Act I: Prologue

–

"Ladybug, deliver your Miraculous to me!"

Marinette growled in frustration; another day, another one of Hawk Moth's akumatized villains.

What could have possibly pissed off this man so badly that he got akumatized?

This one appeared to be some sort of post office employee, possibly a mail carrier; Marinette theorized that he may have been attacked by a neighbor's dog, causing him to become consumed by negative emotions that Hawk Moth could exploit– or something along those lines. Marinette wasn't sure, and she didn't have time to figure it out.

She glanced around; her partner, Cat Noir, was nowhere in sight.

"Give it to me! Now!" Mailmanic urged, reaching out his hand to the red-and-black spotted superheroine standing before him.

"Not a chance," Ladybug defied. Her foe was visibly angered by her response.

"Then I'll have to take it… by force!"

An attempt to ensnare the speedy Miraculous holder ended with Marinette free and clear on the other side of the street, amongst a slew of sticky postage stamps that now covered every car, building, and lamppost in sight.

Ladybug groaned out loud; of all the days for an akuma to appear, it just had to happen on the most significant day of her young life. She didn't have time to spare for Hawk Moth's villainous shenanigans; prior to Mailmanic's appearance, Marinette had been on her way to Adrien's house to ask him something important. Very important. Very, very important.

And still no sign of Cat Noir arriving anytime soon.

With a sigh, the masked heroine threw her yo-yo up into the air; she couldn't afford to wait for the nefariously flirty kitty any longer. He'd probably only hold her back from getting to Adrien sooner, anyway. It was already getting late, and by the time she was done vanquishing Hawk Moth's latest puppet it would most likely be much too late of an hour to disturb the Agrestes.

Marinette stomped her foot in frustration. Why did it always happen this way?

"Lucky Charm!" she cried, watching the yo-yo as it spun and spun before releasing a burst of light, transforming into…

"A bouncy ball?"

She pinched the red rubber ball between her fingers, eyeing it suspiciously. It looked no better than one of those cheap little toys that one could get out of a gumball machine for only a few cents.

Scanning her surroundings, Marinette noticed the lamp post just behind Mailmanic, right as he lifted his magic envelope to shoot another stream of razor sharp letters at her; the envelope had to be where the akuma was hiding. Thinking quickly, Marinette took aim and threw the ball as hard as she could; it ricocheted off of the metal post with enough force to knock the envelope out of Mailmanic's grip, sending it flying to land at Marinette's feet. She picked it up and ripped it in half, releasing the evil akuma inside.

Without hesitation, she captured the butterfly in her yo-yo and de-evilized it before releasing it, watching it flutter away before using her Miraculous ability to reset everything to the way it was before the letter carrier's akumatization. The exhausted man, having been transformed into his normal self, collapsed to his knees on the sidewalk.

"Wh-what happened?" he stammered in confusion as he stared at Ladybug with wide eyes, having no memory of the damage he had caused. "The last thing I remember was finding this love letter that my wife sent to her lover, and then everything went hazy."

Yikes.

Marinette looked to the rooftops and sighed. Although it didn't matter now, she tried calling Cat Noir once again on his phone. It rang twice before dropping out.

Where is that darn Cat?

–

"I thought that you were going to ask Ladybug to the dance?" Plagg questioned between bites of Camembert cheese.

The Parisian evening was warm and calm as Adrien Agreste walked the streets, with only a light breeze disturbing the fragrant springtime flowers that bloomed in puffy pink clouds on the trees. It was a perfect evening for his proposal; he was going to ask his classmate, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, to accompany him to the end-of-year dance. He had no doubt that she'd agree to go with him; over the years, he had noticed the way that she looked at him and behaved oddly whenever he was around. Perhaps he had been oblivious to it at first, but as time went on and he got to know her more, her feelings for him became more and more apparent.

Plus, Alya had told Nino who had told Adrien about Marinette's feelings for him, erasing any doubt. It was undeniable; Marinette was head-over-heels in love with him, and he had gradually come to feel the same for her in return.

He was going to ask Marinette to the dance, and then he was going to finally confess his feelings for her. It felt so good to finally be so close to telling her that he loved her that even the odor of Plagg's stinky snack couldn't dampen his exuberant mood.

Adrien smirked at his kwami companion. "Can I let you in on a little secret?"

Plagg scarfed down the last of his cheese and nodded.

"I'm starting to think that maybe Marinette and Ladybug are the same person."

