Buggies Writing Hell

Marinette was running on 2 hours of sleep. Again.

She had a busy schedule okay? Balancing ESMOD classes, commission work, and searching for Lila Rossi aka Hawkmoth 2.0 took up a lot of time. So sometimes she just had to make up the sleep deficit with caffeine.

Ah yes, whether she was knee deep in fabric or dealing with an akuma at 2 am, coffee was always there to help her through. And after pulling such a late night finishing assignments, she needed some desperately.

Too bad her roommate hid all of her coffee. 

Adrien had claimed that it was "for her own good" and that he was "saving her from an early grave" like the both of them weren't basically demigods after so many years of miraculous exposure. Well, she had been wanting to try the small café she always passed by anyways. This just the perfect opportunity.

Doesn't mean she's not getting back at Adrien though.

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Marinette stepped into the café and took a deep inhale at the pleasant aromas of coffee beans and fresh pastries.

Despite the small shops location and the time of day, coupe du destin was fairly uncrowded. There was a very inviting aura about the place, reminding her of the many days spent at Fu's old tea shop as a teen. While someone had been leaving as she entered, besides that there was only one other customer in the café.

She was thankful that she wouldn't have to deal with the usual morning rush line, especially since there only seemed to be one person working. It was a girl who seemed to be a couple years younger than Marinette with a smile that put the sun to shame, and she was saying that as someone who knew Adrien Agreste.

The young lady at the counter, Felicity according to her name tag, smiled at her. 

"Welcome to coupe du destin! What can I get for you today?" She greeted with enthusiasm

After ordering herself a caffe mocha, Marinette watched as the lively barista flew between machines and equipment creating her beverage, she honestly wasn't sure if the girl knew what she was doing, maybe it was her first day? Eventually the barista came back over to the counter with the finished drink.

Of course though that's when things got just a touch odd

After paying for her drink, the barista looked to be analyzing her. Though It was almost as if she was looking through her, straight into Marinette's soul.

Now if she were anyone else, she probably would have been more creeped out by something like that. But she was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Guardian of the Miraculi and heroine of Paris. Honestly this didn't even make top three for weird things she's seen this week. It also helped that the girls analytic gaze reminded her of Luka. She still wasn't sure whether or not he was a meta of some sort or if he just like that, but this barista had the same look in her eyes as when Luka would figure out somebody's heartsong.

She could only hope that the girl wasn't about to pull a guitar out from under the counter.

After the peculiar girl had been studying her for a minute she stopped and broke into another wide grin with a newfound gleam in her eye.

Thankfully the barista did not at this point pull out a guitar, instead having grabbed a red pen from a mason jar next to the register and quickly drawing something on something on the cup before handing it to Marinette.

The drawing was of a robin.

After paying, Marinette finally got to try her coffee. Marinette took a sip and... it was the best coffee she had ever had. She was definitely making this her go-to café from now on. And if Adrien kept hiding her home supply, she would likely soon be a regular.

She wouldn't get to finish her heavenly coffee though, apparently being a superhero for nearly a decade had not made her any less accident-prone. As she turned around to leave the shop, she walked right into a man who was getting up from his seat and spilled her coffee all over both of them.

Only one other customer in the café, and she somehow managed to run right into the guy. So much for having the goddess of luck in her purse.

She finally got a good look at the guy. He was about her age, maybe a year or two older, but that could just be how tired he looked, somehow he seemed even more exhausted than her which was quite the feat. Other than looking like he was gonna pass out any minute, he was quite attractive. Like her, he had black hair and blue eyes, Though his eyes were more of a gunmetal than her shade of bluebell. Average height, and very well built. And his suit…

Oh sweet Tikki she was so dead. That suit was designer, it can't have cost less than somewhere in the quadruple digits. And she spilled coffee all over it. She was so screwed.

This guy was probably loaded and she ruined his suit and now he's gonna ruin her. He was gonna sue her for all she's worth and she'll have to fake her death and go live all alone in Tibet and her only company will be Tikki and a hamster named-

"Are you okay?" The man before her asked, with a concerned look that managed to break her out of her catastrophizing. While her spirals had gotten better as she got older (and a therapist), evidently the lack of sleep was bringing them out in full force today.

