Marinette stood on her balcony, overlooking the illuminated Paris. The Notre-Dame Cathedral at the island in the middle of the Seine was illuminated with bright lights, making its status as one of Paris' monuments known far and wide.
Marinette was leaning on the railing, looking at the city shrouded in the night. The stars weren't visible; with this much light pollution, they were hardly seen, unless she'd travel out of Paris and into the countryside. In her whole life, Marinette left Paris only on special occasions. Not that she minded; her parents were usually busy running the bakery, but from time to time, they could organise a fun trip outside of Paris, or her class went out for a presentation or an excursion. Nowadays though, Marinette had another reason to stay in Paris. She was Ladybug now, and therefore, it would be quite irresponsible of her to leave the city unprotected (such incidents like Startrain didn't count, plus she had the Horse Miraculous on her as well).
"Ma~ri~nette~," a familiar sing-song voice sounded behind her. She turned around, smiling.
"Chat Noir! What a surprise!" Only then her eyes registered the pale white colour, adorning her kitty from head to toe. Her expression turned to a horrified one, and she gasped.
"Ch-Chat Blanc? W-What are you doing here?" she asked, hating how her own voice trembled so much. The akuma opened his arms wide as if to give her a hug.
"My Lady," he said, his voice much softer than usual. "Come give me a hug."
Marinette took a step back until her back pressed into the cold steel railing of her balcony. She couldn't back up now; she couldn't escape - Chat Blanc stood right in front of the trap door leading to her room.
"What do you want?" she collected herself enough to speak with confidence, though inside, she was trembling in fear. Chat Blanc took two careful steps towards her, and now he stood so close that she could feel his cold breath on her cheeks. Her eyes widened in terror as he raised his hands, sharp claws ready to scratch.
"You made a huge mistake letting me know who you were!"
The claws went down. Marinette screamed.
"Tikki!" Marinette bolted into a sitting position on her bed, making Tikki roll down from her stomach and onto the duvet. The kwami moaned as she woke up, lifting her head and looking around.
Marinette was breathing heavily, drops of sweat running down her forehead. She hastily scrambled for the switch of her bedside lamp, switching it on. Breathing out in relief when the room was filled with a yellow-ish light, she turned to lift Tikki up in her palms.
"I'm sorry, Tikki," she said, sounding out of breath. She would need a few more moments to calm down properly. "I had a nightmare."
The kwami looked at her.
"The usual?" she asked, floating up to nuzzle her Holder's cheek. She always did that when Marinette didn't feel well. Honestly, it was just sheer luck that Hawkmoth didn't take advantage of all those negative emotions she emitted in her sleep.
Marinette nodded. Chat Blanc was a constant in her dreams now. At first, he appeared every night. She spent so many hours awake, walking around the school like a zombie before she got a chance to down a coffee during the lunch break. Gradually, she got used to him appearing in her dreams. It was just nightmares. Nightmares that held a seed of truth to them. Especially this one.
She remembered the alternative timeline well. Chat Blanc knew who she was. Her carelessness with her own secret identity caused the end of the world. Chat Noir was never supposed to know, not until the defeated Hawkmoth.
But he knew now. She had told him yesterday when he came to check up on her. She told him because it was only fair. Her identity had been compromised. Sooner or later, the rumours would spread, and he would get to know anyways. Marinette figured that it was only fair he got to know from her and not from any media that would probably glamorize her own life. Marinette had seen the news; they reported on her life, some of them even got the recording of the "Fill my Shoes" episode that had been shot at the bakery, allowing the whole of France to see her room.
And Chat Noir knew now. Now, all that was left was the long, agonizing wait to know if he'd be akumatized over the fact. Marinette slowly got up to her knees, opening the trap door to her balcony. Cold night air filled her lungs as she stuck her head out and looked around. Apart from the screeching sound of a car's brakes in the distance, everything was quiet. It felt relieving, somehow. Marinette sighed. It was such a peaceful night and a nightmare had to go and wake her up.
