Chapter Text
Marinette ran into the locker room, not bothering to go back to class after the latest akuma attack. It would end soon anyway, and Alya would bring her stuff to her. She slumped against the lockers and tried not to doze. She may have defeated the latest villain, but her battle with exhaustion still waged on. She feared this was a war she could not win.
The last attack had occurred just the night before. She'd stayed up late with Chat Noir, chasing Hawkmoth's latest victim across the city before finally capturing the akuma. She hardly slept a wink before having to wake up and get ready for school, where she met another villain just hours later.
So here she was, prying open her eyes and her locker and hoping beyond hope that Hawkmoth had depleted his power and she would finally get to rest. But as the door opened, something floated softly down and landed on her foot.
Intrigued despite her exhaustion, she picked up the object. It appeared to be a piece of red paper, neatly folded into an origami star. One short phrase, “open in private,” was written in pencil on one of the arms of the star, accompanied by an arrow pointing in toward the center.
Marinette glanced over her shoulders, taking stock of the empty room. Class was either still in session or it had just ended, she'd be able to tell if she hadn't left her phone in her backpack. Either way, she was alone for at least a moment.
Marinette unfolded the paper.
Inside, written in careful penmanship, was a short message:
“Ladybug,
Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.”
Marinette's eyes widened. Somehow, someone knew she was Ladybug. Suddenly, her senses were on high alert as she looked for any indication of who this person might be. She studied the writing, which was too tidy to be natural. Whoever wrote this must have been trying to conceal their real handwriting, she observed. The left edge of the page was fringed as if it had been ripped from a notebook. A square notebook with red paper can't be too common, so that's a good place to start, she thought as she neatly refolded the paper into its star shape.
“Hey girl, there you are!”
Marinette spun around at the sound of Alya's voice, hiding the paper behind her back.
“Hi, Alya!” Marinette replied awkwardly, sliding the note into her back pocket.
“You alright, girl?” Alya asked.
“Yeah, I just had to...”
“Go to the bathroom?” Alya finished, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yes?” Marinette said, unsure of what her excuse had actually been when she left class.
Alya shook her head. “You said you had to come here because you forgot your book.”
Oh!
Marinette reached into her locker and grabbed her history book. “And it's right here,” she said triumphantly, “mission accomplished.”
“There's no point now,” Alya said in an irritated tone, “Class is probably over already. Mme. Bustier let me out early so I could come find you, but there wasn't time to come back.” She held Marinette's backpack out to her. “Wanna go get lunch?”
“I would, but I'm really tired. I just want to go home and rest for a bit,” Marinette declined, taking the bag. Plus, I have to figure out who wrote me that note.
“Okay, whatever,” Alya said before turning on her heel and leaving the locker room without another word.
She knows there's something I'm not telling her, Marinette thought guiltily as her mind wandered back to the paper in her back pocket.
* * *
Marinette resisted the urge to reach into her pocket the entire way home. She greeted her parents quickly and ran up to her room, wishing she could have transformed to get home faster. But apparently she hadn't been as careful as she'd thought: on her awkward sprint home it really began to sink in that someone aside from her, Tikki, and Master Fu knew she was Ladybug.
She slammed the door behind her and let Tikki out of her bag.
“Marinette!” the kwami exclaimed, rubbing her head, “could you be a little more careful?”
“Sorry Tikki, I had to get here as fast as I could,” Marinette apologized, “look at this.”
Marinette carefully unfolded the note and laid it out on her desk, careful not to disrupt the creases. Tikki read over it carefully.
After a moment, she looked up. “How did this happen? Who gave this to you? Does anyone else know?”
Looking bewildered, Marinette shrugged. “I don't know, it was in my locker. But whoever wrote it said my secret was safe. So that's a good thing, right?”
“Or it's a threat,” Tikki suggested.
“A threat for what? They didn't ask me for anything.”
“They might,” Tikki warned. “Be on the lookout. We have to find out who this person is and make sure they're actually sworn to secrecy.”
“Is there any way we can convince them I'm not Ladybug?”
“Can you be in two places at once?”
Marinette sighed. “I see your point.”
