Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Arriving at school early this morning allowed me to sit and wonder about my latest problem. Nine days ago, something was pointed out to me. At first, I didn’t believe it, after all, how could something so incredibly unthinkable be true? When I got home that night, Tikki and I shared a good laugh at the absurd thought. We went to bed, and the next morning when I woke up, the idea didn’t seem nearly as crazy. I dressed in my usual attire and rushed off to school. There, I started paying attention and looking for signs that the crazy revelation might be real.

Nothing seemed off at first, but with each passing day, it became more and more apparent to me that it was true. What’s more, no one else seemed to notice. All of my classmates saw it every single day and none of them even bothered to bat an eyelash at the absurdity. How had I been so blind? I could barely process it.

Adrien of all people! How could he not know? If I knew, he must see it too, right? How were we both so blind to this before now?

I cursed Claire for pointing it out to me. She was just a random girl I met at the bakery. She’d been in my life less than five minutes and yet she shattered an image that I had of my world and there was no going back. She pointed out something I’d never noticed before, and now I couldn’t unsee it. Every single person that I knew wore the same exact clothes day after day.

It was earth-shattering! How could I not have seen it? It was so obvious.

Even I wasn’t innocent of this crime. I, the aspiring fashion designer, failed to notice this! I somehow had a whole closet full of clothes and yet always wore the same outfit. Every day it was the same thing: my black blazer over my favorite white shirt with the flower design, pink jeans, and my ballet flats. The realization that I literally wore this outfit all of the time sounded preposterous at first. Tikki and I couldn’t believe something so ridiculous, then we started paying attention. That’s when we realized that Claire had been right.

That’s when I decided to end the repetition and tried out a new outfit. I kept it simple, a pink shirt with white polka dots, blue jeans with a few assorted shapes patched on, and pink sneakers. A part of me wondered if anyone would notice my change in attire. After all, if no one noticed that we all wore the same thing every day, would they notice anything I wore? I didn’t have to wait long to find out.

“Whoa, Girl. You’re here early,” Alya teased. Her comment about my usual tardiness got pushed to the back of my mind. I had more important things to worry about. I watched my best friend and held my breath. After she got herself situated in the desk next to me, she looked over and did a double-take.

I sat up a little straighter. This was promising!

“Did you do something different with your hair?”

My shoulders sagged. Was she serious? My hair was the only thing I hadn’t change! I liked my pigtails.

I facepalmed, as she nudged me with her elbow, a sly smile consuming her face. “Is this a new plan to get Adrien to notice you, ‘cause I think it will work.”

I sighed in exasperation. “My hair is exactly the same, Alya.”

“Oh,” was all she managed to say. She scrutinized me with narrowed eyes. “But you did do something different, right?”

“Yes.” I didn’t say more, hoping she would notice it for herself. She couldn’t be this blind.

After a minute or so of studying me, her face contorted in defeat. “Um, new earrings?”

“No!” I snapped and immediately covered my mouth with a squeak. My outburst shocked her, and I quickly apologized. “Sorry, it’s just… how can you not notice? I’m wearing different clothes!”

“Oh.” She blinked several times before looking me up and down. “You look cute, but why are you changing your look?”

“Really?” I asked. Did she really think I was the weird one for wearing something different for a change? Seriously? “You realize we all wear the same thing every day, right?”

Alya arched an eyebrow at me. “As if any of us would do that, Girl.”

I should have expected this. I’d been the same way when Claire told me. It sounded too ridiculous to be true. I needed to get her to think about this. She couldn’t just blow the idea off. “Alya, what did you wear yesterday, and the day before that? When was the last time you saw Nino wear something other than his blue eyeball shirt?”

My best friend fell silent as she thought. I could see from the looks in her eyes that she was seeing the truth. I could practically hear the glass shattering as her view of the world changed. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed before studying the students walking around the courtyard. “No way!”

My mouth formed a thin line as my head bobbed up and down.

She turned back to me. “How did no one notice?” she asked.

I shrugged and waved my hands all over the place. “I don’t know!”

