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“So, you mean to tell me that your parents just thought I was an American friend who came to visit, and they just let me sleep over last night?”
“Yep, that’s about right. I had to think of something on the spot, and it seemed like the best excuse.” Marinette spins in her chair to face Tikki. She’s laying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Or more accurately, looking at her hands which she raised upwards.
Her new, human hands.
“I’ll say,” Tikki lets out. She drops her hands and sits up, looking in awe at how her knees bend to help support her. “I wonder if they’ll force me to go to school with you today.”
“Probably not. But, I’ll take you with me in case I need to transform.” Marinette smiles. “I can finally introduce you to my friends!”
“I hope I don’t get assigned homework,” Tikki mumbles out. She props her head on her knees, the bundle of red hair falling over her face. She blows it away, only for the locks to fall once more in front of her. “Who knew an akuma could be this troublesome? I’m surprised that akuma turned Plagg and I into humans.”
“Plagg?”
“Chat Noir’s kwami,” Tikki reminds her. Marinette nods, a remembrance of the kwami briefly flashing through her mind on the one odd occasion she met him.
“Do you think we can save the day?” Marinette questions. “I mean, once the akuma hit us, we couldn’t even fight properly. We had to escape and detransform while the akuma ran away to do who knows what.”
“It was just from the change in us. Once the kwami is affected, the holder and Miraculous get affected too. I’m sure once we transform again our bodies will relax and we can properly work together.”
“Hopefully. Until then, I guess we’ll just have to work around this and get that akuma before he destroys Paris.” Marinette stands up, getting a glance of the time on her phone.
“Oh no!” she shrieks out. “We have ten minutes before class starts! Quick, get changed!”
“Into what?” Tikki asks, gazing down at her pajamas, which really was Marinette’s that she had lent her last night. When she had parted from Marinette after detransforming and found herself in a human body, Tikki had also found herself lacking much on her, a kwami not wearing clothes leading to a teenage girl, also not wearing clothes.
“Just borrow something of mine. I have more than enough outfits to wear.” Marinette points to her closet, rushing around and digging in drawers to find an outfit for herself. Grabbing hair ties, she hurriedly starts separating her hair. It was hard enough getting ready on her own, but geez was it hard when she was with someone who until yesterday didn’t know how to put on a shirt.
“Maybe I’ll try on a Marinette exclusive!” Tikki exclaims, drawing a laugh from Marinette.
“Good luck finding one not fit for a dinner party.”
With a flourish, Tikki opens the closet doors and runs her hands over the hanging objects, searching for anything. Something comfortable was her first concern, with something easy to throw on her next. Tikki was of course, only kwami.
“Oh boy, we’re gonna be late.” Marinette tosses on her shirt and tries to tug up her jeans in the same breath, stumbling all over her room in an attempt to stay balanced. Finding the first pair of shoes she can, she plops down on the ground and slips them on, hoping their teacher will be late so she’ll have the opportunity to squeeze in next to Alya in peace and place Tikki in the free desks in the back.
“Is this how you wear this?” Tikki asks, struggling with the button on the jeans she picked out.
“Tikki, those are backwards,” Marinette says, shoes slung on and running over to help. She helps her into the jeans correctly, and Tikki manages to slip on a shirt quite well, although it does take some time slipping on a pair of sneakers for her.
“This is uncomfortable!” she groans out, stamping her foot in protest after Marinette’s tied the laces. Hatch leading downstairs open, Marinette rushes down with her bag, beckoning Tikki to follow.
“You can complain later! Right now, we need to run!”
They just barely make it to the school doors, slipping in just as the first bell rings, sounding out a last minute warning to any students loitering outside of their classrooms. Bouncing up the stairs, Tikki huffs after Marinette, wondering how anyone could have enough stamina to sprint down the street and bounce up stairs without taking a moment’s pause to breathe.
“Here!” Marinette yells out, bouncing through the doors just as the bell rings out. She leans over with her hands placed on her knees, huffing and puffing out an excuse for Tikki, who’s standing behind her, looking very similar and running a thousand thoughts in her mind.
Why can’t I just rest in Marinette’s backpack? Why do I have to do this terrible punishment? Why do humans like to bring this pain onto themselves?
“-so, since she’s from America, I thought it’d be cool to let her see how France schools are, and- “
“Marinette that’s enough. Have Tikki sit in the back, and please bring out your homework.”
Marinette nods, giving Tikki a smile before she goes to her seat. As Tikki walks up the stairs, she can feel the stares of the people Marinette has told her about time and time again, the most dramatic and complicated class of teenagers she’s ever known.
