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Everyone was whispering about something when Marinette came into school. She looked over to her group of friends who were surrounded around Alya. “What’s going on?” She asked as she slipped into her seat. “You would not believe this girl! Chat Noir and Ladybug kissed yesterday!” Yeah, Marinette would believe it. One minute she was fighting Oblivio, the next she was snuggling up to Chat Noir. If that wasn’t shocking enough, Alya had taken a photo of her and her partner kissing. She spent the rest of her day banging her head off her desk. Tikki didn’t try to make light of the situation, and instead worked to distract her holder. She should have guessed that Alya would have posted that online. Maybe she should have asked her as Ladybug to not post it or share it, but honestly her friend wouldn’t have listened either way.
She simply would have to deal with her friend’s rambles until something else came up. She began to pull out her books, simply nodding to Alya’s statement. Of course she didn’t expect the next words that came out of her mouth. “They must be dating.” Marinette snapped her head to stare at her. “What?” Rose squealed and clapped her hands together. “Their true feelings came out once the barrier of responsibility came off. It’s so romantic.” She continued to stare as all of the girls went around saying how their love helped them fight the akuma. She was about to stop them when someone beat her to it. “They aren’t dating Alya, and you shouldn’t post something like that on your blog.” The group turned to Adrien as he continued to walk towards his seat, ignoring the impact he had on them all.
“What do you mean, Adrien? I thought you supported Ladynoir.” Alya questioned and Adrien shrugged. “Last thing that either of them had officially said about their relationship was that it was a partnership. A partnership built on trust but also friendship, not romance.” Marinette couldn’t tell who was more surprised, herself or Alya. Adrien had mentioned in past conversations how he thought that the heroes of Paris would make an amazing couple. Now his tune had changed, despite a photo of the two kissing being released. “And Alya, at least half of the things you said on your post are false, if not all of it. Why did you lie about it being an interview?” This caught her attention. “What do you mean?” Adrien took a moment to respond, surprised at his friend for speaking to him without stuttering. “It’s on the Ladyblog. Alya claimed to have an interview with Ladybug and Chat Noir about their relationship status, in which they confirm to be dating.” Marinette felt her stomach drop. No. Alya would never. And yet when she pulled out her phone and looked at the latest post from the Ladyblog, there it was. Alya was claiming that Ladybug was already in love with Chat but didn’t want their love to stop them from defeating Hawkmoth. After falling in love with him all over again after having her memories wiped, she wasn’t going to let that stop her from being with her love.
After reading the article three times to make sure it was real, Marinette forced herself to calm down. The last thing she needed was an akuma caused by her best friend. “Alya, this is all false. Why did you write this?” Alya waved her hand at her. “It’s not false. Besides, you weren’t there.” Yes, technically Marinette wasn’t there, but Nino was. And he wasn’t going to stay silent any longer. “But Ladybug had to leave as soon as we came to. There was no time for an interview.” Alya shrugged. “She swung by last night to tell me.” There was no way to refute her claim. No one besides Alya would have seen her, and any more questioning would be suspicious, so Marinette had to suck it up. She did her best to ignore the feelings of anger and betrayal. How could Alya do this? She had given her interviews because she wanted her friend to achieve her reporter dreams. She never would have done it in the first place if Alya would use her blog like… this.
She didn’t mean to ignore Alya, but that was the only way to keep her from snapping. She decided to tell Alya that she had a headache and wouldn’t be able to hang out after school. Once she went into her room, she drove up into her bed and screamed into her pillow to let her frustrations out. Once she stopped, she noticed Tikki flying around quicker than she ever saw the kwami move. “Um… Tikki?” Upon hearing her holder say her name, Tikki flew up and sat in Marinette’s open palm. She could feel the little being vibrating. “Sorry. It’s just that I don’t do well with abused trust. I would have flown out and gave Alya a piece of my mind if Plagg didn’t stop me.” Marinette nodded before stopping. “Plagg?” Tikki flopped down, and Marinette couldn’t help but let out a giggle. “Yeah. He heard the news and figured that I would be upset so he informed Chat that he would be leaving his side for a bit to calm me down.” That made sense. Plagg knew Tikki better than anyone else. Who knows what chaos she could cause. But speaking of her partner… “I bet he believes it. Ugh, I can’t face him tonight.” It was now Marinette’s turn to flopp backwards. Tikki flew off of her palm and sat next to her face.
