start notes—

Adrien sneaks into a pro-bending match, and promptly does what any normal audience member would do: fall in love with one of the benders.

my tellonym: milkisande

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bender

you are my fire,
the one desire.

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THE first pro-bending match Adrien ever attends, coincidentally, is the day of Ladybug's debut.

She comes in with a no-name group of three, during one of the newbie matches held outside the official tournament. Her whole team wears masks— hiding their respective identities. Adrien hears the couple next to him whisper about how it's a little obnoxious, but he personally finds it to be one of the coolest things he's ever seen. (And he's not one to talk, either; not with his oversized hat and dark coat, to make sure nobody recognizes him.)

The team's opponents for this match are the Ba Sing Se Badgermoles, a rather popular trio who's already made a name for themselves as a powerful group of benders. It's expected to be an easy win, so there aren't many people out at the stands, but it's the only day Adrien could sneak out of the house and see one of the competitions live— so he takes a seat anyway.

He doesn't think much will happen; nobody does, really… until the match starts.

And the first round is over as soon as it begins.

Without hesitation, and almost perfect precision, three strong blasts of water are immediately thrown at the opposing team's direction, as they quickly fall over the edge.

Nobody speaks.

It's only the sudden ring of the gongs that break everyone out of their trance. The announcer scrambles to speak: "And that's a wrap on the first round! In only a few seconds flat, this no-name team takes the win! I'm just as surprised as you all are folks, but it seems like this lady's someone to watch out for." Then, a sudden pause. "What's your name, girl?"

The waterbender flinches with sudden surprise— almost nothing like the girl who seemed like she was out to kill only a few moments ago. One of her teammates, a brunette firebender, nudges her, as she's forced to speak.

"I— uh," she pauses, as if fumbling over her words. Then: "Ladybug. And this is my team— Rena Rouge," she gestures at the girl next to her, then to the other side. "And Carapace."

"Got a name for that little team of yours, Miss… Ladybug?"

It's not all that common anymore for benders to use aliases in fighting matches, as they did from bending tournaments way back in the past, but Adrien likes it.

Ladybug, especially. It suits her.

"Uh…" she pauses, again, evidently at a loss. "We, uh…"

The announcer seems to take pity on her, and decides to continue on. "Well, you can go ahead and think of it later. But you better think of one soon, because your fans will need something to call you in the future!"

(And he's right— he's absolutely right, because Adrien's quite sure he's found his newest favorite pro-bending team.)

With that statement, however, the next round commences.

The other team is more prepared, this time, and block off her advances; but it seems her teammates are equally as talented— with Rena's blasts of flames and the earthen discs Carapace throws in their direction— the opponents are quickly taken aback.

There's no third battle, because the match is already set.

"And there you have it, folks! We have our winner— this anonymous team can't be described as anything but miraculous for their victory tonight. We think today a legend in the history of pro-bending was born today… give it up for this merry band of benders, led by Miss Ladybug!"

Adrien's standing up and cheering, applauding them, before he realizes it. It's amazing, pro-bending's amazing, and she's amazing.

The trio looks around the arena, evidently proud of themselves, as Rena jumps into the arms of her only other male teammate. Adrien briefly wonders to himself if they're dating; it sure seems like it— as Ladybug takes it upon herself to scan the audience.

There's a look of evident surprise on her face, but it's complemented by a bright smile that takes him aback. When Ladybug's stare reaches the part of the stand he's in, Adrien almost swears that they make eye contact.

It's brief, maybe only for a second, or maybe it didn't happen at all, but whatever the case, it was from that moment on his heart was already hers for the taking.

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"I actually did see you back then, you know."

As Adrien recounts the first time they meet, Marinette listens with curious amusement. She laughs when he suddenly turns to her, evidently interested at the sudden piece of information.

"What do you mean?"

"That night at the arena," She continues, leaning her head over to his shoulder. "It was only for a minute, but I could never forget you. Even with that insane disguise of yours—," Marinette giggles, "it wasn't hard to identify the supposed prince of the Fire Nation."

Adrien pouts. "Was my disguisethatbad?"

"Terrible," she points out easily. "But it was cute, anyway. After that, I couldn't stop thinking about you. And when you ended up substituting for Rena that one time, well that… that was fate working with us."

Adrien shifts his head so he can nuzzle closer to her, easily looping his hand in hers. "Well, I guess you fell for me.."

"Don't you dare say it."

"Hook, line, and sinker."

Marinette pushes him away at that, shaking her head. "Oh come on, that's not even clever!" She argues. "I may be a waterbender but I don't meet with fish all that often."

"Aw, milady, water you so upset about? Why not just go with the flow?"

She rolls her eyes, then smirks. "You're just jealous that I'm hotter than you, huh?"

"Now that… was terrible."

"Guess you can't handle that sick burn?"

"Marinette, please stop—"

"No way, I'm on fire right now!"

"Okay, no, these are terrible, you are terrible at the art of punning, so I'm going to go ahead and leave…"

"No, no, fine! Come on, we have to get ready."

"For what?"

"Our match." Marinette grins. "Get it? Like a matchstick?"

Adrien exhales deeply.

"I miss my non-punning girlfriend." He sighs, as he carefully grabs his mask and puts it across his face.

"You're just jealous that I have all the heat." She replies jokingly, before running after him and taking his hand. "Now are you ready for this?"

Chat Noir smiles, turning back to her. "This'll be a blast."

"Oh, so you can make puns and I can't?"

"That's because I'm not terrible at it."

He only offers her a teasing grin, before they begin to walk out of the dark hallway.

The lights are blinding, and the noise from excited chatter bounces all over the arena.

"Welcome to what we've all been waiting for, the pro-bending finals! Now give it up for everyone's all-time favorite hero team… The Miraculous Ladybugs!"

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end notes—

things we will be conveniently ignoring: that the challenge probably meant a bender as an outdoor spree with friends (bc i was uninspired by that, prompts are up to interpretation, and i miss atla Very Much), that the team name Miraculous Ladybugs is a terrible name (which only made it to the final cut coz ,, naming things is Hard so suggestions are very welcome !), that i used backstreet boys as my opening lyrics (i still have no regrets), and that i have never watched lok past the first few episodes so i'm basically a fraud (aka i was extremely bitter that they apparently did not mention my lord and saviors sokka and suki there so i did not finish it - feel free 2 bash or fite me) !

but anyway i love this au a lot im definitely considering making it a full-on fic (tho i'll have to actually watch lok so i'll do worldbuilding justice so its ,,, eHHhhHh) . i jus have many ideas for this and i think writing more abt it would be Neat ! a single chapter in a challenge will not do it justice . but yes, as always:

thank you for reading! ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～