"I'm so sorry! I should have been paying better attention to where I was going." Her mouth finally caught up with her brain as she began apologizing.

The man began to reassure her "Don't worry about it, it was just as much my fault. I am sorry about your coffee though, could I buy you a new one?"

Oh yeah her coffee, about half the cup was lost in the collision. "Oh no it's fine, if anything I should be offering to pay for your dry cleaning considering I totally ruined your suit."

"Really it's fine, plus I'm getting myself another anyways."

Well if a cute guy was gonna offer her free coffee who was she to refuse?

"You know in that case I might just take you up on that offer…"

"Tim."

"Nice to meet you Tim, my name's Marinette."

Her to-do list for the day, while short, was fairly time consuming. First she needed to head to the fabric shop to get the supplies for her most recent batch of commissions, then she needed to meet up with Alya (who she was so not looking forward to dealing with) so that they could get started on their english project, and after that she needs to interview the previous nights akuma victim for their case file.

Which reminds her that she should check and see if Chloe ever responded to her text. Opening up her messaging app, she’s greeted with two texts. The first is from the number she texted last night, the one that has turned out to be the number of someone who is very much not Chloe. Marinette was all of a sudden very grateful for the code that her and her team had come up with for any messages regarding hero work. Hopefully she could just thank the unknown number for alerting her of the mistake and leave it at that.

The second message was what had her worried though. This one actually was from Chloe, and the contents of the text were a bit concerning.

(XXX)XXX-XXXX: Hey DC it’s Chloe can you call me when you get a chance? I kindasortafuckedupreallybadlydidsomethingstupid

Now Marinette was sure that whatever Chloe had done couldn't have actually been that bad, so that wasn't why she was worried. No, she was worried about her blonde friends current emotional state. Chloe had come a long way from her 13 year old self, but she did still have insecurity issues on occasion. Judging by her text, the blonde was panicking, likely in an anxiety spiral. Something that she too was well known for doing, she would call the heiress as soon as possible to make sure that she was okay before saying anything to her about Mayuras return.

Anyways, it’s not like there was much she could do about it until later in the day, seeing as it was currently around 4 am in Gotham. So instead, the young designer focused on getting ready for the day ahead of her.

After some deliberation with input from the kwami’s, she settled on a nice outfit. The ensemble starred a black pinafore with subtle floral embroidery, paired with a light pink long sleeve underneath, both items of course being MDC originals. Shoe-wise she kept things fairly simple with a pair of black high top sneakers and white knee-high socks. Deciding to keep her hair down today, all that was left was choosing which kwami to bring along with her.

Tikki of course was a given, but she typically rotated out wearing a secondary miraculous so that the kwami could get to experience the outside world, even if it was from Marinette's purse.

Hmm today seemed to be a good day for Kaalki. It had been awhile since the horse kwami’s last voyage out of Marinette's room, plus they would be going to a cafe which meant free sugar cubes. While Kaalki would not be pleased about the ‘free’ part, Marinette's wallet sure would. She may run an extremely successful business for her age but kwami food sure does add up to eat a decent chunk of her budget. So yeah, free sugar cubes it is.

After slipping on the magical glasses and getting the two kwami into her purse, she was finally ready for the day, and so made her way downstairs to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

“Good morning!” she greeted her Maman, who was serving customers at the register. The bakery was already quite busy, seeing as it was a Saturday afterall.

“Good morning sweetie, any exciting plans for today?” Her Mother inquired between customers.

“Not really, just have to pick up some fabrics and work on that english project.” She sort of left out who exactly she was working on said project with, but she really didn't want to risk having to dodge the question of why Alya never came around anymore. Luckily her Maman just nodded.

“Oh by the way, Jagged and Penny are coming over for dinner tonight, so make sure not to be home too late.” 

Well that made for a slight change of plans, she would just have to interview the akuma victim during her patrol instead of during the evening beforehand. Not a big deal, but it was slightly inconvenient, even if she did enjoy seeing her Aunt and Uncle with their busy schedule.

