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inkbottleofstars · 3 years

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The Cut That Always Bleeds

Stream Kid Krow

———

Marinette would describe herself as a hopeless romantic.

Her best friend had described her as a hopeless romantic.

Anyone who has met her would know that she was a hopeless romantic.

And she is. She loves love and tends to daydream about falling in love.

But sometimes being a hopeless romantic feels like a punishment. Because most of the time you fall too hard too fast.

Now Marinette doesn’t fall for just anyone, thank you very much! She has standards and you’d have to meet those standards for her to even consider someone a crush.

But she falls hard and it overtakes her and that just makes it even easier to hurt her. Because another thing about being a hopeless romantic is that when you fall for someone, you fall hard, so hard it hurts.

And Marinette falls too hard every time.

———

Marinette Dupain Cheng falls in love with Adrien Agreste on a rainy afternoon.

She doesn’t fall because he’s a model, while that does help, no. She falls because he shows compassion and he openly loves his friends and supports them.

So, she falls.

She thinks maybe he’ll like her back, for all the faults she feels stick out too much. He’s nice and sweet and always wants what’s best for everyone, just like her.

It’s easy to forget that your greatest traits could easily be your worst.

The realization of it happens slowly. And she brushes it off and tries to ignore it as best as she can until she can’t anymore.

It starts when he defends Chloe. Repeatedly. Despite all her bullying and the purposeful way she hurts everyone to establish that she is to be adhered to.

It crushes her.

But unfortunately for her, she isn’t just a hopeless romantic but a people pleaser as well.

She reasons he wants to keep his childhood friend alongside him and wants to help her grow into someone better. She thinks the best of him.

How could she not when he wants to best for those he loves, same as her.

She never hears Adrien call Chloe his first friend. He only brings her up as a childhood friend when she does something no one finds right.

He defends her and he frowns upon anyone who tries to get him to understand the torment they went though because of her, during a time he was not present.

She tries not to think about how similar his frown of disapproval is to his father. She knows it would crush him if he knew of that resemblance.

Her love for him starts to crack like glass when the Lila situation arises.

And once it starts to do so, she sees it then. She sees the way he will defend those who do not deserve defending. She sees the way he pushes the accountability onto others in order to please those who did wrong.

She sees what his father has instilled within him.

There is a period of time where she is mad. She escapes akumarization through the use of the the horse miraculous, kindly lended to her by Fu.

She cries when she makes it to the countryside, away from her city. But that is something she wants to forget so she does.

The pain lingers as it does and every time she sees him a little part of the affection she had for him crumbles away.

A part of her still wishes things had turned out differently. A part of her still wants to be with him. But another part knows it wouldn’t do her any good.

She knows she shouldn’t make excuses for him, despite what he’s been through and with the father he has. Because as much as he doesn’t mean to hurt anyone, as much as it’s his father’s fault for instilling this behavior in him, he still hurt her.

But when he comes to her family’s bakery asking for help, she feels the fortitude she had built begin to slip away.

He has asked her to play his girlfriend, for what reason she doesn’t catch. He says it’s okay if she refuses.

Marinette is a hopeless romantic who falls too hard and too fast.

The boy in front of her is a love that would do her no good, one of cracked glass and of a fragile structure.

Despite this she collects the fallen pieces with bleeding hands and presses them together to keep them in place.

She accepts.

———

I’m not sorry.

I’ve had this in my drafts since the first week that Conan’s album dropped whoops;;;

Ive the been feeling like crap lately and I wanted to do something so ah, first day of December and it’s 2:30 am here ya go

Tagged:

#amor writes #my writing #miraculous #ml salt #adrien salt #marinette dupain cheng

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inkbottleofstars · 4 years

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One shot: Interesting People

This was supposed to be short and I was impatient. Enjoy.

—————

If there was one thing Marinette knew about herself with absolute certainty it was that she loved interesting people.

She absolutely jumped at the chance to converse and befriend them. They always had something interesting to offer, whether from the way they acted, insights on their interests, or their way they saw the world.

It was how she met Allegra, the girl who dressed predominantly in violets and held herself in a way that radiated confidence. She would stop into the bakery every once in a while and pick up a specific set of macaroons they offered.

