The Interview
Alya wanted to handle the interview with Adrien and Marinette all by herself, she wanted the interview for the Ladyblog, Marinette and Adrien were her friends, she was doing them a favour during the travel to China, well at least to Adrien, and she followed each of their steps (as far as she knew) but she knew after the Lila incident she might be asking too much.
On the other hand, Nadia Chamack was like a family friend, Marinette babysat Manon often, even Alya babysat Manon occasionally, it was her who asked Sabine and Tom first, it was her who made a deal with Adrien's legal representative. She made her promises to the network and to the adults.
It was Alya's site that live streamed the video of the battle, she was regarded as a perspective journalist, even with some content pulled out from her blog. She gave one brief statement regarding the photos that somehow started to circulate various news sites as well as tabloid and gossip sections. Alya wanted a proper interview to clear her name and her blog.
Therefore, Nadia started the show by interviewing Alya.
"You are just a kid, you can make mistakes." Nadia told her in the studio of Tvi before the main stars (Adrien and Marinette) arrived. Alya spoke about her blog. She confirmed the authenticity of the photos and stressed they were private.
Finally, Adrien and Marinette arrived to the studio. There was a huge applause from the technical staff and everyone else present, then there was cheering, a few whistles and screams, apparently everyone in the building was needed in that studio.
Marinette stumbled over the step that she had to take to the small podium in the middle of the room. Adrien minimized the damage, the TV viewers could barely notice anything had happened.
Alya jumped to her feet to hug her friends.
Alya and Nadia sat on two chairs on one side while Marinette and Adrien sat on a wide couch on the other side. It was a half an hour of friendly conversation about how they travelled and what they did.
"Adrien, would you like to say anything about Gabriel Agreste." Nadia was warned not to use the words 'your father', besides, she knew better.
"Honestly, I don't know what to say." The boy took a breath. "I will not elaborate on that." He added quickly. "As far as I know, he was doing that to bring my mother back." The boy took one more breath and Marinette squeezed his hand.
"You do not have to go through that now." Marinette spoke quietly, but she had a microphone on so everyone heard her.
"But that does not justify what he had done. I can understand the grief but not the rest. Just … don't ever buy that he was doing that for me. I didn't know. He never asked me what I wanted."
Nadia nodded understandingly.
"I actually sneaked away to China with my bodyguard because he refused to take me with him. I wanted to go." Adrien waved his head. "He refused. I didn't know why he was going there and I did not know why he did not want me to tag along."
"Why did you want to go to China, Adrien?" Nadia asked patiently.
"I have been learning Chinese for years now, I wanted some practice in the real life, and to travel, and see the sights, and ..." The real reason was to go to the temple because he was Chat Noir, but the cover story he had was believable. Adrien was at a loss for words, his only family member travelled there and did not want to bring him along.
"He learned Chinese so well he can prepare the instant noodles." Marinette added quickly and nudged him in the shoulder. She wanted to switch to merrier subject and cheer up the mood.
"You cook?" Alya practically shouted at Adrien.
"We made lunch on the train." Adrien shrugged. "And dinner too." He schooled his face not to show his Chat Noir smirk after those statements.
Then they explained how they travelled and thanked the airline, then they spoke about the train and the temple. They went through the whole list of questions when Nadia got further instructions.
"Can we take a few questions from our viewers?" Nadia asked excitedly.
The two teens agreed. Adrien felt how Plagg scratched his chest under his shirt. Marinette felt how Tikki patted her thigh through her purse. They both knew they might have made a mistake by accepting additional questions.
"So, I can't help but ask what everyone wants to know. Are you Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Nadia finally asked.
"We, um." Adrien spoke with his perfect and essentially artificial model smile on his face.
Marinette's eyes went wide in panic and she started breathing quickly.
"Many members of the public suggested that you two are in fact Ladybug and Chat Noir." Nadia clarified the statement. "So are you?" she insisted on getting her answer.
"Um, we are Adrien and Marinette." the boy stated the obvious and even emphasised his statement with his hands. "We fought Hawk Moth and Mayura as civilians."
