'Freak Later'
Adrien Agreste felt great. After yesterday, where he had spent close to twentyfour hours on his feet, a full night's rest seemed like a godsend. His schedule for the day was mostly clear. All he had to do was a group history project for school and since it was with his friends, it was way more tolerable. Nino and Alya were always fun to hang out with and spending any time with Ladybug tended to put him over the moon.
His mind screeched to a halt.
"Oh, right," he mumbled. "That's a thing now."
Marinette was Ladybug. It was a discovery that he was dealing with rather well, to be honest. At first it seemed like a hard sell, but then again, no one would ever connect him to the chatty, flirty, and confident, Cat Noir. So, the shy, clumsy, and kind designer, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, was actually the friendly, coordinated, and feisty superhero Ladybug, huh?
He really should have seen it. It seemed so obvious now and that fact had him wanting to rip his hair out. His lady was behind him, the WHOLE TIME! He had flirted with her as Cat Noir! That should have been a tip off. Despite what his Lady may say, he doesn't actually flirt with any other girls. Grandstanding and showing off, sure. But full on flirt with anyone other than the love of his life? May his heart stop beating and he die alone. It seemed like a betrayal, so it always bugged him (pun not intended) that he had flirted with Marinette. Now, he had the answer. It's because, on some subconscious level, he knew.
It was actually liberating to find out. Adrien would have to be into something very different to not see that Marinette was cute. He once reflected on a thought of who he might have pursued if the whole superhero thing had never happened.
And lo and behold, the girl who had won the award for 'Most likely to win the heart of Adrien Agreste if his heart didn't already belong to Ladybug' was then disqualified because she actually was Ladybug and now the panel of judges were throwing their notes in frustration because, for crying out loud, it was such a unanimous decision and where were they going to find another candidate and-
He might be taking the metaphor a bit too far.
He continued to ponder his good luck as he brushed his teeth. Behind him, Plagg floated lazily through the air. It was just as Adrien was thinking on all the little moments with Marinette that now made so much sense, that he saw Plagg clamp his paws over his ears and drop a foot out of the air.
"Plagg," he yelped whipping around to try and catch his Kwami.
The cat-like god caught himself.
"I'm fine, kid," he groaned. His paws were still covering his ears and he was still wincing.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, but I am hungry. Get me some camembert, will ya?"
He rolled his eyes. If Plagg was well enough to still ask for food, then he wasn't going to worry about it.
"Hurry up, Adrien," Plagg whinned.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm going."
As Adrien turned to leave, he could just make out Plagg speaking under his breath.
"Tikki always gets loud ones."
"Please, Marinette," Tikki pleaded. "You've been screaming into that pillow for ten minutes. I'm pretty sure you've reached a pitch only animals can hear."
She wasn't joking. Three minutes ago she had heard a group of dogs and cats run by, either whining or hissing.
The morning had started out pretty mellow. Tikki had actually gotten Marinette up early. Things had been going well when, while Marinette was fixing her hair, Tikki off handedly mentioned her group project with Alya, Nino, and Adrien.
Adrien had lead to Cat Noir.
Cat Noir lead to yesterday's events.
Yesterday's events lead to what she learned during those events.
What she learned was that Adrien was Cat Noir.
At that point, her brain shut down.
It was after the reboot that she promptly ran to her bed, grabbed a pillow, shoved her face into it, and promptly, in her own words, 'freaked later'.
After 6 minutes of screaming Marinette seemed to stop.
At seven minutes, Tikki figured out that it wasn't that she stopped, but that her scream had reached a pitch inaudible to human ears.
Tikki was starting to get worried. Screaming for a solid ten minutes could not be good for her throat. She had tried everything, but Marinette was too far into panic mode for any logic to pierce her brain.
The trap door to Marinette's room started to open. Tikki rushed for cover as a voice floated in.
"Girl, you are lucky," Alya said. "Nearly got run over by a pack of dogs, but I saved your coffee."
As soon as the trap-door closed, Tikki came out of hiding.
"Alya! Thank goodness you're here."
Alya recoiled slightly.
"Sorry, sorry," she apologized. "Still getting used to this."
"No problem," the ladybug kwami said waving it off. "I wouldn't normally be so direct but I need your help."
"What's up?"
Tikki simply pointed to the still screaming Marinette.
"Ahh, yesterday finally registered, did it?"
Tikki nodded. "She's been screaming for 15 straight minutes now."
Alya raised an eyebrow. "I don't hear anything."
"I think she's reached a pitch only animals can hear."
