Alya stared into wonder, as Marinette crossed the room of the Wayne Gala.
'What the fuck is she doing here?'
She had tried inviting Lila, but she had said she was too busy.
'Did she know that Mari would be here?'
Alya froze as she watch Marinette talk to Lois Lane and Clark Kent with such familiarity. Even Jon had gone up and hugged her! Alya watched as a guy came up from behind them and put his arm around her waist.
'What is going on?'
Alya ran up to Jon, after watching Marinette walk to the other side of the room with the mysterious guy.
"Hey, Jon." She spoke, trying to keep an eye out.
"Alba?" He questioned.
She winced, "A-Alya."
"Sorry." Jon apologized, "What-Did you have a question?"
"Um, I did actually." Alya answered, "How do you know Marinette?"
"You know Mari, too?" He shouted, excitedly, "We have so much to talk about!"
"Yeah." She smiled, awkwardly, " I didn't realize you knew her."
"Oh, yeah!" He stated, "I met Mari in university, after my best friend, Damian started dating her. Actually, I don't remember seeing you at the wedding."
'Marinette's married?'
"Busy." She replied, quickly, trying to keep the shock off of her face.
"Oh yeah. Ma and Pa are always busy, too." Jon spoke.
"It makes sense that your parents know your best friend, after all." Alya commented.
"Of course!" He smiled, "The Wayne family own the Daily Planet, after all."
'Huh?'
"Pa and Bruce are old friends and Damian had been my best friend for years." Jon continued, "Mari has changed him so much...in a good way."
Jon leaned in and whispered, "If you ask his brothers, off record, they'll say he was much more violent before her. Like Beauty and the Beast."
'Marinette married into the Wayne family and they own the Daily Planet. Marinette is my boss!'
"You wanna go talk to them?" Jon questioned.
"Another time." Alya smiled, "The Waynes are busy and I don't want to hog her attention."
As she walked away, she swallowed a very hard pill. She had been moments away from going to yell at Marinette, but Marinette held the power to fire her. It wasn't worth losing her dream job, especially when she wasn't even a journalist yet.
Alya held a zoom meeting with some of the others in Paris. Others had drifted apart in University and barely spoke to them now. They had been shocked to learn that Mari had gotten married.
"Who did she marry?" asked Nathaniel.
"Yeah, what's he like?" questioned Kim.
"Damian Wayne." Alya spoke.
"Are you sure?" Alix asked, confused.
"Yes." Alya answered.
"Alya are you 100%, no, 1000% sure?" Max pressed.
"Yeah. I talked to my boss' kid. The whole family knows them." She declared, "I was about to march over to Mari and call her a bitch for everything and then I found out the Waynes own my work. Mari is my boss. I can't say anything to her, without risking my job."
"Alya." Alix spoke up, "Lila has been telling us that her new boyfriend is Damian Wayne. She told us they went out last Friday."
"Last Friday?" She questioned, "That was the night of the gala and he was there with Marinette. He barely left her side."
The call fell silent.
"Did we make a mistake?" Nathaniel asked.
"Are you sure that's what she said?" Alya shot back.
"Yeah!" Kim cried out.
After a few moments of silence, Alya spoke, "I'll.....I'll talk to Jon first."
"Babe." Nino called.
"If....If anyone knows something, he would. " she answered, "He's Damian's best friend and he seemed to really like Mari. The whole family does."
"Alya." Nino spoke.
"Bruce was-He got around with woman at this age. Damian didn't give the impression that he would." Alya continued, "Bruce isn't even married."
"Babe." Nino called out again.
"I need some air." She declared and turned off the call.
Alya decided to pour her research abilities into Damian Wayne.
'Jon wasn't kidding when he said he was violent before.'
Damian was introduced as Bruce Wayne's biological child at the age of eleven. Bruce explained how he had been living with his mother, all that time, and he was as shocked as any of them. Many commented how Damian looked exactly like Bruce at that age. He was a vegetarian and an animal activist.
There were a few articles of Damian being suspended for injuring a student or teach. His only statement was he 'disliked being touched'. He even hit a journalist for attempting to ask him questions. Damian had labeled it 'harassment'. He was called Gotham's own Ice Prince.
It was a shock to Gotham when Marinette and Damian announced they were officially dating. The city called them 'Daminette'. Damian was viewed as 'softer', but very protective of Mari. She had been kidnapped for ransom by Scarecrow. When GCPD found him, he was screaming for Damian to get away from him. He was found beaten and bruised. When the young Wayne was questioned about his actions he boldly claimed 'He wasn't afraid of the rouges. If Marinette was hurt again, he was willing to go to jail for the murder of a rouge.' Marinette was quickly listed as 'off limits' and dubbed 'Gotham's Sunshine Princess'.
There were dozens of articles of them at charity events. There were even pictures of Jagged Stone with Damian and Fang.
'I saved Jagged Stone's pet kitten.'
'Why are you lying? Jagged Stone doesn't have a pet kitten, Lila. He hatched a crocodile egg and named him Fang.'
'Maybe he was holding it for a friend? He just seemed so grateful!'
'Marinette, hey, um, can you sign my cd?'
'Gah! Uh, su-sure , Adrien. Go here. I-I mean here ya go, Buddy.'
Actually, now that she thought about it, more, Mari designed his Eiffel Tower glasses, too. Alya took a deep breath and looked up Marinette, instead.
Marinette was a very sought out designer. Jagged Stone had announced her as his designer when she was eighteen. He mentioned how she had been working with him since she was fourteen, but had been under an NDA contract.
There were even pictures of her with Luka and Juleka.
'When did I last talk to Juleka...or Rose?'
Marinette's designs were on runways at fashion week. She traveled a lot: Milan, London, Shanghai, New York, LA. She had her own label, not affiliated with the Wayne family.
It had taken Alya two weeks to process everything.
"Jon, do you mind if I ask you a question?" She asked him, at work.
"Sure." He answered.
"Do you know a Lila Rossi?" She asked.
Jon made a face, "You mean that liar?"
"Huh?" She spoke.
Jon sighed, "You heard about how she was claiming to be dating Damian, too, right?"
Alya simply nodded.
"Damian already served her with a defamation lawsuit." He replied.
"What?" She answered.
"Yeah." He continued, ignoring her shock, "Adrien heard it and told me, so I told Damian. He doesn't like his name being slandered."
"Oh, that's good." Alya smiled, trying to hide her panic, "I....I heard about it from a friend , back home, and it didn't make sense. I told them Damian was married."
"Hey, you did good." Jon replied, putting his arm around her shoulder, "You told them the truth and you had the facts to back it up."
Alya nodded, quickly.
"Oh and don't worry about a story." He spoke, removing his arm.
"St-story?" She questioned.
Jon pulled out his phone and stated, "Damian said 'That gold digger is as pathetic as the rest. Her name does not deserve to make it to the front page'. Adrien told him how she likes the attention. That she use to try to keep getting with him, too, and it took him coming out, as gay, for her to leave him alone."
Jon suddenly started laughing, recalling something, "A-He said she tried to rub on him so he shoved her off, sat of Jagged Stone's son's lap and made out with him. She hasn't bothered him since."
Alya remained silent. She hadn't even known that Adrien was gay.
"I better not see this in a story." He stated, any trace of laughter was gone, "It would be hearsay."
"No! " she answered, quickly.
He continued, "Good. You're learning. You can't take the word of one person and believe it. Someone else may recall something else, differently. Journalism is about finding the truth. Lies don't belong in a story. That's tabloid gossip and for bloggers, even fanfiction writers."
"With this Lila, she will learn the hard way that lying is wrong. She is going to have to explain to a jury: why she lied and what made her claim to be in a relationship with a married man. If she still claims to be his affair partner, she will have to show evidence: dates, hotel names, locations. All of which, Damian can disprove with his own bank statements. If money was taken out, it would show. There are cameras everywhere, especially owned by Wayne Enterprises. They make sure to aid the GCPD with rogue attacks, so they can see every angle." Jon spoke.
"Same with trips out of the states. Damian can disprove he didn't go to visit her and he didn't pay for her to be flown to Gotham or met up in some fantasy place. Not to mention her own passport. " He concluded, "I know Adrien said she likes to lie about celebrities. Hopefully, this is her only lie, out there, because if there's more, celebrities might come out of the woodworks just to sue her. I'm sure you know about limitations and how people can be convicted like ten years later for something they did."
Alya smiled and nodded.
"You should studying law books in your free time. Especially ,what a journalist can and can't do or say." Jon recommended.
"I will." Alya replied, "Thank you."
Alya was in a sour mood, all day after that conversation/information dump. At lunch, she looked up Lila and tried to cross it with her blog. She couldn't find any evidence of past stories to them. There was no dedicated song. Prince Ali worked in children's hospitals, not the environment. Alya looked her up as a model and only saw the Gabriel brand. Lila had been fired at eighteen.
When Alya looked up Adrien Agreste, she saw he had come out as gay, but was in a long distance relationship with his boyfriend, while he finished his studies. He admitted, he planned to leave Paris and move in with him, later. Alya sent a group text for a meeting after work, labeled ASAP. She then spent her lunch inside of her car, bawling.
Alya got home and quickly pulled up the group zoom chat.
"Alya, why-" began Alix.
"Damian Wayne is suing Lila." Alya announced.
"What?" Asked Kim.
"No way!" Exclaimed Nathaniel.
Alya took a deep breath, "His exact comment was 'The pathetic gold digger doesn't deserve her name on the front page."
"Lila isn't like that!" Proposed Mylene.
"Adrien corroborate his story." The journalist declared.
Ivan gasped, "What?"
"But they dated!" Kim shouted.
Alya shook her head, "Adrien's gay and has a boyfriend."
"What about in Bustier's class?" pressed Alix.
"Yeah!" cried out Mylene, "They were always together!"
"Adrien broke up with Kagami during that time." Nino admitted, "She didn't like how Lila clung to him, in the photoshoots, but she also felt like Adrien had a crush on Marinette."
"What?"
"Adrien liked Mari?"
"Did they date?"
"Is that why she called Lila a liar?"
"As far as I know of...no." the DJ answered, "I asked and he said she was more like a little sister to him and he was protective of her."
"He-" began Max.
"He did try to tell me and Alya that Lila was lying, but we thought he was just taking Mari's side." He continued to confess, "It was suspicious since he had just barely started to get closer to her."
He could tell everyone was shocked.
"Marinette knows Jagged Stone." Alya spoke.
