#The fact that people claim left and right that Marinette lost EVERYTHING at the end of s4 when we have several character who actually DID
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familyagrestefanblog · 1 year ago
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Me being rant-y, I need to get this out of my system
You know what? I'm not sure if people in this fandom actually don't put together that Adrien only writing "I don't know what I want to do in future, but I know that I love Marinette Dupain-Cheng" is the result of him not having been allowed to grow up being his own person and under harsh conditional love (and literal mind control but go off), him then being abused, neglected and forced further into his father's international business where he basically was exploited as it's face and Adrien now loosing all hope in his future because his father is sending him into another country as punishment to make Adrien comply in that his future is already long decided for him and he has no choice.
Or, you know, if yall genuinely just don't care anymore for any other mental health than Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Félix Fathom very loudly crying, screaming and stressing over things, and now yall are just making fun of a depressed teenager - whose about to loose his home, remaining family, his love and friends and future - by calling him a malewife who doesn't and shouldn't have dreams and his own ambitions anyway because Marinette needs someone to raise her kids and cook for her.
So you're doing the same thing Gabriel does, taking Adrien's potential dreams and ambitions away from him before he can possibly have them to fit your own agenda to make you and only you happy, because you decided long ago that Marinette Dupain-Cheng's husband is not allowed to have a job, while you wanna make condescending malewife jokes at stay-at-home husband's expenses.
Like, at this point in this fandom I genuinely can't tell anymore if yall just genuinely can't put that together anymore because only Marinette's and Félix' crying matters since season 4, or if you guys are just actively being bullies now and you don't care anymore since Marinette got her prince serving himself to her on a silver platter and that was all that ever mattered to you about Adrien.
Truly, I can't tell. Because I can barely see any genuine sympathy for Adrien who is about to loose everything in a couple of days, which will also mean that he probably questions if he'll ever see Nathalie alive again.
No? Non of that? Just condescending malewife jokes that actually discourage boys who just wanna enjoy this show and Fandom from being stay-at-home dad's cause all you do is mock? Well alright.
But God help us if Marinette has so much as a paper cut on a finger..
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justcourttee · 4 years ago
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Hey. Can you write one where the batfam visits Marinette at school and the class is just plain surprised and chaos ensues. You can include any salt (if yes, preferably Alya and a jealous Adien). Ship is daminette with sibling Jasonette or something like that. Thanks
Sorry It’s a little late! I hope this is something like what you had in mind :)) @long-lost-peace
Career Day
“-And it was just terrible Damian! Lila literally stood in front of the class and told them how she tried to get you all to come for career week, but that you all were just so busy in Thailand on a business trip that you just didn’t see how you could make it.”
Damian chuckled at his exasperated girlfriend. He knew how agitated this sausage haired woman made her, but his laughter couldn’t be helped. After all, every time she enters a rant, her little nose scrunches up in the cutest way that he couldn’t help but compare to the hamster she’s always wanted.
“Damiannnn, this isn’t funny! I was literally going to ask Dick if he could come for Friday’s session, Madame Bustier knew that too! So for her to step up and claim that it was all her idea? Gods, now he can’t even come because everyone will praise her for ‘convincing’ him to show up.”
“I know my love, what if father and I show up instead? Dick is on a business trip in Thailand right now, attempting to expand the company into further international business, but I’m sure even he would drop the meeting if you asked.”
Marinette let out a sigh as she slunk down into her seat, only the top of her head visible in the laptop camera.
“I know he would, but I’m retracting my ask. I really don’t want to deal with the backlash. Besides, it’s getting late. Chat will be expecting me for patrol in an hour and I haven’t even started my homework yet.”
Damian nodded as they said their goodbyes before signing off his computer. His hand absentmindedly reached for the small token the Marinette had given him just last summer. It was a river stone that she had engraved with the name he had first called her; Hobi.
He spun the stone several times before gently setting it back in its rightful spot. If he wanted to help his love, then he was going to need more chaotic energy than his own. Picking up his phone, Damian dialed a number he had learned by heart over the years. The phone had barely rung twice before the man answered.
“What up demon spawn? Ready to cause some trouble for dear old dad?”
Damian rolled his eyes trying not to imagine what Jason could’ve possibly meant. Instead, he turned his focus to the task at hand.
“This is more important Todd. Marinette needs our help.”
There was a momentary pause on the other side of the phone and for a brief second, Damian was tempted to check to see if Jason had accidentally hung up on him. (it wouldn’t have been the first time.) He was both relieved and perplexed when a sound rang through the background that was suspiciously similar to a gun being loaded.
“Well, why didn’t you start with that Damian? Who exactly do I have to kill?”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . .
Career week couldn’t come to an end fast enough for Marinette. Hearing Lila’s false tears over her Damiboo and favorite brother-in-law not being able to make it despite her constant begging was both infuriating and a bit nauseating. She was almost certain that if Damian heard the word Damiboo uttered in a half-mile radius of himself, he would bring down his sword on that person’s neck.
“Alright class, settle down.” Madame Bustier walked into the room, an ear-splitting grin accompanying her. “We have a few very special guests to finish off this Career Week. In fact, one of your own classmates made this meeting happen!”
The class muttered excitedly as all eyes landed on Lila in the front row. Marinette placed her head on her desk, ignoring Adrien’s hand attempting to rub calming circles in her back. She was 100% done with this week.
“Please welcome Bruce Wayne and his associates here to talk about the world of Entrepreneurship.”
Several jaws hit the desks as Bruce walked in, Jason and Damian in tow, all wearing bright smiles. Marinette sat up so fast that her back crushed Adrien’s hand into the bench behind them.
“Ouch, excited much my lady?”
Marinette ignored his teasing as her eyes narrowed in on her boyfriend standing in the front of the room, an absolute shit-eating grin gracing his face.
“Oh no.” Adrien followed her stare down to the boy in the front of the room, instantly feeling a dislike for him. If his lady was uncomfortable, then so was he.
“Thank you for having me Madame Bustier and on such short notice. I realize that Marinette said it would only be my son Dick Grayson, but seeing as he was away for a business trip, I just knew I couldn’t leave our favorite Parisian high and dry.”
There was an instant silence across the room as all eyes turned from where Lila sat in the front row to where Marinette sat in the back. She wanted to shrink in her seat and disappear from the number of people looking at her, but it felt impossible.
“Anyways, I would like to start my presentation by stating-”
“Excuse me, sir!” Alya’s hand shot into the air, her stare intense as some of Gotham’s finest.
“Uhm I haven’t covered any information yet Miss, did you have a question about my flight?”
A few chuckles sounded throughout the classroom, but that didn’t seem to stop Alya as she stood, her arms crossed in front of her body.
“I believe you owe my best friend an apology. Marinette didn’t get you here, Lila did.”
Bruce’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked back to where Jason and Damian stood.
“I didn’t get your girlfriend’s name wrong, did I, Damian?”
Damian shook his head, his grin pulling into a smirk as his eyes met Marinette’s.
“I would hope you didn’t father. After all, you have known her for years now.”
Bruce nodded thoughtfully as if considering Damian’s information as a possibility.
“So as I was saying, thanks to Marinette-”
“You mean Lila? Damian, how could you mix up your own fiancee with a shell of a human being like Marinette.”
Damian took a step forward, one hand on his shoulder holding him back as Jason sent a wink in his direction.
“Madame Bustier, if I understood right, Brucie here offered a free trip for your class to the Thailand location this winter if they could sit through just one measly presentation. Are you really going to let this rude child ruin that for the rest of the class?”
Bustier’s smile wavered as she turned her attention to where Alya sat, motioning for her to sit and zip her lips. With a great huff of annoyance, Alya compiled.
“Excellent, now that we can begin-”
“I’m just saying, Mr. Wayne. Lila did all this hard work, attended all your charity functions, helped your city’s heroes, and is betrothed to your son. How could you not recognize her?”
Madame Bustier tried to wave Alya down once more but it was useless.
“Alya, is it?” the girl nodded confidently as she slung her arm around Lila’s shoulders. “I suggest that whoever this Lila person is, you should reconsider your friendship with her. If you or she were caught spreading rumors about another billionaire besides myself, you might not make it off so easily. We take defamation very seriously as it could hurt our empires. Take that as lesson one for Entrepreneurship; always know who you’re working with.”
Alya’s mouth gaped like a fish out of water as she slipped back down into her seat, her eyes burning holes into the side of Lila’s head. With the new peace, Bruce continued his presentation with the full attention of the rest of the class. When the time came for questions, every hand but two were raised high.
“How about you sir? The blonde in the back beside Marinette.”
Adrien stood, his eyes narrowed in on Damian.
“You said the first lesson was to always know who you’re working with, well, did you know that your son is a liar?”
Another round of hushed whispers echoed through the room as Adrien took the first step down toward the front of the classroom. Bruce cocked his head to the side as he instinctively put out a hand to catch Damian before he could move forward.
“How would you justify that kid?”
Adrien stepped closer, his posture rigid as his stare never left Damian’s face.
“Well, he’s been telling you that he’s been dating Marinette, but that is a lie. Marinette is my girlfriend.”
Damian’s fist curled as Jason took a step to intercept the two boys.
“I think you forgot to put a space between the girl and friend sir. You see, demon spawn here and pixie pop up there are together, no space. You and pixie pop are just friends.”
Everyone’s eyes shifted uneasily between the men, unsure of who was going to strike first. No one was given the chance as Marinette raced down the stairs, pulling Bustier to the side. Her whispers were harsh and rushed and when she pulled back, all the color from the teacher’s face had drained.
“That’s enough Adrien, I wouldn’t want to bother your father over an inconvenience like this.”
The boy's mouth closed tightly as he turned his attention to where Marinette stood, a sudden feeling of nausea coursing through him. Did she really just pull that card here? In front of everyone?
He couldn’t say a word as he marched back to his seat, ignoring the many questions that were thrown his way.
“Well, I’m sorry to everyone that had real questions, but this stunt seemed to have taken up all of my time. Madam Bustier, do you mind if I check Marinette out of school early?”
The teacher could only nod as the men swept Marinette out of the room before she could protest. She waited until they had reached the car before turning on the men, hitting each of them as hard as she could. Three simultaneous ow’s sounded through the courtyard.
“Pixie pop, what was that for?” Jason’s whining was shut down instantly with one cold look.
“I told you all not to come! You totally just made everything worse.”
Bruce risked a step forward as he pulled her into a hug.
“Marinette, you mean the world to this family. Defamation to the Wayne family needs to be shut down instantly. That Alya girl is bad for your emotional state, the Lila one as well.”
Marinette tried to deny his accusations, but Bruce refused to hear any of it. He pulled back, opening the door to push Jason inside, slamming it shut before he could fight back. With the other two gone, Marinette was forced to face her boyfriend.
“Hobi-”
“Don’t start with your cute nicknames. What was that scene with Adrien?”
“He was the jealous one! I can’t help if he tried to attack me.” Damian crossed his arms in defiance, ignoring the daggers Marinette’s eyes were shooting.
“You know he’s just a friend mon amour, you are the only one I want.”
Damian grumbled under his breath as he allowed himself to be pulled into Marinette’s embrace. After a few minutes, he pulled back, a curiosity overtaking his face.
“What did you say to the teacher to cause her to stifle Agreste?”
Marinette’s smile was devilish. It would almost be cute if it wasn’t so terrifying.
“I just reminded her that defamation was taken very seriously and that if she didn’t stop Adrien, he could have started a full-blown legal battle between two very powerful men, leaving the school and her job in the crossfires.”
Damian placed a kiss on her forehead before moving towards the car.
“Hobi, you amaze me at every turn.”
Marinette rolled her eyes as she allowed him to help her into the car. She would deny till her last breath that she was grateful for that particular Career Day, but the one thing she couldn’t deny was how much she loved the Wayne boys.
Permanent Tag List:
@damianette-is-life @ash-amg @rebecarojas07 @long-lost-peace @heaven428 @thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @moongoddesskiana @nach0ava
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aliensunflower-fics · 4 years ago
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Marinette’s Big Fall: An angsty Prompt
[ I have had not one. Not two. But THREE anonymous asks for some Miraculous ladybug angst with a pinch of salt SO here you go. Also because people keep asking me if they can make fics from my prompts I will just put here that YES you can I will love you if you do, please just tag me so I can squeal. I always love fan-art and I always love fics based off my ideas just go nuts guys. ]
If you asked the students of Bustier’s classroom what happened that sunny tuesday at 1:36pm they would all tell you it was an accident. None of them had meant for anything to happen and none of them had so much as laid a finger on the dark haired girl. It was just an accident that was all, but still their faces would lose blood and they would shake as they remembered the sight of Marinette Dupain-Cheng laying still as a stone at the bottom of the stairs. If you asked them to start at the beginning they would take a shaky breath and start their tale at the first warning bell of the school day, before Marinette had arrived and when Lila Rossi did.
The italian had for months been telling them of Marinette’s misdeeds and though many were proven to be false it seemed like not a day went by where Lila didn’t have some new to say about the bakers daughter. That days newest tale was about how Marinette had ruined Lila’s photoshoot at the park with Adrien. It was suppose to be a romantic shoot for valentines day and Marinette had arrived at the park where it was taking place with little Manon. Lila claimed that Marinette bribed the child into pushing Lila into the fountain during the shoot thus ruining the whole thing and making her look bad in front of the employer. Now hearing this story the students of Bustier’s class felt mixed Marinette was prone to fits of jealousy but would she really bring a child into it? Some were angry at Marinette for her repeated felonies some were unsure and one other a certain Adrien Agreste still had no idea what everyone meant about Marinette being jealous and while he knew that Lila had ended up in the water and that it was Manon who did it... He also knew for a fact that Marinette was in no way involved.
The debate over Marinette’s innocence would last until the young designer arrived then the class would fall into steely silence all fuming and grumbling trying to justify the Marinette they knew and loved with the jealous green eyed monster Lila suffered under. As they day wore on Alya always the seeker of truth began badgering Marinette trying to get to the bottom of the whole affair, and while Marinette admitted to being at the park and admitted to babysitting Manon and yes she even confirmed that Lila wound up in the fountain she claimed no responsibility arguing that little Manon had just wanted a hug from Adrien and had accidentally shoved the italian. This information spurred only new arguments though they happened without Marinette’s knowledge in back and forth messages when the teachers back was turned. Lila meanwhile continued to weave her web sending her own messages to the class with new accusations and ‘evidence’ something had to give as the tensions rose and at exactly 1:00 when Mme. Bustier stepped out something did give indeed.
No one really remembers the argument only who was leading it. Alya was a good person a bit too trusting and maybe a bit too gullible and brash but she always protected the weak and thats why Marinette loved her. The problem was right now Alya thought the one who needed that protection was one Lila Rossi. Marinette did her best to diffuse the situation she argued that it was a child’s mistake that Lila should let it go. Alya argued that Marinette always had issues with jealousy and that she needed to fess up and apologize. Marinette would no apologize for something she didn’t do and so the argument continued, classmates joined in things got more and more heated in the spur of the moment with everyone yelling and Lila sobbing Alya snapped and said two things she never should have. One she told Marinette they were no longer friends unless Marinette stopped being jealous. And two, she revealed just why Marinette was ‘jealous’ her crush on Adrien Agreste. The moment the words left her mouth Alya was hit with regret, the moment she saw embarrassment in her friends face and tears hot and fresh welling in her eyes she was hit with shame. No one spoke as the bakers daughter let out a choked sob but suprising them all it wasn’t an accusation of anger at Alya for outing her secret that left the dark haired girls lips it was a quiet shaky and broken:
“W-Were not friends a-anymore?” Followed by yet another choked and heartbroken sob.
Before Alya or anyone could answer the girl bolted for the door shaking with sobs. Everyone stood shocked still for a moment before Adrien bolted up and rushed after the girl the rest of the class followed. But they never reached Marinette in time. In her distressed state the pigtailed girl had tried to make a break for home but she was clumsy and clumsier still when upset so when she rushed down the stair she tripped and everyone could only watch in silent horror as the bakers daughter only managed to let out a gasp before her body slammed into the hard concrete. When the students of Bustier’s recalled everything later they would note with some shock that it was Chloe who moved first yelling out Marinette’s name, not her last name no, just her name as she rushed down the stairs and to the dark haired girls side. She noted the young girl wasn’t responding and quickly snapped for Sabrina to phone an ambulance while she continued to monitor Marinette. No one else would move, Alya would cry silently and in horror as Chloe called out to Marinette and checked her pulse, Nino would clutch his hat and stare mouth agape as Marinette lay like a lifeless corpse, Adrien Agreste would fall to his knees at the top of that stairs his eyes like saucers as he tried to comprehend what had happened. And Lila Rossi? She would feel every bit of blood in her body turn into ice as guilt gripped onto her and told her that this, all of this was because of HER.
Everything that happened next was a blur, the ambulance arrived Marinette was driven away with Chloe of all people. The police arrived, Bustier and Damocles felt there sweat turn cold as they were questioned, the other students of the school would stand around murmuring and pointing at the Akuma Class Rose would hear the kinder people ask what happened in hushed tone, Juleka would hear the crueler people say that the Akuma class had tried to kill the one person they couldn’t akumatize. Soon enough parents arrived and dragged away their children Kim and Alix would notice the small patch of blood on the concrete where Marinette landed, they would later puke thinking about it, but they told no one of what they had seen.
Meanwhile on the way to the hospital Tikki was in a panic, her dearest chosen her most precious and rare creation soul was BROKEN so many bones and bits of her body were mangled beyond repair... Well beyond NORMAL repair but Tikki was a god, a sentimental god at that and she would not let heaven or hell get in the way of her helping Marinette survive no matter the cause. And so sitting silently, hidden in the girls hair out of sight of the paramedic and Chloe who was telling them all she knew of Marinette’s medical background Tikki used her magic to mend all she could, she would make sure that her sweet precious Marinette would be alright but while she mended the broken body Tikki knew that there would be a price to pay. Magic always came with a price. In the past when she’d used her magic to heal holders this way some had lost their eyesight, others their voices, some would lose a limb, Tikki had no idea that cost Marinette would pay but she knew whatever it was her precious little bug would be alright.
And she was. The doctors were shocked to find that while Marinette had a broken leg and two broken ribs, some deep cuts that would never fully heal, and some awful bruising that would leave the girl sore for who knows how long she was in fact just fine. There was no internal bleeding, and no serious brain trauma, and somehow she’d be just fine to walk when her leg healed up. Sabine and Tom cried tears of joy at the news and stayed by the young girls side. Tikki was also pleased with the news from her hidden spot where she lay utterly exhausted. She knew still that their would be a price to pay but at least Marinette was alive and well. The bakers daughter did not wake up until early the next day and when she did she was mobbed by her parents. She smiled at their concern and when the doctor came in to greet her he decided to check her memory.
“Standard procedure.” He said. “It’s not unusual for there to be some minor memory loss surrounding the incident itself were just going to check.”
And so the questions began. They started with things like her birthday, and her parents names and ages, then they moved on to recent events, so far no problems. Finally they asked about the day itself and the ‘incident’ in questions Marinette opened her mouth to answer then paused thoughtfully. She couldn’t remember. Not unusual assured the doctor, and then he returned to asking other questions probing gently to ensure everything was alright, and it seemed to be up until the doctor asked a simple question.
“What’s your best friends name? And can you describe them.”
Marinette froze and stayed silent. Tikki suddenly felt a strange twist in her tummy. Sabine and Tom looked at their daughter uncertainly. Finally after a long pause. Marinette spoke with a strained laugh.
“I uhh dont remember having one sir.” Sabine felt her stomach suddenly drop, hidden away behind a plant Tikki felt the same thing.
Concerned by the answer the doctor probed more with Tom and Sabine joining in. The answers were startling. Marinette Dupain-Cheng had forgotten every single person that was present when she fell down the stairs. She could recall other students at the school and her teacher, but all the students of her own class? She could not recall their names or their faces. When her parents asked about a specific memory the first time Nino and Marinette met and became friends. Marinette’s eyes lit up. She remembered the event, she remembered someone being bullied and helping them and then they became friends. Her parents were hopeful and the doctor calmly asked Marinette to tell them who the bully was and who the person being bullied was. At that all Marinette did was frown and hold her head. She could remember the incident but... The faces of the bully and the one being bullied were blacked out she had no idea who they were. They tried asking her if she knew the bullied boys favorite things, she had no idea, his name? Nothing. Favorite color? Nope. It was odd extremely so and the only theory the doctor could offer was trauma based memory lose triggered by stress and the possible incident surrounding her accident.
Later when her parents left and it was safe. Tikki emerged and was overjoyed to learn that Marinette remembered her and being ladybug. Tikki was a bit worried about the holes in her dear chosens memories but she knew that this was the price Marinette had payed. She got to keep her life and all her limbs and eyes but she had lost something precious, her friends, they were now black holes burned into faded memories. And it extended into her superhero life. Marinette knew Rena Rouge she could remember her powers and her skill, but when Tikki asked who she was Marinette could only frown and hold her head as it throbbed. Alya, Nino, everyone even Adrien were gone, Marinette had the memories but no faces, no names, no attachment she had lost her friends. Tikki felt guilty of course and told Marinette as much but the young girl just kissed her Kwami’s head and confidently said that they would figure it out.
It had been a week sense Marinette’s big fall. And the students of Bustier’s class sat restless in their seats. None of them had been able to check up on Marinette as her parents had forbidden visitors and the bakers themselves were illusive now a days as they kept close to the hospital keeping their daughter company. All anyone knew was that Marinette was alive, and while that was great news it wasn’t enough. And to make matters perhaps more odd then Marinette’s disappearance was the complete inactivity by Hawkmoth. It was as if he was busy dealing with something else. Like maybe his teenage son who had been expressing all of his teenage rebellion and angst in a concentrated dose ever sense a certain bakers daughter had fallen down the stairs. Adrien was indeed the most miserable about the whole situation, he’d given up on bathing, moped all day, snapped at Lila for even opening her mouth, and was refusing to care for himself or attend any and all photoshoots and extra curricular activities. Adrien’s rebellion was causing big problems for Gabriel’s business and he was stuck rushing about trying to re-organize events and juggle his son who had become terrifyingly good at escaping the house to go to school no matter what kind of locks were installed.
As the day wore on for Bustier’s students ignored the looks given to them by the other students in the school. More then a few of them blamed them squarely for what had happened to Marinette while others shot them looks of sympathy or concern. The class as a whole looked like they were from a bad zombie movie, but the one who looked perhaps the worse of them all was Lila Rossi, while some would try and argue its because of how bad she felt for poor Marinette others would recognize that she seemed paranoid and on edge with her eyes darting about and how quick she was to defend herself against even the smallest assumed accusation against her. Finally lunch rolled around and like the mob of zombies they were the students of Bustier’s class walked mindlessly to the cafeteria that is until one of them spotted a familiar looking girl though her hair was no longer in pigtails and her clothing had changed it was undoubtedly her! The class rushed forward with a surge catching the attention of the whole school who watched the exchange curiously. Apologies were hurled out questions were yelled and poor Marinette looked overwhelmed silence only came when Sabine stepped forward with a warning look though there was an odd glint of pity and sadness in her eyes. Finally it was Alya who broke the silence.
“Marinette! We are SO sorry, please can you find it in your heart to forgive us?” The Ladybloger was holding back tears and no one had heard her voice that shaky before. After a long pause Marinette spoke.
“U-Umm... Hey listen I dont... Really know what your apologizing for... And uh I dont really know who you are but... Umm sure of course I forgive you! You seem very nice?”
The crowd was stunned. Marinette had no idea who ALYA was? Her best friend? The girl she’d fought with last? Sensing the tension in the room Tom gently guided Marinette away shooting Sabine an odd look. Both parents had hoped that seeing her old school would jolt Marinette’s memory but it seemed that even her best friends face wasn’t enough to bring back what had been lost. As Tom helped Marinette climb the stairs with her cast. Sabine took a deep breath and proceeded to explain what she could. That Marinette had lost... Some memories, specifically relating to people who had been around during her accident... She didn’t remember any of them and no one not even the doctors or Tikki herself could change that. As Sabine apologized for what must surely be a shock she excused herself to follow her daughter and husband to the principles office so they could discuss the situation.
