Chapter Text
Marinette collapsed on her bed. It had been a long day. She’d woken up with an awful headache, that had persisted throughout the day. Then there had been classes, during which Chloe managed to aggravate her a total number of twelve times, including tripping her over once.
Just before school ended however, her day got worse. An akuma had attacked nearby, and she’d had to ditch class to go to the ‘bathroom’. All the way through the fight Chat Noir had been flirting his head off, and she’d just not been in the mood.
When she finally cleansed the akuma and changed back to Marinette, Alya had spotted her and decided to interrogate her about not returning to class. She’d had to lie, saying she was suddenly taken ill and had to go to the nurse’s office.
When she eventually got home her parents had worried about being back so late, and she’d had to tell them the half-truth that she had been caught up in the akuma attack.
To top it off, she had an assignment she had to finish by the next day, that she’d barely started. In short, Marinette was not having a good day.
As soon as she’d closed the trap-door to her room, Tikki zoomed out of her bag and started trying to cheer her up.
Marinette sighed. She loved Tikki, but sometimes the little kwami just didn’t seem to get how stressful her life could be.
After a few minutes of her not answering, Tikki realised something was up.
“Marinette?” she asked, concern clear in her high pitched little voice. “Are you alright?”
Marinette sighed again and sat up, so she was facing her friend.
“I don’t know, Tikki,” she replied, “It’s just, sometimes I feel so frustrated, with all this pressure on me, and I because have to keep lying to everyone. Sometimes I’m just about ready to explode, with all these secrets, this massive load on my shoulders. The worst part is that I can never talk to anyone about what I’m going through.”
Tikki looked at her anxiously. “You can talk to me.”
Marinette sighed for a third time. “I guess so.” Was all she had to say in reply, before she got started on her homework.
For the next hour or so, while Marinette worked on assignment, Tikki didn’t say a single word. This bothered her a bit, because Tikki usually acted like a cheerleader when it came to this sort of thing, but she was too tired to say anything.
Eventually she packed up and went down to dinner. When she got back, Tikki was waiting for her.
“Marinette, I’ve been thinking,” she began, and the girl in question regarded her curiously. Was this why she had been so quiet while Marinette studied? Intrigued, she waited for the Kwami to continue.
“I know I’ve always made it really clear that you shouldn’t share your identity with anyone, but, if keeping this secret is bothering you this much, I think I can make an exception.”
Marinette was shocked, to say the least. Since day one Tikki had warned her that no one must find out, but now she was changing her mind? Had she somehow entered Wonderland without realising it?
Seeing her apparent loss of words, Tikki continued.
“I’m not saying to shout to the whole world that you’re Ladybug, but find a confident. One person, who you know you can trust, someone who you can get everything off your chest to, someone who won’t tell a single living soul, because, no matter what Marinette, this secret must not spread any further than that.”
Marinette felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders already.
“Thank you.” She breathed.
Tikki smiled.
“You’re welcome, Marinette. I’ll leave it up to you, who you want to tell, I trust your judgement. Just, think carefully and choose wisely.”
Marinette was elated.
“One person?” she laughed, “I think I can make it work."