-level, and Ladybug nods at her sleepily.

"Kay...Tikki spots on."

A pink flash, and Ladybug is back in the outfit he knows so well. Chat takes a gloved hand and tenderly moves her bangs out of her face with his thumb.

"Hey Bug. You need to rest now okay. Take care of yourself, be nice to my favorite partner."

"Hmmm…?" Ladybug is far too tired to speak proper French words.

"Heh, I think I'd better escort you down the tower. Don't want you to fall… again." At this, she blushes slightly, clearly a little more aware of her surroundings now.

He stands - she's already shifted off to free him - and offers her a hand. She looks up at him, reaching for it and allowing him to help her up. Standing now, though a little shaky, she grabs her yo-yo and he watches carefully as the pair make their way down the tower. Once they are safely on the ground he grabs her hand lightly.

"Ladybug. Take care of yourself."

She looks at him, still not fully awake, then gently cups his face in her hand and gives him a kiss on the cheek. His face goes red immediately, she draws back.

"Goodnight mon minou. I love you."

She throws her yo-yo and is off into the night. He recovers eventually and goes back to his house.

Ladybug arrives home and slips in through her trapdoor. With her face in a pillow, she mumbles the phrase sleepily, releasing Tikki. The Kwami rests on her head, playing with her hair. Marinette's long day finally comes to an end as she drifts back to sleep in seconds.

Notes:

Marinette is safely home now! Yay! Her partner knows that she needs support and is more than willing to give it to her, even if she's still not entirely convinced that she deserves it.

Next chapter we'll get some consequences to Marinette's wonderful decision to fight an akuma all day while not eating or drinking anything. Shockingly, the human body does not like that.

Actually, the next chapter will be on Tuesday! I really like updating and have been writing ridiculously fast so you guys get another bonus chapter! Yay!

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below!

(P.S. I finally realized I'm been spelling Allan's name wrong this whole time, so I'll be editing the past chapters to fix that.)

Chapter 11: OMMAM

Summary:

Claude sets his scheme into action. They all check on a sick Marinette.

Notes:

Yay! Updating! Actually, it'll be a double update today! Also, the title is pronounced like "oh ma'am"- sounds like "oh man" if you're confused.
Reference slides for Claude's room here!
There are temperatures in this chapter. The show takes place in Paris, so they'll be Celsius, but as an American used to Fahrenheit, I've put the Fahrenheit equivalent in parentheses next to the Celsius.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The bell on the door rings as Claude enters the bakery. Not intending to buy anything, he passes the line and waits patiently for Tom to notice him.

"Hey son! You here for Marinette? She should be in her room, head on back!"

Once in the back, Sabine stops him,"Claude! I wasn't expecting you. Do you guys have plans today?"

"Oh no, I just was in the area and I thought I should stop by! It's always great to see a friend!" She didn't really need to know of his scheme, at least not for now.

"That's sweet of you dear. While you're up there, could you ask Marinette if she's eaten recently? Tom and I didn't see her at all yesterday, and it looks like she didn't touch any of the leftovers." The short woman shakes her head fondly, "Sometimes that girl gets too wrapped up in her projects - forgets that she needs to eat."

"Will do, ma'am!" Claude hurries up the stairs at his usual excited pace. He should probably let Allan know that Marinette forgot to eat often enough that it was considered a habit of hers. He would certainly be the one to go about correcting that. Not that he and the rest of them weren't concerned with her health, but Allan is the mom friend for a reason.

Seeing Marinette's trapdoor he goes over his goals in his head. The main goal is to set her up to be distracted or busy for the rest of the morning. It wouldn't do to have her try to make plans when he had them all gathered to go over his plotting. It would be nice to get Adrien's number - preferably without her knowing. Of course, as always, he would aim to see that stunning smile of hers, she didn't show it off nearly enough.

"Marinette, my magnificent- oh."

He bursts into her room with his usual loud theatrics, but switches to be quieter impressively quickly. The girl in question is flopped across her bed, clearly dead to the world. Just to be on the safe side, he climbs the ladder, and whispers over to her,"Psst! Mari! How asleep are you?"

His only response is a light shiver, he frowns, finally noticing that Marinette is rather curled in on herself - her blankets kicked to the side - and the trapdoor to the balcony is slightly ajar. Well that just won't do.

"Tsk, were you out late on your balcony? At the very least you could have shut the door properly. You'll get yourself sick like this, and what would Allan say then?"

He moves onto the bed to correct her missing blankets. Pulling the trapdoor shut completely - it seems to have an annoying habit of sticking - he goes back down her ladder. Standing in front of her desk, he steals a sticky note and borrows a pen to leave note - he won't be here when she wakes up:

Marinette!

I stopped by to say hello and I found that you were still asleep. Allan would be happy - he's rather concerned about your sleeping schedule. He would have been less pleased to find that you were freezing yourself, what with your blankets off to the side and the trapdoor open! Your mom wanted me to remind you to eat, so you should do that! Can't be our patisserie princess if you're starving! We'd hate to see you suffer like that! Take care of yourself.

Your friend, Claude!

Seeing her phone nearby, he unlocks it quickly and goes to her contacts. He knows most of his friends passwords, for the sole purpose of spontaneously changing their background and their names in the chats. Occasionally he'll set reminders for them to take care of themselves if he deems it necessary, but not as often. He would never use it to snoop, and his friends are aware he knows the password - they've given the all clear.

In this instance, he has plans that Mari can't know about. Not that it's a bad thing, but he thinks it would be best to do it in secret. For this, he needs Adrien. The boy's name is easy enough to find, with two heart emojis next to it no less.

Claude grins mischievously, another thing to add to his growing list of evidence to fuel his suspicions of Marinette's true feelings towards the model. He has no issue with it - totally ships the two actually.

He returns to where Marinette left off last on her phone - the group chat actually - and sets it back where he found it.

"Farewell 'Nettie! Sleep well!" He exits the room with a wave, completely unaware of the blue eyes that were watching him carefully the whole time. The little being smiles after him.

Kid Mime: Guys meet me at my house in 30 minutes. This is Claude.

Adrien: Uh, okay. Did Mari give you my number?

Kid Mime: sure

Melodie: Wait, what's going on?

The Mom Friend: hes plottin agan al'

Felix: Oh wonderful, what is it this time?

Adrien: What's going on?

Melodie: Don't question it.

Melodie: Am I right to assume you're Adrien?

Adrien: Yeah? Did I miss something?

The Mom Friend: jus go with it. hes got good reasons

The Mom Friend: probably

Kid Mime: i do.

Kid Mime: trust me

Kid Mime: its abouut mari

Adrien: Alright. Uh, where do you live? I'm not sure if Father has plans for me today

Kid Mime: felix please

Felix: Fine.

Felix: Adrien, I will be picking you up at your place 20 minutes from now.

Adrien: Okay?

Adrien is browsing through the Ladyblog posts of the last month. He's reviewing all footage of his Lady to see if there was any point he could have seen through her facade. He's got nothing so far.

A knock at his door.

"Adrien." It's Nathalie, "You have a visitor. He says that he is here to pick you up." Right, Felix is here for Claude's mystery thing. Adrien pushes back on the floor, flying across the room on his chair. It'd probably be healthy for him to stop obsessing over Ladybug anyways - it's all he's done today. He carefully scoops up the sleeping Plagg, putting him in his inner pocket.

"Coming!" He opens the door and sees Felix standing in the entryway, speaking to Father. He hasn't even been here a minute and Gabriel Agreste is already willing to speak to him. It's so surprising it's honestly sad.

Felix , he thinks, teach me your ways .

As he comes closer, the senior Agreste turns to his son, "Adrien. It is pleasing to see you striving to make such promising connections at your age." Behind him, it almost looks like Felix winks at him, but it's so uncharacteristic of the boy that Adrien can't be sure, "Enjoy your time with Mr. Voclain today."

With that he exits, shutting himself back in his office.

"Will you two be requiring a ride?" Nathalie is at the door, looking at them curiously.

"Uh…"

"No ma'am. I have my own driver."

"Alright. Adrien, be back before curfew."

"Yes, Nathalie."

They walk out together. Felix's car is much more toned down than Adrien's normal one, it fits the boy's taste better, and Adrien wonders if Felix is actually given choices when it comes to his things.

"We may proceed to Claude's house now, sir."

The driver nods and they join the other cars on the road.

"So, uh, what exactly is going on?"

"I am not entirely said, I do have some idea, so allow me to explain. You have not known Claude long enough to be aware of this, but occasionally, Claude gets an idea into his head and will draw us all together to pull it off. There is often a large amount of scheming and sneaking around on his part. Sometimes it is simply a prank or surprise of the sort, but this time I get the distinct feeling that it is more serious than many of the past plots. Considering what little he told us through text, and the fact that Marinette was not present in the chat, it likely has something to do with her."

"Okay. Should I be worried for her? Like, did Claude find something out...?"

"If it was dire, he would likely call us all to her house and tell us then. Seeing as he is planning, it is not anything to worry too much about."

"Okay. Um, do you know how he got my number? He wasn't exactly clear with his answer."

Felix shook his head, smiling a little, "I have learned that attempting to decipher Claude rarely yields satisfactory results."

They sit in silence for the remainder of the ride. Adrien is stewing in concern. Marinette has seemed fine lately - she'd seemed like she was doing a lot better actually - but then so had Ladybug. If Claude is concerned, then Adrien will trust his judgement, he spends more time with the girl than the model anyways. He would know if something was wrong. The idea of Marinette upset again hurts him, especially so close with Ladybug revealing her thoughts.

Were the kind pig-tailed girls of Paris just especially prone to emotional distress lately?

"We are here." Felix breaks him out of his thoughts. Adrien glances up at the building before them. Time to find out what Claude's got planned.

Claude's room is a blue-gray rectangle with light carpet. He had two large fluffy gray rugs, a window seat what held a mish-mashed variety of pillows and two large green pillows on the floor - one of which Allegra was sitting on. Across from the door was a dresser cluttered with various knick-knacks with a tall mirror and a hamper to the right of it. There was a low shelf with a plant on it containing various books and games. The bunk bed had a giant teddy-bear under the ladder, and the bottom bunk had been converted into a couch of sorts. Claude was standing against the wall near a whiteboard that had various colorful markers on its shelf. Adrien and Felix enter, the latter sitting on the window seat, and after a moment's hesitation Adrien sat on the bed-turned-couch.

"Alright, you two are here, now we just need-"
"Hey."

"Allan! Yay, now we can get started!" Claude claps his hands together as Allan takes a seat on the other green floor cushion.

"What is it this time?" Allegra leans back on her arms, looking at Claude expectantly, "I've got the feeling it's more serious than filling Felix's locker with confetti?"

"It is, it's about Marinette. I know that we all are aware of her issues with confidence-" Adrien frowns at this, hating to hear his everyday-Ladybug described like that. Not that it's inaccurate, but it's such a far cry from the confident leader he knew she could be. He can't help but feel he could have done more. He tunes back in to what Claude is saying, because the least he can do is help bring her back, "But I think we under-estimated just how bad it is. When I went back for my textbook, I told her we enjoyed hanging out with her, and she was legitimately surprised-"

"But she's so great!" Allegra interrupts incredulously.

" I know! She covered it up quickly - honestly she would do great in acting - but guys it was more than just surprised. She was…" he trails off, looking for the words, "She was like, absolutely astounded - like this was some sort of staggering revelation, but also hopeful? Then that got crushed immediately, even before she covered everything else. What even happened?" Claude intended the question to be rhetorical, but as the others were processing what he said, Adrien sighed.

"A lot. A lot happened." Everyone's head snapped to him immediately, having forgotten that he may have answers. He ran his hand through his hair - Father would have a heart attack at his model son's hair looking so unruly.

"So you do know." Allegra looks to him in confirmation, "Not that I'm asking what happened - that's for her - but you do know?"

"Yeah, I do." His face darkens as he thinks of all the classmates he still has to interact with on a near-daily basis. It drives him crazy, but it's more bearable than when they were constantly trash-talking his best friend.

"That's helpful. Even without tellin' us things, you'll be able to know how Mari might feel about whatever Claude has planned." Allan speaks carefully, clearly still thinking things over.

"What is it that you have planned Claude?" Felix draws everyone's attention back to the other boy.

"I have done some research on the best ways to help-"

"Willing to bet murder wasn't one of them." Allegra mutters under breath.

"No, unfortunately not. However! There were other options, aren't illegal. A lot of it is just being there, so just letting her know we do actually care about her and making an effort to hang out with her." He sums this up and puts it on the on the whiteboard next to a number one.

"What's she doin' right now? Does she think we're all hangin' out without her? I don't wanna' have her worrying about that."

"A good point Al. I went over to her house to try and find a way to distract her while we would be doing this-"

"And?"

"And she was sleeping. Shocking I know, but it would seem that she is capable of actually sleeping." Something about this sticks in Adrien's mind. He feels like there's something he's supposed to remember.

"Good. I'm happy-"

"Allan, before you celebrate our baby bird finally learning to take a break, you should know she was basically freezing herself. Balcony door open and no blankets."

Allan tosses his arms in the air in exasperation, "Someone needs to teach her the definition of 'self-care'!"

"I'm with him."

"We can work that in. Anyways, point two - when she says something bad about herself, we aren't supposed to just tell her she's wrong. We're supposed to find the root of it I guess? Like instead of 'you aren't stupid' we're supposed say something like, 'why do you feel that way' if that makes sense."

They all nod and he adds a second point to the board.

"This one is a little harder for the non-Adriens among us, but we should be aware of it in case it becomes relevant. We have to make sure she realizes that she's allowed to feel bad about a bad situation - mostly the one that instigated this I guess? So as I said, she doesn't talk about it much with us, but…" he adds it to the board next to a 3.

"How much do you guys know?" Adrien doesn't want to reveal something that Marinette doesn't want them to know.

Allan shrugs, "Not much really."

"We just have what we can infer… or theorize - but then we sound nosy, and we really aren't trying to dig into her personal stuff." Allegra adds.

"We noticed that she reacted poorly to being asked why she transferred, as well as all the moments when she cuts herself off. It was simple enough to notice a trend. Our best guess is bullying, but we do not actually know anything for sure."

"Not to mention the-" Claude starts the sentence, but the other three finish with him, "bruises."

"Yeah, those." Adrien rubs the back of his neck and messes up his hair more. The rest clearly wish to ask more questions, but realize that any questions may earn more of an answer than they feel they're allowed to know. They're worried, but don't want to go behind Marinette's back to get answers she hasn't given them yet.

After a moment, Claude brings them back on topic, "So I think one more little thing is compliments? From what I understand, sincere compliments are better than just standard ones. I think though that these should be in addition to any compliments we normally give her, because if we suddenly started complimenting her less she might think it's weird and take it badly."

The others give various affirmations, and Adrien raises his hand. Claude notices and blinks at him momentarily before calling on him, "Adrien. Also, you can shout it out - not going to give you detention."

"Oh, okay. What qualifies as a 'sincere compliment'? I sincerely mean anything I say to her."

Claude gets a mischievous look that the other three recognize, "Adrien, care to elaborate? What kind of compliments?"

"Well, like she's really pretty and really nice. I used to call her our 'everyday-Ladybug' because she just so strong and brave. Not to mention talented. Have you seen some of her designs? Did you know she won one of my father's contests? She's such a good leader too, maybe a bit rusty now, but I'm sure that if it came to it she would come up with an amazing plan for really anything. And she got so many people together. She was so good at figuring out which people complimented each other and would work well together and-" he notices them all looking at him strangely, "What?"

"Well," Allan is smiling at him,"Other than it being nice t' hear 'bout Mari before all this, your rambling kinda' sounded…"

Claude is bouncing on his feet, grinning eagerly, " I knew it. "

"What?"

Allegra looks at him, "Maybe think about it for a moment." To the rest she shakes her head, adding, "I don't think he's even realized."

"No, it would not seem so." Even Felix seems to understand what they're getting at.

"What haven't I realized?"

"Adrien. You precious sunshine boy." Claude still looks delighted, "You have a crush on Marinette."

"What? I don't have a-" He had a crush on Ladybug, not Marinette. Sure, Marinette was beautiful, with her bluebell eyes, and adorable pigtails, and she had a lot of similar qualities that Ladybug had that had made him like her in the first- oh. "... I have a crush on Marinette." His face immediately flushes at the realization and all the implications.

"Well that was incredibly pure." Allegra and the rest seem to have found this entertaining. Adrien is panicking over the fact that he has a crush on two different girls. He'll have to talk with Plagg later.

"Perhaps we should spare Adrien. Claude, do you have anymore points? You also have yet to inform us what ridiculous name you have thought up this time." Felix draws everyone's attention off Adrien. He certainly appreciates it, his face is still slightly red.

"Uh, that's it for my points, but OMMAM do I have a name for you!" Claude quickly adds point four to the board, "Operation Make Marinette Appreciate Marinette!" He looks to them, waiting to see if it sinks in.

Allan gets it first, smiling slightly, and Adrien gives a thumbs up soon after.

"Oh, come on, seriously?" Allegra rolls her eyes and Felix shakes his head.

"Anyways! November 1st - day one of OMMAM! Here we go!"

Something about that last statement strikes the same bell in Adrien's head from earlier. Something about November maybe…

"Wait it's November?" Maybe following it will fill in the blanks?

"Yeah, the spooky month ended yesterday."

"What temperature is it outside?"

"Just below 4 (39℉). Why?"

Wait. November - cold. Adrien thought back to last year, remembering how Marinette had been oddly tired. He remembered vaguely hearing about a condition, which she had mentioned again over the summer. Claude had said that when he checked on her she'd been sleeping…

"Claude, you said Marinette was sleeping? You checked on her earlier today? Were there any heaters in her room?"

"No… why? Is something wrong? Do we need to go check on her? Her parents are home."

No heaters and Mari's room was typically close to the outside temperature. This could be bad.

"They're catering today, they were only there for a little bit this morning. We should go over there now, just in case."

All of them are standing now. Allan asks first, "What's wrong? Should we be worried?"

He doesn't really know, Alya knew the most and he can't ask her for obvious reasons. Marinette's parents' phones will be silenced, Marinette herself won't be much help if his hunch is correct.

"Uh… maybe? It's only November, but we should still go..."

They're all out the door quickly, heading in the direction of the bakery.

By some luck, Adrien has a key. He doesn't even remember the exact circumstances that led to the Dupain-Chengs giving him it, but this is the first time he's used it.

"Should we call up? So she knows it's us?" Allegra asks cautiously.

"I don't think she'd hear us. She's probably still asleep." Adrien leads them up the staircase.

"Really? She doesn't sleep in a lot and it's pretty late even if she did."

"It's a thing. I don't really know the details. If we get her up she can probably explain better. I wasn't really the one she hung out with last year. She gets really tired when it's cold? I think it's more than that though."

"Oh."

Adrien can see that they're all stressed and concerned. That's fair. He would be too if someone suddenly told him that they need to go check on his new friend immediately without a clear reason.

They reach the stairs to Mari's room and Adrien pushes open the trapdoor. As he expected, the girl is still in bed. The others frown in concern, Adrien climbs up to her shaking her gently. She only hums in response.

"We should probably try to warm up her room."

"Wait. Does she have a fever?" Allan steps forward and stands near the ladder, "We don't want to heat her up too much then. Just make it not cold anymore."

Adrien nods, turning to feel the girl's forehead, "Probably? She feels hot but I don't really know.

"Allan can stay with her while you show us where the heaters are." Allegra suggests.

"Maybe find a thermometer?" Allan is above them now and they nod as Adrien leads them back down into the house.

"Hey 'Nette, you awake at all?" If she's been sleeping all day she should wake up to at least drink something.

She hums at him in confirmation. "Alright. Have you eaten today?" She shakes her head slightly, though it's an odd gesture from someone laying on their side.

He sighs, having figured as much, "What did you eat yesterday?" She vaguely gestures behind him. He sees two energy bar wrappers and an empty plastic water bottle, "... that's it?" He tosses them over the edge into the trash.

She nods and he sighs, "Mari, that's not healthy…" She gives him an odd look, her eyes squinting at him. She doesn't have the energy to elaborate verbally so he just shrugs at her.

The trap door opens and Allegra enters. She has a glass of water and a thermometer.

"I considered soup, but figured it could wait for now. The boys are getting the heaters." She climbs the ladder carefully and hands Allan the thermometer, putting the water on a flat surface and sitting at the top of the ladder near the end of the bed.

After some negotiations, Allan convinces Marinette to let him take her temperature. A minute later, it beeps. Looking at it he reads,"38.8 (102℉)." He shakes his head at the sleepy girl.

"Hey, Mari, can we convince you to drink something?" Allegra lifts the water glass.

In response she scrunches up her nose and tries to burrow under the blanket, mumbling," s'eeepp…"

"Marinette you've been sleeping for hours. Just drink something for us and we'll leave you be, okay?"

Marinette's brain is slow and she's not quite sure what's happening. She knows Allan and Allegra are here and they want her to drink water. Maybe? It's all very confusing. Where is everyone else? Weren't they here? What is that they wanted? She thought it wasn't a school day today, so why are they here?

"Wha?" She tries to open her eyes further to get a better idea of ...anything really, but it turns out to be too difficult a task. She can spot a glass of water though, she thinks one of them is holding it. Or it's floating magically. Water would probably be good, but that means sitting up. Sitting up means moving. A lot. She hears one of them mention the water again. She shakes her head. She hates to disappoint them but sitting up is such a task.

"Marinette, honey, just sit up quick then we'll leave you be." Allegra has pulled herself further on the bed as she and Allan continue to negotiate with their dazed friend. The boys have returned with the heaters but haven't done anything with them. They're all standing around the room waiting for further instructions.

"What should we do now?" Adrien calls up to Allan. He hates that he feels so useless, but they can't all just crowd around her.

"Ibuprofen? That could help the fever."

"On it." Adrien's the only one that actually knows where it could be so the others leave it to him.

"How's she doin' Al?"

"She's got a fever of 38.8 (102℉), and won't drink water."

"She's pretty tired, I'm not sure she can sit-up…" Allegra adds on.

She can't sit up. Marinette wants to make sure they know they're aware of this so she tries to speak. She greatly overestimated her ability to do so however, so all that comes out is,"noo...t' muh wor'..."

Allan shakes his head at her and Allegra smiles softly. Claude and Felix can't hear her from where they are. Adrien reappears with a bottle of ibuprofen, passing it up to those on the bed. Allan reads the bottle while Allegra moves to help Marinette prop herself up. The girl is too weak to really resist and settles for leaning heavily against the braided blonde.

"Marinette can you take some ibuprofen too? It could help." Allan has the ibuprofen and water ready, holding it out for her. She somehow manages to summon enough strength to grab them both, swallowing the medicine with the water. She gets about halfway done with the water before her arm starts shaking from the struggle. One of the others takes it out of her hands for her, setting it down. She slumps further, ready to go back to sleep. Marinette really hopes there's nothing else they have planned for her. She doesn't like to let them down, but she's just so exhausted .

It seems they finally understand that, because she's allowed to lay down again and she vaguely registers them climbing down as she drifts back to sleep. She's woken by her mother? She isn't entirely sure how much time has passed, but she has soup for her so that's nice. Marinette is pretty sure she had most of the soup. Or some of it? It's not entirely clear to her in all honesty. Eventually she's allowed to return to rest.

She wakes up again. It's late, and she can tell it's dark out. If she woke up on her own then she's probably better now. That logic makes sense. Yeah…

There's probably something she can do. The designer sits up slowly, thinking. Maybe she can- wait. Her plants! It's fall and they can't be outside in the winter, she has to take them inside so she can care for them!
This certainly isn't something that can wait for morning! Not at all! She should get on that.

Chat Noir is on a late-night patrol. Too many of his friends are going through things and sometimes it helps to just run across the rooftops. It can help clear his head.

That said, he would like to check on them. Ladybug is unfortunately out of the question, but he can always swing by the bakery. Marinette won't be up, but maybe-

He pauses as the bakery comes into view. The girl in question is currently up and on her balcony. That's not right. He and the other four stayed at her house for a few hours and she slept the whole time. Her parents came home and the friends left after letting them know. Marinette was definitely very sick, so there was no reason for her to be outside on her balcony of all places .

She seems to be trying to move her plants? It can't be easy with how much she's shaking. He starts forward again, picking up his pace when it begins to look like she may collapse. He lands near her and she doesn't even seem to notice. Before he can say anything, she goes to try moving a different pot and trips on nothing, falling backwards into him.

"Hey Princess."

"...hi?"

He gently grabs her by the shoulders, turning her around to face him though still holding her up. As much as he wants to ask her just what she thinks she's doing , he can't exactly say ' hey I'm Adrien Agreste, I'm well aware that you are very sick and shouldn't be outside in the middle of the night, especially in the fall. I was literally here hours ago and your temperature was almost 40 (104℉), you lovable moron.'

Instead, he says, "Are you okay? Lookin' a little shaky there Mari."

" 'm fine."

He raises an eyebrow moving to feel her forehead, "Really now?" He can feel the heat of her fever through his glove.

"Mhm. Had a fever, but 'm betta' no." She looks up at him blearily and blinks.

"You're better now huh? The fever you've got begs to differ."

"Don' hav' ah feev'r. All good…" She shakes her head and would have fallen over if it it weren't for the fact he was still gripping her shoulders

"All good? And why is that?" This ought to be interesting.

"I woke up… an' I got ou' here…" She seems to be utterly convinced by this rock-solid reasoning.

"Princess, I hate to break it to you, but you aren't actually better. You should get back to sleep."

" 'm no' tire'" She huffs like some defiant toddler, crossing her arms. It may have been more convincing if she wasn't leaning heavily to one side.

"You should still go inside. It'll be warmer."

"No, an' my plantsss…"

"Your plants can survive outside another night. Come on Mari."

He guides her to the trapdoor, holding it open for her and following her inside. It feels weird being over so late, but he has a feeling that she may not actually sleep. He'll just keep an eye on her until she does.

"See? t's not warm." She's curled up near her cat pillow and is glaring at him feverishly. It isn't all that menacing if he's honest.

"Well," he makes a point to look over the edge of the bed at the heaters they didn't end up setting up earlier, "What about those heaters?"

She blinks at him.

He moves down the ladder. They didn't do anything earlier because they didn't want to make her too hot, but now the temperature has dropped and the girl's room is rather cold.

After a bit, the room has warmed some and he returns to his friend. She hasn't moved much and just blinks at him sleepily. He sits next to her.

"There, is that any better? Think you can sleep now Princess?"

" 'm not tir'd…" She just looks at him, as if suggesting she sleep is entirely bizarre.

"You're sick. You need your rest Marinette. Your room is warm now so-" He gets cut off when she flops across him. Oh well, he's probably the warmest thing in this room right now. If that's what it takes to get her to sleep then he can deal with a Marinette blanket.

" 're m're w'm."

He smiles at her, "Really now?"

"Mhm. but 'm not tires.."

"Anything that could make you tired that you can think of? Because you do need to sleep. I could look something up…" He glances down at her. She's making a weak grabby motion in his general direction.

" 'ugs?" She looks so hopeful and who is he to say no to her? He scoops her up so he can hug her without leaning down and squishing her. She's curled against him and returning the hug feebly.

After about ten minutes her breathing evens out and she falls asleep lightly. He doesn't want her to wake up so decides to wait a moment before moving her to her bed properly. He doesn't really mind.

Besides, sleepy Marinette hugs are wonderful. He can wait.

He eventually transfers her under her blankets so that she can sleep on a proper bed and he can go to his own. He brushes her hair out of her face carefully as her exits her room. Being sure to shut the trapdoor properly, he goes back to his house.

He'd rest easier knowing one of his friends is doing all right.

Notes:

Apparently, a common effect of being overworked is having trouble falling asleep. As I said, Marinette worked herself sick - quite literally.
From here, the winter effects of her miraculous will begin impacting Mari, especially due to the fact that she worked away any stamina she may have had.
Reference slides for Claude's room here! I really know nothing about the typical parisian house, so I just designed the room based off Claude. Is it easy to tell he's my favorite to write for? I think I understand his personality best, so it's really easy to write for him.
Does anyone know if I can schedule my posts on AO3? It'd be useful, but I'm not sure it's an option.
Double update today! I'm really looking forward to the akuma in the next chapter. I'm both ashamed and proud of it.
I'm on tumblr! As always, thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below! I love seeing comments!

Chapter 12: Coolest Dad

Summary:

Ladybug deals with an akuma at Marinette's new school.

Notes:

Double update, like I said! I'll be back Saturday as usual, though.
Reference slide for akuma here!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette woke up much later than normal. She could immediately tell that her fever had gone down some. Her memories of the day before were hazy at best, but she was pretty sure Allan, Claude, Allegra, Felix, and Adrien had come over. Maybe Chat Noir too?

Her parents had clearly decided to allow her to stay home from school, which was probably for the best. She sat up, drawing the attention of her Kwami.

"Marinette! You're awake! How are you feeling?" Tikki flitted up to her face.

"Uh, a little tired? But I think that's just from the cold…"

Tikki handed her a thermometer so she could check her temperature. As they waited for the reading, Tikki crossed her arms and looked at her disapprovingly, "Marinette, you overworked yourself on Saturday. You probably gave yourself a fever. You have to take care of yourself more!"

The thermometer beeped and Marinette looked at it, 37.7 (100℉). Her fever wasn't as serious now. That and the heaters that seemed to have been set up probably contributed to the fact that she is lucid now.

When did the heaters get set up?

"Speaking of taking care of yourself…" Tikki draws the girls attention back to her, "Chat Noir told me what you said when you got hit." Her voice is serious.

"W-what did I say…" How much of a disappointment did she end up being?

"A bunch of nonsense, that's what! Marinette you are a wonderful and talented girl who deserves every opportunity you've gotten! How long have you felt like this?"

"L-like what?"

"Oh Marinette. You called yourself useless. You said all your old friends treated you the way you deserve and are right to hate you. That's not okay Marinette."

"O-oh." Marinette had been dedicated the past few weeks to committing those things into her mind as fact. Tikki might as well have been trying to convince her that 2+2=5. Something just doesn't add up. "But-"

"Marinette. None of that is true. None of it . I think you should talk to someone."

"But they can't know about Ladybug…"

"You still need help."

"It feels wrong to keep something like that from a therapist. They're supposed to know everything right? I don't like the feeling of it…"

"Alright. If you don't feel comfortable with therapy at least speak to your friends. They care about you."

"I don't know…"

Their conversation is interrupted when Sabine opens the trapdoor carrying a tray with a small lunch of soup and water - with some cookies because her parents have noticed her sudden hunger for the treat. Tikki hides behind a pillow.

"Hey sweetie, are you awake?"

"Yeah. Uh, what time is it?"

"Time for you to eat lunch. What's your temperature? You were pretty out of it yesterday. Your friends were really worried about you."

"37.7 (100℉)." Marinette accepts the tray, setting it safely on a flat surface. She hears a 'ding' from below. Her Maman looks over to her desk.

"Oh, you've got messages from your friends! Here!" She handed the phone up as well, "It's good that your temperature has gone down. Be sure to eat!"

When she's exited the room, Tikki floats back into view, looking at the phone, she gives Marinette a meaningful look, "You should talk to your friends!"

She floats to sit beside the bowl of soup on the tray. She munches on a cookie and watches the girl.

"Okay…" She opens her phone. There hadn't been much activity in their group chat because it was a school day. Beneath Claude's good morning text was another message from the actor. Another appeared just as she opened the chat.

Kid Mime: hey mari are you up yet

Kid Mime: its fine if ur not but we misssss uuuuuu

Patisserie Princess: I'm up

Kid Mime: yayyyyyy!

Kid Mime: allan sayd to ask wat ur temp is

Patisserie Princess: 37.7 (100℉)

Kid Mime: thats better!

Kid Mime: hey can we facetime? Itll be easier

Kid Mime: neither of us can eat if were typin

That's a good point. She's got nothing against it, but maybe she should warn Tikki.

"Hey Tikki, I'm going to facetime them. Is that alright?"
"It's okay Marinette. I won't show up on camera and they won't be able to hear me either!"

Right. She'd forgotten about that. She nods, and starts a call. It doesn't take long for Claude to pick up. She props her phone up so that she doesn't have to hold it.

"Yay! Hi Mari! Alright I'm at the table now, so I'm going to prop- oh no you fell over - okay there you are!"

The camera clears as Claude moves back. She can see Felix and Allan there too, Allegra is probably still in line.

"Hi guys!" She waves at them in view of the camera.

"Hi! How are you feeling?" Allan sounds concerned, which, given what had happened last he'd seen her, made sense.

"Uh, a little better. I've got food, and the fever isn't as bad as yesterday. I'm a little tired but that's normal."

Allegra arrives at the table halfway through her talking and waves at her when she notices the girl.

"What do you mean by that? I recall Adrien mentioned something similar yesterday, but did not have a lot of information." Felix looks up questioningly from his lunch.

"Oh yeah. I meant to tell you guys when it became more relevant, but uh, then I kind of overworked all my stamina away? Heh. Basically, last year I got diagnosed with a 'yet-to-be-identified' medical condition'" She scoffs at the air-quoted words, and the others get the distinct feeling that there's an inside joke that they're missing, "The general gist of it is that my body tries to go into hibernation? I get hungrier in the fall and once it gets around November I get really tired - the colder and later into winter the worse it is - and forget to eat and stuff."

The others look a little alarmed at this and she quickly adds on,"I mean, it's really not that dangerous for me. As long as I have food I uh, generally remember. And the tiredness isn't really a problem as long as I stay warm. I probably won't actually hibernate unless I fall into a snowdrift or something-"

Just as she finishes speaking a school bell rings. It's from Françoise Dupont, and it's a reminder of the consequences of staying home today. She tenses immediately, thinking of all of her old classmates who are right there. Right across the street and heading out for lunch. They're probably with Lila and-

"What would happen then?" Allegra's voice draws her back. She blinks as she jolts out of her thoughts.

"W-what?" Oh, right, the snowdrift thing…"I would uh, probably just fall asleep and stay there. My parents don't really want me to go outside alone after there's snow on the ground."

"Can't blame 'em." Allan jumps in. So far none of them have mentioned her little 'moment' after the school bell. "We can keep an eye on ya'. Don't want you to freeze." He sounds distressed, probably at the prospect of Marinette freezing to death .

"It's really not that likely! I'll just be really sleepy, so I'll probably fall asleep on at least one of you by the time winter is over - whichever of you is the warmest in the room. Sorry in advance?" She says the last part sheepishly and shrugs apologetically. She hates to think that she'll be such a bother to them, but there isn't much she can do. She'll try her best to avoid it.

"It's all good! As long as you're not in any danger, we don't mind!" Allan speaks again and the rest nod in agreement.

"Mariiiiii! You haven't been eating!" Claude calls her out as he swallows some of his own food.

She smiles in apology as she brings her tray into her lap. She can see that, as Tikki reminded her, the Kwami doesn't show up on camera. Her phone dings as she sits back. Squinting at it as she reads, she flips it away.

"Adrien says he can't get away, so he won't be joining us. Uh, do you guys still need his number?" She looks at them questioningly as she starts on her soup.

"Nope!" Claude chirps, "I got it yesterday!" The others give him some odd looks, but she brushes them off. It probably doesn't matter.

"Yeah, sorry about yesterday. I don't really remember much. I know you guys came over - I think?"

"Yeah, Adrien thought we should check on you because it was November, and when we got to your place you were pretty out-of-it."

"You didn't like we were interrupting your sleep, it took some convincing to get you to actually drink something."

"Are the heaters set up now? I recall that we did not do so because Allan feared it may cause you to be too hot."

She nods, though she isn't entirely sure when that happened. Maybe her parents? Her fevered mind clearly didn't think it was important enough information to remember.

Their conversation continues as they all eat theirs lunches together. After a little bit she starts to droop. It's a clear reminder that she isn't entirely recovered, and that winter is on it's way.

She doesn't plan on saying anything because it would be rude to cut off the conversation. Marinette tries her best to seem alert, but the others aren't fooled.

"'Nettie, you doin' okay? You're looking a little sleepy there." Allan smiles at her, cocking his head.

She shrugs and any words she was going to say get cut off by a yawn. She blushes.

"We're going to let you go now. You need some rest." Allegra flutters her fingers at the camera.

"Rest well my priceless pigtailed pal!" The group waves as the call ends.

Tikki floats up to her,"Marinette, I know you're tired but you can't sleep with the tray on your lap."

"...right" She moves it safely away before she lays down again. It doesn't take long for her to doze off.

Marinette manages to arrive at school the next day at a reasonable time. She gets to their regular spot in the library and lays her head on the table. The only problem with so many heaters in her room is that it makes the outside seem that much colder, especially when she's still got a (very) slight fever. She isn't in her heaviest winter gear because she doesn't want to seem weird and it's only November anyways, she'll manage. Her mom gave her a doctor's note to show all her teachers to remind them of her 'condition'.

Honestly the most annoying part of it not being that cold is that she feels tired, but she isn't sleepy to the point where she can actually sleep. She just feels like she didn't get enough sleep, even though she spent plenty of yesterday resting.

"Oh my good golly gosh, did Marinette beat us to school? " She hears Claude as he approaches the table and forces herself up to look at him.

"Hi guys." She can't muster up the energy to add in the appropriate excitement. Maybe they won't hate her if she's still friendly. They put up with her through September…

"How are ya'? I wasn't sure we'd see you today." Allan sits at his usual spot and the rest follow suit.

"Yeah. I'm basically back to normal. Just tired."

"It is good that your fever seems to have passed." Felix says as he gets out his book as usual.

"It is good to have you back!" Claude gives her an excited hug. He glances at Allegra who is finishing her math homework, "Hey, why do you think math books are so sad?"

Marinette is too tired to try and stop him, but Allegra glances up.

"Don't you da-"

" Because they have so many problems! " He finishes excitedly, giving no heed to Allegra's pleading.

Allegra drops her head onto the table and sighs heavily. Felix pats her on the back consolingly.

"Did you hear about that guy who got his left side cut off?"

Marinette sighs. At least when she was feverish she couldn't remember the puns.

"He's all right now!"

"Claude." Allegra pleads, "I can't do homework in the midst of this. "

"What gender pronouns do you use for chocolate bars? Her/she!"

"Marinette I'm sorry that you had to return to this. There's no end to his madness." Allegra has yet to remove her head from the table. Claude's grin only continues to grow. Allan is smiling as he watches. Felix is focusing intensely on his book.

"Ah, 'legra. Look on the bright side. At least your music class is your last hour."

The braided blonde finally sits up and glares at him suspiciously.

"That way you can end your day on a high note!" Claude's looks at her, the pinnacle of innocence.

"No. Nope. I'm done." She pushes herself up and packs up quickly. Felix glances at his watch and follows suit, "It's close enough to first hour. Come on Mari, let's leave these crazies to their insanity."

"Let's." Marinette pushes herself out of her seat, and waves as they leave the library.

Allan and Marinette arrive at the lunch room together and claim the group's usual table. Felix joins soon after.

"Greetings my great, glorious, and grand group!" Claude and Allegra arrive together, taking their seats.

"Please spare us the puns."

"We'll see…"

Marinette is about to say something when something catches her eye. There seems to be a girl in a heated argument with her father. She turns from him and returns to her seat, but that's not what drew her eye initially. She could have sworn she saw…

There.

A purple butterfly floats near the man's head. Before she can say anything, it makes contact with his glasses.

Marinette stands immediately, drawing the attention of her group.

"Is everything o-"

" Ineedtogonowbye!" With that rushed excuse she hurries off to be out of sight. As she transforms she hears the screams as people realize what has happened. She sends a text to her partner and heads to the roof to await his arrival. It would be strange for Ladybug to show up so soon, especially when there had never been an attack here before.

It would also be for the best. Akumas in smaller spaces could be extra difficult, especially when the duo didn't know anything about their powers. It may be for the best to just wait for Chat Noir.

"Hey Bug!" Speak of the devil, here's her partner. He seems tenser than usual. Probably because the last time they'd spoke- no, that isn't for Ladybug, that's for Marinette. Ladybug doesn't need to feel .

"Hey Chat, I haven't seen much of the akuma yet. I figured it would be best to wait for you-"

An explosion shakes the building they're standing on. They meet each other's eyes and move to enter the building. When an akuma causes damage they prefer to finish it quickly to lessen any risk of injury.

They arrive in the mostly empty cafeteria to see a hole blown in the wall and a few… interestingly dressed stragglers wandering about. Some have leaked out into the street. The akuma is in another part of the school, they can hear his voice echoing down the halls and follow the sound. Soon enough, they find him.

The man Marinette saw earlier has doubled in height, and has had an extreme outfit change. He's donned an oversized hoodie covered in various emoji prints. He's wearing rainbow tie-dye converse shoes that double as pants and seem to be denim. There are rips in various places up the pants but the lace cross over them, tying near his hips. On top of the shoe-pants he's wearing Shrek crocs, and is wandering around on a gold light-up hoverboard. Around his neck is a glowing set of headphones with lights and animal ears. He's got airpods in and pizza hat on his head. He's wearing oversized glowing neon shutter shades that shift between different colors - much like the other light-up pieces of his ensemble. The source of the explosion becomes clear when he makes finger guns at the wall and an emoji shoots out and explodes it easily.

They remain some distance away, and he hasn't noticed them yet. Ladybug sighs tiredly, she almost wants to cry looking at this mess, "Sometimes I wish Hawkmoth was some sort of fashion designer because these designs are just…they're honestly almost the worst part of this."

"My eyes." Chat stares, "As a teenager, I don't know if I should appreciate the effort or feel insulted someone thinks that is an accurate summary of my age group."

The emojis that are being used as projectiles don't just get rid of walls though. Ladybug and Chat Noir watch as an unfortunate student get hit by a fire emoji and and gains the akuma's ridiculous sunglasses. He announces he must go hunt for 'pokey-mans' and heads off, passing a group of bottle flippers.

A teacher gets hit and gets an even worse makeover. She gains ripped jeans and a black hoodie that says 'I didn't choose the dank meme life, the dank meme life chose me' and has a dabbing hot dog on it. She has the same headphones as the main akuma but is actually wearing them on her ears. There's a golden light-up fidget spinner in each of her hands, matching the gold light-up heelys on her feet. Some of the affected students notice her and begin following her around.

"We must stop this." Ladybug nods at her partner's statement, immediately moving to get the akuma's attention.

"Ah! Ladybug and Chat Noir my broskis! It'd be very dank of you to hand over those swag miraculouses you've got!1!"

"Sir-"

"Why so formal? I'm the Coolest Dad - so lit! No need to call me anything but your bestest bro!1!" he gestures around him, "Look at all these Cool Dudes! Aren't they sooo hip with the kids now? IKR! So great! Look at all these savage Broskis, so happy to have people who understand!"

"Oh dear Kwami what is this? "

"Anyways, if it's all good with you fam, I'm just going to be on my way!" a purple butterfly mask appears over his face, "Nah, chill my mothy pal! These hip teens will get with the program eventually! It'd be very uncool of me to take from them! I can get you your Gucci jewels in a moment! For now I'm going to spread this fetch coolness around Paris! #SquadGoals!1!1"

As he rolls away they hear, "Paris will be the fleekest city around!"

"Uh, Is that it…?" Chat Noir turns to her.

"Yeah. I think so." Ladybug hops down to the ground, looking around. There are several 'Broski's around, and some 'Cool Dude's. She sees a few dabbing and doing Fortnite dances and turns to see if there's any civilians left in the area.

"Ladybug…?" She turns at the voice, beside her Chat seems to relax.

Allegra stands in the doorway of a classroom, she's glancing around nervously, but when she can't see the Coolest Dad she decides to take a few steps toward the heroes. Behind her are Allan, Felix, and Claude. Chat seems to look at the doorway as if waiting for another person. His worry returns.

"Yes? Is everything alright?"

Allegra nods, leading the duo back to the classroom. Inside are several students and staff, hiding from the akuma.

"We helped all of these people to hide, and we were wondering if it's safe for them to come out now."

"It is, though the akuma is still around the school, so it would be best to stay close to a hiding spot." Ladybug assures her. Chat keeps glancing around at those in the room, seemingly checking for something.

"But, actually we had another question. Our friend disappeared just before the attack and we were wondering if you'd seen her." The worry of the group is clear and Ladybug wonders who they're talking about. Marinette didn't see anyone else when she was sitting with them.

Claude speaks up, "Her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I've only known her for a few months, but I've already fallen deep in platonic love for her!" His usual theatrics do nothing to hide his clear anxiety over- wait.

She's their friend?!

They considered her their-

Focus.

Chat has stiffened beside her, and she jumps in before he promises to find the 'damsel in distress',"I'm sure she is fine. After the cure you can find her."

"She's hasn't been answering her phone. We just don't know if she's ever been in an akuma attack before."

"Oh, she has, though I typically don't see her much." She really doesn't want them to be worried about her alter ego. How can she reassure them? "If I recall correctly, she went on a date with an akuma once so I'm sure she is perfectly capable-"

"She what?! " Allan speaks for the first time.

"Wait you know her?" Allegra sounds surprise. Ladybug doesn't know how to explain, but Chat helps her out.

"Oh that class…" He has a point. Even if she hadn't been a student in it, her old class has a concerningly high rate of akumatizitions. The school as a whole really, "My partner is correct. Ma- Ms. Dupain-Cheng is a perfectly capable individual, I'm sure she's fine She took over City Hall one time, so I trust she's safe." He sounds as though he's trying to convince himself along with the group.

Yelling is heard near the front of the school, "I'm sorry miss, but we have to go now."

They nod uneasily, and the heroes jump away. At the front of the school the Coolest Dad is shooting emojis at several passer-bys. Alya has arrived, but remains out of sight.

When the akuma notices them, "Sup my dudes! I have got to ask, have you seen my hip daughter? I wanted to show her how swank I am!"

"No, uh, we haven't

"Well let me know if you do! I'm like high key worried, and that's the tea!1!"

"Oh I forgot how bad it was…" Chat looks so done already, and this akuma hasn't even been around an hour.

"I will just have to finesse my search! I feel so uber-not-blessed with her missing! I wish she hadn't yeeted away!1!"

As he rolls away, Ladybug is suddenly struck with an idea. She catches up to him, grabbing his attention.

"Uh, actually, TBH, my dude-" The akuma looks to her patiently.

"Oh Bugaboo not you too. Please ."

"-I was thinking that your glasses were just so lit. They're, uh, so swag my guy, could I maybe get a lit-er look at those, um, dope shades? It'd be very chill of you..."

The man looks delighted, and takes them off and sets them near her. Chat lands nearby, not wanting to leave his partner alone so close to an akuma.

Up close they're nearly blinding, and Ladybug avoids looking at the Akuma's face, fearing what his eyes may look like under the glasses. Turning slightly to her partner, she hisses, "Chat, now!"

He nods, and before the akuma can do anything, he rushes forward touching the shades, "Cataclysm!"

A butterfly is released, and Ladybug wastes no time in purifying it.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

As the Ladybugs wash over the city, Ladybug hears a call of "Ladybug! Care for an interview?" The voice says more, but Ladybug can't hear.

Alya. No no no.

Not here. She's not supposed to be here.

This is where Marinette came to get away from her.

No no no nononono…

Chat's ring beeps, bringing her back to reality. The two fist bump quickly, and leave to detransform. Ladybug doesn't see where Chat goes, solely focusing on getting back to her school.

To her friends .

She lands in an alley, and after a minute of making sure there is no one around, she speaks, "Tikki, spots off!"

The Kwami groans, landing in her purse to eat a cookie. Marinette spots her group and is about to join them when she sees her .

It's not really a surprise, she knew Alya was here, but she didn't know that Alya isn't alone. She brought her.

She brought Lila .

The pair are talking with her new friends and nonononono. Now they'll like Lila too. They'll turn on her too. She'll be alone again, she'll have to leave, just as she was adjusting. Oh they'll hate her, they'll hate her.

They hate her, they hate her, they hate her nonononononono.

Adrien is standing in Chat Noir's place. He knows he's not allowed to miss school and should really be on his way back, but he needs to check on Marinette.

It was worrying enough to have Ladybug tell him that there was an akuma here, but then he saw Alya, and she brought Lila.

She probably thinks bringing the heroine's 'best friend' will land her an interview.

If either of them see Marinette here- oh he hates to think what will happen.

Just when things were looking up for her too. If only her new friends knew what happened, this wouldn't be so bad. He understands why she doesn't want to tell them, but he wants her to realize that they care about her and won't be upset at her for what happened.

"...but actually we're looking for out friend-" He hears Allegra talking as he approaches the front of the school.

"Come on! Just a quick interview! A first-hand account of Ladybug's first battle here!"

"No, we'd like to find our friend."

"What's her name? I used to work with an international search and rescue group, I could help!"

Before any of them can answer that question, he hops in, "Alya, Lila! I didn't think you'd be out of school."

He can see the confusion of Allegra, Allan, Claude, and Felix. They have no idea what he's doing over here in the middle of the school day. Lila and Alya on the other hand look delighted. Lila latches onto his arm as usual, he stiffens slightly, but she only continues to hang off of him. Allegra's eyes narrow.

"Adrien, what are you doing here? I thought you had a photoshoot?"

"It was in the area - got canceled 'cause of the akuma attack." He scratches the back of his neck. Lila rests her head on his shoulder.

Out of the corner of his eye he spots Marinette and oh she's seen Alya and Lila. She looks like she's having an attack. He can't do anything without alerting the girls in question, but she is not okay.

"Well, if you're out of school then you can hang out with us!" Alya seems delighted by this stroke of brilliance, "Nino can skip and we can all go on a double date!"

"Doesn't that imply that I'm bringing a date?" Adrien knows where this is going.

"She means me, silly!" Lila giggles and runs her hand through his hair.

"Lila, for the last time, we're not dating-" He tries to pull away, but she's got an iron grip on his arm.

" Sureee, lover-boy~" Alya winks at him, dragging them away.

He manages to extract himself and sends a couple texts to the OMMAM chat, before excusing himself and heading back to school. He hopes Marinette will be okay.

Allegra is seething beside him, "Did you see how she was clinging to him?! Who does she think she is?! He was so clearly uncomfortable! Ugh that little-" Claude drowns out her angry muttering when his phone dings.

Adrien: You guys need to check on Marinette.

Adrien: Now.

He sees that the others have noticed the message. They're looking at each other in confusion, worry clear. What's happened?

"Oh dear, look." Allan is the first to see the girl. Claude turns to where he points, his heart stops when he finally spots her.

The girl is crouched in an alley, her hands digging into her scalp, and breathing erratically. He could see her tears from here. The akuma attack hadn't been that long, but in the time they'd been separated something had happened.

They all rushed to her immediately, crouching by her side.

"Marinette, hey, can you hear me?" Allan speaks clearly, gently resting a hand on her shoulder.

To their surprise, she reacts immediately, looking at all of them panicked.

"I'm so sorry!"

"What?"

"I don't know what she said, I don't know what she told you-"

"Marinette, hey-"

"Just- just- just- tell me and I'll-I'll-I'll"

"Just breathe with me okay?"

"Marinette, we don't know what you mean dear. Everything's okay."

"I'll find sources, I'll back it up this time, I'll-I'll I'll call Jagged, please believe me-"

"Marinette-"

"Please, oh no no nononono." She covers her eyes with her hands, finally breaking her frantic eye contact. Curling into herself tighter, "Oh please, not again, not again no no no-"

Her nails are digging into her skin, and Claude worries she'll draw blood, but she doesn't even seem to worry. She entirely distracted by whatever has consumed her.

" Marinette! " Allan stresses her name, gently trying to take her hands off her face before she hurts herself too bad. She doesn't even notice what she's doing, "Marinette, listen, it's alright, just breathe okay? Do it with me…"

Marinette doesn't seem to notice initially, but eventually her breathing evens out. She looks around at them tearily, wiping at her face. She opens her mouth, but Claude beats her to it.

"Don't apologize Mari. You were upset, nothing's wrong with that."

"But-"

Allegra hugs her gently, "No. No buts. It's okay to be upset."

But she's a hero. A hero who fights akumas. Being upset means failing.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Talk about it? Then they'd know. She wants to trust that they'll believe her, but that's what she did last time. They don't hate her currently, so she shouldn't do anything to risk changing that. She shakes her head.

She feels her purse move strangely at her side. It's subtle enough that she isn't worried that they noticed, but when she hears a tiny cough she begins worrying for Tikki.

"Could I, uh, have a moment? I need to, um, call someone?" They nod at her and walk a little ways away. She ducks out of sight to check on her Kwami.

She opens her purse to see Tikki curled up in an uncomfortable ball.

"Tikki? Are you okay?"

She coughs, "Sorry, Marinette, I think I'm sick again. The Revealer…" she trails off into a coughing fit.

Right. If there are consequences to Marinette overworking herself for an all-day akuma, then the same can be expected of Tikki.

"I'll go to Fu's…"

Tikki nods at her, quieting herself as best she can. Marinette doesn't want to delay helping the Goddess, so she prepares herself to lie to her friends again. She hates to think what they'd say if they found out just how much she lied to them.

Stepping out of the alley, she approaches them carefully and they turn to her patiently.

"Hey Marinette. How are you doing?" Claude speaks to her attentively.

She holds up her phone, pasting on a sheepish smile, "Uh, I have to go talk with my, um… mentor? If I come back late, can you let the teacher know?"

"There is no need to rush yourself. They have cancelled the remainder of the school day due to the akuma attack. Take your time."

"O-oh. Okay."

"We're going to my place now, so you can come over when you're done!" Claude holds up his own phone, "I can text you the address again if you need it."

"No no. I've got it saved."

They say goodbye, walking in their respective directions.

Notes:

Poor Mari.
So, uh, that akuma... I, uh, it's... unique? Reference slides here?
Suspension of disbelief means believing a school's wifi would allow for a glitch-free facetime call. It also allows me to tweak the climate of a major city somewhat.
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below! See you Saturday!

Chapter 13: Confidence in Progress

Summary:

Marinette talks with Fu quickly. The Quantics and Co. bake cookies.

Notes:

Here we are, posting more With Time! I love the response to the akuma in the last chapter, it was a ...unique thing to write. Anyways, without further ado, here's chapter 13!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette knocks on the door, waiting for the Guardian to open the door.

She doesn't have to wait long, she's allowed in quickly, "Ah, Marinette, we've been expecting you." Master Fu speaks calmly.

"You have?" Did she mess up that bad?

"When Wayzz and I saw that The Revealer lasted so long, we were certain it would not be long before Tikki or Plagg fell ill. It would seem Tikki is the first."

"Given Plagg's nature to take longer breaks, that is no surprise." The turtle Kwami shows up above Fu's shoulder. They walk into the same room where Tikki first got healed. Marinette lifts her Kwami gingerly from her bag and gives her to Master Fu, who nods and begins.

After the ceremony is finished, Tikki munches happily on a cookie in front of Marinette.

"Master?" She's been debating this for so long, postponing and procrastinating as long as she can, but being here already, she has no more excuses. "Yes, Marinette?"

"I can't call on Rena Rouge or Carapace anymore." Given how she reacted to simply seeing Alya and Lila, there is no hope that she can work efficiently as a team with them anymore. She studies the floorboards, unable to meet his eyes. She failed to choose heroes well. He's going to be so disappointed.

He sips from his tea calmly, "Why is that?"

"I- you told me to choose someone I can trust, and…"

"And you no longer you feel that your choices are worthy of that honor." She would have phrased it a little differently, more along the lines of fearing the wrath of a betrayed friend, but maybe she can think of it that way instead. It feels better that way.

"...yes."

"Very well. It is understandable to come along bumps in the road. You are a smart heroine, Marinette, I will trust your judgement."

"But what if I choose wrong again? How many 'bumps in the road' will there be?" She doesn't want to mess up again. Not after last time.

"Perhaps you should consider the actions of a hero. When I looked for people to become the holders of the Black Cat and Ladybug miraculouses, I considered their actions. You, as well as your partner, proved yourselves to already being capable of heroic acts, without the jewelry."

"So I need to find people who… already act like heroes?" She finally meets his eyes, and finds nothing negative in them.

"Indeed. Being heroic does not require magic jewelry." He pours more tea for himself, "You mentioned that Rena Rouge and Carapace would not be fighting anymore, but what of Queen Bee?"

That didn't even occur to her. She'd not even considered Chloe, because the blonde had been less involved in the actions leading up to Marinette's transfer. No, that isn't entirely right. She'd been involved, but in a positive way. She'd been the one to bring her home on Thursday, calming her down in the bathroom.

She'd even apologized for her past actions.

"I- I think there will be a new holder for the Bee miraculous as well."
"But…?"

"But I think that having the miraculous has helped Chloe change. For the better. I think that if I needed back-up and she was available, I would choose her. I trust her - more that Rena and Carapace."

"So in the event that you require the assistance of the Bee, or if the new Bee holder is unavailable, you would allow Ms. Bourgeois to take up the title temporarily?" Master Fu looks to her for confirmation.

"Yes. I would." She nods.

"I will inform Trixx and Pollen." Wayzz floats up from his snack. Marinette feels bad, he and Nino seemed to get along well.

"I'm sorry, Wayzz."

"It is quite alright, Marinette. I was aware from the start that the arrangement may not be permanent. I do regret that Nino made the choices he did. Perhaps this will be a learning experience for him. I can only hope."

Marinette smiles weakly at him and he flies to the Miracle Box. Her phone dings in her pocket.

"Perhaps you should be on your way. Unless there is anything else?"

"No, Master." She starts toward the door, "Thank you."

Once outside she glances around quickly before looking to her purse.

"How do you feel, Tikki?" The little Kwami looks a lot better, she's sitting in the purse looking up at Marinette with bright eyes holding a cookie in her paws.

"Much better, thank you!"

"It wasn't a problem, you were sick, I couldn't leave you like that." What if there had been another akuma? Tikki would have felt even worse after that, and that would be terrible.

"Why am I any different than you? " She knows the Kwami is thinking of her behaviour on Saturday, overworking herself to get her to the point that she got to. Marinette shakes her head.

Why is it different? It just is. Tikki is the Kwami of Creation and Marinette is just some human girl. But she's Ladybug, she's a hero. Maybe it isn't that diff-

Tikki makes surprised squeak and ducks back into her bag, Marinette glances up and sees Adrien coming this way. She's still standing in front of Fu's place and there's no way she could leave without catching his eye.

He hasn't noticed her yet, due to how intently he's looking into his bag, seemingly talking to himself. Once he reaches the massage shop, he stops and looks to the door. He finally notices Marinette and pauses, staring at her in slight confusion,"Oh, uh, hey Marinette. What are you doing here?"

"I- uh, um, tea! My… maman! Yes, my maman wanted some tea and sent me here! For the tea!" she smiles convincingly, "Wh-what about you?"

"My uh, Chinese tutor, uh wanted me to come to him today, so… yeah."

She nods, that makes sense.

"Actually, Mari, how are you?" He cocks his head at her slightly, looking at her caringly.

"What?" Did she worry him somehow? How did she do that? Why did she do that?

"I, um, happened to be near your school during the akuma attack. I saw Alya and Lila… it looked like you had noticed them too? I just, uh, tried to distract them. They're back at Fr- school now."

Right. Alya. And Lila . Do they know? Do they know where she goes now? Are they going to find her? They're going to find her at school tomorrow. They're going to confront her, her friends will find out just how much she sucks, they'll hate her too, because of course they would that's what she des-

Adrien puts a hand on her shoulder, interrupting her spiraling, "Marinette."

"R-right. Um, I'm good. I-I'm fine." He looks at her doubtfully, but before he can say anything more, she continues,"Anyways, I should get this tea! Back to Maman! And you, probably need to uh, get tutored! For chinese! Ummm… yup! Bye!" She turns and hurries away, waving over her shoulder at him as she goes.

The rules. The rules. She can't just disregard the rules.

Rule #6: If asked, you're doing good

She's good. Absolutely fine. Perfectly great. No need for anyone to worry about her. Her phone dings again.

Right! She'd completely forgotten that someone had texted her. She'd ignored someone. They were probably worried about her now. Stupid.

Rule #11: Adrien, Claude, Allegra, Allan, and Felix have been nice enough to put up with you, don't make them regret it.

Or it's her parents, who don't have a choice in enduring her stupidity. Either way, she'd ignored someone for longer than necessary and now they'd either been forced to check with her again or they were finally letting her know that they're done with her nonsense.

Kid Mime: hey if u want to come over when ur dun u can!

Kid Mime: were mking cookies

HE LOVES US: I fear they may burn down the building.

HE LOVES US: ...

Felix: Marinette, excuse me for a moment to exact revenge on Claude.

The Mom Friend: dont worry

The Mom Friend: there fine

Oh. They weren't mad. They didn't hate her.

Yet.

Maybe she should go? They wouldn't hate her for it if she'd been invited. They were making cookies, that would be fun.

You'd get in the way. You'll be that killjoy that gets too specific about the recipe.

"You should go!" Tikki has made her way onto the girl's shoulder, "Cookies are fun!"

Tikki likes cookies. She would go for Tikki. That's okay, right? It's not selfish if you're going for someone else?

Patiserie Princess: im on my way

As soon as she knocks on the door, it opens and she is whisked into Claude's kitchen, where chaos is likely about to ensue. There are, presumably, all the ingredients necessary out along with a few measuring cups. There's a bowl on the counter that might be meant for mixing all the ingredients, but it's probably too small. The stove has a pot on it but the stove is off. Claude already has some flour on him, despite the flour being closed. Allan is taking out a few more ingredients, while Felix sits at the counter with tea, content to watch for now. It's probably a good choice considering his black clothing would display any and all flour that lands on it.

Something is placed on her head. She looks up to see Allegra beside her.

"Thank goodness you're here. Claude decided I'm in charge and I don't know what I'm doing. You've got the hat so you're in charge now."

"M-me?! Are you sure I should?"

"You live in a bakery, and regularly assist in baking goods for sale. Of all of us you will be the most capable of directing us in creating baked goods." Felix sips his tea as he says this.

"Yay! Marinette's here to save us!" Claude throws his arms in the air as Allan puts the last of the ingredients on the counter.

"Hey, 'Nette." he looks at the chef's hat, "So what do we do?"

"I don't know, uh… where's the recipe?" She still wasn't convinced that she is the best to be in charge. They've never seen her as a leader, are they sure they want her to do this?

Allegra hands her a sheet of paper printed from a website. Marinette skims it quickly. It's pretty good, but being raised by two bakers she makes some small adjustments in her head. Used to correcting recipes at home, she grabs a pen and quickly scribbles them onto the paper. Something in her switches, and she steps back with a mindset she hasn't used in her civilian life since before . Her friends see the different expression - a new one for them - and smile.

"Alright, so first we're going to need to melt the butter. Allan, I'm going to need to you turn the stove to a medium heat and keep an eye on it. Once it is boiling, stir it constantly until it is an amber color. At that point let it cool for twenty minutes."

She hands him the two sticks of butter and turns to Claude and Allegra, "You two should measure out and mix the dry ingredients." She hands them the corrected sheet, "And you're going to want a bigger bowl." She approves their new bowl, taking the old one with her as she clears a space a little away from the others to cut up the pretzels.

While they're all distracted by their tasks, there's a knock at the door. Felix stands and opens it, allowing Adrien into the kitchen. He starts to speak, but stops abruptly as he takes in the scene before him.

At this point Allegra and Claude have finished mixing and are just talking. Marinette has mixed the chocolate and butterscotch chips and pretzels together in a bowl. She's standing at the stove with Allan and they're talking as well. Felix has returned to his tea and none of those involved in the baking have noticed him yet. A timer beeps and Marinette straightens.

"Alright, the butter is cool now. Allegra, can you put the eggs and vanilla in with the butter? Allan can you do the brown sugar? I can mix it, and Claude, you can mix in the stuff in the other bowl when we get to that point." Marinette is entirely in her element, having been raised on recipes that were probably more complicated than this one. She knows what to do and is easily directing those around her to include them all in the process.

Adrien hasn't seen her so comfortable and confident - especially when directing others - in, well, a while now. It's nice to see. He decides against interrupting and sits next to Felix to watch.

Father wouldn't allow him to join in such a messy activity anyways.

Soon enough, the cookies have been put in the oven and Marinette sets the timer for them. She takes the hat off her head, "There! All done! I told you that it wasn't that complicated!"

"That's 'cause you actually knew what you were doing!" Claude exclaims, hugging her.

"I am still certain that without your presence Claude's kitchen may not have survived this experience." Felix stands to put his mug away and the others finally notice Adrien.

"Oh hey, Adrien. When'd ya' get here?" Allan sits at the table with the blond.

He shrugs, "A little bit ago. I didn't want to interrupt."

"You could have said something, if you want to join." Marinette has yet to flip back to her normal state of mind. She's channeling her Ladybug mindset for public situations.

"Father wouldn't have wanted me to."

At this, Marinette gets a defiant tone and her expression changes to yet another new one for all but Adrien, "Well y-" She cuts herself off abruptly, remembering herself and slouching slightly, "Well that's unfortunate."

"I think that you should do what you want. He's not here to stop you." Allegra sits as well.

"Last time I tried that we were chased through Paris by a mob of fans." The others are confused, but before any of them can question further, Marinette drops her head to the table.

"Ugh. I still can't believe I was in my pajamas that whole time. How did I forget to change into my clothes before leaving the house? Aaaaaah."

Adrien snorts at that and Claude slams his hands onto the table (but gently), "Storytime?!"

"It was on the news…" Adrien supplies, wondering if that would jog their memories - if they'd seen it at all.

"Don't remind meeee…" Allan pats Marinette consolingly. Her head is still on the table.

"It'd still be more fun to hear it from you guys." Allegra leans forward excitedly.

Adrien shrugs, deciding to start with the news footage. He pulls it up on his phone and puts it in view of all of them. Marinette sits up to watch it, cringing every so often.

"Anyways that's just the early stuff-"

"So not even all of it, you didn't even see my brilliant disguises." Marinette covers her face with her hands.

"It turned into an akuma attack eventually."

" You got dropped off the side of a building …"

"He what?! " Allan interrupts them, "Were you okay?"

"You guys lead very eventful lives..." Allegra adds.

"Ladybug caught me. Also her cure would have fixed anything anyways."

" Still. " Allan shakes his head. Marinette's point goes unspoken. What if it didn't fix everything? What will happen when she inevitably messes everything up and can't reverse the damage? People shouldn't trust Ladybug so much.

"I don't think that our lives are that eventful…" Marinette tries to draw their attention away from Ladybug. It's hypocritical, but as much she wishes they wouldn't trust her hero alter-ego so much, she fears the day when everyone realizes how useless she really is.

Well, maybe useless is a strong word.

"The lives of spectacular people are always eventful! That's what happens when you're talented Mari!" Claude throws his arms in the air excitedly and she blushes.

"Well, if the heroes of Paris recognize ya' by name your life has gotta' be at least kinda' interesting…" Allan chimes in.

Marinette shrugs noncommittally. She wouldn't mind telling them those stories, but they involve her old classmates and to think about them too long would make her feel bad - which would be against the rules - one of the newer ones.

Rule #12: Don't do anything that could attract an akuma to you.

She'd already messed that up earlier, but she hadn't seen it coming. Alya showing up with Lila had been a surprise.

You should have realized that she would have shown up at an akuma attack you idiot.

To be fair though, Alya was only part of the problem, it was Lila's presence that had really pushed her over the edge.

No. No excuses. The whole point of her rules is to have her accept these things as facts. If they're facts, then she shouldn't feel bad, thereby making her safe from akumas. She can't just follow them whenever she pleases - that's not how rules work. She's been breaking the rules a lot recently, especially when she got sick. Maybe it would be for the best if she re-read them tonight. For the sake of reminding herself.

She'd memorized them, so she hadn't read them in almost a week.

"What should we do while the cookies are in the oven? Board games?" Claude suggests.

"Sure!" Allegra clears the table to make room for whatever Claude drags out of his room. He brings a few different things out. It's impressive just how many things he manages to carry at once.

"Okay! I got Jenga, Suspend, Sorry, Sleeping Queens, Dixit, Coup…"

"That's a lot of games at once, Claude." Allegra looks at him doubtfully, "Do you two even know how to play some of these?" She looks at Marinette and Adrien.

Marinette nods, but Adrien shakes his head.

"The only board game I've played is Monopoly. I hadn't even played that until a few months ago…"

"Welp. Claude's gonna' introduce ya' to all of his."

"You bet I am!" He punctuates this statement by dropping everything at the end of the table.

Eventually the group settles into their games, and when the timer goes off, Marinette takes the cookies out to let them cool, turning the oven off before joining back into the game. They play a couple different games for a few hours, eating the cookies while they play. Marinette slips a couple in her purse for Tikki.

"These taste like friendship!" Claude declares.

"They're pretty good." Allegra says, then notices Adrien hasn't had one yet, "Do you want one Adrien?"

"Well, uh," he rubs the back of his neck, "Do you think I'm allowed to? Father…"

Before the rest of them can respond, Marinette hits her palms to the table, looking at Adrien intensely, whispering conspiratorially, " Rebel. "

The group laughs when Adrien eats a cookie quickly, seemingly having been entirely convinced by this.

Eventually it's starting to grow dark outside, and it's time for them to leave. Claude shows them out.

"Farewell, friends!" The other five smile, waving goodbye as they leave. Once they're outside Marinette wraps her coat around herself tighter, hissing at the cold.

"You gonna' be good 'Nettie?" Allan cocks his head at her.

"M' house isn't that far." The girl sticks close to the rest of them, which doesn't seem like it would do much good. Her miraculous condition makes her extra sensitive to heat in the winter though, so for her it's a little better - she can sense their body heat. It's entirely unconscious, but she always can tell where a heat source is. It's not super useful when she's too tired to move, but at least it means she typically falls asleep on the warmest person.

"We'll walk with you - just to be safe." Allegra wraps an arm around the shorter girl's shoulders, who leans into her.

They carry on their conversation as they walk, dropping off Marinette first. She goes straight to her bed, as does Tikki. Before Marinette can sleep, she forces herself to sit up, remembering her promise to reread the lists.

After she reads them she thinks that maybe it had been too long since she read them last, seeing as now she felt bad and that is the whole thing she's trying to avoid.

She goes to sleep afterwards, because she's still tired. She can think about the lists again in the morning.

Notes:

That definitely wasn't an excuse for her new friends to put her in charge of something while still allowing her to stay in her element. No,of course not. They're just helpless in the kitchen.

The recipe is here, if you're interested. I baked it with a friend a bit ago, and it was fun. They turned out pretty well, but I feel like a bakers' daughter such as Marinette would have adjustments to make.

Did I give Claude some of my own favorite games? Yes, yes I did.

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below! The comments are my favorite part of this!

Chapter 14: Notifying

Summary:

Ladybug lets everyone know about the changes to the team.

Notes:

Oh, this was a long week. I get to post today though!

Warning for strong language, 'fucking' and 'bitch'.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Ladybug and Chat Noir are sitting on the Eiffel Tower, looking over the city. They've finished their individual patrols and are sitting together as they think. It's been a few weeks since Marinette spoke to Fu about Rena Rouge and Carapace, and Ladybug has been avoiding mentioning it to Chat Noir. He'll be disappointed, she's sure of it. He liked them, and he'll finally realize that she's a terrible leader. She can't keep putting it off though. It'll be December in a little more than a week and they'll need assistance. He needs to know.

"Chat?" Ladybug doesn't look to him, focusing intently on the Parisian rooftops instead.

"Yes?" He looks at her carefully, but she still doesn't look at him. She's wringing her hands and rubbing her wrist, thinking about what to say.

"I- We-... We can't call on Rena Rouge and Carapace anymore-"

"Okay."