"What?" Ivan declared.
"She's been his designer since Bustier's class. She made his Eiffel Tower glasses." Alya sniffled, "She goes with him to charity events. Luka and Juleka call her their 'unofficial cousin'."
"Alya." Alix whispered.
"I looked up a lot when I was at lunch." She sniffled, "I found out from Jon, Damian's best friend. I-I deleted my blog."
"What?" shouted Nino.
"Why would you do that?" Mylene questioned.
"Lila lied about.....everything! I-I couldn't find anything to prove she wasn't lying." Alya sobbed, "Jon said that evidence could be used, even years later. If another person wanted to sue her, they could just use my blog. I'd be a laughing stock! I could lose my job!"
"Alya." Nino spoke, sympathetically.
"We believed a fucking gold digger and lost Mari! I lost my best friend for some cheap imitation!" She started to scream, "Why didn't I listen? Why did I believe Lila so much more than Mari?"
They could see that Alya was taking this information the hardest. One by one, they left the call and texted Lila.
'We know that Damian Wayne suing you.'
'Alya works at the Daily Planet, under his family.'
'His best friend laughed at her and your audacity for going after a married man.'
'Even Adrien is ready to testify, against you, on how much of a liar and gold digger you are.'
'Marinette is married to Damian Wayne, but I guess you didn't know that.'
'I cant believe we believed you.'
'We were idiots.'
'We were kids!'
Lila looked at her phone, as the comments continued to roll in. She had finally been outted as a liar. She had lost Adrien early on and never recovered from his betrayal.
Lila had run away the moment she saw him kissing Luka. He had messed up her plan, all her hard work! It wasn't until later in the year that she realized she had actually fallen for Adrien; he was no longer a ploy to make her famous. Adrien Agreste was who made her happy and who she could be herself around. He had known she was a liar but he tried to make everything better. Now he was forever out of her reach.
Lila had tried to date, but none of them were as good looking. All of them listened to her lies and believed her. None of them were right. In the end, she kept with the same stupid friends, hoping to hear that Adrien had only been going through a phase. Then he had to mess it up again and tell the world he had a boyfriend and was moving in with him soon.
She had cried for days. She told herself that she needed to look like she still had it together so she had made the decision to look up 'wealthy men my age' and chose Damian Wayne. When she found out she was getting sued, Lila had finally realized Adrien hadn't felt threatened by her antics in the slightest. He had never taken her seriously. Lila was slapped with a lawsuit and a restraining order by the Wayne family. If she persisted with false accusations, they recommend a psychological evaluation to be done.
She never expected Alya to turn on her; she had told everyone she was a liar. Adrien had called her a liar. It felt like a slap in the face when they mentioned Marinette. Lila hadn't thought about her in years. Marinette still won the battle, she thought she had victory over years ago.
Pictures started filling her phone of Damian and Marinette announcing their first child. There was even a picture of Adrien smiling wearing a dorky shirt that read "I'm an Uncle!". The next picture was worse. It was an announcement of Adrien moving to Metropolis to be with his boyfriend, Jon Kent; Marinette's look alike.
She dropped her phone and laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling.
'Is it really that hard to find a rich man when some nobodies did it with ease? Guess I better find a job tomorrow. Maybe I'll find a rich guy that way; they did.'
I lowkey have an au simmering on the back burner and I use this to help me keep track of the main cast during this era of my timeline. It somehow helps despite how chaotic The Pentagon is, and in my brain it’s their default settings if daminette isn’t together.
Also I changed adrinette birthdays to fit my lore btw
Welcome everyone to the Maribat Calendar Events May event dedicated to another facet of the fandom - the Super side!
May is our time of the year to celebrate the Kryptonians and both their romantic and platonic ships within the Maribat fandom.
Do one prompt, do them all - it's up to you and no pressure! Whether it's Marijon, Konette, Clarkette, Karette, biofamily, or even other rare pairs like Adrijon, we hope these prompts can give some inspiration.
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Any orientation or relationship style is welcome and encouraged (familial, platonic, romantic, aged-up NSFW)!
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Tag @maribat-calendar-events in your works so we can share it
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Get creative and have fun! We all look forward to your participation and submissions!
[ I had SO many requests for a part 2 so here you go. This time Gabriel didn’t just get roasted he got destroyed. ]
[ After his interview with Marinette, Gabriel has learned nothing and continues down his path of bad decisions. Well these next interviews are about to ruin his life for good, and this time its on live broadcast. ]
[ Part 1 is HERE! ]
Gabriel sat hunched over his desk, his fingers digging into his rapidly receding hairline as his eyes scanned over news article after news article each one more damning than the last, his dark office and his scowling face illuminated only by the cold blue light of his computer screen. Each word he read was another nail in his coffin, a nail he could have avoided if only he’d better heeded the warning Marinette Dupain-Cheng had so helpfully offered up when last they spoke.
It had been months since the dreaded interview and since then his life had taken a downward spiral into hell, and worse still he didn't even have the means with which to fight back. He’d been stripped of all his power, his reputation was shot, his money quickly dwindling in the face of lawsuits and boycotts, and his Miraculous… Had been swiped right out from under him. Even the return of his wife, something that should have brought him joy, had left him worse off. And now he alone was left to bear the consequences. It was not the punishment he ever expected, not a jail cell or an international terrorist charge but it was a cold cruel hell of his own making.
It all began with Nathalie. The woman he had expected to always stay at his side, obedient and useful and… available for all his needs. After the interview with Marinette something seemed to snap within her and Gabriel fool that he was had been too busy playing local terrorist to see it. He was furious with Miss Dupain-Cheng and had been so distracted trying to destroy her with akumas to notice his only true ally and the last light of his life packing her bags and booking a one way ticket to the Caribbean.
She hadn't even announced her departure. Just forwarded him her termination paperwork and disappeared. He would only notice her absence a day later when a furious investor phoned and chewed him out for missing there meeting, when he tried to seek out Nathalie to punish her for causing the investor to back out he found her room desolate, and Adrien would later tell him that she’d apologized to him personally before she left.
Gabriel of course tried to get Nathalie to return or at least discuss things but all communication attempts had been blocked by Nathalie's very protective older sister, a woman who Gabriel was keenly aware hated him with a passion. So it should have come as no surprise to him when she answered Nathalie’s phone after his 13th call red faced and furious, she proceeded to verbally rip him to shreds something Gabriel had expected what he had not expected was the threat of a lawsuit and harassment charges if he didn't loose Nathalie’s number and leave the woman alone. Immediately after that phone call Gabriel had found himself blocked.
Now that had infuriated Gabriel of course but short of buying a plane ticket to seek Nathalie out in person there was little he could actually do but lay low. Loathe as he was to admit it Nathalie’s sister was a well connected woman and she wasn’t afraid to go toe to toe with his lawyers. Of course just because he could not reach out did not mean all his avenues for keeping an eye on Nathalie had been closed. This was the digital age after all and now that she was enjoying a break Nathalie had been more active on social media than ever.
So while he looked into hiring a new temporary assistant, (because surely Nathalie would come back to him after she was done throwing her little tantrum over his lack of commitment to her) he stalked her Instagram. Truly she looked healthier than ever as if the physical distance between herself and the peacock Miraculous was allowing her body to heal. She had her hair down, she’d gained weight no longer rail thin, and a bright smile adorned her features in all the photos she posted. She looked like she was truly living for the first time in her life. But still Gabriel knew she’d come back to him eventually. She loved him after all! He did his best to ignore the growing frequency with which she was posting pictures of a handsome man at her side.
Getting someone to replace Nathalie even temporarily had not been easy. Despite the high paying salary it seemed no one wanted to become associated with his company as was made more than evident by the lack of applications, even raising the salary did little to attract new applications and if it hadn’t been for the occasional resume popping up in his emails by some woefully incompetent people then Gabriel would have thought that someone might have been hacking his emails and deleting all the applications with people with more experience then just working at a fast food place. After a month of having to act as his own assistant Gabriel was getting desperate. It was then that a strange young man from the United States applied for the job. He was no older than 18 with black hair, dark skin, and forest green eyes that seemed stuck in a permanent glare. He spoke in sharp short proper sentences with a cold tone to his voice but was professional and intelligent, Gabriel could not help but feel that the boy was weirdly familiar to him but somehow he was unable to place his face. More importantly he had some experience working in large companies assisting CEO’s due to an internship he had held from the age of 16 for his fathers company. It wasn’t ideal but with so few other options Gabriel hired the young man.
His new assistant had been a brief relief in the slow spiral toward hell Gabriel found himself on, he had immediately taken care of his schedule and seemed attentive and intelligent. The one flaw with his new assistant was his obvious hatred for Shadowmoth but Gabriel could do little about that. It was also around this time that Gabriel began to feel like he was being watched, like a mouse under a hawk's careful gaze. Somedays Gabriel thought it might be his new assistant watching him but whenever Gabriel glanced at the young man he was busy working, and if it wasn’t him then who? The slow paranoia built up in him making him jumpy and distracted. It also made being Shadowmoth that much more stressful and his akumas were clearly suffering the consequences of his distracted mind as Ladybug and her new team easily swooped in to defeat them in record time.
Between trying to be a better supervillain and trying to restore his once great company Gabriel had completely forgotten all about Marinette Dupain-Cheng and her threats. Her lawyers had indeed visited after her interview with him but they had not filed anything official instead they had only offered a vague warning to keep his employees in line and his false accusations to himself. Gabriel had scoffed at the clear attempt at a power play by the young designer and gone back to business as usual confident that he had the situation well under his control.
So of course Lila Rossi had to go and make a decision without first seeking his permission. Not only that but she had made the biggest decision she could have by choosing to try and ruin Marinette's career.
The liar clearly had grand ambitions, she claimed to be Gabriel’s secret protegé and the girlfriend of Adrien Agreste. She spoke of how she was going to inherit the company with Adrien and help bring the brand to new elevated heights of fashion. She sobbed as she explained that her first big fashion line was a testament to her hard work and dedication and how it had gone missing when she’d brought her sketchbook to school to ask for feedback from her friends! Only for Marinette to then release the designs on her website a week later claiming them as her own! Lila ended the interview with the claim that Gabriel was going to sue on her behalf.
