#Markov for class president

[mariacallous]

BBC’s Russian service has discovered a confidential decree from 2008, by which Russia’s President Vladimir Putin awarded Yevgeny Prigozhin, then owner of the Concord management company, a first-class order of Merit to the Fatherland.

After Prigozhin’s failed insurrection attempt in July, a search of his St. Petersburg home turned up a full dress uniform decorated with multiple state awards, including a Hero of Russia star. Only a few of them were linked to published award decrees.

The title of the confidential decree numbered 1199, just found by the journalists, says that it awards “staff members of the Directorate of the President.” Sergey Markov, an attorney who gave a comment on the decree for BBC, thinks that this can mean one of two things: either Prigozhin had a secret post within the directorate, or his name had been “thrown into the same decree” for convenience, so as not to issue a separate decree for him alone.

Award recipients listed in the presidential decree 1199 were all being honored for their contributions to the 2006 G8 summit in St. Petersburg. Prigozhin’s role at that summit was to serve dinner for Vladimir Putin and his guests, including the U.S. President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, at the posh Lindstrom Mansion.

[mcheang]

Love myself

Inspired by Rima’s words of advice to Senri for not fighting Rido’s control. (Vampire Knight)

Marinette is tired.

Ladybug, guardian and family duties aside, what really strikes her as unnecessary is her school duties.

She can handle homework just fine. And lately, she is too busy to really hang out with her classmates to even accept their commissions.

What is unneccessary is having to constantly change plans already set in motion because Ms Bustier gives into Chloé and the class gives into Lila. And then teacher and class pressure her to accept.

As Vice President (she took the job and she intends to support Mari), Alya notices Marinette’s strain when she can’t even be understood. She somehow confused Chloe’s insisted bee farm field trip with ant farm family trip. She mixed up Lila’s suggested culture photo booth with cat pictures.

Alya decides Marinette needs a break and insists she step down. Knowing Marinette would never let Chloe or Lila replace her willingly, Alya chooses Mylène to be her substitute class president.

Marinette didn’t want to agree but Alya insists she can’t do everything. She’s human and needs rest or she won’t even be able to do her homework at this rate.

Mylène agrees and because Marinette has always been so helpful to them, Mylène insists she take a week off from all her troubles. She even got a doctor’s note insisting Marinette relax for a week. It was easy once the doctor saw the signs of sleep deprivation and incoherence.

It wasn’t until Mylène saw the papers stacked high that she realizes the stress the class added to Marinette’s shoulders when they insisted they change charity garage sales to photobooth sessions. It is one thing to catalogue items the class wants to sell. It is another to hire a photographer and rent costumes and backdrop with no money but whatever the principal deigns to give the class, if he has any leftover after spending it on owl gadgets.

And instead of a field trip to the museum, they now have to travel to the bee farm and learn...actually how is this even relevant for a history subject? And why is Marinette the one to have to think of decent lessons to be learned from the trip?

As Mylène gets stressed, Ivan notices and the others decide to help out. They decide to skip Lila’s idea since it is too much trouble.

And forget it. They are not going to a bee farm to satisfy Chloe’s ego when there is no history lesson in it. Unless you want the history of beekeeping.

Chloé throws a temper and Ms Bustier tries to get the class to relent. Stonefaced, the class then state they won’t attend the field trip. If Chloé wants to go so badly, she can go on her own planned trip, because no one else wants to learn about bees. Actually, would they even fail from not attending this non-educational field trip?

Chloé sniffs and snaps that this is why she should have remained class president. Fine, she and Sabrina and Adrikins will attend the bee farm themselves. The rest of the losers can fail this assignment.

Alya: right. The principal may actually cave to your dad. But I wonder if the school board will actually tolerate failing a class for being absent on a trip ordered by a bossy brat?

Caline: settle down students. How about we have 2 field trips. One for the museum and one for the bee farm. You choose which one you want to attend.

Chloé sniffs. “Fine. Your loss.”

And so, by being in Marinette’s shoes, the class realizes that they should stop letting/pressuring her agree to ridiculous changes in set plans.

Meanwhile, after a good night’s sleep, Marinette wonders what to do for the week. She still has to be a guardian and heroine but maybe she can finally take some time to just sketch for fun. It doesn’t have to be an outfit. Just whatever catches her eye.

As Marinette tries to relax, she comes up with inspiration for a sash belt.

The whir of her sewing machine was soothing on her frazzled nerves.

When Marinette learned that the field trip and charity sales would go on as previously planned, she let out a sigh. Now they understand her pains.

But no more talk of school. Just relaxation and lots of sleep.

When her classmates encourage her to learn to say no, Marinette tries to picture saying no every time her classmates try to ask something of her.

https://youtu.be/dAclxvyONF8

There is no way she can do that.

Tikki asks why doesn’t she just step down from the class president role. It doesn’t always have to be up to her to save them. They need to grow up and learn responsibility too, to know what it is like to plan trips and handle bullies.

Besides, a distracted and stressed Ladybug is not what the city needs.

At the end, Marinette realizes she has not been this happy in a long time. Which is kind of sad because this isn’t her at her happiest. She needs to step down. It isn’t a crime to refuse to be class president. She needs to do this.

When the week is over, Marinette returns less stressed, but she plans to retire in a week. That should give her enough time to get Mylène or Alya up to speed.

But Mylène doesn’t want the job. And Alya protests she has babysitting and blog duties.

Marinette: well I also have a bakery and commissions to worry about. I can’t handle too many things. So if this is how it is, I guess Chloé is back in charge.

Chloé: Yes!

Class: no!

Lila: I can be class president!

Marinette: Lila, this means you have to be present for all class events. Which means no more excuses about doing other charity work or meeting your famous friends. Not even modeling should call you away from being present at a party preparation. Oh, but since you have done so much planning, I’m sure none of your plans will fall through.

Lila: on second thoughts, I have too many things to do too.

Markov: I can do it. I manage multiple jobs simultaneously

Chloé: is he even a student?

Marinette: who votes Markov for class president?

Max: I shall be his Vice President.

Everyone but Chloé and Sabrina raises their hands.

And really, Marinette gets to work on her hobby, and Markov uses logic to refuse changing plans when it is too late. If change must occur, Markov will insist the person with the idea has to help out and will even give them assigned jobs.

[unmaskedagain]

Oh Lady Luck (How I miss you so!)

Okay; first off. I hated this. I had a massive case of writer’s block while doing it and lost inspiration near the end.

Oh Lady Luck (How I miss you so!)

           Bustier’s class was the luckiest in school, everyone knew it. They got to go on the most amazing trips, win contest after contest, competition after competition, met all sorts of celebrities, frequently got to meet Ladybug, through the best dances and school plays, and always seemed to have a pep in their step. Anything any of the students went after they always managed to get. Everyone knew Bustier’s class was the luckiest in school. Then one day that changed dramatically.

“You’ve changed,” Alya accused Marinette after the class voted her out as Class president. “You become a bully.”

           Alix snorted, “More like a jealous bitch.”

           There were nods from the other students in class. Lila smiled at Marinette; happy that her promise to ruin the girl was coming true.

“You’re always so mean to Lila,” Rose added. “It’s not nice.”

“You’re worse than Chloe now,” Kim glared.

           Juleka frowned, “We miss the old Marinette.”

“You should’ve chilled out like I told you to, dudette,” Nino said with a shake of his head, clearly disappointed.

“We can’t be your friends anymore,” Alya crossed her arms.

           Marinette had listen to them quietly as they relayed reason after reason why they were ending their friendships with her; all to do with Lila. She didn’t bother to look at Adrien. He had warned her what was going to happen; Nino had told him. There had also been a group text apparently. Adrien made it clear he stood with Marinette. Even more so, when he chose to sit with her in the back of the class, a fierce glare on his face at the other students.

The bluenette placed down her pencil, closed her sketchbook and said, “Fine. Then we’re not friends anymore.”

“That’s counts double for me,” Adrien hissed. “Lose my number. In fact, don’t bother; I’ll just change it. That goes for every last one of you. I’ll be informing my Father and Nathalie that only Chloe and Marinette are on my visitors list.”

           The class blinked in shock. Not expecting that reaction from the blond boy who was usually so amicable and nice.

           Chloe watched with amused eyes. She had been sentenced to the back of the room not long after Marinette. “We’ve never been friends but consider all extra little perks you’ve gotten used to: dead and over with.”

           That was it. None of the other students knew what to say or do. They hadn’t gotten the reaction they expected. Marinette didn’t seem to care. Adrien seemed ready to set them on fire. Chloe looked rather pleased at the idea of seeing them burn. Most shrugged it off; figuring at least two of the three (Marinette and Adrien) would come crawling back in no time.

           They didn’t.

           Things started to change for the students in Bustier’s class the next day.

           Lila woke up in the morning to an email confirming that she would no longer being a model or any type of employee for the Gabriel Agreste brand. Or as Nathalie put it when the sausage hair girl called her, “We will no longer be needing your services, Miss Rossi. Do not contact us again.” Click.

           That was when Lila realized her plan of using Gabriel to get Adrien under her thumb had went up in flames. She hoped that Adrien wasn’t informed so that maybe she could still use his father as a threat against the boy.

           When she go to class, the blond model sent her a vicious smirk. Lila paled. She knew without a doubt that Adrien didn’t just know Lila was fired, he was the one got her fired.

           Nino woke up to the news that the gig he was due to play, his big break, had replaced him. It would’ve been huge for his career.

Oh well, he thought, back to DJ-ing for birthday parties.

           Alya accidently dropped her phone in the toilet; ruining hundreds of videos and pictures for the Ladyblog.

           Alix took a dive while skating; broke her ankle and the watch her dad gave her.

           Max broke his glasses.

           Kim got food poisoning.

           Ivan’s dad ran over his drum set while parking in the garage.

           Rose tried to call Prince Ali and found out he changed his number.

           Nathaniel spilled coffee all over his Ladybug comic strips. Marc had been pissed.

           Juleka’s mom accidently put bleach in with a load of her laundry; it ruined everything.

           By the time they had all got to class, all the students were in a terrible mood. However, when Marinette walked in with a box full of delicious smelling breakfast pastries; they perked up. The bluenette always seemed to know when they needed a pick me up. And there was nothing like a treat from the Dupain-Cheng Bakery.

           Marinette didn’t acknowledge any of their presences. She walked straight to the back of the classroom, sat in her seat between Chloe and Adrien. “Morning!” She beamed at her friends. “I brought treats for the three of us.”

“Awesome!” Adrien smiled, quickly opening the box and snagging a chocolate croissant. “Delicous, Thank you” He said. Or least they thought he said that. His mouth was full and it was mostly garbled.

           Chloe rolled her eyes. She grabbed a mixed berries and cream cheese pastry, “Perfect way to start the day. Thank you, Marinette.”

           Marinette took out her favorite: a berry and jasmine scone. Then she promptly through the box away; making clear that she hadn’t brought any for anyone else. “Anything for my friends.”

“We’ll do lunch at Le Grand Paris,” Chloe said. “On me of course. The chef there is to die for.”

           The other students visibly wilted. Alya in particular who loved going to Le Grand Paris as her mother was the head chef.

           It all went downhill from there.

           Over the next week things went from bad to worse for the students.

           Bustier told the class their trip the Presidential office was cancelled due to an unexpected flooding incident. The plan had been for the class to tour the office and have amazing picnic on the beach afterwards

           Lila’s mother, who had been busy nearly 24/7, officially went on vacation, meaning she plenty of time to spend with her daughter. Her daughter was panicked when her mother inquired about visiting her school.

           Alya discovered that the hits to her site had started to declined dramatically. She didn’t have time to worry about that as her internship with a local new studio had been cancelled; something about realizing Alya didn’t have enough experience. So her summer plans were cancelled.

           Nino’s Dj equipment sparked or shorted out or something but nothing would work anymore. He had cancel the rest of his gigs until he could buy new ones.

           Kim lost a swim match against Ondine.

           Markov got a virus and broke down causing Max to break down in tears.

           Nathaniel lost the expensive sketch pencil he won in a contest.

           Alix’s grandmother brought her a new dresses; frilly monstrosities that Alix’s forced her to wear to school for the entire week.

           Rose, Ivan, and Juleka were heartbroken when Luka announced he was going Solo.

           It didn’t help anyone’s mood that every day Marinette, Chloe, and Adrien walked into class with big smiles on their faces and pleasantly discussed their amazing plans.

           On Wednesday, Adrien invited Marinette and Chloe to come with him to meet the Prime Minister.

           Apparently, Adrien’s dad had called in favors so the three would tour Palais Bourbon, where the French Parliament meets.

“He said I could invite all my friends!” Adrien smiled.

           Marinette had been shocked at this. Until Adrien explained that his aunt had threatened to reveal to the world Gabriel Agreste’s neglectful behavior, his tendency break child labor laws, and his need to isolate Adrien. Thanks to his aunt, Adrien had a much free-er schedule and Gabriel had been in therapy for weeks. “I’ll bring food from the bakery. We can have a picnic!”

“Beach day!” Chloe cheered.

           No one else so much as smiled at the news. Even more so when pictures surfaced on Friday of Marinette, Chloe, Adrien, Ondine, Marc, Mireille, and Aurore with various members of Parliament; including the prime minister.

           Thursday, Chloe loudly invited Marinette and Adrien to an event for her mother, “It’s a fashion show! It’s tonight. Adrien can relax behind the scenes, while Mari and me model on the run way. Mama’s lost a few models so I told her I could recommend a few friends.”

“I’m modeling!” Marinette paled so much, her friends were sure she’d pass out.

“I get to do nothing!” Adrien grinned.

           Pictures of Chloe and Marinette modeling exploded across the internet; multiple fashion websites and online magazines deeming the girls’ Style Queen’s secret weapon and modeling next big thing.

           Most of the guys in class shrugged it off. But a few of the girls turned greened with envy; Lila in particular.

           On Friday, Marinette invited Adrien and Chloe to meet her uncle and her cousin, “He’s back in town on Saturday and he wants to meet all my friends.”

           No one else in class paid too much to that. Who cared about Marinette’s uncle? Or her cousin? They were probably just as stuck-up and nasty as she was.

           Then on Saturday, picture of the same group who went to Parliament, plus Luka, with Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale started trending on the internet. Jagged Stone posted a tweet about how awesome his honorary niece was, with a picture of him and Marinette. Clara posted a pic with her favorite little cousin, Marinette.

           Alya couldn’t believe her eyes and immediately started texting Marinette for the deets. She received a text back saying; new number; who dis?

           Nino flat-out called Adrien only hear that the number had been disconnected.

           The rest of the class faced the same issue.

           And then one by one, they each remembered that they weren’t friends with any of the tree Ostracized students anymore.

           Monday, Alya found out that BugOut, a competing Ladybug blog, had been officially endorsed by Ladybug and Chat Noir. Something that hadn’t happened with the Ladyblog.

           Max lost the science fair. For the first time. He had to go see the school guidance counselor.

           Kim got kicked off the team for his poor grade.

           Lila’s finally called the school to schedule an appointment. Lila was Akumatized within the five minutes.

           Alix’s grandma brought her more clothes; some which were tacky sweaters with cats all over them

           Nathaniel misplaced his new sketch book, with his redone Ladybug comic strips. He never found it. Marc wasn’t happy.

           Nino got a call to dj a huge event only to have to decline as he hadn’t bought new equipment yet.

           It was Adrien that brought in breakfast for the other two; Mcdonalds. Much to the Chloe and Marinette’s dismay, but they didn’t say anything as the boy was clearly happy about being allowed to eat it for the first time.

           Marinette unwrapped her sausage Mcgriddle, wondering who she hurt in a past life, “Jagged is doing a private concert. You two want to come?”

           Adrien nodded, his mouth full of fried hash brown and bacon. “Count me in,” They think he said.

