Chapter Summary: Everybody seems to be watching Master Fu's videos nowadays.
Pairings: Alya/Nino, mentioned Ladrien, mentioned MariChat, LadyNoir, Adrinette, Mylene (the Horrificator)/Ivan (Stoneheart)
A/N: This chapter has a lot of things in it that I felt needed to be said/done. There's another video in it, the second doubles night, and just a bunch of other stuff that needed to go in this fic before I start preparing for the end (dun dun dun)
If it's not clear, we start out with Adrien's perspective and switch to Marinette's after the first line break. I have no idea if there's going to be another Adrien POV section for this fic, but we'll see.
Thanks to darkheartlink *pounds fist*, catgirl505, Shipfinder, Kiracles, Miraculous trash (usually every 2 days, but i'm aiming for every 2-4), Mikan, Q-A the Authoress, I wish, Protagonist009, MiraculousLadybugFan995, fairy girl, and the guest who all reviewed.
"What's up with you, man?" Nino asked Adrien. They were standing at the bar, Ladybug and Alya were chatting away. "You didn't seem yourself tonight."
Adrien looked over to Ladybug and then back at Nino. The events of Thursday were burning on his tongue, and he had to tell someone.
"Ladybug was at the Academy on Thursday, with Le Dessinateur." Adrien spoke in a low enough that the two girls didn't hear him.
"And?"
"I walked in on them."
Nino's eyes widened. "Do…I…wanna know what they were doing?"
Adrien rolled his eyes. "She was posing for his art, it seemed. He left soon after I got there."
"Ok, I sense there's something bigger coming."
"I asked her to dance with me."
Nino nodded in approval. "Should've told her you've literally spent every Friday for the past month or so dancing with her, but that's a step forwards."
Adrien huffed and gave Nino a look. Nino knew that Ladybug was not interested in sharing their identities. "That's not all."
"Ok, so?"
"I tried to kiss her, and she left."
Nino's mouth shut with a snap and he looked at Ladybug out of the corner of his eye. "That sucks man."
"Yeah, seeing her tonight was hard, and it was even worse that I couldn't tell her what was going on."
"Good thing I'm here then."
Adrien nodded and tapped Nino's shoulder with his fist. "You're the best, thanks for the song by the way."
Nino shrugged, pleased with himself. "I came across it while planning my set, and it just seemed so you my friend."
"What are you two gossiping about?" Lady Wifi demanded.
Nino turned to her and wrapped his arm around her middle. "We could ask you the same thing. You two just chatter away, and we were left to our own devices."
She ignored Nino and looked directly at Adrien. "Are you alright, Chat? You seemed angry earlier."
Adrien flashed her Chat's signature grin, and bowed his head. "I'm flattered you are worried about me, but don't worry. I'm feline alright."
Lady Wifi turned to Ladybug. "Does he always make cat p-"
"Yes." She didn't even have to finish in order for both Ladybug and Nino to both answer in the affirmative.
"That's awful."
"Hey, it doesn't bother me any if it bothers you, cats have nine lives, you know?"
"It would seem you used one of them tonight with how quickly you were dancing tonight," Ladybug answered. "Who knows how many you have left."
Adrien looked her up and down and slowly felt the last of anger melt away. He couldn't be mad at her for not falling in love with Adrien. God knowns he wouldn't have if he was a woman.
"I have plenty, don't you worry about me, Bugaboo." He winked and took pleasure in her smile as a result.
SIX WEEKS 'TIL COMPETITION
Alya's video of Chat Noir and Ladybug dancing that Friday did not need the son of a famous dancer to tweet it in order to go viral. It seemed to just explode on it's own. People were uploading their own videos, #LadyNoirFight was trending on twitter, the street dancing side of tumblr was going absolutely nuts.
"I think I may have an idea to quell the masses," Alya said as they were stretching. It was 10 am on Saturday and it was time for the Academy dance troop's rehearsal.
"What makes you think we want the masses quelled?" Marinette asked.
Alya's eyebrows rose. "You want to live in perpetual drama."
Marinette shrugged. "No, but what does it matter what they think? Chat and I are cool, we don't need to show other people we're cool."
"But you don't want to show up to the Miraculous troop today and have everyone questioning if they're leaders can even stand each other."
