Chapter Text
Marinette watches the numbers click up on her phone one second at a time, trying to push down her anxiety. Her period is late, but there are lots of possible explanations for that. One, she’s far more physically active than anyone else she knows, and that can wreak havoc on a girl’s cycle. And two, she, as a part time teenage superhero, holds a lot more stress than your average person, which she knows can have similar effects.
The timer reaches two minutes and she finally lets herself turn around to the flat white pregnancy test sitting on the bathroom sink.
There are two blue lines.
She stares at them, uncomprehending. The very air around her seems to cave in on her, making it hard to breathe.
It isn’t possible! They were super careful. They both knew that they couldn’t have a baby. They were seventeen! They were superheroes who got thrown into buildings on a regular basis. She started the pill two weeks after they became intimate. And he used a condom every time she asked him to when she had forgotten to take a dose.
This couldn’t be happening!
She only took the test to rule it out. She didn’t actually think she could be pregnant. It had to be wrong!
She rips open the second test in the box. Surely it will say something different.
It doesn’t.
She’s pregnant.
Her throat clogs closed and tears spring to her eyes.
“Marinette,” Tikki coos, settling onto her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Tikki! I don’t understand! We did everything the way we were supposed to. How can I be pregnant? I can’t be pregnant! I’m Ladybug! I have to fight akumas! I’m supposed to start university in the fall!”
“You told me yourself, Marinette, that no method of protection is perfect.”
Marinette slumps onto the floor. She knows that on some level. But she never thought she would be the exception. “It’s not fair,” she sobs.
“You will get through this,” Tikki promises. “I’ll be with you the whole way. No matter what.”
Marinette wants to say thank you, but wracking sobs block her throat, and words are not possible.
She can’t say how long she sat there on the bathroom floor after she cried herself out. She still doesn’t move for a while because she literally doesn’t know what to do.
She needs to talk to someone.
She wants to talk to her boyfriend. Chat deserves to know probably before anyone. But she won’t see him for another three days unless there’s an akuma.
She wishes she could just call him, but she doesn’t know who he is. She supposes she can leave him a message on his baton, but she doesn’t know when he will see it. Plagg has never been as reliable at delivering messages as Tikki.
They’re pregnant and she doesn’t even know his name.
Another sob echoes through the bathroom.
She’ll have to tell him, she realizes, no matter the risk. And she’ll have to ask him who he is. Because she can’t face this alone. It’s not like she can go to a doctor’s appointment as Ladybug with Chat Noir in tow. News of her compromised vulnerable state getting out would be far more dangerous than a reveal between her and her partner. She can only imagine what Hawkmoth could do with that knowledge!
She will have to go as Marinette. And she needs him to be there. He has always been her anchor when she’s lost in the maelstrom, every low moment, every single time she’s convinced that she can’t keep moving forward.
What she would give to be fighting an akuma right now instead of staring down at a positive pregnancy test.
She wants to tell him first, to have him hold her and whisper that they would be okay. That they’ll figure it out like they always do.
Her and him against the world.
But she doesn’t think she can sit on this for however long it takes Chat to hear her message. And he probably will be just as panicked as she is.
She needs her maman.
…
Once she manages to stop crying, she crawls down to the bakery, which is thankfully almost empty. The Saturday morning rush is over, and the lunch rush won’t begin for another forty minutes or so. It’s almost like she planned it. She didn’t. Not at all. But her timing isn’t the worst.
“There you are, sleepyhead,” her maman greets with a warm smile. “I was beginning to wonder when you would grace us with your presence.”
Marinette tries to smile in return, but it feels forced, and her maman immediately frowns. “Are you okay, Marinette?”
Marinette immediately bursts into tears at the question. Her mother’s arms immediately wrap around her, rocking her back and forth.
“Marinette?” her papa calls from the back room. “What’s wrong?” he asks when he comes into the room beside them.
Marinette sobs harder. Her maman shakes her head. “I don’t know yet. I will take her upstairs. You okay here?”
He must have nodded because her maman is soon urging her back the way she came.
Once they’re alone, her maman turns to her again. “What’s wrong, Marinette?”
Marinette wipes her tears with her sleeve, and pulls away just enough to reach into her pocket. She grips the pregnancy test and holds it out to her mother.
Her eyes widen as she takes in the results of the test in her hand. Her gaze flashes back up to Marinette’s.
“You’re pregnant.” It isn’t a question, but it’s enough to send Marinette into devastated tears once again.
Her maman yanks her back into the hug and just holds her. “It’s going to be okay.”
Her maman leads her to the kitchen table and promptly starts rummaging around the cupboards - no doubt preparing a pot of tea.
“I thought you were on the pill,” her mother says once Marinette has stopped crying.
“I am! I don’t know what happened. I swear I rarely missed a day, and when I did we used a backup method for a whole week after.”
“You should stop taking it now.”
