NOTE: Okay, so, I know that I have a lot of other stories out there... *cough*, but I'm adding this to the list. This has been an idea for awhile now, and I just wanted to see what you guys think before I fully get into it. :)

I have a diff story that I'm going to complete for Amourshipping, and after that, I'll be planning other stories such as A Play to Remember and Date Night (no, i didn't forget about date night) and Written, etc... During all that planning, I'll be releasing one-shots under my story labelled as "Confessions".

So, my multi-chap stories won't be updated for awhile. Not too long though, hopefully.

Voodoo Love

Genre: Romance

Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug

Pairings: Adrinette

Summary: Things take a wrong turn when Marinette's love life heads in the wrong direction. In comes a strange boutique, and a strange woman who wants to give Marinette a love potion? Inspired by Voodoo Love by Ariana Grande.

Chapter One: Now or Never

With everything that's transpired, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was finally going to do it. She was going to tell Adrien Agreste how she felt. She was going to march right up to him, tap him on the shoulder, and once he turned around, she was going to say 'Adrien Agreste, I have a huge crush on you!'

Okay, well, maybe that was a little extreme. After all, Marinette still had a tiny problem with confronting the striking, young model. She was such a klutz, and always made a complete fool of herself. She couldn't even formulate a simple sentence around the boy. How was she going to march up to him and tell him how she felt?

The answer to that? Well, she wasn't. Not in that exact scenario anyways.

Seven minutes before the bell, she stuffed a love letter into his locker. Now, all she had to do was wait for the bell to sound off, follow him to his locker, and watch his very reaction. If he smiled, maybe he liked her too. And at the point, Marinette was going to march right up to him and confront him. And if he grimaced, Marinette was going to lock herself in her room for the whole weekend.

The worse thing that he could do is reject her. She was mentally prepared for that scenario. So no matter what, it was going to be a win/win situation in her book.

The eager bluenette looked up at the clock, watching the seconds tick away. She bit her bottom lip while vigorously tapping her pencil against her desk.

"Girl, you need to relax," Alya whispered, leaning into her. "You got this."

Marinette raised her shoulders before taking in a deep breath. She stopped tapping her pencil against the desk, and let her shoulders relax as she exhaled.

"I still have the right to be nervous," she whispered back, her gaze still fixated on the clock.

She gulped as the red hand, depicting the seconds reached the twelve. She then closed her eyes, hearing the irate sound of the bell, followed by the constant shuffle of footsteps and binders being closed.

It was time. It was finally time. In just a few minutes, Adrien Agreste was going to know how she felt about him, romantically.

She opened her eyes, and looked down to her trembling fingers. She tried to make it stop, but it just wouldn't. She raised her trembling hand and placed it against her loudly beating heart. She felt like she just drank five shots of espresso. She tried to relax, but her anxiety was overtaking her senses. No kind of breathing technique was going to help her now. She was going to have to trudge through the next ten minutes with her own courage.

"So, will I be seeing you guys at the dance tonight?" asked Adrien, draping his book bag around his shoulder. He looked up at Alya, who was shoving her pencil case into the front pocket of her backpack.

"We'll be there," Alya replied as he shifted his gaze over to the bluenette.

Marinette gulped hard, feeling some loose tresses sticking to her glistening forehead. "Yo-You… You bet!" she squeaked, flashing him with an awkward grin. She then raised her shaky hand and gave him a thumbs up.

Adrien blinked a few times before slowly nodding his head. "Great. I'll see you there." He smiled at the bluenette, causing her to shudder. She kept her eyes on him as he exited the classroom, his hands in his pockets.

"Marinette, you got around five minutes before Adrien checks his locker," said Alya. "You better get a move on and grab your things."

Marinette shook her head. "Five minutes?" she questioned, looking up at her best friend.

Alya nodded her head, a sly grin slowing forming upon her face. She then crossed her arms. "I got Nino to stall. You know, to give you a little more time to prepare yourself."

Marinette pursed her lips. There wasn't enough time in the world to aid her with the current situation. And that sly grin on Alya's face, that was making everything much more unbearable. She was enjoying this way too much.