           Chloe held the egg mcmuffin in her hand like it was physically hurting her to do so, “I’m in,” she said. “And I’m bringing breakfast tomorrow.”

           The class was dismayed at missing at meeting Jagged Stone again.

“Are you going to invite us?” Alya asked with a huff.

           Marinette didn’t even look in her direction, “Sorry Uncle Jagged said I can only invite my friends.”

           Ouch.

           Over the course of the next few months, things continued to fall apart for the class. They tried planning one of their usual amazing dances, only for everything to crash and burn. Then they remembered that Marinette planned everything, and before her, Chloe.

           The class never made enough money fundraising so nearly all planned class trips were canceled.

           They had to deal with seeing pictures of Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe and all their friends meeting all sorts of celebrities.

           Ladybug disowned the Ladyblog; causing Alya to burst into tears.

           No matter what any of the students tried, did, competed in, they never won. They practically failed at everything.

           Rose tried to bake cookies for the class; her kitchen caught on fire.

           Max applied for science camp; all spots were full.

           Nathaniel who had lost his comic drawing for the twelfth time in a row was finally told by Marc to take a hike.

           Nino lost his hat, broke his glasses, a dog at his homework, and he tripped landed face down in the mud; all on the way to school one morning.

           The students were constantly late, frustrated, and always seemed to have something accidently spilled or thrown on their clothes.

           Lila’s  mother, who finally decided to just randomly drop by the school after being told repeatedly by her daughter that it was closed so she couldn’t do the appointment for months, was shocked to say the least when it was clearly opened and active. She had a long talk with the Principle and all of Lila’s lies were revealed to class.

           Class was very apologetic to the three ostracized students after that but it didn’t matter. The three made it clear they weren’t interested in renewing their friendships.

           By the end of the year Bustier’s class went from the luckiest in school to the unluckiest kids on the planet.

           The students of Bustier’s class couldn’t help but wonder aloud why they lucked changed do much.

           Tikki, Plagg, and Pollen, hidden away in their chosens’ school bags just smirked.

[goggles-mcgee]

Hello again, I had, in an earlier comment, asked on who will be redeemed in "A Little Birdy Told Me", and got Nino, Juleka, and Ivan as the answer. How would you write their reactions to the truth about Lila, and their pleas to regain Marinette's trust and forgiveness? Additionally, how would you have the Marinette Protection Squad treat them, given how they treated Marinette when they were under Lila's spell? Is it also possible for Ivan and Juleka to bring Mylene and Rose to Marinette's side?

Ah yes! Hello again!

How they become redeemable is actually recognizing that Lila is lying or is too good to be true/too much trouble than she's worth while in Gotham before the big reveal of her comes up. It's in different ways for each of them.

For Nino, it's the way Adrien is acting, he can put on the model smile for everyone else, but not his best friend. The model had been acting off even before the trip to Gotham, and he notices it's always around Lila and Marinette. At first it's because he thinks Adrien still wants to believe that Marinette is the person they thought she was but then he starts to really pay attention, he sees how Adrien grimaces when Lila grabs him, he sees the small twitch of his smile when she talks, like he wants to frown, and when she says anything about Marinette how he gives Marinette a pleading look.

Then with Marinette, he sees them when he was on his way home from buying some more eggs for his mom, Marinette looked like she would rather be anywhere but near Adrien while Adrien grabbed her arm and tried to hug her. Nino wanted to intervene but it was like he was stuck in place, and when Marinette pushed away and ran, the expression on Adrien's face...it scared him. It was angry to lovesick in no time, it gave him whiplash. So he decided for the Gotham trip to really pay attention to Adrien and Marinette, and...Lila, because when he listened, really listened, there was a lot of holes in her stories.

For Juleka, it's Luka. She warned Luka about Marinette and he was disappointed naturally, that the girl he liked turned out to be awful. But then one day he came home to the boat in a flurry of motion and immediately began to play this angry tune on his guitar until eventually a string snapped. It took awhile for him to become verbal again, and that was even with their mom's help, but when they did he just turned and looked at Juleka with so much disappointment she wanted to cry. All he said was, "I spoke to Marinette. I heard her song. What did you guys do to her?" Juleka didn't have an answer, because really what could she say. She knew what the class was doing as a whole was wrong, she knew she would have hated it if they did to her what they were doing to Marinette, but it was justified right? Marinette was the one in the wrong right?

But if Juleka took a step back from everything and really got to thinking about it, nothing that Lila claimed Marinette had done, made sense. But Juleka didn't want to be so easily swayed so she decided to do what she did best, she would be invisible and observe. The trip was close and it would be the perfect time to get evidence. She just hoped that when it came down to it, that Rose would listen to her.

Ivan wasn't one of the smartest kids in class but he more than made up for it with his big heart...or well, that's what Marinette used to say. And he's starting to question if Lila really is this great person she brags to be, because isn't that what she's doing? Bragging? Or if she is the liar Marinette warned them she was. He only really starts to question it when the trip starts and they leave behind Marinette, he read the pamphlet, he knows how dangerously Gotham can be, and when Max, Alix, Kim, and Markov are worried for her, he can't help but be worried too.

He doesn't know who actually thought of it, but he's pretty sure he hears Alya say they should "teach Marinette a lesson" and that's when he starts to be scared for the little bluenette. He confronts Alya of course because he never thought she would be the one to suggest violence, she seemed shocked too when he brought it up. And she looked a little scared too but she reassured him she just meant playing some pranks on the class president but nothing harmful. Ivan decided to ask Lila too because, he had a bad feeling, and for once he wasn't going to run away from his feelings, this wasn't Paris, so he asks her the same thing he asked Alya. And he has to stop himself from Gasping or making any kind of facial expression when Lila says "Well an eye for an eye right? Marinette can't hurt me if she's a little roughed up you know?"

It's an eye opener for sure and he needs to talk to Mylene.

[alittlemelody716]

Mistaken Mouse Au

This is my first au! Thank you to @miraculouspenta for helping me organize it and Sal and @blondie-4404  for helping me with the idea.

Marinette is not Ladybug in this au, she was Multimouse, a temporary hero 

She looks like Ladybug because Ladybug is her cousin, Bridgette 

Brigette was older than the main cast by a year or two, around Luka's age 

Adrien is still Chat Noir, he still has a crush on Ladybug but knows how to act professional 

After he is told what harassment is

Marinette didn't call Lila out as a superhero (obviously), and not because of the 'Ladybug's BFF lie' but because she saw her throw Adrien's book 

The class is friendly with each other, no salt 

Classic Gotham city school trip 

Except they don't get attacked, but accidentally walked into one 

Either Scarecrow, Killer Croc, or Riddler (preferably Riddler with the class sassing him by answering correctly [Mari, Max, & Markov probably])

The Batfam comes, sees the class and was like "Are they trying to get killed?!" 

Class: "We had to deal with a lunatic who uses butterflies to control people with negative emotions. This guy is a baby in comparison. And we had to deal with an actual akumatized baby" 

One JL major freak out later 

After they found out, they keep an eye on the class, because they can't let TEENAGERS fight by themselves

They try to find out their identities 

So they see Ladybug and immediately thought she was Mari because of the hair 

So the Batfam is like so Ladybug is in the city now, maybe she is here to ask for help 

She is not, Brigette is still in Paris 

Then Tim researches and says, "but that’s not ladybug......am I hallucinating?"

Que Tim passing out of exhaustion

The rest of the Batfam just went to Mari before Tim could tell them that 

The whole Batfam minus Red Robin show up and is like "Ladybug, we know you are here to ask for help" 

Marinette, "Uhhhh… what? 

Let's say Marinette was Brigette's spy since her class had way too many akumas happen. Mari would research potential heroes and inform her cousin every time an akuma occurs.

That's why she always disappears during akuma attacks 

People in Paris gonna thinks it’s her because of disappearing

So the Batfam realizes they made a mistake, but then they don't understand why she looks so much like Ladybug 

So they try to investigate her to find absolutely nothing about her being anyway related to the miraculous or the superheros 

That would be because Mari is being trained mostly by the Guardian to take over in case of an emergency and the miracle box is at risk 

When Master Fu passes Guardianship, he say he passes it to his apprentice

Since Mari still needs protection she wields the Mouse, as it can also act as a way for her to gather information and hide the miraculous without being caught 

Batfam is now suspicious of Mari 

They find that several members of the class were former or current heroes 

They interrogate them about the situation in Paris, who on Earth messed up at the JL, what the miraculous are (though that is mostly explained by Wonder Women and Aquaman), and who Mari is

The class explains the best they can, but when they explain about Mari, things get a little "weird" 

Alya: "Mari is the best! She is class president and handles everything practically by herself even though she could've asked me for help since I'm her deputy" 

Max: "Marinette is really smart. She once discovered that we planned a surprise party for her just because Alix asked her to make a banner for her" 

Kim: "Mari can be scary dude. The one time I tried picking on her, she flipped me" 

And so on

So now the Bats are even more curious about her 

Not really sure about how they find out about Multimouse, probably Adrien

Ship of choice

Bats: How are you not Ladybug? Y’all look so similar???? 

Mari: Puhlease as if I’d have time for that! I’m already overrun because of my commissions for my fashion career. Clothes don’t make themselves. 

Tim: * runs over in costume* OMGIJustWokeUpAndINeedYourAutographMDCYouAreMyFavouriteDesignerLikeEver 

N&RH: *freaks the fuck out *

[dandelionflower]

Felinette where after 10 years the school reunion happens but Mari and Felix are at the hospital since Mari is giving birth. At the reunion Lila tries her lies about Mari but the birth of Mari and Felix's kid is going live since Mari is a famous designer and Felix is her model.

[send me Felinette prompts/requests]

“Hey, girl!” Alya hugged Lila, grinning bright. “Guess who got herself an interview with Jagged Stone’s son last week?”

“You mean Shatter?” Lila smiled at her, voice softening like when a mother consoles a child. “He’s such a sweetie, isn’t he?”

“It’s Shawn, but yeah.” Alya grinned at the memory.

The wedding between Penny Rolling and Jagged Stone has happened when they were all just fourteen, and Shawn was born that next year.

The year Lila told them about her lies.

She admitted that she had lied about her trips, her connections, and being Ladybug’s friend. The only truth was knowing Jagged Stone, but that was because he was her godfather, not because she saved his kitten.

She was bawling on the floor, begging for forgiveness that the class surely gave.

Alya was twenty-nine now, and her journalistic pursuits were thriving, just like everyone else.

Rose had become a highly esteemed business woman, and Juleka was modeling so much, you couldn’t look at a magazine kiosk without seeing her face.

Ivan was a well-paid bodyguard for Mylene, who had gained fame by protesting all sorts of environmental atrocities. They had broken up after they had turned seventeen, but rumor had it that those old bonds were slowly repairing themselves.

Alix had become a famous rollerblader, breaking a record for fastest cross country time and took up ice skating; she was going to the next Olympic Games.

Kim was now the most wanted stuntmen in the world, for his lack of fear and uncanny ability to not die from heights.

Nathaniel and Marc parted ways as they went to different colleges, but were still in contact. Nathaniel often called Marc when the storyline for his comic book seemed a bit off and Marc would gladly tell him that the author was just being an idiot.

Max and Sabrina, amazingly enough, got married; they completed their medical doctorates together and, once they made enough money, went back to college to get degrees in technology and math for Max and philosophy and psychology for Sabrina.

Together, they found the cure for cancer and Sabrina ended up writing a bestselling self-help novel, Henchman: just one good friend isn’t always enough. Max had patented his AI technology and Markov got his own talk show.

Adrien was working with Child Protective Services and other organizations to help children in bad situations. His father’s company took a massive tank after Hawkmoth’s reveal and Adrien did nothing to keep it afloat.

Chloe took up acting. She was well known for her amazing performances of evil queens, heinous witches, terrifying stepmothers. She, of course, took it all in stride.

No one really knew what Lila or Marinette were up to, finding out was probably the reason most of them were here.

And Nino...

Nino was living life happily as a popular song composer with his daughter Harley, the daughter Alya missed with every passing day.

She shook her head. Now wasn’t time to dwell on recent events, now was a time to look back at the past and reminisce.

“Have you seen Marinette? I’ve been wondering what she’s been up to these past ten years.” Alya commented, barely noticing Lila stiffen up. “You too. I gave you my number for a reason, you know.”

“Yeah, but I lost my phone in the trenches and you know how bad my memory is.” She laughed, batting her hand in the air.

“Yeah, I do. So tell me now; what about trenches?”

“I’ve been doing some peace talks, you know, nothing big.”

“Like Mylene was?”

“...yeah, like that. Just on a slightly larger scale.”

“Larger than stopping the Third World War? Dang girl.”

“I’ve also been doing some acting in foreign films and donating my extra time to children in need.”

“Like Chloe, Kim, and Adrien!”

Her eye twitched. “So, is Marinette coming, or is she...”

“She’s definitely coming. She wouldn’t miss a class reunion for the world.”

“Are you sure, because I saw her not too long ago today and she didn’t seem to prepared.”

“She’s coming.” Alya spoke firmly.

“Hi Alya! Hi Lila!” Rose jumped in and hugged them both tightly. “Have either of you seen Mari? I need to give her congratulations.”

“Congratulations? For what?”

“She got married a while back! I was really busy though, so I wasn’t able to go to the wedding. Her number changed too so I couldn’t call her either.”

Alya frowned. She hadn’t gotten any invitation.

“She got married?” Lila gasped. “But who was that man she was kissing in the coffee shop?”

“That was probably him; I don’t know him well, but I remember him being blond.” Rose grinned.

“Are you sure? He seemed pretty red headed when I saw them.” She pressed her hands to her face. “You don’t think...”

“Lila, come on. Mari wouldn’t cheat on her husband.”

“Yeah... we’ll just talk to her when she gets here.” Lila agreed. “If she gets here in time.”

“She will.” Alya nodded, reassuring Lila with a smile.

For some reason, she didn’t seem too certain.

—

Hours passed and everyone had given a speech on the stage, all but one.

“Where could she be?” Alya hissed to herself, texting Marinette again and again only to get a message declaring her number inactive.

“Maybe she’s just not-“ Lila was cut off when Alya held up her hand.

“Don’t. Just don’t.”

The sound of feedback filled the room and every head turned towards the stage, where Miss Bustier was standing.

She looked almost the same, with her red hair in a bun and her crisp pale blue pantsuit. The signs of time were still there, though, in the wrinkles around her eyes and the sparkling grey at her roots.

“Hello class!” She paused and listened to them cheer. “We’ve heard all of your accounts of your school years, and now it’s time for your class president to have a word.”

Chatter filled the air, each person turning to look for the blurnette.

“Oh, I can’t wait to see her!” Rose squealed to Juleka. “I need to get her new number.”

Juleka glanced sideways at her. “She’s been texting me for months.”

“What?” Rose scrolled through her phone and stopped. “Oh! Here it is! My phone is set to block unknown numbers.” She clicked a button and grinned as she made a new contact for her, with lots of emojis.

“Where’s Marinette?” Someone yelled. “Shouldn’t she be here?”

“I’m afraid Marinette had some prior engagements.” Miss Bustier clicked a pointer to a projector. “But, luckily, we are able to see exactly what it is.”

Light funneled out of the projector and the class was treated to what looked like a home movie.

It was in a hospital, but one boys face overtook the screen. He had on a blue striped shirt and a cheeky smile.

“Hey ma peeps! For those of you just joining us, I’m Claude...”

Another boy popped up in a green beret. “And I’m Mercury.”

“...and this is the livestream of the birth of a demigod!”

Sabrina and Max rose their fists and started chanting, “Elise! Elise! Elise!”

Ivan and Mylene glared at them playfully and started their own chant. “Dean! Dean! Dean!”

“What are they talking about?” Alya whispered to Rose.

“Didn’t you know? I just found out, it’s-“ she was cut off by a familiar voice coming from the speakers.

