Sued

Marinette flinched as Alya threw her belongings. Nino, Marinette and the rest of the girls, excluding Lila and Chloe, were sitting in Alya's room as the novice journalist had her melt down. Marinette was quick to catch a snow globe that Alya sent flying, while Nino tried to calm her down. In the end, Alya had just collapsed on the floor and just sobbed incoherently.

"So, what happened?" Asked Alix, prompting Alya to make a series of noises that could only be described as baby talk. If baby talk was done while crying and moaning how her life was over and she'd have to live in the middle of the woods and wait for a wolf to eat her.

Marinette bristled, chaotic meltdowns were her thing, not Alya's.

"Yeah, Alya, only dogs can understand you." Snarked Alix, as Alya let out a shuddery whine.

"You know that video that had Lila saying she was best friends with TDC's little sister?" Asked Juleka, making everyone look at her, "TDC got in contact and is now trying to sue her for house and home."

"But you posted a video insulting TDC and dissing his music." Rose pointed out.

"I have no legal address, so the bitch can't get me."

"But TDC wasn't even the subject of that video, Jagged Stone was." Said Marinette, as Alya slowly dragged herself to her wardrobe.

"He's a young celebrity, I think they're just touchy." Shrugged Juleka, as Alya accidentally knocked a pair of her shoes down from a shelf and hit her on the head.

"Speaking of touchy." Said Marinette, before looking at Rose and Myléne, "I need salted caramel ice cream, the Princess Bride, Alya's secret fox plushie that she totally doesn't sleep with, really soft blankets, the curtains to be closed and the doors to be locked, stat."

In a sudden flurry of movement, Nino suddenly found himself in a makeshift movie theatre, with the Princess Bride playing as the girls took turns to stick a spoonful of Alya's favourite ice cream into Alya's mouth. The last time Adrien or one of the guys had a break down, they all drunk as many sodas as they could until Adrien threw up. Nino frowned; they should probably come up with a coping method that didn't end with Adrien throwing up. Nino shook his head; he'll revisit that later.

Alya let out the occasional sob or sniffle as the film went on and by the credits, she'd fallen asleep.

"I'm going to call Skye and ask for her help." Said Marinette, quietly talking to Nino, "I know Mike's visiting and usually she isn't far behind."

"Who are Skye and Mike?" Asked Alix, making Marinette and Nino look at her.

"My older siblings," Said Marinette, "They're twins."

"Wait, you have siblings?" Gasped Rose, making Marinette look at her.

"Yeah, I have three, it used to be four." Dismissed Marinette, her tone stating the conversation was done.

S

Adrien groaned and tried not to breath to heavily, he'd snuck out the previous night and gone over to Luka's, where he, and the rest of his friends, tried strange flat soda called 'rum'. Adrien had drunk an entire big bottle and had thrown up into the Seine. He'd gladly let Myléne kill him, if his father didn't first.

"Spent too long socialising?" Demanded Gabriel, making Adrien jump and gag.

Adrien swallowed and looked at his father.

"I had a couple of sodas with a friend who's going on a tour with his dad." Confessed Adrien, "I was going to get him a card, but I forgot."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow, "And this soda was?"

"Rum."

Gabriel didn't move for a moment, before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Serena, please clear my schedule, Adrien doesn't know what Rum is."

Adrien froze, before he gagged again, and threw up all over the table.

"And Serena, bring a mop."

S

Adrien stared at the bottle his father had shown him. Adrien didn't know if he should be embarrassed or proud that he didn't know what Rum was and that he had his first drink while underage. Adrien didn't think underage drinking suited him; he was glad his father spent time with him. The new solicitor was going to meet them in a few minutes, Adrien had been told that a woman called Skye Cheng would be representing his father and the company.

Adrien jumped when he heard a knock on the door. Verity, Nathalie's latest stand in opened the door, "Ms. Cheng is here to see you, Sir."

"Good," Said Gabriel, getting to his feet, "Show her in."

Verity nodded, before leaving and returning with a short woman with brown hair, light skin and forest green eyes. Adrien stared at her, because she was a dead ringer for Marinette.

"Good afternoon, sir," Said Skye, "shall we begin?"

S

Marinette scowled at a tall man with shoulder length black hair and grey eyes. The man held Marinette's phone over his head.