"Would explain the stampede," she mumbled. "Alright, don't worry, little… uhh…"
"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Tikki." she said with a curtsy.
"Alya, but you already knew that."
The Kwami giggled.
"Anyway, don't worry, Tikki. I actually planned for this."
Alya set the coffee on Marinette's desk before heading to the window. She scanned the streets, before letting out a gasp.
"Oh my, is that Adrien walking down the street, without a shirt?"
A black-haired blur rushed out of the bed to the window.
The reporter rolled her eyes and grabbed the coffee.
"Works everytime."
Marinette turned to respond but was interrupted by a coughing fit. The coffee that Alya brought was thrust in her direction.
"That's what you get for non-stop screaming."
Marinette quickly snatched the drink and downed it to fight back the coughs.
"Can you blame me?" She groaned. "After all I learned, what you learned?"
She gripped her head in both hands.
"You… and Nino and Adrien… Cat Noir! Him. Me. Adrien is... I, I… I-" Marinette blubered.
"Easy, girl," Alya soothed. "Just slow down and breathe."
The blue-haired designer took a deep breath.
"Alright, you good now?"
She nodded.
"Good. Now talk to me. I know this is a lot, so I'm here for you."
Marinette raised a brow.
"You… you're taking this far better than I expected." she said softly. "I thought there'd be more yelling."
Alya smiled as she led her friend to her chaise.
"I was mad at first," she admitted.
The duo sat down, Alya putting an arm around Marinette's shoulders.
"But I was into superheros way before Ladybug was a thing. I know the golden rule: you keep your identity secret so the bad guys can't go after your friends and family."
Marinette slumped against her.
"In other words, I really screwed up."
"Don't say that," Tikki said as she landed on her head.
"I broke a golden rule, Tikki."
"You were up for close to twentyfour hours," Alya chuckled. "Sleep deprivation makes people a little loopy, besides I think this works out for the best."
"How so?"
"Cause it's not healthy for you, girl," Alya said. "The best heroes have a support network. Spiderman had Mary-Jane, Batman has the bat-family, and Ladybug and Cat Noir have Alya and Nino."
Marinette frowned. "Alya, the entire point was to keep you out of danger."
"But think about it," she said as she jumped up. "An akuma attacks during class and you need an out? Boom. We got you covered. Need to get everyone clear of the fight? We got this. Someone getting a little too close to your secret life? The 'Ladyblog' releases a premium lead that just so happens to be completely off base. Poof. Your secrets safe."
"You've spent the better part of the year trying to use the 'Ladyblog' to figure out who I am."
"Er, well, I, um," she mumbled. A blush lit up her face as she hugged herself. " I kindda had ulterior motives."
Marinette's frown deepened.
"I wanted to be Max," she huffed.
"What?"
"Maxine!" she groaned. Her hand came up to rub her forehead as she turned back to the designer. "There… there was this old show. American cartoon. A sequel series called 'Batman Beyond'. It was what got me into superheroes. In it a teenager named Terry Mcginnis, becomes the new Batman. Anyway, this girl, Maxine Gibson, figures out who the new Batman is and starts helping out."
She sighed. "Was kinda a secret backup dream for me. Like if I couldn't be the superhero then maybe I could help them. Be the 'girl in the chair', you know?"
Marinette sat back. She groaned as she rubbed her forehead.
"Tikki?" she asked, casting her eyes upwards.
"It wouldn't be the first time," she said with a shrug. "Robin Hood let his entire band of thieves know so they could help."
"Robin Hood was real?" Marinette questioned.
"Robin Hood was Ladybug?" Alya cried.
"Cat Noir actually. St. George is the only male Ladybug so far."
Alya's hands pulled at her hair.
"I have so many questions!" she huffed.
Tikki and Marinette giggled.
"But first," she said, crossing her arms. "We've got to get that group project done. I love yah, girl, but you are not saddling me with all that work. So get ready. We gotta go meet up with Nino and-"
"Adrien!" Marinette gasped. She shot up and began to pace. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Alya, I can't face him. Adrien is Cat Noir. Adrien has been flirting with me for a year! I've been brushing him off for himself. I don't know wether to cry or scream at that! I kissed Adrien!"
Her eyes widened.
"I kissed Adrien," she swooned. "I kissed Adrien, but I didn't even know it was Adrien!"
And right back to panic.
She flopped back down on the chaise, groaning into the cushions.
"Okay," Alya drawled. "Lotta background we need to cover, apparently."
"You have no idea," Tikki sighed.
C.T.K: A sequel to the underwhelming success 'Huh, So That's a Thing'. More to come.
May your writing implements never fail you.