mind over mask

forty-five

Marinette's POV

I missed Damian.

That's why I picked up the phone call with a little hesitation. It was nice to hear his voice, but it hurt because he was on another continent.

All was going fine, until I heard another voice added to our conversation.

"—does Demon Spawn have a girlfriend?"

"Goodbye," he says quickly, and I removed my ear away from my phone as I hear the trill beeps of his voicemail.

It frustrated me that I was open with him, even with my family, and the moment they encroached on his territory, he was closed off and defensive.

I couldn't judge him for his family or life choices, but it still stung.

After that, we did our best to keep in contact.

Any moment we had free time, we would facetime, call, or text.

I knew he was busy back home.

And like a stalker, I searched him up online. The endless news articles of his dating life bothered me, seeing pictures of perfect models put next to him. It was rich girls from galas, girls from school, or celebrities that had crushes on him.

It was driving me crazy, and I knew I had to stop caring.

Any time his siblings found out he was on the phone, he would end it abruptly. Damian didn't want his family to know about me, and it hurt. Why was he keeping me hidden?

And it only got worse as we fell out of touch. We started out calling and FaceTiming at odd times because of our time zones, but it got turned into texts, and now, nothing.

It often ended suddenly, or when we realized we were keeping each other away from previous sleep.

Little by little, we talked less and less over the months.

Damian didn't like me as much as I liked him I guess, and I had foolishly kissed him and believed his words. He didn't even fully trust me with his real name, so how could I trust him?

I distracted myself with an endless stack of commissions for celebrities and the wealthy around the world. If I wasn't doing that, I was dealing with the Miraculous.

I wore both Plagg and Tikki, because I had to keep the balance. It drained me, and I needed to find another owner, soon. But I couldn't be careless about it, the Black Cat and Ladybug Miraculous are powered by character and emotions, while all the others are by just emotional state.

Worse, Nathalie was still missing, and we still suspected that she had the Peacock Miraculous.

With the help of Tikki, we tracked the Peacock Miraculous to the United Stated, specifically the East Coast. But I would bet the Miracle Box that it was in Gotham with the Black Mask, or even another villain.

Which meant that I had to go to America.

My heart dreamed of there. Not for the country, but for the one person who I felt really understood me.

But the one person I wanted to see, I couldn't. I need to get him out of my head. I had other things to focus on.

Like how the Peacock Miraculous was still out there. I had finally brought back Nooroo safe and sound, but Hawkmoth was able to dupe me one last time.

Even with all those matters to deal with, I also had to keep up with school.

Time had fled between my fingers, and our graduation was next week.