Author's Note: Just for the record, I was under the influence of an Akuma when I wrote this. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, except for whatever the Organization for Transformative Works says I might own, yadda yadda yadda.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng sat on the wheeled chair in her room and tipped her head back to stare at her ceiling. It was just another day in the life of a teenage super hero. As if having a failed date with Adrien Agreste wasn't enough, she was also nearly eaten by a tyrannosaurus rex and accidentally paired her friends Alya and Nino together. She pondered her next course of action: do her school work, admire pictures of Adrien, or have another bout of Ultimate Mega Strike III with her dad.

Pictures of Adrien would do for now. After all, the night was still young and she was confident that there would be time for homework later on. What could possibly go wrong?

Her phone buzzed to life with a picture of her best friend. She perked up and reached for the phone. "Hey Alya, what's up? How was your date with Nino?"

"Hey Marinette. The date was great and all, but that's not why I called you. There's something super exciting that I wanted to show you. Can I come over to your place tonight?"

"Uh, sure." Scratch plans to admire pictures of Adrien then. Though this was Alya, so perhaps do not scratch off the plan in its entirety.

"Okay then, I'm here."

"Wait, what?" Marinette sprang to her feet at the sound of the doorbell chime. Mere moments later, her parents were already calling out to her and informing her that Alya was on the premises. It took less than a minute for her best friend to find her way up and into Marinette's room in the attic of the Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie.

"Hey there, girl," Alya said with a most suspicious-looking smirk plastered all over her face.

Marinette narrowed her eyes. She didn't like that look at all. What could her bestie be possibly up to? Something related to Nino and Adrien, no doubt. "Err… what was so important that you couldn't wait until tomorrow to show me?"

A wide and most certain-to-be mischievous grin slowly formed across Alya's face. "Not show, but listen." She waved her phone teasingly at Marinette. After setting it up according to her satisfaction, she laid the phone flat on Marinette's desk. There was an audio recording of sorts prominently displayed on the device. She promptly tapped the large playback button to begin.

Marinette leaned forward and listened with anticipation. Right from the start, things already began to click into place.

"Test, one two, one two…"

"Marinette, you copy?"

"Yeah, loud and clear…"

Marinette gasped. "You recorded our conversation this afternoon?"

Alya burst into a fit of laughter. Eventually she settled down, clutching at her abdomen somewhat tightly. "Of course, girl. It would be foolish to not record such a priceless exchange. For posterity and laughs. Well, mostly for laughs." Alya smiled, her eyes glowing with anticipation in response to Marinette's growing exasperation. "But that's not the best part," she said.

"What…"

"Just keep listening," Alya said to the tune of Dory's "just keep swimming."

Between squeamishly fidgeting at her seat, listening to a most embarrassing conversation and enduring that strange, mischievous yet piercing gaze from Alya, Marinette somehow managed to survive to the part of the conversation where she had been interrupted by a pack of wild animals led by an Akumatised victim, The Animan. She began to recall every moment in vivid detail, especially the part where Nino fumbled his confession as well as Alya's own reaction to it. But none of that sounded really important enough that Alya would simply show up at her doorstep like this.

"Well, that's it. What was it that you wanted me to listen to?"

"Wait for it." Alya's grin only grew wider as Marinette's eyes widened with horror. Her heart must have skipped a beat; perhaps two beats even, not that anyone was actually counting in the first place.

There was the muffled sound of something being scuffed around; that was undoubtedly Marinette stuffing the headset into her pocket. She thought that she had already hung up the phone, but obviously not: the recording didn't end after that. She would probably have to swear off Bluetooth wireless headsets for life; those things simply do not want to obey commands the moment they were needed the most.

A most familiar voice could be softly but still clearly made out from the recording: "Marinette, why didn't you listen to Alya?"

The response to that question was faint but definitely identifiable as Marinette's voice. But what was loud, clear, distinct, unambiguous and unmistakably certain, however, was that very last bit where she had exclaimed, "Tikki, transform me!"

A short burst of white noise, followed by the constant beeping of a disconnected dial tone, signified the end of the recording. Alya reached for the stop button without even looking at her phone, her burning gaze completely transfixed on her bestie.

Marinette was speechless, just like the recording after it ended. If silence was deafening, both girls would have been invalids. Her jaw must have dropped so low, she would have to bend down to pick it up. Her eyes have probably gotten so wide open, she might as well be a Japanese anime character.