Plagg gasped. "What makes you so sure?"

"Just a few things I've noticed," Adrien said with a shrug.

"Like what?"

"Well, Marinette and Ladybug both have the same scent. It's sweet, but floral. Like a mix of strawberries and vanilla and roses," he explained, his eyes taking on a dreamy look.

"So, what?" Plagg snorted. "Lots of girls wear the same perfume."

"It's not only that. They're both strong and courageous and kind to others."

"That's not enough proof."

Adrien sighed; there was no way that he was going to convince his kwami pal.

"Trust me, okay? It's my instincts. I am a cat, after all."

Plagg rolled his eyes.

They reached the bakery where Marinette and her parents lived. After rapping his knuckles on the door, Adrien took a step back and waited. His phone began ringing in his pocket; he took it out to see Ladybug calling him.

"That's the third time that she's called you," Plagg murmured from his hiding spot inside Adrien's jacket. "It's probably important."

"I'll meet up with Ladybug after this," Adrien whispered back as he stuffed the handheld device back into his pocket. "I can't get caught up in battling a supervillain, not until this is done. My Lady can handle herself for a little bit. Right now, this is more important. The dance is tomorrow, so I have to ask Marinette tonight."

"I thought that Ladybug is Marinette," the small kwami mumbled sarcastically, annoyed by the obvious holes in his friend's theory.

The door opened. Tom Dupain, Marinette's father, looked down at him.

"Adrien Agreste," he greeted. "You're from Marinette's class, aren't you?"

"Y-yes, sir," Adrien answered nervously. His throat was suddenly incredibly dry; Cat Noir was never nervous about anything, so why was he nervous now? "Is Marinette home?"

Tom nodded. "She's in her room. I'll go get her for you."

The large man disappeared, returning a couple of minutes later with a frown.

"I'm sorry, I guess she's not here. She must be at Alya's house tonight. Did you want to leave a message for me to relay to her when she gets back?"

Adrien visibly deflated. "Oh, no thank you, that's not necessary. You have a good night, sir."

"Take care." Marinette's father closed the door.

"Now will you find out what Ladybug wants?" Plagg urged, poking Adrien's ribs. "There could be trouble."

Sighing, Adrien pulled his phone out and dialed Ladybug. It rang four times before going to voicemail.

"That's strange." He shrugged. "Oh well. If it's really important, I'm sure she'll call again."

Adrien turned and made his way back to his house, keeping an eye and an ear out for any signs of Hawk Moths machinations, pondering all the way whether or not Marinette's absence and Ladybug's calls were at all related or if they were merely a coincidence.

–

Upon returning home, Marinette went straight to her room and flopped herself onto her bed, burying her face in her pillow. Tikki flew around her head, coming to rest on the pillow beside her friend.

"What's wrong, Marinette?" the doe-eyed kwami inquired in her tiny voice. "You did great tonight."

Marinette rolled over to stare at the ceiling.

"I defeated Hawk Moth's villain, no thanks to Cat Noir, but I missed my chance with Adrien. Again."

It was already almost eleven o'clock at night; she had missed her window to go to Adrien's house and ask him to be her date to the dance tomorrow. She had already tried numerous times that week, but every time that she had the opportunity, something came up that required her to transform into Ladybug and perform her duties as a superhero. After years of putting her personal– and romantic– life on hold for the sake of the greater good, she was beginning to feel burnt out and bitter about the burden that she carried with her at all times.

"I'm sorry, Marinette. Being the holder of the Miraculous is a lot of responsibility," Tikki squeaked.

"Too much responsibility, if you ask me," Marinette mumbled. Reaching over to her nightstand, she picked up the boutonnière that she had designed and crafted specifically for Adrien; it was a simple red rose with black polka dots, reminiscent of her Ladybug persona, nestled atop wisps of navy blue fern fronds and white baby's breath. Adrien didn't know that she was Ladybug yet, but she had planned on telling him at the dance, along with confessing her love for him. She trusted him with all of her heart and soul; she knew that she could trust him with her deepest secrets, too.

Four years. She had been pining after Adrien Agreste for four long, lonely years, never once letting him know about her feelings. Now, her last chance to open up to him would be at their senior class end-of-the-year dance. It was the last time that she and Adrien and all of their schoolmates would be together before graduating and going their separate ways. She had run out of time and chances; she had to tell him now or never.

The pint-sized kwami perked up. "You could still ask him tomorrow at school, right?"

Marinette squeezed the boutonnière to her chest.

