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aliensunflower-fics · 11 months

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Dating ‘Prince Charming’ Part 2/3

[ Lila is finally starting to learn what its really like to be Adrien Agreste's girlfriend and finding out its not everything she hoped it would be. But while the liar struggles Marinette works toward her goals and meets someone new. ]

[ Prefer AO3? Link HERE! | Part 1 HERE! | Part 3 Coming Soon | Masterlist Link HERE! ]

Chloe made her grand return 3 weeks after Lila and Adrien’s big dating announcement. The bossy blonde had been away in New York with her mother and it was only in retrospect that Marinette briefly wondered if the entire timing of her and Adriens break up and Lila and Adriens announcement had been planned. After all Chloe had not taken well to Marinette dating Adrien and the class president was positive she would not take the news that Lila had swooped in right after their big breakup any better.

As it turns out Marinette had been right at least about Chloe not taking the news well. She’d walked into class early (for her) only to be met with chaos as Chloe and Lila stood opposed and yelling filled the classroom. Despite the fact that Marinette KNEW Chloe would hate whoever dated Adrien the sight was still enough to leave her mildly stunned after all Lila and Chloe had been tag team harassing Marinette since the second she and Adrien had started dating so to see the once allies now locked in a vicious match each using their unique brand of awful against each other… Well it was something.

Luckily Marinette knew she would not have to lift a finger to fix things. Because this? This was Adrien’s problem. And Marinette had no intention of helping or playing mediator. After all Adrien had let Lila and Chloe stomp all over their relationship when they’d still been dating, heck he’d even asked Marinette to simply deal with it so now he could deal with it and Marinette severely doubted that Lila would be even half as accepting or accommodating as she had been.

So while the two wannabe queens duked it out Lila with fake tears and Chloe with vicious mockery Marinette simply glided past the drama and up to her seat where she pulled out her sketchbook and started adding the finishing touches to a sketch of a brand new rock and roll suit for Uncle Jagged. Now that she wasn’t chasing after Adrien 24/7 and making him gifts and worrying about him or Lila or Chloe not to mention trying to keep up with her school work and grades all while also being Ladybug well Marinette had time on her hands and she’d been using it to study, track down Hawkmoth with Alya’s help, spend time with friends but most of all she’d been using that time on her career.

As she wrote in what materials she would need to get a certain sheen effect on the outfit, Marinette noticed the green eyes looking up at her desperately from the front of the class. Marinette glanced up noting how Adrien seemed to be trying to plead with her to help as he tried to reign in his dramatic new girlfriend and attack dog childhood friend; she only cocked her head to the side, smiled and offered him a little wave before continuing with her work. Yeah no way was she willingly throwing herself into THAT.

Sure enough before class could start Adrien managed to drag Lila out of the room and into the hallway no doubt to give her the same speech he had given Marinette when THEY were dating Lila bursting back into the classroom a few minutes later looking like she’d just swallowed a whole lemon only confirmed Marinette’s suspicions.

What Marinette had not expected was Lila openly complaining about ADRIEN at lunch, hours after the incidents of that morning. Marinette ate her steamed bun as she watched with mild surprise as the Italian wailed and threw a veritable tantrum as she told the girls all about how Adrien had put Chloe first and had asked Lila to simply deal with it. It was so painfully ironic that Marinette struggled not to roll her eyes. Honestly after the breakup Marinette had for a brief time contemplated revenge because truthfully. She was hurt and mad but Tikki had talked her out of it claiming that karma would have its way Marinette hadn’t believed the little god at the time too lost in her grief and her ice cream but now? Well now Marinette was starting to understand what Tikki meant. Because Lila wanted to be Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend no matter what it took, and she was only now starting to see what that really meant.

Sure enough in the weeks that followed Lila and Chloe kept each other busy allowing Marinette to for the first time in years relax at school. Of course Lila tried to redirect Chloe’s hatred back at Marinette by telling the blonde about how it had been Marinette who initiated the break up. But Marinette had easily overcome Chloe’s rage with honesty after all she had only broken up with Adrien because she knew they were incompatible and that Adrien would be happier with someone else, something Chloe agreed with though the way in which the blonde agreed made Marinette’s eye twitch just a little.

And then of course there was Adrien who was still trying to get Marinette to step in and help him handle his childhood friend and girlfriend but Marinette had been able to dodge him for weeks until they were having a class meetup at the park. Chloe was not attending due to wanting to avoid the ‘peasants’ as she so called them and Lila claimed she would be late due to an important meeting with some famous person. Honestly Marinette had not even bothered to pay attention. Adrien had noted the lack of ‘problem people’ and had decided to make a bold move calling Marinette out as they all hung out together to ‘talk to her in private’ yeah like THAT was going to happen.

Marinette knew Adrien’s modus operandi very well. He’d call you out, ask to talk to you privately and then lay on the guilt trip. No way was she doing that anymore she’d endured enough of them while they were dating to last a lifetime.

“Actually I would prefer not to talk to you alone, Adrien. You're publicly dating someone and we never know when your fans or the paparazzi might be around. Besides anything you can say to me in private you can say in front of OUR friends.”

Adrien looked like a kicked puppy at her words. But as their classmates quickly took her side and insisted he tell Marinette whatever he needed with them around the blonde was backed into a corner.

“Well the thing is… I was wondering if you could help? With the whole Lila, Chloe situation?”

Marinette wasn’t even given a chance to respond. The second the words left Adrien’s mouth the entire class bristled, many giving Adrien looks of confusion and shock as if he’d just spoken pure nonsense and honestly in a way he had. Nathaniel however was the one who said it best.

“Wait I’m sorry are you seriously asking Marinette to mediate between her long time bully and the girl you started dating not even an hour after your break up with her? Are you serious?!”

“W-Well I just thought-”

“Thought what Agreste? That Marinette should put herself in the worlds worst situation completely ignoring her own feelings just to make your life easier?”

Oof Kim going straight for the throat.

“B-But shes the class president!”

“So?! That doesn’t make her a genie! She can't just clap her hands and fix everything nor should she have to!”

Marinette had never heard Rose sound so upset in her life, which is when the young fashion designer knew it was her turn to say her piece and get things back under control.

“Adrien.” She ignored the hopeful look he shot her. “Not only do I not want to get involved but I don’t think it would help. Chloe doesn’t like me and Lila’s ‘disease’-” she said the word with barely concealed sarcasm “acts up when I’m around. So I’m sorry but no I will not help you with this.”

“But I’m sure if you just-”

The look the class shot him was enough to end the conversation and Marinette let out a relieved sigh as her heart filled with warmth she really loved her friends.

A month after the conversation in the park Lila Rossi got her second harsh wake up call to the ‘true joys’ of being Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend and it was a two for one deal.

Lila had seemingly been under the assumption that once she was dating Adrien her own popularity would rise to meet his but she was starting to learn that wasn’t the case. Adrien still got plenty more photo-shoots then she did and most were still solo and since they were fast approaching the spring fashion season Adrien was plenty busy with more and more shoots while Lila was left waiting for her turn in the spotlight.

Perhaps it was the frustration at not immediately sky rocketing her way up in fame or maybe it was the snide comments from Adrien Fangirls talking about the lack of couples shoots but Lila seemingly came up with the brilliant plan to force the spotlight onto herself by demanding, manipulating and forcing Adrien to take her on big flashy fancy dates where the paparazzi always conveniently found them Marinette had no doubt Lila was the one tipping them off but she kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t her problem.

However while Lila was enjoying her tabloid paparazzi fueled fame the class and more surprisingly Gabriel Agreste himself were beginning to notice the way it was wearing Adrien down. Between his photo-shoots and busy schedule all of Adrien’s precious free time was being filled up by Lila and her many needy antics and it was starting to show in the way Adrien carried himself and how exhausted he seemed.

Nino was the one who led the charge just as he had when Lila manipulated the class into thinking her ‘clingy’ but where Marinette had gotten some hurtful but well meaning lectures about her Adrien obsession which in retrospect DID help her realize her love was unhealthy. Lila was not given such a kind well meaning speech instead Nino got mad, something he rarely let himself become.

As it turns out Lila had worn Adrien down to the point where the blonde was too exhausted to function and he’d nearly passed out while standing and talking to Nino and that mixed with the fact that it had previously been Lila who painted the faux picture of Marinette as the clingy evil girlfriend isolating the boy from his friends was enough for Nino to harshly call her out. The liar did do her best to wriggle out of the situation trying to claim she only wanted ‘some’ private time with her oh so busy boyfriend but Nino was not having it and the class was too happy to back him up.

The more Lila tried to defend and excuse her actions the angrier Nino got and much to the liars annoyance the young musician had proof and plenty of it. Between his text correspondence with Adrien that revealed the model was constantly being forced to cancel relaxing friend days to take Lila out on flashy dates that always ended with paparazzi and fans swarming the location and forcing Adrien into high stress situations, and an extremely detailed schedule planner that Nino had made to keep track of his best buds work life balance (potential evidence to blackmail Gabriel Agreste if he ever threatened to pull Adrien out of school again apparently). The facts didn’t lie and they were showing that Lila was the real ‘clingy’ girlfriend.

Things eventually got so heated between Nino and Lila arguing that an akuma appeared to try and take advantage of the situation. Luckily for everyone Ladybug had been patrolling and stopped the naughty little butterfly from making things worse. In the end Lila was forced to grit her teeth and apologize to her darling boyfriend. Though perhaps what upset her more was the way the class proceeded to apologize to Marinette after the fact for ever accusing her of being clingy and taking up too much of Adrien’s free time.

However Lila still thought she had one last ace up her sleeve, and so after the class luncheon ended the liar proceeded to contact Gabriel hoping to get her new boyfriends dad to reign him in and do her bidding. Unluckily for Lila however Gabriel had been paying attention to the situation and that fact that it had ALMOST led to an akuma made him look even closer into things.

And he was not happy with what he found. The paparazzi pictures and articles that resulted from Lila and Adrien’s flashy dates had started positively enough with headlines and puff pieces about how cute the couple looked together, how it was nice to see the young Agreste in more casual settings with his girlfriend. But as the dates became more and more frequent and Lila’s constant demands and needs grew the articles slowly began to change soon they were discussing the concerning amount of money Adrien must be spending on his girlfriend, how exhausted and stressed the young Agreste heir looked under his strained smiles and was he eating and sleeping enough?

The akuma he’d sent had only further confirmed Gabriel’s negative feelings toward Lila though it did make him re-evaluate the young Lahiffe boy. Gabriel had originally thought the wannabe musician might just be interested in Adrien for money but seeing the lengths he went to defend his friend had the designer impressed and even a little grateful. So when Lila phoned to try and throw the boy under the bus and get Gabriel to side with her, well she had another thing coming.

Marinette heard later from Alya and the rest of the girls that Lila was ‘devastated’ how she’d wailed sobbed and thrown the tantrum of the century as she ranted and raved about Gabriel putting a 1 date a month maximum limit on Adrien and Lila. The two lovebirds could still hang out of course but it would be in the company of the rest of the class or other friends, or if they really wanted some privacy it would be strictly at the Agreste mansion for studying. Lila had told the girls that it was unfair and unjust that Gabriel was trying to get in the way of their love! Alya had relayed to Marinette that while the girls agreed that 1 date a month was a bit rough they all thought Lila’s tantrum was a bit childish especially when they all remembered how Marinette had rarely if ever got to enjoy 1 private date a month with Adrien and never in public.

Of course just because Lila had been told ‘no’ didn’t mean the liar was going to listen. And so she began trying to find ways to manipulate Adrien into ‘accidental’ dates, bugging the blonde to take her out instead of settling for lunch at school or trying to conveniently separate the two of them from the rest of the group during weekend and after school hang outs. But each time Lila tried Nino thwarted her eventually the Italian had gotten so angry at his meddling that she phoned Gabriel again this time to try and get the musician removed or banned or ANYTHING so that he’d back off, so when she instead learned that Nino had been asked by Gabriel to keep an eye out on for his son and that Adrien knew about it well the liar was furious.

Marinette learned later this time from Rose and Juleka that the Italian had tried to go on another tantrum tirade only to be stopped by Alya who would not tolerate anyone badmouthing her lovely boyfriend. Needless to say, Marinette was quick to notice the following Monday how Lila pouted and avoided the Ladyblogger like the plague. Luckily Marinette made sure Alya didn’t dwell on it too much by inviting the girl over to help her brainstorm some new ideas.

Because while Lila was focusing on leeching the fame and fortune off her boyfriend and being met with endless failures and a very hostile guard dog called Chloe. Marinette had been THRIVING. The suit she’d designed for Jagged had gone viral online and soon Jagged was passing on her contact information to a small selection of celebrities Marinette felt comfortable designing for. The fact that her identity was a secret and she had a very exclusive client list had only caused MDC to soar even higher in popularity with the public making it clear that they too wanted access to MDC fashion. And so Marinette had done her research and with the help of Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny she’d set up an online store where she would sell ready made clothes.

Of course just because Marinette was seeing success didn’t mean she had forgotten about her friends. In fact the entire class minus Lila, Adrien and Chloe knew very well the true identity of the elusive MDC and that was because while Marinette was taking big steps toward her dreams she was helping her friends do just the same.

After all it didn’t take long for the internet to learn that the mysterious MDC designed Kitty Sections outfits causing the band to have a surge of free publicity that led to many people discovering their music and falling in love with the band.

Then there was Nathanial, Marc and Alya who Marinette or should she say MDC collaborated with while designing her ‘hero hoodie’ fashion collection all of them saw a boost in views with Marc and Nathanial’s comic picking up new readers though it was there brand new all original idea that had really flown off the shelves earning them an online cult following. Alya meanwhile got her blog spotted by Lois Lane herself who was impressed with the young future journalist and contacted Alya for a summer internship the scream Alya had made almost gave Marinette a heart attack.

And it didn’t end there. When Nino made a short film with Mylene and Kim of all people as his lead actors and uploaded it for free to YouTube MDC who was well known for supporting smaller creatives and signal boosting them on her social media was more than happy to make a tweet linking to the short film. Nino’s short film had been impactful and powerful despite being a comedy satire on Hawkmoth and it had quickly blown up earning Nino a summer internship at a film studio and Mylene and Kim several job offers. Kim had never been particularly interested in acting but after seeing the outpouring of love and support not to mention with the encouragement he got from his lovely girlfriend Ondine he decided to accept a few offers surprising everyone as he developed a new passion that he and Mylene bonded over.

