The Naked Truth

Written by: JuliaFC

Betas: Khanofallorcs, Agrestebug, Etoile-Lead-Sama and genxha. Thank you all so much!

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

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Chapter 14 — Epilogue 1

The alarm rang way too early for Marinette. When the devilish device of torture started beeping, regularly ripping the silence of the room, she fumbled frantically with her hand on her bedside, until she grabbed it and hit snooze. Five minutes later, her hand beat madly on the surface of her phone again, trying to stop it once more, but felt the resistance of something soft. She tiredly lifted one eyelid to see Tikki's frowning little face.

"Ow, another five minutes, Tikki!" she moaned and hid her head under the blankets. But the little kwami zipped under the blanket and lifted them up.

"No, Marinette, it's time to get up. You'll be late for school!" she said sternly. "Get up!"

Marinette sat up and picked up her phone, looking at the time. "It's not even seven in the morning, Tikki!" She yawned. "What's the rush?"

"You will need time to get prepared today," chirped Tikki. The little kwami zipped downstairs. "Come on, come down!"

Marinette glared at her and moved one leg to get out of bed. But the second she moved, she held her breath and gasped.

"Are you okay, Marinette?" asked Tikki reemerging at the top of the stairs.

"Why are my legs so sore?" groaned Marinette. She moved the other leg and made to stand up. "Uuuuuh, it's so painful to walk! I feel like an eighty year old woman!"

Tikki chuckled a little and Marinette glared at her. "Don't look at me like that, Marinette. You're just not used to what you did last night."

"You mean it's all the cat's fault?" she roared as she dragged her feet to the stairs and then clenched her eyes shut and gasped at each step down, until she reached the next floor.

Tikki flew in front of her face and looked at her amusedly. "I wouldn't say that it's just his fault, Marinette. He was actually really sweet and careful. It's normal to feel a bit sore. Like when you do pilates again after your holidays!"

Marinette was slowly putting her clothes on. "You mean that you knew that I was going to be like this?"

"I saw a few morning afters in my thousands of years of service with my Ladybugs, so yes. It's nothing new to me."

Marinette grunted. "Is that why you set my alarm for quarter to seven in the frigging morning?"

Tikki chuckled. "I thought you may need the extra time."

Tikki chuckled again as Marinette brushed her teeth tiredly, washed her face and proceeded to put a large amount of concealer on the very evident black marks under her eyes. Then, she also put a little eyeliner on her heavy eyelids and proceeded to comb her hair and style it in pigtails.

"I thought Adrien said once that he liked your hair loose."

The raven-haired girl glared at the little kwami. "Why should I do what he wants? He's the culprit of… this!"

"Marinette," said Tikki with a sigh. "You're not being reasonable now. You're only a little sore, you'll be fine as you start moving."

Marinette huffed, but eventually left her hair loose, just passing her comb through it one last time. She also took care to put a foulard around her neck, to hide a certain mark left again by a certain cat. She looked at her concerned little friend and stroked her tiny head lovingly.

"Don't worry Tikki. I know it's not Adrien's fault but… I'm in so much pain it's unbelievable. I needed to vent! I'll be okay when I see him, I swear!" She stroked her kwami's cheek a bit more, noticing how she had relaxed a little at her holder's words. Then, she walked to the trapdoor and went downstairs.

Every step was still painful, and it was also painful to sit down, to have breakfast.

"God, I hurt in places I didn't even know I had muscles!" she moaned as she ate her cereal. "I hope Hawkmoth doesn't send akumas out for a couple of days, I don't think I would be able to handle it!"

Then, she tiredly grabbed her school bag and dragged her sore legs down the two flights of stairs that separated her apartment from the ground floor, and came out from the back of the boulangerie.

By the time that she arrived in front of Lycée François de Salignac, she could walk better, but was still pretty sore. She walked up the stairs to the gate and then entered the grand building, moving robotically towards the door that hid her new classroom. Gosh, she couldn't believe that only twenty four hours earlier Adrien had told her that they were again in the same class and they had walked in together.

'Adrien,' she thought with a little happy moan. Her minou… she still couldn't come to terms with it. She entered the classroom in a daze and walked to her desk to sit down.

"Wow, eight o'clock? This is a record, girl!" Alya's amused voice woke her up from her reverie and made her jump a little. She looked around and saw that Alya and Nino were already sitting at their seats. Nino had a stupid smile on his face and Alya was wiggling her eyebrows.

"Morning, Dudette!" said Nino as a little smirk curled his lips. "You look a bit—"

"A BIT?" Alya interrupted him and laughed. "Girl, what bus ran over you on your way to school?" They both started laughing now, and Marinette crashed down on her seat angrily, only to immediately after jump up because she had forgotten that her pelvic floor was sore. This caused a new fit of giggles to come from Alya on her left. Marinette glared at her best friend.

"Oh, Marinette, and the foulard is…?" she said, and cackled some more at Marinette's glare.

