An hour later, Marinette still sat against the cold fountain, staring at the small notebook in her hands. During times like these, it helped to draw herself away from the world and completely focus on her designs. Tikki slowly peeped through the purse's opening and stared up at Marinette as she worked. Her pencil moved diligently across the thick paper as she drew the Chat Noir inspired design. For some reason, thinking about her partner right now made her happy. She was sure that if he was here, he'd be making as many puns as he could in an attempt to make her feel better. Abruptly she stopped writing and stared down at the sketchpad. With one hand, she pulled her knees to her chest and looked out into the streets of Paris. Many cars flew by, one by one, yet nobody that walked by paid any attention to her. And she was glad for that. Silently, she let the tears flow, the droplets blurring the dark lines of the sketch she was still holding in front of her.
"Marinette..." Tikki whispered. The blue-haired girl just simply frowned at her.
"Is there anything I can do?"
Marinette sighed. "I don't know. I don't think so."
The kwami reached her little arm out and Marinette gladly reached her pinkie out to hold it. It was so kind-hearted of Tikki to risk being seen in order to comfort her owner. She knew that if Master Fu knew about all the times she'd popped out of the bag to speak to Marinette in public, he wouldn't be very happy with her.
"My life is over, Tikki." Marinette's voice cracked and she let the tears fall even harder. The lies that were being spread around about her could really hurt her reputation. But more importantly, it could ruin all her friendships and make her family wonder if the girl they once knew was really who they thought. Deep down inside, she knew her parents wouldn't believe the lies, but it's hard when everybody else does. She'd never slept with anybody. She was a virgin for Christ's sake! And she would never cheat her way into an opportunity. That wasn't right. But what is true is the fact that moving in with Adrien did look quite suspicious. Especially since every teenage fashion designer in Paris wanted to be Gabriel Agreste's intern. If Gabriel happened to hear these rumors, which he most likely would, what would he think of the girl he was allowing to move into the same house as his son? Tikki shook her head quickly at Marinette's comment and tried to reassure her with inspiring words.
"No, it's not. You'll get through this. You always get through this. You're Ladybug."
Marinette shook her head.
"I'm not Ladybug. Not right now. I'm Marinette. And Marinette's weak. And tired. And hurt."
Tikki's little heart broke at her friend's desperate words.
"I know you're not supposed too, but why don't you go for a little run? As... As Ladybug? Maybe you'll be able to let go of some of these frustrations."
Marinette thought for a second.
"I mean, that's against the rules isn't it?"
Tikki shook her head. "You're not supposed to since you could worry the citizens, but since you do take runs every night anyway, why not just take one now?"
"Wow, Tikki. I never thought you were one to want to break the rules." Marinette giggled.
The kwami's eyes widened. "No that's not what I'm saying-"
"I know what you're saying. I'm just teasing."
"Oh, good, good. Well, anyways. Let me know if you need any help okay." Tikki looked to her left to see a family arrive at the park. A mother and her two toddlers. She dove back into the purse and left Marinette with her thoughts.
She's right. I need something to keep my mind off of-
"Aren't you supposed to be in school?" A little voice spoke that made Marinette jump. She looked over to see Manon.
"Manon?"
"You are supposed to be in school! It's okay, I won't tell!" She signaled a zipping motion on her lips and tossed the 'key' away.
"You caught me."
Manon jumped into Marinette's laps and gave her a big hug. The little girl that Marinette babysat every week was a sight for sore eyes. Just seeing the little one made her happy because Manon could never spread rumors like the people at her school. She was sweet and innocent, yet, of course, a little monster. Sometimes you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Manon gave Marinette a sweet smile, but of course, could see right through Marinette's covered emotions.
"What's wrong, Marinette?" She asked, suddenly intrigued by the tears that streaked Marinettes' cheeks.
The teenager sighed. "Just big kid things."
"I'm a big girl!" The pig-tailed girl quivered her lip, almost as if she was about to cry.
