Hello everyone! Did you miss me? ;)

Chapter Nine - Thankyou... Kitty.

Marinette's POV

Alya stood with Miss Bustier at the front of the class, looking super ecstatic for a reason unknown to me.

"Hey, Marinette," Adrien whispered, turning around to look at me.

My heart lifted itself up. "Yes?"

"Why's Alya up there?" he asked like a kid.

"I'm not sure, hey I think we're about to find out."

"Class, as you all know, Alya excels in the field of writing. She has tried very hard to make this happen: we will be producing our very own school play."

The class produced various noises; cheers, 'ooh's' and 'eww's'.

"Now Alya, please explain your play," Miss laughed, sitting on her desk.

"Sure!" Alya hopped forward, charismatic as always. "I wrote this play on Ladybug and Cat Noir! It'll be great! It's my take on how they got superpowers, and it's also a little bit about their budding romance!" she explained. "So we'll start casting right now!"

Nope. No. I didn't want there to be even a possibility of her casting me as Ladybug. If she did, I'd be recogised as soon as I got on stage.

Rose piped up. "I think we could have Marinette as Lady-"

"Oh please, I think we all know I'd make a perfect Ladybug," Chloe yawned, examining her nails.

I nodded. "Totally! Not me! I'd make a terrible Ladybug!" I tried covering my face a little, paranoid that someone might recognise me as Ladybug.

"I think you should, Marinette." Adrien smiled at me encouragingly.

"Yeah, totally!" Kim agreed.

Alya started to write on her clipboard. "Mm-hmm, I think we have our Ladybu-"

"Wait!" I stood up and went to the front. "Guys, I just had a brilliant idea! Alya, if it's cool with you, how about we do a sort of... gender bent production!"

Alya cocked a brow.

"Think about it... A male Ladybug and a female Cat Noir! That'd be really original and I'm sure people would find it super innovative too!"

Alya started to nod. "That is... an awesome idea! What do you think guys?" she asked the class.

Cheering from all corners of the room except for Chloe's noises of disgust. "In that case... Marinette, you'll be Cat Noir."

There was no way of getting out of that one, but at least I wasn't going to be Ladybug.

So, after an hour of planning, it turned out that I was Cat Noir and Adrien was Ladybug. Of course Alya would do that for me. Nino was doing lighting and music, Juleka with the make up, Nathan with the props and backdrop, and the others as various supporting roles in the play. Oh, and I was also stuck with making the costumes for Adrien and I.

I arrived home with a bunch of new material I bought from the craft store. Rehearsals started tomorrow so I would start making the costumes today.

"Wow, you've got a lot to do!" Tikki squeaked, flying around and playing with my hair.

"Tell me about it." I started to make my costume, but stopped in my tracks when I realised, "Tikki! I know what Ladybug's costume looks like, I see it all the time and I have reference whenever I need it... but what about Cat Noir's costume?"

"What are you going to do now?" Tikki asked.

"Wait for the next akuma attack."

And the next akuma attack wasn't long after that. After Cat and I had defeated Hawkmoth's newest villain, I asked him about the costume.

"Well, I gotta go, Mi'lady-"

"Wait, Cat!"

"Yes? Have you finally come to your senses and you've realised you wanna kiss?" He was already pulling me towards him as he spoke.

I pinched his nose and pushed him away. "No! The school's doing a play about the two of us, and this girl Marinette asked me to help her and she used me as reference for a costume. She asked if you could do the same for her."

Cat winced and rubbed his nose. "Well yeah sure. What time did she say?" he asked in a nasal voice.

"She said ASAP. So just feed Plagg and make your way over to her's."

"Okay. Well, don't get jealous of me going to her house, kay?"

"Trust me, I won't."

Adrien/Cat Noir's POV

Once I had charged up my Miraculous, I bounded over to Marinette's place, where she was waiting patiently at her terrace. "Great! You made it!" she greeted.

"Hey. So how long is this gonna take?" I asked, kind of hoping she'd say a long time.

"I'm not sure but I'll try and work quickly. So first I need to take some measurements, you know, for the proportions of that crazy costume of yours." She gestured for me to follow her down the ladder and into her room.

"Stand there, like this, and stay there..." she murmured as she positioned me in the middle of her room. "Now let me just get my tape measure..."

While she rummaged through her craft supplies, I looked around her room and-

"Hey is that... a picture of that model dude? Adrien Agreste?" I asked, suddenly noticing the picture of me above her monitor.