For the students of the akuma class life felt like it had been turned sideways. Lila who had been consumed by guilt had begun to hyperventilate. Alya felt slapped and raw her best friend had no idea who she was and the last thing she had done before Marinette forgot all about her was denounce their friendship. For Kim and Nino their were tears and disbelief the girl that they had known sense childhood had no idea who they were and regarded them like any stranger on the side of the road. For Chloe there was the oddest feeling of heartbreak, now she would never know if Marinette could truly forgive her, because the Marinette to whom she’d been so cruel was all but gone. But it was perhaps Adrien who was hit the hardest, Adrien who had learned that Marinette liked him the day of the accident, Adrien who had watched her fall, who had not rushed to check on her, Adrien who had felt torn by guilt confused about his feelings, Adrien who felt like the world had lost the sun with Marinette gone, Adrien who had wanted Marinette to come back so he could see she was okay and ask her on the date she deserved, and now Adrien who meant nothing to her because she had no idea who he was.
As for the rest of the students of Dupont? Well many of them were overjoyed to know Marinette remembered them at least but they felt pity for the akuma class but many others wondered what the future held. Would Marinette’s old friends try and rekindle their friendships? Would they bring photos and music and videos to try and bring back the girls memories? Or would new friends take the place of the old and forgotten? Would Adrien continue down his path of rebellion fighting for a place in Marinette’s heart once more, or would he return to being a docile lamb under his fathers thumb his heart and mind numb due to the shock of it all. Would Lila Rossi return to her old ways? Would she crack under the feelings of guilt and shame? Or would she go mad and attack Marinette. How many people would forever flinch and rush to offer Marinette help whenever she so much as when near a flight of stairs? Would it be possible to anyone to reclaim Marinette’s lost memories or would new ones need to be made? No one knew. But they did know for certain that things would be different from now on.
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liquid-luck-00 · 4 years ago
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WonderBug
Angst Edition
Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) x Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Ladybug)
I am late. SO, so , so late but here it is
1: Soulmates @maribat-angst-fluff-april
My partner is the wonderful @thedragonbug
Ao3
Fuffy Edition
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Soulmates exist, and Marinette hates hers. You see everyone is born with their half or part of a complete soul mark. The other parts would appear when you were closer to your soulmate and be permanent when they were close emotionally. For everyone, the appearance or 'drawing' of the mark was light and warm. But not for her, no her drawing was heavy and hot, like a hot knife digging into her arm.
Her parents knew this, and it was concerning, to know that their child was in pain because of their soulmate. Seeing as the marks were not supposed to be painful. Yet as there was no good reason given by medical and mark professionals, and the fact that her soulmate didn't stay near her for long there was nothing that they could do. They did tell her that few, this phenomenon affects one in a million people and she was just lucky enough to be one of them.
Over the years she grew used to the pain, but every time she did it would come back even stronger than the last. She slowly hated her mark and in turn her soulmate. Marinette would cover her mark, ignore it, even wish it away. All her soulmate did was bring her pain. Sure, it upped her pain tolerance, but it hurt her still.
When she turned fourteen, she became Ladybug. She then recognized that her mark was actually the wire of her yo-yo.
The first time Chat Noir claimed they were soulmates she broke down in tears. luckily for her he told her during patrol and not an attack.
"We aren't soulmates, Chat, and I'm glad we aren't." She nearly whispered.
"Why Bug?"
"Because I hate my soulmate, and I don’t want to ever hate you."
"Why would you hate your soulmate?" He seemed genuinely curious. But no one outside her parents knew, not a single person knew what happens to her.
"Because it hurts when they are close, it hurts so badly. The drawing is painful. I never want to meet the person who keeps hunting me." Tears formed in her eyes and Chat hugged her.
"I'm not your soulmate, then." She shook her head. "Good thing I'm your partner, and Plagg help me I am going to be your best friend. Got that Bugaboo?"
A half-hearted chuckle and a small smile escaped her. "Sounds good Kitty." The first person she has ever told, the person who was convinced that they were soulmates, cares for her, to help alleviate some of her pain.
The two became inseparable after that, to the point that most of Paris believed they were in a relationship.
When Nadia asked them about it during an interview, their reactions were memorable. Both all but gagged, turned to face each other, and then laughed almost falling out of the seats.
"I believe we have missed the joke." Nadia commented, worried, and confused.
"Why would I date my sister?"
"Sister?"
"Ladybug and I consider each other siblings in all but blood."
"Everything between us is simply platonic, not even close to romantic.” Ladybug answered after Chat.
“Then why would the whole of Paris believe you to be soulmates?” She may be good at hiding her pain, but the question must have made her react slightly, or Chat knew how sensitive the topic was to her.
“We aren’t soulmates, not the bonded ones that everyone thinks of.” He began. “We are the holders of the black cat and ladybug respectively because our souls resonate with the miraculous. Sure, they are two parts of a whole, but we are practically twins, two halves of coin. She is the sister I choose, she is my partner, and that is our relationship.”
“He’s completely right, now I think it’s time for us to start our patrol, BugOut!” Her smile now in place and their excuse to leave perfectly timed and respectful they made their exit.
They went on their patrol as normal, except just as they arrived at the Eiffel Tower to end the patrol. She was about to land on the platform when a searing pain flashed and radiating affecting her entire body blinding her momentarily. A single moment caused her to collapse on the tower landing, crumpling on the platform.
“LB!” Her breath came out in short bursts, she was clutching her upper arm eyes squeezed shut. This was the worst it has ever happened before, and she wanted it to end. As soon as the cause of pain came it disappeared. Leaving only the memory and a phantom pain.
"Just give me a minute." She slowly got her breathing under control, starting to get accustomed to the new level of pain.
"You weren't kidding that is the worst I’ve ever seen you hurt."
"Yeah not fun."
---
A month after that her mark burned again. This time during class. The teachers knew she would randomly stop due to pain, but they were told they were random migraines. To the point Mari would hold her head and rub her arm to sooth herself, while playing up a headache. Adrien stayed back after the class let out." You know you don't always need to put on a brave face Bugaboo."
Her attention snapped to him. "Well it's easier than constantly answering questions Kitty." She figured quickly.
Sure, they found out one another's identity, but that worked in their favor. After Tikki got sick, Fu started training Mari, and after a month Marinette was given guardianship. Fu still hasn’t lost his memories because Mari let Wayzz stay with him, for the time being, he eventually returns it to Mari in order to move on with his life, his memories fading gradually.
When Adrien got his hands on the grimoire, he of course showed it to Marinette.
“Kitty I know you don’t want to hear this, but I think your dad might be Hawkmoth.” This seemed to perfect for him to have without him being a villain.
“I know, but…”
“Adrien is there any motive anything that might be what he would wish for?”
“My mom. Dad closed himself off when she disappeared. I bet he would wish for her back.”
“Okay, so I’m going to be blunt okay.” He nodded. “So, if your mom is dead there isn’t anything that can be done without the wish, meaning at least one other person is dying.”
“So…”
“But if she is anything but.” She flipped through the grimoire recalling the studies she’s did with Fu. “There are ways we can find or even heal her.”
“This is all riding on an if.” He looked unsure as if this was too much to accept.
“Do you trust me?”
“If I didn’t, I would have turned tail and run a long time ago.”
“You dork.” She lightly shoved him, but he swayed dramatically.
“You two are close.” The new student in their class came up to them.
“Lila, right?”
“That’s right.” She answered sickly sweet, almost fake. “Are you two soulmates by any chance?”
“No.” Adrien answered. “Why?”
“You’re Adrien Agreste! Why would you be in public school?” She finally seemed to recognize.
“Let’s just say it’s a bit of rebellion.” He chuckled.
“We’re still on for video games, right?” She brought up to end the conversation seeing that Adrien was getting uncomfortable.
“Your winning streak is going down.” He announced.
“You want to join us, Lila?” She offered.
“Why?”
“Because your new and I want to get to know you.” Marinette answered honestly.
“Why?”
“Because we know you lied but still want to know you, the real you.” Adrien added.
“Why?” She asked suspiciously now.
“Question! Is it a felony to kidnap her to play video games, have snacks, get to know her, then let her go?”
“Well the kidnapping part is but if she goes willingly, I call that a hangout session.” Adrien mused.
“True, true.” She hummed. “So, what do you say, because now I am determined to get to know you.”
“Wh…”
“Kidnapping it is.” Adrien decided and grabbed the new girl’s wrist pulling her out of the library. Mari picking up their bags.
Lila herself wasn’t too bad once she started telling the truth, lying is a coping mechanism she created, because she is constantly moving schools, cities, and even countries. She is pretty interesting when she isn’t exaggerating. She was on a Hollywood movie set, but she was there on accident, she was looking for the bathroom in a restaurant and they were filming there that day. She did save a kitten on a tarmac once, but one it wasn’t Jagged Stones, it was a kitten who spooked out of their carrier and rushed down the stairs. Lila dove and caught it before it could leave the passenger unloading area to get the tram to the airport. (Some small airports unload passengers in a certain area of the tarmac and either shuttle them to the building or have a sectioned of walkway that is cleared for passengers, to walk back in only.)
After almost two hours Lila left for home when Adrien’s father called, and he was angry. Together she and Adrien ran back to the Agreste Mansion.
“Adrien!” Gabriel came out disheveled and slightly panicked. “And Miss Dupain-Cheng.” He slightly composed himself.
“Sorry I kept him.” She apologized. “He showed me this really cool book and you know how it is when inspiration hits.”
“Ah yes the inspiring fashion designer friend.” Adrien had walked up and handed his father the grimoire.
“It’s quite an interesting spell book.”
“You can read it?”
“Yes, I can. (Come on out little butterfly.)” Nooroo flew out from his hiding spot. “Hello kwamii of transmission and to you as well Hawkmoth.” She was calm deathly calm.
“How?!” Gabriel growled.
“Calm down. I have a question for you first. You want the jewels used by Ladybug and Chat Noir, why?”
“Would my answer change your plan of action to urn me into authorities and to the heroes?”
“My response may change, but you’ll have to answer to find out.”
“My wife wielder the peacock miraculous, it is broken, and she fell ill, and is in a comatose state.”
“Ah! So here is what is going to happen.” She took the grimoire from Gabriel and flipped over pages. “There is a way to revive her without resorting to using the wish.”
“How do you know this?”
She simply smiled. “You mind gathering these ingredients please Adrien?” She text him a list.
“Sure.”
“How do I know that this isn’t a ruse?”
“One I hate liars, and two because all magic has a cost, and this way is less than if you were to use the wish.”
“What do you mean cost?”
“Just like using your transformation wears on the kwamii, and the power affects your limit. Magic has its cost. The wish because it will always rewrite reality, the price is steep. Bringing back one life means you lose at minimum one other person from your life most likely more.”
“And this?”
“From what I understand. Everyone involved in the spell will have their energies deprecated so they will sleep for a day to a week.”
“Randomly?”
“No, the more people the less each person sleeps.”
“Here they are!” Adrien burst back in the room.
“Do you have the peacock miraculous?” Gabriel nodded. “Okay we’ll need that first, so lead the way to the kitchen.” Both men shuffled confused. “You do know where the kitchen is right?”
“Um well find it eventually.” Adrien chuckled. They were lucky and form it easily and Gabriel left while she and Adrien began to individually brew two separate potions. Adrien the more complex one for his mother’s revival. And she did the simpler one to fix the miraculous. Sue her Adrien is the better one in chemistry, sure he can’t cook to save himself, but he has a gift for chem, and Tikki help her she will teach him to cook. It’s practically edible chemistry, right?!
She took the Brock from Gabriel and fixed it, allowing Duusu out. “Okay so who is going to do this?”
“We will,” Adrien answered for himself and his Father, who nodded.
“Please let be help as well.” Miss Sancoeur offered.
Nooroo, Duusu, Tikki, and Plagg (they came out of hiding now) came to her. “We can help.”
She nodded and saw that Gabriel and Natalie were staring wide eyed between her and Adrien. She thought she heard Natalie say, ‘That explains so much’ but she isn’t sure.
Long story short they were able to wake up Emile, but she took back the peacock and butterfly, leaving Plagg with Adrien. Funnily enough the Agreste’s became a second family to her, once Gabriel finally grasped how to be a father. They told Paris that they had found Hawkmoth, but he would be tried by the order of Miraculous, meaning he would be stripped of the gem and his memories of the miraculous erased. It was a lie but Tikki told her that was what would have happened. There was some outcry, but they explained that they would have no recollection of it, and it wouldn’t make sense to try them.
The next few years of her life were blissfully normal, aside from the fact she had a contract under the Gabriel brand as the designer MDC, who was also endorsed by Style Queen. Chloe isn’t as bad as she puts on when she isn’t masking the hurt of being constantly ignored and bought by her parents.
- - -
It wasn’t until she was twenty-two and accompanying Adrien to a Wayne charity gala, one he didn’t want to go alone and two she was invited anyways, Chloe, Kagami, and Luka were also there on their own merits and invitations so they all stuck relatively together. Since arriving there Marinette was a constant pain, her arm burned and ached, but she forced herself to simply breathe and tried her hardest to push it out of her mind. But her luck wouldn’t hold, three hours into the event she was approached by who she recognized as Bruce Wayne, the host of the gala, and a woman to his left, the pain was almost unbearable the closer the two approached. Her friends noticed, they knew what her pain actually meant, as she opened up to them about it after a while, but she grit her teeth and tried to push through it.
“Mr. Agreste, Miss Bourgeois It is good to see you both again.” Bruce Wayne acknowledged. “It’s nice to meet all of you as well, Bruce Wayne.” He introduced to the rest, shaking hands. “And this is a good friend of mine.”
“Diana Prince.” She also went to shake everyone’s hands and had left Marinette for the last. The moment their hands touched she almost crumpled, she shrunk back and into Adrien and Chloe. “Is she okay?”
“Diana?” Bruce pointed towards her upper arm, the mark most of them overlooked before was now complete and glowing lightly. What Marinette remembered was that there was her yo-yo string and a golden rope that she only saw once before on her own arm. She felt sick, Diana was staring at her now, she recognized that Marinette was her soulmate.
“Melody?” Luka now stepped up.
“I want to leave.” She answered flatly.
“You are…”
She completely turned away, but by now her friends knew what was going on and were glaring at Diana. “I want to leave, now.” She repeated.
“Come on bug, let’s get you away from… this.” He threw a look at Diana, who was looking confused and seemingly alarmed.
The other three were putting as much space as they could between their friend and who is unknowingly causing her pain.
“Please is she alright?” Diana asked stepping forward barely grazing her hand covering her mark. This time it felt as if the skin itself was burning and stung almost like it was being pricked over and over and over again.
“Don’t touch me and stay away from me.” On the outside she looks clam and relaxed, but her voice was soft and raw, her eyes burned in pain. “You and that completed mark can stay far from me.”
“Luka, Kagami mind taking her back to the house?” The two in question led her away and once a safe distance away she broke down in tears, sobbing from the pain she was biting down.
- - -
The two that stayed were simultaneously glaring at her and watching their friends leave the gala.
“Is she alright?” Bruce finally bole the tension.
“As soon as she is far enough away from her.” The girl, Chloe, snapped at her. “Now that we know who is the the person causing her pain, we can keep her from them.” She snapped towards her, but it was a slap to Diana.
“I don’t follow. We are…”
“Soulmates, yeah we figured.” Adrien this time spoke.
“They why would she want to leave, without speaking?”
“One one in a million people are in pain when they are close to their soulmates.” Adrien spoke calmly but stoically. “No one knows why.” He began to fidget with a ring on hi# finger, she couldn’t recall if she saw any jewelry on her soulmate, Marinette, but she has a suspicion. After all she feels similar to her Mother’s aura and presence, that of a Ladybug.
“You are wrong. There is an explanation, but only a few know why that is.” She feels certain that she knows what this is.
“Let me guess you know why.” Chloe remarked, sarcastically and unamused.
“Allow me to explain this another time and place, as this is neither.”
“Fine call this number at noon est tomorrow.” Adrien handed her a phone number and the two turned and left.
“Diana?” Bruce snapped her attention. “What was that about?” He was still calm and collected but she knew he would be the one to ask, figuring out what was the next step, what had the best options of success.
“Magic.”
- - -
The next day she called the number and she was invited to a video call by the recipient. It turned out to be Marinette.
“Hello Diana.” Her voice was not cold but it was emotionless, as if she was forced into this conversation. Granted she did think she would be speaking with Adrien and Chloe.
“I never wanted to harm you, I swear that on the river Styx.” she began but before she could continue Marinette cut in.
“Let’s be clear, I don’t care about your apologies. I just want to know why this is happening and how to either get rid of it or to never have contact with you in any way or proximity.”
“I am apologizing because this is known as the curse of the ladybug and black cat.” She saw the young woman tense at that. “The reason I know of this is from by Mother, Queen Hippolyta Of the Amazon’s.” She allowed that to sink in and the other woman allowed her to drop her defense, nodding to what is said.
“When you say the curse of the ladybug and black cat what do you mean by that?”
“True souls of the miraculous, when in their life they come into contract with their given gems, cause a reaction.” Diana explained. “For the ladybug they receive the pain of their soulmate through their marks. Which is what I assume is going on.”
“Yes you’re right, but this has been going ever since I could remember.”
“Call it what you will fate, destiny, but you were always going to wield the ladybug jewel, that is why the curse manifested itself.”
“What about the black cat?”
“I am unsure, the black cat of my Mother’s time died before meeting their soulmate, but I would assume it would be similar to our situation.”
“Then how do we solve this?”
~~~~~~~~~~
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icerosecrystal · 4 years ago
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Daminette - The Goddess of Deception vs the Goddess of Creation Pt. 2
Previous
Recap
They held the wedding the next day. It was a beautiful ceremony, but none of Damian’s family could believe it. Who would have thought that the goddess that he met in an alleyway in Los Angeles would be with him forever? None of them expected it. By the end, both Marinette and Damian were happy that they were together. But, they still had one more obstacle to face, the wedding of the goddess of creation and the god of the sun.
To be continued…
(Marinette’s POV)
It had been about a month since the wedding Marinette the real goddess of creation, and Damian, the god of the Underworld. And they were happy together. Marinette had still not eaten the pomegranate seeds, much to the relief of Damian, but Marinette felt like she was betraying their marriage by not doing so. That’s a problem for another time, Marinette thought to herself. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her. She turned around and kissed Damian, she pulled away and smiled softly, “Hey.”
“Hey,” he said, nuzzling his face into her shoulder. “So, are you ready to crash a wedding and take back what’s yours?”
Marinette hummed softly and then sighed deeply, “Honestly, I’m terrified. What if they don’t believe me? Like my friends didn’t believe me, even when they have all the facts right in front of their faces? What if they separate us and make me marry Adrien? Who knows what Lila told the gods and goddesses of Olympus for them so that they aren’t troubled by how the moral realm is dying! There are so many unknown factors in our plan. Oh my Olympus, what if they don’t even get mad with me, but rather with you? What if they think you’re controlling me? Oh my Olympus, what if you get in trouble because of me? You’re only doing this because of me. What if I hurt you in some way?” She continued rambling and hyperventilating about all the outcomes that could happen from exposing Lila.
Damian, who had gotten lost in her rambling at this point, just pulled her closer. He held her tighter, shushing her quietly and whispering reassurances in her ear. His smooth, deep voice sent chills down Marinette’s spine. “Hey, little goddess, look at me,” he lifted her chin gently. She looked up at him and saw him earnestly watching her. “I chose to help you, and I will deal with all the consequences, all you have to do is relax, okay?” She continued searching his face for any doubt of his words when she found none, Marinette nodded slowly. He kissed her forehead gently and looked deep within her pretty bluebell eyes, “Good.”
He gave her one more kiss to the head, before leaving, leaving Marinette to her racing thoughts. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, one day at a time, she thought, we will get through this together, I will manage to reveal my true identity.  
(Damian’s POV)
Damian was worried about his wife. Marinette was concerned about the consequences of ruining Lila. But, Marinette deserved this and more. She was deserving of the whole world, along with Olympus. She didn’t deserve the broken god that he was. He still couldn’t believe that he had managed to marry her. Who would have thought a day where he was checking in on the entranceway to the Underworld would end up resulting in his whole life-changing? Did it result in the better for him? It did. For Marinette, she was trying to convince him that she was happy, but he worried, was Marinette happy? Or was she pretending to be because she felt obligated to do so as his wife? He shook his head to clear his thoughts. No, he couldn’t go through that train of thought. If she didn’t want to stay with him, she would tell him. Damian sighed deeply, looking at the whole Underworld, she will manage to reveal herself, and then she can be herself, without me being there to ruin her life.
(Lila’s POV)
Lila had done it. She had managed to drive away that pesky goddess and claim her title. Who would have thought that it would be so easy? They had no faith in her. She honestly couldn’t believe that they used to call themselves “Marinette’s friend.” She was a liar and manipulator, but she still knew that what they were not her friends. She scoffed to herself. Oh well, it made it easier for her. The best part was that the Kings and Queens of Olympus didn’t question her. Even after the Earth started dying, Lila sneered to herself. You would think that the most powerful gods on Olympus, after the goddess of creation and the god of the Underworld, would be a bit smarter. What a joke. She looked at herself in the mirror. Only a month until the marriage between her and Adrien, and no one would ever be able to take him away from her. Besides, he already kissed her, destroying the bond between him and Marinette. It was only for one month. She was able to keep them in her clutches for nearly six years a month is nothing. One month, she thought smirking evilly, one month, and I’ll have everything that the pesky goddess ever wanted, while she will still be a nobody.
(Adrien’s POV)
Adrien was pacing around his room. He blamed all of this on Marinette. If she hadn’t gone along with what Lila was saying, then maybe the Earth wouldn’t be dying. More importantly, he wouldn’t have kissed Lila. Adrien had kissed Lila because Adrien didn’t like how stubborn Marinette was being. So as a way to get back at her, Adrien kissed Lila. He didn’t mean too. Adrien loved Marinette, but she been so stubborn. But Adrien no longer had a bond with her. He banged his head against a wall, head chanting the word stupid over and over again. Marinette always overreacts. She’s so selfish. If she hadn’t run away to Olympus knows where, he would be marrying her in a month, not Lila. Earth wouldn’t be dying if she hadn’t been so stubborn. But it confused him. If Marinette was the goddess of creation, and she wasn’t on Olympus, then the Earth would still be healthy. That means that what Lila was saying must be true. And he was being played by Marinette. Olympus help him. He was stupid for believing Marinette, that liar. Marinette must be the one who was stealing Lila’s powers. (Oh my god, he’s so stupid, why’s he that stupid. Wait, that’s my fault) He huffed and thought to himself. I have a month until my wedding. I am going to find a way to expose Marinette as the fake that she is.
(Marinette’s POV and Time Skip to Wedding Day)
It was the day of Adrien’s and Lila’s Wedding. Marinette was still frightened about what would happen over the ordeal but took a second to calm down. She wore a beautiful pink gown, that had white lace flowers on it. She wore beautiful flower-shaped diamond earrings and white shoes with a pink hint and diamonds on it. She left her hair down in beach waves and wore a pink and diamond clip. Damian decided to wear an emerald green suit with a matching bow tie.
Once Damian caught sight of Marinette, it looked like he was drooling. Marinette asked him with amusement in her voice, “Are you okay, Damian?” He just nodded dumbly, not taking his eyes off of her. His brothers, along with Jon, were snickering behind him at the situation. His Father and Alfred were smirking, obviously entertained with how much control this goddess had on him.
Damian finally managed to take his eyes off of her and quickly glared at his family. Jason, obviously not afraid of being maimed, said, “ You done catching flies there, Demon Spawn?” Damian, not having any response, glared harder. They continued snickering, which annoyed the hell out of Damian. Then Dick started cooing at how cute they look, and Damian realized that he would take the snickering over the cooing any day.