“Claude, I swear, if you don’t turn off that camera right now...”

The camera panned to a blue haired woman lying in a bed, a platinum blond man by her side.

“Sorry, Madame Culpa-Dupain-Cheng,” he laughed as Alya gasped inside the gymnasium, “you’re bedridden, so I’m not afraid of you.”

“Felix is still here.” She pointed out, leveling a finger at the camera. “Felix, get ‘im.”

The blond looked somewhere behind the camera’s field of view and made to move, but stopped as Marinette shouted out in pain.

“Felix,” she panted, after the screaming ceased, “I just want you to know that I love you, but I am never doing this again.” She looked up at him and received an amused grin.

“Fine by me.” He kissed her temple and Claude spoke again.

“You heard it here first folks! The legendary child, the only of its kind!”

She glared at him again. “Felix, if you don’t mind.”

“It would be my pleasure.” He began rolling up his sleeves and began walking towards Claude with a brisk pace.

“Uh, Claude?” Mercury, spoke with a nervous lilt to his voice.

“Well, that’s our live secret look into the birth of the legendary child of famous designer Marinette Culpa-Dupain-Chang and her photographer Felix Culpa-Dupain-Cheng!” Claude opened the door and hurried out. “Comment below on what you think the gender of the legend child will be and what the parents should name them; Claude Junior...”

“Or Mercury Junior!”

“Or the great Allegra the second?”

“Guys?” Adrien stood up from where he was sitting next to a blonde woman in a braid and a darker haired woman. “Is everything okay in there?”

“In there, fine, but out here?”

“There is a man on a mission behind us and that mission includes the removal of our tongues.”

“Better keep running, then.” The dark haired girl shouted, not even glancing up from her phone.

“Indeed.” Felix’s voice came from close behind the camera.

Both Claude and Mercury shrieked and began running down the hall once more, the other girl beside Adrien laughing while shouting, “Get ‘em good Felix!”

Alya stood stock-still, staring at the black screen.

Marinette is having a baby.

Adrien and four strangers are there for it.

She got married.

I didn’t know about it.

Lila said she saw Marinette today when she’s clearly been in the hospital all day, and is obviously in love with that Felix guy.

Suddenly, the fact that no one else but Rose, the sweetest person in class, had been talking to Lila was making a whole lot more sense.

@virgil-is-a-cutie

[currentfandomkick]

Miraculous Team and the Batboys

Longer update, wrote the ao3 version first this time. if you want to find me there, crazyjc.

--

Thankfully there weren’t any akuma attacks that day or that night. Marinette was glad to get some sleep for once. Her body, confused and used to a few hours a night, got her up early.

Marinette decided to help with the morning rush—quick to handle the register and make adjustments to some people’s orders (no extra charge for the exhausted high school and college students) when she managed to find someone as dead as she was after an akuma messed up her commission schedule and sleep was skipped for a week.

“Wow, you’re getting the ‘Please Don’t Let Me Die Again Yet’ special.” Marinette turned before the zombie could speak. “Maman, watch the register, someone looks worse than midterms and commissions me.”

Once Maman took the register again, Marinette worked on her disaster drink that only a few particular customers knew of from her personal menu--mainly the dead college and high school students insane enough to pull a weeks worth of all nighters like her. And baby parents that liked her parents bakery.

Gurarana beans instead for the extra caffeine with her special blend of licorice root, peppermint and green tea poured in--double the caffeine with less effort, glucose for the brain fuel, sweet and mint for wakeup and focus, and green tea for lasting energy boost.

“Here, this should keep you up and a bit more functional than usual.”

The man raised an eyebrow.

“Oh my god, what got Finals Angel up this early?” One of the regulars almost yelled, staring at her with a look that screamed the universe was going to collapse in on itself, and they were now anticipating this outcome until they got their morning fix.

Marinette shrugged, moving to the next customer as the dead man took a seat and pulled out his laptop. She continued to help until it was getting close to class.

“Maman, the rest of that brew is under the cabinet for the laptop zombie, I’m taking my morning delivery now.”

Maman took over while Marinette made her way to school, passing out the usual deliveries as she moved about.

“Adrien, your insult to caffeinated monstrosities everywhere.”

“Thanks Marinette!” The blond held his (essentially) hot chocolate with one pump expresso, and five three shots of caramel on top of whip cream.

“Chloe, why you have me grab something this sweet this early is only further proof of your crimes against humanity.”

“You’re welcome Dupain-Cheng.” The girl nabbed her (in Marinette's opinion) low caffeine sugar water--licorice root with half a bottle of honey, and lots of ice with whip cream and honesy drizzled on top. She would never understand that order, but was too afraid to ask at this point. She might be taking the Bee thing too far.

“Alya, thank you for being a sane coffee person, Nino, we are having a talk about your scheduling.”

“Thanks gurl." Because close or not, Alya was an addict with a simple and reasonable coffee that restored Marinette's sanity while making it.

Nino groaned as he took his pastries and three cream, one expresso. “Not again, I still haven’t recovered from the last time.”

Marinette shrugged. “Your mistake, not mine.”

“Oh, did you get my cookies?” Sabrina asked.

Marinette rolled her eyes with a fond smile. She likes Sabrina when she isn't in full cling mode, and giving her boxes of pre-paid cookies put together on Marinette's whims? Very calming after dealing with Adrien and Chloe's offending orders. “Yes. You paid for a different set everyday.”

“Thanks!” Sabina examined her current mix, more obscure cookies since Marinette got them before the morning rush.

“Markov, please tell me Max got some sleep last night?” Marinette asked as she handed another of her special “Max needs a nap but is to stubborn to” order--which is essentially an energy drink blend with a few slow-release teas mixed in.

“Affirmative. He got the requested minimum of three hours. I will ensure he gets more once school is out.”

“I’ll take what I can get.” He was less prone to akumatazation with more sleep, and Hawkmoth does like using Max. Marinette likes knowing she can have her teammate in the field without wondering if he'll pass out.

Marinette took her seat by Alya. They weren’t as close anymore, but it did mean Lila was alone in the back and didn’t see the group document.

“Class, we have a new student today!”

Marinette frowned. She wasn’t informed of any newcomers. She looked over at Chloe who huffed. She didn’t know either then.

“Class, this is Damian Grayson from America. His father is here on business and will be joining us for the semester!”

Chloe and her shared a look. With Chloe as the current president and Marinette as the head of the welcome committee, this was very last minute for them not to be informed. Especially as Bustier had the time to since both were here early.

Alya shot her a look.

Marinette shook her head. She really didn’t know, and it bugged her.

Alya narrowed her eyes as the new boy came in. Black hair, stood too straight and Middle Eastern. She wondered what his first language was briefly--someone in school was bound to be fairly fluent. If it was related to Arabic, Rose would be a good translator. Her and Adrien both have Mandarin now, and her English was passable to Americans--not so much for the UK. Alya has Spanish while Nino has Portuguese covered. Chloe was good for UK English and so was Adrien, but those two weren't good for new kids... especially from the America. Mylene, Ivan, Nathaniel and Juleka were bad at talking most of the time, so they were no-gos...

And she still had to finish Ali's commission… This would be a headache if they were an old Chloe-type.

“Damian, why don’t you tell us about yourself.”

“No need to. I do not plan on making friends.”

And he was worse than an Old Chloe-type. There went her free period for commissions.

The entire class shared a look, and Marinette wanted to groan. This boy would be in for a rude awakening—there was no escaping friendship in Bustier’s class. And anyone difficult? They would sent Marinette as envoy--hopefully Alya didn't make easy.

“I presume my seat is in the back?”

“Actually,” Alya stood up with a grin, “I was going to sit back with Lila to help her catch up in our next class.”

Marinette froze as she realized what Alya was doing. Keeping the new kid from Lila was good, but she also needed to keep Alya from falling for Lila’s lies again. And she has no clue on his preferred languages and uh!

“Alya,” she hissed.

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Alya moved to the back with ease before the boy could say a word.

Marinette hit her head. Why was her friend like this?

“I guess that means you’ll sit next to Marinette. Marinette, can you show Damian around during your free period?”

Marinette knew that tone. There was no refusing without a lecture on being a good role model and another reprimand for stepping down from class representative and student government when she got more commissions and needed more time.

“Of course Miss Buster.”

Damian took his seat without saying a word.

Marinette decided it was better to stay silent with this one--he didn't want friends, and would only be here briefly. She could respect that, even if she could feel the others scheming otherwise.

“What do you mean you know—“

“Oops,” Lila grinned. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

And that was what Marinette was hoping to avoid.

Damian twitched next to her. Marinette sighed, “One sec, I need to remind someone to check her sources before getting ahead of themselves… again.”

Nino shot Marinette a sympathetic look while Marinette linked three redacted articles that starred Lila as her main source.

“And done.”

Damian raised an eye brow at her. “You aren’t going to pester me, correct?”

Marinette rolled her eyes. Honestly? “You made your stance clear. I’m here as the actual head of the welcoming committee, and during free period I’ll just need to know your interests so we can avoid the parts of the school that aren’t relevant for you, and to make sure you have an idea how to handle akuma attacks since I’m going to guess they didn’t tell you about that before you applied.”

“tt,” Damian leveled her with a scowl. “Of course I know about them.”

Marinette didn’t bother to hide her surprise. “So you know where to go for shelter, the drills, the apps and news sources that are good for tracking, which hospitals are contactable during attacks and which ones go into lock down, oh and what actions are allowable and not as civilian aides to the miraculous team?”

The boy froze before her. He didn't then.

Her face slid into a more neutral one--keeping her gloating to herself.“That’s what I thought. I have a few flow charts in the committee room to grab since its an info dump and no one processes those well, and your learning style may benefit from it for all I know.” Marinette made sure not add ‘since some people can’t be bothered to tell me.’ The new boy clearly wasn’t interested in friendship, and despite what the class thinks, she is not friendship-nip.

“I…”

“Class, turn to page 67 of your textbook. Marinette, make sure to share with Damian.”

“Yes Miss Bustier,” Marinette moved the book between the two of them, ignoring Damian besides checking where his eyes were on the page before turning as they followed along.

Once their free period began, Adrien had a Chloe guarding him against the Lila octopus, with Sabrina flanking his other arm as backup.

“I take it those three are together?” Damian asked once they left.

“No, Chloe doesn’t share her friends well,” Marinette explained as they moved through the halls. “And it keeps away his fans, so no one stops it anymore.” Not unless they wanted the Mayor’s ire at least. It was very effective against Lila.

“I see…” He was watching her. She wasn’t sure if it was an American thing or just a tic of his. Possibly both.

“That’s where the teacher’s offices are for before and after school,” Marinette gestured to one wing. “All the doors are labeled, so its easy enough to find who you’re looking for as long as you have a name. You’ll find most of the school services there as well, minus the nurse who’s room is closer to the quad.”

Marinette smiled when they got to welcoming committee room. None of the other members were there at the moment, but the file cabinet was. She grabbed one of the ready-made packets and grabbed a spare Bustier Class packet too.

“Here’s the information for being new in Paris, everything from common places to eat, the good hole-in-the-wall places itemized by what you’re looking for, everything relating to akumas is on the red papers, and the yellow is the school’s map and procedures.” Marinette handed him the blue folder, then the orange. “This one is the Bustier-class specific one approved by Miss Bustier. It lists everything from class rules, what caused various akumatazations with the victim’s consent to disclose it, so not all are listed, and it has your schedule and the class outing dates plus who’s interested in what on the pink pages for possible friends, but you said you weren’t interested so we can skip that.”

Marinette watched him look over the papers for a moment, waiting until his attention was back to her. “Now, anything you have a vague interest in that you might have some random inclination to do at Dupont during your free periods, before or after school?”

Damian raised an eyebrow at her.

“Its you let me tailor the tour for you, or you have to go all over the school and talk to me the entire time, when we both know you’re really not interested.”

“Tt.”

Marinette shrugged. “Have it your way, now, on with the tour!”

--

Damian gawked at the core ciruculum including what he knew was more college level than high school level. Then there was the fact these students had access to multiple state of the art facilities tailored to current students interests on campus, with little issue getting them apparently.

“How does your school get all of this?”

The pigtail girl almost laughed at his question. “I guess they just sent you here since we have the most flexible curriculum routines then.” The girl shifted how she stood. “Dupont is an experimental school, everyone is given high expectations on entry but as long as you keep up with grades the school gets whatever any student requests—a few years ago we had one kid that was allowed to do rocket science as part of his program, he went to some German facility with a translator every other day. Alix has a blanket permit to do street art and installations on public property, as long as she gets her design approved and can give them her schedule as long as she helps other student with history classes. I get full access to any designing materials as part of my deal with the school in exchange for doing any school event costumes and tailoring jobs that I get a two week notice on.”

Damian nodded along, processing this new information. Suddenly, the high amount of akumas from graduates and current students of Dupont made sense. They were specialists, extremely skilled at their crafts and more likely to be knowledgeable than the general population on a variety of topics.

--

Marinette was glad for their hour-long lunch. “I’d ask if you wanted someone to eat with you, but you look like you need some time to process. I’ll check in before school ends.”

She ran home, noting that the man from that morning was still there but looked much less like he would keel over sometime soon. She knew that brew would help. She grabbed a croissant and ran upstairs to finish Prince Ali’s latest commission—a variant on his usual princely attire that was more maneuverable but still formal enough that no one would notice when he wore that one instead of the traditional one.

She had a feeling he was going to use it to sneak away from his guards.

She set an alarm and got to work.

She was quick to leave once the alarm sounded—she gave herself an extra five minutes this time.

“Hey, you’re the coffee angel, right?”

Marinette turned to see the man from that morning, now much more alive.

“I guess.” Marinette knew not to give out names to customers unless her parents deemed them not-stalker-y.

“Thanks, that thing actually worked. What’s in it?”

Marinette smiled at that. “Sorry, that’s a secret not even Maman and Papa get to know.”

“Huh,” the man processed her words. “Guess I’ll have to keep coming when I’m low then.”

Marinette nodded. “Guess so, good to see you’re no longer a zombie monsieur!”

She ran off at that, not sure what to think of them yet, other than if they needed that drink regularly, they might be worse than her. And she has heroing as an excuse. He doesn’t.

--

Holy shit was not expecting this response.

Thank you all so much, was not expecting this much positive response and i think my brain broke a bit, in the good way.

So, we have a new fan to Marinette's secret menu, and a Damian slowly realizing why the school is targetted who is also going with the 'I don't do friends' thing, again.

leaving this one as a poll: Damian calls out Lila by the end of the day for how Marinette and him end up as friends, or he puts together Marinette is doing a lot for the class by the end of the day and wants to figure out why, especially after reading the Ladyblog during lunch, or any other ideas.

Any ideas on how Marinette meets Dick and Jason for when she meets the next round of Batboys?

@worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @littleredrobinhoodlum @northernbluetongue @kceedraws @pirats-pizzacanninibles @theatreandcomicfreak @daminett4life @catthhay @weird-pale-blonde-person @amayakans @chocolatecatstheron

[bluemoon-writer]

Time Management

In which Marinette Gets Her Shit Together

girl has a lot on her plate

so she has to work on some major time management

starting with what is most important

-first is school

She has to get good grades so she can get in to the design school she wants. All her extracurriculars won’t be shit if her grades are bad

so she asks her teachers if she can get a list of the assignments that will be due throughout the year (and uses a bit of her power as class president to convince them that she should know)

then she get a filing cabinet and gets to work

each cabinet is a class, which is organized by month

Marinette obviously can’t do all of her homework for the year over one weekend (some, like math, she can’t do very far in ahead either)

but it’s a four day weekend and she dedicates the first day to getting the first two weeks of homework done and safely filed to be turned in later

-then, it’s time to plan out the rest of her homework.

she can’t do her math homework very far in advance because otherwise she’d have to teach herself the math with would be more time consuming

however, most math assignments only take 20 minutes so she can easily do them during lunch if she wants

she continues to try and keep ahead on her other assignments so she’s covered if there’s ever an akuma attack that doesn’t give her time for homework or if she’s just too busy one day then she won’t have to worry because most of her homework is done

-the biggest thing is getting a head start on the projects

by the end of the weekend she was able to come up with a plan of what she wanted to do for all of them

then she looked for other assignments that weren’t big projects but would require a little planning

the third day of her long weekend she made a calendar, detailing when each assignment was due and when tests were. Later she’d add in events and commissions

-Then she has to figure out her responsibilities as Class President

-She has to meet once a week at lunch with the other class reps and the Principal to discuss any new policies or events going on

As Francois DuPont is a private school each class is suppose to hold a fundraiser each semester

(The Mayor and Gabriel Agreste would NEVER send their kids to a public school, you can fight me on this lol)

The class reps plan the school dance, spirit week, and any other schoolwide activities

Class Reps also have the responsibility of making proposals to improve things at the school based on what the people in their class want

And the class rep should plan at least one class activity a semester

(Things might be different in France, but I’m just going off what I did as part of student council in high school)

-Marinette decides on putting up a suggestion box in Ms. Bustier’s room for two weeks so that the class can decide on what they’d most like her to focus on fixing

Then, she’ll weed out the impossible suggestions and the joke suggestions and let the class vote on which options they think are the most important

For the fundraiser, to avoid too much class arguments, she proposes a few options and lets the class vote on them

Her favorite one is the bake sale, her papa offered to let the class come and use the bakery to make and sell the desserts, so she pushes for that one

and the class agrees because it seems like the least amount of work

For class activity, Marinette plans two. One from a list of ideas she proposes and lets the class vote on, and one that is picked by the class placing suggestions in the suggestion box and then voting on it.

Marinette knew she was going to be placed on the design committee when it comes to planning the dance, so she sketches a few designs for a theme to show the reps when they eventually start discussing the dance

-Then number #3 is her passion, design. She’ll need a portfolio for design school

She picks a few projects for herself that she wants to make and think will look good on a portfolio

then she sets up a website for commissions. Relatively low prices for simple things. She’ll sketch just about anything for €10-30 as long as it’s not too big. Color it for another €10-25

She can design and make simple clothes and jewelry. She prefers not to do anything too complicated as a commission bc it’ll just take too much time

She can also do odder comissions, like design furniture (she can’t build it) or tattoos (she can’t tattoo them either lol) she gets a commission to design a really dope sword, and another one to help someone (her age) reorganize their bedroom

starting out is a bit rough, because she needs money to buy supplies to make examples to post on her website and she needs money to pay for the website

so she decides to work in the bakery for an hour or two in the morning

(at least now she doesn’t have to worry about being late to school)

her dad respects that she’s working for the money instead of asking for it and pays her €12/hour bc her help in the morning allows him to almost double the amount of pasteries he makes

(Side note: I have no idea what the minimum wage per Hour in France is bc when I googled it it gave me the minimum wage per month and I have no clue how to convert that to an hourly wage)

So Marinette is able to make €60-120 a week for supplies

The bakery is open 7 days a week, but Marinette only helps out 3-5 days a week. She still likes sleeping in

even when her website kicks off (with a little help from a Jagged Stone commission) she still helps out in the bakery once or twice a week bc she likes spending time with her dad

-But with her schedule more organized she is able to get to bed earlier. She aims for 9pm if she’s getting up at 5am to help her dad

if she’s not she’ll stay up until 10/11pm and get up around 7am

those are the nights she usually does patrol with Chat Noir

ideally, she’d like to patrol more, but it doesn’t do much. Hawkmoth almost never sends an akuma while their patrolling, so they limit their patrols to once a week.

-Marinette can’t do much planning for Ladybug. When an akuma appears she has to transform to take care of it.

Which is what inspired her to reorganize her life and activities

One akuma can cause her to fall behind in so many things, so it’s vital for her to be on top of and ahead of schedule in everything

she does come up with a list of excuses to get away if there’s an akuma.

-at school she proposes an “akuma protocol” to get the students to safety in case an akuma attacks

-everyone is supposed to go to the basement, and class reps are responsible for double checking to make sure no ones left upstairs

this gives Marinette the perfect excuse to get away while at school

makes it a bit of a pain in the ass for Adrien though. Of course, Marinette doesn’t know that

-(eventually, Adrien suggest that there should be a president and a Vice President for each class. The Principal agrees to the suggestion and Adrien runs for Vice President so he has an easier time of getting away during akuma attacks)

Marinette almost had a heart attack when they start working together to plan events

Adrien is very impressed by how organized Mari is

she even schedules time to hang out with her friends (usually on the weekends)

though impromptu hangouts often occur

-now that Marinette’s getting a proper amount of sleep everything she does seems better

-She’s never late to school in the morning, she doesn’t fall asleep in class, her notes make more sense, she better understands what’s happening, which means her grades improve, and she seems to be able to remember things better, she even feels less stressed

-----

This was inspired by a stress management course I had to sit through for one of the clubs I’m in. The lady presenting told us that a lot of our problems are caused by a lack of sleep. A full night of sleep is vital for relieving stress and improving your memory apparently.

If you want to be added to a tag list let me know. I have two right now, one for anything miraculous ladybug related, and one specifically for the Childhood Friends AU, I’ll be posting part 3 of MariKim later tonight or tomorrow morning and one for Max and Markov. 

Find Part 1 of the Childhood Friends AU here.

[927roses-and-stuff]

Chameleon: Paving the Way to the Truth: Ch 4

Oops, it’s already the start of a new school year and I haven’t updated yet. I’m sorry! However, I hope everyone’s adjusting well to the new school year, especially first years in any new school. Anyways, this will be a direct continuation from Lila’s Interlude but from Marinette’s POV. Btw, do you guys like those? I asked because there’s (spoilers) a similar one coming up for Alya and a few other characters that I had planned (story-relevant, I swear!), and wanted to see the responses to that.XD.

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read, comment on, give kudos to, and bookmark this story. It means so much to me  that there are people enjoying this story. 

As per requested, I’m tagging @ml-cartoons for updates. If you want to be tagged also, just let me know!

Anyways, hope you enjoy reading!

P.S. Bustier’s class is totally that class that goes off topic all the time when unsupervised. Poor Marinette has the task of trying to get everyone organized.

P.P.S. I totally did not plan the Adrien VS Alya thing by the way. It just...ended up happening. Would Adrien even have this conversation in canon? Well, it’s my fic so he totally is.

P.P.P.S. I just gave up on keeping track of Lila’s canon lies and just focused on making her over dramatic and into reverse psychology as possible.

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“You want me to what-?” Marinette asked, flabbergasted. She had arrived just minutes before class started and was immediately bombarded with Rose’s barrage of questions. Marinette glanced at Juleka who nodded and smiled supportively.

“Oh, please, Marinette!” Rose pleaded, leaning closely to her face. “We should have another class event now that Lila’s back!” 

Marinette stepped backward awkwardly. Her eyes shifted to Lila at the front who seemed to pop up at the mention of her name.

“Oh, Rose, I already told you. It’s alright. Marinette seems to have a lot on her plate as class president,” she said, pouting slightly. “Though, it would be a lot of fun.” Lila slouched further in her seat, looking to the world like the perfect picture of dejection.

Marinette gulped, unsure of how to respond. She glanced around at all her other classmates whose attentions were now directed at them.

She turned back to Rose. “Well, if it’s on the weekend, I guess we could organize another trip to,” she gulped, the words almost choking her. “welcome Lila back….”

Rose squealed excitedly, and hugged Marinette strongly. “Oh, thank you so much, Marinette! If you need any help, we’re at your service!” 

Marinette felt like she couldn’t breathe and only grunted in response.

When Rose finally released her, she managed to wheeze out, “We’ll talk more about it after class.” 

Discomfort settled within her chest though, once Rose headed back to her seat with Juleka. Her discomfort increased when Lila smirked as Marinette passed by her desk.

Marinette wasn’t dumb; a class trip sounded innocent enough until she put Lila into the equation. Of course, Rose was friendly and kind enough to suggest such an idea for anyone, but why would Lila want to rely on Marinette, of all people, to plan something she was capable of doing herself? Something wasn’t quite right and her suspicions bothered her throughout the lesson.

There had to be another reason. There had to be something else.

...Right? 

____________________________________________________________________________

For the first time, classes seemed to move too quickly. By the time her last class -Physics- ended, Marinette was not prepared at all. She felt fortunate enough that she would only be talking to a small portion of the class before making the announcement at a later date. However, she was unprepared for the crowd that showed up when she returned to Mme Bustier’s class.

Everyone was there. 

Marinette froze. What were they doing there? How did they even hear about this? Did Rose spread the word that quickly? Or, Marinette glanced quickly at Lila who was innocuously scrolling through her phone. Did she…?

Her questions were soon answered when Rose bounded towards her like an endless ball of energy. “Hi, Marinette! I hope you don’t mind, but I told everyone to come so they can talk about what we should do too!” 

Marinette tried giving her a wide smile. “That’s great, Rose…!” She winced at the way her voice cracked.

This was not good. At all. After the Heroes’ Day fiasco, she dreaded being unprepared even more, which she totally was at the moment! She had no plans! She didn’t even care enough about Lila to care about this event in the first place! 

Marinette scanned the room, noting her classmate’s curious and expectant faces.

But, right now, she was Marinette, the class president.

And unfortunately, she had a role to play.

She headed to the chalkboard and wrote the words: ‘CLASS TRIP’ in loopy writing. She motioned for Alya to come up to the front with her. Alya obliged.

“Girl, what exactly are you doing? Rose came to us at lunch while you were gone and told us to come here for a trip, to welcome Lila back,” she whispered furiously. “Are you nuts?”

Marinette whispered back, “It’s not exactly my fault! Rose asked and I just couldn’t say no!” 

Alya sighed. “Well, I hope you have a plan.”

Marinette gulped. “Not yet, but hopefully one will pop up soon.”

That was all she said before returning to address the class, a sense of déjà-vu overwhelming her. 

“Hi, guys!” She greeted. “So, Rose came up with an idea that we should organize a class event to welcome Lila back in the class!” 

Marinette forced herself to stay quiet when Lila stood, bowing to the class and exclaiming “Oh, thank you!” and “You shouldn’t have!” in response to the class’ polite applause.

Marinette was inclined to agree. They shouldn’t have. She glanced over to the left side of the room hoping for Chloe to make a scene, but it seemed that her and Sabrina were the only ones who didn’t bother to show up.

Marinette mentally scowled. Great. 

Once their attention returned to the front, she continued, “Anyways, we should first plan when everyone will be free to attend. Any ideas?” 

Max was the first to speak up. “What about this weekend? According to all the lesson plans that Markov retrieved from the teachers, we should not have a lot of assignments this week, which means we won’t have to stress about it over the weekend.” 

Marinette nodded and wrote the date. She turned their attention back to the class. “Any other ideas?” 

Her heart picked up when Adrien raised his hand in the air. 

“Adrien?”

“Well, I can’t come this weekend because of a shoot, but I was wondering if after school Friday would be an okay date.”

Marinette felt a pang of pity for Adrien. Of course, out of all of them, he would be the busiest. She vaguely remembered that weekends were his usual shoots so it wouldn’t interfere with his schoolwork.

Unfortunately, Lila barged in before she could say anything.

“But, isn’t it a bit unfair that we have to spend less time together if we move it to after school? I mean, of course, we want you to be there, it’s just…,”

As Lila trailed off, Adrien’s shoulders slumped. Their other classmates shifted awkwardly, not really knowing what to say. Adrien’s lack of involvement in the class was normal enough that some of their classmates thought that Adrien missing out would be more normal than not.

Marinette frowned. She knew Lila was going to go after Adrien, but she had half hoped that she would be easier on him. Instead she seemed to have dropped any affection she had for him. She was about to speak on Adrien’s behalf, but Nino interrupted her,

“How can you say that? Adrien should be able to come if he wants to! He’s also our friend.”

Lila blinked in surprise. Marinette rolled her eyes. Did Lila expect their classmates to turn on each other every time, based on her words alone? 

“Nino’s right,” Marinette spoke, regaining their attention. “We should make sure that everyone who wants to come is available on the day of the trip. So far, we have this Friday as a potential day. Any other ideas?” 

She wrote the date down before anyone could protest. When she turned to the front again, she spotted Adrien’s grateful smile, and sent a small one of her own.

Rose raised her hand. “I really like the idea of having a picnic again!” 

“Yeah, that was pretty fun!” Nathaneal added.

Marinette nodded and wrote down ‘Picnic’ under an ‘Events’ column. “Alright, any other ideas?” 

“We could go looking for André’s ice cream. ...At least, I’d like to try it…” Juleka said, glancing at the blonde beside her. 

Marinette smiled hesitantly, not really wanting to visit André again after the events of Glaciator. She glanced at Alya who perked up at the idea. 

“Good idea, Juleka! I’m sure there’s other people in the class who haven’t tried it either!” Alya snatched another piece of chalk and excitedly scribbled down ‘André’s Ice Cream~’ before Marinette could protest.

Alix grumbled loudly. “Do we have to? The last time I went, he only gave me vanilla because he said he couldn’t sense the right match for me yet!” 

“Don’t blame André for you loveless life, Alix!” Kim taunted. 

Alix stood from her seat and yelled, “YEAH? The only time you get kissed is when footballs get thrown at your face, meathead!”

Kim huffed. “Don’t be jealous that football is my one true love, shortie.” 

Alix scoffed. She crossed her arms and glared at KIm. “Seems like your true love isn’t getting you anywhere, considering you suck!” 

Kim growled and rose from his seat. “Is that a bet, you pink-haired maniac?”

“You couldn’t beat me if you tried!”

“Please, I can beat you with-!”

“STOP!” Marinette shouted, having walked in between the two as they were arguing. She turned to face Alix who had been storming across to Kim. “If you don’t want Andre’s ice cream, we can always go somewhere else. And you!” She exclaimed, turning to Kim. 

“What? I didn’t do anything wrong!” Kim exclaimed and stepped backwards. 

Marinette sighed deeply. “Make bets on your own time, Kim. We don’t have a lot of time before Mr. Damocles has to kick us out and we don’t even have enough details yet to start gathering materials or making an actual plan.”

Kim lowered his head. “Sorry, Marinette.”

Marinette smiled softly. “It’s fine. Besides,” she mused, tapping her chin. “A  football match sounds fun, right everyone?”  

The classmates shared nods of agreement at the thought of a friendly match. Not everyone was athletic, but playing with everyone was bound to be fun, regardless. Alya added ‘Football match’ on the list. Marinette returned to the front and from there, it was smooth sailing with the arrangements. In the end, even Marinette felt excited at the thought of hanging out with her class again. The events column was full of fun events from an informal photoshoot to a boat ride on the Seine to lighting sparklers in the evening. She wasn’t too sure if they would be able to do everything mentioned on the list, but it was worth it to see everyone so excited. 

“So,” Marinette clapped her hands together. “We should split what each person is bringing so everyone gets to do their fair share. “

“Well, I’ve heard that your parent’s bakery has really good food,” Lila piped up. “I’m not sure if it can match up to my uncle’s own five-star confectionery in Italy, but I wouldn’t mind giving it a try.”

“Marinette’s parents do make a lot of delicious treats,” Kim trailed. 

“Yeah,” Mylène spoke softly. “And they try their best to make them really healthy too.” 

“I agree,” Max said. “I remember they gave me freshly baked shortcake that they modified because I was mildly allergic to the cake I wanted to try.”