"I know that they got the job done, and they were popular, but I just can't- I mean-"

"Hey, Bug, it's fine-"

"I know they didn't do anything wrong, so it's kind of wrong for me to kick them off the team, but I-" Her eyes well up with tears for a moment, but she blinks them away just as quickly as they show up.

He reaches out to her gently, "Hey-"

She clenches her hands into fists, staring into her lap, "I can't- I wouldn't be able to work with them- and I know that they didn't do anything wrong at all, but I- I just-" She covers her face with her hands, her fingers digging into her skin. Her voice is muffled now, "I-"

He cuts her off, gently removing her hands from her face, "Bugaboo, it's fine. If you don't trust them anymore, then they don't deserve a miraculous."

"No! I should trust them! They- they didn't do anything wrong. They're good people. They were right. I-"

"Ladybug. Look at me." She turns to him, fighting a losing battle against her eyes, which have welled up again, "If you don't trust them, then I'm sure you have good reason."

"I don't! Just my own stupid- "

"Hey! What did I say about talking bad about my partner? Let's start simply. Do you trust them anymore?"
She shakes her head, looking ashamed and disappointed. He wants to address that, but one thing at a time.

"Would you be able to fight an akuma with them?"

She shakes her head again, looking down.

"Then it's settled. They can't have a miraculous anymore. They were temporary heroes as a test. They didn't pass, so we move on to find others."

"...But I should have tried harder… I just- I don't know where I went wrong!"

"Are sure you went wrong?"

She pauses. This hasn't occurred to her, or at least not for a while, and she gives the thought a moment's consideration. That would mean that her classmates were wrong - that they abandoned and turned on her for no reason. That… that hurts. The tears finally spill over silently.

It would also mean there's nothing she can do to prevent this in the future. Nothing at all. She could be stuck in an infinite loop of pain and torn friendships.

No. Her old friends were right. It is the only thing that makes sense. She must have done something wrong. When she figures out what it was, she can finally correct it so that she doesn't lose anyone again.

"Yes." She speaks with certainty, but a seed has been planted in her mind. She won't be the one to water it though - just looking at it hurts.

He sighs. Chat really doubts that's the facts, but without knowing the situation, he has no ammo to fight her with, "What about Chloe?"

There's no need to keep digging into the past right now.

"I'm not sure… I think the bee will move on too, but…" she trails off

"But what?"

"But, she's actually working to improve. I think that if we really needed someone, we could go to her. I think she's used the miraculous to grow as a person… and we should do our best to allow that to continue." Her tears are gone now, and she's staring out at their city again. He can tell she's put some thought into this.

"I think that you're right. She certainly seems to have grown." Maybe a little distracted recently, but she'd told Adrien she's planning something, "What about new heroes? Maybe your new friends?"
He remembered a few days after Coolest Dad, he'd asked during patrol how she was doing and to his horror she'd started crying a little. It was only when he had seen her small smile that he'd realized that they were tears of joy. Apparently her friends had called her their friend when they didn't know she was around.

She'd been just so happy that they actually considered her a friend, and as great as it had been to see her so delighted, it was saddening that it was such a surprise to her.

"I'm not sure I should just choose friends anymore…"

"If that's what you think, then how do you want to choose?"
"Fu said I should look for people who already act like a hero. So I guess I'll be on the watch for good people and look into them from there?" She rests her head on his shoulder, "I'm not really sure?"

He nods, putting an arm around her as a cool breeze goes by. He waits a moment then asks, "Are you going to tell them that they aren't heroes anymore?"

He knows it could upset her to even think about confronting her old friends, but he's found that as she grows more tired with the cold she sometimes is too tired to dwell long on how she feels, it makes it easier for her to think about. Sometimes it makes her more emotional though, so baby steps.

She yawns, "I dunno'?"

Or, of course, she's sleepy and entirely unable to focus.

"Ladybug?"

"Probably. I… don't wanna' surprise them bad."

"'Surprise them bad'? Interesting way to phrase it."

"I meant… like… a bad surprise?" She hasn't quite slipped into the full hibernating-ladybug mindset she gets during the winter, so her sleepiness is getting in the way of her attempts to convey her thoughts.

"I figured. You know what I think?" He looks over at her, watching her fight a losing battle against the cold. He's purring quietly, but she probably hasn't noticed.

"Wha' you th- thee-" She trips over the enunciation before she gives up, knowing he'll understand it.

" I think that you need to go home." He boops her nose with his other arm. She wrinkles her nose at him.

"Noo I don'. I-" She's cut off by a yawn, "... okay."

She can't see his victorious grin as she straightens, readying her yo-yo to head back home. He watches until she's on less dangerous rooftops before he heads back to his house.

Marinette is looking droopy. She barely paid any attention in her classes, and so far her lunch has been untouched - her bag not even opened. Her friends are a little worried, but seeing as it's around 0° (32℉) they figure she's just sleepy. They aren't planning on commenting on it in case she feels embarrassed.

Then Marinette slumps further and instead of falling over onto Claude she starts to fall the other way off of the table.

"Woah! Hey, wrong way, Mari!" Claude grabs her gently and has her rest on his side. She mumbles something about rules.

The group misunderstands, and Allan says, " 'Nette, we're not in class. It's not against the rules to fall asleep at lunch."

She tired girl doesn't say anything more, and the conversation moves on. As she fights against the cold, she thinks back to the conversation she had with her partner last night.

She really should get around to talking to Chloe, and Nino… and Alya. They deserve to know.

Chloe won't be so bad, but the other two… those are scary. Those are terrifying. They'll be upset, they'll hate her even more.

She wants to postpone it as long as possible, but time has probably run out. By early December she'll be running mostly on ladybug instincts, and won't be able to reliably convey the message well. Chat can't know who they are due to secret identity reasons, so it's up to her.

She probably should have done it last week, or the week before that. At this point she's barely able to stand straight and is already forgetting to eat and drink. She'll have to go after school.

She suddenly thinks the school day should be longer.

Claude nudges her gently. She glances up at him blearily, "Sorry to bother you, Mari, but you should probably eat something. That's what lunch is for! You know, there was a mathematician who couldn't afford lunch-"

Allegra cuts in, " Don't- "

"-he could binomial. " He shoots a mischievous grin at Allegra and she sighs defeatedly.

Marinette has finally opened her lunch box and is eating her lunch quietly. They had to remind her to eat. Would they be mad?

Probably not, because the group had been able to move onto their conversation. Then again, they'd had to pause the conversation in the first place.

She'd mark this as a thing she only maybe messed up.

Ladybug lands on Chloe's balcony, standing for a moment before knocking on the window to get the girl's attention. She glances up and does a double take when she realizes who exactly is at her door. She stands and rushes over quickly, ushering the hero inside.

"Ladybug! What are you doing here?!" Chloe offers the heroine a seat, "Do you want me to call up something?"

"No, no. I just needed to talk to you. It's about Queen Bee…" Chloe's room is certainly warmer than the outside, and Ladybug definitely appreciates that.

"Yes?" She sounds nervous as she takes a seat across from Ladybug.

"We… I- There's some changes being made to our back-up heroes. Rena Rouge and Carapace are retired. That much is final. They… they won't be returning to the team. Ever."

Chloe can hear the grief in her role model's voice and wonders what led to this. It's not her place to ask though, so all she says is, "I'm sorry."

Ladybug shakes her head slightly, "Anyways. Queen Bee is a different case. I do think that the bee miraculous will be going to another eventually, but I can see that it has allowed you to grow as a person, and I'm proud of you. I think that, if I ever needed the bee - whether before I find a new holder, or if something happens once I- we do - then I would go to you. I think that you are worthy of the bee miraculous." She's barely finished speaking when she gets tackled. Chloe is hugging her and has tears in her eyes.

" Thank you. "

"What?" She'd just taken away one of the few things that Chloe really wanted, and she's being thanked?

Chloe backs off, clearing her eyes, "It means a lot that you're- you're proud of me. You think I'm worthy of a miraculous, even if you are moving onto someone else."

"I, um, thank you for understanding." This went so much easier than she thought, especially considering it's Chloe she's talking to. They walk back to the balcony.

"Actually, Ladybug? Could I ask you a favor? Or like, two favors?"

"What kind of favors?" This could end poorly after all it would seem.

"Um, sometime - it doesn't have to be soon, just when it works for you - could I maybe… say goodbye to Pollen? If it's stupid to ask then-"

"No, that's fine. I understand. When I get the chance, I'll try to stop by."

"Thank you. Pollen just…" The blonde trails off, but Ladybug understands. If she had to be away from Tikki for so long and then found out Tikki was going to someone else…

"And the second one?" The unknown condition continues to worry her.

"It's… more complicated. I'm working on something, and I think if you were involved, it could be… better? I get it if it's utterly ridiculous to ask of you because I don't know anything super specific, but I'd appreciate it."

That's vaguely ominous, but Ladybug is somewhat curious, "I think you should talk to me when you have information. We can figure it out then."

Chloe nods, and Ladybug swings away.

Chloe texts Adrien excitedly, she needs another Ladybug fan to freak out with. Ladybug is proud of her.

Ladybug taps lightly on the window, as she hangs outside of Nino's room. He looks over and smiles when he sees who it is. He opens the window, leaning out slightly to talk to her.

"Dude! I didn't know there was an akuma! Need some Carapace?" He looks so excited and her heart sinks further.

"Actually, no. Um, this is about Carapace, but… it's not what you're thinking." She's nervous, but he doesn't seem to notice it.

He looks confused for a moment then elated shock takes over, "Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Are you giving me my miraculous permanently?!"

Oh. Oh no. She thought it couldn't get worse, but now it has. He looks so overjoyed and it's all about to come crashing down. She can't back down now though.

"No. Um, you're not going to like it."

His face falls, and he looks concerned, "Oh. Is something wrong?"

"Yes. Chat and I-" Lies. Chat only followed what you suggested. Don't drag him into this, "We've been reconsidering those that we call on as temporary holders, and… we don't think Carapace can be on the team anymore. I'm sorry, but this- this is final."

His earlier expression has been flipped entirely. He looks crushed, on the verge of tears, "What? Why?" His voice is shaky and she has to force her voice to be level.

Look what you've done now. You're hurting him. And why? For yourself? You messed up and now you're scared of facing anyone who reminds you of that? Are you happy now?!

"It's complicated, but this is why we didn't give the miraculous out permanently at first. Nothing was set in stone. I'm sorry."

You stupid, wretched fool. Are you really sorry about this? Or is this what you wanted all along?

"Oh. Okay. I'm sorry. Thanks for letting me know." He turns, and begins to shut the window. Something occurs to her.

"Nino?" He turns back and just the look on his face hurts her soul, "Could you not tell A-Alya yet? I'd prefer she find out in person…"

He nods sullenly, quiet, and shuts the window completely. It's just about dark out and Ladybug wants to go home and just break down.

But she has one more to go.

Alya.

Ladybug sits on a rooftop parallel to Alya's for some time. She really doesn't want to do this, but she doesn't really have a choice anymore. The alternative is for Alya to find out tomorrow at school and that will definitely cause an akuma.

No, she has to do this now.

She knocks on the window, Alya eagerly opens it up, "Ladybug! Are you here for an interview? In need of a fox in your life maybe?"

"No." Alya gets a concerned look on her face at the flat tone in the heroine's voice.

"Oh, what is it then?"

"It's about you. You being Rena Rouge."

The monotony of her voice keeps Alya from getting too excited, but there's some hope in the journalist's voice when she asks, "Are you giving my miraculous to me?"

Ladybug shakes her head, "No. You- You can't be Rena Rouge anymore."

"What? Like my name right? You don't mean…"

"Alya Césaire, you can not be a holder of a miraculous anymore." Her voice is lifeless, and it's taking everything she has to keep it that way.

Alya tears up, "What do you mean?! What did I do wrong?!"

Nothing. I'm just a selfish jerk.

"It's just the facts. We only had the miraculouses out temporarily in case someone didn't work out. That's what happened here."

"No!" Alya gets in her face, shouting as tears stream down her face, "No! Being a hero has always been my dream! I deserve to know why! I was a good hero, you can't just tell me that 'this is the way it is' you hear me?! I want some fucking answers! "

"The factors that led to you being chosen have changed."

"Bullshit! I deserve real answers! This isn't fair to me!"
It isn't. I know it isn't and I'm sorry, but I can't compromise my secret identity.

She isn't going to hold up the facade much longer, she feels everything welling up inside her, and chokes out an, "I'm sorry." before she goes to the roof. She continues suppressing it, waiting there a few moments in case an akuma comes, before she turns in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. It's dark now, and she'd tired, cold, and an emotionally exhausted mess. She just wants to rest. She just wants her partner.

She could call him, but she doesn't want to bother him, so she'll just wait at the tower. If he comes out he'll find her there and won't be forced into dealing with her idiocy.

She sits on their high platform and curls into a ball with her head in her knees, wrapping her arms around her legs. Now that she's not near Alya, she's allowed to cry-

Wait. No. No, she's not. That's the rule. She forgot again

You dense imbecile.

Rule #1: Don't cry.

Stupid stupid stupid stupidstupidstupid…

The hateful train of thought keeps running through her head, gaining steam and making her want to cry even more.

She really hopes Chat will show up.

She really hopes he won't.

She sits alone like that for another moment, the wind and cold blowing past the distraught girl as she put all her effort into not crying.

So focused on her task, she doesn't notice the soft footfalls approaching her.

"Oh, Bug. " The voice sits next to her, but she doesn't register it, "My Lady, you could have told me. You didn't have to do this alone." She's pulled into a tender hug, and finally notices her partner next to her.

"K-kitty?" Her voice breaks with his heart. He can hear the pain in her and wishes she would allow herself to acknowledge it. She's holding back her tears and her grief and it's not doing her any good.

" Ladybug. You talked to Rena and Carapace didn't you?" He'd figured it out shortly after Chloe had stopped texting Adrien. If Ladybug had talked to Chloe, then it only made sense that the next two would follow. He understands he couldn't have talked to them in her place, but he could have been nearby for support.

She didn't need to carry the world alone.

" Mon minou, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." The heartbreak in her voice is terrible, and he wishes it wasn't a familiar sound.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." He hugs her tighter, as if that can single-handedly fix everything.

If only it were so easy.

"I do. I'm a terrible no-good ab- " Chat cuts her off.

"No. We've been over this. You are my amazingly talented and beautiful partner. 'No-good'? What do you call all you've done for the city then? 'Terrible'? We looked up the definition, and 'distressingly bad' does not describe you. Ladybug, you are many things, but you are not those things."

He can see the tears welling up in her eyes, the way she tries to fight them off.

"Do you know what else we've been over? You-" He pokes her gently, "Are allowed to cry. There's nothing wrong with that."

That does it, she finally returns the hug as she clings to him desperately while she sobs quietly. He holds her soothingly, doing his best to comfort her.

When she falls quiet as the chill finally gets to her, he reminds her that she should head back to her home. She nods, going on her way as he heads to his own house.

Notes:

Oh boy, she did it! She faced them, even if it was for very little time.

It would seem Chloe is planning something. Who knows!

The next few chapters will certainly be interesting, to say the least. Also, we're getting into winter!

The writer's block has finally gotten to me. I'm chapters ahead, so it won't slow updates down, but that paired with the very long and tiring week I've had has really slowed my pace. Again, it won't slow updates, but I'd really appreciate any comments you have for me!

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below! Any comments really, I love seeing the notification!

Chapter 15: Bullying

Summary:

Adrien goes to school, and Chloe doesn't hesitate to tell people the cold hard truth.

Notes:

Saturday, yay! I love updating. You guys were so sweet in the comments last chapter, thank you so much! I really love seeing what you guys have to say.

A slightly shorter chapter today, but that doesn't mean it's safe from a strong language warning! This chapter contains the words 'bitch' (twice), 'shit', 'asshole', 'bullshit', and 'shitty'.
Enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Adrien really dreads going to school everyday. To think that just over a year ago it was his biggest wish. It's not that school is never fun, but with Lila there it's exhausting. Especially without Marinette.

He misses seeing her everyday.

He arrives before Lila as usual, so there's that. Alya is sitting in her seat behind him, looking downtrodden. That's odd. He's fairly certain it's her birthday today.

"Hey, Alya." He greets her as usual, half-heartedly.

"Hey." As usual, she doesn't notice there's nothing behind his greeting, but today it seems like she isn't noticing much of anything.

"Happy birthday?"

"Oh, yeah. Thanks."

Nino walks in mopey, "Hey."

Was everyone upset today? Was there some news he missed? Maybe Lila had finally left.

Speak of the devil and she shall appear, Lila walks in, "Hi guys! Happy birthday Alya!"

Well, he could always dream.

Lila manages to get a half-hearted smile out of the journalist, "Hi Lila."

Lila sits next to Adrien, as is the usual ever since his princess left, "Oh, Alya, is everything alright? You look so sad!"

Alya thinks for a moment then, "Lila, did I do something to upset Ladybug? I think she's mad at me. What did I do?"

Lila hesitates for a moment, then pulls on a doleful mask, "I don't know if I should tell you. I'd hate to upset, especially on your birthday…"

Alya and Nino fall for it, hook, line, and sinker. They turn to her and Alya speaks, "No, no! Tell me! It's not your fault anyways."

Crocodile tears come to her eyes, "Oh but it is! I should have done something! I just thought Ladybug knew better…"

Adrien mentally prepares himself for one of those days. It would seem his closest friends - Marinette and Ladybug - were Lila's favorite targets. Either to hurt or get attention. Ladybug seems to be on Lila's bad side now.

He hates listening to this nonsense in silence, but there's little he can do. If he makes any sort of scene at school, Father would pull him out immediately and give him even less freedom than before. He would take it as proof that Adrien had been wrong and the boy would be trapped in his awful room for forever again.

He tries to shut his mind down at school now. Numbness makes it go by faster, and no one has commented on his quietness.

"What? What happened?!"

"It's… Ladybug and I aren't friends anymore. She's been talking with her and now she hates me!" The liar covers her face.

"Who! Who has she been talking to?!"

Oh no. Adrien pretty sure he knows who Lila is pinning this on. Please be wrong. Please don't be-

"Marinette."

Alya's sadness turns to burning fury, "That bitch! She's not even here anymore and she's still ruining everything! I can't believe she was ever my friend. It disgusts me!"

Nino shakes his head, "Yeah, she really took a turn last year. Kinda' a shame, she used to be so nice…"

"It's just, she's been talking to Ladybug, and she's convinced her that I'm horrible. She must have talked bad about you guys too! Oh, I should have done something!"

"It's not your fault. Just tell us what happened." Alya rests a hand comfortingly on Lila's shoulder.

"Well, a while ago, Ladybug mentioned she made a new friend - I was so happy for her! But then, Ladybug started being more toxic and she started being mean to me. I found out she had been hanging out with Marinette. They've both been bullying me for a while now… Ladybug helped Marinette hurt me that day…"

Oh no. Marinette isn't even here anymore and Lila still pins everything on her. What is even the point?!

"Ugh! I hate that girl! She ruins everything good! I guess it really was fitting to call her our 'everyday Ladybug'!" Alya stews for a moment, then pulls out her phone, "You know what? Ladybug clearly sucks. Paris needs to know."

Lila looks surprised. Adrien sees the moment when she realizes that such a statement could put her web of falsehoods on the line, "No, no! Please, I'm not comfortable telling all of Paris about my failure to help Ladybug!"

Alya softens, "Lila you didn't fail, but I guess I won't post something if it makes you uncomfortable. If that's too much then maybe I'll just delete the Ladyblog instead. It's supposed to be a place for Ladybug fans, but no one should give a shit about that kind of person and the self-absorbed asshole that goes by 'Marinette'."

"Woah, Alya, are you actually deleting your blog?" Adrien did not see this coming. The anger he feels at everything she just said slips into his voice despite his efforts to keep it level.

Alya looks at him sympathetically, "Oh my precious sunshine boy. I know you were a huge a Ladybug fan. It must be such a shock. I know it is to me. I am deleting my blog. Ladybug deserves worse for the kind of stunt she's pulled. Lila is such a sweetheart, and to think Ladybug left her for Marinette of all people."

Adrien can feel Plagg shifting angrily in his pocket and it takes every ounce of self-control he has to just turn away and focus on the front of the classroom. He thought school was a nightmare before, he'd forgotten he's bad luck - it can always get worse.

Marinette's lucky charm hasn't done him much good recently.

Maybe she was the good luck charm in his life.

It's lunch period and by some miracle no one's been akumatized yet. Alya's phone dings and he sees her look at the notification in shock. She opens her phone and starts texting quickly and furiously, mumbling to herself.

He sighs, at least she found a way to distract herself from hating his favorite people.

"Come on Adrikins, let's have lunch somewhere that people aren't ridiculous!" Chloe hooks an arm through his, dragging him away. Sabrina walks beside them as well. They're out of the school and on the street. They've been waiting for a minute or so for Chloe's driver to arrive.

Adrien's phone dings, it's Claude.

Kid Mime: i know you know alya. If you're near her you need to get her to stop texting mari. now.

Adrien's heart drops. When Alya starting text a few minutes ago, had she really…? He didn't stop to wonder how, he just turns and rushes back into the school. Chloe looks up in surprise and she and Sabrina follow in confusion.

He hurries into the cafeteria and sure enough, Alya is still furiously typing away at her phone.

He puts a hand on the table harshly, drawing her attention, "Alya, you need to stop."

"Stop?! Do even know what I'm doing?! That bitch had the nerve to text me! I'm just giving her a piece of my mind!"
"Adrien, are you really on Marinette's side?" Lila makes her voice sound full of hurt shock.

"Bro…"

Adrien pauses. He wants to tear into them so bad. Marinette deserves better and so does Ladybug. Neither girl deserves all this hate, but he can't cause a scene. Father would pull him out and he'd be isolated again.

Alone.

Unable to see either of them.

Chloe shoves past him, "Really Césaire? Cyber-bullying? Leave Dupain-Cheng alone and listen to more of Lie-la's nonsense."

"Excuse me? I'm not bullying anyone! Marinette is the bully here! Her and Ladybug! I finally understand why she chose you - birds of a feather flock together!"

Chloe glares down at her, "Are you blind or just plain stupid? Dupain-Cheng hasn't texted you back at all from the looks of it. Are you even reading what you're sending? That's bullying Césaire."

"Oh, you would know."

"I would." Chloe's voice is hard, "But at least I know my faults. You're just some self-absorbed wanna-be journalist who can't see what's right in front of her."
"Leave her alone Chloe." Nino glares at the blonde.

"Shut it Lahiffe. You had a crush on Dupain-Cheng and knew her as long as I did. You should know better than to believe this faker's bullshit. I do find it interesting that you finally grew a spine and decided you should speak up to me. Where was that back-bone all those years I went after Marinette?"

Nino just looks at her. Lila speaks up, "Oh Chloe, there's no need to take your anger out on us. Just because Ladybug hasn't called on Queen Bee for so long…"

"And she won't be again. She told me so last night. I get it, it's her decision and I'm just glad she ever considered me. That's not what this is about."

Alya slams her phone down on the table, standing to get in Chloe's face, "Listen up Chloe, you don't get to pretend you're better than us-"

"I don't have to pretend. It's just the facts." She flips her ponytail airily.

"Just because your dad's the mayor doesn't mean anything. I worked for what I got."

"And then you threw it all away for some fake stories. Some journalist."

"Lila would never lie to us!"

"And Dupain-Cheng would?"

"Yes! She's a bully!"

"Since when have you been so protective of Marinette, Chloe?" Lila adds in.

"Because she's a better person than everyone here. Haven't you noticed how much her absence has messed the class up? Sheesh!"

"She's one of the worst people alive! Her absence has only made things better!" Alya is shaking in fury.

Chloe wrinkles her nose, "Let me know when you wake-up and look around yourself. Adrikins, Sabrina and I have places to be."
The trio walks out. As soon as they're out of earshot, Chloe turns to her friend, "Did you get it Sabrina?"

"Yup!" She holds up her own phone triumphantly.

"Get what?" Adrien didn't see what Sabrina had been up to during the yelling match.

"I took screenshots of what she sent to Marinette. I sent them to myself then I deleted the pictures so Alya wouldn't know. I also deleted Marinette's contact from her phone.

Chloe nods approvingly, "Good thinking. Now she can't text her, because I doubt she put in the effort to remember her number."

"Why'd you take screenshots?" He doesn't understand the point of documenting whatever horrible stuff Alya said to Marinette.

"To report her for bullying, duh! Of course nothing will probably happen until Lila's gone, seeing as even the school's administration has their heads in the ground!"

Sabrina nods seriously, "That's true."
Adrien isn't experienced in how schools are supposed to work, "Is the school really so bad?"

"Adrikins, why do you think I go here? This place'll let anyone get away with anything. It's ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!" She thinks, "Maybe when I finally go to another school I should have Daddy do something about that."

Adrien looks at her in surprise, "You're transferring too?!"

"Not until the end of the year, obviously. Sabrina and I are out of here, this much of a stressful environment is bad for my hair." At his look she says, "Oh don't worry, we'll get you out too. It won't be too hard to convince your shitty father that a school with a more prestigious reputation would be better for his legacy. Maybe you can join your precious Marinette."

He flushes slightly at that, then frowns thinking of the texts she must have seen. He really hopes she's okay.

Chloe's driver pulls up, and they all pile in. He sends Mari a quick text before turning back to those in the car with him. There's nothing he can really do now

He trusts her new friends will take care of her, at least until he can be there too.

Notes:

Don't worry, we're seeing Mari's perspective next week. By 'next week' I actually mean Thursday! I try to post bonus chapters for holidays, and Thanksgiving is already here!

I have the google doc that I write this on shared with one of my friends. We were sitting nearby when she opened it up to read this chapter. She read the title and strong language warnings and turned to me in a panic asking what I did to Marinette this time. I just smiled.

I usually try to prepare chapters to be posted the night before I post them, to make it quicker in the morning. If this one is a little late, it's probably because I slept in. I'm sick and it's finally the weekend, so apologies if that happens. I doubt I'll sleep past my usual post time, but we'll see. On a similar note, I feel like I've forgotten something I typically put in the notes, but I'm not sure what. If you notice something, please let me know. It could be nothing, I've been feeling like that all day. I blame my cold.

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading, and constructive criticism is welcomed in the comments below! Feel free to just tell me your thoughts too!

Chapter 16: Wrong Person

Summary:

Marinette feels guilty about telling Alya she won't be Rena Rouge anymore on the day before her birthday. Alya lets her exactly know how she feels about her former best friend now.

Notes:

Happy Thanksgiving! Or happy normal Thursday if you don't celebrate! Either way you get a bonus update!

Warning for strong language! (I don't know how necessary it is for me to add these warnings every time, but I feel like someone might appreciate it, so why not). This chapter contains: 'asshole', 'bitch' twice, 'fuck' twice, 'cunt', and 'fucking'. Also, Alya's texts are pretty clear bullying, so tread carefully if that might upset you.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette is in a terrible mood. Her day had started badly. She couldn't find her phone for a bit, and barely found it in time - stuffed in the back of a drawer. She has no idea how it got there. That really isn't the biggest contributor to her mood though, it's yesterday's events.

She just feels so guilty. She's supposed to be a good person and what she did…

Poor Nino. Poor Alya.

Alya… wait.

Today is her birthday! Marinette broke her heart on the day before her birthday.

What an asshole.

She can't worry her friends though. They put up with her enough that if they found out what she'd done it'd probably be the final straw.

Maybe she can cover up her misery with her sleepiness. It is pretty cold today. Paris is having a colder winter than usual this year it would seem.

"Are you quite alright, Marinette?" Felix and her are on their way to the library for the morning.

So much for that, seeing as Felix already noticed, "Jus' tired."

He looks unconvinced by her lie, so it would seem she deceived him for no reason. Stupid girl, can't follow her own rules correctly.

As they approach the table, Marinette hears one of them mention the Ladyblog.

"What?" Did Alya post something? Do they finally know what she's done? Is this the last time she can hang out with them?

"Did you hear? The Ladyblog is gone. That Alya girl took it down!" Claude sounds shocked.

"She was pretty proud of it, from what I understand." Allan adds.

"I never really used it anyways. I don't really like her anyways…" Allegra's voice sounds cold. Marinette didn't know she knew Alya.

"Really? I think Alya's pretty nice." She should stick up for her ex-best friend, especially after what she pulled last night. It takes all her concentration to speak normally. They shouldn't all have to deal with her slurred and mumbled tired nonsense.

The other four turn to her, slight confusion evident on their faces. What did she do this time? Allan speaks up, "We weren't sure you knew her."

Marinette gets the feeling there's something he's leaving out, but she gets it. She shouldn't be trusted with most things. Besides, they don't know all her secrets anyways - it's only fair.

Of course, now she's dug herself a hole. In her effort to defend Alya, she's removed all the distance she tried to put between her old classmates and her new friends.

"Uh, well, ummm, I use' t' read the Ladyblog a lot…" Her nervousness makes her stumble over the words slightly. She's supposed to be pretending to be fine! Get it together!

Allegra frowns, "I met her after that akuma attack here. She didn't make a great first impression."

Oh. Right. That's when they met.

They'd also met her then…

The group notices the way she stares intensely at the table.

Claude puts an arm around her, "Anyways, you seem pretty awake today Mari! Find some way to fight the winter?"

"No, um, I'm just trying to seem kinda' awake today…"

Allan frowns, seemingly picking up on what exactly she meant by that, "'Nette if you're tired you can rest."

She shrugs. It's tiring to pretend she's fine, especially considering that she's still dwelling on the events of yesterday evening. She can't bother her new friends though. She's been lax in being better to them. She should never have let her guard down - who knows what could have happened.

Her water bottle is handed to her, "At least drink some water then."

She does as she's told. She'd forgotten how great water is.

Their short time before class starts passes quickly to the stressed and tired girl. As they're standing to go, Allegra turns to the boys, "Oh, I might be a little late to lunch today. I'm practicing extra for Concours d'arts musicaux."

"Alright."

The two girls head to class. They sit in their seats as the teacher walks in, Marinette is barely paying attention, too focused on staying awake and thinking about how terrible she is. She misses Allegra's occasional concerned glances.

Allan and Felix had left to get their lunches from their lockers, and Claude is in line for his lunch, so Marinette is at the table alone. Claude had mentioned that they had one of Allegra's favorite foods today,

She unlocks her phone and taps the first 'Al' she sees, sending a quick text to let her know. Her phone dings immediately.

Alya: you have some nerve texting me bitch

Alya: i know what you've done you worthless human trash

Alya: you disgust me

What? Marinette is so confused. She hasn't done anything to Alya as Marinette recently. She knows that she's awful, but why is Alya so mad at Marinette still?

Had she really been that bad of a friend?

Alya: you left and you're still messing everything up

Alya: bullying? really?

Alya: were you planning on ever revealing just how sickenly cruel you are

Alya: lila told us what you did to Ladybug

Alya: im horrified i ever called someone like her my hero. She's just like you

Marinette doesn't even consider how Alya's contact got on her phone. It's like when people stare at something horrifying. She can't look away, and her grip on her phone tightens.

The difference for Marinette is that this is the confirmation she's been expecting. It's everything she's thought of herself, and it's straight from someone she cares about.

She had really been right all along. It hurts and she tears up.

All her rules were for nothing.

Marinette really is a terrible person.

Claude had finally gotten out of the line. Of all the days for the line to move slowly, it had to be today. The rest of the group had noticed too - Marinette seemed extra off today. They were pretty sure it had something to do with the Ladyblog, but there's little they can do, other than be there.

He's been trying to be extra cheery today, hoping it could make at least a slight difference.

He approaches the table and before he can even open his mouth he notices something is very wrong.

Marinette is staring at her phone silently and there are tears streaming down her face.

He has only her cry once before, and she'd stopped herself quickly. There hadn't even been that many tears - but now? They just keep coming.

He sets his tray down and rushes to her side, "Marinette? Is something wrong?"

She doesn't say anything, clearly having an attack and not at all paying attention to what's around her. She's hyperventilating and he really wishes he knew what happened. She flinches as her phone dings again, he reads the message with her and it becomes clear what's going on.

Alya: you conceited cunt you left and things are still going wrong and it's all your fault

Alya: i hate you so much

What.

The.

Fuck.

He had figured that Alya and Marinette knew each other, but why were they texting?

Is this Marinette's idea of a 'nice person'?

Everytime the phone dings she flinches, but she reads the message anyways. He puts a hand on her shoulder and she doesn't even notice.

"Marinette? Can you hear me?" He speaks softly, and she continues staring at her screen like a lifeline. He tries to take it out of her hands, but she has a stronger grip than he would have expected.

People are starting to glance over at her, and he figures that being in crowded cafeteria isn't helping matters.

"Marinette, do you want to leave?" She remains silent, only whimpering as the phone dings again.

He makes a command decision, scooping Marinette up. Her small frame makes her very light. She doesn't even seem to notice. He leaves their bags behind, no one will touch them.

As he's exiting the cafeteria, he sees Felix and Allan as they're entering. The two notice him and the short girl immediately and rush to him.

"What happened?"

"Is Marinette okay?"

"I'm not sure about that, but she's definitely not okay. I'm bringing her to the library - it should be quieter there. Can you grab our stuff?"
They nod, hurrying to grab the bags and food. As he's entering the library he sees Allegra who notices the little procession and hurriedly follows, the other two fill her in as best they can as Claude sets Marinette down on the couch.

The phone dings for the upteenth time

"Oh fuck." The others look at him in surprise.

"Just what exactly is going on?" Allegra asks.

"Try and get her phone away from her - you'll see. I'm going to text Adrien to see if can get that bully to stop texting her."
They turn to the girl as he pulls out his phone and send a quick text to the model. He looks up just as Allegra reads the ongoing texts.

"That fucking bitch! "

"Oh Marinette…"

Felix stays concerningly quiet, but his anger is clear.

Claude steps closer, watching as Allan continues to try to pry the device from Marinette's hands. Now that he's had a chance to look at it properly, Claude has realized that the phone in her hands isn't hers - or not her usual one.

The case certainly looks like something she would choose, but it's not the one he's familiar with, and he's willing to bet that her backgrounds are different too.

It's been a moment and the notifications have died down. It would seem Adrien had been successful. The phone turns off and Marinette continues to stare at the blank screen.

"Marinette? Sweetie, can you look at me?" Allan continues to try and draw her out of her daze. The girl has yet to respond to any of them, focused entirely on that phone, which is now dotted with her tears. Her breathing hasn't evened and Claude's beginning to worry she'll faint. The group is sitting around her, trying to give her space while still watching her in concern.

Now that the texts are finished, Claude decides to try once more to pry the phone from her once more. He succeeds and tries to unlock it, to see just what was sent to the poor girl.

Marinette's usual password works, letting him in. He scrolls back to the beginning of it, Marinette sent a simple text clearly meant for Allegra, and the response had been immediate.
Reading the texts he feels tears prick at his eyes. He knew that they'd guessed Marinette had been bullied, but this? It was all so hateful.

He's willing to bet that this is the source of Marinette's low self-esteem.

"Claude? Is everything alright?" Felix notices his distress, looking at him in concern.

Claude hands him the phone, "Just- read it. I-" He cuts himself off, shaking his head and turning his attention back to the pigtailed girl who hasn't spoken yet.

Allan is tapping a steady rhythm on her hand gently, trying to help her steady her breathing. After a moment she seems to come back to herself.

She glances around at them in a terrified manner, unsure of how she got to the library and fearful of the consequences she's sure she's about to receive. They're going to hate her now. Look what she'd done. She's definitely broken several rules now.

Alya confirmed for her that they're useless, but Marinette's considered them a safe constant in her life. She can't help but cling to them.

Rule #1: Don't cry

Rule #2: Smile

Rule #3: Be nice to people

Rule #11: Adrien, Claude, Allegra, Allan, and Felix have been nice enough to put up with you, don't make them regret it.

Rule #12: Don't do anything that could attract an akuma to you

That's five rules in one go. Stupid.

"I'm sorry."

She says it once, then twice, then speeds up, repeating it over and over again.

" I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry…"

"Mari, there's nothing to apologize for. You didn't do anything wrong." Allan interrupts her and she looks at him in bafflement.

She did do something wrong though. She broke five rules. In one incident. The only thing she could do is follow the other rules as best she can.

Rule #4: Apologize when you mess up (again)

"Marinette, really. He's right. You did nothing wrong." Allegra moves closer to the girl on the couch, "That Alya-girl was spewing a bunch of nonsense. You're amazing."

Marinette looks unconvinced, hugging her arms to herself tightly.

"'Nette, really. We don't know what happened, but it wasn't your fault."

"It is. I messed up."

Felix finally puts the phone down, "I highly doubt that."

Marinette looks down and doesn't respond.

"Mari. Really. You're a great person. She's wrong." Claude rests a hand on her shoulder.

Marinette only covers her face and curls into herself further.

"Oh, 'Nettie…" Allan squeezes her hand consolingly.

She doesn't speak, just remaining like that as they sit nearby, unsure of how to what to say.

They sit for a some time with her. Eventually, she slumps to the side and Allegra puts an arm around her. The girl is exhausted, both from the cold and from the events of the day.

"You can go home early, Mari…" Claude tells her.

She stiffens, and shakes her head. It's understandable, considering how close her old school is to her home.

Allegra hugs her tighter. They talk quietly while Marinette rests. Eventually lunch ends, but they don't plan on leaving. They can miss a few classes.

Marinette has other plans, stirring as she mumbles something about going to class.

"'Nette you don't need to go to class. You've had a long day."

She shakes her head, standing unsteadily, and making her way away from them.

They hurry to catch up with her, "Are you sure you want to go to class? You don't have to."

"It's what I'm supposed to do." Stupid girl. Worthless trash. She can't just keep doing whatever she pleases, there are people depending on her- a whole city's worth.

"It might not be what you should be doing."

The group arrives at the classroom and Felix and Allegra say goodbye, the latter giving Marinette another quick, tight hug before going on her way.

Allan and Claude walk with her to their usual seats. Claude forgoing the rules to sit with them three to a bench.

Marinette shuts herself down. It hurts too much to think about how much of a failure she is.

Soon enough, she gives into the cold, falling asleep sitting up. Claude shifts her to rest against him so that she doesn't fall. The two sit with her in concern. Allan hasn't seen all of the texts, but still has a good enough idea of what happened.

At least she's resting now.

When class is over they walk her to her next one. She's silent, seemingly within her own head.

"I could just skip… it's only a work day today and the teacher likes me…" Claude's speaking to both, but Marinette doesn't react. He's worried and doesn't exactly want to leave her alone for an hour. He's still on edge, wondering if an akuma will come her way.

Surprisingly, Allan doesn't try to talk his friend out of it, just shrugging, "If that's what you want to do, I won't stop you. I've got to get to class though. Bye Claude. Take care of yourself Marinette."

She only blinks.

Claude stays with her during the next hour, the girl doesn't speak, and he isn't entirely sure she's paying attention.

He passes her off to Felix for the last hour of school before heading to his own class.

The day has ended and the group is heading out together. Marinette is still quiet. They hear someone running up to them. Adrien appears at their side.

"Hey." He glances at Marinette, taking in her blank stare and too-steady breathing, "Again? Oh Mari…"

Allegra turns to him, "'Again'?"

He hesitates, eventually settling on just saying,"Last time, she kind of… shut down."

" 'Last time'? " Allegra is seething.

"What exactly happened?" He turns to the group questioningly.

"She's got the wrong phone." Claude hands Adrien the phone in question, "She texted that girl and…" He unlocks the phone and spins it toward him.

Adrien reads through the messages, and it sounds like he growls. Allegra and Allan read it next.

Allegra seems to be practically buzzing in anger now, and the rest of the group is similarly upset. Marinette remains still.

They walk to Marinette's house, sticking close to her. As they climb into her room, Adrien is standing beside Marinette. As he's directing her up the stairs, she blinks and turns to him, speaking quietly, "I want to tell them."

He smiles at her softly, "That's a good idea, Mari."

It's time to finally tell the others why she transferred.

Notes:

Yay! She's finally going to tell them!

This event was actually one of the first things I thought up for this story. It was originally wasn't going to happen until February and was going to lead to a reveal, but it got moved around timeline-wise, so that got scrapped. Then it got moved back, but by then I had a new reveal scenario that I liked better, so you'll have to keep waiting for that.

Next chapter will be Saturday as usual! It's a bit of a reprieve from everything I've been putting Marinette through. We get to see plenty of cute interactions between the Quantics and their new friends. It doesn't even have a strong language warning! Imagine that!

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 17: Sleepover

Summary:

Marinette tells her friends what happened before her transfer.

Notes:

A slightly longer chapter! I hope everyone had a nice holiday (if you celebrate). This chapter doesn't have any strong language warnings! Shocker!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"I went to Françoise Dupont for years. It was the only school I'd ever gone to. I didn't really have any close friends, but people were friendly with me, so that was enough. Chloe bullied me a lot, and I think people were scared to hang out with me for that - they didn't want to be bullied too." The group settles in attentively, ready to listen.

"Last year, at the beginning of the school year, I met Alya. She became my first real friend. That was nice." She smiles softly, before wiping it off her face quickly in favor of displaying as little emotion as possible. Emotions get you akumatized.

"Then… Lila came. She lied about everything! And it wasn't even remotely believable!" Marinette's face changed to one of anger, then she corrected herself. She's not allowed to be mad. This is her fault.

"Everyone believed her anyways, because I was just being 'jealous'. It didn't matter what I thought apparently. I guess they finally realized how stupid I am." she says the last part under her breath - muttering. The friend group looks like they want to interrupt her, but if they interrupt she might not start again. They can address that after she's finished.

"She got akumatized on her first day there, and 'moved away' to 'travel in other countries' for awhile. She was still in Paris though, not only was she akumatized again but there are public records showing that her mom - who she was supposedly traveling with - was still in Paris. Things went back to normal eventually, and I thought it was over. I was wrong. Obviously. Moron." Oh, Marinette.
"Then I came to school one day to find that everyone had changed seats. My new spot had been decided without me. I was in the back. Alone." Adrien squeezes her hand gently.

"The seating chart had been rearranged so that she could sit in the front near Adrien, for her 'tinnitus'. I tried to say something and they accused me of being insensitive… I just didn't want to be alone…" She shakes her head, moving on.

"Anyways, at lunch she convinced the class I could have blinded Max - who wears glasses - by gouging one of his eyes out with a napkin. She cornered me in the bathroom and told me if I didn't go along with her she'd take all my friends away.

"I didn't believe her. Stupid." She looks like she considers mentioning more, but decides against it.

"After I fought off another akuma, she managed to get akumatized instead. She pretended to be Adrien, but it was taken care of." The casual way she says 'another akuma' concerns them. Adrien winces, thinking back to when he'd learned of his friend's run-ins with akumas.

"For the rest of the year she didn't really interact with me other than when she would corner me to insult me - but that was fine." Adrien turns to her in surprise - he didn't know about that.

"Anyways, I didn't talk to my friends as much anymore, I didn't see them over the summer either. On the first day back, Lila was still around, spewing her usual nonsense. She left early on the second day - after she threatened me again, but-" she shrugs nonchalantly before moving on, "-Wednesday was nice, she was absent all day. I got to hang out with Alya… one last time.

"Then it was Thursday…" Marinette stares at the floor for a while. They think she might be done for a moment, but she continues - though her voice is noticeably shakier despite her efforts, "I-I was late and Adrien was gone. I d-didn't see that she'd come back, but Alya was qu-quick to point it out to me once there was a break. Lila had fake bruises and said I'd attacked her. That I'd been b-bullying her over the sum-m-mer. And they all believed her. Rose glared at me. Rose. " She tears up, covering her face with her hands, clearly upset that her former friends thought so lowly of her.

"A-Alya grabbed my wrist and then I… tripped down the stairs. I th-think Chloe found me in the bathroom? I don't r-really r-reme'ber much from the rest o' the day. I transferred to your guys' school on M-Monday." Adrien narrows his eyes at the mention of her 'tripping' down the stairs.

"Th-That's the story, …you c-can all hate me now…" She curls into herself slightly, clearly drained, but holding herself together so they can yell at her or something.

"Never." They say it in unison the instant she's finished.

She looks too surprised by this.

"Told you, Mari." Adrien looks at her softly, running a hand through her hair softly.

"Oh." She blinks slowly, working to remain awake, "'re you sure?"

"Marinette, you are an intelligent, kind-hearted person who did nothing to deserve that treatment." Felix assures.

"Marinette, you're our friend. We care about you. We'd never hate you." Claude hugs her gently, and the other four join in. They release her, and she looks about ready to drop. At least she's already sitting down.

"'Nette, you can sleep if you want." Allan suggests.

She nods tiredly, leaning over to the side to flop onto Adrien. He's always been the warmest in any room. He doesn't protest, just plays with her hair soothingly. Eventually her breathing levels and she's completely out.

Adrien looks up at them, face hard, "So. You know now." He pauses, "Revenge?"

Allegra doesn't hesitate in the slightest, "Definitely."
The others nod in agreement.

"Should we move Mari first?" Allan looks at the sleeping girl on top of Adrien.

"She's kind of clingy…" He demonstrates, pausing in playing with her hair to grab her shoulders gently to try and lift her. She only frowns in her sleep and sluggishly grabs for Adrien again, hugging him limply when he lets her go.

"Willing to bet he doesn't mind having a sleepy Mari blanket." Claude grins at the model, who blushes.

"Well, I mean…" He trails off, shrugging, returning to messing with her hair gently.

"So… I'm guessing you still attend her old school?" Allegra looks at him compassionately.

"It sucks. It took almost two weeks after she left for them to stop talking bad about her. I thought I would snap."

"Are they unaware that you are still in contact with her?" Felix asks.

"Yeah. Honestly, I'd say more in her defense if it weren't for the fact that any sort of 'scene' I might make would make Father take me out of school. Then I'd be stuck in my room again." He looks off to the side at the floor, speaking near-monotonously, "He'd take it as a victory and I'd never get to anything I want. I probably wouldn't leave the house for at least a month. Then he'd need me to do some stupid photoshoot. What's the point of having a son if he isn't constantly earning you money?" He speaks the last part caustically, clearly having thought about this before, "Besides, I'm pretty sure that Lila has some sort of deal with him so I can't upset her either."

"Mon Dieu." Allan shakes his head, "You poor dear."

Adrien shrugs in a resigned manner.

"You sure Marinette is the only one we need to get revenge for?" Claude raises an eyebrow.

"If you're considering trying to get me my freedom, you may want to enlist Mari for that. Sometime over the summer my father did something - I don't even remember what - and she snapped. I was legitimately worried she was about to storm his office." Adrien grins, "She can be terrifying."

"I believe that, just maybe not right now." Claude pokes the girl's face and she sticks out her tongue tiredly at them.

"Are you still in the class' good graces?" Felix asks, seemingly having some ideas.

"They don't hate me if that's what you mean. I think I've faded into the background to them. I've gone entire weeks without speaking and no one mentioned it. I think I'm just Lila's personal pretty armrest now."

"Wow. I hate them." Allegra looks ready to stab someone, "And Mari still thinks these are good people?"
Adrien thinks about what Plagg said about Ladybug. Marinette may not be Ladybug, but they have similar personalities - he'd called her their 'everyday Ladybug' for a reason. If Ladybug has decided to cling to the fact that her old friends were in the right, the same is probably true of Marinette. Especially considering what he's heard her say about herself versus what she says of Bustier's class.

"I think… she wants to believe there's something she did wrong, so that she can fix it? Or so that she doesn't do it again?" He looks down at her, frowning in concern. She remains unaware, only continuing to nap, "I don't know. She doesn't talk about it a ton."

"Oh, 'Nette…" Allan shakes his head at her, rubbing her arm softly.

"Well, on the bright side, we know now…" Claude says optimistically, "We can try to help her more."

They all nod.

"Seeing as it's Friday, we could have a sleepover here - if she's comfortable with it."

"I'll stay as long as I can, but sleepovers are not something my father approves of."

"I will pay Ladybug or Chat Noir to kidnap you so you can join us." Claude sounds entirely serious about this foolproof plan.

Adrien snorts, shaking his head. Chat Noir would be entirely willing to kidnap his alter-ego to meet with friends - if that was physically possible. Ladybug may be more hesitant, but he could see her being convinced.

His phone dings, he frowns when he sees it's a message from Nino, asking if he wants to hang out, apparently he's tired of Alya's ranting. He notes that Nino isn't tired of Alya ranting about Marinette, just that he's bored of her still ranting.

Another text: 'i get that mari sucks but i want 2 do sumthing fun'.

"Ugh. Nino texted me."
"I don't know who that is, but if he's one of the ones that contributed to this, I don't like him." Allegra doesn't seem to plan on being lax on the class in the slightest, fully ready to get complete revenge on them for doing what they did to Marinette.

"What is our plan of attack?" Felix looks ready to take mental notes.

"Well we should definitely disprove all of Lila's lies. From there I'm not really sure." Adrien isn't exactly well-versed in revenge plans.

"If they can't see for themselves maybe they deserve to stay blind. They'll probably come crawling back to Marinette looking for forgiveness." Allegra looks indignant on behalf of Marinette.

"She'd probably forgive 'em." Allan adds, "But that's her decision to make."

Allegra sighs.

"It may be for the best for all of us to keep our emotions in check. It is surprising - and rather lucky - an akuma has yet to make an appearance." Felix points out.

Yes, very lucky indeed. Almost as if a Goddess of good luck is within their ranks. Regardless, the group takes a moment to calm down.

"So, this is her old phone right?" Claude holds up the offending piece of tech.

"Yeah… I thought she got rid of it." Adrien grabs it, frowning when he sees the lock screen is a smiling selfie of Alya and Marinette.

He puts it down. No one has to see that right now - it's in the past.

"Why did she take this one to school? Where's her normal one?"

A window is cracked open, and a cold breeze sneaks in, making Marinette stir. She catches Allegra's question, and tries to sit up and respond, "los' i'."

They turn to her - surprised to see her up. Claude notices the window and crosses the room to close it, tossing a blanket from the chaise to Adrien on his way back.

Adrien convinces Marinette to lay back down - it really doesn't take a lot of negotiation - and settles the blanket over her as she goes back to weakly hugging the boy that she's currently using as a pillow.

They wait a moment, watching her to be sure they won't disturb her again when they start up their conversation.

"Okay, so she lost it. Guess she grabbed the wrong one then?" Allan guesses.

Allegra gets her phone out, "I'll call it. That way she can get rid of that. " She glares at the innocent phone as if it is single-handedly responsible for all of Marinette's problems.

They hear a buzz from above. Looking up, they see the phone laying face-down on the ledge next to her bed. It's on the corner, right above their heads.

Allan stands, "Not even going to ask how that got there." He climbs up and retrieves it, putting it on the desk.

They're quiet for a moment, then Claude asks, "So, like, off-topic but I have to know… what exactly is happening here?" He gestures towards the corner of Marinette's room where all of her balcony garden currently resides for the winter (After Marinette's little stunt when she was sick, Adrien made a point to come over and help her move the potted plants safely inside her room).

The large multitude of plants look almost entirely red. They're covered in a bunch of ladybugs, likely hundreds, if not more. It looks as though Marinette has a little dish of water out for the spotted beetles.

"Hibernation support group?" Allan suggests.

"I think I heard something about this last year? For whatever reason Marinette's plants are the local ladybugs' favorite ones to hibernate on. She's got a bunch of little bug-ddies." Adrien shrugs, smiling at his pun.

"Eyyy!" Claude approves of the joke.

They keep talking, and with the window now closed, the heaters can actually warm the room. Marinette begins to stir slightly, glaring at the lights for having the audacity to be bright.

Adrien boops her nose, "Hey Mari, welcome back to the real world."

She frowns at him, "No."

"'No' what exactly?" Claude leans forward slightly, enjoying the tired girl's nonsense.

She just sticks her tongue out, clearly having not thought out her retort.

"A valid point. Carry on." Allan nods solemnly.

As the room warms further, Marinette grows more lucid, eventually sitting up (mostly) on her own, still leaning heavily on Adrien. The model wraps the fallen blanket around her carefully.

"Hey Mari, what's on your wall?" Claude gestures above her desk.

She turns, not sure which of her pictures he's talking about, "Huh?"
"The purple, pink, and blue thing. It looks like my flag."

"Oh. Tha's jus' a color reference. Wh't flag?"

"The ambigender flag. I have one in my locker, but I don't think you've seen it. I used to have one in my room, but I lost it."
"I still don't understand how you managed that. It wasn't like, tiny, or anything. Seriously Claude how?" this sounds like something Allegra has dwelled on.

He shrugs unhelpfully.

"Wait, so what pronouns do you use?" Adrien asks. Marinette appreciates it, words are not her strong suit in the winter.

"I am he/him and they/them at the same time, all the time!"

"Huh. Okay, good to know."

"Yeah, I guess I never mentioned it."

Their conversation moves on, eventually Adrien's phone beeps and he glances at it,"Well, my time is up. I've got to head out in a moment." He glances down at the girl who has fallen asleep on him again, "Mari, I've got to go." He begins picking up her up carefully, but she has a surprisingly tight grip for someone of her stature.

He's experienced in dealing with cuddly pig-tailed girls though, and manages to extricate himself. She looks at him tiredly and in distress. He feels bad, but he does have to go. She'd probably sleep the day away if given the opportunity and he does have places to be.

"Sorry." He says goodbye to the others and slips out of the room. Claude is the next closest and Marinette flops on them instead to continue her nap.

"Ha! I have the tired girl now!" he raises his hands victoriously before readjusting the blanket she still has.

"That's a bit of a double-edged sword bud. Adrien made escape look much easier than it actually is." Allan warns.

"I think I'll live."

"If we're going to stay over, we should probably get permission first." Allegra points out eventually.

Felix nods, "Correct. We do not even know if Marinette is okay with the plan yet."

"That's corrected easily enough." Claude pokes Marinette a few times to get her attention, "Hey, hey, Mariiiii."

Her eyes crack open and she looks up at them, blinking a few times, "Hmm?"

"Do you wanna' have a sleepover over here? Or I guess, do you want us to have one?"

The cogs in her mind are turning slower than normal - the stress of the afternoon has sped up her approaching winter-ladybug-instincts, which don't mesh well with normal human life. Eventually she figures out what's happening and nods sleepily, giving Claude a hug.

"Alright! Now we just need the permission of the parents!" Claude gets out his own phone, and the rest follow suit.

Allan stands, "I'll ask Tom and Sabine."

Eventually all the adults have given the go-ahead and the group is set to stay the night.

"Yay! First sleepover with Marinette!" Claude announces.

"She's got the first part down pretty good." Allan gestures at the limp girl that's still napping.

"She was pretty awake earlier. Adrien must just be that much warmer." Allegra shakes her head, "Another reason for him to have stayed."

"Well, she was certainly right when she said she'd fall asleep on the same people a lot. Adrien and Claude must be the warmest of us." Allan points out, "She uses them as a pillow the most."

The trapdoor opens and Sabine peaks in, "Hi dears. Your parents are dropping off your clothes and such so you can go change now. Marinette will probably be better off in some warm pajamas. There's some pizza things in the kitchen, you dears can make your own as dinner. Tom and I will be out for a few hours, but we'll be back before too late. Don't burn the place down while we're gone." She winks, then slips out.

"We should head down then. Mari can meet us in the kitchen."

"If she ever sets Claude free." Allan looks at the boy, who clearly underestimated the difficulty of freeing themself from Marinette's clutches.

"I've got to go now…" he looks to the rest pleadingly, "Help."

Allegra and Felix give him looks that clearly mean 'you did this to yourself', but Allan crouches beside them, carefully prying her off. Claude stands, free at last.

"You should get changed, Mari. Can you meet us in the kitchen?" he stands once she's nodded at him.

Once the group have left, Tikki flies into the open. She's not quite as tired as her holder - having not been emotionally traumatized today.

"Marinette, you should get changed. Pjs are nice!" After the girl pushes herself over to her clothes, the Kwami goes to check the old phone. She'd been trapped in Marinette's purse during the whole debacle and wanted to know exactly what had been said. She understands why they'd kept the phone away from her though, and Tikki is more than capable of patience.

"Oh, Marinette… " The texts were worse than what she'd expected. That poor girl. Tikki hides the phone away, hoping to deal with it later.

The girl in question has dressed herself in pjs that look comfortable and well within her normal color palette. The Goddess is relieved to see no signs of aposematic coloration.

She flies to hide in Marinette's hair as they make their way to the kitchen.

The oven is already preheating, and Marinette does the sensible thing and sits right in front of it. Tikki has no complaints, it's warm and closed so they can safely sit there for a little bit at the very least.

Her friends show up again, each in a change of clothes, and place their bags near the couch. Allegra is the first to spot Marinette.

"Oh, honey, maybe you shouldn't sit there. That's an oven."

Marinette just shrugs, not moving away. The heat has definitely helped her some. Maybe she should sit directly in front of heat sources more often….

The boys spot her, Claude shakes their head, gripping her arms and helping her to a stool.

"There. Now you're not right in front of an oven. Besides, you need to show us how to make pizzas!"

Marinette blinks at him, "It's not too complicated?"

"Still!"

Marinette shrugs, grabbing the dough and splitting it into six equally sized balls. Marinette takes one and rolls it out to a flat circle. She tops it with all of the meat options at the table. She goes over a few other steps, then puts it in the oven. She passes a dough ball to each of them, including herself and they all go about topping their pizzas. Marinette adds mushroom to hers - a new thing for her, but having the Ladybug miraculous has changed her food preferences a little.

Claude speaks, their voice grave, "Now, guys, I know what I'm about to do is controversial, but I hope that afterwards we can still be friends." He's holding his closed fist above his pizza. When he has all of their attention, he opens it slightly, dropping a pineapple chunk onto the pizza.

Dramatic gasps come from all the others at the table. Claude continues in his delinquent ways, adding a more equal amount on the pizza.

They move on, eventually everyone's pizzas are done and added to the oven too. The group cleans up, putting the things away and clearing the counter.

"What should we do now?" Allan sits next to Marinette.

"There's games downstairs, you guys could go pick some out if you want. I'll watch the oven."

"You just want to stay in the kitchen where it's warm." Claude winks at her.

She shrugs at him, "Maybe."

"As long as you stay in the chair - no sitting near ovens this time." Allan gives her a look.

She smiles sheepishly. They head downstairs, preparing themselves for Claude to have them carry every board game up for them to play.

Once she hears their footsteps grow softer, Marinette stands from her chair and quietly heads up to her room and out onto her balcony.

She stands at the far edge, looking around at the rooftops nearby. The cold begins getting to her and she begins to droop slightly. Her eyelids seem strangely heavy - she'd forgotten just how cold the outdoors are.

"Just what are you doing out tonight, purr-incess?"

She wheels around at her partner's voice behind her. He's looking at her in concern, resting above her on one of the taller walls that serves as a back to the balcony. "It's a little cold for you isn't it? Last time I was here you had a fever - can't have that again."

She only yawns, stumbling closer to the trapdoor. He lands on the balcony, steadying her.

"Let's get you inside. It's cold, Mari."

Once inside, she climbs down the ladder, motioning for him to follow. He does so, confused.

"I made a…" The rest of the sentence comes out as tired gibberish that he can't quite interpret.

She leads him into the kitchen.

"What was that?"

She leans against the oven, warming herself up for a bit before trying again, "I made you a pizza…"

He smiles, "Thanks, Marinette."

She's glad he doesn't ask why. She can't exactly say that it's an apology for being unable to go to patrol tonight. It'd also be weird to say that she just thinks he deserves something nice.

A voice comes from the hall, "'Nette, you'd better not be leaning against the oven again! Just 'cause it isn't dangerous doesn't mean it's a good idea!"

Chat Noir recognizes Allan's voice. It would seem the sleepover happened after all.

"Princess are you doing something you're not supposed to?"

"Nooo. He jus' doesn' like my warmin' tactics. Mean." She's pouting, clearly still cold from her little venture to the outdoors. It seems likely she'll fall asleep before the pizzas are done.

"Who are you talking to Marinette?" Allegra calls as they all turn into the kitchen again, stopping as they see who it is that has joined them spontaneously.

"Him." Marinette points at the hero, as if further clarification were needed.

"Hi." Chat flutters his fingers at all of them, "Princess here found a stray."

"Not a stray… you go' Ladybug." Marinette corrects.

He clicks his tongue, pointing at her in agreement, "Very true, can't argue with you there."

"So we left for, what? Five minutes? And Marinette has just pulled one of the two heroes of Paris out of thin air? I need to stop getting surprised by these things." Allegra shakes her head.

"Marinette is just that great!" Claude shouts.

"Marinette, what did I say about the oven?" Allan won't let her surprise guest distract him from her rule-breaking.

In response, the girl only falls onto her side, her eyes fighting her to close.

"She may or may not have been outside for a little bit. I don't know how long." Chat adds, seeing how they're looking at her slumped form.

"Alright, we can wait for the pizzas upstairs, Mari here should probably get somewhere warmer that isn't an oven."

She apparently hears this, pushing herself to a standing position, walking precariously to the stairs, the group follows her up.

She wanders over to her ladybug-covered plants, curling up near them and sleeping immediately. A few of the spotted bugs move to rest on her instead.

They set down the games they'd brought up and sit around the room. Allan tries to cover the napping girl with a blanket without disturbing the bugs. He eventually moves some of them back to the plants, leaving three or so in her hair.

"So how did you arrive here?" Felix turns to the cat hero.

"I was doing patrol and saw her on her balcony. Figured I'd check on her, seeing as the last time I saw her on her balcony she had a fever." He shrugs, "Then she pulled me into the kitchen. Said she made me a pizza."

"That's what that extra was for!"

"She was on her balcony when she had a fever?" Allan frowns.

"She was very determined to get her plants inside. I talked her out of it."
"So you guys know each other pretty well? You and Ladybug seemed to recognize her by name."

"Yeah… her old school is kind of an akuma hotspot, she's one of two students in the class that hasn't been akumatized, including the teacher." His face darkens, "Though apparently that almost wasn't the case."

At their questioning looks he continues, "She told me there's been… 5? 6? Akumas after her just this school year."

"Oh, 'nette." Allan brushes her hair out of her eyes, watching her sleeping face.

"Anyways, yes, I've seen her a few times near akumas, but she doesn't typically stick around long. I only met her officially during Evillustrator."
"Evillustrator?"

"One of her former classmates got akumatized and she agreed to go on a date with him if he would stop attacking people. She got his akumatized object- or almost at the very least, but boats aren't the best place for a fight."

Allegra thinks for a moment, "Didn't one of you mention she took over City Hall?"

"Yup. While Darkblade was taking over the city she led her class in blockading the building - pretty impressive."

"Goodness, Mari. Got anything else you're hiding from us?"

A timer goes off from below and Allan and Allegra go to remove the pizzas. They return with waters and the sliced pizzas on a plate, having found a pizza cutter Marinette had left out.

They hand out the pizzas, Allan sitting beside Marinette and putting hers in front of her.

He sets his down too, turning to try and wake the girl.

"Hey, 'Nettie, ya' gotta' wake up. It's time to eat. You didn't have a lunch, and I doubt you ate breakfast. Come on."

She stirs eventually. Her movement prompts the rest of the ladybugs to fly back to their plants.

She spots the water, and as usual, drinks some of that immediately. They've learned by now she'll drink water if it's put in front of her. Food is a different story.

Allan pushes the plate at her, and she blinks at him, as if daring him to suggest she eat instead of sleep. The nerve of this boy.

"Come on, you can't just eat nothing again."

"Again?" Claude sounds concerned.

Allan turns to him, "'Member when she got a fever? All she'd had the day before was like two granola bars and a bottle of water."

They look at the girl, "Mari…"

Something sticks in Chat's head, but he can't quite make the connection - deciding to drop it for now.

"Princess, we're all in agreement, you need to eat. Majority rules."

She glares at the group, though it's not exactly effective given her exhaustion. She does start to eat though, so they take it as a win.

The warm food and multitude of heaters eventually wake her up further, and she's capable of proper communication again. She's better at sitting up too which helps for when they start on their board games.

Chat stays for a few games, but does have to leave eventually. After a few hours, they put the games away - Marinette's been sleeping on Claude for almost half an hour now, so it's probably about time anyways.

Notes:

Good job, Marinette! This chapter marks a change for her. She'll be getting better from here, mostly because she's no longer trying to hide her past. She can talk about it now.

So Claude is ambigender. When I was writing up a character sheet for him I found that I kept called him 'they' in my head. I figured I might as well roll with it. The only change I make for writing for him is that I switch up which pronouns I use as I write. I am no expert on gender identity or anything like that, so if there's anything that I should keep in mind for them or if there's something I'm doing wrong please let me know. I tried to do as much research as I could, but I'm aware that that can only take me so far. I welcome any feedback, I want to make sure I'm doing this right.

I'm aware that the whole 'don't sit in front of the oven' thing is a little odd. I'm not saying that's inherently dangerous, but, like, there are better choices.

The next chapter isn't as calm. Very much the opposite. Sorry, not sorry. I promise it's the final big bump in the road.

Woah, no page breaks in this chapter? I think that's a first.

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 18: An Unpleasant Surprise

Summary:

A field trip to the museum doesn't go as expected.

Notes:

Sorry for the late(ish) update! I'm still sick and slept in. Anyways, there isn't a strong language for this chapter, which honestly surprises me.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

December had finally arrived. The friends were taken aback that they had a field trip.

"How did we forget about this again?" Allan turns to the others.

They're waiting outside for the buses, and Marinette is leaning against Claude, no one is quite sure if she's awake.

Due to the sleepy girl on their side, Claude settles for a one-sided shrug, "I dunno'."

"I'm excited! I haven't been to the Louvre in a while." Allegra is bouncing slightly.

"This is still a school trip. Do not forget to do what you are supposed to. I believe some teachers made lists." Felix looks at Claude in particular.

He only shrugs lopsidedly again, grinning.

A breeze goes by, and Marinette shifts in an attempt to protect herself from it. She slips off of Claude's coat as the buses pull up. She comes concerningly close to collapsing on the ground, but he grabs her again, helping her onto the bus. At least in a seat she can't fall in the snow.

They've been at the museum for about an hour. Marinette's in one of the less popular exhibits on a bench. Her friends left for a moment - she assured them it would be fine. There were a few things they wanted to look at, but Marinette is too tired to be in the mood to explore with them.

She hears someone walk into the room, one of them's probably returned already.

"Marinette?"

Oh no.

"It is you!"

Oh no no.

"Here I thought this would be a boring field trip!"

No nonono

"This is a spectacular surprise though!"

Lila.

Marinette is too tired to even give some sort of retort in her defense. Her brain is convinced that by staying perfectly still she'll be spared.

"See, I told you I knew what I was doing." Lila is inspecting her nails, "No one's seen you in months and they all still hate your guts - rightfully so of course."

She's finally near the girl. Marinette's eyes never leave her, but her body is frozen - her brain too slow and too tired to do anything to save herself. What are even her options here? Leaving and risking meeting more of her old classmates?

She'd been doing so much better recently, but this - on top of the old phone incident not too long ago - she's reaching for her rules again out of comfort. She hasn't thought of her lists in so long, but now she runs through each item systematically in her head, desperate for any sort of comfort.

"You know, they call me their everyday ladybug now? I'm honestly insulted - not only did they give me your old dumb title, but they're comparing me to her. They were that is, until I changed that." the liar's voice is filled with disgust as she thinks of Ladybug.

Please stop.

"Look at you! You're pathetic! I can't believe I considered you a legitimate threat to me. I could have just left you be and they would have eventually left you in their own time."

Marinette manages to turn her head away, squeezing her eyes shut.

Lila grabs a pigtail and sharply yanks her head to face her again, "You could at least look at me you disappointing nobody."

Stop it stop it stop it.

Her eyes are closed, but tears are visibly welling up. Lila cackles, " Oh, are you sad? Can't handle the facts? The truth?"

She pulls the girl up by her arms, purposefully digging her nails into the skin, "Do you want to know the truth?"

She digs the nails in deeper, raking them down her arms, "This is the perfect opportunity to keep all that lovely Marinette-hate going. Without any material it could have died down-"

stopstopstopstoppleasepleasestop

She drops the girl to the ground, she falls, feeling shaky and sick. She must have scraped her knees some time because they're bleeding now.

Lila crouches down to her level, "-but now I can spin this anyway I want. Those morons could walk in right now and would still believe me if I told them you attacked me. They just despise you that much. Not that I can blame them - you're just so detestable."

Marinette tries to curl into herself, but being on the floor she's at a disadvantage.

Lila grabs her wrist.

The wrist.

The one Alya held her by on that Thursday. Marinette unconsciously keeps track of that.

"This is the one isn't it? I watched. That was quite the fall. Not to mention how you twisted it. I'm surprised you didn't break it. I wish I had a recording though. Everything you do is just so pitifully bad. "

She tightens her grip, digging her nails in again.

Lila drags the girl back to her feet, Marinette doesn't meet her eyes.

Lila yanks her by the pigtail once more, forcing the girl to face her directly, "I told you to look at me you cretin."

"That is enough!"

Lila turns at the new voice. She sees Adrien with four vaguely familiar people. Clearly they won't be on her side.

"Is it though?" She shoves the designer backwards harshly. She can't quite see, but from the corner of her eye it looks like Marinette fell on that same wrist. She grins - it's honestly kind of funny to her.

She recognizes the one who spoke now. Felix Voclain. She'd almost gone to his school instead, he is of a similar status to Adrien. She'd decided against it when she realized the boy had more real-world experience. He'd have been harder to manipulate than the sheltered model.

"Lila. Leave her alone." Sunshine boy's voice is cold, he's as mad as she's ever seen him.

Wow, and she thought this would be a boring day. This is exhilarating.

"I'll step away." She holds up her hands in mock surrender, 'accidentally' taking a step back onto the girl's hand. That arm is really going to be in rough shape, "Whoops!" She walks toward the exit.

A blonde girl grabs her arm harshly, "You're not going anywhere."

Rude. She twists her arm roughly when the girl isn't expecting it, hurrying away before they can catch her again.

Maybe she could put her arm in a sling for that.

As soon as they'd seen Adrien, they began to worry. When he confirmed that the other class is also at the museum for a field trip they headed back to where they'd last seen Marinette. They didn't want to risk her facing any of those people alone.

They'd been too late, arriving in time to see the exhausted girl being held up as one pigtail was pulled sharply. It looked like she was bleeding too, and there were tear tracks on her face.

Once Lila made her escape, they rushed to Marinette's side.

"Marinette, it's okay. She's gone now."

She only whimpers in response, curling into herself, pulling her legs up.

A cursory glance over her gives them an idea of what happened. She looks pale and sickly, covered in scratches. Her knees are bleeding the most, though her arms have the most marks by far. Some have a little blood, and there's nail marks in her wrist. That same wrist looks like it's swelling slightly, which makes sense given how she fell on it and how Lila stepped on it. Her pigtails are loose, a few strands even pulled out from the yank.

"Oh, dear, you're safe now. It'll be alright. I promise."

They don't see the butterfly until it lands on her earrings.

"Oh no. No nonononono."

They all back up slightly, Adrien gets ready to run off and transform.

There's a tense moment as her unfocused eyes stare ahead blankly, the butterfly symbol over her face.

Her eyes slip shut.

The butterfly flutters away, down the hall.

Adrien knows he should let Ladybug know, but Marinette is his priority. Fighting off Hawkmoth took the rest of her strength and she's fallen into an uneasy sleep. He picks her up gingerly, careful of her injuries.

"Another akuma. She's amazing, poor girl."

He nods in agreement with Allegra's statement. He looks at the group, "I can't keep leaving school randomly. Can one of you help her to my car? My driver can take you to her house."

Claude nods, helping Adrien shift the girl into their own arms, "We'll go home with her. Her parents can take care of her from there. Would he be able to drive us back?"

