LadyBugOut AU (Snippets)

Summary:
Fu talks to Marinette about bringing in new heroes.

Chapter Text
Marinette guessed that Master Fu noticed her smile as he asked, “So, is LadyBugOut going well?”

She smiled wider, almost to the point where her cheeks hurt. She took a big sip of her tea, then let out a satisfied breath before setting the cup down. “It’s going amazing, Master Fu. I’m starting to really like being Ladybug—I mean, not that I didn’t before, it was fine—”

“I understand,” Fu cut in with a calm smile.

“Right,” she said, slightly embarrassed. “Anyway, it feels like I have real power now. Before, I just saved Paris from akuma, and of course that was enough for my job, but now it really feels like I have control and…” She placed a hand to her chest, eyes closed and clearly reminiscing. “I’m making a difference.”

“You are!” Wayzz chimed in. “Most heroes have become more careful as time goes on because of the advancement of technology, but you’ve used it to your advantage.”

Marinette could only grin, becoming sheepish at the praise. Part of her wanted to downplay it, but she was doing good work and knew that she’d only be praised more if she denied it.

“And Chat Noir?” Fu prodded. “How’s your partnership?”

With that question alone, Marinette’s smile faltered. She avoided making eye contact with Fu, pretending that it was of the utmost importance to pick up her tea and take a drink before responding.

It wasn’t that she hated Chat. Things were just… complicated. Moving on from Adrien was a priority of hers, but she had no interest in Chat Noir despite his obvious advances on her. Even if he could be a good partner in battle, he made her uncomfortable in a romantic sense.

She couldn’t tell Fu that though.

“Ah, me and Chat?” she asked, acting as though she were thinking about it. “It’s good! It’s great! I mean, I’m Ladybug, so making connections, having everyone get along… it’s kind of my thing, you know?”

Neither Fu nor Wayzz responded immediately. Pursing her lips nervously, she dared to glance back at Fu, only becoming more nervous at his neutral expression. She couldn’t read it at all.

Finally, after an agonizing few seconds, Fu set his cup of tea down. “Marinette, there’s something I’ve been meaning to speak with you about.”

“Ah.” She looked down at her lap, ashamed. “I’m sorry. Whatever I did, I swear I'll—”

“You’re not in trouble, Marinette. You haven’t done anything wrong,” Fu assured. He paused, then looked off at the window, brows furrowed. “It is I who has done something wrong.”

Marinette jerked up, thoroughly confused. “I—you, Master?”

Wayzz nodded. “Do you remember Scarlet Moth?”

“Of course?” She raised a brow at Fu. “What does that have to do with it?”

Fu sighed. “When you came in on Heroes’ Day to retrieve the miraculouses, I told you that I knew that Hawk Moth would one day realize what kind of power the butterfly miraculous truly gave him.” He lowered his head, almost as if to bow for forgiveness. “It is, in full, my fault that you weren’t prepared. Had it not been for your allies, Hawk Moth would have taken your miraculouses.”

“Master…” She hesitated. “I, those allies—”

Fu raised a hand. “You don’t have to say a word, Marinette, and I don’t want to hear you take blame for your actions. You, as Ladybug, won against Hawk Moth, and while your allies did come through for you on Heroes’ Day, they ultimately succumbed to Hawk Moth’s influence for their own reasons.”

He stood with a resolute gaze, turning to head to the gramophone. “It goes without saying that you’ll need new allies. Permanent allies.”

She gaped, then tilted her head. “But… you told me before that it was dangerous to have more miraculouses released?”

“I did,” he admitted. He unlocked the gramophone accordingly, then took the Miracle Box and turned around. Approaching Marinette, he knelt down to the floor and set the box down. “But with the efficiency that akuma are being dealt with, I don’t doubt that Hawk Moth may lose patience. He may pull another stunt as he did during Heroes’ Day.”

He opened the Miracle Box to present the miraculouses. “And if he does, I want you to have allies you’ll be familiar with by the time it happens; allies who have experience and who are prepared for the job. It’s riskier to have you constantly running to me than to have a few heroes nearby who will be ready to act sooner than you could get the miraculouses from me.”

Marinette hummed in thought as she stared down at all of the miraculouses. What Fu said made sense; having to come up with matches for miraculouses on the fly was difficult, like Lucky Charm without any guarantee that there was a right path. She’d been lucky that all of her choices had worked out, but even then, hadn’t it been her own instruction and planning that resolved things in the first place?

“…Wait.” She looked back up. “But won’t I know their identities? I’ve always picked new heroes.”

“And you still will,” Fu replied, “but only in a way.”

Marinette was certain that her confusion was blatantly showing on her face.

“No matter how your choices turned out, Marinette, you still made good ones in the moment. You were able to take what little time you had and turn it into a victory. I’ll still use my own instincts to decide who your allies will be, but I want your input as well.”

“So, like a list?” she asked. “A list of possible choices and what’s good or bad about them?”

Fu nodded.

Marinette frowned and scratched her cheek. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Master Fu, but… “Aren’t you worried I’ll figure out someone’s identity?”

He shook his head. “You have no way of knowing whether or not I’ll pick from your list, and you’ve been very diligent as Ladybug. You stuck firmly to the rule of not revealing your identity to Chat Noir and you’ve so rarely wondered about who he is. I trust you not to pry into the lives of your fellow teammates, and if you did manage to figure one out, I trust that you’d report it back to me.”

“That…That’s true.” She nodded to herself. Looking down at her teacup, she raised it to her lips and chugged down the rest of the tea. It was still warm, which she was thankful for. “I won’t let you down, Master.”

He held his hand out and she handed the cup over. “I’m sure you won’t.”

Standing with new resolve in her chest, Marinette bid the two farewell and headed out the door.

Wayzz waited until she was completely gone to turn to Fu, a knowing smile on his face. “Master, you plan to pick out every single hero from her list, don’t you?”

Fu simply smiled in response, finishing off his own tea before replying, “A respectable guardian knows how to pick their allies, and she has far better instincts than I did at her age.”