Hey so I saw this challenge - pick a book, open it to page 63 and write a fanfic based around the first sentence. I think it was on the Miraculous Ladybug Challenges forum by Yellow14. So, I picked up the book closest to me (The Work and the Glory - Truth Will Prevail by Gerald Lund (It's book 3 of a series)) and of course decided to do just that!
Sentence:
"I said I'm not interested, and now you won't marry me?"
Ladybug stared at Chat Noir in annoyed disbelief, sure she wasn't hearing what she thought she was.
"What's going on with you? You just asked me to marry you... but you don't want to share who you are? I'm sorry, Kitty, but I'm not getting married to someone I don't know."
Chat looked at her pleadingly, tears shining in his eyes.
"M'lady... it's not that I don't want you to know who I am, I'm just not interested in you marrying me for my mask."
"What do you even mean? You're wearing a freaking mask right now!"
Chat looked somber as he shook his head slowly. "This… this is my true self. I've mentioned that before. Under the mask… I'm sort of a, well, celebrity… and I don't get to show my true identity. It's not that I don't trust you to marry me for me, but I don't want to… be married under the wrong circumstances."
"Chat, I get it and all, you not wanting me to marry you for money or something, but I can't say yes to someone I don't know! How will I tell my parents? My friends?" Ladybug looked down worriedly, failing to notice Chat turning redder and redder.
Until finally...
Chat exploded.
"Seriously? I say I'm not interested, and now you don't want to marry me? We've talked about the future before and you never had a problem! Not once have you even given a hint that you'd say no!"
Ladybug narrowed her eyes, getting angrier by the second.
"I had assumed I'd know who you are by then," she hissed. "Chat, I can't agree if I don't know who you are!" She turned away. "I can't. I can't go into such an important decision blindly."
"You don't trust me? After everything I've- we've done together?"
Ladybug sighed.
"I do, I promise. I trust you with my life. But this isn't something… you don't marry someone you don't know."
"You do know me, M'lady."
Ladybug shook her head.
"Do I? What's your name? Where do you live? Who is your family? Where do you like to hang out in normal life? Chat, I practically know nothing about you. Not that has to do with who you are - your identity. I just know your personality."
Chat drooped. "Since when are you okay with sharing identities anyways? You were always the one telling me no! It's too dangerous, can't know, not yet Chat! No, no Chat, later Chat. What happened to that?"
Ladybug looked at her hands.
"I- I talked with my kwami. We agreed that if we were to get married, we could - and should - share identities first. And what about you, Mister 'tell me everything'? Don't you want to know my identity?"
Chat looked pained.
"You know I've wanted to know your identity for forever, but it's not fair to ask you for yours when I won't give you mine."
Ladybug was so frustrated. "Chat, you know I love you. But I'm not saying yes to this when… I don't know you! I don't know who you are!"
Chat turned away.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Ladybug sighed.
"Chat, can I know who you are?"
"I can't. I can't do this." And with that, he jumped off the building they were on, disappearing into the night. Ladybug stared after him.
How could this have gone so wrong?
I debated for a pretty long time how to go about doing this fic. The sentence wasn't easy to apply because of the implied tension and I can't really imagine this exact scenario happening, but I tried to make them as in character as possible. So forgive me if they are a little OOC. I figured Adrien might try to get engaged as his true self instead of being loved as a model (just a hypothetical situation - I don't think this would happen in the show per se) and this is what I came up with. I hope y'all enjoyed.
Oh and on another note, this was a fun idea! Do y'all think I should do it again with another book?