Alya leaned closer towards Marinette, their eyes locked while that frighteningly mischievous grin of hers now proved to be even more terrifying than the gentle and disabling smile of Adrien. "So, who's Tikki?"

Marinette whimpered. "M-my… dog?"

Alya did not look convinced in any way by that. "Dogs don't talk, girl. Maybe something of a lady and a bug, on the other hand…" A little wink from Alya sealed the deal.

"Eep."

Between the high-pitched whine that emanated from what remained of Marinette's vocal chords and the failed attempts to backpedal away from her super inquisitive friend, there was nothing worse than Alya holding onto Marinette's chair with a vice-like grip and staring at her with a smug look painted all over her face. "Calm down, girl. It's not like Adrien is about to undress right in front of you or something."

"No no no no no this is even worse no no no it's definitely worse…"

"Even worse than Adrien stark naked in your room now? Maybe I should call him over."

That was it. The last straw. Marinette froze for ever after.

"Marinette, get a grip on yourself, girl!" This time Alya caught hold of Marinette by her shoulders and began shaking the very life and soul out of her – or at least that was what it felt like from Marinette's perspective. "Breathe, girl. Don't forget to breathe!"

It took a good ten minutes – maybe more, maybe even a lot less, but one tends to lose track of time in tense moments of life and death such as this – before Marinette could be able to breathe properly and think coherently again. But she still kept quiet, her eyes nervously darting between Alya and her phone.

"So I guess you just accidentally outed yourself as Ladybug, just like the big klutz that you are. What's the big deal anyway?" Alya made it sound like it wasn't, but her face totally betrayed what she had just said.

"It is a big deal, Alya! It is!"

Alya heaved a great sigh and she loosened her grip on the terrified girl. "Finally, the girl manages to speak again!"

Marinette hung her head down and lowered her voice. "What… what are you going to do about it?"

"Oh, relax girl. If it hadn't been you, I might have already posted the news on my Ladyblog. But you-" Alya poked at Marinette's chest. "You're my bestie. I'm not going to do that to you."

"R-really?"

"Really, really." Alya smiled, nearly diffusing whatever remained of the tense atmosphere between them. Then without warning, she drove her fist into Marinette's shoulder. "But you should have told me, girl."

Marinette rubbed her shoulder. "I'm sorry Alya, but you know how things go with secret identities. They're supposed to keep you safe, and the fact that you knowing I am Ladybug just puts you in unnecessary danger." Marinette's chest felt heavy. A chill ran down her back and she held her elbows tightly in response.

"I know. Don't worry about me, I won't say a thing. No one will find out. Not even Nino. Promise and cross my heart." Alya proceeded to trace the pattern of an 'x' across her chest.

"This is serious, Alya. You really mustn't tell anyone. If someone-"

"Yes, I am very familiar with the super hero secret identity trope. If someone knew that I knew, they'd cause me a whole lot of hurt just to get to you. Am I correct, or am I right?"

Marinette could only nod in agreement to her friend's excellence at genre savviness. Alya was the type to chase super heroes around the city, after all.

"I'm glad that's over. You looked like you were about to blue screen on me and not even a control, alternate and delete would snap you out of it." She let out a soft sigh, then immediately perked right back up with a smile and said, "So tell me, who's Tikki?"

Marinette turned her head and eyed the little red figure peeking from behind a framed picture of Adrien.

"Hello Alya, I'm Tikki." The little red kwami floated into view and made herself comfortable on Marinette's unbruised shoulder. "I am Ladybug's kwami. It's great to finally meet you in person."

Alya stared at the little kwami and blinked several times. For a moment there, her mouth hung open with nothing to say, then she closed her eyes and let out a deep, gratifying sigh. She smile at the kwami. "Hello Tikki. You're so cute!"

"Err… thanks. I think?"

"So what's a kwami?"

"Well, we're like little fairy sprites who act as a guide as well as help our Miraculous users to transform. As you know, I am Ladybug's kwami and so I help Marinette to transform. I suppose that's the gist of it, but if you have more questions, feel free to ask."

Alya threw quick glances at Marinette and her kwami. "Girl, we have so much to talk about, I don't even know where to start."

