Rogue

Chapter Three

Alya picked up on the second ring. "Girl, I've been waiting for you to call. Have you heard the news?!"

Setting her phone on her desk and turning on the speaker, Marinette took a pin out of her mouth and steeled herself. "What news might that be?"

"There was a Ladybug appearance yesterday!" Her best friend's screech echoed around the apartment, and Marinette winced, but tried to keep her tone upbeat.

"That's amazing! It's been awhile. I wonder why she suddenly showed up..."

"Well, there was an akuma." Alya's excitement dropped a bit. "That wasn't as cool. I thought we were done with those, you know? But Ladybug handled it just like she used to. Apparently a few eyewitnesses said they also saw Chat Noir there."

Marinette's stomach twisted, and it was a challenge to keep her voice calm. "Oh? Was he there to help Ladybug?"

Alya scoffed, and Marinette flinched. "As if. He just showed up for a few minutes, then left. I can't believe he was ever Ladybug's partner. You'd think he'd care a little more!"

While Marinette appreciated Alya's concern for her alter ego, she didn't think she could handle discussing this right now, especially with Chat's impassive face still stuck in her mind from yesterday. "Well, it's good that Ladybug handled it, anyway," she said, gently nudging the conversation back on topic. "I'm guessing the mayor is going to say something about an akuma reappearing."

"Oh, yeah. He's holding an emergency city council meeting with an open question panel for the press sometime this week. If we don't have class, we should definitely go to see how they're handling it. I wonder if they'll be as supportive as they were when we were in lycee. I know public opinion on heroes got kind of shaky when Chat Noir stopped helping."

Marinette's hands froze over the mannequin she was pinning.

"But everyone's always loved Ladybug," Alya continued as if she hadn't just rocked Marinette's mental capacity. "I'm sure they'll at least stay out of her way. She's the expert, after all."

"Yeah." Marinette's voice wavered, and she cleared her throat. "I'll see if I can make it. Life's been pretty busy, after all."

"That's true. Especially since you got that internship!" Alya was squealing again. Marinette had almost forgotten she'd texted her friend the news yesterday. "I told you it'd be easy for you! Now all you have to do is accept and take your fashion know-how over to America!"

Marinette laughed, a smile finally breaking over her face as she sat back. "Thanks, Al."

"Don't think we aren't having a party to celebrate," her best friend warned her. "You deserve it after all that waiting and preparation and work. I think you're still catching up on sleep!"

"You'd be right," Marinette agreed, stifling a snort of amusement.

"Speaking of parties..." Alya trailed off, and Marinette sat up. Alya's tone was much more serious now. "Did you happen to run into anyone in particular yesterday?"

There were several moments of silence.

"Mari?" Alya gently prodded.

She cleared her suddenly dry throat. "Well, I may have--run across Adrien Agreste." Her voice was slightly high. "But we only spoke for a moment. Why do you ask?"

"Because, well...Adrien texted Nino today."

You could have knocked Marinette over with a feather. "He did?"

"Yeah. He said you told him we remembered his birthday was this week and just wanted to say thank you. It was the most polite text I've ever heard. Nino was stunned, obviously, but you know how he is. He messaged back saying no problem and he hopes Adrien's doing well, the usual." Alya sounded slightly bitter. "Nino is more forgiving than I am. Model boy wouldn't have gotten off the hook that easily."