Love creeps up on you

chapter three

It was as if the universe was just not on her side. Her skirt was soaking wet, sticking to her legs uncomfortably as she walked home. Lila's wrist injury had apparently been acting up, which caused the hand holding a chocolate milkshake to spasm right as she passed Marinette's desk at the back of the room. Lila's seat was at the front of the room and she had no business at the back. Marinette had pointed this out to her class but before any of them could even open their mouths, Lila had promptly burst into tears and had asked Marinette why she had to think such bad things about her. The class had of course swarmed around her with only Chloe staying out of it. It wasn't as if she and Marinette were friends. It was more of a mutual appreciation. They spoke occasionally and cordially but it never progressed any further than that.

She really hoped that it wouldn't stain. it had took her a while to master the pleating of this skirt and she'd probably take on at least 4 akumas to ensure it's safe recovery. It seemed she shouldn't have said this because just as she was pulling on a new pair of trousers, an akuma alert sounded. Hawkmoth was nothing if not opportunistic, and the bane of Marinette Dupain-Cheng's existence. She called on her transformation and climbed out of her skylight.

It didn't take long for her to find the akuma. Her heart seemed to splinter at the scene. It was a young boy, predicted age six. He was completely red and his clothes were brightly coloured.

"I'm the performer!" His voice was boyish and squeaky but amplified. It echoed in the space around him, "My maman is always telling me to wait and not paying attention to my tricks! I just want to perform for her! Now, i'll perform for everyone!" He pulled out a small recorder and began to play it.

It sounded beautiful. She just wanted to get close to it. She loved the sound. He should play it forever. Just as she was going to jump of the rooftop and get closer, a sound snapped her out of the weird daze. It was a black cat crashing into a bin as a dog chased it along. Her mind wondered to her absent partner before she sighed. She should probably invest in some earplugs before further planning.

After retrieving the earplugs, she had to adjust to losing one of her senses. This made her more vulnerable to surprise attacks but luckily the child wasn't that strategic. She felt a pang as she reminded herself it was because he was so young. She really didn't want to fight him so instead she used her speed to her advantage. She dodged the messy blows and made a grab for the recorder. She missed and took a hard kick to the leg as well as a punch in the gut. Refusing to back down, she made another swipe for the recorder and this time succeeded. The boy panicked and tried to grab it but failed. She snapped it in two and captured the akuma before calling her Miraculous Ladybug Cure. Left in the akuma's place was a small boy with jet black hair. He was sniffling as he looked up at her. She knelt down and to meet his eyes but as she went to speak, he stood up and ran into her arms. She embraced him as he apologised but she just cooed at him in return and promised it was alright. There was nothing to worry about. It was perfectly okay. She suggested that next time he tell his maman how he feels when she asks him to wait and he promises to with a little grin.

A frantic looking woman appears and runs to the little boy's side.

"Oh, darling. I'm so sorry. How about we go home and watch spider-man? I know he's your favourite. Maybe after we can do one of our little performances together for papa?" His mother hugged him tight and picked him up. He clung to her and excitedly rattled on about superhero's and then he told his mother about how nice Ladybug was to him. The woman looked over and gave her a warm smile, a silent thank you noticeable in her expression. Ladybug gave her a nod and wished her a good night before waving goodbye to the little boy. She took out her yo-yo and made herself scarce before the press could get hold of her.

As she reached home, she sighed before dropping her transformation. She thought about how her day had began and how it ended. She also thought about how her partner hadn't been there at all, nor had she received a message with an explanation from him. This was becoming more and more frequent and she was almost as mad about it as she was exhausted. She thought about the little boy and how easily Hawkmoth seemed to have abandoned any sense of morality. He akumatized children. Literal children. Her mind went to baby August and how he'd been targeted multiple times just as a baby even in the beginning. She couldn't help but think Hawkmoth's only goal was to exasperate her. She wished she could just walk up to him and punch him square in the jaw. She'd been in this superhero game for too long. It was almost five years of obligations and responsibilities she really didn't need.

Checking the time, she realised she wasn't going to get much done tonight without sacrificing her sleep but Clara Nightingale really needed that dress...
She could catch up on sleep tomorrow.

She was just done fixing the hem when her alarm went off. She then registered the fact that she'd just sewed through the night and she had to be out of the bakery in half an hour for school. With a groan, she left her chair and stretched out her aching back, looking oddly like a cat as she did so. She took in the sight that was her newest creation. it was a baby blue dress with song notes sweeping from over the left shoulder, down and across the bodice to the right hip. It was cinched at the waist and came outwards slighting at the hips. It had layers of tule that were all different lengths to let the light blue fade gradually into a midnight blue. The sleeves were full length but easy to move in, made to not restrict movement in the woman's elbows or shoulders so she could dance freely on stage. The dress would also only reach the woman's shins instead of the floor for this reason. The final detail was a small golden signature of MDC, hand embroidered into the collar.

Casting out distracting thoughts like her designs, Marinette made her way over to her closet to pick out an outfit. She decided that red wasn't a good choice today because that always seemed to garner the classes attention, Lila always somehow finding a way to link this all to her being jealous of how close Lila and Ladybug apparently were. Marinette also still had Clara on her mind so she decided to centre her outfit around the colour blue today, inspired by the commission adorning the manikin in the corner of her room.

After some thought, she'd decided on white faux-leather ankle boots, paired with a long pale blue skirt that reached just above them and a oversized, cobalt blue jumper that had a large v-neckline. she put her hair into a bun at the top of her head and played around with her baby hairs until she was satisfied but she felt like something was missing from her outfit. She decided to put a white t-shirt beneath the jumper so that it filled the space where she could see her collar bones before and the outfit seemed to slot together more. She gave her reflection a nod and grabbed her little white backpack, before leaving her room and beginning her day.