Her eyes darted back and forth as she processed this, then they locked onto me. “Wait, how did you notice?”

“Some random girl at the bakery told me.” I waved my hand in the general direction of the bakery for added emphasis. I could see the reporter in her preparing to bombard me with questions that I didn’t have the answers to, so I preempted them. “I just found out a little over a week ago. All I know is that we’ve been doing it for a very long time.”

Alya looked down at her lap, studying her preferred outfit. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”

“I didn’t believe her,” I exclaimed. Who would believe something so bizarre from a total stranger? “How could no one have noticed?”

“I bet it was an akuma,” she said while rubbing her chin. “It’s the only explanation.”

Admittedly, it did sound like something an akuma might do, but it also didn’t make a whole lot of sense. “Why would Hawkmoth create an akuma that makes everyone wear the same clothes every day?” What could he possibly gain from this?

“Why would he give Mr. Ramier the power to control pigeons on multiple occasions?” Alya countered, and it was a fair point. Hawkmoth didn’t always make decisions that made sense. Sometimes the villain could be downright devious, and other times it seemed like he was making things up as he went along. Still, an akuma doing this didn’t pose any danger that would draw Chat Noir and me out for a fight. Mr. Pigeon at least posed something of a threat. Sort of.

As the approach of the first bell drew nearer, the rest of the class filed in and sit at their desks. Now that I’d shared the secret of everyone’s wardrobes with Alya, I could find some humor in the situation. She studied each of our classmates as they entered. Each time, her eyes grew more and more shocked. Had I made the same faces when I first realized. I’d have to ask Tikki later.

After a while, my friend leaned over and whispered in my ear. “What do we do with this information? Do we tell them?”

“What good would it do?”

“Wouldn’t you want to know if it were you?”

Just as I started to answer that yes, I would want to know, Nino strolled in and gave Alya a one-armed hug. “What’s up dudes, what are you talking about?”

Alya and I shared a look, continuing our debate in silence. After a moment, we agreed to hold off on telling him just yet. “Fashion,” I said. Technically the truth.

Alya instantly backed me up. “Yeah, Mari is trying to come up with some new designs and was running a couple of ideas by me.”

“Awesome. I’m sure all of your designs are amazing, Dude.” Nino took his seat in front of Alya. As he did, Adrien entered the room, once again wearing his usual outfit of jeans, a black shirt with multicolored stripes across the chest, and an unbuttoned white collared shirt. He looked amazing, as always, but I wished I could see him in something else in person He was the only one I ever really saw wearing something different, but only in his various ads.

“Even you, Agreste?” Alya said louder than she meant to. Her hands jumped to cover her mouth, but the damage was done. Adrien heard and turned around with a quizzical look on his beautiful face.

He chuckled as he looked between the two of us. “What did I do?” he asked. His green eyes lingered on me longer than they usually did. My cheeks grew warmer the longer his gaze burned into me. Did he notice my new outfit?

He didn’t. At least, he didn’t say anything.

“Even you are looking good today!” Alya lied, then gave me a devious smirk. She leaned in and pretended to whisper conspiratorially. “Marinette thinks she’s having a bad hair day.”

My mouth fell open as I stared at her incredulously. I liked my hair!

Adrien spoke up before I could defend myself. “I think your hair looks great, Marinette.”

I felt like I’d melt. “Thank too. You look nice you.” I groaned and tried again. “Thank you. You look nice too.”

He smiled and fell into conversation with Nino as Alya’s eyes gleamed with pride.

When Chloe arrived, she noticed me out of the corner of her eye and stumbled to a halt. Her left hand cupped her right elbow as she held it up and pointed with her right hand. “There’s something different about you.”

Of all the people to notice, of course, it would be Chloe. For the first time ever in my life, I waited to hear what she had to say.

“You finally learned how to apply make-up!” She gave several little claps before continuing. “It’s about time.”

I scoffed at her. “I know how to apply make-up! That’s not what’s different.”

Chloe shrugged and took her seat.

