#marinette dupain-cheng deserves better
First Chapter of a new story for @miner249er
Summary: Lila had made good on her promise to make sure Marinette lost her friends. She didn’t do it by antagonizing Marinette, she didn’t convince everyone Marinette was a bully, no, Lila Rossi made everyone forget about Marinette Dupain-Cheng. They replaced her with a liar, with Fool’s Gold, and even though it hurt she knew she had to move on. They replaced her, so it only seemed fitting she replace them so she could heal and be happy.
They truly didn’t know what they lost till it was gone.
Did You Hear?
To run a boulangerie/patisserie was no walk in the park, especially not to run one in Paris, France, more so if it was a popular one that was known for its treats by many. That was Tom & Sabine’s Boulangerie and Patisserie to a T, it was loved by many, it had a good chunk of regulars, and it tended to stay busy no matter the time of day. That was why they were looking to hire more help. Sure, Marinette helped when she could, but that was just the problem, “when she could” started to turn into a less and less frequent thing. She was busy with her friends and she was busy with her own work as a designer. Of course they were proud of her, but they had always hoped she would take over for them, even with her clumsiness. So it hurt to admit they couldn’t rely on her like they wanted to, thus the post on their official social media pages went up, as well as their signs. Word spread that Tom and Sabine were looking to hire, and they were beyond pleased.
They had many applicants apply, and they had already done their fair share of interviews, and yet, no one stood out to the couple. There had been teens looking for a part-time job or just work experience in general, they even had some regulars apply, and yet, none of them felt like the right fit for the shop. Then a woman came in, she was a single mother looking for a job that would help support her child and her better than all the multiple part-time gigs she worked already. She wanted stability and was willing to work for it. They were instantly taken in with her drive to work and her obvious compassion for her child. She was Italian so she hit it off with Tom right away as he told stories of his mother and she shared her own. She did admit she had no baking experience other than baking in her own home but she told them she was more than willing to learn and would put in the effort to do so.
Maybe it was foolish, maybe it was risky, but they both really liked her and felt like she would be the perfect fit for their shop, so they hired her on the spot. Giada Rossi was the newest employee at Tom & Sabine’s Boulangerie and Patisserie, and all were thrilled. Tom and Sabine had another set of hands to help lighten their ever increasing load, and Giada had a well paying job that would let her quit all her small paying, time consuming, part-time jobs. It was a happy moment that was shared with some eclairs, handshakes, and a goodbye from the couple with a promise to work hard from Giada in return. It made the whole day feel lighter for Tom and Sabine, soon they would have more help, they wouldn’t have to wonder whether or not Marinette could help them out or not.
It was a wonderful start to their day, so why did it have to take such a turn? No, it wasn’t an akuma, there wasn’t an emergency that disturbed their day, it was a comment. A simple thing that was said without much thought, but maybe that’s what made it worse? It was said with such casualty, like it was something they should have known, or should have been funny, and instead it was like an anchor dropped in their stomachs.
“Can you believe this?” Nadja had asked with a laugh as she held up her phone, though she failed to notice she hadn’t exactly shown Sabine what she had been talking about. Tom was out front with her as it was after the lunch rush and it had been helping out with the influx of customers they always got during lunch.
“I don’t think I’m caught up on the latest gossip, Nadj.” Sabine joked as she boxed up her friend’s order, she made sure nothing was smudged or broken as she placed them in the box before closing the lid and finishing off the order with a ribbon.
“Oh it’s so silly! Some magazine reporter saw Marinette having lunch with Jagged Stone and his assistant and they thought Marinette was their daughter.” Nadja said with a laugh as she turned her phone to face Sabine and show her friend what she was talking about. “Now everyone is coming forward with pictures of the trio to show off the “Rolling-Stone Family,” it’s so funny.”
Nadja said it was silly, it was funny, but when Sabine saw the picture of her daughter sitting at a table at what seemed to be that new café she had been talking about for months and had wanted her and her father to visit with her, with Jagged and Penny, she felt a lump in her throat. They did look like a family, she couldn’t even deny it. With the way you could see Penny mid-shake of her head with a fond smile on her face as Jagged ruffled Marinette’s hair and how the little Chinese-French teen was trying to slap away his hand as she laughed. It would have made for a warm wholesome picture if it didn’t make Sabine’s heart squeeze nor made her feel like she had been hit with a tidal wave of guilt. That should have been her and Tom sitting with their daughter, laughing with her, having a meal with her. When…when was the last time they had a meal like that together?