Adrien nods, waving as they hurry out of the room.

Plagg flies out immediately,"Cataclysming her face is still on the table kid. Just saying."

"No, Plagg, murder is illegal."
"Not if they deserve it."

"Still illegal. Plagg, claws out!"

Chat Noir stands in his place, rushing in the hall in the direction Adrien had seen the butterfly go. He pulls out his baton to contact Ladybug. As he turns a corner he spots the evil butterfly and Lila.

He begins to record. He and Ladybug had both agreed that Lila's track record for being akumatized seemed a little fishy.

That doesn't mean he is expecting what happens next. Lila's face lights up at the purple bug, and she rushes to it immediately. She touches a bracelet to the creature, and the butterfly symbol appears over her face.

Volpina stands in her place, hurrying away before he can do much. He sends the video to Ladybug and chases after her.

This is an interesting development.

Tikki looks down at the sleeping girl below her. Marinette certainly deserves the break, but she wishes that it didn't require this. The poor girl is all scratched up, and she's sprained her wrist again. Lila won't go unpunished though.

She's made sure of that.

The Kwami startles when she realizes Chat Noir sent a message to Ladybug, quickly followed by a video.

An akuma, oh of course.

"Marinette, I'm sorry, but you have to get up." She floats near the girl's face, tapping her gently, "There's an akuma."

The girl groans, wrinkling her face at the interruption, "Wha'?"

"Mari, dear, there's an akuma."

"Ughhh." She props herself off, "Why?"

"It's probably the one that you fought off…"

Tikki sees the realization that strikes Marinette's face, and smiles softly at her, trying to be comforting.

"Oh." Stupid girl, you fell asleep instead of doing your job. Lila was right, "S-spots on."

She might as well actually get her job done properly now. She sees a message from Chat Noir about an akuma at the Louvre, confirming that it's got to be that same akuma that went after her.

She just took a nap instead of doing the one thing that people actually need her for. Failure.

She exits her room, swinging to the museum, wondering who got akumatized this time.

Ladybug arrives on a nearby rooftop, surveying the area. Then she sees them.

Chat Noir is clearly fighting the akuma already - it's Volpina.

No. No, no, no.

Ladybug isn't ready to face her again. Her wrist still hurts, and she can feel the scratches beneath her suit,

But she's already messed up enough today. She doesn't deserve leniency.

She hops into the battle, ready to end this.

Volpina stays close to the Louvre. It's odd, until the heroes realize she wants her classmates to notice her being an akuma. She isn't trying to get any particular goal - it's just to make it seem like she had been really upset during the field trip to earn sympathy points.

After about an hour, the battle is finally over, and Ladybug throws her Lucky Charm into the air, repairing the damage caused.

Chat comes up from the side she isn't expecting, holding his fist out. She hesitates, the fist that she would use is on the side that she hurt earlier. Ladybug uses the other fist.

"Pound it!"

"That's what I thought." He looks at her in concern, "Ladybug, you're favoring your right wrist."

Oh. He'd noticed.

It got in the way of you doing your job that badly. Idiot.

"I just, uh sprained it." She looks away - the ground is fascinating.

"How did that happen? You could have told me, there's no need to suffer in silence."

She hesitates, trying to think of a half-truth over a lie, but all she can think of is the run-in with Lila. He sees the look on her face.

"Oh, Bug, what happened?" His voice is gentle, and he steps toward her slowly. He unconsciously notes the brighter colors of her suit and knows not to startle her.

She panics, not wanting him to see her cry like the failure she is for the upteenth time. She turns, walking to another part of the museum. She sees her friends talking quietly - probably worried about her. She hurries to a corner where they won't see her. Look what she's done. Or maybe it hit them that she isn't worth their time.

Both options are ones she doesn't want.

Chat comes up next to her, touching her arm gently to get her attention. He cocks his head at her, trying to see her face. He frowns at her tightly shut eyes and the visible tears waiting to fall. Ladybug turns her head away.

You're Ladybug. You have to be okay. You can't not be okay. You are Ladybug. You're fine. You're fine, you're absolutely fine-

Her partner raises his arms in an offer of a hug and she breaks, shaking quietly and leaning into him.

Ladybug doesn't let herself cry, just accepting the comforting hug.

After a moment, their miraculouses beep and they break apart.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"...I just fell." It's a complete lie and they both know it. What else is she supposed to say? That she couldn't defend herself from the girl they just defeated?

"Sure." He looks at her doubtfully, but allows her to just lie to his face like she isn't a good-for-nothing flop.

This is why he's a hero. He's a good person.

They both go their separate ways, and Ladybug slips into Marinette's room, falling asleep again as she detransforms.

Her Kwami sits above her, watching her sleep. The cold gets to her eventually as well, and she falls asleep too.

"Oh, she's sleeping."

Marinette's friends have stopped by after school to drop off her homework, and check on her.

"I would guess that's due to the fact that her trapdoor is open." Felix points above her bed.

"What was she doin' on her balcony?" Allan asks as Claude climbs up to shut it properly.

"I noticed before that it gets stuck a little bit. Kinda' works against her heaters." Claude hops off the ladder.

Allegra sets the girl's bags against her chaise, "Should we wait to see if she wakes up, or just go?"

"We can wait a little, I'd like t' talk to her." Allan answered, "Besides, I think she should talk to people that aren't gonna hurt 'er."

"Poor thing." Claude fiddles with Marinette's phone, probably adding some positive reminder.

"Oh, that little- "

"Allegra, it will do no good to be upset now." Felix interrupts her.

"I know, but still! I can't believe someone would do that to her! It's not even like she was planning on talking to any of that girl's sheep, she just wanted to sleep!"

"At least she got a chance to rest once she got home."

The group gets a text.

Claude checks their phone first, "Adrien wants to know if we've checked on Mari. I'm letting him know we're here."

A moment then, "He says he's at fencing now. He's father's got a bunch of things scheduled for him today, so he can't come over."

"Shoot."

"Ugh! That guy! I should start a record of people who need to be replaced as parents and friends."

"Allegra, you can't kidnap Adrien. That's very illegal, especially considering how rich the family is."
"Someone needs to give that man a parenting manual. I'm also not hearing anything against getting rid of Alya and Lila."

"Can't do that either."

Allegra just paces angrily, Claude looks up, "Even though they deserve it?"

"Yes, Claude," Felix joins Allan's side, "You cannot just 'get rid of' people for being mean."

"Ha! That's the understatement of the century! How about malicious? Or despicable? Or wicked? Or-" Allegra lists.

Allan cuts her off, "We don't need an entire thesaurus Al'."

She just mumbles lividly.

"I find it odd that she became akumatized." Felix interjects.

"Who? Lila? Why?" Allan looks to him.

"Did she seem particularly upset to you?"

"That's… a fair point"

There's shifting from above, and they hear a quiet murmur, though they can't make out the exact words.

Claude throws their arms up, "Mari! How are you doing?" He climbs the ladder slightly, peeking over the edge of the bed.

"You say sumthin' 'Nette?"

All they can make out from her sleepy mumbles is the word 'ladybug'.

"Let's give you a moment to wake up." Claude suggests.

She nods, leaning against the wall. After a moment she speaks again,"Lila doesn't like Ladybug… I think she like bein' akuma…"

"Do you mean that she purposefully becomes akumatized so as to better go after Ladybug?" Felix clarifies.

"Why would she do that?" Allan sounds appalled.

Marinette shrugs, "Dunno'... bein' akuma isn' fun."

Claude offers her a hug,"I wouldn't think so. I'm sorry you got targeted again."
She flops into his hug,"Not your fault…" It's mine. My own dumb self for being incapable of keeping my emotions in check. Stupid wanna-be hero.

"Still." They hug her tighter, careful to be mindful of the scratches. Claude looks down at the others, who shrug helplessly.

Marinette seems about to fall asleep again, Claude brushes her hair out of her face, "We love you, Mari."

The tired girl looks surprised at first, then confused, then she just closes her eyes, mumbling, "'oo too…"

The group smiles at that.

Notes:

Poor Marinette. Don't worry, she doesn't have a run-in with any of the old classmates for another... okay actually that's pretty soon. Sorry, not sorry! The next chapter doesn't actually happen directly after this one, but I can assure you Marinette was hugged plenty. Lots of comfort for her.

I'm excited for next chapter actually! I'm sure you're all curious about who will hold which miraculous within the quantic kids. I've already decided all of them, and next chapter will show you one of them! I'd love to hear your theories and reasoning! It took a lot of time for me to decide, but I'm happy with my choice (and may or may not have been leaving a few hints within past chapters).

Speaking of next chapter, it'll be Wednesday! Another bonus chapter! If you're reading this after it already came out, I'd still love to hear your theories before you click that 'next chapter' button. There will be one more bonus chapter this month, and then I no longer need to worry about timing my posting correctly, so bonus chapters may become more frequent. We'll see, it depends on how much free time I get (school is so time-consuming).

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 19: Some Guy With Knives

Summary:

Ladybug is too tired to remember much about the akuma, but given his tendency to throw sharp objects, our super duo is going to need some help.

Notes:

Oh boy! I hope you guys like how I did this! No akuma reference slide for this chapter, mostly because my 'design' for the akuma is basically summed up in the title. I'll be back Saturday as usual with even more excitement!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Bug?" Chat looks down at the heroine laying on his lap.

She doesn't respond, her breathing even. It snowed for the first time last week, and Ladybug is fully in hibernation mode. Being outside for patrol isn't going to keep her any more awake.

He'd like to talk to her though, and for that she does kind of need to be conscious. He nudges her gently, speaking a little louder, "Ladybug."

She blinks her eyes open for a moment, then screws them shut, curling closer to him.

"Ladybug, come on, I have to talk to you." He gently shakes her shoulder, "Just a quick thing, then you can go home."

"I don' wanna'..." She speaks slowly and slurred with fatigue, "'re warm…"

"I'm sure being inside would be warmer."

She shakes her head.

"Are you awake enough for a conversation?" Typically she can make it through the day pretty okay. Not quite awake - but alert enough and able to contribute in attacks. They had an attack earlier though, and with her still slightly favoring one hand she is entirely spent. If being near him makes her more awake, he can only imagine what it's like in her everyday life.

"Def-in-ly…" She seems very sure, but he only raises an eyebrow. The light snowfall probably isn't helping her.

"Sure. I'll pretend that was more convincing."

She sticks her tongue out in retort, only to flinch and frown when a snowflake has the audacity to land on it.

"Do you have any ideas on new miraculous holders? It'd probably be best to know before they're needed. We're going to need help considering that it's winter."

"...sorry…"

"What are you sorry for?" Has she had trouble choosing? That's no problem, they already agreed they'd go to Chloe.

"Bein' useles'..." She says it so matter-of-factly. He's taken aback. She'd been doing better recently, something must have happened. He can only guess it has something to do with her sprained wrist.

She 'fell'. As if.

"Oh, Bug, no. What makes you say that?" He's been trying to remember Claude's tips, instead of just telling her that she's wrong.

Despite being entirely exhausted, her face is easy for him to read, and he doesn't like the way she looks at him as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"...don' do any'thin…"

"You do lots! You figure out how to use the Lucky Charms, and you comfort the victims afterwards. You're leading by example - it's part of why there isn't much bias against akuma victims."

She shakes her head, "...could do bett'r…"

"How's that?"

"...less tires...be fast'r…"

"You can't help how tired you are. You still do incredibly well even despite your tendencies. We work as fast as we can, but it's hard work, we can't help if it takes longer than people want. We aren't perfect. I mean, look at me-"

She glares at him, "You're great hero… be nice to you self." She seems to have put extra effort into making sure her message got across.

He smiles, "Only if you're nice to you." He understands that there's a difference between being critical and being hateful. He'd like to draw her back over to the right side.

She frowns at this, as if she's considering it, but remains unconvinced. It'll take time, he's just glad she's considering it.

"You can head home now, m'lady." He begins to shift slightly so that they can get up, but she only hugs him tighter.

"Nooo! 're warm!"

"Another five minutes, but you do need to sleep in an actual bed. You'll be warm, I promise."

She looks at him with big eyes, "...'ll miss you…"

"I'll miss you too, Bugaboo." He brushes her hair out of her eyes. He looks forward to the day when he can see her beautiful face without a mask.

For now though, he watches her rest. Once their time is up, he wakes her up carefully, making sure she descends the tower safely before he returns to his house.

Ladybug really doesn't like this akuma. It had interrupted her sleep. Not that she hadn't been sleeping a lot, but still. It's the principle of the matter.

It didn't help that this certainly isn't the type of fight that is forgiving towards having slower reflexes. She can't even remember its name, the only thing that really matters is it's inclination towards throwing sharp things. Forks, pins, scissors, knives.

With her fight-or-flight response seemingly beginning to lean more toward 'freeze' for whatever reason, she isn't really well-suited for this fight. It's been almost an hour, and the heroes have been lucky that they haven't been hit badly.

As she thinks that, she slips slightly and gets nicked by a pin, drawing blood across her cheek. She doesn't really register it - her mind too tired and wanting to sleep.

Her partner curses, hopping to her side, "We should back off."

She frowns, unable to think of a clear reason why, "Why?"

"This isn't the place for a conversation, come on."

She turns to him, following him a few rooftops away.

"Are you okay?" He looks at her cut in concern. His hand hesitates just in front of it, looking at it carefully.

"Wha'?" Too many things are going on, her brain can't keep up. Why can't she go to sleep again?

"You got hit." He deems her cut to be non-threatening, backing off slightly. "I think we should get help."

"Okay?" This is all very confusing.

He notices her confusion, sighing, "How are you holding up? This has been our longest fight since winter began, and there's a lot of moving."

"Cold." sagging as she speaks. Snowflakes beginning to delicately fall around them, "Sleepy."

He smiles at her softly, "See? Help would be nice. If you don't have anyone in mind, we can use Chloe - Venom would be useful here."

"...right…"

"You can go to Fu's, his place will probably be warmer which would help you a little. I'll wait for you here."

She nods, heading in the direction of the Guardian's house.

When she arrives, he lets her in immediately. He doesn't comment on her drowsiness, Tikki takes the chance to nap on her head - lucky.

Fu puts the miracle box in front of her, "Choose wisely." He's short and to the point - knowing better than to trust a winter-ladybug's attention span.

She nods, staring at the miraculouses. Her brain takes a moment to register which is which. Which one is she supposed to take again?

The bee. Right.

She grabs it, putting it in a box and thanking Fu on her way out. She stands on the roof for a moment. She knows she can go to Chloe, but she really wants a clean transition.

She wants someone new, but who?

She needs someone who has the traits of a hero and will mesh well with the bee miraculous in particular.

Someone she can trust.

Someone comes to her mind.

She knocks on the window, the girl looks up from her desk, doing a double take when she sees Ladybug outside the window. She hurries to open it.

"Ladybug?! Is something wrong?"

"Allegra Coudriet, this is the Bee Miraculous, which grants you the power to immobilize your opponent. You will use it for the greater good, and when the job is done you will return it to me. Do you accept?"

The braided girl took a moment to recover from the shock, "Me? Are you sure?"

Ladybug nods,"Chat and I have put more time into deciding our back-up heroes, and their qualifications. I am sure." Does she sound awake enough for something this serious? She's certainly trying.

"Okay. I'll do this." Allegra puts the pin into her hair, and Pollen appears, startling the girl, "Um, hi?"

"Hello, my queen! My name is Pollen. Are you ready to be a hero?"

Allegra nods, looking a little overwhelmed.

"It's simple, say 'buzz on' to transform, and 'buzz off' to detransform. When you say 'venom' you will activate your special power, and can freeze anyone you touch. Once you have activated this power, you will have five minutes before you detransform. The comb will keep track of this for you."

"That's… a lot. I think I get it though!" Allegra says.

"Your top will have a user's manual, and Ladybug and Chat Noir can help lead you." The Kwami glances at the spotted heroine sympathetically, "Likely Chat Noir more than Ladybug, this time of year."

Ladybug nods lethargically. Her stamina for 'perfectly-normal-and-not-at-all-tired' is running low.

"Ready, my queen?"

Allegra nods, determined, "Pollen, buzz on!"

A yellow glow overtakes the girl, and when it fades, a new heroine stands in her place. Her suit is a different yellow from Chloe's, more honey-colored though still clearly yellow. The black is slightly browner, and is mostly absent from her upper half.

Her arms and shoulders are entirely yellow, with five stripes across her midsection, like a musical staff. Her feet are black, and a black line runs up the outside of each leg, branching off at her knee, where it splits into two stripes that curl around the back of her leg. Her mask covers more of her face, stretching from her forehead to the tip of her nose. There is a black outline along the top of her eyes, and a single black stripe going through her braid, which is slightly longer and ends in a similar shape to her spinning top.

She looks at herself, inspecting the outfit, then looks to Ladybug, "What now?"

"Chat is waiting for us, follow me." Ladybug leads her out the window, watching her as she adjusts to swinging by the roofs.

They arrive at the rooftop that she last saw Chat at.

"Welcome back, Bug." He sees the unfamiliar heroine with her.

"Chat, this is… what should we call you?" She turns to the girl.

She hesitates, thinking carefully then says, "Honey Bee."
"Well, I bee- leive you will be of great help to us. My Lady isn't exactly meant for long fights in the cold."

The two glance at the heroine in question, who is sagging slightly. Such a long time of keeping up the 'awake-and-alert' charade really wore on her.

"Do you know how your powers work?" Chat asks Honey.

"I think so. Uh.. Pollen explained it quickly?" She's hesitant.

"Okay, that's good enough. Basically, Ladybug and I will distract the akuma, and when I give the signal, you need to hit him with Venom, so that we can grab the akumatized object and finally get this over with."

Ladybug slumps further, on track for the ground, but he catches her.

"Is she okay?!" Honey Bee sounds alarmed. Parisians know of Ladybug's tiredness in the winter, but the full extent of it has been kept from them.

"She's fine. Just, uh, very tired. She shouldn't be outside in the cold this long." He begins waking her slightly, "Change of plans, I will distract the akuma, and we'll get the akumatized object to Ladybug or vice-versa when the fight is over. She can stay here."

Honey nods, determined. Chat sets Ladybug down carefully, reminding her to stay awake, and they head back to the akuma, Honey stays out of sight when they arrive.

"Honey Bee, now!" Chat gives the signal, and the new heroine, rushes forward.

"Venom!" Once the stinger makes contact, the victim freezes in place.

Chat swipes the object from him, turning to Honey, "Let's get this to Ladybug."

They find her where they left her, struggling to remain awake.

Chat crouches in front of her, "Hey, Bug, fight's over."

She nods, standing unsteadily, and waiting for her cue. He breaks the object, releasing the butterfly. Ladybug cleanses the butterfly and performs the cure, healing the cut on her face along with the rest of the damage the akuma caused.

"Well, I'll be on my way. Welcome to the team, Honey Bee." Chat salutes as the trio breaks from their 'pound-it' and turns to go.

"Wait!" He turns to Honey questioningly, "Don't you have to know who I am?"

He blinks, "No? It's a secret identity."

"But I'm a temporary hero, one you come to for back-up. What if Ladybug can't come to get me? Or if she can't tell you who I am and you need me?"

"That's… a fair point. I hadn't considered that. It's your identity, I guess you can tell me if you want."

Ladybug has been standing and blinking at them slowly. She doesn't give any protests, so Honey says, "Pollen, buzz off!"

Allegra stands in her place, and Chat shakes off his momentary surprise at seeing someone familiar, and feigns ignorance, "Hey, it's you! One of Mari's friends… Allegra was it?

Allegra smiles, and nods, "Yeah, that's me."

"Well, welcome to the team."

"I'm honored to have been chosen."

Ladybug doesn't seem to have taken much of this in, barely present to begin with. She takes out the box to return the miraculous when Chat takes it from her.

"You go home, Bug. I can return this." Ladybug nods, waving goodbye and swinging home. He turns to Allegra, "Can you get home on your own, or do you need a ride?"

She hands the miraculous to him, "I'll be fine on my own. If it starts storming or something I have a phone."

He nods, waving as he jumps away.

The next day, the group is having lunch in the library. It's quieter and easier for Marinette to rest. Not that much can keep her from sleeping at this point, but it's less crowded and her friends feel she's better off in here.

The girl in question is resting on Allegra. Typically she would choose Claude (he's warmest - second only to Adrien), but he was later today and Marinette didn't feel like putting in the effort to move.

"Did you guys see the attack yesterday? With the new hero?" Allegra asks nonchalantly.

"... like 'er… seem nice…" Marinette mumbles, happy with her effort when Allegra seems to glow.

"I thought she seemed really cool!" Claude says excitedly.

"Certainly more professional than Queen Bee. I will be interested to see her fight more." Felix approves.

"She seemed friendly. She seemed t' get along with Chat pretty well. Must've been exciting." Allan says.

"If you guys could be a hero, would you? I would!" Claude's immediate answer to his own question is a surprise to no one.

"It could be fun, I would at least try it." Allan says.

"For sure." Allegra agrees.

"It seems like quite the commitment. Having to interrupt your daily life at the whim of Hawkmoth. There would be a lot of pressure from the press too. I think that at this point in my life, I would not be interested. Perhaps when I have finished school." Felix points out. Marinette nods in agreement.

"I think that despite that, for me the pros would outweigh the cons." Allegra explains. Claude and Allan nod in agreement.

"Do ya' think they get a chance to practice? Or are they jus' thrown into battle?"

"It seems like it would be beneficial to give them a chance to practice."

Marinette considers this at the back of her mind. She'll have to talk to Chat and Fu, Allan and Felix have a point. The conversation moves on, but Marinette tunes out. She's just so exhausted. She had to be outside for an hour yesterday. It was cold . It was snowing . It was not fun.

Honey Bee did well though. It feels nice to know she didn't mess that decision up. She slips into a gentle sleep as her body gives into the cold.

"M'lady, you really don't have to come on patrols. Especially after how long you were out yesterday." Chat glares disapprovingly at his sluggish partner, crossing his arms.

"Had… an idea…" She looks at him sideways, without enough energy to properly hold her head upright.

"You couldn't have transformed at home and texted me?" She's barely standing.

"... oh yeah." That option has only occurred to her now that Chat suggested it.

"Well, you're here now. What is it?" He can't be mad at her for long. He's less mad and more worried anyways.

"Wha' if… we bring Honey… on patr'l…? Pract'ce?" She's trying to convey this as best she can.

"You want to bring Honey Bee on patrol so she can practice using her miraculous? That's a pretty good idea. Is she for sure our new bee holder? I thought she did well."

Ladybug nods, then falls forward, tripping over her feet to correct herself. Chat grabs her shoulders, propping her up.

"You sure you should be out?"

"Mhm."

"Okay…" He sounds doubtful, "I'll go to Fu, you wait by her place."

Allegra is still up, and readily agrees to attend patrol as practice.

"Where's Ladybug? Is she doing okay?"

"She's fine. Maybe we should explain the miraculous to you a little better."

They head to the roof. Ladybug is slumped in a corner completely asleep, he heads over to her, pulling her into his lap and hugging her close so that she'll wake up some.

Honey sits next to them, glancing at the heroine.

"I'm sure you're aware that Ladybug slows down a little during the winter?"

She nods, "Yeah, everyone knows that."

"We knew we wouldn't be able to keep that from people, but we have tried to avoid letting on just how much. We're heroes - weaknesses need to be kept under wraps and all that."
He unconsciously plays with her hair a little as he continues, "When you use a miraculous for long enough, there are… side effects."

"It's not hurting her is it?!" Honey is alarmed.

"No, no. The user takes on traits of the animal their miraculous is based off of. I purr, and have better night vision and hearing. There's quite a few actually. Ladybug has several too, but the biggest one is that ladybugs hibernate in the winter." He sees the understanding dawn on Honey's face.

"The colder she is, the more likely she is to fall asleep, and the more tired she gets. If it's pretty far into winter or too cold for too long, ladybug-instincts might take over. It happened for a moment last year. All human reason and common sense are out the window. Full ladybug. That was fun."

At Honey's questioning look, he elaborated, "It's hard to convince her that you can lead her somewhere warmer when she's convinced that sleeping with a bunch of actual ladybugs will solve everything. I had to carry her away after she fell asleep."

Honey smiles at the still-sleeping girl, "So she's fine then? Just tired? She reminds me of my friend."

Chat nods, now that she's pointed it out, Marinette and Ladybug react to the cold pretty similarly, "Yep, she's fine. She likes body-heat. Actually, my miraculous makes me a little warmer in the winter to balance her out. Magic balances out magic so she's most awake with me."

"Wha?" Right on cue, Ladybug has opened her eyes and blinks blearily at them.

"Hey Bugaboo."

"Hi Ladybug."

She just blinks at them, not quite comprehending.

"Alright. We should probably have you actually practice. My Lady, would you like to go home, or are you just going to be reckless with your health and safety as usual?"

Honey raises an eyebrow at the wording, wondering just how often Ladybug does something like this.

"Doin' patrol…" She stands shakily.

Honey looks at Chat, muttering under her breath, "Is this a good idea?"

"Eh… It's not ideal, but she'll make it about three blocks before she realizes I'm right. Consider it practice in keeping an eye on her. If we do call you in during the winter again, we'll have to keep an eye on her a little."

He's right of course. They don't make it far before she stumbles, Honey catching her carefully. Chat comes over to them, used to this conversation at this point.

Ladybug never believes she's allowed to take a break. Being a hero doesn't mean working herself to death, but she doesn't seem to realize that.

"Ladybug. Do you know what time it is?"

"...night?"

"What I think he meant, is that it's time for you to go home." Honey concurs.

"It's two to one, majority rules."

Ladybug scrunches up her face, taking a moment to process this, "...no, 'm fi-" She's cut off by a yawn.

"See?"

Ladybug submits, nodding and swinging home. When she slips into her trapdoor, she burrows under the blankets. Releasing her transformation, Tikki flies out and snuggles against her chosen. The cold pulls them into sleep.

Notes:

Soooo... thoughts? Allegra with the bee? (peachgreentea you got it!) I apologize that I accidently left you all at a slight disadvantage by failing to mention that I won't be using the zodiac miraculouses in this fic (several reasons, for one I haven't really seen most of season 3 so I barely know anything about them, and two I feel like they're almost too powerful? The Ladybug and Black Cat are supposed to be the most powerful and then we've got actual time travel? I have nothing huge against them or their characters though - just going to stick to the main seven in With Time). Anyways, reference slide here! I'm sorry for my poor design skills. I don't know what I'm doing, but I tried. It doesn't help that Google Slides is not for creating designs.

As for my reasoning with this? Well it took a while. I'm sure I'm not the only one well aware that Allegra is typically given the fox (as a concept character she fought with a flute so that makes sense), but I took weeks to dwell on this. I started thinking up this fic in late July. I (somewhat) finalized my decisions for who got what sometime in August (finally settled it around the time I actually started writing - late September). I flip-flopped between the bee and fox for her for a while though. I like both so much! However I went with personalities (mostly) to determine the final decision eventually. The personality I'd been developing for her just felt so much more like a bee to me. Melodie also had a yellow suit, so like... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Anyways, I'm happy with my final decision and I hope you like it too!

Fun fact! In early stages of this, I thought of her as 'Melo-bee'. I always knew it wouldn't be a serious name, but it made me smile everytime.

Next chapter will be Saturday! I've very excited. It marks a first for Adrien (something you may not have even noticed was missing, but was a very deliberate choice on my part from the very beginning).

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

(P.S. No, I did not spend all of July-September making this decision. I may be bad at decision making, but I'm not that bad. It was an off and on thing. I did spend plenty of time on it though. I wanted to be satisfied with my decision because it would have an impact on the story and everything I have planned after it.)

(P.P.S. I feel like I should have said this a long time ago, but if you're ever here early (like really, really early, and the links don't work, then just give me a minute. Any chapter with reference slides is a little extra effort because I have to post the chapters (on two separate platforms) then the slides, then open the slides' post and link it in each platform's version of the chapter. It doesn't take me that long, but if you do get here that early, just wait a moment and refresh the page - you should be good to go.)

Chapter 20: A Bittersweet Surprise

Summary:

An akuma attack interrupts Marinette and Adrien hanging out. Afterwards, they deal with an unexpected occurrence.

Notes:

Woo! Chapter 20! Here we go, I'm excited! This takes place mid to late December and oh hey a strong language warning! It's been a while! This chapter contains the words 'bitch' and 'asshole'.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Adrien and Marinette are hanging out at her house. He had a rare gap in his schedule caused by a few last-minute cancellations. The rest of their usual group couldn't make it, so it's just the two of them. They're doing homework, Marinette is writing a paper and Adrien is working on math.

One of her heaters is down, so the room is slightly colder than usual. After a while, Marinette starts to slump, leaning over onto Adrien.

"Mari, you gotta' do your paper." He nudges her. He doesn't actually know what the paper is about, but it's important for her to try to complete her homework.

"...don' like it…makes me sad, feel bad…he 'ould tell me it wron', but he doesn' kno…" It's a longer sentence than she usually would manage, and it only confuses Adrien.

"Who? Why does it make you sad?" Maybe she shouldn't be doing the paper if it's upsetting her.

"...don' like th' fac's...stupid…" Marinette tries to explain, while casually ignoring the first question. Even as tired as she is, she understands that her partner needs to stay a secret.

Adrien misunderstands her meaning,"You don't like the facts? You could find other information if you think it's stupid."

"...can' change fac's they're wha's true…notebook say so" She sounds very sure of herself. She slumps further onto Adrien's side. She tries to keep her eyes open, but her eyelids seem very heavy, they close every so often, and she forces them open again and again. She loses the fight eventually, her eyes close and she succumbs to sleep.

Adrien can't help but be tempted to read the paper. It's not like she said he couldn't read it. Maybe he can help with editing?

…

He doesn't like it either. At all.

It's an entire paper on Ladybug and her shortcomings, how she's a bad hero and needs to improve. It's multiple pages, and while there are specific events listed, there aren't any outside sources referenced.

Marinette came up with all of this on her own.

It makes him think of Ladybug's own doubts on herself - honestly the points are almost exactly the same. He can't let Marinette turn this in. She'd said herself that she doesn't like it.

"Mari." He shrugs his shoulder a little, hoping to jostle her into being awake, but she doesn't respond, "Marinette, I'd like to talk to you."

She hums, but her eyes remain closed.

"Marinette, we need to talk about your paper."

She blinks her eyes open, squinting. They're unfocused and don't seem to be taking in much. She blinks again, slower and seemingly heading back to sleep.

He prods her, "Marinette, stay with me."

She pulls herself upright - or as upright as she's going to get.

As he opens his mouth to begin, their phones ding in unison.

An akuma alert.

"Alright, I'll be right back, you stay here. We'll talk when I come back,"

She nods, and he slips into another part of the house to transform.

Ladybug must have been nearby, because she's already on a nearby rooftop. She looks droopy.

"Hey, Bugaboo. How are you?"

"Try'n t' sleep." She scrunches up her face, clearly distressed by the interruption.

"Well, we'll try to do this fast."

She nods sleepily, and they head in the direction of the fight.

Ladybug lands in an alley. They'd defeated the akuma soon enough - only about half-an-hour - and Chat didn't even have to use his Cataclysm. Her earrings are beeping, and she's about to speak the words to detransform when someone spots her.

"You!"

What?

She turns to see Alya at the entrance to the alley, looking furious.

No no n o no no nonono.

Ladybug hasn't seen or heard from her in weeks. What did she do now? Alya deleted the Ladyblog, she was supposed to have stopped coming near akuma attacks.

She feels the panic welling up inside her. She freezes. Her brain is sure that if she can only stay perfectly still this threat will leave her be. Another part of her mind says to play dead, but her human sensibilities keep that in check.

"You are a monster! How could you betray your own best friend? For someone like her?!"

At first Ladybug thinks that Alya has figured out her identity, but then she continues.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a disgusting excuse of a decent person who pretends she's some innocent snowflake! And you sided with her! Over Lila!"

What? No. No, no, no! She thought she'd finally been getting better at being a good person. Was she wrong?

"You and Lila were best friends! You were close, and you trusted each other, but then some liar plays victim and you turn sides! You bullied her! The person you called your best friend! You disgust me!"

She's stuck. Frozen in place. What is she supposed to do? Her mind is convinced that she's taken the safest option so far, so she just stays still, staring in horror.

"Marinette bullied her! Did you know that?! She cornered her during the school year to insult her, and Lila started believing it. Even during the summer, she messaged her from other accounts online! That good-for-nothing little bitch! Lila's self-esteem is terrible and it's all your fault! And hers!"

She's having trouble breathing.

"Marinette beat Lila up the first week back and you helped her! What kind of 'hero' are you?! And then again, back at the museum, Marinette beat her up again and you didn't care! Even when Lila got akumatized out of fear!"

Her vision is blurry, she can't make out anything accurately and she hasn't got her breathing under control.

"Even as an akuma she was scared of you! She wouldn't leave the Louvre because she felt safer around her real friends! Even though she was an akuma!"

Alya takes another step toward her, they're very close, but her vision is still wrong and it's hard to tell just how close.

"Why would you do something like that?! Why would you do that?!"

She feels a sharp pain on her cheek, but can't figure out what it is.

"Answer me, asshole!"

Someone lands in the alley.

Chat Noir is on his way back to Marinette's, but he doesn't make it far before he has to stop.

Something is wrong.

He doesn't know what, but he can feel the panic in his chest, even if it isn't his. It takes a moment to register, but he eventually realizes whose it is.

Ladybug.

It isn't her panic specifically, but something in him knows that she needs him, that she is most certainly panicking and he needs to intervene.

He'd only just left. She'd left to detransform, what had happened in the time?

The panic claws at him, and he doesn't know what to do. He can tell she's scared and he has to do something. He needs to help her.

He turns around. He hates that Marinette will be waiting longer for him, but she can be patient. Ladybug needs him. Now.

He hears yelling. Maybe she'd seen a new akuma, but wasn't able to transform?

Then he gets closer, and the words actually register with him, the voice, Alya.

Her words are sharp, harsh and clearly meant to hurt. To harm.

He can tell before he even arrives that they're directed at Ladybug.

He can hear her earrings beeping as he peeks over the alley. Ladybug barely has time left on her transformation, and Alya's anger doesn't show any sign of slowing down.

Alya takes a step forward, and slaps Ladybug across the face.

He jumps down before he even thinks about it.

"You need to leave, Césaire." He growls at the journalist.

"You! Do you know what she's done or- Oh you're probably just as bad as-"

"Césaire. Leave." He's seething - not even yelling - but the fury is clear. If he let himself do anything more, there wouldn't be any restraint left.

"If you think I'll-"

Ladybug has two spots left, and hasn't moved.

"Go. Now."

She gets the message, and stomps away. Chat turns to Ladybug immediately, face softening.

Her breathing is all over the place, her eyes are unfocused, and she isn't actually here. Not mentally. She's shaking. He hates to think what must be going on inside her head.

"Hey. Ladybug." He approaches her gently and she doesn't even react. Something in him is convinced she's going to drop from pure fear and panic, but she remains standing.

Her earrings beep. She can't stay here.

"Ladybug, I'm going to carry you to the roof now, okay?" He speaks softly so that she doesn't get startled, but she isn't responding at all. He tries his best to reign in his uneasiness.

He scoops her up carefully and sets her carefully on a rooftop, he's about to back off, but she clings to him desperately. She still hasn't registered anything around her, but some unconscious part of her won't let go. Her grip is loose and could easily be shaken off, but he certainly won't be the one to do that.

Ladybug wants to shut down. She's scared and it's so draining to remember all the ways she's terrible and all the ways she tries to correct it. She isn't supposed to shut down though. She's got to…

What is she supposed to do?
She hears a voice - it must be Alya. That's the main thing she remembers. Alya is yelling at her, Alya is mad. Alya hit her? She isn't sure, that's about the time she started zoning out. Not paying attention to anything seems safer.

The voice is still there, she still isn't sure who it is. She'd respond, but what if it is Alya?

No no. It'd be safer to stay quiet. To stay still.

The cold beckons to her. It must have started snowing, she can feel drops of water on her. She wants to go to sleep. She's not supposed to sleep…right?

She normally tries to stay awake, but she can't remember why. If being awake means more Alya, then maybe she should sleep.

There's another cold breeze and she lets it carry her away to sleep. The beeping she vaguely registers probably isn't important anyways.

"Ladybug, you're about to detransform." He feels like it might be important to tell her, even if he's certain she isn't listening.

She doesn't respond, as he expected.

"Oh, Bug, what happened?" The question is rhetorical, especially since his only audience is close to sleep.

It's begun to snow, and it looks like it'll only get worse. Paris is in for a blizzard.

The final beeps sound over the empty rooftops, and he focuses elsewhere.

"Chat Noir," It's Tikki, he can tell she's barely managing against the cold, shivering and stuttering, "I-I th-think you need t-to know e-each other's id-d-dentities."

"What?!" He certainly wasn't expecting that.

"You t-two would-d-d bo-both b-benefit. She needs y-y-you. Y-y-you're the one she's t-told the most a-a-a-about how she's f-feeling. Y-you b-both need ea-each other in y-your real lives."

"So… should I look at her?" He's hesitant, he's been waiting for this, but not in these sorts of circumstances.

"Yes. T-take her h-home." The Kwami is barely still with him.

"How will I know where she lives?"

"T-trust m-m-me."

He nods, and finally turns to the girl in his arms.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh!

Ladybug is Marinette.

Marinette is Ladybug.

Things are falling into place in his head, and he doesn't know what to think. He's obviously happy because it's Marinette! He loves her doubly. He doesn't have a crush on two different girls, he has two crushes on one.

But, at the same time, everything that's happened to Ladybug, happened to Marinette. Everything that's happened to Marinette happened to Ladybug. How much can one person take?

Oh, Marinette.

The snow is falling harder now, he stands. They need to go.

Making sure Tikki isn't at risk of falling, he takes off across the roofs. He arrives at the bakery, entering the trapdoor and shutting it carefully. He gently places his partner into her bed, accidentally knocking a notebook down as he does so.

He breathes a sigh of relief that they're home now.

Notes:

Oh hey, a notebook fell. Oh well, I'm sure that's not relevant.

A little ironic what you're saying there Alya.

Well! The reveal! I've been so excited to post this! Don't worry, the next chapter is directly after this one.

Last chapter I said this one marked a first for Adrien, did any of you catch it? At the very end there, he referred to the bakery as 'home'. Every time I have Adrien speak/think of his house that's what I say: his house. That empty mansion is no home to him, but his friends? Marinette especially? They're his home.

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 21: A Cat and A Bug

Summary:

Adrien and Marinette continue to hang out at her house, dealing with the aftermath of a reveal.

Notes:

Sorry the update is a little late today! I had plans I'd forgotten about in the morning and didn't have the chance to post the chapter beforehand. Without further ado, chapter 21:
(Heh. I'm posting chapter 21 on the 21st).

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Plagg, Claws In."

Adrien sits in Chat's place, watching Marinette vigilantly, as though he can stop what has already happened.

"How are you doin' kid?" Plagg sits next to Tikki on the cat pillow.

"I don't know Plagg… she's been right here this whole time. Shouldn't I have realized? I was - am - so worried and I wanted to be there, and I didn't even realize I already was there," he looks to the Kwami, "Shouldn't I have recognized her?"

"Adrien, the miraculous keeps you from recognizing each other. You still saw that they were similar people. Heck, you called her an 'everyday Ladybug'. You recognized her as best you could without knowing they were one and the same."

"Do you think she'll be okay?"

"I think she's getting better, and it will help now that you know and are in her everyday life. She's not entirely better, I mean, sheesh, that paper she wrote…"

"Ladybug wrote that paper. About herself," he covers his mouth at the realization, glancing down at the sleeping girl, "Oh, Mari…"

He notices the fallen notebook, picking it up. He's about to put it back, but, well, curiosity killed the cat. It's not like it's her diary.

He opens it up.

Things to Accept:

You messed up.

Everyone Most people at Françoise Dupont hate you

You don't know how to do friendship properly.

People want to believe you're a bad person

You're a terrible hero, and Paris deserves better.

You're an obsessive stalker-ish creep.

No one actually likes you.

You shouldn't be trusted with responsibility

It just keeps going. He turns the page, hoping for an end, and instead is met with another list.

Rules To Be Better:

Don't cry

Smile

Be nice to people

Apologize when you mess up (again)

If someone needs a favor, do it

If asked, you're doing good

Laugh at jokes, even when tired/sick

When tired/sick, do not show it

Take care of akumas as quickly as possible

Only lie if absolutely necessary - honesty is important

Adrien, Claude, Allegra, Allan, and Felix have been nice enough to put up with you, don't make them regret it.

Don't do anything that could attract an akuma to you

He feels the tears prick at his eyes and shuts the book, ignoring the rest of the content. He's seen enough.

"Kid?" Plagg has noticed his distress, "Adrien, what happened?"

Adrien hands him the book wordlessly. The God flips through it, frowning, "She must have kept this from Tikki too. When did she make this?"
"How long has that been there?!"

Marinette shuffles in the bed, but shows no other sign of waking.

He looks to her again, he wants nothing more than to scoop her up and take her somewhere safe where those people can't get to her.

He puts the notebook on the shelf, but at the front, where he can see it. No way he's leaving without addressing that.

As if he'd be able to forget it.

"Kitten, you should rest." Plagg, looks at him sincerely.

"But Mari-"
"Pigtails is sleeping. It's winter, she won't wake up before you. Take a nap."

"I don't want to leave her…"

"So don't! You're a cat! Flop on top of her. You're basically a heated blanket, she won't mind, you've done it during patrol before anyways."

Plagg has a point. Adrien sighs, falling across his friend and blinking at her slowly before he falls asleep too.

As usual, it doesn't take much for him to wake up. He hears some shuffling, and shoots up, glancing around him to be sure nothing is wrong.

He notices Marinette first - she'll always be the one he's drawn to. She's almost awake. Now that he knows she's Ladybug, he knows how to read her even easier. Her room is warm enough now, and with him right there, she's about as awake as she ever is in the winter.

Well, she will be in a moment.

"Kitten, you should transform, you don't want to stress her out too much."

"Plagg's right. It's been quite the day, let her know if you're going to detransform." Tikki is awake too.

Adrien nods, transforming as she comes to. She doesn't notice him as she props herself up on an elbow, but he sees the moment everything catches up to her and the tears that come to her anguished face break his heart.

"Mari?" He speaks softly, so as to not startle her.

"Chat?"

"How much do you remember of what happened?" If she doesn't remember much he'll try and spare her of the worst bits.

She's silent, and he can see every expression as she relives what happened. It would seem she remembers quite a bit then. She pauses, frowning in confusion.

"I- Did I- Do you… do you know who I am now?" She sounds almost horrified, and he guesses she's being too harsh on herself. He wants to tell her this isn't a bad thing - shout it until it gets through, but that would only turn out badly.

He settles for smiling softly, "I do. You're amazing, Princess."

"A-are you sure?"

"I am absolutely certain. You are my fa-fur-ite purr-son." He sneaks some puns in, hoping to draw her away from what must be a negative train of thought.

She scowls at him half-heartedly. She hesitates, looking uncertain, "So, you're not...you're not disappointed?" she gets quieter as she speaks, looking away and unable to meet his gaze.

"Oh, Bug. Never."

She smiles, but she doesn't seem entirely convinced.

"Do you want to detransform?"
"Do you want me to? It's alright if you don't want to know."

She shakes her head, "No, it's only fair."

He nods, willing the transformation away silently.

Adrien sits in front of her, and Plagg flies off to be near Tikki, who has been watching silently. This isn't for them, it's between their chosens.

Marinette sees him, and sits shocked for a moment as she processes this.

Something seems to occur to her, and a smile slips onto her face. She covers it with her hand, but the grin only grows, turning into soft giggles, before she's fully laughing.

It's the most beautiful sound he's ever heard.

"What? Adrien Agreste running around in a cat costume too much for you?"

She shakes her head, still trying to muffle her laughter and hiding her smile behind her hand, "No- no! It's, it's- It was a square! The whole time! It was a love square!"

He doesn't quite get what she's getting at, cocking his head at her, eyes shining in merriment, "What now?"

"Okay- okay. So-" She's really trying her best to explain between her fits of laughter, "So. You, liked Ladybug, and Marinette was 'just a friend'-" she held off the laughter too long and it spills out again.

He waits patiently.

"Ladybug wouldn't date Chat Noir because she liked Adrien, and we were just-" She speaks through her continued laughter, "Stuck in a love square! We liked the opposite sides of each other- well I liked both -but it's funny because it's just so stupid!" she breaks into laughter again.

He takes a moment to process what she said, and he doesn't ask for confirmation, because it feels right - fitting - that they both liked both sides of each other - and he'd hate to interrupt Marinette's joyousness. It's contagious, and soon he's laughing too.

"I guess the square is a line now." he says after they've begun recovering.

She seems surprised, almost as if she'd assumed he no longer cared for her, "Y-yeah, I guess it is."

They sit in a comfortable silence for a moment, then her eyes land on the notebook, immediately noting its incorrect position. She turns to him - panicked.

"D-did you s-see that?"

"I did. It fell when I came in."

"I-I-I'm sorry. I-" Her hands are shaking with her voice, he can see the horror on her face.

He cups her hands carefully.

"Marinette. You shouldn't be apologizing. Not everything is your fault."

"B-but-"

"Marinette. Trust me. You're trying to take all this blame and it's not for you. You haven't been able to move forward because you're still dwelling on it - you're trying to figure out 'where you went wrong' but you haven't been able to figure it out because you didn't."

She shakes her head.

He grabs the notebook, opening it up. He points at the first point.

You messed up.

"We're going to go through each of them okay? You'll explain why it's there, and I'll correct it. Can you do that?"

She nods hesitantly, "That one's obvious. They all turned on me because- because I did something wrong, They're good people, so I must have done something bad to earn it."

Oh, he hopes his heart will make it through this.

"Or. They messed up. Good people can make mistakes too." Not that some of them deserve that title anymore, but if he's trying to correct her, he can't shove a bunch of opposites at her, "They made the mistake of believing Lila, because they got so hooked on her stories that they forgot that you matter just as much."

She looks doubtful, but nods, pointing to the next one.

Everyone Most people at Françoise Dupont hate you

"Lila turned everyone there against me. They hate me now." She says it like it's just as obvious as the last one.

"Not 'everyone'. You crossed that out."

"Well, except for you."

"Okay, but not even most people there like Lila. It's only Bustier's class. The rest of the school is completely indifferent to her. Even most of the class doesn't hate you."

"Alya hates me. So does Lila."

"So that's, what? Two out of 15?"

"14."

"15. Markov counts. As for the rest of the school, most people like you! I've heard several people still talking about you, they miss you. Everyone thinks my class is completely insane."

She smiles a little at that, moving to the next one.

You don't know how to do friendship properly.

"I messed up the only close friendship I had. In a single day."

"It wasn't in a single day. It was months of Lila weaseling her way in between you and Alya so that your friendship was weak. She knew she had to separate you two so that she could get to you more easily. If you need more proof that you are capable of being a good friend, I can always text the group chat. Claude would probably find a way to teleport here."

She smiles, "They probably would. Allegra would start a mob."

People want to believe you're a bad person

"Lila said she only tells people what they want to hear, and when she told them I bullied her, they believed it."
"That's how she starts. Frog-in-a-pot style. She says little things that'll get her attention and sympathy. Once she's in people's good graces, she begins dropping small things that are harder to believe. By that point she's trusted, and she starts small enough that she can build up to bigger things. She had months, Marinette. Months to do all that."

You're a terrible hero, and Paris deserves better.

"I messed up a bunch. I've gotten hit by a bunch of akumas, and I fell off the Eiffel Tower. I keep attracting akumas - that's the opposite of what I'm supposed to do."

"I've gotten hit even more than you. Does that make me a bad hero?"

"No! Never!" She sounds both horrified and furious, but he continues.

"Exactly. As for the akumas, you've fought off every single one. That's heroic, and as sad as I am that you had to do those things, I'm so proud and impressed. I knew you were amazing."

She blushes, moving hurriedly to the next one.

You're an obsessive stalker-ish creep.

"I had gifts for you for years. Like, for years into the future. I had your schedule memorized and on a chart, and I had all those pictures…"

"Marinette. You made gifts, and I'm certain they were based around things I liked, not what you wanted me to like. You got rid of them though, so it doesn't matter right now. You had my schedule memorized, I don't even have it memorized. You weren't using it to stalk me, to my knowledge-"

"No! I only used it to figure out when we could hang out! All of us! Since you were always so busy! I only used it to steal your phone once-"

"You what?"

"Moving on-"
"That was you?!"

"Moving on!"

No one actually likes you.

"People wouldn't actually want to hang out with-" She cuts herself off.

"What?"

"I think that one is phrased wrong?"

"I think that one is wrong. I told you, people at school miss you. You made an impact - a positive one. Claude, Allegra, Allan, and Felix love you. I love you! All of Paris loves you!"

She blushes.

You shouldn't be trusted with responsibility

"I'm a bad hero, and I was a bad class president."

"We've already been over the fact that you're a fantastic hero, and you were a great class president. You listened to what people wanted and tried to fulfill requests. You planned events well."
She nods. Then nods again, slower. He takes in the way she's slumping slightly, and smiles at her, "Do you want to leave your bed? You can be closer to the heaters if you're on the floor.

They climb down, and lean against her chaise lounge, he grabs a blanket and their phones, settling it over them. Tikki and Plagg stay on the bed, catching up.

Once he sits again, Marinette leans into him, cuddling as close as she can to his warmth and holding the blanket tightly.

He could look at his phone, but for now, he just wants to sit with her and appreciate the fact that he finally knows who she is.

He loves her so much.

The snow is really coming down now, fully blizzarding. Marinette's breathing has evened out and her grip on the blanket has loosened.

Their phones ding.

Checking his, he sees an ongoing conversation in the group chat.

The Mom Friend: is evryone safe inside? theres gunna be a blizzard

The Mom Friend: how r u holding up mari

Kid Mime: i'm at home! im watching a bunch of disney and i have hot chocolate and popcorn!

Kid Mime: ariel could have tried miming

Kid Mime: it realy could hav helpd her

Melodie: I'm home. Just made hot chocolate for my brothers. I've got some too.

Felix: I am also at home.

The Mom Friend: same here

The Mom Friend: mari? u sleeping?

The Mom Friend: adrien u still at her place?

A is for Awesome: Yep!

A is for Awesome: She fell asleep on me while we were doing homework.

The Mom Friend: ok im glad shes not outside

Melodie: How long did she last once the snow started?

A is for Awesome: She fell asleep immediately, then she woke up and we talked for a while, and she fell asleep again.

Kid Mime: when she wakes up tell her i said hi

Kid Mime: and i love her

Kid Mime: and that shes gud desiner

A is for Awesome: I will!

The Mom Friend: remind her 2 eat

The Mom Friend: an everythin claude said

A is for Awesome: So, um. It may or may not be the case that neither of us have eaten at all today? We may or may not have both completely forgotten.

The Mom Friend: …

The Mom Friend: wat wud u guys do without me?

Felix: Die. You and I are the only reasonable ones in this group, but while you intervene, I am content to simply watch them make poor choices.

Melodie: HEY! I'm reasonable!

The Mom Friend: u 2 need to eat. same goes to any1 else in this chat that need a reminder

Kid Mime: wat about /u/ allan?

Kid Mime: have /u/ eatn recntly?

The Mom Friend: i am eating a sandwich rite now

A is for Awesome: I'll have Mari and I eat something.

Before he does so, there's something else he has to do. He separates himself from Marinette carefully. It's difficult because being a superhero has made her strong and she doesn't want to give up her heat source, but he manages to escape.

She lies on the floor, frowning. He'll make this quick. He climbs up to her bed, grabbing the notebook, and rips out the pages she's written on. He carefully writes his own version of the things she's put in, before putting it back where it belongs.

"Plagg, I'm gonna' transform quick." He warns the Kwami, who nods in understanding.

"Claws out!" Chat Noir grips the torn pages and moves to the balcony. The air whips around him violently, his black suit a stark contrast to the white flakes all around him. The city is coated in snow, and he can see his breath when he exhales heavily.

He looks at the revolting papers in his ringed hand.

"Cataclysm."

He watches the dust blow away with the wind, then turns back to the trapdoor, letting himself inside.

He releases the transformation before his ring even beeps, and hands Plagg some cheese as he returns to his Lady. She's still on the floor, laying on her side, seemingly working on waking up, but only squinting and frowning at the ground.

He lays down on his stomach, looking at her.

"Hi Princess."

She looks up to see he's returned and her face lights up, though the exhaustion is still clear, "Kitty!"

"Are you hungry? Neither of us have eaten."

"Don' need t' eat." Maybe the blizzard has gotten to her. She's on the edge of her ladybug-mindset, thinking she doesn't need to eat if she's in hibernation.

"I doubt that. Would you like to get something to eat with me?"

She shakes her head, "'ugs?" She reaches one hand toward him weakly.

He holds her offered hand in his own, "What if I give you a hug, and then you eat. You can sit next to me."

She finds this to be an acceptable compromise and nods.

He scoops her up and carries her down the stairs. On the way he comments, "Claude wanted me to say hi to you for him, and that he loves you, and that you're a good designer Allan agreed, though he also wanted me to remind you to eat."

"'re nice."

He sets her down gently at the table extracting himself from her arms. He sets water in front of her while he makes a sandwich for himself. There's a variety of fruit in the fridge.

Ha! Winter brings out the ladybug in Marinette, and now that he knows she's a ladybug, he can play into that. The superhero duo know each other's tendencies well, and he spent a lot of last year bringing fruit to patrol in case she'd forgotten to eat. It was one of the few foods that the ladybug in her would accept without much fuss.

He gets a small bowl and mixes a variety of fruit together for her, being sure to give her lots of grapes. He gives her the bowl and grabs his sandwich and water to sit next to her.

She's resting her head against the table, already asleep again. The kitchen isn't as warm as her room.

"Hey, it's time to eat." He nudges her carefully, and she glances over to him drowsily. He points out the bowl to her and when she registers its contents she flashes him a stunning smile, eating slowly.

He eats too, finishing well before her. She's eaten maybe a quarter of the small bowl before she slows more, tipping towards the table. He moves the dishes out of the way to avoid her face-planting onto them.

He grabs her hand, leading her up to her room again so that the heat can wake her up. For now, he settles for wrapping her up in the blanket again. The Marinette-burrito flops onto his lap.

A is for Awesome: We ate.

The Mom Friend: good

He finishes the rest of his math homework. That's all he's got. It's winter break now (thank goodness, otherwise he wouldn't be able to keep from doing something to Alya) so he's free. At least for the next few hours that is, then he's back to his jam-packed schedule. He should give himself another assignment…

Adrien thinks for a moment, trying to think of something for him to do while he's stuck at Marinette's.

He thinks back to her laughter following his reveal. That'll be his goal.

Maybe he can record her this time. He loves her laugh.

She's laughed at puns before, it just takes a lot. He'll start there.

Poking her a few times until she blinks up at him, he says, "Do you want a brief explanation of what an acorn is? In a nutshell, it's an oak tree."

"...okay."

She's too serious for this. She missed his pun!

"Mariiiiii!"

She blinks more, "...hi?"

"Here. Sit up." He gets her to lean against his shoulder. Close enough.

"Why?" She sounds confused, probably because he just woke her up. She'd have woken up soon anyways. Otherwise it wouldn't have been so easy to get her to look at and talk to him.

"You've been sleeping for a while. I want to talk to you." She moves to sit across from him, squinting at him suspiciously.

"You were bored, weren't you?"

"Purr-haps."

She groans, "You woke me up for puns."

"Actually, I wanted to tell you that I just got over my addiction to marshmallows, chocolate, and peanuts. I'm not gonna lie, it was a rocky road."
She looks out at the blizzard desperately, "Winter take me."

"I'm a big fan of whiteboards. I find them quite re-markable.

"I asked my friend if she likes to play video games. She said, 'Wii.'"

"Oh dear Kwami."

"The machine at the coin factory just suddenly stopped working, with no explanation. It doesn't make any cents!"

She shakes her head, but she's too tired to keep the facade up for long. He knows she likes his puns.

He leans forward, grinning, "I'm only friends with 25 letters of the alphabet. I don't know Y."

"Neither do I. Why are you like this?"

She'd added on, he's certain he'll catch her soon. He readies his phone out of sight.

"Why can't you run through a campground?"

She only raises an eyebrow.

"You can only ran, because it's past tents!" He beams at her innocently, "A man sued an airline company after it lost his luggage. Sadly, he lost his case."

"Poor guy." She's looking away, focusing elsewhere.

"So what if I can't spell Armageddon? It's not the end of the world."

She can't hold out forever.

"How about bird puns, they're very egg-citing."

He's got plenty of material.

"You don't seem very emused."

"Trying to annoy me with bird puns? Well, toucan play at that game!" She retorts.

He gasps delightedly, "You punned at me!"

As expected, the dam soon breaks and she starts snickering, covering her mouth. It evolves further until she's fully laughing again. He's been recording her, and encouraging her with dumb faces and jokes too quiet for the camera.

He wants to tell her to stop covering her face, but pointing out the habit will only embarrass her, and then she'd stop laughing. She drops it as the laughs die down, smiling at him.

Noticing his smug face, she shakes her head,"Was that your goal? Really?"

He holds up his phone, "I wanted to be able to hear your laugh whenever. It's been saved."

"Oh you did not."

"I did. And now… it's been sent to the group chat!"

"We will get no peace."

As soon as she says it, their phones go off. Checking it, they see Claude has been the first to view the video.

Kid Mime: MARINETTE U SOUND ADORABLE
Kid Mime: DID ADRIEN ALREADY TELL U THAT I LOVE U
Kid Mime: I LOVE UR LAUGH
Kid Mime: ADRIEN TEACH ME UR WAYS

A is for Awesome: Puns.

Kid Mime: IM ALREADY ON GOOGLE
Kid Mime: I NEED EVERY PUN

Kid Mime: N

Melodie: We'll never get a break now.

Melodie: It's nice to see you laugh, Marinette.

Patisserie Princess: im never leaving the house

Patisserie Princess: i laughed at a pun

Patisserie Princess: i /made/ a pun

Felix: Understandable. I will try to visit often.

Felix: I suspect you have been spending too much time with Claude and Adrien.

The Mom Friend: aw mari

The Mom Friend: u gotta leave the house eventually

Patisserie Princess: do I?

Kid Mime: I WILL COME TO U
Kid Mime: ADRIEN HOW MANY PUNS DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE HER LAUGH

A is for Awesome: Depends on how tired she is.

A is for Awesome: Just don't stop. Don't give her a chance to recover.

Kid Mime: ALRIGHT I WILL KEEP THAT IN MIND

Melodie: The floodgates have been opened.

Felix: Indeed.

Kid Mime: IM GONNA RESEARCH PUNS
Kid Mime: BYE

Kid Mime: LUV U GUYS

The Mom Friend: bye

Melodie: Bye.

Patisserie Princess: bye!

Felix: Goodbye.

A is for Awesome: Bye!

Notes:

These babies are cute. I love them so much.

The next chapter will be Wednesday, for Christmas. Just fluff, the purpose of the chapter is really just for the sake of all of them interacting in an angst-free way. So you get a bonus chapter. That's not all though! I really want to write a interlude of Tikki and Plagg's conversation in this chapter. It wouldn't really fit in here, and adding it as a chapter feels weird seeing as it would be sort of out-of-order. I'll post it as a separate one-shot, and leave a link here when it's up.

Hey! You all remember Honey Bee? Well a lovely little angel drew her! She looks so great, and I love it so much, link is here!

I haven't been writing much this month (apologies to those wanting chapter 2 of A Shy 'Sparrow'), this week in particular has been stressful. With my being on break now, I think I'll be able to write more. I had a few things that really struck me and I wanted to write them so we'll see how things go!

If you've noticed that I'm slower in responding to comments recently, don't worry. I'm not going to stop responding! I just haven't been on my writing account as constantly as I used to be. I'll respond to comments still, it just may not be as quickly as it used to be.

I feel like I'm forgetting something. If I remember it I'll edit this note.

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 22: Christmas

Summary:

Marinette, Adrien, Claude, Allegra, Felix and Allan all celebrate Christmas together.

Notes:

Kwamis honestly kind of screw with Christianity. Consider this more of a winter get-together-with-friends-and-family sort of holiday. I would say gift giving, but I didn't really write those scenes. Other than that, I'm pretty pleased with this chapter and I hope you'll all enjoy it! Just friends hanging out without angst or crying! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or just have an extraordinary day regardless of what/if you celebrate! I love you all! ❤️

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette comes to slowly, blinking slowly at her surroundings. She has the distinct feeling that today is important. What is today?

December...20 something?

December 25th….

25…

Oh!

It's Christmas!

She shoots up, regretting it when spots fill her vision. Ladybug-instincts don't care if it's Christmas - she's still tired. Despite this, she manages to crawl out of bed, not bothering to change out of the very comfy pajamas she put on the night before.

She enters the kitchen where her Papa is making breakfast. He smiles when he sees her, giving her a quick hug before returning to the food. As her Maman enters the room he finishes, serving the family.

They play some games together afterward, before moving onto the gifts. By the time they've finished, Marinette is languidly stretched across her Papa, almost entirely spent. He carries her up to her room carefully, placing her in bed.

When she hears him leave, she almost allows herself to drift off to sleep before she remembers her other plans. Grabbing a bag, she takes a moment to gather herself, before she transforms, taking Tikki by surprise.

Ladybug exits through her trapdoor, wobbling a little as she adjusts to the fierce winds and snow. She takes off in one direction, only realizing after a few minutes that she's going in the entirely wrong direction.

She's so tired, she really wants to sleep.

But this is important.

She turns around, tempted to move faster, but well aware that'll only trip her up. She arrives at her destination eventually. At least she got here, she'll consider it a victory.

Adrien's day has been very slow. Father is off who-knows-where for some out-of-country fashion event. There was no present from him.

Plagg had used his computer to order some merch for him of an anime he likes. Adrien had gotten Plagg a bunch of fine cheeses even worse better than camembert. It had been a very nice Christmas, and that's about all he'd expected from the day.

Then Ladybug was knocking at his window.

He rushes to let her in, noticing the way she's shaking slightly from the chill.

"Ladybug! It's snowing - basically blizzarding - what were you doing out?!" She just leans into him, still transformed and barely awake. She's coated in snow, which can't be helping.

"Mer'y… chri'maaa…" she mumbles into his shoulder.

Plagg cackles from the desk, "Kid, your Bug came all this way just to wish you a happy holiday!"

"Mari you could have texted me." he holds her a little further away, noting the way that she's completely limp in his arms, "Mari?"

"Pfff, now she's hibernating!" The Kwami floats to sit on his head.

"This isn't funny Plagg!" he closes the window and leads her towards the couch.

"It is, because she isn't in any danger now. She's with her Cat, you'll take care of her."
"But why didn't she stay home? Going out as Ladybug - especially as Ladybug - she could have collapsed on the way over."
"She's a Bug, Kitten. Stubbornness runs in her blood, especially when she decides it's important for you."

He only hums in response, opening his closet to get out blankets - he doesn't use them much anymore. He grabs all of them. He might change the thermostat a little too.

Ladybugs break out of hibernation at 13° (55℉) - that's a fact he's memorized.

"She's still transformed, give me a minute." Plagg floats toward her head, touching the earrings and closing his eyes. As Adrien approaches, he hears the beeping and Ladybug is soon replaced with a sleeping Marinette and Tikki.

"As Ladybug she's two sleeping bugs in one." The God explains, "It'll be better with them separated."

Adrien only nods, tossing a heated blanket over their Bugs and turning it on before piling on the rest. He turns on a movie as he leans against the blanket pile. The background noise is nice. Plagg settles back into his hair.

Towards the end of the movie, he feels stirring from the blankets, turning to see her squinting at the room,"Hi Marinette. Welcome back to the real world."

"?" It's a difficult thing to properly voice three question marks in a row, but she's got it down.

"Someone decided to run through Paris during a snowstorm, and ended up hibernating. I'm just glad you made it here."

"Oh." she thinks for a moment, "M'rry Christm's?"

"Merry Christmas."

She blinks tiredly, and he returns the slow blink, smiling at her. Despite the blankets, she is still dozy - there's no escape from the winter outside. She'll wake up a little more after more time indoors though, so Adrien turns on another movie for them to watch. His phone dings.

Sabine: Is Marinette with you? We didn't see her leave.
Adrien: Yes, she's with me.

Sabine: Oh, that's good. She can be so quiet! Enjoy your holiday!

Adrien: You too!

Yeah, she can be 'quiet'. It certainly isn't that she left through the balcony. He'd assumed she'd left the normal way and then transformed. Evidently he overestimated how much of her human common-sense is still with her.

"Mari, how did you get here?"

"Yo-yo."

"I meant from which way did you leave the house and then come here?"

"I said 'spots on' and then it was col' and then I wen' the wrong way and then I went the right way and then it was still cold and snowin' and then I got to your house and you let me in and then I was here." Her story-telling skills are truly at their peak mid-winter. She hasn't even noticed that she transformed when she spoke the words.

"Alright. Thank you. Can you detransform?" He smirks at her.

"I'm not? Transformed?" Ladybug looks at him as though he's completely lost it.

"Okay, what do you say to detransform?"

"Spots off. Don' you know?" As she says it, there's a pink flash and Marinette returns. Tikki shoots out of the earrings bewilderedly and goes to rest beside Plagg. Adrien can hear the Kwami's quiet purring.

"Sorry, I just wanted to double check. How are you feeling?"

"Blanke's."

"How tired are you? Would you say you're more ladybug or girl right now?" seeing as she went into hibernation, he should make sure she's recovering properly.

"Tired." She doesn't seem to register the second question.

Before Adrien can think of another way to phrase it, Plagg interrupts, "Here, give me your phone kid, I've got a test."

Adrien hands Plagg the phone. The Kwami taps at the screen for a little bit then turns it to face Marinette, "Alright Pigtails, what do you think of this?"

Marinette draws back initially, then returns hesitantly to her original position, glaring suspiciously at the phone the entire time.

"She's doing fine." Plagg shrugs and returns the phone. Adrien looks at the screen. There's a picture of a crow, and the page it's from is titled, 'Ladybugs' Most Common Predators'.

Ah. That makes sense.

By the end of their movie, Marinette seems to have recovered from her little stint outside.

"Presents?" she cocks her head at him, gesturing towards the bag she'd brought with her, "I brought yours."

"Is that what that is?"

She nods, "It's everyone's presents."

"You brought them all, huh?"

"Yep! I didn't want to have to leave."

"What?" He gets the feeling he's missing something.

"Did you think we were going to let you spend Christmas all alone in this dumb house? I already got permission from Nathalie. Allan, Allegra, Felix, and Claude are coming over. Plagg and I have been plotting."

"She gave me lots of cheese bread."

He hugs her tightly, "Thank you Mari, you're the best person I know."

"Mon minou, you're my favorite person, it's the least I can do." After a moment they separate and she gestures to the bag, "We should probably do the Kwami's presents and Chat's present before they all get here."

"Let's do the Kwamis first-"

"Yes, lets!" Plagg interrupts him

Marinette shrugs, bringing the entire bag over and handing two small boxes to Tikki and Plagg. Tikki already knows what it is - having been required for sizing. They open the small boxes to find little cloaks to wear, each themed around their respective animals. Tikki chirps excitedly at finally getting to wear hers and flies to her chosen, hugging her cheek and resting on her shoulder.

Plagg has put his on and goes to sit next to her, "Thanks, Bug."

Marinette grabs a rectangular wrapped package, "I didn't make Chat anything in case I saw him wearing it in real life. Even if it's not a problem anymore…" She shrugs and shoves it at Adrien.

He unwraps it, seeing a large book titled, '1001 Puns', "Oh, I'm memorizing this!"

"I regretted it as soon as I bought it."

Adrien has already opened it up to a random page, "What do you call a classy fish?"
"No."

"So-fish-ticated!" He looks so pleased that she can't help but smile at him, "Ooh! Okay my turn!" He stands quickly and rushes over to his desk, grabbing a couple of boxes, " I only got Tikki some cookies because I don't really know her that well-"

"I like cookies!" She interrupts, "Thank you, Adrien!"

"I got Ladybug a necklace, with a ladybug on it! It's almost as cute as you!" Her face flames at that, accepting it and trying to put it on, before handing it back to him for help.

With it clasped around her neck she takes a moment to look at it. She turns to him, "Please tell me you didn't spend a ridiculous amount of money on this."

"While no amount would be ridiculous for you, I didn't."

She looks at him suspiciously, then sighs, "I'll allow it."

"It's too late anyways! Returning a gift is rude, m'lady!"

"Well, kitty, we'd better avoid the superhero nicknames when everyone else is here." She pushes him back by his nose.

He pouts, then turns to her questioningly,"When are they going to be here? We need to get rid of the extra wrapping paper and stuff." They should probably hide Tikki's cookies too - they don't want them to get eaten.

"I said I'd text them. I can do that now?" He nods and she sends out the message.

While they wait they clean up quickly, and put the cookies in a closet that the Kwamis decide to hide in.

Eventually the pair hear the doorbell buzzer. Adrien goes to answer it, leaving Mari in the warmer room.

"Adrien, has your house always had this little robot camera guy?" Claude is the first to speak when he gets to the doorbell.

"Yeah… Father can be a little …extreme?" He allows them in, "You can come in now."

He waits a moment before he opens the main door, well aware that the walk will take a moment.

As he allows them in he notices that the snow has died down. That's good. They all have gifts with them and are dressed in winter gear that's dusted with snow.

"You guys can leave your winter stuff here - Mari wouldn't appreciate snow getting into my room, and the gifts can come up to my room."

"How's she holding up? It was blizzardin' earlier." Allan inquires.

"My room's pretty warm, so she's pretty awake. She can only cheat the system for so long though, so she might get sleepy in a couple hours or so, and then be more awake. As long as she stays in the warmth it'll just kind of cycle like that."

He pushes the door to his room open, following them in. As soon as they're in the main part of the room - before they even set the gifts down - the group gets tackled into a hug by a noticeably-not-sleepy Marinette.
"I would have met you out in the entryway, but it's almost as cold as Gabriel Agreste's heart, so I just waited for you here."

"Marinette, you can't just insult my Father like that. He could be your boss one day."

"Not if my company outdoes his and I steal his best model."

"I'm with Mari! I like that plan!" Claude adds.

"Sorry dude, you're the only one on your side." Allan puts an arm around Adrien's shoulder.

"I'm not saying she's wrong necessarily…"

"She's already stolen the model!" Allegra interjects.

"Yay!" Marinette throws her arms in the air victoriously, then gently pushes Adrien forward, "Be free my darling! Pursue your dreams!"

"I'm liking this plan more and more!" Claude joins Marinette.

"Anyway. Welcome to my room."

"The room his Dad designed for him by googling 'teenage boy interests'." Marinette amends.

"You're rather bitter today aren't you?" Allan remarks.

"I always am - in regards to Gabriel Agreste!" Especially when she'd realized that Adrien's awful father was also Chat's awful father.

He's just double-awful now.

"That's a mood I can get behind." Allegra adds.

"I'm going to stop this here before she gets the slideshow out." Adrien gently shoves Marinette toward the couch, "You sit under the blankets for a little bit and calm down."
She complies sulkily, muttering about how she'd storm the office one day.

"What slideshow are you referring to?" Felix questions.

"Just one about my father. It's kind of long. Especially with her notes."

"Are you telling me she made an entire presentation on your father?" Allegra raises an eyebrow.
"On how bad he is!" The baker interjects.

"Again, moving on, because we can do things that are more fun than stating facts." Adrien raises his hands peaceably, "Any game ideas?"

