Black Alley

Wayne Gala

Marinette paced around her room anxiously, her dress flowing against her newly shaved legs and her heels making a soft clack sound.
The beautiful dress was almost like a ball gown and took her a few days to complete, since she mostly worked on it at night, but she had felt so proud. The skirt was red, a homage to her job as Ladybug and to her Chinese heritage, but the bodice was a beautiful, lacey black. The colors transitioned near the bodice. The long sleeves were off the shoulders showing off more of her pale skin. Her hair was done by a professional and while it felt weird at first with all the product in her hair, she had felt beautiful by the end. Her make up was light, mostly eyeshadow, mascara, and lipstick, her natural blush already covering her cheeks perfectly. She wished she didn’t make the bodice a little tighter than fitted because now she was still having issues trying to calm her breathing.

"Marinette," Adrien called from the bed, "Calm down and breathe."

"Says the one not panicking," Marinette scoffed, biting the tip of her nail on her pointer finger.

"Come here," Adrien said, beckoning her over. Marinette sighed as she went over to the bed and sat on her boyfriend's lap.

"You can always tell your dad that you don't want to do this tonight. I'm sure he'll understand," Adrien said as he rubbed small circles on her lower back.

"No, I want to do this. I'm just nervous," Marinette said. “I’ll be with you the whole time. I won’t leave you unless you tell me too,” Adrien said. Marinette smiled and leaned her head down to kiss him when a knock at the door made her jump back in surprise.

“Come in,” Marinette said, getting off of Adrien’s lap and brushing down the skirt of her dress. Jason appeared in front of the newly opened door. “You ready, Pixie Pop?” he asked. Marinette offered her hand to Adrien, who took it with a smile as he got up. “Let’s go before I freak out more,” she said.

Marinette’s heart quickened as they neared the garden where the gala was hosted. She could hear the cameras clicking and the reporters asking her father questions.
“Hello everybody and welcome to the annual Wayne Gala,” there was a pause and the sound of rapid clicking from camera was being made. She could see Bruce smiling brightly. She had seen the same fake smile from Adrien multiple times.

“Thank you for coming to tonight’s events. It is very important to us at Wayne Enterprises to see everyone happy,” more cameras were going off. “Now, I’m sure everyone has heard the recent rumors about me,” Marinette could hear everybody holding their breath, waiting for his next words.

“So tonight, I am here to-” here it was, “confirm the news about my daughter.” The room exploded in gasps, in claps, in murmurs, with camera clicks in the background. Jason interlocked arms with her as she walked into the garden, Jason blocking her side from the reporters.

She saw Adrien slightly following Jason, trailing behind. Jason helped her up the stairs, where she went to stand with Damian. “Stand up straight and calm your breath,” Damian whispered, “You’ll be fine.”

If it weren’t for Marinette’s anxiety about being in front of a crowd, she would’ve been surprised by the fact that Damian had given her advice about something without sounding completely rude.

Marinette quickly fixed herself, following Damian’s advice. The lights hurt Marinette’s eyes. Maybe being Ladybug also helped with her eyesight because it had never hurt her this bad when she was doing interviews in her super suit.