I got the idea of making Marinette the Peacock from imthepunchlord's series "Always a Hero, No Matter the Miraculous." Since I couldn't get the idea out of my head, I decided to put my own spin on it.

This story will include quite a few minor OCs, many of my personal Headcanons about the Kwamis and the Miraculous, past Miraculous Holders.

This first Chapter is a bit of a prologue/set up chapter, but I had a lot of fun writing it and I hope you enjoy!

This is also cross posted on my Ao3 and Tumblr

Chapter 1: Hats and Discovery

Marinette wasn't watching the newscast on her computer as she carefully embroidered the band on the derby hat she was working on. Mr. Pigeon was a strange Akuma for sure, but he didn't seem to be truly dangerous. He was providing Marinette with plenty of time to finish her hat. She'd actually be early this time!

Besides, Ladybug and Chat Noir had this rather strange attack under control, even if it looked like Chat was sneezing every few minutes. Marinette trusted them (allergies aside). When Nino had been akumatized they'd been there to save the day and Ladybug had taken the time to help Marinette calm Manon down when they'd been trapped in the ice covered carousel. Ivan even said Chat Noir came by the night after he'd been akumatized to make sure he was doing ok. Surely heroes like them could handle a Man-Pigeon.

About an hour before the hat was due, just and Marinette was sewing the feathers onto the hat, Ladybug was giving one of her short post battle interviews. Chat Noir never appeared during these, Marinette wasn't sure why but she got the impression that he was camera shy.

Marinette set the hat aside for a second and leaned in closer to the screen. Ladybug was tiny, hovering around five feet and was almost always dwarfed by Chat's near six-foot height. She looked almost like a fairy with wide blue eyes, angelically gold short hair, and two translucent ladybug wings sporting from her shoulder blades. If Ladybug could fly with those wings she didn't often, preferring her magic yoyo.

Marinette wasn't interested in the superhero herself or even what she was saying (it was just the usual post-akuma update). No, it was Ladybug's outfit that always interested Marinette. It looked almost like a cheerleading uniform, consisting of a red and black spotted mask, a black faux turtleneck, a ladybug printed pleated skirt, red and black "Wonder Woman" boots, and matching red and black gloves. At first glance, Ladybug appeared to be wearing some type of spandex, but Marinette wasn't convinced. Chat Noir wore some type of hyper-durable leather, so why would Ladybug wear something as flimsy and easily breakable (relatively speaking) as simple spandex.

Marinette grumbled under her breath as she returned to her hat. She wanted to get her hands on Ladybug's suit and examine the fabric. Marinette was sure if she could get her hands on it she could figure it out.

Marinette smiled in satisfaction as she tied off the embroidery thread. Done! And with thirty minutes to spare! Marinette quickly packed the hat in a hatbox and made her way to the school. It would only take her a few minutes, but she wanted to be early.

Alya actually looked surprised to see Marinette actually early, setting her hat on the display pillar in the entrance-slash-gym of the school.

"Look who's actually on time." Alya placed a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow at her friend. "This must be really important to you. You were even late for our first Maths test."

"This could be extremely important towards my career!" Marinette carefully leaned over and smoothed one of the faux feathers.

"You're fifteen."

"So are you, but you still run after Akuma and take dangerous videos of Ladybug and Chat Noir," Marinette said matter-of-factly.

"Touché…" Alya said, elbowing Marinette lightly in the ribs, "You sure this isn't just because Adrien will be modeling the winning hat?"

Marinette flushed, turning a rather bright shade of red. "Alya!"

Alya's face darkened as she looked over at one of the other pedestals. "Uh, don't look now girl, but…"

Marinette looked over where Alya was pointed and gasped. Sitting on Chloe's pedestal was the exact hat Marinette had spent hours slaving over! Shock quickly morphed into anger. How dare she? Did Chloe even realize what she was doing?

"She… she… She stole my design!" Marinette growled and tried to stop her fists from shaking.

"Well?" Alya asked, "Aren't you going to confront her?"

Marinette closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath before shaking her head. She looked as calm as she was going to get. "No, confronting her now isn't going to do any good. I'm going to do this like a designer."

Marinette took another deep breath and stood up straight, squaring her shoulders. She used the couple minutes of free time to look at Juleka's and Max's hats. Juleka's was more art than wearable fashion, but it was more Juleka than a wearable hat would ever be.

Marinette took a deep breath as Mr. Damocles, Adrien, and Mr. Agreste's assistant (she was pretty sure she'd heard Adrien call her Natalie) walked over.

It only took Mr. Agreste (who was judging from over a video conference) a split second to realize something was wrong. "Hm, turn the tablet back to Ms. Bourgeois' hat." Marinette took another deep breath. "Is this a joke?"

Chloe's drama queen "I'm getting what I want no matter what" attitude took over within a second. "No fair! Marinette copied my design! It's scandalous, how could you do that?" Chloe dissolved into crocodile tears.

Marinette ignored her rival/bully and cleared her throat. "I apologize for the situation Mr. Agreste, but I can prove that this derby hat is my original design."

"Go ahead," Mr. Agreste allowed, nodding just a little.

"Well, everything on my derby hat is hand-made. From the embroidery, to the weaving of the band, to the stitching of the brim. All done by myself. And last there's a special design element that only the true designer knows about." Marinette flipped the hat over, revealing her name carefully stitched in gold embroidery thread along the band. "I signed mine."

Marinette couldn't help but feel a little smug as Chloe gasped, knocking over her pedestal and hat. Chloe let out a loud cry before running off. Good, Marinette thought, Any designer worth her silk would know you never steal another's design.

