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unmaskedagain · 5 years

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Tattered Remains of Broken Dreams (Yours, not Mine)

This is based off a prompt I came across. It’s a one-shot. @virgil-is-a-cutie and @thyladyanput. Hope you two like lit.

The pieces were scattered across her desk. Marinette had known something was up the moment she stepped into the classroom. Everyone had gone quiet. A few had glared at her. Some had snickered. And they all watched as she walked to her desk.

Nathanial had tried to wave her down; shaking his head with sorrow in his eyes. He had gotten there a few minutes before she did.

It took her a few seconds to recognize what the torn pieces of what had been weeks of hard work.

Once she realized what it was, Marinette wondered if it made her a bad person that she wanted to smile. Because while she honestly wanted to feel bad, all she felt was a relief. Like ten tons of weight had just been lifted from her shoulders.

Marinette looked at her desk, pulled out her phone, took a picture, and then sent several texts.

Then she shrugged, tossed the mess into a nearby trashcan, and pulled out a fresh sketchbook.

The other students, the ones who had waited for a reaction, were stunned. Where were the tears? The rage? Anything?

“Don’t you care?” Alya yelled, frustrated with her ex-bestie. “Your sketchbook was destroyed.”

Marinette glanced up at her, “No. A sketchbook was destroyed. My sketchbook with all my worthwhile designs in safely locked away at my house. You all,” She looked around the classroom; memorizing every face. Lila looked particularly bewildered because she had wanted to see the Asian girl cry. “ Destroyed my school sketchbook; the one I use for school-related events designs from various classmates, plans for birthday parties, and the like.”

“But you worked so hard,” Rose said.

Mylene nodded, “You worked in it every day for months.”

“Yeah, it sucks,” Marinette shrugged. “For you.”

That got everyone’s attention.

“What do you mean for us, Dudette?” Nino asked.

Marinette sighed, “The sketchbook was filled with all the projects that were either requested by people in this room or were for people in this room. By destroying it, I can no longer do any of those projects,” She explained. “I did it in my free time. As my main work schedule is full of commission I’m actually being paid for. I don’t have time to redesign or remake those sketches. So I sent texts to Bustier, Luka, and anyone else involved that I can no longer work on their specific project.”

The other students blinked.

Marinette rolled her eyes, “That means I can’t do the costumes for the school play,” Mylene and Sabrina gasped. “No new outfits for Kitty Section.” Rose and the other members of the band got tears in their eyes. “I can’t do the set design for Nino’s next gig.” The boy in questioned paled as he had been counting on Marinette’s design skills to wow the crowd. “The new design layout for the Ladyblog is canceled.” Alya clenched her fists. “The costume for Mylene’s short film is too. I had to back out of the school fundraiser. Let the Coach know I can no longer do any banner work. Or design the new team uniforms.” Alix and Kim’s mouths dropped. “Max’s Game-Con costume is out of the question now.” Max visibly deflated. “Ivan’s mom’s gift for her birthday is out too; pity that dress was so beautiful.” Ivan gasped. “I can plan any birthday parties or make custom cakes. The charity work you wanted my help with, I can’t do. My idea for the school trip to New York city is canceled as all my contacts and trip itinerary ideas are gone. I let Bustier know that I’ll be too busy to be class president so she’ll have to assign someone else the role. The dresses for the school dance you girls requested, I can’t do anymore.” She shrugged again. “Oh well.”

“But, but, Luka!” Juleka cried, worried about how her brother will react.

Rose was crying. So was Mylene.

“Can’t you redo it,” Sabrina asked. “The drama department was counting on us.”

Marinette narrowed her eyes. Us? Sabrina nor anyone else had lifted a finger to help Marinette come up with idea for the costumes for the school play. “Afraid not. There’s not enough time; to resketch everything and then actually make it. I have to focus on the designs I’m being actually being paid for. They come first.”

Alix slammed her hands on the table, “We only did it because you were bullying Lila!”

