mind over mask

five

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Marinette's POV

I enter the classroom with Damian. We walked silently from the bakery, occasionally taking sips from our drinks. I didn't take him for a tea kind of guy, but the more I'm around Damian, the more I am surprised by him. Especially when he drinks his tea straight, I at least add some sugar or honey.

I suddenly realize I'm not as tense around him. Damian's silence makes me comfortable, but it also draws me in.

I walk up the stairs, Damian following respectfully behind me, and I make eye contact with Alya and Lila. Lila glares at me, and then her eyes flicker to Damian.

She immediately doesn't like him because Damian has decided to stay away, and not believe her lies. Good. I just hoped Lila wouldn't retaliate against him.

"Good morning class! Let's begin!" Ms. Bustier says with fake cheeriness. She dives into the lesson, but I already completed the work. I curse myself for being an overachiever sometimes.

My head drops to the desk out of boredom. I slowly pull out my sketchbook, because I needed to do something. I needed to be productive somehow.

Damian watches me for a few moments, until I catch him. I hold his stare, which hardens for a moment, but then he looks away. I bet nobody challenges him that way, seeing as he's the son of Bruce Wayne. I don't care about titles or wealth or popularity, I think the heart should speak for a person.

I break out in prickly shivers from my experience with Damian, but ultimately, I return to my designs.

Right now, I was working on my final design for Jagged Stone's commission. I lovingly call him my Uncle, and he calls me his niece, even though we're not related. He's going on his world tour, and he asked me to make a few concert worthy outfits for him and Luka.

There was a point in time where I did like Luka, but I think I liked the attention more than I liked him. He was conveniently there for me, and I took his kindness for granted.

Now, I'm happy we're just friends, because I realize that I open my heart to much to the wrong people, and I could've ruined our friendship.

I tune out the class, lost to my own thoughts. Luckily, Ms. Bustier has given us some time to work, and she doesn't mind if we talk or work on other classes.

I've gotten yelled at for not paying attention and being on my phone or sketchbook even when all my work was completed.

I was strangely at peace for once at school. That is, until I heard the liars mouth open.

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Damian's POV

"Oh my goodness, Damian sent me flowers the other day. I love him to pieces. I think I'm going to visit him over the summer." Lila said from across the room.

I try to keep calm at her words, but I want to silence her. Father would never find her body.

No. I tell myself. I stopped killing for a reason. I don't want to be an Al Ghul.

Alix not so subtly says to Le Chien Kim, who goes by Kim, "I can't believe Damian wouldn't tell his best friend about him and Lila." Alix looks over to me, and drops her voice to a whisper.

Lila adds to their conversation, "Well, I'm not going to trust any person that just claims he knows my boyfriend. But I know that my Damiboo wouldn'tdo that to me." She giggles.

I'm visibly angry now. I can't help it. She makes me angrier than Todd or Drake do when they're tantalizing me. I never thought I would meet someone who's existence bothered me more than theirs, but here we are.

Marinette perks up from her designs, analyzing the room as to see what's going on.

Bourgeois and Agreste calling out Lila on her lies, which seems like a common occurrence in this setting.

I'm taking large breaths trying to control myself, but I forgot why it's so important to not lash out. In my rage, I forgot I was in Paris, under the control of a magical terrorist.

My guard is dropped for once. A black butterfly comes in, and enters into the one of the many daggers I have hidden underneath my clothes.

"Dagger Demon. I am Hawkmoth. You want revenge for those who folly your friends name. I give you the power to—"

"Damian! No, don't listen. He won't keep his promises." I hear somebody saying, shaking me from the outside.

Looking back, I realize that I don't mind whoever is touching me.

"Take a portion of my power, and you can command justice." Hawkmoth's voice echoes through the room, scaring my classmates. They fled in a heartbeat.

"You're stronger than him. Don't give in because it's easy!" A voice I recognize as Marinette begs from next to me. She's the one who stayed, who is trying to shake my out of my stupor. Why didn't she run like everybody else? Why does she care so much, when she acts like she doesn't?

"Goodbye Hawkmoth," I say, and dispel the creature.

The black butterfly reappears, and flies away, trying to find its next victim.

I look around and the classroom is empty. I thought Marinette was right here...

A breeze flows through the room, and the window is open.

Who opened it? I was distracted by Hawkmoth, I didn't see who had snuck by me in my distressed state.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" A high, feminine voice shouts. There was a bright flash of light, and a white butterfly flitters higher into the sky.

Ladybug had purified the Akuma. Paris was safe—for now.

I collected myself, and wrote down the information I had collected from this experience to add to the database when I got to the apartment.

Ladybug attends Francois DuPont High School. There's no way the superheroine could get here fast enough to purify the akuma. Unless she just happened to walk by at the right time. She and Chat Noir also recently went to space, so it's possible they had teleportation, but even so, they couldn't work that fast. I'll have to hack into the security cameras to validate my theories.

Marinette timidly enters the room, out of breath, while the rest of the class follows.

Not even five minutes later, everyone has forgotten the incident, and we're back to normal.

How much had the Parisians suffered to call this normal?

Not as much as the people of Gotham.

Marinette is the first to approach me, "Are you alright?"

I study her, and I ignore her irrelevant question. "Why did you help me?" I question. Marinette could've left me like everyone else did.

"Because it was the right thing to do. And I know how it feels to have no one on your side." She answers truthfully. It's like a breath of fresh air after Lila.

I don't answer her, I don't know what to say. I simply nod, and pretended to pay attention to the French teacher.

I'm ignored by everyone else, and even with such close call to darkness, there are only two things that plague my mind.

My desk mate, and the fact that Ladybug is so close and yet so far out of my reach.

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