Chapter Text
‘Just open it’ ‘Just open it’ ‘Just open it’ ‘Just open it, Marinette’ ‘It’ll be okay whatever it says, no matter if I get accepted or not’ Marinette thought to herself, worried about the letter Gotham Academy had sent her. She applied for a scholarship there because they have a good design program and she wanted to get started off early, straight out of Collège.
Her parents were waiting just in the other room excited for her answer, along with her closest friends, Alya, Nino, Adrien, Félix and Chloé. She picked up the letter addressed to her. Finally, settling on the couch and opening the envelope, separating the adhesive and paper. She pulled the letter out and unfolded it. She started reading it.
“Dear Marinette Dupain-Cheng,
We have read hundreds of submission letters for this scholarship, some of them just being students just wanting to come here for the other students who attend this school and some of them being students with unrealistic expectations of our power to their futures. Your submission letter was by far the most realistic and reasonable out of every single letter we went through.
It’s clear you understand we cannot turn you into a master designer, nor can we ensure success in the industry. We expect you to uphold your grades and uphold your reputation outside of school in order to keep school reputation up. If you fail to do either of these things you will go on trial for your scholarship being revoked. It’s also clear that it will not be a waste of time having you at our school as you have many winnings from Agreste designing competitions and have excellent grades in all other subjects as well, aside from the slight issue with fluency in English.
I hope you understand the importance of being given this scholarship and being part of our school community. We will provide you with a place to live and have students show you places for part-time jobs so you can provide for yourself. If you accept this scholarship we cannot wait to have you as one of our students! I will have you know, however, if you do not accept this scholarship, it will be given to someone else not as qualified. If you would like to accept please call the number below and inform us of your decision.
***-***-****
Sincerely,
Gotham Academy”
Squealing, she opened the door to the other room where she found Alya and Chloé with their ears to the door, listening in to see if she would read the letter out loud. The two girls jumped, trying to act ‘nonchalant’.
“Did you guys really think I would read the letter out loud?” Marinette asked, rolling her eyes at their antics.
“Maybeee.” Chloé said, dragging out the end of the word sheepishly.
“I told them not to, however, I’m sure we’d all like to know what the letter said about you getting the scholarship or not.” Félix said, himself, wondering what the results would be.
“Oh, I got it, but they want a response from me, either accepting or declining it.”
“Well are you gonna accept it or what?”
“Yeah, let me call the number they gave me real quick.” Marinette said, pulling her phone out of her pocket.
She dialed the number on the letter, waiting for the other person to pick up. It was 8:06 PM for her so she knew it would be around the middle of the work day in Gotham. It only took a minute or two for the automated message answered and she was put on hold. Everyone in the room waited in anticipation for the hold to end and for her to be able to accept the scholarship. The hold music suddenly stopped and a voice on the other end spoke.
“Hello, this is Alice Rydols from the Gotham Academy scholarship branch, what can I help you with?”
“Uh hi, I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I received a letter in the mail today saying I won a scholarship to Gotham Academy.”
“Oh, hello Marinette! So glad to finally hear back from you, what would you like to do about the scholarship?”
“Ughhh quel est le mot pour uhhhh accepter dans anglais?” Marinette asked, looking to Félix and Adrien for help as she knew they both were fluent in english.
“The word is accept.” Félix supplied.
“Merci, Félix.”
“Je- I apologize for the hold up, I forgot the word, I would like to accept the scholarship.”
“Great!! You will receive your schedule, a map around the school and one of the members of the student council will help you around the school so you can get used to how to get around, your schedules will match so you don’t hold them up from getting to their own classes, however, we don’t know who you’re going to match with.”
——
Marinette woke up, excited for what the day would bring. She was finally flying to Gotham and moving in the living quarters the academy had said they would provide for her. She brought a carry-on onto the plane containing multiple things to keep her occupied for the long trip. Along with a change of clothes to get more comfortable if she wants to fall asleep. In her carry-on she brought her sketchbook, her laptop, chargers and a few books. One of the other two people in her row was incredibly obnoxious. He kept trying to talk to her and ask her all kinds of personal questions. Most of them were pretty inappropriate too and made her feel uncomfortable, so she just ignored him and begged the universe for the plane ride to be over.
The man eventually introduced himself as Jackson Doiney. She made sure to write it down so if she ever ran into him again and he tried something similar she could use it against him. The questions he continued asking stayed along the lines of “So have you lost your virginity? You have a boyfriend, little lady? Are you clean? Have you ever thought of becoming a stripper? You have a beautiful body, young lady. We should get to know each other better.” It got creepier as it went on, eventually resulting in Marinette requesting to have her seat switched.