Max, and Alix were also boosted in a similar way to Nino, Kim and Mylene when MDC retweeted some of their creative endeavors. Alix a video where she had used spray paint to recreate a few classical paintings though that had only acted as a signal boost that allowed the skater to be noticed for her real passion Extreme Sports! When a very exclusive extreme sports training summer camp contacted Alix about her attending she’d squealed almost as loud as Alya had. Max meanwhile had his demo for his work in progress video games retweeted by MDC and saw a huge surge in interest and a few interested investors and publishers even arrived with offers, though before he could agree to anything his popularity ballooned even further when a video of him showing off Markov surfaced. He had later joked to Marinette that while he appreciated the support he wasn’t sure how he felt about suddenly gaining a ‘nerd cult’ as Kim called it.

Of course all of Marinette’s friends knew she was largely responsible for their sudden surge of fame and good fortune and many of them tried to dismiss their own talents and give all the credit to Marinette. But the young designer simply threw it back at them. Yes she had signal boosted them and given them a helping hand but at the end of the day the only reason they had gotten so popular and stayed so popular after the brief burst from her influence passed and the internet moved on to the next big thing was because they were talented and amazing without Marinette.

The only problem with the classes' new found fame. Was that sooner or later Lila was bound to take notice. And take notice she did when Mylene appeared as an extra in one of Lila’s favorite daytime soaps. The liar had been so focused on Adrien and trying to leech her fame off him while beating Chloe back with a stick that she had somehow missed all the major developments. And she was livid.

She was supposed to be the most popular girl in school! She was meant to be the star, the one people admired and aspired to be like! The one they envied but loved too much to truly hate! And when she’d finally gotten Marinette and Adrien to break up she thought for sure that all her dreams would come true. But somehow while she’d been busy trying to reign in the pesky little blonde her classmates had all gone and gotten famous without her. Most of them wouldn’t even BE in Paris in the fast approaching summer since many of them either had internships, specialized camps, acting gigs, or in Kitty Sections case a whole music tour with Jagged Stone that for some reason Marinette was also a part of?!?

None of it made any sense and when Lila had gone looking for how exactly everything had happened she kept finding herself looking at MDC’s social media. The elusive and private designer was apparently a super sucker or something as every week they would highlight some small time random creator. Honestly it disgusted Lila who just handed out fame like that? Fame and popularity was meant to be exclusive! Earned! Something for only the most beautiful and talented of society. Not for chubby little idiots like Mylene or nerdy freaks like Max.

Of course Lila was nothing if not an opportunist. Sure in her opinion none of her talentless, average, classmates actually deserved their new found fame and popularity but the good thing was they were also a bunch of gullible idiots. And if she played her cards right they would surely carry her to the top. She already had the perfect lie, she would simply claim to be best friends with MDC and tell the class that she had been the one to recommend that the designer boost her classmates.

It was perfect. Genius really.

So then why did it fail immediately?

Lila stood in front of the class, her face frozen in shock as she was stared down by 10 pairs of angry glares. She had expected overwhelming thank you’s and the class bowing at her feet but the second the lie slipped out of her mouth the class instead turned on the liar like a close knit pack of wolves smelling a sheep. Honestly Lila could not understand where she’d gone wrong, and even if she had said something that was an obvious lie wouldn’t the class just normally brush it off as her disease? So why is it that they were acting this way?

It was Alya who broke the silence first.

“You want to run that by us again? Lila.”

The Italian girl swallowed the lump in her throat and ignored the obvious warning sign that was Alya’s sharp tone. Forcing a charming smile Lila brought out her sweetest voice determined that she could salvage whatever THIS was.

“I was just saying that I’m so happy for all of you! I didn’t want to say anything at the time BUT me and MDC are such good friends! So when he-”

“He?” Alix snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah that about confirms it.”

The entire class seemed to agree with Alix as they all shook their heads and shot Lila disappointed and annoyed looks before returning to their own conversations and or hobbies freezing her out. Ignoring her.

Oh that? That pissed Lila off like nothing else. Her cheeks grew hot as she stomped her foot angrily, regaining their attention.

“You guys think I’m telling lies again! You all promised that you wouldn’t judge me for my disease but you are!” For added effect she started to sniffle and sob expecting the class to do what they always did and feel guilty about their treatment of her and rush to comfort her.

Instead she was met with even harsher glares.

“Uhh yeah no duh we think you're lying because you ARE. We” Alix gestured to the people currently in class. “Have all met MDC and SHE not ‘he’ is a wonderful person who helped boost our careers because she thinks we're all super cool and talented not because you asked her too.”

Lila felt her face screw up like she’d just sucked a lemon but she quickly worked it to her advantage as she began to loudly sob.

“T-That’s not fair! You know I can't help my disease!”

“Uhh yeah no. I’m stopping you there.” Alya stood up looking down from her perch at Lila with her hands on her hips commanding the room, Lois had been training her well. “We can accept that MAYBE your lying disease makes you claim things when your nervous or scared like how you always accuse Marinette of stuff, and we can MAYBE believe that your disease makes you mix up names and words so you end up giving the wrong information out about charities and celebrities and yes MAYBE we can believe that you sometimes make false claims about yourself when your stressed out like that time with Clara Nightingale stealing your dance moves. Whatever! But Lila that right there? You were not having an ‘oops I lied’ moment you were actively trying to deceive us to make the false claim that YOU are the reason MDC noticed us when we know the truth. And when I gave you a chance to correct yourself you tried to double down. That was intentional. That was malicious.”

Lila felt her mouth fall open, her eyes blinking in shock. Too late she tried to recover. Tried to explain away the situation and make herself out to be innocent. But the class was done with her and they made it clear in how they iced her out. Eventually she had no choice but to suck it up and sit down at her seat. Not long later Marinette rushed into class followed by Chloe who was latched onto Adrien with Sabrina in tow.

Soon enough the school year came to an end and Lila watched bitterly through the all seeing eyes of the internet as her classmates left for their internships, job opportunities, highly specialized summer camps, and more. Meanwhile she was stuck at home. Oh sure she got to go on a few out of country photo-shoots with Adrien but her fame was still nothing compared to her boyfriends, and it was quickly becoming less than nothing as her classmates rose in influence and popularity. Come the new school year Lila would need to find some way to force the class back under her heel.

Marinette was having the best summer of her life! Jagged had taken Kitty Section on tour with him and insisted on Marinette coming with them as their designer. Marinette hadn’t been sure at first worried about the Hawkmoth situation and her own career. But in the end Tikki and her parents had convinced her. Her parents loved the idea of Marinette leaving Paris and going to see the world with her friends for a bit, and Tikki had reminded Marinette that she had the Horse Miraculous and could come home anytime, besides Hawkmoth had been getting lazier and lazier with both his akumas and the amount of them. So in the end Marinette agreed and it had been the BEST decision of her life.

They visited England before eventually traveling overseas to America. The sights and sounds and new foods were filling Marinette with inspiration and she’d never been so busy sketching. Then of course there was the great company. Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny were wonderful and quickly ‘adopted’ all of Kitty Section + Marinette. They'd act like doting parents one second and then the next they’d be ordering way too much pizza for the teens to share.

Of course everyone missed their friends and family but video call existed and it was only for the summer anyway. Ivan was the one who was probably the worst off pouting over his beloved Mylene but the group was able to cheer him up encouraging him to write a song for his girlfriend, the piece he wrote became a new hit single the second they performed it on stage and Mylene had loved it.

The group stopped by Florida first where Jagged took them all to Disney World and then Universal Park, pictures of the rocker wearing mickey mouse ears and a hufflepuff scarf of all things while being followed by a gaggle of teenagers had soon gone viral, after that it was off to New York, and then Metropolis where they spent a bit of time so Alya could see them and hang out. Her internship with Lois Lane was going well but she’d still been relieved to see her friends and get some down time to just chill. After that they went to Gotham, which was Jagged’s home town. Now most parents might veto a place as dangerous as Gotham but seeing as how Paris was under siege by an emotional butterfly themed terrorist and they were from a class particularly used to dealing with deadly akumas on a regular basis well they were able to convince their parents to let it happen. And to Marinette’s surprise Gotham turned out to be her favorite place of the whole trip.

Sure the city was gloomy but the gothic architecture somehow inspired Marinette, and while the people were not outwardly all smiles and sunshine they were kind in their own way. But the thing Marinette ended up loving most about Gotham was its beautiful parks and famous greenhouses. Thanks to the influence of Poison Ivy and Bruce Wayne the city of Gotham had become the greenest city in all of America and it was a never ending source of inspiration for the young designer. Not to mention it was thanks to all the inspiring greenery that Marinette had met HIM.

She’d been walking through one of Gotham’s older parks admiring the beautiful blooming wisterias that had been shaped into a long hallway arch when she got bowled over by a massive terrifying but very friendly dog. Marinette had been terrified at first until she noticed the fast wagging tail and happy smile on the dog's face. Tikki had warned her that one side effect of holding the Ladybug miraculous would be extra friendly animals a rather ‘tame’ side effect compared to the super strength, increased speed, and occasional urge to hibernate when cold but still the designer had never expected to be attacked with friendly happy dog kisses, not like THIS anyway. As she squirmed and laughed she tried to gently push the dog off. That was when the dogs owner had come to her rescue. Yanking his dog off of her while admonishing it Marinette was finally able to sit up and begin wiping the dog drool off her cheek with a laugh.

“Don’t scold the cutie too much I’m okay I swear he didn’t hurt me.”

“Even if he didn’t hurt you he’s been trained better than that. I’m very sorry, please allow me to help you.”

The boy’s voice was cool, firmly polite and matter of fact leaving no room for argument. To an untrained ear he might even sound annoyed or angry but Marinette could tell that wasn’t the case. As Marinette accepted the hand the boy offered and let herself be pulled up she suddenly came face to face with the most beautiful pair of green eyes she’d ever seen.

Where Adrien’s eyes were bright like a blinding peridot green, these eyes were soft and warm like the green of a pine tree and Marinette could feel herself melt into them. It didn’t help that the rest of the boy's face was also incredibly handsome. The designer quickly shook herself out of her thoughts and glanced away not wanting to stare. Instead she directed her attention to her assailant, the dog was sitting now staring up at her with its tail still wagging wildly. Marinette smiled and reached her hand down letting the dog sniff her before she gave him some soft pets.

“Such a softy for a big guy. What's his name?”

“Titus. And I apologize again. He really is trained better than that. I don’t know what came over him.”

Marinette felt a little bad but she couldn’t exactly say that she was the chosen champion of a god and a side effect of that was very friendly animals so instead she shot the boy a smile.

“Don’t worry I just seem to have that effect on animals. Back home the pigeons and crows have started fighting for dominance of my roof and balcony because they both want my attention.”

The boy gave her a stunned look before he made a sound that Marinette believed might be a covered up laugh. She smiled even brighter and offered the boy her hand to shake.

“By the way my name is Marinette. And it's a pleasure to meet you.”

The boy looked at her hand for a moment before he eventually grabbed it and shook it awkwardly.

“Damian… It's nice to meet you too. Though I can tell by that introduction that you're not from here.”

Marinette snorted at that.

“Really the introduction was what gave it away but not my accent?”

The boy seemed to blush a little at that before he coughed awkwardly. Marinette took pity on him and giggled.

“You are correct in your deduction mr.detective. I’m visiting from Paris, France with some friends and my uncle.”

If Marinette hadn’t been too embarrassed to look him in the eyes she may have noticed the spark of curiosity when she mentioned Paris. And had she known who Damian truly was at the time she would have known that his curiosity came from the fact that Batman and the other supers had recently learned about the situation in Paris thanks to Lois Lane taking on a new intern who ran the Ladyblog. Mayor Bourgeois had been doing a good job hiding the situation but he’d overlooked the civilian journalist.

“Hm. We don’t get many tourists. What brought you all the way out here. If I may ask.”

Naturally without much thought the pair began to walk through the park together as their conversation flowed. Marinette avoided using Jagged's name not wanting her new very handsome friend to take an interest in her solely for her connections. Instead she told him that Gotham was her uncles hometown and that this was the last stop on what had already been a pretty busy summer vacation. That turned into her telling him a bit about her family in general which got him talking about his family, he complained about his adopted siblings of which there seemed to be many but Marinette could tell he loved them.

Talking about family made him admit he’d come to the park to get away from them for a little while which got Marinette talking about the park and all the beautiful nature in Gotham which got the two of them talking about the best parks in Gotham and then Marinette brought up her sketches and suddenly they were talking about art and other hobbies. Before they had even realized it they were sitting at a bench together hidden away in the trees and wisterias chatting away. Marinette didn’t know why but something about Damian made her feel comfortable. Maybe it was the way he gave her his full undivided attention, maybe it was the way he made sure not to invade her space without consent or how he didn’t interrupt her when she spoke. Either way she felt safe, felt warm, almost like she was home. And judging by the way he seemed to relax the longer they spoke, his stiff body unwinding and his gaze softening, she thought maybe he felt just as comfortable with her as she was with him.

Honestly Marinette could have sat there chatting with Damian all day in fact it had already been several hours when the pair were finally interrupted. Both of their phones began to ring, Marinette’s with the tell-tale alarm of an akuma attack in Paris and Damian’s with an emergency as the Riddler had broken out of Arkham. The teenagers regretfully had to go both citing emergencies before they departed. It wasn’t until later that they realized they had forgotten to exchange phone numbers.

The akuma back in Paris had turned out to be Lila Rossi, it seems that Adrien’s fangirls had never truly warmed up to the liar and they had been trying to dig up dirt on the girl for months before finally finding there evidence. Alya may have privated the videos of Lila’s lies after finding out about the ‘lying disease’ but apparently someone had copied and saved them beforehand. And those videos had finally made their way out into the public. Luckily no one criticized Alya seeing as how she’d already had the common sense to remove the videos from her blog it helped that Alya also made a post explaining the situation in more detail which led to the general public agreeing that it had not been Alya’s fault when she had a teacher and a principle telling her to believe in a fake ‘lying disease’ clearly it was the adults at fault here not the young girl who had believed in them.

Needless to say the public ripped Lila to shreds for being a serial liar with more of her lies coming to light each day now that she had been exposed. And obviously the Italian had not taken it well and gotten akumatized.

Marinette knew that she should be happy that Lila had been exposed. Her classmates certainly were, but instead Marinette could not help but mope. Damian had been SO kind she really had wanted to get to know him better. The fact she’d completely missed out on getting his number gnawed at her. Little did she know that Damian was across the city thinking the same thing as he sat on a Gargoyle statue.

But fate likes to play funny games. A few days later Jagged got a call from Bruce Wayne, a few of his sons namely Tim, Jason and Dick had heard about Jagged being in town and tjat the rocker had brought MDC the famous designer with him. Apparently they were huge fans and had bugged, pleaded, whined, and eventually threatened a hunger strike until Bruce would ask Jagged to pretty please introduce them. So Jagged got the go ahead from Marinette and the gaggle of teenagers plus Jagged and Penny piled into a big van and drove over to the Wayne mansion.

