Adrien Agreste whispers to his best friend Alya Cesaire, sitting next to him in the front row. The girl he's madly in love with, Marinette DuPain-Cheng, sits right behind him with her bff-and the nicest girl in school next to Marinette herself-Chloe Bourgeois.
"I tried to talk to her," he says, "I really did. But I kept muddling my words, like usual. And then that bully Kim Chien Le hangs onto her like he owns her! Why does she put up with it?"
Alya whispers back, "Because he's her friend, and she's too nice to say anything about it. Besides, *somebody's* too scared to step up and take his place at her side!" She gives the boy a sideways glance, her arms crossed in front of her. Adrien knows she's right. "I'll do it, I swear, Alya! Eventually..."
"Uh-huh. I'm sure. Eventually. Like maybe...never?" She giggles, letting the boy know she's only teasing. He smiles at her.
Meanwhile, Marinette is trying to take her seat, but Kim grabs her with an arm around her side and pulls her into him. "And how are we today, Maripet?" he asks with a smile.
"Um...fine, Kim," she says. "But the bell is about to ring!" She pries his hand off her and takes her seat.
"Right. Another day of class with a bunch of *weaklings!*" he says, loud enough for the whole class to hear. "Unlike *moi!*" He grins at Marinette, then takes his seat on the opposite side of the room, in the front row next to his best bud Sabrina Raincomprix.
"I'll catch her someday, Sabrina," he says to the girl.
"Of course you will! You're the most awesome guy in school, after all!"
"Of course I am! My father is a famous pro-wrestler, after all, and I'm the only guy strong enough to beat him!" He makes a strong arm pose for the girl.
"I know, right?" she replies with a smile. "Oh, and here, I have your homework for you."
"Well I hope you TYPED it this time!" he sneers, putting his arm down. "I can't very well get caught turning in MY work with YOUR handwriting, now can I?"
"N-no, of course not! I remembered, I typed it up!"
"Well, for once, it looks like you did something right!"
Sabrina grins. That was as close to a true compliment she had ever gotten from the boy.
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HandiHammer walks down the street, cracking the pavement under his crushing weight, considering he is as tall as the buildings he is hitting with his giant hammer as he goes. He aims for the scattering people on the streets as well, nearly missing a half-dozen of them. Luckily his gargantuan size makes him slow. Cat Noir and Ladybug soon catch up to him.
"This guy's really dangerous, Ladybug! He could actually KILL someone! I'm not sure if even my magic cure could fix THAT"
"Let's not find out! You got a plan, KitKat?"
"Yeah! And stop calling me that, wouldja?"
"It's a term of endermeant, not a slander!"
"I know, but I told you...I'm in love with someone else. Now can we please focus on the big guy with the huge hammer here?"
"Of course, Kit-Cat Noir. What's your plan?"
"I'll jump on his face and covers his eyes; you lasso his hammer and yank it away from him. Then I'll use my special power to destroy it and purify the Akuma!"
"You got it, KitKat!"
Cat Noirs sighs in defeat over the nick-name. She isn't going to stop calling him that no matter how many times he tells her not to. She's one persistent bug! Then he extends his pole to reach HandyHammer's face, and tries to cover his eyes, but his body is too small to cover both. However, like a fly on a dog's nose, the villain finds it annoying, and stops walking forward to pluck the cat off his face, giving Ladybug a chance to lasso the Hammer. She yanks for all she's worth, but the tool won't budge.
"I hope you have a plan B, KitKat, because this one isn't working!" she shouts to the leader of this Akuma-fighting duo.
"Actually I do," he says, landing on his feet after HandyHammer drops him. "Lasso his feet instead and bring him down!"
"On it!" Ladybug yoyo's her string around the giant's feet and pulls them together, then gives the string a good yank. The giant hits the street face-first, his arms outstretched-hammer within reach of Cat Noir.
