xxx Alya's pov (surprise!) xxx
Seated facing the door I waited for Marrinette to come in, she was my best friend but that girl could be so odd sometimes. Like getting up on time and then still being late to class, or the many appointments she has that never result in anything. It was weird, but that was Marrinette for you. Sure enough the dark haired girl came tearing through the door just before the bell rang, the same as the day before. Not bothering to even say anything, I just gave her a pointed look and she sighed. Leaning forwards she rested her head on the table and said "I over slept again, I got so into my designs and it ended up being a very late night."
Her voice was muffled through her arms but I just about made out the words and shook my head, "you need to get a better alarm!"
"I really should but I think I will probably just sleep through that as well..."
"Marrinette do you need to go to the principles office?"
Bolting upright in her seat Marrinette blinked hard and rushed out "uh no, no madam!"
"Good well then perhaps you can explain to everyone why you felt the need to ignore me and talk in my class."
"I...I...I'm sorry..."
"Don't do it again!"
"Yes of course..."
The rest of the lesson was fairly normal, and when the bell for lunch rang I got up and dragged Marrinette with me, as we trekked down to the lunch hall. I could hear Nino and Adrien following us and when we finally got to the table we usually sat at, if we ate at school, I plopped down and wrenching on Marrinette hand until she sat too before I started speaking "okay! What is with you girl? You have been all over the place today and yesterday you weren't much better. What has got you so twisted up?"
For a long moment she just stared at me with something like panic on her face and then her eyes flickered briefly over to Adrien and I felt like such a tool. Of course Marrinette was off, her biggest crush was dating a pop star that I idolised. She probably felt terrible about Adrien dating Ladybug but felt like she couldn't tell me because I loved Ladybug. "Oh Marrinette."
Nino blinked and said "did we miss something?"
"Yeah I think we did, they had one of those silent girl conversations."
"Wow. I never thought I would see one of those up close!"
"Shut up!" Flicking my hand at Nino I said "Marrinette and I need to have a proper conversation, in private."
Standing I grabbed Marri's arm and hauled her off to the girls bathroom, "Marri you could have told me, I would have understood."
"Uh wha...what...?"
"You're upset about Ladybug dating Adrien, and I haven't been here for you! What kind of terrible friend am I? Can you ever forgive me?"
"Of course Alya, its not your fault and to be honest, I think its a good thing that Ladybug and Adrien are dating. They look good together and seem to get on well, its helping I think. Once I get out of this funk I think I will be better about talking to Adrien and stuff then we can be better friends."
"Oh Marrinette, what did we ever do to deserve you? You have got to be the nicest person I have ever met."
I watched her cheeks go pink and she stuttered slightly "A...Alya!"
Grinning I said "come on Marrinette lets head back before we miss all of lunch."
Turning I headed back to the lunch hall, only to find Adrien and Nino deep in conversation about a certain bug themed pop star. Sparing a concerned glance at Marrinette, I found her smiling slightly as she watched Adrien, although it wasn't her usual goofy grin, less obsessed and more fond. Flopping down onto the bench next to Nino I watched Marrinette sit next to Adrien and start a conversation, she tripped over her words twice but that was better than normal and she was only slightly flushed. All in all it was brilliant, if only this could have happened before Ladybug got involved with Adrien.
xxx (Marrinette pov) xxx
Sit down on the lunch bench I had to struggle my way through a conversation with Adrien, without dying of shame. I was such a terrible friend letting Alya blame herself for me being off, which was actually due to being Ladybug and having to live two lives. I couldn't look her in the eye for the rest of the afternoon, so I tried to pay more attention to the teacher and at least get some work done.
When the final bell rang I bounced out of my seat and fairly flew out of the classroom, I had no wish to get caught up and end up having to talk to Alya again today. I don't think I could face her with out bursting into tears and telling her everything, which wouldn't be good. When I got home I went straight to my room and put on some music, doing what I always did when I was stressed out, singing. Swaying as I sung along, I submerged myself in the music and let the soft notes carry me away from my worries.
when I had gone through all my non depressing songs I called up Tiki and said "uh hey Tiki I need to relax, do you think..."
