Decided to upload the beginning of my Ladybug is Spider-man AU. a silly idea which turned way more elaborate than originally intended. Might do a whole series.
This is the end of Au Yea August, it’s been a blast. I’ve written a little over 80.000 words for this event which is SO wild, never written even close to that amount before. It’s been a little stressful but a lot of fun. I’m sad I missed about 10 days but still, awesome stuff.
”30 bucks” Gabriel Agreste stated coldly, reviewing the images on his desk.
“30!? But the ad said 100 for each!” Marinette protested, the photographs she’d taken were good, dynamic and perfectly framed, she couldn’t imagine what was wrong with them.
The serious looking man sighed deeply, lighting a cigarette slowly and looking up at Marinette from his chair.
“Maria was it?”
“Marinette sir”
He waved his hand in a ‘whatever’ motion. “Marinette, if I ask for pictures of Brad Pitt do you know what I want?” he asked coldly, pausing to inhale a breath of smoke, Marinette didn’t answer, figuring he was going to tell her regardless, which he did “I’m not looking for him smiling for a photographer with his wife, if I wanted that I would just take it from his Instagram. No, what I want Marinette…” the way he said her name was condescending and harsh. The blue-haired photographer wished she could look away from his stern, iron gaze, but he held her eyes with his. His cold stare threatening her to even dare look away from him. “- are pictures of him leaving the house of one of his seven mistresses at 4 in the morning; at a party with a nose full of cocaine; having sex with a sandwich.” Marinette almost smiled at the last line, but Agreste’s expression let her know he was dead serious.
He placed a hand on one of the pictures Marinette was proudest of, perfectly posed in mid yo-yo swing, he slid it forward towards her “I do not want pictures because I want to admire her costume choices. I need pictures because I need stories. Ladybug helping an old lady over the streets might make a nice fluff piece in the community papers, but here at the Daily Bugle, we expose the truth, our readers expect us to shine a light at the news and expose the naked, sinful facts.”
Marinette felt her blood freezing as Agreste took another drag of his cigarette without ever breaking eye contact. She felt exposed, fearing that his glaring eyes could somehow see through her clothes at the red, dotted costume hiding just under her wrinkled suit. She’d faced several villains since she first jumped in spandex, but she’d rather face an army of superhuman lizard people than have to even think about what would happen if this man was somehow able to figure out her identity.
“But… what if there are no… sinful facts sir? Maybe she really is just a hero?” she half smiled at the unamused man in front of her.
Gabriel sighed deeply, putting out his cigarette “heroes don’t wear masks. There’s only one reason to hide yourself from the world, because you have something to hide. Even if Ladybug actually believes she’s a hero, she’s still inspiring any unstable person in New York to jump in their mom’s stockings and hit the streets with their father’s gun. If she really wanted to help she would join the police or stay out of it and leave it to the professionals.”
Marinette could feel herself shaking, she wanted to tell him off, to convince him how wrong he was. But if she tried to he might suspect something, it was already risky to start taking pictures of herself, she had to keep her identity secret no matter what. Agreste took out a notebook and started writing in it, breaking eye contact with Marinette for the first time since he looked up from her photos. It gave Marinette a chance to finally breathe, to find her confidence a little bit again.
“Maybe she has a reason!”
Agreste ripped the piece of paper out of his notebook and collected all but three of the pictures, then gave that to Marinette.
“Show this to Alya outside, she’ll pay you.”
Marinette took the things handed to her instinctually, she needed more money than this measly hand-out, but at least it was a start. She boiled with the need to tell the smug bastard off but she decided to swallow her pride and walk away like an adult.
“Oh and one last thing. Don’t meet your heroes. They will always disappoint you.”
Marinette closed the door to the office behind her then sighed heavily, she felt like she’d aged 5 years in the short conversation with the ruthless editor in chief.
She unwrapped a hard candy and popped it in her mouth, the sweet treat filling her mouth with strawberry and mellowing out her body. She’d always had a sweet tooth, but after she became Ladybug sweets had become like an addiction, she could influence her mood with candy, she could even get drunk off of it. She told herself not to overdo it, but it was hard to actually live by.