Marinette bit her lip. "I guess you have a poi-"
"Yeah, I do! Now, here's my idea. The video of just you dancing did so well that I think a video of you and Chat dancing might do well."
Marinette shrugged. "That might be a good idea."
"Hey, hey, how's it going, ladies?" Adrien asked Marinette and Alya as he sauntered over to put his stuff down.
Marinette blushed at his tone and didn't look at him.
"Pretty good, you're in a chipper mood, Adrien," Alya commented.
Adrien shrugged. "I had a good night last night."
"How was your dad's performance?" Marinette asked.
Adrien's expression faltered, but he covered it with a small smile. "It was good, it went well. I know Dad wasn't sure about the leads. The male lead was a real prima donna, I hear."
"Did he perform well?"
Adrien shrugged. "He was alright, the female lead was really good."
"Oh, that's good. I'm glad you had such a good time."
"I was in a bad mood when I went in, but it brightened my day afterwards."
"That's great."
They started rehearsing and were soon done. The competition was in a little over a month, and they were making good progress. As soon as they finished, Chloe latched onto Adrien's arm and began chatting his ear off. Marinette had half a mind to throw her to the floor, but Alya dragged her out of the room before she did so.
"C'mon, we gotta be at the warehouse in less than an hour and we need to change," she said, dragging Marinette by her arm.
They were walking to Marinette's parent's bakery when they passed by the coffee shop.
"You want some coffee?" Alya asked.
Marinette looked inside the window and saw a bright splotch of red hair behind the counter. "You can, I'll catch up with you at the warehouse."
"Nah, I don't want one that badly." Alya followed Marinette back to the bakery, where they both got changed.
"I'm gonna ask Chat if he'll dance with you for the video after rehearsal, is that cool with you?" Alya asked as they headed down the street.
"It's fine with me, so long as he's cool with it."
They made it to the warehouse early, and were the first ones there.
"Are you ever gonna participate in the Dance Off, Alya?"
Alya shrugged, straightening her black tank-top with the wifi symbol on the front. "I think if I was gonna, I would've already. That is, unless there's a drastic need to. I did Doubles Night, and I'm a part of this troop."
"Are you gonna do Doubles Night with Nino, again?"
Alya shrugged again. "I'll ask him if he wants to. Are you an Chat doing it?"
Marinette nodded.
"Then we'll be there to watch if we don't dance."
They waited a little longer for the other people in silence, soon they started filing in. The Horrificator and Stoneheart came in hand-in-hand as they always did, but the Horrificator came over to stand with Alya and Marinette.
"How's it going?" she asked, her bright pink make-up was a little disorientating to look directly at.
"Good, how about you, Horrificator?" Marinette asked.
"I'm fine, Stoneheart is too."
"Is your dad going to be here?" Alya asked.
"What?" Marinette asked and the other two girls looked at her.
"The Mime, he's Horrificator's dad," Alya explained.
"Oh, I didn't- I didn't know."
The Horrificator shrugged. "It's not like we don't tell anyone, but we don't shout it from the rooftops, if you get my drift. You know, in case we have to face each other. But that's how I got involved at Miraculous, I started when I was 16."
"That's pretty young." The youngest person dancing currently was the Puppeteer, who was 18.
"Yeah, I tried to start when I was 14, almost 15, but my dad asked that I wait until I was 16."
"So you've been dancing here for four years?" Marinette asked to clarify.
The Horrificator nodded.
"Have you even gotten to be champ?"
She shook her head. "No, but I've gotten pretty close. I like doing it because it's something to do with my dad, and Stoneheart, of course."
"And did you convince Stoneheart to join?" Alya asked.
"No, actually, we met here. And it turned out we go to the same school and everything, it was a fantastic coincidence."
Alya side-eyed Marinette who had turned to see Chat come through the door.
"That's crazy," Alya said to the Horrificator. "That has to be fate or something."
"I don't know about that, but we're happy together." Stoneheart had lumbered over and wrapped his arm around the Horrification's shoulders.
"Who is?" he asked her.
"We are dummy, we're gonna start soon, we'd better stretch."
"Awe, we already danced before we got here."