"Cataclysm!" he shouts, and disintegrates the weapon. Then Cat holds his hollow baton in the air like a spear. "No more evildoing for you, little Akuma!" he says, and "stabs" the pole into the air, capturing the escaping Akuma inside it with a "gotcha!" Then he sings out, "Time to de-evilze!" as he twirls the silver stick in his hand like a flag dancer, and a now-white insect flies out of it, cleansed. "Bye-bye, little butterfly!" Then, he throws his stick into the air. "Miraculous Cat Noir!" A shower of black magic swirls whirl around the smashed buildings and littered streets of the town, putting everything back to normal.
"Pound it!" he and Laydbug say to each other as they bump fists.
"Wow, this one was easy, Ladybug," he says. "You didn't even have to use your Lucky Charm!"
"That's just because you're so awesome," she says with a blushing smile.
"Uh...thanks. Well, I gotta go before I transform back."
"Do you really have to, Cat Noir? I mean, what would it hurt if *I* knew your secret, and you knew mine? Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I trust you. But the Master says we have to keep our identities secret for own protection. I'm sorry, Ladybug. Well, I'll see you later."
"Wait! Um, Cat Noir...can you...can you at least tell me who this girl is you like so much? I'd kind of like to know who I'm competing with."
"What am I, a prize for a wrestling match? I'm sorry, but as superheroes, we can't know anything about each other. I just can't tell you, ok?"
"Well...can you...at least tell me what she's like? Just a little?"
"She's only the nicest girl in the whole world, I can tell you that much. And smart, and beautiful. But I can't tell you anything more revealing than that. I'm really sorry. Now I *really* have to go. Good-bye, Ladybug. I'll be seeing you."
Ladybug looks at her feet. "But you'll never really *see* me, will you?" Sadly, she heads back home to become Marinette once again.
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The next day is Valentine's Day, and chocolates are being passed around the homeroom class by everyone to everyone. Adrien has a small gray square box for every student-even the guy he strongly dislikes, the antagonizing Kim. But Marinette's box is different. It's larger, very much pinker, and heart-shaped. He wanted hers to stand out from the rest, to be special. He tries with all his might to go up to her and present it to her all day long, but there's always someone hovering around her-not to mention the fact that he keeps losing his nerve. So after a full day of trying to get close to her, he finally catches up to her after school, as their lockers are close together. He holds the box behind his back, and stammers at her.
"Happy Dalentine's Vay, Narimette. Wait, I mean, um, Happy Valentine's Day, Marinette." He blushes ferociously, and averts his gaze, trying to find the guts to bring that package out.
"Happy Valentine's to you too, Adrien," she replies. Then, when Adrien opens his mouth to tell her he has something for her-and begins to move the box to the front from behind him, *he* shows up again and ruins it all.
"What are YOU doing talking to MY Maripet, you wimp! You're not actually trying to give her *chocolates,* are you?" He's got his arm around Marinette's shoulders like he's her boyfriend, making Adrien mad. But before he can say anything, Kim pulls something out of his backpack with his free hand, and presents it to Marinette. It's a HUGE box of chocolates, dwarfing the one Adrien has. The disappointed teen looks at his feet, feeling too embarrassed and outdone now to give the girl HIS chocolates.
"Kim! Stop pestering people, would you? Oh, and thank you for these. It's a lovely gift! Anyway, what were trying to say, Adrien?" the clueless girl asks him, making him lift his eyes to meet hers.
"Um...uh...er...it nothing, is. Really. I mean it's nothing, really. I just say wanted to, er uh I just wanted to say, Happy Valentine's day. And that I just...didn't boxes enough get. I mean didn't get enough boxes. Of chocolate, I mean. For you. I mean, gorfet you, er, forget you, I didn't. I mean, I didn't forget you. I promise."
Marinette smiles at the boy. "That's ok, Adrien. It's nice that you thought of everyone in class, including me, and came to wish me a Happy Valentine's Day even though you miscalculated how many boxes you needed for class. The sentiment is enough. I don't need chocolates from you to know you're my friend. Thank you." She smiles warmly at the model, and puts her hand on his shoulder, making Kim glare daggers at him. This lifts Adrien's spirits, in spite of his failure to give Marinette her gift and still wanting to smash in Kim's arrogant face.