“But something is different!” Rose chimed in from behind me. She and Juleka both studied me as if I were some piece of art on display. It made me uncomfortable, which only grew worse as all eyes in the room started staring at me. The entire class began bickering about whether or not there was something different about me, but no one seemed capable of noticing my outfit.

Alya and I watched the feverish debate for several minutes before I couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m wearing a new outfit!”

Everyone fell silent, their eyes studying me.

“Statistically, that can’t be it,” Max announced and a chorus of voices agreed with him. I couldn’t believe none of them could tell.

“How do none of you see this? You all wear the same outfit every single day! That’s not normal!”

Chloe scoffed from the front row. “That’s utterly ridiculous!”

“Do you really feel the need to lie to get attention, Marinette?” Lilla commented from the back. I grit my teeth as the liar lectured me about lying.

Unfortunately, the rest of the class echoed her statement to varying degrees.

As always, I could count on my friend. Alya jumped to my aide. “She’s telling the truth! Just look at these pictures.” She held her phone up for everyone to see and scrolled through her pictures from the last year. Every single person wore the same outfit they always did in all of them.

Mrs. Bustier arrived after that, preventing the conversation from continuing even further. A silence fell over the room as everyone readied their notebooks. I hoped they were realizing that I was right. I didn’t want to be an outcast for this, and yet, for the rest of the day, my classmates avoided me. Only, Alya and Nino would talk to me, and no one dared mention the outfit thing again.

When classes ended for the day, Chloe decided to make one more comment as she walked by my desk. “The same clothes every day, as if!”

I groaned and let my head fall to my desk. Why had I stood up and opened my mouth? I should’ve just kept it to myself.

A hand rubbed my back reassuringly. “Hey, you tried, girl. They’ll come around,” Alya said.

“Thanks. You believe me, right?”

“Of course I do, and I’ll be wearing something different tomorrow to prove it. I can’t believe how many options I have in my closet that I’ve never tried before!”

Her excitement gave me a much-needed boost, and it was nice knowing I wasn’t alone in this. It made this whole mess feel less weird. We left school and walked to my house. The whole way, Alya discussed what she’d wear tomorrow. When we arrived, Maman and Papa asked the usual questions about school: How was our day? What did we learn? Those sorts of things. We answered as best we could without mentioning the whole clothing debacle, even they hadn’t noticed my new outfit. After recounting the day to them, Alya headed home and my parents put me in charge of the store while they handled a delivery. I set my backpack behind the counter to stand behind the register. With the store empty, I began planning what I’d wear tomorrow and fell into daydreaming about Adrien and what he might wear, and how good he’d look. The front bell chimed, snapping me out of my visions and I found Adrien standing there with a sheepish grin.

“Hey, Marinette.”

Panic immediately set in. “ADRIEN!” I exclaimed. Why was he here? “How are you doing help? What can I here you?” I stumbled over my words in embarrassing fashion, as usual. All the while, Adrien just stood there, perfectly perfect until I got the words sorted out properly. “I-I mean, what are you doing here? How can I help you?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I, uh, wanted to talk to you about everyone wearing the same clothes every day.”

My heart skipped a beat. “You don’t think I’m making it up, do you?”

“No!’ he exclaimed, waving his hands erratically. We both froze for a moment before he cleared his throat and continued, “I wanted to know how you found out about that. I mean, it seemed like no one wanted to believe you. Even I had a hard time believing it at first, but the more I thought about it….”

I leaned over the counter a little more. “The more you realized it was true?”

“Exactly. Can you forgive me for not believing you from the start?”

I shrugged. “There’s nothing to forgive. I didn't believe it at first either.” I proceeded to tell him what I’d told Alya that morning.

He listened intently, a serious expression on his face. At the end of the story, he rubbed his chin. “You’re sure she wasn’t an akuma?”

I nodded once. “Positive. She looked completely normal, nothing like the crazy outfits they usually wear. Besides, what good would she do as an akuma?”

He hummed for a moment before a car honked outside. He waved at his bodyguard before addressing me again. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tomorrow. I liked your outfit by the way.” He turned to leave but hesitated for just a moment at the door. “I wonder what my father would say if he realized.” He chuckled and I thought I would die. With that, he waved goodbye and got into his car. I sighed and held my head in my hands as I watched the vehicle drive away.