Marinette seeing the way Damian was looking at his brothers, quickly called the attention to herself, “Okay, now that everyone is ready, we should leave for the wedding.” Everyone agreed, going to the entranceway that leads to Olympus. They went through, and the ceremony on the other side was a sight to behold. Everyone was there, gods, goddesses, the kings and queens of Olympus, even some nymphs were at the wedding. Marinette quickly changed her appearance so that no one would recognize her.  
The ceremony started, and everyone watched Lila walk down the aisle. She, for once, looked pretty. Her hair for once was out of her sausage hairstyle, and she was wearing a beautiful wedding dress that wasn’t in the color of the ugly orange color that she always wears. By the end of the wedding, after they had said there vows, Queen Tikki pronounced them husband and wife. Everyone was waiting for the flurry of power that would radiate off the two. After a god or goddess got married, there would be radiation that appeared, and it would represent the god or goddess for everyone to see. It did for Adrien, the moment Queen Tikki finished speaking, a ray of sun shined over him, blinding everyone at the wedding. As for Lila, nothing happened. Tikki gave her a confused look, and she said in a shrill voice, “Well, you know how someone has been stealing my powers, well I obviously can’t show my powers if they’re getting stolen!” That was Marinette’s cue to stand up and question her.
“But Lila, even if your powers are getting stolen, there would still be radiation. However, it would be weaker than normal!” Lila’s posse, a.k.a her old friends, started screaming at her, claiming that Lila was innocent and feeling weaker. Others were doubting Lila at this point.
Lila, seeing that people were starting to believe this mysterious goddess, exclaimed, “Who are you to make assumptions. Who even are you?!”
Adrien then stepped forward and said, “It doesn’t matter what you think! I know for a fact that someone is stealing Lila’s power, her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng!” Everyone, shocked by the revelation, started muttering to the god or goddess next to them.
Marinette scowled, “And what proof do you have?!,” she asked incredulously. Adrien then went to tell her that the earth started dying right when she left Olympus. And if she went to the mortal realm, then the earth still should have been alive. But since it was dying it means that Marinette wasn’t the goddess of creation and Lila was.
Marinette facepalmed by the end, “If she went in the Underworld, the earth would still be dying. And unless you’ve been stalking her, you don’t know where she’s been!” Adrien looked at her like a gaping fish, not able to think of a retort because he knew she was right.
That’s when Tikki cut in, “So, what you are claiming, is that you think Lila Rossi is a fraud and the real goddess of creation is Marinette Dupain-Cheng?!”
Marinette nodded, “Exactly, and unlike everyone else here, I have proof.” She then dropped her glamour, and everyone saw Marinette Dupain-Cheng standing in the place of the original goddess. All of her old friends started shouting, “Of course you think Lila is a fraud. What proof do you have? You are the goddess of deception, why, should anyone believe you?”
Tikki held up her hand, silencing everyone. She looked at Marinette and asked, “Can you give me any proof that you are the goddess of creation? And that you did not steal Lila’s powers. If you can give me this proof, I want you to tell me why the Earth has been dying.”
Marinette nodded in approval and closed her eyes, letting herself release her aura for everyone to feel and her radiation for everyone to see. Once she opened her eyes, she saw the remnants of her radiation, wisps of pink flowers, and butterflies showering everyone. She then said, “If you think that I may have stolen Lila’s powers, you may have forgotten that other gods and goddesses cannot possess the amount of power the true god or goddess of that power can. So, the fact that I possessed that much power automatically proves that I am the true goddess of creation. As for why the earth is dying for the past year, I was in Underworld staying with Damian, the god of the Underworld, and his family.” She then stopped talking, letting is sink into everyone that they had bonded the wrong goddess with the god of the sun for the rest of eternity.
The queens and kings of Olympus turned to a pale Lila, “You were lying to us,” Plagg said, voice dangerously low. Lila seeing that she wasn’t going to get out of this, smirked, and nodded.
“Yeah,” she sneered, “I was lying. But you can’t blame me. I am the goddess of deception. Besides, all of you had zero faith in Marinette.” She turned to her, posse, “You guys were supposed to be her friend, yet you didn’t even doubt me once when I told you that she was the goddess of deception.” She turned back to the kings and queens of Olympus “, And you guys didn’t think once that I was lying. You are supposed to be the most powerful beings in Olympus, yet you believed me. I don’t see how we are in this dilemma for any reason other than your guy’s incompetence.” Once she finished, everyone looked like they were about to blow a fuse. But they didn’t argue because for once, Lila was telling the truth.
“Guards take her away! We’ll deal with her later! "Wayzz ordered. The kings and queens of Olympus turned to Marinette. "We are so sorry for all of the trouble that you experienced. We are aware that you and Adrien no longer possess a bond, but could you still take a chance and marry each other.”
Marinette was afraid of this part of the plan, “Well, you see,” she said timidly, “I’m already married.” Chaos broke loose once more at her announcement.
“To who?” Plagg demanded.
“To Damian, the god of the Underworld. And he didn’t force me or anything. I genuinely love him. He believed me when no one else did and was always there for me.” Damian then stood up, everyone staring at him. He walked up to Marinette and wrapped an arm around her waist.
The kings and queens looked mad, “While we are happy for you, you have to divorce.”
“What?!” Marinette shrieked.
“Yes, you have to divorce him. You need to marry Adrien, the god of the sun.”
Marinette was not having this. Why should they tell her who she should marry? She screamed no and took something out of her pocket. It was the pomegranate seeds from the Underworld. Before she could put it in her mouth Damian stopped her, “Marinette, don’t eat them. You can’t possibly ruin your life to stay with me! You deserve better. Please don’t do this for me, go live your life.”
Marinette looked at him in the eye, “But I want to.” She then put the cursed pomegranates in her mouth and ate them. Everyone screamed, but it was too late. Marinette was an official part of the Underworld. She was now tied with Damian for eternity. An irreversible marriage.
While everyone was having a mental breakdown, the kings and queens mad, but happy for the couple, and Adrien being a jealous loser. Marinette grabbed Damian’s face and kissed him with enthusiasm and passion. They stayed like that for a little bit before pulling back. Marinette’s hands were now on Damian’s chest. Damian’s hands were now around her waist, keeping her close to him. They looked at the kings and queens.
Tikki sighed deeply before saying, “While this is great and all, how are you going to prevent the Earth from dying while you are in the Underworld.”
Marinette thought about it before coming up with the perfect solution. “I got it. For six months during spring and summer, I will stay on Olympus or in the mortal realm so the earth can bloom. But during the other six months, I will stay with Damian in the Underworld.”
Everyone thought about this before promptly agreeing. Marinette was ecstatic. She had gotten rid of Lila, everyone knew her real identity, and she was married to Damian. She smiled up at Damian happily. They were going to be okay. They would deal with the aftermath of this together.
(The Aftermath of the Reveal)
The aftermath of the reveal was hard for Marinette. All of her old friends visited her in the Underworld, begging her for forgiveness. They claimed that they were stupid and didn’t realize and that it was all Lila’s fault. But, no matter how much she wanted to forgive them, she knew what Lila said was right. They didn’t even spare her a glance after Lila came. They believed a stranger over their friend. And it wasn’t anyone’s fault but their own. She sighed, tiredly rubbing her head to ease the headache. She felt a presence behind her and turned around. Seeing it was Damian, she jumped on him, hugging him like a lifeline.
He hugged her back and then gave her a peck on the lips, “Rough day?”
“You have no idea,” Marinette muttered. “I spent the whole day trying to ward off my old friends who were trying to seek forgiveness again. It’s getting annoying. It’s simple, they didn’t believe me when I needed them to, so they don’t deserve to be my friends anymore.”
He looked at her in concern, “I can stop anyone from entering the Underworld if that’s what you want?”
She shook her head, “It’s fine.”
He looked at her once more, this time with adoration, “Well, no matter what you have me.” He then kissed her deeply, and as Marinette kissed him back, she knew he was right. Marinette had a loving husband, and they would get through their problems together. They had each other’s back. Together, for the rest of eternity.
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allhailthecoffeegods · 3 years ago
Text
A lonely kitty in Gotham
Chapter 1
Tired... Marinette was extremely tired. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep but instead she sat staring at the wall of her office in her small apartment she had bought and was now living in because her parents kicked her out.
Why was she staring at the wall you may ask? Short answer, she had finally done it! She had finally tracked down Hawkmoth and Mayura after 3 years of fighting she now knew both of their identities (Gabriel Agreste and Natalie Sancoeur) and not only that but she had an entire file filled with proof. Now all that was left was to take back their miraculous and hand them over to the police (not before cursing them first... obviously).
Unfortunately it’s not going to be as easy as it sounds. You see Marinette or Nettie which she goes by now was alone, completely and utterly alone.
No Parents, no family and no friends.
Three years ago Nettie had all of the above she was happy, she had a best friend Alya and a group of many friends from her class, she had two loving but slightly distant parents who ran the most popular bakery in all of Paris possibly even France and her amazing grandmother Gina who traveled the world and told her all about the crazy things she did (some of which she promised not to tell her parents about because it may have been considered breaking the law but nothing reallllly bad).
But all of that soon changed over the first year Hawkmoth terrorised Paris with his akuma and was later joined by mayura with her sentimonsters. Slowly she lost everything including her partner in fighting crime Mr.Bug holder of the ladybug miraculous.
Nettie is in procession of not only the black cat miraculous but also forcefully became the last remaining guardian of 18 other mini gods that are bound to jewels (excluding the butterfly and peacock (not that she would ever give them up because they are basically her family now and she will do absolutely everything to protect them)). How?
Running late to class 3 years ago she saved a (very) old man (186 years old to be specific) from being hit by a car, and for some reason that was enough for him to “gift” her the black cat miraculous as he saw her true chaotic soul and aura (it didn’t matter that she was only 13 YEARS OLD!) he thought it was a brilliant idea to turn her into a child soldier fighting a war against two supervillains more than double her age.
After and introduction to the one and only God of Destruction, who by the way is OBSESSED with the stinkiest of cheeses, she became one of Paris’ main superheroes Kitty Noir alongside her partner Mr.Bug who she guessed to be around the same age as her at the time. It was easy to deduct that he was going to be more of a problem instead of a partner due to his obsessive and intense flirting and lack of skills other than some possible fencing training, all in all he didn’t have a clue how to fight. He was also apparently extremely reckless... like more reckless than her pouring 2 energy drinks into coffee before downing it and has died so many times in a fight she now also has a close relationship with tiki the God of Creation having had to end the fight herself (honestly why did the old guy pick him because it seems like he didn’t even do a similar ‘oh help save me’ situation like he had with her otherwise the old guy would already be dead!) Even though she wasn’t that much better to begin with she did have some hand to hand combat training curtesy of Gina and her ‘friends’ (let’s talk about those later). And she was now training in martial arts and going to the gym to build more muscle and become better without the enhanced supersuit just incase (she also sticks a domino mask on before transforming because she’s paranoid okay and if she is ever forced to detransform she doesn’t want anyone knowing her identity right of the bat to use against her, okay!)
Alongside that she was also extremely smart (like genius level) great with technology and quick to come up with some absolutely insane but brilliant plans. This all resulted in her taking on more of a leadership roll whilst fighting akumas. Mr.Bug only got worse as time went on and her civilian life went downhill, it took 8 months for the old man (previous guardian of the miraculous and temporary mentor for 2 of the months) to become compromised and pass the roll onto her. And the first thing she did was take the ladybug miraculous back and erase the holders (Adrien Agreste her former friend) memories of being Mr.Bug.
The only problem with that was the battle Miracle queen where master fu (the old guardian man) was compromised, and so were all 8 of her temporary heroes except Viperion, holder of the snake miraculous, who had started to tour around the world with his farther Jagged Stone) this ment there were two consequences of taking The ladybug back, the first being she was now alone against two superpowered terrorists but also that she had to switch transformations at the end of a battle to be able to purify the Akuma and cast the miraculous cure to fix everything and yes that did include... resurrection of people who died in the cross fire.
Anyways, back to how Nettie is alone. Only a few weeks after the first attack, an exchange student transferred to the the newly dumbed Akuma class *sigh*. At first she seemed nice and had and was telling the class of her interesting life, her mother was a Italian diplomat and she’s traveled the world.
But Nettie had a bad gut feeling about Lila Rossi which unfortunately was correct. On her third day in the class she started gushing over how kitty noir aka Nettie dearest (obviously unknown to everyone else) saved her from and Akuma attack and they became “best friends”, to say Nettie was left speechless and confused at the lie is an understatement.
Regrettably Nettie was unable to prove her story was a lie because how would she know said superhero didn’t save her without revealing her secret identity.
But the girl carried on creating more and more outlandish claims, such as how she saved Jagged Stones cat on a jet runway (like come on seriously what airport would allow a CHILD of even a cat to run out onto the tarmac). But pointing this out was apparently a mistake which Nettie soon discovered in the girls bathroom after class. Lila sauntered in with a sickly sweet smile that was soon dropped when Nettie refused to give into this girls bullshit.
Hence she was pinned against the wall and threatened, that if she didn’t go along with lie-la’s lies she would lose everything she loved before leaving so she wasn’t caught. Not believing her Nettie continued to point out inconsistencies and facts that contradict her story’s but no matter how much proof was presented to the class lie-la was able to turn it around (meta theory coming into her head: maybe she wasn’t affected because of the miraculous magic) and plant the idea that Nettie was a bully into all her friends heads which apparently all share one brain cell ( or so she thought until Adrien confirmed he knew they were lies to but he was taking the ‘high road’ because nobody was getting hurt, it’s definitely not like lilas ruining all there future careers by promising favours and opportunity’s that will never come and convincing them they no longer need to put in any effort for their futures *insert eye-roll* ).
So life continued and her friends started to turn on little Nettie the scattered brained, clumsy girl who bent over backwards to protect and make sure they were all happy. It hurt more than words could describe the day Alya her BEST FRIEND led the class to turn their backs on her and declare they no longer want to be friends with a jealous bully anymore.
Luckily Nettie wasn’t akumatised but she came very close to it. The only things keeping her going were her duty to Paris and her family.
But as a consequence to that good luck, bad luck hit like a truck. She didn’t know for a few weeks until a guy named Jason called her parents to inform them that her favourite person in the whole world her amazing grandmother Gina had passed away in a accident somewhere in the United States. And if that wasn’t bad enough Lila also managed to place a seed of doubt in her parents around the same time. Life fucking sucked. She wasn’t able to process and grieve due to Hawkfuck still being around so instead she threw herself into creating her own business (NeTi Designs) doing commissions, did I mention she’s a talented fashion designer... no, well now you know. As well as diving head first into a very thorough investigation on mothfucker in between fighting Akuma, helping in the bakery, plus training and patrolling the city of lights for two hours each night.
Atleast she didn’t have to make excuses to not hang out with her ex-friends anymore heh heh *cough*.
Eventually this resulted in her parents questioning her on her disappearances from her room after randomly checking in one night while she was out patrolling and the conversation sort of went like this.
“Marinette, where have you been?! I just checked your balcony and you weren’t up their. It’s 2am” Sabine exclaimed when she dropped back onto her bed moments after detransforming. “Mamma I swear I was up there and I fell asleep in the corner near my pillows behind the deck chair. I just woke up from the cold and I thought I herd movement and panicked because ‘oh my gosh!’ Is it an Akuma but it wasn’t it was you mamma” Nettie responded with dramatic waving of her hands and a fake smile.
Sabine was NOT impressed and most certainly knew it was a lie but it was 2am and she couldn’t deal with this right now so she glared at her daughter whilst leaving her room through the trapdoor.
This continued for two weeks with both her parents randomly checking in. Nettie had to eventually relocate her research into a small apartment a few streets away from the library (which she paid for with commission money that nobody but her knew about especially since her business was doing well and she didn’t put it past her class to try and destroy that if they ever found out) and say she was studying to not be caught doing deep background checks on all her suspects, making files for every Akuma and tracking the butterfly’s on a app she created that has multiple resources available to the public ranging from an alert for attacks that can be activated all the way to videos she made in her hero persona showing things such as meditation or basic self defence that should only be used if they’re unable to get to a safe area away from the Akuma or to buy time to then get away depending on the powers of said Akuma. (Could also be useful in regular crimes like attempts at mugging)
This lead to longer disappearances to the point all her stuff that had any value to her or was related to business and miraculous matters (so basically everything) she was practically living there already. Not that she realised since she got maybe 5-6 hours of sleep and week? She was so enclosed in her little world when her parents decided they had enough (after multiple accusations of her sleeping around with older men and doing drugs (all tests came back negative because her choice of drug was caffeine) which where definitely lilas doing) her parents yelled at her to get out and never come back... so she did the only thing she had to grab where her pillows and fairy lights and she was out of the door, the situation was dubbed a future Nettie problem because ya know suppressing your emotions so the world doesn’t end.
(Authors note: I have plans on making this a series. Hope you guys like it 🙃)
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scribble-blog · 5 years ago
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Soulmate AU, part 1
masterpost     next
Huge thanks to the Maribat Fandom tumblr chat, without whom I wouldn’t have made this blog or posted this piece (or probably written this at all given that it’s a maribat fanfic)! @the-fusionist and @rebecarojas07 specifically for encouraging me!
*****
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”
Damian is a week shy of fourteen the day the names appear inked on people’s skin, when he wakes up to ink that doesn’t wash off and the news reports that all around the world people have woken up to find the same phenomenon.
The world accepts it readily enough.
Soulmates.
There are tales of it happening before, every mythology and history and folklore delved into and the proof brought forward, but no one actually can say what triggered it, or why now.
In Paris, Marinette wakes up the day after she becomes Ladybug, a dark inked name of her own blooming vivid across her skin.
“It’s because you’re a true holder, Marinette,” Tikki says almost bouncing in midair. “People can use the Miraculous without being as in tune with them, but when we land in the hands of someone who is not just attuned, but truly meant for us- interesting things happen! Especially with the Ladybug Miraculous! These markings reveal who your Soulmate is!”
Her eyes still skim over the writing, and she has to hold in her almost immediate disappointment when she doesn’t see the two swirling A’s she wanted.
“Damian Wayne.”
*****
Marinette doesn’t let it get to her most days, the fact that the name across the front of her shoulder and the name of the boy she feels she’s lost her heart to aren’t the same.
Adrien, for his part, says nothing about what name he has, and it isn’t visible for anyone to find out.
Marinette keeps her designs modest in the neckline, always layers with her favorite jacket and does not say hers either.
The world divides into those who show them proudly, who build forums and websites and apps where people try desperately to connect with their soulmate, and those who decide that to seek it out would ruin the- destiny of it all.
Marinette doesn’t even google him.
She doesn’t want to think about destiny any more than she has to.
*****
Damian keeps it hidden from his family. Grayson has Kori’s name running down his neck, and though they don’t show them off, he’s aware that Todd and Drake have their own as well. Father’s got “Selina Kyle” trailing from his wrist down to the side of his left thumb.
Grayson asks him, once. He shuts it down immediately, and he doesn’t get asked again.
*****
Lila claims her soulmate is someone rich, reclusive, and far away. She doesn’t give details about who they are, but she can tell you millions of stories about how they met as children, grew up knowing each other, how he’d begged for her to stay by his side but she had sighed and told him she must be free to live her own life! And how he waited for her even now to return once she’d graduated and they could marry and be fabulously wealthy and beautiful and happy together.
The class fawns over it. Each time the elusive soulmate is mentioned, Marinette locks eyes with Adrien and Chloé, unable to voice her annoyance but perfectly able to share it with them.
Alya sneers under her breath sometimes, when Lila is being particularly mouthy with her lies, that Marinette has always refused to show or even talk about her mark. That perhaps she doesn’t have one at all.
Marinette doesn’t ever respond.
Adrien tried his hardest to shut them down when they start moving in towards her or Chloé like sharks. She’d lost her crush on him when he’d told her to let Lila lie, that she wasn’t hurting anyone. And then Chloé had knocked on her door one day and- apologized.
Marinette had accepted.
And then when Chloé found out that Adrien not only knew but had actually allowed Lila to continue spinning her lies, she’d taken the boy to task and explained very clearly that Lila could not be treated the same way as his Father, where staying quiet and giving in was the only way to weather his unsavory bad moods. And while his Father demanded he still associate with Lila and keep her placated, that shouldn’t stop him from standing up and doing something when she started actively going after people the way she’d gone for Marinette.
He’d very quickly apologized to Marinette and started, if not scolding Lila when she targeted Marinette, at least trying to guide her and the rest of the class away from any interactions they might have initiated because of Lila’s words.
And now, even if the hours spent at Francois DuPont were chilly and quietly isolated for the three of them, they could meet up at the bakery for lunch, and more often than not now, they would spend evenings hanging out in either Chloé’s room or Marinette’s and it almost made up for it.
*****
Damian has been dead before.
He watches a girl in his class start screaming as the name splayed across her palm withers, it almost looks like it dissolved into her veins, the ink shrinking and bleeding into normal, unmarked skin.
He goes home and he looks at the long curling script that circles the right side of his chest, sweeping across his ribs. Marinette Dupain-Cheng exists somewhere and he wonders if dying once is enough that his name never showed up on her.
He searches the last names. He finds a small but well known and very well loved bakery in Paris, France, with mentions of the owners, Tom and Sabine, and one daughter.
He closes it out.
*****
Marinette turns 16.
It’s not momentous, as she once thought it would be. It’s another day facing the cold sneers of her classmates, catching Adrien and Chloé’s eyes and waiting until the end of the day when she can go home where her parents will have a cake waiting for her, Chloé, Adrien, Kagami, and Luka over, visits from Nadja and Manon, and hopefully some calls from her great uncle Wang and her pseudo uncle Jagged with Penny. Birthdays in this class used to be extravagant, and they still are- for everyone who Lila allowed it.
But Marinette’s birthday will be a quiet affair, at home with her family and her truest friends, her team, and she can’t help but prefer that.
*****
Damian turns 17. Dick marries Kori. Father and Catwoman continue their game of cat and mouse (who is what in this scenario?) and Todd keeps leaving and coming back, and Drake says nothing but acts as if he still knows everything. Damian is, in almost all ways, more capable than most of the old men that do business with Wayne Enterprises and he still has to sit through school and act like birthday parties matter or mean anything to him.
(They do. They do. He can count on one hand how many birthdays he’s ever actually celebrated.)
He’d like to know why he feels so unsatisfied.
*****
Ms. Bustier calls her aside when they break for lunch.
“Marinette,” she begins, and Marinette sighs internally, bracing for another round of upbeat admonishments.
“As class representative, I need you to start staying after class with me for the next few weeks at least- perhaps we can start tomorrow. The submission you made to the Wayne Enterprises Community Awareness and Support Program won, and we have to start planning for the trip in July.”
Marinette stops short. “Wait, trip?”
Mme. Bustier straightens her papers and selects one, handing it to Marinette. On it is a very formal letter from representatives of Wayne Enterprises, congratulating her and her class on their community outreach and outlining the award money they have been offered to plan their trip to visit Wayne Enterprises in person.
Marinette struggles not to sit there with her jaw dropped to the floor. “I didn’t realize there was any actual- reward. I thought it was just an award or recognition?”
Mme. Bustier gives her the smile she used to give her on a daily basis, back when Marinette had cared about making her teacher that happy with every success their class had. “Well, then it’s just as happy a surprise for you as for the rest of the class! I’ll send a note home with you tonight explaining why you’ll be staying after school for the foreseeable future. I won’t ever keep you longer than an hour.”
Marinette knew that would not be true, but it wasn’t as if she couldn’t make up an excuse to leave when necessary. “Yes. We’ll want the trip to be planned perfectly, especially if we’re going to Gotham. Thank you, Mme. Bustier!”
She skips out to lunch, runs across the street to the bakery to meet her friends and tells them the news.
*****
Damian thinks about her often, even if he doesn’t want to. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the baker’s daughter somewhere in Paris, presumably, who may or may not have his name somewhere scrawled on her body.
He doesn’t search anything about her again. Even that single search that led him to her parents’ patisserie was risky.
