Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Marinette and Bridgette were getting ready for school, Bridgette was in the bathroom brushing her hair and teeth, while her sister was picking out an outfit to wear for the day. Marinette was always more of a fashionista, of course, being the one who had the dream of being a world-famous fashion designer.

Marinette walked over to her diary case, to find it open, and empty. She felt herself panic. It can't be missing, she writes everything in that thing, everything. She looked under her pillow, behind her computer, in her bag, any place she could have left it.

She quickly ran to her sister, knocking and opening the door, seeing her put her (longer) hair into her signature pigtails. "Hey, Bri, have you seen my diary, I can't find it anywhere?" Brigette sighed and shook her head, chuckling a bit. She loved her sister, she would take a bullet for her, but sometimes, she could be so forgetful.

"No, maybe you misplaced it. It would be the first time." She tried to reassure her, but she could still see the worry in her eyes. Why though? What did she write in there that she didn't want people to read?

"Yeah, you're probably right." Marinette went out of Brigette's line of sight and continued to search for her diary. She was throwing things all over the place, not leaving a piece of clothing untouched. Brigette was a little upset with this, as she had just cleaned their room the night before. Marinette looked up at her, seeing her downcast look and she stopped for a moment. "I'm sorry sis, I'll clean this all up later, I just really need to find it, I don't want anybody reading it."

Brigette's look went from upset to confuse, of course, she understood why she didn't want anyone to read it. No one wants someone to read their diary, but she made it sound different. "Why not? What secrets could you have written in there that's so important?" Marinette stopped her search and turned to face Bridgette. She took note of the look of panic that flashed in her eyes but didn't say anything of it.

"Oh, it's nothing. Why, have you read it?" She asked quickly, making her sister's suspicions grow.

"No Marinette, I haven't, but, if it'll make you feel better, I will help you look for it, but only after school. Now quickly get dresses, or you'll be late." Marinette sighed and got back up on her feet, changing into her clothes, and left, grabbing a quick croissant sprinting to school.

---On the school steps---

Adrien came out of his car and shut the door. Quietly, he thanked him, getting a grunt in return and he walked towards the school. He froze when he saw Marinette. The two of them had become closer since that incident on the first day of school. He went up to her but frowned upon seeing her downcast look.

"Hey, Marinette... What's wrong?" He asked comfortingly, he always hated seeing his down, it always got him worried that they would get akumatized. Yes, he, along with Ladybug, would capture their Akuma and turn them to normal, but he didn't like the thought of fighting them.

"Oh, hi Adrien, it's nothing, I'm fine." She waved it off, continuing her walk to her first period. Adrien followed along, not fully believing her, he always trusted his friends, they would have no reason to lie to him, but he felt the need to tell her that he'd always be there for her, even though that always went unsaid.

"Are you sure? You know you can talk to me." Marinette felt a blush rise to her cheeks when Adrien rested his hand on her shoulder. She cleared her throat.

"I know, thank you. I just lost something important, and I can't find it, but knowing me, I probably misplaced it, thanks for asking though." The gentle smile was back on his face, and it made Marinette almost melt to the floor. He pat her shoulder one more time, and Marinette did her best not to slap his hand away from her before she fell over.

"No problem, I hope you find it." He gave her one last smile and walked over to his class. She was walking to her first class, which was with Mrs. Mendeleive but Alya pulled her back, almost knocking her over.

"Wow, girl! Did you see what just happened? You actually managed to have a normal conversation with him." Marinette's expression brightened up and she squealed, jumping up and down, forgetting her problems from the morning. Alya chuckled, shaking her head, she honestly can't remember how she and Marinette ever became friends, but she wouldn't change it for the world.

"I have to go talk with Nino before class starts, see you then girl." Marinette waved at her and turned to see her sister rushing into the school. She ran up to her, checking her hands that were full of books.

"Hey, did you by any chance, find it before you left." Bridgette groaned and put her books down. She took off her backpack, placing her books in it, and closing it.

"Marinette what do you even have to hide in it, besides your major crush on Adrien." Brigette had said that a little bit louder than intended, and some people had turned their heads to look at them. Marinette flushed in embarrassment, shushed her, and pulled her into a secluded corner.

"Be quiet, I don't want the whole world knowing about my crush on him. How long have you known?" Brigette only scoffed.

"Since forever, it's pretty obvious." She let a fake smile take over her features, "You two would be cute together." She said in a sweet tone, but Marinette could see the hurt in her eyes, why though?

"Thanks, Brigette, but I already have Alya playing matchmaker so..." She laughed a bit and put her hands up in surrender.

"I'll stay out of it." She said with that same smile. She couldn't help the tears that were rising to her eyes, but she kept them down. She wasn't going to cry about such a stupid thing, besides, she had heard Adrien say a million times, that Marinette was just a friend, so that gave her a bit of hope, but at the same, she wasn't as close with Adrien as her sister was.

"Thanks!" She wrapped her arms around her and squeezed tight. "You're the best." Brigette, albeit reluctantly, hugged back, having that safe feeling she always had whenever she was with her family. They pulled away at the sound of the bell ringing telling everyone to get to their first period.

"Come on, let's get going before we're late." That got her attention. Being Ladybug didn't really come with normal work hours, so most of the time, she was late because she stayed up late from a nightly Akuma, and slept through half her classes, or Hawkmoth struck in the middle of the day, and she had to come up with some stupid excuse as to why she has to go home, or she just asks to go to the bathroom, and never comes back.

---In class---

Mrs. Mendeleive had just gotten her papers together and ready to start class when two of her favorite students stumbled in. Take note of her sarcasm. They both apologized quietly and went to take their seats. She sighed but continued with the lesson none-the-less.

"As I was about to say, today we are starting our robotics assignment. You will all be separated into pairs. Your team will make blueprints for a robot that will benefit mankind, and before you start celebrating, I will be choosing who goes with who. So the pairs are... Alya and Nino," Said pair looked at each other, already liking where this project was going.

"Kim and Max, Juleka and Rose, Mylene and Ivan, Alix and Sabrina, Lila and Nathanial, Brigette and Chloe," Brigette's jaw dropped and Marinette sent her a pitiful look, knowing all too well that being partnered with Chloe was never a good thing. "And lastly, Marinette and Adrien." Marinette whipped her head back in her teacher's direction, feeling a miny panic attack come to her. But Alya elbowing her in the ribs calmed her down, slightly.

"Yes, girl this is great!" She whisper-shouted in her best friend's ear. Marinette smiled back at her, feeling the blush come on her face.

---At the end of the day---

Alya had almost ripped Marinette's arm off getting her to promise to tell her everything that will have happened when she and Adrien do the project, even though she had told her numerous amount of times that it was just that, a project, but Alya was persistent, once an idea got into her head, almost nothing could change her mind.

Once Marinette had finally agreed, Alya thanked her and went away with Nino. The blunette was about to go meet her sister to see if she wanted to get ice cream, but she stopped herself she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.

"Hey, so we should probably go and start working on the assignment so we don't get behind." Marinette felt her heart start racing, but a small smile edged on her face. That was Adrien, always wanting to be the perfectionist his father led him up to be. She always was sorry for him in that regard, but she didn't have the right to judge.

"Yeah, that would be best." Adrien took out his phone and checked his schedule. Luckily, as it turned out, he didn't have any photoshoots today, so he was happy about that.

"Actually would an hour from now work, I have fencing class, but after that, we could meet up." Marinette thought for a second, an hour would give her the chance to clean up her room, and work on one of her new designs.

"Uh, yeah, that should work." Marinette was very proud of herself today, she hadn't tripped over her words around him once today, but she didn't think any more of it so she wouldn't jinx herself.

"Okay great, could we go it at your place, I'm just not so sure how my father would react to me bringing someone by to mine." Marinette was almost positive that if he kept smiling at her like that, she would fall over.

How was she able to be friends with such a sweet person, and she knew he didn't have to be. He didn't have to be such a kind and patient person with everyone. Knowing his status, she was honestly surprised when she heard him apologize to her, that rainy day back on the first day of school. That was one of the reasons she loved him so much, he wasn't like everyone else.

Marinette nodded her head and Adrien smiled again. "Okay, text me your address?" Marinette nodded again, barely listening to their conversation anymore. "Great, see you then." Marinette quickly waved at him before he walked away. What they didn't see was Marinette's twin sister watching them from a comfortable distance.

Brigette quickly ran up to her sister, and they walked the short distance home.

Marinette wouldn't stop blabbing to Brigette about how lucky, but unlucky she was to have Adrien as her partner, and in all honesty Brigette wanted to go to Chloe just she wouldn't have to listen to this, and Chloe hated Brigette almost as much as she hated Marinette, so that was saying a lot.

She had gotten her and wrote her address to Adrien, but she hesitated to send it to him. "I don't think I can do this, I mean, I've checked it a dozen times already to make sure I didn't type anything wrong, but what if it is wrong and he goes to some creeps house and gets kidnapped and is there for twenty years and he hates me and we fail this assignment and I flunk out of school and die in a hole all alone."

Brigette was fed up with her sister being so overdramatic, how could Adrien even like her, really?! She grabbed the phone out of her hands, pressed send and kept walking, ignoring the look of panic that spread over Marinette's face.

---One hour later---

Marinette had cleaned everything out of their room, and left no trace of her crush on Adrien. While she was running around like a madman, Brigette just sat on her side of the room, shaking her head. Marinette saw the distressed look on her face and went to sit down next to her.

"I'm sorry you were paired up with Chloe, she is terrible." Brigette knew what Marinette meant, she herself had never been paired with Chloe, but Marinette and Chloe had been doubled up more times then she could count.

"Yeah, I'll probably have to do everything." She heard Marinette scoff, 'Massive understatement' She thought to herself. It was true that Chloe made her do everything by herself, but whenever the spoiled blond saw something she didn't like or that was wrong, she would make her redo the whole thing. Marinette didn't know how she put up with it for so long, or how her sister was going to.

"Not entirely, she may want to make a robot that will do her make up for her." Brigette gave her a puzzled look that she almost laughed at.

"How is that supposed to help the world?" Brigette asked, and Marinette almost fell to the ground laughing.

"To Chloe, makeup is the world." That made both girls crackup. It had been a while since they had had moments like this, usually school, or their social life got in the way. It made them feel like they were kids again, without a care in the world. Unfortunately, all moments must end, and the girls heard the doorbell ring, signaling that Adrien was there.

Marinette froze, "Could you please answer that?" Brigette nodded and went through the trapdoor. Their mother looked at the door, wondering who could be there at this time of down. It wasn't that late, but Marinette didn't say anything about Alya coming over. Brigette opened the door, a small blush forming on her face, but she kept it hidden.

At the sound of the Adrien's voice, Marinette jumped off her chaise and ran down the steps, but, knowing her clumsy self, she managed to trip over one of the steps and tumbled into Adrien. Said blond had caught her in time, having gotten used to Marinette falling all the time.

"H-hi Adrien." The raven-haired girl stuttered out.

"Hey Marinette." Adrien said with his usual smile that made her heart swoon. Brigette could feel the tears rising to her eyes, and she wouldn't her sister see her cry, not now.

"I'm going to go do my homework on the balcony." Brigette said, going back up through her room, but the pair didn't acknowledge her, as they were in their own little bubble.

"So, let's get started." Marinette said, finally getting a sense of the situation. She had always gotten lost in his eyes whenever he was around. Adrien nodded, and Brigette couldn't stop the flood of tears that fell from her face.

Chapter Text

Brigette had originally gone up to the balcony to work on her homework, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the pair down in her room. They looked so happy, and they were getting the work done so fast. Adrien was always great in this class, so his ideas were great, and then Marinette would make the sketches for the blueprints. It's like they were made to be a team. Brigette knew the longer these two were together, they would get even closer, and of course, she wanted her sister to be happy, all she ever wanted was for Marinette to be happy.

A buzzing in her pocket brought her back to reality. "Hey, Chloe... What? How is this my... Okay fine, I'm on my way." She hung up the phone and placed it in her pocket. She walked down through her room, but before she could leave Marinette stopped her.

"Hey Bri, where are you going?" She asked with her usual smile. Brigette matched her smile the best she could as she tried to hide her red face. Thankfully, if anyone did see her puffy eyes, no one chose to comment on it.

"To Chloe's place to work on our project. Better to get a head start on it than never getting done." Her sister nodded and gave her an apologetic look. Adrien had left to grab something so he wasn't here to see the exchange.

"Okay, well, good luck. You'll probably need it." Brigette nodded and left, not wanting to watch another interaction between the two. She loved her sister with all her heart, and of course, she wanted her to be happy, but Marinette always got everything, she was the popular one that (almost) everyone loved. Was it so bad that Brigette wanted this one thing?

"Thank you, you too." Without a second glance, much to Marinette's confusion, she grabbed her books and placed them in her bag. As she was walking down the stairs, she passed by the blonde she was trying to avoid, and it made more emotions flood back up to her.

---At Chloe's---

Chloe opened the door and practically dragged Brigette in. "Good you're here" She slammed the door shut making the whole place shake. Brigette took out her books setting them down on the table, but she noticed that Chloe didn't have anything for their robot.

"Where are your books?" The raven-haired spat out to the Mayor's daughter. Chloe may have a reputation for making everyone but herself get the work done, and since it's a group project, Chloe would get the same grade as her. So she was going to make sure she didn't do this whole project by herself.

"Where are your books?" She asked calmly, she knew arguing wouldn't get them anywhere, and it would only make things worse. Chloe waved her off.

"That's not why I made you come." She spoke while yelling for Sabrina to grab her a glass of water at room temperature.

"Then, why did you say on the phone "it's all your fault" and "we are going to fail this assignment"?" Chloe facepalmed, mumbling something along the lines of "What am I going to do with you?"

"I needed to get you here some way or another." Brigette groaned, why can't this girl just get to her point?

