Marinette was always impressed by her own life. She envied the girl in the pictures. She was beautiful, self-confident and loved her friends, who loved her too. If they say paper is patient, what is social media?
The charity event had been boring and draining, but the girl in the pictures had had a night of partying. It all felt even stranger because the girl in the pictures was constantly writing and commenting on things that Marinette didn't find worthy of attention.
Marinette had never controlled her media presence, she didn't even have the passwords to the accounts. At some point, she had created an account with which she did nothing but follow herself.

When she got home that evening, she was restless and exhausted at the same time. The two feelings blocked each other. Like when you're too tired to eat but too hungry to sleep.
She twisted the ring on her finger restlessly, but Plagg was already asleep in her pocket and she didn't want to wake him.

When she woke up in the morning, she had the feeling that she had never slept, her body felt as heavy as lead. A glance in the mirror told her that she had been tossing and turning all night. Her hair was a rat's nest and even an hour's work would produce no better result than a long braid.

When she was finally ready, her chauffeur was already waiting for her and so she skipped breakfast.

She stopped in front of the door to her class, her bodyguard gave her an encouraging smile. She took a deep breath and smiled back.
She knew no one in the class could be dangerous to her in any way imaginable and she didn't really care about any of them, but she was still a little scared. It was her chance to make friends, she wanted them to like her.
That made everything so much harder. Her heart was pounding in her throat and her hands were sweating. She wanted to smile and be friendly, she wanted to be the girl in the pictures, but she was not.

She opened the door and went to her seat, by now her classmates had got used to her and there was no longer an oppressive silence when she entered the room. She lowered her head and rummaged in her bag for the sketchbook to hide behind.

'Hello Marinette!' her seatmate greeted her. It was friendly and when she looked into her face there was a genuine smile.
'Hello.' She replied quietly, but then she wasn't sure if she had said it too quietly.
Should she say it again, or would it sound strange if she said it twice?
She smiled at the person sitting next to her. Her model smile, the smile from the photos with the most likes.

The smile on the girl's face disappeared and she raised her eyebrows. 'Are you all right?' she asked.
Was there something wrong with her smile? Was there something wrong with her? It was all much more difficult here.
'Everything's fine, thank you!'

'I'm Alya, by the way.' Said Alya.
'Marinette, but you already know that.' She replied.
'I'm glad we're finally getting to know each other, as we're seat neighbours.' Alya said.
'Yes, that's right. I'm sorry.' Marinette hated this feeling. It was a very familiar feeling that came with most of her social interactions. That she didn't really belong and was just a burden to everyone. For many occasions, she had therefore put on a suitable mask, smiling, nodding and keeping quiet.

Arrogance was always an easy way to conceal insecurity, but Chloe played this card every day and it didn't seem to do her any good.
That's why she buried her eyes in her sketchbook again, today school was somehow intimidating her and Alya in particular.

'What are you sorry about?' Alya asked.
'Well, that you have to sit next to me and this whole circus the class has to go through because of me.' She mumbled to herself.
'Nobody's angry with you, everything's fine.' Alya replied, Marinette stared at her uncertainly.
'Can I see your drawing of me as a hero again?' Alya changed the subject.
Marinette nodded, opened the appropriate page and slid the book over.
'I like this picture, can I take a photo of it?' she asked, Marinette nodded again.
'Why a red fox? Because of my hair? Don't you think the colours clash?' she asked. This was a subject Marinette was at home with, it made her feel safe and so she answered:
'No, I don't think so. I think the colours play off each other and create a sense of togetherness and strength. Foxes are clever animals and very adaptable.'
Alya nodded: 'And why is Nino a tortoise?'
Marinette swallowed and then answered a little more quietly: 'Well, if he were your superhero partner, he'd need a thick shell, he'd take every punch for you, with or without superpowers.'
At this answer, Alya's eyes fell on Nino and she blushed.

On this school day, Alya had made it her mission not to leave Marinette's side and to engage her in conversation as often as possible.
When Rose, as the girl from the washroom seemed to be called, joined them at lunchtime to thank her and excitedly tell them about the answer she had received from Prince Ali, Marinette didn't know whether she should like this new development or not. Rose took Julika with her and then Mylene joined them and suddenly the whole class were all involved in conversation.
It was well-intentioned, but it was also overwhelming.

