Anniversaire

Alya and I became quite friendly after that. We were nowhere near as close as Marinette and Alya were, but we were casual friends, close enough that I began to get a feel for her beyond what was depicted on the show. She had a lot of potential, and I respected her greatly, even if I disapproved of her nosiness when it came to Ladybug, but I digress. We got along quite well, our only real point of contention being…

"Guess who's birthday is coming up?" She sings as she walks in to class, leaning against my desk. Adrien isn't here yet, not unexpected. He usually arrives three minutes before the bell exactly.

"Yours?" I try, because I don't want to miss it when it does and I'd rather she tell me straight up when it is so that I can organize some small present for her, to celebrate our budding friendship.

She smirks.

"Nope! It's your boyfriend's," she teases, the corner of her mouth pulling up in a grin. "What are you going to do to celebrate Adrien's big day?"

Not this again, I think, and my lack of enthusiasm must show on my face because she has the gall to actually snicker at me.

"He's not my boyfriend," I tell her bluntly, because honestly just the thought makes me uncomfortable. Adrien is my friend. Talking about him like he's something he's not makes my stomach churn with discomfort.

In truth I'd thought a lot about his birthday though. We'd only been friends for, well, less than two weeks, but to be honest I really cherished his friendship. Marinette had knit him a silky scarf in a pale blue color that he'd thought was from his dad, but I didn't have that kind of time or focus.

I did, however, know how to knit and I figured that, while I wasn't willing to spend the insane amount of time Marinette must have on a silky knit scarf, I did find some super soft bulky yarn that came in an array of colors so I worked up a quick knit chunky scarf in a long striped pattern that would match his signature t-shirt.

If I knitted myself a matching chunky scarf in all black with a great big green paw print on it to cement my position as Chat's number one fan, well, they were friendship scarves, okay? It's fine.

"Morning Mari," Adrien greets as he walks up, causing Alya to smirk at me as though him greeting me first means something. "Hey, Alya. How are you?"

She responds casually before running off to her seat to watch.

Adrien and I don't have much time to say much of anything to each other before class starts, but we exchange casual pleasantries – it's comforting to have someone to do that with – and then settle in for another mind-numbing day of schoolwork.

The day passes by quickly, without any trouble of the kind Ladybug and Chat Noir are responsible for. It's just me and Adrien and a soul-destroying amount of math homework. No big deal.

Adrien doesn't mention his birthday to me, which isn't surprising, because the boy is modest and almost shy about himself. What is surprising is the way Nino hangs around our desk at the end of the day, asking if Adrien's dad is letting him have a party or not.

Nino warmed up to Adrien after he stood up for me to Chloe, but to be honest up until this point I hadn't thought they'd gotten very close simply because Adrien spent the majority of his free time at school with me. To hear Nino talking to him was… a bit of a shock, to be honest.

"Hey, Adrien," I start, trying to look happy and casual and whatnot to cover up the appalling emotions running through my head. "I'm heading home early today, but I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

His green eyes meet mine, a little confusion visible in them as he glances from me to Nino, who quite frankly sounds surprised that I've spoken at all, and-

I pretend my phone buzzes, fake surprise, and then make my escape with a quick, "gotta go!"

I have nothing against Nino. I'm a little bit overwhelmed by his presence, not because he's a bad guy or because I dislike him, because I don't, but he's a lot and I realize with a start that a part of me is jealous and insecure and I rely on Adrien so much (both as himself and as Chat Noir) that I'm anxious that – that he'll forget about me.

It's a silly thought, but it's one that I can't shake.

I spend the rest of the day fretting over the scarf I have knitted him, checking it over to make sure I wove the ends in neatly when I changed colors, and wishing that I were a better, a normal person. It's not right, feeling… jealous. And it stings to put a name to that foreign emotion that makes my stomach churn with anxiety.

"Is everything alright, Mari?" Tikki asks, her expression full of patient acceptance.

I startle as if caught, folding up Adrien's scarf and shoving it in the gift bag I bought, fixing my eyes on the hasty scrawl of my name written on the tag. (I'm not making Marinette's mistake, not when I know that Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth and having seen how he is willing to treat his son by time this timeline reaches Chat Blanc, however that will go down).