Jon can tell him everything he wants to about the happiness between himself and his soulmate. His siblings can tiptoe around the subject, happy themselves and never bringing it up to him again. He watches people at school, wondering which of the couples are bound by the words inked into their skin and which are the ones who decided to forego fate. It takes him a very long time to figure out that despite himself, despite his brothers and his allies and his few friends, he is lonely.
*****
Seven weeks before the trip to Gotham, Marinette’s mother finds the Miracle Box.
Marinette hasn’t had Master Fu to guide her in a very long time. She is, in name and deed, the true Guardian of the Miraculous now.
Marinette breaks down on her mother’s shoulder for the first time in four years, since Hawkmoth started terrorizing Paris. Sabine, terrified and proud and angry, soothes her daughter, holds her and runs her hand over her hair, and asks her daughter what she can do.
Marinette has an idea.
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multi-fandom-freak0221 · 4 years ago
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If Your Done With Embarrassing Me On Your Own Won't You Go Ahead and Tell Them
Oh my god y'all have just blown me away. I was not expect so much positive feed back. I was screaming so much I could not Believe how much you guys liked that. And so many people are asking to be tagged in the next part thank you guys so much. Also can I just say moving from Google Docs to Tumblr was a bitch to do and I hated it. But y'all inspired me so much that I decided to just go ahead and type it up on tumblr and move it to Google Docs afterwards.
This part's title is from "Impossible" by Shontelle. The song in this part is "Young Volcanoes" by Fall Out Boy
This is Part 2 of my fic based on @misashabunbun 's Love of Three.
Part 1
Tagging List (I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE I NEED ONE.):
@thestressmademedoit @colorfulmongerpsychicranch @lizziejay @indecisive-mess-named-me @captainmac6 @luveverything12 @kris-pines04 @brokenwordsarehard2
To say Marinette was busy would be an understatement. Between working with Luka and Uncle Jagged producing her album as Neon Titanium and her friends insisting that they help heal her brokenheart she felt like she was caught in a whirl wind. But it was nice she had fun. Luka and Uncle Jagged knew how to turn the hard work of producing music into a fun experience while still being efficient. And her friends they had her laughing harder than she laughed in while and smiling brighter than their resident sunshine child. They did everything they could think off.
She went shopping with Chloe and Kagami. She watched horror movies with Alix, Nathaniel, and Adrien. Marc and Luka let her rant to them which turned into a crying session which then turned into a meditation session. And on top of that her and Peter hung out as well. Whether they just worked in silence together on their respective projects or they were pranking Uncle Tony, kwami did she have fun renaming the protocols on the Iron Man suit. Soon Peter easily fit his way into her group of friends abd he fit in perfectly. Everyone got along with him.
But he wasn't the last to join their ragtag group. Everyone was shocked when Felix Graham De Vanily came to their group offering Marinette condolences on her lost engagement. He was sincere and courteous so of course no one was surprised when Marinette invited him to join in the currently planned game of dodgeball, except maybe Felix himself. But nonetheless he joined in the competition and found himself hanging out with the rest of the group as well. Soon his cold off-standish demeanor was traded for sly smirks and slick humor that nobody caught at first except Marinette and Peter who would laugh openly at his responses.
Soon enough Felix was a part of the group and felt comfortable letting his guard down. It help that they didn't treat him as the Graham De Vanily heir or Adrien's asshole cousin. They treat him like Felix, the boy who while very proper cried watching Big Hero 6. Also the boy who slam dunked on Adrien without breaking a sweat. Yet he still is the master of backhanded compliments and insulting people with a smile and having them thank him. He could truly be himself and he was thankful.
And while he easily was getting along with everyone, anyone with easy could see he had a soft spot for Peter and Marinette in general. It was in the way his face would soften when looking at them. Or the way he would smile when Marinette would get excited over something. Or the way he always paid attention to Peter when he was geeking out. It was the way he softly teased them over their height, Marinette being the shortest of the group and Peter only being taller than Marinette and Alix. And everyone knew Marinette's heart was still healing, so it came no surprise when Felix and Peter started dating. And while everyone was happy for them no one, but Marinette herself missed the looks of longing both boys would send towards her.
Believe it or not Felix was not the most surprising addition to their friend group. No the last addition came soon after Marinette formally did an interview after too much press took notice of Damian Wayne's fiancee being seen for the first time in almost a year, in New York of all places.
She remembered Uncle Tony setting up the interview with someone he trusted. She was glad that this was only an interview as Damian Wayne's (ex) fiancee and not MDC or Neon Titanium. She can only imagine how big a deal it will be when she reveals. But that was future Marinette's problem. Present Marinette had to focus on what to say without giving too much details because no matter how much he deserved it, she didn't want to throw Damian to wolves like that. She settled on saying that she was going through some things and no longer was content in Gotham. She claimed that she decided it was in her best interest to leave, but she didn't want to make a big deal about which is why nothing had been said until now.
The interview went well and everyone accepted her answers. It was released about a month after she left Damian and two weeks since Peter and Felix started dating. She still got news alerts for Gotham so she was waiting with baited breath for her interview to reach the Gotham, but it never seemed to. No announcements from WE or the Wayne family in general. She couldn't say it didn't hurt that no one even realized she was gone yet. But what hurt more was when 2 weeks after her interview she got an alert from Gotham Gazette saying the Damian claimed they set a date for their wedding. She cried that day. How could he not even notice she was gone? Was he so used to lying about her and their relationship that he didn't even give a second thought to what he was saying any more? And while she despaired, she relished in the fact that her friends did not let her be alone. Her face was buried in Peter's neck, she was sat on Felix's lap, Chole was threading her fingers through her hair, her feet laid over Peter legs and settled on Marc's, Adrien sat on the floor in front of Felix a hand rest on her back and everyone gathered around as close as possible trying to physically reassure her. Luka was even humming softly. She appreciated all the love amd support she had and soon she was feeling much better. Eventually it turned into a puppy pile napping session and if she ended up curled up between Peter and Felix? Eh, nobody said anything.
It was these series of events that led to their newest and by far strangest addition to their friend group. Here it was, two days after Damian's announcement and here in front of her stands no other than Jonathan Kent, Damian's best friend.
"Hey, Mari. It's been a while, huh?" She could admit Jon looked nervous. The way he wouldn't meet her eyes and how his hand was rubbing his neck. But him bring nervous did nothing to calm her nerves about why he was even here.
Marinette took a deep breath and drew as much of her inner Ladybug as she could. "Why are you here, Jonathan?"
Jon flinched at how she used his full name. "I'm so sorry, Nette. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry I didn't push harder. You were my friend too. I should have checked on you. Damian was such a good liar, I never knew. I should have known but I didn't and that doesn't excuse the fact that I wasn't there for you." Jon took a deep breath and finally met her eyes before speaking again. "But I'm going to do better, Nette. Whatever you need just say the word. Even if it means leaving. When we saw your interview Dad told Uncle Bruce to make sure his family was in order especially his youngest. He didn't give any details and Uncle Bruce got offended. I guess he did end up talking to Damian, but Damian doubled down on his lies and his family is believing him. But I know better because I saw what you said and I know even that wasn't the whole truth. So I want you to know I'm on your side."
Marinette was silent for a minute she study him and his words. The way she was looking at him made Jon feel like his whole soul was being judged, but he didn't dare look away. He needed her to know he meant it and that he was truly sorry for not being for. After a minute that felt like hours Marinette smiled softly at him. "I could always appreciate a hug from a friend." She held her arm open and Jon surged forward and hugged her tightly lifting her off the ground.
Marinette giggled a bit before he set her down. "Thanks, Jon for being here for me. I know Damian is you best friend-"
"He lost that right when he decided to lie to me repeatedly for his own benefit." Jon looked uncharacteristically upset at the fact.
"Well if you're in need of some more good friends, I know a group you should meet. Come on, we're about to have a pool day. I'm sure I have some swim trunks I've designed that you could probably fit. "
After they changed intl their respective swimwear, Mari led Jon to her Uncle Tony's pool where the rest of her friends were already waiting. "Hey guys! I'd like you to meet my friend Jon. He's in need of some good company."
Those who recognized Jon looked up surprised before see his nervous fidgeting and hearing Marinette's last sentence before nodding in understand. It was Peter who spoke up first. "Well any friend of Mari's is welcome with us. Come on we were about to play chicken fight!" And just like that their pool party was in swing. The played a couple pool games and had some snacks before Marinette decided to play some music. Soon a familiar tune was playing over the speakers.
When Rome's in ruins
It was Chole who started singing along first sitting laying on one of the pool chairs. In between Alix and Kagami.
We are the lions
Free of the colosseum.
In fields of poison
We're anitvenom
We're the beginning of the end.
Soon Alix was singing the next part as Chloe finished the first part.
Tonight, the foxes hunt the hounds
It's all over now
Before it has begun
We've already won
Luka was quick to pick up the chorus while trying to get everyone to join in with him.
We are wild
We are like young volcanoes
While everyone was distracted with singing Luka had Adrien and Jon sneak with him behind the girls in the pool chair. Each of them grabbed one and threw them in the water. Luka grabbed Kagami, Adrien grabbed Chloe and Jon grabbed Alix.
We are wild
Americana, exotica
Do you wanna feel a little beautiful, baby?
As everyone else's singing tapered off into laughing, Marinette picked up the next part solo as she walked to the diving board and climbed up.
Come on, make it easy, say I never mattered
Run it up the flag pole,
She ended her singing with a cannonball into the pool. Peter picked it up from his place in Felix's arms.
We will teach you how to make boys next door out of assholes
He sung his verse looking at Felix the whole time, who scoffed jokingly when Peter winked at him, but gave a him a kiss after he was done singing. Marc and Nathaniel picked up where he left off dueting together.
Tonight, the foxes hunt the hounds
And it's all over now
Before it has begun
We've already won
Soon everyone was singing along again to the chorus playing around splashing each other.
We are wild
We are like young volcanoes
We are wild
Americana, exotica
Do you wanna feel a little beautiful, baby?
Soon everybody had calmed down slightly singing a little quieter. Marinette her self was floating on her back towards the center of the pool. Smiling at all her support around her.
We are wild
We are like young volcanoes
We are wild
Americana, exotica
Do you wanna feel a little beautiful, baby?
As the song ended Jon was the first to speak. "What the fuck is in the water in Paris that makes y'all so talented?"
Peter laughed as he easily agreed, "That's what I said!"
Adrien chuckled at the Americans in their group antics. "To be fair, Felix is from London and Kagami is from Japan."
"Still! That is crazy. And Marinette I never knew you could sing like that!" Jon looked over towards the bluenette, his eyes softening at her.
Marinette giggled. "Neither did the rest of the world until Neon Titanium featured in Luka's last single."
"What?!" Jon exclaimed. "You're Neon Titanium?! I loved that song! Nette you're even more amazing than I thought."
Luka threw his hand up saying "Here, here." Making Marinette blush as all her friends joined in on complimenting her.
About a 3 weeks later, Marinette found herself working on a dress for her debut as Neon Titanium which uncle Tony insisted she do at a gala he's throwing. Which she suspects he's throwing just for her to debut because there was absolutely no gala planned before.
That was what she was doing when Jon, Felix, and Peter found her. It didn't take long for Jon to fit in with group. And with how often he stayed with them in New York instead of going back to Metropolis, no one was surprised when he started dating Peter and Felix. Marinette was happy for them even though it seemed like everyone was in happy relationships but her. But she knew she still had some things to work out before returning to the dating scene.
As they approached Marinette paused her sketching to look at her friends. "What's up guys? You needed something?"
The 3 boys looked at each other before Peter spoke up. "Yeah, actually. We wanted to tell you something." He rubbed the back of his neck before letting out a sigh. "We like you Marinette. A lot. And we would love for you to date us."
Marinette could feel the rejection on her tongue, but before she could say a word Jon cut her off.
"Let us finish first Nette. Please. After we're done you can tell us to never bother you again, but just let us get this out." Jon pleaded at her. Marinette just nodded and let them continue.
"We all like you a lot," Felix started his words very sincere. "But we all know that your still healing. We only told you because we thought it would be fair for you to know."
It almost seemed as they had planned and rehearsed for this because Peter effortlessly picked up after Felix. "We're not trying to guilt you into dating us because at the end of the day it is still you decision. And we know it may be some time before your ready to even consider dating us, but we're willing to wait."
Jon grabbed her hands as he prepared to finish them out. "We just want you to know how amazing we think you are. We'll be beyond lucky if you decide to date us when you're ready to make that choice. And until you are we're still your friends and we'll continue helping you heal and be better how ever you want us to. And if you decide you don't see us that way we'll still be some of your closest friends because having you in our lives is a blessing Nette."
Soon they all seemed to be holding one of her hands as they finished what they had to say. Marinette had silent tears streaming down her face, but the big smile she had eased away their worries. She pulled them into a tight hug for a moment before pulling back.
"You guys are the absolute best friends a girl can have." She smiled at them gratefully. "You're right that I'm not ready yet, but when I am, you guys will be the first people I consider dating. Promise. Now do you guys wanna see the designs I'm considering for my reveal?"
As the boys gathered around Marinette for her to show them her sketchbook she thought to herself with a smile.
I might not be quite okay yet, but with all the great people I have on my side, I know I will be soon.
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unmaskedagain · 5 years ago
Text
Ladybug (Not) in Paris
So this is the follow up fic to my Series  Ladybug in Smallville and it’s sequel Ladybug in Gotham (And Space). When i opened my asks a few days ago, i recieved multiple prompts asking for part 3. A lot people also asked for a reaction from people in Paris after Lila was exposed. I don’t think I did a fic just focused on the fallout before so I decided to try my hand at it. Warning: i’m not kind to the characters. Even the ones i usually like. Sorry.
Ladybug (Not) in Paris
           Ladybug’s interview with Nadja didn’t just sent shock waves through Paris. It was a hurricane, a tornado; throwing everyone off their feet and destroying everything in its wake. Yet somehow, it was the aftermath, when everything settled down, that hurt the most…
Tom and Sabine
           Four months ago, they had thought they had done right thing. Marinette, as far as Sabine and Tom were concerned, had changed too much. They hardly recognized her anymore. First the accusations of her bullying some poor girl; of being a thief and a liar. Then expulsion! But no matter how much evidence was presented against the young girl, Marinette refused to budge on her claim of innocence. Their daughter’s actions had weeks of silent treatments and disappointed looks from them. They longed to see the daughter they remembered. The one with the smiling face, looking up at them with love and trust as if they were her entire world; always believing that they had the power to make everything better. The one who they recognized. One they trusted.
           Nadja had sided with Marinette and tried to convince the two parents to hear their daughter out. A furious Sabine all but threw her out the house; she didn’t need to hear anymore lies or tall tales from her offspring. Even if her friend was foolish enough to buy them.
It was all too much.  
           And when Gina, Tom’s mother, suggested they send Marinette to her friend. They leaped at the chance. Tom and Sabine truly believed their daughter had become toxic to their way of life, to her friends way of life.
           Nadja had found out Marinette had been sent away three days after the girl was gone. She ended her friendship with Sabine right there and then.
           After Marinette was gone, they waited for her to call them. Either to beg for her to allowed back; promising to change. Or just to let them know she was alright. Or just call as an olive branch, like she always did. She never called. Gina did. She told them Marinette had gotten to Smallville safely, and that was it.
           It would be a month before they’d hear from Marinette; and it was only because Gina had conferenced her in. Only Tom was willing to speak with her, though he had nothing positive to say. Sabine refused to give up on her silent treatment. She would continue to refuse to speak to her daughter for months.
           Sabine and Tom settled into relative peace without the chaotic presence of their daughter. Each ignoring the gaping hole she left behind. They only updates came from Gina.
           Then Ladybug’s interview aired.
           They had been working in the bakery at the time. A customer was watching it on his phone.
           As the interview went on, and Ladybug denounced the school, the teachers, the students, and the wrongful expulsion of Marinette Dupain-Cheng; but most of all how much a liar Lila Rossi was; it was like their world crashed.
           They quickly closed up shop and rewatched the interview.
Sabine had turned paler than she ever had before. Tom lost all feeling in his legs.
What had they done?
They sat in silence as the memories of the last few months their daughter had lived with them filled their heads; her desperate pleas of her innocence, her tearstained face begging them to listen. But they hadn’t. They sent her away.
They sat in silence, just watching and rewatching the video. Tears slowly slipped down Sabine’s face. A very small part of Sabine wished it would change. That suddenly Nadja would be confirming Marinette misdeeds instead. Anything! So it wouldn’t mean that Sabine had been a terrible mother, like Nadja had claimed she was when she found out Marinette had been sent away.
But no the vindictive look and overly pleased smile on her former best friend’s face didn’t change.
           It was Tom that called Marinette, putting the phone on speak. She didn’t pick up the first call. Or the second. When she finally answered, Tom immediately launched into apologies. He promised his daughter the world to make it up to her as soon as she came home. Sabine just cried in the background.
            Silence came from the other line. And for moment Tom thought the call had disconnected.
“I understand,” Marinette’s voice rang out through the living room. “Thank you for apologizing.” That was it. That was all said. There was no forgiveness in her voice. No love in her tone. “I love you. I do. But I will not be returning to Paris.”
           Tom burst into tears right then and there.
           When the call ended, neither parent knew what to say; just wondered how much of their relationship with their daughter was left to salvage.
           For the next month, both parents would try to call their daughter every day. Most days she wouldn’t answer. They understood why but that didn’t stop the dreadful feeling they had for every call that went to voice mail. The only she called them was to tell them the farm needed to be repaired and that she would be living with Clark and his husband.
           They longed to see their daughter’s smiling face, looking up at them with love and trust as if they were her entire world.
           It would a few months later that they did see it. Sabine and Tom were watching on of Sabine’s favorite red carpet events: the Wayne’s Annual Gala. It was a charity event that all the celebrities went to. A show Tom barely paid attention to.
           However, his wife’s gasp got his attention. She pointed to the screen, and then it was Tom’s turn to gasp.
           Their daughter was on TV, on the red carpet with Bruce Wayne, Clark, and the rest of the Wayne family; fitting in seamlessly with her dark hair and her blue eyes, in the most gorgeous pink dress they’d ever seen. Marinette easily passed as Bruce and Clark’s daughter. The press there screamed questioned about adoption or another love child.
           Bruce seemed to take great pride in showing off his new ward; bragging about her accomplishments and that she made all of their outfits of the night. Clark, while didn’t brag, didn’t hesitate to tell everyone how amazing his niece was. Marinette just laughed; looking happier than Sabine or Tom could remember her being for a long time, even before she left.
           The part that broke their hearts? Was their daughter’s smiling face, looking up at them, Bruce and Clark, with love and trust as if they were her entire world; like she believed that they had the power to make everything better.
           From how wonderful their daughter looked, and how much better off she seemed to be. The two men had.
           Clark and Bruce did the one thing Sabine and Tom forgot how to do.
           Be there for their daughter.
 Alya and the rest of the Students
           Four months ago, Alya had partied with her entire class over the fact that they had gotten the biggest bully kicked out of school. All the kids enjoyed the peace that had filled the classroom after her departure. They had another party when they learned Marinette had been sent out of the country. No one in class spared too much mind toward theirs ex-friend, apart from a few scathing remarks about her.
           Alya was glad the dark presence in their life was gone. Happy that her bestie Lila didn’t have to worry about the awful bully anymore. Everything was good again. Everyone was happy. Everything was peaceful.
           Then Ladybug’s interview aired.
           They had been at school, in class. The bell had just rang for lunch when Alya got the Ladybug alert on her phone. She was sitting next to Nino, texting Lila to hurry up and make a move on Adrien. She was surprised to see the hero giving an interview as she hadn’t had much time to so much as glance in Alya’s direction. With Bustier’s permission, Alya played the interview on the white screen of their room; with a little help from Markov.
           The entire class cheered when the interview started as they all ate their lunches in class.
           The interview had started off great. Ladybug had a new costume and Nadja asked about it. The hero showed it off a little. Then it got serious.
           Ladybug said Chat Noir was never returning; confirming something Alya had suspected for months.
           Then she mentioned the Ladyblog…
“Bad journalism,” Ladybug said. “That’s all that blog is. It’s poorly researched and full of lies. I’ve seen better research from the magazine that said Bigfoot’s having an affair with the Lochness Monster.”
“What Lies?” Nadja asked.
           Alya nodded. “This had to be a mistake. Everything I write is true!”
           Nadja pulled up the Ladyblog on the screen behind them.
“Well, for example, who the hell is Lila Rossi?”
           Silence filled the classroom. Everyone’s eyes on the screen. Lila froze in her seat.
“That girl is not my best friend,” Ladybug stated. “I saved her from her own akuma save five times now. That’s it. I don’t know the girl. I don’t like the girl. What was written would only serve to put Lila in danger. And what’s this about Lila saving Jagged Stone’s cat? From a plane? Which airline was this? Who could be so careless?”
           After that the reporter and the hero ripped the Ladyblog to shreds; dismantling each and every lie on the blog.
“Every reporter should know one cardinal rule,” Nadja said seriously to the audience. “Check your resources. Don’t be like the writer of the Ladyblog.”
           Alya seethed in her seat, throwing furious glares at Lila who had paled and looked read to flee the classroom. No one else in class knew what to say or do. Lila was lying? How could Lila be Lila? It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be true.
           As the interview went on, and Ladybug denounced the school, Bustier and a few other teachers, the students, for the wrongful expulsion of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
“I heard one poor girl even got expelled,” Ladybug shook her head. “From what I’ve heard, there was no investigation, just word of mouth, easily planted evidence, and then expulsion. I’m surprised I didn’t have to deal with her Akuma.” Ladybug’s sad tone was clear to hear. “I looked into the incident a bit. A rather brilliant Robot name Markov had been recording the room at the time.” Marinette nodded to the screen. “I had them blur the students’ faces for security reasons. The girl with the short hair is the victim in question.”
           The video played. And it was clear that a long haired girl had stolen the answer key from the teacher and planted them on the victim. Another video played of Lila taking the necklace she said Marinette stole and planting it in the bluenette’s locker. It was a damning video.
           After the videos, the students and teacher were stunned. Too stunned to move. Too stunned to speak.
“From what I understand only a teacher named Mendeleiev actually tried to do something about the whole mess,” Ladybug praised. “She had been filing complaints with the school board for months. She and a majority of the staff, actively protested the expulsion of the victim before and after it happened. They stood strong against bullying. Even of the threat of being fired hasn’t stop Mendeleiev. That is the type of teacher, the type of person everyone should aim to be like. She should be the principle.”
           Ladybug went on to full tirade against school. She ripped the principle and teacher Bustier to shreds. For allowing bullying of students, victim blaming, and sheer negligence. Reciting how many times Ladybug had to deal with akuma from that school, particularly from Bustier’s class.
“I just wish I could’ve helped her,” Ladybug sighed. “The victim. She lost everything; all her friends, her family, because of this and the actions of a seriously disturbed girl who was nothing more than a liar. I can’t help but wonder what happened if I had found out sooner. If Lila Rossi had never lied. Or if the Ladyblog had fed into them. After this, I will never work with Alya Césaire, author of the Ladyblog, again. She is terrible journalist and from what I understand, and equally terrible friend. Everyone at that school should be ashamed of themselves.”
“I know the girl you’re speaking about,” Nadja frowned. “She’s stronger than she looks. Still, she deserved better. I swear to you that I’ll be leading the charge in investigating the wrongful expulsion. Justice will be had.”
           The fallout was epic. And started seconds after the interview ended with Alya launching herself at Lila, ready to strangle the girl, tackling her as rage and misery filled her.
           It took Nino and Kim to pull her back.
“How could you!” Alya screamed, tears building in her eyes. “I trusted you! We all trusted you. You! You! You Monster!”
           No bother to help Lila off the floor. Her hair was a mess and her nose was bleeding. She looked around her help, as she struggled to come up with a lie to spin everything in her favor. But video proof and a national icon denouncing you on public TV was a hard thing to spin. The class looked at her with cold hatred, already laying all the blame at Lila’s feet.
Lila didn’t get the chance to come up with a lie.
Mendeleiev along with two other teachers and the gym coach arrived before she could.
