Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a struggling actress, is cast as the main character of the upcoming film 'Miraculous'. However when the actors have to keep their identities a secret, Marinette cannot tell anyone- not her family, not her best friend, and not even Adrien Agreste.

This is an AU, they don't have powers.

Audition

"I'm not scared of that m-monster, Officer Ja-Jones."

The black haired girl stopped. Her voice was shaking.

"I'm sorry," she apologized to the man across the room. "My voice broke but I can do better, honestly. Could I go again?"

The blue-eyed male sitting at a small desk stared back at the young woman. He nodded once. "Take a deep breath, prepare yourself then give it another shot."

Marinette clenched her fists and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, knowing how important this audition was. All of her auditions were important, but she had never been right in front of a big director before, usually it was just a casting director that she had never heard about before.

With determination firing her moves, Marinette's eyes snapped open and her stance changed from an awkward girl to someone who had been awaiting the chance to prove themselves for a long time.

"I'm not scared of that monster, Officer Jones!" She spoke determinedly.

The actress stayed in her pose for a few seconds before her eyes trailed from the distance to the director watching her.

He had lifted his head so it was no longer resting on his joined hands. His mouth upturned into a small smile.

"It's my best advice for actors. That moment of pausing to take a breath can make a significant difference to your audition. I can tell this audition means a lot to you, Miss Dupain-Cheng," the man said to her.

"Oh yes, Mr Kubdel, it does."

The director shifted in his seat and Marinette's eyes flicked across his face, looking for any sign that would tell her it was going to be good news. She rarely heard that. Kubdel picked up a handful of papers and his eyes darted across it before he spoke up again.

"I was watching 'Horrificator' recently. You were both an extra and the costume designer, is that right?" he asked.

Marinette nodded. "Yes, it was my first screen appearance that got sent to a film festival. As for the costumes, it was the first time that I got to design something for a film, since I usually just focused on stage costumes."

Kubdel nodded. "It was very good work, you should be proud. It's difficult to find costume designers who show such potential at a young age."

Marinette looked to the floor with a blush. It was nice to receive the compliment, but she knew she had designed better.

"That will be all for today then, Miss Dupain-Cheng. Thank you for auditioning, you can expect to hear from me within the next three days," the man replied with a polite smile.

"Thank you for your time," Marinette said, shaking his hand before leaving the room.

As soon as she stepped into the hallway and the door had closed behind her, Marinette buried her face in her hands.

"That was awful, I'm such an idiot," she whined into her hands.

"Don't be silly, Marinette, you're a wonderful actress so I know that's not true."

The young woman parted her fingers to look at the speaker. A red haired woman with a high voice and bright blue eyes stood from a row of chairs that lined the hallway wall and approached Marinette.

"You weren't in there, Tikki. My voice was shaking."

Tikki placed her hands on the sides of Marinette's arms comfortingly. "We rehearsed this audition a thousand times. Plus, Mr Kubdel contacted you to audition, remember? That doesn't happen to people who've not had their big break yet, so take that as a good sign."

Marinette lowered her hands but kept her eyes to the floor as they walked out of the building together.

"I would have taken that as a good sign had he not brought up my costume design more than my acting."

Tikki frowned as she looked at Marinette, but said nothing.

A kitchen timer dinged from above an oven, alerting the bakers that the pastries rising in the oven were now ready to be served.

From another room, a woman's voice called out. "Marinette, sweetie, would you check on those croissants?"

Marinette pressed the pause button on a tv remote and stood from her place in the sofa, leaving behind an imprint of her body which had barely moved from the spot for days.

"Yes, Mom!" she called back, heading to the oven.

She removed the pastries from the oven, inhaling their delicious scent as she placed them to rest on top of the oven.

Resisting the urge to take one, the black-haired woman returned to the sofa and allowed the tv to continue playing. Her phone buzzed from atop a pillow.

To: Marinette
From: Alya
Any news on that audition you went to? X

Marinette typed a response out, sighing as she did.