Loathe as he was to admit it, Rossi’s acting during the interview had been some of her better work. She cried when it felt appropriate and not to excess only a few stray tears and a wobbly pitiable squeak to her voice. She had created a semi believable chain of events for her false narrative. And had ended the interview acting strong and calling on Gabriel to back her up with his money. A clever move to protect herself no doubt and it backed Gabriel into a corner. He now had two choices, he could either side with Rossi and hopefully squeeze his perfect akuma out of Dupain-Cheng and perhaps even legally steal the girls designs to use in recovering his company's assets or he could leave Rossi to Dupain-Chengs sharks, claim she was a liar, fire and blacklist her, and lose his big chance.
He sided with Rossi. The risks were many but his lawyers were predators and the opportunity to get his akuma and his revenge were far too tempting to pass up. He did pause to consider the slight risk that Lila had become aware of his being Hawkmoth and had been counting on his desire to akumatize Dupain-Cheng when she made her play but even if she did she had no proof.
He’d learn too little too late that when you gamble you should always place your bets on black.
In the courtroom Lila’s lies were quick to fall apart. This was no longer her classmates or her teachers or the over sensationalized media she was dealing with; these were professionals who looked for any flaw in her statements and they didn’t let her slip by with half answers and vague details. She was made to offer a more complete timeline of events a day and time for when her designs could have been stolen at school as she so claimed. This was clearly Marinette’s strategy as the moment Lila was forced to solidify her lies they were destroyed, camera evidence from the school showed that Lila never even brought in a sketchbook on the day in question and that Marinette and the liar kept far away from each other. When Lila tried to claim she misremembered Marinette’s lawyer was quick to point out they had the whole months worth of school camera footage they could go through. When Lila tried to change her story a 3rd time with rapidly fading credibility she claimed the robbery took place outside of school at an unknown time within the last month and that Marinette now had her designs. However here Marinette and her lawyer were again prepared this time pointing out that Marinette had started the manufacturing of her designs 3 months ago in order to have enough stock ready to sell on her online store, and unlike Lila she had the receipts to prove it; the materials, the witnesses, the patent for her designs.
Witnesses were called in who claimed Lila had it out for Marinette, often targeting her with vicious slander and rumors. Alya Cesaire, Marinette’s friend who had long ago learned of Lila’s deceit and had been working to right the wrong ever sense was more than happy to provide the court with both her testimony and video evidence of Lila’s many slanderous lies all taken with permission as Lila agreed beforehand to the many ‘interviews’. As Lois Lane’s protege the ambitious girl was well educated and her evidence and claims were untouchable by Gabriels very flustered lawyers. The most they could do was claim that Marinette had copied the designs at an earlier point out of revenge, but Marinette even seemed prepared for that lie calling in Chloe Bourgeois herself, the blonde had previously loathed Marinette but after some serious therapy and a harsh wake up call by Sabrina of all people she was now working on redeeming herself as Alya and Marinette’s friend and go to camera girl, she took all of Marinette’s photos for her online store and helped manage her social media, while also capturing footage of akumas while Alya offered commentary and insight and wrote all the actual articles. She’d also been helping the Ladyblog track down Shadowmoth much to Gabriel’s displeasure. The once spoiled blonde was happy to take the stand and confess her previous sins going into detail about her previous horrible acts of bullying and how Marinette had only offered her kindness and help in return helping her to become the person she was now. Then as if to make sure Lila had not a leg left to stand on they brought out the big guns, Bustier and Damocles were brought to the stand forced to confess about Lila’s little ‘disease’ any credibility the liar had died then and there.
Marinette had walked out of the courtroom after securing her victory with her head held high her shimmering black hair bouncing along with her every step and her predator eyes shining with a deadly glint as she and her vicious lawyer a woman decked head to toe in fashionable pink with a cute chihuahua peeking out if her purse gleefully answered every question the reporters shot there way and Marinette announced with a poisonous smile that she was willing to consider an interview about the whole affair in a couple weeks.
As Gabriel stumbled out of the court house into the light of day followed by his bumbling greedy lawyers he knew he needed to do damage control. Before the day was out he claimed he had no idea that Lila Rossi had lied to him about the design or how awful a person she was, he announced he'd be firing her and offering Marinette a compensation package. He also tried to direct the media scavengers to a new juicer story, by throwing the school and its teachers and principle under the bus for letting Lila Rossi and Chloe Bourgeois go on unchecked for so long.
By that evening the media had picked up on Gabriel’s hint and were running the story about Francois Dupont and its serious need for an investigation to understand how the Principle and Teacher could have been so foolish, and criminally neglectful as to allow lies and bullying so severe to go unchecked. Confident that he’d evaded a media hell storm on his door but annoyed that he had bled money for nothing Gabriel went to bed. Unaware that he’d made yet another grave error. A cornered fox is a dangerous thing after all and Lila Rossi was not the least bit pleased to find herself thrown so unceremoniously out into the cold. If she was going down. She planned on taking Gabriel with her.
Lila struck a couple days after things with the court had settled and before Marinette could get her own interview out. Gabriel had been in the middle of trying to design something ANYTHING for the upcoming Summer fashion line when, his assistant casually strolled into his office and dropped the tablet onto his sketchbook with Lila’s tell all interview already loaded and going it was live after all.
Nadia Chamac sat in a plush chair opposite a plush couch when Lila sat next to her mother. Gabriel was shocked to see Nadia accept such an interview as he knew the woman was a close family friend of the Dupain-Chengs. He hoped that the woman's presence meant that Lila was about to have her lies once more exposed, potentially furthering his own ability to claim innocence, but something about the glint in Nadia’s eyes gave him an uneasy feeling, something was clearly about to happen.
The liar had completely changed tactics. In her last interview defaming Marinette she had looked impeccable, she’d cried a few fake tears all while ‘forcing’ herself to look strong all to sell the image of a confident up and coming fashion designer / model who’d been wronged. But now that had blown up in her face so Lila had no choice but to go with an all new tactic she had her mother Greta Rossi at her side for this interview, she looked put together but with a clear sloppiness to her hair and makeup, she held herself as if she was struggling to hold it together and looked ashamed and nervous. The perfect image of a girl who was about to confess something.
And confess she did, with public opinion of her already so low it was practically in the ground Lila had no choice but to admit everything but this was all just a clever tactic to get people back onto her side, as even now that Lila was ‘telling the truth’ there were more than a few embellishments. Lila explained that she’d always been ambitious, having big dreams of being a model and an actress ever since she was a child and that she had always been willing to bend rules and do anything she had to in order to get closer to her big dreams. Her wording was carefully selected making herself out to look like she was confessing to her own horrible flaws while also appealing to people’s own sense of ambitions and childhood dreams.
She confessed that when she’d arrived in Paris and started at her new school she had lied to make friends with her ultra successful intimidating classmates but that really her main goal was to impress Adrien in hopes that he would get her a meeting with his dad and help her out on her dream path to becoming a Model. She tugged at her hair nervously making herself look more pathetic and ashamed of her own actions as she admitted that she would have done ANYTHING to meet Gabriel Agreste. As the tell all interview continued Lila let her voice get shakier she started glancing at her mother as if begging for support, while Nadia urged her on with questions, helping feed Lila’s narrative of an ambitious girl who got too far in over her own head.
Lila took a deep wobbly breath playing up that she seemed nervous and scared as she finally confessed to sneaking into Adrien Agreste’s home to meet with his father. But then to everyone's collective shock she let out a sob and blurted that she wished she never had as he had ruined her life. Gabriel felt his mouth fall open as Lila glanced at her mom who nodded at her to continue supportively and Lila launched into her newest lie, one that was backed up with a lot more truth than Gabriel would have liked.
“He offered me a job as a model in exchange for spying on his son at school.” Lila confessed, voice shaky as she pulled at her sleeve.
“What do you mean he asked you to spy on his son?” The eager tone in the Nadia’s voice and the sparkle in her eyes was enough to give away her excitement to be the one breaking such a headline story.
“H-He didn’t like that Adrien wanted to go to public school with… Certain… People. He told me he wanted me to keep an eye on Adrien to keep him from spending time with various friends he didn’t like. I was sending him messages almost daily and telling him whenever Adrien tried to have a normal life.”
“This is a pretty bold accusation. Do you have any proof?” A clearly rehearsed line that had Gabriel slapping himself. He had been so sure that after the disastrous trial Lila’s mother would have dragged her daughter back to Italy to avoid the shame and publicity that he had completely forgotten that Lila had years worth of correspondence with him and Nathalie that she could use to shield herself.
“I…I have my phone right here… With all the horrible messages. I felt guilty of course but Gabriel was dangling my dream in front of me so I just… Did it.” As Lila sowed the seeds of doubt making herself look like an ambitious girl who’d been manipulated she pulled out her phone and offered it to a crew member.
Within minutes the screen behind Lila and Nadia was lit up with the message thread between herself and Gabriel and the evidence was damning. Correspondence going back months with dates and times as Lila reported on Adrien actions, who he was spending time with, and more there were even videos and then the occasional reply from Gabriel or Nathalie telling her when to show up for modeling shoots and giving her further instructions on keeping Adrien in line or distancing him from his ‘unsavory’ friends like Nino Lahiffe. There was too much to have been faked and the fact it was fresh from her phone and not simple screenshots was just another layer of proof. Gabriel felt cold sweat as he realized he’d need to phone his lawyers. But Lila wasn’t even done yet, now that she had swayed the public back to her side (or somewhat back to her side as she was still a confirmed liar) it was time for her last push, Gabriel had left her to drown and now she would shove him off his ivory tower.
“I also have… A video.” A panic look crossed her face as she pretended to hyperventilate. “I-It's the first one there…I think it would be best if you played it.”
Nadia gave a nod to the man holding Lila’s phone and he clicked on the video, the screen behind Lila lit up as the blurry video started it was obvious that the camera was pointed at the ground before it shifted to show a shot of Gabriel Agreste glaring maliciously at Lila from the clothing they were wearing it was clear the video had been taken sometime during the trial against Marinette likely during one of the many recesses that had been called. As the video continued Gabriel sneered at Lila and spoke venomously.
“I don’t think I need to remind you what will happen to your career if this case blows up in your face Miss Rossi so unless you want to find yourself blacklisted I suggest you come up with another one of your creative ‘explanations’ for how Marinette stole those designs.”
The video stopped there and Gabriel cursed and stood up, his chair rolling back into the wall as he began to pace about his office. His secretary only watched impassively from the side. It had only been 30 seconds long but it was clear that the video changed everything and everyone knew it.
