#ml-network

Landing smoothly onto her balcony, Marinette released her transformation. Another patrol complete, another night Paris would be safe. However, superhero or not, her alter-ego’s physical exertion was always felt the next day. And tonight’s escapades would be no exception.

Marinette watched Tikki flutter over to her bed on the desk as she collapsed onto her own bed. Massaging the back of her neck, Marinette glanced over ruefully at her unfinished gowns. Actually, at all her unfinished projects which had begun piling up on her desk. Even with so many years of building up her portfolio, now that it was time to apply for summer internships and universities, Marinette had to come up with designs, and then sit and make them. Hours of sketching fashion lines for all ages, seasons, and genders and then making them had slowly zapped all her energy.

Worse, she had been personally invited to go for an interview with the Gabriel Agreste Label. She had so much to do, and this was just a cherry on top of a failing cake. Running her hands tiredly through her hair Marinette pushed herself to her desk, languidly flicking on the desk light as she designed another dress. One good thing of being a designer meant that she could design her clothes and actually wear them, including prom — an event that Marinette had actually tried to get out of if it hadn’t been for Alya forcing her to come.

Even she had to admit, designing the gorgeous, deep green dress had been fun, until that night. Hawkmoth had doubled his efforts to get her and Chat Noir’s miraculouses — there was an akuma attack nearly everyday. So she and Chat Noir had been hopping around everywhere to get rid of the them. Unfortunately, Alya had been able to catch the both of them before they left the scene of the crime and invited her and Chat to their school Prom.

The same prom that she was going to attend as Marinette Dupain-Cheng

While she and Chat were quite close, usually discussing all ideas together before agreeing to any social event, Marinette had been astonished to watch Chat agree on both her behalf and his own without even consulting her. It was only the beeping of her earrings that spared the cat-hero from a scolding he very much deserved.

Alya had been planning this prom for months, nearly one year since they had entered their last year at Lycée and Marinette hadn’t been able to stop the dedicated journalist and blogger. Somehow, she’d convinced Marinette to sign up for design care of the hall where prom would take place. Furthermore, she’d somehow convinced student council that a Ladybug and Chat Noir themed Prom would be completely acceptable.

Any other event, Marinette would have been glad to attend as Ladybug alongside Chat Noir, however here she would have to switch between herself and Ladybug. As she ran her hand alongside the mannequin with her green prom dress, Marinette’s eyes slowly widened; this dress was going to be an homage to her partner, a thanks to his help over the years, however now she couldn’t wear that.

If he knew that his ‘princess’ was wearing a dress for him, Marinette wouldn’t be able to live it down. Sighing, she shook her head since she would have to start turning another design into a dress. Flipping through her design book, Marinette opened up to her idea for Alya’s dress, a beautiful, rich-purple ball gown that would go extremely well with the other girl’s complexion. Stepping away from her desk, Marinette glared sleepily at her room, trying to resist the urge to collapse into her bed.

Luckily, Marinette had another dress designed for another event, but with some tweaking she could make it for prom. Grabbing her sewing needle, she got to work, knowing that even if she wanted to, sleep wasn’t going to come easy tonight as her thoughts were much too jumbled to let her fall asleep. As she deftly stitched the gown’s soft material together, fingers familiar with every motion, though her mind was far from this dress.

Instead, she let her tired mind travel to the previous day, where she had broken down on Alya. The stress of her last year, preparing for university exams, internship interviews, helping with prom management, and of course being Ladybug was taking a large toll on her.

Her original plan was to not attend at all, but eventually the plan became for her to attend the dance alone, hang out for a couple hours before heading home and string some well-earned rest. However, Alya had other ideas —  Alya had been ribbing at her to ask Adrien to Prom, an idea that she wanted to agree with but was too terrified to follow through with.

While she had become quite good friends with Adrien over the years, she was still sometimes awkward around him and stumbled slightly when speaking to him.

“What if he says no Alya? What if he thinks I’m creepy!? What if he hates me? We won’t get married and have three kids ... I don’t, I can’t.” Marinette remembered running her hands through her hair nervously as she struggled to hold back tears while panicking, “I don’t think I’d survive if he hated me Alya ... it’s best if I just say nothing.”

