A/N: I am back to the Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction scene after several weeks! To kick it off, I present a two-shot to you!
"If you could have any Superpower in the world what would it be?" Alya asked. Marinette looked up from the design she was doodling. Already she could feel the cold sweat forming across her brow. She fought the instinct to glance up to her loft bed. The very place Tikki was currently hiding in. Marinette had only known Alya a handful of weeks but with her sudden interest in Ladybug, she felt like she was constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure her new friend wasn't about to discover her secret.
"Wh… what do you mean?" stammered Marinette. She curled her fingers around her ears as though she were trying to hide her earrings from sight. Then she thought better of it and dropped her hand lest Alya's attention be drawn there inadvertently.
"You know? Superpowers? Super strength, invisibility, flight, rapid healing? That sort of thing." Alya waved her hand in the direction of the comic book she was reading. Marinette suppressed a nervous laugh. That had been close. And here she'd thought that the question had simply been spurred by Alya's obsession with Ladybug.
"Um… you know, I've never really thought about it before." she shrugged. It wasn't a total lie. Before Tikki had popped into her life, the last thing on Marinette's mind hadn't been anywhere close to being Superpowers. Though she had to admit, if even to herself, that being lucky was definitely a pretty useful Superpower. Again. Not like she was about point that out to Alya. She didn't want her to make any sort of connection.
Alya flipped over on to her back. "I think it would be pretty cool to invincible like Ladybug." she said thoughtfully.
Marinette propped her sketchbook up to hide the red tint that was spreading across her cheeks. "I don't think she's so much as invincible as she has a decent partner to watch her back. I think her strength probably lies in her ability to think on her feet which in my opinion isn't so much of a Superpower as it is an important skill to have."
"Eh, maybe you're right but it's still pretty cool that even when she gets smashed into the ground, Ladybug gets right back up. Not even a scratch on her suit." Alya told her. Her smile stretched across from side of her face to the other. She was also staring off distractedly up at the ceiling. She definitely didn't notice Marinette shake her head.
"Doesn't make it any less terrifying." she muttered under her breath.
"So what about it?" Alya asked brightly.
Marinette snapped her head up. Her voice came out nearly a half octave higher than what it was normally. "What about what?"
Alya snorted. "Your Superpower silly? What would you pick?"
"I don't think it works that way." Marinette pointed out. Heaven knew she definitely hadn't gotten to pick her Superpower.
"Oh come on! I know it probably doesn't work that way but if it did what would you choose? Lasers? Shields? Speed?"
Marinette bit her lip as she thought about it. Surprisingly enough, thinking of a Superpower she didn't already have was a bit tougher than she'd have thought. She got by quite well with the powers that she had and any shortcomings were covered by Chat Noir's own abilities. "It isn't exactly a million dollar type question." teased Alya. "C'mon! What would you want your powers to be?"
"You can't just put me on the spot like that!" Marinette quipped.
"Tick tock," Alya replied.
With an eyeroll, Marinette glanced back down at her sketchbook maybe hoping to find some kind of inspiration there. Pages upon pages were filled in it. That didn't even take into account that she had several other books stretching back nearly five years chock full of designs that would probably never see the light of day. She hadn't ever really had the chance. Who wanted to show their ideas to a handful of classmates who would most likely ignore her. Chloe had made a point to tell her that nobody cared about what she had to say or what she did on a regular basis throughout their primary and middle school years. Marinette didn't see the point of putting herself out there if someone was just going to tear her down again. That didn't mean that she didn't want to show the world what she could do.
Her deepest fantasy, the one that she thought about in bed after she'd turned out her lights at night, was for just one chance to step up and into the light. She wanted to shine like the star that her parents told her she was. She would give almost everything to see Chloe eat her words full force. Sure Marinette seemed to be doing a pretty good job with putting Chloe in her place ever since she'd become Ladybug. Her self confidence seemed to be growing every single day since she'd first transformed. However she wanted everyone to see her for who she was without the mask. Without the costume. Rose, Juleka, Kim, Sabrina, Max, Adrien. A faint blush crept on to Marinette's face. She especially wanted Adrien to see what she was capable of. To see what she could do. Who she could be.
"I want to shine." Marinette said quietly.
Alya turned her head to the side. "Like as in light manipulation or…"
Marinette felt herself go an even deeper shade of red. She hadn't realized that she'd said that out loud. It was too late to take it back now though. She really didn't want to just blurt out that what she really wanted was the self confidence that she had as Ladybug. "Like… I would want to be able to create light wherever I went." Marinette answered slowly, choosing her words carefully.
"Hmm, that would be pretty cool. Your Superhero name could be like Aurora or Starlight or something like that. You could totally team up with Ladybug and Chat Noir! How cool would that be?" Alya grinned.
Marinette stifled a laugh. "I guess that would be pretty cool."
Alya started rambling on about the Superpowers that she thought would be awesome to have. Marinette found her eyes travelling to her loft bed as she listened. Maybe it wouldn't be much longer before she got her chance to light up her world. To show everyone how bright she could be even without the Ladybug guise.