Chapter Text
Marinette was tired . Mentally, emotionally, and physically. All the stress of the last few weeks of school before it let out for the summer had been hell, all thanks to Lila Rossi, the new student with a passion for lying. It wasn’t so bad to begin with, she only lied about all the amazing things she’d done, and while it got on her nerves, Marinette didn’t really engage with Lila, preferring to stay away from such a liar. But things took a turn for the worst when Lila started telling lies about Marinette, claiming increasingly horrible things about her, all her classmates, even her so-called best friend, Alya Césaire, turned their backs on her. It took every ounce of Marinette’s self-control to not break down or explode, she knew she didn’t have the luxury of getting upset, if HawkMoth caught on there’d be no one to stop her, Paris would be in trouble.
Marinette handled the isolation with her chin held high, though there was pain behind her eyes. To her utter shock, two classmates refused to believe Lila, Chloé Bourgeois, and her best friend, Sabrina Raincomprix. Who, Marinette was sure, only stuck with whatever Chloé said. They hadn’t gotten along well over the years, but even Chloé could tell Lila was trouble, and the two forces, while actively avoiding conflict, despised each other. Marinette had even seen Chloé snap at Adriene Agreste, Marinette’s former friend and crush, and Chloé’s childhood friend, the boy was taken aback by her outburst and she simply turned her back on him and ushered Marinette and Sabrina away. This left all three of them in no one’s good graces, not that Chloé cared, though Marinette knew she was taking the separation from Adrien the worst, he had been her only real friend aside from Sabrina and now Marinette. Eventually Adrien came around about a week before summer break, apologizing to Chloé and practically begging her to just keep the peace with Lila, she agreed with hesitance, but would not comply with Lila’s manipulation and trying to get her to leave Marinette. To her credit, Chloé held strong, and Marinette gained a new admiration for the girl she once couldn’t stand.
Everything came to a head on the last day of school, Chloé and Sabrina had gone early, trying to get Marinette to go with them, but she insisted she’d be fine on her own. They were hesitant to leave her at first, but she promised she’d text if she needed to escape, they hugged her tightly and told her she better do just that, and with a small smile Marinette watched her only two remaining friends walk away. There was only an hour of class left, what could go wrong? Turns out, Lila was waiting for just that opportunity, she approached Marinette, with a big smile so fake she’d give Barbie a run for her money. “Hey, Mari!” She said cheerily. Marinette glared at her venomously, hating that that bitch would dare use her nickname. “What?” She said through gritted teeth, watching with some pleasure as Lila’s smile faltered slightly, she put on a fake pout and her eyes looked glossy. “Oh come on, can’t I come and try to repair things with you?” She leaned closer, whispering so none of the other students would hear, “Wouldn’t it be easier to just comply and get your friends back? Just play along.” Lila’s eyes gave her away, she wanted the satisfaction of Marinette finally crumbling, but the blue haired girl reached her limit, she was fuming. She stood up suddenly, genuinely startling Lila and her other classmates, she grabbed her things and shoved them in her backpack, preparing to leave. “You’re so full of shit Lila, I’m surprised you haven’t burst by now.” She spat, her blue eyes alight with fury, she wasn’t going to stand for this any longer, she was going home now to control herself before HawkMoth sent an akuma her way.
She stormed out of the classroom, unaware that three people followed after her, leaving the rest of the class to comfort a stunned Lila, who quickly put on the crocodile tears. “Marinette! Wait!” A distressed and familiar voice called after her as she reached the bottom of the stairs at the front of the school, she whirled around and there stood her former friends, Adrien, Alya, and Nino Lahiffe. Marinette’s friend from years back, Adrien’s best friend, and Alya’s boyfriend. It was Adrien who had called after her and Nino and Alya just followed behind, Alya glaring at her and Nino looking concerned and uncomfortable. “What do you want?” She turned her full attention to Adrien, her heart squeezing in her chest as she stared at the boy she had once loved, his green eyes were filled with confusion and Marinette noticed a tiredness she hadn’t before, but she ignored it and waited for him to respond impatiently. Adrien took a deep breath before he started, “I know you don’t like Lila, but Mari, would it really be so bad to try and apologize and get along? I mean, after everything you did to her-” Adrien didn’t get a chance to finish before Marinette burst out laughing, but it wasn’t warm, it was cold and sarcastic, all three of them froze as her icy blue glare wandered over them, taking in their expressions. “You really are blind, Agreste,” she said slowly as her voice dripped with something Adrien didn’t recognize, he flinched as she used his last name only, but she wasn’t done. “You’re all idiots, and I hope you’re happy with Lie-la, the girl you’ve known for a few months over your best friend .” She growled the last words out, acting as if they were poison on her tongue, Alya and Nino flinched this time, looked wounded for a moment before Alya looked away, clearly angry while Nino just watched helplessly as Marinette turned to leave again.
Adrien lunged forward, grabbing her by the arm, causing her to freeze. “Marinette! Please. Why are you acting like this?” She didn’t respond, instead she yanked her arm away from him and shoved him hard, tears streaming down her face as Adrien stumbled and fell backwards, landing on his butt and staring up at Marinette wide-eyed. “Don’t ever touch me again. Fuck off, Agreste, for good.” She froze for a moment, realizing what she had just done, she looked horrified for a second but it changed to a neutral look so fast Adrien couldn’t be sure he had really seen it, he watched silently and still in shock as Marinette ran home. He blinked rapidly, noting how his face was wet, was it raining? He brought a hand up to his face, wiping at his cheeks, he was crying . Adrien didn’t know what else to do or how to feel, he wasn’t even sure when he had started crying, and he didn’t notice when Nino came to help him up. He just stared blankly ahead as silent tears fell, listening to Nino murmur words to him he couldn’t understand, his head full of static.
