This was not how Marinette had expected her day to go when she woke up this morning.
Admittedly, it could have been a much worse one. School had passed without incident so far, she had gotten everywhere on time and there had been no akuma attack while she had been in class.
It was during lunch that everything had gone to shit.
_
Living so close to the school, Marinette normally went back to the bakery for lunch, and Alya often joined her. It was just the two of them messing around and eating whatever they could put together in the kitchen for lunch. Today, though, Alya had decided it would be a good idea to meet up with Nino and Adrien instead.
It was an unmitigated disaster. While exposure to Adrien had given her the ability to act somewhat normally around him, she still wasn't very good at interacting with him for very long. This made for a very awkward lunch. Adrien, bless his socially polite self, did his best to engage an increasingly awkward and uncomfortable Marinette in civil conversation, but she slowly got more embarrassed as time passed. Alya was no help whatsoever, busily engaging Nino in an intense debate and periodically throwing her best friend a smug grin, completely ignoring her increasing discomfort.
It didn't help that Adrien, searching for a topic of conversation, began to wax lyrical about Ladybug and how amazing he clearly thought she was, looking as lovestruck as Chat Noir did sometimes. Marinette never thought that she could make Adrien Agreste look like that, even as Ladybug, and it made her so self-conscious that she awkwardly let him prattle on, and fiddle nervously with her plate untill she inevitably spilt her lunch all over herself.
Adrien, ever the gentleman, offered her his buttondown so she didn't have to endure having food all down her front. It was a sweet gesture, and one she readily accepted (anything was better than having to keep her soiled shirt on). Only problem was, this was Adrien's shirt. It was at least four sizes too big and was just so undeniably him that Marinette was struggling not to hyperventilate.
Of course, as soon as she sat back down, shirt slipping off on shoulder and sleeves rolled up, screams broke out several streets away, their panicked tone indicating an akuma attack.
Alya, determined to catch Ladybug and Chat Noir in action, dashed off towards the commotion. Bizarrely, so did Adrien. Marinette barely had time to react before he gabbled out an excuse and dashed out the door. He was going to get himself hurt, so Marinette left Nino behind and dashed after him to drag him back to safety, so she could fight the akuma without being distracted worrying for his safety.
She caught a glimpse of blond hair ducking into a nearby alleyway, and followed it to see Adrien ducking out of sight ibhind a large planter holding an oversized hedge. Marinette was about to barge in and drag him to further safety when a shout of "Transformé moi!", and a flash of light came from Adrien's hiding place, and Chat Noir bounded out from behind the bush, leaving Marinette frozen in shock in the empty alleyway.
_
Holy shit. Adrien is Chat Noir. Holy shit holy shit holy shit.
Marinette stood frozen for several seconds before the screams of civilians jolted her out of her stupor. Ducking behind the same conveniently located bush that Adrien (Holy shit Adrien is Chat Noir) had just used, she called out to Tikki "Transformé moi!", feeling the familiar ripple of the suit and mask coming into existence.