"OH MY GOD YES! SPA TIME! I'll be there in five."
Blinking and peering down at the blank phone screen, I wondered just what I had gotten myself into and just how much I would regret this later.
True to her word, five minutes later Tiki arrived and dragged me to one of the most pretentious, high-end spa's in all of Paris. Crinkling my nose up at the gaudy displays of wealth and very...gold...themed foyer, I was just about ready to call it quits and go home, when I was dragged off by Tiki again and into a treatment room.
Five hours later and I walked out feeling a hundred times better and I marvelled at the glow that seemed to come off my skin. "Oh I am so bringing Alya here tomorrow, it won't make up for me having to lie to her but it will make me feel slightly better. Plus this place is awesome, and so not what I expected when I saw the foyer."
"I know right, it has amazing reviews for a reason Marrinette."
Smiling I just hummed in agreement, lifting my phone I started texting.
From marrinette
To Alya
Hey Alya are you going to Ladybug's concert tomorrow?
Seconds later my phone binged with a reply
From Alya
To Marrinette
Duh of course I am! What about you?
Frowning I replied,
From Marrinette
To Alya
I can't my parents need me in the bakery, I'm recording it for later tho. You have to tell me all about it.
Oh and are you free on Sunday if so I have a surprise for you.
From Alya
To Marrinette
Oooooooh a surprise, what is it?
Gigiling softly, I kept up the conversation with light banter as I let Tiki steer me while I texted. Finally Alya had to call an end to our chat as she had homework she had to do, so she would be free Saturday and Sunday.
xxx (time skip- Saturday morning) xxx
Stretching and yawning I slipped out of bed and went about my morning routine relatively normally, just remembering to pack a backpack with a spare change of comfortable clothes, an emergency mask, spare hair ties, a water bottle and an apple. Setting the bag next to the trap door of my room and pulling on my red hoodie, I finally deemed myself ready. Grabbing the bag and descending the ladder from my room, I snagged a croissant of a tray in the bakery and then strolled out to the waiting town car, prepared to take me to the stadium.
Smiling I watched the early morning risers going about their daily lives, as I munched on the croissant. When we finally reached the stadium I pulled the hood up on my jumper and stepped out of the car. Following my body guard into the building, we headed straight for my dressing room.
As soon as I was inside Tiki started working on my hair and make up, while the performance wasn't until 4pm big gigs like this tended to have costume changes so it was important to get everything laid out and put on properly. Usually with quick changes like this they worked best if some components of the outfits could be worn simultaneously or were the same. So I had on a pair of skin colour tights and for the first performance a short red dress with a full skirt and was made wondrously bouncy by the layers of black netting underneath. The dress also had a wide black sash that went around the middle, to emphasise my small waist. This look went with a pair of black ballet flats and a simple bun with some red and black roses tucked into the side. The second outfit of the night would be black ripped jeans with a sleeveless red and black spotted hoodie, paired with matching red and black trainers and my hair would be in a pony tail.
Finally Tiki was happy with my make up and the way my hair was styled, she helped me get my mask on and I changed into some 'Ladybug' clothes. Which consisted of a simple black skater skirt and a red tank top, with the trainers I would be using later. Then it was time for rehearsals and sound checks and lighting testing and so many other things that I just had to be present for.
The next chance I got to sit down was nearly one o'clock, flopping into a chair and sighing I bit into the apple I packed. I was mildly irritated when one of the security men came over to interrupt my all to brief lunch break. "What is it?" I didn't mean to sound so harsh but I was starting to get wound up with all the people demanding my attention not to mention the fact that Adrien, or rather 'Chat Noir' hadn't shown up yet, and we only had one more rehearsal before we performed for real.
"Sorry Ladybug but there is a masked young man standing out front requesting to be let in."
"What did he say his name was?"
