Alya was secretly screaming inside. She was in one of the empty TV studios with Paris's famous superhero duo, Ladybug and Chat Noir. It was after an akuma attach one day that she had bravely asked for an interview with Ladybug and received a grand "yes" from the superhero. But that didn't even begin to explain her excitement as Chat Noir also agreed to join in on it.
"This is so amazing! I have so many questions, I-I don't know where to start," she gasped, loosing her breath as she clutched her phone close to her chest in an attempt to not squeal in delight.
"Deep breaths Alya," Ladybug said, trying to calm her so she wouldn't burst. "Why don't you start with something simple," she suggested.
Alya's face brightened as she composed herself and began the recording. "Hey everyone! I'm here with none other than Ladybug and Chat Noir, giving you guys the inside scoop on this superhero duo," she started, panning between the two. "Let's start with an easy question" she suggested.
"What's your favorite color?" she leaned forward in her chair, positioning her elbows on her knees to steady the camera.
"That's an easy one, green."
"I'd have to say pink."
Chat Noir raised a brow in question. "I would have thought your favorite color to be red. I mean, considering," he pointed to her suit.
Ladybug chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of her head. "Yeah, well, you know me. Always surprising people," she babbled.
"Everyone knows you two have saved Paris about a million times, myself included, but no one knows how you do it. So, what kinds of special skills do you guys possess that helps defeat Hawkmoth's akumatized villains?"
"There are lots of things we do that helps us get the job done. With our special abilities, we're able to be stronger, faster and more agile than we would be outside of the costume," Ladybug explained, thankful to her friend for asking serious questions about their work unlike their last interview experience.
Chat Noir stared into the camera, his signature smirk plastered on his face. "Those are great and all, but as Chat Noir I also have enhanced senses and night vision," he pointed to his bright green eyes and wiggled his ears to show off.
Alya zoomed in on the black clad superhero's features as he demonstrated his cat like abilities to the viewers. "That's so cool!" she zoomed back out so both heroes were in her view screen. "And what about your weapons? We've all seen you use them to get around Paris and Ladybug's yo-yo to cleanse akuma's, but that can't be all they can do. Not to mention your cool super powers."
"My yo-yo and Chat's staff are very versatile. They can be used to track down villains, display a map of Paris and we can communicate with each other through ear pieces or by using it as a cell phone," Ladybug said, showing Alya her object's uses as she explained them.
"Not only that, but they're indestructible and can help shield us from anything Hawkmoth throws at us. Literally," Chat Noir added, twirling his staff between his fingers. "Also, Ladybug's yo-yo string is endless and there's no limit to how far I can extend my staff."
Ladybug grabbed her partners wrist to stop him from continuously twirling his staff, before it hit anyone or flew half way across the room. "As Ladybug I have the power of good luck and creation and with my lucky charm, I can receive all kinds of objects to help us defeat Hawkmoth's villains. And I can reverse any damage done during our battles."
Alya turned the camera toward the black cat, catching him in his moment of weakness; admiring Ladybug. "And what about you Chat Noir?"
Chat snapped his focus back to Alya, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he realized he had been caught red pawed.
"Well, being Chat Noir is pretty awesome. It granted me the powers of bad luck and destruction, which isn't actually all that bad," he chuckled at his stupid pun. "I help my lady out with my special power, cataclysm, which lets me destroy anything I touch. It really helps when we're in a bind."
Ladybug smiled at her partner, glad that, aside from his showing off and terrible puns, he was taking the interview seriously.
"Of course, we don't know everything that our weapons can do just yet, so we've only just hit the tip of the ice berg."
"OMG!" Alya squealed, unable to contain herself any longer. "Your abilities are so amazing, it's no wonder you're able to win every time and work so well together. You're like, yin and yang," she speculated. Once she was calmed down, she was ready to get on with the next set of questions and was confident she would be able to crack the mystery of who was under the masks once and for all.
"Okay, so we all know you guys as Ladybug and Chat Noir, heroes of Paris. And we've just heard about your amazing powers. But what everyone is dying to know is, what you guys like in your civilian lives."
The superhero duo straightened and stared at each other, neither one saying a word. This was what they had been dreading. Everyone loved them as heroes and they weren't shy toward answering any questions about their heroics. But when it came to their real selves, the people they were under the mask, they had to be very careful about how they answered their questions otherwise their identities would be blown. Big time.
"O-okay. Ask away," Ladybug encouraged, smiling nervously.
"What do you guys like doing when you're not saving Paris?" Alya panned between the two, waiting for an answer.
"Well…," she thought about how to word her next few sentences. "I like hanging out with my best friend, she's always there for me. And ummm…making things. Yeah. I like making things, I'm really creative." she turned to her partner, her eyes pleading for him to take over.