“Sabine?”
“Hm? Oh. Oh! Sorry Nadja. That is funny. Here’s your order, I hope you have a good rest of your day, say ‘Hi’ to Manon for me and Tom.” Sabine said with the best smile she could muster as she tried to rush her friend out so she could be alone with her thoughts for a moment.
“Oh, uh, merci Sabine. I’ll talk to you later.” Nadja gave Sabine an awkward smile as she grabbed her order and made her way to the door with a short wave, one Sabine barely returned.
Once she saw the door close with a final click, she immediately grabbed her phone from its spot under the counter. Usually she was never on her phone unless it was an emergency or her break, but this was something she had to see, had to look at with her own eyes. She wouldn’t tell Tom, not yet, not until they closed. There was no need to cause him worry and distract him while he was in the kitchen. No, no, that was a disaster waiting to happen, so she would just tell him once their day was done. But what exactly would she tell him? Marinette had lunch with Jagged and Penny? No. If she said that, Tom would just be happy for their daughter and the fact she was achieving more success in her dream towards being a designer. He wouldn’t understand, so she would have to see just how far this “silly” rumor went so she could warn him beforehand. Her husband had always been the more emotional of the two, he let things get to him very easily, an example being his akumatization. In that way, he and Marinette were very similar, sometimes she just didn’t know what was going on with her daughter.
Maybe that’s why that picture, that article, and all the other pictures she was now looking at made her heart wrench. When was the last time her daughter smiled at her and Tom the way she was smiling at Penny and Jagged in the photos, or laughed and joked with them, there was one picture that nearly made her cry then and there if she hadn’t heard the bell of the door ring. She helped the customer or customers out but it was all a haze, before she knew it, it was closing time and even that passed in a haze. Tom made his usual conversation she was sure, but she wasn’t certain if she actually responded in kind or not, she just went through the motions. She wasn’t even sure when they had gotten upstairs into their living room but she felt herself being led to the couch and all she could think was how thankful she was for her husband and how kind and caring he was.
“Mon chou?” She heard Tom say softly.
“It’s…It’s stupid.” Sabine wasn’t going to pretend there was nothing wrong, because she felt like everything was.
“Feelings aren’t stupid, especially not yours Sabine. What happened?” Tom asked as he took one of her hands in his.
“Are we good parents?”
“…I would like to think we are Honeybun. Where is this coming from?”
“Tom. We forgot Marinette’s birthday.” The words were out in the air before she could stop them and the memory of the last picture she had seen came flooding back. Jagged and Penny were standing on either side of Marinette as the girl smiled down at a cake full of candles in a dimly lit room. All three were wearing party hats and the biggest smiles for the world to see and it ripped at Sabine’s heart. She couldn’t even bring herself to read the caption that Jagged had written out, there was no doubt it was probably heartfelt and sweet. She couldn’t even describe the picture to Tom so she handed him her phone that had the picture still there when she unlocked it. She flinched when she heard his sharp intake of breath.
“What…?” Was all that came out of his lips and Sabine understood. She did, she really did, but she needed him to say more, anything more. She couldn’t stand the silence that stretched as her husband looked down at the picture on her phone, despite him being a large man, he looked incredibly small in that moment as he cradled her phone in his hands and just shook his head in disbelief. “We forgot…we never forget.”
“It was last week and we forgot.” She confirmed as she stared at nothing in particular straight ahead. “And…and that’s not all.”
“Sabine? What do you mean? What could be worse than missing her birthday? Is she hurt? Is Marinette hurt?” Tom asked in a hurry, already ready to run into action, but all Sabine had to do was put a hand on his arm for him to somewhat calm down and sit back down on the couch beside her.
“She’s not hurt. Physically at least, I can’t say for sure she’s not hurt emotionally with us.” Sabine explained, if it was even possible, Tom seemed to deflate further into himself. “And by ‘that’s not all,’ I meant, there are more moments like that one on my phone. You just have to scroll to see them.”