As her classmates started talking about the quality of her parent’s food, Marinette’s shoulders tightened and her stomach cramped. While it was great that her parents’ food was beloved by her classmates, they did have a business to run, and couldn’t drop everything to prepare food for Marinette’s class every time they needed food. Which meant Marinette would have to prepare everything again, and that already proved a bad idea. But, she couldn’t find it in herself to say no. Why couldn’t she do it? She was a superhero! Not to mention, how good would it feel to prove to Lila that she could take any challenge she threw her way?

While Marinette struggled internally, Alya glanced at her, already knowing that she would volunteer to cater the event, unless someone said something. Remembering her panicked state on Heroes’ Day, Alya decided to step in before things got out of hand and Marinette was drowning in baking responsibilities for the rest of the week. 

“Hey, guys!” She shouted. The class silenced quickly and turned towards her, including Marinette who looked shocked. “Of course, we want to eat Tom and Sabine’s food, but we can’t keep relying on only them for food. If everyone wants a picnic, then everyone has to contribute.”

“But couldn’t the best bakery in Paris make accommodations for her daughter’s friends?” Lila asked. 

Alya frowned, and glanced at Marinette whose fists were clenched. “That’s not the point, Lila. We shouldn’t take advantage of their kindness like that.”

Lila gasped softly and put her hand over her chest. “Of course, Alya, you’re right. And Marinette, you’re already so busy too. I mean, it’s fine if you and your family are incapable of getting provisions for us. I just got so excited because  I was really looking forward to it. Weren’t you telling me how excited you were too, Rose, Juleka?”

Rose looked up nervously and stammered, “Well, if it’s going to bother Marinette, we really shouldn’t-”

“But you were excited, weren’t you?”

“Well, yes, but Marinette, you shouldn’t force yourself to-!”

Juleka merely nodded along with Rose’s statements and muttered an “It’s okay, dude.” Other people in the class like Mylène and Nathaneal began to reassure Marinette that she really didn’t have to do anything, until the class was once again filled with chatter.

Marinette wasn’t patient enough for this. She knew what Lila was doing and Marinette should really restrain herself. It was unreasonable and she knew it was a trap. But she couldn’t stand the thought of disappointing her classmates and the noise was getting to her. She couldn’t think clearly, their apologies clouding her already crowded head, and she couldn’t breathe properly, and before she knew it, words stumbled out of her mouth,

“It’s fine. I’ll do it.” 

Before anyone could say anything she had started writing her name besides the words “Snacks.” She could feel Alya’s, Nino’s and Adrien’s stares on her as she tried to level her gaze on her messy handwriting. 

The chalk screeched against the chalkboard loudly when Lila piped up, 

“Thank you, Marinette! We’re all looking forward to it.” 

____________________________________________________________________________

“Marinette, are you insane?!” Alya exclaimed as she paced up and down her room. 

After the meeting finished, Alya practically dragged Marinette, Nino, and Adrien to Marinette’s house. Alya had been furiously questioning Marinette and her decisions, claiming that she was putting unneeded pressure on herself, and falling into whatever traps Lila laid out for her. 

“I know,” Marinette stressed. “It’s just that everyone else wanted it too and I couldn’t say no to all of them.” 

Alya stopped pacing and gave her a sympathetic look. “I know, but you’ve got to stop putting yourself in these situations. Do you even have time to prepare all of that?” 

Marinette slumped down and placed her head in her hands. 

Alya only frowned. 

“I mean,” Adrien stood up. “We could always help her out.” 

“Adrien, you barely have time for yourself,” Nino pointed out. “How are you planning on doing that?” 

Adrien frowned. “Well, what about you two? We all promised to be here for each other, right?” 

Alya’s frown deepened. “Of course! But that’s not the problem. Marinette needs to stop trying to please everyone around her.” 

“You can’t exactly decide what to do for her,” Adrien said, taking a step towards her. 

“And what would you know, Agreste? You guys are the one who told us she has it out for Marinette! Why aren’t you more concerned about what Lila’s planning?”

“Of course, I care! That’s why I’m saying we should help her!”

“And we will, but you can’t deny that Marinette’s trying too hard to reach everyone’s expectations of her-  like, like she doesn’t have other stuff to do. This wasn’t even her idea in the first place!” 

Nino stood up and put himself in between the two. “Look, you fighting isn’t doing anything. We still haven’t started our plan and Lila’s already causing problems. We should ask Marinette what she thinks we should do.”

The three swirled their heads to look towards her. Marinette stared at them blankly, having just calmed down. What did they expect her to say? The last thing she wanted was them fighting each other because of her decision, but it wasn’t exactly something she could back out of. 

She sighed deeply. 

“Alya, thanks for looking out for me. But I’ve got to do this; I promised Rose that I would get the class together, and I promised the class to provide food. Though, I would appreciate your help, if you’re willing.” She gave the redhead a tiny smile. 

Alya softened and returned her smile. “That’s always been the plan, right?”

“Thank you.” She turned to the two boys beside her. “And you guys?

Nino dipped his cap towards her. “Of course, dude. Besides, cooking with you guys sounds fun.”

Adrien grinned. “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.” 

Marinette smiled. “See? With you guys around, everything will be fine.” 

She stood up and gathered them in a group hug.

However, a part of her dwelled on Alya’s arguments. She knew that she was right about her playing into Lila’s manipulations. 

And a part of her already dreaded for what Lila had in plan for her. 

[pandawritespoorly]

With Time: Chapter 36 - Apologies

Author’s Note: 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.

Chapter Summary: Marinette's former classmates finally apologize.

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“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.

---

Author’s Note: 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!)

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts, theories, constructive criticism, or anything really in my ask box, in replies or through reblogs. I love seeing what you think!

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?

First | Previous | Next

[mcheang]

Class Jury

This is more of a prompt/outline for a draft for an actual story

Suspect: Adrien

Witness turned Accomplice: Nino

Victim: Kim

Judge: Marinette

Officer: Alya

Adrien’s Lawyer: Chloe

Crime: eating the whole stinky four-cheese pizza meant for the class to enjoy

Naturally Marinette is inclined to show leniency on Adrien, and everyone knows it.

Marinette tried to clear Adrien by calling Nino to testify that he had stood guard over the party food. She even brings in security footage as further evidence.

Said evidence reveals Nino saw Adrien hunched over the pizza box but ignored it.

Alya: Nino!

Nino: my best dude was starving! It’s like his dad has spies everywhere (Lila) if he can’t even eat Marinette’s breakfast croissants.

Meanwhile Markov’s recording was still playing.

Marinette was present to drop off macarons. However at the sight of Adrien’s blond hair, she lost focus and just stared dreamily at him.

The class is unsurprised and exasperated.

Lila: should Marinette really be the judge for this case? We all know she can be…ahem, sentimental.

Alya looked sadly at Marinette. “I’m afraid she’s right, girl. We need an unbiased judge for this case.”

Marinette tried to protest but cannot think of a decent argument.

Alya: I will take over as standing judge. Adrien, do you have anything to say for yourself?

Adrien slumped, dejected. “I plead guilty.”

“Ridiculous,” Chloé slammed her hand down on the table. “My client has been taught to be passive. As his lawyer, I will argue on his behalf.”

Jury: the evidence is in the video.

Ivan: and we all know Adrien likes cheese.

Chloe: yes, you do. But what did you expect Adrien to do? He’s starving and you laid a feast out before him! True, I will never understand his diet, but Adrien must have been truly hungry to have forgotten his manners

Alix: he could have asked.

Chloe huffed. Why should he ask when he paid for part of the pizza?

Max: partly, not all. Everyone but you and Lila paid for the class feast.

Lila: I donated all my money to the animal shelter.

Chloe: whatever. Anyway, shouldn’t you all be a good example like Ms Bustier says and let bygones be bygones.

Jury scoffs. “Then why don’t we just let Hawkmoth go free?”

Mylene: we all like Ms Bustier but her head is stuck in fairytale land.

Jury: we find the suspect guilty

Alya lifts her toy hammer. “Adrien Agreste, you are fined the total sum of our party feast and forbidden from partaking it without permission.”

Later, Lila tries to suggest that Marinette is not fit to be class president because she prioritizes Adrien over everybody else.

Marinette refuses to resign to Lila.

Alix: I can take over. Alya can still be deputy.

At night, Adrien blames Plagg for getting him into this mess and getting Marinette replaced.

Plagg: you should seen it coming. Besides, this way pigtails has more free time.

[fenheart87]

Unexpected Ch 1

"Alright class, I know today is a special day and you all have been so eager to drop the school work and get to celebrating but we have one more thing before we can end our work for today." Mme. Bustier smiled brightly at the collective groans across the classroom. "This is a project, you can be by yourself, with a partner or a group or even all work together."

"Mme. Bustier, what type of project is it?" Mylene asked, more excited than confused.

"Marinette as class president I believe I'll let you share with the class." She waved up the ravenette, flipping the white board that showed a loosely detailed plan and a list of everyone in the class.

"Sure thing! And before you say it, no Alya I was not hiding anything from you, we actually set up this a few weeks ago." Marinette teased, falling into her confident planner self as her front row distraction was currently modeling for a perfume ad. "We are taking over the park for a few hours for a class party at the end of the day! Snacks will be provided by the best bakery of course, papa has some new flavors so please be honest on what you think. The best ones get to become part of the menu."

"Oh yeah dude! Bring it on!" Nino cheered, Kim fist pumping the air in excitement.

"First things first! We need to split into jobs, here is a rough idea of what we need done and how many people to do it. If you want to take a few jobs that require only one person go for it! If you only want one or just a group job that's fine too. Please make sure you sign up for at least one as that is considered your participation for today and cross your name off the list."

Everyone jumped from their seats, breaking off into groups and talking about what they wanted to do and how they want to decorate. Marinette waited to the side for any follow up questions or to give directions to find supplies they had set aside for the party.

"Um, mme. Bustier, I don't see my name..." Lila spoke up, pouting slightly.

"Oh! With how busy you, Chloe and Adrien are, I left you off incase you weren't able to make it. Same with Max, sometime his gaming club has plans already. Just made it easier so we dont accidentally sign you up for something." Marinette said brightly, watching as Lila tried to hold her composure at being thwarted.

"Oh thanks Marinette but we do not have plans for today, we are getting together over the weekend. Speaking of, would you like to join us?" Max invited, ignoring the italian completely who seemed to be struggling for a composed face.

"Sure! Although I'm not sure how good I'll be at anything other than mechastrike." She laughed, waving off Markov who was running numbers to argue her claim.

"Looks like you'll have to try harder Rossi." Chloe commented in a smarmy manner. "Sabrina sign us up for something like getting supplies, make it quick and easy. I do not want to be crowded with a bunch of losers."

"Sure thing Chloe, looks like we'll be helping Marinette with the food! We just have to get it from her parents bakery when everyone else is set up." Sabrina wrote their names under Marinette's, handing off the marker to Alix.

"Girl you thought of everything! How did you keep this a secret from me?" Alya accused playfully, throwing an arm around the shorter girl.

"I told you we had a party coming up, you just thought I meant a different kind. Besides you gave me a lot of the ideas and you didn’t know it!" Marinette preened under the positive attitudes and creative ideas that were flowing around the room.

"Marinette you forgot one thing!" Rose spoke up, jumping in place excitedly.

"Oh no, did I forget some decorations? Or did i not ask for enough food? Drinks?"

"No silly! Music!" Rose twirled Marinette causing her to stumble right into Ivan who just got back from the art room. Seeing the boxes she almost knocked out of his hands, Marinette squeaked and flailed a little bit more causing her to tumble down fully.

"Whoa, careful! Looks like I got back just in time." Ivan smiled helping a red faced Marinette from the floor with a free hand.

"Oh Ivan! Good thing you are back! We were just talking about the Valentine's Day party for the class and setting everything up at the park. Marinette, do you think we could ask Kitty Section to play?!" Rose gushed, hands under her chin and hearts in her eyes.

"Kitty Section is busy but I could talk to the leader guitarist, I helped with their outfits when they performed for Bob Ross after all." Lila spoke up drawing everyone attention, confused and angry alike.

"Alya, for once, please just let this happen." Nino whispered, cupping his hand over his girlfriend's mouth.

"Oh! That would be amazing Lila! Just the thing were missing. I cannot believe I spaced on the music selection. It is kind of last minute though, they are super busy... If they can't make it, Nino would you be able to spin some beats?" Marinette chimed cheerfully, snagging one of Lila's hands as she would anyone else before spinning to the frozen couple.

"Sure thing dude!" Nino smiled, removing his hand from Alya's mouth.

"Awesome! Rose, Juleka, Ivan and Mylene can you help Nino with his equipment?" Marinette asked with a grin, blue eyes sparkling.

"Sister-dude." Juleka mumbled as she walked by, earning a bright smile from the shorter girl and giving a small upward squirm of the lips in return.

"Chloe and Sabrina, if there is nothing else you want to help with, maman said we can start boxing up stuff. We have to wait for the tables before we can place them." Marinette smiled and left the classroom, sending one last text to her maman. "Today is a great day!"

__________________________________________

"So the party is at lunch and we get to enjoy the rest of the day to celebrate and enjoy!"

"Looks good so far Nathaniel, Maman said the food is almost done so we will go get it once the tables are setup." Marinette complimented, giving a thumbs up.

"I hope I'm invited this all looks great!" Adrien joked, finally back from his perfume ad. " What can I help with?" Streamers decorated the trees and a huge picnic blanket was. hosting some board games with coolers next to them.

"Hey dude, we could use some help getting the tables propped up so when the girls get back they have somewhere to put the food." Nino waved the blond over to where he was trying to puzzle out the safety latch.

"Adrikins! After this, we should totally go eat at my fathers hotel, I can have them reserve a table for just the two of us-" Chloe began, cut off by Lila who joined in swarming the model.

"Adrien! I don’t know if you've heard but I'm getting Kitty Section to play, I talked to the lead guitarist and since I helped design their costumes, they said they owe me a favor and will play for us!"

Adrien looked uncomfortably between the two girls, looking to Nino for help be he certainly knew Lila was lying. The DJ looked ready to laugh at any moment and subtlety shook his head. His savior came in the form of a blue hair guitarist, who was helping Marinette and dropping off Juleka's hair clips.

"Hey Adrien, Nino. And new girl." Marinette snorted softly, earning a playful nudge. "I heard something about Kitty Section?" Luka listened to Lila's spiel, noting her methods and listening to her true self. "Cool, I wanted to give back the guitar pick to the bass player. She's pretty awesome and I hear close to the guitarist."

"Oh well when they get here you could!" Lila deflected, sliding closer and seeming to just notice his aesthetic.

"Too bad you don't go to our school, things would certainly be more musical if you did." Marinette giggled, drawing a smile from Luka. "I can stop by later for the finishing touches, there's no rush."

"Marinette! You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend!" Lila exclaimed, drawing the attention of the entire class, most amused as they knew the blue eyed darling was torn between the two boys.

"You know it is so not cool to blurt out other people's business when it doesn’t concern you. I'd appreciate it if people who don’t even know my name didn't spread lies about me. What Marinette and I have between us, or do not have, is our business and we certainly don't need outside help to figure it out. Unless we ask for it." Luka coolly snapped, leading Marinette over to Rose and Juleka.

"Adrikins!" Chloe would not be letting the little liar work another lie to cover up her being called out. "Dinner tonight, my father hotel of course. Wear something nice."

"Actually I already have plans with Kagami... We're going to see a movie and then have dinner, her mother and my father have fencing ideas to discuss. Hey Marinette, if you and Luka want to join us you can."

"Actually-" Luka stared but was cut off by the shorter girl.

"Double date?" Marinette asked, looking at Luka to confirm, smiling shyly.

"Oh, cool." Luka smiled like the sap he is, drawing giggles from Rose and snort from his sister. "Yeah, double date."

"Text me later?" Marinette blushed, leaning up to kiss his cheek. The sappy sigh had Rose burst into giggles which snapped the taller boy out of his trance.