"I hope so."

–

The next morning couldn't have come soon enough. Despite only getting three hours of sleep, dreaming of Adrien's beautiful green eyes and peachy lips, Marinette managed to make it to school before the bell, catching up with Alya on the stone steps outside the front entrance.

"There you are, girl!" her best friend greeted with a laugh, wincing when she noticed the purple bags below Marinette's eyes. Ever the perfect comrade, she reached into her bag for a tube of cucumber eye cream, squirting a dollop onto the tip of her finger and dabbing it beneath both of Marinette's eyes.

"Thanks, Alya."

"You didn't text me last night," Alya said teasingly once she was finished. "How did it go with Lover Boy? Did he say yes? You look tired as hell, so I'm hoping that's a good sign. Please, tell me all about it, and don't you dare leave out any of the sordid details."

She winked and nudged her blue-eyed friend with her elbow.

Marinette pressed her lips together. "He didn't say anything. Because… I didn't ask him."

"Oh no," the auburn-haired girl bemoaned, putting her fists on her hips. "Don't tell me you lost your nerve again."

"No, it wasn't that." Marinette sighed. "Something… important came up."

"What could be more important than Adrien Agreste, the love of your life and future husband?"

Sometimes Marinette felt guilty for keeping her secret identity as Ladybug from her best friend, and more than once she had thought about telling her, but now was neither a good time nor place for such a reveal.

She shook her head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Go ask him," Alya encouraged with a gentle shove. "He'll say yes, you'll go to the dance together, he'll realize that he's madly in love with you, and you'll end up spending the rest of your lives having tons of little babies and growing old together."

Marinette snorted, feeling the spark of confidence reignite within herself; Alya always knew what to say to cheer her up. She supposed that's why they had been such good friends for so long.

"I did only trip once so far today, so maybe that means that luck is on my side for once."

"That's the spirit." Alya gave her a friendly locker-room style smack on the bottom. "Plus, if you don't secure Adrien as your man once and for all, then who are Nino and I supposed to go on double dates with? We've talked about it, and we're pretty sick of having you as a third wheel."

Marinette laughed. "Alright, alright! I'm going to go find him before class."

Giving her best friend a quick hug, Marinette turned and marched towards the doors to the school, determined to find Adrien and ask him to the dance once and for all. She patted the pocket of her blazer to reassure herself that the boutonnière was still there; wanting to be as ready as possible, she pulled it out and held it between her fingers.

Upon entering the building, however, Marinette was shocked to her core by the scene that greeted her; Adrien stood in the middle of the hallway (looking as handsome as ever) with his hands on the shoulders of the insufferable Chloe Bourgeois, as she excitedly and continuously screeched loudly enough for anyone passing by to hear.

"Oh, Adri-kins, I just knew that you were going to ask me to the dance! What took you so long? You know that I wouldn't have said 'yes' to anyone but you!"

Despair fell like a rock to the bottom of Marinette's stomach; Adrien had asked Chloe to be his date the dance. She was too late; she had missed her final chance.

As though she could sense her rival's presence, Chloe turned to see Marinette watching them with her mouth agape and grinned wickedly. Adrien noticed her at the same time, and his face fell upon seeing the unfiltered pain and shock in her features.

"Marinette! Didn't you hear?" Chloe announced smugly. "Adrien has just asked me to be his date to the dance tonight."

Marinette recovered quickly, shaking her head to clear it and then nodded. "I… I heard. Good for you two."

Adrien tried to pull himself out of Chloe's embrace, but she held onto him fast, like an octopus wrapping her prey in her tentacles.

"Chloe, maybe we should take a second to talk about this," Adrien whispered. "I didn't ask you, you just ambushed me talking about the dance and decided on your own that we would go together–"

Chloe elbowed Adrien in the side to get him to shut up.

"Hey!" he cried out.

"Who are you going to the dance with, Marinette? Since I know that no one has asked you to be their date," Chloe continued, finding joy in tormenting the dark-haired girl further. "I'm not sure if there's anyone in this school who would even want to go with you. Actually, on second thought, I bet that art freak Nathaniel would absolutely say 'yes' if you asked him. Besides–"

She gasped, her train of thought coming to an abrupt halt; Marinette could almost see the gears turning in the blonde bimbo's head as the train switched tracks. "Wait a minute–"

Chloe took a step forward, bending at the waist to peer directly into Marinette's face. "Did you come here looking for Adrien because you wanted to ask him to the dance?"