She didn’t watch but she knew he was going through the pictures she had seen and probably others she had not. She didn’t have the heart to keep looking at the admittedly long list of posts that had to do with her daughter, Jagged and Penny as a “family.” The thought of it stung the more she tried not to think about it, but she couldn’t fight it, when was the last time they had done anything as a family? Not something that was for the bakery even if it was all three of them, nothing for Marinette’s school that was obligatory, and not a holiday or just their dinners. How sad was that? She couldn’t even count breakfast nor lunch as they weren’t always together or it was rushed, it really was sad and it made the pang in her heart sharpen.
Sabine heard Tom grinding his teeth so she turned to look at him and saw the powerful grip he had on her phone and the intense look he was giving it so she gently took it from him and pressed the side button to put it to sleep. “Tom?”
“Give me a minute.” He rasped out before he exhaled loudly and planted his face in his hands. Where once he looked as stiff and ready to pop at a moment’s notice like a wind-up toy, now he just looked defeated. “How did we miss so much? Sabine … this … this is…”
“It’s bad. I know. Tom … Tom we missed so much.” Sabine couldn’t hold back the sob that forced its way out at the end of her sentence.
She felt her husband rub circles into her back as she cried. “I don’t know. I… we’ve really messed up.” He mumbled wetly.
“Her birthday… We have to make it up to her somehow. I just can’t believe we forgot! We didn’t forget last year so how is this year any different?” Sabine asked, though she didn’t really expect a response.
Tom was quiet, he was never quiet, not even in his sleep, his snores had taken time to get used to but now they were something that lulled Sabine to sleep. “Last year… Last year, didn’t her friends help plan a party for her?”
“No? No. I think last year was the dinner with your father and mother.”
“Are you sure? I don’t remember that, I remember my mom and dad, I just don’t remember dinner… maybe if I go through my pictures.” Sabine watched her husband pull out his phone and still continued to watch as he most likely went through his picture like he said he would do. Though, the more she watched, the more the pit in her stomach grew, Tom’s face had become so distraught merely moments after he had begun his search.
“Tom?”
“Sabine…Sabine, we have so much more to apologize for. We haven’t been the best parents…and that’s hard to admit but I think we also have to admit we haven’t even been goodparents.”
“Tom, what do you mean?” Sabine asked, she hated how her voice shook and her mouth felt like cotton.
She heard her husband take in a shaky breath before he ran a hand over his face. “We… Sabine… We weren’t here for her birthday last year.”
Her heart dropped. “What? No… No, that can’t be right. If, and that is a big ‘if’ Tom, if we weren’t here, where were we?”
“Honeybun, we were at Europain.” Her husband’s voice came out strained as he answered.
“We were at the exhibition…that’s right. We got tickets because we had been saving up, but the dates…”
“They were during Marinette’s birthday.”
“I remember.” Sabine mumbled brokenly. “I remember because we were so happy but then your mother had called and asked what we were doing for Marinette’s birthday because she was going to be in town.”
“And we panicked because we forgot. We forgot her birthday was coming up and we didn’t have enough money set aside to get Marinette a ticket so we could take her with us.” Tom continued her train of thought.
“We told her we had had the tickets for a while…we lied, Tom…we told her we had forgotten about them and she told us to go. That’s when your mom offered to watch Marinette for the days we would be gone…”
“And that’s when my mom and dad took Marinette out to dinner. They sent us a picture of them all.” Tom finished. There were no more words said between the two. Really, what else could be said?
What finally broke their seemingly never ending silence was the sound of the front door opening and closing. Sabine winced when she felt her neck pop from how fast her and Tom looked over at the door from their spots on the couch, Marinette who had just walked in stared back at them. Sabine had opened her mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out, she guessed the same could be said about her husband. The small family just stared at one another before Marinette shrugged and gave them a small smile, Sabine let herself feel some small amount of hope. Maybe they still had a chance to reconcile their relationship, Sabine didn’t know how they would but she was confident they would be able to. They were the Dupain-Chengs’! People always admired them, always complimented them on having a wonderful business and beautiful family, so they could surely get over this little hurdle. There was no doubt in Sabine’s mind.
“Good, I’m glad you guys are here.” Marinette said as she made her way over to them, but instead of sitting on the bigger couch with them she pulled the foot rest of the chair so it was on the other side of the coffee table and took a seat on it.