Nadia’s eyes practically sparkled as she leaned forward in her chair. Lila meanwhile was playing her part perfectly bursting into fake sobs as her easily fooled mother rubbed circles on her back.
“Maybe it would be best if we ended the interview here my cucciolina? You do not need to push yourself anymore today.”
“No Mama!” Lila sobbed. “I need t-to make sure h-he can never do t-this again!” Oscar worthy performance. Gabriel seethed. He knew he was screwed.
“I’m sorry to push you when it's clear you're already so distressed. But please I think me and everyone out there would love further explanation about this video. Because it sounds to me… Like Gabriel Agreste knew you were lying.”
It was a perfect set up and the liar was ready to roll with it. Lila nodded frantically, her bangs bobbing along with her jarred and hurried motions. She frantically rubbed at her eyes making herself look all the more pathetic for the media.
“G-Gabriel was ALWAYS watching out for Marinette.” She sobbed again. “She's been slowly stealing his clients for years now. T-Then Gabriel approached me, a month before the t-trial after a photo-shoot. H-He said that he’d tried recruiting Marinette to be a designer for the brand… B-But that she’d turned him down very harshly. H-He was so mad and I t-think he blamed me because we weren't on the best terms at school.”
She began to sob again, her body shaking as she covered her face in a futile effort to protect herself from sight. Nadia meanwhile was struggling to hide her smirk at being the one to break such a delicious story and leaned even farther to the edge of her seat.
“Is that when Gabriel Agreste hired you to ruin Marinette Dupain-Chengs career?” Gabriel slammed his fist into the wall at the question.
“Y-Yes. He wanted me to ruin her reputation t-that way his old clients would go back to h-him. He was obsessed with h-his company's falling sales. H-He threatened my career s-so I knew I had to do it! I-I didn’t even think my lie through and I-I didn’t think it would lead to a c-court case! T-Then when everything s-started to fall apart he… He threatened me again. That's when I g-got the video. I-I was just so tired of him t-threatening to ruin my l-l-lifeeee!”
As Lila Rossi wailed out brokenly and exploded into sobs again her mother rushed to hold her while Nadia watched on with a barely held back a smirk and turned to the camera.
“I think that's all for now Paris.”
As the feed cut to commercial Gabriel slammed his fist repeatedly against the wall of his office, fury filling him. Lila Rossi should have been back in Italy somewhere rotting away. Instead she’d somehow wiggled her way out of everything and left Gabriel holding the bag.
In the days that followed Gabriel was hit with another lawsuit, this one from Greta Rossi, Lila’s fiercely protective mother. With all the evidence Lila had and her well thought out story his lawyers warned him that he was bound to lose, and dragging it to court would likely only give Lila the opportunity to do more damage to his already broken reputation. But Gabriel was a stubborn man and refused to be cowed. One swift court case later and Lila Rossi was walking away with a sizable chunk of money to pay for the damages inflicted on to her reputation and her mental state by Gabriel Agreste.
But the ride wasn’t over quite yet. As not even a day after the court case with Lila had settled did his stern secretary walk into the office yet again with a tablet. This time the stream of the interview was already playing and the unmistakable sound of Marinette’s voice coming from the tablet's speakers caught Gabriel’s ear and made him groan and lean back in his chair, another day of trying to design ruined by the never ending blight of the media storm. ‘At least’ thought Gabriel. ‘It's nothing that's likely to end in another lawsuit.’ He would immediately come to regret those thoughts as a second voice caught his ears.
Shooting up to sit straight Gabriel finally looked at the interview playing on the tablet. Sure enough sitting in a chair next to Marinette was Adrien Agreste. His own son.
“What is the meaning of this! I did not okay Adrien for an interview! Get him on the phone. I want him out of there NOW!”
His secretary only tilted his head to the side and regarded Gabriel with cold unfeeling green eyes that bored into his soul.
“Sir, I believe I informed you last week that Adrien had moved out and changed his number? You told me you were busy with the Lila situation and not to bother you with and quote ‘such unnecessary things.’”
Gabriel grit his teeth feeling like they would break from the pressure. Adrien had moved out? He’d changed his number?! How? All of his money was locked away in a trust untouchable until he was 25 years old! He should not have had the means let alone the- … Nino, Chloe, Alya, Kagami, Luka, Marinette… It was them wasn’t it? Those low class pests who had been encouraging his sons flights of fancy and enabling his reckless behavior.
That Nino boy and Chloe had been the worst offenders by what Lila had told him during her time as a spy. They acted like they were his parents, always sneaking him extra meals, and encouraging him to defy his balanced schedule. He’d make sure his next akuma and amok found their way to them.
Focusing back in on the ongoing Interview Gabriel could only watch powerlessly as the reporter Lois Lane herself guided the flow of conversation. It had started off light enough with Lois asking Marinette about the recent rumors that she was organizing a collaboration between the queen of fashion Audrey Bourgeois and La Mode’s Edna. Marinette denied the allegations with a playful wink and a hint for people to keep a close eye on her website in the coming months.
Then she turned her attention to Adrien thanking him for coming in on such short notice and teasingly asking him if the pair agreeing to do their interviews together meant bad news for his many fangirls. Adrien laughed at the implication and denied it happily informing the public that Marinette was more of a sister to him and that the upcoming designer was already spoken for by a ‘terrifying ice prince’ before the blonde could spill more information on the juicy secret of who Marinette was dating the asian girl slapped his shoulder and shot him a glare and a pout that made everyone laugh. If Gabriel had bothered to look up at this point he would have seen his secretary smirking not that he’d know why.
Then with the formalities and the fun out of the way Lois grew stern as she turned her attention solely onto Adrien and asked him how he was doing amidst the media storm that had blown up since Lila’s interview revealed his own father was spying on him.
Adrien sat up a little and ran a hand through his hair with a frown.
“I honestly wish I could say I was shocked, Lois.” He shrugged and let out a long breath. “But truthfully I always sort of knew my dad was spying on me somehow. I'm only shocked he was doing it through a classmate.”
“What do you mean you ‘knew’? Did your father ever give any indication that he had been watching you?”
“Well he never outright said anything. But he always seemed to know when I’d had an extra meal, or when I’d manage to sneak out to spend time with my friends. He was always threatening to pull me out of school for the smallest things.”
Lois nodded solemnly. “Do you think he was acting out of love for you?”
Gabriel bit his tongue and held his breath staring at the screen in hope. Surely his son knew he loved him? Surely he understood? This whole moving out thing was just a phase! His friends probably pushed him into it!
“I… Maybe… When I was younger, right after mom disappeared I think he was doing it out of love and a fear of losing me as well. But as I got older… It felt less like love and more like I was just a useful tool for him to use.”
“A tool? Now certainly that seems like a harsh way to look at it, don't you think?” Gabriel found himself nodding along desperately. He didn’t see his own son as a tool!
Adrien frowned, seeming to hesitate for a moment before Marinette reached over and gave him an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder that helped him gather himself.
“My father really hasn’t spoken to me in years. Or touched me. No happy birthdays or anything. Whenever we talked it was always about the brand, how I needed to do this or that to help the brand. He’d scold me for gaining weight, or if my grades fluctuated. I could never have a bad day, never take a break. It took my friends pointing it out to me for me to realize he was breaking child labour laws, neglecting me emotionally, and only investing time in building up my public image… I wasn't a son… I was a billboard.”
Gabriel felt his heart break as Adrien spoke, just like before with that dreaded interview with Marinette he was left struggling to come up with a defense for himself but he had none to give. He hadn’t been there for Adrien and it was just a fact.
“How much of the Adrien Agreste the public has gotten to see until now was your fathers carefully created brand?”
“I’d say almost all of it. I wasn’t allowed to post whatever I wanted and all my interviews were rehearsed, I never got to show a lot of myself. And the little bit of myself I did get to show was quickly taken and commercialized for the sake of sales. It felt like my entire personality and life existed to make money.”
“How did you deal with that? With your father neglecting you or mining your life and personal thoughts and feelings for commercial profit?”
Adrien glanced at Marinette, the girl giving him an encouraging smile that seemed to make Adrien sit a little straighter.
“I hid a lot of myself from my dad. Especially when I was just discovering stuff about myself I just wanted to be able to experiment and figure out who I was without him trying to either cover it up or exploit it for the sake of money.”
Lois seemed intrigued. “What kind of things? If you don’t mind telling us that is?”
“Things like well baking for instance, I know it seems silly but I knew if he found out I liked it he’d either make me stop because it didn’t benefit the brand or he’d take it and market it to make more money. My love of video games, my being a superfan of Carapace, my sexual orientation!”
“Your orientation? Surely your father would have had more-”
“I’m gay.” Gabriel felt himself nearly choke on his tongue, his eyes bulging out. “I’m gay and I knew that if dad found out he’d either cover it up and make me get a fake girlfriend for the publicity or he’d exploit it, he’d put it out for all to see just so he could make some extra money selling rainbow shirts with my face on them. I just want to be who I am without every aspect of my being used to sell overpriced, made in a sweatshop garbage.”
Adrien’s outburst seemed to catch Lois off guard for only a second before she shot Adrien a sympathetic motherly smile that set the blonde back at ease.
“I think everyone can understand that and I am frankly horrified to hear how you had to hide such a big part of yourself for so long.”
“Well… I honestly haven’t known about it too long. I was in denial for a pretty long time, maybe because my dad never left me enough time in the day to ever really think about it. If it weren't for my friends pointing some uhhh stuff out I honestly might still be unaware of it myself.”
“Oh?” Lois' tone changed to light and teasing, clearly trying to lighten the mood of the interview and give Adrien a break from the heavy topic of his fathers emotional neglect and abuse. “It sounds like there's a story there? Care to share?”
Adrien flushed red as Marinette let out a cackle. “I will GLADLY share that story Lois.”
“Marinette no please have mercy.”
“Considering the hints you dropped about my boyfriend… No.” The asian girl smirked. “Honestly we, being me and our other friends, had our suspicions about Adrien for a while, we’d caught him staring at guys, and he’d make these comments that had us wondering but we didn’t want to push him because maybe he was Bi? Or maybe he just has eyes and can appreciate nice looking people? It wasn’t our place to push him or out him so we just made sure that he felt comfortable around us, the fact that most of our friend group including myself is Bisexual made it a pretty accepting group so we believed that when Adrien felt ready and comfortable he’d tell us… But then-”
“Marinette please.”