The bell chimed once more and in walked Claire, the girl who had changed the way I saw my world. She was still here! I gaped at her as she strode up to the counter with a smile on her face and her eyes shining brightly. “So,” she stated casually, “How’s life?”

“Are you an akuma?” I blurted out. Looking at her again, I highly doubted the fact. Her clothes weren’t of the vibrant, bizarre nature of an akuma. In fact, her outfit looked like something I’d designed once.

“Nope, just someone who wanted to see how you’d react, and someone who loves your parents’ baking.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a wallet. “I’ll take ten of every cookie you’ve got.”

I blinked several times. How could she be so nonchalant about this? A week ago she shared something that shattered how I viewed the world, and here she was as if nothing ever happened. In a daze, I filled the order. I placed each box in a neat stack on the counter. After paying, Claire took one of the macaroons out and offered it to me. “For your purse, with love.”

She said it in such a completely natural tone that I almost accepted it as normal. It took me a moment to understand the implications of her offer. I froze and stared at her in horror. How did she know about Tikki?

She patted my hand that still hovered over the counter with the cookie and offered a reassuring smile. “Relax, Marinette. I’m not going to tell anyone anything.” She removed a DVD case from her purse and slid it across the counter to me. Miraculous Les Aventures de Ladybug et Chat Noir. At first, I thought nothing of it, I’d seen plenty of Ladybug merch from the movie, then she flipped it over and my face was on the back. Not Ladybug’s, but a mask-less, cartoon Marinette. In an instant, I flipped the case over. Why was it my face? I studied the calm blue eyes before me, where had she come from, and where had she gotten this. Were there more?

“Who are you?”

“I’m just someone who has been watching your story unfold since I was very little. I love Ladybug and know everything about her, Chat Noir, and even Le Papillon,” She spoke with so much sincerity in her voice I struggled not to believe her words were anything but truthful. “So tell me,” she continued, “what else do you want to know about your world?”

Chapter Text

The door chimed, announcing another customer's arrival and I quickly slipped the DVD case under the counter before anyone else could see it. I didn't dare take my eyes off the strange girl in front of me. How much did she really know?

Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to ask her when a foreign, yet completely familiar voice shouted her name. "Claire!"

Claire whipped around. I couldn't believe what I saw. It was another me! There was a second Marinette. What was going on?

In a flash, Claire rushed over and lifted the other me's left arm and examined the silver charm bracelet there, one that I noticed matched her own bracelet. The other Marinette gave the girl a hard stare through narrowed eyes. Her mouth formed a thin line and Claire lost some of her confidence. "Yep, you're mine. Heeeeyyyy, Mari." She gently put the arm back where she found it and lightly punched Other Marinette's shoulder. "What are you doing here?" She looked like she'd just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Keeping an eye on you. I told you not to mess with her, I mean me, I mean us. Maybe." She shook her head, then looked up at me with an apologetic stare. At least she seemed to be a bit confused by this as well. Though she was handling it better than I was. We were? Oh, this was confusing!

How could there even be another me! Was this another time travel thing? Or maybe a Sentimonster? I doubted it was an Akuma, neither of their outfits was gaudy enough for that.

The other Marinette focused on Claire and crossed her arms. "You told me your father didn't like interfering with other people's stories."

Claire frowned and waved dismissively as she walked back up to the counter. "Well he's not here, and I followed that rule with you, and it killed me. Maybe just let me tell her about Le Papillon." She brought up her fists and hopped from foot to foot while taking a few practice swings. "At least let me go beat him up. I can take that jerk!"

The thought of knowing enough about Le Papillon to be able to not only identify him but go and confront him shocked me, but didn't faze Other Marinette in the slightest. If anything, she looked exasperated.

"No," she said flatly.

Claire faced Other Marinette and held her hands up in prayer as she pleaded. "Oh come on, please. I didn't get to help with your version."