"Just to loosen up, c'mon." She took his hand and lead him over to a more secluded corner of the room.
Alya nudged Marinette's arm with her elbow and nodded at the couple who had just left. "Crazy how everything turned out for them."
Marinette nodded. "Yeah. It's turning out for you too, with Nino and everything."
"It'll turn out for you too, don't worry."
"I'm not." As Marinette spoke, Chat sauntered up to the two of them.
"Well, fancy seeing the two of you here," he said as he grinned at the two of them.
"You invited us, this is your warehouse," Marinette countered.
Chat shrugged. "Regardless."
Nino also showed up then, along with M. Pigeon, Timebreaker, and Dark Cupid. Nino made his way over to Alya and pecked her cheek in greeting.
"I got one for you, babe, are you ready?" he asked her.
"One what?" Alya asked, dumbstruck.
"You must be Lady Wifi, because I think we have a great connection." Nino's smile cracked his face in two and he was laughing by the end.
Alya's face was not impressed. Nino was barely holding it together, Marinette herself had to clamp her hand over he mouth to not giggle. Alya turned and looked at Chat, who's grin was equal parts amused and wicked.
"Did you give him that one?"
Chat's grin turned 100% wicked right then, and it was obvious he had. Marinette could not hold in her laughter anymore and soon the other three joined in. She wiped tears from her eyes and caught her breath.
"We'd better start, c'mon," she said and turned to the rest of the dancers to start rehearsal.
The newest video on the Ladyblog was titled: "Ladybug and Chat Noir Together Again"
Ladybug and Chat Noir were on screen, waiting for something.
"Dance you guys!" said a voice behind the camera.
"To what?" Ladybug asked.
"I got'chu, said another voice behind the camera, and "Adventure of a Lifetime" by Coldplay started playing overtop of the video.
Chat immediately started bouncing on the balls of his feet, knocking against Ladybug's shoulder. She pushed him back.
Jump cut.
The two of them were swaying together, facing each other. This soon escalated to full on dance moves. They danced very close together, their moves blending into the other's. They both had looks of content and concentration as they danced, moving across the floor with each other.
Finally the song ended and a jump cut to them pounding fists.
"Bien joué," they said in unison.
Jump cut, they were standing side-by-side looking at the camera now.
"Hey everyone, I'm Ladybug-"
"-And I'm Chat Noir."
"Thanks so much for watching this video and supporting the Ladyblog, which is run by my good friend, Lady Wifi."
"If you want to see us dancing in person, we'll be competing in the Miraculous Doubles Night this Wednesday at around 10 pm."
"We'd really appreciate it if you could come, and also if you could support Miraculous in anyway you can, the people have been really good to us, and we wouldn't be anywhere without them."
"And also a bunch of us from Miraculous are going to be competing at the Paris Break Dancing competition coming up in a little over a month now, so you'll be able to see all kinds of dancers, not just us, dancing in that."
"Again, thanks so much for watching guys."
"If you liked this video, go ahead and let us know, and maybe we'll do another one in the future."
They waved goodbye. Chat wrapped an arm around Ladybug's middle, but she moved it to her back, and the video ended.
Marinette felt like she blinked and it was Wednesday, and Doubles Night was upon them. She tried everyday to speak to Adrien, thinking it would only get better the more she did it. And she was right, slowly they were warming up to each other and she felt she could truly call him a friend. They talked about dancing troop, and he recommended a lot of break dancers she could look up on YouTube. She found this exceedingly helpful, and recognized a lot of the moves.
"Are you ready?" Chat was looking her in the eye and Marinette breathed in and out.
"Are you?" she asked.
"I was born ready, my lady."
The crowd around them was getting restless as the two of them stood side-by-side in the pit. The Gamer, who was a man of few words, was already starting the next song, "Die Young' by Ke$ha.
The crowds at Miraculous were unnaturally large tonight, and Marinette desperately hoped it was because of the video. Adrien had tweeted this video as well, but it barely needed any help to gain more popularity than any of the other videos on the Ladyblog.
Marinette felt as though she and Chat had reached a new level of closeness that Friday, and was extremely excited to dance with Chat for Doubles Night. She liked to dance with him better than against him. Every time she'd got into the pit and saw he was her opponent, she panicked a little more. She knew he was better than anyone else at Miraculous if he really tried, but she was never sure if he truly wasn't as good as her.