“Where,” Tom had to cough to clear his throat when his voice came out a bit strained at first. “Where else would we be, Marinette?”
Sabine watched as Marinette raised a brow at them, the small bit of hope she had made way and all Sabine could feel was that something bad was going to happen. “Well, I mean, you guys are always in the bakery. If not there then you’re out getting groceries together or planning something new for the shop, or…”
“W-Well, we’re here now Sweetheart. Was there something you wanted to talk about?” Sabine asked as calmly as she could, she didn’t want to let her daughter know about their worries, and the fact they just realized how awful of parents they had been. Sure they weren’t mean or anything of the like, but they had been absent and that could be just as cruel to a child.
“Actually yes!” It was said with Marinette’s usual brand of enthusiasm, maybe even more so, but it did nothing to lessen the grip of uneasiness that seemed to clench harder around Sabine’s stomach. It grew when Marinette pulled out a stack of papers and set them on the table in front of them with a smile directed at them that scrunched up her nose. Sabine hadn’t seen that smile in a long time.
“What is the stack of papers Mari-bear?” Tom asked as he finally found his voice.
“Those,” Marinette said as she gestured to the papers but didn’t actually look in their direction, she was maintaining eye contact with Sabine, “are emancipation papers that I would like you to sign.”
It was like a punch to the gut, and from the wheeze she heard from her husband, Sabine guessed she wasn’t the only one who felt like that. She shakily reached out to take a paper, to confirm that what her daughter said was true. She desperately hoped this was some sick joke, she prayed it was, but when that paper was in front of her face by her own hands’ doing, she knew it wasn’t some cruel joke. This was very much real. Neither parent made a sound, neither one could even think of words to respond to their daughter who was still smiling at them. The smile was not cruel, it was not smug, it was not even sad, it was just expectant.
“Now I know this probably came as a shock, but I honestly don’t know how it could be considering you two have been neglecting your parental responsibilities for much longer than is legal and appropriate. I understand that running your own business is time consuming but I’ve also come to understand that just because you had another responsibility did not mean you had any right to make me less of one. You are under legal obligation to fulfill your parental duties just as much as I, the child, am to fulfill mine.” Marinette spoke confidently, with no hesitation and Sabine felt the cracks in her heart deepen.
“I have given you both my respect as is expected of me according to the Article 371 French CC. I think it would be in your best interests to sign off on the forms, it is a way to come out of this with at least some respect still intact towards you two. Either way we would be going to court, what I mean is, if you are going to try and fight my decision, but I warn you, the evidence is stacked against you and I won’t hold back. You as parents were supposed to protect me, in safety, in health, and in morality. You may have given me a home as per your duties…” At this Marinette began to look around their house as though it truly were just a place she had to stay, and not as the home Sabine and Tom had created.
“So you did fulfill the Garde aspect of your responsibilities, but what about Surveillance? You took care of me, that is until you deemed I was “mature” enough to be left to my own devices. I…five years of age is not that age of majority, then and only then are your parental responsibilities fulfilled. You had to protect me, I thought you would protect me from anything, everything. But when bullies came along you did the bare minimum. That’s not even getting into the fact you left me unsupervised in the kitchens more times than I can count. I have scars that are proof enough of that. And don’t get me started on my mental health. Neither of you helped or protected me from that. Surveillance says you have to pay attention to your child and its needs…” Marinette didn’t explain further, and really she didn’t have to. Tom and Sabine were realizing they well and truly screwed up worse than they had both ever expected.
“And that’s not even to mention the Éducation part of everything. We have had many problems with my schooling, namely you two not taking my concerns seriously when it came to my asking for a transfer of classes or just a transfer plainly. Even when I begged and begged. There’s so so much more but I don’t want to get into everything, and I think you would prefer it if I didn’t as well. I have a job already, I make a steady income, I can cook for myself, I know how to budget, I can be happy on my own. I’ve basically been practicing my whole life so really this would just be making it official and it would help me get out of one of the several unhealthy environments I am in. So please, I ask the last thing you do for me is let me go, so I can be free and you can be done and not worry about parental duties anymore.”
Sabine started sobbing.
Footnotes:
*Europain: also known as Sirha Europain, is the leading exhibition for bakery and pastry professionals in France and abroad.