And that explained why knowing about Le Papillon didn't faze Other Marinette. She'd already dealt with him. Was she from the future? Was Bunnyx involved with this somehow? I peered out the windows, looking for her ears.

"No." Other Marinette said, repeating herself.

This didn't deter Claire, who looked back to me as she continued. "I'll punch him so hard he'll be seeing stars. Because he's in orbit. Around Pluto."

"Claire," Other Marinette sighed. She took a hesitant step forward and put a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

Claire spun around to face her. "You know I'm not exaggerating. I'll do it."

Other Marinette held her forehead in her hand as she nodded. "I know. Please don't."

I held up a finger. "I have some questions."

Claire bounced excitedly. As she returned to the counter. "Do you want to know Le Papillon's identity? Chat Noir's?"

Other Marinette sprung into action before I could ask who Le Papillon really was. She slapped a hand over Claire's mouth. "You are not telling her that!" she hissed.

Wait, which identity was Other Marinette referring to? Chat's or Le Papillon's?

Claire wiggled free of her grasp and pointed a finger in her face. "I don't care if you are part of my ship, don't mess with my ship." Claire grabbed Other Marinette's shoulders and shook her. "The Love Square, Mari! Think of the Love Square."

What even was a love square? I understood a love triangle, but how could you have a square? Did each person love a different person? If so, could any of them have a happy ending? I didn't think so.

Other Marinette slipped out of the blonde's grip and staggered backward. "You and that square of yours. How can it even be a square with only two people?" she asked, straightening out her clothes.

Okay, so that threw my theory out the window. How could you have a love square with only two people?

"Two people, each with two identities makes four, meaning it's a square." She held up her fingers as she spoke and wore a smug grin when she'd finished like she'd won some massive argument, but I still didn't get what she meant.

Other Marinette switched her focus to me. "What did she tell you?"

I pulled at the sleeve of my shirt. "She pointed out we wear the same clothes every day."

Relief flashed through Other Marinette's eyes as she nodded. "That's not so bad." She chuckled. "Freaky right?"

"Yeah. She also said I'm a TV show."

As soon as I started that sentence Claire grit her teeth and made swiping motions across her throat, but it was too late. Once the words left my lips, Other Marinette made a face and slowly turned to face Claire, who dropped her hands to her sides and stared out the window, doing her best to look innocent.

"Claire."

Claire jerked her head to meet her gaze and I could see fear dancing in her blue eyes. "Yes, best friend?"

"You told her about the show?"

I removed the DVD from hiding and offered it up as evidence. "She brought a DVD."

"You brought a DVD." She held out a hand without taking her eyes off Claire. "Can I have that please?"

I handed it over. Other Marinette studied it for a moment before shouting and smacking the other girl's shoulder. "Are you trying to cause problems?"

Claire seemed to take offense to that. She leaned forward and gestured wildly. "Hey, I'm not the one who came in and revealed herself to herself."

She had a point there. "She's right. I can deal with a weird girl pretending to spout knowledge of my life, but seeing another Marinette is a bit weird." Though, as I thought about it, this wasn't the first time. Not even the second time. "Not uncommon, but weird."

Claire coughed and offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry, but if we want to get technical, you're the other Marinette in this scenario." She pointed her thumb at Other Marinette. "I met her first."

Other Marinette nodded and my mouth fell open. "How are you okay with all of this?"

She shrugged and looked rather unimpressed as she nodded toward the excitable blonde. "Honestly, it's not the weirdest thing I've experienced with her."

Claire beamed and rocked back and forth as if she'd just received the best compliment ever. Her face grew more serious as she stopped swaying. "Now can I tell her about the Love Square?"

"No! It needs to happen on its own!"

Claire stamped her foot. "But that takes forever."

"Can't you just be happy that I'm with …" Other Marinette paused and looked at me and cleared her throat. "That I've sorted out my Love Square."

Claire chewed her lip. "But she hasn't, and you're one of my best friends and I can't rest knowing you're not as happy as you could be, even if that you isn't you but another you."

Other Marinette didn't seem confused by that sentence. It took me a moment to follow. I think she was talking about wanting to help me be happy because I was her friend, even though I wasn't her Marinette.