Marinette bumped her head on the desk as she got up. "What?! Oh! How did that get there?..."

"So you didn't put it there..." I cocked an eyebrow. I could've sworn I saw her blushing.

"Nope, I babysit this kid, and she has all sorts of magazines. Sometimes when I'm not looking she sticks random pages on my wall, so..." She returned to me with the tape measure.

"What d'you think of him, the Agreste kid?" I asked mischieviously.

"Huh? Oh, he's very nice." She cleared her throat. "Lift your arms please."

"Right."

She wrapped the tape measure around my torso causing me to writhe and laugh uncontrollably. "N-no st-stop it – hah ha ha – it ticklesss – ha ha haha!"

Marinette giggled. "You're really ticklish, huh."

"Ye-yes – s-so please – hah haa haha – hurry!" I felt my tail wagging and my ears twitching wildly.

"Okay! Alright, done," she laughed while I regained my breath.

"Pheww... Never do that again..." I breathed.

As she measured the rest of me, her hands occasionally brushed against my arms, making me sort of... excited. It was difficult to keep my tail from swishing so much, especially when she measured how long my tail was.

After the measurements, she found materials and colors to suit my costume. "Okay... I'm finished. Thanks for your help Cat."

"O-oh... are you sure I should leave? I heard you're playing me... maybe I could give you a few pointers about how to do that. I mean, it's pretty hard to be someone as awesome as me."

Marinette sighed. "Fine, what're your tips?"

"Well, you gotta be cool and collected-"

Marinette burst out with laughter. "Oh please! I think all I need to play you is to spout puns everywhere and try to impress Ladybug," she teased.

"Welp, that sounds about right – hey..." I looked at Marinette's desk. A withered flower was placed in between the Cat and Adrien dolls. "Is that the flower I gave you like two weeks ago?" I asked.

"Yep, I just kept it there... don't know why." She looked at the flower endearingly. "It was a nice gesture."

"Even though I took the flower from your flower pot and gave it back to you?" I laughed.

"Yep."

My ring started bleeping.

"Oh. Well I guess you have to go."

"Yeah. See you. Good luck with your play little lady."

"Thanks! Well now I know my character is super weak to tickling."

"Shut up..." I saluted and hopped up to the terrace. "See ya."

Whenever I left Marinette's house, I felt like I left a little bit of myself back there, and every time I went back I was completely... happy again. It was a feeling I chose to welcome gladly, but I couldn't help but try to figure out why.

Adrien's POV

After a fencing lesson and two photoshoot sessions the next day, there was a rehearsal at school. I had learnt the lines I needed to, and I was nervous about playing Ladybug. What if maybe she came and saw the final product and got offended of the way I played her?

"Alright everyone! Marinette managed to make costumes already! Can you believe her?"

Marinette struggled with about ten costumes in her arms. I hurried to her side and stopped her from toppling over. "Thanks," she exhaled.

"Here I'll help," I offered, taking the costumes out of her hands.

"Thankyou! Okay, um guys I'm sorry if any costumes dont exactly fit well, because I couldn't measure you all." she laughed, taking the costumes off the pile in my arms one by one and handing them to everyone, until only hers and mine were left. "I managed to get reference from Ladybug and Cat Noir for these," she said happily.

I looked at the Cat costume. "Wow, that looks exactly the same as his! You must've worked all night to make all of these. Heck, you've even made Hawkmoth."

"Oh it was nothing. Sorry if your Ladybug costume isn't all that great..."

"No way it's an exact replica!"

"Everyone change into their costumes!" Alya ordered.

Marinette's POV

The boys changing rooms were locked so they were using the girls ones as well as the girls, which is why Chloe was carrying pepper spray.

"Chloe, would you stop pointing that thing at me?" Nino groaned. He locked himself into one of the cubicles.

"This is exciting!" Adrien breathed like a little kid, looking at his costume. He entered the cubicle next to mine.

AAAHH! I'm sorry but... the thought of Adrien changing right next to me was... well it was overwhelming. I tried not to think about it. I was about to go into my cubicle but everyone kept coming to me for help with their costumes, like, 'what should I do with my hair?' or 'where does this part go?'

So basically everyone changed before I did. They all left me in the changing room all by myself, but oh well. Now I changed into my costume- wait. Adrien was still in here? I heard noises of him struggling.

"A-adrien?" I called.

"Oh Marinette! You're still here! In that case, I need some help with the zip, please," he answered.