"I brought some from home!" Claude raises one of their bags, "There's also the internet for ideas!"

"I want to play board games! I need to get caught up on the years I've missed out on!"

"Oh, you poor boy. No board games for so long…" Allegra shakes her head.

"I guess you could say I was board?"

"No." Felix, Allegra, and Marinette speak in unison.

"Alright, Adrien we're playing Dixit now." Claude takes one of the larger boxes out, setting it up, "Which bunny do you guys want to be?"

"Pink!" Marinette doesn't hesitate in the slightest. She moves to be where Claude is setting up the game on the floor, taking a blanket with her.

"Wait, we're bunnies?" Adrien still has no idea how the game works.

"It's what represents your spot on the board. Basically like the hat, car, and stuff in Monopoly." Allegra explains.

"I'll be green." Allan sits by the board, next to Marinette.

"I shall claim blue!" Claude claims his bunny and numbers.

"Yellow." Allegra says, taking the one she chose.

"I will take either bunny. Adrien, do you have a preference?" Felix turns to the model as he sits as well.

After a moment's consideration, Adrien takes the red one, "The Ladybunny!"

"Here, you'll need these." Allan hands him a red stack of six number chips as Felix takes the white bunny and corresponding numbers.

Claude hands everyone six cards, "Adrien, these are your cards. You can look at them, but no one else can. When it's your turn, you put down a card face down and describe it in one word or so. Everyone else will put one of their own cards that fits how you described yours and when everyone has them down, we flip them over and everyone else has to try and figure out which is the original. Everyone puts down the chip that makes the number slot their guess is in and when everyone's done, we assign points based on this." they gesture at the top part of the board where it's described pretty simply.

"I know it sounds complicated, but it'll get easier when we get started." Allegra reassures him. He nods, considering the directions.

"Alright… maybe I can go last." He looks around, "Who's starting?"

"Mari chose her color first, so she can go."

"Sure!"

They get started, playing several rounds, moving a little faster as Adrien catches on. Towards the end it is an intense bunny race between Allan and Felix, but the white bunny gets there first.

"Victory!" Felix smiles, "Good game everyone."

They pack up the game and talk for a moment before something occurs to Adrien.

"Hey, do guys want something to eat or drink? Like hot choco-"
"Grapes?!" Marinette speaks over him excitedly.

"-late. Yes, Marinette, you can have grapes." She cheers quietly as he continues, "So anything I should grab? I think the cook made a bunch of stuff in preparation for today before Father left so we've got a bunch of stuff."

"Hot chocolate is good. Is everyone good with that?" Claude looks around as the group nods.

"Any finger food, or jus' stuff that isn't that messy would be fine too." Allan suggests.

"Alright, I'll be back." Adrien exits, heading to grab the food.

"Surprised to hear you so excited about food, 'Nette." Allan says to the girl.

She shrugs, "I like grapes. Fruit, really. Or bugs."

"Why not bring that as your lunch?" Felix suggests.

"I'm usually too tired to do that. Maman does it, but I think the doctor told her to try and give me things that are actually nutritious - like a balanced meal."

"Huh." Allegra considers this.

Adrien walks in, with various snacks, hot chocolate, and a bowl of grapes for Marinette. He puts them down near the group, and Marinette grabs her choice immediately, and everyone takes a drink.

"Should we get to the presents now? Before Marinette falls asleep?" Allegra suggests.

"Probably, I don't think I've got long." As she says this, Marinette yawns, which only supports her point.

By the time they've finished, Marinette is - as predicted - barely awake. She's slumped against Adrien, her eyelids fluttering as she tries to remain awake.

"So what should we do now?" Adrien asks the group.

"Have any movies? That would give Mari a chance to rest." Allan proposes.

"Sure, we can move to the couch then." They all stand, Adrien coaxing Marinette to stand with him, she mumbles softly about nothing in particular.

"Going by the blankets, this is Marinette's spot?" Allegra gestures at the pile of blankets upon blankets in one corner of the couch. At this, Marinette - who had been relying on Adrien to stand - flops onto the pile, claiming a few as her own before putting the rest aside for the others to use.

"Aw, thanks 'Nette."

Eventually they've all gotten comfortable and decided on a movie. Marinette is back to resting against her partner, blinking lazily at the screen that she isn't paying any real attention to. She eventually drifts off as she gives in to her tendency. It only takes a few moments for her to be completely dead to the world, sleeping heavily and comfortably in the presence of her friends.

"How is it going at your school?" Felix asks the model.

"Ugh, I keep thinking they can't get any stupider, and then they do. Lila spun the whole museum incident around. Apparently, Mari attacked her." Adrien is still mad about what happened that day. Especially now that he knew Marinette had had to come back and fight her akumatized tormenter instead of resting at home like she deserved.

"And they believed her?!" Allegra looks ready to start a mob.

"They believe anything. People were still angry about Marinette before break."

"Any ideas on when we'll expose her?" Claude asks, clearly eager to unmask the girl.

"If we can get the date right we might be able to get a few choice celebrities to show up, so I'm not sure. I might be able to turn the media against her - if I'm careful I can do it without Father getting upset, or at least without him being able to punish me without media backlash."
"How you gonna' pull that off?" Allan raises an eyebrow.

"Well the 'no punishment' bit could be harder, but Paris won't exactly be pleased to find out someone's been sexually harassing their 'Sunshine Boy'."

"Oh, I'm so glad you realize that." Allegra sighs, "I was worried you thought she was allowed to do that."

"I wasn't entirely sure last year, but Mari made sure that changed."

"Good job 'Nettie." Allan says, "Protect the Sunshine Boy."

Marinette obviously doesn't respond, but curls closer against Adrien as if aware he's the current topic of conversation.

"See, she's guarding him even in her sleep!" Claude says.

"Thanks, Mari. I feel safer already." Adrien pats Marinette's head, and she hums at them.

"I think she's been doing better." Allegra smiles, "I'm glad she told us about what happened, keeping that secret must have been tiring."

"I'm glad she finally told you. You guys have been good for her."

"She deserves it. She's so sweet."

"Mari~ Do you hear that? We love you!" Claude speaks to their napping friend.

Marinette doesn't seem to hear, but when they brush her hair out her face, she leans into their hand, unconsciously aware of any heat as always.

"Hey, we never asked. Um, she said she 'fell' and that's where the bruises came from, but…?" Allan trails off.

"But you don't believe it?" They all nod, "Neither do I, but I wasn't there. Stupid all day photoshoot - I didn't find out until I got to my house, and I didn't see her until the next day. Chloe and Sabrina only caught the tail end of everything and they missed what exactly happened."

"So what do you think happened?" Allegra prompts.

"Well Chloe and Sabrina think Alya pushed her, but I'm not …entirely sure of that. I think it was an accident, but it could have been avoided if Alya had just let her go. Regardless of what happened, Mari's wrong - she's not at fault."

"No, she is not." Felix agrees.

They all look at her sympathetically, before eventually turning back to the movie. They're halfway through another movie before Marinette begins to stir, blinking at the people around her in sleepy confusion.

"Hey, welcome back, Mari." Adrien is the first to notice.

"Hi…?" She still isn't fully awake, and looks about ready to return to her rest for a little longer.

"How awake are you, 'Nette?" Allan asks her.

"No?"

"Alright. Good to know."

She closes her eyes for a little longer, eventually opening her eyes and sitting up slightly, "How long was I asleep?"

Felix glances at his watch, "About 2 hours or so. A little more. We have completed one movie and have watched a considerable amount of this one."

"Oh, okay."

Once the movie finishes, Claude speaks, "So what should we do now? Another movie, another game, or something else?"

"I'm up for learning more games!" Adrien says.

"I still can't believe you deprived of fun for your entire life," they tell him.

"Time to introduce Adrien to more great games!" Allegra stands with Claude and they try to decide which game to play next. The others move to sit on the floor again, Marinette dragging a blanket with her.

"Wait!" Claude says when they've all sat down, throwing his hands in the air, "I almost forgot!"

"Forgot what?" Allegra asks. The others are similarly confused, though Marinette only blinks groggily.

"Adrien, team up with me here," Claude ignores the question.

"On what?" Adrien wonders if he's supposed to know what's going on.

"I have been researching puns. That new knowledge combined with your efforts, I hope to complete my goal of making Marinette laugh at a pun!" Claude is clearly in a theatrical mood, gesturing wildly as he speaks.

Adrien's face lights up, "Yes!"

Marinette only groans, "I should have expected this."

"I will allow the puns - just this once - because it's for a good cause." Allegra acquieses, and Felix reluctantly nods in agreement.

Marinette glares at them.

Allan's face splits in a mischievous grin, "Aw, come on 'Nette, they only want to wish you a Mari Christmas."

Adrien and Claude cheer excitedly, Marinette tries her best to look completely and utterly betrayed.

"Let's start with some fun facts! Did you know that snowmen call their offspring chill -dren?" Claude turns to Adrien as though they are having a legitimate conversation.

"I did not. Though I have to ask, are you aware of how snowmen get to work?"

"No, how?"

"By icicle."

"Ah! Of course, that makes perfect sense. Did you gingerbread men make their beds with cookie sheets?"

Adrien grins, "Do you know what a sheep's favorite Christmas song is? Fleece Navidad."

Felix turns to Claude, "Do not do what I presume you are thinking of."

Claude doesn't respond, "In this group, our favorite song is Felix Navidad!"

Felix glares, but the rest don't seem particularly apologetic. Marinette grins slightly, Claude and Adrien high-five when they notice - she scowls.

"Speaking of sheep," Adrien continues, "Be sure to wish any you meet a season's bleatings."

"Do you know why Dasher and Dancer like coffee? They're Santa's star bucks!"

"On the subject of reindeer, I'd just like to warn everyone that rude- olph has absolutely no manners!"

"He always steals Santa's favorite snack - crisp pringles." Claude shakes his head, clucking his tongue.

"Yeah, Rudolph has an F on his report card. He went down in history and all that."

"There's an elf that won the lottery, he's very welfy now."

"Do you think he could spare some change for Saint Nickel-less?"

"He actually just bought himself a new car, it's a toyYoda." Claude shakes his head regretfully. Out of the corner of their eyes, the two boys can see Marinette trying to smother a smile.

"Mrs. Claus' detergent of choice is Yule-Tide, in case you were wondering. Great for soot stains."

"Everyone gets so santa-mental this time of year."

"If you see an angel, be sure to say 'Halo!'"

"If a Christmas plant wants to be a star, they go to Holly-wood."

"The North and South Pole aren't as similar as some might think. There's really a world of difference between them."

No one misses Marinette's snort at that.

"Scrooge won the football game - the ghost of Christmas passed."

"The couple had their wedding on Christmas Eve so that they could have a married Christmas."

"Oh I saw a new artist on Spotify, an elf! He's a wrapper!"

"A kid who doesn't believe in Santa is a rebel without a Clause."

"Did you know the alphabet is different around Christmas time? There's Noel." Claude informs the group.

It's the last straw, Marinette's face breaks into a brilliant smile as she begins laughing quietly. Soon enough she, Adrien, Allan, and Claude are all laughing hysterically. Every time they begin to stop, a glance at one of the others sets them off again. An endless, vicious cycle.

Allegra and Felix watch their antics, amused. They're both smiling, but manage to restrain themselves from laughing at a pun. One of Claude's puns no less.

"Allegra, I guess it is up to us to decide upon a game." Felix says to his only sane companion.

It's a good day.

Notes:

Do they have a sleepover? You decide!

There you are! I hope that was satisfactory! I apologize I didn't write them opening presents, but I kept putting it off, and I didn't know what to get them, so I put it off more, until it was suddenly today. Sorry if that was disappointing, but I hope the rest of the chapter makes up for it!

As for Mari's necklace, (one of the only presents I actually wrote), you can find a picture here. The Kwami cloaks are something I've seen fanart of, and something I thought was a cute idea so I'm sure you can find drawings somewhere. The pun book is pretty self-explanatory.

When the Quantics arrived this became Gabriel salt. At first I was going to apologize for that, then Chat Blanc happened and I realized that the fandom now lives on Gabriel salt. There will be plenty of salt in this fic for many characters, and he is certainly one of them.

Once again, I just don't settle for games most people are familiar with. Sorry about that, but Claude has all of my favorite board games and I can't just not have my babies play. Dixit, in case you were wondering, is a fantastic game I would definitely recommend (yes you do play as bunnies). As for playing on the floor instead of a table, I'm sure I can't be the only one who plays board games on the floor? I honestly think I prefer it.

Next chapter is Saturday as usual! In case you want a bit of a hint (teaser? preview?) content wise (as a gift!), I guess I can say that there will be some cuddles and fluff, and someone has to stop at Master Fu's. I wonder why? Maybe I should come up with a chapter summary early and add it here.

Anyways, I hope you all have a spectacular day! Whether you celebrate Christmas or anything else (or nothing), enjoy yourself, your friends, your family, and smile! (Stay safe, especially if you've got icy roads like me, or rather, I'm supposed to). Love you all! ❤️

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 23: Unhandyman

Summary:

During an akuma attack, Ladybug is put out of commision. What's a cat to do when his partner can't help?

Notes:

Ah! I'm so sorry! I forgot today was Saturday! I was responding to comments, and was about to say 'tomorrow's update' when my brain did a double take. Either way, it isn't Friday, and while I'm late, at least I got it up today! As reparations, here's a 14 page chapter (usually aim for 8-10). Also, there's two reference slides for this chapter.
See the akuma here. (No, I don't regret it)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Claude had just exited the bakery. He had been visiting Marinette because he'd been in the area, and they'd hung out for a little bit until Marinette fell asleep. Now, walking out of the bakery, they saw another of their friends. Adrien is in the nearby park with-

Oh.

He's with them. Alya, Lila, and some boy that must be Nino. It looks like it must be some sort of 'double date' but as Adrien had pointed out before, that would require both couples to be dating. That Lie-la girl is hanging off the poor boy who is so clearly uncomfortable. The so called 'friends' don't seem to notice his distress, and Alya even seems to be taking pictures of the 'cute couple' every so often.

It's time for an intervention.

"Adrien! I didn't know you'd be in the area! We could have planned something with everyone!" Claude runs up to the group.

"Claude, it's nice to see you!" Adrien takes the chance he gets and extricates himself from Lila to move closer to his friend. It's only a momentary relief, Lila clings to Adrien again, looking at Claude in feigned fear.

"You! Y-you were one of the people that helped Marinette attack me at the museum!"
Alya and Adrien both open their mouths to say something, but Claude speaks first, "Oh I'm so sorry to hear you were attacked, but I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about! When did this happen- I'd like to clear this up."

"Early December a-at the Louvre. I-I haven't been back since." Lila's shaky voice prompts Alya to hug her closely, glaring at Claude suspiciously.

Claude shakes his head, clucking his tongue, "Sorry darling, but you must have mistaken me with someone else. I was in England performing for most of December, just got back last week. I'm an actor." He pulls out his phone, showing her various pictures of him in front of various English landmarks, and some with him in costumes with different people also dressed up. One specifically shows the date that he knows she's talking about, so he lingers on that one, but doesn't point it out seeing as he's not supposed to know the day specifically.

Adrien covers his confusion well. Lila looks startled, "B-but-"

"Sorry, girl. It's okay, it must be the trauma," Alya comforts Lila, before looking at Claude, "Sorry about that, it was a scary day. She had a run-in with a former bully."

"Hm."

Lila gasps quietly, freezing in the journalist's arms.

Alya and Nino notice immediately, asking her what's wrong and hovering over her as though she might break.

"I-it's j-j-just I forgot-t-t how c-c-close we were t-to her house." Lila stares wide-eyed at the bakery nearby.

Alya frowns, handing Lila to Nino, storming over to the bakery and throwing the door open. She hasn't even stepped inside before the group hears raised voices from the couple inside. Alya comes back after a moment, fuming.

She mutters bitterly, and Claude figures this is as good a time as any to rescue his friend.

"Well, anyways, Adrien did you still want to see Allegra's practice for her upcoming concert? I was just on my way there!" Obviously, there is no practice, especially given that said girl is out of town visiting family for a few days.

"Oh, that's today! I completely forgot! Sorry guys, I can't miss it - she'd be so bummed!" Adrien plays along flawlessly.

"Well, maybe we could come with? We barely see you out of school anymore, Adrien!" Lila clings to him once more, and Claude knows that if Allegra were here she'd not have the self-control to keep herself from forcibly ripping the leech from him.

"Oh, sorry dear, but you can't join us!" he shakes as head as though truly sorry, "The orchestra likes for people planning on watching performances to sign up beforehand - they don't want too many people at once."

"W-well maybe we could see the actual concert in a few weeks? We'd come with Adrien of course!" She won't give up.

Adrien joins in, "Actually, that's why I'm seeing the practice - the concert is on the same day as an important shoot so I won't be able to see it. It'd be kind of weird for you guys to go without me." He finally pries her off of him, moving to be near Claude, "Well, you guys enjoy the rest of your day!" He hurries away and Claude follows.

"Ugh, how long were you trapped with those dreadful people?"

"A few hours. Thanks for saving me." Adrien looks to him questioningly, "Where did you get those pictures?"

"Adrien, Adrien, Adrien. You should know that a magician never reveals their secrets."

Adrien is practicing piano when Plagg flies over with his phone.

"Alright, Kitten. You've got an akuma to deal with. It's near Notre-Dame."

Adrien checks his phone for confirmation.

Akuma Alert:

Type 3

Notre-Dame

More information and updates available.

"Plagg, claws out!"

It's their first akuma attack in a while. The absence of akumas lined up nicely with his father's trip so they'd had a break from both his controlling nature and Hawkmoth's nonsense.

That break's over with now apparently.

He arrives to see that Ladybug is already there. She's standing on a nearby rooftop shivering and clearly not wanting to be out of bed. He lands beside her.

"Hey Bug, surprised to see you managed to beat me."

She only leans into him, mumbling, "I woke up. Didn't wanna'."

"Understandable. Do you know anything about the akuma, or are you just cold?"

"Both." She huffs, as though he should realize she's always cold,"'t's giant construction work'r."

"Did he see you?"

"No." He hears loud thuds from down the street, and she continues, "He's back…"

He turns, seeing a man wearing a yellow construction hat, an orange and red checkered shirt and blue overalls. He's got work boots on, and a construction belt with various tools sticking out of it.

Oh, and he's as tall as a building. There's that too.

The man is holding a wrench and swinging it around, smashing the street and nearby buildings. Civilians are staying inside. Definitely a type three.

He spots the heroes and points at them with a screwdriver from his belt, putting the wrench back as he does so, "I am the Unhandyman! My work wasn't good enough, so now nothing will work well! Nothing is repaired - everything is broken! Give me your miraculous!"

"Nah…" Ladybug mumbles at the victim.

"I'm with my Lady. You're going down! What happened anyways? Didja' screw up a construction project? Just couldn't nail it?"

The man doesn't respond, just throwing a hammer at them. They jump out of the way, but the building gets hit anyways, opening up the ceiling as the tool crashes through the ceiling. It fades eventually, showing up in his work belt again.

"Le's get him… less build'ns an' peoples…" Ladybug suggests.

"Good idea, we can lead him in this direction." The duo continues in the same direction, being sure to be slow enough to keep him captivated. If he gets bored and wanders away then the citizens of Paris could get caught in the crossfire.

Ladybug swings around him once they're in an open area, looking for a way to wrap him up. It's a good thing their weapons are indestructible because it makes them easier to use when an akuma needs to be restrained.

Of course, their weapons are indestructible, but the things they attach them to are not. Unhandyman sees a chance and hits a hammer against where Ladybug has latched her yo-yo, sending her flying into a snowdrift. Chat winces as he realizes she will most definitely be hibernating. He needs to get to her immediately.

The akuma victim has other plans. Surrounding Chat with nails taller than him, Unhandyman aims the hammer at him. The hero ducks out of the way, only hitting a nail with his suit. The impact of the hammer shakes the ground and he stumbles slightly. A giant screwdriver stabs into the ground in front of him, stalling him long enough for the Unhandyman to draw out a measuring tape on its side as a makeshift barrier.

Chat Noir backs off for a moment, going to higher ground before vaulting over to land near his partner. All-in-all, she's been in the snow for a little more than five minutes, maybe six. He isn't sure how long exactly, but it's definitely been too long.

She's in a snowdrift that reaches above his knees, curled in on herself and shaking slightly. He'd typically be concerned about hypothermia, but her ladybug tendencies can protect her from the cold better than it would seem. Going into hibernation can help her, but only for so long. He picks her up carefully.

She doesn't move to be any closer to him, completely limp in his arms. Definitely hibernating - not that he had any doubt given the whole falling into a snowdrift bit.

He makes his way to the rooftops, sparing a glance back at Unhandyman. He'll have to trust that Paris will be able to stay out of his way while Chat gets Ladybug somewhere safe.

He won't be able to defeat this akuma alone though.

"Master, I'm sorry, I know Marinette usually comes for back-up, but…" He trails off, lifting the still limp girl in his arms to show his point.

Fu looks startled for a moment, "I take it that you two have revealed yourselves then?" He moves to allow the still-transformed pair into the house.

"Oh. Uh, yeah. Sorry, it was an acci-"

"No matter. It was bound to happen eventually. What led to this?" He gestures at Ladybug.

He nods, "She got knocked into the snow and I couldn't get to her for a while."

"You should de-transform, Plagg will be able to release Tikki." Wayzz suggests.

"Claws in."

Plagg flies out of the ring, blinking for a moment before going to the earrings to release his other half as he has before. Tikki falls against Marinette's shoulder, both girls are entirely asleep.

"While it is not ideal, you will have to leave them here while you deal with the akuma. Wayzz and I can keep them warm, though she likely won't wake up with you so far. Would I be correct in assuming you came for back-up as well?" Fu leads Adrien into the main room, grabbing the Miracle Box and placing it in front of him.

He hesitates. This is Marinette's job. He's never done this before and doesn't know where to start. He'd default to Honey Bee - trusting Marinette's past decisions - but Allegra isn't in Paris at the moment.

"A distraction would be useful here, Kid." Plagg suggests. Adrien nods, grabbing the orange fox tail. He transforms, thanking Fu for his help and hurrying to the rooftops.

He has someone in mind.

"Claude De Rosier, this is the Miraculous of the Fox which grants the power of illusion. You will use it for the greater good. Once the job is done you will return the Miraculous to me. Do you accept?"

They stare at him in complete shock, "Me?"

Chat Noir smiles, "I don't see any other Claudes here."

Claude blinks, taking the necklace and placing it around his neck. He startles when an orange glow appears, fading to reveal Trixx.

"Greetings kit, I am Trixx, Kwami of the Fox Miraculous! Are you ready to be a hero?"

"I'll do my best."

"It's simple! To transform you say, 'Trixx, let's pounce' and to detransform you say, 'Trixx, let's rest'. When you transform you will be able to use your flute to create a mirage for your purposes. Once you do so, you will only have five minutes before you will detransform, the necklace will display how much time you have left. Chat Noir can guide you."

Claude notes the absence of the heroine's name, "What about Ladybug?"

"Tikki is hibernating, I could feel it back when we were at the Guardian's place."

"Ladybug won't be able to help. I can explain another time." Chat offers.

"Ready?" Trixx turns to Claude excitedly.

They nod, "Trixx, Let's Pounce!"

The Kwami flies into the necklace, and an orange glow overtakes the boy. As it fades, Chat looks to see how he changed.

He has an orange tunic with a white stripe running down the middle, and the long sleeves are covered by black elbow length gloves that end in zig-zagged cut and look fuzzy. The tunic is tied around the waist, and the material trails behind him, ending in three almost diamond shapes that are tipped in white. Their legs are orange and are covered from the knee down in boots similar to the gloves, that appear to have toe-prints on the bottom. On his head sits two fox ears that are more triangular than those of Rena Rouge and Volpina's - more like a real fox and fluffy too. His mask is almost entirely orange, though the eyes are lined in black, as is the tip of the nose. They have a short shoulder cap around their front, orange except for the white zig-zagged cut edges. The flute is on their back, held there by magic.

He looks over himself, inspecting the various parts of the outfit.

"What should we call you?" Chat asks.

"Hmm…" The fox hero thinks for a moment, "How about… Kit Mime?"

"I like it. Let's go!" The two boys jump out the window, Kit Mime taking a moment to adjust to using his abilities. The flute doesn't extend, instead, they can jump far better than normal - luckily for them the boots seem to negate the slipperiness of the iciness of the rooftops.

It's easy enough to find Unhandyman, following the trail of destruction which leads them to the Eiffel tower. He's about to bash one of the legs with his hammer when Chat calls out, "Hey! You miss me?"

The giant turns, glaring once he's spotted the heroes, "Where did Ladybug go? Finally admit defeat?"

"Actually my Lady realized she has better things to do, sorry if you're a fan."

"May I say something sir? I'd just like to say that I understand that it can sometimes be difficult choosing the right hammer, but you've nailed it!" Kit grins innocently at his pun.

Their response is the giant hammer being thrown at their head. Both boys jump out of the way easily, running to get closer.

"Any ideas on the akumatized object?" Chat questions Kit.

"Maybe the hat? Or the belt?" He's new at this, but those seem like the most likely options.

"Okay, we'll start with the hat - it should be easier. Maybe we can climb down from the tower…"

They're at the base of the tower, and Chat stops to consider things. Kit Mime looks up and jumps, landing at a platform much higher up. He continues in this way until he's higher on the tower. At this point Chat has realized what they're up to and is distracting Unhandyman.

Kit Mime lands softly on the hard-hat, stopping for a moment to think before shrugging and slamming his flute into it. A hole shows up, but no butterfly comes out. The victim has realized what happened so Kit jumps back to safety, sliding down the tower and running to join Chat.

"It was a good attempt." Chat offers.

"Oh well. Do we try the belt now?"

"Yep, it's mostly trial and error. I'll let you in on a secret-" He leans in, whispering conspiratorially, "Ladybug and I don't actually know what we're doing."

"I think you do pretty well for people that don't know what they're doing."

"Thanks, you've done well for someone who probably also doesn't know what they're doing."

The thud of a wrench slamming into the Eiffel tower brings them out of their conversation.

"Alright. Here's how we're going to do this. Make an illusion of me and just stick near me. Make it seem like we're trying to get to him. I'll sneak up from behind and catacl- destroy the belt. First let me go out of sight for a bit - maybe don't let him see you making the illusion though."

Kit Mime and Chat Noir duck into separate hiding places. Soon enough Chat Noir sees another him running alongside Kit, and he sneaks over to the tower, climbing quietly. Whispering, he says, "Cataclysm."

He jumps to the belt touching it with his hand. An akuma flies out and he holds it between his fingers, sliding down the tower to meet Kit.

"Let's get somewhere quieter. We gotta' detransform."

They find an alley just as the necklace runs out. Claude stands in his place, and Trixx is flying about excitedly, "You did so well!"

"You did. Welcome to the team." The ring beeps, "I've got to take Trixx back now though. Are you free tonight?"

Claude lifts the fox tail over his head, "I think so. Why?"

"We've started bringing our temporary heroes on patrols every so often - for practice. Seeing as you're free, I'll stop by later. I've got to go now, are you good here?"
"Yep! One of my friends lives near here, and I left a coat at his place once so it's as good a time as any to grab it."

Chat gives a two finger salute and jumps away, arriving at Fu's place just as his time runs out.

"Alright kid, let's check on our bugs." Plagg is clearly antsy about being away from a hibernating Tikki for so long.

"I can assure you, Wayzz and I have kept them safe." Fu allows them in and Adrien hands back the fox miraculous in its box.

Plagg ignores him, zipping through the walls to get to Tikki.

"Master, what can we do about this?" Adrien holds up the butterfly he still has pinned between his fingers.

"With Plagg's assistance, we may be able to get Tikki to purify it and cast the cure. She will not be awake, but such a task is second-nature to her and as such she could likely do it while not entirely conscious." Wayzz speculates, taking the butterfly and going to the other Kwami to discuss it as they enter the main room.

Marinette is lying across one of the mats, covered in blankets. Tikki is nearby, similarly unconscious, surrounded by Wayzz and Plagg. He sees a soft white glow and ladybugs rush out to repair the city. Plagg pulls her closer hugging her in the hopes of helping wake her up.

"Should I take her home now?" Adrien looks to Fu.

"It may be for the best. Her room is likely warmer than this one, and a familiar environment could be better for her."

He nods, scooping her up without hesitation. He waits for Plagg to gently place Tikki on top of her before he transforms.

He does his best to avoid places he may be seen on his way to the bakery - one of the heroes of Paris carrying an unconscious girl could raise some questions.

Luckily, (thanks Tikki) he manages to go without anyone spotting him with the two bugs. He slips in through the trapdoor, relieved to see that her absence hadn't been noticed. Her parents are still busy in the bakery below.

With her being in hibernation, there's no hope of simply waking her up. He covers them in blankets and releases his transformation so that Plagg can be with Tikki.

Hugging his partner closer to him, Adrien plays with her hair softly, hoping to warm her up faster. It probably isn't good for a human being to hibernate for too long. Eventually, he falls asleep too, resting against her and purring contentedly.

Adrien hears his phone ding in his pocket, waking him. Pulling it out, he sees a text from Claude.

Kid Mime: elsie drew me

Kid Mime: this is the best thing i've ever seen

Kid Mime: allan im stealing your sister

The Mom Friend: no she's mine

Hug This Boy: Wait, who's Elsie? Allan's sister?

The Mom Friend: yep

The Mom Friend: shes 6

Kid Mime: i love her

Hug This Boy: Is Claude at your place?

The Mom Friend: yep

The Mom Friend: someone decided the best way to get there coat back is to go OUTSDIE in the SNOW without a coat al teh way to my house

Kid Mime: well i can only where 1 coat at a tme.

The Mom Friend: E

The Mom Friend: you coud hve goten sick

Adrien looks next to him at Marinette. She's still sleeping, but seemingly out of hibernation. That's good. What isn't good is the fact that - despite being in her warm room covered in blankets and right next to him - she's very visibly shivering. He frowns at her shaking, touching her forehead gently. Definitely far too warm, it would seem her time in the snow got her a fever, perhaps also a consequence of her body being shut down for hibernation. The human immune system doesn't work well that way.

Hug This Boy: About that.

The Mom Friend: oh no

The Mom Friend: are you sick?

Hug This Boy: No.

Hug This Boy: Our favorite pig-tailed designer may or may not have ventured outside and may or may not have fallen into a snowdrift and may or may not have stayed there for upwards of five minutes before I happened to find her.

The Mom Friend: SHE WHAT

Melodie: Is she okay?!

Hug This Boy: I think it's just a fever.

Kid Mime: poor girl

The Mom Friend: hi 😀⭐❤

The Mom Friend: my b ther is makin food

Kid Mime: allan is stress cooking

Kid Mime: looks like pizza

Kid Mime: so were good

Hug This Boy: What?

Melodie: There are levels to it. If he's making pizza then this should be enough to get it out of his system.

Melodie: Hi Elsie! Do you remember me? The girl with the long hair?

Really Cool Girl: yeh i tink i do

Really Cool Girl: clwed mayd me name pretty

Really Cool Girl: do u lke it

Really Cool Girl:

Felix: It looks great Elsie.

Really Cool Girl: hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Really Cool Girl: r u the cat boy

Really Cool Girl: ?¿

Felix: Yes. I take it that you are referring to Pluto?

Really Cool Girl: yeaaaaaa

Really Cool Girl: he relly cute!

Really Cool Girl: can i seeee him agan?

Felix: Attachment: 1 Video

Melodie: (This is such a wholesome conversation)

Kid Mime: (its even bettr in person)

Kid Mime: (felix she loves u. shes so smiley)

Really Cool Girl: i love kitties!

Really Cool Girl: tel him hes reallie pretty

Really Cool Girl: an giv him a lot of pats

Really Cool Girl:

Felix: I will.

Really Cool Girl: o allin mayed me a samwitch by by

Felix: Farewell.

Melodie: Bye!

Hug This Boy: Goodbye!

Marinette hasn't woken up yet. Adrien is starting to worry.

"It'll be fine. Bugs tend to get sick if they hibernate too long. It's like a cold or a fever." Plagg consoles.

"A magical cold or fever." Adrien points out.

"There is that, yes."

Marinette stirs slightly, murmuring nonsensically. Adrien focuses on her immediately, turning her face to him and feeling her forehead again.

"Mari? You waking up, Bugaboo?"

"...there's chinchillas in the walls...:"

"If you say so." he holds her up carefully, her head lolling to the side. She's still asleep, "Come on, you should wake up now. You're sick, and I can't help you if you're sleeping."

She only scrunches up her face trying to process what's happening.

"Please? You can go back to sleep once we've made sure you're okay."

She squints at him, "Kitty?"

"Hi Princess." he smiles at her, happy that she's finally awake.

Marinette slumps onto him, mumbling incoherently. 'Awake' may be too generous of a term.

"'ssss col'..."

It isn't actually that cold, but given her clear shivering she probably wouldn't accept anything other than agreements, "Is that so? I had no idea."

"'cause you warm…" she falls against him again, humming happily. She's still shivering.

He opens his mouth to respond when he hears someone on the stairs. Tom or Sabine must be checking on her.

Speaking quietly, he tells her, "I've got to go now. I'll try to check on you if I get the chance. Feel better soon."

Her feeble attempts to stop him via hugs aren't entirely effective. His heart breaks at her sad face, but there'd probably be trouble if they came in to see him with their sick daughter in her bed. He kisses her forehead softly and jumps through the trapdoor to the balcony, transforming once he's outside.

He probably needs to get back to piano anyways.

Patrol with Kit Mime had gone well. He'd been understanding about Ladybug's tendencies and had adjusted further to his powers.

Chat had returned the miraculous to Fu at the end of patrol, and is on his way to his house.

What kind of partner would he be if he didn't check on Marinette first though?

It's a good thing he does, seeing as she's on her balcony. Again.

Landing behind her, he lectures her, "Claws in. What is it with you and going out on your balcony when you're sick?"

She turns to him, "...hi Adrien…?"

Tikki sits on her head, "Please get her inside," she's shivering from the cold, "She's b-been out-t-t here for… too long?" Keeping track of time is difficult for sleepy Bugs.

"Why are you out here?"

"Gotta' t-tell Chat I won' be doin' pat-trol… he k-know I'm m-me now, so I c-can do that…" She looks around at the nearby rooftops hazily.

"Mari. I'm right here. I already knew you were sick."

She frowns, "N-no, you're A-Adrien. Chat is C-Chat…"

"Right. My bad. Sorry Plagg, Claws Out." the Kwami yelps in protest as he's sucked into the ring.

Chat Noir stands in front of her, touching her arm gently, "Alright, will you go inside now?"
"B-but I gotta' t-tell y-"

"Shh. I know you're sick, okay? Now you have to sleep."

He leads her to the trapdoor, "I alr-ready slep' a lots t-today?"

"Hibernation isn't the same as sleeping, Princess. Besides, I know for a fact that you're tired right now." He helps her inside, making sure she doesn't trip on the snowy balcony as she enters.

Marinette slumps into him once she's inside, "...am."

"Told you. Can I detransform now?"

She hums in confirmation and he releases the transformation, Plagg returning to Tikki immediately.

"How have you been feeling? Have you eaten?" He leans against the wall and covers her in a blanket while she curls into him.

"...col'...Paris is mean, dum' sno'." she glares at a window across the room.

"That's just how it is. The snow can't get you in here-"

"You gonna' save me from the sno'?" she looks at him expectantly.

"I will. You don't like snow." What else is he supposed to say? No? To that face?

"Yay." she hugs him tighter, which isn't actually all that tight given her exhaustion, "...'re purrin'..."

"Mhm. Don't think you can avoid my second question though, did you eat?"

She makes a face, "yeah… Maman made me soup…"

"I take it you didn't want to eat soup. What do you have against soup?"

"'s not aphids. All them left 'cause col'...luckies."

"Are you still cold? What's your temperature?" He glances around, hoping for a thermometer. He's in luck, there's one on a nearby shelf - presumably left by Tom or Sabine.

"Not enough. 'Cause 'm cold." Clearly, Marinette doesn't understand the question.

Adrien stretches, grabbing the thermometer and moving back to lean against the wall. Marinette settles herself again, glaring at him for disturbing her.

"Okay, can I take your temperature?"

She harrumphs, clearly wanting to rest, but allows him to check with the thermometer.

"38.8 (101.8℉). Hmm." he pulls out his phone, googling a few things, "How's your head feel?"

"Bad… everythin' hurts." she's started blinking slowly, feeling heavy.

"Sorry Bug, you might have the flu. According to the internet at the very least. It's hard to tell, seeing a lot of the symptoms are just your tendencies…"

"Kay…"

"Though I don't think you're supposed to be so confused…" He peers at her in concern. She only blinks up at him, smiling softly. She reaches up and ruffles his hair.

"...like 'ur hair, Kitty-cat…"

"Yeah, that's the earrings again." Plagg interrupts, "Hibernating animals are going to be confused if you wake 'em up early. She'll recover by tomorrow, just stay close."

"Always. She'll still be sick though?"

"Yep. Bugs get sick really easily in the winter. Especially after they hibernate."

Marinette is still mussing up his hair. He purrs at her happily, leaning into the touch. She blinks at him tiredly, still feeling heavy from exhaustion. At this, he returns the slow blink - not even thinking about it. It's just what feels natural.

Marinette likes that Adrien is here. His hair is soft. His purring is nice too. What isn't nice is her headache. It's more than a headache - a person-ache? She's a person and she aches. Her throat is sore too. It's very cold. She has heaters, but they must be broken because she's still cold. Then Adrien showed up. Then he left, but Chat came. Then Chat left again and Adrien came back. They should stop leaving her. It's very confusing trying to keep track of who's here and who isn't.

At least he's warm. He's warmer than the rest of her room. She loves him. Also she likes that he is warm. Has she mentioned how cold it is? It is very cold. She wants to stay awake to be with her kitty longer, but it's cold and she's tired, and the tired is making her cold and the cold is making her tired.

She fights against the sleep hanging over her, forcing her eyes open again and again. It only makes her more tired, but she gets to see her favorite person so she'll keep doing it. She can stay awake. She's a hero, so staying awake is easy compared to everything else she has to do.

She feels Adrien's hand playing with her hair, and her eyes slip close for a little longer, before she remembers that she's awake right now. She forces them open again, determined to stay awake. His purr seems to get a little louder, and he's still playing with her hair and she's really tired. She's stopped messing with his hair - her hand limp, twisted in his blonde hair and just above his face.

Okay. She'll compromise. She'll close her eyes for a little bit, and then she'll open them again for the same amount of time. If she keeps up that cycle, she'll make it through the night. Easy.

She's on the verge of sleep when she remembers herself, startling herself awake. Maybe she can close her eyes for longer than she keeps them open? She really is tired. Adrien is really warm and it would be so easy to just sleep. She just doesn't like that she'd miss him. He's still running his fingers through her hair and purring, so she tries her new compromise, certain it will work better.

Adrien watches Marinette carefully. She seems to be fighting sleep, though he can't imagine why - she must be exhausted. He keeps running his hand through her hair, trying to get her to finally rest. He's still purring, doing nothing to quiet it, because Ladybug would always fall asleep on him in patrol when she was tired if he was purring.

Marinette is still fighting it, but he can see it's a losing battle. He knows her too well for her to be able to fight him when it comes to her wellbeing - which includes getting the rest she deserves. He can feel her hand twitch slightly, as though she's trying to keep messing with his hair. She's too tired to pull that off properly, and only makes her hand slip slightly.

Her eyes finally close, and he waits to see if they'll finally stay that way. She gives a small adorable yawn and snuggles closer to him. Her breathing finally steadies and she gives in to sleep.

He keeps playing with her hair - it's nice.

Inevitably, he will have to return to his house. For now though, he rests with his Lady, eventually following her to slumber.

Notes:

Well, what do you think? Lateness aside, this is one of my favorite chapters, so I hope you enjoyed!

New year (almost), new fox hero! Claude is the fox holder, I saw plenty of you guess that! Congrats on being right! I'm pretty proud of that name by the way, I feel like it's pretty clever! (Though I could be biased) Reference slides here! I had fun with their outfit. It went through many changes.

That akuma seemed familiar. Huh. Probably not an easily recognizable cartoon character or anything. Slides here.

Allan's sister made her debut! I haven't even considered what she looks like, but maybe I'll come up an outfit or something (I will take any excuse to mess around on dress up games, I have a blast). I love her.

Last update of the year! Decade too! There's no telling what the next chapter will bring, unless you have 2020 vision of course! (ᗜ•)

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 24: Sick Day

Summary:

Falling in a snowdrift tends to have negative consequences on one's health, so the Quantics check on their favorite designer.

Notes:

Hey, look, and update that's on time. Good way to start off the new year I suppose! I hope the decade has been going well for you guys, and if not, I hope that this angst-free chapter can be, at the very least, something that makes you happy.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The moment the bakery opens, Allan walks in. He smiles at Tom and Sabine, waving as he heads in the back. He walks a little faster than what is probably necessary, but he's worried.

He's calmed down some - making something helps - but he'd like to check on Marinette himself. Falling in a snowdrift in this sort of weather is not good for your health.

Looking at his phone he sees a text from Felix.

Felix: Allan, do not wake up early solely to check on Marinette. I am certain she is fine, perhaps she has a cold at the very worst. Her parents would have let us know if she was seriously ill.

The Mom Friend: to late

Melodie: Oh Allan.

The Mom Friend: I just want to check on her quick.

Kid Mime: ill head over to

Kid Mime: its ok allan

The Mom Friend: but stil

He pushes the trapdoor open gently, "'Nette? You up?"

No response. That's fine. She's probably sleeping. She's fine. She's just sick. Probably.

…

It wouldn't hurt to check.

He climbs the ladder, breathing a sigh of relief when he sees her curled against the wall, clearly breathing and perfectly fine.

Maybe she isn't fine. She might be sick. It's just a cold. A flu at the worst.

It could be something worse. She fell into a snowdrift and stayed there for a while.

How long has she been sleeping? Sleeping for too long could be bad. He almost wakes her up, then he hesitates. Maybe she's only just gone to sleep. If that's the case, maybe he shouldn't.

Is there a way to tell how long someone has been asleep?

He's standing at the top of the ladder, hesitating for too long. Oh come on. She's fine. She's fine, you know she's fine. It makes the most sense given all the facts.

But what if she's not?
He's no doctor, but when he thinks of the consequences of prolonged exposure to cold he thinks of three things: a cold, the flu, and pneumonia.

Pneumonia.

That can kill people.

Maybe he should wake her up.

He's still hesitating when the trapdoor opens. He doesn't have to turn to know Claude has arrived.

"Do you think she has pneumonia?" He doesn't look from her when he asks the question, but Claude can hear the anxiety in his voice.

"No, Allan. I don't think she has pneumonia."

"But maybe-"

"Shhh. Allan, she's fine. Get off the ladder."

"We aren't doctors-"

"So we can't diagnose her with anything. We'll assume it's the flu for now, and if it seems bad we'll get her to a doctor. Come on." Claude gently coaxes him down the ladder, "How much did you sleep last night?"

"Maybe four hours?"

"Maybe?"
"Okay, about two an' a half…" he sees Claude's look, "It wasn't just 'cause of Mari. It's just… once I get started…"

"You don't stop. Oh, Al'." Claude has safely helped the other boy onto the floor, and they lead him to the chaise, "Sit down at the very least. Mari won't mind. I understand if you can't get yourself to sleep, but you deserve to rest."

"...how long do you think she's been sleeping? Would it be worse t' wake her up too early or too late?" he startles at his last words, sitting up further, "I don't like the sound of 'too late' maybe we should-"

Claude squeezes his hand a little, "Allan. Marinette is fine. It's only a cold. Maybe the flu."

"Right. She's fine. Everything is fine." he doesn't sound entirely convinced, but he nods anyways.

Claude nods too, claiming the desk chair to work on a few things he'd brought over. They'd only grabbed their backpack, which had only a portion of their homework, but Allan had needed someone. Claude hadn't been doing anything important anyways - just trying to find the most annoying memes he could possibly send to Felix.

After about 45 minutes, he looks up from the finished packet to see that Allan has fallen asleep against the chaise lounge. He's rather precariously near the edge, and that just won't do.

When they stand to move him further onto the longue, they notice that he's holding his phone loosely. After adjusting his position and putting a blanket over him, Claude swipes the phone quickly, returning to the desk chair as he unlocks it.

He opens to the search results for 'early signs of pneumonia'.

Allan, sweetie, no.

They close the phone, leaving it on the desk and opening his own to inform Felix, Adrien, and Allegra of the current status of their two most anxious friends.

Kid Mime: ive ben here for a bit

Kid Mime: al is napping

Kid Mime: hes worried that mari has newmonia

Melodie: Allan, honey.

Kid Mime: mari is still asleep

Kid Mime: she seems fine

Felix: Allegra and I can join you in an hour or so.

Hug This Boy: I might be able to sneak away around lunch? If I finish the shoots early.

Melodie: Gabriel does realize you're a child, not a machine, right?

Hug This Boy: You already are worried about two of us, there's no need to make it three.

Melodie: Watch me.

Kid Mime: i have 2 say im with her on this

Kid Mime: im gunna kidnap u

Felix: That's illegal.

Kid Mime: that makes it exciting

Felix: I know when I'm fighting a losing battle.

Hug This Boy: Do I get a say in this?

Melodie: Of course. We wouldn't make you do anything you don't want to do.

Kid Mime: subtle

Hug This Boy: What a concept.

Hug This Boy: Maybe I can get behind this.

Melodie: I wasn't going for 'subtle'.

Melodie: More something along the lines of 'GABRIEL AGRESTE IS A TERRIBLE PARENT WHO WOULDN"T KNOW THE MEANING OF LOVE/CARE IF IT PUNCHED HIM IN THE GUT'

Kid Mime: pretty close

Hug This Boy: Maybe putting it a little lightly, but that's the gist of it.

Melodie: Oh you poor baby.

Felix and Allegra show up, entering the room quietly.

"Good. They're both still sleeping." Allegra comments.

"Did Allan tell you how many hours of sleep he had last night?" Felix inquires.

"Two and a half." Claude says matter-of-factly.

"Honey."

"And how is Marinette?"

"She's been sleeping the whole time. She feels a little warm, but that's about all I can tell without waking her up."

Allegra hums, climbing up the ladder to check on the girl herself. Marinette hasn't moved much and is resting contentedly. Putting her hand to the sick girl's forehead, Allegra can tell that Claude was right. Definitely a little warm.

Marinette's eyes open slightly, squinting at the braided blonde.

"Hi honey, how're you feeling?"

Marinette shakes her head slightly, giving a thumbs down.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Are you gonna get up or are you going back to sleep?"

She gives a half shrug. Being awake sounds nice, but her eyes keep slipping shut.

"Alright. We're all here. Except for Adrien."

Marinette mumbles something bitterly, but all her friend picks up is 'Gabriel'. She's got some ideas of what Marinette might have said.

Allegra turns to the boys once she's off the ladder, "She's awake-ish. I'm not sure how long that'll last, but she's awake enough to hate on Gabriel Agreste."

"Is that honestly her priority right now?" Felix asks.

"It's always a priority," is all he gets as a response.

Claude has produced a cup of water from who-knows-where, and he carries it up to Marinette.

"Hi sweetie, are you still awake?"

She shrugs, forcing her eyes open to squint at them. Once she sees the water she reaches for it, but gives up halfway.

"You sure you can hold this? You're barely awake."

Her glare is probably supposed to be defiant, but when she keeps having to force her eyes open, it isn't exactly effective.

"Sure. You can have this when you're sitting up then." he returns to the ground and places the water on the desk, turning to Felix and Allegra as he spins in the desk chair, "So what have you two been up to?"

"Nothing that you are unaware of," Felix sits on Marinette's case against the wall.

"We got back a little early. I'm glad to be back - not that the trip was bad, it's just nice to be home." Allegra rests against the chaise, glancing at the sleeping boy on it momentarily.

"What do ya' think Mari was doing outside?"

"It does seem odd, given her predisposition to staying indoors when it is as cold as it was yesterday."

"We can ask her when she wakes up more."

"She might just try to sleep through it. She'll probably be even more tired than normal so…" Claude shrugs.

Before the others can say anything, there's a shuffling from above. Marinette props herself up and blinks down at them.

"Hello," Felix greets her for the first time that day.

She only blinks, still trying to decide if she made the right decision by sitting up.

"You can have the water now!" Claude grabs the water from where they placed it, carrying it up to Marinette, who is able to grab it this time. She's visibly shivering.

She finishes it off, placing it on a shelf beside her. It takes a moment, but she is able to give a soft, "Thank you."

"It's no problem. How you feelin'?"

She sticks out her tongue, "Bad."

"Could you specify?" Felix calls up.

"Tired. Cold. Ache."

"Temperature?" Allegra chimes in.

Marinette frowns as she tries to remember, Claude taps her arm and points out the thermometer.

"38.2 (100.8℉)," They read out for her. She's beginning to slump slightly, probably debating whether or not she should rest.

"Do you want any ibuprofen or anything?" Allegra offers.

Marinette hums, drooping further. She straightens slightly, trying to seem alert and looking apologetic.

"Still tired?" Claude cocks his head at her, smiling softly.

"...no…I'm 'wake..." she has propped herself up, relying heavily on one arm, and is sitting up fairly straight. If it weren't for her head resting on her shoulder, she might have looked a little more convincing - if you also excluded all other factors.

"Really?"

"Yup…" She remains sitting, and feigns attentiveness.

Claude is resting against the wall next to her, looking doubtful, but he doesn't comment.

"So what were you doing outside yesterday?" Allegra asks. If she's going to pretend she can hold a conversation, then they may as well try.

Marinette mumbles a little, her arm seemingly failing to support her as before. She leans against Claude lightly, as though she is both in denial of her weariness and worried about somehow upsetting them.

"Still with us, Mare?"
"Mhm." She forces her eyes open again,

"Somehow, I remain unconvinced." Felix comments.

This time, she doesn't respond. Leaning forward, her eyes slip shut again, and Claude moves her to lean against him - it'd be more comfortable than falling on her face. The group thinks she's finally asleep, but she sits up again.

"Alright, that's enough, Marinette," Allegra is firm, but her voice is gentle, "You need to rest."

Marinette doesn't seem to quite register this, but goes to rest on Claude's lap regardless. He combs her hair with his hands, hoping to lull her to sleep.

After a few moments, she seems to have finally returned to rest, and he turns to the two below him, "Either of you have any homework left? I've got mine done."

"No, I finished it."

"Mine has also been completed."

"Do you think Allan and Mari got theirs done?"

"He's probably all set, but Marinette's kind of up in the air. Usually I would say yes, but with it being winter…" Allegra trails off, giving a lopsided shrug, "We can ask when she's not sick."

"We should make sure that both of them get something to eat. Allan likely skipped breakfast, and the chances of Marinette eating without prior prompting are very slight."

"True."

"Same goes for Adrien. I wouldn't put it past Gabriel to starve him if he doesn't do well enough." Allegra mutters bitterly.

"Allegra." Felix warns.

She crosses her arms, clearly not done with it, but willing to put it aside. For now.

It's another hour before Allan wakes up. He sits up, noticing that Allegra and Felix have arrived, "Oh. Hi. How long have you guys been here?"

"A while. How are you feeling?"

"...how is Marinette?" He ignores the question.

"Allan. How are you? Marinette's fine." Claude gestures at the girl still napping on him.

"What's her temperature? Has she woken up? Has she eaten? What-"

"Allan." Felix interrupts, "Marinette is fine. She woke up not too long ago. We are currently more concerned about you. How are you feeling?"

"Better, I guess. Napping helped. I don't do well without sleep."

"We know." Allegra consoles, "That's why Claude came over - they knew someone needed to check on you."
"Yeah, Al'. We're not going to let you worry yourself into a pit."

"Thanks." He smiles softly, and they accept the victory.

"Also, Marinette did wake up. She had some water, her temperature was 38.2 (100.8℉), and she said she felt, 'Tired. Cold. Ache.' if I quote her directly."

"Then she fell asleep on me!"

"Alright." Allan takes a moment to consider this, "That's not so bad."

"Mhm!"

"Did you eat at all this morning?" Felix looks at him meaningfully.

"I might have maybe… put it off?"

"I'll grab some food." Allegra stands to get something from the kitchen. The Dupain-Chengs have told them multiple times that they're welcome to eat when they're over.

Marinette stirs slightly, eventually sitting up properly as Allegra re-enters. Allan looks to Marinette as he accepts the food from Allegra, "Thanks. How you feelin' 'Nette?"

She only wrinkles her nose, sticking her tongue out again. She seems to register that he wasn't awake last time, "Hi…? You're 'wake now?" Everything is spoken questioningly - she doesn't seem to be entirely sure of anything.

"I am."

"Despite what he may tell you, Allan isn't very good at self-care. He's got the idea, but forgets the 'self' part," Claude adds.

"Yah…'ve 'noticed…" Marinette looks at the boy carefully.

"I'm all good now though." He reassures her.

She only makes an 'I'm watching you' gesture at him, glaring suspiciously.

"Oh, you're one to talk, missy!"

"Mom-off." Claude whispers.

Allegra interrupts the silent dispute of stares, "Alright, both of you have made your point, but I'd like to point out that while neither of you are in perfect health-" Allan makes a noise of protest, but Allegra raises an eyebrow to silence him as she continues, "Marinette is the only one here with a temperature, so…" She trails off, her statement clear.

Marinette's response is to stick out her tongue defiantly, Allan mimics her.

"'M fine." The girl insists.

"Sure."

"I consider it unlikely that you will be able to stay awake any significant amount of time in your current state."

Despite Felix's guess, Marinette managed to stay awake for a few more hours. Not that they tried to keep her up, or even that she was really trying to stay awake, she just couldn't sleep. They'd moved downstairs and were watching movies on the couch when Adrien arrived.

"Hey, I got done early. How are you guys?"

"Allegra, Felix and I are average, and currently keeping an eye on the two that are in denial, which is Allan - who took a nap so he's better - and little miss I-fell-in-a-snowdrift over here - who refuses to sleep. Or she just can't."

"Alright. Mari, how long did you sleep?" Adrien looks to her.

"Yes." Is all he gets as a response from her. She's clearly exhausted, but sleepy is a different story.

"How are you? I've got pitchforks at the ready for your father." Allegra asks.

"I'm fine." He shrugs.

Marinette isn't having any of that. She points a finger at him and says, "Eat."

Allan checks the time, "Actually, we should probably all eat somethin'."

"Alright! Snack time!"

"A meal would likely be a better idea." Felix interrupts.

"Food time!"

"That works."
Everyone gets something to eat, though Marinette only takes a noticeably small amount of fruit, but no one comments. She's also given water, which she forgot to get for herself. They finish eventually, moving back to the couch. Marinette is between Adrien and Claude. She isn't focusing much on the screen due to her exhaustion.

She wants to sleep, but she can't. Whether due to ladybug-habits, or just being sick she isn't sure.

The tired girl frowns, she really wants to sleep. Everything hurts and she feels terrible. Not to mention how cold it is. It's winter, and snowy, and it's cold and she's tired.

Well, maybe it isn't so cold. Especially with all these people. Hibernating in groups is a good idea, and this is a group.

Wait, humans don't hibernate.

Whatever. Adrien is here too, and he's always warm, and she's still tired.

Her eyes keep slipping closed. She's so focused on the fact that she can't sleep, that she doesn't realize that she's finally on the edge of it.

Adrien does. He sees how often her eyes are closing, and purrs softly - not enough for the others to hear - that would be hard to explain - but enough that he knows that the girl leaning on him will be able to tell.

As he expected, her eyes begin to stay closed for longer, before she eventually dozes off entirely.

He doesn't stop purring, not wanting to risk waking her up. He's glad she's finally gotten back to sleep. It's for the best. She needs rest.

Notes:

Babys. Love these ones.

I'm not entirely satisfied with some of the dialogue in this chapter, but I don't have time to edit it. I'm sorry if you don't like it either.

These past few chapters have been really calm. It'd be a shame if some angst got in.

Hey, look who remembered it was Saturday! I can't take all the credit for that, there's been plans coming up for today and so since I know today's the day, I also know that I should be updating. Woo! Not updating at 8:00 pm this time buddies! Speaking of those plans (starting a DnD campaign if you're curious, I'm excited), I probably won't be able to respond to comments as quickly do to that. I've mentioned it before, but I have a seperate account for writing (thanks anxiety), and all the things I'd need for the campaign are on my personal account. After I update I usually stick around and write for a few hours so that I can respond quickly, but I'm not sure how long I'll be able to do that. It depends on how early I get this up I suppose. Anyways, I may be able to respond via my phone, but I promise I'll still be responding to comments, it might just be delayed. I love talking to you guys!

Uhh, I feel like there was something else I was going to add in, but my little tangent made me forget. Oh well, I can edit this once I remember.

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 25: Confrontation

Summary:

Marinette sketches outside.

Notes:

So, I know I promised angst, but while rereading this chapter I realized it really isn't super angsty. Mostly at the beginning, then it's a bit calmer. Also, this is the first time in a while but we've got a (drumroll please)...
Strong language warning! I guess that should be a sign of angst incoming.
This chapter includes the words 'bitch', 'asshole', and 'bitch' again.
Enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette is sketching outside. She isn't quite sure what led to this, as it's only late January and she really doesn't like the cold any more than usual.

Snow may be terrible, but it's certainly pretty. Hence, the whole sketching-outside-thing. She's bundled up with all her winter gear, though she's had to forgo the usual thick gloves because she's got to draw. Nothing spectacular, but enough that when she's awake again in a few months she'll have something decent to work with.

"Marinette?"

She looks up, taking a moment to adjust to looking at an actual person. Eventually the dark clothes and general appearance clue her in to the fact that Felix is standing in front of her.

"Hi." It's really all she can manage. She's only capable of one (preferably simple) task at a time. It'll take her a moment to speak properly.

"Is it wise for you to be outside in this weather?"

Her shrug is lost in her layers, so she gestures at her sketchbook.

He only raises an eyebrow, "Could you not sketch someplace warmer?"

A single blink is all he gets in response, so he sighs, pulling out a book, "In that case, I will be reading here. I will also inform the others that you're outside, seeing as I still do not believe this to be a good idea."

She nods, returning to her sketches, happy to have avoided switching tasks. They sit together in a comfortable silence as they enjoy their individual activities.

"It is you! Did you think you could show up around here without me saying something?! I have some choice words for you bitch!" A voice carries across the otherwise empty park. A third person has joined them.

Felix notices how Marinette immediately stiffens beside him - the fact it's noticeable even through her layers is especially concerning. He looks up to see the source of the voice.

Oh. Her.

The group can easily recognize Marinette's old classmates. Once they learned what had happened they wanted to be able to identify them in case she ever ran into that class with them. Alya is the easiest though, having met her in-person once.

"I think you should leave, Ms. Césaire." He speaks harshly, having no patience for her.

"I don't know who you are, but if you're with her you're either a bully or completely in the dark. Maybe she's deceiving you too. I missed the signs." Alya is wavering between fury directed at Marinette and sympathy for Felix.

"Neither of those are the case, you are misinformed, due to your blatant ignorance and inability to follow basic journalistic procedure."

"Oh, a bully then. Birds of a feather flock together," any sympathy is gone, and her face is hard.

"Neither of us are bullies. We do not deserve you coming after us in this manner-"
"I know what she is-"

"We will be leaving now." He stands, helping Marinette to her feet. She's recovered from her surprise and is focusing on the ground. It's honestly a relief her house is so close.

"She's a manipulative, two-faced, liar, who beats up anyone that stands up to her and tries to ruin her facade-" Alya is picking up steam.

Marinette mumbles something, but it's lost to the yelling. Felix continues to try and direct her to the house. The others were already planning on coming over, so they really just need to get past her.

"I regret that I ever called her my best friend, because she only ever does things for herself. The class is better off now that she's finally gone and-"
Marinette speaks again, but it's still too quiet to be heard over the yelling.

"She'd been dragging the whole class down the entire time she went there! She's worse than Chloe! At least she's left to be with her own kind now! I bet she's found a bunch of like-minded assholes to run her new school with." Felix can see the other approaching, realizing what's happening and hurrying. Even Adrien is exiting from fencing. Marinette won't move. At least the others are here now. "Playing her little mind games and ruining lives behind the scen-"

"Would you jus- You're wrong!" Marinette doesn't even yell, but she speaks evenly, in a firm voice that startles Alya into a temporary silence. Marinette is barely holding herself together. She's both physically and emotionally exhausted and has reached her limits.

Allan and Claude are at her side. Allegra leaves them to it, and turns to Alya. Felix sticks with Marinette as well, though keeps an eye on Allegra - her self-control may not be doing so well. Adrien arrives a little later, but he goes to Marinette without hesitation.

They all usher her inside, up to her room quickly. She's hyperventilating, her breaths coming in short quiet gasps as she tries to pull herself together. Somehow she and Adrien's hands have been linked, and she's gripping his hand like a lifeline.

Allan is making quiet comforting noises, "It's okay. It'll be okay, 'Nettie."

Claude and Felix sit back, not wanting to crowd her.

Allegra arrives, looking incensed. She pushes that down in favor of focusing on Marinette.

"Oh, Mari, sweetie…" She sits near Claude and Felix, entirely capable of waiting for Marinette. Can't this poor girl catch a break?

Marinette is really trying to do this right. She's supposed to breathe. Why isn't she breathing?

Because you're stupid, and can't do something simple.

No, no, no. She just told Alya that none of that is true. She's fine. She shouldn't be this upset. Why is she so upset?
Idiot.

Obsessive.

Creep.

Untrustworthy.

No! She's fine now, she's better. None of that is true, that's what she told Alya. Alya…

She yelled at Alya. What kind of friend…

Can't do friendship properly.

Her head is spinning and she knows none of this is true, but it must be true. She'd backed it up with facts.

This is all her fault. She's supposed to be reading it nightly, but she hasn't read it since…

Since…

The fact that she can't immediately recall is a sign of how much she's failed. She remembers now though. Last time was when Adrien found it.

No one was supposed to find it.

Failure.

She needs to get to her notebook. Things will make sense then. No one can know though. Adrien would be disappointed, and they'd all be disgusted by her horrible inability to follow such simple rules.

The notebook is near her bed. If she can get there…

They'd probably put her in her bed if she's asleep.

She feels the pieces of a plan fitting together. Marinette gives into the exhaustion, but not entirely. It isn't hard. With Allan and Adrien right beside her though, she only has to be careful not to slip too far.

She's barely awake. She has to keep her eyes closed, which only makes it harder. Loosening her grip on Adrien's hand, and letting herself go limp, she lets herself float right on the edge of sleep.

They don't even let her reach the floor, supporting her as soon as she's 'sleeping'.

There's murmuring, whispering as they talk amongst themselves. She really hopes they'll follow the plan. She can't check the notebook if this doesn't go according to plan.

Marinette needs that notebook. The lists will explain everything, everything will be fixed.

Maybe she needs to sell it better?

She focuses on making her breathing even steadier, which really makes the whole not-actually-falling-asleep thing that much harder.

Nobody comments. Adrien's hand finds her hair, combing through the tangles gently. Brushing it is too much work in the winter.

They're mumbling, the soft conversation constantly mindful of her presence. Why haven't they moved her yet? Why are they still here?
Because they like you. They care.

What an odd idea. She likes it better than the lists.

The lists.

She needs to get to the lists.

She moves slightly, before remembering that she's not supposed to be awake. Following the plan will solve this, so that's what she does.

At her movement, there's a brief silence, as though they're waiting. After a moment, Adrien's hand continue working through her hair, and she can tell he's purring softly.

She loves him so much. He's so sweet.

That's not important right now. You need the lists.

The low voices continue, she still doesn't bother to actually listen. That takes effort and she'd have to be less asleep.

"She isn't sleeping yet," Adrien confirms.

"Poor girl. It must be all the stress." Allegra shakes her head.

"She'll have to sleep eventually. She's barely awake as it is." Claude adds.
"It's time for you to rest, sweetie." Allan tells her.

"I doubt she will be able to last much longer." Felix agrees.

"That's what you said last time."
"We all know that I am correct this time around."

"Well duh, look at her. I'm almost convinced."
"Why are we so certain that she's faking it? Is there any chance she's actually asleep?"

"Her breathing isn't quite there yet. She keeps twitching her eyes as if she's about to open her eyes up and look around."

"This girl."

Marinette is so confused. Everything makes less sense when she's tired, especially in the winter. Why isn't she in her bed yet?
Why was she trying to get there again?
Something she's supposed to check on…

While she's trying to focus, she ends up fixating on the hands in her hair.

Adrien.

He had something to do with the thing, right?
Focusing on him would help her remember. She's sure.

The thing is, with her eyes closed all she has to focus on for Adrien is the fact that he is carefully and deliberately combing through her hair. He's purring too.

She's always loved his purring.

Focus! She can't remember her goal, so now she has a second goal, and now she will do it.

This plan is foolproof.

…

"Yeah, she's definitely sleeping now."

"Good!"

There's a pause, then Allegra breaks the silence, "Oh, that horrible girl!" Her hands are clenched into fists, and she looks the picture of wrath.

"What'd you even say t' her?" Allan asks.

"The truth. That she and the rest of her classmates are a bunch of bullies that can't be bothered to do a google search to see what's right in front of them!" She breaks off into a bunch of unintelligible angry muttering.

"Good." Felix nods, "That is probably nicer than she deserves."

"She walked away before I could say much. Ooh, I just-" Allegra cuts herself off, taking a moment to calm down, she turns to Adrien, "Is she going to be mad?"

"Oh, I'm a dead man tomorrow. How dare I comfort Marinette." Adrien groans, rolling his eyes, "Alya will kill me, if Lila doesn't get my father to do something first. I think Lila suspected I still knew Mari when she saw us at the museum, so here's her confirmation."

"How does she even get away with all this? Don't the teachers have to do something?" Claude interjects.

"I'm not experienced with how school is supposed to be, but Chloe says that this one is ridiculously hands off. They don't get involved in things that they should, and when they do, it's not the right way."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Whenever Chloe bullied Marinette, no one would talk to Chloe about it. If they did she'd just threaten to call her dad. If Marinette got upset, someone would take her out to the hall to tell her that she's supposed to be the example for Chloe, so she shouldn't get upset."

"Excuse me?!"

"That's not how it works!"
"How is this school still running?"

"What kind of nonsense-"
The others break into indignant protests on their friends behalf.

"I guess that explains a lot." Claude sighs.

"Mhm." Adrien nods.

"Poor baby."

"She has us now."

"And you still have to go there. All the time."

"Yeah…"

"Murder. I'm going to do murder." Allegra throws her hands in the air exasperatedly.

"Illegal." Felix chimes in, "If you must, be sure no one knows it was you."

"Guys. There won't be any murder happening." Allan warns.

"Not even a little?"

Allan shakes his head regretfully.

"Fine."

"Can I say, that I'm just so proud of Mari? She stood up to Alya!" Claude is bouncing happily where they're sitting.

"Three times, actually." Felix corrects, "I doubt you could have heard from that distance, but that was her third attempt at speaking."

"Even better!"

"After all that it's no wonder she's sleeping, poor thing must be exhausted." Allegra sympathizes.

"We gotta' make sure she knows that. The whole bein' proud thing." Allan adds.

They all nod in agreement. Marinette needs to know how important that was. She's made so much progress.

"Should we move her to her bed? Or the chaise?"
"That'd probably be good, but I'd hate to leave her. Also, she's not exactly the easiest to remove from… anyone really." Adrien points out.

"Not to mention the emotional toll!" Claude agrees, "She always looks so sad when you move her!"

Marinette comes to slowly, blinking a few times before she tries to sit up. As usual, she ends up resting heavily on Adrien.

"Hi, Mari." Adrien says as she continues to adjust to being awake.

"Hi."

"Do you want to talk?" Allan asks.

"Not yet." She needs time to think.

She needs time to check the notebook.

"That's fine." He nods.
"We are proud though!" Claude interjects.
"What?"

"You stood your ground! You defended yourself from her and her nonsense!" Allegra agrees.
"You recognized that she was incorrect, and you said as much to her." Felix adds.

"Oh." She blushes lightly, and smiles at them softly.

"There's that wonderful smile of yours!"

It's late now. The others have left - it is a school night after all. Tikki is asleep at her spot on the desk, and Marinette is sleeping in her bed.

Except she isn't.

She sits up quietly, ignoring how the exhaustion she feels makes her head spin slightly. She really needs the notebook. Then things will make sense, and she can figure out what to do. How to fix things.

What is she fixing? Did she really do something wro-

You always do something wrong. This isn't an exception.

She yelled at Alya. That's right.

Opening the journal, she's taken aback by the handwriting that is distinctly not her own.

No Rules, Just Reminders-

You don't have to smile all the time, it's okay if you aren't happy.

Crying is perfectly fine.

Apologizing is fine, but remember that not everything is your fault.

If you want to help someone, just remember that it's okay to prioritize your needs too.

It's perfectly fine to ask for help, people are more than willing to give it.

If someone asks how you're doing, the answer doesn't have to be 'good'.

It's okay to be tired, it's okay to be sick, people care about your health.

Akumas are unpredictable, there's no telling how long they'll last, just try your best.

Akumas are no one's fault but Hawkmoth's, you aren't to blame.

Honesty is a great thing, but sometimes it's alright to lie, you have good intentions.

The people in your life care about you. They don't 'put up with you', they love you, and you deserve that.

No one is going to abandon you for a small mistake.

You aren't a bad person, no one in their right mind thinks that.

You can make mistakes, the important thing is that you acknowledge them and learn from them.

You are trustworthy, and deserve the opportunities you earned for yourself.

You are a very likeable person, not a bad one.

Paris is lucky to have someone as spectacular as you as a hero.

If you attract an akuma, that's okay. You're allowed to have negative feelings.

You don't have to carry the weight of the world alone, there's no shame in asking for help. No one will look down on you for it.

People love you, Marinette. They're not crazy, they're right.

Be kind to yourself, you more than deserve it.

These aren't her rules. These aren't her lists.

This is Adrien's handwriting, she recognizes it now. When-? What-? How-? Why-?

There's a knock at her balcony, and she opens it hurriedly.

"Sorry to bother you, it's just that I wanted to check on you- Claws In-" Plagg flies down to nap near Tikki, "'cause it was such a stressful day, and I-" He notices her confused face, "...was worried. Wait, what happened?"

She only blinks at him, utterly baffled. He notices the notebook in her lap.

"Oh, Mari, Princess." He quickly figures out what must have happened. She hadn't checked the notebook since before he'd changed it. Old habits die hard, and today had clearly been stressful enough that she'd decided she had to resort to that.

"I just. The rules. I…" Marinette is still catching up.

"Why did you decide you needed the rules?" He barely catches himself from telling her that the rules were nonsense.

"I messed up today? I think? I'm confused, so I wanted help?" She gestures with the notebook helplessly.

"You could have talked to us."

"But the notebook has facts, and I didn't wanna' bother you guys…"

"The notebook did not have facts. You wouldn't have bothered us. We're worried about you."

"You're not suppose' to be worried about me! That's against the rules! I think…?" she flips through the pages helplessly, as though hoping to find the answer.

"It isn't." he rests his hand on the notebook, drawing her attention back to him, "There aren't any rules that you're supposed to follow anymore. We're worried because we care about you and you had a stressful day."

"There are rules! I can't break them."

"Marinette. Remember? The rules are wrong. You and I went over that notebook."

"Right." She hesitates, "But that was before today. I yelled at Alya."

"She was yelling at you."

"But I des-" she cuts herself off, "I'm sure she had a reason?"