*Until the Act of April 4, 1970, the French CC used the terms ‘puissance paternelle,’ which states the power of decision the father had over his child or children (this power belonged only to the father.) In Art. 371-1 French CC the “autorite parentale (parental authority)” is now defined as “a collection of rights and duties aimed at the child’s interests.” This concept of parental authority encompasses several aspects, including care and protection, legal representation, a maintenance of personal relationships, determination of the child’s residence, the child’s education, a maintenance obligation towards the child, administration of property, and civil liability of the parents for damages caused by their child.
*“Autorite Parentale” encompasses several different rights and duties. The child, regardless of age, owes honor and respect to their parent(s) (Art. 371 French CC). The parental authority belongs to the father and mother until the child reaches the age of majority or is emancipated.
*Although the March 4, 2002 reform of the French CC no longer mentions the classical triptych that formed the contents of parental responsibilities (Garde, Surveillance, Education), French authors assert that these three fundamental parental tasks still exist and remain part of the parental responsibilities. Garde means that the parents should live with their child or, more generally, determine where the child should live. Surveillance, a term no longer used in the new legal provisions, still exists as a parental duty. It means to take care of, to protect, and to pay attention to the child and its needs. Education, the last duty, means that each parent shall contribute to the education and support of their child in proportion to their means, to those of the other parent and in proportion to the child’s needs.
Latest chapter of the story for @miner249er
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Summary: Marc was determined to find his redheaded friend and finally have a talk, whether said friend wanted to or not. They couldn’t ignore each other forever.
Marc never liked confrontation. He hated it in fact. It always made his heart jump in his throat and made his skin tingle uncomfortably like there were tiny hairs all over his body that you always mistook for bugs. It was a sensation he was very much not a fan of, but one he felt too often for his liking. But even though he hated confrontation and the feelings it brought along he knew he couldn’t put this off, nor did he want to. Nathaniel was his friend, his business partner, his crush, as much as he didn’t want to talk to Nath about the Lila thing and the Marinette thing, Marc deserved answers and Nathaniel had been avoiding him. Sure in the beginning he had been avoiding the redhead as well but he felt that was to be expected, Nath knew him, knew what he was like and really the whole situation was very overwhelming. One of his closest friends was turned into an akuma, the deadliest and smartest akumas to date, and she went missing. There was no trace of her. Then there was the fact that apparently her class had a big hand in her akumatization.
Now it was just speculation but all be damned if there wasn’t some circumstantial evidence that helped “prove” that theory. It was a theory that was not hard to believe, everyone in the school could see the change in Mlle Bustier’s class, and they could see it hadn’t been a good change. But it didn’t matter how many times Marc asked Nathaniel if everything was okay in his class, it didn’t matter how many times Marc asked Aurore to help him talk to Mme Mendeleiev about what was maybe going on in Mlle Bustier’s class, nothing was being done, and nothing he or his friends did seemed to make a dent in the infamous ‘Akuma Class’s’ walls. The class had a reputation of being close, but where once it was admired and seen as a good thing, it grew to be something intimidating and off putting. It seemed like no matter what you did, no matter how hard you tried, there was nothing you could do to get close to anyone in the class. There was no way to break through or be invited past the walls.
Marc had been lucky, or it had seemed that way for a while. Marinette was always the anomaly in the ‘Akuma Class’, she would talk to kids outside her class, she would try and make other friends, and other kids tried to be friends with her too. Marinette just had this gravitational pull to her, she was a star and many wanted to be a part of her constellation, but her classmates always seemed to keep her just out of everyone else’s reach. When Marinette had started talking to him it was nothing short of feeling like he was speaking to a goddess and he wished he was joking, because that is exactly how he felt when she approached him. Of course there was his whole akumatization but that had been a stupid misunderstanding and he still felt bad for blaming her and even thinking she was malicious enough to want to embarrass him on purpose, even if it was for a brief moment. It was what happened after that made him feel like he had received a blessing, he met Nathaniel, someone he had always admired, whether it was his art or simply just his looks.