"Do you think Adrien will forget about me?" I ask before I can berate myself into burying the question deep down because this is Tikki and I can talk to Tikki. "As he makes new friends, I mean?"

Tikki's face contorts into a little expression of anguish.

"Oh, Mari," she hums, looking at me worriedly. "Oh, Mari, you know he would never. Adrien is a good boy. He's your friend, both as himself and as Chat Noir. Why do you think he would forget about you?"

Relief bubbles up in my stomach – silly, I know.

"I don't know," I say, feeling lost. "I just worry that he'll wake up one morning and think that I'm – that I'm dragging him down, that I'm not fun, or that I'm depressing or, or something."

As the days go by, I lose more and more of the memories of who I was before. First my name, then my age, and now… now the memories of my friends are indistinct. Blurry. Disconnected.

I try to picture their faces in my mind and instead I see Tikki, see Adrien, even see Alya.

"He likes you, Mari," Tikki says quietly, earnestly. "He is your friend because he likes you. You both get along great both as Adrien and Mari and as Chat Noir and Ladybug. Just because you know the truth and he doesn't does not make your friendship any less real."

I bite my lip as I look at her and pull her in for a hug. I would be lost without Tikki.

"Thanks," I murmur, holding her close as she nuzzles my collarbone happily.

"Anytime, Mari," she responds, and then it's time for bed. "He's going to love the scarf, so don't you worry about a thing."

It's her sweet voice that lulls me to sleep.

The next morning, I wake up refreshed, with a gentle nudge of anxiety in my stomach simply fluttering at the thought of giving Adrien his present. What if he misunderstands? What if he just doesn't like it? I have a lot of questions and insecurities but I try to focus on Tikki's words from the night before.

Adrien is my friend. He knows me as well as anyone could considering my circumstances, and I trust him to understand what my gift is trying to convey – my appreciation for his friendship and his time and person. I like Adrien. He's a great person and he means a lot to me.

Everything is fine. Everything will be fine. Even if he doesn't like the scarf – it's the thought that counts, right?

"Breathe, Mari," Tikki reminds me sweetly, and I do.

Everything is fine.

I wear my new scarf to school because I think it will help Adrien understand that – that we're like the musketeers, two peas in a pod even if most of what we have in common is that video game Marinette's dad taught me to play and new things we find together.

I'm actually a few minutes late because this morning, because as I grab the camembert from the fridge that I had gotten Adrien along with his scarf as a joke, I am feeling brave and extra appreciative of all that Adrien does for me, and so show off the knowledge he'd given me by saying good morning to Sabine in Chinese.

"Good morning, mother," I greet nonchalantly, my heart pounding in my chest as I await her reaction.

Sabine's eyes widen and she turns to me and replies in kind, happily. I recognize 'good morning' but assume she replaced the standard word for daughter with an endearment or something. I resolve to ask Adrien later…

"Where did that come from?" She asks, laughing at my perplexed face.

"My friend is teaching me," I admit shyly. "I'd love to practice with you. If that's okay, that is."

Sabine is delighted and calls Tom in to hear my determinately practiced 'good morning,' her eyes crinkled with happiness. Tom, I note, looks proud. Though I haven't learned any Italian from anyone, I muster up a mangled 'Buongiorno,' for him, causing him to burst into laughter.

"Adrien's only teaching me Chinese," I admit after a moment of giggling at my father's – Marinette's father's – face. "But I'm open to learning if you want to improve this terrible accent."

Tom mentions something about learning from his mother and Sabine quickly takes over saying that I can learn Italian once I'm fluent in Chinese after all my friend is being kind enough to tutor me and she is delighted to help me practice…

And so I run into class a few minutes late and don't get to immediately give Adrien the very obvious gift bag I am carrying because Ms. Bustier starts class almost right away.

We sit in the front row, so I am surprised when Adrien, under the guise of taking notes, writes Nice scarf on the margin of his notebook and angles it so that I can read it, his elbow subtly brushing mine to catch my attention.