She had to admit that a highlight of the weeks running up to prom was the wonderful promposal by Nino to Alya; Alya had really been surprised to hear Nino’s voice over the school’s PA asking her to Prom. Marinette hadn’t been able to stop smiling for most of the day.

Marinette had, in fact, been asked by Nathanael to go to prom, however she had to refuse. Unlike all the other girls attending prom, she wasn’t just Marinette. Ladybug had to show up as well, and Marinette did not want to abandon Nathanael, or any other date, constantly through the night to become her alter-ego. Luckily, Nathanael had, for some reason, expected her rejection as he wasn't offended, more relieved. In fact, to Marinette's surprise, he went on to ask one of the girls who he'd been friends with in their art class.

—

The night of prom finally arrived, and like all the other teens attending prom, Marinette and Alya were doing each other’s hair and makeup before wearing the gowns Marinette made. Stepping away from her friend, Marinette sighed happily before saying, “Alya, you look gorgeous. I can’t believe how beautiful the dress is on you, and your hair!” She giggled behind her hand at the exaggerated modelling Alya did at her compliments.

Alya, in turn, replied with her own compliments, “Marinette, girl, you’re the beautiful one here. Heads are gonna turn when you enter the building.” Marinette couldn’t help but blush, her face a bright red though she had to laugh at Alya’s exaggerated praises. Hearing the telltale ‘ding’ of her phone, Marinette saw Nino’s text to bring Alya outside.

Nino had been saving up for a while to rent a limo for the night and had enlisted Marinette in hiding this from Alya and helping to surprise her. Grabbing Alya’s purse, Marinette pushed it and Alya out of her room, “Okay time to go, your ride is here.” Ignoring the confused replies she got, Marinette just shut the door.

She glanced out of the window when she heard Alya’s shriek, and was glad to see her best friends so happy.

Grabbing her own clutch, she placed her things along with a few cookies before calling for Tikki. Her kwami smiled at her, bringing a bright grin onto Marinette’s face, which only grew at Tikki’s words, “Marinette you're beautiful. Your dress is gorgeous, as usual.”

Blushing, Marinette held her purse for Tikki before leaving her room. She had asked her mother to drop her at the hall they had booked for Prom.

However, her slow entrance down the stairs - heels were hard - was not what she expected. Her parents weren’t alone in the lounge, instead the-one-and-only Adrien Agreste was standing in her house! Freezing, she blushed heavily when she saw him there, before attempting to stutter out a question.

“Ehh Ad-drien! Adr-rien? Adrien.” Her face could not be more red, “W-what are you doing here? I mean not that you can’t be here, I just ... why?”

She laughed nervously at the bright smiles on her parents’ faces, and the semi-awkward smile on Adrien’s face. Turning to her parents when Adrien didn’t reply, she was greeted with identical mischievous grins and warily waited for one of them to speak.

“Well Marinette, I know your mother said she’d drive you to prom,” her father began speaking, but was quickly replaced by her mother, “Well, Adrien instead asked if he could at the least drive you to prom.”

She turned quickly to stare confusedly at the boy, and was surprised to see a small blush on his face. Shaking her head, she sighed when she saw that it was close to time for prom to begin. She couldn’t just say no, but the idea that she’d ride in the same vehicle as Adrien was terrifying.

She could barely look at Adrien or she'd stutter something she'd regret or blush even more. The photo her parents took felt even more awkward as she was quite stiff in Adrien’s arm.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to draw in some of her Ladybug confidence, and walked towards the door. She turned briefly to see Adrien following behind her. When she stepped out and saw Adrien’s limo she blushed but kept her head up.

Just as she went to open the door herself, she felt a hand on her back stopping her motion. Turning around, Marinette was confused to see Adrien reaching around her to pull the door open himself. For a few seconds she was only a few centimeters from his lips causing Marinette to keep blushing. She could see every little bit of his face, from the bright green eyes framed by smooth skin to the slight smile-smirk on his lips. But as she looked closer, she could see the tiredness in his eyes and felt her own face soften. He was just as tired as her, though not for the same reasons, yet he had still taken the time to pick her up.

Sliding onto the seat, Marinette smiled as Adrien sat down and asked his chauffeur to drive them to Prom. When he awkwardly cleared his throat, Marinette turned her head away from the view outside the window to face him.

