The Suitress ~Daminette Betrothed AU~

Chapter 4

Marinette was talking to Alix as they walked out of the school, it was the middle of the week but there was no school until Monday.

"See you later, Nettie!" Marinette loathed any nickname her classmates gave her, she prefered her full name. The long weekend was a welcomed break from the boring monotony of Ms. Bustier's class. Marinette waved goodbye to the girl as she walked home, anxious, she had been waiting on a letter from Damian for days.

The mailbox was empty but Marinette knew that if it wasn't there it was in her room, waiting on her desk. Marinette ducked into the bakery to grab some snacks for Tiki before heading to her room, she was given the day to rest. The weekend would be spent training and in tutoring so she had the night to get ahead on all ongoing projects and assignments.

The bluenette made her way up the stairs and into her apartment before immediately heading to her room, square in the middle of her desk was an unopened letter with a soothing, tilted script on it. Just as she was about to open it someone barged into the apartment bellow her, it was her 'friends' and 'parents', she had forgotten about the sleepover! The young assassin quickly stashed the letter with the others before heading down to greet Alix, Alya, Rose, Julika, Milene, and Lila.

The group was immediately ushered into her bright pink room where they placed blankets and pillows across the floor and set up for the night. Marinette gave an apologetic look to Tom and Sabine with the discreet promise of working twice as hard once the girls left before following the girls to her room. It wasn't until Rose spoke from near Marinette's bulletin board that she began to pay attention.

"Sorry, I spaced out for a second! What did you say?" Everyone laughed at Marinette as Rose repeated the question,

"Who are these people? In the class picture with the uniforms?" Marinette mentally chastised herself for making her second slip up of the day, she forgot to take the picture down in her rush to hide the letter and Damian would be calling soon. Marinette had to come up with a lie on the fly, something that would be rude to pry about...

"Oh, it's a class picture of an old friend, from when I used to live on the coast." Most of the girls nodded in understanding but Alya and Lila just looked confused,

"I thought you were born in Paris." Alya mentioned and Marinette smiled softly.

"I-it's not something I like to bring up, I had cystic fibrosis when I was born. I couldn't breathe properly, so the doctors recommended I stay closer to the coast while I waited for a match."

"A match?" Lila looked sincere,

"I had to get a lung transplant at 8 and moved back to Paris when I was ten, my parents stayed here to look after the bakery and my Nona moved with me to Saint-Jean-de-Luz where I was in and out of the hospital until I got the transplant. By the time I was five I practically lived in a hospital bed, they arrived around my sixth birthday- cancer. We stuck together, best friends. We've kept in touch but they moved to the states so we can't see each other much." No one had ever heard her talk about it longer than she had to, Rose asked the question everyone wanted to,

"Who is it?" Marinette got up and pointed between a girl and Damian, they were too small to see but they dropped the subject after that. No one noticed her call Damian when she went to the bathroom.

The rest of the sleepover went smoothly, everyone left by noon the next day, except for Lila- she hung back for a minute to talk to Marinette.

"I don't want to sound mean but were you really sick or..." Marinette pulled her shirt down to show part of her old scar, Lila hesitated but hugged Marinette.

"I'm glad I know, see you Monday." Marinette waved goodbye as she left before letting her smile fall and went to go train with Master Fu.

Training was cut short because of an akuma, but if she was lucky she could handle it before Chat arrives. Marinette didn't know why Master Fu gave the ring to a random person, and Adrien Agreste definitely wouldn't have been her first choice but 'balance had to be maintained'. The bluenette had been working on finding another solution because he was clearly abusing the miraculous, and to her satisfaction Master Fu agreed to her plan.