"Oh, okay!" I unlocked my door and saw Adrien outside of his cubicle with his zip undone at the back. I really, really was going to faint. So sure, I was only seeing a tiny part of his back but... THAT WAS A LOT FOR MY TINY BRAIN!

"This is embarrassing..." Adrien sighed. "I'm not good with zips."

"It's okay, I'll help." I walked over to him shakily and took of one of my black gloves. I started to zip and then I felt Adrien laughing. "Adrien?"

"Hah ha ha- aha- sorry I'm ticklish!" he giggled. "Co-continue, ignore me..."

How could I ignore his adorable-ness? I resumed zipping until it got to the top. I blushed wildly as I moved his hair out of the way. It was so soft! I finished zipping. "All done," I sighed backing away a little.

"Ha ha, how do I look?" He asked, turning around. He was adorable.

I squeaked quietly. "Like a male Ladybug!" I laughed.

"Hey you're Cat Noir! You look so cool!" That was new. Adrien called me cool. Yeah.. I was cool. I felt so happy. "Hey Marinette, could you put on the mask for me?" He handed me the mask and waited in front of me.

"Uh-huh." I took it and looked into his eyes by accident. He smiled at me. I smiled back and put the mask on for him.

"Thankyou... Kitty." He smiled.

Steam blew out of my ears. I always called Cat Noir 'Kitty' when I was Ladybug... but I ever realised how flirty it sounded. And hearing it come out of Adrien's mouth made me melt.

"Well let's get going, we're pretty late," Adrien noticed.

I nodded, blushing and putting my glove back on.

"Where have you two been?! What were you doing in there..." Alya asked misheiviously.

"My zip got stuck."

"Mm-hmm... sure." Alya smirked. "You two look great together!"

She pulled me aside. "I can't wait for the kissing scene!"

"WHAT?" I choked. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. Oh my. "Wait... what?" I said, calmer now.

"I didn't put it in the script but, I have my own edited version..." Alya asked.

"Hey, what're you guys talking about," Adrien asked.

"What? No! We're not talking! You're talking..."

"Uhh... Yeah, I guess?" Adrien looked confused – perfect I diverted the situation! Woot woot.

"ALRIGHT! Time for our first run through of scenes 1, 2 and 3! POSITIONS!" Alya yelled. "It's totally okay if you haven't learned your lines yet. We're figuring out the staging for now!"

Adrien took my hand. "Come on Cat let's get on stage," he prompted.

I blushed as he pulled me along with him. "Uh-huh," I whimpered quietly.

Adrien looked so cute in his costume, I just wanted to cuddle him forever... ah, if only I could... he just looked so huggable. "Earth to Marinette. What are you thinking about?" Adrien snapped me out of my trance.

"Thinking about cookies!" I blurted.

Adrien frowned. "Now I'm hungryyy..." he groaned.

"Ladybug, Cat Noir, centre stage!" Alya commanded.

"Yep!" we said in unison.

"In this scene Cat would've entered from the left and Ladybug from the right afterwards. You guys are now meeting for the first time. Let's try and do a reading from the script so I can see what this is gonna look like!"

No, no, noooo! The second I opened the script, all I saw were super flirty lines and stage directions from my character! Alya wrote Cat's lines spot on, but I couldn't act like this in front of Adrien...

"Marinette," Adrien whispered. "It's your line..."

I nodded. "Sorry... Alya can you say action so I know when to go?" I asked nervously.

"Yep! ACTION!"

I breathed. Just acting. In fact, this was my chance to have fun with Adrien without being embarrassed because I was playing someone else!

"Hey, you must be my partner," I started in the voice I knew so well.

"Who are you?..." Adrien said nervously. It made me cringe remembering how I acted on my first day being Ladybug... I was a nervous wreck.

"I'm..." I glanced at my costume. "Cat Noir... yeah! Cat Noir... and..." Now the stage direction said: lean in flirtaciously and wink. No way I was gonna do this... I leaned in... "And who are you?" I winked.

Adrien blinked and blushed a little – wow what a good actor, how could he blush on command? "I – I see... you're the type who likes to play around, huh?"

This was so weird. The banter that I usually shared with Cat Noir, I was now sharing with Adrien, except I was playing Cat... okay, how confusing can one play be? Grin and lean in even closer. I did so. Adrien used his finger to push my head away – classic Ladybug.

Alright so there were a lot of awkward moments like that. And the end of rehearsals came ever so slowly. But I endured.