Seeing it from the outside, Marinette felt only intimidation and dread. It was so huge and they were so rich. What if they were unimpressed when they found out MDC was just some teenage girl? Letting Jagged guide her and her friends push her forward Marinette nervously knocked on the door and let herself be led inside by the kind old man who introduced himself as Alfred.

Walking through the halls in wonder Marinette slowly felt her fingers twitch with the urge to design. But she suppressed it and focused not wanting to be rude. As the group turned a corner into a large sitting room Marinette’s blue eyes somehow found a pair of familiar green. She gasped, he blinked wide eyed.

“Marinette?” - “Damian?”

They blinked again, shocked. Marinette eventually snorted and laughed. Damian found himself smiling as he approached the small girl. And everyone else? Well they were just confused. Except for Damian’s family they were confused and freaked out.

“Is the demon spawn, smiling Dicky bird? Or am I hallucinating?”

“No I see it too Jason. He looks genuinely happy.”

“So it's official.” Tim added “we're all hallucinating.”

After some introductions and explanations things settled down with Marinette happy to take the Wayne’s on as clients. And the Wayne’s in turn being suitably impressed and amazed by the young girls accomplishments though the part they found most amazing was how she interacted with not only them but Damian. She was genuine and kind, no fake smiles or hidden double meanings, nor did she let their money and fame impress or blind her in any way. Jason soon declared her a little sister and Jagged preened and puffed as he gloated about not only Marinette but Kitty Section as well.

The rest of the summer spent in Gotham was tons of fun with Jason teaching Juleka and Marinette how to shoot guns and ride motorcycles, Rose and Marinette learning some of Dick’s gymnastics moves, Ivan meanwhile got along well with the quiet Cass and level headed Duke. Eventually Stephanie and Bab’s returned home as well and they also took to the french teens with ease they organized girl nights where they taught the girls how to break and enter something Marinette had a natural affinity for go figure. The most surprising development however was Luka. The slightly older boy had seemingly set his sights on the awkward coffee addicted Tim and had spent the remainder of the summer wooing him.

But while Luka was wooing Tim there was one other couple slowly forming. Everyone had seen the spark between Damian and Marinette and soon enough everyone was shipping it. The pair were often ‘conveniently’ left alone or were sent on errands that somehow conveniently became accidental dates. Marinette had been guarding her heart after Adrien had shattered it but Damian made her want to take the risk and fall in love. He was charming, polite, kind, sarcastic, and as she’d learned after telling him about the entire Paris situation akuma’s and all he was protective but without going so far as to undermine Marinette’s strength. He trusted her to be fast and smart and strong enough to defend herself (especially after they did a bit of fight training for fun and she laid him flat on the ground) but he did worry and care about her.

But still there was something holding back both teens. Something that shattered near the end of the vacation. Marinette had been caught by a villain. Poison Ivy to be exact. The plant villainess had taken note of the new frequent visitor to her greenhouse but what had really gotten her attention was how the plant life reacted to her. And furthermore how the plant life SPOKE about her. Ivy’s curiosity eventually grew too large and so she snatched up the young designer and brought her home. Luckily Marinette wasn’t particularly scared of Ivy or Harley, sure she didn’t like being knocked out but she felt no real fear, in the end Ivy, Harley and Marinette ended up having an unprompted girls day complete with junk food, ranting, bad American tv and more. Ivy eventually figured that Marinette was some kind of Meta one who had a strong influence over plant and animal life and that was enough for her to adopt the small half Asian girl and inject her with her special blend the same one she’d given to Harley to keep her safe in a town full of crazies.

But while Marinette was perfectly fine hanging out with 2 of the 3 sirens Damian had not taken it so well. He had scoured the city trying to find the sirens newest abode all while he gnawed his lip until it bled. Maybe it was the stress that made him slip up or maybe it was just Marinette being too smart for her own good. But when the young Robin came bursting in through a window yelling Marinette’s name something had immediately clicked and she knew who he was. After she’d calmed the situation down and made sure no one fought anyone else, Marinette thanked Ivy and Harley for the nice day and let Robin carry her away. After talking with Tikki and deciding to be reckless and selfish for once in her life Marinette confronted Damian the next day, revealing her own identity in the process. There was some freaking out and a LOT of talking with Tikki and the rest of the bat clan but in the end it seemed to work out for the best. Ladybug was certainly happy to accept the help anyway even if Chat Noir wasn’t going to be.

A week later Damian finally asked Marinette out. Two days after that they shared their first kiss on the ferris wheel. And come the end of summer Marinette, Kitty Section and surprise guests Damian and Tim Wayne were all boarding a flight back to Paris.

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queenkaiju · 2 months

Text

Lies

Maribat March - Prompt 10

"He gave me a diamond the size of my fist! You can't tell anyone though; the paparazzi would be all over us." Lila loudly proclaimed from across the cafeteria. Marinette scoffed, throwing a disgusted sneer over her shoulder at the Italian. This was the fifth celebrity engagement story. She wondered just how she got unfortunate enough to be surrounded by these idiots. She could kill everyone in this room in two minutes flat, and yet, she had to restrain herself for the sake of the mission. Keep playing the role of meek little 'Mari', keep pretending she wasn't one of the most skilled assassins in the world. Stupid Hawkmoth. Because of some random ass dude, she was stuck among these sheeple.

She quickly left the cafeteria, exiting the school and heading to the bakery. She greeted Sabine - a member of the Order of the Miraculous and one of her old handlers - and climbed the stairs to her room. Just a little longer. She was so close to finding the man who had enough audacity to steal from the Order. And Hawkmoth, him too.

Her phone rang, startling her out of her inner monologue. It was Damian, her betrothed. She happily answered, the smile on her face genuine for once. 'Habibti. How was your day?' He asked, an odd whirring echoing in the background. 'Have you stabbed the harlot yet?'

She rolled her eyes, the smile on her face persisting. "It was fine. And no, I have not stabbed Lila, as much as I may want to. It's annoying, but it's helping my cover. She keeps the idiots from following me around, and it makes easier to search Paris for the lousy fake-Guardian and whatever asshat he let take the Butterfly."

'And you're still sure you would not like me to join you and help?'

She sighed, the conversation a common one since she was sent to Paris. "I've got this, Dami. Besides, you wouldn't last five minutes here. I love you, but you are very temperamental."

He squawked angrily, and she could picture the offended look on his face, his jade green eyes crinkling adorably. 'I am not temperamental! You seem to be forgetting just how many of our trainers you sent to the infirmary.'

She rolled her eyes. "They were misogynistic pricks, and you know it."

'I was not arguing that they weren't, Habibti, merely stating that you extensively hurt each of them. In fact, I am quite glad for what you did. Had you not, Mother never would have seen fit to have us betrothed.'

Marinette smiled happily at the memory, standing in the middle of the large al-Ghul throne room in ceremonial garb, opposite Damian in matching robes. "Yeah." She glanced at the clock on the wall and cursed. "Sorry, Dami. I need to head back. Call you back later?"

'Of course. I love you, Habibti.' He answered curtly, though she could tell he was peeved at being cut off. "I love you too."

She came back to excited whispers throughout the classroom, and a huddle around Lila's desk. Marinette rolled her eyes, heading towards her own desk at the back of the room. Except...

She was stopped in her tracks by one whispered word. 'Damian'. There were plenty of Damians in the world, and several rich ones Lila could be claiming she's engaged to; but what if? Marinette continued up the stairs, but kept an ear on the conversation at the front.

'Wayne'.

Marinette clenched her teeth. They were talking about Damian. Her Damian. She'd seen articles and heard rumors before, right after Damian's debut as a billionaire's son, but something about hearing her beloved's name come from that liar's mouth made her see green. She was fuming, trying to force away the murderous haze. She was chosen for this mission specifically because of the ease it took to banish the Pit's influence from her mind, and she was not going to let Lila of all people ruin it for her.

At the front of the room, the door slammed open. Marinette's mind screeched to a halt, because standing there in all of his glory was Damian. She shot to her feet and raced down the stairs before she registered what she was doing. He was here, right in front of her! She flung her arms around him, squeezing tight.

"Hello, Habibti." He whispered in her ear, squeezing her back. "What are you doing here?" She asked, pulling back to look at him. "Father found something. Camera footage of the akumas, and an identity, over a hundred and twenty years old. They're going after them now." He said, a happy gleam in his eye despite the lack of emotion on his face. Marinette grinned widely. Her mission is over! She can go back to Nanda Parbat - or Gotham!

"Marinette, what's going on?"

She turned around abruptly, remembering their audience. "Who is this?" Alya was front and center, glaring at her accusingly. Marinette's mind was whirling, trying to find an in-character way to answer. Except they found them. The false Guardian and the Butterfly. She didn't have to keep up her cover anymore. She grinned, her true smile, not the meek thing she'd developed the past few months.

She watched as Lila's little lapdog recoiled, enjoying the effect she finally got to have on her classmates. Marinette stalked forward, easily falling back into her natural gait. The walk of a predator. "I'm happy to announce that I'm done! I don't have to sit here and pretend anymore! You're all horribly stupid, and it was definitely not a pleasure to have known you." She let her smile widen to that terrifying degree that always made her targets believe she was inhuman. She never dissuaded those thoughts, instead encouraging them. "And you, Lila Rossi. You are a lying sociopath, and to be honest, I can respect that! But you chose to put my beloved's name in your mouth, and you've made me mad. Unfortunately for you, that is an unpleasant situation to be in."

"M-Marinette?" Alya tripped backwards on the steps, falling on her butt. She was ignored. Marinette's focus was on Lila, the repulsive girl who dared to soil her beloved's name with her tongue. To her credit, Lila was managing to hold eye contact with Marinette, even if it was in paralysis. "Tell me," Marinette slammed her hands on the lying girl's desk. "Do you do any research before you decide to spread rumors?"

Lila was pale and shaking, her mouth a thin line. She didn't answer. "You do, don't you? You recognize my beloved, and you realize your house of lies is toppling around you." Marinette ended with a whisper, her face inches from the Italian's.

The room was silent, everyone's focus on the scene before them. On the way Marinette's personality did a complete one-eighty and froze everyone in their spots. Well, everyone except for the boy. He was staring at Marinette in adoration, hands clasped behind him as he watched his betrothed tear into her hemorrhoid of the last several months. His phone buzzed in his pocket, the only sound in the room. "Habibti. It's done."

Marinette whirled around, her sunshine smile back. "Then why are we still here?" She linked arms with the boy and left the room in stunned silence.

(The LoA and The Order are the same organization under different names)

#batman fanfiction #miraculous fanfic #mlb x dc #maribat #maribat march 2024 #marinette dupain cheng #damian wayne #damian al ghul #loa marinette #betrothed au #lila salt

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mcheang · 7 months

Text

Reality

As Nino lays out his plan for targeting Gabriel, Alya points out one thing. “Sure I know Ladybug can fix the mess an akuma causes. But Gabriel will still be mad. He already doesn’t like you, Nino. Don’t push it. For all we know, Gabriel might threaten to transfer Adrien to a different school. Remember, he totally lost it when Adrien lost his book?”

Nino: oh…right. I didn’t think of that. Then, who do we target?

Marinette grins sneakily. “I know someone who can get upset very easily.”

Adrien: really, who?

Marinette: i don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Later, as the parent-teacher meeting commenced, Marinette bursts in, “Oh, I’m so sorry to barge in like this. But I forgot I needed Mrs Rossi’s signature for Lila’s trip to Achu.”

Caline: Marinette, can’t this wait?

Mrs Rossi: what trip to Achu?

Caline and Marinette look at her. “You know, the trip she’s taking to join Prince Ali in teaching children for free. It’s such a shame that she won’t be able to attend the school’s weeklong camping trip but it’s for a good cause.

Mrs Rossi stands up. “My daughter is doing what?”

Caline: why are you so surprised, Mrs Rossi? Lila went to Achu for months less than a week after she joined Dupont.

Mrs Rossi: she told me the school was shut down from akuma attacks!

Marinette pretended to look faint. “Oh no, was it because of her special lying disease?”

Mr Cesaire looked skeptical. “A lying disease…? Do you mean compulsive lying?”

Gabriel almost regretted not being able to akumatize Mrs Rossi, if only to make up for losing Lila Rossi as a spy since clearly Alliance can no longer use her. Oh well, there’s always the fallout when her sheep find out.

Alya and Nino were recording this with open mouths. Adrien wasn’t so bothered by this after seeing more of Lila’s hateful personality.

Needless to say, the parent-teacher conference was delayed as Sabine then angrily wanted justice for her daughter if she was indeed framed by a liar. Gabriel had to admit the teaching faculty here was lousy to fall for Lila’s reception, but that’s what makes this place so prime for his akumas! Why did he send Adrien here again? Oh right, it’s the most prestigious school and he’ll never hear the end of it from Andre because Chloe would never accept his perfect son being in another school away from her.

Later, after Marinette received an apology from Mrs Rossi, she agreed to bring Lila up. Alya and Nino looked apologetic. “We’re so sorry we didn’t believe you.”

Marinette looked behind her. “It’s ok. Keep recording. If Mrs Rossi isn’t angry enough to attract an akuma, her daughter will be. Nothing akumatizes Lila like being caught.”

Lila was immediately suspicious when Marinette of all people came to get her, however it was subdued by Marinette’s poorly hidden dislike and the fact that it was Gabriel who asked her to come.

Certain that Mr Agreste wanted her help against a stupid boy’s resistance team, she agreed.

Boy was Lila surprised to see Sabine and her mother standing in front of the classroom instead of Mr Agreste, who looked disappointed in her.

Uh oh. Now Lila could see Marinette’s triumphant face and could see what had happened. Her one consolation was that the team’s plan to anger a parent into akumatization had failed. Though she was also irked she couldn’t get akumatized and make that loser suffer for exposing her like this. This is worse than Ladybug’s exposing her in front of Adrien!

As Lila was dragged by her mother to the principal’s office, Caline tried to resume the parent-teacher conference though it was clear all now felt disheartened by her incompetence.

The resistance was confused. Angry Rossis and disappointed parents were around. Where was the akuma?

Eventually they had to give up. What a waste of free period.

Not entirely a waste though since Lila was now exposed. Alya sent the recording to the whole class as the parents left.

Outraged gasps were heard everywhere.

Nino: why didn’t you wait till class was about to start? Then we could prepare to record the akumatization.

Adrien: if Monarch didn’t come out for Mrs Rossi and Lila, I doubt he’ll come for-

Reverser promptly swooped by, ready to turn Lila nice and honest.

Adrien: never mind.

Marc was deakumatized and the class apologized to Marinette for not believing her.

