Work Text:
It was still dark out when Marinette snuck into the school which, of course, was unusual for her. She and Chat had just finished vanquishing another villain, and with only three hours left before classes would start for the day, she knew she'd be better off staying awake. If she fell asleep, who knows when she'd wake up? She couldn't risk being late to class again, so she figured she'd just go to school early and occupy her time until class started.
She quietly roamed into the locker room, where fencing equipment was already laid out for the morning's practice. Adrien would be there, Marinette remembered with a smile as she absently ran her hand over the nearest mask.
Mr. D'Argencourt still hadn't selected a new member for the fencing team, but Marinette had decided to drop out of the running. Kagami deserved the space and Marinette was far too busy with her responsibilities as Ladybug anyway. But still, fencing had been a lot of fun.
Before she knew it, she was all decked out in head-to-toe fencing gear, complete with a mask. She grabbed a saber and stepped timidly out into the courtyard, looking around carefully to make sure nobody was there. She wouldn't want anyone asking questions about why she was at school so early, especially right after an akuma attack. There was no such thing as being too careful.
Seeing that she was alone, she crossed to the center and set up her footing the way Adrien had instructed her the day she and Chat fought Riposte: right foot pointing forward, left foot back and pointed outwards, with a gentle bend in the knees to allow for quick reflexes.
With no one around to see her, she felt totally at ease. She lunged forward and hopped back, then forward and back again, brandishing her saber with all the grace and agility usually only afforded to her when she was Ladybug.
“You're pretty good.”
Marinette jumped at the sound and her startled movement sent her saber flying. It stuck in the ground right next to the figure that had appeared on the edge of the courtyard. Like her, he was dressed in full fencing gear, wearing a mask and holding a saber. He plucked hers from the ground and offered it back to her.
“Sorry, thank you,” Marinette said awkwardly as she walked up to him.
“No problem,” the masked boy said as she took the sword from his hands. His voice sounded familiar somehow, but she couldn't place it. “You look like you could use a partner.”
Marinette nodded, thankful for the boy's help. They got into position and greeted each other with an elegant swipe of their sabers. The boy lunged at Marinette, and she failed to parry his attack.
“Sorry, I'm new at this,” Marinette admitted. “Again?”
“Nothing to be sorry about, miss. You have great potential. Let's go.”
The next time she took the initiative and, after a struggle, she won the point.
They sparred a couple rounds. It felt comfortable, familiar even, to fight with him. They silently battled back and fourth, with him winning the majority of the time.
“Stay there,” he said when Marinette got into position for another match. He walked up behind her and put his hands on her waist, adjusting her torso and spine so that she'd stand up straighter. She tried her best to ignore the way his touch ignited her every nerve. “You're putting too much weight forward, which is throwing you off balance. Try again.”
Marinette could instantly feel the difference in her performance when they went to fight again. She was improving so quickly in one short practice, and she didn't even know the name of the mystery boy who'd come to help her.
He lunged toward her, but she parried his attack easily and riposted toward his shoulder with lightning-fast reflexes. He jumped out of the way of her attack and swiped his saber toward her right side, and she somersaulted under it. She sprung back up on the other side and lunged at him again and –finally! – struck him between the ribs. In a furious attempt to get away, he lost his footing and fell backwards to the ground. Marinette, who had put her full weight into the attack, lost balance and tumbled down and landed on top of him, their masks crashing together with a jarring vibration.
“I am so, so sorry,” Marinette apologized breathlessly as she scrambled to get off of him. She offered her hand to help him up and he took it.
“That was awesome, miss,” he said as she helped him to his feet.
“You're not mad?” She asked.
“Of course not,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Are you on the fencing team here?” he asked. He still hadn't removed his mask. But then again, neither had she.
“No, I'm not,” she said simply. She couldn't think of a legitimate reason why she would be at school at this hour, in full fencing gear nonetheless, so she didn't elaborate further.
“Were you on the fence about joining?”
“I was thinking about it, but it wouldn't work with my busy schedule.” She wasn't sure why she felt comfortable telling this stranger a version of the truth. Maybe it was the masks, or the exhaustion, or the cadence of his voice or his strange sense of humor. It was all oddly familiar in a way she couldn't bring to the forefront of her mind.
“So, what are you doing here so early?” he asked, “just saber-ing a quiet morning workout?”
“Chat Noir!?” Marinette blurted, then covered her mouth over her mask in an instant. It was like his words kick-started a dormant part of her brain. But his voice, his fighting style, his puns, it had to be him.