"Chloe! Why am I here?" She said through clenched teeth, her patience was quickly growing thin, and if she didn't hurry it up, she was going to slap that make-up off her pretty face.

"Don't give me that, I saw the way you looked at Marinette when she and Adrien were paired together. You want them to break up just as much as I do." That wasn't exactly true, she was on her phone throughout the whole class. She got this little piece of information from Sabrina.

"Break up?! Okay look, yes, I like him, but Marinette and Adrien aren't dating." Chloe shrugged.

"Not yet," Chloe said in a singsong voice. Brigette looked so lost, and she was going to grab her things and leave but the blonde devil stopped her. "Look I need your help." Brigette let out a half-laugh but stopped when Chloe didn't join in.

"Oh wait you're serious?" Chloe was about to hurl insults toward the girl, but Sabrina saved her. Chloe snatched the water from her and shooed her away, turning her attention back to Brigette.

"You live with the girl, you must know something embarrassing about her." Brigette gawked at her and went back to get her things together. Maybe she should do this project on her own, it may take longer but Chloe would just slow her down.

"Chloe no! Why would I do that?!"

"Because you love him, and do you really want to be the maid of honor at their wedding and have to watch her man of your dreams?" Brigette sighed, she hated to say this, but Chloe was right, if she was going to have Adrien, she would have to get Marinette out of her way.

"Well... This morning she did lose her diary." She trailed off, wondering if it was the best idea to start working with Chloe Bourgeois. She saw the blonde grow a smirk. "But I can't just do that to her Chloe, she's my sister." Quickly gathering the rest of her things, she left her suite, leaving Chloe with Sabrina.

"She'll come back, they always come back." She said confidently, taking a sip of the water that Sabrina gave her. Said red-head came up to her.

"What about Kim, Alix, Max, Rose, Nino, Alya-"

"Okay enough!"

---Back with Adrien and Marinette---

Marinette groaned and dropped her head onto her desk. "Ugh, I don't know anything about robotic stuff. We are going to fail for sure." Adrien looked at her, utterly shocked. He had always seen Marinette as the brave one who would calm everyone else down when they acted like this.

"Marinette, we're not going to fail." He put her hands on her shoulders and pulled her up so she was leaning back in her chair.

"How do you know that?" He smirked and swung her chair around, Marinette almost falling to the ground, but she managed to balance herself.

"How could anything bad happen when we have this?" He pulled out the lucky charm that had been given to him and Marinette's eyes widened. The smile that grew on her face made him silently cheer to himself. He always loved to see her smile, and it made him feel even better when he was the cause of it, and lately, that hasn't happened much, so any chance he got he would take.

"You kept it?" She asked in a soft, quiet voice, almost uncertain. The look she had in her eyes made it look like she was about to cry. Her eyes never left the lucky charm bracelet that sat in the palm of his hand.

"Of course I kept it, I never leave the house without it. It always helps me when things are going hard for me." Suddenly her eyes lit up and she leaped out of the chair, running to her desk, she rummaged through the drawer and grabbed out the lucky charm bracelet that he made for her.

When Adrien saw the charm that he had made especially for her, he sent her one of his real smiles that only seemed to come out around his friends. "With two lucky charms, I'm sure we'll do just fine." He went back over to her chaise and sat down Marinette following, and they started to discuss what they would need and another date (as in the day of the week) to work on it. Once they decided they conversed on what the design of the robot would look like. "We have to make a design that can withstand the environment, it's mean to-"

"Sounds easy when you say it." Marinette politely interrupted, they both laughed. Adrien looked at her smiling and he couldn't help himself from leaning in. Marinette glanced at him and seemed surprised, but quickly got herself together and leaned into him, scooting closer. Their lips were inches apart and Adrien saw her eyes flutter closed.

Without warning, the trap door flung open, and Brigette walked in, only to freeze upon the scene, quickly apologize and start to leave. "No, no," Adrien said, stopping her in her tracks. "No it's okay you can stay, I should get going anyway, my father is probably wondering where I am. See you tomorrow Mari." He walked out, not noticing the tiny squeak that came out of her.

Once Adrien was out of earshot Brigette felt something soft hit her in the side of the head. "Hey!"

"What was that Brigette?!" Marinette screamed.

"What are you talking about?! How was I supposed to know that you to know you two were kissing up here?!" She retorted, grabbing the object that had been thrown at her (which had apparently been a roll of yarn) and sent it back at her.

Dodging the cotton fiber, Marinette got up off the chaise and went up to her sister, pointing a finger at her. "Have you ever heard of a thing called "knocking"?" Marinette, seconds away from blowing up from frustration.

"It's not just your room you know." Brigette spat out, quickly getting fed up with this conversation. Marinette just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well last time I checked, you're supposed to clean your room." Brigette's jaw fell open and she crossed her arms.

"Seriously! The other day I almost stepped on one of your sewing needles!" Marinette spun around walking the few feet over to the chaise where Brigette slept and pulled the blanket off the edge, piles of clothes showing from underneath it.

"Well maybe if you would have bothered picking up your things I would have seen it." Her sister facepalmed and mumbled something incoherent. Then, to Marinette's surprise, she laughed.

"So, this is the thanks I get for helping you with Adrien?" She replied, the scowl returning to her face, it has been a while since they had fought like this, they were the best of friends, nothing got between them, but lately, things have changed. Marinette has always made these random excuses to leave everywhere, then show up again later. Maybe school is just putting a lot of stress on them, but it seems more than that.

"Help?! You had to work on your own project with Chloe, you call that help?!" Their voices were starting to raise and their parents could hear them yelling, they were starting to get worried, and they thought that they should intervene, but chose to stay out of it. Marinette and Brigette would need to figure this one out on their own.

"Yeah well, she seems like a way better sister than you right about now." Marinette froze there, wide-eyed. Yes, they were both saying some pretty hurtful things, but Brigette knew she and Chloe had a bad relationship, and she hated when people compared her to her, Brigette knew this.

"Well, maybe you should go and live with her then." Brigette scoffed.

"Maybe I will!" Brigette left through the trap door, running out of the bakery and grabbing her phone. She quickly dialed a number and put the phone to her ear, waiting for the person on the other of the line to answer. "I'm in... Yeah... I'll do it."

Chapter Text

It was the next day of school and Marinette hadn't heard from Brigette since their fight yesterday. She wasn't too worried though, she was smart. She would come to school. Marinette didn't want to think about that right now, she was going to talk to Adrien about what happened yesterday. "I'm gonna do this Tikki, I'm going to talk to him." Even though she had talked well with him the day before, it still made her slightly nervous.

"You can do this Marinette!" Came the optimistic voice of her kwami. She stood by the entrance of Françoise Dupont looking for the blonde boy that she loved. After finally spotting him, she made her way over to him and grabbed his attention.

"Hey, Adrien." Yes!! She inwardly applauded herself for being able to talk with him normally. He turned to face her and a fake smile rose to his face, one that Marinette knew all too well. She always recognized Adrien's real smile over his model one.

"Hey, Mari.. could we talk." Adrien pointed back towards the library and Marinette nodded. They quickly made their way there, shutting the door so they could have their privacy. Marinette could see how tense he was. "So." Adrien started, he was starting to act like her, fidgeting, stumbling over his words, but why? "I'm sorry. About yesterday I mean." Marinette put her hand in his and gave him a confused look.

"Why?" She asked soothingly, seeing the smile on her face only made him feel worse.

"Because I led you on. I like you Marinette, I really do, but not like that. I'm in love with someone else." He heard a small gasp escape her, and it broke him, he knew she had the right the know who this girl was, and if he knew, he would tell her, she deserves that much. He almost kissed her, while he was in love with Ladybug. Right now, he couldn't be more confused, and he would give himself more time to think, but right now, he had hurt Marinette, and that was killing him. They already had a rocky relationship, Adrien always tried his best to keep everything good between them, but nothing seemed to be enough.

"Oh, don't worry Adrien, I understand." Her hand left his, and he immediately missed it. He turned to face her and she wrapped her arms around herself and let out a small laugh.

"Friends?" Adrien asked, trying to get rid of the awkwardness that was around them. Marinette nodded with a small smile. He cleared his throat. "We still have to work on the robotics assignment. Could we meet up later here after school?"

"Yeah sure." With that, she walked out of the library trying to keep the tears from leaving her eyes.

Alya was walking to the bathroom when she saw Marinette about to break down. "Marinette what's wrong?" She looked up at the brunette and walked passed her for class, claiming she was fine, that it was nothing. Alya didn't seem so sure though.

---After school---

Brigette had quickly made her way home in order to find Marinette's diary before she was able to. She had searched all over the house and now she was on the balcony. A little while later when all seemed lost, she finally found it behind a plant. "Found it!" She whispered to no one in particular.

She opened it up to the first page, only to freeze when she heard footsteps approach. Without thinking, she placed it back in the spot where she had found it and shot up to her feet, just in time to see Marinette climb up to her. "Hey Bri, what are you doing up here?"

"Oh, I was looking for your diary, as an apology to yesterday." Marinette gave her a small smile and thanked her.

"I'm sorry too, but by any chance, did you happen to find it?" She started fiddling with her fingers. Brigette kept a straight face, but her mind was screaming at her. Something was definitely off, Marinette only acted like this when she was hiding something, and lately, that was always the case.

"No, I'm sorry I couldn't. Do you have any idea where you had it last?" Marinette scratched her head, trying to think back to when she last wrote in it. She only ever had it out when she was going to rant about her day or ideas for designs. Her face suddenly lit up.

"Actually yeah, I think I last had it up here." She walked around her sister and started looking in the most obvious places first. Brigette's heartbeat started to speed up, she couldn't let her sister find it, or it was game over for her future with Adrien. She grabbed Marinette's arm making her jump slightly.

"It's not up here!" Marinette looked at her then down at her hand, slipping her arm from Brigette's grip. She cleared her throat and continued. "I've been looking for it for the past half hour, and it's nowhere to be found. Maybe you left it at a friend's house?" She suggested, shrugging her shoulders.

Marinette knew that wasn't the case. Her diary never left the house, in case a situation exactly like were to happen. But she trusted her sister, she had no reason to lie. Just in case she would check up here later tonight when no one was around. "Oh, well tell me if you find it."

"Will do." She responded giving her a small smile, which Marinette gratefully reciprocated, before leaving through the trap door. Once Brigette saw her walk out of the bakery she took the diary back and started to flip through the pages. "Alya and I went for ice cream." She turned a page. "I went to the wax museum with Adrien, Yay!!!" Another page. "I babysat Manon today and she almost destroyed one of my new designs, but I got it away from her before any damage could be done." Brigette frowned and turned another page, it didn't look like anything worth hiding, so why was she acting so weird? "Brigette took the blame for a mix-up with the macaroon order, I couldn't have asked for a better sister" She felt a wave of guilt hit her, Marinette was a great person and she didn't deserve this.

Sighing, she closed the book and walked over to the small door that led to her bedroom, but before she could take one step, she tripped on a chair leg and fell to the ground, the diary falling out of her hands. Great, she thought, now I'm turning into Marinette. She got up on her feet and dusted herself off. She took the book off the ground, which had fallen open. She was about to close it and call her sister, telling her she had found it, but her eyes were drawn to a line that didn't give her the chance"

"The day I became Ladybug everything changed."

Chapter Text

Brigette's eyes widened and she slammed the book shut. "She's Ladybug!? What?! How!? My sister is Ladybug?!" At this point, she was pacing around the room trying to comprehend the fact that her favorite superhero was actually her twin sister. Reality struck her and she froze. "How am I supposed to compete with Ladybug?!" She sat down on the chaise looking down at the diary in her lap. She knew this probably wasn't the best choice, but if she wanted to get answers, this was her only chance. She had seen how careful Ladybug was on keeping her identity a secret, so she wouldn't get anything from her.

Opening the book she starting reading from page one. If you want to learn everything you have to start from the beginning.

Brigette was so focused on what she was reading she didn't hear the footsteps getting closer until they came inside. "Brigette are you sure you checked everwhe-" She froze wide-eyed when she saw what her sister was holding. "You have it?" She said slowly, not wanting to believe her own words. Brigette snapped her head up to look at her, she opened her mouth to say something, but she wasn't able to force anything out.

Marinette grabbed her journal from her sister. "Are you serious Brigette?! I asked you not to read it!" She turned to walk away but she grabbed her hand.

"Mari wait, please! I can explain!" She sighed and spun around, to face her sister.

"What did you read?" She asked in a calm voice, despite her internal self screaming and freaking out.

"I, um... I read to the point where you wrote "I couldn't have asked for a better sister, then I stopped!" She waved her hands in front of her trying to gain Marinette's forgiveness. "I felt so bad for reading it when I got to that part I couldn't go on."

Marinette held the book close to her chest and gave her a questioning look. "Nothing else?" She asked quietly. She quickly shook her head.

"Nothing at all. It's not like you have any big secrets... Right?" Marinette suddenly went as pale as a snowflake. That confirmed it, she was Ladybug. How had she not seen it sooner? It made so much sense.

"No, of course not." She said, instinctively reaching up to touch her earrings. Brigette had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Ladybug seemed to do a better job at hiding her identity than this.

"We are sisters Marinette, we can tell each other everything." She tried again, her patience quickly growing thin. Marinette and her used to always tell each other everything but since their first day of 10th grade, all of that changed. It was like Marinette had become an entirely different person. She still loved her sister, Brigette didn't doubt that for a second, but things were different, and she was going to figure out what it was and put things back to the way they were before.

"Then why don't you tell me what has been bothering you?" Marinette retorted, crossing her arms to her chest. Brigette gave her a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" Brigette asked, feeling genuinely confused. Marinette was the one who was acting weird, not her. She was the one keeping these secrets, disappearing at random times, she cannot say that she was the one acting strange.

"You just haven't been acting like yourself, what's going on?" She asked, looking at her sister concerned. They had lived together all their lives and even before that, she knew her well enough to know when she wasn't acting right.

