#A happier ending would be off tone for the piece but Marinette accepts the notes placed in impossible places with wary affection.

[lnc2]

Corydoras (2/2)

Summary: Marinette has a secret admirer.

Part One

A/N: Commission for @pokemonmasterkimba

AO3

It started with a love letter.

I think I finally owe you one.

One moment Adrien was wallowing in his Ladybug-crushed emotions, playing  she loves me not-she loves me not with rose petals in his mind and the next he was staring down the barrel of a lavender scented gun, an emotional shot delivered in pretty, pink ink.

I like your crooked smiles, your ugly laughs, and your morning hair.  You’re at your most beautiful when you think no one’s watching.

A sucker punch, straight to the bone, to the sinew, to the heart, which is what he assumed Marinette was aiming for.  Words so sweet he could taste them, so warm he could feel them, so sincere they hurt. Nearly two pages of unsolicited, blood warming affection and all Adrien could do was blush and stammer and stare.

There was confusion,

his then hers,

And horror,

hers then his.

“It wasn’t you was it?” She said, face pale, body swaying like it might give way.

Adrien barely had time to reach for her before she was gone, a pistol of pastel and tears shooting off through the double doors.  He stood there paralyzed and shaking with her letter in hand when Alya burst into the library, Nino hot on her heels.

“What the hell just happened?” She snapped, fists clenched in a way that made him wonder if she was going to hit him.  “We just saw Marinette crying!”

“I– I don’t know,” He said and her eyes went to the letter in his hands.  “She just gave me this and…”

Alya made a move to take the letter but he fell back, head shaking.  “No, it’s private.”

“Anything that makes my girl cry like  that  is my business,” She said.  “What the hell Agreste this isn’t how this was supposed to go.”

Adrien frowned.  “How  what  was supposed to go?”

“Your letters!”

“What  letters?”

“The ones you’ve been sending her for the past month!” Alya waved her arms, nearly catching Nino in the face.  “Don’t play stupid I’ve read them. It  had  to be you.”

“Alya, I  swear  I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He looked beseechingly towards Nino.

“Babe, maybe he’s–”

“What’s going on?”

The three of them turned to see Lila coming out from around the other side of the stacks.  It wasn’t hard to read the room, what with Alya vibrating with fury and Nino’s restraining hand on her shoulder.  Her eyes flickered to Adrien and the letter in his hand and she frowned.

“Oh dear.” She said. “Is that from Marinette?  Did she finally confess?”

Adrien stared down at the pink letter and Marinette’s delicate script and even more delicate words.   Confess?    It was a confession.  But the heartbreak in her eyes when he stared stupidly back hinted at more.

I think I finally owe you one.

His heart sank.

“I need to find Marinette,” He said.

Alya shook her head.  “No you don’t. Not until we get to the bottom of this.”

“Bottom of what?” He snapped. “Marinette is somewhere out there upset and heartbroken and mortified and–” She could be akumatized. “I have to go.”

Adrien started past his friends when Lila blocked his path.

“Are you sure that’s such a good idea, Adrien?”

“Please move.”

“I don’t know if going after Marinette would be the smart thing to do.   Especially if she’s so upset. You never know what she might do.”

“What are you saying?” Alya said.

“I don’t know. You’ve said it yourself Marinette can be a little… single-minded when it comes to Adrien.”

“What?” He said.

Lila blinked, bit her lip.  “Oh dear. I probably shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No,” Alya said, irritated. “You shouldn’t have.”

“I’m sorry, I know she’s your friend, but I’m worried.” She turned to Adrien, took his hand in hers.  “Marinette has been… fixated on you for a while. It’s a little concerning sometimes but no one has said anything about it because it’s been harmless up until now.”

Alya grit her teeth. “ Lila.”

Adrien pulled his hand away, looking between the two girls warily. “I don’t think I should be hearing this.”

“I’m just saying.  I’ve dealt with stalkers before, Adrien.  You should be more careful.”

