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Language:
English
Series:
Part 2 of Fruitful , Part 3 of 2020 Lovesquare Prompt Months
Stats:
Published:
2020-04-01
Completed:
2020-04-30
Words:
45,690
Chapters:
30/30
Comments:
1,477
Kudos:
4,065
Bookmarks:
364
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71,738

Blackberries

Summary:

Life without a miraculous is just as tough as life with one, especially when Marinette and Adrien are stuck dealing with both a new student and a new Ladybug and Chat Noir. They both know that Master Fu made a mistake, but how far will things have to go before Master Fu admits it?

30 connected ficlets for Adrinette April 2020.

Notes:

As promised, here we are with my (unofficial because it's salty as fuck) entry for Adrinette April 2020 and the long awaited sequel to Passionfruit. What with the world going bonkers, I can't promise daily updates but I'm going to do what I can. Chapter lengths may vary as well.

This picks up directly where Passionfruit left off, so you will need to read that first to understand what's happening.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: Pranks

Chapter Text

“A new student! Yes! Finally, Adrien and I aren’t the newbies anymore!” Alya whispered.

In spite of Marinette’s current state of mind, Alya’s whisper was enough to make her smile just a bit. She subtly wiped her eyes and watched curiously as a slender girl wearing jeans and a dark orange t-shirt entered the room and crossed to stand beside Madame Bustier. Lila gave the class a shy smile, clasping her hands behind her back, as Madame Bustier rested a hand on her shoulder.

“Lila has recently moved to Paris with her parents. She comes from Italy,” Madame Bustier continued. “I hope that everyone here will make her feel welcome. Class, please say hello to her.”

“Hello Lila,” Marinette said in unison with everyone else.

‘She looks nice,’ Adrien thought. He was still overflowing with grief, longing and loss, but Lila’s arrival had provided them both with a temporary distraction and Marinette found herself eager to run with it. Anything to avoid thinking about the one thing she and Adrien really didn’t want to be thinking about.

‘Yeah, she does. I love her shoes,’ Marinette thought back, admiring Lila’s chic heels. She wondered if Lila was at all into fashion. Italy had so many cool designers and it would be amazing to be able to find out details from someone who had experienced it firsthand.

“Lila, would you like to tell the class something about yourself?” Madame Bustier asked.

“Well, we moved here because my mamma works for the embassy,” Lila said in lightly accented French. “She has a really important job and they basically begged her to move here. She didn’t want to come because she was afraid that it would hurt my education, but I knew that it was really important for her career.” She smiled at the class. “So I hope you’ll all help me keep my grades up!”

“Of course. I’m sure you’ll be caught up in no time,” Madame Bustier said. She glanced around at the class before nodding. “Okay, I think we’ll have sit you right up there next to Nathaniel.”

“Oh,” Lila said. “Well, I was really hoping that I could sit closer to the front. I have a problem with seeing sometimes. My eyes aren’t what they should be. The second row would really be better for me. Maybe I could sit there?” And she pointed right at Marinette’s spot.

“What?” Marinette said, startled. Her immediate thought, as Adrien tensed beside her, was that Lila was playing a prank, but Lila looked very serious. Madame Bustier seemed surprised by the request too, but, much to Marinette’s dismay, their teacher didn’t look like she was going to say no. Well, of course she wouldn’t. Madame Bustier was too nice to say no to a new student…

“You wouldn’t mind, right?” Lila continued, smiling and turning back to Madame Bustier. “It’s just, it would really help me see the board better.”

Adrien cleared his throat, squeezing Marinette’s hand, and said, “Actually, Madame Bustier, if Lila has trouble seeing, wouldn’t it be better if she sits in the front row so she’s closer to the board?”

“You’re right, Adrien,” Madame Bustier said, and looked at the four students sitting in the front row. “Nino, Alya, Chloé, Sabrina. Would one of you be willing to sacrifice your seat for Lila’s sake?”

Chloé immediately folded her arms over her chest and looked like she was more likely to start dancing atop the desks than she was to move. Nino and Alya both exchanged reluctant looks too; Marinette knew that neither of them wanted to move because then they wouldn’t be able to sit next to each other. Finally, Sabrina stood up and began packing together her things. She took her backpack and climbed the stairs to sit down next to Nathaniel.

“Thank you, Sabrina,” Madame Bustier said. “Please take a seat, Lila.”

‘I could’ve moved,’ Marinette thought, feeling a bit bad. She was the class president, after all. It probably didn’t look very good for her to keep her own seat while forcing Sabrina to move.

Adrien shook his head slightly. ‘If Lila has vision problems, it really is better for her to sit in the front row. It makes no sense for her to sit in the second row. Besides, you didn’t want to and I didn’t want you to either,’ he thought.

‘Thanks for speaking up,’ she thought. In a way, she was a little proud of him. At one time, Adrien never would’ve done such a thing.