Marinette freezes. Are there possible consequences to taking birth control when already pregnant?
“Who’s the father?”
“I… I don’t know,” Marinette admits, biting her lower lip.
Her maman’s eyebrows rise. “How many partners have you had in the last month or two?”
Heat explodes in her cheeks despite her maman’s calm and accepting tone. “No! No! It’s not like that! Only one! I’ve only had one partner!”
“Dare I ask what kind of sex you’re having if you don’t know who the father is, but you’ve only had one partner?” Her maman’s tone is shockingly even, her attention seemingly on doling out honey into two small tea cups.
Marinette buries her face in her arms to hide her flaming cheeks. Her maman is making all the wrong assumptions!
“I’m Ladybug!”
The spoon clatters to the floor.
“Wh-what?”
“Chat Noir is the father,” Marinette barrels forward before she can lose her nerve. “I don’t… I don’t know his name. He doesn’t know mine either,” Marinette babbles. “It… it always seemed too dangerous.”
“You’re Ladybug?”
“Y-yes.”
Her mother sits down heavily in the chair opposite Marinette, but she doesn’t say anything.
Marinette scrambles to her feet, pours the tea into the two prepared cups, and brings them to the table as her mother always does when Marinette needs comfort.
Her maman immediately takes a huge gulp of her tea even though it’s likely still way too hot. Marinette drops back into her seat and waits, her shoulders tense, waiting for her maman to say something. Anything.
“You’ve been Ladybug all this time?” her maman finally asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
Marinette’s teeth presses into her bottom lip. She nods.
To her horror, her mother’s eyes well with tears.
Marinette launches herself to the other side of the table. “Please don’t cry, Maman.”
Her maman gathers Marinette into her arms and clutches her tightly to her chest. “I can’t believe you’re Ladybug. I’ve seen the footage. I’ve seen you thrown into buildings and struck by all sorts of powers. You could have been hurt or… d-died.” Her face crumples and she breaks into quaking sobs.
Marinette hugs her harder, not knowing what else to do. She has seen her maman this upset only once before when her grandmama passed away.
“I’m okay,” Marinette murmurs.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” her mother says, rocking her back and forth. “And you’re amazing! I’m so proud of you,” she says, pulling away with a watery smile. Her expression turns stern a second later. “You’re also grounded.”
Marinette laughs, seizing her mother in another hug. “You can’t ground me from fighting akumas.”
“God, how am I ever going to watch akuma coverage again?”
“Chat and I have never lost. Not once.”
They fall into silence once again, her maman stroking her hair that’s still loose around her shoulders.
“Tell me about Chat Noir.” Her voice is once again an oasis of calm and steadiness.
God, her maman is so strong, and Marinette is so glad because she needs that strength right now.
“Chat Noir,” she begins, and for the first time since she saw the results of her test, a carefree smile blooms across her face. “He’s the best partner in the whole world, Maman. I didn’t consider him romantically at first. But even in the very beginning, he was encouraging and he’s always been able to make me laugh. At some point I realized he was the person I could always lean on, who would always pick me up when things were at their lowest. And he became the person I wanted to see when I was stressed or upset at all. And he has so much trust and faith in me that I have to try to live up to it. I guess he just inspires me to try and be the best version of myself.”
Her mother rocks her softly as she gushes, and Marinette feels the heat rise to her cheeks once again.
“He sounds amazing.”
“I love him,” Marinette says, sitting up so she can hide her embarrassment in her teacup. She sighs as the comforting light flavor of oolong spreads across her tongue.
“I’m happy for you, Marinette,” her mother says, her smile never fading. “How long have you been dating?”
“Not quite a year. Our anniversary is next month.”
“I hope you will bring him by so we can meet him properly.”
Marinette smiles again. “Yes, of course, Maman. I was only keeping it a secret because he didn’t know who I was. And now—“ Her smile fades, and her gaze drops to her lap. “Now, I have to tell him because I can’t face this without him.”
Marinette’s head shoots up. “But you have to understand that you can’t tell anyone who he is! Even telling you now puts us more at risk and puts you more at risk and I’m so sorry. I just… I needed you and—“
Her maman’s comforting hand on her shoulder stops her spiral in its tracks.
“I will take on any risk to be there for you, Marinette. I love you and you are the most important person to me in this world. I’m glad that you told me.”
Marinette’s eyes well with tears. “Thank you, Maman,” she whispers, wiping her eyes.
Her maman takes a sip of tea. “How do you think Chat will take the news?”
“I mean, he’s never let me down before, but we’ve also never faced anything like this either.”
Her mother takes her hand. “It’ll be okay, Marinette. We will support you every step of the way no matter what you and he decide.”
Tears flood Marinette’s eyes once again, and she sweeps around the table into her mother’s arms.
“Thank you, Maman. I love you so much.”
Her gentle hand strokes Marinette’s hair. “I love you, too. Never doubt it.”
…