For a moment, I stupidly think he means his gift, the scarf wrapped up in the gift bag I have tucked under the desk, but I quickly realize the subtle, uncharacteristic smirk on his face is directed at the bright green pawprint on the soft black scarf around my neck.

I write I told you, I'm his biggest fan on the corner of my own notes, and angle it so that he can see, my eyes trained on Ms. Bustier as though that will cover up the pink blossoming on my cheeks.

The look on his face is so utterly Chat Noir that I am almost taken aback – he looks like the cat that got the cream, supremely flattered and pleased with himself. He's so obvious about it, I can't help but smile. He's happy, and that makes me happy.

We make it to lunch exchanging covert notes without getting caught.

"It suits you," is the first thing he says when we're dismissed, and we've been talking about other things – I said good morning to my mom in Chinese today – With her help you'll be better than me before you know it – so it takes me a minute to realize he means my scarf.

"Oh," I say, my cheeks pinking. Marinette's face flushes too easily, I think. I don't remember if my face was the same or not. "Oh! This is for you."

I grab the gift bag from under the desk and pray that the camembert has survived the day so far. I suppose Plagg would have had to wait until lunch for it, anyway…

Adrien's eyes widen as he takes in the bag, and for a moment I am sure that his heart skipped a beat in surprise.

"For me?" He repeats, so taken aback that for a moment I'm worried I've done something wrong.

"For your birthday," I add after a moment, anxiety bubbling in my stomach. Why isn't he opening it? "Happy birthday, Adrien!"

He opens it and – oh, for a minute I'm mortified because the cheese I'd gotten him as a gag gift is what's sitting on top, wrapped with a bow.

"Is this camembert?" He asks, his voice rising in pitch.

"Yeah," I return, and for a second I feel like I'm having one of Marinette's crazy moments. "Don't you like camembert? You smell like it so I thought-"

Both of us are mortified.

"Oh my god," he says, and, catching sight of my face immediately backtracks. "I mean, yeah, I… love camembert. It's great."

I can vaguely see Nino watching us but don't register the amusement on his face.

"There's something else," I say, and regret ever thinking of giving him the cheese because I hadn't thought through how funny it would be if his fear of smelling like it was proven true and how that might, just maybe, make me look like a friend-sniffing lunatic.

He reaches into the bag and his expression changes from one of muted horror to one of surprise and then appreciation as his slender fingers reach the soft, soft wool of the scarf.

"To match your shirt," I murmur as he pulls out the scarf, his expression a silly look of wonder as he takes in the long stripes of color. "It matches mine, too. You know, like a friendship scarf. "

Friendship scarves are totally a thing, right? Of course they are. Surely.

The soft wool of the scarf is two feet away from my face one second and then it is tickling my nose and it's only then that I realize that – oh, Adrien is hugging me.

"Thank you, Mari," he says, the words thick with some unknowable emotion. "I love it."

My face is beat red as I gently pat his back, once, twice, and then we are both awkwardly separating, looking anywhere but at each other and then-

"I'll see you after lunch!" I blurt, and like the coward I am, I run.

I brush past Nino on my way out and don't dare look back.

I am at home when the latest akumatized villain strikes. I remember Nino being akumatized on Adrien's birthday but I thought it happened after school not during our lunch break. But it does, and I'm at home eating lunch with Sabine when bubbles arrive and kidnap Marinette's parents.

"Mom!" I cry, putting on a show of trying to get to Tom and Sabine as they float out the door of the bakery. "Dad!"

I chase them down the street a little as Tom shouts for me to get back inside and wait for Ladybug, so I run back home as though I am desperate to get the news and instead run up to my room and say those magic words that make me feel alive-

"Tikki, spots on!"

The transformation courses through me, making my veins sing and come alight as I feel lighter, stronger, powerful. I am Ladybug, and as Ladybug, I am whole.

I fly over the rooftops on my way to Adrien's house, where I know the world's shittiest birthday party must already be underway. Honestly, the Bubbler isn't exactly subtle. The fireworks going off over the Agreste mansion would be a dead giveaway even if I didn't already know where I'm going.

