Ladybug In Gotham (crossover fic)

Chapter 59 Paris

Third pov

Adrien is nervous when he takes Luka's phone so he can talk to Marinette. They hadn't told her about them contacting his aunt yet and he was very nervous to hear her reaction.

"Hi, how are you doing?"

"Hi Nettie. I'm doing mostly good, the akumas have been really sparse for the last week."

"Mostly? Anything else going on? You're not hurt, right?"

Adrien shook his head in a mixture of amusement and awe. "No one's hurt, but, Chloe's reaching out to my aunt, Amelie, to ask her to take custody of me."

The other end of the line went quiet and he felt his nerves again.

Then- "I'm so proud of you. Seriously, I'm so damn proud of you."

Adrien didn't expect to feel his heart soar when she said it, but he wasn't that surprised. There were few he respected and loved and up until a few years ago one of them had been treating him like a slave, withholding every piece of affection he so desperately wanted. To hear another one that he respected and loved so deeply (platonic love) say that she was proud of him, it felt like a weight had lifted off his chest.

"Thank you."

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Marc was sitting by himself when Nathaniel sat down beside him.

The two of them had been talking a lot about the situation in the formers class and Nathaniel had asked for help to apologize to Marinette for not defending her.

They'd come up with something that hopefully showed that Nathaniel really was sorry. Now they just needed to do it.

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Juleka enters her brothers room looking for him. He isn't there so she decides to sit and wait.

After everything in school she realized something else.

She barely knew her own brother anymore.

It had hit her like a brick.

She knew so very little about her brother now.

His friends, his free time, how he's feeling-

Nothing.

"Juleka? Are you alright?" Luka stepped into the room looking like he'd gone through hell.

Juleka's eyes widened and she got up just in time to catch him as one of his legs gave out under him.

"Come on, sit, I'll get mom-"

"Don't!"

Juleka halted at the sharp tone and Luka winced. "I'm sorry. Just, don't get mom. Please."

The younger teen nodded. "Alright."

Luka sat on the bed and Juleka stood close to the door, she was feeling out of her depth. Her brother was obviously in serious pain but he didn't want their mom to know. (She could understand to an extent, their mom could be very loud and a bit hard to deal with sometimes)

"Jules, want to sit?"

She does. She sits in a bean bag that her brother had bought sometime the year before. (It's pink with black dots on it and reminds her of Marinette.)

Luka is taking deep breaths, like his chest would crumble if he did anything else. His hands are resting on his lap.

"Luka, what happened?"