"C'mon, Mari," said Alya, reaching over to Marinette's binder and pencil case. "It's now or never. I mean you don't want Chloe snatching him away first, do you?"

Chloe. That name made Marinette's blood boil. She was her number one love rival. There was also Lila, but Lila was back in Italy for the time being. Marinette didn't have to worry about her. But Chloe, she got Adrien to be her date to the dance. Well, more like, she forced Adrien to be her date to the dance. Even if there was a possibility that Adrien didn't want to take Chloe to the dance, it didn't matter, because for the whole night, Chloe was going to have some quality time with him, and Marinette couldn't let that happen. That gave Chloe enough time to make Adrien fall for her… charms.

Marinette furrowed her brow before reaching out to the pencil case that Alya had her hands on. "I am not going to let her win!" she said with determination before stuffing everything into her purse. "Let's grab my things and head towards his locker!" She stood up from her seat and raised her arm, making a fist.

"That's the Mari I like," said Alya as they exited the classroom.

Marinette scurried over to her locker, frantically turning the dial on her padlock. Her hands were incredibly sweaty, and her fingers were shaking to the point where it took her at least three tries to get it to open.

She slightly relaxed upon hearing the click. She then tugged on the door, pulling it wide open, intending to place a few unneeded textbooks onto the top shelf. Marinette stopped with her hands nearly above her head. Her gaze travelled downwards as she watched a red rose fall from the shelf that she was trying to reach.

"Another one?" Alya questioned, bending over to pick up the fresh flower.

Marinette placed her textbooks onto the shelf before glancing to her right at the red rose in Alya's hand. Tied to the stem was a gold ribbon. Attached to the ribbon was a folded piece of eggshell colored cardstock.

Alya eagerly opened the note and began to read the contents. "I hope to see you at the dance tonight," she read before trying to find any other note that was written on some other place on the card. She handed the rose to Marinette, and the bluenette opened up the card to read the contents with her own eyes.

"I feel bad for your secret admirer," said Alya. "What is this? The seventh one? Once your feelings for Adrien are out in the open, he's going to have to find someone else."

Marinette shut her locker and reattached her padlock. She twirled the rose between two of her fingertips, making sure to avoid the thistles.

"I bet its Nathanael. Who else handwrites that nicely and owns a bunch of expensive paper?"

Marinette sighed before glancing over at the artistic redhead who was busily stuffing his own belongings into his locker. "Well," said Marinette, a sour look on her face. "Assuming he's going to be at the dance, maybe he'll be confessing his feelings to me there. If that's the case, there may be a chance that both of us will be getting our hearts broken tonight."

Alya draped one of her arms around the bluenette's shoulder while using her other hand to tightly grip onto the strap of her bag. "Don't say that. Be positive."

Marinette tried her best to muster a smile. Confessing your love to someone was never easy. The fear of being rejected was always hiding within the pit of your stomach. No matter how much you could prepare for it, in some way, it was still going to hurt.

"We should hurry," said Alya, looking down at her phone. "Nino said it's urgent. Adrien already opened his locker and saw the note."

Alya slithered her arm away from Marinette's shoulder, and broke into a sprint. Marinette followed behind her, turning the corridor and coming to a halt as her nose came into contact with Kim's back.

"Ahhh," Marinette slightly groaned before stumbling backwards. She shut her eyes and began to massage her nose. As she recomposed herself, she took a few steps to the right. "Kim," she said. "Why are you standing in the middle of the ha-"

Marinette stopped midsentence as Alya pulled her to the side. She looked at Kim who began to laugh before turning to look at Alya who had a distraught look plastered on her face. "This is not good, girl," she said, her eyes fixated at whatever was ahead of her.

"Not good? What's not good?" Marinette turned her head, slightly bobbing it from left to right to see what was happening at the front of the small gathered crowd.

"After our first encounter, you were so focused on making the situation right. I thought you would be snobby because of your fame, but you're not." She heard Chloe's voice. "You're actually really sweet. In fact, you're probably the sweetest person I know."

"…sweetest person I know," Marinette mumbled, realizing that her love letter was being read out loud.

"And I just want you to know that I like you Adrien. And not just as a friend. As something more."

Marinette's eyes widened as she looked around at the chuckling crowd around her.