What made her interesting, though, was the way she always seemed to be moving. She would move to her own beat, evident in the way her movements flowed from one to the next. By her third visit it wasn’t a conscious decision.

Marinette was entranced and she quickly made to befriend her.

Allegra was an aspiring dancer, with no clear style in mind and reached to learn as many styles as she could in an effort to reach a decision. It wasn’t the only thing she did or took interest in and that just made her all the more interesting.

Many of the friends she made were like Allegra, in the sense that they were interesting in a way that made Marinette burn to know more about them. She learned a lot from them, especially when interests and dreams were brought up.

Luka was another example; a skilled musician with a bad boy aesthetic and the voice of a rock star to boot. He carried out his aesthetic to the fullest, completely with make up and a motorcycle, the epitome of trouble.

Despite that, he had the most laid back and calming personality she had ever met, rivaling that of one of her childhood friends– an aspiring dj and film director– Nino. Luka stressed the importance of self care and taking breaks, his advice almost laughable in the face of the busy schedule he led.

He was a walking contradiction by all means. A multi-skilled guy who worked hard to get his potential recognized and would also regularly pick up new hobbies for the fun of it.

He was the best boyfriend she could have asked for when they dated for all of three months before their busy schedules burnt their relationship out. They still remained close friends and would meet up for naps as their form of spending time together.

Kagami was another interesting person, strong in all the ways that counted but lacked a social awareness that resulted from tunnel vision, for lack of a better word. She was a fencer, as great as those who came before her in her family, striving to live up to her mother’s expectations as the next top fencer. She was the embodiment of no hesitation for anything she did, obvious in the way she carried herself and acted.

Despite her confidence in her abilities as a fencer, she lacked any in herself, if her offer as a second choice to the guy she liked was any clue. She was interesting in that way, striving to be the best at everything but failed in placing herself as more than second best where her heart was concerned.

Kagami very much reminded her of the most recent interesting person she had come across. A guy by the name of Damian Wayne.

He was tall and handsome in the way that his combination of dark brown skin, green eyes, and dark hair fit nicely together in his neatly tailored suit. He walked with purpose and an air of near hostile superiority, one that said he was better and knew it.

Normally, this type of person didn’t spike any interest in Marinette, as there is simply nothing interesting about someone who believes themself better those those around them, and look down on others to make their point.

However, the gleam in his eyes as he surveyed the bakery alongside who– she assumed– could only be his brothers every time he stopped by made her pause. The French he speaks is too polished, lacking the casual quality of native speakers and was unbelievably formal for all that he was not much older than herself.

Now, she’s met and befriended many interesting people in her short 15 years of life, and the number of interesting had begun to increase around the time she took up the mantle of the Parisian hero Ladybug. Especially with her school being the DuPont, the school deemed as boasting the most promising and gifted students.

But there were few who wholeheartedly peaked her interest enough to devote a good portion of time to rearrange her life around them. Those few including Allegra, Luka, Kagami, and Adrien– albeit only for the time she had a crush on him alone.

Damian seemed to be worth including in those few.

All in all that his demeanor still wouldn’t have been enough to include him into such a particular circle of people, especially with the number of rich kids she interacted with on a daily basis. But when she confirmed the three men with his were his brothers, she knew she had to find out what separates him from them.

Sure, his brothers were are interesting, how could they not be with the way they acted, especially around each other. They were a playful and rowdy bunch, comfortable enough with one another in their teasing and open affection.

But for all that Damian has lived with them for half a decade– as Marinette had found out from his brother Jason, the one with the white streak of hair (odd for the second eldest)– he was distinctly more reserved and was wary of their teasing, if his sharp retorts were anything to go by.

Now, Marinette didn’t particularly favor falling into the trap of “fixing bad boys”, already well versed in how easy it was to be manipulated until there was no way out. She’s heard of the anecdote about the frog in boiling water, as well as the unfortunate example Harley Quinn and the Joker had set where abusive relationships were concerned.

Marinette decided she would try her hand at befriending him, but promised both herself and Tikki that she would not stand for any type of belittlement or scathing comments. She received enough of them from Chloe, thank you very much.