"You're going to have to be better than that, Little one." Taunted the man, making Marinette glare at him.

Marinette swung her leg out and kicked the man in the shin. The man jumped as Marinette's foot hit him, but didn't release the phone. Marinette pouted at him, before looking down the stairs.

"Maman, Michael's stolen my phone!" Yelled Marinette, making the man scowl at her.

"Pot, kettle, black arse." Retorted Michael, before Sabine yelled up the stairs.

"Don't make me come up there!" Both Michael and Marinette flinched, their mother loved them more than anything in the world but neither wanted to be on the receiving end of her ire. Michael dropped the phone and ambled into the living room. Marinette glared at her brother's back, before he tripped over a stool and landed on his face.

"HA!" Yelled Marinette, before she spun on her heels and walked into a door.

Skye poked her head through and saw both Michael and Marinette on the floor.

"Do I want to know?" Asked Skye, rhetorically and carefully stepped over Marinette and Michael.

"No." Said the two, before Marinette sat up.

"Skye, I need your help with something." Said Marinette, getting a sigh from Skye.

"Marinette, you and I both know that you can't sue the mayor's daughter for 'being a bitch'. It's a waste of time and money." Dismissed Skye, quickly locating a seat.

"Yeah, that's bullshit." Argued Marinette, "But, it's not to do with that, one of my friend's is being sued by an artist because someone else mentioned them at the start of a video."

Skye froze, before looking at Marinette, "Is this to do with the Kitty Section-TDC incident?"

"Kind of? I mean, TDC is suing Alya because another classmate claimed to be friends with his sister." Elaborated Marinette, getting a frown from Skye.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Asked Skye, getting a confused look from Marinette, "Toby's going to be here some time tomorrow."

"What's Toby got to do with TDC?" Asked Marinette, getting incredulous looks from Michael and Skye.

"Okay, Mike, I owe you an apology," Said Skye, after a minute, "you are clearly no longer the dumbest one in the family."

S

Toby absently blew a bubble with his gum, scrolling through conspiracy theories on his phone.

"Hey, Jackaal," Said Toby, leaning back in his seat, "apparently aliens built the pyramids to hide giant emitters for something."

Jackaal, a Kwami thar resembled a jackal, sniffed, "Extra-terrestrials could never be so creative."

Toby hummed, before scrolling on his phone again. It pinged, making him groan, "Great, Karen's decided to start another lawsuit."

"You need to find a new manager." Said Jackaal, floating next to Toby's head, "If she keeps going, you might not get any work."

"I've already started looking for another one," Said Toby, looking at Jackaal, "it didn't help when she started dead-naming me."

"And you call me an animal." Sniffed Jackaal, turning his nose up.

"I caught you chewing your ass because my cat had fleas." Stated Toby, leaning forwards, "You literally told me that kwami couldn't 'get fleas'."

"That's beside the point." Hissed Jackaal, "Wynnter and Plagg are worse than me."

"Yeah, I still don't know what that's supposed to mean." Said Toby, before jumping to his feet, "What's taking so long? We should be there by now."

"The train stopped over an hour ago, you were on your phone." Said Jackaal, getting a groan form Toby.

"Oooh, Mike's gonna kill me." Murmured Toby, quickly grabbing Jackaal and stuffing him in his pocket.

"You know where to send my luggage." Said Toby, as he passed Karen, "Oh, and I want you to drop that lawsuit on that blogger person."

He didn't wait for Karen to respond, before bolting off the train.

S

Toby laughed as he spotted the Bakery, entering a skid so he could slide into the door on his knees. Toby face planted the door, it was then, he remembered the door opened out onto the street and not into the bakery.

He heard someone running down the stairs, Toby grinned up at Marinette, "Hey."

"Sorry, the bakery's close, we're having a family reunion." Said Marinette, before shutting the door and locking it.

Toby stared at the door as Marinette walked away. Michael appeared in the door's window and looked at Toby. The two held eye contact, before Michael opened the door and hauled Toby to his feet.

"What're you doing down there?" Asked Michael, as Toby entered the bakery.

"I tried to slide in on my knees." Muttered Toby, getting a smirk from Michael.

"Do a lot of work on your knees?" Asked Michael, struggling to keep a straight face.

"You're a dick."

S

Marinette slid down in her seat when Michael walked in with the man she'd locked out of the bakery.