There were nods.

“Yeah, girl,” Alya said. “We just wanted you to know what being bullied was like. We didn’t know our stuff was in there.”

“First I never bullied Lila,” Marinette said and before anyone could protest, she continued. “Second of all, I was bullied by Chloe for years, why would you think I would ever bully anyone else,” She looked directly at Nino when she asked this. Her childhood friend. His eyes widened and he looked away. “Lastly, why should I go to the trouble and take time out of my already swamped schedule to redesign projects I did for you that you destroyed. The way I see it, it’s your own fault.”

The entire class went silent again. Each mind weighing the consequences of their actions.

“Nathanial,” Marinette said. The redhead boy looked up. “You don’ t have to worry. You paid for your work; it was a commission. It will arrive on schedule; even if I have to work all night for a week to redo it.”

Nathanial’s face lit up, “Thank you, Marc’s going to love it.”

“You’re redoing his work,” Alya screeched. “That’s not fair.”

“I didn’t destroy all her hard work, so yes it is,” Nathaniel snapped back at the girl before Marinette could. “Not only that but I paid for my stuff. Something none of you have ever even offered to do.”

Some of the other students looked ashamed. It was true.

“They were custom made designs,” Marinette explained. “Any other designer would make you pay hundreds for all that works. Thousands, if it was a fully trained professional, right Adrien?”

Adrien swallowed hard. He hadn’t been involved in actively destroying the bluenette’s sketchbook but he hadn’t stopped it either. The blond nodded, “My father would charge a lot. His last custom piece was sold for five grand, and it was just a simple pants suit.”

“What about your mom, Chloe?” Marinette asked the blond who had arrived mere seconds after Marinette and had stayed by the door to watch the fireworks.

Chloe gave the class a vindictive smirk, “For the dresses for the school dance, fifteen hundred dollars apiece; more if she had to hand sow them herself. For the rest of the work, combined, may be less than twenty grand if she cut you a deal. Anyway between ten and fifteen grand when she was still at Marinette’s level. Shame.”

Marinette shook her head, “Fifteen thousand dollars of work you were going to get for free, gone.”

Most of her classmates' faces had drained of color at the price, at realization of how big of a screw up they made. They had no idea just how much work Marinette did.

Lila was seething because it would be too hard to turn this around.

“I’m sorry,” Rose rushed to say. “We’re sorry.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Marinette shrugged. “There’s nothing to do. And now that I know that there are people in this class who can’t keep their hands to themselves, all free commissions are now canceled.” Gasps filled the room. “From now on, if you want some work done; you’ll go to my website and request a consultation like all my other customers. Keep in mind, for custom designs, depending the size of the job, you’ll have to book anywhere between a month and six months in advance. Www.MDC-designs.com.”

Chloe walked to the back of the classroom and sat down next to the Bluenette, “You’re still doing my dress for the dance, though right?”

“Chloe, you did a consult a year early and paid well in advance,” Marinette smiled. “You’re dress is done. You can do your final fitting anytime.”

Miss Bustier walked into class with a smile that quickly turned to a frown at the sight of Marinette, “Oh Marinette, I was so sad when you told me you had to back out of being class president and planning the school trip and, well, so many other things. You had such wonderful ideas. How on earth you got us on the list for a tour of Stark Industries, the Gotham times, Marvel Studios, and Vogue; I’ll never know. It’s a pity that can’t happen now. All canceled, you said?” The teacher shook her head. Totally unaware of the sheer horror her words at unleashed in her students. “It’s a shame about what happened to your sketchbook. Do you have any idea what happened?”

Marinette just leaned back in her chair, “Not a clue.”

That time, she smirked.

The new few weeks were horrible for the students of Miss Bustier’s class. As they all scrambled to design, plan, and actually make/do their own projects.