Lila returned to class, sulky in her forced apology, not really bothered by their angry reactions now that she was expelled. Only Marinette’s smug attitude infuriated her. Having been forced honest by Reverser, she had confessed to having duped two other women into being her mothers and had initially planned on running away to join one of them. Her mother now has their numbers. It was a nightmare.

Alya: who else can we akumatize for the greater good? Mayor Bourgeois?

Marinette: I don’t think our plan works if we our expected target isn’t even akumatized. We’ll have to think of something else.

Monarch is disappointed he won’t get to akumatize the akuma class again for a while. Ah well, it can be a favor to Adrien.

#miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous ladybug fic #ml fanfic #ml fanfiction #ml fic #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #Lila is exposed #Lila gets exposed #ml salt fic #bustier salt #Lila salt #nino’s plan to target Gabriel was ridiculous because the end result is so obvious

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 9 months

Text

https://twitter.com/thomas_astruc/status/1273731439192944640?lang=gl

Feel like this adds onto thomas disrespecting dismissing fanfic artists.

He's says "fanfics doesn't technically fit what's required for an actual Miraculous story to work." Like he thinks he's the only one who knows what works best for miraculous show

Then says its "nonsense" about anyone who thinks someone else writes better than the actual show is like he can't fathom anyone doing better than him and the crew as is

Not an "attack" but sure is insulting

But ye just typical thomas i suppose

----------------------------------------------------------

Don't forget how Astruc keeps coming up with excuses as to why fans and critics of the show can't possibly hope to give any meaningful criticism, whether it's because they lack the experience, or because they aren't French.

Astruc must be really in shape with all the mental gymnastics he does in his spare time.

#submission #cray-cray-anime post #thomas astruc salt #miraculous ladybug #mlb #fanfic writers #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #immaturity of thomas astruc #support your fanfic writers #but not thomas lol #not seen s 4 or 5 #and will continue not watching #thing delivered to my ask box because tumblr won't let me say the s word

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pearl-star · 2 months

Text

It's Not My Job

I had written and had this story finished back in August of last year, but just never got around to posting it. I revisited it again yesterday and decided to just go ahead and post it. It's crossed posted to my AO3 if if you would prefer reading it there, here's the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54107548. (Also, fair warning, this fic is 10K words long. I didn't feel like dividing it up into different chapters so here it is in its entirely.

Summary: After becoming too stressed out from her class rep duties, Marinette talks to the other class reps about the work she’s been doing, hoping for some help. In a few moments, she discovers that none of the work she’s been assigned to do is what she should be doing as class rep. And when she goes to Miss Bustier only for her teacher to threaten her, her friends and family finally decide that enough is enough and take the issue to the higher ups.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette was on her last legs. The swell of akumas over the past month was bad enough, but the extra work that came with it just made her life so much harder. On top of her regular school work and make-up work from missed classes, she had to handle her class rep duties as well. She had to be an example, help her classmates when Chloe acted up, check essays and homework, and do her other general class rep tasks.

Not only that, but she had to hatch out a whole plan for the class trip. Not just a general idea but the specifics of where they would stay, the exact activities they would do, how they would get there and travel around, and so on. She also had to plan out the fundraising activities, and had to do enough of them otherwise she would have to put in the rest of the money herself. Chloe had no issues with that in the past, but she was also rich. Marinette couldn’t exactly use her parent’s credit card to get it all situated.

Alya, by her sense of duty as both her friend and class deputy, tried helping her out but for some reason wasn’t allowed. She could help instruct people once the plans were made, but she couldn’t be a part of the planning process. Otherwise, according to Miss Bustier, the plans would have to be redone completely. The blogger had suggested working on it together secretly, but Marinette was hesitant. She didn’t want to risk Miss Bustier finding out and for her to demand that the plans had to be redone. So for now, the bluenette was working on her own.

Everyone in class had noticed the toll the extra work was doing on her. She barely made it to class on time and was always the last to leave. Her bookbag was stuffed with papers with notes and plans. She always had her shoulders slumped, like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, and her eye bags were barely being covered by her makeup. She never smiled unless Miss Bustier told her to be a better example, in which case she would stitch on a mechanical smile similar to that of Adrien’s model smile.

The model, for his part, was freaking out over the fact that the sweetest and most happy girl in class (besides Rose, who is just a sparkling ball of pink, glittery sunshine) was struggling. He went so far as to get her coffee order from Alya and made sure to bring one in daily, as well as leave a thermos of heavily sugared black tea on her desk after lunch. The fact that Marinette wasn’t reacting to Adrien’s actions with anything more than a thank you, with no stuttering or blush in sight, proved how tired she really was.

Marinette’s sole goal was to catch up with all of this work as fast as she could, otherwise she would get behind again and be stuck in this loop forever. So when she was asked to attend a lunch out with the other class reps, she hesitated. She didn’t really have time to do much of anything. Even patrols had been cut down, something her partner had insisted on when she almost fell off a building when she zoned out mid jump. Still, maybe they could help her.

Miss Bustier had said that planning the class trip and all that was only the job of the class rep, so her getting advice from the other class reps shouldn’t be against the rules. So Marinette found herself that Friday walking to the cafe where Aurora said to meet. Once she got there, the weather girl waved her over to an open chair next to her.

As she walked over, she looked at the group. Marinette knew who most of the class reps were, but never got the chance to talk to any of them. Some were in the art club with her, but they tended not to discuss class rep duties there.

“Sorry I’m late.” The bluenette apologized, sliding into the empty chair. “I had to show Miss Bustier my progress for the class trip.”

There was silence, and then.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, my plans for the class trip. I’ve narrowed it down to a place and found a hotel that we could stay at, but I still need to figure out travel plans and the exact activities.” Marinette looked at the confused faces around her. Then a thought came to mind. “Am I late on this too?! Miss Bustier only brought it up to me at the end of last month, so I thought that I had plenty of time still but-”

“No it’s not that.” Kimberly said, cutting Marinette off from her panic. “It’s just that… class reps don’t plan out their class trips.”

Marinette blinked at the news. She had been class rep for the past two years. The first year, she didn’t have to be as in depth with the class trip. She proposed a general trip idea, fundraising ideas, and helped coordinate the fundraisers, but this year Miss Bustier said that class reps had to be more hands-on with the trip. The teacher had even given her a packet on the new rules.

“What do you mean? Yes they do. It’s in the newest handbook.”

“What handbook?”

Marinette dug in her book bag before pulling out the packet and handing it to Claude. He flipped through the pages, scanning them while a few other class reps looked over his shoulders. As he read, his frown deepened.

“This isn’t right. The handbook has been updated last year, but not in this way. It actually had deputies taking on more of the load to help lessen the stress of class reps, as well as a newly added duty to help plan out relaxation days throughout the year to try and lessen the chance of akumas during testing weeks. Where did you get this from?”

“Miss Bustier gave it to me and explained it all. She did say how class reps were now responsible for helping to lower the class’s stress.”

All of the class reps looked at each other, before Aurora finally spoke up.

“Marinette… I don’t know why Miss Bustier gave this to you, but it isn’t right. I don’t have the handbook on me right now but there is one in Ms. Meedeveli’s classroom that I can show you once we get back to the school.”

Marinette paused, before nodding and thanking the weather girl. Slowly the conservation changed to something else, but the bluenette’s mind couldn’t stop from drifting. Why would Miss Bustier give her the wrong packet? Maybe the school had made this version and then changed it, but didn’t inform the teacher of the change. Marinette did become class rep for the first time last year, so it is possible that Miss Bustier went and asked for the newest handbook early so that she could have it at the start of her role.

The pigtailed girl was finally able to relax. That had to be it. Miss Bustier thought that this was the correct version and just didn’t know. Once she gets the new copy, they can figure out how planning for the school trip should really go.

After lunch she walked back to school with all of the reps, and then split off from the group as she followed Aurora to Ms. Meedeveli’s room. The science teacher was already in the room, working on writing something on the board for the lesson later on.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Meedeveli. Do you have a copy of the class rep handbook?”

“Good afternoon to you too, and yes I do. It’s over on the wall next to the classroom rules.”

“Do you think Marinette can borrow it for the afternoon? There was a bit of a mix-up with the handbook in her homeroom.”

The teacher stiffened at that, and Marinette was worried that she would say no. Instead, once the woman realized the bluenette’s eyes on her, she shook her head.

“Go ahead. And feel free to keep it in your homeroom, Marinette. I can pick up another copy later. Just let me know if you need anything else.”

Once Aurora handed her a packet, a by far smaller one than the previous one, Marinette nodded.

“Thank you so much, Ms. Meedeveli. I’ll see you later in class.”

She gave her thanks to the blonde as well before walking out of the room, looking over the packet. She was in such a rush that she didn’t notice the usually strict teacher give her a look of pity.

As Marinette read through the packet, she felt less and less stressed already. It was definitely much different than the one she was given, and would absolutely help her catch up on all her other activities. Without having to plan the class trip, she would have so much more freetime. All she would have to do is tell Miss Bustier of the mix up and then she’ll be good.

She decided to wait until after school though, since class was about to start and she didn’t want to be the reason they had more makeup work. However, once class was over and she talked to Miss Bustier, she got a rude surprise.

“What do you mean this packet is wrong? I got this from Ms. Meedeveli’s room. All the other class reps said that the handbook you gave me was the wrong one.”

“Yes, the other class reps have a different handbook, but you need to follow the one I gave you. You’re my star student, Marinette. You can handle more work.”

“I can’t though.” Marinette nearly cried, before composing herself. “I’m really struggling with just homework with all the akumas interrupting class time. And the handbook you gave me said that Alya can’t even help me with all of these extra duties. I’m gonna fall behind at this rate.”

“Now Marinette, that would be your own fault. You need to manage your time better. Also you do need to help prevent akumas. That thing in the other handbook we can include in ours. I want you to plan a destressing activity for the class to do by the end of next week. We can do a different one every week to keep things different.”

Upon hearing that more work was being put onto her, she opened her mouth to refuse before being silenced.

“I really wouldn’t want to have a talk with your parents about you becoming a problem to our classroom, so make sure to keep up your good job as class rep okay?”

Miss Bustier was… threatening her? The bluenette was so shocked that she could only nod, numbly leaving the classroom. As soon as she turned the corner, she bumped into Alya.

“Oh. Hi, Alya.”

“Marinette… did Miss Bustier really say that?”

It was then that Marinette realized how shaken up her friend was.

“What do you mean?”

“She really-” Alya started, before looking at the direction to the classroom door in contemplation. It seemed like she made a decision, as she pulled Marinette away.

“We’re telling your parents. I can’t believe she said that to you.”

The bluenette got a sense of dread with Alya’s suggestion, realizing that Alya had heard some if not all of the conversation she just had. The reminder of Miss Bustier’s earlier threat rang in her mind.

“No. Miss Bustier-”

“She’s forcing you to do more work. Quite frankly, I was about to ‘accidentally’ hide some of the work I’ve been doing for the class trip in with your notes so that you’d actually be able to get some sleep. But now? I can’t just sit by and let this happen to my best friend.”

“But my parents won’t believe me.”

“Don’t you have both packets? Show that to your parents. Besides, it's the entire class’s words against Miss Bustier. Your parents will believe us.”

Marinette still didn’t like the sound of it. She’d never gone against her teacher before. But Alya was hard to stop once she got an idea in her head, so the bluenette was dragged to the bakery.

Her mom was handling the counter, and was finishing up checking out a customer. Once they left, she finally noticed them.

“Good afternoon girls. Feel free to take a pastry on your way up.”

“Actually Mlle. Cheng, we need to speak to you about something.”

“What is it?”

Alya nudged Marinette forward, but when it was clear that she wasn’t going to talk, Alya took charge. She grabbed the two different class rep handbooks, walking forward and giving them to the women.

“Miss Bustier has been forcing Marinette to take on more work as class rep. When Marinette asked her about it, she threatened to call you two up and tell you that she’s causing issues.”

Sabine blinked at Alya’s words, before her confusion was swapped for a blank stare. Her eyes shifted from the packets in her hands to her daughter.

“Marinette, is this true?”

“We-Well I mean, I’m sure Miss Bustier didn’t really mean-”

“Marinette. Please tell me the truth.”

Yep. Her mom was definitely mad at her. She sighed and decided to just take the bullet.

“It’s true, but I-”

“What has she been making you do?”

Marinette flinched at the anger sounding clearly in her mother’s tone. She looked down at her hands. Alya kept a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her. When it was clear that the bluenette had no intention of speaking, the blogger took over.

“She’s been forced to plan the whole class trip by herself. Where we’re going, the hotel we’re staying in, activities we’re doing, the exact travel plans, fundraising, all of that. I wasn’t even allowed to do any of the planning process with her.”

“Anything else?”

“I had to help with grading some things.” Marinette finally added, sighing in defeat. “I also had to help when Chloe acted up.” She leaned back into Alya’s touch, causing the redhead to wrap her arm around her and give her a tight squeeze.

Sabine looked between the two girls and then back at the packets in her hands. She frowned in thought at the clear size difference between the two.

“I’d take it that this is the real one?” She asked, holding up the smaller packet.

“That’s the one that the other class reps use. I got it from Ms. Meedevelei this afternoon.”

“I’m gonna look these over during my break. That will be in… thirty minutes. For now I think you two should grab a treat and relax upstairs. Would you two be okay staying here in case I need to ask you something else?”

The two girls nodded, grabbing a pastry and heading back and up to the apartment. Marinette fiddled with the hem of her jacket, thinking about what had just happened. Alya sighed and pulled her towards the chaise.

“Don’t worry, let your parents handle this.”

“But what if I get in trouble in school? Miss Bustier could do to Principal Damcoles and say that I’m not cooperating and-”

“And then everyone will tell him off if he tries to punish you. Miss Bustier threatened you. That’s a whole other thing to consider, above her dumping a bunch of work onto you and making you do it by yourself.” Alya scowled. “I don’t understand that part. Why did she not want me to help with anything?”

Marinette didn’t have an answer to that. If Miss Bustier truly wanted her to do all of these things, then having Alya help her would have made life so much easier. Why not let someone else who was willing to help take some work off her shoulders do it? The redhead shrugged and reached in her bookbag.

“I guess it doesn’t matter right now. I know your mom said to relax, but I also know you can’t do physics for the life of you so let me help you out while I can.”

The bluenette felt tears prick up at the offer of receiving help, but she quickly wiped those away before her friend could notice. They were so distracted with the work that they didn’t hear the muffled shouts from below.

“That woman did what?!”

“She threatened our daughter. All because Marinette asked her why the manual she was given as class rep was different from every other class reps’ handbook.”