“Marinette, I’m so sorry I randomly showed up at your house. I know this wasn’t your plan but I didn’t really have a choice.”

Marinette went to interrupt him, saying it wasn’t a big deal, but he just held a hand up pausing her words.

“No let me finish. About ... a month ago? When promposals really started coming out, I got asked quite a bit...” he trailed off scratching his now bright red cheek. “Most of them were from people I didn’t really know, so I just said that I already had someone I was going with someone. Most of the girls backed off.”

Marinette watched him sigh, his shoulders slumping tiredly, and stretched over, placing her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay if you don’t want to continue or something,” her smile was genuine, reaching up to her eyes, “I’m happy to go with you.”

Adrien seemed to look a bit happier, but he shook his head as he continued speaking, “No I better explain. While most of the girls accepted this as a reply, Chloe didn’t.”

Marinette snorted, no surprise there.

Chuckling, Adrien nodded at that. Chloe rarely accepted what another person said. “She demanded I tell her who, and I couldn’t convince her otherwise. I ended up blurting your name out.” He looked ashamed at that, and Marinette couldn’t help but pat his shoulder in understanding.

Marinette would have to have been a saint to say she wasn’t hurt that he hadn’t thought of asking her originally, but what really annoyed her was that she now had to thank Chloe for this. Focussing back onto Adrien speaking, she heard what seemed to be the ending of an apology.

“I’m sorry for doing that without your permission. Worse I didn’t talk about it at all did I?” He looked sheepish at that confession, “Actually, I heard you tell Alya that you didn’t want to go with anyone to prom. Truthfully, I was going to ask you to prom anyway.”

The last bit was said so quietly that Marinette had to strain to hear what he said, and the accompanying blush on his face had Marinette smile softly, while turning red herself. She coughed awkwardly herself, before replying, “I’m sorry. I didn’t really plan on going to prom anyway, but Alya kind of forced me. ” Picking up some of her courage before, Marinette placed her hand on Adrien’s hand, squeezing lightly, before continuing speaking, “I think it’s sweet that you still came. So I guess, I can go in with you.” Her smile had turned into a slight smirk.

By this point, both of them were red, and they had finally arrived at Prom. Walking inside on Adrien’s arm wasn’t something she could hide. Everyone, including Alya and Chloe, zeroed in on them entering together. Keeping her nervousness to herself, Marinette held her head high and ignored Chloe’s grinding teeth. She couldn’t avoid Alya’s excited giggles, or Nino’s appraising stares. Marinette could feel Adrien’s hand on her waist and tried to use it as a grounder to everything that had happened.

She wasn’t comfortable with all the attention, and quickly pulled Adrien over to Alya and Nino. As she was sitting down, Marinette nearly fell over at the sudden attack from Alya. She had to force down the instincts honed through years of fighting Akumas. Grasping onto Alya’s arms Marinette tried to follow the excited babble pouring out of her best friend’s mouth but wasn’t able to comprehend much. Looking to Nino for rescue was no help since he was interrogating Adrien.

Breathing deeply through her nose, Marinette resigned herself to spending the next few minutes explaining everything, though she herself was still confused. Except, like usual as she was speaking she became more excited and spent the rest of the conversation giggling with Alya about everything, blushing at her friend’s more daring comments, and looking everywhere but Adrien’s inquisitive stares.

After a good while, Alya stood up from the table, hugged Marinette before excusing herself. As the head of prom committee she had to go make a couple announcements. Marinette sipped from her cup of water as she watched Alya easily take control of the room, feeling pride for her friend who’d truly grown over the years. It was only when Alya mentioned that there was going to be a few guests that Marinette had to resist the sudden urge to spit out her drink.

Ladybug and Chat Noir had to show up.

And she now had a partner for prom whom she couldn’t just abandon constantly. She turned in her seat to let Adrien know that she was stepping out for a second, but was surprised to see an empty seat. Apparently seeing her confusion, Nino answered her unspoken question, “He just went to the washroom a few minutes ago. Something about his hair... I don’t know he’s a model?” He shrugged.

Marinette nodded, secretly relieved, and watched Alya wrap up her announcements and make her way back to the table. When she sat down, Marinette waited a few seconds, surprised that Adrien had yet to return, but excused herself to washroom as well.