Sabrina and Mylene had realized quickly they had no designing skills and were forced to tell the drama department that the promised costumes weren’t coming. Aurora, leader of the Drama club, and Marinette s friend had heard about what happened from Nathianal and spread the news to the other club members. Most were artists too and knew they would’ve died if something like that were happening. The ones that weren’t couldn’t believe they had been getting all that for free and a bunch of idiots ruined it.

Alix and Kim found themselves participating in a lot more school fundraisers to raise money for the new uniforms and to pay for all the team trips to the away games.

Luka had been disappointed in his bandmates and his sister and had threatened to go solo.

Alya was forced to do more babysitting to help pay for new website design and a dress for the dance.

Nino had no clue just how hard the set design was. And ended up nearly causing a fire at his gig.

Lila had no clue on where to start for planning a trip as fabulous as the one Bustier made Marinette’s sound.

Birthdays went without cake, had only cheap decorations from the store, and immaculate gift that had come to be expected every year.

The entire class, apart from three, felt the pressure of planning the school dance, fundraising for the field trips, affording their dresses for the dance, on top of all their other many after school activities.

No one would bother to mention just how badly their actual school work suffered; there was barely any time to study for tests or do their homework. Grades dropped. Parents were furious.

Alix nearly lost her spot on the team. Kim did lose his spot until his grades were brought back up. Alya was forced to stop her work with the Ladyblog until her grade improved. Nino’s parents forbid him from doing any more gigs. Mylene’s dad stopped her movie work altogether. Sabrina’s dad just straight up grounded his daughter so she could have time to relax and study when she had the time. Ivan’s mom actually started tutoring him. Max’s grades didn’t drop but his stress levels increased so much his parents pulled him out of all his extracurriculars.

Luka had no choice but to go solo as his bandmates rarely showed up for practice. It was fine, though, Marinette got Jagged to work with him on a demo album. In exchange for a new few new pieces of wardrobe…

For Fang.

It got so bad even the headstrong Alya burst into tears at the pressure one day. The stress was too much. Some kids found themselves constantly being late, never getting enough sleep, and were constantly worried and checking their phone just in case something went wrong And somehow something always went wrong. A few kids started having anxiety attacks. Relationships and friendship suffered as no one had time to talk or spend any time together as foretime was a rarity. Mylene and Ivan broke up. So did Nino and Alya, who got into a fight so bad in front of the school, that Nino left in tears.

Hawkmoth had a field day with it all. Until he started noticing all the akumas came from his son’s class, and that his son was looking too good either. Gabriel Agrest may be a heartless son of a bitch but he wasn’t a complete monster.

…Plus the Akumas were all worthless anyway. Most were sleep akuma who just put people to sleep. A couple was literally dedicated to forcing people to plan their days better. There was an akuma that literally made everyone around them feel less stressful. Ladybug didn’t even bother to show up defeat that one. Hawkmoth just pulled it back eventually.

Marinette watched it all; not with joy or happiness as her classmates' misery, just a sense of relief that for once it wasn’t her. Everyone noticed how Marinette was nearly never late anymore. She glowed with all the sleep she was finally making up. Her grades while never anything less than good improved dramatically. Her parents were happy their daughter was so much more relaxed and happier. It was like she was a new person.

She even found she had more time to not only design stuff for herself but actually make it. Her dress for the school dance was going to be amazing.

…If there was a school dance. With the way, things were going and the miserable looks of her ex-friends face when anyone brought it up, there was a good chance there wouldn’t be one.

A week after Marinette had that thought, the school play was canceled. Some sports teams were forced to forfeit away games due to budgeting issues; losing their number one spot.

It wasn’t long after that Rose came up to Marinette’s lunch table. Chloe and Nathaniel eyed the pixie-cut blond with suspicion.

“I’m sorry,” Rose whispered. “I didn’t know how much you did. How hard you worked. You did so much for us, and we never even realized. You must think we’re monsters.”