"Yeah, later." He looked lost for a moment. "Later." Luka repeated and then left, not even caring the cheesy grin on his face was completely ruining his bad boy image.

"Marinette." Alya's voice snapped Marinette back to herself and she became an incoherent blubbing mess of blushing stutters.

[ps260editorial]

GIANTS // Ram knows the dreamers are the builders, and we are honored to be part of building this epic spot for their latest commercial vehicles campaign with Sheet Metal Arts. 

Edited and Art Directed by Nate Cali, this cinematic spot pays tribute to the determination and drive of the American working class heroes who rise to the challenge of paving the way to our future every day. Here’s to the giants who build our world one brick at a time, and the dreamers who created this gorgeous piece.

CREDITS

RAM COMMERCIAL TRUCKS // "Giants"

CLIENT // Stellantis BRAND – Ram Commercial Trucks CAMPAIGN – "Giants" AGENCY // Sheet Metal Arts Founder – Mark Wenneker Co-Founder – Rob Buchner Art Director – Nate Cali X-15 President – Brian Dilorenzo X-15 EP – Adam Davis X-15 Sr Producer – Ted Markovic X-15 Central Command – Clair Hoffman PRODUCTION // Golden Director – Jordan Bahat EDITORIAL // P.S. 260 Editor – Nate Cali Assistant Producer – Annalise Reusche EP – Rana Martin Managing Partner – Zarina Mak FINISHING // P.S. 260 Graphics – Golpar Jalali Flame Artist – Anthony Augusta Finishing Producer – Natalie Raffaele COLOR // Company 3 Colorist – Sean Coleman MUSIC SUPERVISION + AUDIO // Mophonics Music – “Giants” – Matt Maeson Additional Music – Stephan Altman Music Producer – Kristoffer Roggemann Mix – Jesse Herrera

[snow-leopard-7772point0]

Part 2 of Change My Crown: Revelations and Karma

Lila Adela Rossi was so far beyond livid that she didn't know what to call it. That bimbo tabloidist of a blogger had recorded and POSTED a video of them destroying the designer's works! Now Lila not only was getting sued, but she had lost her job as well, as Gabriel said he refused to allow his company to drown due to the actions of his son and employee! She was only lucky that she had made enough money working for Gabriel and saving it up that she had been able to pay her fines without her mother finding out about what she did! When Bustier made her announcement about how they would have two new students, a boy from Gotham, America, and Gabriel Agreste's nephew were both transferring in, she saw her chance to really take control back. If she could get the nephew pressured under her thumb even half as well as she had gotten the son, she would be set. So she set her plan into motion. Loudly announcing how she and Damian Wayne had dated when they were thirteen, and parted on amicable terms, how she was currently dating Felix Graham de Vanily but he was so shy and quiet that he might just pretend not to know her. The class ate it up, even as the rest of the school, including two of her former minions, glared at her every time they saw her. Not to worry, though. Her reign over Bustier's class was just as certain as ever. She just hadn't counted on the Gremlin of London being so scary or the Ice Prince of Gotham being the new student.

💧👑

The class had been buzzing with the need to scream at Marinette when she got back. How cool was it that she was MDC? Why didn't she tell them? What could they convince her to make them next? Matching t-shirts saying that they were her friends from before she got famous? They were so caught up in their gossip that they didn't notice the two new kids come in (nor their fight to sit next to Marinette's empty seat), and barely noticed when Marinette walked in. The class was too shocked by her change to say anything they had been planning on. No, they were too shocked to speak until Lila came in and Marinette verbally attacked her.

💧👑

Marinette's eyes were friged as the class scrambled. They had never considered the beast they would release in the girl made of sunshine. But they forgot sunshine could shine too bright and harsh, causing fires, droughts, and cancer from too much exposure. It could contain its heat and leave the world to freeze. Ra's Al Ghul wasn't the only Ra to ever be feared.

Marinette was calm when she pulled out her tablet, kindly explaining the class's current curriculum to the two boys, as well as different things about the school. Madame Bustier relaxed, convinced that Marinette had just been a little bitter still about her work being destroyed, and her class was half convinced that they imagined the girl's terrifying smirks.

None of them noticed the cruel light that lit up her eyes when the bell rang, the students rushing to their lockers to get their things. Kim quickly realized that the homework he had definitely done for Madame Mendeleiev wasn't in his locker, Rose was dismayed to learn that the bucket of glitter Adrien had been keeping for her in his locker had spilled out, while Adrien was horrified that everything he needed for the rest of the school day was covered in glitter! He'd even have to return home for lunch, as his own lunch was a casualty of the glitter spilling. Alya's phone was missing when she went to retrieve it from Madame Mendeleiev's confiscating it the other day, and Markov was nowhere to be seen, nor was he answering Max's calls.

Kim was given detention, Mendeleiev was tired of him trying to get out of her work. Alya was threatening to sue the school- until Mendeleiev informed the girl that she had released the phone to her parents the day prior, as that was what the class president recommended. No one knew where Markov went, and Adrien was furious when he learned that Felix would be allowed to eat with Marinette at her family's bakery rather than having to eat a meal prepared by their personal chef. 

Adrien fumed the entire way to the manor. She's MY princess! Why does she think it's okay to allow so many other people steal her away from me? How could she betray me like this? She's supposed to be mine! I was the only person in class talking to her, the only friend she had left, and now everything's different! Father needs to send Felix back to England! I can get rid of him and that American, I'm sure of it. Chloè's leaving, all I need to do after their gone is to convince Kagami's mother to pull her out of my school.

💧👑

Marinette was almost singing as she drug her small group home, having them help her bring some things back to the school. Madame Mendeleiev had allowed her to organize a planning party with her homeroom, and allowed the girl to bring in whoever else she desired- the girl was Bustier's class president, and had shown herself to be an excellent judge time and time again. Someone needed to organize the end of year party, and it certainly wouldn't be Caline helping.

Marinette had received a phone call in the middle of their planning. "Marinette! My favorite rockin' niece! I want to help with your party! Tom and Sabine told me about you needing to plan it, and I want to perform at whatever you're doing!"

"Um… we were thinking about a carnival type deal, so that should be easy!"

"Great! I've got some friends I'm bringing with me, so let Penny know when it'll be!"

Marinette lowered her phone, a slight blush on her cheeks when she noticed everyone staring at her. "Ah… that was Jagged Stone. He'll be covering the music entertainment, so we won't need to ask Nino or the remainder of Kitty Section to perform for us."

"Of course he will." Chloè tossed her hair. "No doubt he'll be bringing your cousin too."

Marinette checked her phone when it dinged with a text message, seeing a request from her uncle (in Mandarin) asking if she would have a booth that he would be able to serve refreshments at. Not even thirty seconds later, Bruce messaged her to ask about a booth where Wayne Industries could begin recruiting students for a new branch they were planning on starting in Paris. Then came another phone call from Prince Ali, asking if he could come to the carnival and set up a booth for one of his charities, or even just attend. He had never been to a carnival, after all. Marinette confirmed all of them after talking with the rest of the room for a moment, wondering what was going on. She had just told Jagged about the plan, no way could he know or contact everyone she knew in that timespan. Madame Rossi even contacted her and asked, since they had needed to reschedule her visit due to an emergency, she could speak at the carnival instead. She thought she may be wrong as her phone continued to ping with numbers of people she did not personally know, alerting the class to what would turn into one of the biggest events in their school's history. 

💧👑

When the end of the year picnic rolled around, Lila claimed to have helped arrange it- and have a table reserved specifically for their class. When they finally reached the location, they saw Mendeleiev's class, along with Marinette, Kagami, and the two new kids running around the place to make sure everything was properly ticking.

It didn't take long for the class to see all kinds of people Lila had claimed to know, though they seemed to be going out of their way to avoid them. The only person there that didn't give the class a funny look or avoid them was a woman in a booth for ambassadors. Alya was the first to spot her, dragging the entire class with her so that they could meet Lila's mother. It didn't take long for the class to be horrified by the truth.

They quickly turned on the Italian girl, screaming at her. Lila finally broke. "Okay, yes, I lied! But I wasn't the only one! Adrien's known since I first came to François-DuPont that I was lying! Ladybug called me out for it in front of him! He asked Marinette to stop trying to expose me and take the high road!"

The class was horrified, turning to Adrien. "Dude… Is that true?" Nino's voice was broken. They had done so much to Mari… all because of people that didn't know lies hurt.

Adrien felt cornered. He could claim Lila was lying, except the class would apologise to Marinette and possibly ask about him. She wouldn't lie for him. "Her lies weren't hurting anyone!" Adrien claimed. 

He was shocked when Nino was the one to punch him. "They didn't hurt anyone but Marinette and Alya for a long time because she protected the rest of us. She couldn't protect Alya because she took Lila to the Ladyblog without checking anything, but Marinette made sure the rest of us kept submitting things that we did. Kept taking gigs to perform. But you left her out to dry, even when she worked her ass off to shelter you. That scarf your father gave you? Was made and gifted by Marinette! You were told it was from Gabriel, but it wasn't! It hurt her that you thought it was from him, but she told us all to keep our mouths shut so that you would be happy! She confronted your father several times to keep you in school! When that book went missing? She was the one that found it and took the fall! And we abandoned her because we knew how she could get about you, and you never denied Lila's claims thay yhe two of you were together! Kagami got akumatized because of her!"

Tears streamed down Alya's face as Nino screamed. They didn't notice the purple butterfly that flew into the necklace Marinette had made her forever ago- the necklace she never took off, no matter how many differences they had lately. She had been positive that she could get her best friend back. Now she didn't know what she could do. 

Revelations. You were betrayed by those you thought you could trust. You betrayed a girl you swore to always stand beside. She resisted akumazation for you. Now it is your turn to show the world who everyone truly is. No hiding behind masks and civilian guises. No more lies. Everyone has to be their truest self. No anxiety or depression. Just people being who they are at their core. You know what you have to do in return, Revelations.

Alya bowed her head. Marinette had resisted akumazation for them. Now she would be akumatized for her friend. "Anything for her." Alya's eyes closed as the transformation washed over her. Her eyes opened to see who everyone really was. There were a few people she could recognize right off the bat- Nino, Alix, Nathaniel… then there were the others. She vaguely wondered where Adrien went, Chat Noir standing where he had previously been standing. Alya quickly started touching people, barely noticing their gasps of surprise. Chat Noir wasn't attempting to fight her, yet, and so she continued to touch people until he finally decided to engage her.

Alya didn't even realize Chat Noir's identity had been revealed to the world, Adrien having been forced to transform when she touched him. She wondered why she never caught sight of Ladybug the entire battle, touching Marinette when she finally found her (she wasn't entirely sure why the girl had run out in front of her), but only to show people that she didn't hide behind anything. She didn't understand why the akuma was withdrawn from her.

Marinette stood in front of her, tears in her eyes. Alya was shocked when the girl transformed into Ladybug and cast the Miracle Cure before disappearing. 

There wasn't another akuma seen for three months, nor did Marinette transform into Ladybug. Only people who knew the girl as a designer or went to school with her had been there after Alya was akumatized, and they all understood that a hero's identity was super important. It didn't hurt that the Wayne's, Jason and Damian in particular, made sure that everyone leaving the carnival understood what they would be facing if they betrayed the girl. 

Three months after the attack of Revelations, Alix herself got akumatized. Her anger at the stress Hawkmoth's lack of attacks was putting on her friend, at the fact that Alya forcibly revealed Marinette's identity, that Adrien kept harassing the girl for a date without taking no for an answer, it all built up until it reached a boiling point inside her when she came across the girl pressed between Felix and Damian, their arms enveloping her as she sobbed. Alix had watched the butterfly circle the three of them for a moment before heading for her. 

Karma. Your friend is suffering because of others. I am giving you the power to cure what causes despair in a person. All I ask in return is for you to retrieve the Butterfly, Black Cat, and Peacock Miraculous and return them to Ladybug.

Alix smirked. "Good deal." The dark light washed down Alix's form, bringing the attention of her friends. She gave them a quick salute with a wiry twist of her lips. "It's time this ends." She told them, shocked at how much more clearly she could think like herself compared to Timebreaker. "I'll be back later with a prize." The black and white haired girl vanished, skating away from the school. It didn't take long for her to find the Butterfly's lair, simply following her connection to him.

She could feel her powers aching to get free. She gently rested her hands on the glass casing Emilié was kept in, light rushing into her as the dark half of her outfit absorbed it. The case popped open the woman slowly blinking awake. Alix directed her hands towards Hawkmoth and Mayura, white light enveloping their respective Miraculi an bringing them to her even as black light rushed into Nathalie, healing the broken miraculous fueled sickness. Karma smiled happily at the work she did before rushing away. There was still one other person she needed to visit.

Adrien wasn't hard to find. Apparently no one had sounded the akuma alert, waiting to see if Alix would hurt anyone. White light enveloped the boy, his miraculous flying off of his hand, Plagg darting out of his bag and joining Nooroo and Duusu in Karma's blacked gloved hand before she skated to the back of the class, placing all the Miraculi on Marinette's desk.

"All you have to do is purify my akuma. I didn't hurt anyone, just healed the people hurt by the broken peacock." Karma told her friend. "Then I can get back to class. Hopefully everything will calm down after you return everything to the Guardian."

Marinette smiled at her friend, quickly transforming, purifying the akuma, and detransforming. Her voice was low when she spoke with her friend, keeping her words close to their group, "I think you'll need to come with me and bring Nathaniel. I have a feeling that there might be a few heroes left out to continue to protect Paris." Alix beamed at the girl.

"I would love to! I'll see you later!" Alix skated out of the class. She didn't pay any mind to the crushed look on Adrien's face.

The new team, Marvelous Miraculous, was introduced to the world nor long after the butterfly was retrieved. They would be scattered all over the world after graduation, but no one knew that they were still in school. The official story was that they would all be together for a time to train before going their own way. Viperion, Ryuko, Yellow Menace (Chloè gladly used Damian's nickname for her as her hero name), Monarch (Nathaniel), Fledgling (Marc, Peacock), Multi-Mouse, Shadow (Jason, Black Cat), Trickster (Felix, Fox), Bunnyx, and Emerald (Damian, Turtle) were a truly feared team, though four of the crew went to Gotham (and one divided her time between Gotham and New York) while the others scattered across the world. Marc and Nathaniel stayed together in Paris, occasionally swapping Miraculi, Alix and Luka traversed the world- separately, of course, and Kagami returned to Japan. The world would be protected by them- no matter what happened.

I'll Change My Crown, from Light to Dark

The akuma landed on Marinette's windowsill, the girl not even noticing as she sat in the tattered remnants of her designs. Luckily she had dropped off most of her completed works the day before to be delivered to the appropriate patrons, though everything she had yet to send off was ripped, cut, burned, there wasn't a scrap of cloth that was usable for anything but as a guide for buying more. Her sketchbook was in shreds on the floor, paper scattered like confetti over the remaining slivers of all her hard work. 

The akuma danced in place. It's master was urging it to go forward, to possess the girl, but… there were so many objects to choose from! Should it just possess the entire room? The sewing machine? One little scrap of fabric? A piece of paper? What about her emotions? This butterfly had made some of the strongest akumas to date, though the strength behind her feelings was astromically larger than any other person they had targeted. The little insect itself was slightly afraid to act as a bridge for her. It finally flew forward, choosing the scraps of the dress the girl had been making herself for the Wayne gala.

Marinette froze when her emotions intensified, hearing Hawkmoth cooing in her ear. "Greetings, Mistress Hawthorne. They all accuse you of being the bully, of being a liar, never paying attention to the proof you give them. They destroyed your designs, your livelihood, and expect to get away scott free.  I'm giving you the ability to turn all your ruined dreams into hawthorn bushes that force people to see the truth, whether they can accept it or not. No more hiding behind lies or masks, everyone will have to be honest and pay for their crimes. All I ask in return is for Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous."