“THEN… We caught him drooling over a picture of Superboy and he said.” Marinette paused to snort. “ ‘I wish I was into guys so I could marry someone like him’ “ at that Marinette started laughing, unable to hold back her amusement. “He had NO idea he could be gay, it was like the thought never even crossed his mind.”
“I was SHELTERED.”
“I know but come on, it's like you didn’t even hear yourself. After that we had no choice but to sit him down and talk to him about it. We soon realized that the only girl he’d ever had a crush on was Ladybug and that was likely because she has dark hair and blue eyes which we figured out pretty quickly were his weakness.”
Lois seemed just as amused as Marinette, a smile gracing her beautiful features. “You know Adrien, I'm known for being on pretty good terms with the Super family. If you wanted, I'm sure I could pass your number on to Superboy for you.”
Adrien blushed bright red and groaned covering his face. “Can we please go back to talking about my shitty dad? Anything even talking about his embarrassingly ugly hair would be better than this right now.”
As Gabriel recovered from his shock at the revelation about his son, the interview continued on with a somewhat lighter tone as Adrien fielded more questions about the neglect, abuse and emotional pain Gabriel had put him through, how he had felt unloved and alone, how his father had only gotten more distant as the years progressed but how he had great friends by his side helping him see the abuse for what it was and helping him unlearn certain unhealthy or just plain gross and awful behaviors his father had instilled in him with his awful parenting. By the time Lois directed her attention to Marinette Gabriel was left feeling raw and cold only able to sit in silence as he stared at the screen.
Adrien looked happier and healthier than he had in years, and he was in the middle of an interview telling the world how his dad had nothing to do with it, how his father had in fact been the one holding him back and ruining his life. Gabriel was left with no choice but to face the facts… He was a bad father, and he wasn’t sure how much of his relationship with his son was left for him to salvage.
“So Marinette, the whole world has been dying to know the truth ever since Lila’s interview. Did Gabriel Agreste really try to recruit you to join his company before the lawsuit?”
“He did. Adrien begged me to give his dad one last chance, so I attended the interview, but it did not end with us on the best of terms.”
“Oh? What happened? By what Lila told us it sounded like it became a pretty heated and ugly conversation.”
Marinette frowned at Lois' words, clearly she didn’t believe Lila’s newest lie about Gabriel threatening the Italian but she kept her doubts to herself content to let the liar aid in the destruction of Gabriel.
“It did, you see I was pretty upfront about not wanting to work for a company that had so many negative allegations against them and well… Monsieur Agreste did not take kindly to me having STANDARDS. So things naturally went downhill pretty fast. And when I tried to leave he ‘confronted’ me about how I was stealing Lila’s designs.”
“So it's true then that Gabriel was at the very least complicit in the lie about the stolen designs then.”
“That appears to be the case, yes. Honestly I’m just so disappointed when I was younger he was my icon and it was my dream to work for him but the more I saw of his behavior not only to his son but to his employees and his fellow fashion designers the more disillusioned I became.”
“What do you think of him now? Honestly, after everything that's happened.”
Marinette’s face twisted into an uncharacteristic sneer. “Pathetic. Honestly. I mean he’s supposed to be one of the fashion world greats and yet he looks like some kind of whipped cream candy cane mocha frappuccino. And to add insult to the injury that is his hideous taste in clothes and awful bland designs he is the guy who’s been abusing someone I basically consider family for years. Honestly I just hope all his employees escape now while they still have the chance because I can’t see his business lasting much longer.”
Gabriel knew that the hashtag ‘candy cane mocha frappe’ was already trending without having to check social media. He felt shame wash over him, he really needed to ditch the red pants.
For a week after the devastating duel interview of Adrien and Marinette Gabriel confined himself to his office working day in and out to complete some kind of designs for the upcoming season. He was bleeding money and he had no way to stop it short of a miracle and he wasn’t about to get one so he scribbled away hoping to try and recapture the magic that had once made his brand so iconic. When he was done there was barely enough time to mass produce the product and send it out. Now all he could do was wait.
After a day the reviews for the new line came in, and they were brutal. People complained about the cheap quality clothes breaking or already being broken, the designs were dragged for being basic uninspired and the lack of color options and sizes. Needless to say the new line was not enough to stop the loss of money. And with his eerily watchful secretary always popping up with new mysterious and confusing issues surrounding the new line Gabriel had no choice but to stay confined to his office dealing with problem after problem that kept arising all while he itched to run down into his basement and make an akuma. It had almost been 2 months since his last one and he was sure he could hear the Miraculous Team mocking his absence.
One day while he was dealing with yet another mysterious error about yet another missing shipment he got an alert on his phone. After the media hell storm that had been never ending he had set an alert to inform him whenever his name or the brand started trending in any way. Clicking on the notification his tablet brought up a news article. Reading the headline Gabriel felt his jaw drop and the pen he’d been holding fall out of his hand and roll onto the floor.
His eyes scanned over the headline again and again his brain trying to comprehend the words in front of him and make sure he wasn’t somehow misunderstanding. He blinked a few times and pinched himself but they remained unchanged.
‘Emilie Agreste found in London by sister.’
Standing up Gabriel rushed down to his basement, sure enough the coffin lay there open and empty. Scrambling to try and understand how this could have happened Gabriel rushed back to his office to review the security footage only to find it missing. He tried to call on Nooroo and Duusuu but got no response, he tried transforming again nothing, he eyed his miraculi noting their dull, cheap look, fakes? But how? What was going on?
A part of Gabriel told him it didn’t matter, that Nooroo and Duusuu could be in space for all he cared because Emilie was back! She was alive and healthy if the news article was anything to believe and only experiencing some minor memory loss. He quickly checked social media noting how Adrien had announced that he was already in London tending to his mother and helping her get situated with everything.
For a second Gabriel felt offended that Felix and his mother had not phoned to inform him but had clearly called Adrien but he quickly brushed it off, Emilie was alive and nothing could ruin this for him. Rushing to grab his jacket he was out the door, in the car and on his phone booking a one way flight to London. He would bring his wife AND Adrien home and finally they could work on healing and being a family again!
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE DOESN'T WANT TO SEE ME?! I'M HER HUSBAND?! I CAME ALL THIS WAY JUST TO SEE HER AND ADRIEN!”
Gabriel seethed as he stood in front of Felix who was blocking the door to his family home and keeping Gabriel away from his family.
“Tragic. Really.” Gabriel snarled at the thin blonde only earning a raised eyebrow and a dull expression in return. “While she might still be tied to you legally she is not your property and has every right to enjoy some peace without your… eyesore” He glanced at Gabriel's red pants. “Giving her a harder time recovering. Now, I do suggest you leave Uncle, the media is sure to still be lurking about and I bet they’re dying to ask you some questions.”
As Gabriel glanced around nervously Felix quickly retreated inside and slammed the door leaving Gabriel to retreat. For the next few days Gabriel returned only to be denied over and over again. By the 5th day he was ready to barge past Felix for a chance to see Emilie for himself and make sure she was real.
As he approached the front door he saw it open to reveal Amelie with a bored look on her face as she moved aside to hold the door open for him.
“It's your lucky day Gabriel. She finally feels ready to see you.” Her eyes narrowed a fraction as he entered her home. “You have 5 minutes, and then you leave my house… She’s in the parlor.”
Gabriel ignored his sister in laws warning and rushed to the parlor. Sitting on one of the couches looking pale and thin but otherwise alive and conscious was his sweet darling Emilie. He felt his lips twitch and a grin overtake his face for the first time in years.
“Emilie my dear its really you I’ve been so worried I-”
“Sit. Gabriel. We need to talk.”
Freezing at his wife's tone Gabriel nervously tried to approach her to sit by her side but the cold glare she sent had his legs freezing and all he could do was sit in the chair closest to him across from Emilie.
“I know what you were doing while I was gone Gabriel.”
Gabriel felt panic grip him and he struggled to find the words to defend himself. He knew that Emilie would have been furious with his actions as Hawkmoth but she was never supposed to know, the wish was meant to fix everything he had never expected her to wake up suddenly with no explanation leaving him to ACTUALLY face the consequences of his actions. He started stuttering out an explanation but she cut him off.
“Adrien and Felix told me EVERYTHING. Please don't embarrass us both by trying to lie.”
Gabriel blinked. Adrien? And Felix? So she did not know about his time as a super villain? In that case this would be even easier to smooth over. Felix was a known brat after all and Adrien and him just needed to talk and everything would be fine!
“My love I can assure you that they were both over embellishing, it wasn't that bad-”
“WASN'T THAT BAD?! Do you HEAR yourself? You neglected our sons emotional and physical well being for years! You turned him into a living poster board for your company! You spied on him, tried to ruin his friendships and hobbies! You overworked him! Underfed him! You didn’t even let him go to the funeral of his uncle so that he could be with Felix in his time of need! And that's not even touching on your supposed sleeping with Nathalie, or your business relationship with that poor Lila girl! Or trying to ruin Adrien’s friend's career!”
“A-Adrien is right to be angry with me my dear but please we just need to talk about it! I love him, you know that!"
“Do I?” Gabriel felt his breath catch. “You never hugged him… You didn’t wish him a happy birthday… You barely spoke to him! You… You didn’t love him, you CONTROLLED him… Just like you controlled me.”
“Emilie, darling please I-”
“I want a divorce.” Gabriel recoiled like he’d been struck, his mind racing and his eyes wide.
“N-No… No you don’t mean that! This is just another one our little fights!”
“No. Gabriel. I want a divorce. I want you out of my and my son's life. You’ve done enough damage as it is.”
Gabriel barely remembered what happened next. As his mind struggled to accept Emilie’s words Felix gladly escorted him out and slammed the door on him. From there he somehow made it to the airport and back home to Paris.
As he stumbled into the mansion cold empty silence greeted him. He’d find out later that his secretary had quit when he found the man's letter of resignation on his desk. As he collapsed into his office chair and booted up his laptop he began scrolling his news and media feeds reading everything with a detached lack of interest.
Nathalie was now engaged, during her vacation in the Caribbean with her sister she’d met a tall dark handsome local who owned his own restaurant that was known for its delicious experimental dishes. Nathalie had fallen in love with the food and gone back daily until she’d run into the owner and they had fallen madly in love with each other. He wasn’t rich like Gabriel but instead he was kind and caring and completely devoted to her and Nathalie had been wooed by his sweet demeanor and his delicious food. Gabriel had been forgotten a side anecdote in the story of her life.