"Stop that!" Marinette made a sad face and Manon cheered up.
"Okay, okay..."
"I know you're a big girl, but maybe we should talk about you instead." She booped the girl's nose and made her giggle.
"Can we go get ice cream? Pleaseeee!" Manon begged, giving Marinette the puppy-dog eyes.
"I can't Manon-"
"PLEASE!" She begged again.
"Oh stop with the eyes-" Marinette turned away to avoid looking, but the little girl simply grabbed her cheeks and pulled her back to face her.
"PLEASE!"
"MANON!" A voice ran out that made both girls jump. A tall woman circled the fountain and saw the two of them sitting by it.
"Manon! There you are- Marinette?" Nadia stood there with her arms crossed, a little bit upset for Manon to be running off without telling her mom where she was going.
"Uh-Hi!" She said shyly.
"Why aren't you at school?"
Shit.
"Um, well... I... Uh-" She frantically tried to come up with an excuse. Manon interrupted suddenly, to Marinette's relief.
"Can we go get ice cream, mommy?"
"Manon, we just got here-"
"But mommy!" She complained.
Nadia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "How about you go get the lunch boxes and bring them over here? Afterward, we can get ice cream, okay?"
"OKAY!" The little girl hopped off Marinette's lap and ran in the opposite direction. A stressed Nadia sat on the edge of the fountain, looking down at Marinette.
"Sorry if she interrupted you. As you were saying?"
Crap, I got distracted.
Marinette quickly went back for thinking of an excuse and finally came up with one that made sense.
"Well, my parents are moving soon and.. I'm moving in with somebody-" She wanted to leave out the fact she was moving in with the Agrestes since Nadia was a news reporter who would be quite shocked to learn of Gabriel's acceptance of a house guest. Not to mention, it could only add the rumors of Marinette using Adrien to be his father's intern.
"And I came here for a break since I am moving my things out of the house."
"Ah, I see. Could you possibly watch Manon? I promised her lunch but since she doesn't have school today and I have to be at work in an hour-"
"I would but... I can't.." Marinette bit her lip nervously. Nadia shook her head and pursed her lips.
"Of course not. It's a school day for you and your busy. I'll find someone else, no worries!"
"I'm really sorry.."
"It's okay, don't worry about it!"
Just as Nadia finished talking, Manon rushed over and plopped herself back in Marinette's lap. She held up a ladybug lunchbox and gave her mother and Marinette an award-winning smile.
"I've got lunch! Yours is right here, Mommy!" She handed Nadia a blue bag.
"Thank you, Manon."
Marinette looked down at the child and rubbed her head. "I have to go, Manon. I've got work to do-" She pushed the kid off her lap to Manon's surprise and grabbed her sketchpad that was still lying in the grass.
"Yes, she's got some things to do, we can finish up here, can't we Manon?" Nadia spoke. Manon looked up at Marinette and winked, happy that she knew of Marinette's skipping school and her mother didn't. Marinette gave the little girl a smile and a wave.
"Yes, thank you for visiting! See you soon!" Marinette sped off just as Manon cried out again.
"Can we get ice cream now!?"
.·:*¨¨* ≈☆≈ *¨¨*:·.
Marinette dove into the nearest alleyway after rushing away from the park. After all of that conversation, she was even more stressed out then she was before. Slowly, she opened her purse to reveal a worried Tikki.
"You sure you want to do this, Tikki?"
"It was your idea-"
"But I'm not the one who holds a miraculous."
Marinette crossed her arms and looked out of the alley to make sure nobody was coming. In fact, it was the same alley she'd been in the day she talked with Chat Noir before the meeting.
"It has to be your choice, Marinette."
"You're right. I need to get my mind off my civilian life. As Ladybug, not one rumor is going around about my sexual life. I think I deserve a break for a while."
"I think so too."
"Tikki spots on!"