The two adults were hard to anger. Their life was full of simple joys, being able to live peaceful lives despite running a business and being in a time when a magical terrorist was in their city. But let it not be said that they could never get angry. Because right now, the only other thought in their minds besides concern for their daughter was the anger towards the girl’s teacher.

“I want to talk to Miss Bustier today. I know that Alya can be dramatic sometimes, but Marinette would never lie. Especially with something like this.”

“We can close the bakery. I want to be there as well.”

Sabine thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

“No. I’m just gonna do a phone call for now. Besides, we can’t just close the bakery today. I’ll update you once I’m done talking to her.”

She thought that it would be a fifteen minute phone call max. Just her asking to confirm things and then asking for them to be changed to how they should be. She didn’t expect Miss Bustier to try and defend herself. Yes, Marinette was a bright kid and an excellent student, but that didn’t mean that she should be doing the work of her teacher. The more she tried to defend her daughter, the more the teacher defended her own actions. Sabine ended the call more frustrated than before, and she decided to instead talk to Mr. Damocles. Because surely he would be able to correct the teacher? After all, what Ms. Bustier was doing was an abuse of her power.

Alas, Sabine ended her night early. Both adults saw it best to just close the bakery early. Heaven forbid if that principal or teacher decided to pay them a visit. The cup of chamomile tea was not helping her to calm down in the slightest, and her husband paced around as he ranted. The woman herself, while not outwardly expressing her thoughts, did silently stew on the issue.

How dare those people do this to her child. It wasn’t a big deal? It absolutely was. Neither parent had missed the way Marinette was getting more sluggish and tired. It was part of the reason why they had stopped making her work in the bakery as of late. All that extra work was affecting her studies and normal life, and neither of those adults cared? It was an outrage! But who else could she turn to?

It was then that an idea struck her. Sabine grinned, leaving her half finished tea on the table and walking off.

“Calling them back is not going to do anything. I think we need to go in person and demand that they stop this.”

“Oh, I’m not calling them. I have a better idea.”

If those two wouldn’t listen to her, then she would have to get someone who would make them see the error of their ways. Sabine sat down at the computer, typing out a very detailed email before sending it off. She continued to check her inbox throughout the weekend, waiting for a response, but there wasn’t one. Not until Sunday afternoon.

Dear Madame Cheng,

We have reviewed your complaints regarding Madame Bustier and Mister Damocles, and have officially filed for an investigation to take place. We will begin the investigation starting tomorrow, Monday XX/XXXX, and will inform you of any updates as well as the results. If you are worried about any misaction towards your daughter by Madame Bustier because of this investigation, please let us know. We will be happy to make arrangements for her to be situated in a different homeroom both during and after the course of this investigation.

We ask that you and your husband be available during some point this week for a meeting to discuss the problem more in depth. We will try our best to be courteous and inform you ahead of time when we will be paying you a visit. If you have anything urgent to report before our meeting, please do not hesitate to reach out either through email or using the phone number listed below. We promise you that your concerns will be taken seriously, and the investigation will not end until a solution is made.

Jon Garnier, Dupont School Board Member

Sabine smiled at the email once she finished reading it. It was done. With the school board involved, Miss Bustier would be forced to take off the workload from her daughter. She sent a response email to him, thanking him and informing him that he could come to the bakery at any time and she would be sure to be available to talk to him.

There were some other things, some very concerning things, that Alya had filled her and Tom in on Friday before the girl went home, but Sabine didn’t add those in. As awful as they were, they could wait to be discussed once she was face to face with someone.

Marinette was told that things were being handled, but the girl still seemed worried. She was given a choice to switch homerooms temporarily or even just stay home for a day or two, but she rejected both. Not only was Marinette behind on classwork, but she still needed to continue her class rep duties, even if her parents didn’t seem happy when she said that. Reluctantly, her parents sent her off to school on Monday.

Alya made sure to pick her up, trying to offer her support and then try to distract her with little success. It was very clear to anyone that Marinette had not gotten any rest, despite the reassurance from her parents and Alya. She was told not to do any of the class rep work and instead just relax and focus on her other school work, but she wasn’t able to feel calm. Her anxiety at what would happen now that her parents had talked to Miss Bustier and Mr. Damcoles kept her from sleeping. So she worked on not just all the extra class work, but also her guardian work. Tikki was not happy with her, but there was only so much that the kwami could do to stop her.

The two girls slowed down a bit as they approached their friends by the steps. Both boys eyed the bluenette with great concern with one of them being… a bit more dramatic about it.

“Marientte! What happened? Why do you look more tired now?”

The blond fretted, handing the cup of coffee he had to Nino to hold as he examined the girl, holding onto her face with one hand as he lightly touched the bags until her eyes with his finger.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Couldn’t sleep? You look more tired than I do when I have a night and morning shoot back to back. Maybe you should go home and rest for the day?”

“I can’t. I’m already behind on all my work. Besides, as class president it’s my duty to show up.”

The pigtailed girl couldn’t say it with as much conviction as she once might have, due to how much energy that would have taken. Even talking was just wearing her out. How she would be able to handle Chole’s inevitable fits, she didn’t know, or really care about right now. None of the trio were happy to hear that, and even the students who fluttered around looked at the girl with a mix of concern and pity.

Adrien had always wanted to be able to have a straight conversation with the budding designer. One where she wouldn’t be so flustered that she would have to run off. But if she would have to be like this for him to get that? He would have never wished for it. For now he turned and took the coffee cup back from Nino to hand it to the girl.

“Here you go. If you refuse to go home then at least have this.”

The small smile she gave him was genuine, and Adrien only wished that it had come at a time when she wasn’t so tired.

“Thank you. I need to get some things done before class starts.” Before anyone could stop her, Marinette started her walk up the stairs. Alya was immediately on her trail.

“She’s wearing herself out. I want to be able to help her more but…” The blond murmured, wishing that he knew what was happening to her. He knew that she was stressed out, but surely there had to be something else he could do besides keeping her caffeinated. Nino patted his shoulder, still looking at where the girls disappeared off to.

“You’re doing what you can. Besides, Alya’s figured things out.”

“Figured what out? Marinette is still… like that.”

“She didn’t tell you? With the way Alya went off in the group chat and then to me, I thought for sure you would have known.”

Alya did what? Adrien had been on his phone, and he hadn’t noticed any messages coming in at all. Checking his texts, the last message from the class chat had been someone commenting on Marinette’s behavior, but it was just a message of concern from Rose. Nothing from Alya. Nino looked over his shoulder and let out an oh.

“You must not have been added to the chat. Here, let me do that real quick.”

In a few seconds, a request to join a group chat came in. Clicking accept, he quickly scrolled to the top of the conversation before pausing. He blinked once, twice, then screamed.

“She did WHAT to Marinette?!”

“Yeah, it happened on Friday. Alya overheard it and went to Marinette’s parents. They-” Nino went on, but Adrien drowned him out.

He couldn’t believe it. He knew that Marinette was stressed out about her class rep position and he saw how Miss Bustier treated Marinette sometimes, but this? That woman just decided to threaten her? A growl sounded out, and it barely registered in his mind that it came from him.

“That’s it. I don’t care what I have to do, I’m-”

“Adrien.” Nino said, grabbing onto his shoulders and snapping him out of his thoughts. “You need to calm down. Trust me, everyone is upset about this, but you can’t get akumatized.”

He tried to calm himself, but it was hard. This whole time this was happening without him knowing. He was a failure to his princess, his everyday Ladybug. Did his partner have something like this happening in her life and he was failing her too? He knew that she was more tired lately, due to having more work in her civilian life on top of guardian work but she didn’t give specifics. He had tried offering to do some of the guardian work too, but she had declined citing how it would be too dangerous to do it in the open and they had nowhere private to go. Maybe he should have pushed more?

“Dude, calm down.” He instructed again, once again jostling him from his thoughts. “Alya already told Marinette’s parents. They have things covered.”

The question of “how” popped into his mind, but before he could voice it he spotted two adults walking up the steps. Adults who he did not recognize, but felt like they held an air of authority to them.

“Trust me,” Nino said, and it was then that the blonde noticed his friend’s knowing look. “They have things covered.”

Adrien knew that there was something else to Nino’s words, but decided against asking exactly what. For now he would simply keep a closer eye on both Marinette and Miss Bustier. No one would be allowed to hurt his princess on his watch.

Inside the school, whispers had already begun. There had already been some talk about the bluenette before. With her being one of the only two people in the akuma class who hasn’t gotten akumatized yet, they figured that the noticeable stress she was under would due her in.

But now the whispers were revolving around the reason for the two adults who entered the building. A man and a woman, both dressed in business attire and wearing the same stern expression. They came in to get answers, and they would get just that.

Walking straight to Mr. Damocles' office, they gave a sharp knock before letting themselves in. The man, for his part, seemed confused by someone bursting into his office. His confusion quickly turned to concern as he recognized the people standing before him.

“We’re here from the school board. There’s been a recent complaint filed and we will be investigating it.” The woman’s tone left no room for an argument. “I’ll be discussing this issue with you while Mr. Garnier does an observation in one of your classrooms. Depending on what happens, we may have to pull some students out of class to ask them a few questions.”

Mr. Damocles only had enough time to realize what the recent complaint was before the man walked out. The woman sat down in the chair across his desk, setting a file in front of him.

“So, tell me about your response to the mistreatment of one Miss Marinette Dupain Cheng?”

There would be no use lying. As required with all staff members, their school issued phones recorded every phone call that took place on them. It was meant to protect them if a parent tries to deny something that they said over the call, but in this case it would be used against him. He cleared his throat, trying to figure out a way to save himself. He remembered that last time these people came in they said that then was his final warning, but surely he would be fine. He was an excellent principal, and this issue wasn’t big enough for him to be fired, surely. So he began his defense.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Gariner walked through the hallway, trusting that Mrs. Monet would be able to handle things. She was slightly biased in this case, as she had a soft spot for the victims in cases like this, but she was a professional above all else so she should be able to prove well into finding out exactly what Mr. Damocles’ thoughts were.

Truthfully, they should have done an investigation at this school sooner. They had seen the news reports about the students in this class, but since Hawkmoth was a new thing they had waited. He took his victims by using their emotions against them, and since uncontrolled emotions tended to run higher among adolescents they didn’t push investigating directly as their top priority.

They had simply decided to send an email and request that something was done within the classrooms to allow for some form of relaxation or meditation to be done. That had gotten accepted without any issues, and they foolishly had allowed their attention to relax from the school. But now they noticed the repeated pattern of akumas forming from one specific class, and something had to be done.

Even without Madame Cheng’s email, they would have been investigating Miss Bustier and her class anyways. Of course, what was said in that email worried them. From what it sounded like, it seemed like Miss Bustier was fostering her work onto a student. That would be bad enough, but threatening said student to continue doing the work was an extra layer that they would have to address.

For now he tried to clear his thoughts, knocking once on the classroom door before walking in. The students were all whispering to themselves, but stopped once they saw his presence. He simply ignored them, turning to the confused teacher.

“My apologies for interrupting your classroom, Madame. The school board sent me to do your regular classroom observation.” It wasn’t true, but it would at least help to make her not mask her true behavior as much. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t be showing off her real behavior though. She seemed a bit flustered, but nodded nonetheless. “I’ll just be sitting in the back. Please just go on with your lessons as you normally would.”

Without another word, he walked up the stairs and took a seat in the very back. The woman eyed him wearily, but called the class to attention anyways. Throughout the morning, he noticed all the students at some point or another looking back at him.

The one that caught his attention though was one blonde student in the front. Not because he was looking at him, but because he was turning around to look at another student. Marinette Dupain Cheng, he had to presume. He did see her photo when looking into her file, but even without that he could tell that she was the student whose parents had made the complaint. The amount of papers that were on her desk, as well as how the other students occasionally looked over to her in concern was enough of an indicator.

There were no major issues that had popped up, but there were a few times when he noticed Miss Bustier looking at Marinette. The first came when another student (Chloe Bourgeois, he remembered her from numerous reports before) made an insult to the girl. Instead of calling the student out, Miss Bustier looked over to Marinette and waited. When nothing happened, she opened her mouth before looking back at him and closing it again. Whatever she was going to say was instead replaced with her continuing the lesson as if nothing had happened.

There were a few other times, when she mentioned the graded homework and a quiz and she looked over to the girl, only to quickly say that she would be passing them back tomorrow. He caught her looking back at him then too. It happened several other times, one notable one being when she mentioned the class’s end of the year trip. The way Marinette’s body stiffened when the teacher commented that all plans would be finished and presented on Friday was noticeable to everyone but the teacher.

Another thing he noticed was the same blonde boy from before making to stand up, only for his desk mate to pull him back down and shake his head. It was easy enough to tell why he did that when they both looked back at him. He didn’t know if it was out of fear that they would be punished or if they were hoping he would do something.

He was going to do something, of course, Mr. Gariner would never allow for this kind of treatment to continue past today, but he was required to wait until the students left before talking to Miss Bustier directly about these issues. Of course, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t doing anything right now.

A few quick emails and texts got sent out and exchanged. Another member of the school board would be coming to help with asking the students and other teachers some questions regarding both Miss Bustier and Mr. Damocles. The principal had been warned not even a few months ago that he needed to have better control on his students and staff members.

Those issues had all stemmed from one Miss Bourgeois who had caused issues and hurt students all while never facing any consequences. He was warned to not let a student get out of trouble by threatening to call her father. He was even told that if the mayor tried to actually follow through on the threats his daughter made, that he would be abusing his power and would be kicked out of his position.

They hadn’t received any complaints since then, but it was a wonder if students had been making them and they never got received. That thought was also troubling. Not all people would consider turning to the school board for issues, not at first anyways. Contacting the teacher or principal was what families were encouraged to do. The issue needed to first be, or at least, attempted to be, dealt with at the school level before going up to the school board after all.

It was meant to stop unneeded cases from clogging up and stopping them from being able to work on more pressing issues, but it could be possible that people didn’t bother trying to contact them. It could be that they were promised that everything would be settled, or even that the school board wouldn’t be able to help out anyways. Another thought was that they could have been threatened as well. If Miss Bustier made a threat to her one student without a second thought, was it possible that other students were coerced into keeping quiet?

Once the bell rang for lunch, all the students were packing up and Miss Bustier said one final thing.

“Marinette, please stay behind for a few minutes.”

Those words caused everyone in the class to stop what they were doing and look between the two. The tension was noticeable, and Mr. Gariner decided to settle things. Walking down the steps and towards the front, he addressed the teacher, not even having to raise his voice to be heard by the rest of the students in the pressing silence.

“Actually, Miss Bustier, I need to discuss some things with you.” When she opened her mouth to refute, he pressed on. “You can discuss whatever it is with your student later on.”

