It Looks Like You're a Supervillain

The morning began as the previous night ended for Marinette, with a coughing fit. She braced herself on the stairs down from her bed, covering her mouth and trying to go unheard by her parents. The last thing she needed was for them to think she had the flu or worse, that Madelaine's plague was still active.

Her head wasn't spinning nearly as much anymore, likely thanks to the protection she received from her miraculous, but she still wasn't looking forward to running around all day.

She changed and made her way downstairs to the bakery, only to see a brown-haired woman standing in the kitchen, listening intently to her parents. But it wasn't just any random brunette; this was the woman who fought alongside Chat yesterday.

Her mother glanced over and nearly did a double take when she saw Marinette. Sabine smiled and waved her over. "Marinette, sweetie, come join us!"

Marinette walked over, eying the brunette woman with suspicion. "Hey… who's this?"

"This is Tessa, she's going to be working here part time on a trial period," Sabine explained. "I know you've been so stressed about school lately, and we wanted to take some of that pressure off you."

Tom grinned as well. He leaned in, as if telling Marinette a secret. "You'd be amazed at her cookies; they're almost as good as yours!"

Tessa covered her mouth and the laugh that came out of it. "Well I had an amazing friend teach me," she explained.

"So… we're staying open?" Marinette asked. "After what happened yesterday?"

"It's fine, Marinette; Ladybug and Chat Noir took care of it," Sabine assured her.

"But what if they come back? That didn't look like something Hawkmoth could do."

Sabine nodded slowly, more than used to her daughter's anxiety and paranoia. "If they do, Ladybug and Chat Noir will stop them again," she declared. "That's the thing about heroes; they never let a single hit get them down. And neither will we."

Marinette couldn't help but smile at that. Her parents believed in her, in Ladybug. She wouldn't let them down.

Tom clapped Tessa's shoulder, that bright smile never leaving his face. "Now, let's get to work! We open in half an hour. Marinette, can you show Tessa how to wind the bread twists?"

"Yep," Marinette said with a nod. "C'mon, Tessa, we've gotta wash up before we handle any food."

She expected to feel Tessa's eyes on her as she washed her hands. She was supposed to be learning from her, and that extended to everything in the bakery, even something as simple as hand washing. But it felt… different. It was like a pair of eyes bored into her soul, dissecting her very being.

Marinette turned back when she was done and saw Tessa looking, but the softness of her eyes failed to lend to the feeling Marinette got. She forced a smile onto her face anyway; she didn't want to seem rude. "Your turn."

As Marinette dried her hands, the feeling of being watched didn't go away, even though Tessa was looking down at her hands as she cleaned them. Marinette glanced over her shoulder to see her parents setting up the display case. Facing away from her.

"So-"

Marinette jumped, jerking her head back to look at Tessa, now done washing and drying her hands and standing right in front of her.

Tessa offered a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to know where to start."

"Right," Marinette breathed. "I'm… just a little jumpy today, I guess." She cleared her throat- hiding another cough- and walked over to the bakery's prep station. "So first, you're going to want to put flour on the counter. That'll keep the dough from sticking."

It took a few more breaths for Marinette to steady herself. She wasn't being watched. Madelaine wasn't attacking. It was just a normal morning at the shop and she was more than capable of handling it.

She and Tessa managed to work for a few hours before the other shoe dropped.

"That's one nasty cough you've got,' Tessa mentioned. Her eyes darted from the bread she was kneading to Marinette and back again. She didn't look up when she spoke again, voice somehow simultaneously hesitant and nonchalant. "Maybe you should take a break from being Ladybug for a little while."

Marinette's hands slipped, causing her to leave a palm-shaped dent in the bread dough. She couldn't move. Her heart raced and her legs felt like they were about to collapse out from under her. She had to do something. Why would Tessa ask that unless she was planning something? How did she know to begin with? Did Madelaine tell her?

Move, move- MOVE!

Her head jerked up, meeting Tessa's eyes. "What are you talking about?" That's right, Mari, play dumb. As long as she didn't admit to it, Tessa had nothing.

Tessa cleared her throat and leaned forward, reaching one hand out towards Marinette's ear. She couldn't help but jerk back, putting her hand up defensively to block Tessa's. Her heart raced in her chest, threatening to pound right out of it.

"So," Tessa said, pulling her hand back. "You gonna take a break? Let yourself heal?"

"Who told you?" Marinette demanded. "How did you find out? No one's supposed to know, the only ones are-" She caught herself. "None of your business."

Tessa pursed her lips for a moment, then went back to kneading the dough on the table. "I just don't want you to hurt yourself," she explained.

"I'm not," Marinette insisted. "But I still want answers. If you found me out, you owe me that. And you owe me an explanation on how you got to the school yesterday and were able to fight all those knights."

"There are some things you're better off not knowing, Marinette," Tessa replied. "Besides, I'll be out of your hair before you know it."

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows together. Theoretically, the claim should have alleviated her anxiety, but instead it spurred it. "What do you mean?" she asked. "You literally only just started in the bakery today. Why would you leave? Unless you're here to take my miraculous."

Tessa shook her head, a sigh escaping her. "I'm not gonna take anything from you by force," she promised. "But I do think they're putting you in danger now, and it's safer if you don't have them."

Marinette tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at Tessa. "Because I'm going to listen to a random woman I've met twice, who mysteriously showed up in the middle of a fight Madelaine started, and then at my parents' business. That's not shady at all."

