Summary: Alya and Nino direct a class play for the spring festival, and the roles are announced by lottery. Everyone is shocked with the outcome, and circumstances push Marinette and Adrien together during the following weeks of rehearsals.

Word count: 1K+

Oh my gosh hi there! This is my first ML fic, and I'm planning on continuing it if people like it! I'm trash when it comes to the two person love square so there will be tons of ladynoir down the road with this one.

I got this idea from two places: first from an episode of Cardcaptor Sakura when the class assigns roles for their play by lottery, and secondly from a post by unlucky fortunes on tumblr, who had a bunch of head canons about ML, and one of them happened to be having Marinette and Adrien learning to sing and dance and such. So thank you so much for the idea! ^^

Okay, enjoy~

"Settle down everyone," the homeroom teacher announced, raising her voice over the chattering students. "As you know, your classmates Alya and Nino have been working on this year's production for the spring festival! They've finished the script, and now we'd like to hold a lottery for the roles."

Marinette glanced at her best friend, who was beaming with pride as she got up from her seat and approached the teacher's desk. Nino, a row below, followed Alya. Adrien smiled at him before swiveling in his seat to look up at Marinette.

The designer was still hopelessly in love with the blonde haired boy, but over the past months her social skills with him had improved. She was tentatively using the term "friend" with him now, but of course she was hoping for so much more in the future.

"Did you get any information out of Alya?" Adrien asked, his green eyes bright with curiosity. Marinette shook her head and sighed.

"Nothing! She was really adamant about keeping the play's script a secret!"

"Same with Nino," he muttered. The teacher cleared her throat to gather the attention of the students again, and Adrien winked at Marinette before turning back around.

Her face felt hot as Marinette blinked rapidly, trying her best to return her attention back to Nino and Alya. She could feel Tikki giggling in the purse beside her hip.

"Hi everyone!" Alya greeted. "So, as the directors of our class's spring play, Nino and I have been working really hard on the script! We're proud to say that it's complete, and we'd like to reveal the theme to you!"

Excited looks were exchanged amongst the students as Nino approached the whiteboard and started to write out the title of the play.

Marinette froze in her seat, her eyes widening.

The Adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir: The Musical.

"We decided to dramatize the story of Ladybug and Chat Noir, since they're local and they've helped us out a bunch," Nino explained to the class. "Who knows? Maybe they'll even show up to our play!"

Marinette could feel a headache forming. Of course! She thought. Of course, with Alya involved this was bound to happen!

She did not feel comfortable at all with her class putting on a musical about herself, but Marinette would just have to roll with it here. She would probably just help out backstage, anyways. She was in no way an actress or a singer.

Adrien glanced back at her again, and he looked shocked and a little uneasy. Maybe he thought the play's theme was a bad idea, too. She mustered up a grin at her crush and shrugged her shoulders.

"Now, we're going to get on the topic of roles," Nino explained. Chloe's hand shot up like a firecracker.

"I'll be playing Ladybug," she stated instantly. Alya rolled her eyes and groaned.

"No… it doesn't work like that, Chloe," she explained. "We want everyone to have an equal shot at getting a part, so we decided to make it a lottery."

Chloe started to protest, but was cut short by the teacher. Marinette could hear her grumbling under her breath about calling her father, but she was otherwise ignored as her classmates perked up at the idea of a lottery.

"We have this hat here, and we've placed everyone's name into it," Alya announced. "We're going to draw names from that hat to decide on the roles. Now, there are more students than roles, so a lot of people will have to help backstage during the show instead."

With that, Nino wrote down the list of roles on the board. The two obvious ones – Ladybug and Chat Noir – were placed at the top followed by a list of villains the duo had faced in the past.

"Alright, so first we are going to draw for the role of Ladybug!" Alya exclaimed happily. The class fell deathly still, watching with bated breath as she reached into the hat and fumbled for a slip of paper. Marinette could see Chloe crossing her fingers behind her back.

This is so weird… Marinette thought to herself, fidgeting in her seat uncomfortably. I mean… one of my classmates is going to be playing me? I wonder if I should give them pointers…? Wait, no, that's stupid, they don't know I'm even Ladybug… huh… I guess I'll just design the costume. I'll have to get the measurements of whatever girl it's going to be!

"And our Ladybug is…" Alya paused, her eyes widening as she held up the slip of paper. She froze up and glanced at Nino in panic.

"Alya?" He approached her and stared down at the piece of paper. "Oh boy…"

"I… I didn't think this through, did I?" Alya groaned.

"Should we put it back and draw again?"

"N-no way! It shouldn't – it doesn't matter if – I'm not going to resort to gender norms! We have to be progressive!"

"Alya…"

At this point the two directors were huddled together, their backs to the class but their whispers loud enough for everyone to hear. Finally, the duo turned back around, grinning uncomfortably.

"Okay, guys!" Alya laughed nervously. "We've run into an unexpected scenario but we're going to plow right on ahead…! Our class's Ladybug is… is… Adrien Agreste!"

The class gasped in shock, and Marinette's head whipped up at the sound of her crush's name.

No way…

Adrien sat unmoving, his eyes wide. "What?"

Alya looked at Adrien, her eyes pleading with him to accept the role. Nino laughed behind his hand, trying to keep his composure. Their classmates all stared at Adrien, some laughing as well, and others looking completely horrified as they tried to imagine their blonde haired classmate dressed up in a skin tight red and black jumpsuit.

"You're okay with it, right?" Alya asked the model. "Look, the rule was that whoever gets picked out of the hat has to accept the role! Please… do it for the class, Adrien!"

"… Alright then," Adrien responded slowly, his cheeks flaming red. He nodded. "Sure, I'll do it. It'll be… fun."

The class shifted uncomfortably.

"Oh my god I don't know how to feel about this," Chloe muttered.

"Uhh… so I guess it's a genderbender musical now…?" Juleka asked tentatively.

"Adrien… In red tights…" Kim voiced in disbelief.

"Okay okay okay okay!" Alya interjected quickly, waving her arms around in a hurry and holding up the hat. "This will be great! We are taking a new spin on things! I, personally, am warming up to the idea!" She stuck her hand in the hat and started to fumble around for another slip. "And now, we will announce our Chat Noir! Get excited everyone, because it's…"

…

…

…

"It's…"

…

…

…

"Mariette Dupain-Cheng…"

All eyes turned in her direction.

She blinked, focusing in on a pair of green eyes in front of her in particular. The edges of her vision started to go dark.

I'm… playing Chat Noir…?

"Alya… I think I'm going to faint…"

And she did.