To: Alya
From: Marinette
I'm not holding my breath any more. Maybe next time I'll get it x

She dropped her phone beside her and melted further into the sofa, letting the cushions fall against her as she stared at the tv screen, which played out a horror film. Dark figures whispered to each other as they crept through a hallway before a man in a blue mask appeared, terrifying the characters.

Marinette audibly groaned. "That stitching is terrible, what was I thinking when I designed that?"

The characters in the film ran from the masked villain and took refuge in a small classroom, where a blond haired, green eyed teen appeared.

Marinette remembered him, how could she forget? Of course, she never knew him very well. She was pretty sure they never even had a full, coherent conversation.

The boy comforted the two characters before the masked villain returned to the scene then he jumped over a desk and engaged in a fight with the bad guy until he won. The teens were rescued and the villain was marched out of the building to where the police arrested him and a crowd cheered nearby.

Marinette paused the film and narrowed her eyes. There she was, seventeen years old, hair tied up in pigtails and tied with a little red bow. She stood out from the crowd, but not in a good way; her dark hair washed her out next to the other lighter haired extras, and her acting was not the most amazing.

She switched the tv off as her phone chimed again beside her.

To: Marinette
From: Alya
Girl, bigger and better roles will come around for you soon! Will let you know if I hear anything about casting directors looking for people x

Marinette smiled weakly at the text message. She was lucky to have Alya in her life to support her through her attempts to break into acting, but she didn't really feel like accepting the positivity Alya offered her right now. Her best friend had always been so successful, getting an internship at the big online magazine when they finished high school and she'd managed to stay with the same company ever since. Marinette on the other hand had pursued acting in college and university, and it was yet to pay off.

"You watched 'Horrificator' without me?" A man's voice appeared. "I'm hurt!"

Marinette looked to the side where she saw her father staring down at the DVD cover in his hands.

"Sorry, Dad, but I still don't see why you love it so much. It looks so amateur."

Tom Dupain-Cheng faked a gasp and sat down on the sofa beside her, picking up the remote and switching the tv back on.

"That's why I love it so much!" he exclaimed, pointing to the crowd on screen. "My daughter's first proper acting role. If it wasn't for this film, you wouldn't have discovered what you love."

Marinette smiled softly.

Tom rewound the film back to the start of Marinette's scene and watched it happily as his daughter closed her eyes as to not relive the torture of watching herself on screen again.

"You should be proud of yourself for your acting, Marinette," Tom told her.

"Your father is right," a female voice appeared. "Just because you haven't heard back from your previous audition doesn't mean you won't hear back from the next one."

Marinette looked up to her mother. "I know, I know. It just knocks my confidence a bit."

The scene drew to a close and the credits began to roll, Marinette's name appearing on the list twice.

The young actress knew she was fortunate to have such supportive parents and friends. Here she was, twenty-one years old and living with her parents in a city renowned for opportunity, but she couldn't even get a job. Most people Marinette knew that were around her age had moved out with their partners or their friends, some even living alone, but that wasn't her reality. Marinette's reality was helping out with her parent's bakery to pay them back for letting her stay at home rent-free. Marinette's reality was desperately applying for any acting job she saw advertised online or that her agent found for her, and if not acting roles then she was looking for costume design roles. Anything that would bring her some experience for the film industry and for her to gain a few extra euros.

Sabine and Tom didn't mind their daughter living at home still. She was no trouble out of the way in her attic bedroom and she helped out around the house and bakery whenever she could.

"We'd better serve up those croissants," Sabine began. "It's almost opening time and they'll be getting cold."

"Do you need my help with anything today?" Marinette asked.

Sabine tapped the tray with the croissants on to check the temperature was cool enough to carry before she turned back to her daughter. The phone rang just before she spoke.

"We might need you around eleven when it gets busier, but for now could you just take that phone call? It's probably a customer putting in an order and we need to get opening up the store."