* * *
When Marinette returned to school that afternoon, the only thing on her mind was figuring out who left her the note. The note itself was now hidden in a secret compartment in the lining of her backpack, which she had spent the remainder of her lunch break developing. The compartment would be undetectable to anyone who wasn't looking for it, but the knowledge of the letter's presence still burned in the back of her mind.
She pushed open the classroom door, ready to find the person who sent the note.
“Ladybug is the worst!” Lila shouted.
“How dare you! Ladybug is the best!” Chloe shouted back.
Yet another argument between Chloe and Lila was brewing in the science classroom. The two girls stood nose-to-nose, glaring at each other, each willing the other to relent on the same topic they argued about daily. Marinette rolled her eyes and silently begged them to stop.
“You agree with me, don't you Marinette?” Lila said as she spotted Marinette in the doorway.
Marinette was smarter when she had met Lila in her civilian form. Though the two couldn't exactly be considered “bffs,” they were friendly. It burned Marinette inside to be friends with the liar who had tried to take Adrien from her, but she had disappointed Adrien so much when she had told Lila off as Ladybug. She couldn't stand to disappoint him as Marinette too.
So when she met Lila again she was friendly but reserved as she didn't want to spend too much time with her. Unfortunately, Lila had taken her reservation as a nice change of pace from the usual way people fawned over her, and grew to like Marinette immensely. It was almost as annoying as Chloe's love for Ladybug. Almost.
But the fact that Lila still liked her and hated Ladybug ruled her out. There was no way she could have sent that note.
“I'd rather stay out of this,” Marinette replied, putting her hands up defensively.
“That's because even she knows that Ladybug is the best and you're just jealous, Lila!” Chloe crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her nose in the air.
Marinette inched her way to her seat and greeted Alya with a weary smile and a shrug.
“You can't use Marinette against me, you hate her,” Lila retorted.
“I'd even prefer her to anyone who hates Ladybug,” Chloe said coldly, not looking in Lila's direction.
Marinette froze. Chloe didn't exactly give her glowing praise, but it was the best compliment she had ever received from her. A preference to someone, anyone would be enough to give her pause. But on a topic specifically relating to Ladybug? Was it possible that Chloe was the one who sent the note?
The more Marinette thought about it, it made sense. Chloe loved Ladybug. She idolized her, and with good reason: Ladybug had saved Chloe's life on more than one occasion. Marinette hadn't ever considered how Chloe would react to knowing she was Ladybug because there was supposed to be no way she would ever know. But now someone knew. Was it possible that Chloe's love for Ladybug outweighed her hatred for Marinette? If so, it made sense. Chloe would want her favorite hero to know that her secret was safe while not raising suspicion by acting any nicer to Marinette in civilian form. It was just a theory, but it was a good place to start.
But how would she find out?
“That girl's the worst, right?” Alya's voice broke into Marinette's thoughts. Obviously, Alya and Lila's short friendship had ended abruptly when Lila let the whole school know how much she detested Ladybug. Alya had torn Lila's video down from the Ladyblog and refused to have anything more to do with the new girl.
Marinette shrugged.
“Ugh, how can you be so calm? She hates Ladybug. Who the heck hates Ladybug!? I can't believe you of all people can get along with her.”
Me 'of all people'? Why? Marinette wondered, but was too afraid of the answer to bring the question to her lips. Sometimes Alya got too close to finding out her true identity. She had already guessed it a couple times. Marinette had been able to deflect her inquiries thus far, but what if Alya had finally found the definitive proof she was looking for? What if she was the one who sent the note?
Instead of dwelling on that idea, she focused her attention on Adrien, who slumped in his usual seat in front of her, looking about as exhausted as Marinette felt. His head was turned pointedly away from Chloe and Lila's argument, one hand hidden in his book bag. Like Alya, he had stopped associating with Lila after she publicly declared her hatred for Ladybug. Unlike Alya, he was still polite to her. But nonetheless, Marinette was happy to see that Adrien preferred Ladybug to Lila.