“Rossi,” Mendeleiev growled, fury in her eyes. She had warned Bustier and Damocles about the girl, had filed complaint and complaint with the school boarding regarding Marinette. The fool Damocles had threatened to fire her if she didn’t stop but she hadn’t. Mostly because it was the right thing to do. Partly because she knew he didn’t have the balls to do it. “You’ll be leaving with me now to the Principal’s office. Your mother is on the way.”
           Lila paled. Suddenly remembering that Ladybug had said her name on live TV. Her mother probably saw everything. She’d kill Lila for this. Her mother had to move to France after Lila had gotten in trouble at her last school for lying. Yet the trouble she was in now was far worse than she’d ever been in.
           She cursed the fact that Hawkmoth had already sent so many strong akuma. He’d be too weak to send anymore.
           Mendeleiev turned her attention to the class with cold eyes. They were just kids so the teacher didn’t blame them too much. Kids made mistakes. She hoped they would learn from this. Grow from this. “Class, Miss Ashton will be your teacher for the rest of the day.” The English teacher stepped forward. “Miss Bustier will be coming with me.”
           Caline Bustier nodded, not even bothering to argue. She knew her career was over. Her teaching license would be revoked. Her name smeared across the papers. Still a part of her wanted to cry that she thought she had done the right thing. Everything had be so obvious, all the evidence there. However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized she should’ve been suspicious to how easily the so called evidence was found.
           The students watched as Mendeleiev marched Lila and Bustier out of the classroom, the teachers besides Ashton joining her.
           The bell rang. Ashton gave the class a kind smile, “I think me maybe your teacher for quite a while.” She told them. “So today, I would like to discuss Shakespeare’s JULIUS CAESAR and the book the Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.”
“The Ides of March. Wrong imprisonment,” Max answered his face forlorn. He knew what the teacher was getting at. “Both are famous for the betrayals in them. Each main character were betrayed by their friends.”
           Ashton’s smile suddenly looked a lot colder. She turned around and write on the white board in Giant Black Letter. “Et tu, Brute.” She read off the board. “Et tu, Brute is one of the Shakespeare’s most famous lines. Historically inaccurate but still used very much today. It’s usually said to one friend from another when a harmless betrayal happens. I, myself, said it just last week when my boyfriend stole last piece of pecan pie. I deserved it once when I erased his futball game off the DVR to make room for the newest episode of the Flash. What about you? Have you ever done anything to deserve it?”
           No one in class said anything. They all knew they had.
           When class let out, they flood the bluenette’s cellphone with apology texts begging her to answer. Alya had called her bestie a dozen times but not one call got answered.
           When Alya got home, she was met with the disappointed faces of her parents and sister. She had tried to explain her side of things but they wouldn’t listen.
           Then her sister said, “We need to get a lawyer.”
           Her parents nodded, resignation in on their faces. Alya balked, “Why? We didn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything.”
“Your website told lies about famous and powerful people,” Her mother explained, with a slight fear in her voice. “They could sue us for defamation of character.”
           And they did. In the weeks after Ladybug’s interview celebrity after celebrity, or at least their lawyer contacted their family lawyer. They were all pretty lenient as no one wanted to be seen suing a teenager girl over a fanblog but the terms were clear. The Ladyblog had to go.
           Her life’s work was deleted on a raining Tuesday. Alya stilled blamed Lila for her sorrows. The Italian girl had been expelled and sent far away by her mother.
           Everyone in class blamed Lila for what happened. For getting poor Marinette expelled. Marinette who still didn’t return their calls or texts.
Alya knew she had done wrong to Marinette but it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know Lila was lying. She made a mistake. Everyone should just move on.
Unfortunately for her, they did move on. Damocles and Bustier were fired. All of the students in Bustier’s class was put on probation for their bullying of Marinette. (One toe out of line and they would be expelled.)  Most of the student body avoided the lot, fearing they’d be tarred with the same brush. They were persona non-grata.
Alya parents took away her laptop and forbid her from creating another website. She was forced to attend mandatory therapy session; something about owning up to her own mistakes.
Alya wished that everything would go back to normal. She wished her bestie was back in Paris already. So Marinette and her could go back to giggling over boys and dreaming of their futures. Planning to rule the world as the dynamic professional and extremely successful women they were sure they’d become. Her bestie who was always there for her, always willing to listen, always on Alya’s side, unlike everyone else in the world at the moment.
Weeks passed and no one heard or seen a hair from Marinette. Most of the class just knew if they could just apologize to the girl everything would be alright again. They’d be friends again. Alya was certain of it.
Still more time passed, and nothing.
Finally, one girls’ night, after they all finally finishing being ground, they all met up at Rose’s for a sleepover. They laughed and did each other’s make up, ate greasy food, watched trash TV and felt at peace for the first time in a while.
Rose shushed her friends at the Wayne Gala started. “Doesn’t Gigi Hadid look amazing!” She exclaimed.
“Please, look at Beyoncé,” Alya said. “Now that’s a queen.”
           All the girls pointed out their favorite celebrity and gushed over their outfits.
“Oh it’s the Waynes,” Rose chirped excited. “They always look amazing. Is that… that’s Marinette!”
           All the girls’ eyes were glued to the screen because sure enough Marinette Dupain-Cheng was on the screen being escorted by Bruce Wayne.
“She’s in Gotham?” Alix pointed out. “I didn’t know she was in Gotham.”
           Mylene’s eyes were wide. “I wonder how she likes it. I heard Gotham was pretty scary.”
“Screw Gotham,” Alya yelled a giant smile on her face. “She knows Bruce Wayne. She knows the Waynes!”
           Bruce Wayne introduced Marinette as the newest addition to his family and went on to rave about her in a proud fatherly tone. His husband Clark Kent doing the same.
           Rose awed, “She designed that dress. It’s the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen.”
           Alya wanted to high five someone. Her bestie was Bruce Wayne’s newest kid. She had to text. She needed all the details. What was it like? How rich were they? How rich was she now? Could Alya come visit?
           The glasses-wearing girl was filled with hope. Maybe Marinette would give her an interview, the exclusive. Maybe one with her new family too. An interview with Bruce Wayne would be amazing. Maybe Alya would get to meet Clark Kent, he was a famous reporter. He worked with Lois Lane.
           Alya gasped. What if she got to meet Lois Lane? Marinette had to know her. Clark and Lois were best friends, everyone knew that. She was even the surrogate for Clark’s son Jon. She was practically Marinette’s aunt now. Maybe Marinette could get her an internship at the Daily Planet. That would show everyone. They’d all see that Alya was some stupid kid pretending to be a journalist. She was the real deal. They’d see.
           …If only she could get Marinette on the phone.
           A month and then two went by and still no answer from Marinette. Alya figured the girl had lost her phone. Marinette could be pretty careless sometimes. And forgetful. Alya thought that until she got to class one day, and Juleka was telling everyone that Luka was going to Gotham.
“Marinette invited him,” Juleka said, her eyes a bit sad, but she was otherwise happy for her brother. Luka had been the first to make it clear that Juleka, and the others, were in the wrong and it was up to Marinette to forgive them if she wanted. “Her new guardians are paying for him to come. Her Birthday’s coming up. It’s going to be this huge event for the Princess of Gotham,” She giggled at the name the media had given the bluenette who had earned their love quickly and easily. “She really loves it Gotham.”
“Girl, have you been talking to my bestie?” Alya accused. “Behind my back. Seriously!”
           To her credit, Juleka didn’t bat an eye in the face of the girl’s anger. “I haven’t spoken a word to Marinette. Luka talks to her almost every day. They’re friends.”
“Does she get a new phone?” Alya asked quickly. “Or maybe she had a new number! Can I have it? Call Luka and get it!”
“She did get a new phone,” Juleka confirmed. “But she has the same number as before.”
           Alya huffed, “Then why isn’t she answering! Why is she talking to Luka and not me?” She was Marinette’s bestie. Alya was the one who should be talking to her every day, not some random guy. She was one who should be flying off to Gotham to attend Marinette’s extravagant birthday party. HER!
“Luka and Marinette are friends,” Juleka repeated. “Last time we talked to Marinette, we all made it clear we weren’t her friends anymore. Why would she talk to us? After what we did?”
           Alya gaped. “I’m not the one who lied.”
“No. You just helped bully her.” Juleka shrugged. “We all did. Or at least didn’t stop it. We hurt her. And that’s not something we can blame on anyone else. It was our actions helped Marinette get kicked out of school. That’s not just one Alya. That’s on us.”
“We really hurt her,” Rose whispered. “We made her cry a lot.”
“We shoved her,” Alix looked down.
“Destroyed her homework,” Kim said, regret clear in his eyes.
“Ruined her designs,” Mylene added as she teared up.
“Sent horrible texts,” Sabrina said looking anywhere but at the white board.
“We left her all alone and told her she deserved it,” Juleka clenched her fists.
“We sent viruses to her computer,” Max winced. “Made it more useful as a paperweight.”
“Or we did nothing at all and just let it happened,” Ivan swallowed hard. “And that was just as bad.”
“Because we were scared,” Nathanial said between clenched teeth. “We were cowards who didn’t want the same thing to happen to us.”
“We betrayed her,” Nino admitted. “Every last one of us. That wasn’t Lila. Because Lila was never her friend. Betrayal doesn’t come from your enemies. It comes from your friends.”
           The weight of the world seemed to hit her, as Alya plummeted back down in her seat, feeling numb. Her eyes on the white board. The giant bold words screamed at her. She could hear them in her head, repeating over and over again, all in a familiar voice.
“Et tu Brute,” The ghost of Marinette whispered, seemingly more alive in the classroom, than ever before. “Et tu Brute.”
           Alya wanted to protest, scream that it wasn’t her. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t fair. But she couldn’t find the words for once. The memories of all the harm she had caused her bestie, her former friend filled her head. Everything her other classmates had done, Alya did twice over. She even convinced Marinette’s parents of the girl’s wrongdoings, turning them against her. Lila wasn’t to blame for that, not entirely. It was all of them.
           It was Alya. She betrayed her best friend. Everyone in class betrayed the Bluenette.
           And much like the Ides of March, they had all taken turns at stabbing the girl. Even when Marinette had tried appealing to Alya, her best friend, but Alya stabbed her. She could still remember the disbelief on Marinette’s face as she left.
           Alya swallowed hard. Tears prickled her eyes.
           Et tu Brute, indeed.
Adrien
           Four months ago, the kindest girl Adrien had ever known was expelled from school. He had only given a weak protest when it happened. Tried to get Lila to reverse it. But nothing worked. And when he heard Marinette had been sent away. He decided to move on, not make a big deal out of it.
           The whole ordeal had been terrible. Before she left, Marinette kept calling him and texting him to get him to help her; reveal that Lila was lying. Adrien refused. Everyone in class liked having Lila there and she wasn’t hurting anyone.
           It got to the point where Adrien just ignored her calls and texts. He even had Nathalie tell her that he wouldn’t be getting involved, and that maybe they should take a break from each other for a while.
           To make matter worse it had come after Fu had taken back the ring; declared Chat Noir and unfit superhero. It was all too much.
           Yes, it was better to just move on. Everything would go back to the way it was soon enough. Marinette would come back. Lila would be better and not lying so much. They’d all be friends again.
For now, Marinette was probably happier where she was. She’d move on. The class was happier with her gone. Everyone should just move on.
           And they did.
           The class went back to being a happy and friendly place. They all went back to being the amazing friends they were. It was a little strange without Marinette but it wasn’t like the girl had been active in his or any of their other friends’ lives. Her accusations against Lila had gotten her the cold shoulder from the class.
           Adrien had warned her to stop. If only, the bluenette had listened. But girls always seemed to have trouble listening to him.
           Like Ladybug.
           If Ladybug had just gone out with him, he’d still be Chat Noir. They were soul mates, why didn’t she see that?
           It took the blond a while to get used to not being a hero anymore, a while before he’d stopped unconsciously complaining to Plagg whenever they were alone.
           It was fine though. Adrien moved. He and Nino hung out more. It was easier now that he didn’t have to worry about getting so much cheese or coming up with excuses to fight Akuma. Ladybug come back soon enough, he knew. She needed him. They were a team. He was sure of it. Just like he was sure Marinette would come back to class and everyone would be friends again; everything would go back to the way it was.
For now, he would just enjoy the break.
           Then Ladybug’s interview aired.
           And once again, Adrien’s world was thrown up balance.
           Ladybug’s interview had been cruel. She had depicted a coldness Adrien had never seen from her before. She tore everyone to shreds. She tore the school to shreds. It was like she didn’t care who she hurt. Or how many people would be hurt by the truth being out there like that.
           He had thought she was the type of person to take the high road. It wasn’t like Lila had been hurting anyone. And Alya had made a simple mistake. Nothing that could be fixed, right? Everyone would get over it. They’d move on.
           And they’d be better off for it.
           All of Lila’s lies were revealed like Adrien always told Marinette they would be.
           The Italian girl got expelled that same day; which Adrien thought was a bit harsh. Bustier and Damocles were fired, again harsh. The class turned again the liar and laid the blame entirely at her feet; that Adrien found was fair.
           Then he waited with a big smile in his class the following Monday after Lila’s expulsion. Waiting for Marinette to walk through the door with a happy smile on her, excited to be back. They’d all apologize and everything would be alright again.
           However, Marinette didn’t come back on Monday. Or the next day. Or the day after that. She never came back.
           No one in class could get a hold of her. The Bluenette didn’t reply to their texts and never answered a call.
           It was so unlike their everyday Ladybug. She couldn’t still be mad, right? Even if she was, they were friends. You have to forgive your friends right. No one could be angry forever.
           Mariette would get over it. She’d come home soon. Adrien just knew.
Adrien didn’t call her or text. He knew it was best to wait. Marinette always was the one to make peace. It was just the way she was.
So he waited.
And he waited.
And he waited.
And waited.
Weeks turned into months. But there was no sign of Marinette anywhere. His phone making it glaringly obvious that the girl never called.
How were they supposed to go back to being friends if she never called? Didn’t she care?
Adrien wondered where Marinette was.
He found out during guys’ night when Alya texted Nino to turn the TV channel. And then they all saw her. Marinette smiling brightly on the red carpet, looking more beautiful then he’d ever seen her before. She was in Gotham, living with the Waynes’. She was Bruce Wayne’s new ward. Everyone knew that every time Bruce Wayne got a new ward, they always got adopted. Always.
By the time, Adrien got home that night the news was filled with articles like:
Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the newest Wayne?
Who is Marinette Wayne, and why you should love her!
Marinette: Secret love child of Bruce Wayne!
           Marinette’s name was in lights. All world was talking about her. She was famous.
           Which was why Adrien became even surer that Marinette would call. He was the only other famous kid she knew. He could help, be there for her to talk to. It’s what friends did. Marinette would call soon.
           The next morning his father joined in for breakfast for the first time in weeks. He only ever did it when he wanted something from Adrien.
“Did you know Miss Dupain-Cheng was in Gotham?” His father asked.
           Adrien shook his head, “No. I didn’t know what happened to her when she left school.”
           Gabriel nodded. “You were friends, yes?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He had always counted the Dupain-Cheng girl as one of Adrien’s few likeable friends. “Nathalie told me you two had a falling out.”
“We took a break,” Adrien corrected. “We need a breather from each other. Things had gotten pretty bad because of Lila.”
           Gabriel frowned. What happened with Lila Rossi had been a blow to the stock prices of the company. They had endorsed the girl whose name made headlines after Ladybug denounced her and publically revealed her lies, and that she had been willingly working with Hawkmoth. Shareholders didn’t like that. “Miss Dupain-Cheng lives with her Uncles, Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent; two notable figures in society. Reach out to her, end your ‘breather’, reconfirm your friendship. A connection with the Wayne family will take us far.”
“Yes, dad.”
           Adrien was still reluctant to reach out first. Marinette just needed a bit more time. When she was ready, she’d call him. She always did. She was their everyday ladybug, and that meant something.
           However, Nathalie made sure he did. She made sure Adrien sent every text his father wanted him to.
           His first text was simple: hey, how’s it going.
           There was no reply.
           He asked when she was coming back to school. Told her they all missed her.
           No reply.
           At Nathalie behest, he asked about Bruce Wayne and the other Waynes. What they were like? If all their suits were custom made.
           No reply.
           He asked if she wanted to get lunch when she got back to Paris.
           Nothing.
           He never received a single reply. His father was disappointed. Until Adrien suggested that maybe Marinette changed her number. That wasn’t something either them could control. His dad backed off, and Adrien breathed a sigh of relief.
           Adrien found out that wasn’t the case when he heard Juleka telling Rose that Luka was going to Gotham. Then Alya started in on the quiet girl about going behind her back.
           Then Juleka had said something that shook Adrien a bit.
“She did get a new phone,” Juleka confirmed. “But she has the same number as before.”
           Adrien first thought was that he hoped his dad didn’t find out. That would be bad. And ugly.
           Alya huffed, “Then why isn’t she answering! Why is she talking to Luka and not me?” She was Marinette’s bestie. Alya was the one who should be talking to her every day, not some random guy. She was one who should be flying off to Gotham to attend Marinette’s extravagant birthday party. HER!
“Luka and Marinette are friends,” Juleka repeated. “Last time we talked to Marinette, we all made it clear we weren’t her friends anymore. Why would she talk to us? After what we did?”
           Then the happy vibe that the classroom had started with went away. Each student admitted their wrongdoing, telling how they hurt Marinette. How they betrayed their once friend. It was awful.
           Adrien nearly interrupted to tell them it would be alright. Marinette would forgive them. They’d all be friends again. It wasn’t that bad. They’d move on like none of this had ever happened.
           But Ivan spoke before he could, “Or we did nothing at all and just let it happened,” The bigger boy said. “And that was just as bad.”
           No it wasn’t. All they did was stay out of it. All Adrien did was stay out of it. It was the right thing to do. Everyone was arguing and fighting. Adrien getting involved would only make it worse. Right?
Right, Adrien thought firmly. He ignored the pit that seemed to appear in his stomach.
           Adrien spent the rest day re-convince himself that everything would be alright. Everyone just needed to calm. Marinette also needed to come back. Or at least answer their calls. Then they could tell her everything was good again. Lila was gone. Time to celebrate.
           However, while Adrien was getting ready that night, he got a text from Nino. It was of a video of Marinette at her new school. Luka had gotten it from her, with the blessing to spread it around; show everyone that she was fine.
           And she was.
           Marinette looked happy in her new school uniform. She was surrounded by friends and seemed be having a ball.
           She had moved on.
           It was what Adrien had hoped would happened, he remembered, so many months ago.
           He had hoped Marinette would move on. That everyone would move on.
           And she did. And everyone was starting to.
           So why did he feel so bad?
           Maybe because he was having a hard time moving on to?
           Maybe it was because a part of him finally realized that nothing was going to back to the way it was?
           Why didn’t everything go the way he thought it would?
“It should have,” Adrien frowned, turning to speak to Plagg. “Right?”
           There was only silence to answer him.
“Oh… yeah.” Adrien said remembering, again, that Plagg was gone. Just like Chat Noir. “That’s right.” He’ll get used to it. He was used to it.
           It wasn’t like it was a big deal.
           Right?
Marinette
           Marinette didn’t want a birthday party. She told Bruce she didn’t want a birthday party. She told Clark she didn’t want a birthday party. Yet somehow she was getting a birthday party! She knew the accidently slip to Kara that she spent her last birthday alone had been a mistake. Marinette’s got sad eyes from her new family for a week.
           When it became clear that the birthday party was happening to matter how much Marinette protested, she decided to try a different. She made it clear that she didn’t want a big birthday party. She wanted something small with just her new family and friends. However, the more she said it, the bigger the party plans got. First the justice league got invited. Then the Teen Titans, and then young justice. Then all her school friends. Then all the friends she made while on the Kent farm. She was fine with that. She had invited Nadja, Luka, Kagami and even Chloe to her birthday; the only friends she had left in Paris. She invited Jagged and Penny and Clara.
And yet the party just kept getting Bigger and bigger…
           Until it was some extravagant event all press talked about. Her birthday was trending on social media. But did that stop Bruce? Nooo?
           Then it just got bigger and bigger.
           Until celebrities were tweeting that they RSVP’d already. It was as big as any red carpet event.
           Marinette glared at her guardian from the across the breakfast table.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Bruce said. “The party will be fun. You’ll love it.”
“She did want something simple, Bruce,” Clark shrugged.
“Said the guy who invited the Justice League.”
Clark narrowed his eyes, “Said the man who paying One Direction over three million dollars to get the band back together for one night.”
“One Direction was her favorite band!”
“Then why did you invite Shawn Mendes,” Clark asked smugly. “And Taylor Swift. And Maroon 5. And BTS. And Ed Sheeran. And Billie Eilish. And Lizzo. And who knows who else you got! Not to mentioned the cast of Riverdale, supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Teen wolf, and the new Spider Man movie. Bruce, you’re throwing your own Teen Choice Awards.”
           Marinette blinked. And then blinked again.
           Then she got up and walked away from the table.
           She needed to find Alfred. She needed to find someone remotely sane to talk to. Which was a hard thing to come by at Wayne Manor.
           Marinette loved Gotham as much as she had loved Smallville. She loved working with the Justice league. She loved her new brothers and sisters.  She loved them she really did.
           But she’d be the first to them to take a chill pill.
           Starting with Bruce, then Clark, the Dick.
           Followed up Oliver Queen and Arthur Curry; otherwise known as the Green Arrow and Aquaman.
           Every time Marinette visited the watch tower, Oliver would shove his son Roy at her. Once literally.  Then Arthur started doing the same his kid Kaldur.
           This displeased her guardians. Both had taken to glaring at Green Arrow and Aqauman during meeting. Arthur backed off a little. Oliver not even a bit. The man had plans.
           Marinette didn’t find Alfred, as he had left on errands. Instead she found Tim on the coach. “You’re the third sanest person in this house… when Luke’s not here.”
“Alfred, you, me, Adds up,” Tim cracked a smile at his little sister. “What’s up?”
           Marinette plopped down next to him, “Make them stoooppp!” She whined.
           Tim gave her a look, “You want me to stop Batman and Superman.”
“Well, when you say it like that its sounds dumb.”
“And impossible.”
           She pouted, “What should I do?”
“You willing walk aboard this crazy train,” Tim shrugged. “Now you just have to enjoy the ride. It’s the only thing you can do.”
“And try not lose my sanity too in the process.”
“That’s a good princess.”
           Marinette sighed.  She hated her new nickname but the press ate it up. The party was just making it official.
           But what could she do? She loved her new home, her friends, and her family. Marinette was finally getting everything she ever wanted.
           Her birthday would be one of the biggest events of the year. She was having a party fit for a princess.
           The princess of Gotham that was.
           Because that was who Marinette was now.
           She wasn’t just Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She was just Ladybug.
           She was Marinette: Princess of Gotham.
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bevvydraws · 4 years ago
Text
Sweet Justice (cont.)
1, 2, 3 , 4
Chapter 5 
Princess Justice looked up at the roof just in time to see a spotted figure swing down and land in front of her. The ladybug-themed outfit made it clear to her that this was, in fact, someone who had taken her old earrings. But that didn’t make sense. Her earrings were left in her room, the only way someone would have gotten them was if Tikki herself gave them to another. But who would she trust enough to do that? 
The white flame that seemed to erupt from the ladybug symbol from his chest gave her the answer. But she almost didn’t believe it. He looked so different. Luka didn’t have red hair, and he certainly didn’t have red hair with pink tips. She couldn’t clearly see his face because the bottom half was covered in a mask. His eyes didn’t have a mask, only what looked like red makeup surrounding them. 
Red makeup that made the blue stand out. Blue that she certainly recognized and found comfort in. 
It was Luka. Luka had her earrings.
“Who are you?!” Chat Noir sounded frantic, “How did you get those earrings?!” 
Princess Justice was frozen, her eyes still locked with Luka’s. 
“I’m Harmonia,” Luka answered, not breaking eye contact with Princess Justice, “I’m here to help since Ladybug is away for a bit. She… needed a break, and she’s never been good at asking for help.”