Slipping into one of the stalls in the washroom, Marinette opened up her clutch to let Tikki fly out. Groaning, she fiddled with the pearls around her neck, worrying her lip between her teeth. “Tikki what if everyone figures it out? I mean, Ladybug will never be in the same room as Marinette ... they’re bound to pick up something in such a small room.”

She watched as Tikki fluttered down to her clenched fists, laying one of her hands on Marinette’s, “Marinette you have nothing to worry about. The powers of the suit mean that no one will ever connect the dots. Remember Timekeeper? There was two of you so no one should identify you as you. So take a deep breath.”

Marinette nodded at her before calling out the familiar phrase and transformed into Ladybug. Even though it had been years since she first started it was still fun to watch her clothes turn into bright red spandex and feel a smooth mask form on her face.

When the change was complete, Ladybug stepped out of the stall, careful that there were no other people in the washroom. When she pushed the door open to leave the restroom, Ladybug was quite surprised to see Chat Noir also standing a bit in front of the men’s washroom.

If she was surprised that Chat had also shown up the same way she had, Ladybug’s face didn’t show it. Instead, there was a slight smirk on her face as she sneaked up beside him. Except, it looked like the ears on his suit really did work as he turned around with his own smirk.

“Good evening m’lady,” his deep bow was as ostentatious as usual, bringing out smiles from Ladybug. She laughed when he continued pouring out compliments, “you look pawsitevly purrrfect tonight. The moon has nothing on your radiance.” They weren't new phrases, yet a small part of Ladybug felt shy and happy to hear them. Truly, if her heart hadn't already been taken she would have easily fallen for Chat.

Shaking her head, she greeted the wayward cat hero before walking into the hall, “Hello yourself Chat. Shall we go say something before mingling?” When she heard his acquiescence she walked towards Alya and Nino. Ladybug was surprised to see that Adrien hadn't returned and a large part of her wanted to ask why, but she knew that Ladybug couldn't show any specific interest in a citizen like that.

She smiled when Alya squealed softly at them, and Nino gasped in surprise. Pointing a hand towards Chat she spoke, “Hello Alya,” she looked around to pretend that she hadn't help decorate the room, “it looks beautiful! You've all done a great job. Chat and I are glad to come here and say ‘Hi’ to everyone.”

She stepped back to allow Chat to say his part. As he spoke, she scanned the guests, smiling at anyone who caught her eye. She tried to remain impartial and even attempted to smile at Chloe and Sabrina. Placing a hand on Chat’s upper arm to get his attention, she nodded at her friends as farewell before walking towards another group of people.

For the next ten minutes, Ladybug used all her patience to deal with awestruck teens, her own friends who in general were quite calm, and and of course Chloe. She’d seen Lila in the corner glaring at her, but hoped that she wouldn't cause any problem. It was a weird feeling for Ladybug to act like she didn't know the people whom she'd grown up with.

But having Chat alongside her made everything a little bit easier. He was a pun-loving flirtatious superhero, but he was her rock. A best friend who knew the side that no one else knew. But even more, he knew both sides of her well. She had noticed that over the years, Chat would joke and flirt with many women, but his attention seemed to focus mostly on herself, and Marinette.

However, it wasn't as if Ladybug and Marinette didn't enjoy spending time with Chat. Ladybug would be the last to admit this, but she enjoyed spending hours with him patrolling Paris, fighting Akuma, and bringing lost or scared victims home. And then, Chat would visit her at home. Sometimes he’d only stay for a few minutes, sometimes he’d tease Marinette for quite a few hours. But no matter Ladybug or Marinette’s reactions, she adored him.

Being so comfortable around Chat, it was a surprise that she never recognized his other form. Nor did Ladybug notice that currently he had left her side, ‘till Adrien himself had shown up beside her. He stood in the same spot that Chat always did — to the right and back of her, so that he would be able to leap around her easy to protect her front, but also protect her back. It was a bit jarring, but she swallowed quickly, and stepped to the side in order to include Adrien into the conversation.

It had taken some time, but after talking to Chat about the person she liked making her nervous, Ladybug was able to finally control herself around Adrien, though Marinette had only improved a little.