Okay seriously, now all I needed was to go home, collapse on my bed, and squeak to myself about Adrien.

"Hey, Marinette, you were amazing as Cat Noir!" Adrien laughed after we had changed. Everyone was going home now.

"Th-thanks... I liked you as Ladybug! You're great at acting!"

"No I really am not..."

"Yeah, I don't know anyone else who can blush on command-" I shut up. Those words were not supposed to come out of my mouth.

"..." Adrien was... blushing again?

"YOU TWO!" Alya called. Now on the to-do-list: thank Alya for saving my life.

"Alya!" I yelled, running towards her.

"Did you need something?" Adrien asked, still looking embarrassed.

"Yep. I know this is annoying but you two are the main characters in the play. Is it alright if you learn all the lines from scene 1 by tomorrow?"

"Okay, sure."

"Why don't you go to Marinette's, Adrien? You guys can practice there, together!"

Adrien grinned. "Bakery time!" he laughed happily. "Can I come over?" he asked me.

"Of course you can!" I replied. Adrien had visited my house many times now! I just loved my life.

"Alya do you wanna come with-"

"NO! No I'll let you two concentrate all by yourselves. Well peace out." Alya was already walking off.

"Adrien, let's go, before all the cookies get sold at the bakery," I giggled.

"Oh god no!" Adrien pushed me forward. "LET'S GO!"

Adrien's POV

I sat in Marinette's room on her chair while she went to get cookies. Cookies. I swivelled around in my chair when I remembered coming here as Cat Noir yesterday. I scanned the walls and... hey the poster of me was still there. I looked like such an idiot posing like that... Why would the girl Marinette babysits even like that poster of me – it was embarrassing.

"No way!" I heard Marinette say from downstairs. "Mrs Chamack really needs me now? Okay... well it's a really bad time but I guess I have to help."

Marinette appeared back in her room. "Hey, Adrien, I'm so sorry but this lady needs me to babysit for an hour."

"Oh, I finally get to see you babysit?" I laughed.

"Huh? You – you want to stay?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yep!"

Marinette handed me a plate of cookies. "Okay! She'll be here in a couple of minutes."

When the girl arrived she said bye to her Mom and ran up to Marinette's room.

"Well hey there!" I greeted.

She looked scared. "Mari... who's that?" she asked, hugging Marinette's leg.

"Don't you recognise him?" Marinette asked.

The girl's eyes sparkled. "Oh! You're the famous person on the magazines!" She ran up to my chair. "I'm Manon!" Manon played with the hem of my shirt.

"Hi Manon, I'm Adrien, Marinette's friend."

She laughed. "Mari I like your friend!"

"Great, I think he likes you too!" Marinette petted Manon's hair.

"Hey, Marinette let's take Manon to the park," I suggested. "It'll be fun, right?"

"YEAH!" Manon agreed.

Marinette sighed. "Not so loud, Manon. Okay, let's go play."

Marinette's POV

Adrien and I sat on the fountain while Manon ran around near us.

"You're really good with children, huh?" I wanted to hug him so bad.

"I guess? I've never babysat before, but it's super fun!"

Manon ran up to Adrien and sat on his lap. "Whoa, hello," Adrien laughed.

"Manon, be careful, geez," I reminded her.

"Adrien, Mari really likes you!" Manon giggled.

I blushed so much, my face was about to burn right off. "Manon..."

"And I like her too," he replied, giving Manon her toy to play with.

Manon made the toy walk around in the air. "But how much do you like Mari? How much? 1 means only a little and 10 means you love her so much that you'd do anything for her!"

"Hmm... now can you count to ten anyway?" Adrien teased. Thank goodness he changed the subject.

"Yes! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5..." she kept counting all the way to 100.

"She's adorable," Adrien told me over Manon's counting.

"And stubborn," I laughed. "How does she like you so much?"

"I like him but he loves Mari!" Manon said between 40 and 41.

"Manon, would you just..." I trailed off, super flustered. Why wouldn't the kid shut up.

"You're a hyper little thing aren't you?" Adrien ruffled her hair.

"My mom said I'm a flower!"

"I am sure you are."

"But this one time," Manon began, getting off of Adrien's lap. "Adrien, this one time..."

"Yeah?" Adrien leaned forward to show he was listening. He would make a great father for our kids...

"One time Mari was walking and you were here and she wanted to say hello but you were being so cool and like, you were a model. So she couldn't say hi anymore!"

"What a wild imagination!" I lied. "Manon, did you have too much sugar today?"