He sighs in relief that she doesn't think she deserved that, "Even if she did, you're allowed to stand up for yourself."

She nods reluctantly.

"I think you should talk with the others too though. They're worried. They want to be able to help you too."
"…what about you?" She's looking at him strangely. It's vaguely familiar, but he can't place it.

"Of course I-"

"No. You have to go there tomorrow. Alya will be mad. Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine. I've become a houseplant to them. I'm background noise - Lila's armrest." He shrugs, this is his norm.

Marinette doesn't seem to have taken the same approach, "That bitch." Adrien startles, at this, "All of them need to treat you better. This isn't okay."

"So they aren't perfect, good people?"

"No! They're mean to you!" She sounds indignant, "They just let Lila harass you and only encourage her! They shouldn't be supporting that!"

"So maybe they were unfairly mean to you too?" he suggests.

"I… I don't know," she turns her head away, "It's different."

Placing a gentle hand to her cheek, he makes her face him once more, "I'm not so sure it is."

A few tears escape, but she remains silent.

"How about this? The last thing you need now is to dwell on people who aren't worth your time, so if you want to, we can put this conversation on hold until you're ready."

She nods.

"So what shall we do, princess? This loyal knight is at your service." He bows dramatically as best he can while sitting on her bed.

The soft laugh he gets out of her is music to his ears.

"I don't think I'm up for much," Marinette admits sheepishly, barely getting the words out before a yawn over takes her. Her face flushes slightly.

A very Chat grin takes over Adrien's face.

"No. Don't." Marinette glares at the boy, the look on her face finishing the thought for the both of them.

"Don't what?" He is the picture of innocence.

"Don't make a pun about-"

"A pun?! Why, prrr-incess, you wound me!" he puts his hand to his chest in mock offense, "I would never. Everyone knows that most puns are just pointless yawn sequiturs! I would never, ever, waste yo-"

He never gets to finish his sentence, as Marinette cuts him off by hitting him over the head with a pillow.

He squawks in affront, ducking under her next assault.

"How could you attack a defenseless kitten like that? And your best fur-end at that!" He reaches for a pillow, not about to let her get away with this. Not without a fight.

"Not with puns like that you aren't!" Marinette aims the pillow at him again, but he just barely shifts out of the way in time to dodge the hit.

"Marinette!" He admonishes, "You shouldn't insult a pun, especially before it's fully groan! That could really hurt its shelf esteem," he gestures beside him to her many shelves, grinning like his cheshire namesake.

His momentary distraction is all it takes for her to land another attack, wiping his smirk off with another pillow to the face.

Adrien takes his opportunity, dealing a blow to her side while she's withdrawing her arms.

Their fight devolves from there. Swinging their respective pillows at each other wildly, they do their best to take the other down, despite being somewhat restricted by staying in the loft.

Eventually, they've both exhausted themselves - not that either of them would admit it, of course. As partners they are evenly matched and know each other far too well to give either of the pair a step up.

They sit on their knees on her bed, facing each other. Pillows rest in front of them, fight put on hold while they caught their breath.

"My first pillow fight," Adrien manages between pants.

"Heh," Marinette manages, "Congrats."

"Which means I intend to win!" Before she can even truly register his words, he jumps towards her, scooping her up and holding her tightly.

"I won!"

She giggles, booping his nose, "That you did, mon minou."

He bleps at her in response, and she returns the gesture. They both break down into a shared fit of laughter, one that doesn't seem likely to stop anytime soon.

That is, until Marinette breaks into a yawn.

"Aww! Is the princess tired?"

She glares at him, sticking her tongue out defiantly, "No, I'm just-" she's cut off by another yawn.

He grins, "Oh, is that so? Well, if that's the case, then it's my job as your partner to enforce your bedtime."

"Adrien," she gives him a look, but he doesn't bat an eye. He puts the pillows back where they belong, though keeps her held close.

Turning around he flops onto the pillows, keeping himself propped up slightly. He tugs her hand lightly, trying to convince her to rest.

"Hugs? Purr-ty please?" He bats his eyes at her, "I'm touch starved and all that!"

Marinette gives a long-suffering sigh, the kind that only comes from having a superhero partner like him.

Adrien tugs her hand gently once more, and she flops forward onto him. She knows that if she could see his face he'd have that look. When he's all too proud of himself for having gained the upper hand. Instead, she shifts herself to be more comfortable, resting her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She drapes her arm across him, and he holds her closer to him with a strong arm on her back.

"Alley cat." Marinette mutters with false bitterness.

He purrs and runs his hands through her loose hair, "I'm your alley cat though."

"You are."

She hums happily when his purr picks up at her words. The world begins to get fuzzy as she starts to get closer to the edge of sleep.

She thinks he may have shifted slightly to put a blanket over them, but they've returned to their original position before she can make her complaints known. This is probably the warmest she's ever been, in or out of winter. Marinette can't imagine how she survived last year, only seeing Chat and being able to cuddle with him during patrols.

Her mind floats around, not focusing on anything in particular. For now she is perfectly content to enjoy the moment. Adrien's steady pulse and untroubled purring in her ear.

With snow coming down all the time, she is never fully able to relax. There is always that voice in the back of her mind telling her that she should be hibernating. That she's not safe while she's out and about.

And yet, now the voice is silent. Maybe drowned out by the purrs or just because she's resting and inside.

She feels safe. That much is clear. And warm, not just because of the blanket. Adrien is a gift.

It's unfair that he doesn't know how great he is. He deserves to know just how much he matters to her.

"Kitty?" her voice is soft, barely audible even to her. She reaches over and grips his free hand in her own just to be sure she has his attention.

Little did she know she'd never lost it.

"Yes, Bugaboo?" He keeps his voice soft, having heard the sleepiness in her voice.

"I love you."

He squeezes her hand, "I love you too, ma chérie."

Evidently thinking the conversation is over, Adrien returns to combing through her hair.

"Kitty," she starts again.

"Yes?" He's patient and her heart swells.

Despite the fact that she isn't at her most eloquent when on the verge of sleep, she tries her best, "Love you. Y' make me feel safe… An' warm… An' you're nice when I do som'thin' dumb, and …you 're alw'ys patien' wh'n I stutter'd… n' you' purr good... Gab'iel is mean but you not, an' you…" Marinette is talking herself into sleep, slowing down and stumbling over her words over, but Adrien hangs on every word, "an' you re'lly good, an' 're the bes' par'n'er…" from there Marinette seems to attempt to say more, but it only comes out as mishmashed gibberish.

Adrien sits for a moment. Stunned. He already knew that she loved him - there wasn't any doubt - but there is something different about someone listing off all the reasons they love someone.

He quickly realized he had been a fool, thinking he couldn't possibly love her more than he already had.

"Thank you, Mari," he manages. She gives a simple response of a light hand squeeze, humming happily. It's not long until she's properly asleep.

Adrien sits against the pillows, staring at the ceiling. He knows he has to leave eventually, but Marinette only just fell asleep. He'd hate to wake her up. She deserves the rest. Besides, there's no harm in staying a little longer right?

He can feel her soft breathes from her spot on his chest, and his advanced ears can hear every inhale and exhale. Her soft hair is still tangled around his fingers. Everything reminds him of her, and he almost feels as though he's going to choke on the love flooding his being.

Is it too early to think about his wedding vows?

Notes:

How about that ending? It was originally shorter and different, and, as much as I liked it, I felt like I could do better. Maybe I'll post the 'deleted scene' (if you will) some other time. Anyways, I really liked how that turned out.
What do you think of the 'No Rules, Just Reminders'? I based them mostly off of the original rules, as well as sprinkling in a few other things Marinette needed to hear.
As you can see, Marinette is definitely doing better. I like to think of the winter as a 'reset' for her. Pre-winter, she's focussed solely on how terrible she is. Of course, it's hard to focus on that and simultaneously stay awake and functional. Not that it fixed her, but it's easier to teach her healthier thinking patterns when she's barely able to think of how she's supposed to disagree. Does that make sense? I can clarify if necessary. I'm prepping this update again the night before (first time in a while) and listening to a true crime podcast at the same time. Tired + typing while listening = nonsensical results.
The next chapter takes place the next day, so we'll see how Adrien deals with school after this incident. There's a special surprise at the end of the school day that will definitely be... notable.
Thank you all for commenting so much! Also, if any of you checked my tumblr and are concerned (*cough*Claude*cough), I 100% guarantee that all these precious characters are definitely, completely, totally fine.
Anyways, I haven't been writing in so long, so that ending rewrite was a nice practice. I hope you enjoyed!
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 26: Consequences

Summary:

Adrien goes to school, fully expecting everyone's anger. The end of the school day brings something he wasn't.

Notes:

It's Saturday! I'm done with exams! Woo! Also, you're all probably unaware, but I've been stuck when it comes to writing With Time since December. I knew what to write, but I just didn't feel like writing. I finally pushed myself past it to finish that chapter and now I'm writing again! Yay!
This chapter jumps around a lot, as in, there's a lot of page breaks. That said, no strong language warnings! There is a new warning. I know I've tagged this for 'Gabriel's A+ Parenting', so you aren't expecting anything great from him, but his actions in this chapter are just awful. I felt disgusted just writing it.
So, fair warning to anyone who might need it.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Adrien dreads going to school now. Today is no different, especially because he'll have to sit through Alya yelling at him for having the nerve to be nice to Marinette.

"You!"

Ah. It has begun. He sits in his seat as Alya storms over to him.

"Hey, Alya."

"Don't 'hey, Alya' me! I'm disappointed in you! What kind of boyfriend-"

"Wait what?"

"-comforts his girlfriend's bully! How could you?! What would Lila say?"

"I'm not dating anyone." Oh not this again, please. Ever since the day they came back from break, Lila's taken the dating facade even further. It had started with a belated mistletoe kiss, and now she's taken to kissing him regularly.

Everytime she did, he swore he could feel a piece of his soul die.

Maybe this will cause them to break-up - he can only hope it will.

"Yeah, you shouldn't be! Not with how you treat her! Lila should break up with you after this! You're lucky she's so understanding!"

"That's an interesting word choice."
"But seriously, what is wrong with you?! You should have taken my side. Marinette is a bully who went after Lila for months! She deceived us for most of the school year until Lila came to open our eyes!"

"Oh of course, how dare Marinette make me a birthday gift and let my father take credit for it."

"She played the innocent angel and- wait how do you know about that? Is that why you went to her? Because she threatened you?"
"How did you decide that was the most logical-"

"I can't believe it! I knew she was still ruining things from wherever she is now, but threatening you?! Out of jealousy?! I can't believe her! Still! You should have told us! Instead of siding with that-"

"She didn't threaten me-"
"Shh! It's okay, you don't have to lie to me, it's okay. Lila was right! She must have made some sort of agreement with your father to start coming after you! She's manipulating you, maybe Ladybug is in on it! I can't believe I ever liked either of them!"

"Neither of them are manipulating me! Stop talking bad about them!"
"Oh I'm absolutely furious! The nerve she has! Both of them! I just-"

The argument continues and even when Adrien manages to get a word in, it just seems to go in one ear and out the other. A few others have walked into class, but not Lila.

He'd forgotten she's 'back in Italy' for the morning. 'For a charity'.

As if.

Now the whole class is up in arms, screaming about Marinette and Ladybug, and worrying about Lila.

Where is Ms. Bustier?

Today is a mess, and it's barely started. It's maddening being around people that ignore him and talk bad about his closest friend all the time. With the way they disregard him and just assume what's best for him, they're almost as bad as Father.

He spots a purple butterfly by the window. Of course.

"Akuma! Everyone get out!"

They don't have to be told twice, the class scatters, ranting temporarily forgotten, When he's sure he's alone he transforms, contacting his Lady immediately. He hates to interrupt her school day, but duty calls.

He watches the akuma carefully, being sure that it doesn't stray far. It does seem to have decided to stay close, so there's that at least.

Ladybug arrives eventually, sliding slightly before coming to a rest beside him, "Hi kitty. Akuma?"
"Yeah, there was… a fight. Sorry, Bug."

She sends out her yo-yo, capturing and purifying the akuma immediately.

"'s fine. Got outta' class easy," snow begins falling lightly and she scowls, "Cold."

"Will you be able to head back okay?" After the way she slipped as she arrived, he doesn't want to risk it happening again at a worse time.

"Mhm…"

"Maybe I should go with you - just to be sure. Besides, I should clear my head a bit."

She smiles at him, pleased with this arrangement.

When they arrive at the school, she frowns. Now he has to leave.

"I'm going to go back to school now, okay?"

She nods tiredly, "Okay. I love you."

"Love you too. I hope that you're able to stay at school for the rest of today."

With that, they go their separate ways, and Chat Noir mentally prepares himself for going back to the madness that is his school.

When he detransforms, Plagg looks at him, frowning, "Kid, you're going to go crazy. No Cat likes to be stuck in a situation where people are constantly talking bad about their Lady."

"There's not much I can do, Plagg. I'll just have to wait out the school year."

"With the way she's hanging off you all the time?" He shakes his head, "You're going to snap. If I didn't have to stay hidden all the time-"

"It's fine." Adrien's become numb to it at this point.

As Plagg returns to his pocket, he looks up at him with concern, "It isn't. It really isn't."

"Really, Alya, I appreciate you standing up for me… but it's fine. I'm sure we can work through this." Lila is clinging to Adrien's arm, resting against his shoulder and looking up at him as if certain their relationship will live through this.

Adrien's not paying attention. School just ended and for once he doesn't have any plans so there's no clear end in sight for when this will be over.

"Seriously girl, you need to stand up for yourself! You're allowed to be mad at him for pulling a stunt like that."

"Our bond is strong enough, we'll manage, I'm sure of it," Lila reaches up and kisses Adrien on the cheek. He's pretty sure Lila talked Nathalie into giving him free time after school. Usually, that would make him incredibly happy, but the knowledge that he has to sit through this makes him tempted to beg for extra lessons in anything - anything at all - to get out of this.

Someone stomps up to them, and it's startling enough that he pulls himself back to reality.

"Hands off!"

He sees Allan, Allegra, Claude and Felix nearby, clearly upset with his predicament, but there's surprise there too because it's Marinette that sped over here fastest.

Despite her tendency.

Despite him being surrounded by her tormentors.

She's absolutely furious, and has ripped Lila from him impressively fast while avoiding the usual desperate clawing from the girl.

"Respect his boundaries." She snaps, glaring at her, before grabbing Adrien's wrist gently and leading him towards her group where Adrien is immediately surrounded to keep Lila from getting back to him. Glares are sent back and forth and he can hear yelling from multiple classmates,

They enter the bakery, and Marinette leads them all to her room where she begins pacing heatedly, muttering incoherently.

"You go Marinette!" Allegra shouts, "My only complaint is that no one punched her in the face!"
"Allegra." Allan warns.

"Fine, punch her in the stomach."

"I know when I'm fightin' a losing battle."

"How are you Adrien?" Felix asks.

"I'm fine," he shrugs, "I'm used to it."

"That's not okay." Claude says, at the same time it sounds like Marinette growls, "Uh, you good Mari?"

"That little-" She cuts herself off, chewing on the edge of her phone.

"Don't put that in your mouth 'Nette," Allan chimes in.

She huffs, tossing it back onto her bed with surprising accuracy and returning to her furious pacing.

"Marinette, it's fine-" Adrien tries to settle her.

"No, it's not." They all say, looking back at him.

"Just because your father thinks you shouldn't have a personal bubble, doesn't mean you have to put up with that! I didn't realize she was kissing you!" Marinette exclaims. Her voice gets lower, dangerous, "How often does she do that?"

"What she was doing wasn't okay. Anyone could see that! You looked so blank! Vacant! Hollow!" Claude jumps in.

"Is that how it is everyday?" Allan sounds concerned.

"Eh. Pretty much."

Marinette growls again. He must be rubbing off on her. She's mumbling under her breath and he has an idea of what kind of things she may be saying. Adrien can only hope they'll be lucky enough to not attract an akuma.

They're really asking a lot of Tikki this school year.

"Adrien, you can tell her to get off!" Allegra pleads, "You looked miserable!"

"If I make any sort of scene Father will take me out of school. I don't want to go back to the way things were." He can put up with this if it means freedom, "Really, it's fine. I'm more worried about Mari."

The others have more to say, but recognize the change in topic.

Marinette is still pacing, and glances at him in confusion. She slows eventually, "What?"

"You just stormed up to… everyone really, and told off Lila in front of them. How are you feeling?"

"No I didn- …oh I did. I did. Is that allowed? I just yelled at her!" Marinette's shock is clear as realization settles in, "Oh, they'll be so mad…" She puts her hands to her face and stares at the ground in front of her. Everything from yesterday is finally catching up to her, "I'm not supposed to yell at people. It's bad to yell at people, that means I'm mean, and if I'm mean then nobody likes me, and if nobody likes me then I'll be all alone, and then-"

"Hey, it's alright. Think about it another way. Do you think they deserved it?" Allan prompts, interrupting her spiralling.

"Oh they more than deserved it!" she looks up, angry once more at the thought of the way Lila was all over the model. The image of her kissing Adrien's cheek is imprinted in Marinette's mind.

"Then why is it bad that you yelled at them?" Claude questions.

She opens her mouth, then hesitates slightly, "...It's mean?"

"I'd say bullying is more mean." Allegra argues.

"They didn't bully me! They… just did what they thought was right?"

Adrien is happy that she's finally having this conversation with them, not to mention the improvement from 'she deserved it' to 'they did what they thought was right'.

"Oh, 'Nette." Allan looks at her, "That doesn't mean they weren't bullying you."
"Not to mention that regardless of what their view on the situation is, what they have done constitutes as bullying. It is very clear. Especially Ms. Rossi and Ms. Césaire."

"Oh." Marinette hesitates, considering this, "But still! They're good people! I can't just yell at them for no reason like that! I can't keep messing up like that! I'm not supposed to-" Her hands dig into her face as she speaks.

"You didn't yell at them for no reason. I would say you had a pretty good reason. Besides, 'yell' is a bit of a strong word." Allegra assures, "If anything, you just told them off."

"Would you do it again, if given the chance?" Felix asks.

Marinette pauses at this, nodding her head eventually, "Of course! Lila can't just do that to Adrien. They should have said something, he clearly didn't like it! Any of it!"

"So what you're saying is that even if they are good people, is that they made a mistake - they're in the wrong." Adrien looks to her for confirmation.

"I guess?" she doesn't seem sold on his rephrasing.

"Could the same be said of how they treated you?" he continues carefully.

"I… don't know?" She looks away.

"Oh Mare, not everything is your fault honey." Allegra hugs her comfortingly for a moment.

"Maybe," she isn't entirely convinced, but this is the closest she's gotten.

They can only hope it will stick. Before anyone says anything more, Marinette yawns.

"I was waiting for that to set in. You've had an eventful past few days." Adrien smiles at her gently.

"Don't think I'll drop your whole thing! Lila needs to be stopped!"

Adrien only raises his arms in offer of a hug, knowing that she'll give in and inevitably fall asleep.

When she does hug him, Claude hugs both of them, declaring a group hug. By the time they've all broken apart, Marinette is far from her alert self from just moments before.

She's heavy in his arms, yawning and drowsy. The group finally sits for the first time since entering the room so that she can get the rest she deserves after all she's been up to. She's not asleep, just taking a break after so much activity.

"Are you sure you can't even talk to your father about Lila, Adrien?" Claude wishes this whole thing could get resolved because they aren't sure Adrien will last much longer.

"I doubt he'd care," Adrien remarks plainly.

"He'd better care! You're his son!" Allegra interrupts.

He only shrugs, "Maybe I'll try bringing it up sometime, but I don't even know when I'll see him next."

"Alright." Allan accepts this hesitantly. The others eventually do the same, but it is clear no one is satisfied with this 'resolution'.

"Ladybug, you don't need to come out on patrol. You've had enough stress, you can take a break." Chat Noir looks at her. She doesn't seem overly tired, but it's clear if you know how to look. Her posture isn't entirely straight, and she's blinking a little too long.

"I want to be! Besides, I haven't met Kit Mime yet," she sounds excited.

"What do you mean?" Sure, she hasn't met them yet, but Kit Mime isn't on patrol. He hasn't been on patrol since the day he was first chosen.

"The whole point of bringing them on patrol was for practice. It's been a long time for both of them, so we should bring them out again! Please?"

He likes the idea, and he really can't say no to that face, "Alright, who's going to Fu?"

"Both! We can each grab one and then meet up once they've transformed!"

He nods, and they head to Fu's, who agrees to the plan. Miraculouses in hand, they go to find their friends. Chat heads toward Allegra's place, and Ladybug to Claude's.

When they meet up again, they are both accompanied by another hero.

"Fancy meeting you here M'lady."

"Hello to you too." She turns to the other two, "Kit Mime, this is Honey Bee. Honey Bee, this is Kit Mime."

"Hello, it's nice to meet you."

"Same to you. I really can't bee-leive it!"

Honey turns to Ladybug, "They're both this bad aren't they?"
"Mhm."

"Oh no."

Chat grins, "I don't know, I thought that was rather claw-ver."

"Wow, would you look at the time, we've got to start patrol!" Ladybug interjects.

"You mean paw-trol?" Chat asks innocently.

"I don't."

They make their way all over Paris, keeping up a conversation with each other the whole time. Honey Bee and Kit Mime are both surprised how quickly they feel familiar with each other. They both thought that it could be awkward, but conversation flows between them as easily as if they'd been friends for years.

After about an hour, Ladybug is clearly about done, though she certainly isn't planning on saying anything about it.

When she hisses at the snowfall that starts, Chat finally brings it up, "Remind me, who's the cat here?"

"It's snowing! And cold!"

"It is, which means it's time for you to head home."

She looks like she wants to argue, but after a moment's thought she nods, waving goodbye and heading back to the bakery. Marinette lays in bed for some time, thinking about the events of the past two days.

Something occurs to her and she sends a quick text to Adrien's phone before she goes to sleep.

Plagg really likes this Bug. He's glad she properly appreciates his Kitten.

Not to mention that her plotting and scheming is on the level of most foxes. He could always appreciate a good strategy.

While hiding in Adrien's bag with his phone on the way out the door today, Plagg is ready if the moment comes.

Conveniently enough, it does.

"Father, could I speak with you for a moment?" Adrien has spotted the sorry excuse of a human being that calls itself his father.

"Adrien, I am busy. You should be on your way to school," the voice is cold and uncaring - so the usual.

"Actually, it's about school. It won't take long, I promise."

"Fine. You have five minutes."

"Um, I wasn't sure if I should say anything, but there's a girl in my class who keeps touching me. She's always hanging onto me and messing with my hair and stuff. It makes me really uncomfortable. She's started kissing me-"

"Are you dating this girl?"

"No. Everyone thinks we are, but they think it's some sort of secret so they don't do anything about it."

"Who is this girl?"

"Lila Rossi."

"I have heard of her. She seems to be satisfactory enough for now. If she is showing an interest in you, then there is nothing wrong. You've said yourself that your classmates are willing to pretend you are single, so it will not affect your marketability as a single boy. I do not see any problem as long as you do not actually begin dating her."

"'Marketability'? But Father, I don't want her to be touching me all the time. I don't like it when she kisses me. I'm pretty sure it constitutes as sexual harassment and I don't feel safe arou-"

"Adrien, my word is final. You are in public school, and as an attractive teenage boy, it is expected that girls will show interest in you. If you do not think that you can handle a public school environment, then perhaps I should remove you from school."

"No! I just wanted to-"

"That is enough. Go to school now. If I hear another complaint about this, I will not hesitate to have you return to private tutoring,"

"Yes, Father." Adrien hangs his head, and Plaggs stops the recording.

Unfortunately, that was exactly what they expected. Yet somehow even worse.

He sends the audio of that conversation to baker-girl, and leaves the bag to hide in Adrien's shirt.

Poor kid needs some sort of comfort.

Allegra, Allan, Claude, Felix, and Marinette are sitting in the library as usual before the school day starts. Marinette isn't exactly contributing to the conversation much, opting to lean against Claude instead.

Her phone dings, and glances at it, frowning before putting it up to her ear to listen to whatever was sent to her.

The other four grow concerned as Marinette tears up listening to whatever it is, her hand covering her mouth slightly. Finally, she snarls and slams the phone down.

"Everything good Mari?" Claude looks at her. She's torn between sad and angry, and her fatigue isn't helping matters.

She shakes her head, pressing the button and turning up the volume so that they can hear what Plagg sent her. It's exactly why she wanted him to record it, but she didn't expect it to be so bad.

By the end, Allan and Claude look distressed, and while Felix and Allegra look similar, though they seem to have taken the outraged approach.

"What the fuck?!" Allegra shouts, standing up and slamming her hands onto the table, knocking over her chair as she goes. She's shushed, but doesn't even seem to notice, "Please tell me I heard that wrong."

"Unfortunately not." Felix snaps.

"Oh, Adrien." Allan is covering his mouth staring at the phone in horror.

"That's what his father has to say to that?!" Claude asks rhetorically.

"I hate him so much." Marinette won't be letting this go, but then she remembers herself, sighing and looking at the rest hopefully, "Can we visit Adrien at lunch?"

"Oh you bet we are!" Allegra agrees.

"Consider it done." adds Claude.

From there, Adrien's day is fairly normal. He can't hang out with them the rest of the day, but he appreciates their care. By the end of the day, he's mostly accepted that this will be his life now, and spins listlessly in his desk chair.

Ladybug stops by, when he lets her in, she detransforms into Marinette who doesn't hesitate to give him a tight hug.

That helps some.

Notes:

There you are! Lots of things in this chapter! Marinette can stand up to the old class, if it's for someone else, and she finally agrees to rest instead of forcing herself to continue patrol! Yay for good things! Then we've got Gabriel. He's just plain awful. When I wrote that, I thought 'at least I won't have to write anything this bad again', and then I did. It's arguably worse, so prepare yourselves.
I said in the note at the beginning that I'm finally writing again! Yay for that! If I can keep that up, I'd like to give you guys another bonus chapter, so wish me luck!
On that same note, if I do finish enough that I'd feel comfortable posting an extra, which day would be best? I've done a double update before, and other bonus chapters I typically aim for Tuesday or Wednesday (which is about as close I can get to being perfectly centered between Saturdays), but if there's another day of the week you'd prefer, let me know! Should I set up a poll or something? I'd just like to have bonus updates have a set date too, like how regular updates are Saturdays.
I finally finished the chapter with our turtle hero. I'm having a hard time naming them, so any suggestions would be appreciated. The best I've come up with is Emys, and like most other names, I feel like it just doesn't fit them. Feel free to try and come up with some of your own! You can leave your reasoning behind it (if it isn't that clear), if you want. I'd love to see what you can all come up with!
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 27: 2 Steps Forward,

Summary:

The friends begin planning. Trouble runs into Marinette.

Notes:

Woo! This chapter! I'm in a good mood today, so this is fun! No strong language warning, surprisingly enough. Chloe is a queen though, and she knows it.
Oh! Another thing! Can I just say that one of my favorite things about update days is when I get comment notifications while I'm preparing the update? I just love, like, proofreading or typing up summaries and my phone dings, and one of you guys says something 'oh I'm so ready for the angst' or something like that? I don't know what it is about it, but like Friday nights/Saturday mornings when I get comments of you guys being excited about the update - it's one of my favorite things! It just makes me really happy! I love you guys! 💕💕

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The group is gathered in Claude's room. Marinette is dozing against Adrien on the bed-turned-couch, and the others are scattered around the room. Nobody is really talking, they're simply enjoying each other's company while doing their own individual activities.

Adrien and Allegra get simultaneous notifications. When they check it, their previous good moods vanish, and one of them swears softly, drawing the attention of the others.

"Is everything good?" Claude asks.

"Not exactly, no." Adrien looks like he's holding Marinette to him slightly tighter than before.

"Concours d'arts musicaux is being hosted at Collège Françoise Dupont," Allegra sighs, "It'll be in March."

"Oh dear." Allan looks to Marinette worriedly.

"So?" Marinette prompts softly, startling the others. They'd thought she was asleep, "'m still gonna' go…"

"You don't have to! We would rather you skip than face all those bullies again." Allegra assures her.

Marinette shakes her head softly, "I gotta' talk to 'em."

Despite her statement, the apprehension in her voice is undeniable. She's scared, and she isn't fooling any of them.

"No, you don't." Adrien argues, "You come first-"

Marinette shakes her head.

"Adrien is correct. It is unnecessary for you to put yourself in such a position." Felix cuts in.

When she doesn't respond they assume she's returned to her nap. Allegra stands and goes to the whiteboard. Taking a marker, she turns to the others, "How are we going to take down Lila?"

"Weren't we going to decide on a date first?" Allan points out.

"The competition will work as well as anything. The class will be there, and an event is an excuse for guests. Guests who can contradict her."

"It would work pretty well actually," Adrien thinks, "We'd be able to get her mother, maybe Jagged, and even Prince Ali…"

"I keep forgetting how casually acquainted you two are with celebrities."

"Will that be enough to turn them?" Felix considers.

Marinette sits up slightly, grabbing for her phone. The others pause, surprised to see her moving again. She fiddles with it and passes it to Adrien.

"Tikki got it…" she whispers to him, lower than the others can hear.

He nods, playing the recording, seemingly taken from the inside of a purse.

"-is you! Here I thought this would be a boring field trip! This is a spectacular surprise though!

"See, I told you I knew what I was doing. No one's seen you in months and they all still hate your guts - rightfully so of course."

There are footsteps as the speaker approaches the phone.

"You know, they call me their everyday Ladybug now? I'm honestly insulted - not only did they give me your old dumb title, but they're comparing me to her. They were that is, until I changed that.

"Look at you! You're pathetic! I can't believe I considered you a legitimate threat to me. I could have just left you be and they would have eventually left you in their own time."

There's the sound of pulled hair, barely audible from the purse, "You could at least look at me you disappointing nobody."

A hateful cackle sounds, "Oh, are you sad? Can't handle the facts? The truth? Do you want to know the truth? This is the perfect opportunity to keep all that lovely Marinette-hate going. Without any material it could have died down-"

A thud. It sounds as though something - or someone - has been dropped to the ground. The purse has fallen with it, the phone inside moving.

"-but now I can spin this anyway I want. Those morons could walk in right now and would still believe me if I told them you attacked me. They just despise you that much. Not that I can blame them - you're just so detestable."

The purse is lifted as the arm it hangs off of rises.

"This is the one isn't it? I watched. That was quite the fall. Not to mention how you twisted it. I'm surprised you didn't break it. I wish I had a recording though. Everything you do is just so pitifully bad."

A slight dragging sound, the purse they view the scene from moves upright once more.

The sound of yanked hair returns, "I told you to look at me you cretin."

"That is enough!" a muffled voice, as though some distance away.

"Is it though?"

Another thud, the purse has fallen again, back - presumably - on the ground.

"Lila. Leave her alone." another voice, similarly far.

The recording ends shortly afterwards.

There's a short silence after it plays, broken when Marinette mumbles, "mor' amuni-shun for th' war."

"Oh, Marinette."

The group has pieced together that this must have been what they missed during the field trip. Adrien holds her closer, as though that'll undo what happened months ago. The others get up and all her friends hug her gently.

It was awful to listen to, but living through it must have been even worse.

"Are you sure you want to go to the competition?"

"I'm-" she's about to reassure them that's she's fine. There's no reason for them to worry about her.

It's okay if you aren't happy.

If someone asks how you're doing, the answer doesn't have to be 'good'.

People love you.

But maybe there is a reason.

"-scared…" She finishes quietly.

"That's alright." Allan assures her..

"Indeed, it is perfectly reasonable." Felix agrees.

"You really don't have to go Mari." Claude tells her carefully.

"But I wan' t'." she argues, "wanta' at leas' try."

"Okay. You won't be alone." Allegra promises.

"She's right, we won't leave your side. None of them will get to you." Claude reaffirms.

"'Kay."

"We love you, Nette." Allan smiles gently.

They hug her once more, staying like that for a moment.

They reluctantly separate, returning to their spots, though all facing her to a degree.
She's barely awake at this point, curled into Adrien, and facing everyone else with heavy eyes. Adrien rubs her arm comfortingly, and removes the messy pigtails she'd attempted to put hair up in so he can comb his fingers through her hair.

It doesn't take long for her to succumb to sleep.

"Well." he says, unsure where to start after that.

The others seem similarly lost. No one speaks for a moment. Allegra looks close to tears, and Allan scootches closer to squeeze her hand comfortingly.

"So, we'll need a way to play… that… during the competition." Claude says quietly.

"Actually…" Adrien voices hesitantly, "That's not the only recording."

The others turn to him questioningly, and he takes his phone out.

Soon enough he finds the video he sent to himself, turning the screen to the others as he hits play.

He hadn't been sure how to bring about the recording of Lila akumatizing herself, but now is as good a time as any.

Once it's finished, the others have been stunned into shocked disbelief.

"Marinette had… suggested this… but I never thought someone would do that." Claude murmurs, "Not that I didn't trust her, but…"

"Yeah." Adrien agrees.

"I can't believe her!" Allegra whisper screams, still conscious of her sleeping friend nearby, "She got her way, and it still wasn't enough for her?! She had to team up with Hawkmoth to- to- what? Play the victim some more?!"

"That is aiding a known terrorist. The consequences will be enormous." Felix points out.

"I don't know what to say." Allan adds quietly, "…do you think she's done that before?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I'd consider it likely." Adrien's voice is solemn.

"We'll definitely have to show that then. To someone." Allegra comments, "She can't continue to work with Hawkmoth."

"Indeed." Felix agrees.

No one is sure of what to say for a moment. The silence passes when Allegra returns to the whiteboard, adding both recordings to their list of evidence against Lila.

"Will this be enough?" she turns to Adrien questioningly. Having spent the most time in the liar's domain, he would know best.

"It should be. They might be in denial for a little bit though." he's hesitant. The amount of power Lila has is ridiculous.

"Whether or not they continue to believe in her, she will still be leaving Paris." Felix points out. The others turn to him questioningly, and he continues, "She is aiding Hawkmoth. If she does not leave the city they could team up again at any point."

"Oh my gosh, you're right." Allan realizes at the same time as the rest of them. Regardless of how the classmates take it, Lila will be forced to leave the city.

"That's a relief." Adrien exhales softly, "I don't really like being around her."
"That's perfectly reasonable." Allan nods.

"Yeah, given how she's hanging off of you 24/7." Allegra's voice is bitter.

"Guys, really it's f-"

"No it's not." they all speak at once.

"I still can't believe your dad would say that." Allan says.

"I can't believe he's allowed to be a father." Allegra cuts in.

"Don't dwell on it too long, you don't want to get too mad." Claude reminds the group.

"Ugh." Allegra flops across the floor in frustration, "At least if I do, I can tell Hawkmoth to his face that he's pretty awful."

"That is quite the understatement." Felix raises an eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure Hawkmoth is well aware that Paris doesn't like him," Adrien says, still playing with his partner's hair, "That's sort of his whole thing."

"Still." Allegra huffs, "Let me find positives."

"Fair enough." Allan allows.

Eventually it's time to go. Marinette hasn't woken up. It's not a concern, seeing as she's in ideal hibernating conditions.

It's unfortunate that the best way to keep her up is to put her somewhere where she'll be uncomfortable.

She needs to wake up though, so Adrien shakes her gently. He focuses on wanting her awake. It's hard to explain in words how it works, but it's part of the Ladybug and Cat miraculouses being intertwined.

It's similar to how they can have a slight idea of what the other is feeling if it's extreme enough. They balance each other out, and that includes being able to keep the other calm and grounded. He's extra warm during the winter, but that can both keep her awake, or help her sleep.

Somehow the miraculous can line up with his intentions. Not that he has the ability to force her to sleep or anything, but apparently there's a noticeable difference to her. He'd brought it up last year and Ladybug had confirmed it. During attacks she found him to be more of awakening warmth, while during patrols - when it was calmer - he was more relaxing. Adrien is still kind of confused, but he's learned not to try and rationalize the magic that's become part of his everyday life. Plagg had only shrugged at him when he'd asked.

Sure enough, Marinette begins to stir. He helps her sit up, and she turns to the others, "Sor'y I slep' so lon'."

"It's fine. We don't mind." Allan smiles.

She only hums, not entirely convinced. After a moment though, she seems to accept his statement at face value and nods.

"Are you ready to go outside?" Allegra asks when they get to the door, handing her her coat.

"Nev'r."

"It isn't too long of a walk Mari, you'll be fine." Adrien consoles her.

"It isssss…"

Claude pats the pom pom on her hat, "I'm sure you'll survive."

"Barely."

"We may as well get this over with quickly for her sake. Farewell, Claude." Felix interrupts.

Everyone says their goodbyes, and they make their way outside. Marinette flinches away from the first wintery breeze that goes by them, leaning into Adrien. Despite being in the middle of their group, the chill is inescapable for her.

Only when she gets to her room does she shed her extra layers, curling into her bed so that she can finally sleep once more.

Marinette is fumbling with the key in the lock. Her parents aren't home at the moment, and she's not exactly good at doors when she's tired.

At least the snow stopped. It'd been going down all day, but it would seem she timed her walk home from school perfectly to catch a break.

She still can't get the key to turn the right way. If one of her friends were here, they'd be able to help her, but she'd reassured them that she'd be fine.

If she'd remembered that she'd be home alone she probably wouldn't have said that.

Oh well. Too late now. It's not that big of a problem.

She just needs to get this key to cooperate with her.

"Hey! Maggot-nette! What was that tale you came up with last year? Allergic to snow or something?"

Oh dear.

"Hey Kim, want to test that?" Alix calls cuttingly.

"Sure thing!" Kim sneers.

Marinette turns slightly, trying to see what's coming. She really hopes they don't come over-

Something hits her coat. It takes a moment to realize that it's a snowball.

Another follows.

"This is for Lila!"

Her two former friends keep up the barrage. Others from the class have gathered, watching. Some look approving, others seem less so, but don't say anything. This is for Lila after all.

Marinette knows she's supposed to get inside, but it's going to get more difficult. She feels herself tiring, and turns to the door. She finds the key, but it slips and is gone.

She turns back, frowning as she tries to see it.

The snowballs keep coming, and Marinette can't think of how she's supposed to do anything about it. She knows that there's something she's supposed to do, but she can't remember for the life of her what it is.

Snow is in her coat, snow is touching her bare skin, and her coat is weighted by the snow that just keeps coming, and she just feels so tired.

She begins to slump, swaying slightly as the urge to hibernate rises within her. She fights it as best she can, but as more and more snow is pelted at her it gets harder and harder.

She's just so cold.

She's just so tired.

She just wants to sleep.

"Anyways, so now Daddy is letting me redo my room," Chloe finishes her story as they make their way outside, and Adrien smiles.

"That's so great Chloe! You really deserve to take a break from your- uh, project," Sabrina cheers, cutting herself off towards the end and glancing at Adrien carefully.

Before Adrien can ask about this 'project' (because he certainly hasn't heard anything about it), he has to stop. The two girls notice he's stopped, growing concerned at how his face has paled.

"Adrikins? What's wrong?" Chloe hurries back up to him as he collects himself.

"Something's wrong." Because that's all he knows. He can feel Marinette growing closer to hibernating, but he can't figure out what could be wrong. She doesn't even seem panicked in the slightest.

She should be home by now. What is going on?
"What's wrong?" Sabrina prompts, confused.

He shakes his head, "I don't know- just- I- Marinette isn't okay." He doesn't bother to elaborate, just speaking in a rushed and panicked tone and hurrying down the stairs.

His heart sinks when he realizes what's happening. Alix and Kim seem to be leading the charge of hurling snowballs and insults towards the bakery.

Towards Marinette. Marinette who is swaying where she stands.

Adrien can't focus on anything else, immediately running towards his Lady. She's in danger, and he has to get to her.

He thinks he hears yelling, but it doesn't register with him. Especially when he sees Marinette collapse, right into a snowdrift formed from clearing the sidewalks. The snowballs keep coming.

Two pairs of arms grab him, restraining him.

"Dude, chill. She's fine," Nino's voice is the first thing to break through his hyper-focused mind.

"Yeah, we all know she's just faking it for attention. Remember last year? The girl was basically having us do her homework for her!" Alya's voice comes from his other side.

"Actually, Alya, last year Marinette made sure to complete her homework herself. Many of us offered, yourself included, but she always insisted that she do it honestly," Sabrina corrects calmly, "The most she ever did was ask for notes, which is perfectly understandable - considering her condition."

Alya scoffs, "Puh- lease! She doesn't have any sort of condition! She made it up for attention! That selfish brat wouldn't do anything that could get her hurt, so this is us proving her wrong! She'll lie there until she realizes that no one cares about her little stunt and then she'll go inside! She-"

Alya is interrupted by slow clapping. Chloe steps forward, a vitriolic grin on her face as she struts up to them. She keeps up the clapping, looking at Alya directly in the eye the whole time. The blonde finally comes to a stop, just in front of the reporter, raising her hands slowly to finally end her sarcastic clapping right in front of Alya's face, causing the other girl to blink and flinch away slightly.

"Wow. Thank you Alya, for your wonderful demonstration of bullying! Let's all give her a round of applause! She plays the part of an insensitive simpleton so well!"

"Shut up Chloe! I don't have to listen to your bullying! Why don't you just go back to New York, you aren't wanted here!"

"Well I do want to be here, and given that I just don't care about you or your wants, I'll be staying right here. Honestly, Sabrina and I leave for a month to visit my mother, and I come back to find that you are all actively encouraging sexual harassment at the level it has reached? I'm disgusted."

Nino chimes in, "Woah, woah! No one is harassing anyone."

Chloe face palms, sighing heavily. Sabrina takes over for her, "Actually, the definition of sexual harassment most certainly includes Lila's actions towards Adrien-"

"They're dating!" Alya interrupts exasperatedly.

"So what?! Even if that were the case - which it isn't - Adrien is clearly uncomfortable!" Chloe snaps, gesturing at her childhood friend.

Adrien's eyes are unfocused, staring blankly towards Marinette. He's tense, but gave up struggling against the two people holding him. His attention is not on the conversation.

She needs him.

"He's only so uncomfortable because Marinette is around! She's threatening him!" Alya argues.

"Besides, Lila doesn't make my dude uncomfortable, and she isn't harassing him, she's dating him!"

"There's so much stupid in both of those statements, I don't even know how to begin to unpack it," Chloe drags her hand from her face, straightening once more. If Adrien had been paying attention, he'd know to stay clear of her with that look in her eye, "One! You honestly think he's threatened by Marinette. The girl who is unconscious in the snow as we speak? Two! You both need to sue your optometrists if you can't see how uncomfortable he is around Lila. The boy literally shuts himself off, and I can tell after being back for just one day. Three! Key phrasing! She is 'dating'- and I'm heavy on the air quotes here - him. They aren't both dating each other, this is a one sided story concocted by sausage hair herself! He is clear that there is nothing between them! Get that through your heads, because that isn't healthy behavior!" Chloe snarls, her patience thin.

Sabrina steps in, "Regardless of whether or not they are dating, that doesn't negate the fact that he doesn't appreciate how she's touching him. Being in a relationship does not make sexual harassment or assault impossible."

Chloe recovers, taking a deep breath and exhaling deliberately, "I'm done here. Sabrina, you know what to do."

Sabrina nods, taking out her phone and putting it to her ear as she hurries across the street. Chloe doesn't speak further as she turns back into the school. She knows her limits, and is well aware that she can't stop an entire class from throwing snowballs on her own.

Which is why she needs back-up. An adult, of which there was only one rational one in the entire building.

Arriving at the classroom, she doesn't bother to knock, simply walking up to the desk and beginning, "Ms. Mendeleiev, there's an incident going on outside."

Notes:

Chapter too short? Trying to work on Marinette's healing? Bully her some more! That gives an opening to talk about it, instead of, I don't know, talking about it in an angst free manner!
Much of this chapter and the next were rewritten when I realized that Chloe was missing. I like this version much better, but I have saved the old version. Maybe I'll post it another time.
Kagami goes to another school in this fic. I'd always assumed that was the case, but according to the wiki she goes to Dupont. Anyways, that's why she's not around right now.
What's this? I see a new ship on the horizon. It should arrive in a week or so. Interesting.
So, the chapter title. I'm sure you're all aware of how the phrase goes. '_ steps forward...' so if any of have guesses of just how many steps back I have planned, feel free to let me know. (◕ᗜ)
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 28: -3 Steps Back

Summary:

The aftermath of the snowball incident.

Notes:

HaHA! I got you! There are no steps back for Marinette! Only forward progress!
This chapter is a bit of a roller-coaster. There's a little of everything, and I honestly had trouble with the summary.
Strong language warning, 'shit'. That said, almost all of this chapter was rewritten well afterwards, so I wasn't really in the mindset of 'write swear, mark swear', so if there's any I missed, please let me know and I'll add them.
This is a good chapter though, I love it. I'm pretty sure it's the longest of all of them, both in word count and in page count, so enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The four friends were still deciding on what to do after school when Allan's phone rang. He doesn't recognize the number and looks to the other curiously, "Any idea who's calling me?"

Claude shrugs, and Felix simply states, "If you do not recognize the number, you should hang up. If it is important, they will call back, at which point you are safe to assume they know you."

"Yeah, that's the best strategy," Allegra agrees.

Allan hums, hanging up. Before his phone is even back in his pocket, it's ringing again.

"Same number."

"Then it's time to solve the mystery! Pick up!" Claude chatters excitedly.

Allan does so, putting the phone to his ear. The group pauses their walk while he's on the phone.

"Hello, is this-" there's a short break, as though someone is checking something on their screen momentarily, "Allan Poirot?"

"Yes…?" Allan shakes his head at his friends, indicating he still doesn't know what the call is about.

"Wonderful. So I would be correct in assuming that you- Why is it locked? Are they not home?- are friends with both Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste?" He can faintly hear knocking and the jiggling of (presumably) a doorknob through the phone. The off-handed comment about something being locked throws him for a loop.

"Yeah? What's going on?" He's beginning to get worried, and the others frown as they notice.

"Well- why doesn't she have a key?- I'm calling to see if you'd be able to help me out. There was an incident at the school-"

"An incident? At the school? Dupont? What's happening?" He knows better to jump to conclusions, but can't help himself. The person sounds their age, but they're speaking so formally and what little information he has gathered isn't helping his nerves.

"Allan?" Allegra looks at him in concern. The one-sided conversation they've been listening to probably isn't much better.

"Yes I- Marinette? Can you hear me? Oh dear.- Okay. Um-"

"Marinette's there? Is she okay? Can you put her on?" Allan is definitely having a hard time keeping it together, if his heartbeat and the looks from the other three are anything to go by.

He puts the call on speaker.

"No I- Oh thank goodness, there's Ms. Mendeleiev- We were not here to witness the whole thing, but when we exited the school we saw that many of our classmates- Found it! Yes!- were throwing snowballs at Marinette. She's asleep outside and I only just found her key. Chloe and I think it'd be for the best if you came over. For both of their sakes. Due to- Careful! It's icy and you shouldn't be running!" The still unidentified voice has turned away from the phone and has seemingly begun speaking to another person, "Adrien, you need to breathe. She'll be fine, we just need to get her inside."

Adrien doesn't respond, and even through the phone the four can hear his hyperventilating.

"We are on our way," Felix states into the phone as the group hurries in the direction of the school. They keep the phone on, continuing the call as they go.

"Adrien, you moron! You can't just run up the steps! Especially if you don't have your hands free!" Chloe's voice comes through, though far away. They can hear a door shut and three different sets of footsteps going up flights of stairs.

"Do you think they're okay?" Allan asks softly.

"I'm sure they'll be okay. It sounds like they've started to get things sorted out," Claude assures him, though all of them remain on edge.

"Adrien. I get that you're basically married to her, but you were just outside in the cold. You can't be much warmer than her. You have to let her go so we can help her," Chloe reprimands gently.

Adrien still hasn't spoken, and his breathing is only just beginning to settle down. It sounds like his phone is going off with some weird ringtone. That must be it, because if she didn't know better, Chloe would swear there's a cat purring in the room.

"Adrien," Sabrina begins gently, "We have to get her winter stuff off of her. Can you go grab some blankets? You know the house better than we do."

After a moment, Adrien seems to come back to himself, looking up with partially frozen tears and tear tracks visible on his face. He hesitates, but eventually sets the unconcious girl down as gently as possible before hurrying off to another part of the house.

"Should we be worried? About… you know… an akuma?" Sabrina turns to Chloe worriedly.

"That's not our problem. For now we can only focus on what we can help. Adrien isn't upset anymore - now that he's with Marinette," Chloe states a-matter-of-factly, beginning to remove Marinette's boots.

Sabrina accepts this and removes Marinette's scarf before moving on to the large coat she's wearing.

By the time Adrien returns with an impressive amount of blankets, they've gotten all her winter gear off. It's a relief to see her outfit underneath is still dry, so there's no need to worry about that.

The model goes to the designer's side immediately. He moves her to the corner of the couch, slightly curled into herself. He begins with a heated blanket, wordlessly handing the cord to the other girls to plug in. From there he piles on the blankets in a seemingly practiced arrangement.

Adrien hopes they don't notice that he initially began to arrange the blankets mirrored, as though he was used to being next to Marinette, rather than across from her. He hopes they don't notice that he'd initially arranged the blankets with space for two people.

While collecting the blankets, Adrien had also collected himself. He can't just scoop Marinette up without Chloe or Sabrina commenting on it.

They're right. If it weren't for the fact that he has the Cat miraculous, it wouldn't be helpful to snuggle with her.

He exhales heavily, finally done with the blankets, he's done the best he could for now.

Adrien stiffens when he hears the door open then close downstairs and multiple sets of footsteps hurrying up the stairs.

When he stands and turns to the doorway in an offensive position, the girls notice. Chloe pushes him back to the couch, "Relax, Adrikins. Go sit with your wife. Everything's fine."
"I suppose we did forget to mention it. We called your friends over, in case we needed back-up," Sabrina smiles awkwardly.

"Oh, okay," He settles back down, leaning against the pile of blankets that is Marinette, "Wait, how did you get their numbers?"

"I have my ways," Chloe smirks and inspects her manicure.

'She unlocked my phone and sent herself their contacts' his brain translates for him.

A blue and white blur that he identifies as Claude slides into the room, quickly followed by Allan, Allegra, and Felix.

Upon noticing Marinette and Adrien - both safe and together, the group visibly calms down.

"Ohthankgoodness," he can't tell which of them said it. His bets are on Allan or Allegra, but he can't rule out Claude or even Felix.

It could have been all of them.

"Hi," with that word he finally hears how bad his voice sounds. He winces slightly.

Now that the others have had a moment to calm themselves, they take in the sight before them more critically.

Adrien is pale and shaky, and has visibly been crying. He leans against Marinette in a way that seems almost desperate. Marinette is barely visible underneath all the blankets she's been covered with. There's still snow visible in her hair, and her face is red from where it was presumably hit with snow.

Claude runs a hand through his hair, exhaling heavily. Allan is still studying the pair on the couch, trying to reassure himself.

Allegra is the first to recover, walking calmly to them and wrapping Adrien in a tight hug, "It'll be okay," she whispers.

He recovers from his momentary surprise, returning the hug silently. If a few more tears come to his eyes, no one comments.

The rest of the group breaks from their shock, hurrying to join them. As they break apart, a phone rings. Adrien recognizes the ringtone as the one he set for Nathalie.

It's cut off as Chloe says, "Nope. Don't care."

Adrien sees his phone in Chloe's hands, - when did that happen? - realizing that she has clearly hung up the call. He studies Sabrina and Chloe, something seeming off.

Chloe's tone isn't her normally bossy one, it's a slightly different one for when she's putting on a show - for whatever reason, she's trying to exaggerate her actions and show off.

Sabrina has a slightly maksed mischievous grin on her face.

What did he miss?

"Chloe. You can't just hang up on Nathalie. It could be important," Adrien reprimands.

"Adrikins, I love you, but you should know by now that nothing either of them have to say is important," Chloe retorts, rolling her eyes.

"She's right, you know," Allegra agrees. Chloe preens.

The phone rings again, and Adrien hops up to take it from her before she can cause more problems, "Hello, Nathalie."

"Adrien, your Father has heard from multiple classmates that you caused a scene at school. He wishes for you to return home immediately. He also says that seeing as Ms. Bourgeois is no longer a good influence on you, it would be for the best if you no longer associate with her. He is disappointed in your inability to follow his simple requests, especially regarding spending time with the right people, and there will be a discussion on upholding the Agreste brand tonight," Nathalie's monotone voice cuts into his barely reassembled peace of mind.

The others watch in concern as Adrien's face turns from confusion, to anger, to fear, to worry, to resigned acceptance, "Yes, Nathalie."

"Your driver will be at the school in five minutes." The call ends.

"What did she say this time?" Chloe asks.

Adrien's voice is flat, and his face remains emotionless, "Nathalie called to inform me that Father has learned of my misconduct at school today. I am to return to my house immediately, and cut ties with Ms. Bourgeois as she is a bad influence on me. Father is disappointed in me, as I have shown an inability to spend time with the right people. There will be a discussion on upholding the image of the Agreste brand tonight. My driver will be at the school in five minutes, so I should depart now."

He moves almost mechanically, but with grace. He goes about the room, collecting his things.

Chloe is seething silently, and the others are shocked into silence. Adrien gets to the door, nodding curtly as a goodbye, and leaves. He doesn't let himself show anything on his face, and if his gut is twisting and making him feel sick, well, it's not a problem.

If he is almost immediately knocked down with the weight of pure, unadulterated, panic when he shuts the door and leaves his hibernating princess behind, then it's only a sign of their negative influence.

"What." Claude is still recovering. They'd seen Adrien shut down from Gabriel's influence before, but this was a whole new level.

Chloe and Allegra break the silence at the same time, "That no-good, worthless, sorry excuse of a-"

They pause, realizing their synchronization.

Chloe recovers first, "Good to know you guys don't like Agreste either."

"Is Adrien okay?" Allan asks her, concerned.

"Of course not! That man treats him like shit! Whenever Adrien shuts down like that then we've got a problem," Chloe throws her hands in the air exasperatedly, before calming slightly, "My main concern is that he's been banned from seeing me. If that's the case, then what's to stop Sir Candy-Cane from doing the same with your guys?"

"I won't allow it," Allegra growls.

"Wait wait wait! He shuts down like that often?!" Claude puts his hands out, shaking them back and forth, and shaking his head.

"'Often' isn't quite right, but yes, he's done that before." Chloe nods.

"The last time that it happened over the summer," Sabrina informs them.

Chloe snickers, "Marinette just about killed a man, from what I've heard."

She checks her phone, then looks up, "Well, we have an appointment across the city, so we'll be heading out now."

Sabrina and Chloe head to the door, where the blonde pauses. She seemingly takes a moment to gather herself and smother a blush before looking directly at Allegra, "You know, for the longest time, I thought I was in love with Adrien. It took getting a crush on Ladybug to realize that I'm not even into guys that way. That said, I spent my entire life thinking I was straight, so sometimes I question if I'm actually lesbian. I've got to say, after meeting you, I don't think that'll be happening again." Chloe winks and heads out the door.

Allegra's face turns scarlet, and a strangled sound slips from her throat.

Felix grins, a few laughs escaping him. Allan and Claude are laughing hysterically, almost falling to the floor.

In between laughter, Claude manages, "What was- How did you phrase it? 'Bisexual but mostly into men'?"

Allan chimes in, "Haven't seen you fall so fast-" he breaks off into laughter again taking a moment to recover, "Oh my gosh. That was-"

Allegra has yet to recover, sputtering slightly.

"Oh that was amazing. I would pay to have caught that on camera! Congrats on your first gay crush on a real person, 'llegra!" Claude pats the still-frozen girl on the back in a congratulatory manner, before whipping out his phone to record her reaction. It would be better than nothing.

"It would seem Chloe broke her," Felix grins.

Allegra squeaks, face still aflame.

"This is the greatest thing I've ever witnessed," Allan says, beginning to recover from his laughing fit, wiping away a tear, "Al' - our own composed Allegra - completely shuts down when faced with a pretty girl flirtin' with 'er."

"This is priceless," Claude squeals, still recording, "Someone get her instruction manual, we need to reboot her."

Allan stands, heading to the kitchen and getting a glass of water. He returns to the girl and forces it into her hands, and directs her to sit on the couch.

Allegra drinks from the glass automatically. Her face cools eventually, but remains faintly pink, "Did- did she just-?"

"Yes, the answer is yes," Claude smirks, "Yes she did."

Allegra makes a choked noise.

"You good, Al'?" Allan inquiries innocently.

"Yep! I'm fine!" Allegra declares hurriedly.

Claude wiggles his eyebrows. "I bet you are."

She squawks in offense and throws a pillow at him.

The boys only laugh at her, and eventually they settle down. The four friends stay at the bakery until her parents return.

Marinette still hasn't woken up, and they try not to worry about it too much.

"Do you think it's been long enough?" Adrien turns to Plagg in the midst of his pacing. He'd been alone for sometime, and had recovered from the phone call earlier. Now the feeling of Marinette still being in hibernation is eating away at him. He can't focus, and the anxiety is beginning to give way to full-fledged terror.

Marinette was out in the snow, being pelted by more snow for far too long. He's well aware of the risks to a Ladybug falling into hibernation. If she slips too far, they'd be lucky if she woke up by late spring - if at all.

It's one thing when she's with the Guardian. She's safe there. Being near other miraculouses can keep her from falling too far, but she has to be near him to wake up properly.

Neither of which are the case currently.

"Do it. If her parents are there, tell them something about how you thought she might be prone to akumas or somethin'. They'll believe anything reasonable if you're transformed." Plagg is just as stressed as he is.

"Claws Out."

The trip is both incredibly short and painfully long. He knocks on the trapdoor for the sake of it, relieved and worried when no one answers.

Her parents must be asleep.

She must still be asleep.

Chat Noir slips into her room silently. She's not in her bed, so she must still be on the couch. A quiet voice in the back of his mind says that maybe he should think twice before venturing further into the house.

He thinks that maybe the voice should shut up.

He remains transformed, so he can walk without worrying about shoes squeaking. Approaching the trapdoor to the living room, he's relieved when it doesn't squeak, and when he sees that her parents aren't with her.

They've moved her so that she's stretched out across the couch, which certainly would make for a better sleeping position, but not so much hibernating.

He crouches beside her, tenderly brushing her hair out of her face and cupping her face within his gloved hand, rubbing his thumb along her cheek gently.

"Hey, Love, how're you holdin' up?"

She doesn't respond - not that he expected her to. After taking a moment to calm himself down, he shifts to gather her in his arms princess style. He hates to take her away from the blankets, but he specifically left hers in her room so there's no need to take them.

"All right, it's time to get you to bed," he turns back to the stairs, returning to her room without trouble. She's tiny, so carrying her isn't really a problem.

When he's set her down on her bed, he detransforms. Plagg doesn't say anything, simply flying off to Tikki.

Adrien lies next to Marinette, pulling blankets over them and holding her close to him. Now that he doesn't have gloves on, he can feel how cold she is. Her temperature has dropped, as has her heart rate, all in order to 'survive the winter'.

He hooks his leg around hers, trying to heat up as much of her as possible.

Now that she's in his arms, he finally feels the fear subside. Being so stressed for so long is draining, so it isn't long before he slips into an uneasy sleep.

Marinette wakes up slowly, feeling as though she'd been asleep for weeks. Not quite well-rested, but certainly notable.

She can't remember what day it is, or even what she did last.

Spring.

It's the first thought that comes to mind. Some part of her is entirely certain that it's spring, and who is she to argue?

If it's spring, then there must be flowers, and if there's flowers, then she's obligated to give everyone flowers. Starting with Adrien. He definitely deserves a flower.

Speaking of the model, Marinette finally realizes that he's right next to her.

Sweet kitty, keeping her company until spring comes.

Now that it's spring though, he doesn't have to worry about her falling asleep or hibernating.

Marinette shifts, trying to get to her balcony, but Adrien grips her tightly. As much as she loves cuddles, he has got to let her go for just a minute so that she can check on her flowers.

The small girl scratches him under his chin, and feels him relax and begin purring lightly. It's almost enough to convince her to put off checking her garden until morning, but not quite.

She slips out of his arms easily, hoping he won't wake up.

He deserves the rest.

Making her way out the trapdoor, she pauses when she realizes that there's snow on the ground.

"What?" She pulls herself up onto the balcony properly. She brushes the snow off herself and turns to look around in confusion. If she didn't know better, she'd think it was mid-winter with all the snow everywhere!

Her plants aren't out either! Surely no one forgot about them? What's going on?

She takes a breath to calm herself, wincing at the chill of it. Maybe her plants just fell? The girl hurries to the edge of her balcony, leaning over slightly.

There's nothing that she can see, but she doesn't have the best night vision, so maybe…

She leans further over the railing, almost bent double. Still nothing.

Huh.

Panic shoots through as she feels her feet begin to leave the ground as her balance shifts towards the sidewalk she had just been examining. A frightened squeak escapes her.

She readies herself, channeling her Ladybug abilities, preparing to do a flip or some other gymnastic feat to save herself.

Strong hands grab her waist and pull her from the edge. She's pressed against a purring body, arms wrapped around her tightly, and a kiss is planted on her head before a shaky voice breaks through the early morning silence.

"Just what were you doing?"

She blinks, taking a moment to recover. Her mind is still slow, and if it had been completely thrown off by snow, then someone coming up behind her and rescuing her is going to take a second process.

"Chatdrien?" Wait, that's not right, "Adrinoir?" Still wrong.

"Yep. Now, I have to ask again, what in Kwami's name were you doing?!" Adrien's (That's the one) voice is still shaky, and she realizes that the purring is the stressed kind.

"I was lookin' for my plants?" Marinette's voice still holds a questioning note, the mystery of where her plants went still unsolved.

"They're inside," he says simply.

"But it's spring!"

"There's snow on the ground, princess."

"I kno', I thought it was weird too…"

"Mari, do you know what day it is?"

"It's… spring?" A thought occurs to her, and she startles slightly, "Oh no! Did I hibernate too long? What year is it?"

"No-"

"How old am I?" The girl holds her hands out in front of her, examining them for a sign of her age.

He exhales decisively, "Time to get you inside."

"But m' plants?"

"They're also inside, remember? I don't want you outside any longer."

His worry is almost palpable, and despite her confusion, she doesn't hesitate to turn back to the trapdoor.

It's open? She could have sworn she'd closed it.

"Yeah, I um, saw you… doing that, and forgot to close it. Sorry about all your warmth escaping," Adrien admits sheepishly. She must have said something out loud, or maybe she has telepathy.

Her warmth? What about it?

"You're all my warmth," she states simply. Did he think she thought he was still inside? He's outside with her right now!

He laughs a little, before assisting her back inside. He's sure to close the trapdoor behind him properly. As he sits, she crawls into his lap to be closer to her kitty.

The contrast between being outside and inside really strikes her as she finally realizes just how heavy and tired she feels.

She curls into him slightly, before realizing something.

"Y're stress purrin'." She frowns up at him.

"I'm fine, just… today took a lot out of me," he rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.

That won't do.

Marinette reaches up and scratches his head right behind where his cat ears would be.

His reaction is immediate, eyes dilating before slipping closed in contentment. He leans into her touch and she smiles.

The smile grows when she can tell that the purring is no longer stress-induced.

She stops to cover her mouth as she yawns. As she moves her hand back towards Adrien's head, he catches it.

"Sorry Baby Bug, but you've got to sleep." He kisses the back of her hand while he looks at her, which, out of the suits, turns her face fire-engine red, "Which means no more pets at the moment."

"So d' you!" she argues, "B'sides, once I'm 'sleep you'll leave. Then I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, but I'm not the one who sounds like she's already half asleep," he counters.

She huffs, flopping backwards on the bed and closing her eyes, and holding out her arms expectantly, "There. I'm 'sleep. Now giv' me hugs."

He complies, falling carefully into her arms. She opens her eyes and grins at him happily.

He swears that that smile could replace the sun.

"Now purr," she orders, returning to her petting.

"As the Lady wishes."

She hums happily, feigning wakefulness. Her voice alone gives her away to him though. She's speaking slower and softer, stumbling over her words.

The closer she gets to rest, the closer she cuddles into him. She's tucked herself under his arm and leans against his chest. Her attempts at pets aren't exactly much more than her finger twitching every so often, but his purring doesn't cease.

He pulls the blankets over them carefully, and she murmurs something that he can't quite understand.

He'll leave eventually, but for now he just wants to savor the moment.

"Mari? Are you up?" Claude calls as the group enters the room.

"Do you think she woke up at all? Do-" Allan is cut off by a shoulder squeeze from Allegra.

"I'm sure she's fine."

"Physically." Felix adds on.

"Her parents did say that she moved herself to her bed, so she had to have woken up," Allegra assures.

"Maybe they moved her themselves and forgot-" Allan begins.

"It is improbable."

"We come bearing food!" Claude continues. It's true. Tom and Sabine handed them food for Marinette and themselves when they'd entered.

"I think she's still out." Allegra says, climbing up the ladder to attempt to wake the other girl.

Sure enough, the girl is curled under a blanket, resting just beneath the cat pillow. She's curled up slightly, and one arm is outstretched as though she'd tossed it over something.

"Marinette? It's time to eat." Allegra shakes her shoulder gently.

After a moment, Marinette's eyes blink open at her.

"'llegra?" She needs a moment to adjust to being awake and around people.

"There you are! Good morning sweetheart!"

"Mornin'?"

"That's what we call the early part of the day!" Claude teases from below.

She sticks her tongue out, sitting up properly. Allegra guides her down the ladder, letting her go once she's found her balance.

"How you feelin'?" Allan asks her. He's glad to see her up. The fact that she hadn't woken up at all yesterday really worried him.

"'m fine. Sorry to worry you." She hugs him. He's as proficient in worst-case scenarios as she is, and she hates to think what yesterday's incident brought about.

"It's not your fault." Allegra says icily.

"I know."

Such a simple statement, but it's such a milestone. She realizes what she's said the moment it leaves her lips.

It isn't her fault.

None of it is, and none of it ever was.

Her eyes grow wide, and she puts her hand to her mouth. The OMMAM group (minus their absentee) hugs her immediately. They're proud.

She hugs them back, laughing softly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Claude prompts.

"There's not much to say." She leans against her chaise lounge, "I couldn' get the door open, and they saw me. They started throwing snowballs and… I'm not sure. I started to fall asleep so I'm not sure what happened from there?"

"Adrien, Ms. Bourgeois, and another girl were exiting the school when Adrien noticed what was occuring. Ms. Césaire and Mr. Lahiffe kept him from reaching you. The other girl called us, and by the time we arrived, they had brought you inside, and Adrien had covered you in blankets." Felix fills in.

"From there, since you were safe, we were mostly worried about Adrien. He'd been crying and hyperventilating earlier, so we wanted to make sure he was okay." Allegra frowns, thinking of Adrien's clear fear.

"After a bit, Adrien had to go, 'cause his dad was mad at him. He kind of shut down." Claude adds.

Marinette growls, "What did his dad say?"

"The biggest thing was that he can't hang out with, uh, Chloe, anymore-" Allegra's face flushes slightly at the other girl's name and Marinette wonders why, "-because she's a 'bad influence'. Which begs the question of when or if the same will happen to us."

"Over my dead body," Marinette snarls.

"Oh, but you missed the best part," Allan interjects. Allegra sighs, falling onto her back.

"What?"

"Claude has a video of the aftermath, but Chloe's friend - Sabrina - sent me the footage of the actual event."

"She did?!" Claude asks excitedly.

"Oh nooo," Allegra groans from the floor.

"What happened?" Marinette is intrigued, especially when she notices that even Felix is snickering.

And so, Marinette is first shown Chloe's final words before she left, followed by the aftermath.

If it were possible, Marinette would have star eyes when the second video finished.

"Yesss! I ship it!" she squeals.

Claude pretends to wipe a tear from his eye, "They grow up so fast. It seems like just yesterday she was texting us at 4 am about some cute girl from a tv show-"

Allegra cuts them off by punching their arm, "It wasn't four in the morning."

"As I recall, it was three." Felix adds.

"Alright, you're all great, but does anyone know where my phone is? I've got to tell Chloe she has my blessing," Marinette interjects.

Allan hands it to her, "Saw it downstairs. Tell 'er she's got my blessing too."

"Me too!" Claude chimes in.

"I suppose she will do," Felix agrees.

Allegra groans in defeat, "I've been betrayed." Her traitorous friends only snicker.

When they've all settled down, Claude turns to Marinette,"Anything you want to do today?" After yesterday she deserves a break. Today is up to her.

She hums, pondering her options. Her eyes land on the chest sitting against the wall.

She'd forgotten about that.

"Actually, yes." she stands, crossing to it and opening it up, lifting a half-filled trash bag, "I've been meaning to get around t' this."

Dumping the contents on the floor, she suddenly remembers why she'd packed it away and ignored it for so long.

Tears prick her eyes as she takes in the pile.

Her friends take in the mess. Pictures, trinkets, projects. All evidence of the past she's left behind.

The friends she's lost.

"Oh, Marinette."

She sits on the floor heavily. Maybe she isn't ready for this after all.

Allan leans against her, steady.

"Where do you want to start?" Felix coaxes.

"I… don't know."

"Do you want to sort it? Into different categories?" Claude suggests.

She nods. That's doable. She doesn't have to get rid of anything yet. She's always been good at doing simple tasks.

Simple is usually easy.

"Yeah. Um…" she pauses, trying to think of categories, "Pictures, papers, and… other?" Is that right? Are those good categories? Is it stupid she's asking them for help with her own stupid baggage?

The people in your life care about you.

There's no shame in asking for help.

People love you, Marinette.

You deserve it.

"That works." Allegra assures her, gently squeezing her hand, before picking up the closest object to her and setting it aside - an 'other'.

They work in silence, stacking pictures and papers and packets and memories.

Marinette tears up when she unearths the copy of 'Majestia Issue 56' that Alya gave her after that first day they met.

Messy handwriting scrawled on the cover says, 'I'm so excited to drag you into my favorite comics! We're going to be besties whether you like it or not!'.

Claude hugs her tight. They place it in the 'paper' pile together.

It sits amongst the school projects, calendars, plans, designs and various other things. Some left over from her days as class president, others from years ago, with messy young handwriting and bright colors.

Designs meant for future birthdays, ones Marinette never got a chance to make. Cards containing kind messages, and good wishes.

The third pile has some of those designs. Partially created before they were shoved into the bag.

Little figurines, and old birthday gifts from the class.

Stuffed animals that are tied to them somehow, perhaps gifts, perhaps prizes.

Decorations, meant for lockers, or desks, or classrooms, or bedrooms. Various holidays are present.

Little pride flags for each of her friends that had come out.

Old art projects, science projects, school projects that took even more effort and supplies than paper.

The pictures range a lifetime.

A young Marinette dressed up for presumably her first ever day of school.

Selfies with different classmates over the years.

A tiny Nino blushing furiously while an even tinier Marinette places a sloppily made flower crown on his head.

The party the class threw to celebrate Rose and Juleka's one year anniversary.

Kitty section pictures. The costumes, the performances.

Ivan and Mylène listening to music on a bench.

A christmas party where everyone looks close to ten years old.

Marinette popping a party popper for some occasion.

So many pictures of her with the others - years worth.

A younger Nathaniel and Marinette drawing together.

Alix and Kim getting ready for a competition while Marinette and Max stand by with a stopwatch and a notebook.

A small Rose and Marinette having a 'pink party' sitting together in tiny princess dresses, having snacks in Marinette's living room.

There's so many like that, but they don't hurt the most.

No, those are the ones from last year.

The ones with Alya.

Alya and Marinette baking together in Mari's kitchen, covered in flour and laughing hysterically.