I don't announce my arrival because I feel bad for Adrien – even I had birthday parties growing up, though I shared them with my brother and the guests consisted entirely of my mom's friends. I remember vaguely that Plagg advises him to enjoy the party before transforming; I won't be the one to spoil it for him.

So I watch the Bubbler play DJ for a bunch of miserable kids and wait for Adrien to realize that this isn't what he wants – and am instead surprised.

"Has anyone seen Mari?" I hear from the courtyard – Adrien looks miserable alright, but not because of the party itself.

He's wearing the scarf I gave him and he's looking for me, I think slowly, stupidly, because, well, of course. We're friends. Why wouldn't the look for his friend at his birthday party – the friend whose gift he was wearing despite the sunshine and moderate temperature.

I duck behind the wall of the manor-

"Tikki, spots off."

I can't disappoint him. I can't.

"Mari, the Bubbler," Tikki points out quite reasonably.

"Just until he's ready," I reply, squaring my shoulders as I prepare to walk into the manor courtyard. This is fine. I'm just going in incognito until Chat arrives, that's all.

The idea of being irresponsible and misusing my powers makes me want to vomit but it obviously means something to Adrien that I am there, so I will show up and then sneak inside the house to transform when he realizes everyone's miserable.

"If you're sure," Tikki says slowly, peering up at me with eyes shining with empathy. "I trust you, Mari."

I swallow.

"I want to be someone you can trust and rely on," I tell her directly, because it's true, it's true, I need Tikki like I need my own right hand. "But I want to be that for him too, Tikki. I can't bear the thought of disappointing him, in any form."

Tikki smiles at me and it's clear from the gesture that she understands, which is what I need more than anything, so with her gentle support, I walk through the open gates with my head held high and… and am immediately spotted by Adrien.

"Mari!" He exclaims, his face brightening like the sun. "You made it!"

"Hey Adrien," I say, trying to find some middle ground between being happy for him and acting upset about Tom and Sabine. "Happy birthday!"

He immediately starts up about this being his first birthday party, how Nino organized it for him, how he'd never celebrated with friends before and – and my heart ached for him.

"Want to dance?" He asks casually, offering me a hand with bright eyes.

"Sure," I force out, and place my hand in his.

We dance amongst our miserable schoolmates and to be honest, despite the whole akumatized Nino forcing kids to party thing, it's kind of fun. Nino is a great DJ no matter how you look at it and if everyone wasn't mourning their parents, the party would be totally hoppin'.

Still, all good things must come to an end, even if this was only arguably good due to the whole akumatized villain thing.

"Thanks, Adrien," I say, and I mean it sincerely as I take a step back from him as a slow dance, of all things, comes on.

He holds a hand out in offer of another dance, this time lazy swaying back and forth to the slower, romantic music, but I shake my head.

"You really took my mind off my mom and dad," I say, not meaning to guilt him but trying to impress upon him that, like all the other kids, I was missing my parents too. "I'm glad you got to have a party after all, but I think I'm going to head home now. I want to be there when my parents come home once Chat Noir rescues them! And Ladybug, of course."

His eyes widen, his smile falters.

"Your parents," he manages after a moment, and I feel bad for making him feel bad, but I think we've spent longer at the party than he did in the show at this point. It's time for Ladybug and Chat Noir to make their appearance. "Of course. Mari, I'm so sorry."

He takes my hands and his and his eyes are so earnest, so light and green and full of promise, that for a moment I am caught up in them.

"Chat Noir will definitely get here any minute to save the day, I promise," he tells me, and I'm taken aback by his brazen words – does he realize what he's saying and how that could be misconstrued if I were a civilian who didn't already know about his identity.

He pulls me to the gate of with a determined stride and I notice absent-mindedly that his hand is so strong, his grip sure on mine.

"I'll see you in school tomorrow, okay Mari?" He says, bidding me goodbye with a quick, fierce hug.

"Okay," I reply, dazed.