Marc thought Nathaniel’s art was incredible and that the boy himself was cute, then Marinette happened and he soon found himself in a partnership with the artist and next thing he knew they were making a comic series together. A rather successful one at that. Marc couldn’t have been happier and really it was all thanks to Marinette, he had wanted to find some way to thank her ever since, but everything he thought up always seemed subpar. And yet he still kept thinking of ways to thank her but in the end he would never get a chance to, because Marinette was gone. No one knew where she was. She was still an akuma and it was more than likely her classmates that drove her to being possessed by said akuma. The boy huffed when he realized his thoughts had just done a complete circle yet again. That had been happening more and more recently.
He would think about how Nathaniel was really not being subtle about avoiding him, then his thoughts would predictably turn towards Marinette and how kind and amazing she was. Then of course his thoughts would go to her disappearance and of course the fact that not only did she disappear, but she disappeared as an akuma. There had been no Miraculous Ladybug to cure and repair everything that had gone wrong, and boy had things gone wrong. It was like Paris as a whole had been the one to be akumatized rather than Marinette, everyone acted differently or just completely out of their minds. Marc couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of the overzealous-and that was putting it mildly-followers that The Protector had somehow garnered after her disappearance. He had never run into any of them thank goodness, but all the stories he had heard and read about from eyes-witnesses had him glad he was never one to go out much anyways. But it was those overzealous sycophants and the rowdy self-righteous kids in school that had him worried and wanting to find and speak to Nathaniel.
He had checked all of Nathaniel’s old haunts, he had been very surprised that the redhead had not been in the art room but then he remembered the club’s attitude towards the ‘Akuma Class’ and he felt foolish for even checking there in the first place. So he basically just went on a blind hunt for Nathaniel and hoped he would be able to find the boy before lunch was over. Thankfully he knew Nathaniel always had lunch at school since his parents weren’t able to pick him up to take home for lunch and back to school after. So he continued looking for his friend, at least, he hoped they were still friends and if they weren’t then hopefully they could work towards being friends once more. Though he knew if he did manage to find Nathaniel, the talk they had to have wouldn’t be pleasant, he just hoped that both of them could manage not to blow anything out of proportion.
Both of them were driven by their emotions, and they both tended to jump to conclusions, point and case being their individual akumatizations. Marc grumbled as he shut the locker room door as there was no redhead in sight. He hated having to be the rational one. He was just fine being the hot mess he was, he was content to be that and proudly made sure everyone knew it. Though he liked sharing the role with Marinette, the two of them bonded over the fact that they couldn’t go through one day without something happening because they were always in a tizzy. It was great to find someone he shared that with, they had even joked about making a club, but overall it was just great to have a friend that understood when he spiraled over something so little as misplacing his journal. Marinette made him feel seen, she helped him come out of his shell, she was the reason he was able to make friends. She would always deny it and say that was all him but he knew if she had never talked to him he probably would have been content to just stay in the shadows away from everyone.
It was when he was getting frustrated and decided to just eat his lunch in Mme Mendeleiev’s homeroom class (he wouldn’t dare try and eat in her lab even if it was closer to him after the lecture she gave to one of his classmates that decided it was a good time to snack while in the lab) and try again tomorrow that he saw a familiar head of red hair sitting at a desk at the back. “So this is where you’ve been hiding.”
“Marc? What…what are you doing here?” Nathaniel asked, it was clear he had not been expecting anyone to walk in. To be fair, not many people had permission to eat their lunch in Mme Mendeleiev’s homeroom and not many of them ran into each other.
“I did just say, ‘So this is where you’ve been hiding,’ I think that is rather clear.”
“You were looking for me?” Nath asked cautiously and Marc had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes even if he was getting frustrated. He found himself getting frustrated easier and faster nowadays. Stupid hormones.
“Well yeah. You’ve certainly haven’t made it easy. You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I haven’t-”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“Well what do you want me to say Marc?”
“I-” Marc started but he realized it was a bit more heated than he wanted it to be, with a sigh it was like all his frustration and determination left him. “I didn’t come here to fight Nath.”
“I’m…Look. I’m sorry Marc. It’s just, that’s all anyone seems to want to do nowadays.” Nathaniel did look sorry so Marc didn’t hold it against him, and to be fair he himself came in a little hot headed so he just nodded his head as he walked closer. He didn’t sit at the desk with Nathaniel but since the boy was sitting on the edge anyway he decided to sit in the desk across from him. “I guess that’s why I’m…hiding. Everyone just wants to fight, or, or yell at me- at us, about how awful we are and how we let her down!”