“Actually, he doesn’t believe it. And he is pretty mad at Alya for posting that rumor and fake interview.” This surprised her. “Really? He doesn’t even believe a bit of it?” Tikki shook her head. “He trusts you, Marinette. If you ever did get feelings for him, you would tell him first and not some blogger. Also Chat has an idea and wanted to meet at 3 today to discuss it with you.” Marinette sat up and walked down toward her purse, pulling out her phone to check the time. “Well I guess I better get going then. Tikki, spots on.”
She ran and swung around Paris’s rooftop. With her and Tikki’s frustration combined, she needed to get some of this energy out. After five minutes of non-stop running, she reached their meeting spot with enough energy out to feel calmer. Her partner was already there and turned to greet her. “Hey Ladybug.” She paused. That was new. He would usually say bugaboo or my lady. She couldn’t help the words that came out next. “What did you do to Chat?” He blinked, taking a few moments to realize why she thought him to be an intruder. “I’d figured that with that rumor mill post released that you would want me to refrain from flirting. Nicknames included.” That was actually appreciated. “Do you believe any of it?” He laughed. “Please, we might have our identities a secret but I think I know you well enough to assume that you would never go around saying something like that without telling me first. Of course, since you’ve given interviews to that blogger before, other people will believe it. Trust me, my school was all for believing it.” She groaned. “Mine too. Once I found out I was honestly hurt. I thought that blogger could be trusted. If I’d known how far she would take it…” “You would have never interviewed with her. It doesn’t matter now. That’s in the past. Now onto the things that we can do.” He pulled out his staff before continuing.
“I know we can’t reveal our identities, but I have dealt with the media in my regular life. There’s a time to ignore rumors and a time to chop them down before they get worse. This issue of the latter.” She nodded. “Well what are we going to do?” He pointed his staff at her. “You are going to go to her house and ask her to take down that post and write an apology stating that she had falsely written that post and that you had never said those things. If she refuses, you and me are going to do an interview with Nadja Chamack. We’ll clear the air and ensure that there’s no room for doubt. And yes before you question it, I will ensure that Prime Queen doesn’t happen again. You have my word.” Everything he was saying sounded really thought out. She felt a bit sad for her partner. She discovered after Glaciator that he truly loved her, but she was still crushing on Adrien and didn’t want to hurt his feelings or their partnership if things didn’t work out. “You’re okay, right?” He looked over to her and smiled. “My lady, I may love you but I also respect you. If you are in love with someone else, then we can’t date. This rumor is something that is hurting you and will also hurt me. The public will force us to act like a couple, and I couldn't stand myself if I forced you to do anything against your will.”
She walked forward and hugged him. After a moment of hesitation, he hugged her back. “I’m sorry for this. I’ve.. considered the idea but it feels like I’m cheating. I- I want you to be happy and date someone who will love you fully in the way you want. Not just partially.” He nodded. After a few minutes they pulled away. “I’ll go speak to the blogger now. I’ll message you in 30 to let you know how it goes.” “Until then.” They went off in their opposite directions. Adrien went home and detransformed. “I never expected that from you, kid.” He watched as Plagg flew off to get some cheese. At first, Adrien had wanted to believe the post. It would be amazing if Ladybug felt the same way. Of course, he knew that she would never do that. She even stated yesterday after the battle that she was in love with someone else. Why would she tell him one thing and then say another? Ten minutes later he felt magic stirring in his ring and Plagg flew over. “Bug’s sent you a message.” “Plagg, claws out.” Once transformed he checked his messages.
Ladybug: I spoke to the girl.
Ladybug: It… wasn’t good.
Ladybug: Onto plan B.
His grip on the baton tightened. He couldn’t believe that Alya would post something like that in the first place. She was given a chance to fix her mistakes but refused to take it. Whatever backlash she got she deserved.
Chat Noir: Meet me near the tv station now.
Chat Noir: It’s time for an interview.
Ladybug: Got it!
He jumped out his window and made his way towards the tv station. He landed in front at the same time as Ladybug. She seemed to be just holding herself together. “Wanna talk about what she said?” She shook her head. “Not right now. I just want to get the truth out there now before she does anything else.” It was easy to walk in and request an interview. Who could say no to Paris’s heroes, especially with the rumor started on the Ladyblog. Nadja greeted them as they walked onto set. “You two said that you’d wanted to get an interview out today and as soon as possible. We are set to air in ten minutes. Wanna have me ask you two anything specific?” Chat nodded. “We wanted to address the rumors on the Ladyblog. But we need to get one thing clear first. Whatever our answers are, those are our answers. I don’t want me or Ladybug to feel pressured into saying something just to appease the audience.” Nadja seemed shocked at his seriousness but nodded. “Will do. We can also pull up the Ladyblog while on air to address stuff straight from there.”