"Toby reacquainted himself with the front doors." Said Michael, dropping into a chair, "It was hilarious."

"Marinette didn't recognise me." Protested Toby, as he perched on the arm of the sofa.

"She last saw you five years ago," Said Skye, her tone flat, "before you transitioned."

"Oh yeah." Toby dropped himself into an armchair, "I forgot about that."

"Idiot." Muttered Skye, getting a snort from Michael.

"Bitch." Retorted Toby.

"Dick."

"Cow."

"Whore."

"Slut."

"Twat."

"Cunt!"

"Okay," Michael got between Toby and Skye, "let's all take a deep breath."

Michael to a deep breath in through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, "Right, first point of call," Michael turned to Toby, "apparently, you're suing Marinette's friend."

"I am?"

"Yeah, some blogger girl."

"Oh, her," Toby straightened up, "That was Karen, my manager, I've told her to drop it."

"She hasn't." Said Marinette, holding up her phone, "She's sent another cease-and-desist letter to Alya, she's told Alya to take her blog down."

Toby sighed, before groaning, "I don't suppose you know any good managers who don't have any clients?"

"I'll look around." Said Skye, dropping into a chair, "Hopefully Maman didn't hear us in the bakery."

"I did." Called Sabine, as she and Tom put the cleaning supplies away, "Set the table, dinner should be ready now."

The four looked at each other, "How does she do that?" Asked Toby, dumbfounded.

S

Karen Jones smirked to herself as she walked up to the bloggers school. Christine was just confused, she'll stop taking those pseudo-science drugs, she'll understand why she's doing this.

"Karen?" Karen stopped at Christine's disgustingly deep voice, "What are you doing?"

"I am serving legal documents to the defendant." Simpered Karen, as a girl who appeared in that blogger girls video appeared at Christine's side, followed by two more people, Karen assumed they were her parents, "Oh, there's one now."

Karen shoved a document forcefully into Marinette's face. Marinette looked down at the document, before handing it to Toby, who handed it to Michael, who handed it to Skye, who tore it in half and walked up to Karen.

"Mdm. Jones," Skye's voice was cold and formal, "I am her legal counsel, and she will not be accepting any documents from you."

"She's some brat trying to profit off Christine's success." Snapped Karen, as Toby bristled.

"Obviously, not only are you deaf, but blind as well." Snarled Toby, stalking up to Karen, using it height to his advantage, "Neither she," he pointed at Marinette, "nor her friends will be receiving any legal documents now or ever!"

"Christine, you're just confused," Dismissed Kareen, trying to make her way past Toby, "She'll turn out to be a prostitute or drug addict in a few years."

Toby snarled and grabbed Karen's jacket, "If you keep insulting my sister, no one would be able to find your body."

Karen went white, "S-s-sister?"

Toby huffed through his nose, "Yes, this is my baby sister, Marinette. You know, the fashion designer."

Karen tried to form words but kept opening and closing her mouth like a fish.

"Oh," Said Toby, glared at Karen, "by the way, you're fired."

"W-what?"

"How else can I say it?" Pondered Toby, "You're being let go. Your department's being downsized. You're part of an outplacement. We're going in a different direction. We're not picking up your option. Take your pick."

"You, what, I," Karen spluttered, "you can't fire me!"

"I just did." Snapped Toby, stepping around her, "Now, if you'll excuse us, I have to embarrass my sister."

S

"Did you really have to 'Emperor's New Grove' her?" Asked Marinette, as Toby followed her to her class.

"Yep."

"Why?" Asked Michael, frowning at the back of Toby's head.

"It just felt right." Answered Toby, before kicking a door open.

Ms. Bustier looked up from her computer, as Toby did a somersault-roll into the room, "Hello, you wonderful eggs!"

"Is it too late to be launched into the sun?" Marinette asked Skye, who nodded.

S

Alya stared at the document Marinette's sister had put in front of her.

"This is a cease-and-desist order," Explained Skye, "This should get Mdm. Jones off your back and this," Skye produced another document, "is an application for a restraining order, which should prevent her from approaching you."

"And," Alya swallowed, "and this will stop those letters?"

"They should." Answered Skye, gently, "If you need some time to think about it, feel free to take as much time as you need."

Alya nodded, taking the documents, and put them in her bag, intending to discus them with her parents.