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Beau and the Beetle	By : Cat_Eyes Category: +M through R > Miraculous LadyBug Views: 3721 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug. Miraculous Ladybug is the intellectual property of Thomas Astruc and released by Zag studios. No profit was made writing this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Prologue: Alya
- 2-Adrien
- 3-Felix
- 4-Bridgette
- 5-Adrien
- 6-Sabine
- 7-Bridgette
- 8-Alya
- 9-Adrien
- 10-Felix
- 11-Sabine
- 12-Bridgette
- 13-Alya
- 14-Felix
- 15-Adrien
- 16-Alya
- 17-Felix
- 18-Bridgette
- 19-Adrien
- 20-Sabine
- 21-Felix
- 22-Alya
- 23-Bridgette
- 24-Adrien
- 25-Sabine
- 26-Adrien
- 27-Felix
- 28-Alya
- 29-Bridgette
- 30-Adrien
- 31-Sabine
- 32-Bridgette
- 33-Felix
- 34-Alya
- 35-Adrien
- 36-Felix
- 37-Sabine
- 38-Bridgette
- 39-Adrien
- 40-Felix
- 41-Adrien
- 42-Felix
- 43-Adrien
- 44-Adrien
- 45-Adrien
- 46-Epilogue
- 12
- 13
- 14
Alya spent the weekend carefully tending to her small collection of plants. True to his word, Tom had delivered them the next day, wheeling the large bonsai around in a wheelbarrow.
Marlena had told Alya he’d put up a strong front, but his eyes swam the entire time he’d been there. Marlena had offered him a cup of tea, and a shoulder to cry on, but he’d declined, explaining he had to return to the bakery.
Alya admired her mother’s capacity for kindness. Unlike herself, she met Tom with compassion, thus assuring him of her ongoing support. Alya was left wondering if she had been adopted.
Nino slipped an arm around her shoulders. It was Monday morning, and they were standing together in the courtyard, waiting for Adrien.
‘I’m proud of you,’ he told her.
Startled, she glanced up at him. ‘Why?’
‘You gave Bridgette a chance, and now you no longer want to snap her in half.’
Alya huffed through her nose. ‘It’s no big deal.’
‘Considering how you reacted when she first arrived, I’d say it is a big deal.’
Unamused, she elbowed him in the ribs. ‘Don’t be an arse.’
Not to be deterred, Nino kept going. ‘I’m serious, Babe. You showed some real maturity last week, and look how well it paid off.’
‘I wasn’t nice to her in the hopes she’d give me Marinette’s stuff.’
‘That’s not what I meant. You set your initial dislike aside, and together you were able to do some major healing. You’ve both taken an important step.’
A blush crept up her cheeks. ‘Ok, ok. You can shut up now.’
Nino’s arm tightened. ‘Yes, Dear.’
‘Hey guys,’ came Adrien’s chipper voice.
‘Hey man,’ Nino returned, smiling broadly.
‘Yo, s’up twink?’ added Alya.
Adrien looked pained. ‘Please don’t call me that.’
Alya shrugged. ‘Whatever you say, Vanilla Bean.’
She knew he disliked the backhanded nicknames, but there was something about Adrien that demanded she tease him.
Nino ignored her in favour of moving on. ‘How was your weekend, Dude?’
He shrugged. ‘Father’s absent, Felix is a butt, and work just keeps piling up. So, fairly typical, I’d say.’
Alya winced. Adrien rarely spoke of his family or home life, but these little snippets did not paint a happy picture. She hoped his usual playing down the seriousness of the situation was genuine.
‘What about you two?’ he asked, clearly deflecting.
Nino shrugged, happy to let him steer the conversation into safer waters. ‘Just video games and homework.’
‘What a thrilling life you lead,’ Alya said, flatly.
Adrien then turned to Alya with a polite smile. ‘So, what did you get up to?’ he asked.
They sat on the ground in a loose circle, and she told him of her visit to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Adrien listened closely, nodding and humming at appropriate intervals.
‘I’m glad you and Bridgette worked things out.’
‘Yeah, me too,’ she sighed. ‘I honestly thought it was going to be so much worse when I saw Tom and Sabine again.’
‘Why’s that?’
Nino leaned forward. ‘They didn’t exactly part on the best terms,’ he whispered.
Adrien turned back to Alya with wide eyes.
She scratched her chin, feeling embarrassed. ‘Well, as you’ve probably heard, it took days for me to reach them after Marinette vanished. When I finally got through to them, I lost my temper. I’d been so worried, then they had the gall to tell me Marinette had been missing that whole time. I just lost it. I yelled that they should’ve told me sooner, that I had a right to know, and how dare they keep something like this from me. It wasn’t pretty.’