"That's very sweet, but you've got to let it go."

Claire pouted and twiddled her thumbs. "Okay, maybe I don't tell her all of it. Can I at least tell her about MariChat?"

"What's MariChat?"

Other Marinette's cheeks flamed red as she answered. "You don't want to know."

"Yes, she does!" Claire exclaimed, sounding almost desperate. Then she leaned closer to me and spoke in a low voice. "You really, really do." She ended by winking at me.

The outburst earned her a glare from Other Marinette as her entire face from the neck up went red. Even though I didn't know exactly what she was talking about, her behavior suggested something very adult. My own cheeks reddened at the implications.

Claire's shoulders slumped as she faced Other Marinette. "Is there anything I can tell her?"

Other Marinette crossed her arms and firmly shook her head.

Claire pouted. "This is why I should have brought Chloe. She'd pay me to tell her."

"Wait, Chloe Bourgeois?" I asked in disbelieve. This girl couldn't actually mean my rival, could she?

"Oh yeah, she's awesome. You should really be friends with her. Sure she's a bit abrasive at first, but she's good at heart. Really, really deep down, true, but she's worth the work. Trust me."

I arched an eyebrow at Claire and peered at Other Marinette for confirmation. Surely she wouldn't agree to befriending our arch-nemesis. The one in school, anyway. Chloe was awful to deal with and I couldn't imagine what being friends with her might be like.

Other Marinette surprised me by nodding. "I couldn't believe it either, but she's a pretty good friend when you get to know her. Being Queen Bee helped ground her in a lot of ways."

"Spending time with people who didn't put up with her crap also helped." Claire thought for a moment then added. "And getting her away from her dad. That helped a lot too. He's really not good for her, though he's not the worst dad in Paris."

Other Marinette elbowed Claire's side in the blink of an eye. Hard.

Claire crumpled in on herself and glared at her assailant. "RUDE!"

Other Marinette didn't seem too concerned. "I've seen you get hit by worse."

"In a fight! Not from a friend." She continued to grumble as she rubbed her wound. "Chloe would've made this fun. She'd love to watch you freak out over learning Adrien is Chat Noir all over again."

Other Marinette's eyes went wide. She berated the blonde who smirked proudly while my brain ceased to function.

Adrien was Chat Noir. Adrien was Chat Noir. Chat Noir was Adrien. The boy I liked, liked me but not me, the other me. I kept turning down the boy I liked who liked me for the boy I liked who didn't like me.

Claire's voice broke through my stupor. "And there it is. Marinette-dot-exe has stopped working."

I barely managed to process the sympathetic look Other Marinette gave me as she asked, "Was I really that bad before I knew?"

Claire smirked. "Yep."

Now the love square thing made sense. I loved Adrien. Adrien as Chat Noir loved Ladybug. Ladybug, as me, loved Adrien.

Claire leaned against the counter. "Do you know how addictingly obnoxious it was that you two loved each other but couldn't fall in love with each other because of each other?"

Unable to find my voice, I looked to Other Marinette.

She nodded. "I know how you feel."

"But he—"

"Yep."

"And I—"

"Mhmm."

Other Marinette's sympathy helped me calm down. If she made it through this then obviously I could too. I could get through this. I could actually date Adrien! My face flushed at the thought and I wanted to squeal.

Then Claire snickered.

I focused on her. "What's so funny?" How could this Earth-shattering girl still have more tricks up her sleeve?

She pulled another macaroon out and handed it over. "You still haven't figured out one last piece." Claire's gaze shifted from the cookie to my purse.

Why would she look at my purse— Tikki! My eyes went wide. Tikki knew Chat Noir was Adrien all this time! And she never told me! "Tikki!" I stared at my purse, waiting for an answer.

My kwami peered out from hiding with a bashful grin. "I thought it was best for you to find out on your own." Suddenly bolder, she flitted out of hiding to hover by my head and stare down the other two. "How can you be allowing this?"

Other Marinette's mouth fell open before she sprung to her defense. "I tried to stop her! She's relentless. You have no idea!"