"Mari..." She sighed, "it's nothing don't worry about it. I've just been a little stressed." Marinette dropped her arm dropped her arms to her sides and walked over to her. Brigette's eyes hit her lap, she felt the chaise sink down next to her.

"From what?" Marinette questioned, soothingly rubbing her back in circles, trying to calm her down. After all, Brigette was always there for her, it was time she did the same.

"Chloe hasn't been very helpful with the robotics project." She bluffed, it wasn't a whole lie, but it wasn't the main reason she was upset right now. Well, at least not the only reason.

"Yeah, I haven't had much luck with the project either." She commented, taking her hand back to herself. Marinette could feel Brigette's gaze burning into the side of her head.

"What do you mean?" She asked, wondering if the answer she was about to get would give her the satisfaction she was hoping for.

"Don't tell anyone I told you this but Adrien said he is in love with someone else." Brigette's heart almost stopped then and there. Could he be in love with me? She thought to herself. Seeing the look on Marinette's face made her feel a little bad for her, but her heart was soaring, she was doing everything she could not squeal.

"I'm so sorry to hear that." She spoke softly trying her best to keep the smile off her face. It wasn't that she didn't sympathize with her sister, she couldn't feel worse for her, but hearing this news, it made it hard for her not to feel a little happy for herself, who wouldn't.

"Yeah, well I'm going to his place to work on it with him right now. Hopefully, it's not too awkward." Marinette stood up and grabbed her things. Grabbing her diary and putting it in her bag she made her way to the trapdoor.

"Good luck." She said before Marinette closed the door and left for her study session.

"Thanks, you too."

---With Adrien after Marinette had left---

"Plagg, can I ask you something?" Adrien asked his kwami.

"Sure kid." He replied chewing on a chunk of cheese that had just been bought a day earlier, seriously, if this glutton kept this up, he would be broke within the next few months, and he has no idea how he would even begin to explain this to his father.

Plagg may hate mushy lovey-dovey things, which he gets a lot more often than he would like from his owner, but he knew if he didn't go along with it he would hear about it for even longer.

"Is it okay to have feelings for two different people?" He asked under his breath, fidgeting with his fingers, a habit that had grown quickly on to him since he was young.

Plagg stopped chewing on his surprisingly large chunk of Camembert, shocking Adrien. His kwami wasn't one to stop what he was doing, (specifically eating his disgusting cheese) to pay attention to whatever Adrien was talking about. "Who are they?" He asked suspiciously. Suddenly Adrien's face blushed a bright red, which only amplified the small black cat's curiosity.

"Ladybug of course, and... Marinette." Adrien said hastily, waiting for Plagg's laughter to come. He had always (not so subtlety) try to get him to think about taking another look at the raven-haired girl. Adrien had always dismissed the idea, his eyes going back towards the black and red heroine.

Is he really this blind? Plagg mused to himself. "Oh really?" He spoke, more to himself than his charge, but just loud enough for him to hear his voice.

"Yeah," Adrien said with a lovesick sigh. "I think I'm falling in love with her." Plagg had been waiting for this moment, hoping that maybe, just maybe, Adrien would bring down this love crap stuff that Adrien could never seem to get over, but Plagg should have known that was not going to happen.

His current owner was nothing like his past ones. Adrien's life was more of a strict one, to say the least. Ever since his mother died, Adrien had craved any love and affection he could get. His father wasn't one to show much emotion, so he wasn't much help. His friends had taken care of him a lot, but that was only during the day while he was at school, or on the (rare) event that he would be let out of the house.

There were only two people in Adrien's life, that could give him the love to its full extent, well, actually one, but he didn't know that. "You should tell her." Plagg said blankly, trying not to act like he indeed cared about his holder's happiness, though secretly, he really did.

His kittens always had bad luck around them, this one more often than not, and there was barely anything he could do about it. That was where the baker girl or the spotted hero of the city came in, they (she) always made his day better.

"I don't know." Adrien said, burying his head in his hands. "I mean, what if she rejects me, I already rejected her." Plagg couldn't hide the frown that made its way to his face. Why was he suddenly worried about being rejected? Ladybug had smashed on his heart so many times, he couldn't keep count.

Oh, the small black kwami thought, silently hitting himself. Adrien had been taught to follow the rules, listen to what is being told, Cat Noir was the one who could be free to jump across rooftops, and chase the sun, but every time Ladybug denied her feelings for Cat Noir, it reached Adrien's heart, and as long as no one knew who was talking, he could be himself.

"There's only one was to know kid." Plagg said with a shrug, going back to eating his fermented cheese. Adrien looked at his kwami with a smile.

"You're right Plagg, thank you for once." Adrien commented, lightly scratching Plagg behind the ears, emanating a small purr out of him. He always loved that sound, it was calming, and another reason why Adrien loved cats, sadly he was never able to have one of his own.

"I can be useful when I feel like it." The miniature black cat defended crossing his arms.

---The next day with Marinette and Brigette---

"Oh no." Brigette groaned, staring down at her shirt. Hearing her sisters voice, she came up to her. "I got a stain on my blouse, I was going to wear that today!" Marinette smiled at her sisters light bantering. She was starting to act like her.

"Here." Marinette said holding a freshly laundered shirt out to her sister. "Just take one of mine for today." Brigette smiled, Marinette was truly one of the kindest person she had ever known. She never should have read her diary, she had always heard Ladybug say that nobody could know who she was in case Hawkmoth ever found out, "I'm doing this to keep you safe, but I can't do everything." She recalled her saying on the news.

"Thanks." She voiced, taking the shirt out of her hands, and making her way to the bathroom to change. Walking back into their shared room, she looked at Marinette, then down at the homemade shirt she was now wearing. "We look so similar." She said, another smile making its way onto her lips.

Marinette hadn't noticed the comparison until the words left her mouth. She felt herself let out a small laugh, they had not looked alike this much since they were younger. "Remember when mom would always dress us the same then mix us up." Brigette joined in to the small laughter before a voice called out to them.

"Girls, you're going to be late!"

---At school---

"I'm going to tell Marinette." He spoke aloud to himself, drawing the attention of a few kids around him. He didn't spare them a glance as he spotted the girl he was looking for, not realizing his fatal mistake. "Hey." He spoke softly the girl with (long) dark blue hair.

"Hey Adrien." Brigette said with a huge smile. Adrien had to admit he actually missed her stuttering and blushing self around him, but he was glad she wasn't as nervous around him.

Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding he grabbed a hold of her hands, the action catching the shorter girl by surprise. "I really need to tell you something." Brigette's smile only grew wider. Her smile is different, he thought. She tilted her head slightly, which was a trait he couldn't help but find adorable.

Seeing the gleam in her eye urged him to continue. "I know what I said before and I'm sorry. I have been really confused with a lot of things going on, and I have come to realize, I do love you." Brigette's eye flew wide open and Adrien had to chuckle lightly at her reaction, but then he remembered she still had to answer. He looked her in the eye, that same gleam still there, and her smile widened yet again.

"I love you too." She whispered, barely audible. A grin split across his face and he almost shout out in excitement, but with everything he had grew up with, he always needed assurance.

"Really?" He found himself asking, Brigette nodded and went closer to him. She went on her tiptoes to reach his height and her lips touched his. Adrien quickly got over the initial shock and kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her even closer.

While they did their own thing, they were unable to see the bluebell eyes watching them from across the school, heartbroken.

Chapter Text

Brigette pulled away with a smile, her eyes still closed. Adrien took his hands off of her waste and put them into his pockets. That wasn't like anything he had expected, it was not bad, just different. From what he knew anyway. "Wow." He unconsciously spoke out loud. She finally opened her eyes and all he could do was stare into them, they were almost hypnotizing.

When she saw him staring at her, she blushed lightly, which Adrien couldn't help but find adorable. They were broken apart by the sound of the first bell ringing. He took a few steps back. "I have to get to class," without seeing where he was going, he bumped into another student. "Uh, sorry..." He looked back at Brigette, "Talk later?"

With the smile growing ever bigger on her face, she nodded. Adrien smiles again. "Okay see you later then." He walked into the classroom and out of view. Before Brigette followed him in, she squealed, accidentally grabbing the attention of a few others around her.

Marinette felt the tears running down her face. Even though the bell had just rang, she didn't care she would be late, she couldn't let people see her like this. Marinette ran through the group of high school kids and to the bathroom.

"Tikki," She whispered to the small worried kwami. "The other girl is Brigette."

---Next period---

After Marinette had calmed down, and with Tikki throwing away the tens of tissue. She made her way out of the bathroom to see her best friend out of the bathroom running in her general direction. This whole situation gave her a sense of Deja vu.

"Girl, where have you been I haven't seen you all period." Marinette wanted to tell her, she wanted to tell someone what is going on, but not right now. She may want to rant about her unbelievable sister kissing the guy that she liked, but not in the school.

"Don't worry about it Alya, everything is fine." She walked passed her, but this time, Alya followed. She didn't want to be pushy, and she may not have admitted it, but Marinette needed some girl time and after school, she would bring her along and drag her if it came to it.

"Why don't you and I do something later." Alya said grabbing her by the hand. Marinette sighed, it seemed like Alya wasn't going anywhere soon. Why not? She didn't want to be at home after school so this could be a good distraction.

"You know what, that sounds great. What would you like to do?" Alya put her hand to her chin in thought. Marinette didn't seem to want to talk about whatever is going on, so maybe they should go somewhere they didn't have to say anything.

"Do you want to see a movie? There is a new superhero one that came out last week." Marinette nodded.

"Mari, come on, we have to get going." She sighed at the sound of her sister's voice, she wasn't in the mood to be with Brigette. She just wanted to go to that movie or run across the rooftops as Ladybug, she'd to that second one later.

"Okay, coming sis, later Al." She waved one more time to her and followed her sister to their next class. Alya quickly texted her the time of the movie and that she'd pick her up later.

---After school at the Dupain-Cheng residents---

Brigette was in her room making sure everything was in place for when Adrien came over. She had talked with Adrien before she came home, and he had said he would come over after his fencing. Thankfully that gave her about thirty to forty-five minutes, which she had almost used since he should be here soon.

Marinette was sitting at her desk, reading a book that Nino suggested, and it seemed really interesting. Unfortunately, it's very hard to read when there is a lot of noise around you. Brigette was making things very hard to focus on. Marinette had to restart the same sentence numerous amount of times with all of Brigette's vacuuming, coming in and out of the room, and others. Their trapdoor wasn't all too quiet, so she gave up on reading and decided to try to make conversation until Alya came.

"So..." Marinette started, grabbing her sister's attention, though it didn't stop her running around. Honestly, as much as she hated everything that was going on around her, she was happy that the room was practically shining. Was she always like this whenever Adrien was coming around. "I saw you and Adrien today." She said slowly.

Brigette froze at that. She did feel pretty bad for what had happened with Adrien, and she had hoped she could keep it from Marinette for a little while longer, but apparently, that wasn't going to happen. "I'm really sorry Mari, It's just... I really like him."

Marinette gave her a fake smile, "It's fine Bri, he said he loved someone else, I guess that was you." The smile that grew on Brigette's face was not fake in any way. She was really happy.

"He said he loved me?" Brigette asked, fidgeting with her fingers, it felt very awkward talking about this with her sister, but she couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth. Marinette nodded slightly.

She felt her phone vibrate from her side pocket. Grabbing it, she saw a message from Alya. Oh right, the movie would be starting in about twenty minutes. "That was Alya, I should get going." Brigette waved at her before going back to her cleaning.

Marinette walked out the trapdoor and out the front door, only to run into Adrien. She kept her eyes glued to the floor, but she could feel his gaze burning into the back of his head. Why does he have to be so tall???

"Hey." He finally said.

"Hey." Marinette retorted, before quickly making her way past him and down the stairs to Alya. She didn't tell her about this situation because she knew Alya wouldn't take it well and she didn't know if she would be able to stop her from doing something she'd regret.

Adrien just stood there, puzzled on why she was acting this way, but since she had shut the door behind her, he didn't think it would be polite to just walk in, so he rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer.

He heard quick footsteps approaching, and the door opened. "Hey, come in." Brigette opened the door a bit wider for him to walk inside. They both made their way back up into her room and sat on the chaise. Adrien wrapped his arm around her.

"So, do you think we should finish the project before we do anything else?" Brigette looked up at him confused.

"What project?" She asked.

"The one we were partnered up for." He spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He gently smiled, but Brigette still looked the same.

"Weren't you paired with Marinette?" The smile was instantly wiped off his face and a look of shock replaced it.

"Oh no."

Chapter Text

"What's wrong?" Brigette asked, moving out from under his arm. He slightly recoiled. "Adrien?" He hesitated but opened his mouth to speak.

"You're Brigette aren't you?" Adrien questioned, Brigette just smiled, a small laugh emanated from her lips.

"Yeah, weird joke Adrien." She laughed again, expecting him to do the same, though that wasn't the case. He kept the same regretful look he had before. Adrien put his head in his hands and ran them through his hair.

"This is not good." He spoke softly, mostly to himself, he didn't exactly want her to hear, but she was focused on him, and with her sitting close to him (which he felt kind of uncomfortable with now) his words were projecting towards her.

"What are you talking about?" Adrien sighed, trying to think of a way to word this without sounding like a total idiot, but nothing came to mind, and the more he thought about it, the worse he knew it would come out. (and they say things sound better in your head)

"Okay, I know this sounds horrible, but the thing is, I thought you were your sister." He paused for a moment, giving her some time to take in what he had said. "Ohh, that's why she ran out right away." A look of fear took over his face. "Please tell me she didn't see us kiss."

Brigette gazed at him both puzzled and angry. She knew she had just heard him, she was only hoping she had heard him wrong, though seeing the look on his face, that hope was quickly dwindling down to nothing. "So you're telling me that you meant to tell Marinette you loved her?" Seeing Adrien's head nod made her heart shatter.