Seeing how he wasn’t going to budge, Miss Bustier nodded. Marinette quickly walked out, the rest of the students following right behind her. Closing the door after the last student walked out he waited a few moments just to make sure that no one else was going to come in before turning to address the teacher.

“Please take a seat. This will be a long discussion.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Marinette was freaking out. Not only did she not get the chance to hand Miss Bustier the homework and quizzes she helped to grade and would be getting in trouble for that, but she also would need to finalize everything for the class trip before Friday. Even with all the work she did over the weekend, she still wasn’t close to done.

She hadn’t been able to book anything since she wasn’t an adult, and even if she could bug her parents to help she wouldn’t be able to since they wouldn’t be going on the trip and whoever booked things had to be in attendance.

That left the only choice being Miss Bustier. She debated sending her an email, but Tikki had actually been able to stop her from doing that, unplugging the computer and causing enough commotion that her parents came up and brought her downstairs to get away from the work laid out on her desk. Her hope was to ask the teacher before class but then she didn’t come into class until the start time. And she wasn’t able to meet with Miss Bustier during lunch since then the man from the school board needed to talk to her, so she would have to put it off until after school.

Right now Alya was dragging her off outside the school and towards her house. She didn’t register the conversation that Nino and Adrien were having behind them. It was when she almost stumbled and felt arms wrapping around her body to keep her upright, while she could see Alya bending down to pick up her dropped items, that she realized they were outside the bakery’s doors.

“Okay. You’re eating lunch and then you’re gonna relax. Maybe you should take a nap too.”

“Adrien?” She tried to turn to look at him, but his arms pulling her back to be flushed with his chest prevented her from being able to do more than glance at him from the corner of her vision.

“You need to let her go dude. Unless you want to carry her inside.”

There was a pause, and it seemed for a second like he was actually going to do it. As he was adjusting his arms, Alya stopped him.

“Let’s just let Marinette walk. We’re here anyway.”

Adrien did let her go enough for her to walk forward, but kept his hand ghosting her back. The four walked in and headed up into the main part of the house. Marinette was sat down on the couch, held down by Adrien when she tried to grab the papers Alya was still holding.

“I need to work on the rest of the arrangements for the class trip.”

“Nope. That’s not your job.” Alya said, leaving no room for argument. Before Marinette could try though, the blogger walked out of the room with Nino in tow.

“Everything will be okay.” She turned and blinked at Adrien, who was still holding her. “I won’t let Miss Bustier hurt you again. I promise.”

“What do you-”

“I heard about Miss Bustier threatening you. I don’t care how I do it, I promise you I won’t let her get away with that.”

Marinette turned to better face him. Half of her brain was trying to mentally arrange things for the class trip while the other half was too tired to fully comprehend what all was happening. It still hadn’t even processed the fact that Adrien was going to carry her earlier. Before she could even attempt to understand what he was telling her now and how he knew, Alya and Nino walked back in with a bunch of food.

“You’re going to eat then you’re gonna take a nap until lunch is over.”

“But I need to get back to school before lunch is over.” If she was lucky, Miss Bustier would be done talking to the man from the school board. Then she could try and get things figured out in time for Friday.

“Eat. Then sleep.”

Alya pushed the plate of food onto her lap. Deciding that she could just sneak out after she got done eating, Marinette began to eat the sandwich Alya had made. During the whole time they ate, their eyes kept drifting back to Marinette. As soon as she was done eating and made to stand, they acted.

Marinette’s brain was able to conjure up the question of if all her friends were physic or if they had discussed this plan in front of her and she just didn’t realize it, because they all acted in sync. Nino grabbed her plate and cup from her hands, moving out of the way while Adrien pulled her down to lay on the couch. Alya threw a blanket over her body and adjusted it as a pillow got placed under her head.

“Nap time.”

“But-”

“You will be stuck here until the end of lunch either way. You might as well just sleep.”

Marinette let out a huff, making to move only for a hand to press her down. She looked up at Adrien’s face as he loomed over her.

“I will lay on you if you try to resist Marinette.”

That reminded her of Chat Noir. Even though he had canceled group patrols, and he took over her solo ones, she had decided to go out for one last weekend. She couldn’t help herself. She was anxious and just wanted to go out for a little bit. Still, once he realized she was out and hadn’t slept at all, he ran off before returning with a pillow and blankets. Somehow she ended up wrapped up in what she could only refer to as a blanket burrito with a pillow under her head and Chat Noir laying on top of her. She had fallen asleep to the sound of his purring.

Of course there was no way that Adrien would do that. But he did. As soon as she tried to sit up again, he laid his chest on top of her’s. He was still kneeling on the ground, so it wasn’t all of his body on top of her, but it was enough weight that it kept her from moving.

“Sleep.” He said, turning his head to look at her. His breathing began to slow, and her body mimicked it without thinking. Soon she was out like a light. He didn’t want to move, but slowly lifted himself off her.

“How did you do that?” Nino asked, his voice in a whisper to keep the girl asleep.

“I read that if you are with someone you both subconsciously match your breathing to theirs.”

He didn’t say it, but he had specifically looked it up on the off chance that he would have to help Ladybug fall asleep without being transformed. His purring only happened in suit, after all. Before anything else could be said, Madame Cheng walked into the room. Adrien quickly leaned back, hoping that she didn’t notice him laying on top of her daughter. She opened her mouth to speak, but the three teens shushed her and waved her off. The woman smiled to see her daughter asleep, but the expression slowly dropped.

“You three are wanted downstairs.”

“For what?”

Adrien resisted the urge to lay back down on top of Marinette and hold onto her. She was finally sleeping, and he wasn’t about to let her have any chance of waking up from her nap too soon.

“There’s someone from the school board who is interviewing the students in your class. She was interviewing me and Tom, but when I mentioned the four of you being here she said she wanted to interview you all now.”

“At the same time?”

“No. Tom and I went separately, so I imagine it would be the same for you three.”

“You two go down. I’ll wait here until one of you gets done.”

Even if Adrien wasn’t the one to watch over Marinette the whole time, he could at least make sure she stayed asleep while Alya and Nino got interviewed. They nodded, and soon Adrien was left alone. He waited a few seconds before laying his head back onto the girl’s chest, smiling as he closed his eyes.

“Oh Plagg, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Marinette is just a very good friend.”

Adrien let out a huff before looking up and glaring at his kwami. He really didn’t want to argue today, so he tried to close his eyes and ignore the god.

“If you think that will stop me, kid, you’re wrong. I-” Whatever Plagg was about to say was cut off. Adrien opened his eyes and looked up, to see him sporting a look of worry. Slowly lifting his head off Marinette’s chest and turned to look off where the kwami was starring. Nothing was there.

“Is something wrong?” He asked, turning back around. What Adrien did not realize was that Tikki was floating right behind him, giving Plagg her signature death glare.

My bug has had no rest at all. Her eyes said. If you stop her from being able to sleep because you’re too busy teasing your kitten and wake her up then I won’t hesitate to end you.

“Nothing.” Plagg said out loud, not wanting to unleash Tikki’s wrath. He was concerned for her bug too, which was why he was trying to get his oblivious holder to realize his feelings so that she would be cared for on both sides of the mask. Of course, he could do that later when he wasn’t at risk of being destroyed.

Confused, but deciding not to question it, Adrien laid his head back down and shut his eyes, falling asleep to the sounds of her gentle breaths.

~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing that Marinette noticed when she woke up, was the voices drifting into the room. She sat up and looked around, confused as to what she was doing in her living room. She turned around and looked over the couch in time to see her papa coming into the room with another woman.

“I guess she woke up.” Her papa said, before addressing her. “Marinette, this is Mrs. Blanchet. She’s from the school board and is here to ask you some questions.”

Marinette was immediately confused and also worried. She noticed the woman’s professional attire and immediately went to smooth out her messy hair. Mrs. Blanchet didn’t seem to care though, as she walked over and took a seat on the chair across from the couch, not once giving any judgemental looks.

“Sorry about my appearance.” Marinette muttered.

“It’s quite alright. I’ve heard from your friends that you haven’t been able to rest, so it’s good that you got some sleep at least.”

She had spoken to her friends? The questions continued to build up. She knew that there was a man from the school board who was speaking to Miss Bustier, but that didn’t explain why there was this woman here and why she would speak to her friends. The answer finally snapped into place with the next thing she said.

“So, Ms. Dupain Cheng, please tell me about your experience with Mlle. Bustier. And please, be honest.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Is she okay?”

“Relax, dude, her parents are with her.”

“But she should have been done by now.”

The trio had long finished their interviews with Mrs. Blanchet and were sent back to school. Miss Bustier wasn’t in class, but a sub was brought in to cover for her. Mr. Fournier was allowing them to work quietly together on the assignment, or really was just letting them have some time to discuss what was going on.

He knew that there would be whispering and notes being passed anyways, so it was better to simply let them go ahead with it so they could not feel so anxious about things. Besides, a few students were still out doing their interviews. It wouldn’t be fair to teach with several students missing due to the investigation.

“Should we call her?”

“Adrien, she is fine. We asked her parents to call us if something bad happens, remember?”

It was the only way they were able to get Adrien to leave the bakery. Even telling him that his father would be upset to find him skipping out on class didn’t get him moving. The two bespeckled teens tried to keep Adrien distracted with the worksheet they were giving, but his eyes kept snapping to the door each time it opened.

More students returned, none of them being Marinette, and Adrien was at the point of considering if he could run out of the room and to the bakery without being pulled back by Nino. So far the only three students out of the room were the bluenette, Chloe, and Sabrina.

But then Sabrina came back, and quietly explained to Mr. Fournier that Chloe wouldn’t be returning to class today. Adrien assumed that it was because Chloe didn’t want to bother returning to class, but if he was paying attention he might have noticed Sabrina’s wide eyes and flustered tone. As if she was just exposed to some harsh truth and still trying to comprehend it.

By the time the door came open again, Adrien was standing up to run to the bakery. As soon as he spotted the familiar pigtails, he got in front of the girl and hugged her as quickly as he could.

“Is everything okay? Are you feeling a bit better now?”

Marinette, for her part, did get enough rest to comprehend some things. Not enough for her to be flustered around Adrien yet, but enough to realize how he got to her so quickly.

“Did you just… jump over your desk?”

“Dude.” Nino muttered, head in his hands.

“Um… no?” It was more of a question, because Adrien truly didn’t know if he did that or not.

“Please sit down. I need to make an announcement to the class.”

It was then that Adrien realized that Marinette wasn’t walking in alone. Behind her was another woman, one who he hadn’t seen before. It also registered in his mind that if he really did jump over a desk, not only did this woman see it but the rest of the class also did. He quietly went back to his seat, but not before making sure Marinette got seated in hers.

“My name is Mrs. Monet and I am a member of the school board. As you know, we have been asking you questions regarding your teacher and your time here at Francoise Dupont. The school board doesn’t like to make rushed decisions, but we feel like this decision will be best for the students and other members of this school’s safety.” She took a pause before continuing. “Miss Bustier will no longer be your teacher.”

Before, if someone were to say that to the class, they would all be devastated and demand answers. However they had seen how she’s been to Marinette over the past couple weeks. Not just that, but once they heard about her threatening Marinette a lot of the love and respect they felt towards the teacher was burned out. Mrs. Monet had been expecting them not to be upset, and continued on with her speech.

“I am sure you might be confused as to what is happening, but I assure you that the school board makes all of its decisions with the school’s wellbeing in mind. We will be ensuring that this choice doesn’t harmfully impact your education. Mr. Fournier will be taking over as your sub for the rest of the school year. I do ask you to please be patient with getting answers to the questions that I’m sure all of you have.

“We cannot give out full details of an investigation without permission from several people, and that only can happen after the investigation is fully finished. Of course, if you do have questions you need answered you may contact me and any of the other two school board members who you’ve seen today with the emails we’ve provided you. We will be happy to answer your questions if we are able to.

“It is also decided that since the decision to remove Miss Bustier as a teacher here is affecting multiple classes, that tomorrow will be an optional school day. Students may come in to work on school work or just hang out. However you will be required to come within the first hour of school and stay the whole day if you do wish to come here. It is to ensure all of your safety. Your parents have already been notified and told that they will receive a call just to confirm that you aren’t coming to school. If you have any more questions regarding that, you can ask Mr. Fournier for more details.

“Another change that is taking place is that your principal is also being removed.” This caused whispers of confusion to sprout up, but they quickly died down when the woman raised her hand. “We unfortunately cannot say much about this other than he was breaking some rules and had to be terminated. An official announcement regarding that will be made once the investigation is finished. I wish you all a good rest of your day, and if you have anything else you need to ask or have to tell us please reach out to any of the members you have seen today.”

With that, Mrs. Monet walked out and allowed the class to finally speak what was on everyone’s mind.

“This is my fault.”

Well, clearly one student didn’t share the same thoughts as everyone else. All eyes immediately turned towards Marinette, who looked very upset at the current news. Which didn’t make sense given what had happened to her just last week.

“Marinette, no it’s not.”

“But, Miss Bustier-”

“Did you ask to have all that work dumped on you? To be threatened?” Adrien said, eye flashing with rage. A pat from within his pocket, unknown to anyone else in class, reminded him to take a deep breath and calm down.

“But what about the class trip? I still needed to get things booked.”

“Don’t worry, Miss Dupain Cheng. As your current homeroom teacher, I’ll be handling things. Everything will be fine. As for you, I think that it would be a good idea for you to take a break being class representative so that you can focus on your school work and your other activities. Your class deputy can take over for a few weeks, and can appoint someone to help her temporarily as well.”

In the back of her mind, Marinette knew that what the man was saying was supposed to lift a burden off her shoulders. After all, she had been wanting a break for weeks now. But right now it felt like all the work she had done up to this point was all for nothing.

“But, what about the plans I’ve already made? All that was left was to book things and get them approved?”

Mr. Fournier paused in consideration. It would be wrong to use work that a child was forced to do, but it was clear that it could cause the bluenette more distress if all of her work was for not.

“See me on Wednesday. I’ll have to reach out to the school board to ensure that it is okay, but if you wish we can take your plans and implement them without you having to do all of the work. For now you all can just finish up on the worksheet I gave you and then have quiet conversations. If you need anything feel free to ask.”

Alya handed Marinetted a worksheet but less for the reason of working on it and more just so she wouldn’t forget about grabbing one later. Right now she wanted to check in on her.

“Miss Bustier had this coming to her.” Alya didn’t let Marinette try and defend that woman. “She was the one who purposely dumped her work onto you. Not just that, but she refused to let anyone else help you out. Then she decided to threaten you whenever you were politely trying to figure out the truth. Whatever happens to her is on her.”