Marinette and Alya in a photo booth. They're making stupid faces, feigning seriousness, until their eyes meet and they crack up. The last picture is just them laughing.

The two girls trying out the other's style, Alya in pigtails and pink, and Mari with her hair down wearing the other's glasses.

Alya and Marinette waiting excitedly for the release of some highly anticipated who-knows-what.

Selfies from late-night sleepovers. Alya surrounded by empty energy drinks typing at her laptop and Marinette biting pins between her lips as she tries to find just the right way to adjust a design.

Alya snickering as she takes a selfie with a conked-out Marinette during the past winter.

Marinette helping Alya prepare for her first big journalistic event.

Alya giving Mari a pep talk as she submits designs for a competition.

Alya fangirling while Marinette sits and watches her calmly.

At the fabric store, comparing options, then to look at cameras.

Alya trying to convince Marinette to just try another pair of earrings for once.

Marinette smiling innocently, not clueing Alya in to the washable mustache she left on her friend while she slept.

A vicious pillow fight, both girls giggling.

Alya with her arms around a grinning Lila, and an uncomfortable Marinette.

Alya and Marinette painting each other's nails.

Marinette and Alya baking a cake for the twins' birthday.

Alya looking a little uncomfortable as Mari takes a selfie with her.

A selfie of mostly Alya and Lila, with Marinette standing awkwardly in the back.

There's so many, and it's clear where the rift began.

And with who.

Eventually, everything has found a new place.

Marinette sways, exhausted in every sense of the word. Allegra holds her close while Claude sets the piles aside, against the wall to be handled later.

Marinette expected tears.

She expected anger.

She expected the worst, but somehow it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She feels lighter, and even though she knows it isn't over, maybe it will be soon.

That'd be nice.

She falls asleep against her friend, a sliver of a smile visible on her face.

Adrien has had a very long day. He woke up to a lecture about his responsibilities, and from there his schedule was extra packed to make up for yesterday's 'failures'.

He's done for now though.

He hopes Marinette had a better day than yesterday.

He stands in the middle of the room, trying to decide what to do.

He's got activities, but he's spent and he's not sure if he's up for them. He just doesn't feel like sleeping yet.

A knock at the window makes up his mind for him.

"Ladybug, what are you doing out? Just because it's not snowing-"

She cuts off his lecturing, detransforming and hugging him immediately, "Sorry, your dad's mean."

"It's not your fault."

"I know." Marinette pauses, then looks at him meaningfully, "None of it was."

That wasn't what he was expecting, but it's enough to make him smile for the first time that day, "That's what I've been trying to tell you."

She hums, hugging him tighter.

"Still, I'd like to know what you're doing here."

"F'r you. Bad day equals 'ugs."

"I can live with that."

After a moment, they separate, going to sit on the couch.

"So what did you guys get up to today?" He's assuming that they came over anyways.

"We sort'd thru' all my ol' stuff." She adds, "Well, sort'd into categories."

"That's good," he wishes once more he could have been there to help.

"Gonna' have you there when we go thru' it for real." she leans against him, "I miss'd you. Tol' you."

"I never said you wouldn't. I missed you just as much."

She stays there for just under an hour. They'd both had stressful days in different ways. Just taking a moment to be together is enough to help them. Eventually, they're both sleepy. Marinette hugs Adrien goodbye and transforms, leaving the way she came.

With that, Adrien falls asleep peacefully, stress subsided.

Notes:

So, that's a lot to unpack. Uhh, yeah, I don't know what to comment on.
Ooh! Marinette growth! Actually, from here on there's really only growth for her. You know, it's hard to think of yourself as awful while you're actively helping someone else. I'm sure you guys can guess where that's going.
What do you guys think of Chloe and Allegra? I was figuring out the sexualities of each of our main characters, and I was also trying to figure out if they'd end up with a character in the show, or if I'd have to make a partner for them. I was like 'I can totally see Allegra with a guy, but at the same time, I want my strong independent woman with a strong independent woman. Ugh, I can't decide, alright moving on, who will Chloe be wi- WAIT!" Anyways, I ship it. Our bees. 💛
Bonus chapter! I'll post it on Tuesday. It's pretty short (especially in comparison to this), but it's just showing what Lila was up to, seeing as she wasn't present at school for the snowball incident.
Wow, I wrote this chapter, but I still don't know how to feel from the roller-coaster proofreading made go on.
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

P.S. Allegra and Chloe's ship name can't really include Bee stuff yet, since no one knows Allegra is the bee holder, so the best I can come up is 'Aloe'.

Chapter 29: Lila's Plan

Summary:

Where was Lila in chapters 27 & 28?

Notes:

Ooh! Bonus chapter! With a bonus scene I quick wrote at end while editing because I couldn't help myself.
Stay tuned for the summary of the next chapter at the bottom!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

She's honestly disappointed in herself that it took so long for her to think of this. Lila had been hoping to find Marinette's new school ever since the girl had left Dupont, and now Lila had finally realized she'd had the answer since December.

Felix Voclain.

He'd been one of the ones to assist Marinette at the Louvre that day, so it made sense to guess that the two attended the same school.

Already knowing where the boy went, Lila didn't hesitate to go to the school 'for a tour'. The class is under the impression she's in South America or something like that.

She doesn't really care - the morons can believe whatever they want.

Today is about finding Marinette.

Once in the office, she's told her student guide will be arriving momentarily.

"Ah, here he is! Claude De Rosier! Claude, this is Lila, you'll be showing her around today."

The boy and girl stare at each other blankly. Lila isn't sure what to think, because she's sure she's met him before - twice - but he'd insisted it had only been once, with legitimate proof to back up his claims.

The boy grins, sticking his hand out for her to shake, "Welcome to my school, Lila! I'm so excited to show you around!"

She isn't sure what to make of his strange emphasis. It's so slight, she isn't sure if she imagined it or not.

As they shake, she smiles easily, "Thank you so much! I'm sure you'll be a great guide!"

"The best!" he winks at her.

As they exit, Lila swears it looks like Claude wipes his hand on his leg. He rubs fingers against his palm a few times - confused - before subtly sniffing it, and frowning slightly. When he notices her glancing his way, he smiles reassuringly and leads her onward.

"Well, if you're interested in transferring here, I can assure you this is a very welcoming school! There really wasn't any need to rush out the door!" he takes some hand sanitizer from a dispenser on the wall - a lot more than what would be considered normal. Lila wipes her hand on her leg nervously as she responds.

"What do you mean?" She'd spent extra time on her appearance today. Being attractive helps sell a story more.

"Oh, well I just-" he pauses, looking over her slightly, "It's nothing! Nevermind! Uh, here's the math wing…" he hurriedly moves on to describe the current area of the school, commenting on teachers and the different subjects taught.

He is going over the locker arrangements - grade-wise - when he interrupts himself to say, "You know, my locker is close by. I've got a hairbrush you can borrow if you want…"

"I- uh- What?" Lila touches her hair self-consciously. It seems fine to her, but she can't see all of it, "Is there something wrong with my hair?"

"Oh no! I just- nevermind! It's fine!" he rushes to reassure her, but she can tell he isn't being entirely truthful. Before she can ask for that hairbrush, he hurriedly moves onto another aspect of the school.

Lila keeps touching her hair, glancing in any reflective surface she could find, but none of them seemed to show her what was off about her.

"Oh! This is the theatre department! I can introduce you to some of my friends."

The taller boy pushes through a door, holding it open just long enough that she had to catch it as she entered. He runs ahead, seemingly unaware.

"Amy! Victor! I was just showing a student around, and was wondering if we could talk to you!"

Claude has attracted the attention of two students, clearly a few grades above them. They turn to the boy welcomingly, agreeing as they turn to face the touring student.

She could have sworn that she saw recognition - and disgust - flash across their faces, but it's gone before she gets a good look.

"I told her about that trip the three of us - and some of the other theatre kids - took to England! In December."

Amy and Victor glance at each other. They went on the trip, as did many others, but Claude? Claude did not. There had been a running joke that 'Claude was always with them' to the point that one of the group had jokingly photoshopped Claude into several pictures, but Claude hadn't actually gone.

He'd stayed home in Paris, especially since one of his friends - Marinette, sweet girl, a shame about the bullying they'd heard about - was going through a rough time. That wasn't the only reason Cladue had stayed of course, but still. The point stands.

"Oh it really was a blast! We're a really close group here!"

"Mhm! One big family! London was so fun!"

The pair may not know what's going on, but they can play along. Amy and Victor both vaguely recognized the girl as someone they disliked, so they don't have a problem screwing with her.

Lila grows uncomfortable as the boy keeps glancing at her head before correcting himself to make proper eye-contact. The girl seemed startled by some aspect of Lila's appearance and frowned slightly before covering it up with a too-big smile.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce her! This is Lila Rossi."

Oh, they most certainly know her. Most people in the school are familiar enough with her. She's the one that was rumored to have done something to Marinette.

No one is quite sure of any details, but there's a silent agreement among the school that the only ones allowed to bring up that girl around Marinette are her close friends. All others pretend she doesn't exist.

Marinette doesn't seem to have realized she joined a popular friend group. The former-quartet (now quintet?) had been known for being kind people who were fun to hang out with. Marinette had been adopted so quickly, and her nature seemed to be just as good-hearted, which made her just as popular. Not that she seemed to realize it.

When rumors started about bullying people were horrified. Then a name came up.

Lila Rossi.

The girl who is apparently currently standing in front of them.

Claude's actions make so much sense now.

"I'm really not much of an actor! I haven't been able to do much work since the accident…" she trails off, playing melancholy and waiting for the usual sympathy. It never hurts to pull her tricks in a new place.

It doesn't come. Each person before her seems fixated on whatever they'd been looking at on her earlier.

"Oh! I'm sorry, did you say something?" Amy looks at her apologetically and the others break from their staring to make eye contact, though the older girl has to nudge Victor a little to get his attention.

Lila is really starting to wonder what's wrong, but she'll never admit to it. Repeating herself won't do any good so she changes topics, "I just, uh, was saying that fashion is more my thing! My, uh, friend Marinette might have transferred here I was wondering if you knew her?"

"Nope! I don't know any Marinettes!" Claude shakes his head regretfully.

Victor shakes his head as well, but Amy speaks up, "There is Marinette Pontbriand, but she's in the musical arts department, and she's not a recent transfer…"

"Uh, no. That's not her. I must have gotten the school name mixed up…"

"Well, it was nice meeting you! We do have to get back to work now though." Victor says, then he leans in, patting her hand comfortingly and speaking softly, "You're so brave. It'll get better I'm sure."

He turns, and Amy waves. The taller girl pauses and turns back to Lila, similarly leaning in and speaking softly, "We all have those days." the girl looks over Lila sympathetically, then digs in her bag to subtly hand her a pad and tampon. Amy hurries to join Victor.

What the-?

"Anyways, we should get back to our very important tour!" Claude breaks her out of her confused stupor.

"Y-Yes! Let's!" She stuffs the period products into her bag and follows the boy.

By the end of the one hour tour, Lila feels shaky and confused. Everyone they spoke to seems to know something she didn't - and that something had to do with her.

She's never felt so self-conscious before. It's driving her crazy, because she has no idea what's going on. What do they all see?!

She smiles at Claude weakly as she heads out the door.

Lila turns to go home, deciding to not bother with school for the day.

Once home, she spends hours in front of the mirror, studying herself.

By the end of the day she's taken 5 showers, washed her hair 3 times, tried ten new makeup routines, washed her clothes twice, and considered three different outfits for school tomorrow.

Bonus:

Kid Mime: so

Kid Mime: remember how i was suposed to be leeding a new studnt arownd 2day?

The Mom Friend: yeah? is somthin wrong? r they ok?

Kid Mime: i sure hope not

Kid Mime: it was liela

Melodie: Excuse me?! She has the nerve to come here? Does she think we're stupid? That little brat had better count her lucky stars that I didn't see her.

The Mom Friend: o goodness wat did u do

Kid Mime: i pretended that there was something wrong with her

Kid Mime: u no

Kid Mime: besides everything else about her

Kid Mime: i had to shake her hand and i made sure she saw me wiping my hand on my leg and using a ridiculus amont of sanitizer

Felix: As you should, after being in contact with her.

Kid Mime: of corse

Kid Mime: anyways i kept suggesting somethign about her lookd weird

Melodie: Besides the sausage hair?

Kid Mime: bsides the sasage hair

Kid Mime: i had her catch every door

Kid Mime: it was almst as satisfin as slaming 1 in her face

Kid Mime: uh

Kid Mime: o!

Kid Mime: teh best part is that as soon as i introducd her to peaple as liela evry1 messed w/ her 2

Kid Mime: i think amy gave her a tampon

The Mom Friend: well mari is a sweetheart

The Mom Friend: the scool is gunna protect there own

Felix: She has certainly made an impression here. I cannot think of anyone that does not like her.

Melodie: I'm so proud of her. Like, remember when we first met her Claude? She tripped over one of us or something and seemed to think we were going to yell at her, poor baby.

The Mom Friend: 2020 hindsite tho that makes a lot of sense

Kid Mime: she was so quietttttttt

Kid Mime: an it took like a month b4 she actualy hung out w/ us outside of scool

Kid Mime: :((((((

Melodie: She's doing a lot better.

Felix: Speaking of, how is she now?

The Mom Friend: asleep

Melodie: Rest well, honey!

Notes:

Lila, Lila, Lila. You are no match for my baby boy. I really do enjoy this chapter. Showing off my baby boy in a 'fox' v fox chapter.
Anyways, I know why you all stuck around. You want the chapter summary. Well, just so you know, the reason I'm giving it early is because I just love worrying you guys.
Here it is: Ladybug goes down during a battle and Adrien can't find a pulse.

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 30: Needlework

Summary:

Ladybug goes down during a battle and Adrien can't find a pulse.

Notes:

For those of you truly worried, I'd like to point out that the warning at the top remains 'no archive warnings apply'. This is probably sort of anti-climatic to who-knows-what you guys were imagining.
Woo! Chapter thirty! This is crazy to me, especially since I'm nearing the end where I'm at. I've also posted over 100,000 words of this, so that's exciting! (I think that was last update or the one before, but I didn't notice).
Anyways, enjoy some angst featuring children with too much pressure on them.
Akuma slide here.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"I'm so glad you agree with me. I really think Adrien has changed, and it's not for the better." Lila says tearfully.

"Oh, girl. It's okay. We'll do something." Alya hugs her close.

"Yeah, my bro'll come around eventually. He loves you." Nino consoles.

"It's just… I think he's been spending time with Ma- her." she stumbles, avoiding the name even all these months later, "I don't want to lose him to her too…" she adds, quietly, as though it's just an afterthought.

"Adrien's better than Ladybug! He'd never abandon you for a liar like Marinette. If he does, you'll still have us! I still have some choice words for him…"

"Yeah, total bummer Marinette took him away."

"Oh." Lila interrupts, "That might be why he's acting so strangely recently. He's absolutely terrified of her. Now, I'm telling you this in confidence so you can't tell anyone else this, alright?"

The other two nod.

"Marinette threatens him. I already told you some of this, but she's made a deal with Mr. Agreste. He gets a designer to run the company, and she gets to marry Adrien. That's why we have to keep our relationship so secretive. If anyone found out, the consequences would be terrible! The only reason Mr. Agreste agreed to work with as awful a designer as her is because all the others would never agree to such a deal, especially since they're all so close to me."
"That's despicable! I can't believe it!" Alya gasps, then scowls, "Actually, I can. That's definitely a thing Malicious-nette would do. You're so brave and strong for persevering through this!"
"Don't worry dudette, I'm sure something can be done."

"Thank you so much." Lila sighs, smiling weakly, "It's such a relief to know that you guys have my back. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Lila truly is happy, because a plan is forming in her head.

It's late February and Ladybug really wishes that winter would hurry up and end. She's tired of being tired. She'd been resting at home when there had been an akuma alert. Now she had to deal with whatever it is this time.

Type 3 too, so there's lots of dodging. She's bad at dodging and things flying at her face scare her. Especially when she's tired like this.

It's very hard for her to convince herself to drag herself out of bed when she knows it involves magical projectiles being thrown at her.

At least she's got Chat Noir, he's her favorite person. He's so nice, and he didn't think she was an abominable disappointment like she was preparing herself for.

He hugged her a lot. That was nice.

He's really warm too, and he visits her a lot, and-

She's still thinking about how much she loves him when she finally sees him.

"Hey Bugaboo, how-" He's cut off when she throws herself at him, hugging him tightly, he looks down at her seeing that she's smiling and he joins, "Just a hug kind of day today? I can live with that."

"I love you and you're really nice and you're really warm and you're-" she's mumbling into him, but he hears enough to get the gist of it.

"Same goes to you, my love."

The delighted smile she gives him makes his week.

"As much as I hate to interrupt you hugging me, we can't just leave Paris to fend for herself."

Despite (or maybe because of) his warmth, she seems reluctant to be let go, only hugging him more. She finally accepts reality and steps back.

At the very least, she seems to have woken up more, "Dumb Hawkmoth."

"How about we try to get this akuma over with quickly so you can go back to sleeping."

"Do you know anything about it?"

"Nope, sorry Bugaboo."

She sighs, and they head in the direction of the akuma. They know they're on the right track when they see buildings that appear to have been turned into a messy patchwork of various fabric scraps.

There's civilians wrapped up in thread, while some appear to have had their clothing changed in a similar manner to the buildings.

The duo spots the akuma eventually, a cloaked figure floating around on a giant red button. The cloak is a mis-matched jumble of various fabric scraps and threads.

She spots them, "Ladybug, Chat Noir! I am Needlework! Hand over your miraculous!"

"Not happening." Ladybug hollers.

The battle proceeds as usual from there. They adjust to her attacks and avoid them. She raises one hand and thread shoots out, anything that makes contact with it is changed as they saw earlier. People have a chance of either being wrapped up or just having their outfit changed.

As the heroes slip into the rhythm of the fight, they can't help but notice that one of Needlework's arms stays hidden beneath her cloak the whole time. In the ten or so minutes they've been fighting her, they haven't seen her use it once.

Ladybug is starting to get tired by this point. Being out and about is one thing, but pretending to be at her usual energy level is even worse - especially during akuma attacks. She's about to call over to Chat and suggest they back off momentarily to strategize when the akuma finally raises her hidden arm.

It's sudden, but she raises her arm and throws out a giant needle, it misses Ladybug's face by a mere centimeter and she can feel it poke a pigtail before it's pulled back by the attached thread.

Ladybug stiffened the moment it came at her. She feels it breeze by her face, and with it being winter, her ladybug instincts are at the forefront. They take over, and she doesn't even register what's happening as she collapses.

Chat Noir just about has a heart attack. He could have sworn that the needle didn't touch her, but something must have happened because she's down.

Maybe it had to do with the needle attack? They hadn't seen it before, so there's no telling what it does.

It doesn't help that his instincts are screaming at him that she's in danger.

He crosses the roofs to her quickly, and his stress isn't helped by the fact that she's still on the ground, her legs pulled to her chest.

"Ladybug?" He calls to her gently.

She doesn't respond, but Needlework is approaching, so he scoops her up to carry her somewhere safer.

He ends up back in his room, and sets her on the couch gently. She hasn't moved yet and he really doesn't like that. After a moment of panic, he figures it wouldn't hurt to do the basics.

He checks her pulse, and her breathing-

He can't find her pulse.

What happened? Is she dead? She must be dead, no no no no-

His ring beeps and he doesn't even register it.

"Adrien, calm down. She's fine-"

"Plagg she's dead, she's dead, oh she's dead-" he wasn't prepared for this.

"Kid, breathe, you need to calm down. You're hyperventilating-"
"Calm down-?!"

"Listen to me, she's not dead. Take a moment to breathe and check her pulse again. If I'd realized this was coming I'd have warned you." Plagg is resting above her heart, watching Adrien carefully.

He nods tearfully, doing as he's told. Shaking his head, he turns to Plagg to protest, but the Kwami holds up a paw, "Give it a moment kid. You're too stressed for this."

Adrien waits some more, holding her wrist delicately.

There.

Plagg is right, Ladybug has a pulse.

Very faint.

Concerningly faint.

But a pulse nonetheless.

Adrien exhales in relief, resting his head against her and gripping her hand tightly.

"Plagg, what happened?"

"She's playing dead. Bugs don't usually start doing this for another few months, but I guess she's been through enough stress to be a little early."

"How long will she do this?" Adrien hasn't moved yet, still calming himself down.

"It can vary, it's her first time so it'll be shorter, but as soon as she feels the danger has passed she'll wake up and return to normal. 'Course, she's unconscious, so her earrings decide when it's safe."
"How do they do that?"

"With the ring. She won't wake up if you're not close. If the holder of the ring is stressed or feeling unsafe, she won't wake up. Basically kid, stay calm and stay close."

"So she's fine."
"She'll wake up any moment and won't even know what happened. She'll be a little scared obviously because that's what led to this, but yeah, she's fine."

"Wait-" Adrien looks to Plagg, slightly panicked, "What if something happened when I wasn't around? Would she just stay like this until I happened to find her?"

"Kid, you'll always know. Doesn't matter how far, a Cat will always know when their Ladybug needs them, and vice-versa. Follow your gut."
"Okay." Adrien sighs, finally moving, "Okay. Okay."

He picks her up gently, sitting on the couch and holding her in his lap. It's easier to stay calm now that he knows what's going on.

"So how often is this going to happen?" Adrien doesn't look at Plagg, only watching his Lady.

"Depends," Plagg has retrieved some camembert, tossing it up and swallowing it in one gulp, "Your Bug can be a little skittish. There's really no way to predict it. When she's scared, - or more when she feels in danger - it'll happen. If she's already excessively stressed, or her tendencies are prominent then it'll probably be more likely."

"Alright."

After another minute passes, the girl in his arms startles awake, bolting upright and gasping, looking around in confusion, "Cha- wait what? What happened?"

Adrien hugs her tightly, comforted by the fact that her heart rate is back to normal - if maybe a little quicker from her panic and residual fear.

"Shh. It's okay."

"But- what- why- how did we get-?" she's still panicky, breathing quickly.

"I'll explain in a moment, but just take a minute to calm down. Everything's fine."

She nods, "Right. Right." she hugs him back, murmuring, "You're here, so… right."

After a moment, he turns her to him, taking a moment to appreciate her eyes - alert and alive, "I thought you'd died. Mon Dieu."

"Died?! Adrien, what happened?"

"You played dead, girly. That's what ladybugs do." Plagg tells her.

"But I'm not a real ladybug! I'm a human. People don't play dead!" she protests, glancing between Adrien and his Kwami.

"Humans don't hibernate either. It's just another side-effect." Plaggs shrugs, eating more cheese, "I don't see why you're all tied in knots about this."

"Because! I scared Adrien!" She's not supposed to scare him, she's supposed to be a hero, heroes don't faint because they get startled.

"It's okay Mari, you're fine now." Adrien interrupts.

"No it's not!" Ladybug tears up, "I worried you! You don't deserve that!" she puts her hand to his face, looking at him carefully.

"It's not your fault, don't beat yourself up about this. At least we know now."

He's so nice, and understanding. She doesn't deserve this. He should be mad, she keeps messing up as a hero. She worried him - in the middle of an akuma attack no less.

The tears fall silently. When would she stop messing everything up?

Her earrings beep. Tikki flies out to leave them be as she goes to Plagg.

"Oh, little lady, what's wrong?" he wipes the tears off tenderly.

"I keep messing things up. You don't deserve that. I'm sorry."

"Princess…"

"I'm sorry."

"No. Don't apologize. It's okay. None of this is your fault. You can't help that you're a Bug, and I can't help that I'm a Cat."

"I scared you! You thought I died!" She hates to think what must have been going through his mind.

"I know now. It won't happen again. Shh."

"But it might-"

"But if it does, I know what's happening. It's okay, believe me."

"Okay." She hugs him, because out of the two, she thinks he needs the comfort more.

He doesn't necessarily disagree, but he thinks they both need a moment of rest. Squeezing her closer to him lightly, he purrs softly. Both to relieve his stress and hers.

They break apart, moment of reprieve over.

They've got a job to do.

Transforming, Ladybug and Chat Noir exit the room together, following the trail of fabric buildings back to Needlework.

"I'm willing to bet that her needle is the akumatized object."
Ladybug nods, "That's probably why she hides it so much."

"What do you say we get this over with so that you can take a nap?" Chat suggests, glancing over at her.

"Mhm!" she raises an arm, "Lucky Charm!"

A spotted pair of scissors fall into her waiting hands, and she looks around momentarily.

He loves the look on her face when she figures something out, and grins when it comes, ready for her plan.

"Alright, Chat I'm gonna' need you to get her to throw the needle again."
"Will do, Buginette!"

She waits on the sideline for her chance.

It doesn't take long. Needlework throws out the needle again, and Ladybug rushes forward to cut the thread. Needlework shrieks as the needle falls to the ground, flying after it.

Chat beats her to it, snapping it over his knee to release the butterfly.

"Gotcha!" Ladybug sends out her yo-yo, purifying the insect as usual. When it flies away, she flutters her fingers at it, "Bye bye little butterfly."

"Pound it!"

She calls on her cure, throwing the scissors into the sky, releasing the little beetles to fix the city.

"I can talk to the victim, you go home to rest." Chat offers.

She nods, doing as he says, sleeping the moment she detransforms on her pillow.

When Allegra, Allan, Claude, Felix and Adrien stop by later, she is awake again.

They've barely entered the room when she stops them.

"Mm! Nuh! Mm-memmh!" she flaps one of her hands at them, and they pause. Whatever she said is muffled by the hand she's holding in her mouth.

"What was that?" Claude asks.

She removes her hand, "Careful, I dropped a pin… or three." she turns back to the desk where she has laid out fabric, and avoiding the scissors haphazardly open on the floor.

"Got 'em." Adrien's eyes are better than hers, and he picks them up to return them to the pincushion.

Marinette puts the side of her thumb back in her mouth, bending to the put her scissors back on the table, "Mm hm."

"Marinette, we cannot understand you if you insist on sucking on your hand." Felix chides.

"Why are you doing that?" Allan questions.

"M hm mm hmm." she pauses, removing the hand to clarify, "I cut my hand, that's all"

"Marinette! Were ya' planning on doing somethin' about it?" Allan goes to her side, looking at her hand carefully.

"I do it all the time. I can get back to work once it stops bleeding. I can just measure for now…" She mutters flippantly, looking at her dress form, as if trying to picture her design.

"That's not really what he meant. I think it's time you take a break." Allegra grabs her by the shoulders and spins her around to the trapdoor. The others follow.

Once they're all seated in the kitchen, Adrien helps Allan find the first aid kit, and they patch the girl up.

"There." Allan steps back once he's finally satisfied that Marinette's cut has been treated properly.

"As great as it is to see you up and about, maybe next time be more careful with the scissors." Claude rests their hand on Marinette's head.

"I was tired!" she protests, "I don't normally cut myself that badly."

"Then sleep. How often do you get yourself with those scissors anyways?" Allegra asks.

She shrugs, then flops onto the table, "Late winter sucksss. Even when I'm awake, I feel tired, but not tired enough to just sleep until it's over."

"You'll last until spring." Adrien comforts her, patting her arm consolingly.

"I like spring!" Marinette pops up again, smiling.

"Me too!" Claude cheers.

Adrien suddenly realizes what spring means to Marinette. Occasionally things hit him like that - he's still catching up to combining Ladybug and Marinette in his mind. Not that he can't accept that they're the same, just that sometimes he forgets that things that once applied to only one of them now applies to both.

Ladybugs like spring. He saw that firsthand last year with his partner.

Her new friends will certainly be taken aback by how fast Marinette goes from slow and sleepy to hyper and happy.

He grins, this year he can see it first hand in and out of the mask.

"Oh boy," he says quietly, grinning. He's not entirely sure any of them will be ready for this.

"What?" Allegra turns to him.

He just shakes his head, "I forgot… just, you'll see when spring comes." There's no need to ruin the surprise.

"Okay…?"

Claude has produced a card game from who-knows-where and is already dealing cards to his friends, so everyone takes a seat.

By the end of the third game, Marinette is slumped against Allan, completely out.

No one comments, leaving her be. Felix stands to retrieve a blanket from the couch to put over her and they keep playing.

Notes:

That chapter felt short.
Yay! Marinette lives! A new tendency to deal with though.
Akuma slide here.
That whole sewing scene required testing because I can't just be normal and make up sounds. I recorded myself trying to say the words while my hand was in my mouth and had both myself and my friend try to translate it into letters. Kudos to her for putting up with my nonsense.
Ooh, next chapter is notable in at least one Wayzz. (•‿)
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 31: Stoneheart

Summary:

Ladybug and Chat Noir get help to deal with Stoneheart's return.

Notes:

I'm always excited for update days! That said, some of you are probably on edge. If you pay attention to my comment replies, you'll know this chapter isn't exactly... nice to Adrien. To the point where I'm adding a warning.
At the end of this chapter, Gabriel's treatment of Adrien crosses several lines. He was bad before, but you could argue that it was more along the lines of (extreme) neglect. Now, at the end of this chapter he goes out of his way to make things very bad. I really don't think canon Gabriel would do this, but With Time Gabriel... ooooh. He is vile.
If you don't think you'd be comfortable reading it, then just skip to the author's note once Adrien gets home. I can give you the gist of what happened there, so that you know what happened without having to read it out in detail.
Love you guys! 💕

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Being right next to a school like Françoise Dupont is good in one way only. As a superhero who has to deal with akumas, it often means Marinette is very close to the attacks - given the frequency of attacks at or around the school.

Marinette is pinning fabric together when there's another alert. It's different in that it's a repeat.

Stoneheart has returned again.

She sighs, and Tikki looks at her expectantly.

"Tikki, Spots On!"

Ladybug swings to the roof of her old school, looking around. There's no sign of Stoneheart, Ivan must have been elsewhere when it happened.

While she's pulling up the akuma alert so that she can actually look at the location this time, she feels rumbling.

That's one way to find him.

She ends up meeting with her partner as they both pursue the akuma. "Hey, Kitty."

"My Lady."

"Any idea what got Ivan mad?"

"I don't pay attention in school much anymore." he says flatly. At her disapproving look he continues hurriedly, "Well, I mean, I pay attention to the work, but besides that I kind of… don't?"

She shakes her head, looking away bitterly. "That's my issue."

Oh. She's not mad at him.

There's a crash nearby as a car is thrown into the pavement.

"I think we've found him." Chat says.

Stoneheart is stomping around, picking things up and throwing them seemingly without reason. He punches buildings and kicks at the street.

"What is he doing? Where's Mylène?" Ladybug looks around for the skittish girl.

Stoneheart roars angrily, turning around as he continues his rampage and spotting the two heroes.

"LADYBUG! CHAT NOIR! GIVE ME YOUR MIRACULOUS!"

"You'd think that after a year of this Hawkmoth could think of a more creative way to tell us what to do," Chat drawls.

Ladybug gives him a look, jumping to a rooftop closer to Stoneheart. Chat follows.

"I can't see what his akumatized object would be." Ladybug looks down at the akuma, who is growling up at them, attacking the building they're standing on, "Is he holding something again?"

"I can't really tell-" the building begins to cave, and they move further, "-he's mostly just punching things…"

"Fun."
Stoneheart has yet to reveal any clear goal, just rampaging. Once the heroes moved further, he lost interest and moved on to destroy more stuff.

"Alright then." Ladybug says hesitantly, "I guess we'll go after him now…?"

"Sure."

The duo follow the victim, avoiding as much of the destruction as they can. Without the miraculous cure, Paris would be screwed. Stoneheart has taken to chucking cars as far as he can, or just smashing them into nearby buildings.

Ladybug and Chat run parallel on opposite rooftops, following Stoneheart and trying to spot an akumatized object. No luck so far.

"Should we find Mylène? Do you think she's in any danger?" Ladybug calls over to her partner.

"MYLÈNE?!" Stoneheart overhears the heroine, and grows even angrier, picking up a nearby car and throwing it at her head. She ducks.

Chat can see and feel the moment Ladybug drops - playing dead again. Sure, he knows what's going on now, but the fact that she'll just be occasionally doing this in the middle of akuma attacks will never fail to fill him with sheer terror.

Fortunately, Stoneheart doesn't seem particularly focused on attacking them, simply returning to his destruction while Chat hurries to his partner.

Once again, she's curled in a ball, her legs to her chest and eyes closed.

"Oh, Bug…" he scoops her up, "Not that I can blame you - I wouldn't want a car thrown at me either - but one of these days I'm going to faint from the fear of you doing this."

Obviously, she doesn't respond and he carries her to a rooftop further from the razed buildings and street. Now that they're in a safer area, he feels comfortable sitting down so that she can recover.

It doesn't take too long, and she bolts awake looking around in confusion. She seems to realize what happened, "Oh no. Did I…?"

"I mean, you did get a car thrown at your head…"

"Still! I'm so sorry Chat." She hugs him apologetically.

"I told you, there's nothing to apologize for. You can't help it-"

"I still feel bad. It's got to be stressful for you."

"It is un-fur-tunate that you'll be going cat-atonic whenever-" his grin grows as he speaks.

"Alright." she pushes him back by his nose, turning away and standing, "That's enough of you."

"Oh, M'lady, you can purr-tend all you want, but I know mew love my puns."

She huffs, "I love you. The puns are just an unfortunate part of a package deal."

"Don't you mean-"

"I don't-"

"Un-fur-tunate?"
"No. No I do not." She changes topic abruptly, "How are we going to take down Stoneheart?"

"Ask your yo-yo." he shrugs.

She shrugs, "Lucky Charm!"

A familiar tea kettle falls into her hands.

"Master, the lucky charm said to come here." Marinette explains quickly.

"Hmm. So you are here for back-up?" he leads her to the gramophone, entering the code, "Who did you have in mind?"

She hesitates, considering her options. The fox wouldn't work well - illusions would be gone the moment Stoneheart threw debris at them.

The bee is a fighter. Venom requires getting up close, and bees don't like to stay back from a battle. Stoneheart is too violent for that, it'd be a risk.

At her indecision, she sees a flicker of hope in Wayzz's eyes.

"Master?"

Fu already seems to have come to the same conclusion, but waits for her to say it herself. "Yes, Marinette?"

"Could I take Wayzz?"

He nods, slipping the bracelet off and handing it to her as Wayzz disappears.

"Thank you." she heads out the door, transforming once more as she goes. She's got someone in mind.

"Well? You wanted akumas, and I delivered. I can see the footage of Stoneheart right now, and it's bad enough that Ladybug left. You've had plenty of opportunities from me now, and I can keep that up. I held up my end of the deal…"

"I suppose you did. Fair enough, I will hold up my end. Fail to keep up your end and I will revoke-"

"You should know me by now. I don't fail."

The call ends.

"Allan Poirot, this is the Miraculous of the Turtle, which grants the power of protection. You will use it for the greater good. Once Stoneheart has been defeated you will return the miraculous to Chat Noir or I. Do you accept?"

"Wh-what?" he stares at her in disbelief, eyes darting between the box in her hand, and her eyes. "M-me? Are you s-sure?"

"I am." she reassures.

"Okay." he takes a moment to steady his breathing. She can see his hands shaking slightly as he slips the bracelet on. He makes a startled noise of surprise when a green light appears and Wayzz looks at him.

"Hello, I am Wayzz." The Kwami smiles at the boy.

"Hi, I'm A-Allan," his surprise fades slightly, being replaced with confusion.

"I am the Kwami of Protection. I can turn you into a hero to assist Chat Noir and Ladybug in the fight against Hawkmoth."

"O-Okay. Um, how do I do that?" Allan remains hesitant. Ladybug can relate, but at least he won't be in the spotlight. Akuma attacks don't draw as much attention at this point - Parisians know to just stay away until they see the ladybugs.

"It is simple! Say 'shell on!' to transform, and 'shell off!' to detransform. When you are transformed, you can say 'shell-ter' to form a protective shield for you and your allies. Once you have done so, you will only have 5 minutes before you will change back, which the bracelet will display for you."

"Al-alright?"

"Allan, it's alright. I understand the stress of suddenly being told that you're a hero," Ladybug reassures him, "But you were chosen for the traits you already have. The only difference is that now you have a magical bracelet. You won't be alone - Chat and I will help you - and no one expects you to do perfectly, especially on your first fight," she leans forward conspiratorially, "A little known secret? Chat and I are totally winging it. Every single time. We have no idea what we're doing."

That draws a smile from the boy. He looks at the bracelet consideringly, then takes a deep breath and says, "Wayzz, Shell On!"

Ladybug catches the soft smile on the Kwami's face as he's sucked into the miraculous. A bright green light overtakes Allan, eventually fading to reveal the hero's outfit.

The boy is now dressed in a forest green jacket, his undershirt is a lighter green, a hood on the back covering his head. The long sleeves turn into gloves at the end, protecting his hands.

Around his waist is a dark green belt with various pouches and pockets, which would probably be useful, all things considered. His boots are the same color. In place of a mask, the boy's face has goggles, silver with green lenses.

"Welcome to the team!" Ladybug cheers.

"Thanks," he says hesitantly, "Uh, should I decide on a name soon or…?"

"No, no, take your time," she reassures, "I was honestly surprised how easily the others were able to decide on a name."

"Okay."

She leads him to the rooftops, giving him time to adjust to being transformed.

Eventually, he seems to catch on pretty well and gives her a small smile. She gives a thumbs up, and he follows her to the attack. Even if her yo-yo didn't show her where Chat is, following the path of destruction would have been easy enough.

Chat spots them approaching and meets them halfway, "Welcome back, LB. Good to see you got help."

"Uh, I'm not so sure about that," the turtle hero admits.

"We'll see. I have faith in you!"

The turtle smiles awkwardly.

A loud crash nearby reminds them why they're here.

"Right, Stoneheart," Ladybug sighs, "Any luck on finding the object Chat?"

"No, sorry Bug."

"Alright."

She pauses, thinking. Stoneheart doesn't seem particularly focused, which is strange. Not that he'd been particularly dedicated before, but really… he's only making a mess.

It's… odd. She wouldn't complain though. The fact that many akuma's weren't exactly the best minions made their job easier.

"I guess, let's just try and take him down. He doesn't have any sort of goal we can take advantage of, so I'm really not sure," she admits.

So that's how they go about it. On the bright side, the turtle hero got plenty of practice with running around Parisian rooftops with a miraculous. It was unusually simple, and they were able to follow Stoneheart around without much issue. He didn't really try to go after them, and Hawkmoth began to contact him more and more so they got the feeling that there wasn't a grand plan to be concerned about.

As they follow him from the rooftops, Chat notices something. At first, it's so tiny, he thinks he just saw it wrong, but he can't shake the feeling off.

Curiosity killed the cat, so maybe he just wants to learn more. For whatever reason, he focuses on it.

It's a tiny black dot, seemingly with a white design of some sort.

That's promising.

"Ladybug!" he calls to his partner, who has been visibly slowing down the longer they've been out, "I think I found something!"

He doesn't want to be too blunt, because he doesn't want to risk setting off Stoneheart.

Ladybug and the turtle hero cross the street over to him. The boy in green speaks first, "Did you find the object?"

"Yeah. Or, at least, I think so. It looks like he's holding something in between his fingers. It's really small, but it's our best bet so far. Worst case scenario we have to recharge."

"Okay, what do you want me to do?"

Chat takes in the two before him, Ladybug, who was beginning to slump and hasn't really been actively involved in their conversation; and their newest team member, who had certainly adjusted to having a miraculous, but likely wouldn't do well under more stressful actions at the moment.

"I think you and Ladybug can distract him, and I'll try to get the object from him. I mean, even if I don't get it, it's small enough that it could just slip from his hands," he decides.

"'Kay," Ladybug yawns lightly and he smiles at her sympathetically. The turtle hero nods.

"Lucky Charm!"

A cassette player falls into Ladybug's hands, a tape already inside. A moment passes, and she nods, gesturing for the turtle boy to follow her as she swings ahead of Stoneheart. She lands some distance in front of him, standing her ground on the road.

The akuma looks at her disinterestedly, as her teammate lands beside her. She raises the player above her head and presses a button.

With the street being abandoned, the music is easy to hear.

Smelly wolf, smelly wolf

Trapped in the stinky hut.

Stoneheart freezes, then glares at the spotted heroine.

Smelly wolf, smelly wolf

"THAT'S HER SONG!"

I'm gonna kick your...

"YOU CAN'T-" The rest of the sentence is lost to the sound of Stoneheart storming over to the pair, furious.

Ladybug doesn't react, just blinking at the akuma as she lets the song keep playing.

Smelly wolf, smelly wolf

"Uh, Ladybug?" The boy next to her glances between her and the fast approaching akuma, "He's kinda' on 'is way over."

She nods.

Not seeing another option, he raises his arm and nervously speaks, "Shell-ter!"

He winces, closing his eyes in case it didn't work. Maybe he'd done something wrong.

Nothing hits him, and he seems to still be alive, so he hesitantly peeks towards Stoneheart.

A glowing green dome composed of hexagons has formed around them. Stoneheart pounds against it fruitlessly.

"Yay. Good job," Ladybug cheers. She doesn't say it particularly energetically, which finally draws his attention to how tired she looks.

He knows she struggles in the cold, but hadn't realized how much.

Stoneheart continues to beat against the shield as Chat Noir lands behind him quietly. In his anger, the akuma doesn't realize that something slips loose.

A small black circle falls from his fist, landing on the ground quietly. Chat spots it, extending his baton to carefully drag it safely to himself. He picks it up and crushes it between his fingers.

Stoneheart turns back into Ivan, and after a moment of confusion, the turtle hero figures out how to retract the shield. Ivan looks around in confusion, and the turtle hero manages to mask a frown to help him up.

He may not like Mari's old class, but clearly he's already upset, so there's no need to be rude on top of it.

Hate spawns more hate.

Ladybug throws the charm into the sky, saying the words to restore the city.

As always, it's like nothing ever happened.

Ladybug yawns again. Chat smiles at her softly, "My Lady, you can head home. I've got it from here."

She opens her mouth to protest, then closing it, nodding. Something in her says she should hug him, so she does.

"Bye, Kitty." Then they part, and she swings away.

Chat Noir turns to Ivan, "Will you be alright?"

He really doesn't care why he got akumatized. These people had caused Marinette enough pain that, in his opinion, she shouldn't care about them.

She's too kind for that, so he takes that mantle upon himself.

"M-my girlfriend broke up with me. She gave me my pin back," Ivan mumbles, sounding like he hardly believes it himself.

Chat's eyes widen. He certainly hadn't seen that coming.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he says automatically.

Ivan nods tearfully and walks off.

"We can get closer to your house before your time runs out," Chat says to the turtle hero.

When the bracelet begins to give it's second to last warning, they drop into an alley. Allan hands off the bracelet to the Cat hero.

"You did really well!"

"Thanks," Allan says, seemingly taken aback.

"I am so proud of you!" Wayzz cheers, "You make a wonderful turtle!"

"Are you free tonight? Ladybug and I have been trying to take our back-ups on patrol to keep you guys in practice. It'll just be you tonight, but you'll meet Honey and Kit eventually."

"Uh, yeah. Will ya' just come by my house or…?"

"Yep! Thanks for helping us out!" Chat gives a two finger salute as he takes off again.

Adrien has finally made it back to the house. He walks into the house to see Father waiting for him.

That's never a good sign.

"Adrien. You are two minutes and seventeen seconds late," The man reprimands, "I have taken the time out of my day to speak with me and you cannot bother to respect that?"

"Sorry Father, traffic-"

"I do not want your excuses. You have wasted enough of my time as it is."

"Yes, Father." Adrien looks at the floor.

"I have put much thought into this, and I have decided to reward you with a privilege I previously would not grant you," Gabriel declares drily, "You will have a girlfriend."

Before Adrien can even process what his Father told him, the man continues.

"Lila Rossi has proven to be a worthy enough individual to co-represent the Agreste brand. A budding relationship with another high status individual may prove to be more profitable than your availability, if the research is to be believed."

His heartbeat pounds in his ears. What?

"She will also be able to monitor you at school to be sure that no.. unsavory individuals can bother you."

He can't breathe.

"You should be honored that a girl such as herself is willing to put up with the many potential downsides that will come with dating someone with your lifestyle. She has graciously offered to plan all your dates herself, and will contact Nathalie so that they will be scheduled accordingly. She has been given access to the tracking system on your phone so that she will be able to find you even when you are busy and cannot tell her where you are. We decided that this would be easier than her being forced to call Nathalie anytime she wished to spend extra time with you."

Adrien assumes that this is all, but Gabriel continues, "Finally, she informed me that your recent misconduct is due to the influence of several problem people. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Claude De Rosier, Allegra Coudriet, Allan Poirot, and Felix Voclain. Your number has been changed to keep them from contacting you. Frankly, I am disappointed that you were incapable of identifying this yourself. You should be aware that people such as this only want to use you for your money. You are of no use to them otherwise. That is all. Go to your room now."

"Yes, Father." Adrien barely manages to keep the stutter from his voice as he robotically makes his way to his room.

Somehow, he sits on his desk chair.

He can't breathe, and everything is spinning. The thud of his pulse in his ears is just emphasizing the world closing in on him.

He's shaking and there's nothing to do to stop it. His mind is reeling. There's no way that just happened. No way.

It's impossible.

It has to be.

Dating Lila.

He's going to be sick.

He's going to die.

This can't be real.

No.

No no no.

No no no no nonononononono.

A voice says something. He can't make it out.

"Kid." the voice again. Plagg.

He tries to look, but his vision is filled with tears, and everything is blurry.

"Adrien. You need to breathe," Plagg says seriously.

Adrien shakes his head. He can't breathe, he can't.

"You're having a panic attack."

What?

"Come on, breathe in." Plagg begins to count.

Adrien tries, he really does. He inhales shakily, but not even halfway through the counting he chokes on it, his hyperventilating fighting him.

"It's okay. Try again." Plagg stays calm, counting again.

Plagg continues to lead his breathing for what feels like forever. Eventually, the room stops spinning, and his pounding heartbeat is no longer taking over his thoughts.

Utterly exhausted, Adrien goes to his bed, curls into a ball, and goes to sleep.

Notes:

Hooo boy. This chapter has a lot.
Yay for our turtle hero! I'm going with the name Tortue Verte for now, but I'm not particularly sold. His name has been changed four times now. For whatever reason I just can't think of one. Though I've been looking at so many types of turtles, I suppose I haven't given any one name time to settle. Reference slides for Allan's hero outfit here.
Oh hey, I'm back now. What was just a line break to you guys was... *checks time* over one hour of redesigning Allan's entire outfit as quickly as I could.
Anyways, that last scene. I did not like writing that. For something so short, especially considering that I already knew what I was writing, it took me a while. It was not fun writing that.
For those of you that skipped it (mental health is important, that's fine), the gist of it is that Gabriel is 'graciously allowing' (read: forcing) Adrien to date Lila. Adrien's real friends have been labeled as bad influences and he is not allowed to contact them. His number was changed.
My poor baby.
Hey, it's International Fanworks Day! Should I post something for it? The prompt is characters reading fanfics about themselves if I remember correctly?
I feel like there was something else? Who knows.
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Edit: Hey, everyone! Thanks to Roman's 6:23KJV, you'll be getting some positivity at the end of the rougher chapters to ease the pain, especially if there is no comfort in the chapter itself. I may need reminders though, but feel free to tell me if I post a chapter you think warrants some happiness. I compiled some stuff, which you can find here. Love you guys!

Chapter 32: Moral Support

Summary:

Quantics & Co find out what Gabriel did.

Notes:

Eyyyy! Guess who's here with a surprise bonus update! This girl! Michigan's weather pulled through and landed me with a day off! No classes! I was going back and forth on /weather/ I wanted to celebrate with a bonus chapter, and then I remembered that this chapter is shorter, so it works well as a bonus chapter! Yay!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette hadn't slept well. When she'd gotten home, she'd fallen asleep immediately, but not long after she'd been awoken by a sense of panic.

She'd worried about Adrien, wondering what was wrong, but it was about time for patrol by then.

He didn't show.

She figured that he needed a break. She didn't bother him, and took Allan on patrol with her as planned. She'd explained a few things to him that were important to know, but besides that it had been uneventful.

It's morning now though, so she can text him.

She's worried about him.

This number is no longer in service.

What?

Now she's really worried. She doesn't have time now though so she gets ready quickly and rushes out the door. It's too cold for her to research on her phone, so she just tries to get to school as quickly as she can.

As soon as she's inside, only a few meters from the entrance, she takes out her phone. First she checks the news, maybe something happened-

Paris' Sunshine Boy Off the Market!

Paris' favorite teen model, Adrien Agreste is dating! In an official statement by the company, the public was informed that the boy is dating classmate Lila Rossi! She…

Marinette feels sick. She can't read the rest of the article. No wonder he didn't show up for patrol, he must have been told yesterday. Chloe had been right too, going by the number change, he's no longer allowed to speak to them.

Oh, her poor kitty.

She doesn't realize how upset she looks until someone taps her shoulder.

"Are you alright, Marinette?" It's a girl from one of her classes. She can't remember her name at the moment, but she's nice. Goodness, how many people has she worried by standing here freaking out?

People care about you.

Right. It's not a problem that she's upsetting people. There's no need to worry her about someone she doesn't know though.

"Y-yeah. I'm-m fine," she smiles softly to try and sell it better.

The girl hesitates, clearly not believing her. Before the girl can decide if she's allowed to point that out, another girl's voice joins in the conversation.

"No. You're not," Allegra soothes. Turning to the girl, "Thanks Olivia, I've got it from here."

The other girl - Olivia, that's right - nods, smiling at Marinette as she goes on her way.

Allegra walks with her to her locker, "What happened?"

Marinette's head is still spinning, She doesn't know how she feels about this. Sad? Worried?

She settles on righteous fury.

"Gabriel Agreste," she spits out the name like the disgusting thing it is, "is an atrocious, monstrous, detestable dirt bag, and I hope he steps in a muddy puddle with only socks on."

Allegra's face becomes oddly blank, "Not that I disagree, but what did he do this time?"

Marinette passes her the phone with the article open, "I think he's not allowed to talk to us anymore, his number got changed."

They've arrived at the library. Allegra's grip on the phone has tightened, but her face is impassive. Sitting at the table, Marinette puts her head near the edge of the table, letting her arms hang limply off the side.

"So, Allegra is clearly plotting a murder and Mari is …tired? Can't really see your face, sweetie," Claude observes as he joins the table last.

"I'm too tired t' be angry, but I'm too angry t' be tired," Marinette groans from the table.

"Yeah, about that. Al', maybe try not to break 'Nette's phone?" Allan suggests. The girl's grip on the phone has only tightened since she first acquired it.

Felix places a bookmark in his story carefully, closing the book and giving the group his full attention, "What is it that you are both so disturbed by?"

Marinette remains silent, but Allegra takes a moment to breathe. She turns the phone around so the phones can read it, "Gabriel Agreste, but what else is new?" her voice has a cutting edge to it.

A warning.

The others take a moment to read the screen.

"There's no way that's legal, right? You can't just… force your kid to date someone, right?" Claude breaks the silence first.

Allan simply sits in horrified silence.

Felix keeps his face neutral, "I suppose this has to do with why his number is no longer in service? I had assumed I had simply missed him informing us of it's change."

"Proba'ly," Marinette agrees.

"This is- I just-" Allegra pauses, considering her wording, and speaking carefully, "Everytime. I think. He can't get worse. He does."

"There has to be a way we can get to him, right?" Claude looks at the others, "Some way to talk to him, but still not get him in more trouble."

"I can an' will break int' that house if I need t'," Marinette mumbles.

Felix hums thoughtfully, "I may have a way."

"Greetings. I am here to see Adrien Agreste."

Felix stands alone outside the mansion, staring at the camera that inspected him.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"I previously did not need one. I was in possession of his phone number, but it was changed without notice. Such an inconvenience is a hindrance to our project, which my father does not appreciate."

The camera retreats, and the gate swings open. Felix walks up to the door, which opens as he reaches it, revealing Nathalie on the other side.

"Mr. Agreste wishes to speak to you," she gestures to the office.

"Very well."

He enters the office to see Gabriel presumably working on a design, focused on the screen before him. Without looking up, he addresses Felix, "Why are you here?"

"For the same reason I came previously. As I explained, Adrien and I have been working on a project to prepare ourselves to run our respective companies. It will also provide good press if all goes well."

The man doesn't respond so Felix continues, "I was well aware of his busy schedule, so we worked mostly over the internet. Imagine my surprise when his number is changed without any warning. Now I am unable to contact him, and had no choice but to see him in person and interrupt what I am sure is a carefully planned schedule."

The man looks him over, "Adrien's number was changed because his girlfriend informed me of some troublemakers being a bad influence on my son."

Felix bristles, "Excuse you? Are you suggesting that I am a bad influence on your heir? My father would be furious to hear you speak that way of a Voclain."

Gabriel seems to understand, realizing what his actions and words implied. "Of course not, I simply had Adrien's number changed. It was for the best to get him out of contact with those miscreants as soon as possible. I did not think-"

"That much I can see."

Gabriel narrows his eyes, "Perhaps I should contact your father and get his opinion on the matter."

Felix raises an eyebrow, "Why is that? Is it that you do not respect me or my points because you are my senior? I will have you know that Voclains build their own reputation. I am not to be respected simply because I am Charles Voclain's son. If you are incapable of working with and having high regard for those younger than you then your company will not last much longer. My Father understands this, and would be deeply offended that you felt the need to bypass me to speak to him. He is a busy man and does not have time for you to call him simply because you are incapable of recognizing me as anything beyond a child. I am an accomplished individual of my own right and will be treated as such."

"Fine. You may meet with Adrien. Talk to Nathalie to schedule any future appointments, because I do not wish for anyone more to have his number. I cannot trust his judgement when it comes to giving out his contact information, it would seem," Gabriel allows. When Felix gets to the door, the man continues, looking at him seriously, "I would hope it goes without saying that when you do visit him, you are not to bring any of your little friends with you."

Felix just looks at him. "There are no friends in business."

Gabriel seems satisfied with that. Felix doesn't bother to point out that he isn't in the business world yet.

Nathalie leads him to Adrien's room and knocks, "Adrien, you have a visitor."

Adrien doesn't respond, but given the blank look on his face when he opens the door he wasn't expecting anyone good. His eyes land on Felix, who speaks before the other boy can question anything, "I am here to continue our work on our project. Your father does not wish for me to have your contact information because he is an imbecile, and it is miraculous his brand has lasted this long. Nevertheless, I am flexible. We will have regularly scheduled appointments from now on."

Nathalie and Adrien take a moment to process this. Felix enters the room, and turns to Nathalie, "Please do not bother us, enough interruptions have occurred already."

"Adrien will have to get ready for fencing in two hours," the woman manages.

"As I have stated I am aware of his busy schedule. Do not bother us for those next two hours. I can show myself out." With that, Felix shuts the door, locking it for good measure.

When they're a little further from the door Adrien looks at him oddly, "Uh, what project?"

"The same project I came up with to give you an excuse to come to Claude's plotting session back in November."

"Oh. So, uh, why are you here?"

"We saw the news. None of us think that your relationship with Ms. Rossi is consensual."

Adrien pales, and his eyes glaze over. Felix puts a hand on his shoulder to bring him back to the present.

"We are upset, but not with you. Mr. Agreste and Ms. Rossi should not be able to get away with this."

"It's- it's fine," Adrien mutters, "She already had everyone believing we were dating before, so there's not much change there. I just can't talk to you guys now, that's all."

"We disagree, but we do not wish to do anything that would risk further isolation. Marinette threatened to break in, Allegra was looking into setting up an 'accident', Allan seemed like he was looking into staging a kidnapping, and I have known Claude long enough to be aware that the look on their face today is a dangerous one. This way seemed safer."

Felix's anecdote has the desired effect, and Adrien smiles. Good.

"If you would like, I could call the others, they are all at Marinette's awaiting my confirmation that you are alive."

"I would. It'd be nice to see them," he sounds nervous though, which is perfectly understandable.

Felix dials the number, as the two sit on the couch. The others pick up immediately.

"Adrien!" All of them shout at once.

"Hi guys," he waves at them weakly.

"I regret the limitations of humanity's technology because I can't give you a hug right now, but I really want to give you a hug!" Claude laments.

"So do I!" Various agreements echo from Marinette, Allan, and Allegra.

Allegra gets A Look™. "Of course, only if you want a hug. We'd make sure you're comfortable first."

"Of course!" Marinette joins in.

"Neither of you are subtle," Adrien remarks.

"They weren't tryin' t' be," Allan says.

"Gabriel is going to pay," Marinette adds darkly.

"Guys, it's-"

"Not fine," They all interrupt, Felix included.

"How are you holding up?"

He sighs, falling back onto the couch and looking at the ceiling. "I don't know. It feels like the usual, just… more extreme."

"Oh, honey," Allegra frowns. "That's almost worse."

"Yeah, if your 'usual' includes a forced relationship, complete isolation from anyone who cares about you, and-" Claude begins.

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

Marinette frowns, grabbing her own phone and typing into it hurriedly.

"Any other restrictions we should know about?" Allan prompts.

Allegra cracks her knuckles, "Yeah, we gotta' get to work finding work arounds."

Marinette mumbles to herself. Claude glances at her screen and points at a few things. She nods, adding to a list beside her.

Adrien leaves her to her plotting. "Yeah, um… she decides who's a 'bad influence', she'll be planning our dates and Nathalie will schedule them, and she can track me through my phone-"

"She can WHAT?!" Allegra snaps, "That's absolutely not okay!"

"I have to agree, all of this is many steps past the figurative line of what is okay," Felix adds.

"I mean, Father and Nathalie could already track me, and she's really just another one of them, just at school now."

"Alright!" Marinette interrupts, looking up from her phone and holding a list, "Clearly, the solution here is to fake your death and give you a new identity from scratch. So-"

"That is somewhat extreme, Marinette," Felix says.

She ignores him, "So, here are your options for your new names. Obviously, you don't have to choose from these, but they're suggestions. Ethan, Lucas, Adde, Davey, Derrall, Lennon, Lewin, Lowell, Adam, Anderson, Anthony, and Tonya. Now I have to admit that some of them don't seem to fit you but one, this is an early list, and two, I think too much of your life has already been composed of what other people think of you. Also, because you're you, and I know you'll have thought this at least once, no, I wouldn't stop you from naming yourself after an anime character."

"Mari, I'm not going to fake my death."

"It's an option though!"

"It is a rather complicated process," Felix points out.

Marinette shrugs. "I know people."

"What does that mean?!" Allan stares at her worriedly.

"Anyways," Adrien interrupts, "If it's that much work for a first name, imagine choosing my last name too-"

"Oh, but I've already figured that out," Marinette informs him, "You can have mine."

Various 'oohs' escape from the group, and Claude wipes an imaginary tear from his eye, "That was the most beautiful proposal I've ever seen!"

"I'm sold, time to become legally dead."

Felix sighs. He shakes his head, but he's smiling.

Notes:

This chapter was so much fun, I had and absolute blast! Felix is such a star here, and I loved writing him here. Look at my boy! Look at him! So precious!
I've finally started writing something I've been planning something since November, which is exciting. It's weird to be so close to the end. After this, A Shy 'Sparrow' will become my primary fic. I'll still write for these guys though! I have another (short) chaptered (or at least more than a one-shot) fic planned for after the events of With Time.
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

P.S. If any of you noticed that my relationship tags have been rearranged, then in case you are wondering, yes, I did delete every relationship tag and then add them back in just so that they would be in the order I wanted. I just wanted the most relevant one first, and since I changed it to be romantic it wasn't anymore. Hush, I'm not crazy, you are.

Chapter 33: The Sun's Going Out

Summary:

Adrien is fine.

Notes:

Woo! Saturday again!
A warning that Adrien is not doing so well. He's struggling, and you may feel uncomfortable reading it. I want you all to prioritize your mental health over my story.
What's this? A strong language warning? It's been a while! 'Bullshit'.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Alright Chloe," Marinette says as she takes a seat across from the blonde, "What did you want to talk about?"

"I've been working on… a project. For a while now. Originally, I was going to talk to you about it in, like, November, but Adrikins and Sabrina both mentioned that you weren't doing so well - 'cause it was cold." Chloe snaps her compact shut, putting it in her purse and looking at Marinette.

She clasps her hands together, placing them on the table and leaning forward seriously, "I'm starting a non-profit. For bullying. I want you to help me."

Marinette is taken aback, this is certainly not what she expected. On reflex, she asks, "Why?"

"I know that I can never undo what I did, all those years, when we were kids, but I want to do something to make up for it," Chloe looks away for a moment, "I did awful things, even when I was trying to be better," she looks back at Marinette, "I let things with Lila get as bad as they did. I could have done something. I should have helped you before it got to the point it did. I'm so sorry for that. I could have spared you from… so much. It's… I'm so sorry, Dupain-Cheng. For everything. So, I figured, there's no use moping about it! I wanted to do something! So I figured… I can try to help? Help other people, and make something positive from all I did."

Chloe looks down at the table. Marinette can only guess how badly she feels. The Chloe she knew would have never admitted she was wrong, have never tried to do anything like this.

This. This is...

Amazing.

Marinette stands, rushing to hug Chloe tightly, "Oh, Chloe, that's an amazing idea. I love it so much! Thank you! I'm so proud! You've become such an amazing person!"

Chloe blushes slightly, but eventually shoves the short girl away (gently), "Ugh, I know. Sit down like a civilized person, why don't you?"

Marinette can tell from her tone that she's not saying it in a mean way, just a Chloe way. Marinette smiles at her and sits down, ignoring the stares from the other people in the cafe.

She's so proud.

"Anyways," Chloe brings them back on track, "I've been working on setting it up for a while now. At first, I wasn't even sure what I could do, but Sabrina suggested a non-profit, and then… well, yeah, here we are."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I'm not really sure, but this just seemed like your sort of thing, because you know, you're so you - one of those people that's just good. It's almost sickening how nice you are, honestly."

"Thanks!"

Chloe glares at her. "See! You took that as a compliment! Ugh! You're ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! Whatever." She flips her ponytail for effect, "It's called Everyday Heroes, and it's going to be focused on educating people on bullying and helping the victims. You could probably work as a speaker on bullying - if you are comfortable with that, of course - which would fall under the scope of 'education' I guess. Or just spread the word. If you can think of anything, I'm open to suggestions."

Marinette hums, "I could do that. Need any help with fundraisers? I can help there too."

Chloe brightens. "Yes! That'd be great!"

They talk a little longer on the non-profit, exchanging ideas and planning. After a moment, they pause. Chloe sips on her drink and looks at Marinette.

"So, I heard about Adrien. What Gabriel and Lila did…"

Marinette scowls, "Ugh, that."

"Right?! The only reason that no one is doing anything is 'cause he's some dumb old white rich guy. Sabrina brought it up to her father, who brought it up with his superior, who threatened to fire him for even considering going after Gabriel. I mean, can you say 'corruption'?"
"He's being completely isolated! Sure he's around people, but they're not good people-" Marinette pauses at this. She'd always insisted that the class was still good.

They are, right?

She knows they are, but Lila… Lila has twisted them into something dark.

Something bad.

"...good people for him, anyways. This is- this is-" She clenches her hands into tight fists, feeling her nails bite into her skin, "Ugh!" she growls.

She remembers herself. She can't get mad. That's not allowed. Not while Hawkmoth is still a threat.

"Come on Chloe, let's go back to the bakery." She stands, placing some money down to cover her drink.

"I guess I can go with you," Chloe sighs.

Marinette smiles. When they get outside, she wrinkles her nose at the chill. She may not be at risk of hibernating anymore, but that doesn't mean she has to like the cold.

Waving at Maman and Papa as she leads Chloe through the back, she marvel's at how much has changed in just one year. Less than a year actually.

There's the whole… Dupont mess. She doesn't want to think about that.

Chloe though! Now she can bring her to the bakery and no one bats an eye because she's not a bully anymore. She's a friend!

"Okay, so I brought you here because I figured that you could help us out. We're planning to take down Lila during the music comp-"

"I'm in!" Chloe interrupts immediately.

Marinette's eyes twinkle in excitement, "I thought so. Give me a minute to get everything out."

Chloe nods, taking a seat on the chaise.

Marinette buzzes about the room, taking out papers and lists. She takes a large rolled-up paper out from some corner, placing it near the pile she's made as she goes to grab a few last things.

Returning to the mess, she sorts it seemingly at random, moving some this way or that after a quick glance. When there's enough space cleared, she unrolls the biggest one, spreading it out across the floor.

It's a schedule for Concours d'arts musicaux, as well as a map of Collège Françoise Dupont.

Marinette takes a sheet of paper from another pile, unfolding it to reveal a rather lengthy list titled 'Lila's Lies'. Some are highlighted.

As she makes a few final rearrangements, Marinette says, "Obviously we aren't going to debunk everything, because we don't have that much time, but we're going to assume that the rest will fall if you give the push."

Chloe gives her a flat look. "Really? You're making quite the assumptions on their intelligence here."

Marinette glares. "They're smart people, Chloe. It's not their fault they've been manipulated."

"Smart? Sure, when I think 'smart' I think a guy with glasses thinking his eye could have been gouged out with a paper napkin."

"Ignoring that, they're smart people."

"Sure. You tell yourself that Dupain-Cheng," Chloe retorts.

Marinette ignores her. "Anyways, the current game plan is to get Jagged, Prince Ali, Mrs. Rossi in to debunk her lies there. We'll also play parts of the recording from when she, uh, saw me at the museum-"

"I want to hear that."

"Chloe, really, it's fine," Marinette tries to reassure her.

Chloe shakes her head. "Nope. I want to hear it."

Marinette sighs, handing Chloe the phone so she can listen. The blonde looks furious by the end. Marinette cuts in before she can say more, "How about you use your anger constructively and help me finalize the plans for the competition?"

"... and after fencing you have a picnic date with your girlfriend. It will last at least four hours. To offset the time lost, you will have extra lessons for the next two weeks. Any further dates will do the same. Ms. Rossi is aware of this and has assured me she will plan accordingly. That is all, enjoy your breakfast, Adrien."

"Yes, Nathalie," Adrien says robotically. Turning to his plate he can't even muster up the energy to be disappointed in the small portions. His old dietician had retired. The new one was trying his best to 'go by the book' and be very exact in his portions for someone of Adrien's size and weight. Nevermind that the old one had noted that he seemed to have a 'worryingly fast metabolism' given how many calories he loses, and should be fed accordingly.

Nope. That didn't matter.

Nothing matters in regards to Adrien Agreste.

He's just some pretty toy for people to show off.

His plate is only half done, but suddenly he's not hungry anymore. Finishing early gives him approximately ten minutes of free time, so he goes to his room.

In the past, he'd have used this time to play games or text his friends, but now?

Now he just goes to his bed, staring up at the ceiling and focusing on thinking of nothing at all.

Plagg has other plans.

"Kid, this isn't healthy."

"Plagg, everything has been properly planned out so that my physical health and wellbeing will be at their peak. I-"

"Well, firstly, that's bullshit."

"Such language is not befitting of the Agreste brand."

"Well thank me I'm not a part of that. Neither are you. A family shouldn't be a brand first, family second. Adrien, this isn't healthy for you mentally or physically. It's only been like a week of this, and you're a completely different person. I'm worried about you, kid."

Adrien sighs. He doesn't have the energy to argue.

This is just his life now. Plagg should accept that - it takes less energy than to fight it.

"Your friends are trying their best to help you out, but Nathalie and Gabriel are playing interception big time. Felix's appointments aren't being prioritized-"

"It's a waste of time anyways. Father wants me to be the perfect face for the Agreste brand. Perfection requires sacrifices, which I have to be willing to make," Adrien's voice cracks as he speaks.

Plagg nuzzles into him, trying to provide comfort as best he can. "You aren't perfect. It's just a fact of life. You shouldn't have to be making these sorts of 'sacrifices'."

They lay like that for a while before there's a knock on the door.

"Adrien. Your extra practice for Concours D'arts Musicaux begins soon. Your bodyguard is waiting for you, it is time to go."

He can't muster up the energy to call out his usual response, simply rising to grab his stuff and go. Plagg settles around his neck, hidden by the collar of his shirt.

As Adrien approaches the car, he sees the Gorilla give him a concerned look.

He's fine.

The drive consists of silence. Adrien is sitting up straight and staring ahead of him blankly.

He's fine.

They arrive, and he exits the car. He keeps his face passive and maintains perfect posture as he enters the building for practice. Adrien is fifteen minutes early as is expected of him. One must make a good impression for the first whole group practice.

He's fine.

A soft touch to his arm alerts him that someone wishes to speak with him. Of course, he obediently turns to face them. He hopes he's able to help, because the last thing he would want is his Father to find out he'd been useless.

He's fine.

"Adrien?"

He finally registers the owner of the voice and touch. Allegra. She's standing before him, holding a bag from the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. She's frowning, but it's the first time in weeks he's actually sure he didn't do anything to cause it.

It's a relief to not be a disappointment for once.

"How are you?" Her voice is still soft, gentle. It's far from the monotones of those in the Agreste mansion.

"I'm fine." It's a reflex.

"No, honey." She puts a gentle hand on his arm, a touch he could easily shake away if he wanted, "No you're not."

He screws his eyes shut, shaking his head desperately, and hugging her tightly. She returns the gesture, petting his hair and making comforting noises while leading him out of sight.

The last thing he needed was for someone to post a picture of The Adrien Agreste seemingly crying. Father would have his head.

It's a few minutes before he finally lets go. He looks at the ground, "I'm s-"

"There's nothing to apologize for," she says immediately. The whole group has gotten quick with that response after being Marinette's friend.

He remains silent, so she continues, "We figured out pretty quick that even with Felix trying to schedule appointments, they weren't really making it a priority. He got a call that it had to be 'postponed due to the prioritization of Adrien's social life'. As if. How are you really? You look pale, honestly you shouldn't be here if you're sick."

He sighs, "No, I'm just…" he hesitates, looking for the right word, "...tired. Father is really cramming in a lot."

She looks at him suspiciously, "How are you food wise? That old man had better be feeding you."

"Yeah, he's feeding me."

"But…?"

Adrien wonders if she'd care or not. Should he mention it?

Sure, the new dietician cut back on his food, but he hasn't had much of an appetite anyways.

"I have a new dietician, so my portions have been reduced, but I haven't really been hungry anyways," he mutters.

She frowns, "We figured that you wouldn't be eating enough. Mari sent food with me for you." She shoves the bag towards him, "I'm under orders from all of them to make sure you eat at least one whole pastry."

He smiles for the first time in…

How long had it been?

He ends up eating all the provided pastries, and she takes care of the trash for him, and they walk to the main room together.

Adrien has finished his homework. He's done fencing. He's reviewed Chinese.

He continues to mentally go over his day, assuring himself that he's done all he's supposed to, while intentionally ignoring the four hour (it lasted six by the end) date he'd gone on.

Except now he is.

Six hours with he-

No, not 'her'. His girlfriend.

Just thinking it makes him feel nauseous. Gross. Filthy. Unclean.

He might actually be sick.

The whole thing was a nightmare. Sitting in a park with her. She was constantly touching him, leaning against him, running her hands through his hair.

He doesn't want to think about how often she kissed him.

A soft knock at the window pulls him out of his thoughts.

Ladybug.

He hesitates. This-

"Kid, you haven't been going on patrols. She's got to be worried. Talk to her."

Adrien had been avoiding Ladybug, even after the three akumas they'd had, he just… he had to get back to his schedule. There would be huge consequences if he went missing for too long. As for patrols - he just wanted to sleep.

He's tired of being awake.

Plagg is right though, and he really does miss her.

He lets her in.