The suit covered her within seconds and she was finally free from all her worries as the clumsy girl, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Immediately, Ladybug used her yo-yo to lift herself out of the alley and onto the roof. She looked out into Paris, happy to see everything going so well. She began to run across the rooftops, the wind blowing in her hair and making her pigtails sway in the breeze. She was so caught up in the moment, she hadn't noticed she'd been heading back in the direction of her school. Stealthily, she took a peek into her classroom window. Everybody sat in their usual places, except the seat next to Alya was empty without her there. Her best friend's face was all red and her hair was matted, which made Ladybug wonder what went down. Chloe was nowhere to be seen. From the safety of the outside, Ladybug stared at Adrien as he wrote stuff down in his notepad. She knew him well enough to tell something was bothering him. How embarrassing. He probably thinks Marinette's a slut like everybody else. Ladybug ducked her head and began moving across when voices came from inside the girl's locker room.
"This is utterly ridiculous!"
"Oh Chloe, relax! I'm sure your dad will handle it!"
"Not now, Sabrina! Can't you see I'm mourning?"
"I understand, Chloe. I really do." Sabrina hugged Chloe from behind, which made her tense up.
"Watch the cashmere sweater!" She snapped, immediately shoving her off and patting herself down. It took only seconds before she began sobbing again. She pulled Sabrina into a forced hug.
What happened?
"I'm sure the other thing will get fixed. Maybe not the thing with your mother, but..."
Chloe sniffed and wiped at her smeared mascara.
"I need to convince Adrien that those aren't rumors about Marinette and that they're true! He'll hate me!"
"Adrien could never hate you!" Sabrina gasped.
"Yes, he could! He almost did before when I wasn't nice to people-" She once again patted her eyelids.
"But those rumors weren't started by you."
"Everybody thinks they are! And I'm the one that spread them. That's what apparently matters."
"I just- can't believe my mom's leaving again. Leaving me here with my daddy, who can't even be a good mayor and get rid of Dupain-Cheng!"
Ladybug felt a pain in her heart. Audrey Bourgeious had been home for such a long time, nobody ever thought she'd be leaving again. But now... she's leaving Chloe again? Part of her wanted to feel bad, but the other part was in a pure rage. But kind-hearted Marinette would never let anger overcome her emotions.
"Next time, don't trust that bitch," Sabrina swore, making Ladybug even question if what she was seeing was real. Innocent Sabrina never let a curse word slip.
"She said she could help me with Adrien..." Chloe held her hands against her chest and sighed deeply.
"Well, now you know. Maybe Marinette was right about her."
Who? WHO!?
Ladybug leaned against the window and a sudden pop made her jump. Both girls looked over at the window and ran to it quickly. Ladybug jumped up and tried to hide, hoping that they hadn't spotted her.
.·:*¨¨* ≈☆≈ *¨¨*:·.
Meanwhile, when Adrien saw the flash of red and black spots come by the window, he immediately excused himself to use the restroom. Ms. Bustier allowed it and he ran as fast as he could, waking up Plagg in a jiffy.
"Get up, Plagg! Something's wrong!"
"What! I don't sense anything." The cat burped from inside his coat pocket and Adrien had to hold his breath so he didn't smell his kwami's camembert breath.
"Ladybug's out. We need to go check."
"Okay, okay, but you owe me a boatload of-"
"Plagg claws out!"
"Ladybug?" Chat Noir called, leaning over the roof where Ladybug was still hidden.
"AH! Chat! Shhh!"
She held up a finger to her lips and Chat gave her a hand. "Here, let me help you." He pulled her up with no struggle at all.
"Why were you hiding-"
"I.. Um... well... I was just investigating something."
"What was it?"
"Uh, nothing important."
Chat put a finger to his chin. "Ladybug, you're transformed in the middle of the day hiding by a school and you try to tell me that you weren't investigating anything important?"
Ladybug swallowed. "Just.. some rumors."