The girl returned to her bed, closing the trap door again. She sighed. Maybe she should've never told Chat Noir. Maybe she should've guarded her secret identity better than she did. It wasn't the first time Tikki was seen, after all. Usually, she pretended to be a cat and no one ever questioned it. But no one usually took photos of her and posted them on the Ladyblog.
Marinette laid down, Tikki back on her chest. What a relief that kwamis couldn't be seen on camera. This way, at least she had a slight chance to divert the attention from herself if she planned her next steps right. She'd also have to consult master Fu about the current situation.
Marinette groaned in exhaustion, running a hand through her black hair, and closed her eyes. It wouldn't do to stress over this stuff. She would have to take care of it the following days… on the top of her school, Hawkmoth undoubtedly targeting her even more now, Lila being annoying as usual, and the swarm of journalists following her on every step. Just her luck that she had practice moving around in trash bins (that unfortunately pulled even more attention to herself when she tried to look unsuspicious).
Marinette sighed and closed her eyes. Thinking about such things would just result in another nightmare. She definitely didn't need that. Listening to Tikki's silent breathing, Marinette slowly slid back into an uneasy sleep.
Marinette instantly knew that she was going to be late. Her mother was shaking her shoulder to wake her up. The girl shot out of her bed, panicking for the second time that morning. Looking at the clock, she could see that she only had four minutes before class started. Momentarily forgetting the mess she was in, she struggled to get out of her bed and put on her clothes and pull her hair into her signature pigtails. A minute later, she was ready, her T-shirt half-tucked into her pink trousers, her black jacket sliding off her shoulder, and her hair was everywhere. Not having any time to apply her usual lip gloss and mascara, she headed downstairs.
"I'm gonna be so late!" she shot out of the door, grabbing her bag in the process. Sabine watched from the kitchen, used to her daughter's antics by now.
"Don't forget to get some breakfast!" she called after her. She heard a response muffled by a yell as Marinette surely tripped over her own feet, and smiled.
Marinette ran down the stairs and like a typhoon she went through the bakery. She met her father who handed her a croissant and a cookie for his favourite kwami (mainly because it was the only kwami he knew).
"Thanks, Papa! See you later!" Marinette waved, opening the door. Though it looked like there was no one waiting in front of the bakery, it wasn't true. In those three seconds it took her to open the door, wild herds of journalists appeared out of nowhere. As if Marinette wasn't already late. Now she had no hope of making it to school on time (not that there was ever any hope of that).
"Mlle Dupain-Cheng!"
"Can you tell us the truth?"
"Are you Ladybug?"
"Ladybug, a word?"
They had blocked her way, trapping her in the middle. Marinette shook her head vehemently.
"No, I'm not Ladybug, and now excuse me please, I'm already late for school."
She tried to push her way through the reporters, dodging various microphones with her head, but as soon as she pushed one away, another took their place and made the task of getting to school infinitely more difficult.
Fortunately (for her, unfortunately for all the gathered journalists), her dad had come to her rescue. He had his muscular arms crossed on his chest, making his massive silhouette even more intimidating.
"Haven't you heard my daughter?" he thundered. "Give her space!" Some of the reporters looked slightly scared, some of them even took some steps back, but some of the others forgot about Marinette and turned to Tom Dupain, microphones at the ready. The few that were left weren't intimidated by his size or threatening voice and tried to corner Marinette again.
But Marinette wasn't about to let herself get trapped a second time. With a quick wave and thanks to her father, she successfully avoided the journalists, employing some of her Ladybug skills, and broke into a run after crossing the road.
While she was certainly lucky that her school was just across the street, she had no other luck today. The class, as she predicted, had already started. The girl ran up the stairs without tripping, but, just as she thought that no trouble would follow her today, she misjudged her step and went flying.
"Look who finally showed up," she heard a venomous remark. Chloe, undoubtedly. Despite knowing that she was Ladybug, she was still behaving the same to Marinette. Not that she minded; it gave her some sense of normalcy. Marinette shot her an angry look.
"What, Dupain-Cheng? Fought any akumas today? Or did you just sleep in as you normally do?"