"It's great to have a big imagination!" Adrien told Manon. "You can be as creative as Marinette!"

I blushed furiously at his appraisal.

"Mari wants to buy a hamster. Adrien do you like hamsters?" Manon asked.

"I love hamsters but I'm not allowed to have one," Adrien said, pouting. YES THE TOPIC CHANGED TO HAMSTERS! Woo, haha try to embarrass me now, ya demon child.

"Ugh, that's so annoying. My mom said I can't have a pony because I can't take care of it..."

"Aww, but you know cats make better pets than ponies."

"Like Cat Noir?" Manon asked Adrien.

"Well I don't know if you could have him as a pet," Adrien laughed.

"Adrien can you have a Ladybug as a pet?"

"Probably not... but don't be sad because we see the real Ladybug fight villains everyday! Manon, why don't you run around over there?" Adrien asked. He looked worn out from the Manon attack.

"Okay Adrien!" She went over to that spot and played with her toy.

Adrien sighed. "That was quite the interrogation..."

"You handled her well!" I giggled.

"Did that really happen? Did you wanna say hi one time but you felt I was unapproachable?" he asked me, running his fingers through his hair.

"Um... no..." I lied, looking at the floor and blushing.

"Marinette..." He leaned in closer.

"Maybe," I finally said.

"Why am I so scary?" Adrien huffed, angry at himself.

"You – you aren't scary!" I giggled. "I'm just a nervous person."

"Oh. Okay, well you don't need to be nervous. I'm not as mean as I look!"

"You don't look mean at all," I sighed happily. "We should probably take Manon home now. Her mom will be back soon."

Adrien yawned. "Manon, we're going."

"Okay Adrien!"

After Manon had finally left, Adrien and I decided to go over our lines.

"Then you say... 'Hey Ladybug, check meowt'," Adrien laughed.

"Great more puns to memorise!"

"Then I say 'shut up Cat' and you say... 'what, is my attractive voice distracting you?' Wow what a line. Cat Noir flirts with Ladybug a lot, now that I think about it..." Adrien thought.

"Yeah... there are so many lines like that... It's embarrassing," I sighed into my cushion. I remembered that Alya said we would kiss... I could not do that!

"Hey, isn't it fun to act like him though?"

"Yep. I guess. He's annoying but I like him."

"Ha ha, look at this line. Alya wrote this script pretty well.'kiss me if I'm wrong but dinosaurs still exist, right?'" He looked right at me when he said that line and I was pretty much melting. "And in this scene they're fighting Animan when he's a dinosaur."

"Ha ha..." I laughed nervously. "Adrien..."

"Yep?"

"Is your Father coming to watch the play?" I asked gently.

He looked sad. "Who knows. He'll probably say something came up and he couldn't come."

I passed him another cookie. "Thanks," he said quietly.

"We've memorised the whole of scene 1 like Alya said!" I tried to cheer Adrien up.

"Yep."

"Adrien... cheer up!"

"..."

"Fine, what can I do to cheer you up, huh?" I asked.

He smiled. "I need a hug from Marinette."

I blushed and pulled him closer. I HAD BEEN WANTING TO HUG HIM ALL DAY! Thank you, universe.

"Are you all better?" I said into his shoulder.

He laughed quietly. "All better."

I pulled away and resisted the urge to yell 'YOU'RE SO CUTE!'

Suddenly Adrien was invigorated and full of life. He hopped up and threw punches in the air."Yeah! We're gonna do great in this play!"

"Yeah!"

"Can I have one more hug please?!"

"Adrien..."

TWO WEEKS LATER

Alya's POV

AAHHH IT WAS ALREADY THE WEEK OF THE PLAY? We still hadn't rehearsed the kissing scene yet!

"Okay everyone take five!"

"Alya, I am begging you, don't make me kiss the love of my life in front of everyone!" Marinette groaned.

Didn't she understand I was trying to give her a chance with Adrien? "Marinette, you're telling me you don't wanna kiss Adrien?"

"Of course I do, but... not like this. I want our first kiss to be real, not just acting," she explained.

I nodded. "Fine," I sighed. "But don't come crying when you regret your decision."

"I won't!" she laughed happily. I did not understand that girl.

"Alright everyone! Our production is the day after tommorrow, so no slacking. Let's do a full run-through!"

Watching Adrien act, I felt like he was really starting to like Marinette! Every time she said a flirty Cat Noir line he did show signs of embarrassment and he blushed a little. Sometimes he very subtly broke character. I shipped them as much as I shipped Ladybug and Cat Noir!