Guess the guy realized his mistake as this “little lady” was incredibly done with his shit. She was put in first class since all the other seats were taken and there was a spare seat in there. Apparently she sat right across from the Waynes, of course, she didn’t know this at the time but later on she learned she would grow to know them well.
——
Marinette felt someone shake her awake, she looked up and saw a boy around her age scowling. He looked irritated to have to wake her up but she appreciated the act.
“The flight is over. I thought I should wake you up, miss.”
“Oh, thank you, I appreciate it.” She said with a slight smile.
The boy looked a bit familiar to her but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it. She shrugged it off and assumed it was just because she either saw him in the airport or somewhere in Paris while walking along the sidewalk. Everyone in first class was off the plane first and Marinette was now thankful for the people on the flight. She got to get away from a creep, ended up in first class and one of the other passengers made sure she didn’t get stuck on the plane. Pretty good time in Gotham so far.
——
Marinette stepped into the apartment building that she was given the address to. She walked into the main lobby area. It was a beautiful building and in one of the nicer parts of Gotham. She looked around and saw the boy who woke her up on the plane. ‘Why would he be here?’ she wondered. He and the other people he was with appeared to be looking for someone, she guessed they were his family. One of his brothers, she assumed, who looked like one of the closer ones to her age spotted her and walked up to her.
“Miss you haven’t happened to see anyone named ‘Marinette Dupain-Cheng’ around have you? We’re supposed to give her the keys to her living quarters.”
“Actually that’s me. My flight got in a few hours ago from Paris.”
“Oh, okay then. I hope you had a good flight. If you don’t mind me asking, how come you applied for the scholarship?” It was clear he was making sure she was really who she said she was, she didn’t blame him at all. It was smart and efficient.
“I’ve always wanted to get into the fashion industry and I had heard great things about Gotham Academy’s fashion program. I already have a start in the industry as I design for my uncle and have won a few contests as well as commissions. But there’s always room for improvement and I felt like I could learn something from this experience. Or at least feel like I did as much as I could to learn something new.”
“And what may I ask would have happened if you hadn’t accepted the scholarship?”
“It would’ve gone straight to the first person on the waiting list.”
For some reason, the man seemed a bit frustrated and confused. Marinette knew she had seen him on the plane and supposed it had something to do with that.
“Miss Dupain-Cheng if you don’t mind me asking, why would you apply for this scholarship if you have the money to pay for the school tuition yourself.”
“I’m not sure I understand, sir. Either it’s the fact that I’m not completely fluent in English or you’re accusing me of depriving someone else of this scholarship and saying I’m wealthy enough to pay for the absolutely outrageous tuition of going to this school.”
“It’s definitely not the language barrier. You clearly are not a person with an average income.”
Marinette was extremely confused, it seemed as though this man was just assuming all of these things out of the blue. He seemed so kind at first, she didn’t know why he was being so hostile towards her.
“I still don’t understand why you’re making such accusations.”
“One, your entire outfit is featured on the MDC website, everyone knows it’s incredibly hard to get a commission from them. Two, this doesn’t really prove much but you were in first class on a pretty expensive flight company. Three, you’ve quite literally been able to enter multiple Gabriel Agreste competitions, either you’re an amazing designer, you know Gabriel or his son personally, or you’re wealthy. The first one seems pretty obviously possible but you’re a freshman in highschool, no one on this earth is that talented. The second one doesn’t seem possible at all unless the third one is true. So fess up.”
“Pour l'amour de la merde.” Marinette whispered under her breath. “One, my initials. Two, I was next to a creepy old guy telling me I should become a stripper. Three, I went to school and am friends with Adrien. I really don’t know why you’re being so hostile towards me, I’m not rich and I just came here to try to learn.” She was exhausted. People didn’t make sense.
“Oh, I uh, I apologize. I didn’t think about that. Here are the uh keys, please don’t hate me.”
“You want a commission don’t you.” She deadpanned.
The man smiled sheepishly, “Yeahhhhhh, I hope that wouldn’t be an issue.”
“I have a waiting list, the most I can do is move you up a few spots. What’s your name?”
“Jason Todd.”
She looked at her list and sighed. “You’re already pretty close to the top and there’s not much I can do for your commission time. The orders above yours are all incredibly important and I can’t move anything in front of them.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Thanks for the keys.” Marinette said, walking towards the elevators.
She stepped inside and pressed the button for the top floor, excited to see what her new apartment looked like. However, when she got there it asked for her to put her key in a scanner thing. She only realized why when the doors opened, it wasn’t an apartment, it was a penthouse.