Lila Rossi had been poached to partake in some reality survival tv show where she’d quickly earned a reputation with the fans as a charismatic villain but some had argued she was more of an anti-hero after she manipulated and exposed another contestant for sexually harassing another contestant. She had yet to be voted off and was a fan favorite so many felt she was like was a shoe in for the finale.
Marinette’s business was booming and she had announced that she had somehow negotiated a collaboration between the Style Queen and La Mode’s Edna and herself for a fashion show extravaganza this was likely because both woman had agreed to co-teach Marinette as neither one wanted to miss out on the chance to be involved in the fashion industries rising star. Her blunt comments on Gabriel had earned her a reputation as a bold BAMF and many followed her online just to read her tweets sassing various people and bad outfits. Her mystery boyfriend was still a mystery and the internet had gone wild with conspiracies trying to figure out who it could be.
Adrien had happily retired from the fashion world content to live a normal life he was still followed by many people who were happy to see Adrien post about his many failed and occasionally successful experimental baking experiments. He posted frequently about his friends and had recently been posting new photos with a boy named Jon Kent. Many had joked that after Lois Lane failed to get Adrien a date with superboy she’d gone for the next best thing and gotten him a date with her own son.
Emilie Agreste or should I say Emilie Graham de Vanily was happy to announce her divorce to Gabriel Agreste eager to spend the rest of her natural life catching up with her son, sister and nephew. She still had no idea how she’d ended up in London or where she’d been for the last many years or why she had so many mysterious holes in her memory. Many online speculated that with all the lawsuits, the failed launch of his last line and now the divorce Gabriel was on the verge of bankruptcy.
Ladybug, Chat Noir and the rest of their Miraculous Team were happy to announce that with the help of Batman and his team they had finally defeated Hawkmoth, claiming that the final fight had been a thankfully quiet affair but that the true identity of Hawkmoth had not been discovered. Gabriel knew that was a lie when Ladybug smirked knowingly at the camera and said that regardless of his identity Hawkmoth was now suffering severely under several curses and karma that would guarantee he suffered for the crimes he had committed against Paris.
Closing his laptop screen Gabriel leaned back in his chair letting the weight of everything that had occurred sink in. Nothing could go back to how it was, he had ruined his own life, lost everyone close to him to his own actions, and he had lost the Miraculous, his only potential avenue for getting his hands on the life changing wish. And to top it all off… He was still wearing red pants.
[ Comments and messages always welcome! And I hope you liked it! ]
A/N: Many thanks to the wonderful @sarcasticbambi for betaing this!
Inspired by Say My Name on Ao3 (Drarry), for Ella
Summary:
Marinette can only be roused from her daydreams by one word: Damian.
Damian will only respond to one word: Marinette.
They're so cute, right?
Well, there's one problem…
They secretly think the other dislikes them, being rivals and all.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Mari, could you pass me those cookies?”
No answer.
Alya huffed. “Marinette, are you even listening?”
Mari hummed vaguely in acknowledgement.
“...so anyways, Adrien was covered in purple goo and then he turned into a cat, can you believe it? I had to chase him all the way to the moon to hold him still so Merlin could dunk him in a vat of dye and reverse it,” Alya rattled off gibberish, testing her friend.
“Oh, really?”
Marinette’s chin stayed propped on her hand as she gazed across the lunch room.
Alya followed her gaze, already knowing what she’d see.
Sure enough, Damian Wayne was scowling at his ball-of-sunshine best friend, who was laughing loudly at some joke– likely at Damian’s expense.
“What do you even see in him, girl?”
“Hm?”
“Damian!”
Marinette looked at Alya, suddenly focused. “What about him?”
Groaning, Alya rolled her eyes. “You are so obsessed with him.”
“Am not!”
“Oh, really? Then why were you staring at him all lunch?”
“I was trying to figure out what is going on in his spiky little head that makes him think he can lord it over me that he got two more points on our assignments,” Marinette sniffed.
“Sure you were.”
~~~
“Mari, you have to get up now,” Tikki squeaked, glancing between the clock and her still slumbering wielder.
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, what is the meaning of this?!” she cried.
A soft snore escaped Marinette’s mouth.
“Is that Damian Wayne jogging?”
At Tikki’s last-ditch effort, Marinette sprung up and faceplanted into the windowsill, barely catching herself. “Where?”
Tikki snickered to herself. “Guess he’s a fast runner.”
Marinette glared suspiciously at her kwami.
~~~
“Marinette, look out!”
With a grunt, Mari stepped back, rubbing her head from the impact of walking into the locker door.
Adrien sighed and hurried up to his friend. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah-”
“Do you need glasses, Dupain-Cheng?” Damian Wayne asked snootily. “Maybe they’d help you see better in class and you could actually be a challenger for top spot–which I’d still win, of course.”
Marinette glared up at him. “You’re unabashedly rude. Even the most half-decent person would ask if someone was okay instead of belittling them.”
Damian’s lip curled and he took a step back before performing an elegant bow. “My most humble apologies, Lady. Are you grievously injured? Perhaps I should escort you to seek medical aid?”
Marinette’s cheeks burned. “If you’re just going to mock me, you can take your faux courtesy and stick it up-”
“Okay, Mari, maybe we should head to class before we’re late,” Adrien gently laid his hands on her shoulders and steered her towards the classroom.
Damian frowned at them and headed off in the opposite direction with a sniff.
~~~
“Damian.” Jon poked his friend’s shoulder.
Damian batted his hand away half-heartedly, staring ahead at…Jon squinted. From Damian’s point of view all he could see was the board, the teacher, and…ah. Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
“Damian, you have to leave early for that interview, right?”
“Yes.”
“Sad to leave Mari behind?”
Damian turned to him. “Since when do you call her ‘Mari’?”
Jon stifled a smile. “Since I befriended her best friend and became her friend by association. Alya is really quite helpful– I even got Mari’s number!”
Damian’s glare could have rivalled Jon’s laservision.
“Mr. Wayne!”
Damian frowned at Jon not getting called out but turned back to the teacher. “I have to leave early. I believe my father has already cleared it with the school.”
“Yes, yes, go on.” The teacher waved him away wearily and he grabbed his bag and headed down the aisle of desks.
His steps stuttered at the front, by Marinette’s desk, then resumed his usual long stride.
Heh. Stage 1 completed. Jon subtly air-fistbumped Alya.
~~~
“Dames, you’re staring again.”
“Stop calling me Dames,” Damian mumbled, not taking his eyes off the cheerful table across the cafeteria.
Marinette was in the centre, telling a story that made everyone around her laugh.
Jon heard a quiet growl escape his friend when he saw Adrien laugh so hard he collapsed into Mari.
“Bro, they’re just friends.”
Damian glared at him, then turned back to his Marinette-watching.
“Tt. I don’t care if they’re friends or not.”
“Suuure,” Jon rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone to text his new other bestie.
Jon: We should consider playing more on the jealousy angle
Alya: ?
Jon: Damian is fuming at Mari and A’s closeness
Alya added Adrien Agreste to the chat
Adrien: Hiiiii
Adrien: What’s this for
Alya: We’re setting up Mari and Damian
Adrien: :0
Alya changed the chat name to Daminette Matchmakers
Jon changed the chat name to DM
Alya: ?
Jon: Damian is a snoop, he might see the name sometime
Adrien: Good point, so is Mari
Adrien: Love the shipname btw
Alya: Thanks😌
“Who are you texting?” Damian asked, still not taking his eyes off Mari.
“My new friend, of course.”
Jon: @ Adrien we’re thinking the jealousy angle is a good start. Damian does NOT like you touching Mari lol
Adrien: Oh I can do this no problem😈
Jon watched in fascination as Adrien shuffled closer to Mari, holding out his phone to either show her a meme or take a selfie, he couldn’t tell which.
Their cheeks squished together, both smiling brightly, and Jon observed Damian’s knuckles tightening around the seat, smirking to himself.
Jon: D’s getting pretty mad.
Jon: I bet two days max before he makes a move
Alya: I bet thirty-six hours
Jon: Bet?
Alya: Bet. Tell me one of your mom’s news ‘secrets’
Jon: Help me with another project like this sometime
Alya: Deal.
Jon: Jondrien
Alya: Adrijon
Alya: Let me make the shipnames loverboi
Jon deleted a message
Alya deleted a message
Adrien: Secrets?🥺
Alya: You’ll find out soon enough Sunshine
~~~
The next day, Damian and Jon were back in their usual spot, watching Marinette and her friend group as usual, who were seated at their usual table.
Unusually, Adrien was nowhere to be seen.
Jon’s super hearing picked up Adrien’s footsteps before he entered the caf, and he immediately looked at his friend to get a front-row seat to his reaction.
Damian’s features loosened in shock as Adrien walked in carrying a large bouquet of flowers, then tightened in anger as he made a beeline for Marinette.
She looked up from her conversation in surprise, a smile lighting up her face when Adrien handed them to her.
With a snarl, Damian stormed over to the table.
“Dupain-Cheng.”
She turned to him, raising an eyebrow at his appearance.
“You can’t go out with Agreste.”
“Why not?” she tilted her chin challengingly.
“Because Kent wants to go out with him. Go out with me instead.”
Jon rushed over as fast as he dared. “What are you doing?” he hissed at Damian.
Marinette sniffed. “You’re lucky I like Jon. Fine, I’ll date you instead of Adrien.” She turned to Adrien. “Good luck!”
Adrien gaped at her in betrayal, turning to Alya in bewilderment.
She smirked. “Mari ships Adrijon, what can I say?”
Marinette flounces down onto her couch, dropping her head into her hands. She’d just had an entire three hour long conversation (on her yoyo) with Carapace and Chat Noir. They were planning on moving in on Hawkmoth on New Years Eve. Which was three days away. She was excited, but she was also terrified. What if their plan failed? What if they lost? How much longer could Paris handle this? How much longer could her team handle this? Nino was already putting his life with Alya on hold. Sure, they were married, but they weren’t even able to live together. Nino was too determined to see the battle through. Which was nice, but still. Then there was the continued problem with Chat Noir and Young Justice. He insisted that he had tried to get ahold of them, but that none of their representatives would get back in touch with him. It was beyond frustrating, and she honestly didn’t know who to believe. She knew that, for a while, Chat Noir had been distant. He’d stopped showing up to battles at all at one point almost two years ago. And he was distracted when he was there. But then he got better, and he was back to the partner she was used to. The one she had missed. She didn’t understand the disconnect now between him and Young Justice. Why was there so much…drama there? And then there was the strain she felt it putting on her relationship with Damian. Not that he knew the strain was there. She’d lied to him yesterday. Well, it was a lie by omission but still. She hated herself for it, and for not being able to be completely open with him. And with her other friends. She knew Jon’s identity and assumed Nino knew hers, but none of them could talk about it. It hurt to constantly try to be multiple people. It was exhausting. Her phone rings suddenly and she sighs, before glancing at it. The tension in her shoulders immediately melts away and she smiles at the caller ID.