Marinette struggled to find her voice. "I– um, I…"

When her words failed her, she glanced at Adrien in despair and desperation, feeling herself spiraling to get a grasp on the situation.

"Oh, that is rich!" Chloe squealed in cruel glee, clapping her hands together; she obviously derived a sick sort of pleasure from being as nasty as she possibly could be to her romantic, social, and academic rival. "And is that disgusting, cheap-looking boutonniere supposed to be for him? How pitiful! Where did you even get it from? A charity shop? It looks like something you get from one of those plastic jewelry stores for little girls at the malls in the suburbs. What, are you going to cry now? Get a grip."

Maybe it was the sleep deprivation, or the reality that she had lost her chance with Adrien forever, but Marinette found that she couldn't pretend to be strong and unaffected by Chloe's cruel taunts any longer. She wanted to snap back with something snarky but witty, or walk past the witch with her head held high, but she couldn't; she wanted desperately to maintain the moral high ground she had so precariously protected throughout all the years of baiting and antagonizing. She wanted to remain sweet and pure in the eyes of her love.

Instead, Marinette balled her fists at her sides, got as close as she dared to her rival– until they were nearly nose-to-nose– and screamed.

"You are such a heinous, nasty, unlovable bitch, Chloe! It's no wonder why even your own mother can't stand to even pretend to love a monster like you."

The entire hallway silenced as their peers stared in awe, shocked by such an outburst by the normally collected Marinette. Without waiting to revel in Chloe's stunned reaction, Marinette spun on her heel and ran out of the door and down the steps before anyone– especially Adrien– could see the tears that had already begun to fall from her eyes. Alya called out after her best friend in concern, but her shouts went unheeded.

Adrien watched the girl he loved go, his shoulders slumping in defeat, a tragic sort of longing twisting his gut like a fist. It was too late to do anything to remedy the situation; if he tried to reject Chloe now, she would only make an even bigger scene. The last thing he needed was for Chloe to have a meltdown in front of his classmates; she'd probably call her mother who would call her father who would call Adrien's father, who would force him to accompany Chloe to the dance regardless, and with some sort of punishment to boot. And as much as he didn't want to cause Marinette to be so hurt, he supposed that he didn't want to lose Chloe as a friend, either.

"What a crybaby," Chloe sneered once Marinette was out of sight. She tried to sound tough, but her voice still wavered from the impact of Marinette's outburst. Adrien scowled.

"She's not a crybaby, Chloe. She's actually a very nice and funny girl, and she'd do anything to help her friends. She's also a great designer– you should see the fashions that she creates. You should try to make nice with her before we graduate. You know, bury the hatchet. You didn't have to be so mean to her and push her to the edge just now– that wasn't right."

Chloe shot daggers at Adrien with her eyes at his defense of Marinette over her; there was a cognizance to her expression, one that indicated that she could recognize the romantic undertones that laced the young model's words, and she wouldn't tolerate such insubordination from him. He was meant to be hers and hers alone. His infatuation with Marinette had to end, and Chloe would be the one to end it; she knew that should've nipped it in the bud much earlier, but she had never considered his silly obsession with the vapid, goody-goody twat of their class as a true threat until that moment. Going forward she'd waste no further time in uprooting the entire bush from the earth, blossoms and branches and all, poisoning his evident love for Marinette from the roots.

"How dare you, Adrien Agreste. Don't you ever talk about Dupain-Cheng like that in my presence again," she snapped. "She's been a thorn in my side for four years and that's not going to change just because you're too cowardly to see her for what she really is, her true colors. Which she showed us just a moment ago. Capiche?"

With a frown, Adrien simply nodded, eager to avoid any further conflict, but still reeling from Marinette's uncharacteristic explosion and the sight of her crestfallen expression at Chloe's declaration of her self-proclaimed status as his date to the dance. Maybe Chloe was right and he truly was a coward, but not for the reasons that she had claimed.

He was a coward for not standing up for his love. Not just this time, but every time. He'd never felt more like a fool.

Seemingly satisfied with his submissive response, Chloe made him commit to picking her up that evening before flicking her wrist in a gesture of departure. When she left him, numb and alone in the middle of the hallway, to go to class as the other students milling about resumed their business as usual, Adrien dared to pull his cellphone out; he considered calling Marinette, to see if she was or would be alright, but he couldn't think of the right words to say and so he decided against the idea, feeling even more defeated than he already had.

Why did it always happen this way?