Chapter 1: Mystery Abs

Of all the things that could potentially happen in her life, the one thing Alya would not allow was the recent deterioration of her best friend's health. Over the past few months, Marinette had been late to class repeatedly, stumbling in well past the bell.

At first, she had assumed Marinette was simply catching up on sleep, but the telltale bags under her eyes told a different story. As Miss Bustier turned to write something on the classroom board, Alya took the opportunity to glance to her right where Marinette was seated, just starting to nod off in the middle of the lesson. Alya poked her shoulder gently, causing a startled Marinette to jump up, alert.

Nino, who had been glancing back, stifled a chuckle, causing Marinette to blush a deep shade of pink. Alya shot him a "shut it" look, in response to which he quickly turned around, valuing his life in the face of an angry Alya. Marinette silently mouthed "thanks" to her friend, sitting up a bit straighter as to not fall asleep again. Five minutes later, Marinette needed to be woken up again. Alya knew she needed to talk to her about this.

As the bell rang for lunch, Marinette groaned and lay her head down on the desk, looking up at her worried friend.

"Thanks for getting me through that." She sighed, "I've just been crazy busy recently."

"Yea, girl, we need to talk about that. What is going on with you?"

Marinette glanced forward, eyeing the two boys packing up their bags.

"I actually need to run home during lunch, can we talk later? Are you free this evening?"

"Yes! Perfect. I'll swing by your bakery and we can catch up on our work, eat some dessert, have some girl talk, eat more dessert…" Alya trailed off, as Marinette laughed.

"That sounds great! It's a date."

"What's a date?" Nino quickly turned, wriggling his eyebrows in Alya's direction.

"Not you, silly." Alya shot back, rolling her eyes as he made a comical pouting face. "Mari and I are just going to her bakery after school to eat her mom's famous almond cookies that you love soooo much."

"No fair! You know I can't resist Mrs. Chang's cookies. Mari, can we come too?" Nino quickly asked, roping his arm around a surprised Adrien, who had been silently listening to the conversation.

"Sorry, I'll need a raincheck, I have a shoot later for my dad's latest line." Adrien apologized, releasing himself from Nino's tight grip.

"Definitely next time!" Alya agreed, smiling warmly at him, to cover up for the starry-eyed look that Marinette got whenever Adrien opened his mouth. "And either way, this is a girl's only trip. You'll just have to hope your wonderful, kind, giving girlfriend can find the strength within herself to bring you some of those cookies later tonight."

"Will my wonderful, kind, giving girlfriend please bring me some cookies?" Nino asked, grasping her hands in a desperate plea.

"What do you think, Mari, should I bring him some cookies?" The question jolted Marinette out of her Adrien-induced coma.

"Of course you can have some cookies, Nino! I'll pack some in a to-go bag for Alya to take with her." Marinette agreed. Alya suddenly had a thought.

"Adrien, do you want Marinette to bring you anything? She's going home for lunch, and I think you're the type of man who knows a good croissant when you see one."

As if he had timed it, Adrien's stomach growled loudly, causing Nino to laugh raucously. Adrien ignored him and turned excitedly to Marinette, eyes as wide as saucers.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I would love a croissant! Hold on a sec, I have my wallet-"

"NO! I mean, yes! I mean, I'll bring you some, but don't worry about the cost. We always have a couple left at the end of the day, so.. so….It's no problem at all!" Marinette interjected, looking extremely proud of herself for getting through the sentence without major issue. Her face, however, was still reminiscent of a tomato. Adrien flashed her a smile that Marinette would argue could cue all ailments in France.

"I can't wait! You're the best, Marinette."

Alya could see Marinette's mind exploding at that point, so she quickly grabbed Mari's bag and hand, dragging her friend towards the door.

"Well, have a nice lunch, boys. We'll see you later!" Alya playfully kissed Nino on the cheek as they passed by, winked at Adrien, and pulled Marinette out the door of the classroom.

"So are you.." Marinette's delayed reply came, not realizing just quite yet that Adrien was no longer in front of her.

"Girl," Alya chuckled, releasing her friend's hand and shaking her shoulders to bring her back to reality, "You've got it BAD! Now run home, before lunch is over!" Marinette waved as she ran off in the direction of her parent's bakery, and Alya sat down on the steps of their school to eat her lunch.

Now that Marinette had left, Alya's thoughts wandered back to her friend and her recent issues with sleep and truancy. Those weren't the only changes Alya had noticed. She couldn't hide her impressed astonishment when she saw Marinette's newly toned abs, arms, legs, and basically everything else. Alya couldn't believe her tiny friend had buffed up so quickly. When she had asked about it, Marinette had nervously attributed her fitness to a new pilates class. Alya had done pilates before though, and she knew there was not a single class in Paris that could get her those abs.

Frustrated that she couldn't understand what was happening with Mari, Alya took a big bite of her sandwich, gulped it down, and settled in, looking up at the skyline. This was a habit she had formed ever since Ladybug and Chat Noir had made their debut, in hopes she'd see them soaring from building to building. She certainly wished she could help out Marinette. She wanted to be able to assist her friend, just like Ladybug helped the citizens of Paris. She had to get to the bottom of this.

Marinette was still trying to get her breathing under control when she heard a small, hushed voice coming from her purse.

"This is so exciting, Marinette! You did such a good job talking to Adrien!"

