LadyBugOut AU (Snippets)

Summary:
Jagged comes to see Marinette after she'd been revealed as LadyBugOut's creator, the latter of which Tom and Sabine want to talk to her about.

Chapter Text
All things considered, Marinette was pleased with how her reveal as LadyBugOut’s creator went. The class - most of it anyway - had readily accepted it and it cleared up a lot for them. She was also thrilled to have the whole Lila thing behind her, as having to deal with her was both ridiculous and tedious.

Marinette hummed a happy tune as she began to exit school for the day, but stopped as a swarm of reporters suddenly approached her, their feet pounding up the stairs and microphones suddenly being shoved into her face.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, how does it feel to help Ladybug with her blog?”

“Do you know Ladybug’s identity?”

“We heard you’ve never been akumatized? Have you been under Ladybug’s protection?”

“Is it true that you and Ladybug are dating?”

Marinette could only blink, her mouth opening but she was too dumbfounded to answer. She wasn’t sure whether to be impressed that they’d managed all of this talk overnight or weirded out that they were doing this to a teenage girl. She could at least imagine they saw her as ageless when she was Ladybug.

Nadja hurriedly pushed through the crowd, brushing some of the reporters off as she addressed them, “Now now, this one knows me personally.”

Marinette squinted as Nadja presented the microphone to her. Unpleasant memories of Face-to-Face surfaced and she very quickly wanted to be anywhere but here.

“So, Marinette—”

A familiar male voice suddenly cut in. “Ah, my fans are here!”

Marinette and the reporters turned confusedly, just in time to see Jagged hoist himself over the stone wall surrounding the stairs, which was the only way they weren’t blocking. He also looked completely unphased by all of this, strolling up to Marinette like she’d asked him to come. The reporters, meanwhile, were gaping at the sudden development, and Marinette could swear that she could see the theories forming in their heads.

“I’d love to stay and talk to you all,” Jagged began, raising a hand like he had some sort of magical ability to force them back, “but me and my designer here are very busy, so—”

“Huh?” Marinette asked, though she didn’t get an answer and yelped as Jagged hoisted her over his shoulder, immediately moving to the other stone wall closer to the bakery. The reporters tried to react, but they went completely ignored.

Giving a two-fingered salute to his “fans” with his free hand, Jagged then placed said hand on the stone wall, hopping over it with Marinette in tow as he shouted, “Remember to buy the new limited edition of Rock Giant!”

Marinette, still awkwardly draped over Jagged’s shoulder, watched the stunned reporters get farther away as he hurried across the street. He passed by the front door and rushed for the side entrance, fumbling with opening it before realizing that it was locked.

“Got a key?”

Having accepted whatever was happening, Marinette reached for her purse and pulled out the key to the side door. Jagged raised his hand over his other shoulder, palm facing up, and she dropped the key onto it.

Jagged unlocked the door, slipped inside, then let Marinette down and hunched her down alongside himself, just in time for the reporters to slip by in search for them. Marinette didn’t look, but could hear retreating footsteps, even though they had paused by the bakery very briefly.