“Of course, i’m going to head out now, can you tell papa I said hi next time he comes out of the kitchen?”

“Will do, oh and Marinette?”

“Yes Maman?”

“Don't forget to grab breakfast.” Her Mother smiled and went back to serving customers.

Smiling back, Marinette grabbed a fruit tart and made her way to the fabric shop.

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Luckily the fabric shop wasn't that busy, and Marinette was able to drop her supplies back home with enough time leftover to get to the cafe early. After finding a good table to set her things up at, she decides to go ahead and order an iced coffee to drink while waiting for Alya. Due to all of her time spent with Master Fu she was typically more of a tea drinker, but to get through this she would likely need the extra bit of caffeine coffee would provide.

Roughly ten minutes later, Alya walked through the door of the cafe. Time to get this over with.

While her former best friend didn't usually take much of an active role in the bullying Marinette had been experiencing at the hands of her classmates, she definitely encouraged a lot of it. Hopefully the fact that they were meeting out of the classroom meant that they could start on the project without any incident.

And for the most part it did. Despite the awkward tension between the two they managed to delegate who did what, with Alya doing the research portion and Marinette assembling the presentation itself.

Just as Marinette was about to leave though, Alya stopped her.

“Hey… have you noticed anything different about Adrien lately? Nino says he’s been acting strange and we’re all a bit worried about him.” The glasses girl inquired while putting away her things.

Well that caught her attention.

“Strange how?” She honestly didn't really care about whatever drama was currently happening in her old friend group, but on the off chance that he was experiencing side effects of the memory wipe spell, she needed to know so she could fix it. Magical backlash was no joke, despite her dislike of the blonde he didn't deserve having to deal with the effects of a spell gone wrong.

“He’s just been distant lately, almost like he’s been avoiding us. You didn't say something about Lila to him again did you? I know you're into him but just because Lila does too doesn't mean-” 

‘Ah so that's what this is about, I walked right into that one huh’

“Alya.” She cut the wannabe reporter off “I haven't had feelings for Adrien in years. I also have no idea why he’s avoiding you guys or why you assume I had anything to do with it. If you want to know so badly, try talking to him yourself.” She got up from her seat “If that’s all, I’ll be going now.” And with that, Marinette began heading home, looking forward to having dinner with her honorary uncle and aunt in a few hours.

But before that, she had a couple of text messages to take care of.

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Taglist (open!!):

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

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She had just wanted to stop for a breather between rooftops when she spotted the first one. Judging by the utterly ridiculous color scheme it seemed to be the current Robin who, according to her research, was one of Batman's main partners. It was probably at this point she should have retreated, considering she was very much not supposed to be here. The blonde's curiosity got the better of her however, and she moved closer to get a better look. A little too close as it turns out, because he evidently spotted her and called in backup. Next thing she knows, two highly trained vigilantes are headed her way. Not good.

Deciding it's better late than never, Abeille makes a run for it. Unsurprisingly though, the two begin to chase her. She just had to hope her enhanced abilities would be enough to lose them and get home. They were not. While she had magic on her side, her pursuers were much more familiar with the area. And well, trained. It seemed that every time she started to lose their trail, she’d meet some dead end or obstacle and have to change directions, letting them catch back up with her again.

It was at one of these dead ends where Abeille finally got cornered. With the two vigilantes closing in on her, she began to panic.

“Hey, we just want to talk!” The blue one-Nightwing if she remembered correctly-shouted out to her.

Yeah right, she knew a trap when she saw one. And that was one of the oldest tricks in the book. She was getting brought to the Bat, who was either going to send her to jail or give her some kind of nightmare interrogation, neither of which sounded very appealing. It was time for a last ditch effort for escape.

You see a couple months ago when she turned 16, the previously decorative wings of her suit finally became functional, along with her time limit after power use going up to 15 minutes. While she likely wouldn't unlock her full power potential till she was 18, 16 was apparently a big enough milestone for her to get some upgrades. This was something she was very thankful for at the moment, because she was gonna need to put them to use.

As her pursuers drew closer, she let herself lift off. From there she made a swift departure, heading back home, and leaving behind two confused vigilantes.