"Shut up, Alya!" groaned Marinette as the classroom's door opened and Adrien walked in. Marinette moved her glaring gaze from her best friend to the door, and to the unfortunate soul who had just stepped in.

To be fair, Adrien too looked hit by a bus. He had dark marks under his eyes and was a bit pale. This made Marinette feel a little better. She wasn't the only one to suffer. Divine justice, thank you!

"Oh, Agreste, just the man!" shouted Alya in between fits of giggles. "What have you done to my girl here? She can't walk!"

Adrien darted his gaze between Alya's laughing frame and Marinette's stern glare and gulped.

"Marinette?" His eyes widened. "You're early!" He walked towards his seat (a bit slowly and stiffly, mind you, which did pacify Marinette's inner killer instinct a little), his gaze still glued to her. "You're so pretty with your hair down," he said when he sat in front of her, and Marinette couldn't tear her gaze from his magnetic green eyes, all her plans for vengeance instantly melting in her soul as her gaze softened and she gave him a lovesick look. She blushed profusely at the praise.

Then, the boy pretended that he was leaning to put his bag at the side of his seat, but leaned a bit more forward towards her and whispered into her ear, "Are you okay? I'm so tired!" He looked at her with a massive grin on his face.

Marinette felt a bit sorry for him too. But he was able to move. He was able to not look completely drained even after having had the night he'd had. She knew that it was because he was a fencer, and a boy, so he had much more resistance to stamina than her, especially when out of the mask. But she still didn't feel it was fair! Oh, she wanted to take that grin off his face!

She grabbed him by the collar, lifting him up a little and glaring at him straight in the eye. "You're tired? Oh, poor thing. I'm floored. I found out I had muscles in places I didn't even think muscles existed! You're lucky I love you so much, minou, or the press would be very amused tonight to see a black cat hanging from the top of the Eiffel Tower."

He gulped awkwardly, the smile fading immediately from his lips. "D-did I do something w-wrong?"

"No, you haven't, you silly cat. You're just… too gorgeous," she muttered. "I can't resist you. I love you too much. It's so frustrating, because... I want you even more now!" Then she looked at the new little smirk that had popped on his lips and her clouded reasoning took a toll on her. She looked around, to ensure that nobody else had entered the classroom, then moved forward and kissed him firmly.

"Woohoo!" The sound of Alya's exclamation brought them back to reality, and Marinette managed to pull out from the kiss without getting too breathless. They were still panting hard when they looked at each other in the eye, resting their foreheads together.

"That's a good thing, M'lady, because I plan to have many more nights like the one we just had."

She bumped him in the head. "As long as it's a weekend, Chat-sanova. I can barely keep my eyes open today. I told you that three times were too many," she whispered into his ear, but she must not have whispered low enough because Alya's grin when she finally looked at her was so wide you could think her lips were coming out of her ears.

"Three?" she muttered into Marinette's ear as the girl sat down on her seat again, causing her raven-haired friend to blush deep red. Then she proceeded to give a good look at Adrien who had just fixed himself and had started taking his books out for the day, not before hiding a big yawn.

"You too look quite banged-up, Sunshine. Did you have nightmares last night?"

Adrien beamed at her. "Not at all, Alya, why?"

Nino sniggered next to him. "I thought you had nightmares about condoms!"

Adrien scowled when he heard a cackle coming even from his own bag. Just wait for him to get his hands on Plagg!

He tried to retort something, but Alya prevented him and said, "By the way, did you follow my suggestion, pretty face?"

At that, Adrien smirked and put a hand into his jeans' pocket, taking out a whole boxful of condoms, which he unceremoniously waved in front of her nose. When he looked at Marinette, he saw that she had turned a deep shade of crimson and was looking at the packets in his hand with her eyes wide. He smirked a little wider as he put them back into his pocket and then leaned casually on his seat, resting his hands behind his head.

"Wow, mec! You ever do anything like a normal person?" whispered Nino under his breath.

Adrien shook his head and leaned a bit more on the back of his seat, curling on his back in a way that he could see Marinette's flushed face, upside down. "Nah. Better be prepared!" He winked at his girlfriend whose red complexion was starting to glow.

They spent the morning passing post-it notes to one another, and lunchtime arrived way too quickly. Adrien managed to dodge the Gorilla, claiming that he had to stop at the library to collect information about a new school project. So they all walked instead to Marinette's house, to eat a few sandwiches and have a chat. Sure, the boulangerie wasn't as close to the Lycée as it had been to the Collège, but a ten minute walk wasn't that bad. And today there was the added advantage that Marinette's parents weren't in, so the place was all for themselves.

After eating, Marinette was happily curled on Adrien's lap, head resting on his chest, hand wandering loosely on his shoulder while he was leaning forward, brushing his cheek against hers and moving his hand up her sides, underneath her top. Nino looked completely absorbed by the music playing in his earphones, so Alya sat on the couch next to the two lovebirds and gave them a stare.