“First time meeting Gabriel?” a friendly amused voice rang out from next to her, Marinette hadn’t even noticed someone sitting so close to the office. The voice belonged to a brown and red-haired woman, she wore large glasses which framed her face, a dark brown lipstick to match her beautiful dark skin. She wore a women’s business suit and her long hair was partially braided, running back into a bun.
She looked like the type of woman who spends 3 hours getting ready for her shift at 6 am, the kind of woman who had her things in order. Meanwhile, Marinette spend her nights patrolling the city, slept until noon, threw on a t-shirt and pants and maybe remembered to brush her hair before putting it in the pigtails she’d worn since grade 4.
“uh, yea… he’s a little intense” Marinette smiled back at her.
“Don’t let him get you down if he bought your pictures that means he loves them, though he’d never admit it. Here, let me take care of it” she reached a handout and received Agreste’s note, reading it over quickly.
“Sheesh, you’re gonna have to take a lot more photos if you wanna afford that Lamborghini.” She smiled up at Marinette, handing her three ten dollar bills.
Marinette half smiled as she received the money, thanking the woman and turned to walk away dejected, knowing she wouldn’t be able to pay rent this month either.
“Hold on there girl, let me see your pictures” the wonder woman of the business world called her back. Marinette tried putting on a brave face as she faced her. She handed her pictures down to the woman who began inspecting them professionally. Looking at the workplace beauty Marinette couldn’t help but compare their age, she definitely wasn’t older than Marinette, she might even be younger, and she looked like she had her entire life together. Maybe she’d spend less time eating radioactive ladybugs, but it wasn’t like Marinette’s life had been on the fast track before then.
“These are good! You’ve got a real way with framing. I’m Alya by the way” she extended her hand to Marinette who was all too happy to shake it and take the praise, it was nice hearing someone other than her parents complimenting her photography skills.
“How did you get these? Some of our reporters have been chasing that bug for weeks without getting a good shot like this!”
“oh uh… the trick is to let her come to you” Marinette chuckled awkwardly “I keep up with reports on where she currently is and try to guess which way she’ll leave, then sometimes I get lucky” Marinette knew someone would end up asking her about it, she was glad Agreste hadn’t been the one to do so, his intense stare would have made her forget the line she practiced at least twenty times in the mirror.
Alya whistled impressed “you’ve got a real sense for this!”
“according to Agreste a real sense for this would mean finding people f… having sex with… sandwiches” saying it out loud she felt so silly, how in the world could he have said something like that with a straight face, more importantly, how could she possibly have listened to it with a straight face!?
Alya burst out laughing “right that was a fun news week!”
“Wait! That actually happened!?” Marinette asked horrified.
“Oh Gods, no, but because of an editing mistake, two stories lay on top of one another in a way that made it read like that. Thankfully we caught it in time but we all use it sometimes, y’kno, workplace banter and such. Just glad no one was fired.” Alya smiled heartily at Marinette, giving her a sense that the wonder woman in front of her was actually really kind, she really was the whole package.
Alya tapped the pictures contemplatively “you need money right?”
“Of course but I’ll tell you now, butt-stuff is extra,” Marinette said jokingly making Alya laugh.
Alya got up and opened the door to Agreste’s office, Marinette swore she could feel a chill coming from inside the monsters den, she couldn’t believe Alya could just rip the door open without even knocking, wasn’t she afraid he’d eat her!?
“Hey Gabe, I’m taking pigtails to the gala, I need a good photographer k?” Gabe? The man sitting in that office could be called many things, but Gabe could not possibly be one of them.
To Marinette’s surprise, Gabriel walked over to stand in the door, taking in the two women.
She could feel his judging eyes sizing her up even more than before, an unhappy twinge at the corner of his lip. “It’s your call Alya. It might do you some good Marinette, to see what a real hero looks like. Though do wear something more appropriate, you’ll be there to record the news, not make them.”
Marinette wanted desperately to tell him off again, but she was painfully aware that she looked like a hobo that walked in off the streets; she didn’t have a leg to stand on.
“Yes, boss” Alya winked at him, making finger-guns playfully as he disappeared again into his office.
Alya smiled broadly at Marinette who could only chuckle back nervously.