Realizing that this would throw a wrench in her plans, Princess Justice quickly composed herself. “Oh dear,” she cooed, sounding much more amused than she felt, “Poor little Ladybug is such a pitiful hero she needed to ask a civilian for help? How pathetic.”
“I’m not here to argue about Ladybug,” Harmonia said, voice soft, “I’m here to save you. Before you do something you’ll regret.” 
Princess Justice felt herself bristle slightly with rage, “You don’t get to decide anything for me! No one decides what is best for me anymore! You have no clue what I will or will not regret,” Part of her yelling was theatrical, but even she could recognize the true anger behind her words. She was sick of people claiming to know her. And she wasn’t going to let anyone get in the way of what she had planned. She was so close to making everything right. “Alya, Nino, tie that bug up and make sure he doesn’t cause any trouble!” 
Alya and Nino moved in tandem, diving straight for Harmonia who barely managed to evade the two. His reflexes obviously weren’t as good as hers were, but he still looked determined. Evading and dodging the knights, Harmonia seemed to be lost in thought as he tried to plan his next course of action. 
Before Princess Justice could stop him, he had made a running start, grabbing and lifting Chat Noir over his shoulder before swinging away with him. 
“No!!” Princess Justice cried out, “Bring him back! Bring him back right now!” 
Chat Noir seemed to be reaching out for her, shouting something she couldn’t hear as he was already too far away. Harmonia only glanced over his shoulder and looked at her sadly before he quickly maneuvered them out of sight. 
All of the knights in Princess Justice’s army felt their hearts break as their princess screamed in frustration and agony. 
--------
The two heroes had barely landed on the rooftop when Chat Noir got in Harmonia’s face. 
“Just what the hell was that?!” Chat Noir practically growled.
“Look,” Harmonia said, not flinching at his threatening aura, “We need to come up with a plan to rescue her, and you were tied up.” He gestured to the ropes still tying his arms to his sides and his wrists together. 
Chat Noir only scoffed and effortlessly broke free of the restraints, “I was playing prisoner. I’ve been captured by much worse than simple rope before.”
Harmonia frowned, “So why were you playing prisoner? That doesn’t make any sense.” 
“I was helping Lady--” Chat Noir slapped a hand over his mouth, “I was helping Marinette.” 
“Chat, I know who Ladybug is. But that doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t make sense why you would help her help Hawkmoth.” 
“She wasn’t helping Hawkmoth!” Chat yelled, “Marinette would never!” His hands were balled into fists, and he almost looked ready to swing in order to defend Marinette’s honor. Harmonia looked over him, a thoughtful look on his face. 
“I believe you,” Harmonia said, “and I would never intentionally work against Marinette.”
“You just did.” 
“I’m not a mind reader, Chat Noir,” Harmonia sighed, “And Marinette was very convincing. But that was the point, I’m assuming.”
Chat only scoffed, crouching down and ruffling his own hair with his hands as he racked his brain for what to do now. 
“Look,” Harmonia started, “I may have messed up, and I apologize for that. But it isn’t too late to help her. But we need to work together.” 
“It’s weird, having a partner that isn’t Ladybug,” Chat Noir admitted softly, looking down at the ground. “I failed her. Of course, she doesn’t blame me. Marinette never blames anyone except herself.”
“You didn’t know,” Harmonia told him. He offered a hand to help Chat stand and he hesitantly took it, “Look, Marinette wouldn’t want you beating yourself up. I… also feel like I failed her, and I got quite the earful from her earlier today.” Harmonia sighed, and looked Chat in the eyes, “I know it’s weird for you to have a partner that isn’t her, but she needs us right now.”
“Yeah, she does,” Chat Noir nodded. 
“Besides, we’re both fighting for the same thing, so I’m not worried about anything,” Harmonia smiled wistfully, his voice almost humorous. 
“What do you mean?” Chat Noir looked at him skeptically. 
“We’re both fighting for the girl we love,” Harmonia said, as if it were the most casual thing in the world. Chat Noir looked like he was about to say something, but Harmonia kept talking, “and right now the girl we love is counting on us to help her, yeah? So we need a plan.”
Harmonia extended his hand out to Luka to shake, “Partners for now?” 
Chat Noir hesitated for only a second before he reached out to shake Luka’s hand, “Partners for now.” 
The two both knew the true implication behind the “for now” but both decided to focus on the more pressing issue at hand. Chat Noir looked at the note Princess Justice had handed him before Harmonia had crashed her speech. 
“Marinette knows how to get to Hawkmoth,” Chat explained while Harmonia listened intently, “he’s hidden somewhere in the Agreste mansion most likely. She told me Hawkmoth was Gabriel Agreste.” 
“How does she know?” 
“Maybe through their mental link? I mean it would make sense, because when we fought Dark Owl, the fake miraculouses that Ladybug tricked Dark Owl with were sent directly to him. That must mean those under his influence know his general location.”
Harmonia seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding, “Okay that makes sense. But wouldn’t it be easier to just tell you that and you go take care of it alone when he isn’t expecting it?” 
Chat Noir shook his head, “No, because the mansion is heavily secured, and it’s very likely that his assistant Nathalie is Mayura,” Harmonia noticed Chat Noir seemed increasingly sad as he said that, “there’s no way I’d be able to handle all of it on my own. She was going to take me directly to him under the guise of me being a hostage and bring her army with her as backup.” 
“Would Hawkmoth really fall for that?” 
Chat Noir laughed bitterly, “This is the same man who has akumatized babies more than once. I think he’d delude himself into just about anything to get his hands on these miraculouses.” 
Harmonia nodded, “Alright, so now we just need to figure out how to let both of us get captured without it being suspicious.” 
“Yeah but how are we going to do that? If Hawkmoth suspects anything, he’ll get rid of Marinette’s powers.” 
“While I don’t think that would entirely be a bad thing, because that means she’d be back to normal, I actually think this is something she really needs,” Harmonia sighed, “Getting justice for herself rather than getting justice for everyone else.” 
Chat nodded in agreement, “So we have to find a way to help her get that justice without being obvious to Hawkmoth.” 
“What if we ate one of her macarons?” Harmonia thought out loud.
“What do you mean?”
“What if we ate one of her macarons? Hawkmoth would have no reason to doubt we’d do whatever she said.”
“I suppose that could work… but you don’t automatically turn into a knight just because you eat one,” Chat Noir frowned, “Lila was put in some magical stocks.” 
“Hmm.. Marinette mentioned something like that to me, too,” Harmonia frowned, “When I asked her to give me a macaron before I got these earrings, she told me I’d just be put in stocks.” 
“What? Why?” Chat Noir looked at him incredulously. 
“It probably has something to do with a ‘justice’ system in her macarons.She also mentioned something about seeing injustices in people, I think.” 
“Oh! That would make sense!” Chat Noir said, “I remember seeing people who ended up becoming knights crying and begging for forgiveness before they transformed.” 
“So that means they need to be truly willing to face their injustices and be willing to change themselves, otherwise they end up in stocks…” 
Chat Noir and Harmonia looked at each other nervously, both realizing that this would probably be the best course of action for them to convince Hawkmoth. Taking a deep breath, they both nodded at each other in silent understanding before launching off the roof in search of Princess Justice once again.
--------
reminder: this is not a ship fic. there is no endgame pairing. this is just taking note of everyone’s feelings and how it effects their relationship with Marinette and each other. 
taglist:  @fandom-trapped-03 , @justafanwarrior , @ultimatetornshipper , @lunadensmidnightprowl​ , @starpony999​ , @minth0l-illness , @the-bollywood-miraculous-girl​ , @akioshiwarrior​ ,  @queencommonsense ,  @id-dance-with-draco ,  @all-mights-asscheeks
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silverwhiteraven · 4 years ago
Text
Wings of Broken White - Ch.8
Tag List: @marichatmay
[ Posted on Ao3 ] [ Chapter 1 ] [ Chapter 7 ] [ Chapter 9 ]
Marinette and Chat Blanc continued to see each other sporadically after their midnight meeting full of emotional rollercoastering and winged secrets. He had told Ladybug about it a few days after, leaving out the part about Marinette’s revealing of having wings. It made her heart skip to know that he would keep a secret that wasn’t his to tell even if he didn’t have to. Ladybug thanked him for being honest with her and told him to be careful, but she was happy he got the chance to spread his wings around another friend.
Ladybug also offered to increase their patrols together if he ever wanted to practice flying with her. She even teasingly said something along the lines of them both needing the benefit of practicing with each other, just in case they ever had to have each other’s backs during a fight in the skies. He accepted, looking giddy to get even more opportunities to fly with another. She also found it unfairly adorable when he joked that he wouldn't get jealous if she wanted to fly around with one of her own civilian friends.
The two even thought about the possibility of some day both flying with their civilian friends together. Ladybug had to hide her giggle at the thought that she might have to break the news that Ladybug and Marinette could never fly together, if this proposed group flight practice were to ever take place.
But Ladybug did confess to Chat Blanc, that if she were to ever choose a civilian to fly with, it would be either Nino Lahiffe or Alya Césaire, because if there was anyone besides Marinette Dupain-Cheng that was trustable, it had to be the people Marinette herself trusted most. Chat hardly held back on his approval of the choices, and it made her laugh to see his bright antics.
After that, several more months passed by the duo, and the world. School was nearing the end of another year. Akuma’s were just as rare and random as ever. Best of all, Chloé had continued to be reprimanded by an ever vigilant Adrien. She was starting to almost mellow out as the fact slowly sunk in that someone she cared about and who cared about her, too, was actually willing to go against her, and even leave her, because she was in the wrong.
All of this led up to an end of school project for their class.
The students were to work together in equal shares to put on a play, telling either one of the fairy tale stories they had studied in class, or one they made up on their own. Nino had proposed that they make a short movie out of the project so that the fruit of their joint efforts could be shared outside of class. The teacher thought the idea was brilliant, and gave them extra time and afterschool privileges to help them set up.
Marinette had been a little tired the day the class was assigning the roles. Her mind only half paid attention, causing her replies to be badly timed and delayed. Because of it, an interesting selection of character parts were assigned.
“Now, I know we’ve been delaying assigning the lead roles,” Nini spoke from where he stood at the front of the room, acting as one of the movie’s directors, “ but I wanted to make sure everyone knew what the other options were before a bunch of people tried to jump at being the Knight of the Princess. So let’s start. Any volunteers or votes for the Knight’s Princess?”
There was various various calls of names and a few ‘me!’s, and most of it all went over Marinette’s head. The only part that really registered was ‘votes for the Knight’, so Marinette half-heartedly pipped in, “Adrien could do it.”
The room went quiet and all eyes turned to her like she had just declared herself to be an Akuma or something. She blinked, wondering what she said.
Nino was the one to break the silence with a crooked and amused smile. “Marinette, you want Adrien to be the Princess?”
She gaped like a fish, realizing she had heard his earlier question completely and utterly wrong. She waved her arms around and she stuttered, trying, and failing, to clear away her mistake. She froze when Adrien burst out laughing, clearly not offended or even upset.
“Why not?” Adrien chuckled as he calmed. “Not the first time I’ve been told I’m pretty enough to be royalty. It would be a nice break from the cool-guy look I’ve been doing at photoshoots lately, too.”
The room started to buzz again with noise. It seemed everyone was considering it, liking the idea of breaking away from assigning a girl to be the Princess.
Alya pipped up above the others mischievously. “So if Adrien get’s to be the Princess, who’s taking the role of Knight? Another of the boys, or one of the girls? At this point, anyone can take the spot since we’ve decided to ignore traditional gender roles. Any volunteers?”
There was more discussion filling the room at that declaration, and a few people glanced at Chloé. She had probably been gunning for the role of Princess, but now she seemed to be pouting. “If Adrien is taking the lead role, then I still want a good one. But I refuse to be a smelly Knight! I’d rather be the King.” She stated decidedly, and the class chuckled and murmured their acceptance of her decision. They were happy to have her not throwing a fuss. It was rather refreshing, actually, to see her still being dramatic but cooperative with the class.
Murmurs continued as the class discussed the role of Knight. Marinette stayed out of it, too embarrassed that she might mess up again. It wasn’t long before Adrien hummed to himself and turned to her.
“Marinette? Would you like to be the Knight to my Princess?” She squeaked at the sudden proposal, and the class hushed. Adrien turned to the others, a small but confident smile on his lips. “She’s helped all of us in Akuma attacks before, right? Marinette acts the part of a Knight saving dames and damsels in distress naturally. I think she could do this, if she wants to, that is,” he adds with a reassuring glance. There wasa round of agreements from the others, before all eyes turned to her, breaths held in anticipation of her answer.
Retreating into the neckline of her oversized shirt to hide a fluster, she nodded her acceptance. There were a few excited woops, and Kim even whistled.
After that, all the roles and assignments for the project were set.
Marinette and Adrien were to be Knight and Princess. Chloé and Juleka took to the King and Queen. Kim and Ivan claimed a joint role of the Dragon for themselves. Rose volunteered to be the Evil Sorceress. Mylène wanted the role as the Knight’s Fairy Guide. Alix was to make props and set backgrounds in the art room. Nathaniel and Alya were the script-writers for the story. Max and Nino were on camera duty with the help of Markov. Sabrina was put in charge of coordinating, scheduling, and final edits.
Lastly, everyone was given two tasks as a group: First, if they had nothing to, they were to help their fellow classmates who were still working. And second, everyone pitches in for the costumes if they can.
Everything went surprisingly smoothly for their project once everything was divided up. Adrien got Chloé to pitch in for the costumes with him, both allowing their immense closets to be raided. Alya and Nino were able to check out cameras from the yearbook and photography clubs. Props became a group-effort when most of the class rather enjoyed, and got carried away with, the art room’s free to use supplies. Some of the musically inclined were putting together a playlist for mood and background music. Kim helped the cast members practice their lines, even standing in for a partner if someone wasn’t there.
It was fun, Marinette had to admit. Up until the inevitable hitch caught up to them, though.
The days of filming their project were upon them. The school’s courtyard had been commandeered for the majority of their sets, empty due to it being a weekend. Large green rolls of poster paper had been used like wallpaper, hung from the second floor banisters to act as a greenscreen. The stairs got covered in painted cardboard so they would look like castle walls and towers from the side.
The entrance to the school was left clear, since the class had deemed it worthy to be its own set background twice over. The first was to act as the front gate to the King and Queen’s castle for the opening scene outside. The second would be from the inside, doors closed and covered with curtains to make it look like the inside of a Great Hall. To give the makeshift Great Hall its finishing touch, Chloé had ‘borrowed’ the fancy chair from her Father’s office to act as a throne.
All in all, things went great. The story and filming opened with the Knight, Marinette, decked out in painted cardboard and foam armor, returning from a mission in another country. He was summoned by the King and Queen immediately upon arrival, to be told that the Princess, Adrien, had been cursed and kidnapped by the Evil Sorceress. To their credit, Juleka and Chloé actually did an amazing job of acting and looking like emotionally distressed parents who just lost their daughter. And when they did a flashback scene in one of the classrooms, Rose proved to be one scary Evil Sorceress with Adrien a perfect damsel in distress. They did have to redo the scene several times, though, because the Queen, Juleka, was having trouble not looking like she wished she was being kidnapped by a very pretty girl instead.
The Fairy Guide, Mylène, was then called forth to help assist the Knight in tracking down the Evil Sorceress and navigate through the Magic Woods. This part took a mix of walking along the makeshift greenscreen wall multiple times and actually going out to a few of the parks around Paris. They had to admit to themselves, though, that they mostly just wanted to run around in-costume and have fun, as well as eat a picnic that Alya’s mother and Marinette’s father had both contributed to after hearing about the project.
It was the pre-rescue battle scene that caused the hiccup. The class artists had done a too-good job on the two-person costume of their Dragon. Kim sat upon Ivan’s shoulders, allowing the Dragon to have an impressive two and a half metre height from head to ground. Kim was also very set on being very animated and expressive with the Dragon, so the mouth, full of sharp paper mache fangs, opened and closed at his command while he threw glitter out like it was fire. Ivan controlled the legs, wings, and body, which all had moving parts for mobility. The legs were strapped to his own, so they walked and stepped when he did. The wings were controlled by Ivan’s Raven wings, allowing them to move realistically. Kim, acting as the neck, would twist around, and Ivan, needing to keep balance, would follow his movements, causing the whole dragon to lumber around and sway like it was alive.
The Fairy Guide, Mylène, couldn't bring herself to face the Dragon at all, let alone appear on set with it. What really took them off guard, however, was the Akuma that came along as the class was gathered around Mylène.
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musicfeedsmysoul12 · 5 years ago
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Princess of Atlantis
 Marinette has always been fully aware her father wasn’t fully human- or Tom. Her mom had met Arthur- her bio dad- on a trip to Hawaii. They’d had a whirlwind summer fling that ended with Sabine going back to China for her move to France unaware she was pregnant.
 When she discovered she was pregnant she’d contacted Arthur who had gone right to France to explain some things. Learning about the fact there was an entire world underwater? Was… interesting. Learning her daughter may be in danger because of her heritage?
 She was not happy. 
 Marinette was five when her uncle Orm attacked the surface and her father became King of Atlantis. When they’d learned he had a daughter on land they had all decided that she could not be heir given her only Atlantean abilities were breathing underwater. 
 Marinette, even at age five, had no issue with that. She did not want to rule Atlantis. She wanted to be a fashion designer. She said that to her dad when he’d broken the news. 
 “I’m going to also redesign your suit.”
 “It’s not-“
 “It’s ugly daddy.”
 She still was a princess though and had to sit in on lessons given to her by Mera, her father’s betrothed/girlfriend. Mera at least was fun. 
 She learned Atlantean design and etiquette. It was fun and enjoyable and she got to design her new step-mother’s wedding dress and her daddy’s suit for their wedding at age ten which she was thrilled about.
 Marinette grew up learning about her heritage from all sides of her family, her dad fIrm on the idea. She spent time in Hawaii with her grandfather, and later her grandmother, and time in Atlantis. She learned her Hawaiian heritage, her Chinese heritage and her Atlantean heritage from a young age.
 Children though can be cruel. Especially when afraid. A little girl with crazy wavy hair and the ability to swap between multiple languages is fun, but when a girl whose daddy has power and has taught her she can do no wrong decides she doesn’t like you… no one does.
 Marinette grew up being taunted for her differences. She saw how some people side-eyed her and her mother while walking around, how some Atlanteans sneered at her for her mostly human heritage, saw how some of the people on the islands seemed to hesitate around her. She tried to smile through it but…
 Well, in the end, it was easier to pretend. She was white-passing enough that all she needed to do was straighten her hair and stop speaking other languages.
 Her mother hated it. Her papa- Tom- did too. Her daddy did, her step-momma did. Her grandfather and grandmothers did. Kaldur, the boy who became her daddy’s apprentice and a big brother figure to her, hated it too.
 But she couldn’t keep going, couldn’t keep being taunted. So she plastered a smile on her face and pretended. And it worked- Chloe, the bully, backed off and she made some sort of friends. She even became a hero like her daddy and slowly gained actual friends. She got to make her own team like Kaldur, she got a partner she could count on, a mentor to help her out. She was happy.
 Or so she thought. 
 A liar came to school and things went all to hell. She lost everything. Her friends, her comfort she felt in her hero partner being there to help. Her team, her mentor…
 She was left holding a box full of power, tears in her eyes and a scream in her throat. She took off to Atlantis where she collapsed and sobbed into her step-momma’s dress and her daddy raged. 
 It was Kaldur who helped her.
 “Fuck them,” Kaldur told her. “They don’t deserve your tears.” He sat with her and wrapped his arms around her. “They weren’t friends. Friends don’t betray you like this. Friends stick with you even when things go to hell.” He kissed her forehead and promised to be there.
 And he was. He was there when she herself decided fuck it when she stopped straightening her hair and cut it into an undercut with one side framing her face. When she started wearing eyeliner- he even went and got some help from Nightwing for learning some dramatic ways to make her eyes pop.
 Kaldur helped her figure out how to find good people to fight with. Kagami, Luka- they were good fighters, good friends. They had her back. Luka got into fights with his sister about her and never back down. Kagami punched Adrien and told him how little she cared for him seeing how he never backed up his friend.
 Marinette started smiling again soon enough.
-0-
 “I hope Marinette doesn’t make this difficult,” Lila told Alya, pouting. “I know she has Italian heritage too but I’m fully Italian…”
 “Don’t worry girl, we’ll make sure Marinette doesn’t start anything,” Alya promised as they all sat in the classroom about to give their reports on their cultural heritage. The others nodded and all turned to the front just as Marinette walked in. She’d changed- everyone knew it. Gone was the kind girl… sort of. She was still kind, but she stopped looking like she used to her. Her hair was short, she wore dark make-up, and she dressed in loose and comfortable clothing that made her look badass honestly. She also apparently had tattoos but no one had believed it- until today when she came in with no sleeves and showing off her tattoos on her arms.
 “Oh god, where did she get those?” asked Juleka in shock. “They’re badass.”
 “Maybe they’re gang signs,” Lila said slyly, smirking as everyone began whispering about this new rumour.
 “Class,” Ms. Bustier- the woman had moved with them to lycee because Chloe had demanded her favourite teacher be moved with her- began. “Marinette will be going first on her report as she needs to leave for a family thing.”
 “What?” Alya asked. “But Lila’s the full Italian! Shouldn’t we learn about the culture from her?” everyone nodded. Marinette stared at them, face blank.
 “...Nino, you’ve known me since we were kids. You know Tom’s not my bio dad.” Marinette said and the class froze.
 “... Shit, I forgot.” Nino admitted while Marinette rolled her eyes hard. 
 “I figured. So no, I’m not doing Italian anyway.” She turned and began setting up her powerpoint, ignoring the class. Lila was angry. She had hoped to whine and cry that Marinette had stolen some of her points about her heritage or make some comment about Marinette obviously having stolen her report. Now she had to actually do it. “As everyone knows- and I did do a previous report on it- my mother is Chinese. What few others know is that my bio father is kānaka ʻōiwi, or Native Hawaiian as some know them as.” Marinette continued her report, showing off interesting legends about her father’s people and even speaking of her tattoos. “They were done in the traditional way and it really hurt but I think they’re pretty amazing. I don’t have much- just a few that my dad thought fit me.” Marinette grinned and everyone looked at each other feeling uncomfortable. When her report was done she left with a wave and a very awkward class.
 Not that she cared, she was busy focusing on the fact uncle fucking Orm wanted to see her. Orm- as in her weedy uncle who still hated all land walkers. And who looked like a dork and still wouldn’t take her advice about his hair.
 Walking up to the living room, she wanted to whine upon seeing him. He was looking annoyed while sitting on the couch.
 “What’s going on that I needed to ditch school?” she asked, feeling annoyed at seeing him. She had stopped wanting to do everything for everyone. She’d stopped trying to be a people pleaser. It was annoying and frustrating. Kaldur had taken her to meet Red Robin who was similar to her in that way and they’d both had a nice long bitch out about everything before they’d both decided to stop it. Stop trying to help people who never said thanks, stop trying to please everyone. 
 She enjoyed the chaos the class had become and loved hearing about how much of a shit show Gotham’s Batfam had become themselves before they actually started trying again.
 “We need someone to run Atlantis,” Orm said darkly. She stared at him.
 “Oh fuck no. No- nope. Nuh-uh. Aʻole, Méiyǒu. NO.” She shook her head, holding her hands up. “I am literally as far from the throne as I can be given I’m the King’s only kid so far? I mean Kaldur doesn’t count.”
 “This is true but your father is needed in space while Mera is still on bedrest as her pregnancy is most difficult currently and Kaldur has no actual relation to the throne.”
 “And you can’t rule because technically you were dishonoured,” Marinette added in, gaining a dirty look from her uncle. “Damn… I’m just the face of this, right? Step-momma is still the one giving orders?”
 “Of course. Though there is a ball with land walkers you need to attend.” Marinette stopped.
 “...Everyone will know who I am then.” Orm shrugged, uncaring.
 “Weren’t you planning on revealing yourself anyway?” Marinette frowned but sighed, her shoulders slumping.
