King, Queen, Liar

Status Update

The sewing machine whirred loudly as Marinette put the red chiffon material she had through with is. She was working on her dress for the school dance coming up in the next couple of weeks and was finishing the skirt.

The dance had been voted a heroes theme to celebrate Paris' heroes and she felt slightly embarrassed about being Ladybug. She'd actually thought about a black and green dress with a silver trim for Chat Noir but everyone in her class had begged her to dress up as Ladybug.

She remembered Adrien had commented about how similar she looked to the real Ladybug and how she'd started to panic. Her stuttering had made him laugh and Alya butted in; 'Yeah but Marinette is ten times as clumsy!' She quipped.
Marinette giggled at her own expense, glad that nobody had thought too hard on the fact she was identical to Ladybug. Mainly because she was Ladybug. As she finally finished the skirt, Marinette held up the dress to her own form with a satisfied smile.
"Oh wow Marinette, it looks amazing!" Tikki spoke up, happily flying over.
"Thanks Tikki, I hope everyone else likes it."
"You mean you hope Adrien likes it." Tikki teased, giggling at the hot flush across her owner's face.
Marinette giggled, "Shh don't tease me."

Hanging the dress up so it wouldn't get crumpled, she picked up her phone for the first time in hours only to see a surplus of messages. This was more than she ever got, it was so strange. Another message popped up from Alya and Marinette swiped it open.

Marinette's eyebrows furrowed as she clicked the link to Adrien's MyFace page warily. She was scared, had something happened? What could have everyone this worked up?

Her eyes widened as the update loaded and she felt her heart stop beating.

Adrien Agreste is in a relationship with Lila Rossi

She blinked, her eyes pricking with tears as she reread it. It still said the same thing no matter how many times she reloaded the page.

"Marinette?" Tikki looked concerned as she spotted a tear trek down the girl's cheek.
"It's okay Tikki, give me a minute." Quickly messaging Alya, Marinette wiped away the tears.

Marinette sighed, she was glad she had Alya right now because she felt so conflicted. How could it be true? She refused to believe it, Adrien would tell them tomorrow that someone had hacked his MyFace and that it was all lies. Her phone buzzed causing her to glance down.

Tikki still looked worried as Marinette climbed into bed, she curled up in the crook of Marinette's neck as a way of looking after her. Soon, the little kwami was asleep. Marinette smiled, wishing she could drift off as easily as that. Instead she found herself looking at the ceiling and worrying. What if Adrien really was with Lila now? Could she be supportive of him like a good friend? She'd have to be.

Marinette drifted off into a restless sleep, her worries following her into a nightmare of life of having to watch Lila and Adrien be a couple. To kiss. She would never get Adrien to fall in love with her and would become an old spinster without her hamster baby.

She realised hot tears were slipping down her cheeks again and quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand. Carefully, so as not to wake Tikki, Marinette got up and climbed out onto the roof. A cold wind brushed across her shoulders, making her shiver and wish she'd brought up a blanket.

Her fears sounded so trivial in her head that she almost laughed but she couldn't help it. Adrian meant so much to her that it pained her to think about how she could lose him before even taking a chance. There were so many times when she could've confessed to him, but she was so clumsy and shy it had never seemed the right time.

She laughed at herself, at the same time dragging out a sob. She wished she was as brave as she was as Ladybug when she was Marinette. Ladybug was perfect, everyone loved her, while Marinette was mediocre. Always getting things wrong.

That night, Marinette fell asleep crying under the stars.