Marinette shook her head, “. I still don’t understand why you would do something so horrible as destroying my private property but I think don’t your monsters. Just not very good friends,” She frowned. “Not friends at all, actually”

Rose winced at the truthful words. Now that she didn’t have time to hang off Lila’s every word, it was easy to hear just how ridiculous all her stories were. She nodded, “I requested a consult on your website. Based on your prices, I think I finally enough money for an MDC original dress for the school dance.”

So someone in class could learn. Most of the class still muttered under their breaths whenever Marinette walked by. Not willing to take the blame for their own mistakes. Though she did see Alya casting her pitiful glances every now and then as if Marinette would suddenly take mercy and start doing everything for the class again.

“I’m glad to hear,” Marinette smiled. “I think you’ll look great in a lovely turquoise; really make those eyes pop.”

#ml salt #ml salt fic #marinette dupen chang #Marienette Dupain Cheng #Marinette deserves better #class salt #alya salt #adrien agreste

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k-llama-llama · 4 years

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The Break

Stray Kids AU: 9th member

Tori x Stray Kids

Tori tells the boys about her plans.

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“Can I talk to you guys?” Tori asked, coming out of the bedroom.

The boys were all sat on the floor, gathered around the noodles they’d ordered, and they looked up when she entered.

“Sure, what’s up?” Changbin said.

“Is something wrong?” Chan wiped his mouth, looking up in mild concern.

“Everything’s fine.” She reassured him. “I just...need to talk to you guys.”

She’d been trying to figure out the best way to approach the subject, but ultimately realized that there was nothing to be gained from beating around the bush. They needed to focus on their upcoming comeback, and they needed to know that she could be focused on it, no matter what was going on with her solo song.

Felix raised his eyebrows, and she nodded in confirmation.

“So.”She clapped her hands together. “I wrote a song.”

Jisung snorted. “We don’t care, eat.”

Chan slapped his arm. “Of course we care. We should all listen to it tomorrow, and maybe it could be a contender for our next album.”

“Why is her song automatically a contender?” Seungmin asked. “It could be terrible.”

“It probably is.” Jisung nodded.

“We should at least listen to it before we-”

“How about we let Tori finish talking?” Felix cut Hyunjin off, pointing back to where Tori was still waiting.

“Thank you.” Tori smiled at him. “Actually, I wrote the song for me.”

“Just for fun then?” Jeongin tilted his head.

“Oh, or you could do it for a dance cover!” Minho exclaimed. “It would be so cool if that was to a song you had written.”

Tori sighed. “How about we all just stop guessing until after I’m done?”

“Right, sorry.” Hyunjin took another bite of his noodles. “Go on.”

“And talk fast, I want to eat.” Jisung asked.

Tori sighed. “Well, I wrote a song for myself. And I showed it to JYP and he-”

“Why would you show it to JYP? We could just look-” Chan shrunk back from her glare. “Right, go on. I’m listening.”

“I showed it to JYP, and to Rain actually but that’s-”

“You met Rain?”

“Yeah, and he liked it, and he said I should release it.”

“Release it?”

“Yeah. On my own.”

She could see the wheels turning in their heads as they all processed it.

Minho got there first. “Like...a solo debut?”

“Exactly like a solo debut.” Tori nodded.

“But you’d....why would you...” Jeongin fumbled for words. “You’d leave Stray Kids?”

“You’re not allowed to leave!” Jisung exclaimed. “I literally just started to like you.”

Chan stood up quickly, his face pale.

“I’m not leaving.” Tori said quickly. “JYP suggested that but I didn’t want to.”

Chan breathed a sigh of relief. “So what are you doing then? We have a comeback coming up.”

Tori couldn’t help but notice that his voice seemed tense. If she had already told him that she wasn’t going to leave, why would he sound worried about it.

“I wouldn’t start until after our comeback.” Tori told them. “I have a meeting in a few days to go over my ideas for the music video and the choreography, and JYP was going to offer up some b-sides that didn’t make Twice albums for me to add.

“A solo mini album?” Felix exclaimed. She hadn’t told him that bit. “That’s awesome.”