At least Tessa had the dignity to wince at that. "Okay, so I know it looks bad-"

"It looks like you're a supervillain, and if you lay a finger on the people I love, I don't care how screwed up my powers are right now. I'll end you." Marinette looked Tessa up and down before returning to her work.

Marinette was torn between relief and unrelenting stress when she finally left the bakery. Relief that she was away from Tessa, stress about leaving her with her parents. Surely Tessa wouldn't try anything; she was probably already in her parents' records and would become the prime suspect if anything happened. She was smart enough not to do that, right?

Right.

Part of Marinette wished she didn't have to go to this press conference, or at least that she hadn't told her parents she had plans with a friend so they'd make her stay. Well, they probably wouldn't, but she could pretend.

Marinette ducked around the corner and in between buildings, checking up and down the street for any possible interlopers. Finding no one, she opened her jacket. Still no Tikki. Was she lost? Did Madelaine have her? The questions were yet another stressor on Marinette's mind as she fretted over her missing kwami. But… she was a god, right? That meant she'd be okay. She had to be.

"Spots on," she finally muttered to herself, and the familiar pink light washed over her with the increasingly familiar sense of discontent.

Immediately, a cough escaped Ladybug, and she hunched over, clutching her stomach. "C'mon Ladybug," she whispered to herself. "You can do this." She straightened her back and looked up to the sky before jumping up, landing on the roof above in a crouch.

A little bit of movement seemed to help, and even though she was out of breath, she made it to the roof across from the conference venue without falling into a coughing fit. She paused, taking a moment to collect herself.

"You ready, bugaboo?"

Ladybug jumped, surprised by the company. She knew Chat was coming; why did she feel like she'd just watched a horror movie marathon?

Chat clearly noticed, his eyebrows furrowing together as he reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, soft voice and gentle eyes reminding her that it was Adrien under that mask. "You still got that bug from yesterday?"

There was her kitty. She gave him a scowl and shoved his shoulder, but there was no strength behind it. "You're the worst."

"But you love me anyway."

Ladybug sighed despite herself. "Yeah, I kind of do. Both the guy who makes my knees go weak and the guy I can count on to catch me when it happens."

She watched as a little blush appeared over Chat's cheeks. "I was the other guy?"

"Yeah," Ladybug breathed. "The guy who apologized for a misunderstanding and gave me his umbrella. That was the other guy." She hesitated, not sure if she wanted to confess what was coming next. "And if it wasn't for him, I might've fallen for the guy who saves my butt every fight."

"Funny," Chat mused, looking down at the ground. "I was so focused on my crush on my amazing partner that I kept on telling myself that the brave, creative class representative at my school was 'just a friend.'"

Ladybug reached out, cupping Chat's cheek. When he looked up, she pulled him in, planting a soft kiss on his lips. It was heaven. It was a long time coming.

It didn't last long.

Suddenly, Ladybug pulled back, unable to hold back the need to cough in her chest. She folded over, hand over mouth, while Chat pulled her into him to support her. Slowly, he lowered her so they were sitting, letting her work through the fit.

When it was over, Ladybug felt almost as weak as she had with the plague, leaning against Chat for support.

"Ladybug, you need to go home and rest," Chat ordered.

She lifted her head. "Like hell," she declared, voice hoarse from coughing. "I'm not making you go out there alone and deal with… that. You shouldn't have to do this, to tell the world your mom is a danger."

Chat shrugged and shook his head. "Well, I'll get to exonerate my father in the same breath," he assured her. "This is my family and all the more reason I should be the one speaking. The only thing you need to do is go home and sleep."

Ladybug hated to admit it, but the proposition was tempting. Her bed called to her from across the city, beckoning her to return. At least she probably wouldn't fall into a coughing fit while she was asleep.

A flash in her mind like lightning of the cataclysm-like energy surrounding her hand yesterday settled it for her. What if it happened again? What if she couldn't summon her lucky charm? That had no bearing on the press conference but put an insurmountable weight on her mind.

"Are you sure you can handle it?"

Chat nodded, a gentle smile on his face. "Of course I can," he promised. "Go home and rest, and we'll meet again on Monday. Go to Master Fu and get this all worked out."

Ladybug nodded. "You can do this, kitty. I believe in you."

"Do you need me to take you home?" Chat asked. "It's not the end of the world if I'm a little late to the press conference; they'll probably just assume I was saving a cat stuck in a tree or something."

Despite herself, Ladybug snorted. "If there's a cat stuck in a tree in Paris, it probably is you, kitty. I'll be fine; we don't want anyone worrying more than they already are."

Chat let out a sigh, and Ladybug knew he was wrestling with himself whether or not to fight her on it. "Okay," he finally relented. "But if anything feels wrong, call me."

"Always," Ladybug declared. She reached up, kissing him on the cheek before backing away. "Go on. You've got work to do."

"Right."

Ladybug watched as Chat Noir jumped down from the building and entered the press conference venue, making sure he got inside safely before she turned and headed back to her house. How she made it back to her room without falling into another coughing fit, she wasn't sure, but the second she fell onto her bed, a round of hacking escaped her, her lungs on fire.

Gradually, the fits faded until she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Not gonna lie, panicked!Marinette was fun to write because she's got a history of not handling certain stressors well (such as the phone thing), and I think any sort of implied (or implied in her head) threat against her family would earn that knee-jerk reaction that makes her appear more her age, as opposed to the matured superhero act she has to put on as Ladybug.