All rights to Miraculous Ladybug belong to Zagtoon, Method Animation, Thomas Astruc, and Disney. This is my own creative work.
Marinette preferred a wait time of at least one hundred years before tomorrow.
Nonetheless, the hours skipped by and there Paris was, the day after the memorable Heroes' Ball. The sunlight bent as if smiling, a brisk breeze tickled the skin, and bonjours were on the lips of every Parisian from her bakery to Francois Dupont next door. Birds chirped and flew along as the bell of the Dupain-Cheng bakery rang, welcoming the new day.
The exact opposite of the secret heroine who lost a fierce wrestling match with her blanket desperate for her bed. Her hair wanted revenge and failed to be combed into split ends. A mug of coffee still in her hands from breakfast was the only reason she was on her feet, backpack strapped, and out the door heading to school. The sickly pallor and bags she wore from slamming her head over the desk and an hour of Tikki's lecturing stopped traffic all on their own.
Marinette reached the steps of her school too soon. Her eyeballs dragged catching sight of her classmates, huddled in groups around their phone and tablet screens. Jokes were told, laughs were had, and memories were made. Memories she was currently trying to forget.
She took another sip of coffee. Rose exclaimed in her squeaky voice. "You've gotta tell me who made your costume!"
"Wasn't mine the coolest!?" Kim called. "I bet you can't come up with anything better by next year!"
Next year… this was going to be a continuous thing?
"Haven't you learned by now this ends badly for you?" Alix laughed.
"I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with," Mylene added.
"Of course, we can't forget who had the best costumes of all." Max noted. "It was a near unanimous vote by the whole class, with the more obvious exceptions."
There was a vice around her head right now. Marinette knew it was not the coffee. Maybe if she'd drank enough, the caffeine kickstarting her movements would make her go comatose and experience memory loss. As she trudged up the steps, she found that unlikely, and settled for purposefully tripping over a step and cracking her skull. The classic route.
It was not meant to be. For as Marinette dragged her foot on the second-top step, she heard a familiar boisterous call.
"Morning, sleeping beauty!" Alya's voice exploded into her poor eardrums. The shock left her bereft of her sweet coffee, the mug shattered on the steps with the black drink oozing out. "Ooh, maybe next time, go plastic."
"Alya, please. If you could speak in whispers for the next few days while I purge my head…"
Alya wrapped her arm around the zombie girl's shoulder. "Aw, what's the matter? Didn't have a fun night with your kitty prince charming... Ladybug?"
That right there, that was the hard core of mental pain and psychological trauma that was the fruit of her bane. If there was even a fraction of strength left in her arms now, Marinette would use it to rip out her own ponytails and moan under the rain of tossed hair. Hardly for the first time, she'd considered scanning internet listings for new best friends. It wouldn't kill Alya to be gentle and leave matters be rather than tearing open the wounds and dumping salt.
Marinette groaned, moving away from the broken mug and sat on the top step. "Please, I don't want to hear the words 'Heroes' Ball', 'Ladybug' or 'Cat Noir' alone or in full sentences for the next few months, at least…"
"Too bad, 'cause guess who's got two thumbs and a truckload of snapshots for the Ladyblog? This girl!"
Marinette's head dropped into her lap. "Great… I'll never live this down."
The girls' shoulders smashed together as Alya snuck her phone in. "Not only that, there's also the winner of the school's unofficial 'best costume' contest! Wanna place your bets?"
"No."
"They're making a trophy. One Chloe Bourgeois's insistence." She pressed further.
Of course Chloe was behind it. No doubt she intended for a different winner, though. Marinette wanted more coffee.
"Heard she's getting therapy for her, what, twenty minutes as a janitor?" Alya laughed with a slap to the knee.
"The Akuma was probably the one good thing about last night." Marinette sighed. "At least that was normal."
"As normal as it gets around here anyway."
Amid their conversation, students filed up the steps one by one or five-by-five, all with weird memories of the ball on their minds. It was going to be the topic of gossip for a while and Marinette was going to need to keep her head down. She walked a tightrope between heaven and a raging inferno of humiliation last night and it was the last time she wanted to skirt with danger any more than she had to. And then, just to total her nerves further, Alya continued.
"Shouldn't Adrien be here by now?" Marinette went stiff as a sheet of metal. That was the kernel in the nutshell she'd been hoping to dodge.
"Oh, uh, maybe he's got fencing practice or Chinese lessons or a photoshoot or whatever other thing he does…"
"You say that like you DON'T have his weekly schedule taped to a drape in your room, and I know you do." Alya nudged her. Yeah, she might have to consider losing that and just commit it to memory – whatever made her less of the crazed-fan/stalker type.