“It is, Tor.” Hyunjin grinned. “I bet it’s going to be amazing.”

“And you’re choreographing it?” Minho asked. “Because I absolutely insist on getting a sneak peek.”

“Yes, a mini album. And yes, I’m choreographing it. I also have like a whole notebook full of concept sketches that I’m going to pitch to them. I’ve been saving up ideas for a while.”

“If you’ve been saving up ideas, why haven’t we heard about them?” Chan asked.

Tori tensed slightly. “I mean....they wouldn’t really fit Stray Kids, so I was just...”

“Saving them for yourself?”

“Yeah, saving one thing for myself. I choreography tons of stuff for Stray Kids, it’s not like I don’t do anything.”

“I know....but why...” Chan swallowed. “Can we talk?”

“Aren’t you talking right now?” Jeongin said, looking worriedly between them.

“Yeah, come on. This is good news, we don’t need to think about the-”

“Sure, let’s talk right now.” Tori crossed her arms. “Come on.”

She turned and marched into the bedroom.

Chan was right behind her, closing the door quietly as he turned to face her.

“It’s not that I’m not happy for you-” He began. “I just....”

“You’re just what? Because it sounded an awful lot like you weren’t happy for me.” Tori sat down on her bed, waiting for his answer.

“I just don’t see why you had to do this right now.” Chan told her. He was keeping his distance, as if afraid that she might bite him if he got too close. “We’re about to have a comeback, you literally just finished promoting with your other group-”

“My other group? It was a special, promotional group, that you told me I could do!”

“I know! And it was fine and it was really good. But why am I just finding out that you and JYP are prepping a solo album, and that it is slated to start going right as we’re getting back into our group activities.”

“I told you it wasn’t going to interfere. Do you not want me to do this?”

“That isn’t the point, I’m just-”

“No, it is the point.” Tori clenched her fist. “Right now, tell me honestly if you want me to do this project.”

Chan opened his mouth, and then closed it again. And then he swallowed and finally mustered the energy to speak. “Fine. No, I don’t want you to do it.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ve been focused on your own stuff since the Wow Thing promotion last year, and I just think you’ve been....not as involved with the group as you should be.”

Tori felt her heart drop, but more than anything, she found herself getting angry. “How have I not been involved. I choreographed our last two comebacks, I haven’t missed or been late to a practice, I rerecorded like half of our songs to cover new parts. How is that not being involved?”

“You’re just....your attention is elsewhere.”

“I can’t keep having this conversation with you.” Tori shook her head.

“What do you mean?” He demanded.

“I mean....this is the second time you’ve given me permission to do something, and then afterwards you tell me you have a problem with it. And now I have a chance to work on something that I’m really really excited about, and you don’t want me to.”

“You’re still....you’re still learning Tor, you’re still growing with our group. I just think you should work on your skills here first and then, when we’re more senior-”

“I’m still learning? Do I need to remind me that you yelled at me once for trying to write a song.”

“I apologized. You had a song on our next album!”

“Yeah, and I haven’t had one since. And everything I’ve tried to work on, I’ve had to go to Jisung or Changbin for help.”

“That’s because you aren’t working on group songs, and I-”

“I have been learning! I have been practicing, and I’ve been getting better.”

“I just....” Chan pushed his hair back as he searched fro the right words. “I just, no I’m not going to-”

“You better say whatever it is you were about to say.” Tori snapped.

“You’re a dancer. Can’t you just stay a dancer and leave the writing and stuff to the rest of us?” He regretted the words the second they were out of his mouth.

Tori’s mouth dropped open as she recoiled. “How dare you?”

“Tor, what I meant was-”

“No, I’m done having this conversation in private.” She stood quickly, storming past him. She flung open the door to the living room, starting all of the boys who were still waiting.

“Noona, are you okay?”

“Just great, Jeongin.” She crossed her arms, glaring back at Chan as he stepped out of the bedroom. “Chan, why don’t you tell them what you just told me.”