“Well…” Marc began as he picked off lint from his fingerless gloves, it was a nervous habit. Thankfully he hadn’t accidentally picked a stray string and unraveled the gloves but he knew it was only a matter of when. “I didn’t track you down to yell at you.”
“Are-Aren’t you mad at me?”
“I was. I’m not going to lie. But I think you’re mad at yourself enough for the both of us.” Marc said as he gestured to Nath’s bandaged hands. He was one of the few people that knew how self-destructive Nath could be when upset, especially when he was upset at himself. He would force himself to work on a wood carving project, something he rarely did, but he wouldn’t put on the protective gloves, so if he got nicked by a tool he would feel it. Marc tried his best to get Nath to stop, and he thought he had succeeded. Looks like he in all actuality failed. “I wish you wouldn’t do that..”
“I know.” Nath admitted softly.
“Have you been…working on a project recently?” Marc asked softly, still looking at Nathaniel’s bandaged hands. There were so many band aids he could barely see the boy’s pale skin.
Nathaniel shook his head, it was then that Marc noticed the red hair that was usually well kept was greasy and a mess. His heart clenched at the knowledge that his friend was neglecting his self-care. “No…I haven’t had the energy to really work on anything. I’ve thought about it…but no. No new projects, er, carving-wise.”
It was Marc’s turn to nod. There was a moment of silence and where once it would have been comfortable like all the silence shared between them was before, now it was long, it was uncomfortable and it was nerve wracking. “Nath? What happened?”
“I don’t even know what to say Marc. Or well, I do, I just don’t know where to start.”
“Start wherever you’re most comfortable.”
“I…I didn’t really pay attention to Lila. I know that doesn’t give me any points. I know it doesn’t make me better than my classmates, but I genuinely didn’t really pay attention to her.” Nathaniel started with a far away look in his eyes. “Sure she had amazing stories and such but they just never hooked me. Like, I don’t know how to explain it, there were stories for everyone to hear, to relate to, but there was always a constant. Her.”
“Everything was about her.” Marc muttered, he remembered hearing her regale her posy with a tale of herself meeting some big name author and he had felt like her eyes had been on him but he had just kept walking to his table with his friends.
“Yeah. Exactly. And well, we were so busy with our comic, I just never really paid attention to what was going on in class. You know how I can get.” Nath said as he ran a hand through his hair.
Marc nodded, he did know how Nathaniel could get because he was the same way. When they were in the zone everything else was like a haze, if they didn’t set alarms in their phones they would definitely forget to eat or take breaks. The alarms had been Marinette’s doing. “We both get like that when it comes to the comic.”
“So when I get like that, I usually have Alix tell me what’s going on in class and with our friends so I’m in the loop.” Nath explained as he looked down at his hands as he clenched and unclenched them. “But…I should have known better. Alix, I love Alix, but Alix is stubborn and rash, and….but she’s loyal. So when she told me Marinette didn’t like Lila and she explained that Marinette was being a bully…I was confused because Marinette has never been like that but at the same time I wasn’t her friend till this year…”
“So you-”
“So I listened to Alix, but it wasn’t just Alix. Everyone was talking about it! How Marinette had changed and how she was being mean to Lila! I…I listened to them. I didn’t partake in anything but I knew they were pulling pranks on her.” Nathaniel’s words were choked out on a sob.
“I didn’t want to get involved. I-I hate situations like that, and I didn’t want to get involved so I didn’t,” Nathaniel cried. “And I have never regretted anything more. I should have looked into things more, I shouldn’t have just taken things at face value, I should have done something!”
At this Marc himself was crying too so he stood up and pushed Nath more into the desk so he could sit beside him and hug his friend. He didn’t know how long they sat there like that, just crying for anyone to hear, but it felt good. It felt good to hug his friend again and to just cry with someone he trusted. Yes Nathaniel made a mistake, but at least the boy realized that himself and felt ashamed, there was no need for Marc to punish his friend more. He knew people wouldn’t understand him forgiving Nathaniel but he didn’t care, people are allowed to make mistakes, especially children. This was a mistake, a big mistake, but it wasn’t made intentionally and everyone was already suffering because of it. Marc didn’t see the point of continuing to place blame on Nathaniel, what happened was terrible and one of their friends was missing because of it, but there was no way to heal and move forward if he decided to continue to be mad and hateful.