Alya's eyes went wide as she stared at Marinette. There was something in her eyes that shouted 'you traitor' with a smirk to her best friend. But Marinette was speechless at first.
"But why would anyone think that?" Marinette looked around desperate for some help. Apparently there was none.
"I mean, we are a bit confused by this question. Ladybug and Chat Noir … they were there, they fought Hawk Moth and Mayura." Adrien continued.
"Why aren't you speaking, Marinette?" Alya asked with narrowed eyes.
"I, um, can't believe you asked me that." Marinette flailed her hands all around her head. "I mean." she motioned towards Alya and hit a glass of water that stood on the small table between them, and the girl winced as she noticed the water spilled over the floor. "You know me." Marinette added as she quickly picked up the glass and looked for something to wipe the water. Someone run over and wiped the floor quickly as Marinette stared and motioned with her hands as if she wanted to help. She looked so helpless, not at all as a superhero.
Adrien hid his face away from the cameras and smirked.
"Yeah, you know her Alya, and you know me, and you already know Marinette's cousins, Ling and Ye, although you never met them in person, they were there the whole time too, that is how you got all those news from the temple and from us." The boy stared at his friend, he could not believe she would betray them like that.
"Hello ladies and gentlemen." the boy heard his own voice from behind him and turned around. The voice was cut by screams and cheering just like when Adrien and Marinette entered the studio. There was Chat Noir standing on the edge of the small podium, followed closely by Ladybug. She waved her hand as greeting.
"Good evening everybody." Ladybug greeted as she approached. They both sat next to Adrien and Marinette on the long sofa intended for guests. Chat Noir took a seat next to Marinette and instantly leaned into her space. Adrien frowned at him, the boy was more confused by looking at himself than the move towards Marinette, but Adrien's face was quickly interpreted as jealousy.
Ladybug plopped down on the couch next to Adrien, she put her hand on Adrien's shoulder as if she signalled him to calm down. He looked back at her and smiled his widest smile. She smiled back and they both turned to Marinette and Chat Noir. There might have been some blushing involved but their faces were covered by so much make up (mandatory for the studio cameras and lighting) that nobody else could know but them. Adrien soon realized Ladybug kept her hand on his shoulder and leaned into his space too. She even put her other hand over his.
There were screams from the audience. Both journalists were speechless for an extended period of time and simply stared at the two superheroes.
"We just wanted to come over and thank these two ameowzing young people." Chat spoke and drawled the words out while he waved different people in the audience with one hand and wrapped his other arm around Marinette's waist.
"They dealt with the villains while we were not able to." Ladybug spoke and looked at the floor because she was not sure where to look.
"That is okay." Marinette spoke as if she just woke up.
"We felt obliged to help." Adrien added with a few nods. He looked at Chat Noir briefly and then turned to Ladybug and smiled widely. The confusion in his eyes was obvious.
Marinette simply stared at Chat Noir on her side with a huge grin on her face.
"You teleported or something?" Alya finally remembered the questions she wanted to ask one day when she got the superheroes to give her an interview.
"Um, yes, we did." Ladybug spoke quietly while she stared at the remaining glass of water on the table.
"Yeah, you see, we could not possibly be there the whole time, you know." Chat Noir added.
"Sorry to keep you waiting for so long." Ladybug added. It was awkward, but the viewers interpreted her attitude as if she felt guilty that she needed the help of civilians.
"And you really helped. It was you who finally won the ultimate battle against Hawk Moth and Mayura. This girl over here is ameowzing." Chat Noir grinned. Marinette rolled her eyes at his repeated pun.
"You were really brave." Ladybug added with her signature smile as she looked at Adrien. "Both of you." She avoided to look at Marinette, she felt stupid to look at herself as she spoke. This was an interview, she was supposed to talk with the audience.
"Thank you." Adrien smiled back a bit dazed and confused by her presence. He quickly looked around and straight into Marinette. He was confused, all right.
"Um, yes, thank you." Marinette stammered out.
"May I just emphasize how brave this girl was." Chat Noir added as he wrapped his other arm around Marinette. The girl squeaked. Adrien looked at Chat with surprised eyes and his face became more serious. Most of the people in the audience concluded the boy was slightly jealous of the superhero. "She took all that beating without a superhero suit on."