Alya's finger swiped over to the gallery of her phone pictures, showing the photo of Adrien she'd once desecrated with Cat's looks in the hero's opinion. "Didn't I tell you, though? Wasn't he the spitting image of Cat Noir?"
"Uh…"
Speak of the angel, and he shall appear.
As though Alya's words were a summoning call, his limo appeared at the curb. Adrien stepped out from the door, his normally combed and shining blond locks frayed and unkempt. He bent his back and let out an undignified yawn, stretching. The model stopped mid-yawn, however, when his green eyes locked with her blue.
The second his gaze fell on her, she shot up to her feet in attention. His arms fell to his side while his left hand weakly gripped his bag's strap. Paris's sunny skies and faces, its traffic horns and bird songs, all vanished into the white void between them. Marinette's heart hammered against her chest wildly, and not even in the same spot. Despite the yards of distance between them, they may as well have been inches apart.
She wished it was for all the usual reasons.
Marinette blinked and shut off her vocal cords to hold her scream when Adrien was now, suddenly, face to face with her. His mouth, once a wide tunnel for flies with his jaw undergoing maintenance, had closed. She could swear he heard him gulp, though it might have been her.
The only thing she had caught, and he had as well, was the camera flash.
They both saw Alya, phone in hand and a devil's smirk on her face, as always. "Come on, Ladybug! Cat Noir! Wanna take a snapshot for the fans?"
"You are never gonna let me live this down, are you?" Marinette moaned, arms limp.
"Not a chance."
"Uh, well…" Adrien started. "I, uh… hope you two enjoyed the party last night, or at least part of it…" He scratched his neck. "We should, um, get to class, shouldn't we?"
"Right!" Marinette yelled. "Should we! I mean, we should! So, let's-"
"ADRI-KINS!"
Marinette dodged the Bourgeois bullet that came from out of nowhere, for once grateful. Though, she still couldn't help but fume seeing the spoiled girl squeeze Adrien's arm to the point it turned purple from the lack of blood flow. "Adri-kins! Last night was horrible! I had to… had to… HOLD A BROOM!"
"Chloe, you have to admit, if you hadn't bulled that girl-"
"COMFORT ME!" She cut Adrien off, never one for hearing of goodwill.
Chloe dragged him the rest of the way and into the school courtyard. He turned to wave at her and Alya before she dragged him into the dark abyss of her company. As much as she cherished his warm greetings every morning, Marinette could not bear to take it today.
Instead, urged by his smile, she bolted and jumped off the steps into the bushes. Marinette moaned when her rear pulsed with pain after crashing into the ground. Her forearms stung with fresh scratches from the sharp edges of the branches and leaves drifted onto her head and lap. In hindsight, it would not do her romantic chances any good leaving her crush to think his smile made her want to jump off things, but her love life could come after her head was clear.
The girl honed her hearing for his fading footsteps and barred herself against the stone. Straining her arms to hoist herself up from the ledge, she sighed in relief when her gaze was level that the school entrance was now Adrien-free. Chloe not being around to mock her hasty escape was a nice little bonus, too.
Alya still hung around though, crossing her arms and smirking. "You know you're not gonna be able to avoid him."
"I know…"
"So then talk to the boy, with coherent sentences of course." Her friend patted her head. It only made her feel more childish. "Who knows? Maybe you'll find you have other things to talk about, like whether he's a 'cat' person…"
The walk into class was littered with tormenting cat jokes Marinette swore Alya got from the master himself.
A string slashed across the night sky as Ladybug swung.
In her descent she ran across the street in line with the passing cars, waving at passengers who beamed spotting her spots. Her yoyo's strings would then pull her back up, towards the rooftops to her, and into the stars to them. Ladybug touched the tops of roofs and the tip of spires, leaping in slow motion, gasping in fervor seeing heaven's lights above and man's lights below. Golden, wet droplets of light mingling with each other, rich with the sounds of light and music that was Paris's own. This was her world, the in-between that spared her from the dramas of day-to-day.
An accordion player's serenade practically guided her along the evening breeze to the Eifel Tower. The backlash of wind wafted through her hair and rushed along her skin as she lashed her yoyo. Ladybug shut her eyes and let the melody guide her in place of her eyes that had traced the layout of buildings so many times. It felt nice, freeing, to trust her ears rather than her sight. It had been leading her astray too much for a time.
Ladybug's feet graced the tip of a building's ledge. The accordion, now louder, mingled with the honking of street horns that played almost in tandem. She breathed in and drank the air of Paris, its taste so sweet in her lungs.
Then came the offbeat tap of another from a balcony nearby.
Ladybug dared to spare a glance. She didn't know if or why she expected any different, but it was Cat Noir, opposite her on a rooftop half a street away. He had been looking at her, as he always did.