Marinette and Chat were quickly going through their opponents to once again make it to the top. Finally when they beat the last couple, Dark Cupid and Timebreaker, they were as giddy as could be. Marinette threw her arms around Chat's neck in a hug, and he spun her around in a hug. Marinette could barely contain her glee as she was spun around by Chat. Before she realized what she was doing, she had laid a tender kiss on Chat's cheek. Said patch of flesh turned from pink with exertion to red with embarrassment. She didn't look into his eyes, instead let the crowd hoist her up on their shoulders once again.
And as they carried the two of them to the bar, she glanced over at Chat to see him grinning with his own glee. His face was still red, and Marinette thought it was a good color on him.
They were deposited at the bar and a round of drinks was ordered in their honor. Several people came up to them and asked for their autographs. A lot of people said they were there because of the video, and expressed interest in seeing more videos from them. Finally she and Chat headed back to the locker room for some privacy.
"Chat?" she asked, packing up her bag.
"Yes, Ladybug?" he asked, looking into her eyes wistfully.
"Do you watch break dancers on YouTube?"
He deflated a little with the question, and looked a little confused. "Yeah…?"
"I just- I noticed when you were dancing that your moves look a lot like this one break dancing YouTuber I watch."
"Oh, who?"
"Uh, his name is Master Fu."
Chat perked up. "Oh yeah, he's so cool. I've watched all his videos, I think."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I- I'm surprised you know who he is, he's not very well known." Chat scratched the back of his neck and looked down.
"A friend of mine recommended him."
"Ah, ok."
A silence fell between them as they finished packing up. Marinette started heading for the door to meet up with Alya when Chat called out to her.
"Uh, Ladybug?"
Marinette froze, and turned. He was red faced again, and Marinette desperately hoped he wouldn't mention the kiss.
"Good- good job tonight," he said.
Marinette smiled and held out her fist. "Bien joué?"
He smiled back and pounded her fist with his. "Bien joué. Pound it."
"I'll see you Friday, Chat." Marinette turned and headed out the door.
"See you Friday, my lady."
"Ok, when you say you kissed Chat, what does that mean?" Alya asked.
They were at the coffee shop. Nathanael wasn't working today, which Marinette was very happy about. After the debacle with Adrien the week before, Marinette had explained the entire situation from why Adrien was there, to what happened between her and Le Dessinateur at the auction. Alya had been disappointed that Nathanael had been greedy, but she had insisted it was probably out of humiliation from being rejected.
"I kissed his cheek," Marinette replied, her face in her hands. "Why did I do that, Alya?"
"Ask your alternate self."
Marinette looked at her. "I like my alternate self, but I don't trust her."
"Did he mention the kiss at all?"
"No."
"How do you know he even notice?"
"He turned bright red."
"So? He had to have been exhausted, I don't understand how you two can dance so much and still be standing afterwards."
"Maybe you're right, maybe he didn't notice."
"Do you like Chat as more than a friend?"
Alarm bells immediately went on in Marinette's head as she struggled to find a way to not emphatically deny this idea.
"N- no, no way, we're partners, we're friends. We've got a competition to win."
"Alright, alright, I believe you." She then smiled and giggled a little.
"What?" Marinette was wary of why she might be so happy.
"No romance, only dance." She then started laughing and Marinette joined in with her. This is what Marinette missed the most while Alya was with Nino, just being 20-something girls together.
"What are you two laughing about?" They both turned to see the newcomer and Marinete colored immediately. Adrien Agreste stood next to them, a smoothie in his hand. Alya's eyes lit up and she kicked Marinette's shin.
"Hey, Adrien, how's it going?" she asked.
He nodded and smiled. "It's going great, mind if I join the two of you?"
"Well, I've gotta run to meet Nino, but you can sit with Marinette." Alya stood and shouldered her bag.
"Oh, well, I'll see you later then." Adrien sat down and Alya headed out the door, patting Marinette's arm as she headed out the door. Alya seemed to do that a lot, push Adrien towards Marinette and then disappear.
"How are you, Marinette?" Adrien asked.
"I'm good, how are you?"
