Chapter Text
Marinette leaned back into her chair and sighed. The design she was working on wasn’t working out. She crumpled the paper, tossing it into the overflowing recycling bin. Realizing that she would have to make a trip to the designated recycling ships soon (or else risk getting fined for uncleanliness again), she emptied the contents of the bin into a bag. She put on the hat that her parents had given to her as a farewell present, and set out to dispose of the recycling.
Living alone was so hard, but Marinette had to move away from her parents to attend university since commuting two hours every day through heavy air traffic was not something she ever wanted to do. Between taking care of herself, finding food to eat, and making sure her living space was sanitary, she had never realized how difficult it was to balance all of these things before she started living by herself. I’ll have to start helping Mom around the house more, she mused as she traversed the walkway that separated her residency-ship from the community recycle-ship.
It was night-time, and the lights in the area had needed to be replaced for months, making the path even darker. The reason why Marinette never wanted to throw away the recycling was because the route was creepy as hell--whoever designed the walkway towards the recycle-ship also had extremely poor taste, adding in nooks and crannies where potential muggers and petty thieves could hide. There were even rumours that a small child had been murdered on the walkway, and that her ghost still haunted the area. Marinette shuddered. Stop thinking about it, stuff like that wouldn’t happen to you. You’re just a small half-Asian, half-White girl whose most-prized possession is a mini-sewing kit. No one is going to think you’re worth stealing anything from. No ghost is going to want to haunt you either.
Creak.
Marinette immediately shot towards the closest support pillar and hid behind it, her hat falling off in front due to her panic. Oh my god. Anything but the ghost. Please. Sweat immediately started pouring down her back and her body began to shake against her mind’s will.
Creak. Creak. Creeaak.
A dark shadow loomed in the light in front of Marinette, slowly growing closer before it stopped next to the pillar and began to walk around it. Marinette’s voice left her body with a squeak. A small red-haired girl with a red dress dotted with black appeared.
“Hi Marinette! My name is Tikki!”
The small girl suddenly gave Marinette a big hug. Marinette almost cried from relief of not having her life ended.
“There is a big threat coming to Neo-Paris soon! And I think you’re a great candidate for this great thing that’s pretty great! Hey hey, do you want to become a superhero and save Neo-Paris?”
Marinette’s head tilted to one side in confusion. “Sorry, become a superhero?”
“Yes! A superhero! Just take this little pouch. If you see something bad, push the button, and you’ll become Ladybug!”
Tikki pushed said small pouch into Marinette’s hand, picked up Marinette’s hat and placed it back on her head, and merrily skipped away with the recycling bag that previously lay abandoned on the ground. Still in shock, Marinette slowly stood up and dropped the pouch into her handbag. I’m not quite sure about what’s going on, but...this is fine.
When Marinette returned home, she collapsed back onto her bed. University tomorrow beckoned, and the fright of “Tikki” had drained all of her energy. She closed her eyes, and welcomed the blissful feeling of darkness that accompanied sleep.
//
Marinette awoke to the sounds of the morning siren splitting the air. She groaned and rolled off her bed, knowing that if she didn’t get up now, she wouldn’t be able to get ready in time for her first class. She mechanically went through her morning routine, grabbed her handbag, and ran out for breakfast at the food-ship next to the university she attended.
Marinette always left an hour earlier than what she expected she needed, simply because of all of the unfortunate things she encountered on the way to class. Usually it was traffic that held her up. Sometimes, she would somehow trip over herself and miss the shuttle. There was always some sort of misfortune that would stall her and make her late if she wasn’t extremely early all of the time. This time however, she managed to make it to her university without any inconveniences. Amazed, albeit bored and with an hour to burn, Marinette decided to explore the campus of the city.
She ended up in the university’s courtyard under the reconstruction of the Eiffel Tower. Marinette always managed to wander into this area when she needed to be alone and just think of designs, but she had never been here this early. There was no one around, so Marinette decided to just close her eyes and listen to the wind whistling through the openings in the Tower.
The wind sounded like the birdsong that would filter through the floating city when the flocks came to rest. The effect allowed Marinette to relax and lose herself in the beauty of architecture. She smiled dreamily and leaned her head back.
“Hi, excuse me!”
A male voice shattered Marinette’s reverie as she snapped her eyes open and spun around to identify its owner. There was only one other person in the courtyard; it was a man with gentle green eyes, wearing clothes that she vaguely remembered fawning over in a fashion magazine not too long ago. His blonde hair was framed by a set of goggles that was becoming popular with the Neo-Parisian males.
He’s actually pretty cute , Marinette thought, as heat began to creep into her cheeks.
