Chapter Text
Bubbly, passionate, kind-hearted... everything and anything you could want in a person. She has the perfect life; popular, beautiful, class president, fashion designer by day and a brave, confident, superhero by night. Of course that's not completely true as she has to transform into her superheroine self almost every 5 hours. This was just the beginning. Everyday for the past week there has been at least 2 or more akuma attacks and Marinette was not having it. “Wake up Marinette!” Tikki patted her holder's shoulder, “You’re almost late for school and you can’t get anymore tardies or else you’ll get detention.” Marinette groaned and looked at the clock.
“Oh shit, shit, shit...” She practically belly flopped out of her loft and onto the floor. She used her chaise to pull herself up, feeling a bit dizzy, she sat down for a second. “Are you feeling alright Marinette?” Tikki flew up next to her ladyluck meeting her eyes with a concerned gaze. Tikki had noticed Marinette getting rather sluggish and having dizzy spells but didn’t think much of it as she knows the bluenette hasn’t been getting nearly enough sleep lately. Thank the akumas for that.
“Oh yeah, I’m fine tikki. I just haven’t been getting much sleep lately, but I’m okay. I promise.” Marinette gave her kwami a reassuring smile to help ease her concerns. With that she got up and rushed to get ready for school.
Running out the door, Marinette said goodbye to her parents and rushed out the door. She knew skipping breakfast was not a good idea, but lately she hadn’t had much of an appetite despite the amount of akuma battles. Practically body slamming through the classroom door, Marinette stumbled into the class with one minute left to spare. The teacher gave her an annoyed glare while the students looked completely unfazed, you could tell this happened a lot. She groaned, picking up the book scattered on the ground from her WWE move on the door. The only students that actually looked at her were Adrien and Alya, while Lila and Chloe scoffed at her disruption.
Sitting down in her respective seat, placing her books on the desk and taking out her class items, Marinette almost missed Alyas amused gaze. Keyword almost. When meeting her best friend's eyes, she began to speak up. “Why are you looking at me like that?” Alya sighed.
“What do you mean ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’, this is the fourth time this week you have been either late or slamming through the door like some headless chicken one minute before class.” Alya knew something had been going on with Marinette, but she didn’t think it was anything too serious so she kept her worries at bay.
“I know, I know… I have been trying to get that portfolio for Gabriel done since the deadline is in a month. I really need that internship so… you know, work now, sleep later. But I’m fine.” While that wasn’t a lie, it wasn’t exactly the truth either. While yes she did have the Gabriel internship to worry about, and believe me she has, she also had three akuma attacks all lasting about 45 minutes in duration. If those weren't enough Marinette also had one of the worst panic attacks she’s had in the last month at around 4 in the morning. So you could most definitely say she wasn’t doing fine.
“Alright girl, just don’t overwork yourself too hard. You know we all have your back, right?” Alya said, grabbing her wrist. Marinette winced under the sudden contact of her arm.
“Yes, I do know and you have no idea how thankful I am to have you guys.” Alya smiled at her and squeezed her hand before returning her attention back to the lesson.
Lets just say that Marinette's off behavior hadn’t gone unnoticed. At least not from Adrien. Adrien worked in the modeling industry, he had seen things. Looking at Marinette enter the classroom, he noticed the dark eye bags under her eyes. He noticed her getting skinnier and pale, the glow of her bluebell eyes dimming, he knew something was going on. He had been planning on talking to her about it for the past few days but his overworked schedule and random akuma attacks always found a way to postpone it. Adrien could tell she was getting worse and decided that he needed to visit as soon as possible, no matter what condition.
The bell rang and everyone began packing up their books and putting away their assigned homework. As soon as Marinette stood up, Lila walked up and greeted her and Alya. “Hey Alya! Hello Marinette.” Marinette's name coming off her tongue with a sour sound, not that anyone except Marinette and Adrien noticed. So far Lila’s attacks against Marinette have been subtle and nothing too damaging, aside from the occasional bathroom attacks, but Marinette knew that the worst had yet to come. It had been a little over a month since Lila’s plan was made clear, Lila was just getting started. Building up trust with classmates, slowing skinning down their protections on Marinette.
“Hey girl!” Exclaimed Alya, breaking the subtle glare between Marinette and Lila, “I heard you talking to Kim about Ladybug, and how she saved you from oncoming traffic and I was wondering if I could interview you for the Ladyblog?” Lila glowed, a devilish smirk underneath her kind exterior.
“Oh of course bestie let's film after school. We can go over to your house and maybe I could sleep over?” Alya gave her an excited thumbs up and told her to go home and pack a bag, then leave for her house at around 5.
“Hey Mari, do you want to come too? The more the merrier!” Lila glared at Marinette and looked back at Alya.
“I’m sure she is very busy with that portfolio and all. I’m sure we could all have one another time?” Alya glanced from Lila to Marinette.
“Well it's up to Marinette. Wanna come?” Marinette looked down and back up to Alya with a small, forced smile on her face.
“Actually Als, Lila is right I’m...um like really busy,” She said scratching her arm. “So yeah have fun but I actually have to go. Bye!” Lila made a pleased smirk and said bye to Marinette, while Alya shrugged with a concerned smile.
“Alright girl if you're sure. See you Monday!” Marinette nodded and walked out the door.
Adrien noticed Marinette forced a smile when talking to Lila. He assumed it was because of their knowledge of Lila’s compulsive lying. Tonight he had no modeling gigs, fencing lessons, or Chinese lessons so he was determined to be able to actually use his free time. He prayed there was no akuma attack today as he had also been fairly sleep deprived because of them, does Shadowmoth never sleep? Adrien went through the list of who to hang out with on his free day. Nino would be visiting his grandparents over the weekend, so he wasn’t an option. Alya was having a sleepover with Lila, and he wasn’t that close with her anyways. Adrien smiled and thought “Marinette! Perfect, I’ve been meaning to talk to her anyways.” Adrien walked up behind Marinette's open locker and waited for her to close it, to scare her of course. Over the years Marinette had gotten over her stuttering and was honestly quite confident and was fine teasing Adrien when she had the chance. Adrien loved that about her. Marinette closed her locker and squeaked at the sight of the blond boy standing right next to her.
“Oh my god, you totally scared the shit out of me you jerk!” She breathed out, playfully punching his arm.” Adrien put his arms above his head to surrender.
“I apologize, I totally didn’t mean to scare you. At all.” He stated sarcastically. Marinette raised her eyebrows. “Anyways I’m actually here to ask you, do you wanna hang out today? We can head over to the bakery and I can kick your ass at Ultimate Mecha Strike III?” Marinette looked down contemplating the idea. She really didn’t feel like hanging out with anyone, but she just couldn’t say no. Especially with the childish grin the blond had on his face. God she loved it when he smiled.
“Alright,” She said drawing out the I, “But you are sooo not going to beat me at Ultimate Mecha Strike III. We all know I’m the best.” Adrien smiled at her delighted at the chance to hang out with his good friend Marinette. (-_-) They still weren't that close but they had been closer than they were freshman year.