Marinette didn’t even bother to say anything to her parents, she just ran past to the apartment upstairs and straight to her room. She was sure she startled her parents and the customers in the bakery, she hoped they wouldn’t bother her as she collapsed into bed and began to sob. She was vaguely aware of Tikki speaking soothing words to her, she felt the little Kwami press her tiny face into Marinette’s cheek, humming a tune Marinette was all too familiar with. Tikki sang it whenever she needed her to get a hold on her feelings, Marinette gulped large amounts of air and tried to get her breathing under control, months of keeping all of this bottled up had finally boiled over and she was struggling. But she knew she couldn’t afford to get like this, she needed to control herself, she took a few deep breaths and sat up, wiping her eyes as she coughed. She looked around in relief for a brief moment, no akuma had come for her. She shut her eyes tightly and listened as Tikkit continued to hum, it was soft and soothing, helping her ground herself back to the now. “Thanks Tikki.” Marinette said shakily, her eyes were red and her voice was a bit rough, the little red Kwami smiled at her sadly, nuzzling into her cheek gently. Marinette was truly grateful that she at least had Tikki at home, when things go really bad. She felt her heart twist, she wanted nothing more than to go to Master Fu, but he was no longer the guardian, and he remembered nothing of her or Tikki. She was the guardian now, she let out a sigh, glancing to the slight crevice where she kept the miracle box, right behind her computer behind some old and slightly broken pieces of wood from her wall. It was unnoticed to everyone but her and Tikki, she was glad that she had freaked out and caused a hole in her wall all those years ago, it was the perfect place to hide the Kwami’s.
Marinette blinked for a moment, Alya and Nino still had their Miraculouses, she felt sick at the thought that such horrible people had them. They had been made permanent Miraculous holders a month before Lila came back into their lives, and Marinette had been so certain then that they were trustworthy, now she knew she could no longer count on them. She glanced at the time, school should be over, she knew what had to be done and that she had to get them back. “Tikki, spots on!” Marinette transformed and made her way up to the roof, closing the latch silently and was about to swing away when a voice spoke up. “My lady?” She froze and turned around to see Chat Noir standing on her roof, looking confused and concerned, his green eyes curious. Shit. “Chat Noir? What are you doing here?” She kept her voice light and confused, then she narrowed her eyes at him, her gaze accusatory. “Are you visiting a civilian? You know that could be dangerous to your identity!” She said sharply, making her kitty flinch as he looked away awkwardly, quickly recovering and giving her a wink. “Meowch, my lady. No need to get jealous, she’s just a friend of mine. I would never ruin what we have.” He said smoothly, and Ladybug rolled her eyes in annoyance, opening her mouth to respond only to be interrupted by a more serious question from him. “Hey. Why are you here?” He asked, Ladybug’s brain stopped for a second but she answered quickly, trying to look as neutral as possible. “I was collecting her Miraculous!” She blurted out, Chat Noir looked shocked for a second, his mouth wide, “Her Miraculous? Marinette??” His eyes darkened slightly and he glanced around wildly, Ladybug was confused for a moment, then figured he was looking for an akuma and spoke up again. “Yeah, you know. She was Multimouse! I just didn’t tell you I made her a permanent holder. Sorry kitty.” She genuinely felt bad for lying, but she had no other choice, Chat showing up was unexpected and caught her off guard.
Chat seemed to accept this and gave her another flirty wink. “That’s purr fectly fine, my lady.” He hesitated before adding the next part, “Why did you take it away? And is she okay?” Ladybug chewed on her lip for a moment mentally slapping herself, it wasn’t a complicated lie, but she still hated lying. At least it was a good excuse to tell him about Rena and Carapace. “She’s been having trouble with people at school. I’ve been observing her, as well as Rena Rouge and Carapace. I made a mistake making them permanent holders, I’m on my way to collect them.” Chat Noir didn’t think he could look more shocked, but he was. “W-What?” He stuttered. “Rena Rouge and Carapace too?” Ladybug nodded grimly, her voice getting bitter. “Do you remember that Lila Rossi girl? She’s driving a wedge between the three of them, I don’t trust them, not when they don’t even stand up for a friend or listen to her. How can I trust them in battle if they don’t trust each other?” Ladybug shook her head, letting out a deep sigh, she was so tired of this and of them, why she didn’t do this earlier she was unsure. But she was glad she was doing it now. Chat Noir was silent, he looked past her towards her, or rather, Marinette’s, dark room with a worried look. “Is she okay?” He asked so softly she barely heard, but Ladybug nodded. “She wasn’t so okay when I showed up, but we talked and she’s okay. I told her to get some sleep.” Cat looked relieved, nodding slightly, his shoulders relaxed and Ladybug noticed just how tense he had been before he relaxed.
“Guess I’ll let you get back to it, my lady.” He bowed, a smirk forming on his lips. Ladybug chuckled, her first genuine laugh in a while, it made Chat grin. “I’ll keep a lookout for any akuma’s, just in case Rena or Carapace take it badly.” Ladybug nodded and gave her kitty a pat on the shoulder, grabbing her yo-yo as she flashed a smile at him, “Thank you, chaton. Bug out!” And with that she was off, hoping that Chat Noir wouldn’t try to see if Marinette was still awake. Chat watched his lady swing away, sighing in admiration, but his mind was still prickled with worry for his princess. He looked back at her latch, he didn’t want to disturb her anymore than he already had today, he decided, taking his baton out and running off her roof in the opposite direction Ladybug had taken.