Adrien saw the tears fill her eyes made him feel worse. "I truly am so sorry Brigette, I never meant for this to happen." Brigette scoffed, but she was able to keep the tears from falling from her eyes. Then she remembered what Chloe had said before, she was still in on her plan, but now, she really had to separate the two of them.

"Well," She started, wiping the extra tears in her eyes before more would arrive. "I think you should know that Marinette was really upset after you rejected her and said that she doesn't love you anymore." Adrien looked at her, his jaw on the ground.

"What?"

"She also said that you are a stuck-up jerk who led her on and broke her heart." Brigette forced herself to keep a straight face at seeing Adrien's lost puppy look.

"She really said all that?" He question, Brigette responded with a single nod.

"I think you should go now." Adrien looked away, how could this have happened?

If he hadn't have been so conflicted with his feelings, he would have given up on Ladybug and went to her right away, but no. He just had to be himself. "This is terrible."

Brigette let out a half-laugh. "Yeah, terrible. You have just mistaken me for my sister and told me you loved me. But really you love her now I'm stuck with a broken heart and my sister, who saw you kill me, and now hates the both of us, so thank you, Adrien." Before Adrien could so much as take another breath, she pushed him out the trap door, leaving him to walk out on his own.

As he made his way out of the apartment, he ran into Marinette, or more accurately, she ran into him. "Marinette, what are you doing home so early?" Brigette had told him that her sister would be out while they were together, and now that he thought about it, he remembered Alya saying something about a movie with Marinette, man he was an idiot.

"I had a headache and thought it was best to go home." She quickly glanced up at him then back down at her feet. "See you later at school." She tried to walk past him to get inside, but she didn't get too far as Adrien stopped her.

"Marinette, wait." He grabbed her arm and she hesitantly looked back up at him. "I'm sorry." He said, almost like a plea. Marinette seemed taken back.

"Sorry? Sorry for what? There's nothing to be sorry for." She spoke, trying to rush through this conversation. It was obvious she didn't want to be with him, and he hated himself for it.

"For rejecting you." He replied in the same pleaful tone.

"You love Brigette, Adrien. That's that." She kept her gaze glued to the floor, and Adrien thought he saw a tear drop onto the ground. He really had to fix this.

"No, Marinette that's the thing, I thought you were-"

"Adrien!" She interrupted, her voice started to crack. "I told you, it's fine." She got herself through him and shut the door in Adrien's face. Plagg flew out from inside his jacket.

"I messed up Plagg," Adrien said, leaning his head up against the door. The small black kwami let out a quiet cackle.

"Kid, tell me something I don't know." Adrien rolled his eyes and groaned, Plagg seemed to have felt a twinge of sympathy for his owner, and like he did before, "help". "Okay fine, do something cute to make it up to her."

Adrien squinted his eyes and looked over at his kwami. "Like what?" Plagg shrugged.

"I don't know, give her a bouquet of cheese or something." Plagg had liked to go on Adrien's computer and look up random things about cheese and when he had found out about fruit bouquets he wouldn't stop talking about it, but with cheese of course.

Suddenly Adrien's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, "Of course, thank you Plagg." He ran from the door, and down the stairs towards the front door, he had to hurry if he was going to make it in time for tonight. Plagg quickly caught up to him and flew into his jacket.

"Wait you're actually doing that?! Kid I do not think she'll like that." It wasn't that he was that because he cared, because he definitely didn't, he just didn't want to hear his nagging later about how the bouquet didn't work, and it was all his fault. Though in the process of that, he would get that cheese all to himself...

"No not you Plagg."

---With Brigette---

Right after Adrien had left, she had made a phone call to Chloe to fill her in on what was going on. "Yeah... Okay... No, he loves Marinette... I know it's ridiculous... Don't worry I have a plan." She heard footsteps making their way up and she quickly ended the call.

Marinette walked in with a tearstained face and set her bag down up against the wall. "Hey." She said to her sister, not making eye contact.

"Hey." Brigette responded, hiding her phone behind her back. She wasn't able to let Chloe know why she was hanging up, she just did, so Brigette put her phone on silent in case Chloe tried to call back, and unfortunately she already tried three times.

"So... I saw Adrien on my up here." Brigette made a small humming sound, acknowledging her sisters statement, though not fully answering it.

"Oh?"

Marinette nodded, "Yeah, we talked for a second, and it he made it sound like you were pretty mad at him." This time Brigette nodded. Marinette gave her a knowing look. Her sister sighed

"We had," Brigette cleared her throat, "an argument." Marinette glanced at her suspiciously.

"And did I come up at all?" Brigette shook her head. The blunette had a plan set up and ready and she wasn't going to let her sister ruin it because she was so smart and special.

"Nope, it was just a small disagreement." Marinette crossed her arms and gave her the same knowing look again. It was clear that she wasn't buying any of this, but she had no reason to continue the conversation so she stayed quiet. Brigette took that opportunity to change the subject.

"Anyway, you're home early." Marinette sighed, she knew what her sister was doing and she didn't like it, but what was the point in trying to figure it out right now, when she didn't exactly want to know what it was.

"I got a headache and just wanted to come home." Brigette nodded and waited in the terribly awkward silence until she couldn't take it anymore, and just walked up onto the balcony phone in hand, and a curtain blonde girl on speed-diel.

"Hey Chloe, so here's the plan..."

---That night---

"Okay." Adrien said to his small kwami for the thousandth time in the hour. "Are you ready?" Plagg nodded.

"Yup, let's do this." If Plagg was being honest with himself, he would say that he didn't like this idea at all, but it seemed like a good one to get the girl, but one that would be hard to explain later, and when he had voiced his thoughts, Adrien had only said they would cross that bridge when they came to it.

The blonde called out the transformation words and made his way to Marinette's balcony, he had a bunch of stuff in his hand and he didn't even know how he made it to her place without dropping anything, but that wasn't a problem, now it was time to set everything up.

Marinette had been sewing a new dress for a special event later in the year when she heard a crashing like sound up on her balcony. Knowing her, her curiosity outweighed her judgement and she found herself going up there.

She opened the hatch right as she heard a very familiar voice call out the words, "Claws in." Her eyes widened in shock, and she wasn't able to stop herself from saying the boys name, catching his attention.

"You're an idiot you know that?" His kwami told him.

Chapter Text

"Adrien..." Marinette was staring at Adrien, her eyes wide, trying to process what she had just seen. Adrien just looked over at his kwami and said his transformation words again. Right after he had detransformed Plagg, he immediately ate the piece of cheese in Adrien's jacket pocket.

"Surprise?" He said with a little jazz hands gesture. Marinette's jaw just fell open in shock and she pointed her finger at him as if he committed a crime.

"You're Cat Noir?" She forced out, and he looked down at his feet fiddling with his fingers.

"Maybe?" Marinette fought the urge to laugh at him. It wasn't that she was trying to make him feel bad, he just looked so cute with the little pout he had on his face.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, climbing up onto the balcony so she could be with him. He seemed a bit more relaxed now, but she could still notice the tension in his shoulders.

He leaned back against the railing that wrapped around the balcony. "You seemed angry with me earlier so I thought I would do something sweet to apologize." He heard her let out a small laugh and he looked at her surprised.

"Kitty I was never angry with you, I was just feeling unwell, and a little upset. I'm sorry I made you think you had to do all this for me." He quickly shook his head, ready to reassure, but then he froze and his ears pinned down on his head. Marinette had always hated that look on him. It had become an occurrence over their partnership.

"What's wrong."

"Ladybug is going to kill me now that someone knows who I am. Even if it is the one I love." Marinette was taken back by the mention of her alter ego, but it was the last words he had said that caught her attention.

"The girl you... love?" Cat Noir looked are her and smiled. "But I thought... Brigette?" He sighed and shook his head.

"I swear Marinette, that was a mistake." She felt a little odd at him saying he and her sister was a mistake, but she was too happy right now to care. Marinette turned to face him and flung her arms around him.

"I love you too you silly cat." Marinette was about a head shorter than Adrien, so her head was resting on his chest. He was finally able to relax his posture in her arms. He wrapped his arms around her and tightened his grip.

When they pulled away, Marinette fight the urge to pull his lips onto hers. Of course, Adrien just had to be her kitty. She had always seen the sadness behind his façade. Every joke he made had a hidden meaning behind it.

Unfortunately, she knew that if she didn't go know she probably wouldn't have the willpower to later. "I should get to bed." He smiled and nodded.

Grabbing Marinette's hand, he laid a gentle kiss on the back of it, (Which gave her way too much Deja Vu) "Goodnight Princess." And with that, he leaped away into the night leaving Marinette with her own thoughts.

---The next morning---

Marinette had been packing her bag for the day at school, and Brigette had been passing by her numerous times. After a night of sleep, she had time to think over what had happened, and she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Adrien didn't exactly say that he and Brigette broke up.

"Brigette I have to tell you something." The blunette passed her by again and didn't stop.

"Sorry, I can't talk, I have to meet with Chloe before school." She ran out the door, slamming it behind her, she was trying to act normal before Marinette realized what was truly going on. The girl was Ladybug, she was smart, and she was already suspicious of her now, she didn't want it to grow into something bad.

Tikki could sense something was wrong with her owner and she flew out of her bag, sitting on Marinette's shoulder. "Marinette what's wrong?" The young girl sighed.

"I just feel bad for kissing Adrien when he's with Brigette." Tikki almost lost her balance on Marinette's shoulder. Adrien wasn't dating Brigette, he hadn't even asked her out before that big fight happened. Then Brigette had to go and lie to her all over again, this was starting to become a big problem.

"There is nothing to feel bad about, he said he loved you, didn't he?"

"Yeah, I know, it just doesn't feel right." Tikki sighed, there was really nothing she could do right now to make her feel better, so she would just have to wait until she could talk with Plagg, or until Marinette told Adrien about this herself.

"What are you going to do about it?" Marinette shrugged.

"I don't know." She glanced at the clock and swiftly grabbed her bag. "We should get going."

---At school---

Marinette had made her way through the bakery, thinking about how she could tell her sister that she may have kissed her boyfriend, but she was startled out of her thoughts of someone coming up to her.

"Hey princess." He said in a very Cat Noir like voice. It made her feel even worse. Who would have thought that something like this could have happened when two people liked the same guy.

"Hey..." She said, quickly making her way past him and into the school. Marinette heard footsteps following behind her. Please, not now. She thought to herself, but she didn't make it too far.

"Marinette, is everything alright?" He asked gently pushing him back. Only to make her stop, they had just made it to the top of the stairs and he didn't want her to fall. Knowing Marinette, she definitely would.

"Yeah, don't worry about me I'm fine, I just want to get to class early." He didn't seem too convinced with her answer, but he didn't push her any further.

"Okay. Talk after school?" Marinette nodded and walked into her first class. Adrien had heard his kwami say something and he knew Plagg need to say something. Making sure no one saw him, he made his way over to the locker room and let Plagg out of his jacket.

"What do you mean?" He asked and Plagg shook his head.

"I don't know, she just doesn't seem like herself." Adrien wasn't going to ask how he knew that, because he knew Plagg was right, Marinette was acting strange, and unlike yesterday, he didn't know the reason for it this time.

"Why do you say that?" Adrien asked, putting his bag in his locker and grabbing the things he needed for his class.

"Isn't it obvious?" Adrien shrugged and shook his head, Plagg facepalmed. He loved Adrien, he was his favorite Cat Noir, (not that he would say that to his face) but sometimes he could be so blind it killed him. "She was trying to ignore you." He added in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I guess I'll talk to her about it later, but for now we need to get to class, come on Plagg." Adrien opened his jacket the kwami flew into it.

---In class---

Marinette sat down on her sweet and felt Alya tap her on the shoulder. "Hey girl, are you feeling okay? I mean after what happened yesterday-"

"What do you mean after what happened yesterday nothing happened yesterday. What have you heard?" Marinette interrupted, Alya had barely understood what the blunette just said, as the girl was talking at the speed of light, but they had been friends for a while, so she knew how to listen to the girl when she spoke like that.

"Chill out girl, you almost threw up at the movie yesterday." Marinette slowed her breathing down and nodded her head, seeming to remember this event.

"Yeah, right. I feel fine now, I think I just ate some bad food." Alya gave her an odd look then continued her statement.

"Wait a minute, what did you mean?" The blogger asked, her inner reporter coming out, and seeing Marinette blush only excited her more. "Girl what is it?!" She practically shouted, earning a few weird looks from their classmates. Marinette quickly shushed the girl, which only got her a glare in return, so she gave in.

"Okay fine, don't freak out, but I may or may not have kissed Adrien last night." Alya seemed to have forgotten that they were not the only ones in the room and squealed like a little school girl. Apparently to the girl, that was her version of not freaking out.

"Are you serious?!" Alya whisper shouted, finally realizing the attention she had been gaining by raising her voice every five seconds. Marinette nodded her head, but it was obvious that the girl didn't have the same feelings about this as she did. "Yet, you aren't excited about it?" She asked, calming down and feeling a bit of sympathy for the girl. Had the kiss not gone well?

"I know, it's just, he's already with Brigette." Alya raised an eyebrow, "Then I kissed him." She raised her other eyebrow, "I know he said he loved me," Alya's face went from surprise into full-blown shock, "but it just feels wrong." Alya nodded, trying to make sense of the situation, this is definitely not how she thought she would start the day.

"He said he loved you?" He questioned and Marinette nodded, another blush forming on her face. Oh great, what could it be now? She thought. Marinette opened her mouth and closed it again.

"And I may have said it back..." Marinette whispers and Alya fell out of he seat, how could all of this have happened within the sixteen hours they didn't see each other?! Seeing her best friend's reaction to her situation didn't help. "I have to tell Brigette about this." Alya was quick to grab her arm.

"Are you sure that is the best idea?" She said cautiously, and Marinette could only shrug. She had done so many stupid things yesterday, she had no idea if what she was doing now was a good or a bad idea.