"Cat, we did it!" Adrien laughed on stage.

"Do I get a kiss?" Marinette asked, totally cool and collected, which was weird to see.

"I should carry a water bottle to spray you with..."

"This should go great on the day!" I squeaked to Nino.

"Yep, assuming Marinette doesn't have a panic attack or something."

"Shut up Nino that won't happen. Ever. No way that'll happen."

TWO DAYS LATER

"WHERE'S MARINETTE?" I screamed. "There's twenty minutes till the show!"

"She went to the bathroom and never came back!" Nino responded, securing his Bubbler hat.

"She said she was super nervous and then left! Should I go look for her?" Adrien asked.

"Yep. If anyone can persuade her to come back , it's you. NOW HURRY THE HECK UP!"

Adrien's POV

"Marinette?!" I called into the girls' bathroom. "Are you in there?"

"No..." I heard Marinette sniff.

"M-Marinette, can you come out, please?"

"No."

"But I can't come into the girls' room... Please just come out here..."

"I'm not coming out!"

"Fine then you jerk..." I crept into the bathroom. It smelled like perfume and soap. "There. Marinette, you have officially made me come into the girls' bathroom.

I heard a giggle from inside one of the cubicles.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I suddenly got really nervous, and I don't think I can do this anymore..."

I leaned on her door. "Again with the nervousness. Marinette you look great you act great what is there to be nervous about?"

"... Really?"

"Yeah! I really think you act wonderfully and... and..." I blushed so I was glad she couldn't see me. "You look cute in your outfit. So just come out of there, no one's gonna make fun of you or laugh or whatever you're nervous of."

I heard the lock click and Marinette came out of hiding. "Alright! I'm ready!"

"Great!"

"Um..." Marinette looked at the floor.

"Marinette?"

"Y-you look cute. In your outfit. Too."

"MARINETTE, ADRIEN THERE YOU ARE, FINALLY!" Alya yelled when we got back.

"Sorry to stress you out!" Marinette laughed sheepishly.

I was still recovering from her calling me cute. I mean... I wasn't a nervous person, it was just... she had never outright told me I was cute like that before, and it was giving me a warm, melty kind of feeling in my stomach... okay that sounds gross but it felt nice, anyway...

"Okay! We're on in ten minutes! Any last minute things have to be done now!"

Ten minutes passed in a heartbeat and Marinette and I were already onstage. "Here goes..." Marinette whispered.

"You'll do great," I told her with a wink.

She smiled. Then, the lights came on.

Time for Adrien's quick explanation of how the play went:

SCENE 1 – ORIGINS.

I ran onstage with a worried expression, looking around. Then, Marinette entered from above, hanging on a stringy device thing – shh I don't know theatre equipment terms.

"Hey..." she said with a grin.

"Um... what are you doing?"

"Just hangin' around." The audience laughed as I rolled my eyes. "So you must be my new partner, huh?"

"Who are you?" I asked her.

She'd been hanging for a while but it didn't seem to hinder her acting. It was almost as if she was used to hanging upside down on string. "I'm... Cat... Noir. Yeah, Cat Noir! And..." she leaned in. I gulped and fought the blush creeping up my cheeks – and that wasn't exactly... acting. "And who are you?"

I sighed and Marinette dropped from the string onto a mat. "I see... you're the type who likes to play around, huh?"

"Me-owwwww!" Marinette whined.

Bla bla. Acting.

SCENE 2 -FIGHTING VARIOUS ENEMIES

"Hiya!"

"Ha BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME BUBBLER"

"HYAAAAA"

"NYA! Are you kitten me right meow?"

"Take that!"

Kicking and punching people.

SCENE 3 - romance... the hug Alya filmed on the Eiffel tower...

"Wow the view up here is great, huh?" Marinette laughed.

"Yeah! Totally."

"They say the Eiffel Tower is the most romantic place in Paris..." she said, nudging me playfully.

"Cat, you don't ever know when to shut up. We need to concentrate on writing this speech."

"Are you..." Marinette's expression changed to solemn. "Are you annoyed with me?"

"What?"

"I... I'm sorry that I made you annoyed."

"What are you talking about? Cat? You're annoying but... but in a cute way. It's not real when I... when I get angry."

"Good because I want to... I want to be together like this, forever." Her eyes looked so distant I really believed the act she was putting on.

"Cat..." I smiled and pulled her into a hug.