"That's enough, Chloe," Adrien said from his seat. His voice sounded stern and tired. He massaged the root of his nose before focusing his gaze on Marinette. She got to her feet and stepped up the steps to her own seat. Mlle Bustier silenced them.
"Marinette, please take a seat and come see me after school. This has happened one time too many," she said, and the girl nodded sadly. She sat beside Alya as she mumbled "Yes, Mlle Bustier," in response.
Marinette took out her tablet. She tried to pay attention to the class, she really did, but with the history textbook lying open next to her (she also had her notes, of course, but with the frequent akuma attacks, it was just easier to use the textbook) and Alya's constant nagging, concentrating on anything was hard.
As soon as the bell rang to signalize their first break, her classmates with Lila in lead surrounded her desk. Marinette felt a cold drop of sweat roll down her back. This wasn't going to be fun. Dealing with journalists was one thing, but with Lila? Marinette would trade her for all those journalists in a heartbeat.
That sly fox stood on the sidelines so far and let all her friends ask the questions for her. Everyone wanted to know something, but Marinette kept true to her story that she wasn't Ladybug and everything had been just a big misunderstanding. For once, Alya and Nino took her side, supporting her. Rose was the first to ask if she were Ladybug, and Marinette immediately denied it. Alya chimed in that she spent all previous afternoon with her, so it can't possibly be Marinette,
Her classmates might have believed her if it wasn't for Lila. Now, she abandoned the sidelines and straight-up hugged Marinette (she had to suppress her feelings of disgust so she wouldn't feel sick right there on the spot). This was her sworn enemy that was hugging her, and she didn't feel safe in the slightest.
"Marinette, I know you're trying to protect us, but there's no need to lie anymore. We all know," she said, her voice laced with acidity. Her diabolical smile was hidden in the crook of Marinette's shoulder.
The pigtailed girl pushed Lila away from her. She'd had enough of her. She couldn't stand being hugged by her of all people anymore. But Lila wasn't giving up. She was an excellent actress. Fake tears shined in her eyes.
"Why are you doing this, Ladybug? You're my best friend!" she wailed.
Marinette's heart froze for a moment as almost all of her friends looked at her with an accusing look in their eyes. She felt as if she were back in that bathroom with Lila threatening her, and it wasn't a good feeling.
Suddenly, she heard a very familiar voice, now harder than usual.
"Lila, maybe you should stop. Marinette is going through a hard situation right now, so I suggest you leave her alone."
Adrien stood in the middle of the aisle, his brows furrowed. He usually took the high road as he himself advised Marinette to do months ago, but, reflecting on yesterday's evening when he talked to Marinette, he understood that the problem was deep-rooted, much more than he could've ever imagined. He didn't like the threats, and so felt that it was his time to step up.
Both Marinette and Lila looked star-struck. They couldn't believe their ears, Marinette because Adrien usually let Lila be, Lila because she wasn't used to being told off. Her expression turned from a surprised one to an angry one very quickly. How dare Adrien defend this horrendous girl?
"Adrien… I thought we were friends," she seethed, not trying to cover up her rage. He held her gaze steadily, not wavering.
"We are… But Marinette is also my friend, and she needs time and space now," he replied, keeping the same tone as before. It was unusual to hear him use it, but Marinette was glad. She had her whole friend group on her side, even if Adrien didn't know that she was Ladybug. It made her heart melt.
Lila clenched her hands into fists in anger and pushed past Adrien, storming off to the corridor.
Marinette looked at Adrien, feeling over the moon that he had come to her rescue. She smiled at him gratefully while all of the remaining classmates returned to their seats per Adrien's request.
"T-thanks," she let out, and, for once, it didn't even sound like a tongue twister.
"No problem, Marinette," Adrien gave her a bright smile. "I'm sure this misunderstanding will be resolved quickly." Marinette failed to notice the light blush that was creeping up his cheeks. The bell rang and Adrien returned to his seat before Mlle Bustier came in. It was time for their history test.
Marinette took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on it.
"I totally blew that test! Again! I'm gonna be grounded until I'm 40!" Marinette wailed immediately after the class ended. Alya patted her back reassuringly.