"Sincerely…"

"NOOO!" Marinette yelled out before pushing a bunch of students to the side. She reached the front of the crowd, grabbed onto the note, tore it to shreds, and tried to stuff most of it into her pocket.

Chloe raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms before smiling devilishly at the bluenette. "Sincerely, Marinette Dupain-Cheng," she said haughtily before pressing a finger against the bluenette's forehead.

Marinette fell backwards, and her bottom was the first to hit the cold flooring. She looked all around her, and her fellow classmates began to laugh in her face.

"What a cheese ball!" Kim yelled out from the back of the crowd.

Before she knew it, everyone was chanting the word cheese ball, and Marinette didn't know what to do. She looked up at Chloe who was mouthing the word loser before walking off with Sabrina by her side. She then momentarily glanced at Adrien who was standing there, stunned.

"I-I…" Marinette looked all around her, a wave of tears starting to sting the edge of her eyes. With the help of Alya, she stood up from the ground.

"Are you alright?" Alya asked, taking her away from the crowd.

"I-I…" She looked back at Adrien who was still standing there, motionless like a statue. "I have to go," Marinette said, her tears finally breaking through the barrier.

"Mari-" Alya tried, but she was too late.

Marinette ran as fast as she could, exiting the building within seconds. She didn't know where she was going, but she continued sprinting forward, following the direction that her eyes were taking her. She spent weeks preparing for this day. She spent most of the time preparing for rejection. But she didn't prepare for the public humiliation. She didn't prepare for a scenario that involved Chloe.

Marinette continued sprinting forward, the thistles on the rose piercing through her skin. She didn't care that she was bleeding though. It felt like nothing compared to the throbbing pain that was reverberating through her body.

Marinette gulped hard, feeling the wind against her skin. She ran faster, through an empty field, and finally came to a halt at the very center. She fell to her knees and threw the rose to the side. She then let her face fall into the palms of her hands, her tears flowing down like a waterfall.

It wasn't fair. Nothing was ever fair. Chloe always got her way. She was going to be at the dance with Adrien. The two were probably going to crowned queen and king of the whole thing, and she was probably going to look incredibly beautiful because of her professional team of makeup artists and designers. It. Wasn't. Fair.

Just then, a faint humming began to fill Marinette's ears. It was sweet and lighthearted. Almost like a tune that could be heard during springtime.

Marinette slowly lifted her head and began to wipe away the snot from her nose. She looked around her, trying to find the location of the humming. She shifted around in the grass, squinting her eyes as she noticed something glowing pink in the distance.

She stood up, not bothering to wipe the blots of blood that probably got on her face. She slowly walked forward, noticing that the glow was coming from a building. Almost like she was in a trance, Marinette continued forward, the humming becoming louder with each step she took. She momentarily stopped at the crosswalk, her gaze still fixated on the slight glow emanating around the building.

She then stopped right in front of a quaint shop, the humming and the glowing coming to a halt. She blinked several times, and looked around her, confused about how she got there. She then looked straight ahead and eyed the shop with curiosity, wondering when it got established. It was small and was squeezed between a convenience store and a law firm. Marinette was so sure that the space in between the two was supposed to be an entrance to an alley. Perhaps she was wrong.

The small shop looked like one of the many Victorian houses that resided in San Francisco. The entire thing was pink, with the exception of the brown roof and the white door. On either side of the door were two windows, each with a windowsill with pink and white carnations nicely arranged in an alternating pattern.

Marinette took another step forward, and leaned over to the right to read the round wooden sign that was slightly swinging on an iron pole protruding from the wall.

"Boutique d'amour," she whispered to herself.

The bluenette shrugged before looking around her at the Parisians passing by. None of them seemed to think of the store that just opened up. Perhaps it was new and the grand opening was just a couple days ago.

Marinette took a deep breath before placing a hand on the shiny gold knob.

She was done with love, and didn't want to associate herself with that very emotion anymore. But there was something about this boutique that was drawing her in. Maybe it was the humming that got her interested or maybe it was the cuteness of the store in general. She hadn't the slightest idea as to what it was, but before her mind could process anything, she was already stepping into the store.

End of chapter one. :)

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