"Don't forget the bravery of this young man. It was really hard for him." Ladybug added as she moved over to Adrien and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh, I think she did better." Chat Noir grinned at Ladybug.
"I would disagree, he had a much tougher task before him." Ladybug argued, she implied it was because he was fighting his own father, but she chose not to say the words and remind him.
Both Nadia and Alya looked at the four of them, their eyes flicked left and right as if they followed the exchange.
"Ladybug, Chat Noir, could you tell us a little more about the battles you had at the temple?" Nadia improvised the question.
"Um yes, it was mostly like any other akuma battle." Ladybug shrugged.
"Save the commute." Chat Noir winked. Ladybug smiled.
"Until they produced multiple sentimonsters." Ladybug continued and visibly shuddered at the memory.
"Did you know Hawk Moth and Mayura were actually there, in the temple?" Alya asked once there was a brief period of silence.
"We suspected, but, we could not be certain." Ladybug answered as vaguely as she could. She could not say that they knew they were not in the temple but in the container camp below.
"There was no video or photographic evidence of the two villains in the temple for the first few attacks." Chat Noir continued.
"We would like to thank all the Chinese students in the temple who kept sending us the notifications about the akuma and sentimonster attacks." Ladybug cut in.
"Yes, I am pawsitive it was really furtunate fur us to have such clawesome people there." Chat Noir purred. Marinette and Ladybug took turns in rolling their eyes.
"Anyway. We are here to thank all of you, the citizens of Paris and especially the two of you for all the help, love and support we received." Ladybug spoke gently.
"Yes, My Lady, out furendly citizens who always came to help us when we exhausted all our resources." Chat Noir continued. Marinette and Ladybug both rolled their eyes to the pun.
"Especially when the miraculous were taken from us." Ladybug continued in more serious tone as she glared at Chat Noir. There was a loud surprised reaction from the audience while both Alya and Nadia gasped.
"It was you two who got the ring and the earrings back to us." Chat smiled gently at Marinette.
"Our identities are still a secret." Ladybug warned Alya and Nadia as both of them wanted to say a question simultaneously. They both lowered their hands.
"Well, My Lady, I think our job here is done." Chat Noir said as he got onto his feet.
"I agree." Ladybug got to her feet too.
"Stay pawsitive everyone." Chat Noir greeted.
"You can be sad and angry but try not to be." Ladybug smiled her signature smile to the camera.
"We think you two are clawesome." Chat Noir smiled to Marinette.
The two superheroes got on their feet and both of them waved their hands as they left the studio.
"Wait, Ladybug Chat Noir, what will you do now that Hawk Moth and Mayura are gone?" Alya shouted after them, but the superheroes ignored her.
"Okay. Sorry for that question. I think we could wrap up this interview." Nadia proposed and waited for a response from her producer.
"After this surprise visit, I think we can give our young heroes a break." Nadia added as she looked to the camera.
They said their greetings and Adrien and Marinette went back to their dressing room. There, they met Bunnix.
"I arrived to do some damage control over here." Bunnyx spoke as she winked.
Adrien and Marinette looked at each other.
"Damage control?" Adrien asked as he looked rather confused. But the appearance of Ladybug and Chat Noir during the interview made much more sense instantly.
"I thought you were the weapon of the last resort." Marinette was exasperated.
"Oh I am, trust me, you tried to protect your identity in many different ways after this fiasco but it did not work." Bunnix waved her head.
"Oh, so this is to protect our identities then?" Adrien whispered.
"You are both guardians now, if your identities become known to the public it starts a disaster." Bunnix explained.
The two civilian teenagers looked at each other in horror.
"Come on, transform. I am sending you back to the fifteen minutes ago. You already know what to say." Bunnix smiled. "And just hide somewhere here and detransform after you are finished."
Adrien smirked, Marinette laughed and they both transformed into Ladybug and Chat Noir.
"So the plan is to reduce the number of questions to a minimum." Ladybug smiled.
"After you, My Lady." Chat Noir smirked as he motioned for her to go through the portal.