“Hey, mon amour.” She says.
“Hello, habibti. I hope I didn’t wake you up.” He says. She frowns and glances at her clock, wincing at the time. She definitely hadn’t slept last night and it was, currently, only seven in the morning. Definitely much earlier than she would willingly be up for on Christmas break.
“Would you believe me if I said I woke up an hour ago?” She asks hopefully. He sighs.
“You didn’t sleep, did you?” He asks. She sighs.
“No, I didn’t. And before you lecture me, I know it’s not healthy. I’m trying to do better, I just- I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed lately.” She admits.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” He asks.
“No, I don’t think so.” Marinette says sadly.
“Would you like to get lunch today? We could go out somewhere nice, take a break from everything else.” Damian suggests.
“That sounds nice.” She says.
“I’ll pick you up at noon?” He suggests.
“Sounds great. I love you.” Marinette says, loving how freeing it felt to utter those three little words.
“And I you.” He says before hanging up. Marinette grins, excitement thrumming in her veins. She had plenty of time to take a quick nap and work on some commissions before lunch.
“Marinette, we really need to talk.” Tikki says, zipping into the room, the panic clear on their face. Marinette blinks in surprise, not used to seeing the kwami in such a state.
“Of course. Are you okay?” She asks, turning so that she can focus on her friend. Tikki zips around, obviously their version of pacing as they shake their head.
“No, I mean, this isn’t about me, Marinette. It’s about you and your team. And Hawkmoth.” They say frowning.
“Oh.” Marinette says, panic creeping up on her. “Am I- is this about our plan?” She asks. Tikki nods.
“Yes. And I tried to tell you sooner, but I couldn’t because-” They’re cut off by the shrill ringing of the akuma alarm. Marinette winces.
“It’s okay, Paris can wait a few minutes.” She says, trying to help Tikki calm down. They start to cry, startling Marinette.
“You can’t go. He-” The burner phone, the one that only Carapace and Chat Noir had the number for, begins ringing shrilly. Marinette frowns apologetically.
“I’m so sorry Tikki. Just, just give me a minute, okay?” She asks. Answering the phone, she immediately shifts into Ladybug mode. “Hello?”
“LB please hurry. I’m not- Dude! Not cool! I haven’t seen Chat Noir yet and I don’t know- listen dude, swords are not- SHELTER!” He yells, before the line goes dead. Marinette’s eyes widen.
“We have to go.” She says. Tikki, who was still crying, nods slowly. Marinette feels awful, but she calls her transformation before throwing Kaalki’s glasses on and calling a portal. Dropping into Paris, her eyes widen at the giant green shelter currently protecting a group of people, including Carapace, as a dozen people with swords continuously stab at the green shield. This wasn’t going to be easy.
---
She was right. And she hated it. Several hours had gone by, no sign of Chat Noir, and she and Carapace had already been forced to recharge several times. She was starting to worry that he’d either been taken down by a minion as a civilian, or was a minion himself. She and Carapace had both tried to call him, several times. Ladybug had even used the burner phone, but no luck.
They also weren’t having much luck finding the actual akumatized person. Just a lot of minions. With swords. She glances at the clock and swears under her breath.
“Carapace? I gotta make a quick call.” She says. He gives her a thumbs up, but focuses on the minion he was busy fighting. Hopping up onto a low roof, she pulls out her yoyo and dials Damian’s number.
“Hello?” He says, and she can practically hear the frown in his voice.
“Hey Damian.” She says, keeping an eye on her surroundings.
“Marinette? Did your number change?” He asks and she has to suppress the urge to groan. Unless she took the time to press the right buttons on her yoyo, it came up as unlisted. Which was usually helpful, but not so much in this moment.
“I can explain that later. I might be a bit late for lunch.” She says, feeling awful.
“Is everything okay?” He asks. Marinette starts to respond, but yelps instead as another minion shows up out of nowhere, slashing at her with a sword. “Marinette!”
“Just a sec.” She says, muting the call as she throws her yoyo forward, wraps it around the minion and pulls them close. “I was in the middle of a conversation.” She chastises before yanking their sword away and using the butt of it to knock the minion out. Huffing, she unmutes the call. “Sorry about that, just uh, klutz moment?”
“Marinette, what is going on? Do you need assistance?” Damian asks, worry clear in his voice. Marinette frowns.
“Uh no?” She says unsurely. Honestly, it might be time to move up their plans. See if they could get Hawkmoth today.
“Are you-” He starts, but she screams in pain as a sword is inserted into her shoulder. Yanking away, she snaps her yoyo shut and immediately starts fighting the minion. It was time to end this.
---
Damian Wayne liked to think of himself as a level headed individual. Yes, he could get angry. He was his Father’s son, after all. However, he always believed that he could stay calm in tricky situations. That belief, though, crumbled the instant he heard Marinette’s pain filled scream.
“Marinette!” He yells, panic shooting through him. But the call disconnects. Making his mind, Damian grabs his keys and rushes out of the manor, towards her apartment. He definitely broke several traffic laws as he sped through Gotham, but he didn’t care. He had to make sure she was okay. Parking right in front of her building, he takes the stairs two at a time, not wanting to wait for the ancient elevator. Rushing to a stop in front of her door, he knocks twice. Not hearing any movement on the other side, he uses his spare key to unlock the door and enter the apartment. He stays silent as he clears the apartment, scanning for any sign of a struggle. Any sign as to why his girlfriend was hurt. And how. But there was nothing. Pushing down his panic, he tries to call her back on the number she’d just used, but the call would not go through. It was almost as if the number did not exist. Frowning, he tries her personal number.
“Pick up, pick up.” He mutters into the phone.
“Hi!” She says chirpily, and he sighs with relief. “This is Marinette. I can’t come to the phone-” He growls and hangs up, pacing the living room for a minute before calling her back.
“Hi! This is Marinette. I can’t come to the phone-” He hangs up again. He runs through his head for any contacts they have in common who she may have contacted. Kent? Maybe….making up his mind, he exits the apartment and locks the door again. Taking the stairs two at a time again, he decides to call Agreste on his way to the Batcave. If he hadn’t heard from her either, Damian would just have to try and find her as Robin. He had more resources that way.
“Hello?” Agreste answers on the second ring, sounding as though he had recently been exercising.
“Agreste, this is Damian Wayne.” Damian says, switching his phone over to the bluetooth in his car.
“Yeah, obviously. I have caller ID. What is it?” Agreste asks with a huff. Damian frowns.
“I was calling to see if you had heard from Marinette.” He says. Agreste grunts, sounding almost as if he was in the middle of a fight.
“No, I haven’t. Is that all?” He asks, clearly frustrated.
“What is happening?” Damian asks.
“Akuma attack. Gotta go.” Agreste huffs out, the line disconnecting.
“Call Jon Kent.” Damian says.
“Calling, Jon Kent.” The car says, the sound of the phone ringing echoing throughout the car.
“Damian! What’s up?” Kent asks happily.
“Have you heard from Marinette?” Damian asks.
“No? What’s wrong, you sound worried?” Kent asks, clearly concerned. Damian lets out a slow breath, trying to calm himself. He was no use to Marinette if he was panicked.
“I was on the phone with Marinette, she screamed, and the call disconnected.” He says simply.
“I’ll try listening for her. We’ll figure out what it is, Damian. Don’t worry.” Kent reassures him.
“If I do not hear from her soon, I will be going out as Robin to look for her.” Damian says.
“I’ll make sure my suit is ready.” Kent says simply before hanging up. Damian feels a small wave of relief wash over him. They would find her. She would be okay. She had to be okay. Using one of the exterior entrances for the Batcave, Damian freezes as he hears Marinette’s voice ring throughout the cave.
“Marinette?” He whispers, unbelieving. He rushes forward, but stays hidden in the shadows when he sees it’s Ladybug on the screen talking to his Father. Not Marinette. He frowns. He was so sure…
“Our plan’s been moved up. Chat Noir is MIA and we can’t find the akumatized individual. It’s almost like they don’t exist. Which isn’t the point. I need someone to help scan security cameras, try and help us get a location on Hawkmoth. Maybe even Chat Noir? I don’t know, I’m just worried that he’s hurt and that Carapace and I aren’t around to help him.” Ladybug rambles. Damian narrows his eyes as he looks at her. Her face had scratches, and the fabric on one of her shoulders was darker than the other. Most likely drenched in blood.
“Of course, Ladybug. Do you need additional backup?” His Father asks. Her eyes widen slightly and she ducks down as a sword comes into view.
“Listen asshole, you already made me cancel my damn date. Stop trying to kill me!” She screeches, somehow gaining control of the sword. She flips it and the hilt of the sword disappears momentarily, a thud occurring out of sight before she twirls the sword, relaxing her shoulders slightly. Damian gasps lowly as he looks at her, and it’s almost as if a layer of magic surrounding her melts away. He tunes out the rest of the conversation because he realizes: Marinette is Ladybug. Skirting around the edges of the cave, he makes it to the locker room. Grabbing one of his suits, he pulls out his phone and calls Kent again.
“I need a pickup outside my house in two minutes. We are going to Paris.”
---
“Carapace, fall back. We need to recharge.” Ladybug says tiredly. He nods, taking a few steps back to stand in line with her. Wrapping her arm around his waist, she manages to swing them away from the horde of minions that were quickly approaching. Swinging into her go-to alcove, she lets her shoulders slump.
“Okay, seriously, where is the akuma? Or Hawkmoth? It’s like he’s trying to play with us. Trying to mess with us.” Carapace huffs out. She shrugs before turning, both standing back to back as they let their transformations drop.
“I have no clue. And Batman is having trouble trying to find anything. I hate how this is all happening right before we were supposed to execute our plan. Seriously, how is our luck this bad? The Ladybug Miraculous is supposed to be good luck.” She huffs out.
“Oops?” A familiar voice says. Marinette’s eyes widen as Chat Noir lands in front of them, his eyes wide.