"He's her boyfriend, and I kissed him, I did Alya, it's not like he cheated. I'm the one who kissed him. It's my fault." Marinette said and the brunette sighed. Marinette may be right, but she didn't like it. She had spent the past year trying to get these two together, she wasn't going to let a mishap like this get in the way of that.

"Do you think she'll leave him?" Alya tried to reason, and she shrugged.

"Even if she did... I can't be with him." She spoke with a downcast look. Alya gazed at her sadly.

"Why not?" She had thought that if the two had broken up, (how they were together in the first place was a mystery to her) her ship would sail, but the storm was still here, and if she wasn't fast, it would sink.

"If she breaks up with him, how would it make her feel if we started dating, and if she says she's with him I'm not going to ruin their relationship because of my selfish feelings." Alya couldn't help the smile that came to her face. Marinette was such a good person, she wished she had sisters who would have her back as Marinette did.

"Okay I get it now, but you told Adrien you loved him, and that may be the truth, but what are going to do now?" Marinette looked around the room as if she would find the answer to Alya's question somewhere there.

"I don't know." Marinette groaned, dropping her head onto her desk. Alya gently pat her on the back, reassuring her that they could figure it out and it would all end well.

Adrien walked into the room and made his way to his seat. He turned around and saw Mariette facing down, (away from him in his mind) he waved in Alya's general direction catching her eye. "Is she alright?" He whispered, pointing at the blunette. Alya smiled at his care for her and nodded. "Do you know about the...?" She nodded again and Adrien sighed. Marinette told her friends everything, that wasn't a bad thing, in fact, he felt quite relieved, he trusted Alya, and it's not like she would make fun of him for it.

"Is that what this is all about?" He inquired, and Alya was about to nod again but decided against it, that wasn't exactly the full picture.

"Sort of." She replied and Adrien looked away, trying to think of other things Marinette could be feeling so stressed and upset.

"Okay, I'll just talk to her about it later after school." Alya opened her mouth to argue against Adrien's plan, but she knew it wasn't her place to tell him what to do. "Is she alive?" Adrien said, breaking the silence between them. Alya poked Marinette on the side waking her out of her daydream.

"What? Oh, hey Adrien." Marinette said and pretended to be on her phone. Through the corner of her eye, she could see Adrien giving her the look that she hated to be on the receiving end of, and lately, that seemed to be all the time. Against her own judgment, she glanced up at him and he smiled softly, a look that always managed to melt her into a puddle of goo.

"You alright?" He asked her in that same sweet tone that made her fall in love with him. (Did he know what he was doing?!) She was able to keep her eyes locked on his and he stared at her, waiting for an answer to his question.

She nodded, "Yeah, just tired." She said and Adrien took that answer too, but just like before, he didn't seem convinced with the answer she had given him, but he didn't pry, and she was grateful. Their teacher walked into the classroom and dropped a bunch of papers on her desk. Everyone knew what that meant.

"Okay everyone, today you will be getting your grades back from the robotics assignment, some of you did very well, others... Let's just say I'm sorry." If everyone had started to fiddle around in their seats after that last line, no one had cared to mention it.

---After school in Brigette and Marinette's room---

Marinette had mixed feelings that whole day. On one side, she and Adrien had gotten an A on their project, so that lifted their spirits, on the other hand, she had been dreading school to be over because Marinette knew she would have to have that talk with her sister, and if she didn't do it now, she would mess up bad and never be able to make it up to her.

"Hey Brigette, can I talk with you?" Marinette asked in a small voice. She usually was fine when she talked with her family, but things suddenly became very awkward and she knew this would take a bad turn. Better get it over with fast. She thought to herself.

Her sister just dropped her schoolbag down by Marinette's feet and fell on the chaise, gesturing with her hand for Marinette to continue. She doesn't seem too good. Okay, first she would see what was wrong with Brigette, then she would tell her the bad news. Not the best way to do things, but was there a good way? "What's wrong?"

Brigette exhaled and looked over at Marinette, "I got an F on our project." Marinette let a gasp escape her and she felt her heart drop. Wow this was the worst day I could choose to tell her... Well no backing out now. "Anyway, what did you want to tell me?" This girl is a mind reader, the blunette thought.

"Well, last night, Adrien came over, we were talking for a while and before he left, I might have kissed him." Brigette's eyes widened and she forced herself to look into her sisters eyes.

"You what?!" Marinette flinched at her sisters sharp tone though she shouldn't be surprised, the had done a bad thing, and she deserved what harsh words her sister had for her. After a minute of waiting, she realized those insults weren't going to come. Her sister just stared off into space, that is until she flew up off her seat, almost sending Marinette off of hers, "I have to make a phone call." She said and she left the room.

Adrien walked past a very determined Brigette into her room, seeing Marinette made him want to jump for joy, she had always had that affect on him, even before he realized he loved her. "Hey Mari, we got an A on the project. I told you we could do it."

Marinette edged her lips into a faint smile. "Yeah, thanks for that by the way." Adrien nodded and he saw Marinette's face go back into the frown he had seen her with all day.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked pulling up her desk chair and sitting on it. "You've been acting weird all day. I don't want you to feel like you have to tell me, but I am here if you need someone to listen." Marinette looked away, apparently she would have to give two people bad news today, let's just hope no one get's akumatized because of this. She thought.

"I don't think we should be together." The smile on Adrien's face vanished and he had that same lost puppy look again.

"Why not?" He asked quietly, Marinette knew that this question had been coming, and it was an obvious one too, but she never thought for an answer for it so she told him what she had told Alya earlier that day. It wasn't like that was a lie, she just didn't like she was giving the same answer twice, she wanted a full explanation with Adrien, but she couldn't give him one.

"Adrien, you're with my sister, it just wouldn't-"

"No I'm not." He stopped her. Marinette seemed surprised at the interruption.

"You're not?" He shook his head. "Why?" Adrien sighed, it seemed there were going to be a lot of explaining to do today.

"Well, as you saw before, I kissed her at school, and I thought she was you, the two of you looked so alike, I couldn't even tell the difference, but when I realized it was her, I had to tell her that you were the one I was in love with." Marinette had a questioning look on her face.

"You broke up with her?" Adrien squinted and shook his head at the confusion.

"No, she broke up with me. Then she pushed me out the door, and that's where we ran into each other." We seem to be doing that a lot. He added to himself. Marinette thought for a second (a look which Adrien thought was too adorable on her) then cringed.

"Is this a bad time to say I told Brigette that the two of us kissed." Adrien whipped his head towards her.

"Is that what she was mad about, because she almost punched me when I was coming up here, then she just smirked and kept walking."

"What is that girl up to?" Marinette mused to herself, both of them were startled out of their thoughts by the sound of Adrien's phone ringing.

"Hello?... Yeah okay I'm on my way." He hung up the phone and put if back in his pocket. "I have to go, we'll talk about this later, bye."

---Ten minutes earlier---

Brigette ran out of the bakery before calling Chloe. "Hey Chloe, we need to talk... Well if you had bothered to help with the project... when did you ever like me?!" Chloe hung up without another word, but she wasn't who Brigette had wanted to call, she was only calling her to make sure the plan they had came up with was a bust, she was done with that blonde, and it looked like she had the same thought when she called.

She quickly dialed another number into the phone and pressed send. "Hello Mr. Agreste, I have some news for you. It's about your son, Adrien.

Chapter Text

Mariette grabbed his arm before he took another step out of the trapdoor. "Adrien, before you leave, could I ask you something?" The blonde boy nodded his head and came back up sitting next to her. He noticed she didn't seem too nervous, just her serious self. Seeing her like that kind of reminded him of Ladybug.

"Of course."

"Who was the other girl?" She spoke right away. Adrien seemed taken back. He didn't know what she was going to ask him but he didn't think it would be that.

"Okay I know you're going to think this is stupid, but it was... Ladybug" Marinette gasped.

"Are you kidding me??!!" Marinette knew she should have guessed that her alter ego was the one that Adrien loved, but she wasn't thinking straight. Adrien saw her reaction and he started to freak.

"Okay, Marinette look, I was in love with her, but I love you more, I promise nothing is going on between Ladybug and I." Marinette kept that odd look on her face before she bust out laughing.

"Adrien, don't worry, I'm not upset, it's just," she paused wondering if this was the right decision. Oh, why not, she thought. She would have to tell him sooner or later, and she could tell he wouldn't last too long. "I am Ladybug."

Adrien tripped over absolutely nothing and fell onto his hands and knees. "Wait... What?!" Marinette let out another laugh and Adrien thought he could get used to hearing that sound, even if it was out of his own humiliation.

"And the other boy I told Cat Noir about was you. Well, Adrien." Adrien started to laugh too, and the two of them just sat there, having the time of their lives.

"Me?!" He pointed at himself and Marinette nodded, a soft smile on her face. A look that Adrien could never get used to, and he didn't want to. Each time he saw it, it always hit differently. "So we were right at each other's side this whole time." He spoke aloud to himself, Marinette hummed in acknowledgment.

"Yeah... Hey, do you remember the day we got assigned to our project?" Adrien nodded, "I had lost my diary that day, it had so much about our Akuma fights." Adrien was shocked, why would she write things like that when she knew what was at stake?

"Were you able to find it?" Adrien asked urgently because if she hadn't, he didn't care if his father was upset with him being late, he was going to help her find it.

"Yeah, Brigette had it." Adrien looked away in thought. Marinette was always the one to come up with plans or an explanation, but a little extra help never hurt anyone.

"Do you think she read something and figured out you're Ladybug?" Marinette shrugged.

"She said she only read a few parts, and skipped through others, but honestly, I don't know what to believe anymore." Adrien sighed, things may be getting more serious than they had thought to be at first.

"Where is the diary now?" Marinette pointed behind her towards the loft bed.

"It's in my pillowcase." She climbed up on the bed to grab it. Earlier in the year, the special case she made for it broke, and she had to settle with a hiding spot, (which was the reason she had lost it in the first place) but she didn't want to get rid of the diary all together, writing down what happened during the day or an Akuma was her only way of ranting.

"Great hiding spot." Adrien heard his kwami add. He quickly poked him on the head, telling him to be quiet. He suddenly whipped his head up at the sound of Marinette gasping.

"It's not here!" She screamed at him. Adrien's eyes blew wide.

"What?!"

---At the Agreste mansion---

After Brigette had ended her call with Gabriel Agreste, she had made her way to his house. He had seemed very interested in what she had to say about Adrien and suggested she come over right away. Of course, she didn't refuse, and now, here she was.

She was about to ring the doorbell, but before her finger touched the button, the gate opened, followed by the front door. Standing there was Nathalie Sancoeur, Gabriel Agreste's personal assistant.

She made her way up the stairs the seemed to take forever to get to the top of and Nathalie welcomed her in. She brought Brigette into Gabriel's office and left them alone.

"Hello, Mr. Agreste," Brigette spoke, keeping her voice steady, and making sure she kept her head high. That was always important in front of people like him.

"Miss. Dupain-Cheng," Gabriel started slowly, making the tension grow ever so slightly. No wonder everyone was so afraid of him. She thought to herself. "You said on the phone, that you have some information regarding my son's well-being." Brigette nodded and took Marinette's diary out of her backpack.

"I do."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow "What is that?" He asked referring to the book in the blunette's hands, Brigette smiled.

"My sister's diary." The fashion designer gave her a suspicious look and eyed the diary again.

"What does your sister have to do with this." Brigette shook her head.

"My sister has everything to do with this." Brigette had made sure that this plan would go as expected so she had memorized her sister's handwriting so things would go well, and so for so good.

"Your sister is Marinette correct?" Brigette nodded, starting to flip through the pages of the book. It was obvious she knew what she was looking for, so Gabriel waited patiently for her to say something.

"Yes, I'm sorry to be the one telling you this, but your son and my sister are dating." Gabriel sighed and took off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"You're sure of this?" He asked cautiously, he didn't want to have to freak out on a technicality. Brigette gave him an obvious look.

"Well, they did kiss." She said blatantly, then turned one more page in the book and handed it to him. "The proof is right there. She wrote about it... She wrote about everything." She added that last bit under her breath, but he was still able to hear her. He had wondered what she had meant by that. He read the entry that was shown to him.

"I met your sister when she won a past design competition. She seems like a smart and polite girl." Brigette nodded, that was right. Marinette was one of the nicest people she knew, but that didn't mean what she did was right.

"She's had a tough year, and she has made some... bad choices." Gabriel sat back in his chair and interlocked his fingers.

"Is that right?" He asked and Brigette nodded again.

"Yes, she's been sneaking out and coming home till the next morning. She's skipped school and her grades have been slipping all year." She may have been lying, but she needed to get Adrien away from her sister and this was her best bet.

"Do you know why all of this had been happening?" Gabriel asked, he was going to have a serious talk with Adrien later.

"She had been falling out with one of her friends, and she didn't take it well." Gabriel looked at her concerned, and she continued. "I honestly don't know what Adrien sees in her, she's a mess right now. She used to be such a nice person but she's changed."

"How?" He asked quickly, Gabriel needed to know as much as possible about this girl and he thought Marinette's sister would be a good start.

"She hasn't told me much, but when I found her diary everything made sense. She and her friend Alya had a big argument and they are both avoiding each other. So Marinette skips school when she doesn't want to deal with Alya's rude insults and goes out all night, never wanting to tell me where she's been."

"Do you know where she is right now?" He asked quickly, Nathalie had told him that Adrien was going somewhere before he came home and he did not want her with this girl.

"I saw her right before I left at home." Gabriel nodded.

"She is with Adrien right now?" Brigette dipped her head in acknowledgment.

"He's been hanging out with her a lot lately. Ever since they were paired up for a school project, and even a while before that." He put his glasses back on his face and thought for a second.

"Could you get your sister to come over without telling her too much about our conversation." Brigette reached for her phone in her back pocket.