Smiling, she placed a hand on her hip as she spoke, “Hello Adrien. You look quite dash-” she stopped speaking when her eyes landed on his hair. In order to look like she hadn't yet seen him that night, Ladybug had scanned him from his shoes up, appreciating the form-fitting suit. However as her eyes landed on his hair, where his hand had been ruffling it, Ladybug froze. It was a habit he'd only recently picked up from photoshoots, but what she hadn't registered that Chat had been doing the same thing as well.

She coughed into her fist to cover up the awkward moment, and then proceeded to robotically continue the conversation. Internally Ladybug was assessing every moment she had ever had with Chat Noir and Adrien Agreste.

They'd both appeared at the same time, both were kind and caring, and if Nino was correct, had a crush on Ladybug. And while Chat’s hair was messier, it was still the same colour. Furthermore, they both had rocky relationships with their family. More and more was adding up, including the timing of Chat’s appearances alongside Adrien’s disappearances.

She could see Adrien’s worried looks, and tried to brush it off. Smiling weakly, she broached some safe topics, her mind still not fully there. “How are you this evening? How is school? Have you decided anything for after school?” Ladybug had to admit that she was curious as Adrien had said nothing to any of them of his plans.

He just chuckled before replying, “Hello Ladybug. I'm fine, thank you, yourself? I have decided what I want to do, I'm just waiting on replies from a few places.” Adrien's smirk was so identical to Chat’s that she had to withhold a gasp. “I'm keeping it a secret, from everyone till I know for sure.” Her smile in reply was shaky at best.

Eventually she excused herself from the conversation, and ran to the washroom. Pulling the stall door close behind her, Ladybug released the transformation and stared horrified at Tikki. “He can't be, Tikki! Of all people! There's no way that silly cat is Adrien!” Even though her kwami tried to calm her down, and see if there was no proof otherwise, Marinette was freaking out. Finally, Tikki came up with an idea that Marinette was able to accept. As Marinette, she would interact with Chat Noir, and see if she could find Adrien in him.

Slipping out of the washroom, Marinette quickly located her friends at their table and made her way over making excuses for her absence. She still didn't see Adrien, making her heart clench. It wouldn't be a bad thing if they truly were the same people, in fact if it was true she'd be most relieved. But that also meant Ladybug had been rejecting Chat’s advances for his civilian self. And she had kissed him! Her face turned red, prompting Alya to tease her again about entering with Adrien, and both of their convenient disappearances.

Lucky or not, it was Chat who came and saved her. He grabbed her hand on the table, calling out to her surprised friends, “Sorry, I'm borrowing her for a little while!” Marinette wasn't expecting to be pulled out of her chair, and stumbled into Chat’s chest. Her blush increased, before she pushed herself away. “H-hi Chat. W-what d-does,” she cleared her throat, “I mean, what did you want?” Her voice squeaked at the end, her behaviour very uncharacteristic around Chat Noir.

She could see confusion blossoming in his eyes, and shook herself straight. Regardless of who he was under his mask, Chat Noir was one of her closest friends and she was damned if she treated him strangely. When he tugged her to the dance floor, Marinette was going to resist at first, but decided to go with the flow. When he leaned closer to her, pressing their foreheads together she smiled at the familiar motion — he had done that many times at her house when he thought Marinette was feeling down. Chat had explained that Marinette's emotions were prevalent in her eyes, thus he stared at them.

“I’m fine Chat. Just thinking,” she smiled softly, trying to see if she could find Adrien in her best friend. Then she saw it, a worried look melting into a brilliant smile Marinette had only seen on Adrien's face before it changed into Chat’s usual smirk.

He grinned at her before leaning back and bowing deeply, “Well then. How about I distract you with a dance? Princess.” With that line, he began twirling her around the room. Boisterous he may be, but yet, skilled in dance and extremely coordinated. Slowly, the tenseness in her body withered away as she danced.

Finally, the song ended and he spun them towards one of the corners of the room. Bowing again to her, Marinette watched him disappear into the throng of people, her eyes losing track of him. She was almost certain that he was indeed Adrien. Their smile, kindness, laugh, and smoothness were much too alike.

Hiding in the alcoves, not just from Alya and Nino’s guaranteed nosy questions, but also ‘till she could find Adrien. There was only one thing left for her to do. When the person of her interest finally appeared, Marinette stalked forward.