"Now now, girl, you'll pass this one, I feel it!" she tried to encourage her. Marinette looked at her, breathing rapidly, but eventually, she calmed down. She studied hard for that test, surely the result can't be too bad, right? Especially since Tikki helpfully supplied information about past Ladybugs like Joan of Arc, she definitely had to have some questions right.
Despite what she thought, no akuma interrupted the rest of the school day. Her, although curious, classmates left her alone and, as the hours passed, Marinette found herself dreading the moment she was supposed to go see Mlle Bustier about her tardiness.
Adrien mysteriously disappeared right after their last class, and Marinette, Alya and Nino headed to have lunch alone. Afterwards, Alya accompanied her to the teacher's office. Nino trailed behind them, feeling a bit down because Adrien didn't tell him anything about where he was going, just that he needed to sort something out.
When they approached the professor's office, the door opened and Adrien came out.
"Thanks, Mlle Bustier. I knew I could count on you," he said, and they could hear the gratefulness in his voice. The teacher herself looked quite surprised but managed to give him a smile.
"No worries, Adrien," she said, then turned her attention to Marinette. "Marinette, good to see you. Come in."
Marinette swallowed dry air and stepped into the office, closing the door behind her. Alya shouted "You can do it!" and before the door closed behind her, she could hear Nino ask Adrien about what he needed to sort out.
"Just got some new information about an upcoming photoshoot," Adrien explained, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Then, Marinette couldn't see or hear them anymore.
Mlle Bustier sat down behind her desk and gestured for Marinette to do the same. The girl did so, and a few awkward moments when neither of them spoke passed by.
It was Marinette who spoke up first.
"Look, Mlle Bustier, I'm sorry I overslept. I'll try to be on time, I promise. I'll set up another alarm clock, but please, please don't tell my parents."
Mlle Bustier smiled. Even though Marinette was often late or straight up missed class, she had a heart of gold and it would break her heart to actually punish her severely. However, this needed to be addressed.
"Marinette, I'm not just talking about you oversleeping once. You have a history of oversleeping. But you also miss a lot of classes and I'm forced to do something about it, do you understand?" she said and watched as the girl nodded, looking at her lap.
"Therefore, I'm going to give you an extra assignment," she continued, looking directly at her pupil. Marinette nodded again, biting her lower lip. She knew that sooner or later, she would get in trouble because of her.. extracurricular duties.
Mlle Bustier handed her a piece of paper.
"You'll have two weeks to hand in the project. And since Adrien also misses a lot of classes, you'll be working with him," she said, almost making Marinette faint.
Working with Adrien? Her? Adrien didn't need a project to complete on top of his extracurricular activities. Even if he had photoshoots to go to, he kept up with all of his schoolwork.
"Adrien?" she could only breathe out. "Why-?"
Mlle Bustier sighed.
"Believe it or not, Adrien actually missed more class than you did, also thanks to his father and all the photoshoots, but despite passing all his tests with flying colours, I simply can't let it go unnoticed. This school does have rules about being absent, you know? I've promised not to bring the absences up to his father if he completes the extra assignment, and I want to extend the same courtesy to you, Marinette." The teacher smiled warmly at her, but Marinette only hung her head.
"My parents were already unhappy with me missing class," she admitted. "Several times over."
This was it, this was the moment. Marinette nervously tugged at the end of one of her pigtails. She took a deep breath to steady herself.
"Speaking of absences… Mlle Bustier, what the news say is true," she watched as the teacher nodded calmly and continued: "I am Ladybug."
As if realizing how it must've sounded to her teacher, Marinette lifted her hands up defensively.
"But I'm not saying that to get out of homework," she added quickly, noticing that Bustier's expression stayed the same, except the edges of her lips were curled upwards.
"I would never think so, Marinette," she said. "I presume you're telling me because of frequent akuma attacks?" The girl just nodded, her eyes following the teacher as she stood up and paced around the room. Then, she came close and put her hands on her shoulders reassuringly.
"I'm willing to excuse you from any classes disrupted by akuma attacks," she said. Then, smiling, she added: "And I will never tell anyone your secret."
