LadyBugOut AU (Snippets)

The Present Situation

Summary:
Marinette wonders if there's such a thing as too many gifts.

Chapter Text
“…Tikki?”

“Yes?”

“I’m starting to think this was a mistake.”

Marinette glanced around at all her room, unable to look anywhere without seeing the assortment of gifts and presents strewn about. The girl who’d given her a gift for both sides of her hadn’t been the end of things, and Marinette quickly found that everyone seemed to have something they wanted to give either her or Ladybug (mostly Ladybug, but that was understandable) to thank them for their efforts. It was overwhelming, but she couldn’t say “no” to such kindness.

She could, however, be puzzled by what to do about all the generosity.

Tikki hummed as she flew around the various gifts, poking some bows and tugging on a few ribbons. “People love Ladybug, and you gave them a way of showing it.”

Marinette blushed, not wanting to seem ungrateful but being unable to help commenting, “Y-yeah, but did they have to show it so much?”

She picked up one of the gifts at random, turning it every which way as if it were suspicious. As nice as it was to have so many presents, they were ultimately from a bunch of people that she didn’t know. Was it really okay to just allow strangers to hand her gifts without any question? Should she have taken names?

She could vaguely hear Fukiya’s stern voice in her head: It’s best to be on your guard. You don’t know what someone may pull, especially if they’re Hawk Moth’s civilian self.

Marinette mentally thanked the imaginary Fukiya; she hadn’t thought of that. “…Tikki?”

“Mm?”

She held the gift as far away from herself as possible, brows furrowed in concern. “Do you think someone would ever try to poison Ladybug?”

“Poison?” Curious, Tikki floated closer to the gift. She hesitated for a moment, as if wondering how much would be okay to say without causing a freak out, then settled on, “Well, you can never be too careful…”

Marinette pursed her lips, thoughtful, then set the gift down and went to sort through her others. It took opening a few gifts at random, but she eventually found one with a container of brownies inside. She questioned the decision to wrap it, but at least the container was sealed properly.

Tikki’s eyes went wide with interest, and she hovered over to the container like she was hypnotized by it. “I can… test them for you?”

Marinette narrowed her eyes in justified suspicion. “Tikki—”

“No, really!” Tikki insisted, snapping out of the brief trance. “I’m a kwami of purification. If there’s something bad in it, I’ll know it!”

Marinette lowered her guard. “…Really?”

“Yes, of course!”

Looking back down at the container of sweets, Marinette considered things for a moment longer before relenting and walking over to her table to set the container down. “Papa and Maman would disown me anyway for eating sweets that someone else made.”

Tikki grinned wide at the invitation, not even bother to open the container and just phasing inside to start eating at the sweets despite the cramped space. Marinette just shook her head at the sight, but with a smile, walking over to her computer chair to sit down and contemplate the rest of the gifts.

A few minutes into her thoughts, she saw black at the corner of her vision, looking over to see Plagg phasing his head through the wall and looking around curiously. She smiled, sitting up in her seat a little more to say, “Hey, Plagg. Did you come to try one of our cheese danishes?”

Plagg looked over at her, then grinned and phased fully into her room, lounging back on nothing as he replied, “Weeell, if you insist.”

She nodded, standing up and turning to leave. She could hear Tikki half-swallowing and phasing out of the container to scold, “P-plagg! It’s dangerous to go flying around in the daytime! You’ll get seen!”

“It’s not nice to talk while you’re eating, sugarcube~”

Marinette tried to suppress a snort behind her hand, pretending like she wasn’t hearing their little argument as she went downstairs. Plagg had been visiting on occasion ever since she started her blog, and while she didn’t quite understand his motives, she didn’t mind his company and imagined that Tikki liked seeing how he was doing.

After making an excuse to her parents about how she needed a snack, she secured a cheese danish and went back upstairs. She noted that Tikki had stubbornly turned away from Plagg, still chowing down on a brownie, while Plagg was resting on one of the presents, batting playfully at the ribbons of said present.

As soon as Plagg saw her, his ears twitched on alert and he quickly rolled over to lay on his back, like he hadn’t meant to be seen messing around. “About time!”

Marinette grinned knowingly, then approached him. “You’re the kwami of destruction, right?”

He raised a brow at her, or at least as much of a brow as kwami had. “That’s right.”

“Does this count as destruction?” She set the danish on the table, then picked up a present and slightly tore into the wrapping paper for effect. “You could open them for me.”

Plagg’s tail twitched with interest, but he maintained a skeptical expression. “You want me to work? I—” He paused as she dangled the danish in front of him, then squinted even as his ears angled forwards. “…You drive a hard cheesy bargain.”

She dropped the danish and let him dig in, promptly turning away and going back to her computer chair to sit down. She saw Tikki still munching and gave her a small pat on the head with her finger, then reached for her backpack underneath the table so she could get started on homework for the day.

She glanced over every now and then to see Plagg having a blast tearing apart the wrapping paper, balling it up, and knocking it around.