What she doesn’t expect, however, is the student sitting at her desk as well, leaning back in his chair.
“Plagg?” she hisses out, making sure not to draw attention.
“What’s up, Sugarcube?” he asks cheekily, leaning in to rest his arms on the table. He pats the spot next to him, gesturing for her to sit down. “Looks like my holder wasn’t the only one to bring their kwami to school.”
“Lower your voice,” Tikki says, sitting down and casting him a look. She nervously checks if any classmates are listening but finds them drawn into the class discussion, notebooks out and pencils scratching onto the paper. Even Marinette’s head is bowed, not a single glance thrown her way. “I thought I told you not to call me that.”
“Have been since it was invented. Doesn’t mean it gets old, though.” Plagg chuckles, pleased to be reunited with the kwami after so long apart. “So, what’s the lie Marinette used to convince her parents?”
“Online friend. What about you and Adrien?”
“Modeling friend he met while traveling.”
“Modeling? That’s hard to believe,” Tikki teases, earning a slight shove from Plagg.
“So, quite a situation, huh?” he asks, tapping his fingers on the desk. “There’s no way they won’t figure out their identities now.”
“They’ll be fine. Marinette is the most levelheaded person I know.”
“Really?” Plagg throws her a glance.
“Okay, so maybe not the most. But, she’ll handle this better than she would have a few months ago. I trust she won’t freak out as much once she finds out who’s behind the mask.”
“Can’t say the same for Adrien.” Plagg looks over at him, blond hair bouncing every time he raises his hand to answer a question. “The kid’s gonna lose his marbles. He adores Ladybug. I didn’t tell you last time we met, but he has this huge poster in his room, just absolutely the biggest thing, and- “
“Plagg, Marinette has nearly every picture of Adrien known to man in her room.”
“And you’re sure she’ll handle this well?”
“Of course. Trust me! I’m luck, you know.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m not feeling very lucky right now.”
“Plagg? Tikki?” the teacher calls from the front of the classroom. “I understand you two are guests, but please be mindful of your voices. Otherwise, I’ll have you switch with Adrien and Marinette and partake in the class.”
“Sorry, Madame,” both let out in unison, feeling the gaze of the classroom burn. As Tikki lets her eyes linger on the teacher, she flickers them over to spot Marinette and Adrien. Both are locked in a stare down, silently having a conversation.
In tandem, both throw their heads back to look at Tikki and Plagg, before darting back to each other.
In a heartbeat, it all changes.
Marinette shrieks, clapping her hands over her face and immediately standing up.
“Can I please go to the bathroom?” she asks, voice muffled as her hands are still clamped over her mouth.
Adrien stands up as well, pushing his chair back with a loud screech and looking the most disheveled he’s ever looked in all of his fourteen years spent modeling.
“May I as well?” he asks, voice high pitched and on the verge of cracking. He clears his voice, shifting from one foot to the other.
Their teacher gazes at them confused, one part wanting to ask questions but the other all too tired for something this early in the morning.
“Be back quickly. We’re starting a new chapter when you two return.” She waves a hand, and both bolt for the door, awkwardly stopping once both hands have touched the doorknob. The class observes, eyeing the two as if they’re in a drama.
“You first,” Adrien offers, stepping back.
“No, no, you first.”
“Don’t be silly, my L- Marinette.”
“No, I really think you should open the door.“
“You sure? I really think it’d be best if- “
“Someone open the damn door,” Alya interjects, prompting a harsh look from her teacher but no scolding. Weakly, Marinette opens it, pushing herself through with the force of a thousand men. Adrien follows, feet pounding on the ground.
The class looks at the door in silence, wondering in collect agreement if jumping out of their seats to follow them would be a good idea.
“Class, your classwork. I know you’re all curious, but a grade is much more important right now.”
Sighing, the class turns to their class partner, discussing the passage in the textbook they just read and jotting down new notes. Their teacher sits down pleased, then opens up her email.
LMAO y’all are not gonna BELIEVE what just happened, she starts out her message, addressing it to the other teachers at the school.
“So, I guess they’ve figured it out,” Plagg says, looking at Tikki.
“You know, they’re going in the wrong direction of the bathrooms.”
“You really think they’re going to the bathrooms?”
Tikki sighs, putting her elbow on the table and placing her head in her open hand.
“No, not really,” she says. “Anyways, should we think up plans for defeating that akuma?”
“Well, we have nothing better to do. Might as well.”
“That’s the spirit, Plagg.”