Three strikes and he was out, she told herself. She didn’t need another rich kid throwing their weight around for the sole purpose of making her life harder.

The next time she saw Damian, he came alone and was more stiff than usual. She took the chance to strike up a conversation and asked him how he found Paris. Had he gone around to visiting any landmarks?

Apparently, she was “prying” and was “unprofessional” for something that was “none of her business”. Or so he coldly put to her parents when they heard her affronted squawk.

She took the rest of the day off so as to not attract an Akuma. She ranted to Tikki about it and they came to the conclusion that whatever the reason for his bad mood, it did not excuse his actions and he had a strike against him.

She hoped his brothers would come with him next time. If he got like that again then she wanted someone there to redirect her attention before her day could go sour again. She really didn’t want to take another day off.

And she really needed to take down Hawkmoth. She missed being able to rage to herself without the fear of being turned into a monster hellbent on hurting her city.

The next day his brothers showed up, Damian himself missing– she was honestly relieved at that– and they didn’t mention his presence once. She wondered if they knew that he tried to get her into trouble with her parents. She decided it wasn’t worth bringing up and shrugged it off.

He didn’t show his face after that, despite his brothers’ constant visits. She didn’t ask and they never brought it up.

She was only aware he was still in Paris because she would occasionally see him roaming the streets when she was out with her friends. She didn’t approach him, though. She didn’t want to leave her friends hanging and it felt weird to approach him outside the bakery after what had been their only interaction.

She didn’t get a chance to talk to him again until a month after their first conversation– if you could have even called it that. She had been skimming through the mythology section of an old bookstore, intent on digging up anything she could find on the Miraculi– humanity had a habit of categorizing things incorrectly, after all– when she bumped into him. Literally.

“Watch where you’re going.” Was heard from abover her, the voice familiar and cold.

“You know, that usually isn’t the kind of thing you say to someone you bumped into.” She stood and idly brushed herself off, smoothing out her red skirt.

“It is when they don’t watch where they’re going.” They were also brushing themself off.

“Listen, we can admit it was both our faults. I really don’t want to argue.” She looked up, her pointed stare froze when she met emerald green eyes. Him.

“Bakery girl?”

“It’s Marinette.” She hissed through clenched teeth, now embarrassed that she knew his name but he didn’t.

Several awkward seconds dragged on as they stared at each other. She broke the silence first.

“So how are you finding Paris?” It was the same question she asked a month ago. She cursed the universe for allowing her to remember that specific moment in time.

“Good.” She waited for him to add more. He didn’t.

“That’s great!” She really didn’t want to interact with another emotionally stunted rich kid. “I didn’t know you were interested in mythology.”

“I’m not.”

“Then why...?”

“I’m gathering information for something the company’s doing.”

“The family company your brothers keep talking about?”

“Yes.” He narrowed his eyes. Okay, touchy subject.

“That’s cool. I’m guessing you’re all here on more of a business trip than for fun, huh? That must be pretty stressful.” She would know, she had to run her own business.

“I’m more than capable of taking my load.”

“Never said you weren’t. Uh, what type of mythology were you looking for? Maybe we’re looking for the same thing?”

He looked wary, green eyes searched gray for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak.

Suddenly, the building rattled, the glass windows trembled as smoke began to fill the streets. Akuma.

She wanted to scream.

Instead, Marinette let out a sigh. “Not again.” She meant to mumble it out but from the look Damian gave her it wasn’t quite successful.

“And that was?”

“You’ve been in Paris for what? Like a month? How have you not noticed the Akuma?”

“That’s an Akuma?”

“Yes, now can we please get moving? You don’t wanna be around when it gets near.” She took hold of his arm and lead him to where the rest of the patrons were filing out. “Follow the others, they’ll guide you to the nearest bunker.”

She turned to make her way over to where she last left Kagami and Felix, on the other side of the massive bookstore, nearest the windows, when a hand caught her wrist. It was Damian.

“Where are you going?” He practically hissed.

“I’m going to check up on my friends and make sure they get to safety.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No.”

“You can’t go there alone!”

“I’ll be fine.”

“And so will I. I’m coming.”

