The bell chimed as a new customer entered Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie.
"We'll be right with you!" called out Sabine as she shut a display case, heading towards the back to retrieve some more desserts.
"Marinette, can you handle this one," Sabine asked as Marinette finished up setting out chocolate croissants in the display case.
"Sure," Marinette stood up to find Penny Rolling looking at the display case.
"Penny?" The empty tray popped out of Marinette's hands, Marinette fumbling to catch it before it hit the floor. Once she did, she turned back to Penny. Penny chuckled.
"How can I help you? I thought Jagged Stone left for the Grammys after his Valentine's Day concert."
"Inspiration struck, so he's been writing new music the past few days. We're catching a red eye tonight over to New York though. I'm here to get a couple snacks for the road."
"Alright, what can I get you," Marinette set the tray down, but kept the tongs to grab whatever Penny selected.
"An assortment of a dozen macarons. Any flavor will do. But at least one red velvet," instructed Penny. Marinette nodded and grabbed a box and began to fill it with the desserts.
"Another reason I'm here is Jagged and I have been brainstorming a new ideas for his next album. He really liked the glasses you designed, and he wants you to design his next album cover."
Marinette almost dropped the box of macarons, her mother catching the box before it almost hit the floor.
"I'll finish ringing her up," Sabine offered, gently pushing Marinette out from behind the counter.
"Let me get this straight. You want...me to design the album cover for Jagged Stone?!" Marinette asked, just to make sure. She had dabbled in digital art programs back when she was the one running the Ladyblog, and she still had input on the design of the blog despite Nino being primary overseer.
"That's right! Requested by Jagged Stone himself," Penny pulled a paper out of her purse.
"Here's a copy of the lyrics to his featured song on the next album so you can get an idea of what he is going for."
Marinette took the copy, reading over lyrics while Penny paid for the macarons.
"We need your proposal before we leave tonight. Think you can have it done by 7?"
Marinette looked over to her mother. She had promised to help in the bakery today, but the opportunity to design an album cover for Jagged Stone was too good to pass up.
"She'll get started right away," answered Sabine for both Marinette and Penny. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief.
"Alright, we look forward to seeing what you come up with. Meet us at Le Grand Paris Hotel, Room 120."
"I'll be there!"
Penny waved as she left the bakery. Once she was out of sight, Marinette squealed in delight.
"My daughter, famous album cover designer," Tom brought out some more baked goods from the back, setting them down beside the display case.
"I know I promised to help today," started Marinette, quickly cut off by her parents.
"Don't worry about the bakery, your papa and I can handle," answered Sabine
"You're going to kill it! Marinette style. Boo-yah!" Tom gave Marinette a high five before bringing his two favorite women into a group hug.
The bell chimed as a new customer raced in, hiding behind the door. The family turned to see Adrien with a hoodie pulled over, practically out of breath.
"Hide me," he whispered. Marinette looked to see outside the window the Chloe was looking around, undoubtedly for Adrien.
"Marinette, don't you have some work you need to do?" asked Sabine, all while keeping an eye on Chloe.
"Yes, I'm going to go upstairs to work on the project," Marinette waved Adrien over, who kept low while making his way to her, the two teens disappearing to the stairs leading to the apartment just as Chloe decided to walk in. Tom and Sabine made themselves busy, Tom making his way to the kitchen as Sabine restocked the display case.
Seeing no sign of Adrien, Chloe left.
"So why exactly were you hiding from Chloe, other than normal reasons one would hide from her," asked Marinette as pulled up her digital art program. Adrien made himself comfy on the chaise, pulling Plagg out of his jacket.
"Chloe found out about me looking for a girlfriend for Plagg and she offered to help."
Marinette raised an eyebrow as Plagg jumped off Adrien and hopped into Marinette's lap.
"She can be nice when she wants to, but Chloe kept suggesting all these exclusive breeders for rare cats, and we went to visit one today when Chloe told me she would buy the girlfriend cat so it's like our pets are married, and all that weirdness, and Plagg ran away, so I chased after him, but Chloe chased after me, and that's how I ended up here."
"So you want Chloe to have the other cat?"
"Not really, the point was for Plagg to have another friend so he wouldn't be bored at home." Marinette nodded before reading the lyrics.
"What are you working on anyway? I thought you said you were busy working at the bakery today."
"I was, then Penny Rolling came in and asked me to design Jagged Stone's next album cover," Marinette responded nonchalantly as she pulled up her Jagged Stone music on her phone, plugging it into the speaker on her desk.
Adrien bolted up from his relaxed position.
"What?! I want to see."
"You can't see it yet, I've barely even started," Marinette giggled as she pressed play, rock and roll filling the room.
"And what about you? Don't you have an extra circular to work on?"
"No, father's busy with last minute alterations for the Grammys plus he has a fashion show soon. So today I'm free. Tomorrow thought I have Chinese and piano lessons."
"Fun."
They settled into a comfortable silence, Adrien resting on the chaise browsing cat forums while Marinette worked on the album cover, Plagg alternating between laps.
Adrien eventually got bored of the cat forums, finding no useful information on adopting a cat and began looking around the room. Valentines had been discarded into a bag close to her door, with the exception of the one drawing that sat on her desk.
"Did you find out who that card is from," Adrien asked.
Marinette just kept working, already deep in the zone of her design. Adrien settled back into the chaise.
Marinette had shown extreme interest in the drawing, almost as much as he did with his Valentine's letter from last year. She had even looked up the signature, with exclamation point in a box, to find no artist online used that symbol. A part of Adrien felt relieved.
What would Marinette be like with a boyfriend? Would they be exclusive and Adrien be replaced by her boyfriend as her partner? Or would they not be able to hang out anymore one on one like now? Or would nothing change?
"Marinette?"
Marinette continued working.
"If you found the person who made that card, would you go out with them?"
Marinette shrugged.
"Would you be their girlfriend if they told you how you feel?"
Again Marinette shrugged.
"If you had a boyfriend, would he be your partner?" Marinette finally stopped her drawing to look at the blond idiot on her couch.
"What brought this on?"
"I don't know. Just wondering since you seemed so interested in the card on Valentine's Day but we're just hanging out…" Adrien began to run out of words as he tried to explain his thought process.
"I don't think anything would really change. You're a great partner, and whoever drew the card may not be as helpful with missions. You'll be my Chat Noir as long as I keep being Ladybug or for as long as you want to," Marinette responded, while pulling out a box below her desk, "are you wearing leather?"
Adrien, confused by her change of subject, answered in the affirmative.
"Hand it over please," she requested.
Adrien obeyed his partner and handed over his leather outer jacket. Marinette took a big sniff of the back of the jacket.
"Perfect," she smiled, opening the box to pull out some supplies Adrien couldn't quite comprehend what they were for. He leaned back in the chaise and smiled at her words.
He would always be her Chat Noir.
Marinette sat at her desk, waiting for her design to print, reflecting on her conversation with Adrien before he started re-reading the Team Miraculous comic books he had lent her on New Years.
True Chat Noir and Adrien had proven themselves to be a very competent partner and trustworthy friend, vying for top place next to Alya. Dating him hadn't been totally erased from her mind, but he seemed happy like this. Being friends and her crime fighting partner. Maybe finding and even dating the artist for her Valentine's Day card would give her a chance to open her life beyond waiting for Adrien.
The printer finished, Marinette sliding the design in a plastic cd case with a sticker on the bottom right corner. She re-saved the design and copied the original file and jpg image to a flash drive.
"Done!" Marinette announced, startling Adrien from his read. He got off the chaise to see what she had created.
"Jagged Stone will love it!" complimented Adrien.
"I hope so!" Marinette looked at her phone to see the time read 5:46.
"We have time before I have to meet Jagged. Want to play a few rounds of Mecha Strike?"
Adrien grinned, pulling up another chair.
"I'm always ready for a chance to beat you My Lady."
Marinette rolled her eyes as she turned on her computer, a Skype call from Nino ringing as the computer came to life.
"What's the sitch Nino?" asked Marinette while Adrien synced the controllers to her computer.
"Hit on your website from Jagged Stone."
"If it's about the cd, tell him I'll be there at 7 like Penny said. But I can come earlier since it's done."
"Actually I don't think Jagged will be able to make it to any appointment for the rest of the day."
"Why not? Already heading to New York?"
"More like heading to prison."
"I leave you alone for half an hour, and this is what happens," scolded Penny from the other side of the visitor's area, Jagged already dressed in his prison orange while being monitored by two guards.
"I told you Penny I'm innocent," Jagged pleaded with his manager.
"Hi Penny, Jagged," Marinette and Chat Noir popped their heads into the doorway of the visiting area, "We got your message," with permittance of the guards in the room, they entered.
"Awesome! Did you bring the cd?" asked Jagged.
Marinette held it up to the glass, aiming for the sticker at the holes in the glass that allowed them to hear Jagged.
"Oh, yeah. This is it! You did it, girl! I can almost smell the leather and sweat just radiating off this design!"
"You actually
smelling it. I concocted a special scent sticker for your album," Marinette pulled the cd away to hand over to Penny along with the flash drive.
"I want it. I got to have it. It's authentic. It's original. It's... so Jagged."
"So what exactly happened for Jagged Stone to be arrested," asked Chat, looking between Penny and Jagged.
"They said he stole cash from a safe at the launch party of XY's new album," answered Penny.
"XY? Wasn't he topping the charts a couple months ago?" asked Marinette, trying to recall what Alya had told her back at Jagged's concert.
"He's really popular right now, especially with his Album and song MN up for an award," answered Chat.
"You've been listening to Nino talk about music way too much," Marinette sighed, remembering the times when Nino wouldn't shut up to her about his music. Long before Alya and Adrien had joined their high school.
"More like Chloe. She's a big fan."
"XY's just a little perfume ad, not a real musician," complained Jagged.
"Yet I am still up for a Grammy."
Everyone turned to see XY standing in the doorway, followed by his paparazzi before security shooed them away.
"XY?" Jagged stood, looking very surprised to set the pop star. XY flounced in, shoving Marinette into Chat in order to talk to the rock star.
"Jagged, I came as soon as I heard."
"Right," Jagged looked skeptically at XY.
"This place is so depressing! How do you stand? They wanted me to walk through some gruesome X-ray thingy. I said, 'Dude! Don't you know who I am?'," XY posed for the cameras who managed to get a peek inside the visiting room window.
"XY, living embodiment of a perfume ad," said Jagged under his breath.
"Who are you," XY turned to finally notice Marinette and Chat.
"I'm Ladybug, and this is my partner, Chat Noir," answered Marinette.
"Oh, you're the two that saved Jagged when he was abducted at his concert."
"And they will definitely get me out of this mess," responded Jagged.
Marinette's watch began beeping, Marinette answering the watch to see Nino.
"What's up Nino?"
"I've uploaded security footage from the crime scene, but it's fuzzy."
Marinette turned her watch so everyone in the room could see a blurry video of what looked to be Jagged Stone stealing money out of safe.
"That's not me," denied Jagged.
"Though that is what you were wearing," responded XY.
Marinette closed the video. "Jagged says he didn't do it. Good enough for me."
"Me, Too. Of course I have so many friends. They can't all be good. It's just math."
Jagged frowned, Marinette highly doubting XY was friends with Jagged Stone.
"I'll enhance the footage and get back to you," offered Nino.
"Please and thank you," all of a sudden, Marinette felt her wrist being grabbed as XY whipped her over to the side to talk away from Jagged, who was approached by Penny.
"Between you and me…" started XY
"And this guy," Chat popped into the huddle.
"With the spotlight on me 24/7, some of our circle might be, you know, attention deficit."
"I'm not sure I know what you mean," Marinette looked over to Chat, hoping for an explanation.
"I'm sure... I don't...heheh…" Chat attempted to cover, XY ignoring the cat boy.
"Uh...suspects? There's Adelisa. Her last three albums tanked. Drake Saul? He dropped to number 3 on the world's richest kids list. He may be desperate. And MC Honey. Things must be bad. I hear she flew commercial," XY listed
Hey, we know MC Honey!" responded Marinette.
Whatevs. I'm just saying they'll all be at the Grammy awards show. If you want to come and do that...thing you do," XY offered.
I can't believe I'm missing it. They have the best goodie bags," moaned Jagged.
"What's so special about a goodie bag," asked Marinette. At Manon's birthday there was candy, stickers, and a ring that was also a whistle.
"Try $30,000 worth of designer bling," answered XY. Marinette looked to Chat, who neither confirmed or denied XY's statement. If there was anything worth swiping at the Grammys, it was probably those goodie bags.
"We'll be there," Marinette confirmed.
"Poppin."
Musicians, celebrities, and the wealthy gathered at Madison Square Gardens in New York City, awaiting the next category winner at the Grammy's Award Show.
"And now, the winner for Best Song Written for Visual Media," the announcer began, several members in the audience tensing with anticipation.
"Goes to Clara Nightingale!" People clapped in respect as the musician came forward.
Marinette and Chat stood on an overhang, watching the crowd from their perch.
"XY's circle is in the house," confirmed Chat while Marinette searched with binoculars.
"I don't see MC Honey," Marinette countered.
"Maybe she's in the green room?" Offered Chat, sounding almost nervous.
Unwilling to give up quite yet, Marinette continued her search until she came across a familiar face.
"Your father is here?"
Chat looked away, embarrassed by the situation, "Yeah, since he designed a lot of the outfits for tonight, he's a special guest and a seat filler. He actually invited me to come along."
"Then why didn't you? I can babysit an awards night up here while you watch from the audience."
"It's fine. Didn't want to freak out my father in case I needed to jump someone. Plus he's taking me to the Oscars instead."
Marinette smile, ruffling Chat's hair.
"Fine, I don't want you to miss out on spending time with your father."
"Don't worry, Father said we'll make a trip out of it and spend an extra day after in California."
"Sounds like a good plan. Let's check the Green Room for MC Honey," Marinette led Chat out of the overhang and to what she assumed was the green room. Especially after seeing the green interior.
"Excuse me? Is this the green room?" asked Chat to the only person standing inside, whom Marinette recognized as MC Honey.
"Hey MC," Marinette greeted as they entered.
"Ladybug! Long time no see GF!"
"Plagg no!" The girls turned to see Chat going after Plagg, who was making himself at home in the nacho cheese fountain.
"Is your cat ok?" asked MC.
"A terrible glutton, but ok," responded Chat as he attempted to pull the cat out of the fountain.
"I'm sorry this is more business than pleasure," continued Marinette.
"Jagged?"
"You heard?"
"Mhmm, and just as he was making a comeback after separatin' from Bob Roth."
"Yo! the goodie bags have been jacked!" Marinette, MC, and Chat turned to the tv in the room to see the announcer and the crowd go into a slight panic.
"Uh-uh, Not the goodie bags!" exclaimed MC.
"Come on Chat," urged Marinette as she and MC Honey ran out of the Green Room.
"I'll catch up with you in a minute," Chat waved off, finally prying Plagg out of the bowl to find a cheesy yellow cat.
"At least it's not camembert."
Marinette and MC ran into the announcer just as he left the stage.
"Did you see who did it?" asked Marinette.
"The World saw it! She ran across the stage. MC Honey! Straight up!" the announcer crossed his arms in frustration, clearly upset at the loss of the goodie bags.
"Say what?" Marinette looked from MC to the announcer.
"But I was with her the whole time!"
"Yo! the goodie bags have been jacked!" A video played on Nino's laptop during lunch, Marinette and Adrien watching over Nino's shoulder while Alya got her's and Nino's lunches.
Nino skipped to another video of MC Honey yelling at the reporters while being led away to a police car, "This is messed up! I did NOT jack the goodie bags. I...!"
"Um...it looks kinda bad," finally responded Nino once the video ended.
"I know, Nino, but I'm telling you MC Honey was with us. It couldn't have been her," responded Marinette
"Then get ready for this," Nino pulled up another video, the same one of Jagged stealing, zooming in on his resemblance was uncanny.
"Uhh...does Jagged have a good lawyer? You know, like, a really good one?" asked Adrien as he sat back down to eat his salad.
"Maybe it's a shapeshifter," answered Alya as she was about to set the food tray over Nino's laptop, Nino quickly moving the laptop away.
"A shape-shifter," asked Marinette.
"Yeah, like Mystique from X-Men," Alya sat beside Marinette.
"Is that even scientifically possible?" responded Marinette.
"There are scientists and plastic surgeons who have furthered studied the ability to shape-shift, but it became quickly banned due to legal, health, and humane reasons. Anyone who practices it is deep underground and hard to find," answered Adrien.
"Nerd," chided Marinette teasingly.
"I'll try to do a bit more digging. See if I can find Jagged and MC Honey elsewhere," Nino took one bite of his lunch before pulling back up his laptop.
"Please and thank you."
Just then Marinette's phone chimed.
"Update from Penny regarding Jagged. 'Lots of inspiration for more songs. Thinking of doing a duo with MC Honey once this is cleared up.'"
"A duet with MC Honey! Could this year of music get any better. Please let me post this on my blog," begged Alya.
"I'll ask," Marinette typed a response back to Penny.
"Oh, I saw Penny at the Grammys, we should have said 'Hi'," offered Adrien.
"Probably should have," agreed Marinette, her phone chiming with an affirmative from Penny.
"She says it's fine."
"Yes," Alya cheered for herself as she began typing on her phone.
Marinette and Adrien both rolled their eyes.
"Are you done with that?" Marinette stood up, gesturing to Adrien's finished bowl of salad before picking up her own tray.
"Yeah." Marinette took the bowl and proceeded over to the trashcan to deposit the trash and drop off the lunch tray.
"H-hey Marinette." Marinette turned to see Nathanael, backpack ready for his next class and trash ready to be thrown away.
"Hey Nathanael," responded Marinette with a smile, stepping aside to let him throw away his trash. Behind the tray, in his other arm was his sketchbook.
"How have your drawing been coming along lately?"
Nathanael's face turned a slight shade of pink before responding, "Good, and your designs?"
"Pretty good. I got a request to design Jagged Stone's next cd."
"I saw."
Marinette gave Nathanael a quizzical look.
"On the Ladyblog. You're last update mentioned you were asked by his manager to design the cd cover, when, you know, he…"
"Right," Marinette finished for him. She had forgotten she posted that, with all these famous people being framed even though they were most likely innocent.
"Um, Nathanael?"
"Yeah?"
"Sorry, I accused you of stealing Chloe's bracelet. I was just trying to hard to clear myself of being wrongly accused, I threw you under the bus. I'm sorry."
Nathanael's eyes lit up, "It's fine. If I were the first person accused, I would probably do the same. Not to you necessarily. Because you're beautiful and sweet and... you're perfect and ..."
Marinette placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled.
"Thanks."
Nathanael face began to match his hair.
"Can I… can I walk you to your next class?"
"I guess, I have to grab my stuff from my locker though."
"Same here."
"Ok, let me grab my bag."
Marinette skipped back over to where her friends sat, Alya and Nino still on their devices, while Adrien watched her approach. She was glad she had made amends with Nathanael.
"I'm going to head over to class with Nathanael. Let me know if you find anything Nino," Marinette picked up her bag, not waiting for Nino's absent minded head nod before heading back over to Nathanael.
Adrien watched Marinette and Nathanael leave the cafeteria, something bristling inside him that he couldn't quite place. Marinette was a nice person and had a lot of friends. It made sense why she would walk with Nathanael, as his friend, to class. So why was he uneasy. He turned back around to see Alya grinning at him like a devil.
"What," Adrien asked sharply, realising how rude he may have sounded, asked again in his normal calm manner, "What?"
Alya reduced her grin to a nonchalant look.
"Nothing, just happy to see my girl being escorted to her class by a nice guy."
"But I'm nice, and I walk her to class all the time."
"But as a friend," Alya countered. Adrien frowned.
"Nathanael is just walking her to class as a friend too."
"As far as we know."
Before Adrien could ask questions, Nino jumped in his seat, "Marinette, I found someth… where'd she go."
Alya and Adrien both looked to Nino.
"She already left for class," answered Alya.
"Dangit, I found an interesting lead Chat Noir and her should check up on."
Alya and Adrien both scooched closer to the bespeckled boy.
"Well... since XY seems to be the common factor with these thefts, I did a little digging. It hasn't hit the checkout lines yet, but the 'Weekly Wonder' is about to run a story on XY losing big time after the Grammys. His songs didn't win anything, and his latest album is totally tanking in sales right now."
"I thought you were suppose to look up footage of Jagged and MC Honey," chided Alya
"It takes a while to bypass their system. I'm going to need a lot more than whatever time lunch has left."
"So XY is the one who needs money," contemplated Adrien.
"XY's signing his autobiography at the world's richest mall in Beverly Hills today. Sounds like a recon op."
"Yes," Adrien fist pumped, " I'll get Marinette." Before Nino or Alya could respond, Adrien took off.
"He seemed excited," commented Nino as he began searching his contact for a ride. Alya just chuckled to herself. It may take awhile, but with a little push, her ship may come together.
Marinette shut the door to her locker, finding Chat Noir standing behind it.
"Wahhhh!" She nearly jumped five feet in the air.
"Hey, XY is signing his autobiography in Beverly Hills. Up for a recon mission," Chat spilled all at once, Marinette struggling to figure out what he said when she got a text from Nino.
"XY is the one who needs money, latest album sales tanked. He's signing his autobiography in LA today. Go or no go?"
"Go." Marinette texted back.
"Ready to go?" Marinette turned to find Nathanael on the other side of her.
"Sorry Nathanael, recon mission just came up."
"It's fine, go save the world," Nathanael offered with a smile, which Marinette returned. Chat frowned.
Another text from Nino came, Chat looking over Marinette's shoulder to read, "Got a ride."
"Whelp, time to go," Chat pulled Marinette by the hand, leading Marinette around Nathanael and out of the school.
"Ah, the world's ritziest mall," Chat admired the mall from the inside of a bookstore while Marinette purchased XY's autobiography, a request from Alya. "35 floors of poppin' shoppin'. And did you know there is a diamond elevator sporting a 500 karat light bulb?"
"You've told me, several times since we flew over here," Marinette took her purchase and left with Chat on her tail.
"That sure is quite a line for XY's autograph on a book," she commented as they passed the line on their way out, the line stopping a few people out of the door.
"This is nothing, Chloe took me with her to XY's autograph signing back in December. The line was going around the block."
"So why the decrease in popularity?"
"Jagged Stone leaving Bob Roth Records brought on a new wave of going back to the basics of music, totally opposite of XY's style," commented Nino from the watch.
"How long have you been there?" Marinette asked.
"Just scanning the area for XY, the signing should start soon so keep your eyes open."
The duo nodded, standing now in the center of the mall's ground floor.
As Marinette looked around, a particular store caught her attention. She began frantically tapping Chat's arm.
"What," Chat turned to see where she was looking to find the one place he hoped she wouldn't notice.
"It's Gabriel's Hollywood! Clothes inspired by award show and have to pass a credit check just to get in the door. I don't even have credit." Something else Marinette dared not mention to Chat was that there was a giant advertisement featuring Adrien in a tux with a green tie that made his eyes more vibrant. She had a magazine print at home, but seeing it in full size was something else entirely. She would be content to stare at it the rest of the day if it wasn't the pressing matter of questioning XY.
Chat shut her gaping mouth.
"How about after we find XY, we check it out," offered Chat.
"Or we try to get in now," Marinette walked over to the door of the store, almost intending to go in, when XY emerged.
"Ladybug? And..." XY approached Marinette, Chat coming up behind her.
"This guy?" Introduced Chat.
"Hey! I wonder if you could do me a favor?" Asked Marinette.
"If you want me to sign your book, you're going to have to get in line, plus I am kind of in a rush." Marinette blinked once before remembering she had bought XY's autobiography.
"Well, you see? That's funny. There's this pair of … " Marinette looked at the display for anything cheap enough to buy, "socks at Gabriel's that I've saved up for, and since I'm not a zillionaire like you, they won't even let me in. But you, I'm sure, can pass the credit check."
"Uh...yeah! Duh! But I can't be seen buying socks! Ewwww! Socks are gross!" XY continued on his way, Marinette satisfied with his answer.
"You know, I could have gotten you the socks if you wanted," offered Chat.
"Chat, he can't go in. Sales tanking."
"So, did you want the socks or not?"
Marinette was ready to facepalm when a whistle was heard. A mall cop rushed by on his segway.
"The elevator's been robbed!" Marinette and Chat looked at each other then followed the cop to the elevator to find the 500 karat light bulb gone.
"That is an empty diamond light bulb socket," commented Chat.
"It's Adelisa," exclaimed Chat as he and Marinette watched the security footage from the control room of the mall, two mall cops supervising.
"Another friend of XY's," pondered Marinette, going over XY's suspects he listed in the prison visiting room.
"That guy is running with a bad crowd. But you have to admit the camera loves them," commented Chat while watching the replay of Adelisa taking the diamond light.
Marinette's eyes lit up at Chat's statement, "I think you're onto something."
"Oh, I know I am!...what?"
"There's a camera at every theft," Marinette gestured to the screen.
"Rookie mistake! I mean a smart thief wouldn't get caught on tape."
"But a really smart thief would see to it that somebody else gets caught."
"I got the footage like you requested," Nino send a link in the group skype chat. The four were supposed to working on homework, but Nino had new info for Marinette and Adrien, and Alya didn't want to be left out as she read over XY's book instead of homework.
"Looks like Jagged was in two places at the same time." The link showed the fuzzy footage of Jagged stealing with another video of Jagged rocking out in his room with his crocodile.
"Twin brothers?"
"Nope, I checked. Only child. And get this," Nino sent another link with MC Honey stealing the goodie bags side by side with MC Honey talking to Marinette.
Hmmmmm... both of them... two places at once," Marinette rewatched the videos searching for any discrepancy between the thieves.
"Freaky for sure," echoed Adrien, the only one actually doing homework.
"I'm still researching where Adelisa was. Police said they found her several floors up at the mall."
"Ooo, check this out," Alya waved her hand in front of the screen to get the group's attention "This past summer XY visited a Dr. Beaufox."
"Let me look him up," responded Nino.
"Already did. He's a plastic surgeon...unlicensed… and rogue!"
"If your shapeshifter theory is correct, he sounds like that guy who may still experiment with it," suggested Adrien.
"Definitely fishy," added Marinette.
"Even fishier, XY is pretty much photographed every waking minute. But during these three crimes, it's like he disappeared," said Nino.
"Where's XY's next appearance?"
"Fashion show this Friday."
"This Friday," Adrien panicked, "That's my dad's show."
"Ok, maybe then I can have Alya go with me, and Nino can check out Dr. Beaufox," Marinette concluded.
"No, I'm your partner, so we'll do this together. XY will probably go after a rare blue diamond necklace that will be worn during the women's collection. I won't be on for a while and can help," insisted Adrien.
"Are you sure," asked Marinette. This was riskier than Chat Noir being at the Grammy's or when his father was kidnapped. Adrien was expected to be present at the fashion show.
"I'm sure. I'm your Chat Noir."
Marinette turned as pink as her room while Alya cooed.
"Then I'll take Alya with me as backup," came Nino, ruining any moment.
"Sounds like a plan."
Adrien escorted Marinette around the backstage area of the fashion show, Marinette finding it hard to focus on keeping an eye out for XY rather than the designs unseen by the public. Adrien smiled at his friend's amazement, looking around for any sign of XY so Marinette could enjoy herself.
"Adrien, why aren't you in your changing room?" Gabriel Agreste approached his son, previously inspecting some of the female models that had been sewn into their dresses.
"All my outfits are ready to go. I just wanted to show Marinette around before she got seated."
Gabriel gave her a glance over, Marinette hoping her dress she made was good enough to be worn at such a high society event. A small smile appeared on Adrien's father.
"I'm glad you are able to join us Miss Marinette. Please enjoy the show."
"Thank you Mr. Agreste."
"Mr. Agreste," Nathalie rushed towards the head designer, a slight look of panic on her face.
"Anastasia's been dropped by her agency! She's not coming!"
"We don't have a model to wear the gown and the necklace?" Gabriel's eyebrow twitched in irritation.
"Marinette could do it!" Offered Adrien, both adults turning to the girl beside him.
"Adrien, I'm not a model."
"Well, why not? You're beautiful." Marinette turned fifty shades of red. You can't just friendzone someone then call them beautiful.
"Yes, with your complexion, although some height adjustments will be needed, yes, she will do."
Before Marinette could respond or even agree, Nathalie whisked her off, leaving a smiling Adrien behind.
"I'll be in my dressing room," Adrien spoke before his father could say anything, rushing off to his room. Adrien may have to miss the women's collection, but Chat Noir wasn't going to miss Ladybug's modelling debut.
"Good day Dr. Beaufox," Alya entered the office with Nino following behind her. An older man sat behind a desk, reading a magazine featuring Adelisa's theft.
Are you my 2:30 tummy tuck," asked Dr. Beaufox, putting down the magazine. Alya face went red with rage. She was very happy with her sit, thank you very much.
We'll ask the questions, doctor," responded Nino, before Alya could murder the man. "XY, also known as Xander Yeaw...ring a bell?"
I fully warned him of the dangers! All experimental surgeries carry risk! That's on my business card." The man handed Alya his business card, Alya so over this man's implications.
This guy's all talk," Nino elbowed Alya in the side, trying to detract her from her current train of thought.
Radical techniques? As if?!" Alya fake laughed.
Oh really? Nano-morphing hmm...? Radical enough for you?"
Nano-morphing?" asked Alya before both she and Nino came to a single conclusion.
"Shape shifting!"
"And now, the women's gala collection from Gabriel's," came the announcer. Chat Noir leaned forward in the seat .Chat sat in the seat Marinette was originally supposed to occupy, much to his seat neighbor's, Gabriel Agreste's surprise. XY had come in a few minutes into the program, slipping into a seat a few rows behind Chat.
A few women came out with their dresses, but Chat was sure his jaw hit the floor when Marinette came out in a lavender floor length dress and the blue diamond necklace around her collar. Her dark hair was pulled up in a wavy ponytail, the sides of her hair gently hanging down in loose curls. Beautiful wasn't even a word to describe her in this moment.
Marinette was praying she would not trip as she walked down the runway as this dress made it incredibly difficult to walk. She spotted an empty seat a few rows back.
Chat followed her gaze to the spot where XY had previously sat was now vacant.
Marinette made it to the end of the runway to find Alya and Nino racing down the aisle towards her. She turned around to see Adrien dressed in the suit from Gabriel's Hollywood standing in front of her. If seeing the large advertisement would freeze her for a day, seeing the real deal would freeze her for a lifetime.
"A-Adrien," Marinette stuttered. What happened to Chat? why was Adrien out here?
"Snap out of it Marinette!" Called out Alya.
"It's not Adrien, its XY!" came Nino.
"He's a shapeshifter," added Alya.
All of a sudden Adrien was tackled to the floor, Chat Noir pinning him to the ground. Adrien changed back into XY before shoving Chat Noir off of him, grabbing the necklace, and hightailing it to the backstage. Marinette attempted to go after him, but tripped in her dress.
"This dress is not working for me," whined Marinette.
"Need a hand My Lady?" Marinette looked up to see Adrien looking down at her with his hand outstretched, but dressed in Chat Noir's attire. Was this the real Adrien or the fake?
Instead Alya rushed to her side and helped her up.
"Your mask!" Alya hissed at Adrien as Marinette continued backstage after XY, Alya following. Adrien touched the area where his mask should be to find it bare, every eye and camera on him. Nino ran by, shoving something into his hand, Adrien opening it to find his mask.
"Hide," Nino whispered before he took off, everyone else still frozen at the revelation Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir. Adrien looked to the front row to find Gabriel in a state of panic Adrien hadn't seen since his mother disappeared.
Adrien turned tail and ran backstage as the crowds erupting in shock and curiosity.
Marinette, Alya, and Nino split up, searching for XY around the backstage. Marinette found Gabriel Agreste making his way back out to the audience.
"Mr. Agreste, have you seen anyone suspicious backstage?"
"No, I haven't seen anyone suspicious looking Ladybug," answered Gabriel.