Anger, hot and quick, struck him.

He scowled. “Marinette is my  friend.”

“Please don’t be upset,” She said, eyes misting.  “I’m just trying to look out for you. Anyone could make up those letters as an excuse to get closer to you.  I would hate to see you get hurt because of Marinette’s unhealthy obsession.”

“Hang on,” Alya said, voice low.  “How did you know about the letters, Lila?”

The italian girl blinked, once, twice. A churling sort of nausea started in Adrien’s stomach as the pieces fell into place.  Disgust, twisted and deep, roared up within him.

“What did you do?” He hissed.

Now it was Nino’s turn to restrain him as he whirled around on their stuttering classmate.

“Go find Marinette,” Nino said, face grim.  Beside him Alya’s eyes burned. “We’ve got this.”

Heart low, sick to his knees, Adrien nodded.

First he would find Marinette.   Then he would deal with Lila. ____________________________

It wasn’t Marinette he found first.

Tearing through the classrooms, locker rooms, and hallways yielded no success. A frantic dash to the bakery and painfully out-of-breath false smiling  no really, Madame Cheng I’m fine but by any chance is Marinette around?  left him equally empty-handed.

It was Plagg’s idea to take to the rooftops.

“I wouldn’t take my chances with this one, kid,” He said.  “You better find her before a butterfly does.”

He found Ladybug instead.

Relief turned to horror as he realized that no, his lady wouldn’t be able to help him with this one.  Not when he realized that she wasn’t so much resting her head in her arms as crying into them.

“Ladybug?”

Chat knew it was bad when she didn’t even try to hide from him.  Made no attempt at wiping her eyes or running away or faking a smile or– well, he’d seen all of her tricks by now.

Ladybug was hurting.

And she didn’t care that he knew it.

Chat knelt down beside her and gently wrapped his arm around her side.  She hesitated only a moment before collapsing into him, her teary face hidden in his neck.

“Chat,” She croaked, breaking his heart.  “Chat, it wasn’t real. It wasn’t real.”

“Shh, Bug.  It’s okay. Shh.”

“He– he… just  stood  there,” She said, breath coming short as she heaved into his shoulder.  “L-like he had no idea what I was t-talking about. L-like I was… and holding m-my letter, oh god.”

Ladybug broke off into incoherent sobs then and all other conversation was lost.   Chat’s chest was tight as he maneuvered her onto his lap so he could hold her properly.  Thoughts of Marinette intruded only to be pushed away as his partner fell apart in his arms, completely and utterly destroyed.

___________________________ As it happened, there was no akuma that night or any of the following days.

Adrien would have camped outside the bakery if he thought it would do him any good but a text from Nino warned him otherwise.

Leave her be, man.  She needs space.

He could understand that.  It didn’t mean he had to  like  it.

Marinette missed school on Friday and weekend photoshoots left him no opportunity to seek her out.  The only silver lining in her absence was the opportunity to confront Lila. In that, at least, he could be sure of success.

Alya, was, after all, behind him.

“I spent the whole night doing research on that snake,” Alya scowled, pulling out her tablet and shoving it in his face.  “Her mother wasn’t even  stationed  in Achu.  She was domestic this entire time.  I wasn’t able to get an answer from Jagged Stone’s team and Marinette wasn’t really…” She paused. “Well she wasn’t really up for calling him anyways.  But from what I understand he’s never even had a cat.”

Adrien would have liked to say Lila’s ultimate comeuppance was equal to the damage she caused.  But it, like high school, played out with quiet disappointment on the schoolyard steps.

“You lied to us?” Rose said, tears in her eyes.

Lila’s eyes watered right back.  Ever the crocodile.

“I just wanted everyone to like me,” She sniffed. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

Alya glowered and Nino held her back.  Adrien rolled his eyes.

Adrien didn’t dare bring up the letters to Marinette.  They had already decided the less who knew about them the better.

And so it went.

At least this time, Marinette wouldn’t be alone.