‘What did they do?’ Adrien asked, leaning in with wide eyes.
She shook her head. ‘They just stood there and took it.’
‘Seriously?’
‘You gotta understand,’ interjected Nino, ‘they were caught up in their own grief, utterly distraught. Plus, they probably felt bad for leaving Alya in the dark like that. Madame and Monsieur Dupain-Cheng are the nicest people you could ever meet.’
‘Did they explain themselves at all?’
Alya let out a breath. ‘They told me they were waiting on the findings of various investigators, magical and mundane. They’d hoped Marinette would be found soon, and all would go back to normal, I guess.’
‘But nothing was ever found,’ Adrien finished.
‘Nope,’ replied Nino, with a sad shake of his head.
‘Now it’s like they’ve given up all hope.’
The three of them startled at the new voice, then looked up guiltily at Bridgette. She sighed and shook her head, taking a seat between Nino and Adrien.
‘What makes you think they’ve given up?’ Adrien enquired.
Bridgette shrugged. ‘Little things. They don’t talk about her much, or mention the investigations. At first, I thought it was too painful, but after Alya came over, they just let her take Marinette’s stuff, and didn’t bring it up again.’
‘But Tom brought the plants over,’ Alya argued. ‘My mum said he was on the verge of tears the whole time.’
Bridgette shook her head. ‘I don’t doubt they’re in mourning. But wouldn’t you think worried, or grieving parents would talk more?’
‘Not necessarily,’ Adrien disagreed. ‘My father loved my mother more than anything, but he almost never speaks of her. Her death took something from him, and now he’s like half the man he used to be. Maybe your aunt and uncle are dealing with their situation similarly?’
Bridgette looked thoughtful. ‘Possibly, but our family had always been pretty open. About most things, anyway.’
Alya raised an eyebrow. ‘Most things?’
She shrugged. ‘Our mothers were cousins, Marinette and I. Technically, that makes us second cousins, but we were so close we didn’t bother with the distinction. But what happened was, our mothers fled their family in China, and came here. Our parents never speak of that time, and I only know because I was eavesdropping on my parents.’
‘Maybe that’s what Tom and Sabine are doing,’ suggested Nino. ‘They talk to each other about it so they won’t upset anyone else.’
‘That sounds like them,’ Alya agreed.
She was surprised. She had no idea the Cheng family had such a scandalous past, and she suspected that Marinette had no clue either.
‘So, why did your mums run away?’ Nino asked, bluntly.
Alya elbowed him in the side. ‘That’s none of your business.’
He glared back at her. ‘That’s rich, coming from the would-be journalist.’
‘Hey, even I know when not to pry into delicate matters.’
‘It’s ok,’ Bridgette interrupted them. ‘As I understand it, my great aunt and uncle are the heads of the family. They’d be Marinette’s grandparents. They own a very profitable business, and are among society’s elite. As such, they had unbelievably high expectations of Sabine and my mum. But rather than be controlled for the rest of their lives, trapped and depressed, they packed up and left. They were both disowned, and disinherited, as was my Grandfather Wang, who supported their flight. They all made lives for themselves here, but Marinette, my brother, and I were never acknowledged by the rest of the family.’
‘Holy shit,’ uttered Nino.
‘Damn,’ breathed Alya.
Adrien just nodded like he understood.
The bell rang, ruining the moment. They flinched at the sudden noise, then chuckled at themselves for their foolishness. They gathered their belongings, and followed their classmates upstairs.
As Alya took her seat, she felt like there ought to be more to the story than that. What Bridgette had divulged didn’t seem like enough to warrant fleeing to the other side of the globe. However, it was possible Bridgette didn’t know any more, and besides, second hand information was notoriously unreliable.
As Madame Bustier took attendance, Alya rested her chin in her hand. Despite the lurid past, it had nothing to do with the current situation. Sabine’s family had cut her off, and they had not spoken with each other for over a decade. They hadn’t wanted anything to do with Marinette either, so were unlikely to have had a hand in her disappearance.
Alya supressed a frustrated huff. Another dead end.
Bridgette's assumption that Sabine and Tom had given up still nagged at her, though. It was true that all mention of Marinette had stopped on the news reports, and online, but Alya had initially thought that the police were responsible for that. She didn’t blame the media so much, because she knew any story had a short lifespan as far as they were concerned. They didn’t make money rehashing old news, after all.
Chewing her pen, she thought hard on how to best tackle this new titbit of information.
The most obvious course of action would be to ask Tom and Sabine directly, but she would have to be discreet; not her strong suit.
She spent the rest of the lesson wondering how she could angle for another invitation to the bakery from Bridgette.
- 12
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Beau and the Beetle