Marinette could finally make a weak smile after all the shock and terror had finally passed. She felt tired, but it was a satisfying sort of tiredness. It was as if a heavy burden was suddenly lifted off her shoulders. "I'm sure you have, Alya. I'm sure you have. But I'm also glad that it was you who found out. At least it is someone that I can trust."

And so they spent a good amount of time talking about various things Ladybug-like until their secret conversation was interrupted by a phone call. Nino asked about homework. Both girls gasped in utter and abject horror. In that very instant, they concluded their little talk for the night and agreed to meet up in school the next morning as usual.

Though for Marinette, she wasn't exactly sure what "as usual" was now that she knew that her best friend knew. Ah, such is a day in the life of a teenage super hero.

It was supposed to be just another day in the life of a teenage super hero. However, Marinette still wasn't able to shake off the thought that Alya knew her secret identity. Even though her friend had promised that nothing would change between them, she couldn't help but have this nagging feeling that their relationship had already changed. Whether it was for better or for worse was yet to be known.

"Good morning Alya," Marinette said when they met up as usual in front of school. "Did you manage to finish your homework in time?"

"Yup. I had loads of help." A somewhat smug expression could only mean one thing.

"Nino?"

"Yeah, girl. You should to this more often, you know. Ladybug the matchmaker! Satisfaction guaranteed!"

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Oh spare me, please. You're not going to let this go so easily, aren't you?"

"Not on your life." Alya shot her friend a most mischievous smile and casually elbowed her. She was the exemplar of mischievous. She was such a master, she'd probably ooze with mischievousness all round, even when she wasn't thinking mischievous thoughts that were harmless and not mischievous.

They soon arrived in class, ready to begin lessons anew. A normal life. One where Adrien would walk into class and say a casual "good morning", and Marinette would instantly crash, reboot, then break down again as she attempted to eke out a whimpered bark and fail. Yep, it was just another ordinary school day in the life of a teenage super hero.

When lunch break came, Marinette thought that it would be just the usual round of hanging out with Alya but as fate would have it, her life would be turned completely upside down by the presence of Adrien Agreste. It was obviously a setup thanks to Alya and Nino. Since they were a pair now, of course he would be with Alya. And since Nino is best buddies with Adrien, it would only be natural for him to get invited to eat with them. At least that was their explanation, but Marinette could spot a conspiracy that was as far and wide as The Seine.

Of course this meant that between the random ogles, drooling and babbling, it was just a typical lunch break between four friends in a typical French school. But not all good things weren't meant to be, for the sound of hurried feet scuttling around in chaos was a good sign as any that something was up. Something probably Akuma-related even. As a matter of fact, a random student screamed, "An Akuma!" to seal the deal right there and then.

Marinette instinctively sprung to her feet and began taking the situation in. She observed the direction that the students were running from; she scanned her surroundings for escape routes and places for her to hide. Satisfied that she had fully scoped the place out, she returned her attention towards her friends. "Alya, please take Nino and Adrien out through the back."

"You heard the girl. Let's get moving." Alya grabbed the hand of her boyfriend and began to lead him away, but Adrien seemed to have different ideas.

"Wait, why are we leaving Marinette on her own?"

"Don't worry about me, Adrien. As class representative, I need to make sure that everyone's evacuated." It was technically kind of true, after all.

"I can't leave you all alone with an Akuma running loose around the school." Adrien grabbed Marinette's hand before she could separate herself from the group. "Let me go instead. You should leave with Nino and Alya."

Marinette managed to twist her wrist out of Adrien's grip. "I don't have time to argue with you, Adrien. Just go."

"The girl's right, Adrien. Let her do her job." Alya used her other free hand to lock herself around the teenage model's arm.

Adrien tried to back away from the girl, only to get pulled back. "What are you doing, Alya? This is no laughing matter here!"

"Trust me, Adrien. Marinette can handle herself."

Adrien could only stare at Marinette with his mouth agape as Alya began dragging him off together with Nino. Despite his vehement protests, Alya led him and her boyfriend away with a steady but fast-paced stride.

With Adrien troubles out of the way, Marinette threw a quick glance at a door that she had scouted earlier on. The principal's office was just one floor above and she was quite certain that he would be out and about – no doubt performing his duties at evacuating the school – so she ran up the flight of stairs leading straight towards the room in question.

