Birds were chirping, the sun was drifting through the dust lazily, and Alix was fighting to stay awake. Her dad had had to run to the Louvre early, so she'd been dropped off a full hour before school started. Armed with her backpack stuffed full of half-completed homework and a cooling cup of foul-smelling coffee, Alix trudged upstairs towards the locker room. She put her lunch, several binders, and her foul-smelling gym stuff into her locker before taking her backpack, now much lighter, upstairs.
The door was unlocked even though Mrs. Bustier still hadn't left the early morning teacher meetings she had to attend every Friday. Alix nudged the door open with her toe, shouldered a yawn, and paused mid-step as she spied the other person in the room.
In the spot where Adrien would usually sit was a girl with pink and orange streaks in her blonde hair, along with several friendship bracelets braided into the hair at the nape of her neck. Her mouth was open as she slept, and messy red eyeshadow was smudged around the corners of her eyes. She wore a band shirt that Alix did not recognize, and black ripped jeans with worn-through tennis shoes.
Alix had never seen her before.
Alix carefully scootched past her and went to set her stuff down at her desk. Then, after a moment's deliberation, she walked back down the aisle and prodded the girl's arm.
"Hey!" She called. "Time to get up, please."
"Ugh!" The girl groaned, rubbing her eyes as she woke. "Did I fall asleep in class again?" She rubbed her eyes as she looked up and squinted at the empty board. Her eyebrows suddenly knit together in confusion.
"Uh, who are you?" Alix asked as the newcomer stared at the board like they were trying to remember where they'd seen it before.
"Marilyn…?" She answered as she turned to look at Alix. Her jaw fell open as she took in Alix's bubble-gum pink hair and her unique outfit. Alix didn't think that was quite fair, seeing as what she was wearing. She crossed her arms and stared at the punk girl. Then, Marilyn said something Alix hadn't quite expected: "Alex Kubdel."
Alix blinked. "Have we met?" She asked slowly.
Marilyn blinked slowly. She looked at the board and then put her head down again. "I must still be dreaming." She yawned absentmindedly.
"Uh, no you're not?" Alex asked. The door swung open again. It was Kim, fresh from his morning sprints around the school and holding a green smoothie and a diet soda to help it go down. Marilyn sat back up when she saw him.
"Le Chien Kim." She said aloud.
"Just Kim," Kim said absentmindedly as he trooped up the stairs past Alix. Then, he paused. "Have we met?" He asked.
Marilyn stared at the both of them. Her eyes flickered from their frames to the classroom board, to the ceiling. Then, she shrugged and laid her head down on her folded arms. "Not my weirdest dream." She mumbled. "But while I'm here, you should know I totally ship you two together."
"What?" Alix asked. Kim looked abosolutely repulsed.
"Yeah." Marilyn nodded. "You and Kim should totally get together and do those weird couple yoga things and race each other around Paris. It'd be cute."
"Excuse me." Alix planted a hand down in front of Marilyn's face. "Do we even know you? Who do you think you are, to barge in and start making judgment calls on our lives?"
Marilyn sat back up, clearly annoyed that her sleep schedule is being interrupted. "Don't shoot." She drawled. "And it's not just me. Half the fandom thinks you should get together!"
The door swung open again. Marilyn turned to see who had entered, and recited: "Ivan Bruell, Mylene Haprele."
Their other two classmates stopped in surprise. Alix growled.
"You're already together and you're super cute." Marilyn giggled. "I was so excited when I saw Stoneheart for the first time! It was so cute. The way Ladybug caught Mylene while capturing that akuma was so freaking cool!"
Ivan furrorwed his brow at her. "How do you know about that?" He asked.
"Well, the episode was kind of made of close-ups. It was super awesome. If you ask me, they shouldn't have done the red and black spotted backsplash for when Alya got trapped behind the car though." Marilyn shrugged.
"Trapped behind a car?" Alix asked.
"Black and red spots?" Mylene tilted her head in confusion.
"Yeah. Animator decision though. Can I go back to sleep?" Marilyn yawned and put her head on top of a fist.