He runs back towards the house and I duck behind the wall, leaning against it for a moment as I catch my breath. Adrien is a great friend, I think, my hand coming up to touch the paw print on my scarf. I force myself to focus and push that thought away, instead scanning the deserted streets just in case to confirm there was no one in sight…

"Alright Tikki," I say when the cost is clear. "Time to take care of the Bubbler!"

She beams at me and it's her smiling face I keep in mind as I say the magic words and transform. The Bubbler's akuma is in his weapon, I remind myself as the transformation washes over me and I become stronger, lighter, faster, free in a way I couldn't be as Marinette.

I launch myself up without hesitation-

"Mind if I crash the party?" I ask as I land on the edge of the wall, surveying the Bubbler and all our classmates at risk between us.

"Fashionably late today I see, Milady," Chat greets me from the steps of the house, smiling widely.

I can't help but grin back.

"This party is invitation only," the Bubbler growls, drawing his bubble wand sword thing. "And you two weren't invited!"

He launches a cascade of red bubbles right at me, making the fatal mistake of ignoring Chat-

"It's in the sword!" I call out as I dodge, and then Chat is on the Bubbler, forcing him to defend himself too close up to use his bubbles against us – or turn the ones he sent after me into a giant bubble to trap me and Chat.

I sprint towards the fight and jump in with a sweeping kick intended to knock the Bubbler off his feet, elation thrumming in my veins. This is what I'm meant to do.

The assembled kids are all hiding out on the stairs, cheering for us as I throw my yo-yo in time with Chat's attacks to put the Bubbler on the defensive-

"Lucky Charm!" I cry out, eager to get us out of this détente we're stuck in, unable to do much other than fight him head on in hand to hand combat to keep him from bubbling us or our classmates.

I get a record.

Chat does his best to keep up the pace, to keep going for the bubble wand, as I figure out what on earth I'm supposed to do with-

Marinette got a record in the show to stop the slow song. Somehow, I doubt funky music is the solution here…

I glance around and think, think, think – Marinette flung it onto the needle by throwing it at an angle. And actually, judging from the white noise coming from the speakers, everything was still working. I look back at Chat and the Bubbler fighting in the courtyard, look back again to the position of the speakers and-

"Alya!" I cry out to the girl I know is in the crowd. "Volume to the max please!"

I throw my yo-yo ahead of me to trip up the Bubbler, holding the record under my arm as I dodge an onslaught of bubbles created when the Bubbler put some distance between himself and Chat.

"Chat, over here with me, then the floor!"

The white noise is horrifically loud now thanks to Alya's quick reaction and I am where Marinette was when she flung the record like a frisbee. Chat disengages and jumps backwards towards me, taking the break to summon his power-

"Cataclysm!"

And then he is disintegrating the courtyard that the Bubbler is standing on. I fling the record and pray – and it lands on the needle and starts to play just as the Bubbler jumps back onto the DJ deck to get away from the destroyed ground.

The music starts up and blasts so loudly from the speakers not two feet away from the Bubbler that all of us flinch – but him most of all, dropping his bubble wand as his hands come up to protect his ears. He quickly tries to put the volume down to a manageable level but it's too late – Chat takes advantage of the moment and breaks the Bubbler's wand over his knee.

The black butterfly flies out and I capture it quickly.

"No more evil-doing for you, little akuma," I say to it almost fondly. "Time to de-evilize!"

I let it fly free out of the compartment in my yo-yo, now pure and white, and then retrieve the record from the turntable and throw it into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

I am giddy with a job well done when Chat approaches me, looking quite satisfied himself, and offers me a gently closed fist.

"Pound it!" We chime together, grinning wide.

I head home quickly before I am missed – tell my parents upon arrival that the akumatized person was my classmate Nino and that I had been kidnapped to attend a birthday party, and head up to my room. It's been such a hectic day, but I feel better, feel stronger than I have in days.

"You did well today, Mari," Tikki tells me affectionately, nuzzling her head into the junction of my neck and shoulder in a sweet hug.

My heart swells.