Marinette nodded, relieved that Mlle Bustier seemed so understanding. Briefly, she wondered how it was possible that she hadn't freaked out, but with all the news coverage, she might have anticipated it.
"Thank you, Mlle Bustier," she said, getting up. "Is that everything?"
The teacher looked at her and nodded.
"Yes, that would be all, Marinette. All the instructions about the project are on the paper I gave you. I would suggest starting as soon as possible with all your… extra activities."
Marinette's lips tugged upwards as she headed to the door. The meeting had gone much better than she expected. Having a wild fantasy, she always imagined the worst-case scenario, but this time, none of the bad scenarios came true as she managed to survive and get out of punishment with only an extra assignment. That should be a piece of cake, right? Right? Her knees got weak at the thought of doing the project with Adrien.
Honestly, she was surprised that he had been absent even more than she was. She knew about the photoshoots, of course, just like she knew about all of his fencing matches, but she had no idea when he could've collected all those absences. She must've been absent too, otherwise she would certainly remember.
Marinette came back out to the corridor, and almost bumped into her friend group.
"So, girl? How did it go?" Alya asked, straining her neck to see the paper Marinette held in her hands.
"I got an extra assignment," she said, waving the paper. Adrien visibly perked up.
"The assignment we're supposed to work on together?" he asked, pulling out a similar paper from his bag. The next thing Marinette knew, Alya was shaking her shoulders.
"You're gonna work on it together?" she asked almost too excitedly. Adrien scratched the back of his neck.
"Yeah, I was absent because of photoshoots and I need to make it up somehow," he said, and Nino looked at him.
"Dude! That's not fair, you have no choice but to miss class then!" he argued. "Do I need to go tell that to Mlle Bustier?"
Adrien grasped his forearm as Nino tried to go knock on the door again.
"Nino, it's fine, really," he said. "I can do the project, and I'm sure Marinette will be a wonderful partner." He missed said girl's squeak as her face got all red.
"A partner? S-sure, Adrien! I can't wait to be your partner for life- for the project, the project, I mean!" she let out, and hid behind Alya, embarrassed to her core.
Alya took Marinette by her shoulders.
"We'll just have a quick trip to the ladies' room," she said, then pushed Marinette with her, leaving the two boys standing in the corridor.
Adrien looked at Nino, his brows furrowed in confusion. He let the hand with the project instructions fall limply next to his side.
"Did I say something wrong?" he asked, looking sad. Nino was quick to put his arm over his shoulder reassuringly.
"No, dude, of course not! It's just a girl thing, going to the bathroom in groups. They'll return soon, you'll see," he said, hoping that it would indeed be the case.
Adrien lightened up.
"Alright, Nino. Can we go get some lunch meanwhile? I'm starving."
"Sure," Nino said, sending a quick text to Alya, saying that they'll find them in the canteen.
Alya and Marinette ran through the locker room right into the bathroom, making sure that no one was there. Turning the corner, they stood in the corner, talking in hushed voices.
"Alya!" Marinette squealed. "Working on that project with Adrien! I can't survive that! My life is ruined, I'm telling you, ruined!"
Alya managed to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Girl, this is also a great opportunity to get closer to him! And confess. You just need the right type of courage," she said, winking at Marinette. Her friend groaned.
"I'll just make a total fool out of myself, Alya! I can't even speak a coherent sentence around him," she lamented, hiding her face in her hands. Alya rolled her eyes, used to her antics by now. There was no way her life was over just because she'd been paired up with Adrien, though her life would be over if Hawkmoth decided to ruin all of her study sessions.
"You'll do fine, Marinette," Alya cheered her on. "Just focus on the project and not on him, I mean, he will also pay attention to the project." The unspoken " not you " had been left hanging in the air and Marinette broke into theatrical sobs.
"We'll never have three kids and a hamster!" she wailed, and a girl who had just come into the bathroom looked at her curiously. Then, she quietly (and quickly) retreated from the room.
Alya shook her head, smiling. Sometimes, Marinette didn't know when to stop, it seemed.
