A Recorded Life - Miraculous Ladybug

27 - Birthday Girl

Words: 2362
Chapter Summary: Adrien has seemed strong through everything since his identity was revealed, but what happens when it comes crashing down on him? Marinette is overwhelming herself with work, and waiting for an important phone call. To make a hard day even harder, the first Akuma after their identities were revealed comes with determination.
Author's Note: Adrien's emotional vulnerability? Check. Marinette stressing about everything? Check. An intense Akuma? A CHECK. I love love love this chapter. There are so many emotions and I can see it so clearly in my mind, especially the end. I also...tried to draw something for the ending because I could see it so clearly. I included it, and it's very cartoony. I'm a graphic designer with very limited traditional art skills, but I still think it's cute and had fun drawing it. I want to do more, so we'll see if I can get better...I mean practice makes better!

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Marinette was freaking out. She sat at one of the tables by the window in the bakery, eating a croissant for breakfast and working on her computer. It was Saturday, so while some places were a dead zone, the bakery was still open, and Marinette had homework to get done. Jagged Stone told her they needed to talk later, and left it open-ended, and that did not help her stress.

As she continued typing answers for school, she looked up to see Adrien run into the bakery with a pant. He had a worried look on his face, maybe that he could even cry. Marinette stood up as soon as she registered his face, and Adrien saw her. "What's wrong?" Marinette asked.

Adrien came over to the seat across where Marinette was standing, collapsed into the chair, and breathed shaky breaths. "My father wants to pull me out of school," He said, close to tears.

"What?" Marinette asked, sitting down.

"He wants to pull me out of school," Adrien said, putting his hands over his eyes to stop himself from breaking down. "I won't see any of my friends, and I will be supervised the whole time...I might not even be able to be Chat Noir anymore!" He told Marinette, muffled behind his hands.

Marinette's face looked angry. "He can't do that. What did you say?"

Adrien shrugged. "I screamed no, then I pushed past him and Nathalie and ran here," He said. "I didn't want to hear anymore. If I got more upset, Hawkmoth could akumatize me."

"No, we don't want that. He can't take you out of school!" Marinette protested. "That's so unfair."

Adrien finally looked up from his hands, eyes red. "The other night he said that I'm missing class due to Chat Noir. But everyone misses when there's an Akuma! He just doesn't understand."

Marinette gave Adrien a sympathetic look. "We'll figure it out. You just have to plead your case and let me know if I can do anything to convince him," Marinette encouraged.

"So running out was not my best idea?" Adrien asked, only getting a shrug from Marinette. "Oh well, what are you doing?"

"Lots of homework. And waiting for a call from Jagged Stone. He said he had something to talk to me about," She said, trying to keep calm even though she was jumping to conclusions about what the conversation could be about. Before Adrien could reply, Marinette's phone rang. "And I guess it's time," She said, and answered the phone.

"Marinette! How are you?" Jagged asked, sounding very excited.

She looked at Adrien a little confused. "Doing great. What's up?" She responded.

"We are releasing the first single Friday!" He said. "I know you've had that one done for a while, there are a few revisions we have to have, but it's time! And I know you keep pushing away at all the other covers and you're almost done, so this is great! We might even have an album release date soon!" Jagged rambled, but now it was clear what his excitement was for.