"Thanks, Tikki," I say, feeling ready to burst because – I had done well today. I managed to be there for Adrien and take care of the Bubbler. And – and Tikki wasn't disappointed in me like she had been in Marinette for using her powers for jealousy.

(Maybe here, in this world, I can be something more than a perpetual disappointment.)

My good mood keeps me from settling down to do my homework, so I head out to my balcony in the evening to get some fresh air.

"I like your scarf," someone says, scaring the life out of me because it's not Tikki and Tikki is the only person who should be talking to me up here.

I glance up in shock and my heart nearly stops dead in my chest when I realize I'm looking at green eyes. Familiar green eyes.

"Mind if I drop in?" Chat Noir asks, beaming brightly at me from his perch on the railing. "I just saw your scarf while patrolling the city and had to ask where you got such a pawsome accessory."

I swallow, my mind going a thousand different directions at once. Oddly enough, I felt a little star struck. Which was odd, because it's just Chat. I was friends with Adrien in my daily life. So why is this so, so-

"I made it," I manage at last, feeling shy despite myself. Was this because Adrien never got a present from his dad today? Had he been lonely enough that he felt compelled to sneak out to seek some company.

I felt terrible, suddenly… I hadn't wanted to do Gabriel Agreste any favors because the man didn't deserve it, but I hadn't really thought through Adrien's side of things.

"Wow, all by yourself?" He teases, friendly and inviting. "It looks purrfessionally made!"

"Thank you," I say quietly, my face heating up. I don't know why. I don't know why he's here or what's happening to me. But, this is Adrien, and if he's here, even in this form, there must be a reason.

I think about it, and figure that after his miserable birthday party, the least I could do is…

"Do you like croissants?" I ask him after a moment, knowing the answer. "Or some other pastry. In case you didn't know, you're above a bakery right now. I can bring up some snacks for us. If you-"

I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew for a moment, but-

"Croissants are my favorite," he says brightly, dropping down from the railing, and for a moment I am overwhelmed with him being here, in this form, like that, while I am here and just… just Mari(nette). "I'd like that very much."

If Adrien doesn't want to spend his birthday alone, he won't. It's as simple as that.

I rush downstairs wondering if he'll still be there when I get back, grab some croissants and, after a moment of thought, a cupcake for him. I practice what I'll say the whole way back upstairs, fully expecting this to have been some kind of elaborate hallucination and when I get back up to the balcony – he's there.

"It was my best friend's birthday today," I tell him after a moment, setting down the croissants between us and holding out the cupcake I'd nicked from the bakery shyly despite myself. "I wanted to give him this, but I didn't have the chance. I figure, it's not every day you get to meet your number one hero though, and I can't wait to tell him all about this, so I thought you might like to have it. We can celebrate together."

For a moment, he looks utterly floored.

"Your best friend's birthday was today?" He asks, approaching me slowly. Has he always been this tall? I don't know why, but it's suddenly a little hard to breathe. "Your best friend?"

I nod, unable to speak.

He breaks out into the widest grin I have ever seen from him-

"I would be honored to celebrate with you, purrincess!" He declares, flopping down to the floor to sit with his legs crossed in front of him, outright beaming. A sly look comes over his features- "Number one hero, huh?"

I almost want to fling the cupcake at his smug face.

"Laugh it up, kitty cat," I return coolly despite my pink cheeks. "Maybe now that I've met you you'll be demoted. I might start knitting up a Ladybug scarf tonight."

He laughs and it's so warm and full of genuine mirth that I can't help but laugh along with him.

We laugh a lot that night, sitting on the floor of my balcony together, splitting a lonesome cupcake for his birthday and slowly making our way through a plate of croissants. This, I think abruptly, isn't Adrien as I know him. This is Adrien when he is free.

I go to sleep wondering if we will ever know each other completely, my dearest friend and I, when we are so different between forms and the way we are together in the different dynamics our powers have created. But even so…

"You know, you can come by whenever," I offer, feeling stupidly shy again.

He grins.

"Oh, purrincess, don't you know? Feed a stray and he'll always come back."

I go to sleep smiling because I know that whatever this is, it's a new beginning for us both.

To be continued in Imitatrice.