“Sorry, I was just wondering if you knew where the classroom for Fashion Design was. I’m a new transfer to the school. My name is Adrien.” Adrien smiled and ruffled the back of his head with his hand.
And it was met with an awkward silence.
Did I say something wrong? Adrien suddenly became extremely concerned with the girl that was staring blankly at him. He cleared his throat hesitantly, and the girl suddenly snapped back to reality.
“Oh, y-yes, sorry, hi, I’m Marinette, uh, actually, I’m in that class too so, uh, I can take you to the class if you um, would like that?” Marinette stammered out her reply and internally screamed as she realized she had been admiring him for a bit too long. His name was Adrien? As in her favorite model in her favorite magazine??? And he looked exactly like him????? She shook her head. This is too much of a coincidence. There’s no way Adrien would be here at this school. No way!
“Yes, I would appreciate being taken to class. There’s nothing better than having a cute girl escort me around anyways.” Adrien winked and laughed to himself. All girls like being complimented right? I really hope what I read in that magazine last night is true.
Again, he was met with an awkward silence.
Adrien looked at the girl whose face was now completely red and wouldn’t meet his gaze.
“Haha! Um, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you... I’ll give you some space now, so I’ll see you in class later maybe, Marinette!”
Adrien hurriedly left, feeling warmth rush into his cheeks as well. How could he have messed up his first encounter with somebody on his first day of university? The shame gave him the motivation to find a map of the school, and after much struggle he eventually found the class on his own. He found an empty seat in the front and sat down, completely distraught with how his luck was going today. Usually I have decent luck. Maybe I’m just not lucky when it comes to socializing with people . Thanks Father. Adrien buried his face in his hands. Hopefully things will get better .
Marinette, on the other hand, stood dazed in the courtyard until other students finally came and began populating the area. As she began the walk to class, the only thing she could think about was how lucky she was today. First it was not being delayed in coming to school, and now it was having Actual Model Adrien introduce himself. Today could not get any better!
She walked into the room, saw Adrien’s blonde hair buried in his hands, and promptly walked out.
Right. He’s in my fashion class. Marinette’s face turned red once more. She opened the door again and tripped upon entering, making a loud squawk as she fell. There’s the luck I expected , she thought as she felt her body quickly tilt downward.
Adrien noticed the door opening and closing rapidly and curiously looked up to see if it was another student that was new to the class like he was, trying to muster up courage to enter the classroom. Instead, he saw Marinette flying towards the ground, and threw himself instinctively at the girl in an attempt to save her.
Lights flickered in his eyes as his head slammed into the ground, but he felt the soft body of Marinette land on top of him and sighed in relief. At least he had managed to save her. He looked up at her face, which was extremely red again, and looked at the position that they had landed in. Her head was in his chest, and her legs were straddled across his legs.
Needless to say, the position was quite an erotic experience for both of them.
Marinette jumped off of Adrien faster than he thought was possible, grabbing her hat off the ground while stuttering, “Ah, I’m, uh, sorry for, uh, making you do that, Adrien,” and quickly ran off into the back corner of the classroom. She hid her face in her hat, her heart racing.
Oh my god. I just got to straddle Adrien. My life is ending. There is no way all of this good luck is going to not be brought back on me as bad luck. What happened. Why am I so lucky today?
Adrien too was hiding his face in his desk, his heart racing.
Oh my god. I just made a girl straddle me on my first day of school. My life is ending. Is this the cumulation of eighteen years of bad luck hitting me all at once? What is going on. Why am I so unlucky today?
With this, class began, and neither of the two were able to focus because of the day’s events. Marinette was usually able to pay attention in class because of her love for fashion design. Today was different though. She spent the class admiring the back of Adrien’s well-kept blonde hair, imagining the various other positions that she could accidentally land with him.
Poor Adrien was sincerely praying that no one else in the class had seen his slip and fall onto Marinette. He spent the class thinking of the various ways he could apologize to Marinette in order to make her feel more at ease. Besides, the curriculum the teacher was teaching him he had already learned from basic modeling classes and his father’s tutoring.
“We’re going to move onto color coordination now. Look at these flight attendants’ outfits. These are classical examples of an incorrect way of matching colors. You should never place magenta and red next to each other, no matter how avant-garde you think it is-”
Shatter .
Silence.
Crash!
The general emergency siren began blaring, and the class became deadly silent.
“This is an emergency broadcast. There is a heavily armed and dangerous man on Ship U6. I repeat. There is a heavily armed and dangerous man on Ship U6. Any students and faculty remaining on the ship are advised to evacuate immediately.
Screams split the air as all of the students in the room scrambled to flee. A classmate knocked Marinette and her handbag over in a frenzied panic to leave the room. The small pouch that Tikki had given her rolled out of her handbag. Marinette had completely forgotten about the gift due to her exhaustion and the events of the day. She picked it up. I doubt I’ll need to do anything. The police should be able to handle this, right?