Another Tikki flew out of Other Marinette's purse and came to her chosen's defense. "Don't be too hard on Marinette, Claire really is quite difficult."

Again, the blonde smiled like she'd just received a compliment. "Oh stop it, you're making me blush." She placed one hand on her cheek and used the other to fan herself. "And let's face it, this is not the worst thing I could be doing with my time. I could be writing fan fiction."

Other Marinette shook her head. "No, at least then your meddling wouldn't mean anything. Instead, you prefer to actively meddle."

Claire smirked and shrugged nonchalantly. "What can I say, I prefer a more hands-on approach." She switched her gaze to me. "Apparently I get that from my dad.

The corners of Other Marinette's lips twitched into a smile. "She does."

The way Other Marinette smiled made me think of something. Claire knew way too much about all of this. Maybe it was because she'd seen it as a TV show, or maybe there was more to it than that. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. I knew two people who had those features and if they had a kid, she could feasibly look just like her. I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat as I looked between the two girls before me. "Wait, are you her, I mean our… I mean, is she our daughter with Adrien?"

Other Marinette and Claire's eyes went wide as they exchanged glances and for just a moment I thought I had my answer, then they burst out laughing. "Oh God, no! Emma would be far more behaved than her."

"Hurtful, but true," Claire said between giggles.

"Then why did you smile at the mention of her father?"

Other Marinette shrugged. "He's a good man, and he changed my life for the better. If not for him, I wouldn't have met her." She pointed her thumb at Claire, who immediately placed a hand over her heart as she all but melted while adoration sparkled in her eyes. She really did care about Other Marinette, or I guess us.

Other Marinette continued on. "I also wouldn't have gotten the amazing summer I had with my team, or started dating Adrien when I did. I wouldn't even be friends with Chloe, which I'm sure sounds so bizarre to you," she paused and I nodded.

It sounded beyond strange to me. I couldn't fathom how Chloe and I could be friends. It just didn't compute for me. We were so different and she was just so awful.

Other Marinette smiled as she pulled out her phone and showed me her background. It was a picture of her, Alya, Adrien, Nino, and Chloe standing shoulder to shoulder with their arms wrapped around each other and bright smiles on their faces as they stood in front of some Parisian restaurant. What surprised me most was Chloe's smile. It wasn't flashy or showy or fake. It was soft and real and genuine as she stood in the center of the group. She looked truly happy. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to be her friend as I first thought if it could make her smile like that. Maybe there was more to her than I realized. I'd have to keep that in mind.

Other Marinette put her phone away and her Tikki followed it. "But to me, it sounds so bizarre to think of her not being in my life like she is now."

Claire wore a fond smile as she watched the phone disappear. "That was a good day."

Marinette both nodded.

"Now where were we?" Claire turned to me with a smirk. "I believe there was talk of MariChat?"

"And we're leaving now!" Other Marinette's face flamed red as she latched onto Claire's arm and attempted to drag her toward the door.

Claire planted her feet firmly and waved her free hand dismissively as she grabbed the boxes of cookies to shove into her tiny purse that they had no right fitting into. "Yeah, yeah, but first I'm punching Le Papillon right in his stupid face and you are not stopping me."

Marinette sighed and her shoulders sagged. I think we all knew there was no winning this fight, and deep down, we all wanted her to. "Fine. One punch."

I understood why they both disliked Le Papillon, he was a villain after all, but they both seemed to have extra hatred for him. I didn't miss how both of them scowled when he was mentioned, or the way Other Marinette's hands flexed into fists momentarily. They really hated him, which just made me wonder who he was behind the mask. This anger almost felt personal. It worried me.

Claire jumped for joy. "Yay!" She then proceeded to roll up her nonexistent sleeves and did a few more test jabs at the air. "If I only get one, I'm going to make it a good one." She turned and waved over her shoulder as they left the bakery. "By other Marinette, see you around sometime!"

I waved after the pair, completely dumbfounded by what I'd just learned. How had she managed to reveal something even more Earth-shattering than the fact everyone wore the same clothes every day?