Wooah this chapter got crazily long, oops not so oops.
Reply to Julietleanandishe: Thanks so much, that's basically how this story got started, because I usually love the best friend reveal but I started wondering what kinda stuff these kids would get themselves into if the opposite best friends found out.
OOO
It started out normal enough.
Word of an akuma on the evening news and a call for Tikki and suddenly, Ladybug was swinging towards the action like a girl on a mission.
"Urgh!" She heard a female scream from the Effiel Tower, whom she soon realized was her new villain, "You need to stop being so perfect! Don't you understand how stressful it is to have such high expectations to live up to??"
"Um, actually, it's still pretty--" The boy responded, his voice familiar in her ears. At first, she thought it was Chat but the voice was much more filled with panic than Chat's pride would ever allow.
Ladybug dropped onto the Tower softly, eyeing down at the akuma and the hostage boy on a lower level, god, that blond hair was familiar, what in the--
Marinette almost fell off her high perch, grabbing the beam next to her with a indignant screech. Adrien Agreste had glanced up from his spot next to the akumatized girl, green eyes blown wide.
Noticing the sound, the villain glared up, catching the sight of the heroine and pointed at her, a blast of purple light coming from her finger.
Barely righting herself after recognizing the hostage, Ladybug had just enough time to jump out of the way. God, where was Chat? He was usually here with her and ready to run diversion tactics. That was their way, Chat distracted and Ladybug attacked, but she couldn't do both at once.
After dodging a few blasts, Marinette was starting to fear for Adrien. He like her, could go nowhere without a distraction. God, she would kill that stupid cat when she saw him!
So, she tried a different approach. Talking the akuma down.
"Why are you here?" The dark haired girl called down from high on the Tower, watching the akuma and Adrien carefully.
The girl was about their age, almost seventeen or so, tall, with a head of brown curls, "I'm here to get rid of stereotypes and expectations. Meaning him." She pointed a purple glowing finger at Adrien's face, who, to his credit, didn't flinch.
Ladybug pitched forward before she realized it, dropping down to a lower beam, "Hey, hey, hey. Getting rid of stereotypes is a good thing, I commend you for that, but this isn't the way to go about it."
"Oh really?" The girl responded darkly, just glaring as her finger was still pointed directly at him, "The rich, blonde, beautiful model with more money than he knows what to do with?" Then her words were directed at the boy, "Every picture they plaster up of you in your pretty little sport jackets sends good people into self-doubt. Don't you understand what that does to people? They look at you and they think they won't ever be good enough, that they can't ever live up to that glossy photoshopped Agreste. That's wrong, and if you don't think so, there's something seriously switched around in your head."
Ladybug jumped down another beam as the akuma's words became more venomous, "That's how marketing works, that's not his fault." She said calmly. If Chat would just bound up and knock this the girl upside the head before she did something crazy like blast Adrien off the Tower, everything would be fine.
But the model looked so earnestly hurt Ladybug couldn't even believe her eyes, "It's a lot harder than you make it seem."
There was a silence.
"What?" The villain asked, no emotion in her voice.
"I said it's a lot harder than you make it seem," He looked at her with steady green eyes, suddenly seeming unafraid, "The world only ever sees one part of me. Just that glossy perfect model image. Trust me when I say, it's a lot more complicated than that."
The akuma was staring at him, holding his gaze, silent and intent on his words, "If you're against this, don't be an example." She said, her tone a warning.
"I have no wish to be anyone's example, but that's what people expect of me. I'm sorry if you thought I was personally invested in making other doubt themselves, but that's simply not true."
For a moment, the girl's finger started to fall, she looked sorry, she looked guilty, he looked like a normal person instead of an akuma. If anyone could talk down a villain, Marinette would place her bets on Adrien, with his quiet bravery and earnest words.
She knew it was true, that he wasn't lying, she knew that modeling wasn't the easiest thing for him, and he never asked to be his father's son.
But the akuma changed her mind in a second, bringing up her finger and sending a blast directly into his face.
Ladybug shrieked, dropping down immediately between the boy as he leaned over and the girl as she pointed again, "Don't touch him!" She screamed.
"I might as well take out you too, the way you put yourself on a pedestal." She growled.
"I don't--"
Adrien let out a gasp, holding his face, half behind her. He was burned, blinded, or something, something horrible. God! Where was Chat?!
But then the blond started laughing, "Wow." He said cheerily, "My father would kill you." He didn't say it as a threat or sarcasm, just a simple fact.
The akuma pressed her lips, "Well that's what you--"
Ladybug whirled her yo-yo around her torso and pulled forward, still unaware of where the akuma was hiding in her, but tangling up her arms the best she could, "What did you do to him?"