"Good." He suddenly slapped his head and groaned. "I forgot to thank Alya for showing me this place."
Marinette was sipping her drink and almost spit it in Adrien's face. "Alya showed you here?"
Adrien nodded. "Yeah, my usual coffee shop closed a few weeks ago, and so I was telling Nino about how bummed I was since I loved that place. Alya was there and took us to this place."
"Oh, uh- do you like it?"
"Yeah, I love the smoothies here, and the coffee's good too."
"And it's close to the Academy."
Adrien nodded. "Always a perk. So you gotta thank her for me, I really like this place."
Marinette nodded. "Yeah, we found this place back in our first year."
They elapsed into silence and sipped their drinks.
"So, about five weeks to competition."
"Y- yeah, it's coming up."
"Do you think we're ready?"
Marinette nodded. "I think we're going to do really good."
"I- I don't know how to ask you this but-"
"What is it Adrien?"
"I don't think I'm going to have a lot of time to practice with you between rehearsals. What with finals coming up in a few weeks and my dad-"
Marinette held up her hand to stop him and she nodded calmly. "I understand, it's fine, we can play it by ear, if you'd like. I've been getting really busy too. I feel like I haven't just been able to just sit and take a breath for a long time."
Adrien nodded. "Totally, I feel the same way. Like it's just go, go, go, and you just fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow."
"Exactly."
Adrien's phone went off and he grabbed it to look at it. He made a face and started immediately texting. He stopped halfway through and sheepishly looked up at Marinette.
"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, I bought some art pieces recently and my landlord is getting upset because I apparently 'didn't tell him' I was moving it in today. Even though I emailed him twice, once to let him know about it, and then again to let him know it was happening today." He snorted, continued his text, and sent it. "Sometimes I just can't stand my landlord, you know?"
Marinette colored and swallowed. "I- I mean, well- No, I don't know, I still live with my parents."
Adrien looked surprised. "Wow, really?"
Marinette rubbed the back of her neck and felt her face grow hotter. "I know how it sounds, 20 years old and-"
"I think it's fantastic."
"R- really?"
Adrien nodded. "I moved out as soon as I could, I couldn't stand to live in my dad's house any longer than I had to. If your parents are willing to put up with you, you should stay as long as you're able."
Marinette shrugged. "They still have rules. Don't have wild parties, don't eat everything in the store, etc."
"Oh yeah, because your parents have a bakery, don't they."
"Yeah, they do."
"My dad's birthday is coming up in a few months, do your parents bake and decorate cakes?"
Marinette nodded emphatically. "Oh yeah, totally, that's like half of their business."
"I will totally look you guys up when it comes time."
"They'll appreciate it, I'm sure."
Adrien checked his phone for the time and sighed. "I'd better get over to my apartment to check on the movers, just to make sure my landlord doesn't toss them out on their ear, taking the art with them."
"You sound so fancy, 'pieces of art'."
Adrien shrugged. "I liked them, so I bought them." He stood and shouldered his backpack, and she followed him.
"Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked.
Marinette balked, and stammered. "Um, s- sure."
They walked in silence for a bit before Adrien asked her about the Master Fu videos he had recommended for her. They chatted about the different videos until they arrived at the bakery.
"Thanks so much, Adrien," Marinette said, her hand on the door handle.
"You're welcome, I'll see you tomorrow."
"You too."
Marinette turned and headed into the bakery.
"Who's that, honey?" her mom asked.
Marinette looked back to see Adrien headed down the street. "Oh, uh, he's a guy in my ballet class."
"It was nice of him to walk you here."
"Yeah it was." Marinette's eyes were glued to the white blur of Adrien's shirt as it disappeared out of sight.
Her mom pressed a tray of eclairs into her hands. "Could you put these back in the fridge, dear?"
Marinette did as her mom said, tearing her eyes from the window.
A/N: SABINE MAKES HER DEBUT! She is literal bae, ok? And Alya is a meddling kid.
And we finally have LadyNoir love, oh my gosh that was so satisfying to write, oh my gosh you guys won't understand.
The summary of the chapter is because apparently Adrien, Chat Noir, Marinette, and Ladybug all watch Master Fu. WHAT. A. COINCIDENCE!