Crack. Crack. Boom!
A man broke through the window and landed in the classroom in front of Marinette. His face was bruised and battered, the helmet on his head split in half. His police uniform was heavily charred, and the steam-powered rifle he had was shattered in three pieces.
Okay. So maybe the police aren’t prepared for whoever this guy is.
Marinette peeked through the broken window and saw a man clad in bronze outside, ripping apart the Eiffel tower and throwing the scraps at the policemen that scurried around him. The bullets the policemen retaliated with bounced off the metallic shell that the man was encased in.
“I AM THE BRONZE FORTRESS. I AM THE MAN THAT PROTECTS HAWKMOTH’S DREAMS. MY DEFENSES WILL NEVER BE PENETRATED.”
The Bronze Fortress’s roar deafened Marinette, and she watched with dread as he launched himself to another ship.
Marinette’s palms became sweaty as anxiety set in, and she realized that the damage the “Bronze Fortress” could do to Neo-Paris might be irreparable.
“Greetings, my princess!”
A charismatic voice that sounded much like a cat’s purring floated in from behind Marinette. She turned around and found a man that that was clad in black, save for the white collared shirt underneath his black jacket. The most odd part of his outfit was not the long belt that extended out, or the fact that he actually wore goggles. It was the cat ears that were perched on the top of his head.
“Uh… who are you?” Marinette attempted to mask her disdain for the cat ears.
“I am Chat Noir, my lady. I have come here to advise you to evacuate the area. I will deal with the criminal, and save you and your fellow citizens.” Chat Noir leapt through the window, turned around and winked at Marinette. He proceeded to acrobatically navigate his way towards the path of destruction that the Bronze Fortress was making.
Marinette stared in the direction that the two figures were heading in for a bit, and realized where that led to.
My parents live in that direction. I need to protect them!
She grabbed the pouch and her handbag, jumped through the window, and began to run.
“You know, it would be much easier to get there and save your parents if you just transformed into Ladybug!”
Tikki made a sudden reappearance next to Marinette, happily skipping and somehow keeping up with Marinette’s desperate pace.
“I don’t know what transformation means, Tikki! I don’t even know if it’s possible to transform!”
“Marinette, anything is possible if you just believe in yourself! At the current pace you’re running, you won’t catch up with the Bronze Fortress and rescue the citizens on your parent’s residency-ship. Just trust me, and yourself, and you can save everyone!”
Marinette stopped running and opened the pouch that Tikki gave her. There was a red orb-shaped pendant along with a red armband. She looked down upon the small redhead girl who called herself Tikki, cheerfully smiling with an expectant smile on her face.
“Alright Marinette! Just push the small button on that pendant, and you’ll become Ladybug!”
Marinette looked back the destruction that the Bronze Fortress had already caused, steeled her nerves, and pushed the button. She didn’t want her parents or anyone else to be injured by that madman.
“I’m glad you made up your mind!”
There was a brilliant flash of light and a rush of steam that made Marinette close her eyes in shock. She felt fabric and metal quickly travel up and down her skin, along with the sound of a clock winding up. There was a rush of heat, and she felt her hair tie up into a ponytail, and her hat lift off of her head. The light and steam finally faded, and Marinette opened her eyes to immediately notice that something covered her face at eye level, with holes open for her to see. Around her waist was a belt, with a small pouch attached that looked suspiciously like her hat. Her sleeves were no more, and her skirt had become shorts with long leggings. Her boots became smaller, and lost their heels. She looked back into the shiny metal surface for a reflection, revealing someone who looked nothing like Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The something that was around her face appeared to be the armband, with black circles now dotting the red fabric. Even her blouse was altered, growing closer to her neck..
Right, Marinette thought to herself, I’m supposed to be Ladybug now. But damn, am I in one fine outfit. I really have to thank Tikki for whoever designed this. Red and black is a hard color scheme to make look good.
She reached into the pouch to find a yoyo that looked identical to the pendant, except there was now a clock etched onto its red face. She couldn't hold back the smile that began to grow on her face.
This is gonna be fun.
Marinette threw the yoyo towards the nearest support beam and pulled herself towards it, swinging in an arc that felt completely natural. She couldn’t help but shout in excitement as she flew through the air.
Before long, she caught up with Chat Noir, and began running alongside him.
“Hey kitty, distract that wannabe metal turtle, and I’ll rescue the civilians and get them to safety.”
Chat Noir looked surprised for a moment, but nodded. “You got it, my lady. Look lively, I found our metal-head.”