"Uh, no, you can't." Alix rolled her eyes. "You can't just appear in our classroom, say all these weird things, and go to sleep when we want to ask you stuff about it. So, sit up." She grabbed the back of Marilyn's shirt and hoisted the girl into an upright position as Mylene, Ivan, and Kim gathered around her.
"Sheesh!" Marilyn complained. "Why are you so touchy? My dreams aren't usually like this."
Alix reached out and grabbed the fleshy part of Marilyn's arm. She pinched, hard. Marilyn yelped.
"See?" Alix asked, frustrated. "We're not a dream. Now pay attention."
Marilyn blinked and looked down and where a red mark was starting to form on her arm. She took her skin in between her fingers and pinched herself. Nothing happened. "Oh my gosh," Marilyn said loudly as her eyes began to grow wide. "Oh my gosh!"
"What?" Alix asked irritably.
"I've been transported to the miraculous ladybug realm?" Marilyn shrieked. "Oh gosh, this is what I get for staying up late finishing my stupid math homework! I'm sorry, karma!"
"What's she going on about?" Kim asked the other three classmates as Marilyn seized her own hair and began to pull. They shrugged.
The door to the classroom opened again. A noise was beginning to come from the courtyard below. Students were starting to arrive. Marilyn spun as more people entered the room. "Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Max Kante, and Nathaniel Kurtzburg!" Marilyn counted off on her fingers. "That means I'm in a room with Timebreaker, Dark Cupid, Horrificator, Stoneheart, Princess Fragrance, Refleckta, Gamer, and Evillustrator! That's like, a third of season one?"
"Season one?" Mylene asked hesitantly.
Marilyn jumped up and ran to the board. "You guys are part of my favorite TV Show, Miraculous Ladybug! The first episode of season three just barely came out and – ugh!" She paused with a long white piece of chalk in her hands as she shook her tiny fists. "I hate Lila so much!" She shrieked before she began to scribble three lists on the board.
"Lila's such a good and interesting person, though!" Rose said. She looked as confused as the rest of them but still had to stand up for her friend. "She's a personal friend of Prince Ali's!"
"Not really." Marilyn paused in her list writing to turn around and face Rose. "She really is a stupid, stupid liar, and I hate her guts."
"What are you doing?" Kim asked.
On the board were, as previously mentioned, three long lists. The last one had only one word: Chameleon. The others had twenty-six with a 'Christmas Special' in between. Alix recognized many of the names right off the bat. Timebreaker, of course, had been her akumatized identity. In fact, it seemed like Marilyn was listing akumas. Some of the ones she was talking about Alix didn't even recognize. Who was Copycat, or The Collector?
"I've seen every episode," Marilyn announced proudly. "That's about 700 minutes of watch time between all released episodes, not including the webisodes or the chibi episodes, which are so cute!" Marilyn paused to squeal as she began to circle certain villains on her lists. "I've watched episodes in French, German, Spanish, but mostly English. I've transcribed articles for MLB Wikia, and I make fan theories, and I can't draw super well but I love the fanart in this fandom. It's so pretty!" She finished circling and proudly presented her work to the stunned kids in the room. "These are by far the best episodes. Like this one, Style Queen, we learn what happened to Adrien's mom, and it's so sad!"
"What did I just walk into?" Someone asked from the doorway. It was Chloe, with her white designer purse slung over her shoulder and Sabrina by her side. Everyone rolled their eyes as she strolled inside. She examined the board tactfully. "You're missing akumas if that's what you're trying to do. Vanisher, for one." She flipped her hand at Sabrina, who looked delighted to have been awknowledged.
"No, I'm listing episodes," Marilyn said as if it were obvious. She sized up the two new girls. "Sabrina Raincomprix. Your dad is the police officer who needs to learn to cool his jets." Before Sabrina could defend her dad, Marilyn squinted at Chloe. "Ugh." She said. "I hated you back in season one for what you did to Kim, but I guess you do get a small redemption for what happened during the Queen's fight episodes and for shaming Hawkmoth on his fashion." Marilyn snorted and began to laugh.