“Settle down, girls!” Ms. Mendeleiev interrupted the screaming match. “Class is about to begin. Everyone, take out your notebooks and pay attention. Today's lecture is very important.”
Chloe and Lila returned to their seats, occasionally casting venomous glances back and forth when the teacher wasn't looking.
Marinette tried to keep her mind on the lecture, but was failing miserably. With all this Ladybug talk in the classroom and the note in her backpack, her thoughts were louder than the voice of her teacher.
Alya and Chloe were strong leads, but in actuality it could be anyone in school. Or at least anyone who knew where her locker was, so anyone in her class and maybe a few others. Nearly everyone in Paris (with the notable exceptions of Lila and Hawkmoth) loved Ladybug. So how would she know?
Marinette looked around the room. She could see a reason for every kid in there to send that note. Nino, Nathan, Alix, Mylene... sifting through each one would take a while. It was probably best for her to stick to her primary suspects until she could prove that they didn't send the note. Somehow.
Wait.
Marinette did a double take.
Her eyes wandered to her right, careful not to be too obvious.
At the desk across from hers sat Mylene, who was taking notes in the green section of a notebook with a few sections of different colored pages. There was green, blue, yellow, orange... and red.
Marinette's heart stopped.
Could it be possible that her search was over and done so quickly?
And that the culprit was... Mylene?
“Marinette, are you lost?” A whisper floated across the aisle to her.
Marinette looked up from Mylene's paper to Mylene's face. Mylene looked concerned, her eyes glanced over to Marinette's empty desk. Marinette didn't know what to say.
“Do you need to borrow my notes?” Mylene asked.
“No, that's alright,” Marinette whispered. Her eyes went wide as she wondered why she said that. “Actually, yes,” she amended awkwardly, “can I see them after class?”
Mylene nodded.
Good, this would give Marinette an opportunity to see this notebook in person.
“I hope your conversation is just as riveting as my lecture, Marinette and Mylene,” Ms. Mendeleiev directed her stern voice at the two of them, “though I doubt anything you're saying will be on Friday's exam.”
Marinette blushed and returned her gaze to the front of the classroom.
* * *
“Thanks, Mylene, I really appreciate this,” Marinette said when she met Mylene after class.
“No problem, Marinette, I'm happy to help,” Mylene replied graciously.
Marinette took the notebook from Mylene's hands and eagerly flipped through to the red pages. It was the same paper; that she could tell immediately: the same size and texture, the same space between the lines, the same square pages. The note definitely came from a notebook like this, but she had to be sure it was this one. With any luck, this would be an open and shut case. But Mylene was still giving no indication that she knew Marinette was Ladybug.
During the rest of class she'd thought about what signs to look for. She'd search in the spiral part of the notebook for any loose bits of red paper and feel the pages for any impressions. The note had been written in a heavy hand, so if it was written while still inside the notebook a copy would be pressed into the next page. Hopefully.
“Uh, Marinette?”
Marinette looked up guiltily, meeting Mylene's eyes.
“The science notes are on green paper.”
“Oh, thanks,” Marinette said, flipping to the green section but leaving a thumb in the red section so she could easily flip back. She stepped back, trying to think of an excuse to get away from Mylene and still hold onto the notebook.
Mylene took a step forward, closing the extra distance Marinette had just created between them. “Also, could you get it back to me today? I don't mean to be picky, but someone stole it yesterday and I wasn't able to study for the literature test this morning.”
Marinette's eyebrows raised. “Someone stole your notebook?” she asked.
Mylene nodded. “I guess. I looked in my backpack when I got home from school yesterday evening and it wasn't there. But when I got into class this morning, it was on my desk.”
“Isn't it possible that you just left it there overnight?”
“I thought so at first,” Mylene said, “but then I remembered that I found it in a different classroom than where I last used it.”
There went Marinette's only real lead. She could conclude that the paper had most likely been taken from Mylene's notebook, but unless Mylene was lying the sender could still be anyone in class.
“Thanks Mylene,” Marinette said, closing the notebook and handing it back. “You've been a great help.”
She ran down the street toward home, barely hearing Mylene's distant shout of, “didn't you need my notes?” far behind her.