 “...At least I have a dress already designed and half made for this.”
-0-
 Telling Bustier she wouldn’t be in for two weeks was simple enough. Ruling Atlantis- or really acting as a mouthpiece for her step-mother? Simple to. Jumping back to Paris when an Akuma happened? Easy. All of Atlantis knew she was Ladybug- they felt the magic. They knew she was the Guardian as well and mostly ignored that as long as Plagg never came near them. Given she was still hesitating on claiming the ring she was okay. 
 She didn’t want to take his ring, she wanted her partner back, her best friend. She wanted him to stop flirting and stop not taking things seriously.
 “It’s annoying,” she told Kaldur while signing some papers. She and Kaldur were in the room Mera was in, the woman annoyed at the bed rest condition she’d been given for her pregnancy and demanding Marinette sign the papers in her room at least. “I mean- it’s wrong and gross and I should take it back but it feels… wrong. Gross to consider it, you know?”
 “That’s the bond of a Ladybug and Chat Noir I believe according to our records,” Mera told her step-daughter.
 “Yeah- magic makes things tricky. But he’s really pushing the boundaries.” Kaldur told Marinette who sighed.
 “I don’t know what to do.”
 “Tell him you’re dating someone,” Mera said. “If he’s a dick still then take the ring.” 
 Maybe she would. Maybe.
 But first, she had the damn ball to deal with.
-0-
 “I look terrible in gold Uncle Orm.”
 “Stop calling me that.”
 “Uncle.” Orm glared at his niece as she glared at the gold fabric he’d thrust into her arms to add to her dress. It needed an extra layer, and gold was one of the colours of Atlantis. “I look better in silver.”
 “I don’t care. You need to have the colours of Atlantis on you.” Orm told her. She glared at him and then at the fabric.
 “At least you got the sheer stuff. It’ll look nice over it hopefully.” She added the cloth and did admit it looked nice.
 She still hated gold cloth. 
 But it went with her tiara as she waited for the announcer to call her, a hand on Kaldur’s arm.
 “Relax Marinette- everything is okay,” he told her softly. 
 “I’m about to reveal to the whole world I’m the Princess of Atlantis.”
 “Imagine the looks on your classmates’ faces?”
“...Okay yeah, I feel better now.” Marinette flashed a smile and waited.
 “Her Royal Highness, Princess Marinette Curry-Dupain-Cheng of Atlantis, current regent while her father is in space and Lord Kaldur of Atlantis.” the Announcer read out loud. Marinette and Kaldur walked into the room with their heads high.
 Cameras flashed and Marinette kept her eyes focused. Her dress showed off her tattoos and muscular arms, the entire thing designed to be able to fight in if needed. She was every inch the warrior princess that Atlantis could boast of.
 “Princess!” a man shouted. “Who designed your dress.”
 “I did myself,” she told him. “I enjoy fashion design and sewing.”
 “Are you the heir?”
 “No,” she told that reporter. “Due to the fact I only have a quarter of Atlantean blood I am not the heir but as said I stepped in as regent while my father fights for our galaxy,”
 “Are you and Kaldur dating?”
 “Definitely not- he’s my elder brother in everything but blood and legality.” She told that one before she was led away by Kaldur and had to play nice for a few hours with politicians. 
 There was one face she recognized.
 “Prince Ali,” she said, curtseying like she’d been taught by Mera.
 “Princess Marinette,” the Prince of Achu said, bowing. He looked a bit sad. “I see you aren’t in rehab like Rose is saying Lila is claiming.” Marinette stopped as did Kaldur.
 “...What?”
 “Apparently that’s the new rumour that Lila Rossi is spreading.” 
 “...I believe I need to make some calls to various lawyers we have on land,” Kaldur said darkly and strode off to do so. Marinette had her eyes closed and took a deep breath.
 “I hate that girl will all my soul,” she finally said after a moment.
 “I do as well,” Ali admitted. Marinette looked at him in surprise. “I meet many people, your highness. Sometimes- unless they had made an impression- I forget them. When Rose asked if I knew Lila, I said possibly I’d met her. I did not know the extent of her lies until Rose referenced them and then… it was to late.”
 “Not really your highness, you could have said something.” Ali winced.
 “I have few friends, Princess Marinette, Rose is one of the few. And like others she expects me to be a perfect Prince which means not… rocking the boat so to speak.” He looked pained saying so, and Marinette frowned.
 “Then she’d not a friend Prince Ali. Real friends wouldn’t hold you to expectations and ideals. That’s why I stopped being friends with a fair amount of my class. I think only Juleka and I could be called friendly- and that’s because her brother is one of my best friends.” Ali frowned but looked thoughtful. 
 After the ball, Marinette went back to Atlantis with a satisfied smile. She had a nice time, and she even swapped numbers with Ali. 
 Maybe she had a new friend.
-0-
 The rest of the time spent in Atlantis was spent texting Ali when bored and ignoring the emails from her classmates who’d realized she’d changed her number. Most were basically begs for her to talk to them, a few saying they were sorry, or asking for an interview. Some accused her of lying or brainwashing Ali (Alya there) while Rose sent a sorry email. Apparently, she’d taken Ali’s message to heart and even Juleka felt bad.
 Marinette didn’t give a damn.
 When her dad came back and she got to hug him and hit him for leaving the planet- idiot- he had a laugh over the emails.
 “Your classmates are ridiculous,” he told her. “What, do they think you’ll dramatically run back to each other, arms wide open?”
 “Probably,” she told him. “I just don’t give a damn.”
 “Nice.” he ruffled her hair and they chatted about seeing grandma and grandpa in Hawaii over the summer again before Marinette headed back to Paris where some of the Atlanteans who could walk on land were guarding the bakery. And where a lawyer was waiting, plus a personal assistant.
 “No,” Marinette whined as her father patted her shoulder. He’d gone with her to explain some things. 
 “Sorry kid. You’re in the spotlight now- and that means you do need to go to a few galas and balls.” Marinette playfully gagged. Arthur laughed at his daughter again. He was happy she was doing better, that things were okay for her again. He’d worried when she was a shell of herself. Worried when she became Ladybug and worried when that Rossi girl came to the class.
 He was happy she was okay.
-0-
 Marinette’s new personal assistant was named Stephanie Brown and she was, in fact, Spoiler from Gotham who had agreed to move to Paris to help Marinette out and to be part of her new team of heroes she was putting together. Stephanie was still in school but she was killing it already as a personal assistant.
 “Alright, so school, homework, design time then patrol. Maybe steal the ring today?” Stephanie asked as she checked the tablet.
 “Maybe. I want to give him one more chance…” Marinette sighed. “But that could be the bond…”
 “Hey, up to you but I will follow as the lovely Buzzer to keep an eye on things.” Stephanie grinned as Pollen giggled from the depths of her hair. Marinette nodded as they continued their walk to school, the lawyer following. 
 Marinette ignored the majority of the students staring at her as she walked to class, only saying hi to Kagami who waved her down to playfully scold her for not telling. 
 When she got to class, Stephanie broke off and the lawyer was the only one with her as they entered the room.
 “GIRL!” Alya stood up. “Why the hell didn’t you ever tell me?” she was insulted her friend had never said anything to Alya.
 “Because we’re not friends anymore and I wasn’t sure if I could trust you when we first met. Guess I was right.” she shrugged at Alya who flushed red at that. Lila was staring at Marinette with wide eyes as the girl turned to her. “I heard someone was claiming I was in rehab these past two weeks, plus that my tattoos were gang signs and oh so much more.” The lawyer stepped forward then.
 “You’ve been served,” she told Lila who stared at the lawsuit in horror. Marinette ignored the class’s exclamations and demands she not go through with it, instead going to sit at the back again, uncaring of their words.
Adrien was giving her a look but she ignored it, pulling her phone out to text Ali, who’d texted her asking if she wanted to go for lunch. Checking with Stephanie, she agreed. 
 Still ignoring the class- now with Bustier giving her disappointed looks- she rushed out of the school to where Ali was waiting at lunch. The class followed and stopped, seeing who she was with. 
 “Ah, Princess Marinette.” Ali bowed and Marinette bowed as well, given she was wearing jeans and not a skirt.
 “Prince Ali, it is a pleasure to see you again.” They smiled at each other before both blushed, feeling awkward when they realized they’d been staring.
 “You look like a queen,” Ali remarked before his face went even redder and Marinette’s cheeks flamed before she grinned.
 “Well I am a princess…” Ali stuttered but then laughed, offering his arm and opening the door to all of the possibilities of the two, while the class watched.
No one really realized the fall out that would occur, with Lila’s mother fired, her lies exposed and her dealings with Hawkmoth revealed. No one knew that a new cat would stalk the night one day, calling himself Prince Noir. No one knew how their lives would change.
 Especially not Marinette or Ali.
tagged: 
@vixen-uchiha @persephonebutkore @magicalfirebird @starwindmaden @liawinchester67 @doriebell @animegirlweeb @unmaskedagain
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cinnamonblueberry22 · 3 years ago
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Optigami Review + A big rant on Cat noir in season 4
Alright, I haven't been really active on Tumblr lately mainly because of school and all the work I've been receiving, but this is the one time I can post so just bear with me lmao.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Optigami Review:
Honestly love Ladybee, her transformation did look a bit rough, but her suit looks stunning. Too bad Cat noir didn't get to see it.
Kind of lost as to why there's only Luka, Kagami, Max, Chloe, and the other miraculous holders that Shadowmoth knew the identities of, did Gabriel just ask Adrien those specific people, and Adrien just, did not find anything suspicious about that?
Did Adrien just not question as to why Kaalki, the kwami of teleportation, was there with Rena Rouge?? And why Kaalki even teleported him somewhere so far to the Montparnasse Tower even though he's literally Cat noir and needed to fight??
Why were the kwamis magically able to be heard on the phone?? I thought they weren't able to be seen in technology, the phone is technology... So why were they heard??
Now for Alya. Honestly, she did seem a bit suspicious earlier because she wanted to be a permanent holder even though it's not the wisest decision and then completely acted like everything was fine after saying "It's your choice tho" and then immediately got to be a permanent miraculous holder... Seems like she wanted to cover her plans up by seeming sincere and then got her chance. Foreshadowing? Even if I love Alya in general, I do love some betrayal plot twist stories.
Mari is not making the right decision because, it will be okay for a moment, but Shadowmoth literally knows who Rena Rouge is. And at the end of the episode, we see him wanting to get to know Alya better. Alya is going to be in danger. This is going to affect Ladynoir. I mean, yea, I want angst but still.
Overall, I rate this episode a 7.5/10. It was impactful, we got to see Cat noir upset about not being needed, but there were also some questionable things in this episode like I mentioned previously. Other than that it was a decent episode and for once I liked Shadowmoths plan tbh.
So there's been a ton of people talking about "Cat noir is being replaced by Rena Rouge!" and all that... I just have one question, why? Why are you so upset over the fact that Rena was here for like, what, two episodes? And then saying she's replacing him? It's as if you're living in Cat noirs mind lmao. I swear I saw at least 12 videos in the span of two days after the release of Optigami saying how upset Cat noir is and how they're bashing Rena for it as if it's entirely her fault for getting to be a permanent miraculous holder and about to be replaced as the next Guardian of the miraculous box. Look, if you despise any girl that's getting more screentime over a DEUTERAGONIST, just say you're misogynistic and go. I don't mean to sound controversial, but what's up with you hating and bashing on girls that "Get in the way" of something that you cherish and baby (Ex. 'Kagami gets in the way of adrienette, Rena is replacing Cat noir, Vesperia is a replacement of Chloe and gets in the way of Ladynoir' who, may I remind you, is a racist rich girl and Cat can like anyone he wants so shut it)
Now back to the main subject, yes, you can be upset over what's happening to Cat noir, but that doesn't give you the right to completely bash the girls who have nothing to do with hurting him unintentionally (BTW, Ladybug is the one who is hurting him by not telling him anything, still doesn't mean you should hate on her, you can talk about it but bullying her over- dramatic; this is a kid show for god's sake). I am upset about Cat noir, but it's clear that the writers are planning something with him, as I will talk more about in the rest of this post.
There have been tons of foreshadowing in the past episodes about Adrien/Cat noir, so let me talk about it.
I'll start with Truth. In Truth, Cat noir gets hit by the spell, and Ladybug asks him his opinion on her role as Guardian of the Miraculous Box. He then says "If it doesn't change things between you and me, then I'm good with it!". But things are changing, and he's clearly not okay, this was some good foreshadowing I did not notice earlier lmao. This was a good part on the writers job.
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In Mr. Pigeon 72, the end card is quite interesting. Practically all the photos of Adrien in this end card are of him wearing his blue scarf. When it wasn't even mentioned in this episode. Even if it wasn't said, it actually is still there. In Bubbler, when Adrien arrives to school, Nino says "Wow dude, guess adults can really change!" This line is effective to Adrien. The moment he got the scarf and apparently it was from his father, he was so happy. From the scarf, he thinks his father can change. He thinks his father is just demanding and over protective. He thinks his father just "Doesn't know how to show his love for his son" Even though, us, the audience, knows thats not true. Adrien is not blind. From the scarf, that's what's making Adrien keep on thinking his father isn't bad. And in Mr. Pigeon 72, he literally tells Marinette the moment he wants to walk with her in the rain and then sees the gorilla, "I can't, you know my father, he's demanding." Even though that's not the case. So why was it included in the end card? Foreshadowing that there will be a scarf reveal. Foreshadowing that Adrien will find out the truth. Even if the truth isn't always great.
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Now for Solecrusher. I picked this scene because, I find it really upsetting. When Zoe was opening up to everyone talking about how she made different roles to please Chloe, and when Ivan hugs Zoe, Adrien is upset. Why? Because he relates to her. He makes different roles of himself or different personalities, to please everyone. That's why he's upset.
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Now for the end card. Here's a little close-up. We see Adrien, Ivan, Juleka, Luka, and Rose. However, Adrien is farther from the others. He stills feels isolated and stuck. While everyone else is happy. He stills feels the need to pretend. Which is making Adrien feel worse.
This isn't specifically about Adrien, but I kind of see a little pattern here. Solecrusher shows Andre is the one who made Solitude. Queen Banana shows a movie being made. What's the next episode? Gabriel Agreste. This episode will probably be all about flashbacks. About the movie Solitude. About Emilie. Showing Gabriel, Emilie, and Adrien younger. I honestly think that Gabriel and Adriens relationship is still as bad, I just think that even if Adrien claims it was better before.
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This was honestly the episode I felt the worse for Adrien. He nearly killed himself and Ladybug didn't even talk about it after. Now, I know Ladybug wouldn't know what to say, but she should at least speak up?? I mean that's all I want tbh. The end card seems.. Off. Adrien is not included even though he had a big role in comforting Juleka in the beginning of the episode. Cat noir is shown to be, smiling.. But the smile doesn't even seem genuine. He's still upset. He's still not okay. Foreshadowing that he's feeling even worse than before.
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Optigami. Holy this episode. Well I already rated it before but yea. Take a look at his facial expressions. He's upset he wasn't even in the battle (Meaning he wasn't never happy with the fact that he's sometimes not even needed in fights like Style Queen), he's angry, shocked/disappointed, then pretends he's the same old Cat noir with the flirty jokes, but the moment Ladybug leaves with her superhero allies (Still questioning why she even left tho; Shadowmoth knows those identities yet Cat noir doesn't..) And Cat noir is just upset. I couldn't take the exact frame of him alone but I see him looking all moody and sad. He's now pretending to be fine as Cat noir. Which is not getting any better, but more angsty lol.
As I saw all the foreshadowing in this season, the writers seem to be isolating Adrien even more. And after the scarf reveal, I'm pretty sure he's going to pretend to be fine with that too. I feel like a lot is going to happen to him. Maybe even him possibly becoming a.. Villain? What? In Queen Banana, it shows the hero of creation, and the villain of destruction. Could mean something. Other than that, I've been thinking about a lot of angsty fake scenarios of Adrien lately lol.. Back to the subject, the possible breakdown or conflict between Ladynoir would happen in season 4. It's the most logical time.
Oh, and one more thing:
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Bye!
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iggy-of-fans · 5 years ago
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Of being a Ladybug
So this one will Hopefully be a little less angst and a little less salt buy still a good read. Hope you enjoy!
Cons of being a Ladybug
There are a lot of things about being Ladybug that made Marinette's life difficult. The fact she always got sleepy in winter, the fact that the cold affected her more strongly than before. The way she never got enough sleep because she had to patrol. Having to deal with Chat Noir and his tantrums and flirting. The way she sometimes had to ditch her other responsibilities in favour of fighting Akumas. Hawkmoth. But right now, the thing that got to Marinette the most was that she couldn't call Lila out. Being Ladybug, a hero, meant she couldn't use being Ladybug for selfish reasons. She'd learned her lesson the last time, and in the end it hadn't even been worth it. But as Marinette, she could at the very least gather some evidence, just in case she made good on her threat. Adrien may think taking the high road was best, but Marinette could see the damage she was subtly dealing to Alya, and also to the others, a toxic kind of take and never give mentality growing in the class in the week since her return. Little things, like Kim asking to copy Max's homework instead of simply getting help with his dyslexia, Alix getting annoyed at Nathaniel for paying more attention to the art than to her when they'd hung out last, Mylene getting frustrated and feeling neglected when Ivan took her to practices instead of dates. Things that had never bothered any of her classmates before were starting to cause rifts and fights. Lila wasn't the best liar, anyone could figure her out with half a brain cell and a smartphone. Her power really came in manipulating situations in her favour, her ability to cry on command and have people feel sorry for her. But her ability to read people was her only real genius. She always knew just which buttons to push to make people feel guilty, insecure or "righteous" fury. So it was subtle, but the classroom was becoming toxic to be in. Marinette, being so giving and kind, was the most taken advantage of.
But as it turned out, Marinette didn't really have to do anything at all. Alya did the work of outing Lila by posting an interview on "The Amazing Lila Rossi, the New Every Day Ladybug and Ladybug's best friend!"
Marinette felt bad for Alya, but also a bit vindicated, since maybe this might finally teach her to fact check. Marinette crossed her fingers in hope of Alya getting off with a slapped wrist and sent the video to Penny Rolling and the Italian embassy general e-mail. It was Sunday night, at least she wouldn't have to wait long to see the results.
Monday morning burned bright with hope, as Marinette saw a special interview announced from Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Prince Ali and several other names Marinette didn't recognize. Nadja Chamak was not going to be hosting though, as several people being interviewed had complained about "unprofessionalism" of the Parisian News anchor. Marinette shrugged, at least she wouldn't have to babysit. She went to school, hearing whispers of LadyBlog being shut down by Officials due to inaccurate information. Marinette sagged slightly, 'that sucks', she thought. She'd hoped Alya wouldn't be too badly affected. Suddenly a shadow fell over her and she looked up to the frowning face of Adrien Agreste.
"Adrien! Morning good! Good Morning! Hi!" Marinette stuttered.
"Did you have anything to do with the LadyBlog being shut down?" Adrien asked, his eyes spelling disappointment.
"What? It's being shut down? Why? And what do you mean me? What power do I have over anyone, let alone Alya to shut that down?" Marinette asked, a negative feeling travelling down her spine. What the hell was Adrien on about?
He smiled reassuringly suddenly," You're right. What was I thinking. You may be our everyday Ladybug, but it's not like you have the influence to get a free blog shut down."
Adrien smiled, patted her shoulder, and walked past her towards the classroom. Marinette stood frozen. Did… Did Adrien think… Did he think she was… Worth less? Because she wasn't rich? She stood there past the final ring of the bell, until Tikki popped her head out.
"Marinette, are you okay?" she asked quietly. She was highly dissatisfied with Adrien at the moment, but needed to focus on her own charge.
"Am I… Did Adrien… I thought he was better than that…. But… He actually thinks because… That because I'm not rich, that I have no power…?" sheshe frazed it like a question, but Tikki and Marinette both knew the truth.
"You should get to class, Marinette" Tikki said instead. Shaking herself, Marinette started walking, only for the alarms to start.
"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette shouted, and took off towards the sounds of crashes.
Alya woke up Monday morning excited to see the result of her post the night before. She'd worked with Lila all weekend to get it perfect and now the fruits of her labour would be sewn. She opened the blog and stopped. Yesterday, before posting the video, she'd had 675 followers. This morning, only 231 people were left. She scrolled to the comments.
"Oh yes, I saved Jagged's non-existent cat, from his non-existent private jet, on a tarmac which civilians aren't allowed onto. And I came to Paris months after Ladybug started saving Paris, but I was supposed to be the original and I just recommended my friend instead!... Yeah right! Who the hell believes this crap? "
" my favorite line in this video is where she claims to have grown up as jagged stones favorite person, but doesn't even get his home city right!"
" oh ladybug totally loves chat, she just wants to keep it on the dl. {attachment} this video taken a couple weeks ago while chat threw a tantrum cause she refused to go on a date with him"
"Clara Nightingale and I were ACTUALLY in the same dance class, and I don't remember a sausage with a mouth being in that class"
"if ladybug can heal her supposed tinnitus, why isn't she curing cancer?"
The comments continued along that line when suddenly a loading error came up. Alya scowled and reloaded the page, only for a [401: error. The page you are trying to load no longer exists]. Alya paled.
"No! No no no no no no no no!" she chanted as she tried to reload it, and then tried to go in to check the coding. Everything was shut down. Alya started to tear up. This couldn't be happening! She was sure Lila wasn't a liar. Marinette just didn't like not being the center of attention, just as Lila said. Marinette just, just this once, couldn't find the good in a person, but Laya could. Alya opened Google and looked up 'Jagged Stone pets', 'Jagged Stone cat', 'Clara Nightingale dance school', 'Prince Ali charity foundation', and finally 'Lila Rossi'. The only thing that came from the search was that Alya felt like a total idiot for not believing Marinette. And an Italian school site. She clicked it and had Google translate the page.
"STUDENT COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER SEVERE CASE OF BULLYING"
The name of the victim was never released, but schools in Italy were all warned about Lila Rossi. According to the article, this should be in her school files… Why did Mlle. Bustier not warn them? A knocking on the front door distracted Alya from her screen.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Alya's mother screamed, and Alya bolted to the door. Her mother rounded on her the second she opened the door.
"Alya! What is the meaning of this? You're being sued for misinformation and defamation and slander!" her mother continued, holding papers in the air and waving them about. Even still in her housecoat with messy hair, her mother struck a terrifying picture. Alya shrunk in on herself. There would be no sneaking out of this one.
Rose looked at her phone again, her eyes dim and her head bowed. Phrases like "I have never heard of this girl before", and "if this is the type of persons you surround yourself with", "Perhaps I was mistaken in trusting you", and most hurtful of all "This is the last time you will hear from me" jumped out of the email at her from Prince Ali. She had been so excited in her last message to him, telling him how Lila had told her of their adventure together, and Lila was giving her such good advice on her singing, dancing, songwriting and more. Her email had burst with praise from and for Lila, and wanting to hear Ali's version of events as well. Usually he emailed back within a few hours, but this time it had taken over a week to hear back from him. In the email he had sent, was an attachment to Alya's interview of Lila and a short message, saying only that he had never met Lila Rossi, and he'd thought Rose was smarter than to believe everything she heard, and if she kept that kind of company and believed such outrageous lies then perhaps he shouldn't have contact with her anymore, since she was seemingly too gullible and too naïve to take his friendship seriously. Tears dripped down her cheeks onto her phone. Why was Marinette always right about these things.