“No.” She channeled her inner Ladybug and met his gaze head on. “You’re a foreigner. There’s a domestic terrorist out there manipulating someone into causing destruction. I’ve been in these situations more than you have. You don’t have enough experience in what to do in this situation. I do. And you have to leave right now if you want to catch up to the rest of the crowd. I’ll be fine. You focus on getting to safety.

“I just need to make sure they’re okay.” Marinette willed him to understand. There was doubt in his eyes so she covered his hand in hers, maintaining eye contact, “Find me at the bakery when the heroes finish, then you’ll see I’m fine. Okay? Now get going.”

She lightly pushed him towards the door, the last of the patrons dwindling out. He hesitantly took a step back and she watched him, itching to run to her friends. She had to make sure he went with them first, though. She didn’t need another person to worry about.

He set his face into a determined resolve and nodded to her once before following the crowd. She let out a breath and spun on her heel, breaking into a run towards the winding staircase. They were no doubt waiting for her.

She would not disappoint.

———

The fight was quick, with half the team there to take out the Akuma and reassure the victim.

Afterwards, she made her way to the shelter nearest the bookstore, detransformed and flanked by Felix and Kagami. She did not find Damian among the dispersing crowd of people. When she asked the civilians about him, she was met with shaking heads and no clue to his whereabouts.

She was filled with worry and anxiety as each civilian she asked had similar responses.

Marinette did run into him though, on her way back to bakery, concerned friends at her side. He seemed to be coming from the direction of the Akuma attack.

She was furious and expressed as such, worry all but etched into her features as she gesticulated.

He shot back his own sentiments on the matter, going on that he didn’t trust her to be completely safe during an attack.

Felix and Kagami had to break Marinette away from their fighting, seeing as people were beginning to stare.

She fended off another Akuma that day.

———

The next time she saw him, he was with his brothers, though they weren’t just there to order some baked goods. No, they were there to personally deliver something– to her, specifically.

As DuPont was the top school in the city and their class had the highest amount of community service hours combined, Wayne Enterprise had invited them to one of the famous networking galas. It was the best thing students hoping to get in an industry, like herself, could receive.

She expressed her gratitude to the brothers but pointedly avoided interactions with Damian. The brothers kept shooting each other looks but she actively brushed them off and focused on engaging in light conversation.

She could avoid Damian right now. She could probably avoid him at the gala, too. At least until she could gather herself.

She had time to prepare herself just in case. The gala was only five weeks away, after all.

———

Life had other plans, as always.

“You.” They spoke simultaneously, their eyes narrowed simultaneously.

They hadn’t seen each other since The Crème Brûlée Incident. Admittedly, they had gotten along like a house on fire after Damien apologized– the uncomfortable body language did not go unnoticed– and had been friends until said incident. She had successfully gone a full week avoiding him.

But of course. Of course they would run into each other when she wanted to sample some of the food. And right when she got confident enough to leave her friend group to do just that!

Now she was in the presence of Damian Wayne once again. Mister Too Good For You himself. Mister Tall Dark and Handsome. Damn his good looks and well-suited clothing. Shit was he wearing one of her custom designs?

“I need to talk to you.”

That broke her out of glaring a hole into the clothes he wore. “About what?” She continued to fill her plate with sweets. So what if she grew up in a bakery? She wanted to know exactly what types of sweets these rich folk divulged in. It didn’t matter that Damian had indulged her sweet tooth during their short companionship.

“About last Friday.”

She opened her mouth to let out a retort but was cut off by a dessert shoved into her mouth. Damian’s hand was on the other end of the fork.

“Not here. My father has had me on a leash since The Incident.” His voice was lowered so only she could hear. He promptly led her outside through a side door, no longer in sight of his father, and unfortunately away from her plate of sweets.

Once they were outside he seemed to relax drastically. They stopped near a fountain and he faced her, “I know I did something to upset you and try as I might I have no clue what it is I did to have you yell at me in public then flat out avoid me!”

He was obviously genuinely upset and confused but for him to be so oblivious was unbelievable, to say the least. “Are you kidding me?”

“What?”