“What? No! What would give you an idea like that?” The boy waved his hands dismissively, and then buried his face in them. He looked up then, his hands still on his fencing mask. “Oh, right,” he said sheepishly, “you don't know my true identity, do you?”
“Of course not,” Marinette snapped, trying not to look too frazzled. “Do not remove your mask!”
The boy – Chat Noir, apparently – inched closer to her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “I won't,” he assured her. “But how did you know it was me?”
“Oh, come on.” Marinette put her hands on her hips. “Nobody else's incessant puns can annoy me to pieces like yours can.”
“Ladybug!?” The boy asked, his voice filled with disbelief.
Marinette took a big step back, but Chat closed the space between them easily.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, pulling her into a hug. “It's so good to see you! Well, not see you, per say, but wow. Do you go to this school?”
“Chat, we can't talk about this,” Marinette lowered her voice even though they were the only two in the courtyard.
“Did you come here right after the akuma?” he changed the subject.
“Yeah, I didn't want to go home this close to school starting. I have a tendency to oversleep,” Marinette confessed.
“Me too,” Chat said, a smile in his voice. “The double life of a super hero, am I right?”
Marinette nodded. “I'm afraid that if I'm absent too often and too tired when I actually do show up, people will start putting the pieces together.”
“So you figure it's just easier to stay awake and find something to do until your day starts?” Chat guessed.
“Exactly.”
“You see? You and I are more alike than you think.” Chat nudged her playfully with her arm.
“You know,” Marinette said, ignoring his statement, “you are the only person I can ever talk to like this.”
“You mean, 'honestly?'”
Marinette nodded again.
“It could be like this all the time,” Chat continued. “We could banter and be honest with each other and cover for each other when we need to go fight akumas. We'd make an amazing team. I know because we already do.”
Marinette looked at him for a long moment. Two grated masks stood between them and true friendship. Her fingertips grazed the bottom of her mask.
“We can't,” she whispered mostly to herself, and dropped her hands.
“Why not?”
“We just can't, chaton,” Marinette said softly.
Chat breathed a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping. “I know.”
Marinette wrapped her arm around the boy's shoulders in the comfortable way she often did when they were both transformed. “You know, I always thought that after we've defeated Hawkmoth and Paris no longer needs Ladybug and Chat Noir, you and I would finally reveal our true identities to each other.”
“Really?” Chat asked, surprise evident in his voice. “You'd still want to see each other?”
“How could I ever turn my back on someone who means so much to me? The one person I trust more than anyone else in the world?”
The boy took Marinette's hand in his. “I feel the same way, my lady.” He brought her hand to his mask, in line with where his lips were, and held it there for just a moment. “I look forward to when that day comes.”
“Me too, Chat,” Marinette squeezed his hand before letting go, and bent over to retrieve their sabers, handing Chat's to him. “Another round before I leave?”
“Leave?” Chat sounded bewildered. “Where are you going?”
“To school of course.”
“But...”
“What? You didn't think I went to school here, did you?” Marinette bluffed.
The jingling sound of keys interrupted their conversation. Marinette grabbed Chat's hand and dragged him underneath a staircase just moments before Mr. Damocles strolled into the courtyard. They kept silent and hidden until he went into his office and shut the door behind him.
“I guess that's my cue to leave,” Marinette said reluctantly as she moved out from under the stairs.
Chat followed her out. “I had fun today, my lady.”
Marinette nodded in agreement. “Me too. We should do this again sometime.”
“You know where to find me,” Chat said.
“It would seem that I do,” Marinette replied.
She reached her fist out toward him, and he pounded it with his own.
“Bien joue,”
Marinette ran to the locker room. She looked around to make sure she was alone and removed her fencing gear, helmet last. She retrieved her stuff from her locker, transformed, and left the school through the locker room window. She swung to her balcony, detransformed.
“Marinette, that was too close for comfort,” Tikki said as soon as she was freed from the earring.
“We've been closer,” Marinette said calmly, leaning against the railing and looking out in the general direction of the school.
“But now you know that Chat Noir goes to the same school as you!”
“And I won't dwell on it,” Marinette assured her. “Come on.”
Together they went down the stairs and back to Marinette's room. Marinette's feet touched the floor just as her alarm went off. She went to the bathroom to fix her ruffled hair and apply makeup to her tired eyes.
Without the aid of her trusty yo-yo, Marinette took a little longer getting back to school. The building was now swarming with students inside and out, and as she walked into the courtyard Marinette saw that fencing practice was in full swing.
She watched each fencer move with varying levels of skill, but one in particular stood out among the rest.
She tried not to dwell on it.