Jagged Stone watched the video that Marinette had sent to Penny on his big screen in his suite in Paris. He was not at all impressed with her obvious name dropping, made up stories of her greatness, and claiming he'd written a song about her. Marinette's short message of "HI Penny, I understand you and Jagged are crazy busy, but this interview ended up on my friend's website, and I just couldn't ever remember Jagged mentioning a pet other than Fang. I've even looked at some older interviews where he said he'd hatched and raised Fang when Jagged was only 15! I have no idea where this girl is getting her information, but I didn't want you to think that all of Paris had completely lost their minds and thought this heads up might put you in a better space to deal with weird questions if they ever come up. - Love, Marinette"
Jagged listened to the little chit on the screen claiming shevd received tinnitus from saving his cat. Geez! Did this girl have any idea the kind of implications this could have on his musical career?! The hell is wrong with kids today? And the girl interviewing her never even checked her sources? Poor Marinette, stuck with such complete idiots and liars. He really should try to talk Sabine into letting him take Marinette on tour with him again. This was getting ridiculous. He frowned even harder when Clara Nightingale was accused of "being jealous and stealing" sausage girls dance moves. He started feeling his blood boil slightly as he distantly heard Penny shouting into a phone for lawyers and interviews and "gosh darn it, anyone but some idiotic French Anchor". He honestly wasn't sure which of them was more pissed. Himself or his fiancée.
Clara Nightingale broke her phone on the far wall of her apartment. Two decades of dance and singing lessons, of poetry and practice and some little chit half her age thinks she can tell people that she stole it? Tears at the corners of her eyes, she was grateful Jagged had sent it to her with the assurance that Penny was already setting up interviews and lawyers. Thank Ladybug and all that is good for Marinette Dupain-Cheng. If she hadn't had the foresight to send this video to them, then there would have been absolute hell at their next public appearance. She glared at her broken phone on the floor. Steal her moves, did she?
At 4am in Metropolis city, Lois rolled over and sleepily answered her phone.
"Yes?"
"I know it's early, Lois, but I have a job for you in Paris…" came from the other end. Louis bolted up in bed.
"I'm listening"...
To be Continued
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dakotacrisis · 5 years ago
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Hanging in the Stars
Soooo...I’m back at the Felinette again cause as we’ve established before I have no self control. Also @emzurl‘s art sparks a need to expand with fanfiction because I have fallen down the Felinette rabbit hole and I ain’t coming out!
Based off of this and this and this. I already wrote one based on one of these but I’m bringing it all together now!
War has broken out between Felix and Marinette. The only way to peace is through invasion of personal space.
---
It was Romeo and Juliet. Those that didn’t even read the play knew the Shakespearean tragedy.
Miss Bustier’s class had finished reading it and she opened the discussion for what her students thought an accurate interpretation of the play was. Little did anyone know the storm this question would unleash.
Marinette had raised her hand and gave her piece about how she thought it was a beautiful tragedy about a poisonous hatred conquered by love. Most of the class nodded along.
Then from the back of the classroom was a deep groan. Marinette went ramrod straight as she turned around to glare at the opposed.
“Felix, you have a different interpretation?” Miss Bustier asked.
“Yes.” He met Marinette’s glare, “To brand this tale a beautiful tragedy is to scrape the mere surface. When in actuality it is better suited as a cautionary tale about the stupidity of youth and trappings of shallow lust.”
“Thank you, Felix.” Miss Bustier nodded, “That was an interesting interpretation. Did anyone else have any ideas?”
“How can you say it is about the stupidity of youth?” Marinette countered, “The shallow lust you claim was actually real love. It only seemed rushed because it had to be introduced quickly to fit the run time of the play.”
“I am not surprised a hopeless romantic such as yourself would choose to believe in the delusion of love at first sight.” Felix rolled his eyes, “What Romeo and Juliet are experiencing is physical attraction that was further exacerbated by a juvenile sense of teenage rebellion brought on by their ancestor’s feud.”
“And I am not in the least surprised that a cynic such as yourself would take such a stance.” Marinette shot back, “Yes their feelings come on quickly but in the context of this story love at first sight does exist. It was a destiny written in the stars that they should love and their love should end in tragedy. Throughout the entire play there are references to the theme of the universe. They know the force that brought them together will inevitably drive them apart but still they beg the cosmos to let them be.”
“Or is it that destiny does not exist. There is no grand plan or greater meaning to the lives of others. We simply float through life experiencing hardships and pleasures. These two idiots were as made for each other as a fast food commercial saying that burgers and fries are a perfect pairing.” Felix stood out of his seat.
“I refuse to believe that everything is left to chance. There are some things in this world that are meant to be and Shakespeare understood that.” Marinette was out of her chair as well. “A feud started long ago that is buried with love. What better metaphor is there for destiny and tragedy and the delicate nature of life and love?”
“I can think of one.” Alya said with a knowing smile.
“Okay kids!” Miss Bustier called out. “I think that is enough for today. We will pick up on this tomorrow.”
The class cooled down from the debate. Marinette was seething but turned away to gather her things. Why was she getting so worked up about Felix’s opinion on a play anyway? That wasn’t like her. But to hear such a pessimistic outlook on one of the greatest love stories ever written had triggered her in a way. Should she have really thought more from the pessimist himself?
“Girl,” Alya slid closer to Marinette, “Things got a tad heated there. Any particular reason?”
“Felix just rubs me the wrong way. The pompous, cold hearted, little cynic that he is.” Marinette swung her bag onto her shoulders.
“Pompous? Yes. Cold hearted? Also yes.” Felix strode past their desk, “But I am a realist, Dupain-Cheng. Not a cynic. Get your facts right.”
“You arrogant son of a--”
“Whoa girl. Calm down.” Alya held her back. “Don’t let him get to you.”
---
Felix couldn’t deny that he didn’t enjoy some good conflict. He lived for debates. And debating with Dupain-Cheng had been interesting to say the least. She had already proved herself a spigot of emotion and thus her views and arguments were strongly driven by her own conviction.
As much as she tried to remain good natured and level headed there was an unquenchable fire within her. And Felix relished nothing more than fanning the flames when given the chance. Maybe it was the fact that she was one of the few genuinely intelligent people in his class. Maybe it was the fact that she was conniving under her fluffy persona. But Dupain-Cheng had a grace and composure that burned bright and made her tower high with confidence. It was...fascinating.
Not that he would ever admit such a thing. He knew exactly how she would respond if she ever found out Felix had been riling her up to glimpse the unwavering girl he quietly admired. Was his avoidance at her reaction born from shame or fear? Perhaps both.
The days went by and the debates he held with Dupain-Cheng grew. His pleasure hidden by an impassive mask he crafted over many years.
It wasn’t until she started ignoring him altogether did his behavior seem to catch up to him. In his head their debates and jabs had all been in good fun. A game of teasing or whatnot. But now she wouldn’t respond. The fire he loved to see had smouldered. She looked tired. Even when he targeted her directly she wouldn’t so much as meet his gaze. The most he could get out of her was a sharp word or a harsh glance.
Had he gone too far?
“Dupain-Cheng.” He walked up to her before class. “I need to talk to you.”
“I don’t feel like getting into another argument with you, Felix.” She continued to rifle through her locker. Her back to turned to him as she spoke.
“I’m not here to argue with you.”
“That’d be a first.” She muttered.
He reached past her and closed the locker. He kept his arm against the locker effectively pinning her in place so she couldn’t easily run off. “I mean it. There is something I need to tell you.”
She turned slowly so that she was facing him and it was at this point he realized exactly how close he had gotten. Her face was barely a breath away staring up at him. A mad blush rising hot up her neck as she clung tightly to her books.
“What do you want?” She asked.
“I...” Felix couldn’t remember. The speech he had carefully prepared and worded had erased itself from his memory. What is it he had wanted to say!
“Marinette, can I copy your homework? I completely forgot to finish that worksheet from chemistry last night.” Alya came around the corner and saw her best friend pinned against her locker by Felix. “Or should I give you two a minute to sort this out?”
“Alya!” Marinette slid out from Felix and joined her friend. “Good morning! What was this about your homework?”
Felix was still frozen in place by the lockers. What was that! He’s better than this! He’s more composed than this! A pair of bluebell eyes will not unhinge him again.
Not to worry. They had a free period today. Marinette had a habit of using that period to study by herself so he would get to her then. He just needed to keep a level head and not get distracted like he did this morning.
Free period came and everyone trickled out of the classroom. Marinette stayed seated. Now was his chance.
“Dupain-Cheng,” He stopped at the desk next to her. “Got a minute?”
“No.” She pulled out her textbook. “Can you leave? I’m trying to study.”
“And I will leave you to it in a moment. I need a quick word with you. That’s all.”
“No offense, Felix, but I really don’t care about what it is you have to say to me.” She stood up, “And since you won’t leave I guess I’ll have to.”
“Dupain-Cheng, wait.” He called out to her.
She stopped and turned back to look at him. “What?”
“Come here.” he gestured.
“Why should I?” she raised her chin defiantly.
“Fine then.” He crossed over to her. “I’ll just come to you.”
“Okay, you’re here. Now what?” She muttered. Her eyes still met his own but it was a struggle to do so. The warm glow on her cheeks didn’t escape his notice either.
His face was blank but his heart beat painfully loud in his chest. Say something. Say anything! You got her here and you probed this close into her personal space already you need to say something!
“Now I’m going to...” He pushed even closer. The subtle pink of her face exploding into a hot red as he inclined nearer.
Where was he going with this? This wasn’t the plan! Swerve, Felix! Swerve!
“Remove this from your hair.” He pulled a leaf that had been caught in her hair.
He turned towards the garbage can to throw it away. “You really must be more attentive miss Dupain-Cheng. Appearance is everything.”
She made a loud angry growling sort of noise before stomping out the door. Felix stared at the leaf in his hand with a growing sense of dread. What was wrong with him? Two times he lost his sense of direction trying to talk to her. Why was he getting so close to her in the first place? Before he was trying to keep her in place so she had to listen to him. But here she was already listening.
Whatever. This was stupid. Dupain-Cheng would be back to her usual spitfire self in no time. It wasn’t his fault.
He left to go clear his head in the library. There was a secluded spot away from the usual noise he loved to sit and study in. On his way he passed by Dupain-Cheng who glared at him. Her face still bright red from their earlier encounter.
He couldn’t help the smirk that crept onto his face as he walked past her. He settled down in his corner and pulled out the travel copy of Romeo and Juliet he had been reading. He had an essay to write and needed to find which quotes he wanted to include.
Romeo: Is love a tender thing? it is too rough, too rude, too boisterous; and it pricks like thorn.
Mercutio: If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.--
“HEY!”
The shout pulled Felix from his work. He gazed up just in time to see Dupain-Cheng descend upon him in a fury. Slamming her hand against the wall next to him trapping him in place much like he had done her this morning.
She was so small though. It would be only too easy to move her and escape to somewhere more secluded but her unwavering gaze kept him in place.
“Do you like it when I invade your personal space uninvited?” She snarled at him, “Huh, smart guy?”
“I do.” The words leapt past his lips without thought.
His eyes grew wide as he searched for something else to say. What was wrong with him? Before he couldn’t get out two words to her and now the two words he chose were damning to his unforeseen intentions. Why was he acting like this?
She backed away from him. Her face a mask of embarrassment and regret. Felix’s own visage was no better. His indifference peeled away to reveal his own embarrassment and excitement from the event.
“I’m--I’m sorry,” she stammered. Her mortification hidden behind her hands. “I don’t know what came over me. I just wanted to make you as uncomfortable as you made me.”
“I uh,” Felix cleared his throat, “I see.”
He took a deep breath to compose himself and set his book down. He inched a step closer towards her. He wouldn’t get up close again. His mind would surely short circuit once more.
“It was never my intention to make you uncomfortable. I only wished you to listen and I feared any other way you may have walked away.” He told her.
“What is it you have to say that I need to listen to?” she kept her eyes locked on the ground. “I already said once I don’t want to argue with you anymore, Felix.”
“I like it when you argue with me.” He answered truthfully. “Debating with you is some of the most and only fun I have in this school.”
“Why though? Why me?”
“Do you really believe that anyone else can hold such intelligent passion?” He asked. She met his eyes once again and he sighed. “You are clever and you have conviction. It is a rare treat to see you bring both to the surface in such an entertaining way. I suppose that it was greedy of me to probe you for my own amusement. You were such an optimist I didn’t think your well of patience and drive could run dry.”
“You constantly got into arguments with me because you wanted to see me get mad?” Her eyebrows knit together.
“The situation is more nuanced than that but to be black and white about it, yes. I guess I was making you angry for my pleasure.”
“That is rather selfish.” her gaze hardened, “Did you not once think of how it made me feel? Having to constantly battle your arrogant opinions? It was all rather exhausting.”
“You left me rather winded after a row as well.” Felix smirked. He crept another step closer. She watched him wearily but didn’t make a move to distance herself. “As firm as I believe it was hard to not get sucked into your point of view. You speak so passionately to stand against you is a chore in and of itself. One I both loathe and look forward to.”
“You are a real piece of work. You know that?”
“A masterpiece?” he quipped with a teasing smile.
She made a small snorting sound that struck Felix to the bone. She was laughing. Genuinely laughing because of him.
“If you say so.” She fiddled with the hem of her shirt.
“From now on I’ll leave our debates strictly in the classroom. Agreed?” He held out a hand to her.
“Agreed.” She took his hand firmly and shook.
A bit of daring flooded his system and he pulled her forward bringing her hand up to his face and left a chaste kiss upon it. Her face was flushed that mad red again. “I look forward to our next bout, Dupain-Cheng.”
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shoryubug · 5 years ago
Text
Standing Up. Chapter 2: Andre Glacier
Ahhhh so it's been a while, and my laptop got back to me today...but I'm not feeling that great D: plus with everyone around me assuming it's the big plague going around (when in fact I don't interact with other humans so it's very much indeed just a dang cold), I haven't been in the best of moods to write...but I did promise as soon as I could that I'd get Standing Up continued, so I hope you guys don't hold it against me! Tumblr: Chapter 1, 2 (here), and Ao3 (for registered users).
Alya was always doing this kind of thing, pushing her ideas and thoughts and plans aside...it wasn’t just hers either. Continually she’d been witness to Alya doing the very same thing to Nino, and it was frustrating. It didn’t matter that it had just happened, Marinette wanted to stop thinking about it, so after stomping her way over to Rose and Juleka who were both outside the school gates, she wasn’t exactly angry, that would be too simple, she was more irritated. The fact that Alya continually railroaded her time and time again was frustrating, and the worst part was that it was getting to the point that Nadja Chamack wasn’t willing to trust her as much as a babysitter, so all the spare money that she was earning before was now reduced heavily, due to every instance that Alya was around both her and Manon.
"So Marinette, we got a trailer for Juleka’s bike so that we can all go to Canal Saint-Martin for the photographs, Luka said he’d meet us at your place so that we can all ride down there together because he found a place that we can all change in!" Rose gushed as Marinette had felt a wave of peace wash over her for a moment.
"Yeah, let’s just go to my place for all of it!" she said cheerily as the three of them made their way to the bakery, Rose waited outside guarding the bike while Juleka and Marinette had gone inside to gather a few piles of clothing, three outfits for each Juleka, Rose, and Luka, and Marinette’s mind began to wander to Juleka’s older brother for a moment while the pair of them silently went down the various rows of stairs to dump the folded piles of clothing in the trailer.
Luka was definitely a godsend to her in these moments, and she didn’t know what she would have done without his support. She had given up everything she felt before for Adrien, to give him and Kagami a fair chance at being together, because they were both her friends, and they both were interested in each other, and they both deserved to be happy...even if it had meant that she had to sacrifice the potential of any future she might have wanted with him. That wasn’t as important as the happiness of two of her friends, no matter how much it hurt her in the end.
Marinette found herself to still be lucky to have the support of friends like Juleka, Rose, Luka, Mylene, Alix, Kim, Nino, and of course Tikki in the moments that she could feel the weight of that sadness pulling her down and she was grateful for it. Not a lot of people in the world had that kind of support.
"Wasn’t there also some jewelry you wanted us to model?" Rose asked, breaking Marinette from her reverie.
"Ah-umm, yes, but I wanted it to be a surprise so let me go get the box, and once you’re getting dressed in the outfits you can choose what jewelry you want to model!" Marinette stated, rushing back up the stairs to search her room for the three boxes of jewelry she had packed away, each labeled with her three models names affixed in permanent marker, written in the same fancy script as what was on the T&S bakery door before she made her way back down the stairs.
"So, since you’re getting us ice cream after I kind of wanted to bring something up…" Juleka stated as Marinette turned her gaze to the girl, setting the boxes in the trailer then zipping the casing up and turning her gaze to the girl.
"Oh yeah! I wanted to know too, but I’m going to ride ahead to meet Luka! Please let me know the answer Juleka! I’m really curious!" Rose’s sweet voice broke through as Marinette nodded, trying to follow along confused while Rose grabbed a helmet from the trailer and sped off like a speed-demon, making Alix’s speed craze look tame in comparison.
"So...you had a question?" Marinette offered as she looked up at Juleka, admiring the girl’s beautiful figure and face.
"Well...everyone is assuming that your new flavors are hinted at Luka...but the colors seem more like you yourself, don’t you think?" Juleka’s question lingered between the two of them for a moment as Marinette sighed.
"I don’t really know what to think...I try not to think about the ice cream...I know my dad proposed to my mom with a scoop of it, but...I think I lost my faith in it when Andre was akumatized because I didn’t want to eat it." Marinette admitted, giving Juleka a knowing look.
"Wait he was akumatized because you didn’t want to eat ice cream?" Juleka asked, perplexed "I thought it was because something else happened, that’s what everyone made it sound like!"
"Well...Mylene, Ivan, Alya, and Nino invited me and Adrien to go get ice cream with them...a couples thing I guess...but Adrien couldn’t go, and I was upset, so I felt like a fifth wheel to them, you know, two pairs of couples and one single person...and when they all went to get their ice cream, he kind of...tried to force me to take some myself, claiming that it would 'make my true love materialize'" she used air quotes at that. "And I was fooled for a second, into thinking that this boy was Adrien for a moment...but then I dropped my ice cream and my appetite was gone, so I told him as much...and he insisted on making another one, and...I kind of said that I didn't believe ice cream could bring true love...that ice cream was just ice cream...and I left...everyone kind of followed after but mostly I just wanted to be alone..." she stated with a sigh before shaking her head.
"Wow...it sounds a lot more like he was being a jerk," Juleka whispered, and Marinette sighed.
"I don't know...I shouldn't have overreacted the way that I did...but I didn't know what to do...he was a grown man, and he wound up getting akumatized over it...and I don't know how long it took him to find me, luckily for me Chat Noir was with me that night, or I might have been turned into an ice cream sculpture..." she stated, wrapping her arms around her frame.
"You were with Chat Noir that night? You know how funny it would be if he was your true love? I mean, your old colors kind of match his too." Juleka offered as Marinette burst out into a fit of giggles.
"Yeah, right, me and Chat Noir. That's the best joke I've ever heard!" Marinette managed through her fit of giggles, though aware in the back of her mind that even the possibility of her and Chat Noir together was the making of something catastrophic.
It figures that it would start with the word cat too, effectively making it a pun. Ugh.
she thought, before bouncing in her step trying to match Juleka's pace.
As they had finally gotten to their destination after a few more minutes of chit-chat that was more lighthearted, Juleka and Rose had gone off to one bathroom while Luka stood and waited in one of the new outfits that he was modeling for her, a smile plastered on his face the moment that she'd approached him, and as he was about to speak she held up a finger to silence him, her eyes raking over every detail before she went to the trailer of the bike and came back with a small sewing kit, quickly setting up a ladder stitch on the back of the coat, while it was still on him, then pulling the seam to make it better fitted to his form.
"That looks much better...you were about to say something though? I'm really sorry for interrupting!" she murmured before he shook his head and smiled wider at her.
"Nothing, it's always great to watch you when you're in your own mind, it's like watching a rickshaw in action, something you just can't peel your eyes from because it's intricacies are too alluring." His compliments set her cheeks ablaze for a moment. Leave it to Luka to make her blush. "Anyway Ma-ma-ma-Marinette, how have you been? Rose said you were having some trouble earlier." He patted the space beside him, beckoning her forward. "You can always talk to me if you need...or not talk, you know." His intense aquatic gaze made her feel at ease for a moment.
"It's...It's not that it's bad or anything it's just that...Alya keeps...pushing my buttons. I mean...before when she tried to invite herself to everything I had always thought it was just her trying to be a good friend, but today it just felt too intrusive. She tried to pull Adrien and Lila in too, and just disregarded me telling her no...it was just...too much." she stated, giving a sigh. "I know I probably shouldn't have gotten so angry about it, but I couldn't help it! I mean, she just wouldn't listen! Sometimes she's so stubborn that I just...want to scream at her!" Marinette felt her eyes beginning to water. "I guess I kind of did today though, huh? So much for keeping my cool..." it was then that she had felt Luka's arms around her, embracing her tightly, the warmth of his body spilling into her like an ocean meeting the sand.
"You don't deserve to have your plans stomped on by anybody Marinette...standing up to her was the best thing that you could have done in this situation, maybe now she'll start to understand that she needs to take your requests seriously," Luka stated before he pulled away and his gaze met his sister's who had quickly turned away as if she were caught up in an embarrassing moment...though there was nothing embarrassing about it. Intimate maybe, but not embarrassing.
"Thank you, Luka...I guess I really needed to hear that," she stated before wiping at her eyes.
The photoshoot had gone well, each of the three models posting around the various spaces that Marinette wanted them to while she took multiple high-resolution photos from her phone, which now had a special magnifying lens affixed to it. All in all the four of them had fun, them in making new poses and her in fixing things up, jokes all around between them, and it was one of the happier moments that Marinette had experienced in a while, full of laughter and joy.
"So now that we're all done, do you guys still want to go for ice cream?" Marinette offered, pointing out the Andre Glacier ice cream cart to the trio. Juleka and Luka had simultaneously shrugged while Rose's wide ocean eyes had somehow gotten wider.
"Yes! Ice cream sounds amazing! We should all get our own though if that's okay! I'm just not in a sharing mood!" Rose stated which had made Juleka burst out in laughter. All of them had made their way over to the ice cream cart where Rose and Juleka had gone first.
"We'd like some ice cream please!" Rose stated in earnest as Andre had looked the duo over.
"Strawberry for her darling smile, blackberry for her hair, and blueberry for your ocean blue stare! This shall keep your love together through any affair!" Andre sang out, scooping out the ice cream and putting a cherry and two-scoop spoons on top, to which Rose gave a disappointed look, taking the ice cream to share with Juleka, before Marinette pursed her lips while Luka approached, being gifted some ice cream himself, the same pink and blue colors that he and Marinette had often gotten before Marinette had gotten to Andre.
"I'll take one of each of the previous sets please," Marinette stated as Andre gaped at her then awkwardly laughed.
"Ah, pretty Marinette! You know how the ice cream is here---" he began before Marinette's gaze turned to steel while she looked directly into Andre's eyes.
"As I said, I'll take one of each of the previous two sets of ice cream please." Her voice was cold, anger seeped into her words.
"That isn't how I run this stand Marinette--"
"This isn't a practical way to run a business Andre." She snapped before grabbing two five euro bills and slamming them on his stand before stomping off, notably without ice cream as she made her way over to the trio that had made their way to the bike as Juleka had taken leave on it, to go drop off the clothing and jewelry at Marinette's and the trailer at Rose's. Luka himself had been there with Rose who shrugged about it, though Marinette only sighed.
"So...do you wanna share?" Luka offered as Marinette shook her head 'no'.
"I'm fine...thank you though. I'm not really in the mood for ice cream...I was hoping Andre would be understanding, but apparently, he isn't." She murmured, as the first time that she'd gotten ice cream with her friends replayed in her mind for the second time that day. Irritation laced that memory, just as it had infected her formerly happy mood. "I think I'm gonna head home...actually...thank you guys for today, and let Juleka know that I'll get her some pastries for breakfast tomorrow to make up for what happened with Andre today..." Marinette offered as Luka nodded, Rose softly sighed.
"It's just too bad...I don't like this ice cream much now..." Rose whispered. "I think I might just go get it from stores from now on! You get more for your money in them!" Rose offered, joyously.
"That sounds like a plan to me!" Marinette stated. "I hope you guys have a great rest of the day! I've gotta study for this Friday's test in physics, I'll see you guys later!" She stated as she began to make her way home, no doubt to hear about how rude she'd been that day from Tikki, and get a lecture from her kwami...which she wasn't in the mood for.
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