"It's gonna be fine, Marinette," she said and started to push her towards the exit. "Now we're gonna sit down with the boys and you'll get to see what the project is about."
Though Marinette tried to prop herself up on her feet, Alya was stronger and she pushed her out of the lavatories. Groaning, Marinette relented and reluctantly walked beside her to her doom.
Arriving at the canteen, they could easily spot Adrien's head covered with golden locks sitting next to Nino's brightly coloured cap, chatting excitedly about something.
"Hey, guys!" Alya called cheerfully, grabbing Marinette's hand and pulling her to the table. "Do you mind if we sit here?"
Nino touched the end of his cap.
"Sure thing, you're always welcome," he said, and Alya sat down, pulling Marinette to sit on a chair next to her. The girl sat down, keeping her gaze anywhere else but on Adrien.
Alya rested her elbows on the table, supporting her chin.
"So, what did you get assigned as a project?" she asked. Marinette looked at her. She was about to get the paper she was given by Mlle Bustier when she couldn't feel it anymore.
"The paper…" she gasped. "I must've left it in the bathroom!" A feeling of panic approaching, she attempted to stand up when Adrien set his paper on the table.
"You can take a copy of mine, Marinette," he said with an angelic smile. Pink coloured Marinette's cheeks. "We have to work on it together, after all. Your instructions will probably be the same."
She swallowed and extended her hand to turn the paper to her to read it. In the process, her fingers touched Adrien's lightly, letting out all the butterflies she felt in her stomach.
"T-thanks, Adrien," she managed with a small smile. Turning the paper to her, she read:
"Choose an important figure of the French history and make a small presentation on them, including their lives, achievements, and/or legacy."
Marinette raised an eyebrow.
"That doesn't sound too difficult," she remarked, feeling light. They could choose anyone, from Napoléon to Voltaire to Coco Chanel and they would be done with it with a blink of an eye.
"Yeah, it doesn't sound too bad," Adrien agreed, keeping his gaze on her. "We can choose anyone who's famous! Like…" remembering Plagg telling him that Joan of Arc had once been a Ladybug, he continued: "like Joan of Arc! Or the musketeers! Alexandre Dumas!"
Marinette had to smile at his enthusiasm. She herself, however, didn't really feel like smiling. She got out of the punishment fairly well, that had to be said, but still, with her commissions, duties as Ladybug, and other homework, she felt little joy at having to write and present yet another project.
"Do you have any ideas, Marinette?" Adrien asked with a big smile on his lips.
So dreamy… Marinette snapped out of her daze and looked thoughtful for a second, trying to go through famous French people.
"Maybe… Coco Chanel?" she suggested, but then she waved her hands in front of her.
"No… we should choose together, I mean, she's interesting to me but I don't know if you like her or maybe you like her but I don't know it," she rambled, making Adrien smile. Sometimes, he didn't understand what she was saying at all, but at the same time, she was just so cute.
He laughed softly.
"How about we make a list of famous people and we can choose someone who we like tomorrow?" he suggested. Marinette fell silent and quickly nodded.
"Y-yeah, that will be f-for the best," she agreed. Adrien nodded and took out his phone.
"Do you have my number?" he asked her. Marinette took out her phone. After the disastrous call that went to the voicemail in which she had called him "hot stuff", she didn't make any attempts to call him again, not to mention that back then, she had been calling from Alya's phone. So, she now shook her head and took out her own phone, pulling up a new contact and holding it out so Adrien could enter his phone number.
"Thanks," she said and tapped the button to save the new contact. "Do you have mine?" she asked. Adrien nodded.
"I do," he said, not mentioning that he had her contact saved as Princess 3 . She didn't need to know. At least not for now.
Alya looked at Nino and then pulled up her own phone.
"I don't want to ruin your fun, but maybe we should head to the classroom," she said, noting that it was almost time for their afternoon classes to start. Nino nodded and stood up, taking his bag over his shoulder.
Marinette looked a bit embarrassed, but she managed to stand up and take her bag without tripping, and Adrien did the same. Then, as the first bell sounded, the four friends made their way back to Mlle Bustier's classroom.