"L-ladybug."

And a bunch of other pointless fluff.

SCENE 4 - SHOWDOWN WITH HAWKY.

"Hawkmoth! Enough! You've manipulated people's emotions for too long!" I yelled at Kim who was playing Hawkmoth. All the scripted words I had learnt flowed so easily because of the way I felt about Hawkmoth. He was such a horrible villain.

"You're outnumbered!" Marinette shouted. "Give up!"

Kim gestured to himself. "I only need my powers to outnumber you both 100 to 2. Now give me your powers!"

"Never!" we both said in unison.

"My little akumas! Fly!" A bunch of cool purple butterflies attached to thin strings flew in, courtesy of Nathan. "Villains. Rise!"

Loads of villains (including the Bubbler and Lady Wifi) entered.

"Wh-what're we going to do?" Cat asked me.

"We'll fight. Hey, you stupid akumas! We've beat you all before and we'll do it again!"

Fighting. Fighting. Fighting.

Hawkmoth keeled over and died – kidding, but he did get knocked out. Police took him away, yada yada yada. HOORAY!

SCENE 5 - Reveal.

"Ladybug! We did it! I mean, ahem, of course we did it,"Marinette laughed.

"We did. I can't believe we actually pulled it off."

"Yeah, you totally didn't want these powers at first, did you?"

"I didn't. But I'm glad. Because I saved people. I met you."

Marinette's eyebrows raised a little. "I'm glad I met you."

The bleeping noise sounded. "I guess I... need to leave," I sighed.

"But... but I want to know who you are! Stop! I – I love you, Ladybug."

I smiled. "I... love you too. But I can't. Cat, I'll see you again. We'll meet in real life."

"How do you know that? What if now that we've fulfilled our duty our powers get taken away?" Marinette's voice strained. It made me want to hug her.

This really was emotional even though it was only a play. The thought of Ladybug and I never being able to see each other again...

"Cat Noir. I'll see you again."

"Ladybug, I... See you."she smiled.

The lights went out.

"I know we'll find eachother again and see eachother without the masks," I began to recite in the dark. "Because the bond we share is more than magical. It's destiny. It truly is..."

"Miraculous!" Marinette and I and everyone else in the class yelled in unison.

APPLAUSEEEEEE! Bowing. Woot woot Francoise Dupont represent.

"Adrien! You were amazing!" Marinette laughed. "You were all like boom, pow, wooooooo! If you get anything I'm saying..."

"I get it! I could say the same about you."

"Guys you did so well! My artistic vision... IT'S BEAUTIFUL!" Alya squeaked.

"I need to go to the bathroom... for real this time though," Marinette told us. She ran off.

Marinette's POV

"Tikki, I want to transform quickly. There's something I have to do!" I explained, opening my bag.

"Okay!"

"Tikki, spots on!"

I ran back to Alya and the rest. "Hey!" I greeted.

"Oh... my... LADYBUG!" Alya exclaimed. "You- you- you came? You're here!"

"Uh-huh! You may not have seen me but I was watching the whole time! You're a brilliant playwrite!"

Alya glowed. "Well you're a brilliant superhero!"

"Thanks. All of you guys, I loved your work!" I called to the class.

"WOOO LADYBUG!" someone shouted from backstage.

Adrien was just kind of standing there quietly. He looked nervous. "You make a great Ladybug," I praised. "I loved your acting!"

He looked surprised. "I – thanks! Um – I – like your hair..."

I blushed. "I um... yeah so I loved the play guys – except me and Cat Noir aren't a thing, but you know it was still great!"

"So you would never, ever go out with Cat Noir?" Alya asked.

"Yeah? Would you?" Adrien added.

"Um... well we don't know eachother's identities anyway, so it wouldn't work out, I guess."

"I think it's pretty romantic," Nino chimed in randomly.

"Well uh..." I had to get out now... "Beep, oh there's my cue to go, ha ha, bye guys!" I backflipped out of the room and went back to the bathroom.

"Wow, that was nice of you to make Alya feel good about her play!" Tikki giggled as she got back in my bag.

"It was the least I could do... only... Adrien was acting weird when I talked to him. He was like... all nervous and clumsy and..."

"That sounds like someone I know!"

"Who? Oh me! But I only act that way when I'm around Adrien... Maybe he thinks Ladybug's really cool and famous so he was nervous," I suggested.

"Maybe," Tikki yawned.

"Alright I'm going to go and get changed and then I'll go talk to my parents."