"Sure, Mom." Marinette jumped from her seat and approached the phone as her parents left the room.

She swiped the phone up from its stand and held it to her ear, putting on her cheeriest voice. "Dupain-Cheng bakery, this is Marinette! How may I help you today?"

"Miss Dupain-Cheng," said a male voice on the other side of the line.

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"This is Mr Kubdel speaking. Is now a good time to talk?"

The young woman froze on the spot, mouth open slightly and her limbs lacking any feeling. Her heart began to race.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng?" he repeated.

"Sorry, yes. Now is a brilliant time," the girl replied, snapping back into reality.

"Wonderful. Well, I have some good news for you and some bad news. Let's get the bad out of the way first, shall we?"

Marinette's stomach flipped. She knew it. She knew he was going to tell her that her acting isn't good enough to be in the film but he's willing to let her be costume designer just to be nice. That's how things usually went for her.

"You won't be able to tell anyone of your involvement with this film."

Oh, Marinette thought. She hadn't got any role at all, not even costume designer.

"The good news," Mr Kubdel continued in her silence, "is that when the film is released, you'll finally be revealed as the leading actress."

"Thank you for considering me," Marinette started. And then she stopped. "Wait. Could you repeat that? I think I misheard you."

"I want you to be the leading actress in my film, Marinette."

The girl bit her lip to stop herself from squealing in excitement. Mr Kubdel, a famous director, wanted her to be his leading actress!?

"I… I don't know what to say, Mr Kubdel! Thank you so much," she stuttered in shock.

Kubdel chuckled. "Of course, Marinette. But as I say, this has to be completely confidential. You can tell nobody of your involvement with my production until the film has been premiered. If you accept the job, we can have a meeting on Saturday where I can fill you in on the role, you can sign your contract, and then we can have a script rehearsal. How does that sound?"

"Amazing! Great!" Marinette smiled.

"Fantastic," Kubdel replied. "I'll email the details over to your agent and will see you on Saturday. Goodbye, Marinette."

"Thank you, goodbye!"

The line went dead and Marinette stared at the phone in her hand with a blank face. She could hardly believe what she'd just been told. It was an actual, feature length film that she was going to be starring in, which was amazing, but she wouldn't be able to tell anyone. She couldn't tell her parents. She couldn't tell Alya.

Now, Marinette faced a problem here. She wasn't a great liar, never had been. She was so overjoyed that she'd got the role that she would have to tell some kind of excuse as to why she was so happy all of a sudden. Secondly, she would be disappearing for long hours of the day to film so she needed some sort of cover-up for when she was there.

Marinette skipped back to the sofa and grabbed her phone, typing out a quick text message.

To: Tikki
From: Marinette
TIKKI I GOT THE ROLE! Mr Kubdel said he will email you details for meeting on Sat. Strictly confidential role- I can't tell parents or friends. What should I do?

She paced the room, eyes fixed on her phone as she awaited a response from her agent. Tikki was so important to Marinette. She had been there for the actress for years, always offering her support and motivation to keep her going. Of course, Marinette already had that from her family and friends, but Tikki was Marinette's friend too, not just her agent. She always understood what Marinette was going through as she'd seen it all before with other actors and she always offered some of the best advice when it was needed.

To: Marinette
From: Tikki
Well done, Marinette, I knew you would! Yes, I have received the email with the details. I think the best solution is to tell them you have got a job you applied for a long time ago in a small indie film, say you can't talk much about it though. Hopefully if you say it's a minor role people won't ask much

Marinette read the text twice. That was probably the best solution to her problem. Not technically lying was the best form of lying for her.

She typed a quick thank you text back to Tikki before taking in a big breath, preparing herself to tell her parents.

She let the smile return to her face and raced out of the room. "Mom, Dad, I have something amazing to tell you!"

Thank you for reading. If you can, please leave a little review and let me know where you want to see the story go and what you thought of this chapter. Don't forget to click the follow button too so you know when I upload the latest chapter!