"Tikki! He wants me to bring him croissants! This is the best day ever!" Marinette squealed, earning her some concerned glances from onlookers who assumed she was talking to herself. Hardly containing her eagerness, she ultimately sprinted home, mentally preparing herself for the immense task of picking out the most perfect croissants in the bakery.

As the lunch break drew to a close, Marinette found herself carefully navigating her way back to school, arms full of stacked boxes brimming with freshly made croissants. What had started as finding one croissant for Adrien had turned into her not being able to pick and bringing three dozen instead. This decision, however, greatly reduced the distance she could see in front of her, as the boxes went up to her face. This led to an inability to see whoever grabbed the top box out of her arms when she nearly tripped on the stairs to the school.

"Need a hand, Marinette?" Adrien's distinctive voice carried over the boxes, and she turned to see that he had taken off the top box.

"What is all this?" He asked.

"Adrien! Uh, these are… the croissants?"

"Oh! Wow! All of these are croissants? This is incredible!" he complimented her. She blushed but maintained her composure as Adrien took another box out of her arms. Ever since Adrien had taken her to sneak into the movies while hiding from his fans, she had found it much easier to get out sentences in front of her dream boy.

"Thanks, Adrien," she said, happy for an excuse to say his name, just for the thrill of it.

"By the way, did you ever get a chance to see the rest of your mother's movie? We got interrupted last time at the theater…" she trailed off, realizing this may not be an easy topic for him.

"Oh, yeah, it was great!" he quickly replied, giving Marinette an instant sense of relief. "My dad actually watched it with me…it was really special spending some time with him." Adrien realized he had said a lot of personal information and reddened slightly. "Thanks again for that day, I'm really sorry you got tangled in all of that!"

"Yeah, it was fun! I was glad I ran into you. It's too bad the movie got cut short by that akuma."

"That was pretty scary," Adrien frowned momentarily, but then smiled, "but we should definitely make up for our missed movie another time! Would you want to see a mov-"

"Adrikiiiiiiiins!" Chloe, who had been standing nearby, interrupted him and ran up to take a box out of his hands, quickly opening it to peer in at the pastries. "Did you bring croissants just for me? How did you know I loooooove pastries almost as much as I love to see you?" she added, fluttering her eyelashes and drawing out her words, to the chagrin of Marinette.

"Oh, hey Chloe," Adrien responded, "Actually, Mari made these for me. You can have one if you want." He returned his gaze to Marinette who was still processing the fact that he had called her 'Mari'.

"Ugh, no thanks. I don't need pastries from her. I'll see you in class, Adrien." Chloe set the box back onto Adrien's stack, then directed a scathing look at Marinette before turning away and stomping off toward class. Adrien chuckled.

"Sorry about that, Marinette. Chloe can be… eccentric sometimes."

"No worries. That was actually pretty tame for her. I've been expecting much worse from her after the paparazzi called me your girl…friend…" Marinette trailed off, not meaning to have said the last part. The tomato hue of her face was quickly returning. Adrien kept looking forward but was also sporting a tint in his cheeks.

"Haha, yeah… I could see that bothering her…" he awkwardly chuckled.

"MARINETTE BROUGHT SNACKS!" Nino yelled suddenly from across the school yard, cutting off their conversation. Nino ran faster than Adrien had ever seen his friend run, just to reach the enticing boxes. Alya quickly followed. Mouth full of croissant already, Nino gave out a muffled moan of delight.

"Deesh ar tha besht, Marinat." Nino attempted to say, already picking out a second croissant. Alya glanced between the two, noticing their red faces. She smirked wickedly.

"What were you two talking about?" She asked, covering up her intentions with a feigned curiosity.

"Alya!" Marinette whispered sharply, but Adrien, as usual, kept calm.

"Oh! I was just saying that we needed to go back to the movies since the last one we saw was interrupted by that akuma attack the other day!" he recalled brightly.

Alya couldn't help but smile. It would be all too easy.

"Well, are you two free this weekend? Nino and I were going to see that new superhero movie that just came out, you should come with us!" Alya offered.

"Wait, we had plans to see-OoF!" Nino was quickly cut off with a swift elbow to the ribs.

"We were going to get dinner on Saturday at 6 and then see the movie afterwards. You two in?" Alya prompted with a smile, first looking at Adrien.

"I'll have to ask my dad, but I think I actually might be free! I don't have work this weekend!" Adrien exclaimed, unaware of the puppeteer Alya at work. Marinette on the other hand, was not so easily fooled.

"Are you sure you two want us tagging along?" she asked.

"DEFINITELY. ABSOLUTELY. So we're set? Perfect! I'll text you guys the details later tonight."

Marinette sighed. She loved Alya, and she was very excited for the chance to see another movie with Adrien, but her obvious attempts at makeshift double dates were starting to rub Marinette the wrong way. It would only be a matter of time before Adrien realized what Alya's intentions were for them. Then again, the whole-hearted excitement in Adrien's expression quickly dismissed any grievances Marinette could ever have for her meddling best friend. The weekend, it seemed, would be a good one.

Notes:

Hello! I hope this story makes you smile. I want a ML universe where Adrien and Marinette aren't entirely oblivious to similarities between their identities as superheroes vs civilians. I adore Miraculous Ladybug and the stories written by fans. My take on a pre-and post-identity reveal, canon-compliant story that avoids things I don't like in fanfiction, such as overly dramatic storylines, using the word "orbs" for eyes, and Mari and Adrien being oblivious.
Updates will likely be slow, as I am a graduate student. Hopefully, this speaks well for my writing though? Eh, I try.