Work Text:
Marinette Dupain-Cheng was having a good day. She’d managed to wake up early and get to work on time (her mentor and boss, M. Agreste himself managed to look surprised as she popped into his office at 9AM to exchange a quick greeting), she was able to finish the pieces for the show on Monday (her once-cancelled date with Adrien was back on now) and she even found a little ladybug, who she’d named Tikki (after her kwami friend) resting on her sewing machine.
Even now, as she laid on her desk sipping cold coffee and drawing new designs, the petite bug flitted about, never leaving her general space.
The only thing that had been a slight damper on her good mood was the (probably unnecessary, thought Marinette) was the feeling of being broken, or not enough or-
It was hard to explain.
Maybe it was the endless tormenting from Lila, who had decided to make Marinette her enemy.
Maybe it was the pressure from designing and creating at Gabriel.
Maybe it was the sneers that her so-called friends gave her, after hearing Lila’s lies.
Maybe it was… her.
Regardless of the cause, for a long time, Marinette continued to feel as if… she was useless, against everything life threw at her at her each and every day.
But before she got stuck in her dark place, she shrugged off the unwanted thoughts, instead trying to focus on the half-made design on her tablet in front of her.
It was then that, having practically nothing to do and no inspiration for designing, she instead began to think of Adrien Agreste, her boyfriend.
He was one of the only ones who recognized that she felt sad, who helped her and listened to her rants when she needed to clear her head.
She could even say that Adrien was the best part of her life. Even if Monsieur Agreste hadn’t agreed to their relationship (which he had, since his son dating one of the most upcoming designers in the fashion industry garnered good publicity) she would’ve still found a way to make it work, especially after she found out that he was Chat Noir.
It was no secret that they were made for each other.
Marinette was quickly shaken out of her thoughts once Lila Rossi entered the room. Lila’s bold demeanor and threatening look as she strutted into the wide space with eyes set on Marinette could only mean one thing: public embarrassment.
Marinette sighed and continued brainstorming ideas.
Unlucky for her, Lila quickly headed her way, a sickly sweet smile on her lips.
What could she be thinking of now? Marinette thought.
It was like Lila to try and embarrass her, because Marinette had confronted her about her lies a while ago, but lately, it hadn’t been too bad. Even yesterday, Marinette was just telling Adrien about how Lila seemed to be laying off.
It seemed like she jinxed herself.
“Hey Marinette ,” Lila said as she approached her.
“Hey Lie -La,” Marinette responded, barely glancing at her. Lila faked sadness as those around her began noticing the argument between the two. It was no shock, as it often happened, but this one seemed...different.
Little did they know.
“Oh, Marinette! How could you say that?” Lila asked, wiping tears from her eyes. A few other designers around the room frowned and went to comfort Lila.
“Marinette!”
“Why are you always being so mean?”
“Really, we aren’t 12 year olds! Stop harassing Lila all the time!”
“You can be so horrible at times!”
“Yea, can’t you see how sad she is?”
The clear smirk on Lila’s face showed that she was far from sad. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying it.
“I told you I’d make your life miserable,”she whispered, grinning, “and this is just the beginning,”
“It’s ok everyone. We have to treat her with respect. Maybe she can change from her ways?” Lila suggested, pursing her lips into a sympathetic frown as she rubbed the sides of her arms, “And besides, I’m sure that when she pushed me in the bathroom earlier, it was just an accident!”
“She pushed you?” Aurore Beauréal, a model, asked.
Lila nodded. “But it was an accident, really!”
She lifted up her sleeves on both arms to show an array of reddish-purplish bruises lining them.
“That’s not an accident!” Pierre Allaire, another model, said from across the room. “Pushing? I didn’t think you’d stoop so low Marinette!”
“I didn’t do anything!” Marinette cried, unable to keep from shouting. “You’re lying, Lila!”
“I can’t believe you!” cried Felippe Champoux, assistant to Pierre. “Accusing Lila of lying this many times when you’ve been hurting her? How dare you!”
“Are you ok, Lila?” asked Pierre, coming to inspect her arms. Several people crowded around her as they tried to look at her bruises.
Lila quickly rolled her sleeves down and smiled.
“Oh, it’s ok, I’m fine,” she smiled. “There’s only some pain. Not even bad, really!”
Marinette groaned again.
“You should feel horrible for what you’re doing!” Aurore sneered. “In fact, I think Lila should go to court against you!”
Lila’s eyes went wide and Marinette bit her lip to stop from smirking. “Like, with a lawyer?”
Aurore nodded. “With a lawyer!”
Lila laughed nervously. “N-no, that’s not necessary!”
A makeup artist from across the room frowned. “You sure?”
Lila nodded. “Yes! Marinette and I can be friends in the future! If-if we can right our wrongs, and sort this all out, we can be best friends~”
The makeup artist grinned. “You’re amazing Lila! You’re so sweet, so nice!”
Marinette swiveled in her chair and counted to 10 to stop from exploding.
“Aww thank you!” the girl in question smiled. “You’re too kind!”
Finally, Marinette thought, it’s over for today. After a few weeks of pointed looks and many avoiding her, things would eventually return back to normal.