"I refuse, Hawkmoth "

The villain froze for a second. Only one other person had ever resisted him so easily, and that was due to her love for Ladybug. Nothing about Marinette Dupain-Cheng screamed that she truly cared for the heroes, so why would she resist? He was giving her the perfect way to get revenge! If he didn't fear that it would give the heroes a clue to his identity, he wouldn't have even asked for the Miraculous for this offence! "Why do you refuse? Imagine how great it will feel, trapping them in their castle with your thorns until the truth comes out!"

"Oh, make no mistake, revenge will be divine. But I'm already looking at little to no sleep for the foreseeable future so that I can press charges against them, email all my patrons whose clothes were destroyed about the delay, buy all the fabric to remake their outfits, and get my own dress together for the Wayne gala. Luckily I'm not starting completely over with it, their mindless destruction gave me an idea for my dress, but there is still much to do. I have no time to become an akuma, I have to get to work immediately, and it will be tomorrow before my classmates are all in the same place again."

"What… what if I didn't ask for the Miraculous in return, and you miss a few days of school to get everything completed?

"While missing school may become a necessity before everything is over and done with, I still have much to do. It would take far too long to force the truth out of Lila Rossi, and I am uncertain if Ladybug's Miracle Cure would erase any progress I made on designing as an akuma. You seem like a reasonable businessman, I'm sure you understand."

"Ah, yes, I do, actually. Cut me some slack here, I've been trying to akumatize you for over a year now! What kind of cloth are you cut from?"

"A different kind from my classmates. I refuse to stoop to their level. Besides, I have pride in the fact that I am not helpless, and the costumes I see akumatized people in are atrocious. Please have a nice day, but I do need to get to work."

"I-very well then. Good luck. Please at least make your classmates suffer."

Marinette's smirk alone was fuel to create a fear-based akuma. "They'll pay. But on my terms." The purple butterfly left her dress, and Marinette caught herself as she slumped to the floor. Resisting Hawkmoth had taken much more out of her than she had anticipated.

⏳

Gabriel rose from the underground room, surprising Nathalie. "Sir, surely she didn't-"

"No, Nathalie, she didn't loose. She didn't even accept my offer. I even offered to not require the Miraculous this time, but she still refused. Her mental strength is highly admirable, especially when her guard is at its lowest. She would be a great asset to us."

"In what manner?"

"Any way I can get her. She is one of the best designers I have seen in a long time, especially at her age. I caught a glimpse of her revenge plan when my akuma possessed her and it was astoundingly terrible, and she is kind and independent enough to make an amazing daughter."

"Sir, kidnapping is illegal."

"I don't have to kidnap her, I'll throw Adrien at her." Gabriel started to wave his hand in dismissal, then noticed the look on Nathalie's face.

"Sir, I think you should watch the rest of this." Nathalie walked forward, bringing up the video from earlier. Gabriel had only watched a second of it before rushing to his butterflies, it was easy to recognize the girl's room by her designs. He'd been gunning for her since she lied to him to help keep Adrien in school and made the feathered hat. Her spirit and dedication let him know that she could be a great ally or terrible enemy. She didn't (yet) have the money or power to come after Gabriel Agreste on her own, but he was certain that the girl was being considered for a Miraculous. He knew she didn't already have one, she hadn't responded to Miracle Queen, after all, but several of her classmates had used one. He actually paid attention to the video this time, watching all the way through. The first people seen on camera were the blogger girl and Lila Rossi, several other classmates cropping up through the video. He didn't notice Timebreaker, Evilillstrator, or the Bourgeois girl, though he did see his own son halfway through the recording, happily cutting at a gown that had been carefully beaded with a hawthorn pattern with a pair of scissors, cutting off the beads and chunks of fabric. 

Gabriel's frown deepened. "Cut all ties to Lila Rossi immediately. We will be making a public apology, telling the public that we did not know of her abhorrent tendencies, nor did we expect her to pull Adrien into her schemes. Adrien will be appropriately punished, and we will offer Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng compensation for the destruction of her property, along with a small team of designers that will know to make every stitch to her preference, no matter their opinion on the piece."

"Of course, sir. How would you like to make your statement to the public?"

"Call that news anchor, Najda Chamack, and ask her to come here. I will speak to her in person as soon as she is available. I also want the apology posted to every social media outlet we use, including our official website."

"Sir, is this not overkill? This isn't Audrey Bourgeois."

Gabriel glared at Nathalie. "No, she is not. She designs for more famous people than Audrey does. She is the main designer for the Wayne gala this year. Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Tsurugi Tomoe, even the Wayne's commissioned her work. All of her designs are paid for in a split payment plan, the money for the materials is required upfront while the rest of the payment can wait until after the person received their design to make sure it is what they want. That means there will very likely be several highly influential individuals and families gunning for us because of Rossi and my son."

Nathalie paled. She hadn't imagined that the small girl who stumbled and stuttered every time she saw her would have that kind of power backing her. Everyone knew that the girl had Jagged Stone backing her, MDC was his main designer for everything and anyone who personally met the girl and the rocker knew who MDC was, especially since they were supposed to have their identity reveal at the Wayne gala. Jagged Stone by himself would be bad and the company would take a hit, though she was positive Marinette would stop him before he went too far. But with so many others working with Jagged… Gabriel (the company) would not survive. 

"I will get everything arranged." Nathalie quickly left the office.

⏳ 

Marinette's first order of business was to email all of the clients affected by her classmates's actions. She informed them that they did not need to worry, as she was suing all the students for the costs of what they destroyed- not just materials, but labor as well, and would be buying new material for their clothes out of her own pocket until she got retribution. She also informed them that their orders would come in slightly later than planned, though not by much. Clara, Jagged, Kagami and her mother, and the Wayne's all responded to her email with assurances that things happened and to take her time. Bruce Wayne offered to delay the gala so that she would have plenty of time to rectify the situation, though she was quick to assure him that it was not necessary.

Her next order of business was cleanup. She collected every scrap of fabric big enough to make so much as a small patch or strip and sat them in a small box next to where her personal dress was. Everything else was collected and thrown in the trash. She dug out her receipts for all the fabrics destroyed, including the fabrics for projects intended for her classmates. She quickly pulled up the video Alya had posted, writing down who destroyed what. She matched the fabrics to the people, then calculated the time she would have spent on each piece. She reviewed the video one more time, noticing that none of the art students, including Chloè, were in the video. Though it was to be expected. The whole class knew how important all art was to the art students; those students would have stopped them if they were in the know. Chloè was not only in the art club, but also still exiled from the class, though her relationship with Marinette had gone from bully to ally. They still weren't friends, but they stuck together against most of the class, only Nathaniel and Alix leaving them alone. The class may have had five braincells in the entire room, Chloè, Marinette, Alix, and Nathaniel each having one all to themselves while the rest of the class, including Madame Bustier, shared the other one, but they used that one braincell to know who could be brought in on a scheme like this.

Marinette had just finished calculating who she would she for what and was on her way to buy fabrics when her phone rang. She grabbed it as she opened her hatch, activating her recording app as she answered. "Hello?"

"Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng, it has come to my attention that Adrien Agreste and Lila Rossi have vandalized your property. Lila Rossi has already been terminated and Adrien will face suitable punishment for his actions. I wish for you to come by the manor at your earliest convenience for us to discuss payment."

"If you're free now, I was just about to head out."

"Of course. I'll send a car for you."

"Merci, Monsieur Agreste." Marinette pocketed her phone and made copies of the expenses each of her classmates would be charged. She had no way of knowing where, exactly, Gabriel Agreste stood, but she refused to leave anything to chance. The original, along with the receipts, was stored in her diary box while one copy was left on her desk and another found its home in her purse. She stopped by the kitchen to inform her parents that she was headed to the Agreste Manor and would explain later before walking out to wait on the car.

⏳

Adrien was smiling after school. He had never realized how freeing it was to tear clothes apart, especially clothes made by someone who refused to listen to him. Marinette deserved everything she got, plus some. He wondered what of hers he could destroy next.

He was surprised when he returned home to see his father glaring at him from in front of the stairwell. "We need to have a talk, son." The designer's voice promised pain. "About your friends and actions today."

Adrien stared at his father, confused. "Why? What happened?"

Gabriel growled. "Nathalie."

"Sir?"

"Show him the video, then leave us to our discussion."

"Yes sir." Nathalie quickly pulled up the video of the class destroying Marinette's designs and held the tablet out to Adrien before taking her leave. 

Adrien watched the video, unable to understand what had angered his father. "Do you understand what you have done?" Gabriel demanded.

Adrien shrugged. "I got payback. She wouldn't listen to me when I told her to lay low, so I decided to help the class teach her a lesson."

Gabriel coldly glared at his son. "You have cost me over a thousand dollars just in the hours that girl put into her work. That does not include the cost of the materials, deformation of private property, or potential unlawful entry and vandalism charges. How do you know that Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng is not currently an akuma gunning for your head? Or that her clients aren't going to press charges? Her clientele could ruin your entire class, your entire school, with a single phone call."

Adrien scoffed. "She doesn't have that many big clients. Just Jagged Stone. And Marinette can't get akumatized. She's too stubborn to listen to anyone."

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "Adrien, I'll tell you this as your classmate is revealing it in less than a month. Marinette Dupain-Cheng has been taking the world of fashion by storm while using her initials, MDC. Only certain celebrities and rich people know who she is, mainly people she has worked or designed for. Jagged Stone is the first and main one, yes. But Clara Nightingale has been using her more and more. MDC is the main designer for the Wayne gala, not only Monsieur Stone and Mademoiselle Nightingale commissioning her, but the Tsurugi family and the Wayne family, along with several friends and supporters of the four families. Aubrey Bourgeois supports her, perhaps even more than she supports me, and I have admired several of her pieces done for contests."

Blood began to drain from Adrien's face, though Gabriel doubted that the boy fully understood anything yet. "Her mother's best friend is Najda Chamack, and Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng babysits her child. Her uncle is a famous chef who loves his family dearly, especially since his great niece learned Mandarin to be able to talk to him and help him with his French. Alix Kubdel is friends with Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng, and also comes from a respectable family- as well as Chloè Bourgeois becoming her ally after she helped with her mother. Not to mention that the Dupain-Cheng family is not hurting for money, as they are the best and most popular bakery in Paris. They get orders from all over the city, plus serve at almost every party that has edible food. You attacked the livelihood of one of the most powerful children in Paris. Not only that, but you destroyed the property of some of the most prolific people in the world." Adrien's face had lost all traces of blood, though Gabriel did not expect it to be from shame. No, his son was afraid because he had been caught. "You will not return to school until Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng has revealed herself as MDC to the world, nor will you have access to any of your social media, messages, or phone. You may return to being homeschooled. I shall have to reassess the situation at a later date. If I do allow you to return to school, it will not be François-DuPont. You will drop contact with your current classmates. You are dismissed." Gabriel turned from his son, pulling his phone out of his pocket. 

⏳

Marinette was escorted straight to Gabriel's office upon arrival. The man shook her hand before gesturing for her to take a seat. "Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng, my assistant showed me the video of what your classmates did. My sincerest apologies. I assure you that my son is currently being punished and Mademoiselle Rossi's contract has been terminated. I also wanted to offer you compensation for your loss as well as a team of designers that will follow your instructions to the last stitch."

Marinette eyed the elder Agreste. "What do you want in return?"

Gabriel blinked at the girl. He knew she was smart, though he hadn't expected her to ask that. "For this? Nothing. My son deserves every lawsuit you draw up. I remember what it was like when I was first starting my company; something like this would have been devistating."

"Well, Monsieur, covering everything will not be necessary. I have already calculated the damages each student did and how much they owe for it. I am not holding you responsible for the actions of any of my classmates, not even Agreste or Rossi. I'm sure you have paid your son for working for you," Marinette felt viciously victorious when he nodded, "in which case he should be able to pay for damages himself. The same holds true for Rossi; she was a contract model for your company and was paid as such. They should both be able to afford my work- custom or not."

"Might I see what you've drawn up? I heard from Aubrey that you have a tendency to undercharge for your work, and, as you just said, my son and former employee should be able to afford your work. The beaded dress my son ruined, for example, should cost twenty-five hundred dollars, bare minimum. I would charge much more than that, especially with how much work is put behind hand-beading." Marinette could do nothing but gape at her childhood idol. She had been expecting a bribe, a threat, something to try to protect his son.

She pulled the paper out of her purse when he raised an eyebrow, pulling the video up on her phone. "Césaire was stupid enough to put her phone in the corner where I could track everyone's movements, and I can figure everything out if I can get Markov. I figured out who destroyed what and calculated what they owe from there. I don't know who picked the lock to the upper floors, or to my room, though my money's on either Césaire or Rossi. Césaire's obsessed with being a great reporter while Rossi is a liar and a thief. Harleprè, Lavaillant, Bruel, Couffaine, and Lahiffe owe the least, they didn't do much. They just ripped a few pages out of my sketchbook. Raincompx, le Chein, Césaire, Rossi, Agreste, and Kantè did the most damage, and so will face the bigger lawsuits. I have already contacted my clients and informed them of the slight delay. Your team of designers, while most appreciated, will not be necessary. It shouldn't take me more than a few days to recreate the Wayne's suits and send them off, I sent the dresses yesterday. Jagged and Clara will both be in Paris next week and can stop by my house to pick up their outfits and have a final fitting. I can easily deliver the Tsurugi chensogams to their home. That covered everyone that had their outfits for the gala destroyed. I had finished the majority of them yesterday and done the final checks before sending them off. I was supposed to send the Wayne suits off today, though that plan was foiled. I was lucky that I went ahead and finished my commissions rather than more personal projects. Most of what got destroyed were projects my classmates requested of me rather than important works."

"Are you positive you don't want help? At least on your beaded dress?"

Marinette pulled up pictures of what she had. "I have several different scraps of colors, most of them either on the darker end of the spectrum or metalic, from the works they destroyed. I'm going to use those scraps from my other works to make a pair of wings on the back of the dress, the colors getting darker the further down they go and metalic fabrics making the outline of the wings."

Gabriel considered the dress. "You'll look like a fallen angel. I hope you're still planning on charging my son the full amount for the dress."

"Most definitely. There will be some alterations I make besides the wings, putting some pieces back together, cutting or tearing others, partially rebeading sections, I have some work to put in. Your son added to my work load when it was already full, he personally destroyed not only my dress but Jagged and Penny's outfits as well. Might I know what punishment he is suffering?"

"So you can plan revenge accordingly?" Gabriel questioned. He sighed at her innocent expression. "He will no longer attend François-DuPont. He will basically be under house arrest for everything except shoots until after the gala. I am undecided as to whether he shall go to another school or be permanently homeschooled. He is not allowed any contact with his former classmates nor access to social media or his phone. So if you wish to strike, do it right after a photo shoot. You can do it before or during as long as you don't ruin the clothes on display."

Marinette's grin was pure evil. "Don't worry, Monsieur Agreste. I have too much respect for the work designers put into their work to be so crass. Will Agreste still practice fencing with Kagami?"

"I shall allow it on a trial basis."

"Very well. It was nice meeting with you, Monsieur Agreste, but I must take my leave. I have too much to do before I traumatize, I mean get payback, I mean revenge, wait, no, deal with my classmates after the gala. But before I go… You wouldn't happen to know anyone that would be able to teach me how to, how should I phrase this… I guess basically be an Ice Queen?"

Gabriel smirked. "Actually, my nephew, Felix Graham de Vanily, will be at the gala. He's a model from England, and many consider him an Ice King. He'd be a great teacher." And perhaps potential mate to bring you into the family. I wonder how many love akumas it would take to get you two together… perhaps Adrien needs a good influence his age around the Manor…

Marinette slightly felt as though she had signed her future away, though that was ridiculous so she simply thanked Gabriel before leaving.

