Third pov
Adrien is nervous when he takes Luka's phone so he can talk to Marinette. They hadn't told her about them contacting his aunt yet and he was very nervous to hear her reaction.
"Hi, how are you doing?"
"Hi Nettie. I'm doing mostly good, the akumas have been really sparse for the last week."
"Mostly? Anything else going on? You're not hurt, right?"
Adrien shook his head in a mixture of amusement and awe. "No one's hurt, but, Chloe's reaching out to my aunt, Amelie, to ask her to take custody of me."
The other end of the line went quiet and he felt his nerves again.
Then- "I'm so proud of you. Seriously, I'm so damn proud of you."
Adrien didn't expect to feel his heart soar when she said it, but he wasn't that surprised. There were few he respected and loved and up until a few years ago one of them had been treating him like a slave, withholding every piece of affection he so desperately wanted. To hear another one that he respected and loved so deeply (platonic love) say that she was proud of him, it felt like a weight had lifted off his chest.
"Thank you."
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Marc was sitting by himself when Nathaniel sat down beside him.
The two of them had been talking a lot about the situation in the formers class and Nathaniel had asked for help to apologize to Marinette for not defending her.
They'd come up with something that hopefully showed that Nathaniel really was sorry. Now they just needed to do it.
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Juleka enters her brothers room looking for him. He isn't there so she decides to sit and wait.
After everything in school she realized something else.
She barely knew her own brother anymore.
It had hit her like a brick.
She knew so very little about her brother now.
His friends, his free time, how he's feeling-
Nothing.
"Juleka? Are you alright?" Luka stepped into the room looking like he'd gone through hell.
Juleka's eyes widened and she got up just in time to catch him as one of his legs gave out under him.
"Come on, sit, I'll get mom-"
"Don't!"
Juleka halted at the sharp tone and Luka winced. "I'm sorry. Just, don't get mom. Please."
The younger teen nodded. "Alright."
Luka sat on the bed and Juleka stood close to the door, she was feeling out of her depth. Her brother was obviously in serious pain but he didn't want their mom to know. (She could understand to an extent, their mom could be very loud and a bit hard to deal with sometimes)
"Jules, want to sit?"
She does. She sits in a bean bag that her brother had bought sometime the year before. (It's pink with black dots on it and reminds her of Marinette.)
Luka is taking deep breaths, like his chest would crumble if he did anything else. His hands are resting on his lap.
"Luka, what happened?"
Luka sighs. "I can't say."
It hurts to hear. A lot.
He sees her expression and continues. "Not because i don't trust you. It's just, it's not just about me. It's not just my decision."
Juleka can see that it pains him to say it. Her brother had never had a problem being open with her before and he looked so tired and guilty as he said it.
Now that she thought about, Luka looked a lot older than he should. There was quite well hidden dark bags under his eyes, you could only see them despite the make-up when you stood close enough. He looked pale and his hands hadn't stopped moving since they sat down.
"It's okay. I trust you."
Something in him shines at that and Juleka decides that she won't ask again. Just let her brother know that she's there for him.
******************************************************
Lila is livid when her grip on the class starts to slip and when the entire school is making it clear they think she's a lying snake.
She isn't stupid. She knew that not everyone bought her bullshit. Dupain-Cheng certainly hadn't.
She'd been a perfect way in. Turning everyone against little miss sunshine had been her biggest achievement.
But then again, most of her classmates were weak- minded idiots. The kind of idiots that fell for her abilities.
She'd tried to reach beyond the class, but there hadn't been a secure way to do so which left her with her class.
The years in said class had been successful despite everyone having to go another year thanks to the akuma attacks.
The only thing she had had to worry about at all was Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
The girl was strong minded. More so than anyone she'd met before. At the start she had been a doormat but that had changed. Now she was an opponent that Lila knew could destroy her if she so wished.
Thing is, she's leaving her alone. Aside from the mayor's brat and Adrien she's letting Lila have the class.
When she realizes it, Lila is very cautious.
But nothing happens.
Dupain-Cheng just leaves them alone. She sets a stop to any attempt to personally call Lila out, but she also stops with the favours, the free clothing, free food and free designs. Anytime anyone asks she refuses any help at all. Instead she says Lila probably has better connections anyways.
And when the teacher (Lila wonders how the woman became a teacher. She's so stupid it hurts) tells Marinette to be an example, the blackhaired teen grins (just a bit too sharp) and lays thinly veiled threats that actually makes the teacher back up just a bit.
Lila knows she managed to strip her opponent down to someone with a stronger backbone then before, but the other things. The growing agitation in Dupain-Cheng is something Lila can't actually figure out where it comes from.
Alya is a good attack dog with a weak mind and Lila takes a delight in seeing her rip into her former best friends charachter after the clowns little stunt.
What she hadn't expected was that the quiet girl, Juleka would just loose it.
Now half the class is looking at her differently and she's slowly loosing a little bit of hold on Alya.
It pisses her off because the only reason is that Adrien has broken away and Nino followed him.
Nino and Alya had had a huge fight that ended with a break up and Alya coming to complain to Lila.
Lila pretended to be the understanding friend even though she found the glasses wearing girl highly annyoing.
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Bruce sits down with Marinette her last night in Gotham and tells her that the Joker attack had spread far.
"So everyone knows?" Marinette looks tired already.
Bruce nods. "I'm sorry, we couldn't contain it to Gotham like we hoped."
She sinks into herself. She doesn't want the questions that will come when people finally see her. "At least you tried."
Bruce does something that he usually reserves only for his kids and pulls her into a hug.
Marinette smiles a little when they both pull back. "Thanks."
Bruce ruffles her hair. He hopes the smile stays when he tells her that he'd pulled a few strings to get her school investigated.
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Marinette lands in Paris pretty early.
She misses the batfam already but they couldn't come until everything about who could enter without being a risk had been decided.
She thought back to her reaction to what Bruce had told her the night before.
Both the stuff about her nearly being killed having been seen by like half the world, and that he'd started an investigation on her school.
His reaction had been fun because he clearly expected her to be mad.
She'd honestly expected herself to be angry too, but all she could think about was that this family had seen her literally at her lowest, knew about what was happening, knew about Ladybug.
And they cared enough not to let her take the abuse from the school anymore.
It was a feeling that made her feel a little lighter.
This took a bit longer than i though. Thanks school.
Anyways, i finally wrote Lila pov and I'm really curious what you guys thought about it.
I also hope i did Juleka and Luka justice. I feel i made them pretty ooc but in this au they're older than canon and after years in a city where crying can get you turned into a monster can make you grow very fast.
I really liked writing the Adrien part too.
There's actually not that many parts left now
Vote and comment, it keeps me motivated :)