On the way to the changing rooms I bumped into Adrien. "Oh sorry," I laughed. "I'm so tired..."

"Same here. I just wanna cuddle something and go to sleep..." Adrien yawned, rubbing his eyes.

Oh boy I wanted to be that something.

"You'll never guess what happened when you left!" Adrien piped up. "You'll never ever guess!"

"What, don't tell me Ladybug showed up or something crazy like that."

Adrien sighed. "How'd you guess so easily? She said the play was great and now Alya's so happy I think she achieved flight."

"That's wonderful!" I adored the sparkle in his eyes whenever he spoke.

"You know I spoke to your parents before I came," he said.

WHAT? NO! They must've been so embarrassing... "Oh... what did they do..."

"They gave me a hug and some candy! They said we were adorable in the play! I'm so happy they came."

"I'm happy you're happy. But they are super embarassing!" I giggled.

"I wish I had embarrassing parents," Adrien sighed happily.

"Oh trust me, you don't!"

"They're so caring so they try to do everything in their power to make you happy... that's great,right?" He had a longing tone in his voice. It made me overjoyed that he told me everything about his relationship with his father, but it made me so distraught when I realised how much pain he must've felt.

"When you put it like that it is great. Got any of that candy left?" I asked.

He shook a little bag he was holding and a bucketload of candy shook around inside. "They gave me a whole pack full of 'em."

We reached the changing rooms and Adrien looked at me intently. "Help?"

"Fine, turn around." I felt hot as I unzipped him. This was technically helping him take OFF HIS CLOTHES! Caaaaaaalm Marinette. Caaaaaaalm.

"Thanks, have some candy!" he planted the bag in my hands and locked himself into his cubicle.

I changed as well and when we came back out, Adrien was wearing an adorable jacket over his clothes. "I convinced Natalie to let me walk home today. Wanna walk together?"

"Yep!"

Adrien and I said bye to everyone at school and I told my parents I was just going to walk with Adrien and then come home, and then we left the school. It was almost dark outside, but the wind was non-existent and the streets were incredibly still. It was a little cold. The streetlights created a perfect ambiance for the evening atmosphere and I felt so peaceful.

I pulled on my coat. "It's cold today," I shivered. "My hands feel like, icy cold!"

"Lemme see." Adrien took my hands and squeezed them softly. "Yeah they are!"

"Ah! Your hands... they're so warm!" I squeaked.

"Here," Adrien said calmly, holding my hand. "Does that help?"

"It helps," I sighed.

"Your hands are really small," he laughed quietly.

"Hey, I can't help my hand size."

"Maybe because they're so small they get cold easily."

"Wow, Scientist Adrien does it again," I mocked.

"Are they still cold?"

"Yep."

"Hmm..."

"It's okay thou- whoa, what are you doing?" Adrien brought my left arm behind him and took my left hand with his. He took my right hand with his. So now he had me behind me. He slid my hands into his pockets. I blushed furiously. I was standing behind him, hugging his torso with my hands in his pockets... It felt like... it felt like we were a couple.

"Tadaaaa! Adrien's hand warmers," Adrien sang. "Aren't I creative?"

I giggled into his jacket. "You're silly."

"I'll take silly. You must be warm now."

"I am." I pressed my head into his back. "Walk forward!"

"Yes Ma'am!"

We waddled forward a little until I burst out laughing into his hood. "Stop! I'm gonna fall and you'll crash face first into the ground, stop!"

"No, I'm not a quitter!" Adrien held my arms in place. "We have to get to my house and then we stop, okay?"

"Fine, you lead I'll take little steps behind you."

And we did just that. We reached his house... eventually. "Can I get out of the Adrien-handwarmers now?" I asked.

"Yep!"

I pulled away and cold instantly filled the space he had been in. "Thanks for that!" I giggled.

"Of course, any time." He saluted. "I guess I'm gonna head in, do you wanna come in for a while?" he asked.

"I would, but my parents'll get worried. I told them I'd be home in ten minutes. But thank you for the offer!"

"Well tell them I said thanks for the candy and hugs! See you tomorrow!" I watched as Adrien disappeared into the giant gate.

"See you tomorrow!" I called back to him. I twirled around and skipped all the way home, and Tikki floated beside me.

"I love today!"

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I love all your reviews so thanks for them! And keep reviewing please! The mini play was for fun since Alya wrote it and has her own views on Ladybug's relationship with Cat Noir. Anyway, bye bye little butterflies!