Hi guys! This is my first fanfiction and I thought of this au while at the dentist haha. I've been quite excited to put this concept into words and I hope you all enjoy :D

Marinette dragged herself up the narrow staircase, each step more laborious than she had ever remembered feeling climbing the familiar slope to the dorm rooms. She turned a corner and reached the second door on the left, unlocking it with her last bit of strength and collapsing onto her bed.

Today had been particularly exhausting. It was two days before their comeback was scheduled to begin, and her schedule was unbelievably hectic. She had woken up at the crack of dawn, been swept to a reality TV show, gone straight back to the dance studio to rehearse, attended a fan signing in a faraway town (the paparazzi at the airport was nauseating) and finally attended a 2 hour vocal lesson. And those measly sweet potato and salmon meals were certainly not enough to satisfy her raging appetite.

Marinette sighed. On days like these, all she wanted to do was to be back at her family bakery, helping her mom and dad make croissants and pastries, where calories weren't counted and her waist line wasn't recorded.

Oh wait! Tomorrow was Sunday, which meant break day, and she could do exactly that! She let out a faint whoop and her eyes slowly fluttered shut at the thought that she could finally unwind a bit the following day.

When Marinette was on the brink of drifting asleep, the door swung open with a loud bang and the lights illuminated the room. Marinette groaned, rolling to her side and shielding her eyes.

"Rise and shine, Marinette!" a familiar voice laughed.

"Come on Alya, it's been a long day" Marinette mumbled back.

"Alright, alright. I'll let you rest" Alya laughed again. "But I have some news for you before you're out for the day".

Marinette grunted to signal for her to continue.

Alya's voice raised a pitch or two, and Marinette braced herself for the juicy gossip her tech-savvy friend had picked up this time. However, nothing would've prepared her for what was coming.

"You're in a dating scandal with Chat Noir" Alya sang.

"WHAT?!"

"I said you're in a scandal with Chat Noir" Alya said again, with the same knowing smile plastered across her face.

"I know what you said, but Chat Noir?! Of all people?" Marinette exclaimed with her hands held high, all signs of sleep shaken from her. Oh no, this was bad. This was very, very bad.

"Wait, what's wrong? Sure it's a scandal, but the black leather and the messy blonde hair?" Alya pretended to swoon and fell onto her bed across from Marinette's.

Marinette groaned again. "Are you sure this isn't just one of those fake attention-seeking headers on those trash celebrity gossip sites you follow? Oh no, don't tell me it's Dispatch!"

Alya laughed "Calm down, Marinette. This one's big for sure and there's even a picture that's been spreading everywhere! I'm surprised that our infamous phone burglar hadn't heard of this yet." With that, Alya's thumbs flew across her phone until she pulled up the alleged photo.

Marinette squinted. It was blurry and set in one of the nearby parks. Under a street light, a figure with two black cat ears stood next to a girl with two pigtails clad in high-rise red jeggings splattered with black spots. The cat boy gently hooked a finger under the girl's chin, tipping it up so that their gazes connected. The picture definitely looked like they were in the middle of something, but it was taken at an angle where their facial features were hidden from the camera.

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Ugh, why are people so dense? It's probably just cosplayers for god's sake and I really don't have time to deal with a scandal on my day off".

Finally, Alya began to sympathize with her friend. "Hey, that's why we live double lives, right? Just take off your makeup and put on some different clothes and, tada! No paparazzi to bother Ladybug while she's walking down the streets as a normal girl."

Marinette smiled. She was glad that Alya was always there for her when she needed her.

"You're right, Alya. Sorry if I wasn't myself tonight. It's just that this week was really tough and scandals are never fun. After all, we both know how my last one went down."

The two broke out into laughter. Ladybug's first scandal was still fresh in their minds like it had happened just yesterday. She had been falsely rumored to be dating "tomato boy", a nickname given to Evillustrator, a member of the same band Chat Noir was in. A fan with a backstage pass had taken a picture of the idol giving Ladybug a drawing he had been working on. Ladybug had been smiling in the picture, a genuine smile at the sweet message that had been scrawled in the corner of the Ladybug drawing. That picture had definitely not been a fraud, but the ship name was what made the whole scandal note-worthy. "Tomato bug" trended for several weeks and Marinette almost felt bad because the ironically shy Evillustrator had been confessing his real feelings that day. She had hoped nothing to that scale would happen ever again, yet here she was.

After the two had calmed down and climbed back into bed, Alya suddenly let out a squeal.

Marinette rolled her eyes with a smile. "What now, Lady Wi-Fi?"

"Oh my god, you won't believe this! Ladynoir is trending on tumblr and all the fan art and edits are so cute! Oh, this one's my favorite so far!"

Alya held her phone out to Marinette, and despite how much she told herself not to, she stole a look.

The fanart was of Ladybug and Chat Noir on the stage, dancing and singing a duet together.

"Bleh" Marinette said, sticking her tongue out and feigning a look of disgust. She immediately turned to the side to hide the brush creeping up into her cheeks because "my gosh, they were kind of cute together".

Alya laughed and continued scrolling, sometimes squealing and other times liking or reblogging with her anonymous account.

"Okay, Ladybug, I'll let you get your beauty sleep" she said a few moments later.

She glanced over at her friend when she was met with no reply, only to find her already sound asleep.
"Wow, she must've been really tired if the fact that local cat boy was shipped with her didn't cause her to lose a few hours of sleep" Alya remarked.

She stood up and turned off the lights before sinking into her worn bed. Alya looked at her friend's sleeping form and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"Oh, Marinette. You are in for one wild ride."

Hope you guys like what I have so far! I'm super excited and I have a lot of great things planned for this fic :)

Also, if anyone has any suggestions for the girl group name and boy band name that would be great! (Girls: Ladybug, Lady Wi-Fi, Reflekta, Princess Fragrance, Timebreaker, Horrificator; Boys: Dark Cupid, Chat Noir, Bubbler, Evillustrator, Gamer, Stoneheart; Second girl group: Antibug, Vanisher, other anonymous girls)