"I can try." She pressed Marinette's contact and waited for her to answer. "Hey Mari, I'm at the Agreste mansion... Yeah and I'm talking with Mr. Agreste, and he said he wants to take you on as an intern... Yes, he would like you to come over... Okay later." She put her phone back in her pocket. "She's on her way."

Gabriel smiled. "Great."

---Fifteen minutes later---

Since Adrien had to get back home, he decided to walk with Marinette instead of calling his bodyguard to take them. This way, he would get more time with her.

"What if he doesn't like my designs," Marinette spoke, squeezing his hand that had been holding his. Adrien shook his head.

"You're going to do great Marinette." He told her, Marinette looked down at her feet.

"Something feels off." She said softly, Adrien tilted her head up to face him.

"I know my father can be very intimidating, but don't let him get to you okay? Stand your ground." Marinette smiled at him but shook her head.

"It's not that, I mean that's part of it, it's just Brigette who looked like she wanted to strangle me and now suddenly shows up here at your place, nothing adds up." Adrien wrapped his arm around her and kissed her on her forehead.

"You're just nervous, everything will be okay, just go in there and show him your designs, I'm sure he'll love them." Marinette relaxed a bit and Adrien brought her into his fathers office.

Seeing the two people walk into the room, he got out of his chair and gave them somewhere to sit. "Please take a seat."

Chapter Text

"Take a seat," Gabriel told the two teens, and he sat across from them. Gabriel saw his son's hand gently resting on her knee, rubbing tiny circles on his with his thumb. "You're not here for the reason you think, but rather to discuss your relationship with my son." Marinette closed her eyes then whispered something that only Adrien could hear.

"I told you something wasn't right bout this." Adrien furrowed his eyebrows and looked at his father, who had now been glancing at him.

"Adrien, would you mind leaving the two of us alone for a couple of minutes." The young blonde gave a concerned look to the girl sitting next to him, she only nodded and he slowly stood up, and walked out of the room, leaning against the wall. He hated the thought of leaving her alone with his father, but she was a strong girl, always has been. He just hoped she could handle him.

"Young lady," Gabriel started, "I have some concerns about your intentions with Adrien. Based on everything I have been told, I cannot let you anywhere near my son." Marinette sighed, things were finally starting to add up, she just needed to clear up one thing.

"Let me guess, this was something my sister told you?" Marinette asked crossing her arms on her chest, Gabriel seemed a bit surprised at her sudden boldness, but kept his usual stern look.

"As a matter of fact, yes." Marinette chuckled and shook her head, rubbing her temple at the sudden temple headache.

"I should have guessed. My sister and I haven't exactly been on the same page these last few days." She explained, and Gabriel leaned forward in his chair, making the blunette sit back a bit further.

"Are you telling me what she showed me in her diary is false?" Marinette's eyes blew wide and she shot to her feet.

"She took my diary again?!" Gabriel didn't flinch at her sudden burst, he only eyed her with a serious look, sending her back into her seat. She looked at her feet and Gabriel continued.

"Again?" He asked and Marinette nodded slowly, looking up to reach his gaze.

"A few days ago, I lost my diary. I told her about it and asked her to help me find it. Then later, I found her reading it." Gabriel looked at her posture, he could tell she was upset, even a little angry. Gabriel smirked to himself, he could use that.

"That still doesn't explain why she had a video recording of you sneaking out the other night." Marinette furrowed her eyebrows in thought. The only nights she had been sneaking out were the days she had patrol, but she doesn't remember Brigette being awake any of those nights. It's her partner who has the night vision though, not her. So she couldn't tell.

"Did she say what night it was?" Marinette asked the tall man. Even while he was sitting, he was almost as tall as her.

"She mentioned it was March sixth." Marinette silently hit herself. That was her patrol night. She and Cat Noir had come up with a plan to switch days when checking up on the city, and she chose even days. The only time she went on an odd day was with a month with thirty-one days, and that's when she and Cat Noir patroled together. Which he had mentioned more than once that it was her favorite days.

"I just went up on the balcony to look at the stars." Gabriel raised an eyebrow.

"And you did not return until four in the morning?" It just so happened that that one night where she was recorded, Hawkmoth had released an Akuma, and it was a hard one too. it took them more than four hours to defeat it. Thankfully it was the weekend, and she got to sleep in.

"I fell asleep?" She asked more than told. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the right answer for the older man.

"The video also showed you going downstairs, and then return through the balcony. Could you explain how you did that?" Marinette opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't think of anything.

"I..."

"I have heard enough, and I have come to the conclusion that you are bad association and I am going to have to ask you to stay away from Adrien." Marinette took the hint and stood up from her seat and walked towards the door. "You will also break off your relationship with him before you leave."

Marinette's hand reached out for the door handle, but before she opened it, she turned to face the fashion designer one last time. "That is where you're wrong Mr. Agreste. Adrien and I were never together." Gabriel raised an eyebrow and watched as his office door closed.

Adrien ran over to her when he saw her leave his fathers office. "Mari, what happened, is everything alright?" He put a hand on her shoulder and she flinched away. "Marinette?"

"I'm sorry Adrien I can't stay." She glanced over his shoulder to see a camera pointing in her direction. He was being thorough, she thought to herself. "I have to get some chores done at home." She walked out leaving Adrien standing there.

---In Marinette's room---

Marinette shut the trapdoor and turned to face her sister, who was sitting on the chaise watching her with a smile on her face. "Hey, sis." She said cheerily. Marinette just glared at her. "Well, that's not very nice." She added, and the blunette just rolled her eyes and climbed onto the balcony.

She walked over to the railing and looked up at the sky. It had started to get dark on her walk home, so she could see the stars in the sky now.

Marinette heard something come up behind her and she thought it was her sister. She turned around and expected to see a split image of herself like she always has, but her eyes widened when she saw what it truly was.

Chapter Text

Marinette's eyes widened, that wasn't Brigette. "Kitty?" She asked and he came out of the shadows, waving at her. "What are you doing here?" He walked up to her and bent down, kissing the back of her hand.

"I wanted to see you." Marinette pulled her hand away and hid them behind her back.

"You saw me earlier today, why would you need to see me now." Cat Noir gave her an exasperated look.

"You can't seriously be saying be saying that." Marinette looked down at her feet. She really did feel horrible for doing this, but she didn't know what Gabriel would do if she didn't do what he told her to. "You walked out of there after your conversation with my father, and right before I was about to ask you out." Marinette's cheeks grew red at that, and Adrien couldn't help the smile that came to his face. "So what did my father say to you that scared you so bad?"

Marinette shook her head. "It was nothing Adrien, we just talked about you, and about that date, I'm sorry but I don't think we would be well together." Cat Noir took her hand out from behind her and pulled her in close.

"You don't know that." Marinette was about to deny, but she was silenced by Cat Noir pressing his lips to hers. She tried to force herself away, but it was like she could feel the love he was pouring into the one kiss.

The two heroes were so focused on each other that they didn't hear the footsteps coming towards them.

"What's this?" Marinette and Cat Noir's eyes widened and they quickly pulled away.

"Brigette..." She put her hand up, stopping any further explanation from her sister.

"What is going on here, because whatever it is, I am sure Adrien won't like it." Marinette sent her a death glare, to which Brigette only smiled at. Marinette to a step toward her, but the black cat had a firm grip around her wrist.

"Princess, don't." Cat Noir warned, he knew that Brigette was just baiting her, and he wasn't going to let her take it. Unfortunately, he made a bad choice of words.

"Princess?" Brigette repeated, "Oh, this is wonderful." She said, the smile on her face growing even more. "How long has this little thing between the two of you been going on?" Neither of them said a word.

"What do you want Brigette?" Marinette spoke after a while of silence.

"Oh, right. I just came up here to tell you I'm sorry about you and Adrien." Brigette said in a mocking voice. Marinette balled her hands into fists, a movement that didn't go unnoticed by the hero.

"You're sorry?" The blunette said, her sister not affected by her anger. "If you hadn't-..." She stopped herself and looked back at the blonde, who was waiting for her to continue. "Never mind, just leave us alone." Brigette shrugged.

"Fine, but we'll talk about this," she said talking to the two of them, "later." She finished and went back down through the trap door.

"If she hadn't what?" Marinette sighed, she shouldn't tell him, but knowing Adrien, he wouldn't stop asking until he got the answers he wanted.

"Okay, so Brigette said things to your father about me, then he made me break up with you, even though we weren't even together."

"Yet," Adrien added and Marinette blushed again.

"And he also made sure I'd stay away from you because apparently, I am a bad influence." Adrien stared blankly at her, he didn't know whether to laugh or scream. Marinette? A bad influence? Please, this girl was the best influence he could ever have. Sure she sneaks out every now and then, and she lied, but she had a perfectly good reason to. The girl was a superhero, she saves lives, but something still didn't make sense.

"Oh um, she had written some stuff in my diary, and also had a video of me sneaking out." Adrien sighed, she really had thought of everything, but she was just a high school student, they were heroes who had to come up with convoluted plans, this couldn't be too hard.

"Well don't worry, we'll figure out a way to fix this." Marinette nodded.

"I know, but for now I guess I'll only be able to see you as Cat Noir." Adrien shrugged and kissed her on the forehead.

"I'm okay with that for the time being, but you will need to get your diary from her." Marinette scoffed and waved at him dismissively.

"Oh there's no need to worry about that, I will, and this time," she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he smiled. "She won't get it back." He put his hands on her waist and pulled her up against him.

"I love you." He said looking down at her lips, she smiled.

"I love you too." He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. He wished it could have been longer, but knowing that her sister was right below them, reminded him that he would have to be more careful with this newfound relationship they had.

"Goodnight." She said, pulling out of his embrace.

"Goodnight milady, please be careful."

"I will." He jumped off her railing and back towards his room, he couldn't wait to see her the next morning.

Marinette watched as he leaped away into the darkness of Paris. Once he was out of sight, she climbed through the trapdoor, and sat at the edge of her bed, staring at Brigette, who was swiping on her phone, but she could feel her sisters penetrating gaze on her.

"Are you done making out with your boyfriend yet?" She said, not taking her eyes off of the tiny screen in her hand, Marinette groaned.

"Brigette, what is going on with you?!" Brigette scoffed and threw her phone to the side.

"What is going on with me? Really!? More like what has gotten into you?" Marinette furrowed her eyebrows in confutation. Last time Marinette checked, she wasn't the one who used her idol to threaten her. Brigette could sense her puzzlement and continued. "You kissed my boyfriend."

"He told me the two of you broke up." Brigette froze, but she knew she shouldn't be all that surprised, Adrien and Marinette were a whole lot closer them the two of them. Of course he would have told her.

"Yet you have no problem cheating on him with Cat Noir." Marinette mumbled something Brigette couldn't hear under her breath, then came down the latter.

"If that is not the case, then are you saying that Adrien is Cat Noir?" Marinette stumbled a bit but kept a straight face. Dang that girl is smart, Marinette thought to herself.

"No, I'm not saying that, I don't even know who he is." Brigette scoffed, obviously not falling for her excuse.

"How do you not know who your partner in crime is?" Marinette flinched away at her word, there is no way.

"How much of my diary did you exactly read?!" Marinette practically shouted, but Brigette ignored her question, it was about time she told Marinette she knew now anyway. It could be good for her.

"So, you must know who Cat Noir is if the two of you are partners. You put your life in his hands almost everyday." Marinette shook her head.

"No I don't, we're not even allowed to know who the other is." Marinette crossed her arms and looked away, not seeing the her sister's exasperating look.

"Is that so?" Marinette nodded, getting more and more annoyed as this conversation went on.

"Yes, now please Brigette, don't tell anyone about this." Brigette sat back in her chair and pretended to think. She didn't intend on telling anyone about this, but she liked playing with her, and if it came to it she would, but she had no reason to right now.

"You broke up with Adrien right?" Marinette threw her head back and groaned.

"We were never together!" Brigette put her hands up in surrender. She was getting her more angry be the second, and when you're angry, you're sloppy, you make mistakes. Marinette is bound to make one sooner or later, she always did.

"Fine, and since you're dating that pompous cat, you won't if I started dating Adrien." Marinette hid the smile that came onto her face. This girl did realize she couldn't get everything she wanted right?

"You can try." She replied honestly and Brigette shrugged. She would figure out a way to get Adrien on her side. It wouldn't be too hard, and she's already come so far, she wasn't going to give up right now.

"Thank you." She laid her head on the pillow, and pulled the blanket over her shoulder, shutting her eyes.

"Oh, and one more thing." Marinette said, and Brigette sighed.

"What do you want?" Marinette walked around the chaise and bent down to her sisters height, looking her in the eye.

"Give me back my diary." She said in a low voice, and Brigette tried not to laugh, this girl really didn't know who was pulling the strings here did she?

"In my backpack."

---The next day---

Marinette walked inside the school and she couldn't help but notice everyone around her. It was more quiet than usual. Students were pointing at her and whispering. What was going on?

She saw Alya and decided she was her best bet on getting answers. When the brunette saw her coming up to her, she pulled out her phone. "I'm guessing you haven't seen the news." The puzzled look on her face was enough of an answer. She pushed the phone in her face, and there was a picture of Marinette and Cat Noir (from last night) kissing on it. Marinette's eyes widened. "Is it true that the two of you are dating? How long has it been? When did you meet?" Marinette sighed, so much for keeping their relationship a secret.

"It's a long story Alya." The brunette squealed at the top of her lungs.

"So it is true! What about you and Adrien?" Marinette sighed.

"Like I said, it's a long story." Alya crossed her arms, a determined look on her face.

"I got the time." Marinette knew what kind of person Alya was, when her reporter side kicked in, she wouldn't stop until she got the answer she wanted, she was like Adrien in a way.

"Alya..."

"Were you cheating on Adrien with Cat Noir?" Marinette's eyes blew wide open and she almost fell over.