“You weren’t supposed to run off again in the midst of an Akuma attack! You’re not equipped for that type of shit!”

“And you were?”

“Of course I was; I live here! This kinda happens all the time!” She gestured wildly.

“Going into hiding when there’s an attack isn’t being equipped–”

“I’ve been in plenty of Akuma fights to know how to handle myself!”

“You’ve been what!”

“Over half the city has been attacked, I don’t see how me being attacked is that surprising!”

“What the hell, Marinette!”

“I thought you were here to apologize!”

“I am but you’re making this harder! What do you mean you get into Akuma fights? You’re barely 5 feet tall!”

“I’m more than capable of handling myself despite my height.”

“And so am I. In case you haven’t been paying attention to my brothers’ chattering but we come from Gotham, one of the most crime ridden places in the world.”

She narrowed her eyes at his statement.

“Hate to break it to you, but this isn’t Gotham. This is Paris.” Her voice dropped with distain. “I’ll admit I don’t have an idea as to how things are done in Gotham, because, surprise! I’m not from there. But I can tell you that trying to get a glimpse at an Akuma fight or whatever it is you’ve been trying to do isn’t safe.”

There’s silence for a moment before she lets the metaphorical axe drop. “I don’t want to see more of my friends Akumatized or hurt. Ladybug’s cure is helpful and all but you don’t forget things like that; the cure doesn’t erase the trauma.”

He’s taken the moment after her statement to process the words. At least that’s what she hoped. She’s proven wrong with his next words.

“I’m not going to stop.”

She swallows hard. “Then I guess we can’t be friends anymore.”

It hurt. How could it not? Her concern for his well-being wasn’t enough and she wasn’t willing to be enough of a bleeding heart to allow herself to witness her friends be hurt. Not again.

“And why’s that?”

“Why? Because you’re an infuriatingly reckless–”

She stopped short. Her heart leapt, loud and pounding. Damian was looking at her in a way that made her heart speed up. His brows were furrowed and he was frustrated but his eyes were all concerned and he looked more pit out than anything. “I was worried about you.”

Her breath caught and she grasped the sides of her dress in her hands. It was unfair how easily he turned her into a mess with just a few words. Damn pretty boys.

He took her hands in his and she fought the urge to cry because it was dumb. It was dumb how worried and how affected and how attached she was at the idea that her new friend, this infuriatingly reckless boy would make her. They’d only been friends for a month for Kwami’s sake!

“You kept disappearing and I couldn’t find you until after the Akuma were dealt with but you always looked drained like the victims or those people who were turned into minions and– I don’t think you realize how big a deal it is for me to get so attached to you in such a short amount of time. Jon didn’t even become my friend until 6 months into knowing each other!

“And I don’t know what it says about me that you so easily became important to me in a month. A month, Marinette! So I’d like to know–”

Damian seemed to be getting closer and she could swear he was trying to kill her with that look. A hair’s breath a way and he lifted a hand to gently run his thumb over her bottom lip. “Is it alright if I kiss you?”

She felt like her heart was going to explode. She could only nod mutely, pupils blown wide, already staring down at his own awaiting lips.

He closed the gap and kissed her, short and sweet but warm all the same. It left her feeling tingly and floaty.

She managed to compose herself long enough to look him in the eye, hoping she didn’t look as much as a mess as she felt. “I hope you don’t think this solves everything.”

His face seemed to fall the tiniest bit, and before he could move away or speak or do something else equally as ridiculous, she pressed on. “I think you misunderstand me, Damian Wayne.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down until they were face to face. “One measly little kiss isn’t enough reparation.”

He smirked and soon she was gone, lost in the sensation of the boy with green eyes and black hair and a caring heart too reckless.

She found she liked kissing this infuriatingly reckless guy.

Damian Wayne was interesting alright. She couldn’t wait to see what else she’d find.

—————

Thought it’d be fun to write something short without any further intricate ties.

Hope you enjoyed 💕!

Tagged:

I haven’t been here in months so I have no clue who I’m supposed to tag, if anyone

#amor writes #my writing #maribat #miraculous #daminette #maridami #marinette dupain cheng #damian wayne #2020 writing #one shot #ml au #casual swearing

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