But Lila wasn’t done yet. Like she promised, she was just getting started.
“Well, actually, this isn’t the reason I came here,” Lila smiled, “I wanted to tell you all the news!”
“What news?” asked Felippe. “Have you been able to contact Madame Bourgeois to look at our designs?”
“I did! But unfortunately, she’s busy making a dress for me to wear!” Lila sighed, smiling at the oohs and aahs the crowd sent her way. “Oui, she does that sometimes. She’s like...my honorary aunt! She sends her love though!”
“It’s ok. But you have to tell me about the dress she’s making later!” Aurore squealed.
Lila grinned. “For sure Aurore!”
“Now, I wanted to tell all of you this as soon as I was able to. I had to keep it a secret, but now I can finally tell you! My big news is that...” Lila paused for effect, “Adrien and I are dating!”
But instead of friendly cheers, the crowd around Lila exchanged confused glances. Marinette could barely keep in the smile that was about to overcome her face.
“What?” asked Pierre, “That’s not right. Everyone knows that Adrien Agreste is dating Marinette,”
Another makeup artist leaned against one of the tables. “I don’t know how he can stand her, but they’re dating all right,”
Lila’s face went slack as she twisted over to look at Marinette in a split second, a snarl lining her face.
Sorry Lila, I guess you forgot about karma, Marinette thought, smirking as she looked over at her.
Because what goes around, comes around.
Lila turned her attention to the crowd and fumbled with the (so called) Louis Vuitton bag she held. “A-ah no actually! Adrien was fake dating Marinette, because-”
“Who was fake dating who?” came a voice from the hallway.
In walked Adrien, with a fresh coffee and a croissant from the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
“Adrien!” called Marinette as she jumped into his arms.
“Hey purr-incess,” he smiled, throwing his arms around her.
Marinette could practically see the color drain from Lila’s face. She pressed a kiss to Adrien’s lips and grinned.
“Missed you,” she whispered.
Adrien let out a quiet sigh of joy. “Same here,”
“Now,” he began as Marinette released him from their embrace, “who’s fake dating who?”
“A-Adrien! What a surprise! I didn’t know you were coming!” Lila laughed nervously. “You don’t have to fake it anymor-”
Adrien scoffed. “Lila, for once stop lying will you? You’ve harassed my girlfriend enough and now you want to do it like this?”
“Adrien,” whispered Marinette.
“The past few months I’ve restrained myself from coming in here, because Mari asked me not to, but I’m here now and I have words to say,” Adrien went on.
“Adrien?” asked Marinette.
“Marinette and I are dating, you and I are not, never was, never will be. Just like all of the other lies you’ve told,” Adrien said.
“Adrien,” Marinette called again. “I’m good, ok?”
Adrien sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Fine, but if Lila gives you any more trouble, call me, ok?”
Marinette smiled. “Ok,”
“Ok,” Adrien grinned as he left. “See you soon. And Alya and Nino send their love!”
With a final wave, the bluenette sighed. Clutching her coffee and her croissant, Marinette turned around to face her coworkers.
“Marinette, I’m really sorry,”
“Yeah, I didn’t know!”
“I feel horrible,”
“Lila’s the one who’s horrible!”
“Yeah! Why’s she trying to harm our sweet Marinette?”
“You know, I always felt like there was something wrong with her, when she came in for the first time,”
“And I knew Marinette was telling the truth, I did! Unlike Lie-La ,”
“Hey, the name seems appropriate now!”
“Are you ok Mar-”
“Stop guys,” Marinette sighed, “I can’t trust you for a while. A long time. I went through so much, and you didn’t believe me! That hurt!”
She blinked away a stray tear before it could come crashing down as she thought of the past few months and what she had endured.
She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the brunette, who was clenching her fists as she opened her mouth to speak. Before she could though, Marinette interrupted.“Lila, this is your last chance. Stay away from me, otherwise I’ll be forced to take this to Nathalie, who will tell M. Agreste,”
Lila gritted her teeth and snarled. “You’re idiots! All of you!” she stated, and ran from the room.
As the crowd dispersed, Aurore stayed behind to talk to Marinette. “I assume the ‘bruises’ today were makeup?”
Marinette sighed. “Yeah, I can’t believe you didn’t notice,”
Aurore chuckled bitterly. “Me either. I really thought she was getting all of those ‘famous designers’ to look at my work. I was so excited!”
She gripped the fabric in her hands a little harder and let out a sigh.
“But, that doesn’t excuse what I said to you. I’m sorry, Marinette. All of us are,”
Marinette smiled. “I can’t accept your apology right now, but thanks,”
Aurore nodded. “Understood,”
With a final wave, she turned to leave. “See you around, Marinette,”
“See you around Aurore,” Marinette nodded.
As she watched Aurore walk off, she realized for the first time in what felt like forever, she didn’t feel quite so broken anymore.
Marinette smiled as Tikki crawled onto her finger. It was a start.
—Bonus—
Hours later, when Marinette and Adrien were driving home, Marinette leaned to entwine Adrien’s fingers with hers.
“Well,” Adrien sighed, “that’s only one problem down,”
“99 left to go,” Marinette finished, the edges of a smile creeping onto her face.