"No! Why do people keep saying that?" Alya eyed her suspiciously.

"So I'm not the only one who's noticed?" Marinette shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"It's Brigette, she's been a total jerk lately."

"Because she saw you cheating?" Alya regret the words right at they fell out of her mouth, Marinette looked like she was about to explode.

"I wasn't cheating!!!!" That caught everyone's attention. Those who weren't already staring at Marinette were now. Adrien saw the two of them and ran over, ready with an explanation. Well, if you can call it that.

"Alya, Marinette wasn't cheating on me because we were never together. I'm dating Brigette."

Chapter Text

Marinette smiled nervously and sent a look towards Adrien. "Adrien what do you think you're doing." He ignored her and saw Alya's eyes light up.

"Oh, that makes sense. Sorry for jumping to conclusions." Marinette waved it off dismissively.

"Don't worry about it, Al. Adrien and I were never together, even though we talked about it, we knew we wouldn't be well together. That's why I'm with Cat Noir." Marinette explained and Alya nodded, giving her friend a side hug.

The three suddenly heard footsteps coming their way, but before they could identify who it was, Brigette was already at their side, putting Adrien's arm around her shoulders. "And Cat Noir has the cutest nickname for her." It took everything in his keep his hand resting on her arm. This was more awkward than it needed to be.

He looked at his real girlfriend who was now glaring at her sister to try and keep her quiet, but it looked like it wasn't going to be able to work today. "He calls her princess." Everyone "awed" around them and because they were so focused on their gossip session, they didn't see Brigette send a smirk in her sister's direction.

"Seriously, that is so cute." In all honesty, Alya was a little upset that Ladybug and Cat Noir didn't hit it off, but the red-spotted hero always turned down his advances, it was a matter of time before he moved on.

"Aren't they such a cute couple?" Brigette said leaning further into Adrien, and Marinette mumbled something to herself, but she was definitely not jealous.

"I like it." He said and seeing the blush that came onto her face made his day. He hoped that he would always be able to affect her like that. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to keep a straight face. Brigette saw the smile that grew on his face, and she thought that it would be best to get out of there.

"Hey, we should get to class." Alya nodded, grabbing Marinette's hand and bringing them to their first class of that day, leaving Adrien and Brigette standing there, Adrien still feeling as awkward as ever.

---In the middle of class---

Mrs. Mendeleive was writing something on the board half the class was still passed out and could barely understand a word that was coming out of her mouth. "That is when you have to-" Suddenly the door swung open and a bunch of reported barged in running up and crowding around Marinette.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, can you confirm the rumors that you and the famous Cat Noir are dating?" One of the reporters shoved a microphone in her face, and she was about to answer but another reporter asked something.

"Are you in love with him?" Again, the microphone was shoved in her face.

"Excuse me, but you can't just barge into my classroom and interrupt the lesson." The people looked at the science teacher and stood there quietly.

"You're right, I'm sorry." One of them said and grabbed Marinette's hand, dragging Marinette out of the classroom, despite her trying to pull out, and even if she did, there were so many other reporters, there's no point. once they were far enough away, their questions started up again. "Are you in love with Cat Noir?" That same reporter asked.

"Um..." Marinette tried.

"It's a simple question." Another accused, getting irritated with her keeping things from them.

"Yes, I love him but-"

"What about Ladybug?" Another questioned running up to her, she couldn't even count the number of people that surrounded her right now. "Does she know?" It felt like all the air was being sucked out around her and she could barely breathe.

"I don't know." She said, as Ladybug it was a lot easier to deal with these people because she could just swing away if she wanted, but she wasn't Ladybug right now.

"How long have you been dating? When did you meet?" Marinette's breathing sped up and if she knew that if this kept up, she could get akumatized.

Adrien came out of the bathroom and saw the swarm of people around a familiar blunette. Since Adrien knew it couldn't be Brigette, so there's only one other person who it could be. He ran back into the bathroom, calling his transformation words.

"Well we haven't been together for that long-" Marinette stumbled over her feet when someone landed right behind her, but with all the reporters, and Cat Noir standing there, she was able to stay upright.

"Hey, let's leave the little lady alone." Marinette recognized his voice and turned around to face him.

"Cat! What are you doing here?" She asked. He ran his hands down her arms to her waist.

"Let's just get this girl back to her class and I can fill you in on some of the details." Marinette smiled as he lifted her up bridal style and brought her back to her class. (Which was almost over now)

---With Marinette doing her homework---

Marinette was thinking of the formula to write down for the next question when Cat Noir dropped onto her bed and detransformed. She had left the trapdoor open because it was getting warm in her room, and there was a cool breeze outside. Though she was starting to regret that. "Adrien what are you doing here, your father-"

"Thinks I am in my room working on my Chinese." He came down the latter and turned her chair around.

"Adrien, you know you're not supposed to be with me unless you're Cat Noir." Adrien shrugged, and pulled her chair over to the chase, he sat down and held her hands. "No Adrien don't look at me like that. If Brigette finds out about us, then your father will, and it won't end well for us."

"So we just make sure they don't find out." Marinette shook her head and took her hands out of his crossing her arms.

"It's not that easy kitty." Adrien fell back on the chase and groaned.

"Why not Mari? I love you." He said honestly, his emerald green eyes, staring into her blue ones. Marinette sighed.

"I love you too, but we just can't no matter how much we want to." Adrien nodded and stood up.

"I guess you're right, but before I go." He said and Marinette rolled her eyes, Brigette had gone downstairs, and she would be coming back up soon. Marinette pulled him onto his feet and he presses his lips to hers.

It wasn't a long kiss, barely even a second long, but when they heard a gasp coming from the other side of the room, the pulled away like their lives depended on it. "Marinette, are you kidding me, what is with you and my boyfriend? Oh, and don't you have a boyfriend? Who also has superpowers, we don't know how he would react to this." Marinette furrowed her eyebrows, and Adrien looked away. Marinette was right, this wasn't going to end well.

"Are you saying he would use his cataclysm on me?!" Adrien tried to say something but Brigette spoke before he could.

"You don't know how he deals with his problems princess." Okay, note to self, Adrien said to himself. Don't make these two mad.

"Hey." Marinette warned, pointing a finger at Brigette. "Don't call me that." The girl took out her phone and pointed the screen at them, showing Gabriel who she had on speed dial. When did this girl even get his number?!

"Brigette please don't." She just sent a glare in his direction, not saying word. Okay now this girl was scaring him.

"Adrien you should go. I'm going to talk with her." Adrien looked at her nervously, she nodded and he left through the house, and against his better judgment, he transformed into Cat Noir and made his way back towards her balcony.

"Brigette please, don't tell Gabriel." Brigette put her phone down and crossed her arms.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't." Marinette looked at her like she was crazy, she didn't know who this girl was, but she wasn't her sister. Her sister was a sweet girl who would help her when her grades went down, not blackmail her to get things out of her.

"Because we're family Brigette. You're not the same person you used to be. You've became manipulative and angry all the time. What happened to you Brigette?

"I fell in love, and it broke me." Marinette took a few steps closer.

"How?"

"Because he loves you, not me." That was the moment that Cat Noir decided to join the party.

"Hey princess, I thought I'd stop by, see what's going on with you." Marinette saw the look Brigette gave her, there was no way they would have ever been able to keep all this a secret.

"Your "princess" has something she needs to tell you." Marinette gave her a pleading look, but Brigette didn't seem to care at all.

"Well..."

"She's cheating on you." Brigette finished, Marinette glared at her.

"Brigette!!!" Marinette yelled, she only shrugged.

"Sorry I'm impatient." She looked at the hero to see his reaction, but he didn't seem all that surprised. In fact, she had seen that look before on someone else, not too long ago. "Adrien?"

Chapter Text

The blonde hero eyes widened and he recoiled in surprise. "What?! No, I'm not Adrien." He quickly said, shaking his head and waving his hands around. Marinette facepalmed."

"It all makes sense now, the you were looking at Marinette when you came in. Adrien had that same look on his face earlier at school and when he was here less than two minutes ago." Marinette pushed Cat Noir behind her.

"Brigette, it's not what you think." Brigette raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

"Not what I think? Here is what I think. You do know he is Cat Noir, and you know she's Ladybug. What you told me earlier though Marinette, did have some truth to it, except you only just figured out to he is. Am I close?" Both Marinette and Cat Noir's jaws were on the floor by the middle of her explanation.

"Dang she's good." Marinette brought her mouth back up, her teeth clinking together.

"Adrien!!" Marinette realized what she said a moment too later. Her hand slapped against her mouth, and Brigette smirked at them.

"So it is true." She said more than asked. Cat Noir quickly waved his hands around again.

"Brigette, please you can't tell anyone about this." He wrapped his arm around Marinette and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "If Hawkmoth were to ever find out, it could put you and all our friends and family in danger." Brigette furrowed her eyebrows at the two.

"I'm not promising anything, but I won't say anything for now." The couple let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Brigette. I should probably get home, my father is probably wondering where I am." He brushed the bangs out of her forehead and kissed her there.

"Okay, I'll call you later?" Marinette asked in a hoping voice. Adrien smiled and nodded, Brigette rolled her eyes ate the two. When did her sister get so cheesy? "Okay, what's the catch?" She said once Adrien was out of her sight. Brigette raised an eyebrow at her, Marinette shrugged, "There's always a catch with you." Brigette let her lips tug up into a small smirk.

"I won't tell anyone... That is if you do break up with Adrien and stay broken up, and I'm sorry Mari, but I don't think there are any other loopholes you can use for this, because I know all your secrets." Marinette crossed her arms. "What?" Brigette asked.

"You can't have your cake and eat it too." Marinette said, Brigette let out a small chuckle.

"I'm just making things fair for the both of us." Marinette was glad her parents were down in the bakery, because her sister was making her mad. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"How is any of this fair?!" Marinette shouted, Brigette was used to her raising her voice so she didn't seem to react to her.

"You get to keep your identity a secret, and I get to have Adrien. Seems like a win-win to me." Marinette rubbed her temple, to try and relieve the sudden stress headache that hit her.

"How are you going to convince Adrien of this? Use his identity against him too?" Brigette waved her off, this wasn't an interrogation, and even if it was, Brigette would be the one giving it to Marinette, not the other way around. "Unbelievable, I can't deal with this right now. I'm going out to get some air." Marinette heard Brigette mumble something along the lines of "see if I care." but she didn't pay it any mind.

She made her way out the back door, careful to not be seen by her parents, but they were so focused on the bakery (which was packed right now) that even if they did see her, they wouldn't have time to ask her where she was heading. Once she was out in the sun, she took out her phone and dialed Adrien's number, he answered almost immediately. "Hey princess."

"Hey... so, we can't be together." She heard him choke on some thing on the other end of the line.

"Did my father find out about us?" Marinette shook her head, but remembered he couldn't see her.

"No, Brigette said the only way she would keep my identity a secret was if I broke up with you, and I'm betting the way she'll keep yours if you agree to be her boyfriend." Adrien sighed.

"I get it, but you know I'm not going back to Brigette. I wouldn't do that to you." Marinette felt smile touch her lips, Adrien was really the sweetest, most romantic person she ever knew.

"I know you wouldn't, but I don't think we have a choice this time. It's going to be hard... I love you kitty."

"I love you too, milady."

---The next day at school---

Brigette had left the apartment a few minutes after Marinette had, giving her time to think of the right thing to tell Adrien. She found him standing outside the school looking around, and when he saw her, the frown on his face grew deeper but he made his way over to her. "Hey Brigette, listen we need to talk."

"I couldn't agree more." The blunette said.

"I'm not going to date you." Brigette shrugged, grabbing her phone.

"Then yours and Marinette's secret is out." Adrien sighed, but shook his head.

"I don't care, you could tell the world about us, but that won't stop be from being with her." Brigette furrowed her eyebrows. Yesterday he was trying to stop her from saying anything about their identity to anyone, now this?

"Do you really love her?" Adrien gave her an obvious look and nodded. "Then let her go." She walked away and he walked over to Marinette. She had been watching their conversation, but she'd only seen Adrien's face and Brigette's back. She wasn't able to see her reaction.

"Hit did that go?" She asked nervously, fiddling with her fingers. Adrien put his hands in his pockets.

"Honestly, better than I expected to go." Marinette looked over at the girl who was walking into an empty classroom. "I hope she'll be okay."

---With Brigette---

"I cannot believe those two." She starting pacing around the room, the fury in her mind growing stronger. Before she could take another step an akuma flew into her necklace and she heard a dark voice speak inside her head.

"Mirror Mistress, I am Hawkmoth"

Chapter Text

"Mirror Mistress, I am Hawkmoth. I am giving you the power to travel through any reflective surface, but that's only the beginning. I just ask for one thing in return." Brigette smirked and transformed into the outfit of her choosing.

She swiftly leaped onto one of the desks and jumped through the window. She came out of a camera lens at the TV studio with Nadja. "Excuse me." She pushed the news caster out of the way, and the camera panned onto her. "Hello everyone." She said to the people watching the channel.

"Who are you?!" Nadja asked, fear evident in her features. She smiled at that, she liked the thought that people feared her. Soon, the person she was here for would fear her too.

"I am Mirror Mistress, and I have some interesting for you. My entire life, I've been in the shadow of my sister. Marinette," She said, looking directly into the camera, "I'm coming for you." She then threw her fist at the camera, knocking it to the ground and braking it.

She walked back into a glass window and disappeared to an unknown location.

---Back at the school---

Marinette was watching the news when it all happened. "Adrien?" She yelled out and he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I saw it too, we have to get to the TV station." He could tell Marinette was shaken up by all this. She probably blamed herself for her sister's akumatization, but there was much time to stand around and reassure her. "Plagg, Claws Out!" Marinette took the silent hint he was sending her.

"Tikki Spots On!"