"Oh, my sweet prince…" Ladybug caresses his cheek, looking at him worriedly.

Adrien doesn't say anything, just appreciating her company.

"Come on, let's go. No patrol tonight, I just think you should get out of here."

Chat Noir and Ladybug take off, and he's content to follow her lead. He's not entirely surprised when she lands on her balcony and releases her transformation.

He follows her inside.

"Do you want to detransform?" It's a question, not an order. Despite that, he feels his ears droop in shame.

"No, I'm sorry. I just… I don't want to be Adrien right now."

She smiles sadly, "That's purr-fectly fine Kitty."

He still feels bad, and- hey!
"Did you just make a cat pun?" His ears and tail perk up.

She smirks, "Purr-haps."

He grins, "I love you so much!" He rushes forward and picks her up, spinning her in circles. She giggles.

"Want to watch a movie? Or an anime? I have popcorn and pastries."

"Yes."

He sets her down and she carefully leads him up to the loft. A bowl of popcorn, a tray of sweet pastries, and her laptop are already there. She crawls to the end, holding her arms out to him.

Chat flops down next to her. She has him choose a movie, and they settle in.

It's almost like a-

...a date.

Just like that he's back at the park. That's all it takes.

"Adri-love! There you are my sweet!"

Lila rushes up to him, not hesitating to kiss him dramatically.

"Hi," he manages.

She frowns. "Oh no, what's wrong? Normally, you'd call me something cuter."

He can translate - cute nickname or else.

"I-I'm fine, my, uh, peacock."

She pauses, then nods, accepting the name. She kisses him again, which he guesses is supposed to be a reward.

He feels sick.

Her hand grabs his, and she leads him towards the blanket she has set up in a secluded corner of the park. Normally, he'd be grateful that the usual paparazzi isn't around, but he really wishes that someone - anyone - would be here.

He doesn't want to be alone with her.

He doesn't want to be with her, period.

"Chat? What's wrong? You're crying."

Marinette.

He's with Marinette.

He's safe.

She's already paused the movie and set everything aside. She brushes his hair aside, studying him.

"N-nothing," he whispers.

"It's not nothing if it's bothering you - your feelings matter. A very smart cat-boy told me that once."

He wishes she'd hug him.

He's relieved she doesn't.

"I j-just, I had- I- a d-d-date tod-d-day…" he stutters. More tears threaten to fall, but he's supposed to be perfect.

He hears a sharp intake of breath.

"Do you want a hug? Is touch okay?" She's well aware of how Lila treats him, and doesn't want to do anything he's uncomfortable with.

You know, the way you treat people you care about.

Chat Noir hesitates. His day has been filled with nothing but touch so cold it burned, or the poisonous leaching from her.

Well, not quite only that.

He'd hugged Allegra. That had been nice. A warm hug, not burning, not freezing. Just… caring.

It's only when he nods that she finally reaches out to him. Burrowing his face in her stomach to hide the tears, he finally lets himself cry softly.

Marinette doesn't comment on the tears, or the quiet hiccuping of his sobs. She just pets his hair comfortingly.

"It'll be alright, love. You're okay, you're safe. You are absolutely amazing. You're my favorite person in the whole world - my kitty. Everything will be okay. I promise," she murmurs. She continues to whisper quietly to him for sometime, eventually just humming a soft song.

It's the calmest he's felt all day.

A low purr stutters out of him, and he can tell she's smiling, even if he can't see her. He knows she wouldn't tease him for crying in front of her, but her shirt smells like her, so he doesn't move.

He's missed her so much.

Notes:

That child. I feel so bad. For those of you worrying, the competition is soon.
Wondering why Adrien called her a peacock? Well, I was looking for words that meant 'showy/conceited' and that was there. Not to mention one of the villains of Paris is a peacock.
So Chloe, huh? I've been planning this for a while. Like Chloe said, that meeting was originally planned for November.
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 34: Heartbreaker

Summary:

All five heros go on patrol.

Notes:

This chapter is mostly hero interactions. There isn't too much Lila, you're welcome. As I'm sure you guessed from the title, we've got an akuma, so the reference slides are here!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Well, this is the first patrol with all of Paris' new heroes," Ladybug declares after a quick introduction.

Kit Mime whoops excitedly, and Honey Bee and Tortue Verte high-five.

"Chat and I are very excited, we've never had patrol with five heroes before, and we've obviously never been on a patrol with all of you specifically."

"The point of a patrol," Chat adds seriously, "is to fit in as many puns as you can. If we are successful, we may get Ladybug to smile - or even laugh - at one. This is the highest honor."

Tortue nods. Honey Bee and Ladybug groan.

"Challenge accepted!" Kit cheers.

"This is going to be the end of me," Honey sighs, and Ladybug pats her comfortingly.

"I lost my job at the bank on the first day. A lady asked me to check her balance so I pushed her," Chat starts.

Kit grins. "Well they just didn't appreciate the gravity of the situation."
"Wow! Would you look at the time! We should really start pa-" Ladybug is interrupted as Kit and Chat speak in unison.

"Pawtrol!"

Ladybug sighs, swinging to the next roof. The rest follow her.

"Two windmills were standing on a wind farm. One of them asked the other what kind of music they liked and it said 'I'm a big metal fan'."

That one earns a laugh from both Tortue and Chat, as well as a speed increase from the girls.

"Hey, Honey, what do you call a bee that can't make up her mind?" Chat calls.

"You just call her a bee. No. Puns."

"A maybe!"

"When the past present and future go camping they argue. It's intense tense in tents."

Chat nods solemnly, "It's too time-consuming, so the past and future go in opposite directions, and the present just stays there."

Tortue claps. "Good job on th' tag teamin' with that one!"

"Let me tell you about my grandfather, he was a good man, a brave man. He had the heart of a lion and a lifetime ban from the zoo.'

Chat laughs, "That one was good."

Unnoticed by any of them, Ladybug smiles softly at Chat's laughter. It had been too long since she'd last heard that.

Eventually, the puns die down in favor of a proper conversation. It's hard to do the usual get-to-know-you questions when they aren't supposed to know too much about their civilian sides.

After they struggle for a little bit, Ladybug looks up some on her yo-yo, "Alright, if you could hire someone to help you, would it be with cleaning, cooking, or something else?"

"Cooking," Chat says immediately, "Not only am I terrible at it, but it'd be a good excuse for my friend to come over more."

"Ooh, that's a fair point. Very claw-ver. Just 'hire' them to make something crazy easy and then you hang out for the rest of their 'shift'."

"I'm not sure if I'd need a ton of help with either of those." Honey shrugs, Ladybug nods in agreement."

"Probably cleaning, but it wouldn't be too important," Tortue decides.

Kit nods, "Same here, though my friends would probably argue that it's very necessary."
Ladybug nods, "As a kid, did you eat the crusts on your sandwich or not? I did."

"Oddly enough, I didn't," Honey says, "I think I was rebelling or something. One of my friends didn't either, maybe it was a solidarity thing?"
"I did," Tortue and Chat chime in.

"Nope!" Kit adds, "I was stubborn about it."

"If you only had one of the five senses, which would you want? Touch, taste, sight, smell, or hearing?"

"Ooh, uh…" Tortue pauses, considering.

After some deliberation, Ladybug speaks up hesitantly, "I'd have to go with sight. It'd be pretty necessary for one of my hobbies."

"Same here, but with hearing," Honey agrees.

"Ever since getting my miraculous, I've had better sight and hearing, so they're both important to me, but I'm with you - hearing," Chat says. Then he winks, "I guess I was blinded by your beauty, my Lady."

She sighs, ignoring her blush, "I was probably deafened by your terrible puns."

Tortue is still thinking, "It's odd that of the five senses, we all kinda' disregarded three o' them. It's between sight an' hearin' and we all kind' agree that the others aren't necessary - least in comparison."

"That is kind of weird - that we all value sight and vision over the other three."

"Ooh!" Kit jumps, suddenly thinking of something, "Would you rather have sight and hearing, but no touch, smell or taste, or have touch, smell and taste, but no sight and hearing?"

"I'd have to go with sight and hearing…" Honey decides. The others nod in agreement.

Chat turns to Tortue and Kit, "Okay, but if you could only have one of the five sense, which would it be? You guys haven't answered yet."

"Hearing," Tortue says.

Kit's tail flicks indecisively. Similarly to Chat's belt, the length of fabric seems to be both part of the costume and an addition to his body. He could probably move it purposefully if he thought about it.

"Ughhhhh, I don't know… I guess… sight?"

The others nod in acceptance.

Ladybug smirks at her screen as she looks for the next one, "I think they phrased this one wrong, because it's sort of… well here, I'll just read it. If you could snap your fingers and instantly make the world better, what would you do?"

There's a brief pause, then in unison, the other four say, "...snap my fingers?"

She snorts, "Exactly! Alright, here's a better one. If you could relive one moment of your life, which would it be and why?"

"Can we relive it to change it, or relive it to just be there again?" Chat asks.

"How about one of each?" Honey Bee suggests, "Something to change and something to relive."

Ladybug nods. "Just remember to be vague."

Chat smiles softly, "I'd relive the last time I saw my mom."

The new members look at him in surprise, processing his statement and everything it implies. Ladybug just smiles at him, "Good choice, Kitty."

Kit, Tortue, and Honey nod.

"Probably when I first saw my little sister," Tortue says, "To relive, that is."

Ladybug looks towards Chat, but not quite at him, "This may seem odd, but the Heroes' Day when all those people got akumatized? Outside of the attack, especially afterwards… it was a nice day."

Chat is the only one to catch the slightly wistful look on her face, and squeezes her hand softly. Ladybug leans against his shoulder.

"When my little brothers were born. They aren't twins, but I just can't choose, so both," Honey decides.

That leaves Kit the only one left to decide a moment to relive, and all of them a moment to change.

"Hmm, if Honey can choose multiple moments that are similar can I? 'Cause then I'll choose the times I met each of my friends."

"I'll accept that," Tortue says. No one protests, as it's really not like there's any reason to be entirely strict about it.

"I know what I'd change. When I first went into class at the beginning of the year one year, I yelled at some boy that looked like he was trying to put gum on my seat. Turns out I had jumped to conclusions - he'd been trying to remove it."

Honey shakes her head in sympathy, but Chat smirks, "My Lady, are you telling me you want to change the first time we met? I'm hurt!"

"Wait! You yelled at Chat Noir the first time you met as civilians?!" Kit yelps.

Ladybug groans, "Yeah. That was before even Stoneheart though, so technically he wasn't Chat yet."

Tortue whistles, "That was a while back then."

"Mhm."

"I missed one day the first day back this year, and uh, something eventful happened to say the least. I'd want to be there," Chat decides. Ladybug frowns.

That wasn't his fault.

"I met someone new last year. At first they seemed somewhat annoying, and then they revealed that they were an actual monster, so uh, I'd like to slap them across the face the first time I saw them or something," Honey Bee says flatly.

"That's not very nice," Tortue reprimands half-heartedly.

"Well, neither are they."

"Fair enough."

"Okay, I'll go next!" Kit chimes in, "Hmm, I think that if I could redo any part of my life, I would- oh I know. I'd have myself watch where I'm stepping more. For my dignity and secrecy's sake I won't go into detail, but I tripped over something and it was… bad. I was fine, but the things around me?" They shake their head.

"I'd've started therapy earlier," Tortue shrugs, "I spent too long overthinkin' it."

Ladybug pulls a few more questions, and eventually they call it a night.

"One last thing, I felt it would be nice to let you know that I may be calling on you a little more frequently for some time. Something has come up in Chat's civilian life, and it's unlikely he'll be able to join me for most battles."

The others nod, then, as planned, one after the other they take off, taking a slightly extended route to their homes so as to not get an idea of where the others live. Chat and Ladybug come by, take their miraculous, help them from their roof to a window, and go.

Chat retrieves the Fox and the Turtle, while Ladybug grabs the Bee. She's got a promise to keep.

"Chloe? Are you still up?" The heroine knocks on the window.

The blonde steps out onto the balcony, "Ladybug?"

Ladybug smiles, "A while ago I made a promise," she pulls out the box, "Chloe Bourgeois, this is the miraculous of the Bee. While it is currently not in urgent need, I am trusting you to use it simply to talk to Pollen, the Bee Kwami."

Chloe is nodding tearfully, and only reaches to grab the miraculous when Ladybug holds it out to her. As the yellow glow indicates Pollen's arrival, Ladybug walks a few meters away to give them space.

After a few minutes, Chat lands beside her. He takes in the sight before him.

Chloe has stopped crying, and is chatting animatedly with Pollen, who seems just as happy to see her.

"So, Bug, you're letting her say goodbye?"

She nods, "She deserves this at least."

When she yawns, he gives her a look.

"I'm fine, Kitty. You know I won't have much stamina until spring, that's all."

He crosses his arms. "Mhm. Well, I'll be taking Pollen back to Fu either way. You're going home to rest." He pauses, ears flattening, "You deserve a chance to rest before I leave you to fend for yourself. Please don't overwork yourself."

She puts a gentle hand to his arm, "It's not your fault. Remember that."

"I could get away-"

"But we both know that would only make things worse. No, as awful as this is, it's for the best."

"I still feel bad," he mutters.

"That's because you're just good like that. I can't tell you what to feel, and I won't try to, but can I at least have you promise to remember that I'm not mad at you about this? It's for the best that you don't give those two any more chances to do anything."

He smiles, "When did you become the one comforting me?"

"When a cat rewrote some dumb rules I had in a book."

Chat breaks into a wide smile at her words. This is the first time he's heard her mention the rules without putting any credence in them. He laughs in excitement, sweeping her up into a big hug, "Bugaboo, I'm so proud of you!"

She laughs, returning the hug as he sets her down.

After a few more minutes, Chloe approaches.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir, here's the miraculous back."

She hands them the comb, back in the still-open box. Pollen hugs her cheek, and the two say their final goodbyes. Ladybug waits until they wave at each other before shutting the box.

Chloe takes a shaky breath, "Thank you."

"It's no problem, Chloe. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Chloe."

She nods at them both, "Goodnight both of you."

With that she turns around and heads back inside.

As Chat turns in the direction of Fu's place, Ladybug grabs his arm gently, "Chaton, come back to my place tonight. You shouldn't have to be alone in that place any longer than you need to be."

Chat smirks, wiggling his eyebrows, "Goodness, Ladybug! At least buy me dinner first."

She turns as read as her suit, "Th-that's not what I m-meant and you know it!"

"It's still fun messing with you."

She huffs, scowling.

"I will though. Thank you," he whispers more seriously.

"I am Heartbreaker! No one else will have to be in a relationship with anyone other than their soulmate!"

Adrien is honestly somewhat happy to see this akuma. Maybe if he and Lila get hit, the date can end early.

He and the girl are standing just outside of the cafe that they just exited. The akuma before them is dressed in various shades of red and pink, with black thrown in for good measure. You know, because otherwise you might think this is a love akuma, but with the black, well obviously it's completely different.

Applause for Hawkmoth, everyone. Color genius over here.

The woman's skin has turned pink, and her hair is a similarly dark shade of pink, pulled back into two braids along the side of her head before simply becoming pigtails. The bodice is a purpley-red color that turns to black as it falls down, covering the skirt. The bodice turns into a broken heart shape on both sides, the jagged split down the middle giving the dress four long tails that drag behind her. The skirt itself, poofy and wide, is brighter pink, each layer of it being darker until it becomes a dangerous shade of red and ending at her knees. Her black tights cover her legs, and she's wearing black heels.

In her hand is a wand. It has a heart as the topper with a crown shape around it, only there's a split down the middle.

With such an obvious theme, did she really need to announce her name?

Before he can decide anything, and before Lila can pull them into some confined space to 'wait out the attack', a red figure lands beside them.

Ladybug looks at them, as if surprised, "Oh, you two were just on a date, weren't you? Well, it's not safe for you two to be together, given the nature of this akuma. Mr. Agreste is certainly more recognizable than you, Ms… Rocky? It'd be safer if I take him to a secure location. You can wait out the attack inside."

Then, before either can even process all of that, Adrien is swept up and away to the rooftops.

"Hey, thought I'd do some extra heroing on the side. How are you holding up?"

"I- uh, what? Better now I guess," he's still processing. Whenever he's on a date he kind of just… leaves his own mind for the most part. Switching out of that state suddenly is a bit startling.

She frowns, clearly still unhappy about the Lila arrangement.

"Bug, as much as I appreciate the rescue, shouldn't you have left me with her? She'll get me in trouble when my phone tracker isn't working," he points out.

To his surprise, Ladybug smirks, "That's true, she will try to track your phone. It's such a shame then that she's got your phone. Tsk, tsk. What is she to do?"

Adrien pats himself down, quickly realizing that he does, in fact, seem to be missing his phone.

Plagg flies out, cackling, "That was slick, Baby Bug!"

"Anything for my partner. Anyways, I'm going to head to the akuma, and you can join me in a few so it doesn't seem suspicious."

The attack finally ends when the akuma finally hits them with a beam from her wand. When other couples had been hit, they'd seen the faults of their partner so clearly that many were overwhelmed and broke up on the spot.

Plenty seemed fine, but had still needed a moment to adjust to viewing their significant other in a new light. It wasn't necessarily bad, just different, and change will always need adjustment time.

When Ladybug and Chat get hit, turn to each other, and see… each other. Sure, there are faults they noted, but nothing that they didn't already have an idea of. They've been together for a long time, and spent almost an entire summer as each other's sole company. They've helped each other at their lowest, and already know the other through and through.

The akuma is shocked, and seems to be growing angry. Before she can do anything however, Ladybug shoots out her yo-yo, stealing the wand and snapping it over her knee.

Purifying the akuma, she waves at the white insect, "Bye bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!"

Chat comes up to her side, "Pound it!"

"I can help her, you'd better go somewhere and pretend you were waiting out the attack. Don't forget - Lila took your phone. She didn't want you to be distracted." Ladybug winks, then heads over to the victim.

He nods, hesitating momentarily to take one last look at his Lady before hurrying off to a much less pleasant activity.

Notes:

Lila is no match for our resident phone thief over here.
Someone didn't promise not to overwork herself~
In case you guys were wondering what Kit Mime was trying to reference for what he'd change, it wasn't something from the story. I decided that in one of his early performances, Child Claude tripped over something and everything went wrong. Disastrous.
Akuma reference slides here!
I'm looking forward to the next chapter.
EDIT: Someone drew Heartbreaker! You can see her here! She's gorgeous, and I love her so much!
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 35: Concours D'arts Musicaux

Summary:

The music competition. 🎉

Notes:

Here we go!
I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter, but I do enjoy it a lot. Also, I'm sure you were all expecting a strong language warning, and you would be correct! 'Pissed' and 'Bitch'. Not nearly as many as you expected, huh?

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"You sure you want to go?" Allan asks.

"No one would be upset if you backed out," Claude reminds her.

Marinette sighs shakily, glancing out her window towards her former school. She'd honestly been doing a lot better when it came to her classmates, but she hadn't been back to the school itself since…

Since that day.

She massages her wrist unconsciously, thinking of the confrontation, the yelling, the fall. She still can't really remember much past Chloe finding her in the bathroom.

Claude, Allan and Felix are in her room with her, on their way to the competition. Felix puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Marinette?"

She turns back to them, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She can do this.

"Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm still going to go. Worst case scenario, I leave early, right?"

"Indeed," Felix agrees.

Nodding, she leads them out of her room, and the group makes their way out of the house. They walk across the street, and stare up at the school for a moment.

Marinette walks up the stairs, taking in the sight of the main courtyard, packed with students from all over for the competition. Oh, Kwami, there's so many people-

"Marinette?!" A quiet voice says, barely loud enough to be heard.

The three boys ready themselves to deal with more of Bustier's class. To their surprise, Marinette quickly finds the speaker and breaks into a grin, hurrying over.

"Marc! It's been so long! How have you been?" She's speaking to a dark haired boy in a red hoodie. Not part of Bustier's class.

"I-I've been f-fine. Art club is s-so quiet without you, everyone was s-so worried, because you just disappeared, and your c-class was awful. Nathaniel said…" he trails off, frowning.

Marinette copies him. "What happened?"

"He w-was just saying a-awful stuff, and we br-broke u-up… he wouldn't even work with me anymore, because L-Lila said she'd get him c-connected to a real writer-"

Marinette bristles. "He did what?"

Marc shrugs helplessly, "I- I think he figured it out eventually, he's b-been sitting away fr-from everyone now."

"But he hasn't spoken to you? Hasn't apologized?"

When he doesn't meet her eyes, she gets her answer.

"Come on, we're going to talk to him. He has no right to treat you like that and not apologize." Marinette leads the boy up the stairs. Claude, Felix and Allan, who had watched the entire interaction smile and follow after her.

She's doing well so far.

They arrive outside of what must be the art room, if the inside is anything to go by. Nathaniel, who they do recognize, is sitting inside, doodling idly.

Marinette's got that look in her eyes, as she steps inside. "Nathaniel."

His eyes snap to her immediately, and he stares at her in shock for a little bit before speaking, "M-Marinette? Y-You're here?!"

She just stares at him, raising an eyebrow.

"I-I'm so sorry! About-"

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." She pushes Marc forward gently, he's looking at the floor, "Did you really abandon him like that?"

Nathaniel fidgets in his chair, "Well, Lila a-also said-" he realizes what he's saying, "W-wait! I meant it differently! That came out wrong! I just… I'm sorry, Marc, I didn't think a-about anything really, and, I'm sorry."

"It's fine," he mumbles.

There's tension in the room, from the unresolved issues between the boys. Marinette knows this doesn't involve her. She shakes her head. "I think I'll let you two talk."

As she walks down the hallway, Claude stays back a moment to address Nathaniel, "She may have said otherwise, but she deserves an apology. The way she was treated here was vile and inexcusable."

Only when Nathaniel nods shakily does the actor hurry to catch up to their friends. Marinette is speaking, "I just can't believe that Nathaniel and Marc broke up! They had a great relationship! Lila really did a number on the class."

"Don't give Lie-la so much credit, Dupain-Cheng. It was you," Chloe interrupts, appearing out of nowhere.

"What?"
"The morons here get akumatized so much for a reason. You were the only one who tried to actually communicate, and the class fell apart without you. Everyday Ladybug and all that. All the couples have basically broken up, with the exception of Lahiffe and Césaire, because Lahiffe has no backbone and Césaire thinks they're the definition of a healthy relationship."

"Don't exaggerate, Chloe. They're perfectly capable of sorting out their problems on their own," Marinette argues.

Chloe scoffs, shaking her head but dropping the conversation.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Do my eyes deceive me or has the storm finally passed and our shining rainbow is back?!"

Marinette turns, sees Aurore standing a little ways down the hall, "Aurore! It's been so long!"

She runs up to give her a hug. The taller girl rolls her eyes, "And whose fault is that?"

Marinette shrugs sheepishly, "Sorry, I-"
"Not yours, little cloud! It's that horrible hurricane that's swept through here! She's blocking out the sun, and that's all we had left without you!"

"Oh, I know about that."

At Marinette's expression, Aurore smirks, "Ooh! There's a storm brewing!"

The designer winks. "Perhaps."

While the two girls chat, Chloe stands with the three boys Marinette had come with. "Marinette really downplays how many people loved her here. I'm not even sure she realizes she was pretty popular."

Allan shrugs. "She hasn't noticed at our school either, but she definitely is."

"Good. She deserves people who appreciate her."

Eventually, Aurore and Marinette part, and the group wanders away. Marinette shows them around the school as best she can. At one point, they get separated for some time and Marinette ducks into a classroom. She wanted to get out of the way of the people in the hallway to text her friends quickly. That plan is forgotten when she sees who is inside.

Lila and Alya stare at her in shock momentarily, before Lila shudders and pretends to hide behind Alya in a terrified manner. The former journalist pats her 'friend' comfortingly before standing and turning to Marinette.

"What are you doing here, Monsternette?"

The girl recovers from her shock and sighs sadly, "I'm here for the concert."

Lila gasps. "I won't let you harass my boyfriend!"

Marinette scowls, uneasiness giving way to fury. "I'm not the one harassing Adrien, and he's not your boyfriend willingly!"

"Just because you're some jealous creep, doesn't mean you get to attack my bestie like that!" Alya yells.

"Oh, would you grow up?!" Marinette growls, gesturing wildly, "This isn't some tv show where every action I take is because of some boy! Despite what you may think, I have a life outside of a romantic one!"

"Sure, so the fact that you've finally dropped the kicked puppy act has nothing to do with the fact that Adrien isn't here?" Alya retorts.

Marinette stares at her. "What."

"Please. Do you think we're stupid? Everything you've ever done has been an act to gain sympathy. Thankfully, we had Lila to open up our eyes. All those times you pretended to do nice things? They were all so that we'd like you, honestly-"

"Do you even hear what you're saying? You're delusional! You think that was all an act? Do you think I pushed myself down the stairs and sprained my own wrist for sympathy points from a class that already hated me and a boy who wasn't even there?!"

Alya opens her mouth to argue, but Marinette isn't finished, "No! No! You do not get to downplay my feelings or how I was treated! Do any of you even realize how long it took me to properly heal from all that?!"

"It was just a few bruises-"
"Emotionally! I didn't even think that the people hanging out with me regularly for months even considered me their friend despite how obvious it was until I heard them call me that when they didn't know I was around! I spent months feeling like any slip up would cause a repeat performance of what happened here! Do you have any idea how tiring that is? The effects it can have on someone?!"

Alya's face softens, and she looks concerned for a moment. It really hadn't occurred to her that Marinette might have been the victim. Then Lila speaks, "N-nice story, but I'm sure A-Alya won't fall for it the way L-L-Ladybug d-did."

Alya scowls, sympathy gone, "Of course not. Unlike anyone dense enough to like you wherever you go now-"

"I do not appreciate you insulting the entire population of the school we attend," Felix interrupts.

Marinette turns to see Felix, Allan and Claude standing in the doorway, each of them looking beyond furious. She beams, running to give them all a tight hug.

"Now, whether or not you'll excuse us, we have better things to do than try and carve stone with a stick," Claude retorts as they turn away.

Down the hall a little ways, Allan is hugging Marinette tightly, and the girl is giggling slightly.

"Allan, it's okay, I'm fine."

"Still gonna' hug you, 'Nette. I can't believe that of all the times you had to run int' them it was the one time we weren't there."

Claude races over and joins the hug, and Felix just smiles at his friends.

When they separate, Claude looks at Marinette worriedly, "We heard some of that before we arrived. Did you really spend months thinking we didn't consider you our friend?"

Marinette's face colors a little and she looks away slightly, "In hindsight it was kind of dumb, but yeah. I thought you were all just being nice."

"Nope!" Allan hugs her again, "You need more hugs."

"For sure!" Claude agrees.

She only laughs, returning the gesture. When she's finally freed, Felix gives her a quick one as well, having waited out the group hugs.

"Let's not let them ruin our fun, I can keep showing you around!" Marinette suggests. The others readily agree, and they all move on. Lila and Alya aren't their priority at the moment.

Soon enough, it's almost time for the performance, so they go over their final preparations to reveal Lila once and for all.

"Alright, so first we show the slide with the public records proving she was in Paris when she was 'traveling', then her interview so that Jagged and Ali will speak up, then we can play the museum recording, and by then her mom will probably have some choice words, and by that time the police will have arrived, anything else?"
"Nah, too much could over do it. We've got plenty more evidence if it's needed though," Allan says.

"Ms. Marinette! I was 87.3% certain you would show up for this event!"

The four turn to see a small robot floating nearby, "I wish to speak with you! I believe that Max is ill, as he seems to be suffering from delusions. He caught it from his classmates and I noted that you had immunity, and was wondering if you could help me!"

"You're adorable," Claude whispers.

"Markov!" Marinette greets the robot, "Actually, you might be able to help…"

The concert is over, and everyone did splendidly - to the surprise of no one at all. Allegra is back with her friends, and they're all congratulating her.

It's bittersweet in that Adrien can't be with them yet.

The large projected image on the wall glitches, catching everyone's attention. For a moment, it seems as if it goes back to normal, before it glitches again, changing to show a very different image this time.

Displayed on the wall are the dates in which Lila had supposedly been traveling with her mother. Directly next to them are public records showing her mother had been in Paris.

Some quiet murmurs begin to get around. Mostly confusion, either visitors who didn't even know of Lila, or people beginning to suspect the truth.

Next is a video, straight from the Ladyblog (someone had saved all the posts and made a site to act as an archive), of Lila claiming to know Jagged Stone and Prince Ali. This had been a 'special feature', a two-in-one interview of Lila talking about both of them in one clip.

"Oh yes, Jagged and I are very close. Basically best friends - well, after Ladybug of course - we first met when I saved his kitten from a runway. That's when I got tinnitus. Anyways, I met with Prince Ali soon after because that's actually why I'd been at the airport. Ali and I basically grew up together and I was on my way to visit."

She continues, blabbering on about both celebrities for some time.

When it ends, there's an outraged cry from the back, "That's so not rock n' roll! I've never met that girl, and she makes me sound like some creep! That's defamation! Not cool!"

The crowd turns to see a fuming Jagged and Penny. Soon after, another woman stands, Prince Ali beside her, "Prince Ali would never associate with such a blatant liar. His only childhood friends are in Achu."

The murmurs get louder, until a voice calls over the noise, "Lila Diablo Rossi, what is the meaning of this?! You haven't been traveling, you said the school was closed! You said that Ladybug was incapable and that Paris was unsafe!"

Mrs. Rossi is fuming, trying to spot her daughter in the crowd. Everyone is furious now, because no one gets to speak about the city's heroes like that.

Before anyone else can speak up, the screen changes again. There's some text, with audio playing in the background.

The following audio was recorded when Ms. Lila Rossi happened to find a former classmate at the Louvre. This classmate had always claimed Lila was lying, and Ms. Rossi drove them out of the school through intense bullying. It has been edited to keep this person anonymous.

"-is you! Here I thought this would be a boring field trip! This is a spectacular surprise though!

"See, I told you I knew what I was doing. No one's seen you in months and they all still hate your guts - rightfully so of course."

There are footsteps as the speaker approaches the phone.

"You know, they call me their everyday Ladybug now? I'm honestly insulted - not only did they give me your old dumb title, but they're comparing me to her. They were that is, until I changed that.

"Look at you! You're pathetic! I can't believe I considered you a legitimate threat to me. I could have just left you be and they would have eventually left you in their own time.

"Those morons could walk in right now and would still believe me if I told them you attacked me. They just despise you that much. Not that I can blame them - you're just so detestable."

There's a stunned silence as everyone takes in what they just heard. The doors burst open, Ladybug and Chat Noir stand tall, accompanied by multiple policemen and people in suits with stern faces.

Ladybug steps forward, "Lila Rossi. You are under arrest for working with and assisting a known terrorist for your own personal gain."

You could have heard a pin drop.

"There has been plenty of circumstantial evidence, but Chat and I never had any substantial proof. Then, a civilian got footage of you capturing an akuma and using it to akumatize yourself."

The room erupts. People are shouting and screaming, Mrs. Rossi looks shell-shocked. The crowd pushes the girl forward, and she's fighting.

"No! You can't do this! I have immunity!"

"No. No you don't," Mrs. Rossi manages.

Lila pales. "...what?"

Her mother doesn't respond, looking faint.

"I'm Gabriel Agreste's future daughter-in-law! There's no way-"

Chat interrupts, "Oh yes, that. We know all about that. The deal you made? We aren't sure of the exact details, whether you made a deal with Mr. Agreste or with Hawkmoth who went after Mr. Agreste, but we know. Adrien was forced into that relationship, so there's probably a few more charges to add to your list since you were well aware that he didn't like you in that way."
"Sexual harassment isn't okay," Ladybug chimes in, "And surely you're aware that's what you were doing?"

At this point people have their phones out and are recording the whole thing. One of the people with stern faces steps forward, "Mrs. Rossi, you may want to come with us."

She nods, following the procession weakly.

Ladybug and Chat take off. Soon enough, Marinette and Adrien slip back inside, showing up behind their friends, "Look who I found!"

Adrien waves awkwardly, though no one notices as he's crushed in a tight group hug. He laughs happily as he returns the hug, it's good to be back.

The moment he's released, a yellow blur nearly knocks him to the ground.

"Hey, Chlo'."

She hides her face, and while she may be silent, he can tell she's likely crying. After about a minute or so though, she pulls away, looking as pristine as ever.

"Well, I say we get out of this place and away from these utterly ridiculous people."

No one argues, and they head outside, quickly heading into the bakery. Adrien is ushered inside Marinette's room where he's bombarded with more hugs, everyone talking at once.

After they separate, they find their own spots to sit, and Marinette turns to the model, "So, what do you want to do?"

He hesitates, unsure, "Hmm… video games?"

"Yeah!" Claude cheers.

Marinette gets the stuff out and offers a controller to Adrien. Felix opts out, and conveniently enough, Allegra and Chloe are also left to wait. The girls sit next to each other, blushing lightly and pointedly not looking at each other.

Allegra's hand lightly moves to rest over Chloe's. She turns to look at their hands, then back to the braided girl beside her, who is suddenly very invested in the game. Chloe smiles, turning back to the screen as well.

Neither notice Felix sneakily taking a picture and sending it to the group chat.

Earlier:

Today's the day! Alya is so excited for the competition! It'll be fun to see Adrien perform, and maybe they can hang out afterwards. Lila has been an absolute godsend when it comes to convincing Gabriel to allow Adrien more free time.

It's such a shame that she sprained her wrist again and can't conduct the concert as she usually would.

Lila is nervous that all her usual bandmates wouldn't be happy to see her, seeing as she 'abandoned them' so Alya is comforting her in an empty classroom.

"Lila, I promise, no one-"

The door opens.

She steps in.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Alya can only stare, unprepared for this. Some traitorous part of her is happy to see her. Missed her.

Alya is disgusted with herself.

Lila shudders, attempting to hide behind her real friend. That's all it takes to shake Alya from her stupor, she pats Lila gently and turns to her former bestie.

"What are you doing here, Monsternette?"

She sighs. "I'm here for the concert."

Lila gasps. "I won't let you harass my boyfriend!"

Alya's heart goes out to her. Even when faced with Marinette. Her love and loyalty to Adrien shows no bounds. Alya is relieved that she is beginning to make progress. When it had been several months and Lila hadn't seemed to recover at all from Marinette's bullying, the class feared that the damage done was irreversible.

Marinette scowls, glaring at the two, as if they were the bad guys here. "I'm not the one harassing Adrien, and he's not your boyfriend willingly!"

Oh she did not just-

Lila's self-esteem is bad enough, and she's confessed to Lila that she worries people will think she's not worthy of dating someone as great as Adrien. Alya wonders if Marineitte was the source of that, because though they haven't seen her in a while, it certainly sounds like something she would do.

"Just because you're some jealous creep, doesn't mean you get to attack my bestie like that!" Alya yells.

"Oh, would you grow up?!" Marinette growls, gesturing wildly, "This isn't some tv show where every action I take is because of some boy! Despite what you may think, I have a life outside of a romantic one!"

But there is no other explanation! Alya wants to shout. Why else would someone like Marinette bully someone like Lila?! Some part of her- some jealous part of her reached out and corrupted the rest of her, dragging that sweet girl that Alya once knew into some pit of cruelty.

Alya had been her best friend long enough to know that Marinette can go to extremes when it's something she cares about.

Even if she shouldn't care.

Even if it isn't her business.

"Sure, so the fact that you've finally dropped the kicked puppy act has nothing to do with the fact that Adrien isn't here?" Alya retorts.

The other girl looks at her incredulously. "What."

"Please. Do you think we're stupid? Everything you've ever done has been an act to gain sympathy." If Alya had to tell the truth, she'd admit that she'd been… hesitant to believe at first that all of the nice things Marinette had done were just a ruse. Of course, now there's no other explanation. People don't just change personalities like a switch. If Lila's testimonies were anything to go by, Marinette is not the girl they all thought she was. "Thankfully, we had Lila to open up our eyes. All those times you pretended to do nice things? They were all so that we'd like you, honestly-"

"Do you even hear what you're saying? You're delusional! You think that was all an act? Do you think I pushed myself down the stairs and sprained my own wrist for sympathy points from a class that already hated me and a boy who wasn't even there?!"

She makes good points, but it's not like Adrien wouldn't have found out! Then he would have been hovering over 'poor Marinette' for being injured! Lila had explained it! It made sense!

Or did it?

Alya opens her mouth to point this out, but Marinette cuts her off, "No! No! You do not get to downplay my feelings or how I was treated! Do any of you even realize how long it took me to properly heal from all that?!"

This time Alya does get a chance to point out the inaccuracies. "It was just a few bruises-"
"Emotionally!" Marinette interjects, "I didn't even think that the people hanging out with me regularly for months even considered me their friend despite how obvious it was until I heard them call me that when they didn't know I was around! I spent months feeling like any slip up would cause a repeat performance of what happened here! Do you have any idea how tiring that is? The effects it can have on someone?!"

Oh god. Was it possible? Had they been wrong all along?! But… then they'd… Marinette had-

Lila whimpers. "N-nice story, but I'm sure A-Alya won't fall for it the way L-L-Ladybug d-did."

Alya scowls. She's disgusted with herself for almost falling for that. "Of course not. Unlike anyone dense enough to like you wherever you go now-"

"I do not appreciate you insulting the entire population of the school we attend," A vaguely familiar blonde boy interrupts.

Marinette's face lights up at the three boys who have occupied the doorway. She rushes to hug them, and one of them speaks.

"Now, whether or not you'll excuse us, we have better things to do than try and carve stone with a stick."

And then they're gone.

Lila had never understood why villains in stories were described as 'cackling' until she'd started doing this.

The pure power she feels every time she gets her latest sheep to turn against one of their own.

The way the target she chooses looks.

Utterly broken.

Completely destroyed.

It's sensational!

It's marvelous and she's completely addicted.

It had been borne of boredom, but now it's her very lifeblood. A high that never ends.

Until it does.

She's stricken with horror, unable to do anything but stare at the projected images on the screen.

How?!

She's been doing this for forever, and she'd never been caught by anyone other than a few insignificant brats. They'd been dealt with.

Her own mother didn't even know!

And now…

Everything is fast forward and everything is slow motion.

The crowd pushes her forward and she finally remembers herself.

She is Lila Rossi. She's made of stronger stuff than this! So she fights, because that's all she has left. Pure animal instinct to kick and scream and shout.

"No! You can't do this! I have immunity!"

"No. No you don't," her mother whispers.

Lila feels her remaining spirit drain away. "...what?"

At her mother's silence Lila pulls herself together. Fine. So no diplomatic immunity. That's fine. She can still work without that. She's got her will. There's always a way out. She is better than these imbeciles! They can't just treat her like a commoner! A nobody!

"I'm Gabriel Agreste's future daughter-in-law! There's no way-"

Then Chat Noir speaks and all the rest of her hope disappears. She's lost everything.

She doesn't bother fighting anymore, submitting to the authorities.

There's no use anymore. This is her end.

It's all come crashing down.

Alya is next to Lila when it happens. The screen glitches and changes.

Everything changes.

Lila lied, and they all turned on Marinette.

Marinette, who had done nothing.

Nothing at all to deserve this.

Marinette who had done nothing.

Nothing to get back at them for all the pain they'd caused.

She'd just left them. Slipped out of their lives, and carried away like a leaf in the wind.

She had every right to be furious with them, and instead she just walked away.

Left them.

Alya knows she should be beyond pissed, though she's not sure if it would be for Lila, or for what they all did for Lila, or even solely for herself.

And yet…

The guilt is what hits her first, and once it digs its dark claws into the pit of her stomach that's all she can feel. Her heart feels torn to shreds and her knees can barely support her. With the guilt comes the shame, and it's not nearly as potent but it's just the cherry on top.

She's not paying attention, because nothing matters right now because good god what did they do to Marinette?!

In a few hours time, Marinette and her friends are all decorating cookies in the kitchen.

One drops, and it breaks apart. Claude grins, and Allegra glares at them.

"Well, I guess-"

"Don't. You already-!"

"-that's just the way the cookie crumbles!"

Allegra sighs defeatedly. Adrien looks up. "What do you call it when you use a deer-shaped cookie cutter?"

Allan smiles. "What?"

"A cookie doe!"

Marinette and Allegra sigh. Felix just shakes his head.

"This is really friend-chip goals, huh?"

"Claude, these are sugar cookies," Felix remarks drily.

"Hey, why did the Oreo go to the dentist?" Adrien turns to Claude.

They feign innocence as they turn to him, "Why?"

"To get his filling replaced!"

It's almost impressive how many puns they get through without repeating while everyone finishes the cookies.

When the cookies are done, they turn on the TV, finding a news broadcast. Nadja Chamack is turning to the camera seriously.

"Shocking news in Paris today. If you're just tuning in, you're going to want to stay. During a musical arts competition at Collège Françoise Dupont, it was revealed that one Lila Rossi has been actively working with Hawkmoth himself for sometime now, doing everything from akumatizing herself, to manipulating others to be prone to akumatization themselves.."

"This is called karma, bitch!" Chloe cheers from where she and Allegra are sitting together.

"Language!" Adrien calls. The blonde only sticks her tongue out defiantly.

"Ms. Rossi is being held outside of the city pending investigation, but authorities assure us that this was investigated thoroughly before they made the public arrest. Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves assisted in the investigation, revealing that Ms. Rossi's motivation was, in part, forcing Adrien Agreste to be her boyfriend. That's right folks, Paris' favorite couple has been revealed to be nothing more than an abusive relationship consisting of an involuntary victimized Adrien Agreste and a teen terrorist in the making."

Everyone cheers at that.

"The Agreste brand has issued a brief public statement saying that they are unaffiliated with Hawkmoth, and that they were unaware of Ms. Rossi's crimes. Adrien's location is unknown. It is assumed he is taking a break from the media spotlight, and everyone agrees that after going through what is now known to be regular sexual harassment, he certainly deserves the break. Gabriel Agreste is under public fire for how Adrien was treated and some theorize he could be a close accomplice to Hawkmoth, if not the man himself. He is not the only one under fire though, as it was revealed that Collège Françoise Dupont allowed Ms. Rossi to get away with an astonishing amount of offenses while enrolled there. She faked disabilities, missed months of school with no real proof of where she was, and even caused one of her former classmates to leave the school due to the intense bullying she received while there. Speaking both as a mother and a friend of the child's family, I am appalled that such behavior was not only allowed, but actively encouraged. Authorities assure us that investigations are underway - both into the school and the Agrestes, but many can't help but feel that this is not enough. No amount of investigation can undo the pain caused by this individual."

The broadcast continues, but the group tunes it out. Marinette sighs, "She's gone. She's gone and she won't be coming back!"

"Finally." Chloe rolls her eyes.

"It is a relief," Felix comments, "that we will not have to deal with her nonsense anymore."

"I'm glad that those awful classmates won't have any reason to bother you now Mari," Allegra sighs.

"About that…" Marinette raises a finger hesitantly. Allegra and Adrien look at her, while the other boys just frown. Chloe scowls.

"Yeah, they had a run-in before the performance," Claude sighs.

"What did they do?" The two blondes say in unison.

"Nothing really," Marinette shrugs. Adrien disagrees, if the way he hugs her tighter is anything to go by.

"We got separated and she ran into them in a classroom. Lie-la was up to her usual tricks, and Alya was defending her from Mari," Claude starts.

"She held her own pretty well, but we got her outta' there once we got there." Allan smiles at the pigtailed girl proudly.

"Then she was hugged," Felix states a-matter-of-factly.

Claude looks at Marinette meaningfully, asking permission. She understands and nods.

They sigh, "We also found out that Marinette didn't think we considered her a friend for a few months."

"Apparently, we were just being nice," Allan remarks.

Allegra squawks, turning to Marinette, who is being held even tighter by the model beside her, "I will come over there and hug the low self-esteem out of you!"

"Already on it," Adrien says. Marinette giggles as Allegra hugs her too.

Chloe is fuming, "Ugh, I think Queen Bee should come out of retirement just so Pollen and I can sting some people. Both of those wannabe faux foxes and their lackeys."

Allegra turns to her, though still hugging her friend, "I think Honey Bee would be perfectly willing to do that herself."

"I don't think Kit Mime deserves to be compared to either of them," Allan pipes up. Claude smiles.

"No superheroes are going to do anything to anyone," Marinette reprimands. Adrien recognizes her Ladybug Voice™.

Chloe sticks her tongue out, "You're not the boss of me. I'm also not hearing any protests to me just beating them up without the miraculous."

Marinette glares at her.

"I don't think you need to do much," Adrien interjects, "I'm sure it won't take much convincing for Chat Noir to pay them a visit."

"These are all wonderful ideas." Felix nods approvingly.

Marinette sighs in defeat.

Adrien and Marinette wave at everyone as they go, each with their own share of cookies (Chloe with extras for Sabrina). Marinette turns to him, "When do you have to-"

His phone rings, and he sighs, "Speak of the devil."

She waits, watching. He keeps his face impassive as he hangs up and turns to her.

"Well?"
"Father says that it may be for the best to 'hide from the media' here if it's alright with your parents," he reveals, grinning cheekily once he's finished speaking.

She hugs him, "He's basically bribing you with a sleepover, but right now I'm just glad that you get to stay over!"

Hurrying inside, she calls to her parents, "Maman? Papa? Can Adrien stay the night?""

Sabine pokes her head out from a doorway, "Of course, dear!"

That's all Marinette needs to hear before she leads Adrien upstairs to her room hurriedly.

"If you're not careful, I might just think you're excited to have me over, Princess." He smirks.

"I am! Usually you're stuck in my room! Not to mention that you're finally free from her."

"I'm with her, Kid," Plagg mutters lazily.

"I'm so proud of both of you! Both of you went through terrible things that you didn't deserve at all, and you made it out without even being akumatized. You deserve a break!" Tikki chirps, "I'm so sorry you had to go through all that."

Marinette smiles softly, petting Tikki until the Kwami smiles again, "It's not your fault, Tikki."

Tikki just looks at her mournfully, and the two Gods fly off to speak, giving their charges a break.

Adrien flops across Marinette, looking at her happily. She's about to tease him when he slow blinks at her and she blushes lightly. He grins, then grins more when she returns the blink.

He snuggles against her, purring happily. She laughs, her hands finding his hair. They sit contentedly in silence for a little bit until Adrien notices Marinette drooping slightly, holding back a yawn. They've been sitting together for a while, his head in her lap while she scratches his scalp idly. She's slowed, and stares forward blankly, blinking slowly every so often and seemingly just a few moments from dropping to the floor. She doesn't realize she's been found out yet, continuing to scratch where his cat ears would be.

He frowns, she wouldn't normally hide being tired, unless-

"Marinette, I thought I made you promise not to overwork yourself," he reprimands.

She flushes slightly, "What are you talking about? I'm fine."

"You're exhausted. When was the last time you slept, and how much sleep have you been getting most nights?" He sits up, studying her.

She slumps, knowing there's no use trying to hide it. "I technically never promised. I just wanted to make sure that this went smoothly. For your information though, I slept last night." She sticks out her tongue at him.

"How long?"

"...four hours. Three or less for the past week and a half?"

He gives her a look, and she just grins sheepishly. Shaking his head in feigned exasperation, he scoops her up into his arms. She kicks her feet, "Hey! I don't need to go to bed, I can just sleep in tomorrow!"

"Yes, yes you do need to sleep now. I know how awful being overworked is, but you don't have someone making sure you have time for sleep, so I will be doing that."

She harrumphs, wrinkling her nose.

He reaches the top of the steps to her bed, turning and flopping backwards onto the mattress. The pair bounce slightly, and Adrien lets Marinette go to allow her to get into a more comfortable position.

"Oh, so you're planning on just watching me to make sure I sleep?" Marinette teases.

Adrien shuts his eyes. "Nope. I'm a cat, so I'll take any o-purr-tunity I can to nap."

He knows she rolled her eyes, even if he can't see her. She lies down next to him, huffing so he knows just how awful he is for having the audacity to make her rest properly.

After a few minutes, he feels the mattress shift as she carefully sits up, trying to go down and presumably work on some project. His eyes fly open, and he grabs her wrist. "Excuse you, I believe you're supposed to be sleeping. I guess we'll be doing this the hard way then."

Before she can protest, he pulls her arm out from under her, catching her as gravity pulls her down.

"I'm not tired."

"That's because you're being a stubborn baby bug."

She scoffs, "Alley cat!"

"And proud of it," he murmurs, pressing his face into her hair.

He leans against her pillows, dragging her with him so that she's farther from the edge of the loft. Nestling her head under his, she reaches her arm over to give him a sideways hug. His other arm is wrapped around her back, and he carefully undoes her loose pigtails with his fingers. She hums appreciatively.

"I'm not tired you know," she mumbles.

He just purrs louder, holding her closer.

She yawns, "Still… not…"

She never finishes the sentence.

Adrien grins, hearing her breathing beginning to even out. He rubs soothing circles on her back, trying to get her to rest sooner. He knows he was successful when her soft breathes line up with the pattern of sleep.

It's not long before he goes the same way.

Notes:

There's a lot happening here, where do I even begin?
Anyone curious as to Lila's middle name? It means 'devil'. Very fitting.
Don't you love it when the resident supervillain is too busy doing PR to cause anything?
Sabrina is with her father, sipping her tea and watching Lila's world burn.
I sincerely hope you all enjoyed this long awaited chapter! As I said in the beginning note, I'm not satisfied with it. Something just feels off, but who knows? I could be crazy! I hope this lived up to all the hype! 💖
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 36: Apologies

Summary:

Marinette's former classmates finally apologize.

Notes:

Here we are! Not all of the classmate's apologies are seen here, but they all do apologize (to Marinette. Adrien gets separate apologies). We've got a strong language warning for 'fuck', but I'm also giving a heads up that Claude's chaotic energy is strong in this chapter. My friend was ready to riot.
I love my child.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"He's probably sleeping on the chaise," Allegra guesses. The four of them are back at the bakery, and Tom and Sabine told them that Adrien stayed the night.

"I'm glad that he got t' stay somewhere other than his house," Allan remarks as they climb up to Marinette's room.

Claude is the first to note the empty chaise, and they grin. Putting his hand to his mouth in excitement, he hurries to the loft, fist pumping and cheering quietly. Taking out his phone, he squeals, "Guyssss, they're cuddling."

After taking ample pictures, they hop back down so the others can see. All three of them take more pictures.

Adrien is lying on his back, head against the pillows. Marinette is tucked under his chin, arm thrown over his chest, mouth slightly agape. Adrien's right arm is hugging her back, and their legs are somewhat tangled together.

"This is precious." Allegra bounces where she stands, looking over the pictures.

"I almost want to let 'em sleep," Allan comments.

"Almost," Claude repeats, going back to the loft, "Mari, Adrien, it's morning!"

The two don't react, but a few more calls of their names and some gentle jostling of the mattress prompts Adrien to open his eyes. Blinking a few times to clear the sleep from his eyes, he brings a hand to face, rubbing at his eyes with the heel of his hand.

"Hey, Claude."

"Hello, sleeping beauty. You rest well?" they tease.

Adrien smiles softly, mumbling, "Better than I would've back at the house. B'sides, Mari'd been overworkin' herself again. Had t' make 'er sleep prop'rly…"

"That's nothing new," Allan sighs, "I think you're the only one who can actually convince her to sleep, Adrien."

"It's a gift."

"You guys are adorable." Allegra shakes her head.

"Mostly Marinette though." Adrien stretches, sitting up properly. The girl in question doesn't wake, just mumbling sleepily and slipping off his chest, "Mari, it's time to get up."

He pokes her a few times, but she just bats his hand away, grumbling.

Claude snickers.

"Marinette, come on." Adrien lifts her to a sitting position, she opens her eyes to glare at him. Noticing Claude, she waves lightly.

"Hello to you too, Princess Charming."

She sighs, sitting up on her own, "I guess it's morning?"

"No, it is midnight," Felix deadpans.

The friends snicker and the three make their way down from the loft. Allegra holds up her phone, "We all have pictures of you two being absolutely precious, so we can send them to you. Maybe for your wedding?"

Marinette sticks her tongue out defiantly, "Maybe, we'll just elope."

"Claude would still find out, then they'd just drag us all there to be there. Y' can't escape from Claude," Allan retorts.

"Nope! No escape from me!" Claude hugs Marinette tightly, making her laugh.

"Did you guys eat dinner before you went to sleep?" Allan looks at them suspiciously.

Adrien rubs his neck. "Uh… do cookies count?"

"No." Allegra crosses her arms.

Claude lifts Marinette off the floor slightly. "The babies need to eat!" He cries.

Marinette kicks her feet fruitlessly, unable to reach the floor.

"Shortie," Claude teases.

She scoffs, "Excuse you!"

"All in agreement with Claude's statement, say 'aye'," Adrien announces, raising his hand.

There's a chorus of 'aye's from everyone, making Marinette scowl.

"Betrayal. Complete and utter betrayal."

The friends are wandering around the city, no real plans for the day. The citizens of Paris have been kind enough to leave Adrien alone when they notice him. When they make their way to the Trocadéro, they spot Max, Alix, and Kim.

Marinette studies them. Max is sitting on a low wall with a laptop and several notebooks surrounding him. He looks frazzled, and is repeatedly looking to his calculator to calculate something. Markov floats above him, seemingly in a better state than his maker.

Alix is skating in tight circles, gesturing wildly and speaking in a rushed, anxious voice to Kim. The boy is pacing, talking with her as well.

Markov spots the group of six first, smiling and waving in a friendly manner, but doesn't mention their presence to the three teens he is with.

Marinette stands straighter, squaring her shoulders and walking closer. Her friends follow behind her, but walk a little ways away to give her space. They're careful to keep an eye on the three classmates.

They haven't earned any trust.

"Kim. Alix. Max," she nods at each of them, and they turn to stare at her, "Hey, Markov! Good to see you again!"

"Ms. Marinette!" He greets her, flying over, "Thank you! The plan worked, Max and his friends have been cured!"

The three in question continue to stare at her, seemingly frozen.

Marinette smiles, turning to gesture at her group. "That's good to hear. Do you remember my friends?"

The robot nods, flying over to them. "Of course! I am programmed to recall any human or animal I am introduced to! Greetings, Allan, Claude, Felix, and Adrien!" He turns to the braided girl, "By my calculations, you must be Allegra! It is nice to have properly viewed your face!"

She smiles, "Nice to meet you too!"

"Marinette!" Alix is the first to break from her stupor, running to the girl. When Marinette noticeably stiffens, seemingly preparing for something, Alix stops. "I'm so sorry."

Marinette just stares at her, waiting.

"I- We- I never should have believed her. Lila. None of us should have! All of her stories were complete nonsense! I should have known that you'd never do the things she said you did! You were the best part of our class, and we fell apart without you, I- I'm just so sorry, and she did horrible things, and I just- I don't know how to say how sorry I am."

Marinette sighs, then speaks flatly, "You're right. You shouldn't have believed her. You shouldn't have treated me the way you did. I didn't deserve it, and even if I did do those things you wouldn't have achieved anything besides just causing more hurt." She turns to speak to all three of them, "I could honestly press charges, on many counts for so many of you. I'm not going to though, because I can guarantee that the hurt you're all feeling now is merely a fraction of the pain all of you caused me, and I wouldn't want to draw that out any longer for anyone - even Lila. Maybe someday, years from now, I can forgive you, maybe we can be friends, but there's no undoing what happened, and we'll never be as close as we used to be."

Alix nods in understanding, then shakes her head, "You shouldn't. None of us deserve that, after what we did."

Marinette shrugs. "Maybe not."

"Marinette?" Kim steps forward, "I'm sorry too - we all are. There wasn't any reason for us to believe her over you, especially since you were, well, you. You were our class president, our everyday Ladybug-"

"Oh, fuck, she turned us against Ladybug!" Alix whispers in horror.

"-and you didn't deserve any of it, I'm sorry."

"Thank you, Kim."

He nods sorrowfully, stepping back and fidgeting with the strings of his hoodie.

Max steps forward, looking down focusing on cleaning his glasses on his shirt. "M-Marinette. I apologize. Ever since the concert, I've been trying to run through my calculations to figure out where I went wrong. None of this makes sense, and logistically, I should have figured it out. Especially since Markov was so confused- I- He- He'd say that things weren't adding up, and I would brush it off as a glitch in his system or a computer error. I should have known to factor in human error." His normally steady voice is shaky, and he can barely keep it steady, staring at her with teary eyes.

Marinette's heart can't resist the urge to comfort him. She knows they don't deserve to be comforted, but she hates seeing people upset.

She opens her arms slightly in an offer of a hug, and he nods shakily, hugging her tightly. Alix races over and just about knocks them over when she joins them. Kim, not to be outdone, does the same, and the four teens hold each other for a long moment.

It feels like goodbye.

They separate, Max and Kim blinking furiously and Alix with tears running down her face shamelessly. Marinette gives her one last tight hug before turning to head to her friends.

"Adrien?"

The model turns at Alix's soft call. He waits.

"I've met so many creeps at the museum, I should have been able to recognize Lila for what she was. I'm sorry that you had to go through that, you didn't deserve that. I'm sorry we helped her, I'm sorry we ignored you, and I'm sorry for being blind. I- I hope you have a better life, with better friends. They seem pretty great." She wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand, smiling sadly. The boys nod sincerely.

Adrien turns slightly, looking back at his new group. Marinette has tears in her eyes, but she's smiling wide, which is a look he's grown accustomed to being on her face. Allan is hugging her tightly, and Allegra is talking with her. Claude is cracking puns - if Felix's disappointed face and Allegra's scowl is anything to go by. Claude glances up and raises an eyebrow at him, making sure he's okay. He nods, and the other boy grins, turning back to the others.

"Yeah. Yeah, they are."

"Cereal is a soup though!" Claude insists.

Felix and Allegra sigh in unison.

Allan shrugs, "I'm with Claude, it's definitely a soup."

"Thank you!"

"But it's not!" Marinette cuts in, "By definition, soup is-"

"-a liquid dish-" Claude interrupts.

Marinette ignores them, continuing, "-a liquid dish typically made by boiling meat, fish, vegetables, in stock or water! Do you boil your Cheerios, Claude?"

"'Typically made'!" Allan quotes.

"Not to mention," Claude starts, "The definition had an 'etc' after the list of what you add, which leaves it open to interpretation!"
"Mari, you can't avoid the truth. Cereal-"

"-is not a soup!" Allegra, Felix, and Marinette speak over him.

"-is a soup." Adrien finishes.

"By your logic, the Seine is a soup of river water and boats!" She gestures wildly to the river beside them.

"It does have fish!" Allan raises a finger, gesturing to show he thinks she has a point.

"Well, duh," Claude adds.

Adrien puts an arm around Marinette's shoulder, "Good to have you on our side, Marinette."

"I want a divorce!" She goes over to Allegra, staring at the ground, "Kill me. Kill me now. The Seine is not a soup."

Allegra hugs her, patting her on the back comfortingly.

"What was that, Ma-Ma-Marinette? I live on a soup?"

Marinette wheels around, turning to the blue-haired boy leaning over the railing of the Liberty. "Luka! You're smart and reasonable! Please tell them that cereal isn't a soup! Neither is the Seine."

He hums, closing his eyes and strumming on his guitar. "I think… that anything can be a soup if you truly believe."

Marinette stares at him in shock for a moment, then throws her hands up in the air and walks away, "Nope! Nope! Can't do this! I'm out! Sayonara! Goodbye! Farewell! Au revoir!"

Her friends snicker. She turns back and returns, sighing.

"Ignoring your blatant lies, how are you? It's been a while."

"Pretty good. Better now that Jules isn't under that siren song anymore," He smiles at her, "Thanks for that, by the way."

She raises an eyebrow, "How'd you know I was responsible?"

"That whole thing had your song written all over it. I was there."

Allegra snaps her fingers, pointing at Luka. "That's where I know you from! You were a part of the competition!"

He nods, "Yeah." He strums on his guitar, thinking over something for a moment, "You were… with the flutes? Adrien was on piano, obviously."

She nods.

"How are you?" Luka asks Marinette, "Your song is… different. A good different."

Allegra, Claude, Allan, and Felix seem confused by his meaning.

"Much better than I was, now that I'm out of Dupont."

"They wouldn't let your song soar. You were forced into a decrescendo that threw everything else off. Now?" He nods approvingly, "It's much better."

"You didn't know me before Dupont," she points out.

"Anyone can tell when the music is wrong."

She tilts her head and squints at him, "Hmm."

"Uh, what song?" Claude interjects.

Marinette shrugs, unsure how to explain.

"Jules and Rose are ready to see you," Luka says out of the blue, "You can head on back to them, Jules is probably expecting you."

Marinette smiles, turning to her friends. "I'll be back. Luka can explain his whole song thing while I'm gone." She waves as she boards the boat, heading down to Juleka's room.

It opens slightly when she knocks, and the girls inside wave her in.

Rose looks close to tears, and Juleka isn't much better.

"We're so sorry," the taller girl manages. "Luka had always told me to be careful near Lila, and I just… never believed him, never cared. You were always so you, I should have known better than to think you'd do what she said you did."

The designer smiles weakly.

Rose finally breaks, sobbing and rushing to hug Marinette tightly. She can make out some of the muffled apology, and gets the gist of it. She returns the hug, which only seems to make Rose cry harder.

"W-we d-don't des-deserve y-y-y-you!"

Marinette just continues to comfort her as best she can until the girl quiets down. Rose goes to sit next to Juleka, who now has a few tears rolling down her cheeks silently.

"I won't deny that you guys hurt me. Deeply. It took me months to recover from that properly, and I'm not sure if I'm even done healing yet. I… I can't even begin to describe how… awful it got. I don't hate you-"

"You should," Juleka argues, "You should."

Marinette sighs, "What would that achieve? No, I'm not going to continue this cycle. I don't forgive you, and I'm certainly not going to forget, but I'm not going to hate you. I put enough energy into hating myself these last few months, I'm not about to waste energy that way again."

Juleka shakes her head.

They talked for a while longer, before Marinette eventually had to go. Returning to the top, she sees all of her friends chatting happily with Luka. Felix is the first to spot her and she gives him a tired smile.

Luka turns, playing something on his guitar that matches how she feels perfectly as usual.

"It was nice seeing you, Luka."

"It was nice seeing you, Marinette."

Waving goodbye, the group moves on from the houseboat. By now, it's beginning to grow dark out, and eventually the group grows smaller as more of them go home when they pass by. In the end, it's only Adrien and Marinette. He's going back to his house, but some of his stuff is at her place, so he gets to stop there first.

At the park outside of her house, her remaining former classmates are waiting. Alya isn't there, which is a relief.

They need to talk separately.

One by one, Marinette speaks with each of them, Adrien watching vigilantly by her home.

Nino is last.

"Nette? It was really uncool of me to treat you the way I did. Y-You were the best part of our class and I just let everyone throw you away. I threw you away. It- I have no excuse. Lila lied, but we didn't even question her, even when you pointed out the flaws. We ignored e-everything, and I just- I'm sorry. We grew up together, and it took a day for me to decide that meant nothing."

"Nino, I won't lie," she notices how the boy winces at the phrase, "You and Alya hurt me the most out of the entire class. You went from my best friends to my worst enemies so quickly. I'm not sure you'll ever fully understand how much that had me questioning my self worth. I spent months thinking I was nothing but some awful burden, and it was only recently that I finally realized that I didn't do anything wrong. I made so many excuses for you and none for myself. I'm not going to hate you. I've spent long enough dwelling on nothing but hate that I'm done giving energy to that. I'm not forgiving, and I'm not forgetting, I'm just tired. Tired of dealing with this situation that never should have existed in the first place if my 'friends' had trusted me, tired of… a lot. Consider us a little worse off than strangers - because at least strangers haven't caused me months of emotional pain."

Nino nods tearfully. Marinette sighs. "I don't hate you. I really don't. Goodnight Nino." Giving him a quick hug, she turns to head to the bakery. Adrien meets her halfway and she just about asks him to carry upstairs because she is completely spent. Her poor sleep schedule tied with everything that happened today, it's no surprise she feels dead on her feet.

"How are you holding up, my lady?" He puts an arm around her, squeezing her a little.

"Eh," she manages.

She knows he can see through her, but she's not particularly focused on hiding her lack of energy at the moment.

"Then it's time for you to get to bed."

She nods, she really doesn't have a problem with that plan.

Notes:

Marinette is probably being too lenient on them, but she's Marinette, so what else would you expect?
Disclaimer: Claude & Co.'s opinion on cereal does not reflect the author's opinion. That said, the author would love to see where you guys stand on that matter.
Alya is next chapter, so don't worry that she's not here. Also, I'm going to try and write all/most of the remaining chapters of With Time by the end of this weekend. I want to finally get rid of that question mark. Once I have it all written I'll probably start updating more too! (Tuesday would be my extra update day, so if I do finish the story by this weekend's end, then expect Chapter 37 on Tuesday!)
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

P.S. Okay, I'm getting curious. What's your stance on soup? I, of course, went overboard and created a survey, so I guess answer it if you want?

Chapter 37: Alya

Summary:

Alya and Marinette have a very important (and long overdue) talk.

Notes:

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 🍀 Today's the day that every American tells anyone who'll listen about how they're actually kind of, sort of, partially Irish, if you, like, go back far enough to their great grandmother's cousin's half-sister who married some guy who...
Alright, that's enough of teasing my country. This chapter being posted on a holiday is purely coincidental, so there's not really any mention of it in here, also it wouldn't have been relevant.
I don't know about you guys, but the state I live in is taking the self-quarantine thing pretty seriously. I hope my chapters can help you from going too stir-crazy.
I have been writing and baking like crazy (and playing Plague Inc, because, come on, I can't not). Several colleges in Michigan are moving online. Stay safe you guys! Be sure to disinfect whichever device you're reading this on if you haven't recently.
That's enough about the coronavirus. You're all here for Alya, and I'm prepared to deliver.
Enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chloe: I heard that fake reporter was coming over to 'apologize' today, so here's some stuff to really drive your point home.

Marinette: wait where did you get those pictures

Marinette: have you had them this whole time?

Chloe: I have my ways. Don't question me Dupain-Cheng.

Adrien 3: Alya wants to know if it's a good time for her to come over.

Marinette: yeah

Adrien 3: I can tell the others, we can come over.

Adrien 3: Make sure she doesn't try anything.

Marinette: kitty.

Marinette: she won't try anything

Marinette: she just wants to talk i can handle myself

Adrien 3: Of course, I know you can.

Marinette: adrien

Adrien 3: Anyway, she's headed over. I'll let the others know so we can wait in the park and glare at her. It's the least we can do.

Marinette: or you could go about your day as usual and not bother with needless interruptions

Adrien 3: We were already going to hang out, now we're just coming by earlier. You can't run from our love and support.

Marinette: You don't need to do that.

Adrien 3: I'll make plans that have nothing to do with that then.

Hug This Boy: So who wants to go to the park outside of the bakery for reasons completely unrelated to the fact that Alya is coming over to talk to Marinette. It's just a coincidence if we go to check on Marinette afterward and maybe hurt Alya if need be.

Hug This Boy: Completely unrelated.

Patisserie Princess: Adrien.

Hug This Boy: It's so fun watching the grass grow.

Kid Mime: o absolutly

Kid Mime: its so green

The Mom Friend: yep

Melodie: So fascinating.

Felix: Most definitely.

Patisserie Princess: …

Patisserie Princess: this isn't necessary

Melodie: Well how else are we going to look at the grass that happens to be right outside your house?

Kid Mime: yea mari

Patisserie Princess: oh she's here ive got to go

Patisserie Princess: all of you are to go about your day as usual

Hug This Boy: Wow, the next event on my schedule is 'watching grass grow at the park that happens to be outside of Mari's place'.

The Mom Friend: wat a coincdence same here

"Alya," Marinette states, opening the door, "Let's go to my room."

She nods numbly, and the pair make their way upstairs, ignoring the glares from Tom and Sabine.

They both sit on the floor of her room, and they sit in silence for what feels like an eternity.

Alya breaks first.

"Mari- Marinette. I'm sorry. I was supposed to be a reporter and I didn't even bother to fact check! I just believed her because I was so- so- so infatuated with her stories! She sounded so cool! She'd been everywhere and met everyone, and then… she hadn't. It was all a lie. You were right. When the slides changed during the competition it felt like everything stopped. I couldn't even process that everything she'd told us seemed to be a lie. Everyone apologized to you yesterday, and I should have the moment I knew the truth, but I wanted to process it first because… well I mean now I'm trying to avoid acting before thinking- Not that I'm suggesting that you made anything up, or something like that! I'm not! I just wanted to make sure I had all my thoughts in order. I'm so sorry," Alya says hurriedly.

"You're not wrong," Marinette agrees, "You completely threw me out for someone you didn't even know. The whole class hurt me, but Alya… you hurt me the most. More than Lila - sure, she tore me down enough that I was definitely in a bad place… but you?" she sighs, "Do you even- Alya, do you remember the first week of school? Do you remember Thursday? Can you just… go through it with me? How did we go from making plans to… that?"

Alya is tearing up, but nods. "I didn't know anything was happening until I got there. Lila was sobbing hysterically, and she looked awful. A few of the class were already with her, and she said she had something to tell us, but wanted to wait for everyone. She said she'd already talked to Adrien. When everyone got there she said that she was being bullied. Regular insults, cyberbullying, attempts at isolating her, so much and it was all so awful. Afterwards, we were all obviously furious and spent at least five minutes convincing her to give us a name. All she managed was to say your name and then she started sobbing and wouldn't speak anymore. Then class started, and you came in like everything was normal and just made me more mad, I absolutely hated you," her voice cracks, "So when class was over we all confronted you. We thought you were lying, we thought you threw yourself down the stairs for pity points. We figured if Chloe was coming to your defense, then you must be a bully, and when you left and didn't return we just took that as you running away. Going to start over in a new place."

Alya is openly crying now, staying as quiet as she can.

"That's not how I saw it. You know, to this day my memories of it are vague, and there's like half of it I can't remember period. I spent hours just dead, staring at nothing," Marinette takes a shaky breath, preparing herself. That day is still the hardest part to talk or think about for her, even all these months later. "I went to school in a good mood, you know, because we'd talked for the first time in months and were making plans to hang out. Lila had been gone for a while and I figured that she wouldn't be back and I could have more of a break. Everything seemed normal in class, I was worried about being late, especially with Adrien gone. Then class ended. You were yelling at me, maybe Nino too? I couldn't breathe right, and I tried to leave. You grabbed my wrist and suddenly everyone was yelling, and then the door slammed. You were surprised and I twisted myself away, falling down the stairs. By then I'd realized the door slam was another person and I was scared, so I ran. Chloe and Sabrina found me in the bathroom, and from there I don't know, but others have filled me in. Chloe brought me home and apparently took pictures. Then Maman must have had me go to my room. Chat Noir said he saw me on my balcony and I was completely unresponsive. He sent me to bed, and then it was the next day." Somehow, Marinette manages to get through the story with minimal voice cracking and tears.

Alya makes a choked sound, more tears falling. After a moment she croaks, "Can I see the pictures?"

Marinette looks at her. "What? Why?"
"I deserve it. I was the reason you fell and I need to see what I did."

Marinette pauses. She didn't intend to show anyone the pictures, they were obviously upsetting. She's sitting on the counter, slumped and staring downward. She had expected her eyes to be haunted, or sad, or something like that, but they were just… empty. Nothing at all. Somehow it's worse that way.

Her red-rimmed eyes and dried tear tracks are proof of her earlier crying.

Marinette is covered in fresh bruises, on her arms, legs, and the one on her face. She got scratches near most of them, the angry red of the skin outlining and accentuating the bruises. Her wrist is clearly sprained - swelled and bruised. Her Maman is in front of her, cleaning her up as best she can, applying bandages and putting an ice pack on the wrist.