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Before long, there is another Akuma victim on the streets for Cat Noir and Ladybug to defeat. MoldBreaker is throwing mounds of heavy clay at pedestrians on the streets out of a ceramic vase infused into her hand-that magically refills itself with all the clay she needs-making little mounds of immobilzed people everywhere!
Cat Noir instructs Ladybug to try what worked last time-yoyo'ing her feet together-but this one is fast! She keeps jumping up, sideways, forward, or back to escape the string, depending on which direction Ladybug is coming at her from.
The pair hide behind a car to talk strategy.
"Looks like I'll have to go straight for the pot while she's moving, Ladybug!"
"Yeah, looks like it. I can't seem to get my string around her!"
"Get in front of her, then, and get her to chase you. I'll get in behind her, pole-vault over her head, and then land straight onto the pot and use my power!"
"You got it, KitKat!"
Thus Ladybug gets in front of MoldBreaker and taunts her to distract her from Cat Noir who's sneaking up behind her to execute his plan. But a "molded" citizen cries out to his hero to encourage him, alerting MoldBreaker of his presence behind her. She whirls around, and encases Cat Noir in clay!
"Oh no!" cries a distressed Ladybug. Only Cat Noir can use Cataclysm, and most of all, only he can capture and cleanse Akuma! Thus she runs up to the love of her life, and tries desperately to pull him out. But he's stuck hard.
Meanwhile, Hawkmoth is admonishing the villain he created to use this opportunity to get both their Miraculous, or he'll take away her powers! So she turns around and heads straight for the superhero duo. Ladybug tries once again to wrap her string around MoldBreaker's legs, but she's still too quick. In a flash, she's right on top of them! Ladybug tries to yoyo the woman's arms to her sides, but this troublemaker also has super strength! Ladybug is successful at lassoing the woman's firing arm, but the miscreant yanks the arm back with severe force, sending Ladybug flying! Then, as instructed by her master, the viallain takes Cat Noir's ring! He turns back into Adrien with a heavy heart, very worried now that Hawkmoth will be the victor this time!
Ladybug gets up and closes the distance between her and MoldBreaker, and sees none other than Adrien Agreste-the stuttering, shy, sweet boy from school who's NOTHING like the bold, sassy, brave Cat Noir-sitting in the pile of sticky brownish goop her precious KitKat had gotten caught in.
"Adrien?!" she yells at him, in shock.
"Not now, Ladybug! Quick, get my ring back! We can't cleanse the Akuma without it!"
"I'll do what I can!" she promises.
She marvels at the fact that it turns out the boy she's madly in love with is that bashful, loveable, tongue-tied kid at school, but she doesn't have time to really take it in. She has to save him first, and he's usually the one with a plan! But then she remembers what he tried before with HandyHammer. It hadn't worked there, but something similar might work here. This Akuma victim is very strong and agile, but she's at least normal sized.
So Ladybug gets right in front of the former clay-carver, and announces that she's going to try to yoyo the woman's feet together again-but it's just a rouse. When Ladybug swings her yoyo, the woman jumps backward as expected to avoid getting her legs wrapped in the string, but that's not where Ladybug is aiming! She actually manages to hit her target, wrapping her string multiple times over the woman's eyes! Once completely blinded, the woman tries to unwrap the string from her eyes with the only hand she has available-dropping Cat Noir's ring to do so! Without letting go of her yoyo, Ladybug snatches the ring up off the street and tosses it back to Adrien, who immediately catches it with his right hand that was left sticking out of the pile he's stuck in, and he uses it to revert back into Cat Noir.
He manages to reach his silver staff, and uses it puncture his way out of the clay heap he's in while the Akumatized sculptor continues to try to free her eyes from Ladybug's yoyo string, but she's not having any success with Ladybug pulling so hard on her end of it.