"Episodes?" Sabrina asked softly.
Alix rolled her eyes. "She thinks she's asleep and we're all from a TV Show she watches when she's awake."
"You are!" Marilyn insisted. "I have clips and articles and fanarts on my phone to prove it!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a sleek phone with a large screen. When she showed the screen to their classmates, they fell silent. Then, after a long pause, Nathaniel asked: "Is that supposed to be Marinette and Adrien?"
"Yes." Marilyn blushed with pride. "Aren't they adorable? They're my OTP."
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" Chloe asked in disgust.
"Yes." Marilyn squealed. "Did you know her name was almost Bridgette when they first started animating her? And her love interest was originally Felix, but Felix didn't have much opportunity for character development, so they let him go and made Adrien, our sinammon roll son, instead?"
Someone made a squeaking sound from the door. Everyone turned to see Alya and Nino standing in the doorway, looking extremely surprised and confused.
"I'm sorry." Nino coughed as he tried to talk around clearing his throat. "Did you just call my dude a cinnamon roll?"
"With an 's'," Marilyn confirmed. "If you ask me, I think Chat is way hotter than Adrien. He's just so much more… free and happy. Sure of himself."
No one was quite sure of what to say.
Marilyn looked around the room in amazement. "Woah." She said. "This is amazing. This has to be a dream. There's no way this can actually be happening. I mean, all we're missing is-"
"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Adrien asked as he walked into class behind Nino and Alya. Marilyn's jaw dropped and unhinged as she stared with wide eyes at him. "Oh, new student?" He asked uneasily.
"Oh my gosh!" Marilyn jumped off the desk and sprinted to him. "I have so many things I want to tell you and – holy crap, I can't believe it's you!" She screamed.
Adrien looked extremely uncomfortable as he awkwardly set his backpack down and pushed it under his desk with his foot.
"Where's my phone?" Marilyn panicked. "I have to show all of you guys my favorite Ladynoir fanart!"
"Ladynoir?" Alya perked up. Nino groaned.
"No." He complained. "Don't start her up on this. They're not a couple."
"I know!" Marilyn growled in frustration. "Isn't it so frustrating? I mean, if they would reveal themselves already, we could all go home and have a lovely rest of our lives, but no! They have to work the stupid love square into every minute of this show and –" She suddenly whirled on Adrien, "If I hear you call Ladybug 'a very good friend' one more time, I'm going to freak out."
"I haven't!" Adrien protested feebly.
"Back up." Alix sighed. "What's Ladynoir?"
"The ship name for Ladybug and Chat Noir." Alya supplied.
"There's also Adrienette, Marichat, and Ladrien. My personal favorite is Ladynoir. Power couple all the way!" Marilyn pumped her fist in the air.
Alix knew she could be a little slow on the uptake sometimes. Sometimes she had to be retaught things from math and her French teacher had to go a bit slower for her, but if she was counting correctly then that meant…
"Are you talking about Marinette?" Alya asked with a face. "Because, uh, she's smitten, and not with Chat Noir."
Adrien blinked and looked around. "Can someone explain what's going on?
"She thinks we're all from her favorite TV Show that apparently centers around a love square between you, Marinette, Chat Noir, and Ladybug while they fight akumas." Max supplied.
"Wait, what?" Marilyn asked.
Adrien looked equally taken aback. "But… I'm not into Marinette. Or Chat Noir for that matter."
"Of course you are!" Marilyn groaned. She looked like she was going to have an anesrum. "You're the secondary character and the love interest and everything depends on you!" She paused. "Actually, scratch that, basically every single problem in the entire series would be solved if Chloe learned to be nice, Lila quit lyin'-" Adrien stiffened at that remark, "-And if Gabriel and Natalie got together."
Adrien began to choke. "What?" He asked. "Excuse me?"