Adrien and Nino nodded, and the rest of the class would have agreed but were pretending that they weren’t eavesdropping to try and give her some privacy. Marinette didn’t seem so sure, and the rest of the class all came to the silent collective decision that they would make sure Marinette wasn’t hurt from this.

~~~~~~~~~~

Before the end of the week they found out that Chloe got expelled. Turns out all the threats she gave to both staff and students alike was enough to seal her fate. Her father tried to fight it, but there wasn’t a lot that could be done with all the evidence. In fact, he was too busy trying to save himself from being exposed of him abusing his power at the school to worry about abusing it even more.

Another two weeks passed before they found out why Mr. Damocles was fired. Besides just ignoring Chloe’s behavior and Miss Bustier’s abuse, he had also been stealing the school’s money. Turns out the pay of being a principal alone couldn’t afford him all the comic books and fancy gadgets he wanted to become The Owl.

It took a few weeks for Marinette to feel okay about things. Tikki adamantly went through, relaying out what responsibility meant for her to ensure that Marinette would take care of herself. Adrien, Alya, and Nino all distracted her when she got doubt that it was her fault more than Miss Bustier’s, and all made sure that she got plenty of rest.

With all the rest she was getting she was finally able to go on patrols again with Chat’s approval. That still didn’t mean that he didn’t wrap her up in a blanket and make her take a nap instead of patrolling some days, but Marinette found that falling asleep to his purrs made her feel more relaxed so she was okay with it.

It was two months after the whole debacle, when Marinette was made to nap before a study session with her three friends only to wake up to the purring coming from a different blonde boy, that she realized something else. A quick freak out, the two hiding in the bathroom whilst Alya and Nino looked at each other confused from their spots in the living room, and Adrien decided that he really wasn’t going to let Marinette go. Like, literally.

“Adrien.”

“No.”

Marinette sighed, deciding to just lean back into him. He immediately burrowed his face into the crook of her neck, and it was only due to her slowly slipping out her exhausted mindstate and being able to be calm around him during that time that she wasn’t a completely flustered mess. Oh, she was still blushing hardcore, but at least she wasn’t squealing like a kettle.

Alya and Nino could only stare at the two, who had emerged from the bathroom with Adrien carrying Marinette before the blond sat her down between his legs. After a few moments, Alya was able to speak.

“So… are you two dating now or?”

“Engaged, actually.”

“I don’t remember you proposing.”

“I would say married, but just because we act like a married couple doesn’t mean that we are legally married yet.”

“We’re fourteen.”

“... I can wait.”

#miraculous fanfiction #miraculous ladybug fanfic #mlb marinette #marinette dupain cheng #Ms. Bustier Salt #mlb salt #Alya sugar #protective adrien agreste

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nana-mizu-shiki · 4 months

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It good. Read. Kudo. Do it.

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wisteriasymphony · 10 months

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this shit takes up 99% of my brain. i'd forgive mlb for everything is they just let adrien monologue for a bit then drive a knife through his father's heart.

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jayphoenic · 11 months

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MLB Alya Cesaire Salt Prompts/Fics Recommendations

A Bakers Daughter by @ladyanput

This doesn't actually have a title

“You’re not walking away from this, Marinette! If you need harrassing Lila like this, you’ll get arrested! Get it in your head! Adrien doesn’t want you! He would never want a baker’s daughter, someone so useless and uninspiring! You’ll never reach great heights, Lila does! Lila has more talent grace in one pinky, than you have in your entire being! You’ll always be a nobody and you need to learn to deal with that.”

All This After a Monkey Tries to Steal Marinette’s Purse by @cornholio4

“Dad, I can explain…” Alya replied while trying to think of an explanation that sounded somewhat believable.

“I sent Marinette to our house to wait for either of us, I want you home within half an hour to take over for the babysitting duties that you were supposed to be doing anyway! I will try and be home shortly to have a talk with you!” Otis told him sternly and Alya looked down sadly having to tell Nino and Adrien that she has to get home with them looking concerned.

FACT CHECK by @spooky-z

“Marinette, aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Act like nothing is wrong. I didn’t know you could be that cold and calculating.” She caught everyone’s attention again, especially Marinette.

Marinette sighed, her elbow resting on the table, she laid her head on her palm. There was an air of boredom around her. Chloe, Sabrina and Nathaniel with unimpressed looks on their faces.

New York Special Salt: Confrontation by @nobodyfamousposts

Adrien was shaking at this point, but forcing himself to remain steady.

“You both knew Marinette liked me. Fine. Sure. Apparently she was having trouble telling me this. That’s okay. You knew she felt this way and was having trouble telling me. I get that.”

He glared.

“What I don’t get is why it was necessary to go THIS far instead of just TELLING me what was going on yourselves?!”

Exposed by @miraculousbelladonna

She is still absolutely going to have words with her bestie later, but she doesn’t think twice about posting the life changing video onto her blog.

All she’s thinking about is how it’s so cool that she’s the one who found Ladybugs identity. It’s so cool that she’s the one who’s revealing it. It’s so cool that her best friend, Marinette, is Ladybug. Her views are going to go through the roof. Television channels are going to be talking about this, they’re going to be calling her and asking to use her footage.

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justrandomfanfictionskh · 1 year

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We Should Have Stayed in Gotham ch5

(Almost every Maribat fic I read has the akuma class going to Gotham. But tell me which is more likely, a class touring the city of crime, or a class touring the city of lights? So here it is, the Daminette fic that only I asked for, where Gotham goes to Paris, and the poor students have to grapple with the fact that they have competition for the most dangerous city in the world. I wonder what will happen?)

ao3 Beginning Previous

Everyone froze when the Akuma Alert sounded and looked at their phones. However, this time the information provided was significantly less helpful than the first time.

ALERT UNKNOWN AKUMA

Possible Level: 1-3

Location: 15th Arrondissement

Suspected Power: Transforming Victims into Teacups

Avoidance Protocol in Effect

Ladybug: MIA

Chat Noir: MIA

(If you have more information on the akuma submit it here: Link)

Damian looked around and saw the Parisians visibly relax, and then move about their day as if nothing was happening. Which made sense. This was a low level akuma on the other side of town, the odds of it affecting them were decidedly low and, according to the government site, simply turning around when you see the akuma would keep you safe.

Still Marinette stood up. “I’m going to check with the teachers, make sure this doesn’t interfere with our schedule,” she said before leveling a finger at her friends, and for some reason Damian, saying, “No killing. I’ll be right back!”

She wasn’t even gone five seconds before, Chloe steepled her fingers like a Bond villain and said, “So we’re killing Lila. Who’s in?”

“Chloe!” muttered the silent Juleka who had joined them with her GA partner, Matt, a few minutes ago. “Marinette said–”

“That we shouldn’t kill anyone,” Sabrina said cheerfully, “She didn’t say anything about planning to kill someone!”

Juleka muttered something as she hid behind her hair, as if that would abscond her from their criminal ways. But before any real murder plans could be concocted Kathryn asked, “I don’t get it. I mean if everyone knows she’s lying, and only the Enablers are pandering to her then what’s the big deal? She’s not causing any serious harm, is she?”

“It depends on what you mean by serious harm,” Sabrina said gently.

“Example!” Alex shouted, “Here, she said this literally five minutes before you all turned up.” Alix cleared her throat dramatically and then clasped her hands together, and in a voice reminiscent of a 1950s Disney princess said, “‘Oh you know, I spent a summer in Gotham! Yeah, I helped Batman stop the Riddler by solving one of his puzzles. It was so hard. And afterward Batman and Robin invited me back to the cave for a tour! It was so cool, and Robin was so sweet! I’d talk more about it, but I’m so parched. Alya can I have a sip of your coffee? I’d ask Marinette, but you know how selfish she can be.’”

She turned to Sabrina who giggled and mimicked Alex saying, “‘Oh, of course Lila! Here just take the whole thing. I’m finished with it. So, what did Batman say when you solved the riddle?’”

Every single Gothamite at the table cringed, and Damian scowled deeply, but it was Alice who spoke, “If you guys had come to Gotham, and she had said that, then she would have gotten killed!”

Alex waved her hand dismissively, “Lila’s not an idiot. If we had gone to Gotham, I doubt she would have said anything that would have put her in danger. Unless…Damn it! Why couldn’t we go to Gotham?! We could have gotten one of the Rogues to do the dirty work for us!”

“The point,” Chloe said pointedly, “Is that Lila reinforced the idea that Marinette, who is an angel, is selfish and hates her. And Alya gives Lila her coffee every morning, and today Alya was using her limited addition Heroes Day Travel Mug. They made a hundred of them, but only twenty were sold due to…complications during the celebration.”

“Akuma,” the other girls said in unison.

“Level ten,” Juleka muttered.

Chloe moved her phone so that they could see a picture of said mug, and she continued, “Resell price is €100, but would go for three times that at auction.”

“But Alya’s mug would start at €10,000,” Sabrina said, “And go for five times that, because it was signed by Chat Noir and Ladybug. We don’t know how she managed that because Ladybug almost never gives autographs.”

“And Chat Noir?” Damian asked.

“Hands them out like candy,” Chloe said reclaiming her phone. “The point is that mug was irreplaceable. And because Alya idolizes the heroes, to her it’s priceless.”

“And she’ll never see it again,” Alex supplied, “And probably get akumatized when she realizes it’s missing. She probably didn’t even realize that she had brought it today. I’ll bet you five euros, Lila only ever asked for Alya’s coffee so that she could get that mug.”

“No bet,” Chloe said as the Akuma Alert pinged to let them know that Ladybug and Chat Noir had arrived on the scene, “I’d rather bet on this akuma. Ten euros says it’s a little girl whose tea part got canceled.”

“Mm,” Alex said, “No, I bet that no one showed up to her tea party.”

“The parents of Paris know better by now,” Sabrina cried, “Fifteen says someone at her tea party said something mean.”

Juleka muttered something, about them all being awful which was quickly echoed by Alice crying, “Seriously? That’s a little girl! You people bet on this?”

“Oh!” Chloe scoffed, “Like you don’t bet on which Wayne gets kidnapped every time they have a Gala!”

The Gothamites blushed and very pointedly did not look at Damian. He just rolled his eyes, “Of course we do,” he said, “In fact Todd owes me ten dollars, from the last Gala. But I am more curious about Hawkmoth’s obvious idiocy. I mean, does he truly believe a little girl turning people into teacups is going to achieve his goal? It is ridiculous!”

“Utterly ridiculous,” the Parisians cried giggling, but Chloe just rolled her eyes.

“It’s not ridiculous,” Chloe scoffed, “When you consider the numbers.”

Damian raised an eyebrow and Sabrina explained, “Year one of the Miraculous War saw Hawkmoth akumatizing one person per week, with a level 10 happening every other month. Year two, one akuma per day and a level 10 occurring every other week. We are now on year three, and on average there are two level 1-5s every day, and one level 6-10 every week. Although if there is a level 10, we only get one akuma the next day.”

“He’s wearing you down,” Will said, “Wearing the heroes down.”

The Parisians nodded their exhaustion seeping into their expressions. It was Juleka who spoke, “Ladybug and Chat Noir are getting stronger, but so is Hawkmoth. Every now and then he’ll enact a plan that almost succeeds. Queen Wasp, Heroes Day. But when those plans fail, he goes back to torturing the city. In the end, something will break.”

There was a silence until Marinette returned with the good news that the day would go on as planned. But as she ran over to them, she tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. She would have face planted if Kim, who had just left the Museum, had not caught her, before joining his own friend group as if this was a perfectly normal occurrence.

“That necklace,” Damian said, pointing to the smooth, grey, circular stone pendant with five mice icons on it. “You weren’t wearing that before.”

The Gothamites ignored him, but the Parisians narrowed their eyes. It was strange, But Marinette just brushed it off, “I got it in the gift shop on the way back. I thought it looked nice. So, what did I miss?”

They didn’t have time to answer her questions however, as the last pair left the museum. It was time to return to the school for the “Getting to know you party.” Damian was not looking forward to the mundane and trivial socializing that this would entail. So, he stayed close to Marinette and her friends, whom he deemed to be of adequate intelligence. And it was a good thing too.

For some reason, Marinette had suddenly become dangerously and inexplicably clumsy. She still had that spark of intelligence and competence that had convinced Damian that she was worth the time spent getting to know her, but every third step she seemed to trip on her own feet, fumble her phone, or run into a random object or person. It would have been humorous, if Damian had not seen her racing through the Louvre, dodging classmates and artifacts with almost inhuman grace and skill. In the end, it just made Damian suspicious.

But he did not have time to dwell on it too long, because they separated to drive back to the school. Once there, they were led into the art room, where banquet tables of Paris’s finest pastries and sandwiches were prepared, and popular music was playing. The teachers stepped to the side so that the teens could mingle. And once everyone had their food the party began.

Damian turned to Marinette hoping to engage her in conversation when their phones went off. The green letters read.

AKUMA DE-EVILIZED

Akuma: China Doll

Threat Level: 2

Power: Turning enemies into China Cups and friends into China Dolls

Akumatized Object: A Decorative Spoon teaspoon.

Damage: None

Transformed: 50

Injuries: None

Casualties: None

Action Caused: No one came to victim’s tea party.

Akuma Prevention Note: Parents should encourage proper and healthy socialization in their children. Teachers should prevent alienation and bullying in school. No Tolerance!

Damian turned to discuss this with Marinette, but she just smiled and set down her plate. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But I have to get something from my locker. Excuse me.” And with that she was gone.

Damian sighed, and prepared himself for a tedious afternoon as the Parisians exchanged the bet money, and the Gothamites exchanged the new information about the akumas and the class. Damian turned to disappear into a corner of the classroom, or perhaps examine some of the students’ projects, when he came face to face with the last person he wanted to speak to.

“Hi,” Lila said holding out her hand, “I’m Lila Rossi. You’re Damian Wayne, right? Oh my gosh, I’m such a fan. Alya told me you speak French. Please say you do; my English is dreadful!”

Damian narrowed his eyes at her in annoyance, but said in French, “I do. Please excuse me.”

“Whatever Marinette told you,” Lila said stepping in front of him, her pinch faced in simpering embarrassment. “Please know it’s an exaggeration. It’s true I do have a lying disease, but I am trying to get better. It’s just Hawkmoth, you know. He makes everything so hard.”

“Perhaps,” Damian said his scowl deepening, “But that does not mean that I must listen to your useless drivel. Please, excuse me.”

He shoved himself past her, but before he could even make it three feet away, a second annoying voice shouted, “Hey!”

Damian silently groaned, as he turned to face the scathing voice of Alya Cesaire. She stormed up to Damian, slinging her arm around Lila’s shoulders and fixing him with a glare, which might have been threatening, if he hadn’t been so assured of her incompetence. “She was just trying to say hi! No need to be rude!”