Please be stupid enough to not put two and two together...
"What rumors?" Chat Noir acted cluelessly.
"Some about the baker's daughter. Apparently, they're all over the place. I'm a friend of a friend of hers so I thought maybe I'd help her out... see who was starting them so she could stop them before they got out of hand."
"Quite a job for a superhero." Chat raised an eyebrow but simply walked over to the other edge of the roof to look down.
"Rumors like that make someone easy prey for an akuma." She quipped quietly.
"Well, it's lunchtime soon, so you'd better be off."
"Oh, I didn't go to school today."
"Really?"
"Yeah... My school... was off- today."
"Right, right." Chat nodded. "Well, mine wasn't, so I was just checking."
"See you, LB-"
"Chat-"
The black cat stopped in his tracks when Ladybug approached him. From what he could see with her mask, there seemed to be tears welling up in her eyes.
"Have you ever had lies spread about you? Rumors?"
Chat Noir, or Adrien, let out a big sigh. "Of course I have. I feel like everyone has."
"W-What if they could.. ruin your future?"
"Like.. the ones about Marinette?"
Ladybug nodded. "Y-Yeah. Sorry, I just get emotional." She rubbed her nose on her wrist.
"Well, I don't know Marinette... too well... but I do know that she's strong enough to overcome anything. Especially if she keeps her heart as gold as it already is. So I wouldn't worry about her. That girl is damn brave." He winked at Ladybug.
"Almost as brave as you, Milady."
Ladybug turned away so she didn't blush and cleared her throat. "Alright kitty, enough flirting for you. You go on now... go eat your lunch."
"You mean my catnip?"
"Chat-" She groaned.
"Okay, okay, I'm going!"
He turned to run off, but Ladybug stayed in the same spot, thinking about what he said. He turned once more to eye the strange girl and smiled.
"See you.." He whispered, before hopping off the building.
When Ladybug returned, after a few explanations to some citizens, after detransforming, Marinette immediately made her way back to the bakery. Like the honest person she was, she told her parents exactly what happened. Well, most of it anyways.
"WHAT!?" Tom roared, throwing the dough onto the table with a loud slap.
Sabine had her mouth covered with her hand. "Oh sweetie, maybe leaving this weekend wasn't such a good-"
"No, Mama. Papa. I can do this myself. I need to be strong. This is life. Things like this happen..." Marinette's voice cracked and her mother came to wrap her in a tight hug. Tom tried to join, but both of them declined since he was covered in sugar and flour.
"Whatever happens, we're here. Your friends will understand."
Marinette wiped her eyes. "I know they will. I mean... I hope most of them will."
"Anyways," Tom gave her a noogie, "Adrien Agreste will be over after school today to help move your things."
Marinette's heart skipped a beat. "Oh, right. Yes, of course."
Sabine raised an eyebrow.
"Marinette?"
"Yeah..?"
"You didn't happen to forget, did you?"
"N-No of course not."
"Alright, well, this is the only day you're skipping so you better get up there and make up your work before he gets here."
"Of course. Thanks, Mama." She gave her other a quick peck on the cheek before rushing up to her room. Tikki flew out of her purse and lied on Marinette's pillow. The blue-haired girl collapsed on her bed and screamed into her covers.
How in the world was she supposed to face Adrien after what happened today?
.·:*¨¨* ≈☆≈ *¨¨*:·.
A/N: Hey boo! Same as the last chapter, this hasn't been officially edited yet! So please be aware things could change! Anyways, how'd you feel about a little Ladynoir? I loved it. Loved it. So happy my book is almost at 3000 VIEWS! That's flippin' amazing! Thank you so frickin' much for all the love and support. Please keep voting, sharing, and commenting! Love you so much!
Song Choice: no tears left to cry By Ariana Grande
Marinette's trying to push the rumors out of her mind, but it's hard.
Word Count: 2934
Bug Out!