"No, but hear me out!" Marilyn exclaimed. "If Gabriel and Natalie got together, then Hawkmoth wouldn't have a reason to send out any more akumas, and Ladybug and Chat Noir could reveal their identities," She gave a not-so-subtle glare at Adrien, "And the love square would be resolved and everything would be fine!" She threw her hands up in the air along with her cell phone. Everyone watched it turn flips through the air until it hit the wall and remained still beside the door.
Mylene raised her hand. "I still don't see how Hawkmoth plays into that." She said. "Is Hawkmoth trying to, like, get Gabriel and Natalie together?"
Marilyn snorted. "If only our problems were that easy." She rolled her eyes. "Anyways, if Chloe were nicer people wouldn't get akumatized as much because as of right now she's caused fifteen akumas, not counting her own akumatizations. Most of those were in Season One, so she's gotten better, but still. Marinette's caused eleven, however, I count Zombiezou as one both Marinette and Chloe caused because Chloe caused the situation, but it was Marinette's anger that drew the Akuma in the first place." She paused to take a deep breath as everyone stared.
Finally, Rose piped up from the back. "And, uhm, what about Lila lying?"
"Oh, she's a nasty rotten liar who I've never heard spout a single truth since she was akumatized in Volpina. She's an absolute brat." Marinlynn answered with an eyeroll as she leaned back against Mrs. Bustier's desk.
"I am not!" Someone shouted from the doorway. It was Lila. Her face was turning red and her fists were clenched and shaking. "I've never told a single lie!" She said, crossing her arms over her chests.
"Oh, like when you stole Adrien's book about superheroes, got a fox miraculous knockoff and dropped his book in the trash, causing him to get grounded for life?" Marilynn asked with a raised eyebrow. "I'm quite sorry no one took you up on your sprained wrist lie, considered you switched up what hand it was at the end of the day."
The room fell deathly silent. Lila's face was becoming multichromatic as she shook with rage. Marilynn licked the tip of her finger, pointed at Lila, and made a sizzling sound with her teeth. Then, she turned to the class. "You all should probably know she's actively and willingly worked with Hawkmoth before. To the point when she was angry at Marinette and Adrien she literally took an akuma she found that was supposed to be for Marinette and put it in her own earring. The entire fandom hates her guts and we make memes all the time about how the fox says nothing but lies."
"This is unbelievable." Adrien shook his head. "The book was returned miraculously and I was ungrounded. Dad never even said anything to me about it. And how can you expect us to believe all of this? It's honestly… far fetched."
Marilyn began to laugh. She laughed so hard she doubled over onto her knees and then knelt on the ground laughing. Finally, she looked up with tears in her eyes. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng returned the book for you. But not before she showed it to Master Fu and he took three-million photos of it."
"Master… Fu?" Adrien stumbled, eyes wide.
"Mhmm!" Marilynn nodded. She crossed her legs criss-cross applesauce underneath her and smiled. "The Collector was a really interesting episode. We found out the identity of Hawkmoth."
The entire class did a double intake. "You know who Hawkmoth is?" Alya gasped. She reached for her phone, but Nino pulled it out of her pocket and held it under his arm so she couldn't wrench it back.
"I know everyone's identities." Marilyn's eyes sparkled. "Even Ladybug and Chat Noir." Everyone was silent; no one believed her.
Marilyn stood back up and wandered back to the board. The class parted as she went. She picked up the chalk and examined the list in season two. "Queen Bee first transformed in the Episode Queen Wasp." She recited as she made a large arrow pointing to the episode in question, which was already circled for importance, and wrote 'Chloe Bourgeois' beside it. "And Carapace transformed in Anansi." Marilyn shivered as she made another arrow. "I hate spiders." She murmured as she wrote 'Nino Lahiffe' beside the episode.
No one said anything.
"Rena Rouge first transformed in Sapotis." Marilyn continued as she drew a third arrow and wrote 'Alya Cesaire' next to the episode title.
"Wait," Alex said. "Do you mean… Alya and Nino are superheroes?"
Adrien looked very surprised. He stared at Nino as his best friend rubbed the back of his neck. "You were Carapace?" He asked.