---At the Kidz+ TV station---

"Cat Noir! Ladybug!" Nadja Chamack screamed at them, coming out of her hiding spot. The two heroes made their way over to her and helped her onto her feet. She didn't seemed to be hurt, that was a good sign.

"Where's Mirror Mistress?" Ladybug asked urgently. Nadja pointed to the window on the other side of the room.

"I'll give you a hint" A familiar voice said in the reflection of a mirror. Ladybug and Cat Noir turned around a defensive pose. Nadja quickly ran out of the room in fear, earning a laugh from the villain. Fear, she loved that, and soon the one she was after would fear her most. "Remember that one night when we were younger, papa had a surprise for us, we were getting ready to leave, but then you threw up from food poisoning." Ladybug's eyes widened.

"The fair!" The blunette smirked and disappeared from the reflection. The fair they had gone to when they were younger, it reopened yesterday. That must be where she is.

---At the carnival---

"We're here! Where are you Brigette?" The spotted hero yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth to make the sound of her voice louder. Cat Noir was walking behind her, shaking like a cold child.

"It's cold." He said rubbing his arms. She rolled her eyes.

"Stop complaining, we have to find my sister and capture her akuma. We need to focus on the task at hand" Adrien nodded, and pulled out a map of the carnival. Marinette's jaw dropped. "You had a map?!"

"Yeah, who goes to a carnival and doesn't grab a map? Are you trying to get lost?" Marinette scoffed and ripped the map out of his hands, to which he let out a surprised gasp, and gave her a look of offence.

"Okay so we're here. Let's see, roller coasters are to the east, bouncy houses and playground are to the west. Wait!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him up to her, throwing him off balance. Once he was back on his feet and dusted off, he looked to where she was pointing. "There's a mirror maze south of here." They smiled at each other and made a run for it.

After a couple minutes of searching, they finally found the place they were looking for. Outside of the place it was bright, but inside it was so dark that Cat Noir could barely see anything. Thankfully, the mirrors had tiny lights outline all of them, so that helped them a little.

"Here we are... Cat?" She turned around and saw him running his fingers through his hair and gave himself finger guns at his reflection in one of the mirrors.

"Hey handsome." He said to himself, and Ladybug sighed.

"I am not dealing with this right now." She went over to him and grabbed him by the tail, dragging her behind him.

"Nooooooooo." Cat Noir spoke, reaching out to the mirror he was just taken from.

"Focus!" She told him and he groaned. "Okay, I think it's best we split up, we'll cover more ground that way. Call me if you find anything." He nodded and turned in the opposite direction of her immediately running into a mirror. Ladybug let out a small laugh.

"And we all thought I was the clumsy." She took one step to the right and ran into a mirror too. "Never mind." She said and Marinette could hear Adrien laughing behind her. "Brigette! Brigette are you in here?"

Ladybug ran her hands over the cold glass. She kept moving forward, the maze never twister or turned. She dropped her hands to her side, trusting she wouldn't hit anything. She was moving ahead, but it was like she was walking on a treadmill, she never made any distance.

After a few more moments of walking she saw a person run across the mirror, She paused when she heard the breaking of glass. Slowly she dropped her head and saw the floor under her was cracking.

Within a moment she found herself quickly falling through the floor with the shards of glass coming down with her. With a quick hard thump she hit the ground. She felt the pieces of glass crack under her as she slowly got up. She was in the same hallway with mirrors still surrounding her. Marinette kept moving forward trying to make sense of the things around her.

Then out of nowhere a force pushed her to the ground. When she looked up, she found herself in a dark room. One full length mirror stood in front of her.

Slowly she made her way to it. When he got close enough she saw herself in the mirror. She saw a stream of blood falling from her temple and could taste the metallic iron taste of blood in her mouth. Out of nowhere the echoed voice of her sister filled the room.

"You call yourself a hero, but you're no better than me!" Ladybug's shallow breaths fogged the air of the cold room. She turned around to face the mirror again, but someone different looked back at her. A women with her hair, eyes, lips, and body stood in front of her. It was Lady Misfortune.

"It's just an illusion." Ladybug told herself. A sickening smile was plastered on her face. A chill ran up Ladybug's spine.

She saw a shiny object glimmer in the mirror, she looked down to Lady Misfortune's hand and saw steel blade stained in blood. The sight of the dagger made Ladybug's heart race and stomach churn. She wanted to scream, run, do anything, but she was cemented in place.

Ladybug looked back up at the lady's blood shot eyes. Slowly she held up the knife and let out a blood chilling laugh. "You know I was kind of disappointed. I thought killing Cat Noir would be more of a challenge." Ladybug's heart dropped to her feet.

"NO!!!" She hurled her fist at the mirror and watched as the glass shattered. Lady Misfortune was gone, all that was left was her reflection in a broken mirror.

Ladybug turned around in hopes that the nightmare was over. In front of her was another mirror showing a jagged edged knife ripping through Cat Noir. She felt a sob rise in her throat, her legs began to shake and she fell to her knees. Tears rolled down her face.

Another sickening laugh filled the air and echoed inside her head. She couldn't hear herself breathe, only the malicious laugh and soft groaning of her partner. Ladybug looked up and saw her akumatized self in front of her. She dropped the dagger and it hit the ground with the metallic clink of metal.

Then Lady Misfortune walked off into a mirror and disappeared. Before Ladybug was able to grab the knife, she felt a kick to her stomach and fell to her side. She let out a cough to try and gain some breath.

She looked down and saw blood splatter on the floor. The taste of blood dripping from her mouth made her want to vomit. Another swift kick hit her side causing her to roll on her back. Ladybug sprung quickly to her feet and suddenly felt a blistering cold.

The wind bit into her face. She took one step before falling to the ground in pain. She looked at the floor to see the white of snow being stained red from blood. Ladybug closed her eyes in hopes that would wake up.

After a few moments, she opened her eyes and she saw herself in the same mirror hallway. She stood up, she wasn't bleeding, she wasn't hurt, but there was a blood stained knife on the ground.

"Kitty?"

Chapter Text

"Chat?" Ladybug felt a hundred-ton force push her down. The force pressed all air out of her lungs and made her ears pop. She swam up to the surface and trod water. Another ocean wave crashed on top of her and spun her around until she didn't know which was up. Marinette opened her eyes only to feel the sting of salt prick them. She swam as fast as she could and finally found air. She coughed up the bitter taste of ocean water. Another wave crashed over her and she fell to the floor of the mirrored hallway dry and confused. The knife was gone and the mirrored hallway was quiet and safe.

She stood up and kept walking not sure which direction she was facing. As Ladybug walked down the hallway, she felt as if someone was watching her. She continued walking but the only one watching was her reflections in all the mirrors.

She felt a subtle tap on the back and spun on her heels. No one was there. She turned back and saw her sister standing in front of her. Ladybug opened her mouth to speak, but before she could form a word she was pulled into the mirror. Nothing but darkness surrounded her. A window to the mirror maze stood behind her. She sprung to her feet and ran to the window, pounded on it, trying to crack the foundation but couldn't penetrate it.

She dropped her head in despair and started trembling. As tears of helplessness fell down her face she heard the giddy laughter of a child. The blunette wiped her face with her palm and walked towards the sound. Walking through the darkness like a blind man without a guide dog. She saw a glimpse of light and started running towards freedom. As she grew closer to the light she saw her sister on her knees facing a mirror displaying Brigette as a child laughing in the arms of their parents. She slowly stepped toward Brigette and listened as her footsteps were drowned out by the sound of laughter.

"You know the funny thing about mirrors is that they showed you everything in reverse. Raise your right hand it raises your left, and that is exactly what this mirror is showing; the opposite. You were always loved by our parents, I never was. And when I look in this mirror I'm finally loved, but it's just a lie." Marinette leaned down behind her, looking over her shoulder into the mirror.

"What are you talking about? They love you, they always have. Why would you think that?" Marinette placed her hand on Brigette's shoulder. As she turned her head Ladybug saw how her eyes were glossed over with tears. Her cheeks were red and her voice was breaking.

For a moment Ladybug was terrified. Not for her safety, but of how someone could hide that much pain and how it took something like this for it to rise to the surface. She pulled her sister into a hug and wrapped her arms around her neck, nuzzling her head into her shoulder. But Brigette remained still and lifeless. As Ladybug pulled away and held her sister by her shoulders she saw how blank Brigette's expression was.

Her eyes distracted by something in the distance and her body slightly swaying as if she was drunk and couldn't keep her balance. The carefree laughter faded out and all that was left was her and her sister in the darkroom, alone. "I have spent so much time looking into mirrors, but every I look into one all I see is you. Your accomplishment, your, I don't have an identity. I'm just your reflection."

The words rattled in her head. Her world quaked at the truth in her words. The drowsy, drunk look on her sister's face was wet with silent tears. Drops fell off her chin and her expression stayed still and unchanging like a statue, it wasn't natural. The only thing hinting at her emotion was the wet streaks on her cheeks. And the thought raced through Ladybug's mind that sent a chill through her body. How often did Brigette cry in silence and she hadn't noticed? Did she spend her night sleeping on a pillow damp with tears? How could she stay so quiet as her mind was in such turmoil?

The look on her face wasn't drunkenness but numbness. She was so disconnected from her feelings that it ate at her until she was hollow. Just a shell of a person. She was right, she didn't have an identity, she was hardly a person like this. "Brigette, I am so sorry. I-" The dark-cloaked girl scoffed at her words and finally looked her in the eye.

"Sorry for what? Destroying me?" Marinette seemed taken back at her statement.

"What?"

"When you look in the mirror, you're proud of what you are. Seeing you like that, seeing you happy only reminds me of what I don't have and how I'll never feel like that!" An image of Brigette appeared in the mirror and as Mirror Mistress looked into her reflection a look of misfortune spread across her face. The Brigette in the mirror had a smile so wide it warmed Ladybug's heart. "Mirrors show the opposite of the truth. They only hold lies, I wish I was as happy as my reflection." Marinette wiped a tear that made its way down her face and stood to her feet.

"You can be, come home. We can fix this." The villain only shook her head.

"Don't waste your time fixing a broken mirror." Within a second Mirror Mistress swung her fist a the mirror and sent shards of glass flying in all directions. The points of glass dug into Ladybug's skin and she felt white-hot pain slice across her.

As Ladybug tried to stand up the pain across her body held her back. All she heard were her shallow breaths and the echoing of footsteps walking away. She heard herself scream in agony, but it was like she was underwater and her voice was just a whisper. Brigette walked away, the crunch of glass under her feet sent a wave of fear through her body. The hero felt her body tremble from the cold, but the shaking brought her more pain.

Her vision blurred and her breathing became quicker. She felt the walls closing in on her. The feeling of helplessness washed over her. She was nothing more than a bird with a broken wing left to die. She gasped for air as her vision slowly grew darker.

Chapter Text

He made one final turn before finding himself in an unending hallway of mirrors. About fifty yards he saw a red and black spotted girl lying on the floor. He sprinted to her and fell to his knees by her side. "Milady?" He spoke urgently, shaking her awake. Relief washed over him as he saw her eyes blink open drowsily. She looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"Kitty... Is it really you." He looked at her, confused. Why would she think that? She had just seen him barely five minutes ago. What could have happened in such a short amount of time?

"Of course it is. Who else would-" She cut him off by wrapping her arms around his midsection. He could hear the sobs rising out of her. He never should have left her alone. "Mari, what happened?" All he got out of her was another sob and her squeezing her even harder. "Mariette, you need to tell me what's going on." He pushed (pried) her off of him and looked her in the eye.

Her face was red from crying and she was avoiding his gaze. "You were unconscious, it can't be nothing." She looked down at her feet and nodded slightly.

"Okay, I'll tell you later," He was about to protest but she stopped him. "I promise, but right now, we have to deakumatize my sister." He sighed but agreed with her reasoning.

After half an hour of searching for Mirror Mistress, though they were coming up with nothing. After all this time, Marinette was starting to lose hope. That was until she saw some movement under the door of the mirror maze. "Cat Noir! She's in there." When they knocked the door open, they saw the Akuma facing them, the smirk on her face growing evermore.

"Catch me if you can," and the chase was on. They followed her all throughout Paris. Over the Eiffel Tower, around the Louvre, but they finally cornered her in an ally. Ladybug had to use her Lucky Charm to stop her so she was short on time.

"Just give up, we have you cornered, there's nowhere to escape." Marinette was so focused on getting the Akuma and saving her sister, she didn't even realize she didn't have any time left until it was too late. Mirror Mistress, on the other hand, started the countdown the second she used her special power.

"That's what you think." At that moment Ladybug detransformed and she took that opportunity to grab her. She held her tight and had a broken piece of glass against her throat. Chat's heart dropped.

"Brigette, don't do this. She's your sister." She pressed the shard deeper in her throat, Marinette winced at the sharp pressure and she knew it was only a matter of time before it penetrates her skin. Brigette shook her head.

"Not anymore." The villain said and she started reaching for her right earring.

"No! Please, I love her Brigette. You can't do this. I don't know what I'd do without her."

---In Hawkmoth's lair---

The butterfly Miraculous holder didn't know what to think. "He loves her? What am I doing?" He called his transformation words and took off the broach. "This isn't right. She wouldn't want this."

Mirror Mistress turned back into Brigette and Marinette quickly got out of her grasp. Both of them couldn't help but wonder why Hawkmoth would deakumatize an Akuma that powerful, they thought it was maybe a mistake. Adrien detransformed and they went up to Marinette's room to talk about what had happened. The blonde had only hoped that he and Brigette could stay friends.

The three of them were just sitting around in Marinette and Brigette's room talking and laughing when suddenly her computer came on. "Don't be bemused, it's just the news. I'm Nadja Chamack, and I'm happy to say that we now know the identities of Paris's famous superhero. Supermodel Adrien Agreste and Highschool student Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

The couple's eyes widened and they looked at the blunette. She put her hands up in surrender. "I had no idea I did that." The two looked at each other and smiled. They were ready to take on the world.