Nadja went off to finalize something, allowing Chat to look at his partner. She had her yo yo out, constantly refreshing the Ladyblog. “I don’t think she’ll be taking it down, not if she didn’t listen to you the first time.” Ladybug snapped it shut and hugged herself. “I just can’t believe she would do something like that.” “I can. I know a bit about that girl. She can be really stubborn and will force her ‘truth’ out even if everyone around her points out how false it actually is. She needs something big to pull her back in.” She slowly nodded. “I know you’re right but it still hurts.” As he looked at her more closely, he realized something. This wasn’t simply a fan spreading rumors. Alya must be someone who Ladybug trusted a lot. He patted her shoulder, the only comfort he could do right now. He didn’t know if Ladybug knew Alya personally or if it happened after the first interview, but having your trust taken advantage of was a hard wake up to reality. “One minute until we’re live!” The two took their seats across from Nadja and relaxed while they could. No doubt this truth bomb would cause Alya's akumatization, but she had her chance and refused to take the white flag.
Back at home, Alya was already fuming. Sure she might have lied about interviewing Ladybug, but what did it matter? They clearly were a couple. Trying to be professional would do nothing. Ladybug needed to accept the truth and publicly date Chat already. And maybe she said something about how she merely helped her with her feelings when Ladybug had paid her a visit and how she refused to take down her post since the picture proved everything. She was enjoying all the new traffic to her blog. Ever since she posted her photo and the ‘interview,’ everyone was flooding in to hear the newest scoop. Nothing could happen to change her mind that this was the best idea of her life. She turned on the TV and was about to change the channel when she noticed what it was. There sitting across from Nadja Chamack was Ladybug and Chat Noir. She didn’t realize that they had an interview today. Maybe Ladybug was going to tell people about her relationship today and was upset that the news got out sooner. Oh well, that just meant that she got the newest scoop first. Little did she know what would actually be said.
“So Paris has become abuzz with the news of you two dating, curiosity of the Ladyblog. Would you two care to comment on this?” Chat and Ladybug looked serious. More so than any time she ever had seen them. Shouldn’t they be all smiles and cuddling? “This news is nothing other than a rumor. While Ladybug and I somehow ended up kissing after defeating Oblivio, we are not dating.” Alya dropped the remote. Wait, what? “It’s true. Neither of us remember what happened while fighting Oblivio. All we know is that both of our memories got wiped. We assume that we realized we were superheroes and assumed that we were dating, which would explain how before the miraculous cure we kissed.” Alya expected someone to object and to say that the two were clearly in love, but Nadja only nodded. “It would make sense. Now how about the supposed interview that the Ladyblog got with you just last night?” “That interview never actually happened. The last time I saw the blogger was when I saved her and her friend from being the akuma, Oblivio. I also paid her a visit today to ask her to take that post down and inform people of the truth but she refused.” Nadja seemed shocked at this.
“Why wouldn’t she listen to you?” Ladybug paused, but Chat tapped her hand to calm her. “She claimed that she was doing me a favor since Chat and I clearly have feelings for each other. When I told her again that I do not have feelings for Chat and that she can’t post things like that under my name, she refused to listen. I wanted to not only get this rumor cleared up, but ensure that she wouldn’t say anything else under my name.” Alya slowly sat down. She couldn’t believe what was happening right now. How could Ladybug do this to her? Surely Chat would object, saying that the two were in love right? “Want to tell Paris how you two really feel about each other?” Here it is. Chat will ask Ladybug out and she’ll accept it. “While I still like Ladybug romantically, I respect her wishes to not date. I will, however, continue to shower you with compliments, my lady.” She laughed as Nadja nodded. “What about you, Ladybug?” She smiled as she spoke. “Chat and I are a team, a duo. Doing this can be overwhelming but I’m so grateful to have a partner like him. He’s like family to me.” Alya couldn’t take anymore of the two’s lies and reached for the remote and changed the channel.
She pretended like nothing happened and went about her day. However, the rest of Paris didn’t ignore the news. They flocked to the Ladyblog, demanding to take the post down. Her phone blew up with not only notifications from her websites but from her friends as well, asking her why she lied. At school the next day people were whispering and pointing at her. The new who spreads false information. When she tried to defend herself, people pointed out how Ladybug wouldn’t want false information like that getting out and that she did try to have Alya take the post down without the huger backlash. Her parents found out and had her delete the blog, which Alya was considering doing anyways with all the mean comments she was getting. Still her reputation as a reporter was ruined. Despite knowing that Ladybug didn’t like her, Alya was still mad when a new fox hero showed up. Eventually everyone moved on, but Alya’s reputation never fully recovered. That’s what she gets for posting false information.