"Yeah, sorry man." Nino shrugged. "I wasn't really supposed to tell anyone, even you."
Marilyn snorted, and leaned her head against the chalkboard.
"What?" Adrien asked her.
"Nothing." Marilyn shook her head. "Just… Irony." She made an arrow pointing to the Collector and then paused. She turned around to stare at Adrien, and the corners of her mouth twitched downwards in sympathy. Then she turned back to the board and scrawled 'Gabriel Agreste' beside the episode.
Adrien lurched backward as if he'd been shot. "No!" He exclaimed. "He was an akuma. He was The Collector! He can't be Hawkmoth."
"He akumatized himself," Marilyn answered, stepping back from the board and tossing the chalk in her hand. "He knew you were hot on his trail when he discovered the book was gone, so he akumatized himself. Natalie knew. She's in love with him though, so she keeps silent about the whole thing."
Adrien fell back against his desk with a thump. Marilyn examined her writing. "Ladybug and Chat Noir appear in every episode, of course." She announced to the room. "They're the love square, the main event. Watching them flail around each other is honestly why the show is so popular."
Max blinked and looked sideways at the board. "Ladybug and Chat Noir are the Love Square?" He asked.
"Yes." Marilyn nodded.
"And how many akumas has Marinette caused?" Max asked.
"A lot." Marilyn chuckled. "She did Gamer, Antibug, and Volpina in season one."
"No, she didn't." Chloe and Lila said at the exact same time. They looked at each other in surprise, and then Chloe turned back to Marilyn. "Ladybug did." She said. "I was akumatized when she called me a liar to Chat Noir."
"And I was akumtised when Ladybug came out of nowhere and yelled at me!" Lila exclaimed. Marilyn snorted.
"Yeah, Marinette isn't perfect, but she always does her best. Adrien didn't even apologize for akumatising Copycat." Marilyn gave Adrien a quick glare.
"Copycat?" Alya asked. "Wasn't that when Chat Noir stole the Mona Lisa?"
"Theo Barbot." Marilyn recited. "He sculpted the statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir. When Ladybug didn't show because she was busy stealing Adrien's phone, Chat Noir took the opportunity to tell Theo that he and Ladybug were dating. Theo was akumatized and Adrien never even apologized."
Silence filled the room. Adrien dragged his sweat-covered hands up and down his pants legs. He was still reeling over his dad being Hawkmoth. Marilyn laughed. "You don't all have to look at me like that. Marinette has stolen, like, three people's phones."
"Why would Adrien have to apologize for Chat Noir?" Chloe asked quietly.
Marilyn blinked. "Oh, you're still puzzling on that? You're a little slow on the uptake. Adrien's alter-ego is Chat Noir. With the black cat ring and his kwami Plagg he can transform into the cat-themed superhero."
"Stop," Nino whispered. He looked like he was in pain.
"Wait, wait wait!" Max waved his hands about. "Going back to that love-square-thingy you mentioned with the Ladynoir and Marilap-"
"Marichat!" Marilyn corrected with a glare.
"That would mean that Adrien takes up a place in all those points as either Adrien or Chat Noir and if I'm to interpret your claims of Marinette akumatising Lila and Chloe correctly, then that means that Marinette would also take up a place on each pairing of the square because Marinette would be-"
The door flew open with a bang and a girl with a red face and a pink purse skidded into the room. "Not late!" She yelled triumphantly, crashing into Alya as Marilyn's eyes grew wide.
"Oh no," Nino whispered softly into his hand.
Marilyn opened her mouth as wide as she could and screamed: "LADYBUG!"
Hi guys! I wanted to write something cute and fun to give myself a break from the long piece I'm working on. 448 pages and counting! Not for miraculous, unfortunately, but I do have a 70+ page story MLB that I will hopefully be able to give to you by the end of January or February, depending on how bad editing is and how much I get done on that long one. It's from Alya's pov after Marinette and Adrien have disappeared for ten years. A mystery/thriller!
I do not own Miraculous Ladybug
Bug out.