⏳

The next few days flew by in a rush of designing and lawyers. The lawyers her parents got were more than willing to come to the bakery and talk to Marinette as she sewed, especially since she had eyeballed them and given them all scarves and beanies the next time they were there. Marinette didn't bother to pay attention in Bustier's class, electing to nap instead. She was awake for Mendeleiev's classes, though. She liked her dragon-like teacher as the woman actually taught her students. She managed to finish her clients' clothes with time to spare, having gotten so used to designing for Jagged, Penny, and Clara that very few adjustments needed to be made. A couple Wayne suits had come back with notes on where they needed to be adjusted and how, and those were shipped back out that same day. Her own dress took until the last minute, Marinette completely finishing it, including adjustments, the day before she was set to leave for the gala. She would be staying with Jagged and Penny in the Wayne Manor for the two weeks she was to be there, a week before the gala and a week after. Her classmates's parents were horrified to hear what their children had done, making sure the kids paid every penny of what Marinette was suing for without even going to court. Alix and Nathaniel had nearly gotten in trouble with their families, though Marinette was quick to personally visit and explain things. Apparently the other families had contacted the Kurtzburg's and Kubdel's about the scandal with the children, no one noticing that some of the children weren't involved.

She already had her traveling designing kit packed so that she could make sure the Wayne's outfits all fit properly. Chloè and Kagami were traveling with her, determined to make sure their former rival was well taken care of while their parents took care of the hotel. Jagged was fuming beside Marinette whole they rode through Gotham, the girl talking to her friends.

"So, Mari-hime, you told me that you would explain what was going on if Adrien refused to before we left." 

Marinette gave Kagami a highly stressed smile. "I think watching the video would explain things better. I didn't want you to get akumatized because of me while we were in Paris."

"So you knew Adrien would refuse to tell me what crime he committed against you. What video?"

Marinette pulled it up on her tablet. "For the record, I simply suspected that he would keep his mouth shut. Though Monsieur Agreste is making sure that his interactions with anyone besides himself, Madame Sancouer, and his bodyguard are highly limited." She passed Kagami the tablet, Chloè leaning over to watch it with her.

The Japanese girl dropped the tablet in her lap as she watched, clenching her fists so hard that her palms bled. "How- how dare that baka! They all have no honor! They should meet my blade!"

"Kagami. Calm down. I have it handled. I want you and Chloè to teach me how to be a vengeful Ice Queen while we're here. Monsieur Agreste suggested talking to his nephew for lessons as well. By the time I'm back in Paris, I don't want our classmates to be able to recognize me. I already have some revenge planned, the wheels for those are already in motion. I messaged the Césaire and Lahiffe families to inform the entire family that I will be unable to babysit for them for the foreseeable future. Ambassador Rossi has a request in her inbox to visit the school while we are gone, as Rossi's classmates would love to hear about what it's like to be an ambassador. The le Chein family was sent a list of tutors for their son's failing grades, unfortunately all those tutors work at the same time as mandatory swim practice. I sent Luka a copy of the video, so Kitty Section is about to loose their lead guitarist so that he can learn under my dear uncle. Agreste will be facing a startling amount of bad luck for a good chunk of time whilst loosing all of his beloved friends. By the time I am finished, even Hawkmoth won't want to work with them."

Chloè stared at her friend. "Did you really just say 'whilst?' Who hurt you? I just want to talk."

Jagged continued to sulk. "She won't even let me send my rockin followers after those bloody rats. She's only letting me steal away a new guitarist!"

"Because I have everything planned out. And Agreste will become even more isolated once we return. No matter what I say, Kagami is going to duel him to the, figurative, death before informing him of her distaste for him and his actions."

Kagami mock glared at Marinette. "So what if I do? He deserves it. He deserves much worse. But how will he become more isolated? I will still be sparring with him twice a week."

"A person is more isolated surrounded by people that don't care about them than all on their own. Yes, you will physically be there. But your obvious emotional distance will leave him more isolated than him being stuck in his room all day."

Chloè stared at her new friend. "Where was all this evil cunningness when I was your bully?"

Marinette smirked. "I had a wake-up call. Césaire, ironically, taught me that it's okay to stand up for myself, and Hawkmoth helped release a part of me I had blocked out."

"What? Were you akumatized? How did I not know?" Chloè demanded.

Marinette waved her hand dismissively. "It was a few days before we actually became friends, and he didn't manage to akumatize me. He possessed my dress, but I refused to work with him. Apparently he's wanted to akumatize me for a while, but I'm good at forcing myself to calm down."

"What was he going to call you?" Chloè was highly excited to finally have someone who knew what it was like to fully resist Hawkmoth. Not calm down before the butterfly reached them, not resist for a second before giving in, but fully resist the man.

"Mistress Hawthorne." Marinette laughed. "I was going to have the ability to turn my ruined dreams into hawthorn bushes that would trap everyone in their castle and force them to see the truth." Marinette had to stop, she was laughing so hard. "I told him no, and he was so shocked that he only argued for a second before wishing me luck with revenge!"

Jagged continued to sulk through the teens laughter, refusing to give in. He wanted to crush those bloody teens. No one gets away with hurting his niece.

⏳

As soon as she arrived at the manor and had her bags unpacked, Marinette began tracking down the Wayne's, one by one, and dragging them back to her room with their suits or dresses, forcing them to put them on so that she could fully alter them to her preference. Dick was scared of the tiny Asian girl that slung him over her shoulder before grabbing his suit and forcing him to come with her when he hesitated and then worked silently, ignoring his attempts at friendship. He was so scared of her that he sprinted the other direction the first time he saw Kagami. Jason and Bruce both wanted to adopt the girl- she blended in perfectly with their family, and Jason had witnessed both, the girl's kidnapping of his brother and Dick running away from Kagami. He had to respect someone who could instill more fear than Demon Spawn himself, and Bruce wanted to cultivate that talent until he got a Nightingale. Damian and Cass both respected the girl for her professionalism and silence (and word of her traumatizing Dick had already spread through the manor). Tim instantly fell in love with the girl, as she asked him if he wanted coffee or tea while they were doing his fitting, as he looked dead on his feet (he did not choose both or cry tears of joy, and no one can prove to Alfred that he did). Selina purred at the amount of pure chaos she could feel pouring off of the girl, even with her suppressing it while she worked. She needed a kitten. Bruce already had his litter, it was her turn. Kor'i bounced in place the whole time, trying not to inturupt the girl as she adjusted her glorious creation.

Jagged disappeared with Bruce after his fitting, explaining to the billionaire what Marinette had been going through, even showing him the video of her work getting destroyed, before asking for his help to get revenge. He explained Marinette's known plans, and the rocker and vigilante began planning around hers, using their collective contacts and knowledge to open the class's wounds even deeper.

Dinner that night was chaos. Jason, Selina, Bruce, and Jagged were in a constant argument, with Penny occasionally interjecting, that abruptly cut off any time Marinette drew near, she was only able to catch the words adoption and revenge, Kagami and Cass spent their time in silence, eyeing each other. Chloè didn't breathe while swapping between berating Dick and Tim for their fashion choices and interigating them about Gotham and its foreign student transfer policies. Damian scowled at everyone the entire time from his seat next to Marinette. Marinette did her best to emulate him, not noticing Dick slowly sliding his chair further and further away from her.

Damian decided he liked tolerated Marinette five days into her stay. Dick had been complaining to him and Jason about how much Asian girls scared him and Kor'i wanting them to live with them. Marinette had somehow heard his complaints and came storming up to them, cussing Dick out in a mixture of French, Mandarin, Arabic, Italian, and English. Damian did not know why that caused a blush to creep up his face, though he admired the way her accent curled around the words, making everything seem like a language all of its own. 

Jason chuckled when she walked off. "That. That was the art of cussing at its finest. I'm getting Alfed and we're going to go teach my new little sister how to shoot guns. Angel's my favorite, you can all suck it." Jason walked off in the same direction the girl had left in. It didn't take but forty-two minutes for the sound of gunfire to echo around the house. 

⏳

The night before the gala, the women in Wayne Manor gathered in Marinette's room. The night was spent coaching her on how to act and reveal her identity, both on the carpet and during the gala.

"Don't fret so much, kit." Selina advised. "You are a queen, act as such. Keep you head up and keep your cool. They'll all be tripping over themselves to speak to you, and you don't give them the time of day." Chloè nodded her agreement, even as Kagami objected.

"You're approachable and professional at the same time. Just let people see both sides of you."

The women continued to argue, Marinette finally escaping to talk to Alfred. She spent the night under his tutelage, learning all she could about presentation. The man finally ushered her off to bed. "You have a long day tomorrow. You will need sleep to get through it."

⏳

Once arriving at the gala, Marinette kept her head high as she glided down the carpet, the press quickly stopping her to ask if she was a new Wayne and what happened to her dress. "No." She offered a small smile to them. "I'm the designer MDC. The Wayne's hired me to design their suits, and were kind enough to offer their home to me and my aunt and uncle, even letting two of my best friends, Tsurugi Kagami and Chloè Bourgeois, spend the majority of their time with me at the Manor. My parents live in France, where I will be returning to in a weeks time. My room was broken into a few weeks ago, and some of my classmates ruined the outfits I had in there, including my dress. I decided to take what they did to my dress and use it as proof that nothing will bring me down. Excuse me, I need to go. I do not wish to keep my companions waiting." Marinette offered them a small bow before leaving them, giving the press a good look at the drooping angel wings sewn on the back of her dress.

"Angel," One of the reporters breathed, leading to a frenzy. MDC was announced to the world that night as Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Angel of Gotham.

⌛

Finding her group was easy, and it was almost just as easy to spot Felix, Gabriel's nephew. She grabbed Damian by his forearm, the boy too startled by her random action to react, and drug him over to the boy she assumed was Felix.

She tapped.the boy on his shoulder. "Excuse me, are you Felix?"

The boy gave a hesitant nod. "Great! I want the two of you to teach me as much as you can about being a vengeful Ice Queen."

Felix raised one eyebrow, looking between the girl and the scowling boy. "What do we get out of it?"

"You get to live with the knowledge that I am going to use your teachings to traumatize idiotic classmates and I can keep the girls from making passes at you, as you are already occupied with entertaining a lady."

The boys both quickly gave their consent, refusing to let the girl leave their side for even a moment the entirety of the gala. They were appeased enough with the girl that her lessons continued throughout the following week, the boys enchanted enough with her to seriously consider following her to Paris and watching her strike like a coiled viper.

⌛

When Marinette returned to school, she had changed. Not just in personality, no, she changed everything. Her personality (at school), her hairstyle, her clothes, everything was redone to fit who she had become. Flowy black pants, a black sleeveless top held up by a ribbon that wrapped around her neck, a red leather jacket loosley hung on her frame, and black boots could be seen under the pants.. Her gaze was frozen as it swept over the class. She was unsurprised to see Adrien sitting in his usual seat, Gabriel had informed her of his decision to place Adrien back in Bustier's class for the time being so that Marinette could teach him a lesson. Alix and Nathaniel had transfered out of the class as soon as they had learned of what the students had done, moving to Madame Mendeleiev's class. Chloè was also leaving, though she was transferring to Gotham after the week was up. She wanted that week to be able to watch the havoc Marinette would wreck on the class. Kagami had already decided to join the class, and Marinette spotted her in Nathaniel's old seat. She was not expecting to see Felix frowning next to Kagami, nor Damian smirking at the back of the blond's head. Thanks to those very boys, though, it was amazingly easy to hide her surprise. A smirk crawled its way across her face, even as she stepped far enough into the room that everyone could see her. She had timed her entrance perfectly. As soon as the class went to explode with praises and questions, the bell rang, Madame Bustier walking in and asking them to all take their seats. Marinette made sure her steps were conscice enough to make it seem as though she was gliding up the rows, refusing to shoot her classmates so much as a glance. 

Lila walked into the room moments later, late, her gaze zeroing in on Felix. "Felibear! It's so nice to see you again!" She squealed, rushing up the steps. 

Felix stopped her with a cold glare. "Do I know you?"

Alya glared at the blond. "How could you ask your girlfriend if you know her? Especially since everyone knows you transfered to François-DuPont for her!"

Felix looked scandalized. "I did no such thing! I came here on request of my uncle. There are very few people here that I know from previous endeavors."

Lila burst out into tears. "H-how could you treat me like this? At least my Damiboo didn't do this!"

"Damiboo?" Marinette asked. Clearly Bustier wasn't going to stop the girl.

"Oh, I forgot you weren't here!" A sly grin crawled across Lila's face. "I suppose Damiboo didn't speak to you the whole time you were in Gotham, otherwise you would have known I used to date Damian Wayne!" The girl boasted.

Marinette looked at the horrified expression on her deskmate's face, and began her countdown. "I would never date a harlot like you!" He burst out, unable to stop himself. The class turned to stare at him, then realized that he had been just ahead of Marinette when the Wayne's and Jagged Stone arrived at the gala.

A slow smirk crawled across Marinette's lips, erasing the smile she had given her friends. "Do tell, Lila. I would love to hear all about your relationship with the Wayne's. Or about you dating Felix here. Oh! What about your relationship with my uncle? Save any of his cats lately? Let's not forget Clara Nightingale! Since she steals her music and dance moves from you, perhaps we could get a preview for her next video?"

Adrien frowned at Marinette. She seemed… different. "Mari, don't be so mean! Your supposed to be our everyday Ladybug, the better-"

"Agreste, if example is the next word to come out of your mouth I will steal Chloè's six inch stiletto right off of her foot and shove it down your throat while I laugh at your struggles." Adrien's mouth snapped shut as he paled, the class staring at Marinette in shock. 

"Marinette! That was uncalled for!" Madame Bustier frowned at the girl. Perhaps letting her go to Gotham was a mistake.

"Really, Madame Bustier? From where I'm sitting, it was perfectly called for. Agreste is not going to use my emotions to manipulate me into being the perfect placemat anymore. You are not going to manipulate me into being the perfect victim. I will no longer tolerate this class's treatment of me. Four people in this room have the authority to call me by a nickname. They know who they are. Four people have the ability to ask something of me. None of them were the ones that destroyed my sketchbook or commissions. None of them told me that I always have to be the better person and set an example for my classmates. I refuse to allow myself to be used any longer."

Alya glared at her friend as the rest of the class stared at the noirette in shock or turned their head away from her in shame. "Girl, what are you talking about? First you want us to pay you a while bunch of money, and now you don't want to do anything for us?"

Damian started to retort himself, stopped by Marinette's hand on his arm. Her voice was frosted fire when she commanded the room. "Everyone in this room, excluding my four friends and our teacher, had a hand I destroying commissions for the Wayne gala, requests from all of you, and my sketchbook. That is why you were sued for damages. Some of you paid more than others because Alya was gracious enough to post a video she had taken of what you did on her blog that allowed me to see who destroyed what. That allowed me to see exactly who has hell to pay." The dangerous smirk several of her classmates had noticed danced across her face yet again, like a sword would dance in the hands of Robin. 

Adrien scoffed. "you're just a baker's daughter. What could you possibly do?" He paled not long after the words flew out of his mouth, remembering what his father had told him.

"You look like you just remembered that I am not just a baker's daughter. Why don't you share with the class?" Marinette offered up one of her customary sunshine smiles, though Adrien was not fooled this time, quickly yelling the class exactly what his father had told him. 

Lila blanched. Forget the Agreste's and that stupid reporter, she should have set her sights on Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Marinette smiled down at the class, her court sitting in the back two rows with her. Chloè had kicked Felix out of his seat next to Kagami, and Felix had nudged Marinette into the middle of the bench, sandwiching her between Damian and himself.

Her blue eyes were frigid as she glared down upon her kingdom. The time for the Queen of Light was over- Darkness had come for her, and she welcomed them with open arms. Her crown darkened, from gold and diamonds to silver and onyx, and her reign had only begun.

[libamericaorg]

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