“You’re not being fair.” He protested. “I’m the leader and I have a right to-”

“No, then I will.” She turned back to the others. “Chan just decided to let me know that all of you would probably prefer it if I stopped attempting to write music and just stayed as a dancer.”

“What?” Hyunjin’s eyes widened. “We don’t think that.”

Chan sighed. “I just think that your writing is kind of pulling you away from the group. And since the music you write isn’t necessarily our standard I think that-”

“Our standard?” Tori shouted. “I’m sorry I don’t meet your standards you-”

“Tor, no.” Felix pulled her into a hug, trying to force her to calm down. “It’s not worth it.”

“Um Hyung,” Jisung set his noodles down. “I don’t know how much of Tori’s music you’ve listened to but it’s really good. I don’t know what this standard is, but it might not be Stray Kids style, but it’s good.”

“She’s going to go solo.” Chan repeated.

“She’s going to release a solo album.” Felix said, still rubbing Tori’s back to try and calm her. “JYP offered to let her go fully solo and she wanted to stay with the group.”

“You knew?” Chan glared at him.

“Yeah, he knew.” Tori pulled back, wrapping her arms around himself. “Because I was so excited I had to tell someone. And I was really excited to tell all of you, too.”

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea.” Chan repeated.

“I don’t want to...” Hyunjin looked at the table as he spoke. “I don’t want to get in the middle of things. But Chan, you’re being kind of weird about this. Is there something going on that we don’t know about? Are you guys, back together?”

Chan’s eyes widened, and he glanced at Tori, as if wondering how she was going to cover for them.

She shook her head. “We were. Not anymore.”

“What? Tori, you can’t be-” Chan reached for her. “You can’t be serious. Just because I’m trying to be a leader and-”

“No, because you clearly are so insecure about me leaving this group that you’d let me just throw away an amazing chance!” Tori shouted. “One that I’m really excited about. And that I’m going to do, with or without your permission.”

“You don’t need my permission, you just need-”

“I don’t need your permission, and I don’t need your opinion.” Tori cut him off. “Because I am releasing the solo album.”

“Are you so mad at me that you’re trying to get back at all of us?”

“All of us were excited for her.” Changbin said.

“If Tori says she’s not leaving, she’s not leaving.” Seungmin added. “She can still release side music too.”

Tori stared at Chan.

Somewhere deep down, she’d realized that he wouldn’t be okay with this, but it still hurt. It hurt that he didn’t trust her and it hurt that he didn’t think she was capable of it. But she didn’t know a way to make him understand, and she wasn’t sure she was going to put in the effort, anyways.

“Felix,”She said quietly. “Can I show you some of my concept ideas?”

“Sure.” He rubbed her shoulder.

“Can I see too?” Jeongin asked.

“Sure.” Tori turned, heading into Felix’s bedroom.

Felix disappeared to go grab Tori’s laptop, and Jeongin collected a couple of containers of noodles before following Tori away.

“What the hell just happened?” Chan breathed as the door shut behind them.

“She dumped you because you’re being a jerk.” Changbin held out a pair of chopsticks. “You can only eat if you promise that you two will never date again.”

“Seriously,” Jisung nodded. “It’s such a headache.”

Chan sat down, trying to think of his next words. “You really think her album will be good?”

“I know it will.” Jisung confirmed. “I’ve heard some of the stuff she writes for fun, and it’s great.”

“But she’s-”

“Unless you’re going to go apologize, just eat.” Hyunjin told him.

In the bedroom, Tori had her laptop open, letting Felix and Jeongin flip through the pictures she’d compiled to be inspiration.

“It looks so good, Noona.” Jeongin told her. “I’m sure Chan will come around.”

“I think the problem right now,” She sighed. “Is that I don’t care if he does.”

#stray kids #stray kids au #stray kids imagines #stray kids reactions #stray kids 9th member #female kpop #female!kpop #female member kpop #requests open #au #kpop #imagines #imagine #kpop au #kpop imagines

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