As it turns out, the principal's office was indeed empty. She briskly walked past the desk and towards the window. Shooting a quick glance out from the side, she sighed in relief. It looked like most of the students had already been evacuated and gathered in groups outside while the police began setting up barricades. She reached for her bag and opened it.

"Looks like the coast is clear. Tikki, transform me!"

At that very moment the door slammed open. "Mari… nette?"

Ladybug's eyes widened, but she mostly froze in place at the sight of a most familiar blond boy at the door. In fact, the both of them were practically rooted and paralyzed. Not moving. Possibly not breathing even – or at least one of them wasn't.

Moments later, Alya popped up behind a mostly slack-jawed Adrien Agreste. "Sorry but he suddenly pulled… away from… oops."

Nino was the last to arrive, hot on the heels of his girlfriend and a presumed-to-be suicidal best friend. "Hey what's wrong with the both of… whoa."

"Uh… don't worry, Marinette is safely out through the window…" Ladybug nervously muttered, then realised that the window was locked shut from the inside. "And locked shut so that the Akuma won't be able to get out," she added with a faint chuckle. "And I also threw away the rope… and uh… and key… so that the Akuma couldn't follow?" She didn't feel like the little grin on her face made any impact as she was still confronted with two slack-jawed friends (and one face-palming one) standing before her.

Adrien remained rooted to the spot. "My lady…?"

Alya suddenly stiffened, her gaze turned towards and transfixed on Adrien. "Wait, what did you just call her?"

Ladybug blinked and tilted her head to one side, still unsure of what just happened between Alya and Adrien. Alya narrowed her eyes and leaned closer to him. The boy model returned a wry smile, but that wasn't enough to diffuse her furrowed brow.

It was Nino to the rescue. He placed his hands on both their shoulders and parted them, squeezing himself between the two of them. "I hate to interrupt whatever… this is, dudes… but isn't there some other place that we need to be right now? Like, not here?"

"Nino's right," Ladybug said, waving her hands in an attempt to keep the situation under control. "Let's deal with one thing at a time. The three of you should get to safety. There's still an Akuma loose somewhere in the school."

"Got it, Mari- err… Ladybug." Alya grabbed the hand of her boyfriend, pushed Adrien further into the room and then promptly dashed back down the stairs. Adrien stumbled forward but managed to quickly regain his balance; it wasn't that much of a shove, apparently. Ladybug wanted to shout back, "What about Adrien?" but she heard Alya's voice yelling back something in the way of "explain later" as they callously abandoned their friend.

Ladybug ignored what was apparently Alya's maniacal laughter while she returned her attention to boy wonder here. "Adrien?"

"Cat's out of the bag, huh?" Adrien stepped towards the door and shut it behind him. "Turns out you had my back all this time."

"What…" Ladybug wasn't sure what that strange sense of familiarity was that nibbled at the back of her head. Her mind was racing. She must have blinked over a dozen times as pieces of some imaginary puzzle began forming, intermingling with different memories and tell-tale signs, and then slowly clicking into place. That same cat-like grin of his. That cat pun. What he had just called her, the very words that had made Alya pause in her tracks. It had to be. But it couldn't… "Ch- Chat?"

"The one and only." Adrien bowed with one hand pressed under his abdomen and the other held out, away from his body.

"But… but how?"

Adrien smiled and opened his mouth to answer, but a loud voice bellowed somewhere just outside the room. "I am the Marionettist and you shall all become my puppets!" This was quickly followed by a timid whelp that may or may not have sounded like Nino's.

"Ugh." Ladybug let her palm hit her face with a most audible smack. "Of all the things, Hawk Moth. Of all the things…"

Adrien bared his fangs in the most mischievous manner, as if some of Alya's mischievousness had rubbed off her and onto him. In fact, he probably stole all of it. "Let's save the talk for later and deal with the Akuma before our friends become marionettes, Marinette."

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "You're so dead once we're done with this Akuma, kitty."

"And it will be totally worth it." Adrien continued to smile. He raised his right hand and revealed a silver ring on his ring finger, one that she has already seen many, many times but in a completely different colour. "Plagg, transform me!"

And so the heroes of Paris went out to eventually defeat Hawk Moth's latest Akumatised victim, thus saving the day once again. After all, such is a normal school day in the life of teenage super heroes. And for the record, Adrien Agreste did get what was coming for him once the day was over. He also remained adamant that it was totally worth it.

END.