Behind her several Gothamites shook their head in exasperation. Even the students who had never seen him before, were well aware of his reputation. Chad stepped forward giving the girls a smile that would often get him slapped or fawned over (depending on the girl) and said in French, “Oh don’t bother with the Ice Prince. He’s always like that.”

“Just because he’s ‘like’ that is no excuse!” Alya cried. “He should apologize!”

“Ten euros on Alya getting akumatized,” a harsh whisper reached Damian’s ear.

“No way, do you see his face, fifteen on the Gothamite.”

“Oh, you’re on!”

“Guys! It hasn’t even been ten minutes!” A third voice whined.

Damian’s scowl deepened. This was ridiculous! But he was better than that. He was better than them. The moment he had decided that the akumas were real, he had resolved against ever joining their list of victims. His training and obvious risk aside, the idea of someone controlling him was grating. So, he attempted the deep calming breath he had seen Marinette and her friends do and tried again.

“I have no need to apologize,” Damian said icy but calm. “I did nothing wrong. It is your ‘friend’ who cannot take a hint. I suggest she leave me alone. I have no interest in engaging with liars and manipulators.”

“You jerk!” Damian turned toward the new, slightly squeaky voice stomping up to him. A small girl in pink was storming up to them in a fury, and Damian thought she looked like a small kitten for all the good her threatening expression was doing for her. “Lila has a disease!” She cried. “You need to apologize! Can’t you have compassion for someone who is sick and unable to help themselves?”

Damian scowled, as Sabrina and a tall blonde boy dashed between them. “Everyone—" the boy began, but before he could continue, Damian sneered,

“If Miss. Rossi was incapable of helping herself then she would only just be above the rat she actually is. However, since she is completely capable of controlling her own actions, I think it’s fair to say that she’s not even worth the consideration of a rat.” Everyone gasped as Damian fixed the full weight of his glare on the small blonde girl. “As it is, her ‘disease’ is inconsequential.”

The small girl’s gasped, her eyes watering as Lila began to cry into Alya’s shoulder. Damian tilted his chin up in victory, but then looked around to see everyone else, including the teachers looking at him in absolute horror. Marinette was standing in the doorway, fixing him with a look that could only be translated as, “Seriously!”

Damian was confused only for the five seconds it took for a purple butterfly, that glowed with its own dark light, to fly through the window and vanish inside the blonde girl’s bag. “Right,” Damian thought, as a glowing butterfly mask appeared over the girl’s face. “Emotional Terrorist.”

“Run!” Someone shouted, and the class dissolved into chaos. Damian took a defensive stance. He had caused this akuma, it would want him. He needed to face it to keep the others safe.

He watched in horrid fascination as the girl’s soft features transformed into a scowl. “Yes Hawkmoth,” she hissed, as the teachers violently began typing something on their phones. She reached into her bag and pulled out a perfume bottle that was glowing the same, purple black as the butterfly. A hand grabbed Damian’s wrist and pulled him away with a force that had Damian stumbling, even as he turned back to see a black and purple (for lack of a better word) goo encase the girl.

All around him people’s phones were going off with a notification that read,

AKUMA ALERT: LEVEL 4

Akuma: Princess Fragrance

Gas Mask Protocol and Local Shelter Protocol in Effect. Everyone within the 12th Arrondissement put on gas masks and evacuate to the nearest Akuma Shelter. More instructions to follow.

Ladybug: ON THE SCENE

Chat Noir: MIA

Damian turned to the person who was dragging him through the school. The young woman was dressed in a black body suit with red body armor covering her torso, arms, and legs. The red was patterned with small black polka dots, which should have looked ridiculous, but was somehow natural. Her black almost blue hair was done up in pigtails, which had screamed innocence in her pictures. But when she looked back, she fixed Damian with such a scathing glare, the Demon’s Heir flinched. But he understood.

He had been hoping to contrive a way to meet Ladybug during this trip, but he had not wanted it to be like this, running from an akuma of his own making. But he had no time to process the implications of that as a strange noise started echoing down the hallways behind them. It was the sound of a dozen voices singing, “At your service Princess Fragrance!”

Damian looked back to see a pink cloud chasing them down the hallways. The shapes of students and teachers, bent down to a distorted silhouette of a girl. Her maniacal chackling sent a shiver down Damian’s spine and spurred him to run faster, even as the cloud surged forward with quickening speed.

“Brace yourself!” Ladybug cried, and Damian barely had time to snap his head forward, before she had pulled him against her, and thrown them out the window in a shower of glass and metal.

If Damian had been anyone else he probably would have screamed. But since he was him he only hissed, as the spotted hero swung them on top of a nearby building. “Ok,” Ladybug said. As she released him, she flicked open her yoyo and began typing hurriedly on it. Damian stumbled as he regained his balance and focused on his savior.

The way she stood made her seem taller than she actually was, which surprised Damian. All of the pictures of her were all from a distance, or from bellow, so to see that the “Savior of Paris” was actually quite short threw him for a moment. Especially since, her face was still fixed in that withering glare that honestly could have rivaled the Batglare. It made him pause and reevaluate all of his opinions on her. But it was her eyes that gave the look potency.

Her eyes were so blue they practically glowed. No, they were glowing. It was clear to Damian, that the miraculous had given her some enhancements, but even with them she was still probably physically weaker than other meta he knew. And yet her eyes glowed with a power that she did not use, fixing him to the spot. And yet there was still something about her that he could not comprehend. She was young.

Damian was certain of it, Ladybug could not have been three years older than him, if not younger. And yet here she was leading a team of heroes in the protection of her entire city. As the Demon’s Heir it grated on his pride, that someone of his age with less experience was in a position of power, when he was not. But as the Son of the Bat he respected her all the more for it. It was a strange war in his head, that he had been fighting for a long time. But for today, he felt that it would be best for Robin to win, so that he wouldn’t get in Ladybug’s way or alienate her completely.

“You do realize,” Ladybug said in perfect English, obviously annoyed but not angry, “That it hasn’t even been ten minutes since the last akuma? What did you do?”

Damian stiffened. If he was going to convince this woman to let him help her fight Hawkmoth, he had to make a good first impression, “A liar in our host class attempted to manipulate me against my associate. I put her in her place, and her friend was akumatized.” Damian paused tilting his head. “How did you get here so fast?”

Ladybug sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, “I was on my way back home, when I saw the butterfly. I would have purified it immediately, but I had to recharge…ok, we need to move before Princess Fragrance sends her zombies after us. Once I get you somewhere safe, I’ll be able to stop the akuma. Are you ok with me carrying you?”

“I’d prefer to run on my own,” Damian said. Hoping beyond hope that she would not force him to endure that indignity. His brothers would never let him live it down.

To her credit, Ladybug just raised an eyebrow and said, “Are you enhanced?”

“No, but I do have training in parkour and martial arts,” he said.

“That may be, but unless you have enhanced strength you won’t be able to keep up with me. Especially when I’m swinging and you’re just running.”

“I’m from Gotham,” Damian insisted.

“That means squat here,” Ladybug said with a furrowed brow. “Haven’t you talked to your hosts. Surely they would have instructed you on that by now.”

Damian opened his mouth and then closed it, remembering the images that Marinette and Chloe had painted in his mind. She was right, him being from Gotham was worth about as much as the air he used to say the words. So, he closed his mouth and glowered, which for some reason made Ladybug smile and say,

“You’re quiet a prickly one, aren’t you. I think I’m going to call you Spikes.”

“Spikes?” Damian demanded with a raised eyebrow.

“Yep,” she said, “Like your hair. You’re spikey.” As if to prove the point, she reached up to ruffle, Damian's carefully gelled hair. He reared back from her in complete bafflement which caused her to laugh, and shake her head. “Look Spikes, Princess Fragrance might just be a level four, but that’s one level away from being deadly. I need your complete cooperation on this, if you don’t want to get brainwashed and forced to do whatever twisted deed she has in mind.”

Damian sighed, “Very well, but first—”

He never got to finish that sentence, as Ladybug slung him over her shoulder like he was a bag of flour and took of across the city. Damian growled but didn’t fight her, as the sound of singing zombies grew louder and louder and the pink fog spilled out of the building. But before they were too far away, Damian looked up to see a girl with long pink hair, green skin, and a black dress march out of the building with a perfume bottle in her hand. She laughed shouting something that he couldn’t hear. But then a horde of brainwashed citizens spilled out of the building, smiling like they were on Joker venom and chasing them through the streets of Paris.

Ladybug didn’t set him down until they were completely out of sight of the zombie army and their Princess. She did have the grace to put him down on his feet, and so he easily turned to see that they were on top of a skyscraper. Based on its billboard, this particular building was dedicated to a news station. Ladybug flipped open her yoyo again, but she closed it as three new heroes jumped up onto the roof.

Viperion and Ryuko were both tall and imposing figures, but one glance told Damian, that they were just as young as Ladybug. As young as him. But they all carried themselves with a presence that Damian only saw around the adult heroes. It was something that Damian associated with true power and responsibility. It cloaked them, as it cloaked Ladybug, and there was no doubt in his mind that these were members of a coherent and well established team. Even their costumes had a uniform like quality to them as thy all fit into the same style as Ladybug's. Monochrome body suits with patterned body armor styled after whichever animal their Miraculous was named for.

Viperion’s suit was black, and his armor had a teal scaled pattern, with a yellow diamond on the chest. Meanwhile, Ryuko’s suit was red, and her armor had black scales. A golden symbol of the three elements water, wind, lightening was embossed in the chest piece, and she had two golden horns, to complete her dragon look. Compared to them, Chat Noir looked very decidedly out of place.

His suit had not changed one bit in the three years he had been active. It was still the same leather black cat suite with the strange golden bell at his neck. And though his green cat eyes glowed with the same power that Ladybug had, there was something in his relaxed and easy posture that made him seem separate from the others. He was tall and obviously strong. But he clearly did not have the presence that the others carried.

Ladybug, Viperion, and Ryuko had the dignity of leadership and strength beyond their age. Chat Noire seemed obviously hindered by his. This fact seemed to be proved when the cat hero snorted at Damian and said,

“So, this is the one who caused Princess Fragrance. Looks like we got another Chloe on our hands, milady!”

“That’s enough Chatton,” Ladybug said stepping beside Damian. “We do not judge, remember.”

Chat Noir seemed properly chastised as the other two stepped forward. “What happened?” Viperion said calmly, strumming a…was that a lyre?

Ladybug sighed, “Lila.” All three heroes nodded understandingly, and no more questions were asked on the matter. Damian gritted his teeth at this reaction, and his hatred for the liar only grew. But he remained silent as Ladybug outlined her plan.

He listened intently as they spoke, half expecting that he would need to interject, point out a flaw in their plan, or come up with a better one. But no. Ladybug was clearly very strategic and experienced as she laid out a plan that was both simple and fool proof, provided that everyone did their part.

Damian’s eyes trailed to Chat Noir. He was clearly the weak link, but if the hierarchy of Miraculous that the SpotsOn blog detailed was correct, then Chat Noir was supposed to be equal to Ladybug, her partner and balance. Instead, he acted like a side kick, lazily swinging his leather “tail” and giving Damian narrowed looks. When he did speak it was to make a pun or joke, and Damian had a hard time figuring out what exactly he added to the group, except a place to fill. One thing was clear to Damian, if anyone was going to break ranks and cause the plan to fall apart, then it would be Chat Noir. He did not want that to happen considering it was his neck on the line.

Damian cleared his throat drawing all of their eyes towards him. “Your plan is good but it’s going to fail.”

“Excuse me?” Chat Noir demanded.

“What do you mean?” Viperion asked.

“It is too reliant on individual members. If so much as one person breaks rank, then the whole thing falls apart, and you will have to use your luck charm…is it wise to use two lucky charms in a day?”

Ladybug tilted her head examining him carefully, “So long as Cataclysm is used to act as a balance it's fine. Besides I need the charm for the cure, it's part of the spell. How do you know one of us will break rank?”

Damian looked Chat Noir up and down, and couldn’t help the sneer at his blatant childishness before facing Ladybug and saying, “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Hey!” Chat yelled and tried to charge Damian, but Ryuko held him back.

“Ladybug,” Viperion asked with a hint of amusement, “Where’d you find this one?”

Ladybug sighed, “Imagine if Ryuko and Bumble Queen were the same person and male, that’s him.”

She jerked her thumb at Damian as she said this, giving Damian a strange sense of déjà vu, but he shook it off as the boys nodded their understanding with soft “Oh’s” while Ryuko studied Damian far more carefully than before. Finally, the Dragon Hero said, “What exactly do you have in mind?”

“Your lucky charm,” Damian said turning to Ladybug, “Does it only work for specific situations, or will it always work no matter what?”

Ladybug smirked at him placing her hands on her hips. “Specific situations,” she said, “And if the situation randomly changes than it can become worthless.”

“Then—”

“Wait!” Viperion cried and then did something to his bracelet so that the snake carving on it began to glow. He then nodded for Damian to continue.

Damian arched his brows at that but continued anyway, “Then set the trap in an area completely under your control. But do not give specific instructions until Princess Fragrance is right in front of you. Once she is, command everyone as you see fit. It is the most efficient way to use your Luck Charm.”

“Ladybug!” Chat Noir demanded, “Are you going to let him talk to you like that?”

Damian sighed in exasperation but said nothing as he met Ladybug's gaze. He understood where Chat Noir was coming from. There was something in his tone of voice, that had most people believing he was arrogant and entitled. Which to be fair, he was, or at least he used to be. But he had lived six years with his father, three older brothers, two sisters, one almost brother, and one technically sister. And though he would never say it to their faces, they were all incredible warriors who had put him in his place as soundly as any of Ra’s trainers.

The arrogance might still be there, but the entitlement had been drained out of him with every spar lost, every prank war engaged in, and every birthday celebrated. But that didn’t stop people from hearing his tone and assuming the worst. He could only hope that Ladybug would look past this and see the logic of his plan, even if he was offensive about it.

The hero in question just looked at him with those glowing blue eyes, that seemed to pierce him even without the power behind them. A sly smile played on her lids as she shrugged, “I don’t know what you mean Chatton. He’s right. The only problem is our time limit. Once my lucky charm is used, we will only have fifteen minutes to defeat the akuma, and purify it.”

Damian blinked in confusion, “The Government site said your limit was five minutes.”

Ladybug’s smile became a smirk as she said, “And you think I tell the government everything? Viperion, what do you think?"

The snake hero paused for a count of three before grinning slyly and saying, "We didn't need second chance."

'The follow me," she said, and before Damian could protest, Ladybug slung him over her shoulder again.

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