He shot her a tiny smile as Lila walked over and sat down beside Chloé. Truth be told, neither girl seemed very happy about the arrangement. Marinette hoped that Chloé wouldn’t be mean about it. She was sure that Chloé was disapponted about not being able to sit next to Sabrina, but that didn’t make it okay for Chloé to take those feelings out on Lila.

“Okay, class. We’re going to start with English this morning. Lila, if you’re having any trouble following me along, please let me know,” Madame Bustier said, walking over to her desk.

Marinette obediently got her English book, but her thoughts weren’t on the work. Instead she found herself sketching a small picture of Tikki in the corner of her notebook, and that just made her think of the conversation she and Adrien had been having before Lila came in. She hoped that whoever got the Ladybug miraculous would occasionally visit the Dupain-Cheng bakery to pick up cookies for Tikki.

Maybe Tikki would even pop up to visit her? But no. That was probably against the rules. Master Fu had made it pretty clear that she and Adrien wouldn’t be seeing Tikki or Plagg again, and really that was probably for the best: it would be much harder to let go otherwise. It was going to be bad enough having to see the new Ladybug and Chat Noir running around the city…

“Marinette, are you okay?” Madame Bustier asked suddenly.

Startled, Marinette looked up. “What?” Her voice came out raspy.

‘You’re crying,’ Adrien thought, ducking his head so that no one would see the tears in his eyes either.

“Class, read through page twelve. We’ll be reading it out loud when I come back. Marinette, come with me,” Madame Bustier said, looking at Marinette with obvious concern.

Reluctantly, Marinette got to her feet and followed Madame Bustier to the door. She stepped out into the empty hallway. Madame Bustier followed, sliding the door shut behind them. Marinette didn’t look up at her teacher, instead staring down at the ground and willing herself to stop crying. School wasn’t the place for it, not if she didn’t want people paying too much attention to her and Adrien.

“Marinette, what’s wrong?” Madame Bustier asked, her voice soft and compassionate. Aside from Adrien, she was the first person who had asked Marinette that since Marinette had lost her miraculous, and the question hit harder than Marinette had anticipated.

“N-nothing,” she stammered, but it came out soft and quivery.

“Do you need a hug?” Madame Bustier said. Marinette didn’t think before she nodded, and was immediately pulled into a hug.

‘Oh, that feels good,’ Adrien thought.

‘It really does. I wish you were getting a hug too,’ Marinette thought back. Grief was still a heavy weight on both their hearts, but Madame Bustier’s understanding hug was helping a little. It was a reminder that she and Adrien weren’t alone, even if no one else understood exactly what was going on.

“I hope you know that I’m here if you need to talk,” Madame Bustier said when they parted, looking at Marinette with obvious concern. “I know that sometimes it’s hard to talk to your parents or even your friends. Whatever you need to say, I’d listen without judgment.”

“Thanks, Madame Bustier,” Marinette said quietly. Unfortunately, she couldn’t share anything. Master Fu had explicitly warned her and Adrien against telling anyone that they were – had been Ladybug and Chat Noir. Both for their own safety and for the safety of their family and friend’s. Hawkmoth wouldn’t hesitate to come after them for details about the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses.

Madame Bustier smiled at her. “It’ll be okay, Marinette. Really. Nothing lasts forever.”

But this would, and so Marinette merely gave a tight smile and nodded. “Right.”

“Do you feel like you can go back in or do you want to go home?” Madame Bustier asked.

‘Please come back in,’ Adrien thought desperately.

Marinette sent a pulse of comfort and reassurance back at him even as she shook her head. “I’m okay. Really. Things just kind of… overwhelmed me for a moment there. That’s all.”

“If you’re sure.” Madame Bustier patted Marinette’s shoulder and then opened up the classroom door.

They were just in time to see Lila walking over to Marinette’s empty seat. “Do you mind if I sit here for a moment?” she asked with a disarming smile. “I’d just like to see if I can see any better from this seat.”

‘What the hell,’ Marinette thought.

‘Why is she so insistent on sitting in your seat?’ Adrien thought back, somewhere between annoyed and confused.

Lila just kept standing there, smiling at Adrien. It was obvious that she was not going to give up too easily. Madame Bustier shifted behind Marinette and pointedly cleared her throat.

‘I guess you should say yes,’ Marinette thought. She didn’t know why Lila was so focused on that particular seat either, but she didn’t want Adrien to get in trouble for being rude to a new classmate.

“Sure, Lila, that’s fine with me,” Adrien said with a tight smile. Neither of them were prepared for Lila to let out a gasp and actually stagger backwards, one hand pressed to her chest. She stared at Adrien with wide eyes, and Adrien stared back at her in growing confusion.

“Lila? What’s wrong?” Alya said, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Adrien just said my words,” Lila gasped. “We’re soulmates!”