When Duty and Desire Meet

The Gala Arc Part One

IMPORTANT NOTICE- PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE THE CHAPTER:

You may have noticed the gap between chapters had been a little bigger than normal. Along with pandemic things, edendaphne's life circumstances have made it so that she's finding it difficult to do any art right now (you might have noticed she's posting less in general through no fault of her own!)

Unfortunately those circumstances are unlikely to change for the foreseeable future, and because it's been a while since we updated, we decided that I would post this chapter without art. This was a difficult decision and I understand some of you may be disappointed but PLEASE don't harass Eden or be rude to her. I know she wishes she could have done art for this chapter but adult life gets in the way sometimes. Please send her love and kindness instead ❤ ultimately, this is still a collab and this chapter wouldn't have been anything without her input.

We hope you'll enjoy the new chapter! Welcome to the Gala Arc!

***

A bomb had exploded in Alya and Nino's apartment.

At least that's how it first appeared. Somehow, despite knowing exactly what they were going to wear for the Gala, the living room floor was strewn with piles and piles of clothes. Make up was littered across the already overloaded coffee table. Nino's shoes were inexplicably placed on an empty clothes horse. And the purses, the endless sea of purses glistened as they caught the late afternoon sun from wherever spot one of them had tossed them.

"This is definitely a late-night cleaning job," Marinette sighed from her spot on the sofa, referring to her strange penchant for cleaning when she returned home drunk from a night out on the town. It was like she was trying to give a gift to her hungover self, though it did mean she sometimes found a bra in the fridge (her drunk self thought cold boobs would be funny and she was wrong) or socks in the sink. She was still trying to figure the latter one out.

Although she didn't plan to get drunk at the Gala (she wanted to be on her best behaviour around people who one day might be her colleagues or superiors), if Alya or Nino suggested some after-party drinking at a bar, she sure as hell wouldn't say no. They'd invited her to stay at theirs, in the hopes that they could heal from whatever the night would bring together, and absolve her of any embarrassment from her parents if she was hungover. So, wherever they went, Marinette would happily follow. It was nice to let other people take charge for once.

Wrapped in a fluffy white robe, she slunk down on the sofa with a sigh. With a glass of prosecco clutched in her hands, she leaned against the cushions and watched Nino frowning at the mirror above the non-working fireplace. Yes, she wasn't planning on getting drunk, but pre-drinking was helping with her nerves. None of them had been to such a fancy event before and it was giving her a lot of relief to know that, finally, she wasn't the only one freaking out.

At least if Alya shrieking "DAMN OTHER EYE- LET ME PUT AN EYELINER WING ON YOU, YOU ASSHOLE!" from the bathroom was anything to go by.

"I BELIEVE IN YOU BABE, SHOW THAT EYE WHO'S BOSS!" Nino called.

"HELL YEAH!" Alya replied, making Marinette chuckle into her glass.

His encouragement given for the time being, Nino began to grumble over his own problems. Grunting with frustration, he fidgeted with the bow tie around his neck. "How do rich people do this every week? I don't get it. Now I know why cats hate collars so much."

As the Gala was a black-tie event, Adrien had set Nino up with a tailor who rented out the kind of suits nobody could ever afford, the kind even celebrities rented. Nino, who was one of the most casual dressers Marinette knew (and that wasn't a slight on him, he was one of those people who were blessed with the magic to make casual look fashionable), was struggling with the formalities of it all.