The girl groaned, shoulders drooping.
Cat's eye and fake tail twitched. "Really, bugaboo? At least let me talk before groaning."
"You know that'll just make me even more annoyed, right?"
"Me-ouch! Think I'd prefer sticks and stones, milady."
She bit her tongue. That came out harsher than she intended. Even the tower ahead near moaned in disapproval. Crossing her arms, she searched her words for something less scathing to say to whoever she was speaking with.
They'd both settled for… "Sorry." They blinked.
Ladybug stole a glance at him. Maybe it was the wandering minstrel's accordion, the soul of the city itself, or just her panic from the Heroes' Ball, or maybe an odd mixture, but she could swear she saw… Adrien. Just for a moment, Cat wasn't there: it was Adrien Agreste, his white jacket, blue jeans, golden locks and dreamy smile. Then she blinked, and it was her partner in crimefighting once again.
The Ladybug of logic, the voice in her head that was Tikki, told her to panic. An instinctual command that was given for how she could barely tell reality from dream anymore. It meant she was crazy, and maybe he was a hair away from seeing Marinette in Ladybug. There should have been fear, dread.
Instead, there was calm.
For what reason, she couldn't begin to know. But if Ladybug had tried to think of one, her Lucky Vision outlined in her head the traces of their conversation the other night. The one where they had spoken hidden truths, gave glimpses of what was deeper than their true faces. She could not guess who it was that shared those things with her though.
"Hey, Ladybug…?" Cat began.
"Yeah?"
"You know you… don't have to put up a front or anything, right?" Cat Noir sounded unsure, though he put up his own front with a smile and a wink.
She sighed. "About falling for you? Sorry, still don't fancy myself a cat person."
"That's not what I meant." Cat spoke, sighing. "I mean, don't act like everything's all on you or that you're perfect. If something's bugging you or if you don't have all the answers, you can rely on me."
Ladybug blinked but gave a warm smile. Occasionally, he said something really sweet.
Okay, he always said sweet things. It might have been better received if he had better intentions. Although that was a bad thing to assume as well. She likely should let her guard down around him.
They were partners after all.
"How's this, then?" She stood with sass, hands on her hips. "I'll rely on you if you cut the cheese."
"Excuse me? I'm a gentleman, milady. Although, all men do it…"
"I get the feeling you took that in the entirely wrong way…" Ladybug sighed. "What I meant is… don't try and hide behind a fake smile. Honestly, I'd rather see you smile for real."
In a second, she saw Cat Noir smirk. In the next she saw a blur of black. He had dashed from his rooftop to hers and she shut her eyes catching his green orbs and black mask in full just before. A small peck graced her cheek and flooded warmth onto her whole face. When she opened her eyes, he was gone.
At least, she hoped, because she caught his chuckle right behind her.
"W-what the heck, Cat!?"
His chuckle dies down, replaced by something bright and cheery. "Hey, you wanted to see my real smile. That's all it takes."
Ladybug sighed again and dropped onto the ledge of the rooftop. Cat soon joined her with an inch of space between them. The boy was in a prime position to punch or shove off the rooftop and left to pray his reflexes lived up to his namesake. Though she figured she'd given and gotten enough grief tonight. Her head laid on his right shoulder, firm and steady, as she smiled in certain content.
Cat Noir was Cat Noir no matter who he was beneath. She understood him a little better now. Besides…
There was no way Adrien could ever be that flirty.
Well, that about wraps it up.
Sorry this came so late, but I was getting tired of rapid-fire releases in the past few weeks. It saved me some time in one sense, but I was left exhausted and couldn't bring myself to look into my other stories. I had other things I wanted to do as well, plus there is also the thing about my job. Nonetheless, this was a fun idea to tackle and I'm glad so many people responded positively to it.
I am feeling a little better now about my upcoming project. Still, I will probably take a week's rest before I release the first chapter on it. I am interested to see how people will react as it is different from what I've done thus far. I probably will not focus solely on it, though. In the time I've spent writing this story, I have formed ideas for others. I am the time who bounces around between interests, unfortunately.
I am wondering about the traffic as well. Not to sound greedy or ungrateful, but I'm wondering how to get more exposure for my stories. My How to Train Your Dragon stories were popular but that's probably due to the fact they were added to communities and got a lot more views that way. Also, I am considering looking back into Archive of Our Own or Wattpad as sites for my stuff. I am just thinking things on Fanfiction have been a little slow lately, or maybe that's just my imagination. If anyone knows more, let me know in a PM.
Anyway, again, hope everyone enjoyed my first foray into the Miraculous Universe. Hope to see you again soon.
As always, review, favorite, follow!