Facing the Music - Lukanette (Miraculous fanfiction)

S e p t

Marinette stripped off the photos of Adrien from her bedroom wall. Some right next to her bed, under her bed, a stash in the desk drawer. Why on earth had she done that? She was stupid, all right. After an hour, she finally gathered up two garbage bags and stuffed all of Adrien's photos in with no touch of regret.

She opened up her storage box and took out all the gifts for Adrien for the next 20 years. What gave her that idea? She didn't know. She threw them all into a separate garbage bag and stared at the plain pink walls of her room.

Manon was coming over and she didn't want her to see how many photos she actually had. Marinette threw herself onto her bed staring at the bare ceiling. "It's done Tikki, I've moved on." She whispered. Tikki flew to her side, holding a macaroon. "How are you feeling, Marinette?" she nibbled on her treat.

"I feel free. I can finally start from scratch. I-I don't feel as timid as before. I can't believe after two years I've come to my senses. Why didn't you tell me anything?" Tikki patted her forehead gently, "I'm sorry, I guess I've been shipping you and Adrien and overlooked at how obsessive you've become. But it's a learning experience, you know now how an unhealthy crush looks like so that you can later experience healthy crushes and who knows? You then meet the one."

Marinette smiled, "Thank you, you always know what to say. I've been thinking, and-"

"Marinette! I'm here!" A girly shriek rang into her room from downstairs. Marinette heard tiny footsteps skip up the stairs to her room. "Hide, Tikki." She opened her purse and her kwami flew in after stuffing her last bite into her mouth.

The tiny girl stormed into the room with an insane smile on her face. "I wanna play with the dolls!" Manon jumped up and down clapping her hands, a smile showing Marinette her two missing teeth. "All right," Marinette gave her a small smile.

She got out the toys and placed them out for Manon to play with and for her explain to Marinette what was the plan for today. Manon picked up a green doll and pushed it towards Marinette's face, "You be Viperion! I'm going to be Ladybug and they're going to fight together to save Paris from Lady Wifi!"

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "Hold up, isn't it always Ladybug and Chat Noir to the rescue? Before he came along?"

"Well, yeah. But Viperion has cooler powers and has better hair than Chat Noir." She started giggling.

Ouch, she was glad Chat Noir didn't hear that or she would never hear the end of it. He was annoying enough when he wasn't fussing over his hair. She looked at the small ragdoll in her hand, "But you never picked this up before."

Manon shrugged with shining eyes, "Oh, and you know? My mum is digging up some stories about Ladybug's and Viperion's-" She started giggling hysterically. Marinette looked at the girl in surprise. What was she going to say? What could Nadia suddenly see as a good news story? She had nothing between her and Viperion, what could she possibly mean?

"Wha- what is it? Their what? Tell me!" Marinette urged on. She gave Manon a desperate look. Manon started dancing around the room just as the distracted child she was, "Mum said they could be..." Manon tiptoed over to her babysitter and whispered in her ear.

"Boyfriend and girlfriend," She started giggling and started twirling around once more with the Ladybug doll swinging in her hand. Marinette's face went hot and a million thoughts flashed through her brain. What on earth? Why would Nadia think that? She inwardly groaned she had done the same thing to her and Chat Noir and in the end, she got akumatised.

But her heart fluttered, something at the back of her head told her, leave it be. It wasn't going to bother her, she didn't mind. "And- what did your mum find?" She asked Manon.

"I think she found a video of them diving into a building just before Viperion detransformed. She thinks Ladybug knows his identity! So romantic!" she gushed. Marinette swallowed back her response which would give away her identity and smiled.

"Do you think they're cute together?" She asked Marinette with a toothy grin.

The question caught Marinette off guard. Her words caught in her throat and her face went pinker. Her ears rang as she tried to get an answer out but she couldn't think straight. She saw the patient look on Manon's face and she took a deep breath.

"Um well, I guess it depends on what they think, I mean... What if they're not together and they discover that Nadia thinks they're together? Ladybug, I think, wouldn't mind but then she wouldn't know what Viperion thinks which complicates the whole thing. Ladybug wouldn't want to make your mum get akumatised again and wouldn't want to tell her the truth but- What if Viperion used to like Ladybug but when she isn't Ladybug? And Ladybug didn't know until a while ago and she used him to make another boy jealous? What if they did date but Viperion realised that Ladybug wanted him as a friend so they broke up? What if Ladybug isn't sure about-"

She felt her shirt getting tugged and saw Tikki mouthing, "Stop!" She looked back up and sheepishly smiled at the confused girl. "I can't say because I don't know either of them, yeah."

"Manon! I'm back! Time to go!" Nadia called from downstairs. Manon gave Marinette a look of confusion but shrugged it off and hugged her anyway. She waved goodbye and rushed to her mum who awaited her in the bakery.

As soon as she disappeared, Marinette sighed and flopped herself back onto her bed. "What just happened Tikki? Did I really tell her what had been on my mind all this time?"

"You need to be more careful, luckily she is just a girl and still hasn't developed more intelligence." Tikki flew out of her handbag.

"But, Tikki. I'm so conflicted. I think-" She stared at the Viperion ragdoll in her hands. She pursed her lips. "No, it can't be. Forget it."

She placed the doll onto her bedside table and tucked her knees in thinking about the events that occurred that week.