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After sneaking back into her bedroom, Chloe detransformed and dramatically flopped onto her bed. The night had been an utter disaster. She had nearly put a huge dent in her team’s plans just because she wanted to do some rooftop running. How was she supposed to explain this to Dupain-Cheng?

While part of her just wanted to pretend the night had never happened, the hero part of her knew she would need to tell her team leader. While she highly doubted that the vigilantes were able to get anything identifiable from her, they needed to be prepared to explain just in case. Better to come clean now and deal with a potential lecture, even if Marinette's lectures were kinda terrifying, and extremely guilt inducing.

“I suppose i just have to bite the bullet huh Pollen?” She pondered.

At the lack of response Chloe looked over to see that her kwami had once again nuzzled into the plush carpeting, falling into a peaceful slumber. Softly smiling at the sight, she finally opened her messaging app and texted her designer friend. With that, she was free to join Pollen in the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.

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Perhaps the heiress was catastrophizing just a bit with the whole dying thing, though the city does have it’s reputation for a reason. Here, danger lurked around every corner, no miraculous cure to bring you back if things went sideways. It was honestly scary, and a bit depressing to think about so, as she sat to take a break from unpacking, she tried her best to look at the silver linings of her move instead.

Her new school seemed nice enough. She wouldn't be starting there for another week, but she had researched Gotham Academy a decent amount on the plane to get an idea of what to expect. The school was fairly prestigious, and had a pretty good business program that piqued the blondes interest. Afterall, if she was going to take over her fathers hotel someday, she was going to make sure she did a damn good job at it.

Her across the ocean move may also have some benefits in her other life too. The Miraculous one. While Gotham was known for its extremely high crime rate, it was also known for its decent lineup of vigilantes. One of whom could possibly be their key to finding Hawkmoth after almost 5 years of constant fighting. It was time to make a direct plea to Batman, also known as the world's greatest detective. While she and Marinette did their best, which was pretty good despite their lack of any formal training, they didn't exactly have the resources nor the many years of investigative experience that someone like Batman would. If they could convince him to aid them, it would likely be the breakthrough the young heroes needed.

It was a bit of a gamble on if they would be given help, seeing as the Justice League never responded to their initial messages all those years ago, but it was worth a shot to take a more direct approach. And Chloe was fully prepared to be stubborn, especially if it got them to at least hear them out.

So yes, maybe Gotham Wouldn't be so bad for her in the long run. But currently? Chloe was not having a good time.

Despite the fact she was supposed to be sleeping off her jetlag, she found herself restless. Back in Paris, she would usually be patrolling right now. It was gonna be strange getting used to not sneaking out almost every night to run around protecting the city. At least not until she tries to get permission from Batman when they eventually meet. While she doesn't technically need the Bats permission, Chloe was aware that it probably isn't the best idea to go and piss off the person that you’re begging for help from.

As she lamented the (hopefully only temporary) loss of her nighttime escapades she was struck with an idea. It likely wasn't a very wise idea, but what is life without a little risk taking?

While she may not be able to do any hero work here yet, she could take a little walk. She wasn’t going to go out as a civilian of course, Kwami would that be idiotic . But, if she was careful not to be seen, Abeille Royale could enjoy some exercise.

She just needed a disguise. Abeille wasn't supposed to make herself known for another couple weeks, as showing up right after her civilian self would be suspicious, even if Trixx had helped her two selves be seen in the same place after she ‘retired’ from being Queen Bee. So she needed to be unidentifiable, just in case she messed up and got spotted.

After going through the clothes she had unpacked so far, she found just what she needed. A black-velvet cloak laid towards the bottom of one of her many clothes trunks. It was certainly nothing fancy, but it would do the job.

Setting the cloak down, she went to go get the attention of her Kwami friend, who had been making herself at home in the new bedroom's plush carpeting.

“Hey Pollen, wanna go for a little run?” The bee goddess perked up at the question.

“Of course my Queen!” With that, Chloe started to get ready.

Just a few minutes later, Abeille was headed out to explore the city of crime.

What could go wrong?

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