"Chat Noir, I think."
"ACK! Let him in already we've been waiting for him, he's my new partner."
"Oh! Of course, right away." Turning on his heal the guard jogged back to the door and let the disgruntled looking blond enter the back stage area.
Waving to the pouting blond I said "hey Chat, good to see you finally made it."
Smiling sheepishly he said "well I have been here nearly half an hour but the guard was very stubborn about letting me in, I finally convinced him to go ask you but still. I thought I was going to miss the show."
"Well we have one more rehearsal slot before the actual performance, come on lets get you into costume and Tiki can do something with you hair and face."
"Hey! Whats wrong with my hair and face?"
"The stage lights will wash your skin tone out, and Tiki will probably just want to play with your hair, she likes styling hair."
"Oh, well okay."
"Come on kitten, this way." I lead Chat through the back stage area till we reached my dressing room and right next to it was a matching door with a shiny gold star on it that read 'Chat Noir'. Giving the blond a gentle nudge, I entered my own dressing room and said "hey Tiki mind helping Chat with his costume?"
"Sure thing." I watched Tiki bounce out the room and into Chat's, before finally turning and starting to get into my own outfit, starting with the tights.
When Tiki walked back in I flushed and tried to hide. "What the hell Marri, I leave you for five minutes and you do this. How did you even do this?"
"Uh well, I...uh...tripped?"
Blinking down at where I laid tangled in the pair of skin coloured tights she repeated slowly "you tripped?"
Sighing I mumbled a quite "yes."
"I will never understand how you do this," punctuating her statement with a gesture at my entangled form before continuing, "then go out on stage and rock out with out tangling your self in the mic cord and bringing the building down literally."
"I can't help it?"
"Whatever." Bending down she started untangling my limbs, and I let out a relived sigh when I could finally sit up properly. "Right now lets get you into this costume properly."
Smiling I started pulling on the tights again, however this time I chose to sit down first, mostly to prevent having another accident.
A long hour later and I was finally done, outfit on and make up done. My hair was pulled up into a neat braided bun and so I was finally ready to put on the mask. This one was much simpler that some of the other ones I had used before, it was solid red with many large and small black spots on it. Smoothing the red fabric into place, I shot a mischievous smirk at Tiki and said "lets go see how the cat is holding up, shall we?"
Grinning back she said "oh we shall!" Looping our arms together we strode out of the dressing room, ready to find Chat Noir and get the final rehearsal done. It didn't take long to find the feline as he was standing at the buffet table eyeing a rather large looking pastry.
"Come on kitty, time for the final rehearsal."
"But..." Grabbing his arm, I didn't give him a choice as I dragged him away from the buffet table and towards the stage.
"Okay so any ideas on choreography?"
"Uh well I was thinking maybe I could start out off stage but other than that not a lot. Why?"
"Nothing just trying to see how the performance will look tonight."
"Uh okay?"
Dragging him out onto the stage I said "come on kitty lets dance."
The music started and I allowed every worry I had as Marrinette to drop away, as I embraced my inner Ladybug. Hips swinging I marked my way across the stage arms moving as I sung along, no mic yet but just working through the placing and such, I already did my sound check this morning. Chat finally joined me, following my movement with his own as he shadowed me across the stage. Pausing I allowed Chat to catch up and then leaned back into him, he rolled with it surprisingly well curling his arms around my waist to hold me before I pushed away and spun to face him. Placing my hand on his chest, I started pushing forcing him to step back again and again eventually leaving us on the other side of the stage. Grinning we danced our way through the first set and most of the second, before we got told to head back stage as the people were beginning to show up.
AN: Okay so here is the next chapter, much longer than the last one. Hopefully in the next update we will see the actual concert performance and then I'm thinking maybe a little bit of this Ladybug's origin, on how she became a singer and when she met Tiki and Fu. Let me know what you think, I have finally got some more ideas but the origin one is my main focus now. So please review and share any ideas you have, thank you.
-SL xxx