"Uh…my days are pretty full. Between learning another language and an instrument and keeping my fighting skills sharp, I don't have much else to do for myself," he said. "But I don't mind practicing my skills, I mean, it takes hard work to look this good," Chat flexed his muscles, grinning ear to ear and wiggling his eyebrows at Ladybug.
Ladybug groaned at his flirting attempt which only caused Alya to laugh. "So you guys have plenty to do both in and out of costume. Have you told anyone about your identities, like family or friends? You know, to make it easier to go save the world?"
"Of course not," Ladybug said quickly. "Our identities must stay a secret to protect the ones we love. And it would be much more dangerous if Hawkmoth ever found out who we were."
"So, no one knows where you guys go when there's an akuma attack?" Alya asked.
Chat Noir slumped in his seat, crossing his arms. "No one really takes notice, and it's not like my father cares anyway," he mumbled the last part to himself mostly.
Ladybug's gaze softened toward her partner as she remembered all those times they would be out on patrol and he would rant to her about his days. Her attention was drawn back toward the interview when the next question was brought up and it made her cheeks heat up redder than her suit.
"Okay. All of Paris is dying to know. Do you guys have a special someone?" she raised a brow in curiosity.
Chat Noir instantly perked up, grinning his signature Chat Noir smile. He threw an arm around Ladybug's shoulder and pulled her close to him. "Well, I think Ladybug and I would make a purrfect couple. After all, we are made for each other, right bugaboo?" he leaned in toward her, hoping to steal a kiss from his love.
Ladybug scrunched up her nose and pushed him away, causing him to fall back into his seat with a soft groan. "Not so fast kitty. We work well together fighting akumas, so yeah, we're great partners in that regard. But…I kind of like someone else," she pressed her fingers together, rubbing them nervously.
"Oh? Care to give the ladyblog any deets?"
"O-oh…well, he um…," she fumbled, unsure of what to really say. She couldn't just give away that it was Adrien and she didn't want anyone to find out she knew him, that would for sure narrow down the search options for her identity and be extremely embarrasing. "His school is good. Wait, no! H-he's good school, am school…at school?" she groaned, hiding her head in her hands. She knew she had a hard time talking about Adrien, but she didn't realize it went as far as being unable to form sentences under the mask too.
Alya could easily tell how uncomfortable Ladybug had become and turned her phone back toward herself while Chat Noir tried to comfort his lady. "We'll be taking a short break," she said, shutting off the recording. "I'm going to go over the footage….over there," she pointed to the farthest part of the room, quickly shuffling toward it to give the superheroes some room to cool down.
She sat on the floor and flicked through her phone to find the recording and rewatched the video feed. As she got to the part where they talked about their civilian lives, she realized there were things they had said that she didn't pick up on at first, most likely because she was fan girling too hard to notice.
Ladybug's statement on being creative and making things in her spare time reminded her a lot of Marinette who was very creative and always designing something. Not to mention when she mentioned her best friend, she could almost see a genuine smile cast toward her way. Then there was the way she had trouble with coherent sentences as she talked about her crush. It was so similar to how her best friend talked about her crush Adrien. And Ladybug even said he was good in school, which meant they had to go to the same school. She shook her head, trying to convince herself she was wrong about her theory.
But what about Chat Noir? The language, the instrument and fighting skills? It didn't sound like anyone she knew, but the only person who had that busy of a schedule was Adrien. However, she couldn't really convince herself that he was the flirtatious and pun loving Chat Noir. But it kind of made sense to her too. Adrien took Chinese, played piano and fenced which was similar to the superheros fighting style. Plus, he mentioned his father didn't notice him majority of the time and that was something her model friend talked about quite often.
As she thought about it some more she realized she had previous proof as well. Her fingers quickly dashed across the screen and she pulled up a previous blog update from when she found the history text book Ladybug had dropped one day. It made more sense to her now as to why Ladybug had that specific book; she was in her grade! And not just that, no one knew where they went during Akuma attacks and it made her think about all those times Marinette and Adrien would either dash off at around exactly the same time or not be present at all. Then they would come rushing back, out of breath when it was all over.
Alya shook her head again, trying to convince herself it was all a coincidence that everything fit together, that they were so similar to one another. She stared at the two superheroes, her mind running on over drive as she tried to piece together what she suspected and what she knew already. It was hard for her to grasp her mind around the idea that Ladybug and Chat Noir were Marinette and Adrien, but it made too much sense for it not to be true.
"Only one way to find out," her voice full of determination as she made her way back toward the superheroes. If she was going to confirm her suspicions she had to get more facts and that meant asking more hard questions. Not just about Ladybug and Chat Noir. No, to get to the truth her questions had to be more specific to Marinette and Adrien.
Jedi Master - I will definitely consider it! I'll have to do lots of research to plan it before I even write it, so it may take a little while!
Variations of You - I'm so touched by your words, you're so kind. I'm glad that you enjoy the story so far and I hope to be able to continue bringing great content to you and all Miraculous lovers!