They stopped to see the Bronze Fortress and the police having another stand-off. Chat Noir and Ladybug nodded to each other. Chat Noir charged straight towards the rampaging villain, while Ladybug ran off towards the homes.
“Hey, bronze butt, look over here!” Chat Noir kicked the rather round bronze-clad figure in the head as the man turned his head towards the newcomer, knocking him slightly off-balance.
“I AM THE BRONZE FORT- ”
“Yeah, yeah, already heard it Rusty , stop talking and put your paws up before I knock them off of you.”
Chat Noir extended the staff that was hooked on his waist, and began to duel with the Bronze Fortress. The solid hits he managed to land barely dented the armor of his opponent, which was more than what the police could say about their bullets.
“Hey! While I’m holding him off, evacuate the residents! The girl that swooped by earlier can’t rescue them all by herself!”
The police, who were just mesmerized by the fight, snapped back into action to rescue the residents.
“You should be concerned with the fight at hand!”
The Bronze Fortress swung and managed to land a solid hit to Chat Noir’s chest, sending him flying back towards one of the walls.
Alright, that one stung a little , thought Chat Noir as he got back up from the hit. Maybe I’ll need to use Cataclysm to burn through his armor. But first, I need to make sure I can actually punch him. I don’t think I’ll be able to use it for long.
“Hey Kitty! I’ll hold him down, and while I do that, bust his armor open,” Ladybug swung back out of the houses. “The police are in there taking care of the civilians, so I can help you now.” Ladybug began to swing her yoyo at the Bronze Fortress, who nimbly dodged the hits.
“My lady, I think you might need him to slow down a bit. Let me help you for now while you think of a plan, yes?”
Chat Noir threw himself at the Bronze Fortress, and Ladybug paused to think.
He’s right, Ladybug thought, I’m going to need something to slow him down.
She unconsciously reached into the pouch at her waist, and found a packet of sticky tar.
Why is this in here? Oh well, since I got it, this will be extremely helpful.
“Chat Noir, back off!”
Chat Noir hopped away from the Bronze Fortress as Ladybug threw the tar towards their general direction. The Bronze Fortress was caught in the black goo, and his movement dramatically slowed down. Ladybug threw her yoyo, and managed to bind him in the strings.
“Get him kitty!”
Chat Noir winced a bit. Why does she keep calling me kitty? Ugh.
“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir shouted, and the claws on his right hand ignited in flame. He charged towards the Bronze Fortress, and punched him squarely through the chest. The bronze was thick and dense, and Chat Noir struggled to push through the metal. By the time he had barely breached the metal, the flames in his glove ran out.
“Back off again, Chat Noir!”
Chat Noir hopped backwards as Ladybug reached into her pouch once again, and threw in a handful of sparkling powder into the hole. There was an explosion and loud hiss, as steam suddenly enveloped the area. When it faded, there was simply a man sitting where the Bronze Fortress was, wearing a security guard’s outfit.
“What. Why am I here, what happened?” The man was extremely dazed as the police rushed outwards.
“Halt! Bronze Fortress, you are under arrest for property damage, injuring police officers, and causing public mayhem.” The police arrested the still dazed man, and walked him away.
Ladybug winked at Chat Noir, and reached into her pouch again, revealing a handful of small ladybug-shaped machines. She tossed them into the air, and they fluttered to life, moving over the destruction and miraculously repairing it.
“That pouch of yours is extremely handy isn't it…”
“The name is Ladybug,” Ladybug blew a kiss at Chat Noir, “and we’ll see each other again.” Ladybug turned before looking at Chat Noir’s reaction, and swung away.
Chat Noir just stood there stunned, his heart racing a bit faster than what he was used to. He shook his head slowly. A good fashion sense and an air of confidence. That’s a girl I would love to have fall on top of me. Speaking of falling, I still gotta apologize to Marinette for falling on her. I hope she forgives me…
Chat Noir ran to a corner and detransformed, becoming Adrien once again. He ran back to the university, hoping to catch Marinette, which he did.
“Marinette! I'm so sorry for earlier and falling on top of you and embarrassing you in front of the class.”
Marinette looked at Adrien, her eyes glimmering with fading adrenaline.
“Oh Adrien! That was no problem! Uh, actually, I wouldn't mind uh, bumping into to you later if you want. Could uh, we ever grab some dunch or linner- I MEAN lunch or dinner?!”
Adrien grinned at the girl who started turning a shade of pink once again. Maybe his luck today wasn't so bad after all. He got to beat up some bad guy, and he seemed to be on his way to making his first friend.
“Sure Marinette, I would love to eat with you later. Do you want to eat at the Black Cat Cafe?”
Marinette first winced at the name of the restaurant, then she smiled.
“I would love to go with you!”