The school day seemed to last forever and it took even longer before it finally got dark. In a comic strip, Marinette would have left deep furrows in the ground by then, she had been restlessly pacing back and forth so often. Plagg had retreated to his doll's house, annoyed.

When she was finally able to transform, she felt free. A freedom that only anonymity could give you. She wanted to startle pigeons and stake out her territory and then she wanted to go back to the bakery. Actually, she wanted to see him, he who was sitting in front of her and whom she hadn't looked at all day. He had praised her pictures and she could only smile at him because the words wouldn't pass her lips.

The cold air on her face intensified the feeling of freedom even more and the solitude on the rooftops was a fulfilling, healing solitude.

It disturbed Mercury all the more that there was suddenly someone there. A red dot on a roof, muttering to itself and getting in her way when she wanted to get to the bakery.
She would have to make a diversion, but the red dot piqued her curiosity.

As she got closer, she recognised a boy in a red suit with black dots. Was he wearing shoulder pads? He couldn't be serious.

He turned round and looked in her direction, but didn't see her in the dark. His face was strange, she couldn't tell any other way. He wasn't blurred, but he wasn't visible either. She could focus on the details of his face only to realise that she couldn't see them. The next thing she noticed was his odour, he smelled wrong. He smelled human and then again he didn't.

'How can I find her?' asked the red dot himself.
For some reason she couldn't understand, she wanted to talk to the boy, but at the same time she was so annoyed by his appearance and smell that she would have liked to push him off the roof.

'You smell funny!' she finally said irritably, she had crept up behind him and was only a metre away from him. She was allowed to scare him a little.

'At least I don't look like a villian.' the boy stated after he had recovered from his fright.

'What's your name anyway?'

The boy seemed to have no sense of shame at all or the mask was as liberating for him as it was for her.

'My name is Mercury and I don't look like a villain!'

'You even have a villain name!' the boy laughed.

Mercury got really angry; 'I don't and I don't! Ahh just leave me allone!'
She snorted at him and turned round. As she was about to jump away, a yoyo's string was wrapped around her and she was pulled roughly towards the boy.

'Are you crazy?' hissed Mercury.

'Sorry, but we have to talk this out now, we're the heroes of Paris together and we should act like it. I'm Mister Bug. Tikki, my kwami, thinks our grace period will soon be over. She senses Nooroo's powers, it won't be long before his carrier has them under control and sends the first Akumas.'

'Aku...what?' asked Marinette.
'Ask Plagg, it's getting late and we have more important things to talk about! As my partner, you can't look like you're eating small children and the name doesn't work either. You can't name yourself after a poison!'

'Mercury is a metal, not a poison!' snorted Mercury.

'But it's poisonous' said the boy and Mercury was sure he wanted to show her his tongue, oh she'd show him.
'What do you want your sidekick to look like? More elegant? More dignified?' she asked.

'I never said anything about a sidekick...' the boy began, but lost his tongue when a flash of black interrupted him.

Marinette had changed her costume, all a matter of imagination and clothes she could well imagine.
She wore a skintight black velvet jumpsuit that widened at the knee so it almost looked like a mermaid dress, it was strapless and open at the back so you could see her porcelain white skin, she wore black silk gloves that reached her elbows. The ears on her head and tail were much more realistic with this costume and her smile revealed her fangs. Her long black hair was loose and blowing in the wind.

'Better?' she asked. She knew the costume was ridiculous. There was far too much skin exposed, she had grown cold in the short time since she had changed, but the costume was sexy and it worked.
The boy had gone from pale to various shades of red and didn't know what to say.

'Cat got your tongue?' she teased.

At some point she felt sorry for him and for herself, it was damn cold that night.

She decided on a costume that was almost as simple as his own;
Black leather and black boots, skin-tight but discreetly decorated with green stitching. She wore a golden bell at her neck, her long black braid like a tail and she dispensed with her fangs altogether, but certainly not her claws. She found it boring.

'But this has to fit now, and if you're Mr Bug, then call me Lady Noire.'

The boy nodded, then shook his head as if trying to shake out thoughts, and finally he caught himself.

'We should do patrols, at least twice a week. Let's meet here in two days for the first patrol, after dark?' he asked.

Lady Noir nodded, in the background she heard a tower clock chiming, now it was probably too late to scrounge Maccarones.

This Mr Bug had kept her too long and she didn't like him. Someone criticising her again. Well, that could be something, but first she had to talk with Plagg.