"What about the other secret that you two sneaky sods were keeping from me?" she said.

Marinette sat up from her comfy position, causing Adrien to moan in discontent. "Did you tell—?" she glanced at Nino quickly.

"Who do you think I am, Marinette? Of course not. That's why I'm asking now, when he's listening to his music. He couldn't hear us even if we screamed." Alya's tone was very quiet, but her gaze was firm and stern.

Marinette and Adrien both breathed in relief.

"Guys, come on! You trusted me with a Miraculous before, you should know that I can keep a secret."

Marinette's doubt was evident in the frown she shot Alya, but the raven-haired girl chose to not voice her concern. Instead, she stood up and started pacing the room up and down and then asked, "What is it that you want to know?" already guessing the answer to her question.

"Well!" Alya sat more comfortably on the sofa, resting her head on her hands, a wide grin curling her lips. "I want deets. An official interview for the LadyBlog, maybe? Remember you still owe me deets about last night, and about your time in the bubble!" She gave both a cunning glance.

"What bubble?" tried Adrien, but Alya's gaze darted to his face instantly, her amused look turning into a glare.

"You're a liar, Sunshine. And even you, girl. Don't look at me like that. I'm not stupid! I understand that you would lie to me until now, to protect your identity, but it's not necessary any more. The cat is out of the bag. So… I want you to speak!"

"What kind of deets do you want, Alya? It was a private conversation, in that bubble!" snapped Adrien. He folded his arms on his chest and looked away, an annoyed frown furrowing his brows.

"A conversation? You only talked? You didn't make out?" She raised an eyebrow.

Adrien blushed. "That's none of your business."

"Ah, I wish I had been a little fly inside that bubble of yours!" muttered Alya, but as she said that, Plagg appeared from Adrien's shirt and said, "No, you don't wish that. I assure you, it was disgusting."

Both Alya and Adrien looked at Plagg, with very different frowns. "PLAGG!" whispered Adrien blushing an even deeper shade of red. "Will you shut up?" He pushed the head of his sniggering kwami back into the inside pocket of his shirt. When he looked back at Alya, the girl had moved into his personal space and was now staring at him.

"Was that your kwami?" she asked with a little smirk. "Can I interview him?"

"NO!" said both Marinette and Adrien at the same time, as Plagg cackled inside Adrien's shirt.

Alya sighed. "Come on, you two. I only want to tell people that LadyNoir is official!"

"About that," said Marinette with a cringe smile curling her lips, "we would like to keep quiet about the relationship for a while."

"Oh bother!" Alya huffed. Then she continued, "And I suppose you can't even answer a few questions, like what were you doing when Sunshine was on the phone with us?" She smiled, wiggled her eyebrows and gave them a cunning look, but it was clear from her stiff pose and from the way her hand clenched on her arm, and how nervously her index finger tapped on her shirt that she was internally fuming. Clearly, she had asked the question only to embarrass them more.

"No!" shouted Adrien at the same time as Marinette shouted, "ALYA!"

Alya glared at them and was going to retort something, when Nino stood up from the sofa and took off his earphones, looking at them, unaware of what he had just interrupted.

"Guys, it's time to head back. Fifteen minutes left." He started walking towards the door of the apartment and waited for them, his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Adrien and Marinette grabbed the chance and followed him, while Alya took her sweet time, getting up from the sofa and wiping her hands on her jeans.

"Don't worry, guys," she muttered to herself. "I know what you're playing at. You're trying to punish me for having discovered your secret. But rest assured, you won't have the same luck forever. I'm a woman on a mission. I want my deets." As she said that, a little smirk curling her lips. She started walking to the door and closed it behind her, following her friend downstairs. "And everybody knows that I always get what I want!"

Author's Note:

Hi everyone! So here we are, another week, another update. Hope you liked this first epilogue as much as I loved writing it! And yes, it was quite a workout they did the night before ^^ LOL

As always, a million of THANK YOU to all of you for the wonderful support and for the beautiful reviews and feedback, for all the kudos, reviews, comments, follows and bookmarks. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, you're all the best! I'm really happy that you're all enjoying the story.

Hope you're going to tell me your thoughts, what you liked or made you laugh and such. Your comments are what keeps me going, so please give me some feedback and make my day!

In next and final chapter of Naked Truth (out next week on Wednesday night GMT),

"Epilogue 2 (just for the 'craìc')":

— "There's no way that you're really going to follow through with this ridiculous idea of Alya interviewing you!"

— "It's been because of the fall of Atlantis that the Miraculouses were created?"

— "So, about those mice that shouldn't have had a party while the cat's away, ma baguette…"

See you for the next and final update next week! I'm so sorry that this story's coming to an end :(

Last but not least, if you read this and you're not part of our wonderful Discord server already, but you enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join our Discord server, Miraculous Fanworks (for people on FFN, discord dot gg slash mlfanworks). See you there soon!