Unravel- Miraculous Ladybug AU [discontinued]

5~ Rain

This chapter is dedicated to the second season that will NOT be arriving tomorrow!

*cries*

In all seriousness, the chapter is dedicated to danielanutella120 because their comments have honestly made my week and I probably would've only written/published the second chapter if it wasn't for them.

Also, I apologize for the cringe-worthy Adrienette scenes in this chapter, I suck at writing romance (which is kinda strange considering pretty much all of my fanfics center around different ships).

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The day passed rather quickly after that, Adrien was sent home with a small packet of flesh for whenever he got hungry, and was told to return when he needed more.

However, what really worried Marinette was school. She woke up surprisingly early the next day, and when she found that she couldn't get back to sleep she got dressed and made her way downstairs. Her mother was in the kitchen, a cup of coffee in one hand as she read a book at the small bar. The TV was on, and the news title showed that the CCG was still investigating the case with the "Binge Eater", who'd mysteriously just stopped killing.

Marinette ignored the news, she didn't want to think of Lila so early in the morning.

"Good morning, Mama." Marinette said, outing herself a cup of coffee from the machine and sliding next to her mother at the bar.

Her mom smiled at the young ghoul, "Good morning Marinette, you're certainly up early."

"I couldn't sleep," she confessed, dropping her head onto the bar, "I keep thinking about what happened to Adrien."

Mrs. Dupain-Cheng nodded, "Why don't you go help in the café for a bit, to get your mind off of it?"

Marinette stood, taking her coffee with her, "Yeah, sure."

•  •  •

The café was busy, as it usually was in the morning, and soon Marinette forgot completely about the worries plaguing her mind.

At least, until he entered the shop.

"Welcome-" Marinette momentarily froze where she stood, turning away from the coffee machine behind the counter. "A-Adrien!"

He had a smile on his face, one that seemed so pure and happy...

It was so obviously fake.

"Good morning Marinette," he called, making his way to counter, "could I have a normal coffee?"

"Y-yeah! Of course!" Marinette shuffled to quickly make the drink, setting the cup on the counter. "Oh, wait, one more thing."

Marinette reached under the counter, opening a cabinet and setting a small, dark green velvet pouch by Adrien's cup.

He eyed the pouch suspiciously, glancing back to Marinette as if to ask, "What is this?"

"Oh, well..." Marinette racked her mind for a way to explain it simply without drawing any suspicion, "If you get hungry, place one of those sugar cubes in a coffee, it should help for a bit."

Adrien nodded, pulling open the small pouch and taking out one of the brown cubes and dropping it into his coffee.

"If anyone asks," Marinette piped up, "just say it's brown sugar?"

"Right, thanks Marinette." Adrien flashed a small smile, and Marinette's heart felt as if it were breaking. How was he still trying to be so nice and positive?

"Marinette!"

The said girl quickly turned at the sound of her name being called, findings Tikki holding her school bag.

"You'd better get going or you'll be late!"

"R-right!"

Taking her bag from her sister, she made her way with Adrien out of the café, walking down the city sidewalks in silence.

There are clouds in the sky, Marinette noted, it looks like it might rain soon.

Usually rain was a blessing , especially if they needed to find food or fight the CCG. The fog obstructed the Ghoul Investigators' vision, and the constant downpour washed away any blood or evidence of a ghoul attack.

Right now it just seemed fitting, this was a tragedy, wasn't it?

"So about that offer Tikki made yesterday."

"Hm?" Marinette turned her head to face Adrien. They were now stopped at the crosswalk of a street, waiting for the light to change so they could cross.

"I can really join the staff there? And in return receive protection and food?"

She nodded in response, "It's always nice being to help ghouls who'd prefer not to hurt people, but sad as well."

Adrien cocked his head to the side, "Sad? How so?"

"Well..." Marinette considered the question, replying with eyes that seemed to cloud over, "For one, it's kinda dangerous, if anyone were to ever find out, well, everyone there is pretty much as good as dead. And you also have to see families that are torn apart, ones being hunted down by the CCG and killed."

"Oh..."

The light changed, and the two of them crossed the street. They walked up the front steps of their school just as a few rain drops escaped from the sky.

"Come on, let's get inside." Adrien gripped Marinette's hand, shocking the girl by his actions.

"Wait..." she called before he could move.

"Yeah?"

"Why aren't you... ugh... how do I phrase this... disgusted by me?"

The rain had started falling, and Marinette felt the soft mist from the water springing onto her back.

"What do you mean?" was his reply.

"Well... I-I'm a monster, right? I lie to everyone on a daily basis, making simple excuses to not eat... Adrien, I've killed people before, innocent people who had nothing to do with me, with anything! And I eat the corpses of those who ended their life- how are you not afraid of me? How can you even stand being in the same room as me?"

Adrien simply guided her under the shelter of the school's front, away from any rain that threatened to touch her.

"Marinette," he whispered, his eyes hard and serious when he spoke, "from what little I've seen of you this weekend, you're not a bad person. You didn't choose to be a ghoul, like I didn't choose to become one. So stop thinking like that, I'm not going to turn you in or tell anyone about you. You're still Marinette, the sweet girl who's in my class."

The warning bell for school rung, and one or two students ran into the building, kids who were running late or overslept.

"Just a small question, so I don't make any big mistake," Adrien continued, glancing into the school, "does Alya know?"

Marinette shook her head, guilt creeping into her heart as she replied, "No." she whispered, "She doesn't know."

"Right."

Adrien gripped Marinette's hand the slightest bit tighter as they turned to the building, entering through the double doors.

All Marinette could think of in that moment was how warm his hand was — and how much more in love with him she was falling.