"Are you sure? You don't need to see them. They're-"

Alya nods. "I deserve it."

So Marinette turns the phone to her.

Alya covers her mouth in horror, fresh tears coming to her eyes. She won't let herself look away. She flips through each picture repeatedly, growing more and more upset. Her expression changes momentarily, confusion to sickened understanding.

"I'm so sorry," she sobs, "I'm so so so sorry. I never- There's no excuse- I- I'm so sorry."

Marinette takes the phone. Seeing the screenshots that Chloe sent, she winces. She still doesn't like reading them, somehow the pictures of her are more bearable so she switches back to those before shutting the device off.

"Why?" Marinette asks, "What on Earth was going on that day that you thought I deserved to hear those things? I wa- n-need to know."

Alya shakes her head. "There's no excuse. I… I was having a bad day, and then Lila told us that Ladybug had sided with you and I j-j-just got so mad. It felt better than just wallowing in self-pity. You s-sent that text and I just u-used you as some sort of p-personal punching bag. I t-t-texted you for a while, and then Adrien, Chloe, and Sabrina showed up. I guess Sabrina grabbed my ph-phone when I was d-distracted with Chloe and deleted your contact. I sp-spe-spent the rest of the day mad at you."

Marinette stares at a corner of her room, her voice soft. "I was at lunch. I was already having a bad day, and I had found out you deleted the Ladyblog so I was thinking about you and wondering where I went wrong and how much you guys hated me, which was honestly the usual, but moreso." Alya barely stifles a cry. "I meant to text Allegra, but I'd taken the wrong phone to school. I made myself read each text, and it was everything I'd been t-telling myself, so that was…" Marinette looks away and takes a deep breath. "My friends found me, and somehow I got to the library. I don't…. I don't really remember much until I got home, and Adrien was there and I decided to tell them why I transferred."

"I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry."

Marinette shakes her head. "I didn't have you come over so we could compare events. Alya, you were my first friend, my best friend, and you just… left me. I don't understand." Her voice cracks.

Alya reaches toward her slightly, then remembers herself and draws back. Guilt claws at her inside, and it feels like it is coursing through her veins. "I- always thought that you had deceived us. That you had somehow faked kindness and that Lila was finally showing us the truth. I was d-disgusted with myself for ha-having ever called you my friend, and I just wanted t-to d-d-do everything I c-could to make it up to Lila for it. I thought- I started avoiding you near the end of school because you seemed like you were changing for the worse. Then that first week back just seemed to prove it. I'm so sorry, Marinette."

Somehow, something about her words angers the designer. She'd been doing her best to stay calm, but something in her wants to make Alya understand how she was hurt and hurt her back.

"Oh?" Her voice is scathing, and she fakes disinterest, exaggeratingly inspecting her nails. "See, to me, I felt like I was losing my best friend. I had been so sure that Lila's threat to take all my friends away would never come true. I told myself that sure, we weren't as close, but you didn't hate me. Then I returned to school. Wednesday we made plans to hang out, do you remember? I was so hopeful after that, and then you were the first to turn. All of you just threw me out - do you have any idea how badly that messed me up? How long it took me to believe I was worthy of being cared about after that?"

Like someone watching their neighbor's house burn in the night, Alya stares as Marinette continues.

"I still haven't recovered properly! My anxiety is so much worse now, because come on, look what Lila did in less than a year! Who knows what could happen! A part of my mind is still constantly waiting for people to leave me again, and while I no longer believe it- thank goodness- actually no! Thank my friends, because they stayed. They cared about me, when I didn't even care about me and I would never have recovered without them! So yeah, while I no longer think that they'll leave me, there's a part of my mind forever wondering 'what if they do'. I thought I'd lost them before. You met them after an akuma attack and Lila was with you, and I saw them talking to you and I was so sure that they would find out about everything and then they'd start looking at me in disgust too, that I'd be forced to watch more people drift away, to lose people again, and then I'd be alone again! They didn't even know what happened yet! They found me having a panic attack and the first thing I said was that I'd prove to them that I wasn't lying! I was so desperate! I didn't want to lose them too! And…" Marinette exhales, fury dying down and giving way to exhaustion. "Look. We used to be so close, but no matter what, that can't happen again. There's a rift now. I don't hate you, and I'm not saying I never want to speak to you, maybe years from now, we could maybe be some sort of friends, but we can never be best friends again, if we ever were."

Alya nods. "Th-th-that's fine. I don't deserve you. Y-you're b-be-being too nice as it i-is."

Marinette's heart breaks. She wants to comfort her so badly, but she won't lie, and she's beginning to feel that maybe it's okay to think someone doesn't deserve her. She has value, and if people don't treat her that way, then she knows who isn't worth her time. She won't agree with the statement though, that just feels too mean, and she can't bring herself to say it to her face.

The two sit in an awkward silence for some time, interrupted only by Alya's barely stifled sniffling and sobbing. Marinette grabs her phone.

Marinette: would you be up to talking with alya?

Adrien 3: What did she do?

Marinette: r talk went fine i meant for the way she treated u.

Adrien 3: Oh.

Adrien 3: Sure.

Marinette: well be on r way down

"Alya? I think you should talk to Adrien. The way he was treated at school is inexcusable," Marinette says coldly. She flips up on the messages app as she turns off her phone.

The other girl nods shakily, and they head downstairs. When they reach the entrance to the park, it's not hard to spot her group of friends. The five of them are out on the grass, chatting with each other. Marinette walks over to them, staring down at them. "Watching the grass grow, huh?"

They all turn to look at her, there are several cries of 'Mari!' from everyone but Felix who just remarks, "Oh yes, it is indeed very intriguing."

She can see the barely concealed smirk on his face, and she just rolls her eyes. "Goodness, you guys."

"How did it go?" Allegra asks, eyeing Alya warily.

"It went fine. She's here to talk with Adrien."

Adrien nods, standing to give Marinette a quick hug before walking with Alya to the other side of the park.

"...I feel bad. She's so upset," Marinette mumbles.

Allegra hugs her tightly, and Marinette can tell she's scowling. "As she should, after what she did."

"Still."

"You care too much, that's all," Claude justifies, "Too much empathy, which isn't the worst trait to have."

"We can hate her enough for you," Allegra growls, still watching Alya.

"She doesn't deserve that. I don't want her to hate herself for this, that's not good."

"Oh, 'Nette. I'm sure she won't hate herself, prob'ly just be pretty guilty for a while." Allan reassures.

Felix adds, "Even if she did, it would not be your fault in the slightest. You cannot control what other people think."

Marinette frowns, unconvinced.

Claude musses up her hair, earning an affronted squeak from the girl. He ignores her, saying, "Anyways, do you want to hear about the grass we've been watching? I swear it's grown a whole one thousand twenty fourth of a millimeter."

"Did you actually watch grass grow?"

"Well, that's what we said we were gonna' do, isn't i'?" Allan teases.

Marinette shakes her head, sighing.

"Actually, it's technically spring right now, how are you doing?" Allegra asks.

Marinette grins. "I'm back to normal, but in a few weeks? Once flowers start blooming I'm going to be a little hyper, so prepare yourself."

"Wonderful," Felix mutters, "Two Claudes."

"You love meeeee!" Claude flops towards him, teasing.

"I suppose."

"So, is that from the same thing that makes you try to hibernate?" Allan checks.

"Yup! I really like spring! Flower crowns incoming."

"I am all for flower crowns!" Claude crows.

"I'm guessing Adrien knows about this?" Allegra says, "He seemed to know something when spring was brought up, but decided he was going to be all cryptic about it."

"It's just more fun that way!" The boy in question returns, going next to Marinette.

"He's not wrong."

"Oh, of course you would agree with that, Claude."

They bat their eyes innocently. "Why, Allegra, I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Pfff. Yeah, you're definitely the picture of innocence, buddy." Allan rolls his eyes.

Claude gasps. "Allan! You'd betray me like this? Does our friendship mean nothing? Et tu, Brute?"

The boy puts the back of his hand on his forehead, falling backwards.

"Oh no! Claude feign-ted!" Adrien cries.

It takes a moment, but Claude is the first to get it, cracking up. Marinette just sighs wearily, soon followed by Felix. Allan and Allegra understand at the same time, the former laughing, and the latter groaning.

Notes:

How was that for a chapter? Originally, I was going to have her friends see the pictures, but it didn't quite fit in, and it wouldn't have led to anything big, so I dropped it.
Were you surprised there wasn't a strong language warning? I was when I was proofreading.
Hey, who wants to see the results of the survey? Do you want them later today or on Saturday (to give it a full week)? Also, there's some great extra responses from that bit at the end, so do you guys just want to see all of them or have me find some highlights? If you haven't taken it, please do, because I'm having a blast. Also, should I do another survey for a dumb debate like this, because I already found another great question.
(Can you tell I've been cooped up inside only leaving to walk the dog or get groceries? A little stir crazy here. My dog is just happy I'm home more.)
Regardless, I look forward to any and all comments you have for me! You guys make me smile!

P.S. Here's my tumblr, in case I post the survey results, or something. Actually, I haven't done a 'things I've overheard' in a while. I'll probably post one soon.

Chapter 38: It's Not Defamation If It's True

Summary:

Gabriel underestimates the power of teenagers who care for their friend.

Notes:

Who's ready for Gabriel getting his comeuppance?!
Settle down children, excitement and righteous fury is no excuse to forget your manners. Get your snacks and get comfortable.
I hope you enjoy!

Edit: Whoops! I didn't check my comments in the doc! Strong language warning! "fucking"

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette knows it's spring because she wakes up easily. It's always easier to wake up during spring, and, given her energy, it can be harder to rest.

She suspects Tikki is already up, enjoying the sun on the balcony. At the thought, the girl scrambles to get ready so she can enjoy the weather.

She's done in record time, grabbing her phone as she joins Tikki.

Kid Mime: good morning my faithful fair funny fast fancy festive fizzy funky friends

Melodie: 'Fizzy'?

Kid Mime: i ran out of f adjectives

Felix: You already had seven without that one.

The Mom Friend: i think you did great

The Mom Friend 10/10 wood read again

Kid Mime: yay!

Patisserie Princess: hiiiiii!

Kid Mime: wats this?

Kid Mime: mari up?

Melodie: With time to text too!

Patisserie Princess: yep

Patisserie Princess: its spring!

The Mom Friend: any of ur flowers blooming yet

Patisserie Princess: not yet

Patisserie Princess: but soon. i can feel it

Felix: That will certainly be exciting.

Patisserie Princess: it will be!

Patisserie Princess: (◕ᴗ◕)

Patisserie Princess: k im heading out now!

Kid Mime: byeeeeeeee!

Melodie: See you soon!

"Alright, let's go, Tikki!" Marinette hops up from her chair, giving Tikki a moment to hide in her purse before hurrying downstairs. She shouts goodbye to her parents as she heads to school.

It's so sunny, and she's smiling wide. Today is a good day.

She arrives at school in what must be record time. She spots Allan and Claude walking into the building together and joins them.

"Hi!" Marinette chirps.

"Hey, 'Nette. Good to see you so early," Allan greets her.

Claude throws their arms in the air. "Marinette! Our sunshine has arrived!"

"Adrien is our sunshine," she corrects.

"Hmm." Claude pretends to think this over. "This is a conundrum."

"You're a star," Allan suggests.

"Yes! Perfect!"

"You guys are stars too!" Marinette smiles.

Claude strikes a DramaticPose™. "Well, of course I'm a star!"

Allan and Marinette clap appropriately. A few nearby students join in. Claude bows several times.

"Thank you, thank you!"

Marinette throws a flower at him. "Bravo!"

Claude gasps, clutching the flower to his chest. "The fair maiden has chosen me! I have been awarded a flower from our fair lady!"

Marinette curtsies. "'Tis no trouble to me, my knight."

"Shall I escort you and your companion to your court?"

"It would be very kind of you sir, I am expecting company from neighboring kingdoms."

"Then we shall depart at once!"

With Allan and Marinette snickering, Claude leads the pair to the library where Felix and Allegra are calmly sitting at a table.

"Her royal highness, Our Star has arrived! Her meeting place is quieter than the courtyard, so we shall withhold the fanfare! Trumpets on standby!"

The librarian shoots him a grateful look, and Marinette can hear Allegra and Felix sigh in unison at Claude's antics. Allegra shuts her book and turns. Allan and Marinette are both struggling to muffle their laughter. Claude has a flower behind his ear and leads the two to the table.

"Greetings fair lady Allegra and lord Felix of kingdoms Coudriet and Voclain! I am delighted to inform you that we have been blessed with the presence of Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng and Monsieur Poirot!"

Allegra and Felix clap quietly.

"So what brought this on?" Felix queries.

"Marinette gave me a flower!" Claude chirps.

"You look great, Claude. Very cute." Allegra smiles.

"Thanks! I'm gorgeous!" Claude pretends to flip his hair.

"Oh for sure," Allan agrees. "Model material over here."

The group is on their way out of school when Marinette gets a call. They slow down so she can talk and walk easier.

"Hello?"

They hear shouting on the other end.

"Well, I'm not opposed, but weren't we-"

The person on the other end interrupts her.

"He is? Well- What do you mean he's at school?!"

She pauses.

"Since yesterday? Excuse me, but he wasn't also working?! Ohhh, he's a dead man," she growls. "Does he think-?!"

A sharp retort from the other end.

"It was rhetorical, and you didn't let me finish." Marinette rolls her eyes.

More talking on the other end, then the call ends.

"'Just get over here now'" Marinette mimics, then deadpans, "Thanks for the suggestion, I was planning on touring France first."

"What's going on?" Claude asks.

Marinette wrinkles her nose, frowning. "That was Chloe, she says we're doing it now."

"Like, now? Weren't we going to like… finalize things?" Allan asks.

"Oh heck yeah! Finally! That man is going down!" Allegra cheers.

"What happened?" Felix frowns.

Claude looks concerned. "Is Adrien okay?"

"No. He's been crazy sick since yesterday, and Gabriel is making him go about as usual because he's trying to get as much stuff out as he can to recover from all the backlash recently. We're stopping by Dupont to bring him to the bakery, then we're going to call in some favors a little earlier than anticipated."

"I wish I could punch him. I wish I could punch him multiple times," Allegra mutters.

Marinette leads them up the stairs of Dupont, and though she's been attending a different school for the majority of the year, everyone there knows to stay out of her way with that look in her eyes.

She's on the warpath.

At the library, she finds Chloe and Sabrina, with a very tired Adrien who is sleeping on his textbook.

He's pale, and his face is flushed. He looks shaky and weak, and Marinette's heart sinks at her kitty in such a state. She goes up to him, crouching beside his chair and running her fingers through his hair.

His eyes open and he squints at her through his half-open lids, his eyes glazed over.

"Hi."

"Hey," she whispers. "Want to go home?"

He nods, barely with her, and she runs her fingers through his hair a little more. His eyes slip closed again. She can hear her friends talking behind her, but that doesn't matter at the moment. He's purring, but it's very quiet, and if she didn't know better, she'd pass it off as just weird breathing from being so sick.

Keeping one hand in his hair, she stands and turns to her friends. "We're taking him home now, then we can start finishing this."

They nod, and Allan speaks up, "Who can carry him?"

Marinette just picks him up, which they all accept as an answer. She frowns. "He shouldn't be this light."

"Fucking Gabriel," Allegra and Chloe mutter.

As she carries him outside, she sees Nino give her a relieved smile. He and Adrien may not hang out much anymore, but he still cares about the model.

When they arrive in the designer's room, Marinette places him gently on the chaise, settling a blanket over him and sitting in front of him.

Chloe pulls down the sheet from Marinette's ceiling. It's covered in various sticky notes and lists. There's phone numbers scattered about, with lines connecting them to other places. A checklist occupies the corner, with various things marked off, all are connected to some other part of the organized mess.

It's impressive it all fits.

"Felix, Chloe, if either of you need to step out to speak with the lawyers, then go ahead. Sabrina-"

The other girl smiles, waving her off. "I'm already looking it over."

"Great, thank you," Marinette nods.

"I can call about the apartment," Allegra volunteers.

"Good idea. Then I guess-"

Claude puts a hand on her shoulder. "Mari, it's okay. We know what to do, you can just take care of Adrien right now."

She sighs, smiling gratefully, and nodding, turning to Adrien. She tunes out the rest of the room, eyes only for her partner. She sees worried green eyes peering out from his overshirt, and waves at the Kwami subtly. The God simply nods at her and burrows closer to his Chosen.

Putting a hand to his forehead, she confirms that he definitely has a fever. She heads to the kitchen, finding the thermometer, and grabbing a glass of water in case he wants it.

Her room is a busy center for the various plans going on, as everyone assigns themselves tasks to complete to get as much done as quickly as they can. The noise level still manages to remain low, as everyone is aware of the model resting.

"Hey," Marinette whispers, brushing Adrien's hair out of his face. "Can I get your temperature quick?"

He manages a nod.

She frowns at the number displayed. "Definitely a fever."

Adrien hums.

"I'd offer you water, but you probably just want to go back to sleep, huh?"

He slow blinks at her, and she smiles softly, returning the look and squeezing his hand quickly while he continues to sleep. She turns around, sitting against the chaise again.

Marinette gets out a laptop, typing furiously as she gets to work as well, emailing the journalists that Nadja had mentioned to her.

Hello! You seem as though you're a reputable reporter who can help me out! I hate to see people getting away with terrible things, and given the current state of the Agreste brand, this seems like a good time to bring this to light. Attached to this email, you'll find…

Greetings! I trust you'll respect my wish to remain anonymous. I understand you specialize in exposés…

I have attached some stories to this email that did not receive the attention they should have. I believe that this could be a good time for a journalist such as yourself to bring them back to light, so that this may receive the attention it deserves…

I'd like to remain anonymous, but I thought you'd be interested…

The Gabriel brand has a history of covering up less than flattering stories, but…

The designer emails tens of reporters, all about a variety of things that Gabriel's lawyers had gone to great lengths to keep from reaching the mainstream media. The stories range from everything to the treatment of their workers to claims of art theft, to suspicious movement of money, and more. She contacted people from all over, bloggers, to journalists to news anchors, and more than a few people outside of Paris and even France.

She emailed people mentioned in articles, encouraging them to speak out again. She went to relevant online forums and anonymously mentioned that now would be a good time for the brand's darker secrets to come to like, if anyone was so inclined, and linked to several other news outlets that would likely take the stories.

She sent a variety of emails to big names in the fashion world, feigning hesitance to purchase from them, given their closeness to someone like Gabriel, who is currently so negatively viewed.

The best part is that all the things she'd mentioned were already true. She and her friends had spent weeks looking for the stories and the interviews that had been ignored and conveniently 'lost'. They were going to find even more, but even if they're doing this early, internet sleuths will be entirely capable of finding it themselves, which will only lead to further waves.

Marinette was sure to ask for anonymity, or even encourage them to not mention her at all. She used different emails and forms of contact, using different styles of writing and, when contacting someone in a different language, she used different levels of fluency in the language. The people she contacted had little to no connections to each other, and she sent a few emails out on various delays.

Even if people suspected one person had been behind all of these reports coming out at once, they wouldn't be able to tie it back to her, if they even thought that a group of teenagers could be responsible in the first place. Not that this is defamation.

No, that would imply that all of this is made up - and it's all very, very true.

Gabriel doesn't stand a chance.

Eventually, the others go home. Marinette had made a call to Nathalie to convince (read: threaten) her into letting Adrien have a sleepover. The woman had the nerve to argue that Adrien 'is sick and needs to be under proper care'.

As if.

His proper care is never in the hands of Nathalie and Gabriel, no, Marinette is more than willing to take care of him.

He'd slept for most of the day. Even with everyone using her room as a headquarters for both Operation Emancipate Adrien and Operation Gabriel Takedown (it's just more fun to have names, and it makes it feel a little less sad), he'd been dead to the world. She's eaten dinner, so now she doesn't really have much else to do.

Why not email some more people?

She's in the middle of tracking down an article that could be useful when a hand reaches past her and shuts her laptop.

"Mari. Take a break."

She turns to see a very tired Adrien awake once more, who is attempting to look reprimanding.

"I don't need a break! I'm just-"

"Shhhhh." He puts a finger over her mouth. "Don't give m' dumb dad all y'ur energy. Do something fun."

"I'm not giving him all my energy. I'm just making sure he won't have anything left to stand on. He's gotten away with how he's treated you for too long!" She argues.

"By wasting all your en'rgy on him. You guys have done plenty, don' worry. Jus'... tell me how your garden's doin'."

Her face lights up at the question, and she excitedly describes to him how she has not one, not two, but three new sprouts, and how this plant is already blooming, and how that plant is doing so much better since she figured out that it wasn't getting as much sun as she thought.

She rambles on and on, and he sinks back against the lounge, watching her happily update him on the state of one of her hobbies.

He loves seeing her smile.

He doesn't realize he's purring until she gives him a soft smile, just for him, that warms his heart. She starts scratching his head and continues to inform him about how different bugs are actually beneficial to gardens and different natural ways to keep unwanted bugs off plants without harming the plant or the good bugs.

He just lets her talk. His head still hurts, and he's most certainly still sick, but this? This is nice.

Marinette notices that Adrien's kitty kisses are beginning to give way to him struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Sleepy, Kitty?"

He hums.

"I'll let you sleep."

He reaches out to her slightly.

"Oh, alright. I guess."

Feigning annoyance, she moves to sit with him on the chaise, hugging him close as he gets comfortable with the new arrangement. With a giant kitten sleeping and purring next to (and partially on) her, it isn't long before she drifts off to sleep herself.

Notes:

So how was that? We'll be seeing it finally come to a close in chapter 40 (It's literally titled emancipation), but that focuses more on Adrien settling in to his new life.

I finished writing the last chapters last night. I'm still in shock I think, just a bit. I'll probably write a goodbye to this fic (because I'm sappy like that), then I can get started on all the events that I didn't write that I've promised to write for you guys. I know I promised Tikki and Plagg's talk after the reveal, as well as at least two or three other things, and, of course, Alya's (and Nino's) apologies to Adrien. I can't remember which events I promised, so please do let me know. (I think I have a few comments of a me listing them, so I may stalk through the comment section).

I know you all want the results to the survey, so you can find those here! (Another reminder that if you're here early, the link won't be there yet and you'll need to refresh the page 💕). I have a survey question that I really like, so after all the chapters I'll give it a one-shot all its own and, yes, it will have a survey that you guys can answer too. The next Dumb Debate will be in chapter 41, in case you were wondering. It's a fun one too.

Another thing to mention now that the story is wrapping up, I've saved scenes that I had to scrap or that went under intense rewrites so for those interested in seeing some deleted scenes, I'll post those the same day as the last chapter (which is an epilogue, and therefore shorter) to give you some extra content then.

Wow, it's weird that we're so close to the end.

Thank you all so much for reading! Comments and kudos are my lifeblood and I cannot find enough ways to say thank you! Or if you're reading on tumblr, likes and reblogs (or asks, I never really get any) also make my day! Lovely to 'see' you guys and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Chapter 39: A General Upward Trend

Summary:

Ladybug finally has a talk with her former teammates, and Marinette gets around to finishing something she's been putting off.

Notes:

Ladybug and Chat Noir's interactions in this chapter are very precious. Like, they're real cute. Prepare yourself.
No warnings! This is a calm chapter. It's so weird to say, but there's only three left after this one, and chapter 42 is just an epilogue, so this story is well and truly wrapping up.
Goodness.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Adrien is doing better. Marinette smiles at him, happy to see him resting happily. He's basically recovered at this point, but she'd insisted he rest a little more, and being the cat he is, he didn't protest.

She glances out the window and sighs. It's no longer light enough out that she can justify waiting. It's most certainly dark enough that Ladybug could go out without issue.

"Tikki, spots on."

As quietly as she can, she creeps past the model and heads out through the balcony.

Whizzing through the city on her yo-yo, she gets to her first destination.

The window opens when she knocks.

"L-Ladybug?" Nino looks surprised to see her.

"Hello. I'm… I'm here to apologize. Last time I visited, I dropped some very shocking news on you with no explanation. I'm willing to explain myself now, especially since I believe you'll be more receptive to what I have to say."

"Oh. Yeah, uh, Dudette, I definitely figured it out." He looks away.

She forces a gentle smile. "I understand, but I feel like you still deserve to hear a proper explanation from me, and the opportunity to ask any questions you might have."

He nods, still not meeting her eyes.

"Due to the high rate of akumas at your school, Chat and I keep tabs on it. We… became aware of a situation with Ms. Dupain-Cheng and Ms. Rossi. After a few months of you and Alya both only further bullying Ms. Dupain-Cheng, I came to the realization that if I couldn't trust you two to treat your friends well, I couldn't trust you to be a good member of the team. Nino, you wielded the miraculous of protection, and you not only failed to protect your friend, you went out of your way to harm her. I could not let you continue to be Carapace."

Tears have welled up in his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you let me know so I could fix things?"

She sighs, doing her best to keep herself together. "I had already spoken directly to Adrien, and soon learned Marinette had been a witness to that conversation. Two of your close friends told you that Lila was lying, and you dismissed them. You made no effort to track me down for confirmation. You also immediately turned on me the day after I informed you of Carapace's retirement. You refused to accept that you could have done something wrong and blamed an innocent girl so that you had someone to take it out on. You were given chances, and it shouldn't have been up to me to let you know you were in the wrong. You ignored the signs, and that's on you."

He removes his glasses, wiping at his eyes with his forearm. "Y-yeah. I know. A-after what I did to M-M-Marinette…"

"Is there anything else you want to know?"

He shakes his head, returning inside.

Ladybug takes a few breaths to steady herself. That was more emotionally exhausting than she thought it would be.

One down. One to go.

It's barely night, and it's already a long one.

She goes to the roof, intending to get on her way to Alya's when a dark figure catches her eye.

Chat Noir stands on the roof, arms crossed and looking at her, eyebrows raised.

"Ladybug. You did not specifically wait until I was asleep to sneak out and confront your former bullies alone again, did you?"

"Uh, well, when you phrase it like that…"

He sags, approaching her, face softening. "Bug. I told you, you don't need to need to do this alone. You can have support."

"I just didn't want to bother you, and you need rest anyways, and-"

"Bug. Look at me." He walks up to her, taking both of her hands in his. He leans down, touching his forehead to hers. He looks at her eyes for a moment. "I will say this as many times as it takes, but no matter what it is, no matter who it is - no matter what, if it is important to you, it's important to me. If something's bothering you, you can tell me. If you aren't feeling well, mentally or physically, you can tell me. You matter, you're important, and you are not alone."

Her breath hitches, and a few tears show up in her bright blue eyes.

"Do you understand me, Mari?"

She nods, separating their hands to wrap her arms around him, burying her face in his chest, squeezing him tightly.

He holds her, kissing her hair. "I love you, Bug, I just want you to realize how important you are."

"I love you too," she sobs, voice cracking slightly.

She lets a few tears fall, then regains her composure.

"Alya next?" Chat asks.

She nods, and he follows her to the ex-reporter's house. He sits on the roof, waiting for her as she goes to Alya.

"Alya?"

The girl whips around at her hero's voice. Her eyes well up immediately. "Ladybug. I- I'm so sorry."

"So am I. I'm here to apologize for how I broke the news to you in November-"

Alya shakes her head. "I don't deserve an apology. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did."

"No, Alya, it was perfectly understandable. You deserved an explanation and that's what I'm here to give you, even if it's a little late. You deserve to have your questions answered. Chat and I keep an eye on your school, because so many students and faculty members have been akumatized there. We became aware of the treatment of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and the role you played in that. You and Nino needed to be heroes with and without the miraculouses, and you didn't do that. If anything, you were villains. It wasn't my job to point things out, especially after I'd already outed Lila to two of your close friends. As the Fox, you had the power of illusions. You should have been able to see through the very clear lies that Ms. Rossi was spewing, and as a friend, you should have stuck-" Ladybug stops. Alya is sniffling and tears are streaming down her face endlessly. Her face falls. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to rub salt in the wound-"

"N-no I-I-I d-d-de-deserve it."

"No. No you don't." Ladybug puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You were a victim of Lila. That doesn't excuse your actions, but you shouldn't beat yourself up over it."

Alya clearly isn't having it, so Ladybug tries to change the topic. "Is there anything you want to ask me?"

After a minute or two, Alya calms enough to mumble, "W-wh-why d-didn't y-you t-t-t-tell th-this me b-before? Wh-why w-w-wait to e-explain-n-n?"

Ladybug sighs, staring at the sky. "I… I wasn't doing very well late last year. I'd… lost some people that were very important to me, and I was having a rough time. I didn't want to lose Carapace and Rena Rouge too, but I knew I had to let you guys go. I put it off for a while, but I was starting to slow down from the cold and I knew I couldn't put it off any longer. I'm sorry about how I went about that."

"Oh," She sobs, "and I yelled at you. I'm so so sorry!"

"I- It's fine. I didn't really do the best job at explaining it to you."

"Still." Alya hiccups a few more times, trying to get her emotions under control. "I-I think you sh-should go home. You should r-rest. You sh-shouldn't have t-to be up l-late because of m-me."

Ladybug smiles at her a little, then nods, wishing her a goodnight and heading to the roof. Chat is waiting for her with open arms, and she collapses against him, shaking.

"It's okay Bugaboo, it's okay."

"I- I just- I th-thought I w-was o-over all- all of this."

"It'll take more time than this. No one is expecting you to be all healed by now."

She doesn't respond initially, then she whispers, "Ladybug is supposed to be strong."

"Oh Princess. You are strong, I promise you that." He holds her face, wiping away a tear with a thumb. "You just have a hard time appreciating yourself."

The soft smile she gives him makes him wonder, not for the first time, why he's the sunshine child. Everything about her is blinding in the best possible way.

"Kitty, what would I do without you?"

He scoops her up. "Well, fur one, you'd have to get home on your own."

She kicks. "Hey! You're sick, you shouldn't be patrolling, let alone carrying me!"

"Paw-lease, I'm mostly recovered and we both know it. You've been keeping an eye on me, so it's time for me to return the favor. Now I get to take care of you!"

"What do you call most of this school year then?"

"Being your friend. Obviously." He rolls his eyes, as though it was ridiculous that she even had to ask.

Before she can protest further, he takes off across the rooftops. He lands on her terrace, and sets her down. He bows. "I do hope you enjoyed your cat-xi ride, mademoiselle."

She gives him an odd look, and murmurs to herself, "...catzee…?" A look of realization dawns on her face, and she punches his arm. "That was really bad, Chaton. It's not even a taxi ride, because I didn't pay you."

"Your prrr-sence is enough," he says, kissing her hand.

She blushes, but pushes his forehead back with her index finger. "That's enough from you."

"Claws in. Guess it's Adrien's turn then."

"No, no cheesy pick up lines from you." She turns away, finally entering her room.

Pouting, he follows her. "But cheesy pick up lines are the best," he whines, sitting on her chaise, across from where she sits at her desk chair.

She raises an eyebrow, then grows concerned at the cheshire grin on his face. Before she can ask what he's up to, he starts to talk.

"I can make do without pick up lines, beautiful."

She turns a little pink, and decides to pretend to focus on designing. He rolls around on the chaise, laying on his back but facing her.

"Hey. Hey. Marinette. Heyyyyy, Mariiiiiii! You're really pretty, and you're so nice, and you're super smart, because, like, you always come up with the best plans all the time, and your eyes are absolutely stunning, and you are such a good person and-" He glances at her, and her face is about the same color as Tikki. "Maybe I should stop, I'm worried about all your blood going to your face."

Adrien hangs off the lounge, looking at her upside-down. He waits until her face begins to cool off, then he adds, "Not that you don't look good in red, of course."

She squeaks, and her face goes crimson again.

Patisserie Princess: so um

Patisserie Princess: i think im gonna go through all my old stuff finally

Patisserie Princess: so if you guys want to come over and help then yeah

The Mom Friend: omw

Melodie: I'm close already, so I'll be there quick.

Kid Mime: im on ur roof

Felix: I will head over.

Patisserie Princess: thanks

Patisserie Princess: wait wat

The Mom Friend: the roof roof or the balcony roof

The Mom Friend: coz 1 of those is v dangerous

Kid Mime: balcony roof

Melodie: Okay.

Patisserie Princess: how and why?

Hug This Boy: Because Claude.

Hug This Boy: There is no logic where there is Claude.

The Mom Friend: yep

Patisserie Princess: but on my roof?

Felix: I found them clinging to the outside of my window once.

Kid Mime: that was fun

Kid Mime: mari is it good for me to come in now

Kid Mime: ur flowers r pretty but ur prettierrrrrrrrr!

Patisserie Princess: yes u can come in

Once Marinette sends that, she hears her trapdoor open and turns to see Claude landing on her bed, smiling wide.

"You really were on my roof."

They grin more. "That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Well yeah, but my roof? How did you even-"

"Mari!" Claude gasps. "You should know that a magician never reveals their secrets!"

Adrien comes up through the trapdoor, bearing a tray of cookies. "Hey Claude. Cookie?"

"Yes!"

Marinette just blinks, still trying to figure this out.

Kid Mime: haha

Kid Mime: i got the first cookie

Melodie: Because you were on the roof.

Melodie: For who knows what reasons.

The Mom Friend: 4 claude reasons obviously

Kid Mime: see? mom gets me

Felix: No one truly understands you, if we are all being honest.

Patisserie Princess: yea im still confused

Melodie: Honey, by now I would have thought you'd know not to dwell on the how.

Kid Mime: ive been told i cause headaches

The Mom Friend: and heart attacks

Felix: Marinette, it would be for the best if you did not spend an excessive amount of time attempting to comprehend him.

Felix: He is Claude, and that is the best explanation we will ever truly get.

Patisserie Princess: i suppose

Melodie: I'm here!

Kid Mime: thats great

Melodie: …

Melodie: Don't let Claude finish off the cookies.

Kid Mime: wat wood make u think id do that

Patisserie Princess: he just stuffed three in his mouth

Patisserie Princess: u may want to hurry

When they've all arrived, Marinette retrieves the stuff from last time when they'd sorted. Marinette looks over the piles, trying to decide what to do. The others wait patiently.

"Okay, I think I'll keep all the pictures. This is basically my entire childhood, and I'm not going to let what happened taint my past. Especially a lot of these early ones." She looks over a few photos, finding some with especially young versions of the classmates. "I'm not going to blame four year old Nino for what present Nino did."

"We can help you find a photo album for all these sometime then."

She nods gratefully.

"Paper then… uh, if it's just schoolwork, we can recycle it. Unless it's some big project or you think I might want it, then I can look over it. Um. Designs can stay. I'll look over cards…" She continues to list off what can happen to anything they might find in the mess. "Anything else, you can just leave to me."

So they get started, and the pile of things getting thrown out or recycled grows and grows. It's not nearly as tense or sad of an atmosphere as it had been last time, instead, they talk and joke as they would any normal day. Sometimes Marinette grows quiet, looking at something in her hands with an expression that doesn't fall into any singular category.

Glee and anguish are usually considered opposites.

The mess of pining, fear, nostalgia, grief, and an unending amount of other emotions on her face is almost physically painful to see.

If she seems okay, they'll keep talking, letting her feel in peace. Other times, she's clearly struggling, so one of them will touch her softly, or hug her gently, pulling her from the past back to the present.

She laughs plenty too. This time around is clearly easier for her, and her progress is undeniable.

It's good to see her good.

Notes:

I told you they were precious. I told you! How does it feel knowing that the angst in this story is basically over? You've got mostly fluff and sweetness until the end. Sure, I'll be getting those extra one-shots up eventually, so those will have salt, guilt, etc, but the next chapters? Smooth sailing, my friends.
Speaking of sailing, yes, our ships will be sailing by the time this is fully posted. No worries, we'll get a kiss, it's already written and everything.
I keep realizing I'm not really doing anything productive, and I'm like 'Oh! I'll just work on With Time!'. Nope! Can't do that anymore, so I'm finally getting around to those one-shots I've been promising. I'm sure some of you stalk the comments, do any of you remember anything I mentioned getting around to write that took place in the main story but didn't get into a chapter? If you don't that's fine. If you think of anything you want to see, regardless of if I've mentioned it before, just let me know. I'm finally starting a legitimate list. So far, I have Tikki and Plagg talking after the reveal (low priority), Alya and Nino's respective apologies to Adrien, and Gabriel and Nathalie realized they screwed up after the GoodFriends™ launched their whole thing last chapter. Anything else?
I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Chapter 40: Emancipation

Summary:

Adrien gets settled into his new home.

Notes:

Adrien has an apartment! I just decided to say that he straight up bought it. Also, reference 'slides' are a bit different this time. I, uh, had a little too much time on my hands, and I found a room/house design thing online and built it off of a random floor plan I'd found, and then decorated the main living space. Also, yes I made sure he had an apartment with a balcony. I haven't looked at it for uh, probably a few weeks now, and I don't have time to fix anything weird, soooo... bear with me? Also, I don't know anything about this in general, it's mostly just to give you a better idea of the setting.

Yes, I purposefully chose the more unusual furniture and decorations.

Anyway, find them here!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

It took time. More than they wanted, and far less than they expected.

It took time, but Adrien is free.

The morning after they'd decided to start their operation a little earlier than expected, there were already articles.

Articles that didn't look so good for the Agreste brand. Sure, initially, the lawyers tried to keep on top of it, but more came.

And more.

And more.

And more.

The stream of articles was seemingly endless, and just as Marinette suspected, more hidden things came to light over time.

Once there had been a few days of the fashion mogul's reputation taking a beating, they struck.

Adrien legally began the process to become emancipated.

Gabriel was furious. He demanded Adrien come home, but couldn't enforce it. The bodyguard quit, openly supporting Adrien's decision.

Nathalie was the only one to stand by Gabriel.

When the day came that they had to go to court (they suspected Gabriel found a way to have it pushed forward to end the madness sooner), Gabriel's smug face made his stance clear.

When they'd played the clip. Gabriel looked pale, not having realized that they had that.

It's not even the end. They not so subtly accuse the man of everything from unpaid child labor to child abuse and there's proof for all of it.

By the end, Adrien is granted emancipation, along with plenty of Gabriel's bank account balance as monetary compensation for all that happened.

Which brings them to now. Everyone had had a sleepover at Marinette's, and now they're helping Adrien with his new apartment.

Chloe's movers had finished with the bigger furniture items already, now they were figuring out what else he needed.

Marinette paled as soon as they entered the apartment. She stared for a moment, then walked into a corner and covered her eyes, her back to the room.

"Adrien. I love you. I really do. I understand. But at the same time. I just. Cannot."

"Aw, Mari, it's not that bad. It could have been worse," Adrien teases, well aware of her feelings on the matter.

When Adrien was choosing furniture for his new home, he'd come to the realization that he truly could choose, anything.

Anything at all.

Some of his motivations had partially been choosing things that would have hurt his Father's very soul, but mostly, he just chose things that he liked, paying no mind to whether it fit with the style of the room.

In fact, he tried to get as many colors as he could.

And that was just with the furniture. They hadn't even gotten to the decorations yet.

Marinette's poor designer soul was having a crisis. Chloe, Allegra, and Felix seemed somewhat uncomfortable looking at the mess, but Allan seemed fine with it. Claude had played the biggest role in helping him choose all the pieces (there was a shark head bean bag that they'd been the one to discover), so they were the least surprised. He and Adrien had matching grins.

They'd been planning, and they were far from done.

Marinette wheels around at the implication that he could have made this worse. "Please don't," is all she manages to whisper.

It really isn't as bad as it could have been, and honestly, if he were to go too far even he'd be uncomfortable. The walls are a cheery yellow, standing out against the dark wood floors. Near the door is a white circular table (it's hard to call it a 'dining table' when all he has for comparison is the one back at Father's place), with four chairs around it. There are two types of chairs, each pair placed across from each other.

One set, a grape colored oddity, had caught his eye immediately. It was just so different from anything he would have found back at the mansion that he'd been immediately sold. The wide curved bottom is supported by thin trapezoid shaped legs that connect to each other through another metal rod along the bottom. The base of the chair tightens as it becomes the back before widening again in a vaguely crescent shape. It's partners at the table are entirely different. The bottom is like small wooden stools, a lighter oak color. The ocean colored back starts as smooth wings along the sides before connecting in the back, not even coming close to the stool, leaving a gap.

"At least the other stools are just gray?"

"I'll just… only ever look at your kitchen. Only your kitchen. Ever."

That's fair. He'd left the kitchen alone, and as such it was likely the tamest part of the main room. The stools in question are simple, wood legs with a simple gray seat and back.

There are four of those stools seated at the table, facing into the kitchen. The other side of the surface has a sink. The fridge is in the corner, with more counters next to it, and a stovetop at the end. A microwave hangs on the wall, with wall cupboards next to it. The counters and cupboards are simply white, and the wall behind them is some sort of triangular zig-zag pattern of gray and white.

"Did you end up getting that Ponyo rug?" Allan redirects them.

"Of course!" Adrien hurries to the living room, where, sure enough, most of the space in front of the couch is taken up by a rug with Ponyo's sisters swimming forward together. The couch itself is three cushions long, the base and back of it being dark gray, while the seat cushions and half of the middle back were light gray. The other two back cushions were half blue.

A short gray coffee table holds the tv, and a fluffy pink beanbag is next to the shark head one, parallel to the wall.

"Yeah," Chloe quips, "This is what I imagined Adrikin's decorating as."

"We aren't even done!"

"Before you go to the store, you may want to go through each room so we can make a list of what sort of stuff you want to look for," Sabrina reminds.

Allegra gestures towards the empty walls. "Like what you want to do with your walls."

"Pictures," Adrien answers immediately. "I want memories on my walls, not money. I don't want to put something up just because it's fancy or expensive. If I have something, it's going to be because it makes me happy."

"That is the most precious thing I've ever heard. How on earth did you become so sweet in that place?" Claude hugs the former model.

Adrien tries to shrug, but it's difficult with how many people are hugging him now.

The group leaves the apartment again, having dropped off all the purchases.

"Well, if we're going to get pictures for you, then we'll begin with whatever you want to do. Decision time!" Allegra cheers.

"Uhhh… I don't really know."

"That's fine!"

"Yeah, we can just explore the city with you!"

"You'll have no restrictions for once!"

It would be nice to be able to go around Paris as Adrien without having to worry about an akuma on his tail or Gabriel tracking him down.

"Let's do it!"

They wander around the city, often stopping at the well known landmarks Adrien had never been allowed to properly visit. Everyone is sure to take pictures of each other, doing their best to catch as many moments as they can. Marinette and Claude catch each other taking pictures of each other, grinning mischievously at each other through the lenses of their phones.

Allegra takes a picture of that.

At one point, inspiration strikes Marinette, who begins planning out loud to Allan, who happens to be the closest. Adrien stares at her with such a soft face, and Felix gets a picture of his expression.

When they get slushies at some point, Allegra has a red one, and Chloe a blue one. Chloe mumbles something about purple being a nice color, and Adrien gets a picture of their blushing faces. When they stand to go, Allegra holds out her hand and says, "Since we'll be walking for a while, could you hold this for me?"

Their faces get even redder after Chloe takes the other girl's hand.

Sabrina got a video of that interaction.

One of the group gets a picture of Claude and Adrien mimicking The Thinker.

Eventually, it's getting a little late. Everyone starts to head back to Adrien's place, Allan and Marinette muttering to each other.

The pair drag Adrien into a grocery store.

"You need to learn to cook."

"So ya' need ingredients."

Marinette gets out her phone, showing it to Adrien. "These are all fairly simple recipes, so you choose a few you want to try, we can get the stuff for those."

Adrien bounces where he stands, going through the list and choosing five or so. "Are these good?"

"It's your choice, so if you want them, then they're good," Allan assures.

Adrien smiles at that.

Marinette shoves him towards the others. "Allan and I can get the ingredients, you can choose some pictures. They're all in that shared album, so just choose your favorites and get them printed."

He salutes her. "Yes, ma'am!"

Adrien unlocks the door, gesturing for everyone to enter.

"Ready to try your hand at cooking?" Allan calls as he and Marinette set the groceries on the counter.

"It sounds exciting!" Adrien cheers, hurrying over to help them put things away.

"The rest of you, out of the kitchen!" Marinette ushers everyone else to the living room. "Shoo!"

"This is ridiculous-"

"Utterly ridiculous, yes Chloe, we know. Out!'

With the other five banished from the kitchen, Adrien, Allan, and Marinette focus on their task.

"So it may be for the best if ya' choose a recipe that doesn't need an oven-" Allan starts.

"Just for our piece of mind-" Marinette continues.

"For your first few goes."

"Of course if you want to try one-"

"That needs an oven-"

"Then we'd certainly support that-"

"But we just aren't so sure our hearts can handle the stress-"

"Of you 'playing with fire'-"

"So to speak."

Adrien just looks between the two of them, blinking a few times. "When did you start finishing each other's sentences?"

The two look at each other, then shrug, speaking in unison, "It just happens."

"Claude calls it their 'Mom-mind-meld'," Felix informs.

"It's freaky!" Claude shouts, "One minute they're normal the next they're telepathic! Always be on your toes! You never know when it'll start!"

"We aren't that bad," they argue.

Claude gestures at them helplessly. "See?! Same tone! Same inflection! Same everything!" He falls off the couch, then scrambles backwards to hide behind a beanbag.

Marinette rolls her eyes. "Ignore them."

"Anyways, we've got to get started-"

"This dinner won't make itself after all."

"So here's the list you made-"

"The ones that don't need an oven-"

"Are at the top."

Adrien glances back at his other friends. "Should I be scared?" He stage whispers.

Allegra, for her part, seems to be amused. "You're fine. Just don't get hurt. If anything happens then you've got two synchronised anxious mom types hovering over you. Just accept your fate, they'll be fine."

Adrien turns to the list, eventually selecting one of the ones near the top.

They nod, Marinette reading off the instructions, while Allan supervises Adrien's actions. For the most part Adrien does it all on his own, though the other boy has to intervene at one point, when Adrien almost cuts his finger off.

When the two have been assured there's not even a cut, let alone blood, they continue, and soon enough Adrien has finished.

High fives are exchanged, and Marinette produces a gold star from somewhere, sticking it on the recipe card she'd written everything down on.

"Now you know you've done this one before!"

"Great job!"

"Hey! Mari! Al'! Over here!"

"Yeah?" Allan answers.

"What?" Marinette asks, confused.

"You're all good, Claude. They're back to normal." Allegra turns to where Claude is presumably hiding.

Sure enough, the actor pops up. "Thank goodness."

"Adrikins! What did you make?"

In response, Adrien begins to set out plates, and everyone hurries over.

"Where are Allegra and Claude?" Marinette asks, setting down her lunch box as she arrives at the lunch table where only Allan and Felix are seated.

"Last minute student tour."

"Ooh! Exciting!"

School has been strange ever since the news of Lila broke. Her fellow students had definitely seen the story, and she knows they're not stupid. There's no way they didn't piece together that she was the student bullied out of Dupont. She knows there had already been rumors of her having been bullied, and that 'some girl called Lila Rossi' had hurt her.

Surprisingly, these rumors didn't seem to make people dislike her, instead they all just loved her more for it, which had confused Marinette early on. She'd been so stuck in the mindset that people would hate her if given any reason to.

Then the school just decides that they still like her? It had been confusing.

She could tell people were torn. Everyone was aware that it wasn't their business to bring it up, but everyone acknowledged what happened without flat-out saying it. Mostly, her classmates just seemed to be extra nice for a few days, wanting to see her smile, which was nice, but she can already feel herself trying to figure out how 'pay them back' which is a habit she's been trying to break.

There's no need for her to 'pay back' kindness. Her classmates just wanted to lessen what they knew must have been a stressful experience. Still though, it's so ingrained in her that she needs to pay someone back for anything and everything.

A new student would be nice, just to change up the norm for a bit.

"What's up Mari?"

She groans, flopping onto the table. "Nice people are nice, and I'm still trying to convince my brain that that doesn't require any sort of 'pay back'."

Allan frowns. "Oh dear."

"We will have to work with you on that, but for now, perhaps a distraction would be nice."

"Like what?"

Felix nods towards the doors to the cafeteria, where she can hear Allegra, "...and here's the cafeteria."

Claude continues, "This room contains absolutely no one you've ever met before, most definitely not the love of your life, as an example."

Marinette turns around, seeing Claude, Allegra, and…

Adrien.

She smiles widely, getting up and rushing over.

He catches her in a tight hug, spinning her around. "Hi, Mari. Surprise?"

"Plotters, each and every one of you."

Claude pretends to be taking an oath. "We only use our powers for good, I promise."

"Mhm?"

"Okay, maybe sometimes for mischief."

Allegra rolls her eyes. "With you it's always mischief."

"Or puns!" Adrien adds.

"I'll have you know that my school puns are high class."

"This. This is my life for the foreseeable future."

Marinette just pats Allegra consolingly.

"You know Claude, geology rocks, but geography is where it's at."

"I can't even threaten not to finish your tour because you have Claude. This is ridiculous!"

"Aww, you're starting to sound like Chloe," Marinette teases.

Allegra goes slightly pink, throwing her hands in the air and walking away. "Allan and Felix will leave me alone."

Felix shakes his head as she approaches. "If this is about your girlfriend, then it is fair game."

"We aren't dating."

"We can hear the 'yet', Ally. Also, we both know I'm not above puns," Allan chimes in.

"I get no peace."

"You'll get used to it," Adrien consoles, coming over and swiping some of Marinette's food, who huffs in mock-offense.

Notes:

Look at Adrien! Becoming an Independent Boy! Love these precious children!

For those of you that wanted more of Gabriel's entire life coming crashing down around him, I'll be writing that eventually and posting it! No worries! I just need to get my inspiration/motivation back. It ran away and I would like it back now please.

For those of you who want more fluff, I am simply going to redirect your attention to the fact that With Time is now part of a series, and you can now read how the Quantics all met! They're so cute!

Again, find the references for the apartment here! Keep in mind, I didn't decorate it to the fullest extent, and just threw a few random things on the walls, etc, so imagine your own as you please.

Adrien isn't calling Gabriel 'Father' anymore. That man is no one's father.

I'm on tumblr! Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in the comments below! I love getting that notification!

Edit: I think I'll leave the Lila anon's comments visible again. Feel free to speak to her if you wish, but just please don't antagonize her? I'm not too bothered by her, but if she truly does upset you, please do let me know! I can go back to hiding her if you need me to!

Chapter 41: Everyday Heroes

Summary:

Chloe's nonprofit hosts its first fundraiser.

Notes:

I spent so long looking into different fundraiser ideas, and then I threw a bunch together. Also, my sappiness shines through at the end. I'm really happy with this chapter though.

The next chapter is just an epilogue, and really short, so I'll be posting it tomorrow, along with the 'deleted scenes'.

Strong language warning! 'Damn'.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chloe: do you or your friends have any plans after school?

Marinette: no y?

Chloe: wonderful. I'll be kidnapping you then

Marinette: what

Marinette shows her screen to Claude, who is sitting beside her at lunch.

"Oooh! I've always wanted to be kidnapped in a setting with no ill intentions!"

"Claude. Claude." Allegra stresses his name, pointing at him with both hands pressed together. "I need you to know that that is one of the most you things you have ever said, but please give us context."

"Or details at least. When are we being kidnapped, and for how long?"

"Who and why?"

"Chloe, but she's being vague," Marinette adds. "She'll be grabbing us after school."

"Alright then."

"What's up, Chlo'?" Adrien asks from the chair in her room where he's sitting upside down.

"Now that we've been safely kidnapped, we'd love to know why!"

"Everyday Heroes will be having its first fundraising event soon, and I'd like help planning it."

"Yesssss!" Marinette cheers. She throws her hands in the air, knocking her flower crown from her head. Allan hands it back to her. "Thanks."

"What sort of event were you planning on?" Felix prompts.

"Uhhh…" Chloe throws her arms in the air, falling backwards onto her bed. "I don't know!"

"Going off of Google, there's plenty of options," Allegra consoles.

"Let's go! 142 million results to go through!"

"Thank you all for coming here to the first fundraiser for Everyday Heroes! We have t-shirts for sale, and a scavenger hunt available both on your phones and on paper for those of you willing to make a donation of any amount. All donations will be matched by my mother's company, so anything and everything helps!" Chloe announces over the megaphone. "Once it begins to get dark we have paper lanterns for you to launch! Our first speaker will be beginning in half an hour, and we'll be having regular speakers from that point on! Feel free to grab a flyer if you or someone you know is being bullied, the contacts listed there can and will help! Many thanks to the local businesses who assisted in providing food and supplies for this event! I hope you all have a wonderful evening, thank you!"

The crowd gives the girl polite applause before dispersing, looking around the event. Chloe turns to her friends, who are still applauding enthusiastically.

They all have a flower crown on, courtesy of Marinette, who has been running on a seemingly endless energy supply for a while now.

"Yay! You did great!" Marinette hugs her tightly.

"Thank you."

"Great job." Allegra grabs Chloe's hand.

"My shift selling the shirts isn't until later so what do you guys want to do?"

"If baguettes could move-"

"Claude, after the cereal soup, we know better than to engage in your debates-"

"-then how would they move?"

"Like a snake," Allan decides.

"That's assuming it doesn't have to stay rigid though," Marinette points out, "Is the baguette alive at this point? How freely can it move?"

Allegra sighs. "Here we go."

With that, the group's debate begins. They wander the event, (Chloe and Allegra are holding hands, as are Adrien and Marinette).

Felix shakes his head. "If it is alive, then it would not necessarily automatically gain the ability to bend its body at will. Humans cannot do that. That is why we have joints."

"What class would it be? Because that would change things. Would it be a vertebrate or invertebrate?" Allan asks.

"It would move like an inchworm," Adrien argues.

"That's ridiculous!" Chloe interjects, "If a baguette could move, it would roll on its side."

"I'm with Chloe," Marinette resolves. "It makes the most sense."

"I'm not so sure-" Allegra starts, ignoring the betrayed gasps from the two girls. "I think it would be more of a waddle? Is that the right word? Like one end forward, then the other."

"Going off past precedent with sentient food," Sabrina begins, "It would hop. Like VeggieTales."

"You make a good point," Allan agrees, "However, counter point, a baguette moving like a snake."

"True. True." Adrien nods sagely. "Again though, it would move like an inchworm. It just makes the most sense."

"Who gave the baguette permission to bend?" Marinette mutters, "If I were to ever run into this hypothetical baguette, I'd put it back in the oven, because clearly, it's too doughy."

"Actually, you make a good point. How well cooked is this baguette?" Sabrina ponders.

Felix hums. "I think, for the sake of simplicity, we should assume it is baked properly. Also, unless we plan on changing the physiology of this baguette, it would be classified as an invertebrate, as baguettes lack backbones."

"A standard baguette then. Nothing wrong with how it's made or nothing added to the dough."

"I insist it would roll."

"Oh, you dear sweet fools," Claude finally chimes in, "If a baguette were to move, it would do so in the most baguette way it could. It would gallop."

"Excuse me?"

"Take Sabrina's stance and just fold it. The baguette would need to get around to its baguette events as fast as baguette-ly possible, and therefore it would gallop."

"He does make a fair point…"

"Thank you, Adrien."

"He only agrees because your idea is one step removed from 'inchworm'."

"You're both ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!"

"Claude has brought about another interesting point. This baguette can move, but is it sentient? Is it moving by pure chance, or does it have motivations?" Felix queries.

"That's a good point. If it is moving on pure chance, then it would most definitely remain rigid, and it would move in the simplest way possible. That would suggest that it just slides across the ground, or rolls, if we're looking for something more exciting."

"Dupain-Cheng, if you're about to support the nonsense that they've been spewing-"

"However, if the baguette is moving because it needs to get somewhere-"

"Mari. Please."

Marinette continues shamelessly, "-then maybe it would move in a more dramatic way."

"Like galloping!" Claude chirps.

Felix opens his mouth, ready to make a point, then stops himself. "How did I get dragged into this debate in any form of a serious manner? This is a baguette."

"Thank you!" Chloe cries, gesturing at Felix.

"Okay, but consider," Adrien interrupts, "The baguette is moving because it needs to get somewhere, but it has to remain inconspicuous. How does it move then?"

Chloe, Allegra, and Felix sigh wearily, though everyone knows they'll be joining the discussion soon enough.

Sabrina, Felix, Adrien, Allegra, Allan, and Claude gather near the platform where the speakers that Chloe arranged for have been addressing their listeners.

It's beginning to get dark. That time after the sun sets when the dark blanket of night has yet to fully settle over the sky and you can still see fairly easily.

There's one speaker left.

Chloe comes out.

"I'm privileged to be able to say that our final speaker tonight is my friend. Years ago, I never would have imagined I'd say that, and months ago I never thought I'd have that honor-"

"So that's where they ran off to." Allan smiles.

"I'm proud," Allegra whispers. Everyone nods, having figured out what's happening.

"-but she will forever surprise me with her infinite kindness. She is, in large part, the reason I decided to create this nonprofit. We were classmates for a long time, and I'm ashamed to say I bullied her relentlessly. Despite this, she never came to resent me, though I still think she should have. Instead, she showed me nothing but kindness. It is because of her that I am happier now than I have ever been before." Chloe's eyes shine with tears. "That's enough from me. Everyone, please welcome Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

Claude whoops. The group cheers, clapping loudly amidst the polite applause of the crowd.

Marinette blushes lightly as she walks onto the stage. She waves shyly, then smiles wide as she spots her friends, waving a little more confidently.

Chloe hugs her, hands her the mic, then walks off.

Marinette looks out at the crowd, still blushing.

"Uhh. Hey. I'm not very good at this whole-" she spins her hand, gesturing as though looking for words. "-'public speaking' thing. Bear with me please. Um."

She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. When she opens them again, she stands a little straighter, face more confident.

Adrien smiles.

Their everyday Ladybug has arrived.

"In école, I was bullied. Often, and by more than just Chloe, despite what she may tell herself." Marinette looks at the girl in question softly. "I was left to deal with it alone. My teacher and principal, as many of you may now know - due to the recent news about Dupont - did nothing. I was told that it was my job to be a good example for my peers. It was up to me to reform my tormentors.

"Obviously, that advice is nonsense. The victim of bullying is not responsible for saving themselves. Due to this environment though, I was not particularly confident. My anxiety festered. I was friendly with my classmates, but none of them did anything to help when something happened. I don't blame them. They'd comfort me afterwards, which in the environment that my teacher created, really was all they knew to do."

Her smile turns faintly nostalgic. "One year a new girl transferred to our school. She was strong, confident. She loved superheroes. She didn't hesitate to stand up for me. She said, 'all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing'. That's what this charity is all about, at least to me. That girl became my hero, through the simple action of standing up for me, and showing me I could do the same for myself. In this time of Hawkmoth and akumas, heroes seem like a far off magical concept. I want all of you to know that being a hero doesn't require magical jewelry or anything of the sort. Being a hero is a choice you make. When you see something wrong, do something about it. Simple as that.

"That's not the end of my story though, because to be a hero, you have to continue to make these choices. You can't stop fighting the evils of the world once you find something more interesting. That's how things go wrong."

Marinette sighs, tears in her eyes. "And go wrong they did. With my new friend, my confidence only grew. I was happy. Then, it all came crashing down. Far quicker than I ever could have guessed, I lost all my friends. Falling so far, I got worse than I ever had been before. Things weren't looking up. I transferred school, though it was less for myself and more because my parents wanted me too, and, well, I was more focussed on not upsetting people that I still cared about, and I'd figured out that the quickest way to upset them was for them to see me. So, just a few days after everything went wrong, I started at a new school, determined to stay out of everyone's way and be the least obnoxious 'waste of space' I could be. I promptly ran into someone and tripped on them."

She laughs, clearly happy despite the darkness of this portion of her story. "With that, I had quite literally stumbled upon my new group." She waves lightly in their direction, and they wave back, Allegra and Allan with tears in their eyes. "Despite how much effort I put into trying not to 'waste their time with my presence', they refused to leave me. They're the embodiment of what being an everyday hero is. For some time, the evil they were trying to triumph were the walls I had put up around myself. I didn't want to let anyone in, because having lost so many people all at once, I was convinced that was the only way relationships of any kind could go.

"Well, they most certainly didn't 'do nothing'. Far from it. They'd put effort into being with me everyday. They sat with me in the classes we shared, and they invited me to hang out with them constantly. Not in a pushy way, just letting me know the invitation was there and open for me to accept.

"It took a month before I finally accepted. To say they were excited is an understatement. The poor librarian had to put up with some happy screeching that day." She laughs.

"No regrets." Claude whispers smugly.

Allegra smacks his arm. "The poor librarian regrets ever letting you in."

"She loves me."

"Begrudgingly, but our point still stands."

"From there, we began hanging out regularly. I was happy, though the fact that I hadn't yet told them why I transferred stressed me to no end. Once, an akuma attack caused them to unknowingly meet my former friend. I was terrified, but even being completely in the dark they stuck with me, calming me down when they found me having a panic attack, and simply inviting me over to do something calmer.

"I did eventually have to tell them what had happened. I was," her voice cracks, "so scared. I was certain that for one reason or another they would leave me after that. It had only been a few months, and I was - understandably - still not fully recovered. I thought they'd hate me. I'd be alone again."

She takes a deep shuddering breath, smiling wide despite the tears trailing down her face. "They didn't. I wasn't. They stayed, and they've continued to stay. Since then, they, along with the friends I had remaining from before my transfer, have been absolute angels. I'm not the same person I was before this whole mess, but I am a better, stronger person. My friends are a stellar example of how everyone can be a hero. They didn't need superpowers to be there for me and continue to be there for me. For that, they're all my heroes. They're amazing." She looks at them in the crowd. "I love you guys so much. Thank you."

With that, she hands off the microphone and hurries off the stage. There's more applause, mostly from her friends.

It doesn't take them long to spot her coming, and she tackles all of them in a fervid, tight embrace.

"You did great, 'Nette." Allan squeezes her.

Claude does the same. "How are you so precious?"

Tears stream down Allegra's face. "That was really touching, Mari. Thank you."

Marinette shakes her head as much as she can in the group hug. "No, thank you guys. I wouldn't be the same without you."

"I am certain you would have managed. You are truly an extraordinary individual," Felix assures.

"I'm with Felix, Marinette. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for," Sabrina chimes in.

"We all know where I stand." Adrien grins.

"Right by her side, like the sappy little beans you are."

Eventually they break apart, Allegra and Marinette both with tear tracks on their faces.

They turn their attention back to the stage, where Chloe is speaking again.

"-You've probably noticed that the lanterns have little pieces of paper attached. If you have any wish you want to launch with your lantern, then that's the place for it. Now, before we launch, everyone should probably spread out a little more."

While the crowd disperses, readying their own lanterns, Chloe takes the chance to scribble something onto her lantern's note quickly.

The friend group smiles at each other, writing their own wish down and spreading out, waiting for Chloe's cue.

"Is everyone ready?"

There's several shouts of 'yes!', and Chloe nods. After waiting another moment in case of any soft-spoken stragglers, she confesses, "My wish with this lantern, is that something, somewhere, positive comes of this. I want something to reach someone who needs it, and their life is improved, even slightly by it."

With that she releases the lantern into the air, she watches it float into the sky for a moment before leaving the stage. Everyone else follows suit.

Adrien and Marinette stare at the sky, hand in hand. She whispers, "Isn't it beautiful?"

He moves his gaze from the lanterns to Marinette. "Yeah. Yeah it is."

She spots him staring at her and turns pink. "Adrien. Focus on the lanterns right now. What'd you wish for?"

He squeezes her hand. "I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to say. That's how wishes work, right?"

"I suppose." She rests her head on his shoulder.

After a moment, he shifts to face her, cupping her face with his hand. She looks at him questioningly.

"Hey, Mari?"

"Yeah?"

He kisses her. She straightens in surprise momentarily, then has to stop herself from smiling. She squeezes his hand where their fingers are still interlaced, and his other hand - still resting on her cheek - drifts slightly to push her flyaway hairs out of her face.

Chloe has finally joined the friend group, and upon seeing Adrien and Marinette just remarks, "It's about damn time."

Allegra straightens, grabbing Chloe's hand. "Yeah, yeah it is."

Then the blonde whirls around and kisses Chloe as well.

Claude, who has been taking pictures, immediately turns and gets pictures of the two girls. "My ships are sailing, my ships are sailing, my ships are sailing. Somebody make this a national holiday right now. My ships! Are! Sailing!" He whispers excitedly.

Adrien and Marinette break apart, touching foreheads and staring into each other's eyes for a moment, grinning identical, tender, and affectionate grins.

They finally step away from each other, both gasping in delight at Allegra and Chloe.

Adrien manages to keep his fangirl squeal from being disruptively loud, and Marinette takes a picture of her own.

"Glad you didn't miss this." Allan comments softly. "Three cheers for Ally, internally though, otherwise she may kill us."

Marinette nods, then whispers, "My ship is sailing."

"Now you sound like Claude." Allan nods toward the taller boy who has stopped taking pictures, but remains just as exuberant. Felix snaps his fingers in front of their face, and they don't respond. He turns toward Allan and shrugs.

Allan sighs. "We may need to reboot him."

"Possibly." Marinette giggles.

"Promise me you'll remember how to breathe? That one forgot." Allan asks as he moves towards Claude.

"I will, though I make no promises for Adrien."

The blond boy has stopped squealing, but bounces cheerily next to Marinette.

By now, Chloe and Allegra have broken apart, and have taken in the chaos around them.

"You broke Claude." Marinette jerks her thumb in his direction.

"I believe it was a group effort. Both his ships sailed at once," Felix corrects, "I suppose each of you can take exactly 25% of the credit."

"Adrikins isn't doing much better," Chloe observes.

"He's a hopeless romantic, you know this."

Chloe strides up to Adrien and flicks him in the head. That's enough to break him from his stupor. He just hugs her happily.

She begrudgingly allows this, though they can all tell that she's only acting.

She's just as happy as the rest of them.

Adrien is still hugging her when an excited squeal let's them know Allan has successfully brought Claude back to life. They rush over and hug Allegra, then Marinette, then Chloe and Adrien.

He turns to Allan enthusiastically. "Mom, all three of your daughters-who-are-interested-in-romantic-relationships at once! They grow up so fast! Look at them!" He gestures at both couples. "So beautiful! So happy! Little lovebirds! They're darling!"

"Excuse me? When did he become my mother?" Chloe questions.

Allan waves her off. "You're all my children. The moment I start worrying about your general health and well-being outside of when we're together, you're my child."

"Which honestly doesn't take long," Allegra teases.

"I believe Marinette is his record," Felix remarks. "He was worried about her the second he laid eyes on her."

"Can you really blame him? I was a mess that first day." Marinette sits on the grass, staring up at the sky still dotted with little glowing lights.

Adrien follows suit, laying down beside her. Marinette uses his chest as a pillow.

"I think we all were worried about Mari when she showed up." Allegra sits as well.

"Good. She needed you." Chloe joins her girlfriend.

"I still do! All of you are amazing, wonderful, priceless gifts to the planet!"

"So are you, Nettie," Allan reminds her.

Soon enough, they're all on the grass, staring up at the inky nothingness that they had filled with a glittery sprinkling of glows. Each lantern a brilliant dot representing someone's hope for something better.

A better future, a better world.

"We made our own stars," Marinette murmurs, awed.

"We are our own stars," Adrien counters.

Because the lanterns may represent hope, but they're a hope built on people.

And people are more than capable of being radiant when they need to be.

Adrien looks at the raven-haired girl on his chest. She's staring at the sky in wonder, eyes reflecting the twinkling lights.

Some people shine just for the people around them. A dazzling gift to their friends.

He smiles, happy to have the privilege of being so close to the brightest of them all.

Notes:

Sooooo?! What do you think?! I really like this chapter, and I think it works well for wrapping everything up. I'm not the best some of the aspects of it, but they were important, so I did my best to make them quality. Also, as I said, my sappiness really shines through at the end.

Claude is all of you. I'm aware of this.

What's this? Another dumb debate? Here's the survey! I have another debate that I really want to do, because I truly think it'd be interesting, but I wanted to give it its own one-shot, so you get 'how would baguettes move' instead.
The results are here!

Final chapter tomorrow! I can't believe I'm even saying that. Wow.

I love you guys so much! Thank you so much for reading and staying with me! You guys are just the sweetest, most amazing people, and you're the reason I made it this far! 💞💞💞

As always, you can find me on tumblr, and I look forward to seeing you guys's thoughts on this chapter! I'll be in the comment section as always!

Chapter 42: Epilogue

Summary:

A few months later, Marinette reflects on the differences between this year and last year.

Notes:

Here we gooooo! I can't believe it!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Marinette hurries to school, for once though, not because she's late.

It's the first day of school and she's excited.

When she gets to the front, she looks up at the school and thinks about how much has changed.

A year ago, she was shaky and nervous, heading into Lila's territory with no idea of what's to come. Now, she's on her own turf, with close friends that she doesn't have to win back. A year ago, she'd been constantly worried about disappointing her partner, and wondering if she was truly enough to save the city from Hawkmoth. Now, her partner is her closest friend - and boyfriend - and Paris' miraculous team has grown.

Adrien's hand slips into her own, drawing her from her thoughts. She turns to him, giving him a bright smile and pulling him into the school.

"Come on, come on, come on!"

"You seem excited," he teases.

"It's your first day of school with me! Well, first day here."

"Dupain-Cheng! I'd appreciate it if you didn't rip my Adrikin's arm off!"

Marinette turns at Chloe's voice, letting go of Adrien to hug the blonde, rushing over and almost knocking her over.

"Hello, Adrien," Sabrina comes to stand beside the blond, lacking the hyper energy that Marinette has.

"Hey! You excited about being at a new school?"

She shrugs. "It's a little weird, and I'm a little nervous, but I'm certain it will be better than Dupont."

"That's a low bar," Chloe retorts, "That school was ridiculous, utterly-"

"Ridiculous." They all finish with her.

"Okay, let's go find your girlfriend."

With that, Marinette is hurrying through the halls again. She skids into the library then lifts her arms victoriously.

"She's arrived!" Claude cheers.

She shoots forward, hugging them first before moving on to her other friends. Claude rushes over to the three that entered with her, giving them the same treatment.

"Alright, alright, let go of me, I'd like to actually see my girlfriend this century," Chloe grumbles, shoving Claude away.

"Nice to see she's got her priorities- well, maybe not straight," Allan teases, "Do Felix or I even get a good morning?"

Chloe sticks out her tongue, hugging Allegra selfishly. "She's my favorite."

"Good answer."

Allegra shoots a mock glare at Allan. "I think by now you shouldn't be testing her to see if she's 'worthy' of me. I believe we're beyond that stage."

Allan drinks from his water bottle calmly. "My dear, we will never be beyond that stage. Anyone that wants to date any of my children must prove themselves."

"It's true!" Claude exclaims, "And if someone breaks any of you guys's hearts and mysteriously vanish, I have a solid alibi and the proof is circumstantial at best."

"Remind me to apologize in advance to the librarian everyday." Felix sighs, putting his book away. "We may want to find a new meeting place."

"Ooh!" Claude digs through his backpack for a school map. "New year, new spot?"

Marinette looks around the table.

Felix and Sabrina are giving each other book suggestions. Allegra is looking over Chloe's schedule, giving her last minute tips on teachers and getting around. Allan, Adrien, and Claude are considering new places to meet in the mornings.

She smiles. They're good people, and with them she has no doubt that school will be more enjoyable than ever before. They'd all been hanging even more during summer, and she knows them inside and out, despite only being close with them for only a year or so now. Marinette can't help but be optimistic about the upcoming school year.

This year will be outstanding.

Notes: