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renasrouge · 7 years ago

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How to Fail an Identity Reveal

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summary: Adrien stumbled forward, landing in a heap on the floor and blocking Marinette’s path to her desk.

“Ack,” he spluttered.

Marinette stared down at him. “Uh, hi?”

word count: 3467

a/n: so some background on this fic - it’s reverse crush au! essentially, adrien likes marinette and marinette likes chat noir, although their personalities remain the same as canon. also, huge thanks to @felinedragonslayer, @match-mochi, and @momusuu who beta’ed this ages ago. your feedback really helped keep me going <3

Adrien set his eyes with determination. “I’m gonna do it.”

“You’re gonna do it.”

“I can do this!”

“Go, dude!” Nino clapped his friend on the back.

Adrien stood confidently in the literature classroom, his eyes locked on the doorframe. Soft footsteps echoed down the hallway — footsteps that he recognized immediately.

It was Marinette.

Here she comes—

Adrien felt something twist in his stomach, and he suddenly stiffened. “Nino, no no no, mission abort!” Adrien leaped into his desk and started frantically scribbling away at homework: something, anything to keep himself busy.

Exasperated, Nino took out his headphones and pushed Adrien to his feet. “Bro, you’re gonna tell her how you feel. As your certified wingman — well, you’ll thank me later.”

And as Marinette entered the room, Nino gave his friend a push. Adrien stumbled forward, landing in a heap on the floor and blocking Marinette’s path to her desk.

“Ack,” Adrien spluttered.

Marinette stared down at him with a hesitant expression. “Uh, hi?”

Adrien, who had turned bright red, quickly scrambled to his feet. “Sorry! I just my balance. I mean, I lost the balance. I mean my balance. I mean—” Adrien’s eyes locked with Marinette’s — they were a glowing sky blue — and he realized that he’d never been this close to her before. Tiny freckles dotted her cheeks, and she was looking up at him so intently, her eyes wide with amusement and concern. A cuteness overload, in his opinion.

Well. Adrien had completely lost his train of thought.

Worried, he glanced to Nino — tell me what to do, bro! Unfortunately, his best buddy only sent him a finger gun and continued scrolling through his phone. Traitor .

As the silence continued, Adrien looked around at everything but Marinette, then cleared his throat. Words failed him. Come on, Adrien. You’re acting like an idiot. Think… think… be suave. Be Chat Noir.

“Er.” Swallow. Adrien continued with newfound confidence. “H–how are you feline? Cause you’re purrfect, I’m not kitten.”

Marinette stared back, her concern morphing to confusion.

Wait, what did I just say? Take back the cat puns, take back the cat puns!

“Uhh, I meant to say paw-don me for blocking your way. No, purr-don me. Wait, pardon. Gah!” Adrien desperately clawed at his hair. “Just kill me now.” Adrien buried his face in his hands, waiting for Marinette to laugh in her usual, light hearted way and move on.

To his surprise, though, there was only silence. One moment passed, then two, then three.

Adrien finally snuck a glance at Marinette. Her lips were parted, and her eyes quickly darted around his face. Soon, she took on a look of horror. “CH–CH–CHAT NOIR?” she screamed, pointing a finger at his face.

All the blood drained from Adrien’s face. How had she figured it out? “Wait no, this isn’t what it looks like! I’m not—”

“CHAT NOIR — YOU — CHAT — ADRIEN — YOU?” Marinette exclaimed.

Adrien was downright confused. “I–I’m not Chat Noir!”

Marinette took a deep, shuddering breath. “You’re Chat Noir.”

“Nope, just Adrien!”

“You’re Chat Noir ,” she stated. “Blonde, green eyes… the fencing… the puns… how did I not see it?” Marinette suddenly flushed. “Y–You’re CHAT NOIR — HUGE CRUSH — DARK CUPID — KISS — YOU — MODEL!”

“WHAT?!”

Marinette had stopped talking, though. She took short, shallow breaths: in and out, in and out. She then swung her backpack off, javelin-threw it across the room, and sprinted down the hallway with a good-natured scream.

Back in the classroom, Adrien and Nino were dead silent, waiting as Marinette’s hyperventilating breaths retreated into the distance.

Then, Adrien cast a nervous glance toward Nino. “Uh, so Marinette mentioned a crush.” He smiled. “Do you think maybe—”

Nino cut him off and narrowed his eyes. “Cat puns? Dude, you totally are Chat Noir.”

“No, totally not… ”

“I can’t believe you had a secret identity this whole time. Bro!”

Adrien relented. “Er, yeah.”

Nino grinned. “Hey, I’m not mad or anything… Okay, I’m a little worried for Mari right now. But anyway, dude, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

Chat Noir sat on a Parisian rooftop, nervously swiping through the apps on his baton screen. Ladybug was supposed to show up for their twilight patrol five minutes ago, but she was running late. He almost considered watching some anime (a rerun of Naruto would calm his nerves for sure) but he heard Ladybug calling out his name.

“Chat Noir?” her voice was quiet — unsure, even, and definitely out of character — as she took a seat next to him. “I need to talk to you.”

“Same.” Chat sighed, collapsing his baton. “I have bad news, so you should probably hear it first.”

For a moment, Ladybug looked like she wanted to protest. (And was her face always that red under the mask?) But then she nodded.

“Two friends of mine found out my identity. They’re trustworthy, but I just… “ Chat cringed. “Our kwamis don’t want us to tell anyone, and I broke that rule.”

“Two friends?” Ladybug echoed. She groaned. “That second one might be my fault… ”

“Huh? No, It was an accident — totally my fault, actually.“ Chat looked uncomfortable. "I… my best friend made this stupid plan for me to ask out my crush, and I fell on the floor and made some cat puns… it was bad. Like really bad.”

But when Chat turned to Ladybug, her face was frozen in a half-cringe, half-smile. And yep, she was definitely redder than usual.

“Crush?! You like Marinette?!” she screamed.

“M–Marinette? Did I say her name?” Chat facepalmed. “Ack, I’m a failure at this whole secret identity thing. I meant Marie. Marie, not Marinette. Totally. Marie’s a common name, right?”

Ladybug took a deep, shuddering breath and promptly whisper-yelled: “CHAT — LIKES — MARINETTE — THE — WHAT — FLIRT — AND — THREE KIDS — HOW?!”

Chat buried his face in his hands. “You know, that’s exactly how Marinette reacted too.”

“Chat Noir!” Ladybug nearly screamed, her voice echoing through the adjacent streets.

She grabbed Chat by the shoulders and stared straight at his face. Ladybug opened and closed her mouth a few times, clearly determined to say something. But before Chat could ask what it was, she backed away, latched her yoyo to a cell phone tower, and zipped away, screaming.

“Hey!” Chat Noir called after her. “What about patrol?”

There was no answer; Ladybug was far gone and probably still gasping and heaving.

A minute or two later, Chat Noir took out his baton and hit himself on the forehead a few times. Maybe so Plagg could feel his pain. Maybe because a facepalm just didn’t seem like enough.

Idiot.

“CHAT NOIR — ADRI — CHAT — CRUSH — ME — MARINETTE — ME!”

The passers-by stared strangely at Marinette, who was sitting on a park bench, her mouth open in a silent shriek.

Tikki sighed. “Marinette—”

But Marinette was gazing into the distance with a mixture of giddiness and shock. “Chat likes me,” she insisted.

It was too much to process. For some inconceivable reason, Adrien — sweet, kind Adrien who was also sweet, kind, brave, intelligent, perfect Chat Noir — liked her.

Come to think of it, Adrien had been blushing furiously during the Ultimate Mecha Strike competition. And both of them had stuttered grievously through all of Evillustrator.

In fact, she’d almost kissed Chat Noir for their class movie. And no, she’d actually kissed him during Dark Cupid! No wonder that the spell had broken; he liked her back!

And he’d been trying to ask her out this morning.

Nope. Marinette.exe had stopped working.

Breathe. Breathe, Marinette urged herself. Fact: Chat Noir tried to ask you out today. Okay. Fact: His face is all over your room. Okay. Everything’s normal—

“H–Hey, Marinette?”

Marinette immediately snapped up. She tensed and turned around, and there he was: Chat Noir, standing in the middle of the park with a tentative expression.

“Um, are you okay?” he spoke quietly. “I mean, you found out — well, who I am, and you screamed, so I just—” Chat cleared his throat. “Are you okay, Mari?”

Marinette froze. (The apologetic smile, the spring green eyes: this was definitely Adrien.)

Then, she realized that he’d been expecting a response.

“Yeah! Uh huh. I’m fine.” Marinette laughed nervously, hoping to cover her mistake. “I guess I just wasn’t expecting for you to be… him… ”

“It’s okay.”

“And sorry for, you know, running away.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Marinette locked eyes with Chat Noir as a soft summer breeze swept through the park. He approached the bench and took a seat next to Marinette, whose heartbeat immediately doubled.

They were quiet for a moment or two.

“Well, ah, why are you here?” Marinette broke the silence. “Shouldn’t you be on patrol?”

(Ladybug had deserted Chat Noir half an hour ago, so if he hadn’t already detransformed, he must’ve been keeping a vigil on Paris.)

“Patrol’s cancelled.” Chat sighed. He hesitantly placed a hand on Marinette’s shoulder. “And… there’s something you should know, Mari. Ladybug and I are supposed to keep our identities secret, so you can’t tell anyone who I am. Not even Ladybug. Especially not Ladybug… ”

Marinette frowned. “Ladybug already knows,” she muttered.

“Huh?” Chat asked. (Ack, he’d actually heard her.) “You… you already told Ladybug who I am? You already talked to Ladybug?”

"Pfft… ” Marinette denied.

Chat’s face contorted with worry. “ Did you?”

“No!” Marinette shouted. “Well, not exactly. I… I… ”

“You what?” he pressed.

Marinette squeezed her eyes shut, and said in a whisper-shout: “I am Ladybug!”

Deafening silence passed between the two of them.

When Marinette opened her eyes, Chat’s face was dusted with pink. He was gawking at her earrings, then her face, then down at her purse, where Tikki peered up at him with a sweet smile.

Chat Noir blinked rapidly.

“You… ” he gestured to Marinette. “You! Ladybug! YOU — BLUE EYES — CUTE — DESIGNER — LADYBUG!”

Marinette flushed.

“Oh, okay,” Chat said calmly. “You’re Ladybug. I’m Adrien.”

She nodded slowly. This was going well.

Except then Chat Noir’s eyes bulged in realization, and he pointed a shaking finger at her face, and he completely and utterly paled .

“AHHHH! YOU — LADYBUG — I TOLD YOU — THE CRUSH?”

Marinette nodded again, looking away. By this point, she was red enough to rival Ladybug’s suit.

“Adrien… ” she started.

But Chat Noir was standing up and retreating from Marinette, his silver shoes grating against the concrete sidewalk. “No, no, nope—”

“Wait, Adrien, it’s okay!”

“This never happened. Nope, no, I didn’t tell you—”

Chat Noir, who was clearly avoiding looking at Marinette, promptly retreated into a steel garbage can. The lid clinked, clanked, and fell onto the sidewalk.

Chat cursed loudly, and when he looked up, Marinette held his gaze. “Adr—” she implored.

“No, no, ahhhh!” Chat Noir looked even paler than before, and now he wheezed with shallow, scratchy breaths. In and out, inhale, exhale — and then the superhero flipped around, grabbed his baton, and vaulted away, yelling into the Parisian streets.

Back in the park, Marinette was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, hand stretched out in a confused goodbye.

“So… I’ll see you tomorrow?” she said weakly.

Tikki squeezed out from Marinette’s purse. “That… didn’t go too well,” she remarked quietly.

Marinette sighed. “No, it really didn’t.“

Ten minutes later found Adrien pacing in his room, scratching furiously at his hair. "Ladybug. Marinette is Ladybug,” he repeated. “I told her I had a crush on her. This is a disaster!”

“Chill, kid,” Plagg said boredly.

“I can’t chill!” Adrien waved his arms around wildly. “I totally weirded her out! Did you see how fast Ladybug ran away? I just had to go and say I liked Marinette.” Adrien slumped into his armchair and turned his face to the ceiling.

Plagg made a face. “Look, kid, she’s probably just a Chat Noir fangirl or something.”

“A Chat Noir fangirl,” Adrien echoed.

He pictured Marinette designing Chat-themed clothes, pinning photographs to her walls, reading his interviews, tying her hair with two green ribbons… the notion was completely ridiculous.

“Anyway,” Plagg continued, digging his fangs into a wedge of camembert, “she definitely doesn’t think you’re weird.”

Adrien shook his head. “Really? But I ran into a trash can — Plagg! Plagg, stop laughing! It’s not funny!”

The kwami brushed a tear from his eye. “That’s hilarious.”

“Gaaah,” Adrien said, hitting himself in the face with a folder.

Now seemingly concerned, Plagg distanced himself from the camembert. “Adrien, you’re overthinking this,” he said. “You know Marinette; you know Ladybug. If anything, she probably thinks you think she’s weird.”

“What?”

“You two just need to have a good heart-to-heart talk,” Plagg said flippantly. “Sort things out over some high-quality cheese… ”

“Plagg—”

“Camembert, or maybe brie… ”

But a realization was forming in Adrien’s mind. “You know, Plagg, that’s actually a good point.”

Plagg blinked. “The brie?”

“No, the talking,” Adrien said.

After all, why should he be worrying so much about Marinette when he could just talk to her? And Plagg did have a point: they’d learned each other’s identities today, so maybe Marinette was having as much of an identity crisis as he was (pun intended).

“Can we still buy the brie though?” Plagg interjected.

Adrien rolled his eyes, and without answering, snatched his phone from the table. One deep breath; then—

to Mari (8:21 pm) Hey Marinette, I’m really sorry about leaving earlier… Can we meet in the courtyard before school starts?

[Mari is typing… ]

from Mari (8:24 pm) see you tomorrow

The next morning, Adrien woke to the pitter-patter of rain outside. His lock screen informed him that it was 6 in the morning — far too early to meet Marinette at school — but he couldn’t fall back asleep.

Ten minutes later, Adrien was promptly clutching an ebony umbrella and sneaking out his mansion’s back doors. Bits of pink sunrise peeked over the horizon as he strolled toward Collège François-Dupont.

The entire scene was a bit surreal, he thought. The drizzling rain, the brightening sky… they reminded him of a different day. Of Marinette’s gentle laugh, an umbrella closing on her tiny frame, his coup de foudre as thunder had rumbled in the distance.

Ugh, Agreste. Adrien banged his head against the umbrella’s stem as he climbed the school steps. It’s not even daytime and you already sound like a lovesick idiot. Not to mention you’re here a whole hour early! You’ll have to mope here for who-knows-how-long until Marinette gets here.

But once the courtyard came into view, there she was, standing lonesome in the rain. Marinette was turned away from him, looking up at the library. Her hair hung in loose waves, and she stood shyly but confidently, lifting a single palm to the rain.

She looked so peaceful, not to mention beautiful.

Adrien couldn’t keep from smiling as he approached. “Hey.”

Marinette turned slowly, droplets of rain settled in her bangs. “Hey,” she echoed, smiling.

Adrien’s heart skipped a bit before his gaze settled on a floating red blob — a kwami — in the corner of his vision. Here it was: real, undeniable proof that his partner had been Marinette all along.

The kwami floated to him joyfully. “Nice to meet you, Adrien! I’m Tikki, Ladybug’s kwami, but you already know that.” She smiled cheerfully.

He couldn’t believe that Marinette had such an adorable kwami. She seemed much sweeter than Plagg, and he was ready to declare this very observation when Plagg phased out from his bag.

“Tikki. Long time no see, eh?” he remarked.

“Plagg!” Tikki cried, racing forward to crush the other kwami in an embrace. Oddly, Plagg hummed and relaxed into the hug.

At that moment, Marinette giggled quietly, and as Adrien turned to her, he remembered why there were here in the first place. (i.e. him and his stupid cat puns, but also to talk.)

Adrien and Marinette became locked in a stare.

Five seconds later, they began in sync: “So, I’m sorry—”

Adrien immediately snapped his mouth shut. “No, you first!”

“No, go ahead,” Marinette insisted.

“No, you.”

“Just start first!”

He nodded slightly, averting his eyes from Marinette’s in favor of watching the spring rain. "Sorry for running off yesterday,” he began faintly. “I know I didn’t make the most pawsome exit—”

Marinette snickered. “No kidding,” she teased. She sounded so much like Ladybug, yet so obviously Marinette.

Adrien turned to face her, immediately encouraged. “—but you have to admit, the situation was pretty mortifying! I mean, that stupid confession… anyway, I’m sor—”

Marinette’s smile fell, and he stopped abruptly. “Stupid?” she echoed softly. “So you don’t like me?”

“I, uh, w–well.” Oh, great. Adrien had flushed red to the tips of his ears. “I do, but that’s just not how… and I’m guessing you don't… ack.” He was a complete failure. “Where’s Nino when you need him?” Adrien muttered.

Marinette’s worry had given way to a smile, though. “I don’t what?” she asked. “I don’t like you?”

“Well, yeah,” he mumbled. But then again, maybe… “Unless—”

Breaking her gaze from his, Marinette continued in a near-stammer. “Um, A–Adrien, have you ever seen my wallpaper?”

What? Adrien blanched. There’s no way I heard that question right. “Uh, no?” he replied. “What does that have to do with this?”

Marinette reached into her coat, and Adrien immediately found himself face-to-face with Marinette’s phone. His eyes widened: it was him. Her entire phone wallpaper was Chat Noir — a conglomeration of candid Ladyblog shots and magazine covers, cropped and cut and layered, then dotted with pink and green hearts.

“I’ve liked you for a while,” Marinette admitted, still averting her eyes. “Your face is all over my room, actually.”

Adrien lurched back, stuttering: “Are — Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

Adrien blinked.

He must’ve actually been dreaming right now.

Finally, after seconds of silence and internal screaming, Adrien opened his mouth and let out a slow, shaky breath. “Okay, okay, okay,” he repeated. “I really wanna yell right now, but I think we’ve learned that’s a bad idea.”

Then, he couldn’t help himself: he grinned, an ear-splitting one, practically bursting with joy.

Marinette returned the gesture nervously, her face burning scarlet. “I’ve, um, liked you since Stoneheart, actually,” she admitted. “When you believed in me.”

Oh, that moment, when Ladybug had forgotten to purify the akuma and the Parisian citizens had rounded against them. He remembered trying to cheer her up. Her confidence had come back stronger than ever, and she’d brazenly led them to their first real victory.

Adrien only grinned wider. “I've… I’ve liked you since the first day of school when I gave you my umbrella. Right here.”

“I might’ve liked you a little after that,” Marinette muttered.

“Yes!” Adrien laughed triumphantly.

They fell into a silence again, although this time, it was calming instead of nervous. Adrien dragged his gaze around the courtyard where rain was pouring in light sheets, painting a pitter patter pitter patter that rang like a low hum.

Then, he looked to Marinette. And in that moment, as she twirled her black umbrella against the bleary, rain-washed landscape and fixed him with a nervous smile, he was entirely unsurprised that he’d fallen for her on day one.

He liked her. And by some miraculous miracle, she liked him.

It was now or never.

“Um, so, I was trying to do this yesterday before you ran out screaming—” he started.

“Please don’t bring that up again.”

Adrien laughed. “Right. Anyway, Marinette.” He gathered all his Chat Noir charm, then took a deep breath and smirked. “Would you paw-lease go to the mew-vies with me be-claws I really like you?”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “I — wow, that was awful.”

“You mean clawful.”

“No, I don’t,” Marinette frowned, but he could tell she was trying hard not to laugh. “Gosh, I can’t believe you blew your secret identity with cat puns, Adrien.”

But Adrien was now staring at her expectantly. “So, um, is that a yes or a no?”

“You idiot,” Marinette said, jabbing him in the arm. “Of course it’s a yes.”

“YES!” Adrien was ecstatic. “I — DATE — YES!”

“Yes,” Marinette repeated.

“Well… hey,” he began slowly. “Since school doesn’t start for a while, we probably have enough time to go to a café?”

“Let’s go!”

Without another beat, Marinette beamed at him, looking absolutely radiant. She latched her hand into his, and they dove — arms linked — into the swirling rain.

Epilogue

Alya Césaire (@ladyblogger) 4h [photo] give it up for adrienette! happy 2nd date, ayyyyy proud of u mari <3 <3 <3

Alya Césaire (@ladyblogger) 1m ladynoir is… canon?

Alya Césaire (@ladyblogger) 1m OMG ITS CANON

Alya Césaire (@ladyblogger) 29s [video] HE PLANNED FOR A FISTBUMP AND SHE WENT FOR A KISS INSTEAD I CANT ASDFGHJKL

Alya Césaire (@ladyblogger) 8s IM SCREAMING AHHHHHHHHHHHHHWERCISDFUOIWEUHSDKFKSDFOIUSDFOUICSDFWEUASDFOIJSOIDFJIUYIUEFSUDFNNDSF

#miraculous ladybug #ml fanfiction #mlfanfiction #ml fanfic #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #adrienette #ladynoir #marichat #fluff #my fics #meva writes

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renasrouge · 7 years ago

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Marinette is Ladybug, Ladybug is Marinette

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summary: in which alya discovers ladybug's identity and (understandably) struggles a bit about what to do.

word count: 1036

a/n: second upload! i’m actually pretty proud of how this turned out :)

Marinette.

Marinette is Ladybug.

Alya can’t believe it, but the evidence is undeniable. She knows what she’s just seen: her greatest idol Ladybug slinking behind a dusty building, her outfit dissolving into shimmers of light until all that’s left is Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Marinette, Alya’s best friend.

After all this time, she finally knows Ladybug’s identity. But it’s her best friend. Her best friend is the heroine of Paris.

Ladybug.

Ladybug is Marinette.

And Alya doesn’t know how to react.

Eventually, she decides to wait a few days — sort out her emotions before acting on Ladybug’s identity. Alya usually has a habit of rushing into decisions, but she knows that this is far too important. Instead, she tackles it the same way she’d tackle a particularly difficult news story: methodical planning.

Step 1: Step away from the Ladyblog. Reporting on her best friend is slightly weird, and it’s a constant reminder of how oblivious she's been.

Step 2: Observe. Marinette is Ladybug, but is she really Ladybug? (After two days, the answer is clearly yes. Both have blue eyes, a small physique, a hatred for Chloé, and a pet peeve for liars. She really should’ve seen it coming.)

And finally:

Step 3: Confront Marinette.

Well.

Alya isn’t quite there yet. Really, she thinks, how does one even go about that conversation? Oh. by the way, I found out you’re a modern magic girl and I spend 30 hours every week blogging about you and stalking you around Paris. But look, I’m your best friend. Why did you keep this from me? Why did you let me stumble around in the dark, grasping for threads that were right in front of me?

Why don’t you trust me?

Alya tries not to, but sinks into herself. She spends her long lunches in the library and says she’s too busy to head over to the Dupain-Cheng’s.

(Really, she’s too hurt.)

Crash. The windowpanes break into fragments, littering Ms. Bustier’s classroom floor with glass shards. The akuma, a woman dressed in cotton candy colors, hovers viciously outside the school.

There’s screaming, and everyone in Alya’s class quickly evacuates to the hallway. There, things are quiet, and she has a perfect vantage point of the fight outside. Immediately, Alya’s on her feet.

Fish out her phone: accomplished.

Find the best angle for video: done.

Open the Ladyblog, start the recording—

Alya stops, her finger hovering over the button. She’d be recording her best friend for all the world to see. And, well…

“This way!” Marinette suddenly yells, pointing everyone down the hall. “There’s a big supply room over there. Everyone needs to get in. Don’t make a sound!”

The other students immediately sprint down the hallway. (Even Chloé follows suit once she sees the akuma fight raging across the street.) But Alya’s frozen in place, only vaguely seeing Adrien run off in the opposite direction and Miss Bustier grab Marinette by the arm.

“Come on, Marinette, there’s no time to waste,” Miss Bustier insists.

Marinette gapes, at a loss for words. “Oh, b–but Miss Bustier, my coat’s still in the science lab. I have to—”

“No,” Miss Bustier responds sternly. “Your safety comes first.”

Miss Bustier starts dragging Marinette down the hall, and it’s only then that Alya realizes what’s about to happen. Ladybug will be trapped in a room with twenty-some classmates, unable to transform for fear of revealing her identity. The akuma will rampage the city streets, and even if Chat Noir can defeat her on his own, how will the victim be returned to normal?

The weight of the city is on Marinette’s shoulders. Whatever Marinette's reasons are for keeping her out of the loop, Alya decides they’re irrelevant right now. Paris is currently at stake.

“Ms. Bustier!” Alya shouts. Hopefully, her lie will be convincing enough. “I left my inhaler in the library. I need to go get it, or I could have an attack, and—”

Ms. Bustier frowns. She glances down the hall at the supply room where the other students have gathered. “I can’t be in two places at once…”

“You don’t have to be!” Alya says, yanking Marinette by the arm. “Mari can take me to the library while you watch the class. Buddy system, right? We’ll be right back. Two minutes!”

Without another word, she and Marinette have left a mostly satisfied Ms. Bustier in the dust. They’re racing up the stairs to the library, but once they enter, Marinette is still looking around nervously, searching for a way out.

“Uh… Alya, I didn’t know you had asthma,” Marinette says.

“I don’t.” Alya puts her hands on Marinette’s shoulders. “Girl, I know you’re Ladybug.”

Marinette stares at her with wide eyes. “Me? Ladybug? N–No way!”

“You don’t need to hide it, Mari. I saw you transform a few days back,” Alya admits, looking away.

Marinette looks horrified. “Does anyone else know? Is it on the Ladyblog?” she whispers.

“What?! Of course not. I’d never! It’s your secret, and if you didn’t even tell me…” Alya looks up, taking a deep breath, “you must have a really good reason. I’d never spill your secrets, girl.”

“So... you’re okay?”

Alya smiles. “I am now. Totally.”

Marinette immediately crushes her best friend in a hug. “Al, you’re the best,” she says.

“Yeah, yeah. But I want the details later. All of them. Don’t leave out a single thing.”

“Wouldn’t think of it.” Marinette laughs.

Alya pulls out of the hug. “Now go get that akuma, girl!” she says, raising a fist in the air.

Marinette sets her eyes, determined. “All right. Tikki, transforme-moi!”

Alya watches in awe as something flies out from Marinette’s bag and into her earrings. With a blinding flash of light, her best friend has disappeared and Ladybug is in her place.

“Take care, Alya! You should stay in the library until the fight’s over,” Ladybug advises before she cracks open a window and leaps out into the street.

And as Marinette leaves, Alya realizes that they still have a lot to sort out. There’s the question of the Ladyblog, the creature that’s just flown into Marinette’s earring, and what this means for their friendship.

But she wouldn’t have it any other way.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fanfiction #mlfanfiction #ml fanfic #miraculous ladybug fanfic #alya césaire #marinette dupain-cheng #gen #my fics #meva writes

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renasrouge · 7 years ago

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A Student Seating Shipping Planning Session

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summary: in which miss bustier is a shipper who just wants her otp to be canon, and she’s willing to recruit her colleagues to do it.

word count: 1311

a/n: this is the first fanfic i wrote from over a year ago, so i figure it should be the first that i post on here too. just a warning, it’s not meant to be realistic, and the genre leans heavily toward crack. hope you enjoy!!

“Welcome to the first student seating planning session of the school year,” Miss Bustier announces cheerfully as the screen behind her illuminates in a full-screen presentation. “Let us begin!”

Ms. Mendeleiev and Mr. D'Argencourt stare back at her with blank faces. Miss Bustier guesses they’re a bit upset that she called them for a teacher meeting so early in the morning.

Mr. D’Argencourt slowly raises a hand. “Excuse me, but why am I here for this?”

“Essentially,” Ms. Bustier starts, “I know that all of us have been taking our student... pairings into strong consideration for a few months, and I know it's not necessarily in our job descriptions, but we need to talk about our students.”

Ms. Mendeleiev takes this pause as a cue to slam her fists on the table. “These teenagers have too many personal problems and absolutely no regard for lab safety. No respect for their educators! Just this last Wednesday, I found Alya Césaire blogging during my lecture. Blogging! Those uncultivated 21st century children... and don't even get me started on Alix and Kim, always betting in my class! Caline, you've had the same issues, correct?”

But Miss Bustier is already far gone, plotting ways to make DJWifi a reality.

“Caline!”

Miss Bustier snaps out of her reverie and realizes that she still needs to start the meeting. “Sorry. Yes. The shipping fates of our students are a matter to all of us, so I think we should start with the first topic. First, you two are strong student shippers, correct?”

Silence.

“I'm sorry, shippers?” Mr. D'Argencourt asks.

Miss Bustier gapes at her coworkers' ignorance. “People who ship.”

This time, Ms. Mendeleiev jumps in, continuing her rant from earlier. “Those pesky kids still have no regard for lab safety and listen to that sickening music during my class—”

Miss Bustier sighs, wondering why she even bothered with this. “Shipping. Ships. Pairing students.”

Mr. D'Argencourt strokes his mustache with the tip of his fencing epee (which he had brought to the meeting despite multiple glares of disapproval). There’s a pregnant pause as Miss Bustier waits for him to catch up.

"I still do not see... ”

As a last resort, Miss Bustier swipes the remote from the table. She absent-mindedly flips through the presentation slides, scrolling past the seating charts of every class in the school. She stops on one particular class with too many ships for its own good and draws a line with her finger, linking the yearbook photos of a sweet pigtailed girl and a blond boy with green eyes.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste,” she says. “This is a ship.”

The recognition on Ms. Mendeleiev and Mr. D'Argencourt's faces is instant.

“Those two!” Ms. Mendeleiev shrieks, and Miss Bustier swears that the dogs across the street start to bark at the sound. “Always late for everything and going to the bathroom just when I'm about to reach the climax of my lecture! The ungrateful hooligans—”

"My star fencing student!” Mr. D'Argencourt jumps at the same time. “And... some other girl.” He tilts his head so that it rests on the epee's handle. “They may make a good couple.”