________________________

He found her Monday morning, sitting in one of the stairwells inside the school.  She didn’t look up when he sat down beside her, but she didn’t run away either. Her hair was carefully combed back behind a headband and she was wearing a pretty, pale blue dress he’d never seen before.

“You look nice,” Adrien said, for want of anything else.

Marinette picked at the hem of her dress.

“It was Alya’s idea.  Armor and all that.”

“Oh.”

He tapped his foot against the stairtop, wondering where he should begin. Marinette didn’t seem any more inclined to this conversation than he was. But she was his friend, a good friend.  And he would be a good friend in return.

“Lila is  awful.” He blurted, breaking into the silence.

Marinette laughed, the sound hollow and wet and small. “Yeah.  Yeah, she is.”

“The worst.” He insisted, placing a hand on her arm.  She flinched and he pulled back.

Stupid.

“I didn’t finish reading it,” Adrien said, reaching into his pocket, pulling out a pink envelope.   “I didn’t know if you’d want me to.”

Her hands shook as she took the letter. “Thanks.”

Adrien’s heart sank as she crumpled it in her fist.  He wanted to reach out, snatch it back, smooth it out, hold her close, and tell her everything was going to be okay.

But he couldn’t.  Instead he said,

“I’m so, so sorry, Marinette.”

She sniffed, wiping the tears from her eyes even as they fell.

“Please… can we just pretend this never happened?”

How could he? He wanted to ask.  But that was his selfish, first instinct.

The real question as she finally sneaked a look his way, cheeks pink, eyes raw, was how could he  not?

Adrien steeled himself and gave his best Chat Noir grin.

“Pretend what never happened?”

Here, at least, he succeeded.

Marinette smiled.

______________________________

Ladybug called him to the Eiffel Tower that evening.  She was sitting knees to chest as she stared out at the city lights, blinking in and out in the distance.

“I’m sorry,” She said when he took his place beside her.  “About the other day.”

Chat bumped her shoulder.  “It’s all in the job description, LB.  Part-time superhero, full-time Kleenex.”

Ladybug smiled, small. “Yeah, well.  Thank you anyway.”

“Anytime and always.”

She leaned into his side and he wrapped his arm around her in return.

“He didn’t read it,” She said, quietly.  “My letter, I mean.”

“Oh?”

“Or at least he said he didn’t,” She unfolded her arms from around her legs and revealed a crumpled, pink envelope in her fist.  A very familiar envelope.

Oh.

Chat’s heart thumped wildly in his chest as every inconceivable piece fell into place.  Every half baked excuse and missed opportunity. Every quiet and unquiet moment flowing between them.

Marinette.

“Maybe he should have,” She sighed. “I can’t seem to throw it out anyways.”

“Do you want to?” He asked, resisting the urge to snatch his letter from her hands and bury the words in his heart.

“I should.  It was all a lie, wasn’t it?” She said, voice cracking at the end as her shoulders caved.  A single tear slipped down her cheek. “He never really loved me anyways.”

“I wouldn’t know anything about that.” Chat said, shaky hand reaching out to cover her own and pull her closer. “Who couldn’t love you?”

Ladybug hiccoughed, laughed. More tears escaped.

“Yeah, right,”  She said. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you, Chaton?”

He smiled, slow, kissed her hair, soft, and denied nothing.

“It will be okay, my lady,” Chat murmured, hugging her tightly.

He would make it okay.

And he would start with a post-it note.

#corydoras #miraculous ladybug #lnc2 writes #pokemonmasterkimba #adrinette #adrienette #ladynoir #commission #Don’t worry babes. Chat signs them. #A happier ending would be off tone for the piece but Marinette accepts the notes placed in impossible places with wary affection. #Most of them include puns and are clearly from her partner. The eventual reveal is soft and not so surprising in the end. #Adrien keeps his promise of never mentioning the incident ever again. Anyways Marinette is strong. #She's not broke just broken. And she'll be just fine.