“You might think it’s too late…” Marc began softly, “but the fact that you recognize what you did was a problem and feel regretful, shows how sorry you are. Nath, I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t mad at you, because I was. But you can’t keep punishing yourself for the past.”
“How can you forgive me?” Nath asked around his choked out sobs.
“Because you’re my friend.” Marc said firmly as he hugged Nathaniel tighter. “And…and because it’s what Marinette would do.”
The room was quiet as Marc had memory after memory of Marinette flooded his brain, he imagined the same could be said for Nathaniel who was still crying but had managed to calm down enough to stop his choked out sobs. Now all that could be heard from him was sniffling. They just sat there hugging each other, remembering their friend and hoping to muffle and forget everything going on outside for just a moment. One moment was all they needed, away from the chaos and the crushing weight of judgments and expectations, just one moment to be just them. A moment where no one would yell or laugh at their misery, or have people expect them to jump on the bandwagon and treat the class like social pariahs. In that empty classroom they could be just Marc and Nathaniel, two boys who desperately missed their friend.
“She was always too forgiving.” Nathaniel mumbled with a sad chuckle. “Even when someone didn’t deserve it…she was always ready to forgive.”
“She really was. Marinette,” Marc tried to ignore the pain in his chest at her name, “Marinette was amazing, and kind, and selfless, and so so much more.”
“She was…” Nathaniel sighed as he gently pulled away from Marc and ran a hand through his hair. “And-and it hurts that people, well a majority, only see her as The Protector. That’s not Marinette, that will never be her. Marinette was many things, and I want to remember her as those rather than…than the akuma she left us as.”
“Sometimes…Sometimes people only want to see the akuma. They only want to see the bad in people or they only see what they want to see.” Marc supplied with a tilt of his head and shrug of his shoulders. It was depressing but it was the truth.
“She’snot her akuma! We’re not our akumas!” Nathaniel said hotly.
Marc flinched even though he knew Nath wasn’t yelling at him, but he nodded all the same. “You know…people were still wary around me after the whole…Reverser incident. It was like they expected me to turn into…him at any moment. Some of my classmates even stopped talking to me altogether.”
“Marc…That’s awful.”
“It is. But it stopped eventually.”
“How? W-Why?”
Marc gave Nathaniel a bright smile. “You happened. You suggested making my akuma a hero in the comic. Like how you turned Evillustrator into Mighty-Illustrator. And we paired up to make the comic which definitely helped, but really, it was the comic itself that helped me. People saw my akuma not as Reverser, they saw the hero you made it to be, they saw it as Contrary Wise.”
“You did that too, you know? You wrote your akuma as a hero fantastically. You write fantastically Marc. I don’t know where I’d be without you.”
“My point is,” Marc laughed and bumped Nath with his shoulder to try and hide his blush, “you helped everyone separate me from Reverser.”
Marc watched as Nath smiled and rubbed the back of his neck before the boy stopped and sat up suddenly, no longer slouching. He turned to Marc with wide, excited eyes. “That’s what we need to do!”
“What?”
“We! I’ve been wanting to make something for her anyways but I didn’t think I could because I didn’t know if you still wanted to work with me. But you’re here now! It can happen! We can make it!” Nathaniel babbled as he gestured wildly with his hands.
“Make what, Nath? I just want you to make sense!”
“We make another comic!” Nathaniel announced as he fumbled with his backpack before he yanked out his ‘Ideas’ journal. “Only this time it won’t feature Ladybug. Ladybug is gone. Marinette…well Mari as Ladybug promised to always protect us. She never realized she was a hero all the time. To all of us. Mask or no mask.”
Marc started getting excited and a bit sad when he realized what Nath wanted. “A comic dedicated to her but her as Marinette. The everyday hero. Our everyday hero. No mask.”
“We show everyone she’s not The Protector. Not just Ladybug. She’s human. Like all of us, we show Paris that we can be heroes too. Not…not like we, we.”
“I know what you mean, Nath. We show them that Paris…that we, the people, can be heroes like Marinette.” Marc beamed with pride at his friend.
Nathaniel nodded and gave a more bittersweet smile. “Like Marinette.”
Next Chapter