Miss Bustier feels like crying tears of joy. At least the PE teacher isn't a lost cause.

“Yes, yes, Armand! Look, they're right here—”

Miss Bustier trips over her words as she flips through the rest of her slides, finding one that she snapped in literature class last week. Adrien is sitting in his usual seat, diligently scribbling at his desk. Behind him, Marinette is gazing longingly at the back of his head. While Miss Bustier supposes that she should have reprimanded Marinette for daydreaming in class, it was such a golden ship moment that she couldn't disturb the peace.

"This is Adrinette,” Miss Bustier explains. “Marinette has a hopeless crush on Adrien—the entire school can confirm it—and from this picture that I took from the courtyard window, he likes her back at least a little.

“This is Adrien writing some sort of letter—a confession letter, maybe?—in class on Valentine's Day, and this is Marinette falling onto him on the school's front steps. She's a little clumsy, but I think Adrien finds it endearing. My point is that it’s our responsibility as teachers to advance this ship to its full potential, and—”

Miss Bustier has Ms. Mendeleiev's interest now. “So, Caline, you're proposing that if we move around the seating so that Marinette and Adrien are together, Miss Dupain-Cheng will be motivated to come on-time to class to see Mr. Agreste? And my teaching will be interrupted less often?”

“Well, I guess that would be a bonus, but we should have them sit next to each other to let Adrien realize his feelings for Marinette and fulfill one of many ships in the class.”

There's silence once more.

“Many? So there are other... ships?” Mr. D'Argencourt twirls his epee in one hand, and Miss Bustier resists the urge to confiscate it.

Focus on the ships. Focus on the ships.

“Yes, of course. Let me draw them out.”

Miss Bustier flips back to the seating charts and begins to connect the pictures.

"Here, you have Alya and Nino, DJWifi. Alya manages the Ladyblog and Nino is an aspiring DJ and filmmaker—you can see how they would help each other out in the future and be a media-savvy power couple, and they both even wear glasses—”

Ms. Mendeleiev stares.

"—and over here there's Alix and Kim, who sit diagonal, or alternately Kim and Max, which is a pretty good ship too, except Kim apparently liked Chloé back in February, which we can hope he got over, since that would invalidate both of the possible ships, and then right behind them there's Juleka and Rose—also a bit of a problem since Rose has shown clear interest in Ali, but she’d better get over it because Julerose is so cute—and, oh, Mylène and Ivan sit way too far away in class—”

Mr. D'Argencourt slowly shifts away.

"—but right now the only good thing we've got going on the whole right side of the seating chart is that Nathanael is far, far away from society where he can impact the golden beauty that is Adrinette, and we have to make sure that he doesn't move up behind Marinette, or my secondary OTP will in sincere danger, and there's the problem of how to put Chloé farther from Adrien, and Ivan closer to Mylène, and Alya where she can actually talk to Nino, and Nathanael preferably even farther away from Marinette, and Sabrina who-knows-where—I mean, we could ship her with Max, but I'm not sure how they would interact considering the current seating—and just augh! We need a new seating chart to promote my ships! Now! I can’t do this anymore!”

Ms. Mendeleiev and Mr. D'Argencourt sit in silence, watching as Miss Bustier catches her breath.

“Caline…” Ms. Mendeleiev starts softly.

“Ladynoir!” Miss Bustier wails, dropping to her knees on the meeting room carpet. “My OTP! There hasn't been an akuma attack in weeks!”

By now, she's sobbing, and Ms. Mendeleiev cautiously places a hand on the literature teacher's shoulder.

"I'm—I’m facing separation anxiety,” Miss Bustier admits between cries. “I spent f—f—five hours sorting ships for my classes yesterday night! The Ladynoir fandom is inactive!”

"Is there... anything we can do to help?” Ms. Mendeleiev says hesitantly as Mr. D'Argencourt backs away.

"Thank you, Silvia, but I'll... I’ll be fine.”

Miss Bustier collects herself, swallowing her tears and climbing into a standing position. Mortified, she realizes that she’s just completely embarrassed herself in front of her colleagues. In one swift motion, Miss Bustier swings her purse over her shoulder and yanks her laptop from the projector monitor, striding away down the hallway as quickly as possible.

She supposes it's time to calm her nerves and read some more Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fanfiction #mlfanficion #ml fanfic #caline bustier #adrienette #ladynoir #my fics #meva writes

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