Mr. Agreste actually look impressed, "Very exquisite creation. You definitely have the laboring hands of a hat maker, miss..."

"Marinette!" Adrien spoke up before Marinette could.

"Congratulations on your demonstration, Miss Marinette. You're the winner."

Marinette gasped. She won? She actually won? "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Adrien will wear your derby on our next advertising campaign."

Adrien reached forward accidently touching Marinette's hands as he reached for the hat. Marinette froze, a small startled gasp escaping her as blush creeped across her cheeks.

Adrien, ever so clueless, didn't even seem to notice. "Awesome job, Marinette."

Marinette chose not to respond, instead putting on a sheepish smile to hide her embarrassment. Adrien had touched her! Adrien had touched her and she couldn't even find it in her to speak like a normal person! Adrien gently took the hat and started to place it on his head, only to stop and yet out a violent sneeze.

"Sorry…" Adrien rubbed his nose, looking like his sinuses were suddenly clogged, "I'm allergic to feathers…"

Adrien sneezed again. And again. If Marinette had been looking at the other students, she would have seen Rose tugging on Juleka's arm frantically. Adrien sneezed again.

Marinette just smiled at Adrien. It was very professional of him to still take the hat when the feather seemed to be making it impossible for him not to sneeze. "Gesundheit!"

Gabriel Agreste sighed, running a hand down his face. He knew this would happen one day, but he'd hoped that Ladybug and Chat Noir would be able to handle this one their own. He should have known that Duusu would want to help Noroo; they were partners after all.

Gabriel opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a small Polaroid photograph. It was a typical 80's Polaroid, with dull color and the image of two teens squeezed into the frame. It had been taken after a particularly difficult battle with the Order of the Grand Circle. Felicia (who had went by Flutter at the time) had screamed "partner photo," grabbed Le Peon around the shoulders, and snapped the photograph before Gabriel could form full protests. They were covered in sweat and grime, his lip was split, she had a blue bruise on the side of her face, and Le Peon looked generally ruffled.

Gabriel had retired years ago, when Adrien had been born. He'd asked Master Fu for permission to follow the oldest tradition of passage, the one the Circles currently in the US, India, and Japan currently used. At one time, their circle had as well but their centers weren't the Lion and the Crocodile or the Seahorse and the Wolf or the Hedgehog and the Scorpion. Their Centers were the Ladybug and the Black Cat. Uncontrolled creation and controlled destruction.

So it wasn't unheard of when Gabriel had asked if he could find his own successor, just unusual. He knew that today would come one day and after Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared and Felicia's butterflies were being used for evil it would only be a matter of time. But, a girl in his son's class? One who showed all the pride, cunning, and creativity of a peacock?

Of course it was Adrien's school. Gabriel was pretty sure Ladybug, at least, went to his school. This just made Gabriel want to pull Adrien out of school more. If he did that, though, Adrien would surely be akumatized. Hell, the only reason he'd let Adrien go to school was so that he wouldn't be akumatized. Of course, if an Order member found Hawk Moth and told him Le Peon and Flutter's son was out and about in the world, Adrien would be lucky to be akumatized.

Gabriel sighed and opened a videoconference. He hesitated for a second, hovering over a name. Did he honestly want to make this call? Gabriel clicked on the name. Who else was he supposed to talk about this with?

"Oh my god, you found them!" The African-French woman popped up on the screen within three seconds. She was a little to close to the screen, but Gabriel could tell she was outside somewhere.

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose, "Bianca. I have no desire to examine your pores."

Bianca adjusted the phone so she was better placed on the screen. "Tell me everything about the new larva."

"You assume that's why I'm calling you."

"Gabe…"

"Please don't call me Gabe."

Bianca ignored him, continuing her sentence, "You've never been the type to make causal calls. You got upset at Felicia once because she used her cane to contact you on patrol to try to find out where you were."

Gabriel glared at her, but wasn't able to think up a real argument.

Bianca smirked, "So… the larva?"

"She's not a Bee, Bianca. Stop calling her a larva."

"Fine. So… you didn't call me to tell me about her. What's up?"

"She's in attendance at Adrien's school."

"You let Adrien go to school?"

"It's a new development."

Bianca hummed, thinking for a second. "Duusu is a good kwami. He'll make sure your… chick…." (she sounded out the word chick like it was Ancient Greek) "Doesn't do anything rash or stupid. This isn't Plagg or Vixx we're talking about. Adrien will be as safe as anyone else at that school is."

"Nobody is safe in Paris anymore, Bianca."

"Yeah. I heard about Nooroo. But Ladybug and Chat Noir are doing a good job. Loosen up a little, Gabe. Just this once. Let Duusu have a new chick to look after and teach. This isn't just about Adrien."

Gabriel smiled just a little, "Have you always been this rational?"

Bianca laughed, "Hives thrive on logic and order, so yes."

"Very well, I'll take your advice. This time."

Some lines and scenes were taken directly from the show. I don't own these.

Mr. Agreste hasn't seen Marinette's shy, nervous side. The Marinette he saw was confident and rightly proud of her work. This will be explored in later chapters, I promise.

Bianca was the Holder of the Bee Miraculous. She is an OC.

I decided to make Rose Ladybug because I'd never seen it done before and I thought it would be fun. She's so sweet and adorable and I can totally see Adrien treating a tiny adorable Ladybug as his little sister. Most of the story will be from the POV of Marinette, Adrien, or Rose from now on.