“Chat Noir!” Marinette shrieks, hoping he hadn’t been around long enough to know.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry you guys. I didn’t- Well, the plan wasn’t-” He starts to ramble, a terrified look on his face.
“It’s okay dude.” Nino says gently, his eyes closed. Marinette pinches the bridge of her nose, wanting nothing more than for this to all be a bad dream. Everything that could go wrong, was going wrong.
“No, you don’t understand.” Chat Noir says, shaking his head. Marinette frowns.
“What do you mean?” She asks.
“Plagg, claws in.” He says. She yelps and squeezes her eyes shut.
“No, Marinette, Nino, please, look at me.” He says, effectively outing her to Nino (though, she was pretty sure he already knew). “Guys please.” He says again. Marinette opens her eyes, blinking in surprise.
“Adrien?” She says.
“No way.” Nino says, not opening his eyes.
“Open your eyes, ya goof.” Marinette says with a laugh. Nino huffs, but opens his eyes, jaw dropping.
“Your Father-” She starts, and Adrien nods, a hopeful look on his face.
“Yeah, I know, but see, now that we know each other’s identities, it’ll be so much easier.” He says. She frowns.
“Easier for what? I thought our team worked fine.” She says. He sighs.
“Yeah, sure, but now that you know everything, you’ll give me the earrings, right?” He asks. She flinches, taking a step back as he takes a step forward.
“What?” She says under her breath.
“Your earrings? I really didn’t want to have to fight you guys, and now that we know we’re all friends under the masks too, you’ll give them to me, right?” He pleads. Tears spring to her eyes as she shakes her head.
“No, no, Adrien what are you-”
“I’ve been helping my Father.” He says quietly. “I just- I want my mom back.”
“Run.” Nino whispers before calling his transformation and lunging at Adrien. Marinette quickly calls on Tikki before swinging away, moving as quickly as she can as she hears her friends fight behind her. The panic shoots through her veins as she realizes how difficult this just became. Adrien was Chat Noir. Chat Noir was on Hawkmoth’s side. Hawkmoth, technically, already had the ring. She swings into one of the towers of Notre-Dame, everything starting to piece together in her mind. When he’d stopped showing up for battles. When he stopped being as helpful. The fact that he wasn’t working with the Young Justice at all. She chokes back a sob, immediately throwing a punch as someone lands in front of her.
“Ladybug, stop!” Damian yells. Her eyes widen at the sight of her boyfriend in his Robin gear standing next to Jon.
“What are you doing here?” She asks, wiping furiously at her eyes.
“I was worried when you screamed and the call cut off.” He says.
“Well I didn’t mean to worry you, but I don’t exactly have a better reaction to being stabbed- oh shit.” Her eyes widen as she realizes he knew. “How long-”
“Earlier. I was in the cave while Father was on the call with you.” He says simply. She tries hard to ignore the awful churning in her stomach. Another thud makes her tense, then relax immediately at the sight of Carapace.
“Somehow, we’re still linked, we’ve gotta keep moving cause he can definitely still track us. We can’t afford to detransform until we’ve taken their Miraculous.” Carapace says firmly, wiping blood off his face. Ladybug’s eyes widen.
“What the hell did he-”
“LB, dudette, love your concern, not right now.” He says firmly, glancing at the other heroes before pursing his lips. “You tell him?” He asks, nodding towards Jon. Ladybug winces, shaking her head.
“No, I-”
“Mari, Nino, please come back!” Chat Noir yells, and she can tell he’s moving towards them fast.
“What the hell-” Damian starts, but she cuts him off.
“Not right now. I’ll explain later.” She says, running and leaping out of the tower.
“Please! Just- look, we don’t want to hurt you! Especially now that I know you’re my friends. Please.” Chat pleads, calling after them. An idea pops into her head.
“Then get your Father to show up. Meet us himself and promise us that he won’t hurt us or our families.” Ladybug calls back to him. She pauses on a roof, breathing heavily as she watches him also pause. He tilts his head to the side, and she’s not sure if he’s thinking, or using a comm to communicate with his dad. The thought makes her stomach churn. How often had Hawkmoth listened in on their meetings? Their plans? Their hangouts where they all claimed to love and care for each other. Where they promised each other that everything would be okay. How long had he pretended to be on their side? How long had he been a traitor?
“Fine. He says…the top of Françoise Dupont in fifteen minutes.” He says, glancing longingly at Jon before rushing away. Ladybug waits until she can’t see him, then collapses to her knees, letting out a long scream.
“I gotchu LB, don’t worry.” Carapace says gently, wrapping his arms around her as she gives herself just a minute to cry. A minute to let everything sink in. Because besides everything that had happened, he was still her friend. She cared about him, and the fact that he had turned on them hurt like hell.
“What is going on?” Damian asks, the worry clear in his voice. Sucking in a deep breath, she wipes her eyes, letting Carapace help her to her feet shakily.
“Chat Noir has been working for Hawkmoth.” She says softly. Carapace huffs, and she glances at him.
“That’s putting it lightly, LB. He betrayed us. This wasn’t some spur of the moment shit. He planned this. He’s been working with him for a while. He was the mole. The reason Hawkmoth always seemed one step ahead of us. He tried to get LB to give up her earrings earlier. Once he realized that we’re friends under the mask too. God, how could I be so stupid?” Carapace yells, whirling around and punching a chimney. He swears under his breath and shakes out his hand, the bruises on his knuckles already forming.
“Who is it?” Jon asks, sounding panicked. Marinette winces, turning away. “Who is it?” He asks again, softer this time.
“I think you know.” She says. His face crumbles, before a hard mask covers it and he whirls around, flying towards the school. Shit. She zips after him, hearing Robin and Carapace scramble to follow. She lands a little bit away, frowning at the scene in front of her.
“Did you ever even love me?” Jon asks. Chat-no- Adrien whirls around, eyes wide.
“Jon-”
“No! Did you ever care about me? About any of us? Because if you did- if you did, Adrien, how the hell can you stand there and work alongside someone who has emotionally tortured people for years?” Jon screams, tears streaming down his face. Adrien frowns, glancing around as if looking for some sort of backup.
“But, my mom-” He says. Jon shakes his head.
“You could have asked for help! The second you found out she was here, in a coma, you could have come to the League. Or Ladybug or someone and asked for help. So many different heroes could have helped you, and would have been willing! Especially since you were a hero. God, Adrien, you were a hero! You stood there and watched LB get totally wrecked at several different attacks, all because you didn't have the fucking guts to stand up and say that something was wrong. Or at least the fucking decency to stay home if you weren't going to help her.” Jon growls out. Marinette winces, not used to seeing this side of Jon. Adrien sighs, taking a step towards Jon. He visibly flinches as Jon takes a step away from him.
“Jon, please, I’m begging you. I just-”
“No. We're done, Agreste. I am so beyond hurt, right now. I- I loved you, Adrien. I loved you and you hurt me. You hurt the people I care about. People that I thought you cared about-” Jon freezes, visibly tensing. “How long have you been working with him?” Marinette inhales sharply. That was the one thing she hadn’t asked. The one thing she wasn’t sure if- she didn’t know what she’d do if it turned out their entire partnership had been a lie.
“I-” Adrien hesitates, and her heart drops. “I’m not sure you want me to tell you.”
“How long?” Jon yells, the pain clear on his face.
“Almost two years.” He says, and Marinette can’t help the tears that start streaming once again.
“Did you ever even love me? Are you even sorry?” Jon asks, shaking his head.
“Yes! Jon, I’m so- I never meant- I love you. Please.” Adrien pleads, rushing forward and trying to grab Jon’s hands. Jon shakes his head, flying away, probably to wherever Robin was hiding. Marinette glances at Carapace, who had landed next to her. She reaches down and squeezes his hand in reassurance. Chat Noir was Ladybug’s best friend. Adrien was Nino’s. Taking in a deep breath, she moves with him to stand in front of Adrien, who had tears streaming down his face.
“Where is Hawkmoth?” She asks, wanting nothing more than to get this over with. He hiccups, swiping at his tears.
“I uh, I don’t, he should be coming.” Adrien mutters out, his face contorted with pain. “Mari? Remember when you said I didn’t have to be perfect to deserve love?” He asks. She bites her lip harshly, ignoring the sting from the breaking of the delicate skin.
“That didn’t mean you could go and work with a villain, Adrien! God, do you know I would have done anything to help you bring your mother back? I would have walked through hell for you, Adrien. I would have even gone to that stupid misogynstic temple full of people who hated me, if it meant I could learn the right magic to help. Why didn’t you let us help you?” She says, shaking her head.
“Because he did not need your false promises, Miss Dupain-Cheng.” Hawkmoth says, landing next to Adrien, Mayura landing behind him.
“Well what a dysfunctional family.” Carapace says, narrowing his eyes. Hawkmoth- Gabriel, purses his lips.
“Lahiffe.” He says with a nod.
“Now you can give us the earrings and we can fix mom and everything will be okay. Because you won’t hurt them, right, Father?” Adrien says, glancing at his dad hopefully. Gabriel quirks an eyebrow, holding his hand out.
“The ring, Adrien.” He says. Adrien frowns.
“You won’t hurt them, right Father?” He asks. Gabriel’s eyes narrow.
“Do you want your mother back or would you rather protect your little friends?” He asks. Adrien winces, glancing up at them. And for a moment, for a split second, Marinette thinks he’s on their side. That it was all an elaborate prank. But then he frowns at them.
“I’m sorry.” He says, taking his ring off and ignoring Plagg’s cries as he passes it to his dad. “I just want my mom back.” Before Gabriel can slide the ring on, a figure flashes forward and grabs it, rushing back to stand by her.
“I believe this belongs to you, LB.” Kid Flash says, his eyes sad. She nods firmly, turning and glaring at the group in front of her.
“I suggest you hand over the Miraculous now.” She says. Gabriel roars with fury, a cloud of purple and black magic forming over him. Gritting her teeth, she turns to Kid Flash and raises an eyebrow. He nods and darts forward, barely visible before he’s standing next to her once again. He passes the two brooches to her, and her stomach churns. All of this. Five years of torture. Of dying, and hurting. And never being able to actually feel. It never would have happened without these little pieces of jewelry. And the man in front of her. Five years of pain. Over.
....... it took me way too long to realize that this was an ad and not an AdriJon fan comic. Legit, the very first thing I thought was that it was a comic about Jon trying to hit on Adrien, and that is was really in character....