"Miss Marinette, what in heaven's name is going on? Where's Adrien," from behind came another Gabriel Agreste, looking quite frazzled. Marinette smiled in realization.
"Thanks Mr. Agreste," she said to the frazzled looking one before pouncing on the other Gabriel.
The two struggled before the fake Gabriel pushed Marinette off , Marinette accidently ripping the gown as fake Gabriel made a run for wardrobe.
"Sorry Mr. Agreste," Marinette called out as she chased after fake Gabriel. She found Alya in make up, "Alya, it's XY!" Alya pulled a compact out of her pocket and aimed it fake Gabriel, a blue powder emitting from the accessory. Gabriel's hair returned to normal XY style, as he tossed some make up powder at Alya and continued to run. Marinette collided into Alya who was coughing from the powder.
"We lost him," moaned Marinette.
"Not yet," Alya pulled over Marinette's watch, "Nino, send us a signal on the tracking powder."
"Got it." Nino sent them the signal.
"Tracking powder?" asked Marinette, helping Alya up.
"Nino was letting me try it."
Marinette and Alya rushed over to the auditorium to find it crowded full of people and reporters trying to talk to someone on the stage.
"What the?" Marinette turned to Alya, who shrugged. "How are we even to get through this?"
"It's a good thing you know people in high places." Marinette and Alya looked up to see Adrien hiding in a vent.
He tossed down his staff, which Marinette caught. She then pressed the paw button and extended herself up to see everyone crowding around Gabriel Agreste for answers.
"Did you know your son was Chat Noir?"
"How will this affect his future modeling career?"
"Do you see this as an act of rebellion?"
Gabriel for once in his life, floundered for answers.
Marinette checked the tracking on her watch and scanned the crowd. Smiling, she lowered herself down to stand beside Gabriel Agreste.
"Found you XY," Marinette smirked.
Marinette, Alya, and Nino watched the police officers handcuffed the fake Mr. Agreste, who eventually changed back into XY, "Uhh! Do you know who I am?"
"Dude, the question is do you know who you are?" asked Nino as the police led XY away into a police car.
"Thank you Miss Marinette," Nathalie came up behind the group, "I'm sure if Mr. Agreste were still on sight he would extend his thanks as well."
"Is he not here?" asked Alya.
"Mr. Agreste and Adrien have both taken the car home for the night."
"Please don't be mad at Adrien," said Marinette quickly, "If Mr. Agreste should be mad at anyone, it should be me. I put Adrien in danger. I didn't know who he was at first, but once I did know… I'm sorry."
"I'll pass your message along to Mr. Agreste," Nathalie answered before heading back inside.
Marinette sat at her computer, typing up the latest entry for the Ladyblog. She had received several thank yous from Penny, Jagged, MC Honey, and Adelisa; and hundred more questions regarding Adrien being Chat Noir. After a long explanation, Marinette clicked enter to begin writing her final thoughts.
"Adrien's decision to continue to be Chat Noir is entirely up to him. I hope he will continue to be the Chat Noir to my Ladybug, but if not, he will still be a valued friend."
Adrien printed out a picture from an online article, Marinette taking a picture with all the musicians that had been released due to the capture of XY. While Marinette and Alya had done their best to diffuse the situation over the weekend through the Ladyblog and Alya's blog, online articles kept appearing. Even Nathalie was now refusing the press.
Adrien added the picture to his Ladybug scrapbook.
"Mreow," Plagg jumped on top of the keyboard and nestled himself down.
"Plagg, get off," Adrien lifted the cat off the keyboard, accidentally clicking to an open tab of the Ladyblog with the newest article. Adrien read over the article, smiling at Marinette's words of encouragement and praise. Adrien switched to his Chat Noir account and typed out a response.
"Ready when you are bugaboo."
Gabriel Agreste sat in his office, reading over the Ladyblog. Nathalie had sent the site over to him, and he was reading over the latest article. While reading Miss Marinette's words, he felt pride as a father in his son, but also fear. His son had been trapped at the North Pole, and fought villains who had every intention to harm Adrien.
"Mr. Agreste, Ms. Rossi is here to see you," came Nathalie's voice over the intercom.
"Yes, send her in."
Alright, so the original plan was to do Evillustrator first but I needed this reveal to happen for the new few chapters and it wasn't lining up with an Evillustrator combo. So Evillustrator is coming, just not for a few more chapters.
I enjoyed making those parody names a little too much.
To the two guest comments:
Adrien is an oblivious, sad, little, sunshine thing.
Adrien will grow to learn just how affectionate his friends can be.
And now, to begin the first movie "A Sitch in Time" featuring Ladrien.
Update 5/14/2018 Changed one character's name to reflect the recent episode Frightengale, Clara Nightingale