The girl scoffed, "See for yourself."
Adrien snorted loudly, "I'm fine M-Ladybug, she made my nose gigantic is all."
Ladybug didn't turn around but the thought was just enough to confuse her, and the villain jerked forward, sending her backwards with a shove.
Ever clumsy Marinette, Ladybug tripped backwards while trying to catch her balance, swinging back over the side of the Tower's beam. The only thing that kept her from falling was her yo-yo, still tangled around the girl.
The akuma almost pitched as well, but Adrien grabbed her strongly by the shoulders, yanking her back harshly onto the ground and leaning over the side, "Ladybug?"
Marinette was kicking herself internally and telling herself to focus. Swinging back and forth, she manage to land on a lower beam, now without her yo-yo, "I'm here." She called, half for Adrien's benefit but mostly so the akuma would come fight her instead of blasting her friend again.
The girl had untangled the weapon now, leaving it abandoned on the beam above as she dangerously leaped down to where Lady was scrambling to stand.
She glared at the heroine, pure Hawkmoth anger in her eyes, "Give me your Miraculous! Show me that you're just like everyone else!"
Ladybug swung a hard kick straight into the akuma's side and she leaned over with a gasp of pain, "That's Hawkmoth talking."
The girl erupted with furious anger, "That is not me talking!" Her voice was deeper and more gravely, her fists shaking by her sides, "Give me your Miraculous!" She screamed.
This wasn't good, Ladybug was weaponless and standing before the very clearly pissed off akuma, Lord only knew where Chat was right now, and Adrien was defenseless up above.
Or maybe not.
As the akuma dove for her, a bright red yo-yo smacked her in the temple hard, causing her to fall to the ground, passed out.
"It's the locket, on her necklace!" Adrien said, the other end of the yo-yo in his hand, leaning way further over the edge of his beam that Marinette found safe.
The blue eyed girl fumbled for a moment, surprised in his quick action but pulled the necklace from the girl's heavy, tired form and smashed it with her foot.
Picking up her yo-yo, Adrien let go of the string, and it whirled back into place magically, before she used it to de-evilize the butterfly.
The girl groaned and Marinette remembered Adrien being blasted, "Um, hey up there, are you okay?"
The blond beamed at her over the side, his nose so comically large that she momentarily couldn't remember how it looked normally, "I'm fine, thanks. Cool yo-yo."
"Yeah, um, nice shot."
"Thanks, but you think you could get my nose back to how it was? I feeling like my lungs are too small for my nostrils." He let out a laugh, more of a large snort with his current state.
"Yeah, uh," Ladybug glanced around for her Lucky Charm, realized she hadn't called for one, then let out a self conscious, "Miraculous Ladybug!"
The girl sat up instantly, "What?"
Ladybug crouched beside her, offering a smile, "You were akumatized, everything's fine now."
She groaned, "Damn it. I got mad at Adrien Agreste, didn't I?" She didn't wait for an answer nor make any attempt to pull herself up, "God, my friend has depression and she was having one of her bad days because of some silly billboard. I just, I got so mad." She buried her face in her hands, "I am so sorry."
"It's okay!" Adrien said from above, his nose back to it's usual glory, "Nobody got hurt." He gave her that soft, heartwarming smile, "And just so you know, they half to work on me for hours before they even start talking pictures, what you see isn't the real thing."
Have you looked in the mirror lately?! Ladybug wanted to scream.
The normal girl groaned, "Urgh. Sorry."
"No need to apologize." Ladybug assured her, helping her stand, "Here, I'm sure your family is worried, let me take you down to the street, okay?"
She nodded and held her side as Ladybug wrapped up her yo-yo and made the slow descent, "Stay there, I'll be right back." She promised Adrien before slowly letting herself and the girl next to her fall down to the Paris streets.
There were police cars around and a family of tall brunettes were making their way towards the two.
"Tell him I'm sorry." She whispered, looking at the ground as her feet settled on it and they untangled from each other.
"He knows." Ladybug assured her, giving a smile, "He's sweet that way."
"Thanks, for um."
"It's what I do." Ladybug told her, glad that their were people out there that cared so much for their friends.
With a nod, she whizzed back up to Adrien, who was sitting patiently on the metal, a slight pink coming to his face when she held out her hand.
Both blushing, Adrien tentatively wrapped a careful arm around her side and she started back to his home, all the while trying to convince herself that she wasn't enjoying this.
OOO
Chat used her yo-yo, I repeat, Chat used her yo-yo. Alert the presses and Alya.
Also, buckle up you guys, I've got some stuff for the next chapter that's gonna be a little loco.