Princess

d i x - s e p t

All too soon, the day of the Ball arrived. Gabriel Agreste had taken Marinette on board and given her designs to the dress makers in his company. Her dresses were starting in shop windows. While she of course felt honoured, proud and indebted to Adrien's father, she also felt... wrong, somehow. Her designs didn't deserve to be churned out by the handful. They should be unique, different and handmade for each individual client.
Still, she kept a smile on her face, for fear of being seen as ungrateful. Her dress remained unique, at least.
Chloe had allowed their class to have dates from other years- or even other universities, which pleased Alya greatly. Of course, Marinette created a unique dress for Stella, instead of forcing her to buy one.
Chat Noir did not want to come, yet he was also not keen for Adrien to accompany Marinette, much to Adrien's dismay.
The morning of the Ball, Marinette was lying in Chat Noir's lap, somewhat dejected.
"What is it, chèrie?"
She sighed. "I wish you would come. No one believes me that I have a boyfriend. Adrien has asked me countless times to go with him, as has Nino. And about five of my other classmates! I just wish you would either go with me or let me go with them!"
"Well, can't you go with Alya and Stella?" He protested.
"No! They are going as a couple. I am not being a third wheel!"
"Well-"
"Do you not trust me?"
"Of course I trust you! I just don't trust them."
"They are not the issue here, Chat. If they come on to me, you have to trust me to push them away. It shouldn't matter if you trust them!"
"I don't want you to get hurt." He whined petulantly.
She stood up. "That doesn't seem to be the issue here. It more seems that you are being a spoilt little brat who doesn't trust his girlfriend to have friends other than him."
"Mari-"
"No, Chat. I don't want to hear it."
"Mari-"
"No."
"Listen to m-"
"No." She repeated forcefully. "I don't want to know. If you are going to act like this, I think you should go."
He rose to his feet and grabbed her shoulder. "Please, Mari, just-"
"Chat Noir, I do not want to know! Now go away!" She could barely manage to stop herself from shouting. As he refused to leave, she heard footsteps. Sure enough, her door swung open, to reveal Stella and Alya.
"Shall we?" Stella asked.
"Be my guest." She replied sweetly.
Stella and Alya moved in perfect, synchronised unison towards Chat and grabbed his arms, pulling him off their friend.
"Sorry, Monsieur, but we don't allow people to harass our friends. I think you should leave." Stella smiled sweetly at him.
"I'm not harassing her-"
"I think you should leave." Alya repeated.
"Alya, be reasonable." He protested.
"Chat Noir, would you like us to take you to the police? I think not."
"You can't do that! I've done nothing wrong."
"Would you like to see us try?" Stella added.
"Guys! Please, just... Leave." Marinette interrupted, sounding frustrated but in all actuality, she was close to tears.
"Of course." Stella said, and she and Alya pulled Chat Noir from the room. Once they were downstairs, they turned to him. "Now, that is how you treat Marinette. She says leave, you leave. She says stay, you do your best to stay. She says she's uncomfortable, you stop. We won't be so lenient next time. Now get out." Stella snapped.
Tail between his legs, Chat complied. Once he was out of sight, the two girls returned upstairs and knocked softly in the door.
"Come in?"
"We heard you talking earlier..." Stella began.
"We weren't eavesdropping, just quiet." Alya clarified quickly.
"And we think you should come to the Ball with us. We can be a three!"
"No. No, no, no. You two have to go together! Like as a couple. I won't tag along."
"But we want you to! Honey, we can't have you feeling sad. It's just not right." Stella hugged her friend.
"Now, how's about we get ready now, eh?"
A genuine smile lit up Marinette's broken face and for the first time in months, she felt empowered and ready to do something. She nodded happily and the girls began their age long process of getting ready.
{I shan't go into detail on this, as you don't like it aha. I wrote H is yesterday evening...
I'm also frustrated because I got home from an AWESOME dress rehearsal to find out that the admin of a competition I'm in is being difficult and I'm going to be disqualified, despite actually winning the task.}