But once free, with the Akuma victim currently unable to use the powers Hawkmoth had given her, Cat Noir finally jumps onto her vase-hand and uses his Cataclysm to break it and release the black insect! He captures and cleanses it in his usual fashion, and then undoes all the damage the clay worker had done to the city and it's people with his restorative magic power. The superhero pair feel very fortunate that their was only the one witness to Cat Noir's transformation back into Adrien, and that all *he* saw was the back of his head. This was a close call, but they emerged victorious in the end!
Ladybug then requests to speak to Cat Noir on a rooftop where they can be alone. Adrien is congnizant of the fact that she now knows his true identity-and considering all the ads in town with his face on it, there's no way she couldn't-and he assumes that's what she wants to talk about. He figures it can't hurt; the secret's already out. How can talking about it now do any harm? So the pair meet up at their favorite rooftop with the best city view outside of the Eiffel Tower.
"You two are so different from each other, Adrien," she begins, "so I never would have guessed it was you all this time. But I want you to know, I am not in the least bit disappointed. I knew I would love you no matter *who's* face was under that mask." She smiles at Cat Noir, who is blushing in spite of himself.
"I'm glad to hear that. Or...at least I think I am. But I hope you realize that this doesn't change things. I'm still in love with someone else."
Ladybug looks at her feet. "I know," she answers sadly. But then she meets his eyes again and says, "But there is something I want you to see. Would you mind closing your eyes for a minute? I'll tell you when to open them."
"You...you have a surprise for me?" he asks, perplexed.
"Yes, but it won't be if you keep your eyes open, silly!" She smiles at him, and he closes his eyes with a small smile of his own.
Ladybug-temporarily-removes her earrings to reveal her true identity (she didn't want to say the "magic words" or he'd hear and KNOW what she was doing, and she was afraid he'd GUESS what she was up to if she also asked him to cover his ears, and put a stop to it in either case, so she decided to do it this way). "Okay, you can open your eyes now," she says.
Adrien opens his eyes-then they bug wide as his jaw drops at who Ladybug turns out to be! He didn't think for a second that her surprise was to reveal herself to him-though he now thinks he should have known-but he's even more amazed that Ladybug turned out to BE the "other girl" he kept telling her about!
"I-I didn't feel it was fair for me to know who *you* are without you getting to know who *I* am. So I showed you. I hope you're not too disappointed." She's smiling, but her cheeks are pink and she's obviously nervous.
"N-no! N-not all at! I mean not at all! I mean...I...you're...the one..."
"It's ok, Adrien. I love you no matter what. I don't expect you to feel the same. Really. No need to feel bad, ok? I just wanted to be fair."
"No, that's all it not! I mean, that's not it at all! That...the other girl...the one I kept telling you about...she's...she's YOU!"
"What?" says Marinette dubiously, certain she heard him wrong.
He looks her straight in the eyes, then, taking hold of each of her arms in his hands and says, in plain English (for once): "Marinette, YOU'RE the other girl! YOU'RE the one I love!" A grin spreads across his red face.
As his words start to sink in, a blushing smile starts to creep across Marinette's face as well.
"You mean...all this time...we've actually been in love with *each other* and didn't know it?" she asks, incredulous.
Still grinning, Adrien replies, "That is EXACTLY what this means!"
They stare at each other for a few moments, blushing and smiling. But then, as if pulled together by a gravitational force between them, they lean in toward each other-and press their lips together in a sweet, joyous, intense kiss of love. After all this time, they had finally found each other and shared their feelings together.
They finally pull apart, resting their foreheads together. "Everything's going to be different after this, isn't it?" asks Marinette.
"In some ways, yes. But for the better, I believe." Somehow, finally winning over the love of his life had stopped his stuttering in front of her!
"I think so too." Then they bid each other good-night with a long embrace and even longer kiss. Fighting Akumas AND going to school were going to improve after this. How could they not? They're not JUST a superhero TEAM anymore. They're also a superhero COUPLE!
The End