26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug.

Lucky Us

By: Princess Kitty1

Chapter 26

LadybugRE: SummerJust now

I have never had so many pictures of me taken in my life.

In.

My.

LIFE.

And my parents love a good family photo, let me tell you.

We have pictures from every vacation we've ever been on.

But this?

This was excessive.

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: Summer10 minutes ago

That's what happens when you became famous, buginette! You're one of the hottest names in the fashion world right now, and you haven't even won anything yet. Promise you won't fur-get about your dearest, most handsome friend Chat Noir when you're at New York Fashion Week…!

Excessive photography aside, how was everything?

x.x.x

LadybugRE: SummerJust now

Exciting?

Terrifying?

I met Gabriel Agreste's personal secretary and she never once cracked a smile, which didn't help my nerves at all.

She took our final designs to get them approved by Monsieur Agreste.

Then we were herded like doomed farm animals into the press room, where the excessive photography happened (I swear I still have spots in my vision).

After that, we got our designs back and were each assigned our own private offices with special security cards so none of the other finalists can get in and try to sabotage our work because apparently that's happened before?

And tomorrow we get to meet our models!

Hmm… I guess I'm more excited than terrified.

This is the fun part where I get to go crazy designing without worrying about the cost of fabric.

But I'm sure the terror will return come Judgment Day.

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: SummerJust now

I know I might as well be telling the sun not to shine, but try not to worry about it too much. You're going to do great. I believe in you.

So… when do I get to see your gorgeous face in all the fashion magazines? ;)

x.x.x

"Adrien."

Adrien took a distracted sip of his Italian soda. All he got from the straw was air and a few stray droplets of flavored water from ice that had melted a long time ago. He put the cup down.

"Adrien."

It was Friday afternoon, and across town Ladybug and Marinette were meeting their models for the first time. Adrien knew quite a few of the models. Good friends of his. If he asked them, they'd probably tell him which of the finalists had entered the ladybug and black cat designs. But he wouldn't ask them. That was cheating. Ladybug would hate him if he took such a shortcut to learning her identity. Although technically, he'd orchestrated the entire competition so he could meet Ladybug, but it wasn't like she wouldn't get anything out of the bargain—

Someone flicked cold water in Adrien's face. He looked up. Chloe leaned over the café table, her manicured nails shiny and wet.

"Chlo? What are you doing here?" he asked.

Chloe jerked her head at Nino, who sat across from Adrien with a concerned look on his face. "He called me. Said you were practically comatose."

"Thanks for coming," Nino said.

Chloe grunted and took the empty chair between him and Adrien. "I wouldn't have had to come if you had the guts to slap him around a little." She dropped her purse on the table, crossed her arms, then crossed her legs. "Spill, Adrikins. What's going on?"

Adrien sighed and reminded himself to apologize to both of them later—Nino, for spacing out on him, and Chloe, for forcing her to spend time in Nino's company. He rolled his empty cup between his hands. "Ladybug is one of the competition finalists," he said.

Chloe's eyebrows shot up. Nino's mouth fell open. Chloe dug into her purse for her cell phone and pulled up her web browser while Nino recovered from his shock.

"You mean one of those ten women is Ladybug?" Nino asked. Chloe shoved her phone under his nose and he grabbed it, then turned it around for Adrien to see. It was a press photo of the ten finalists taken the day before. "One of them?"

"One of nine of them. She isn't Marinette," Adrien said.

Nino's shoulders sagged. "Oh. How do you know?" he asked, sounding disappointed.

"Ladybug knows about Plagg. I've sent her pictures of him. But when I told Marinette about Plagg, she had a completely normal reaction." Adrien tapped his cup with his thumbs. "If she was Ladybug, she'd have said something, right?"

"Maybe she is Ladybug, but since she's in love with some other guy, she's trying to figure out how to let you down gently," Chloe said.

Adrien lowered his head to the table.

"You're not helping," he heard Nino whisper to Chloe.

"I can't be his mother all the time," Chloe hissed back.

Adrien felt a hand clasp his shoulder. "So Marinette isn't Ladybug," Nino said in his best attempt at a comforting voice. "Which means—"

"I'm screwed," Adrien grumbled. He lifted his head. "Ladybug sent me her final designs so that by the end of the competition, I'll know exactly who she is. And I have no intention of letting her walk away without introducing myself at least. But Marinette will be there, too…" He sighed. "Am I a horrible person?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "I'm a horrible person, and you're nothing like me. Give me your phone. I want to see those designs."

"You told us that you were in love with Ladybug," Nino said as Adrien surrendered his phone to Chloe, "but how can you be sure? You've never met her, and up until now she hasn't seemed very interested in meeting you."

"It's not that she wasn't interested. She was scared," Adrien said.

Chloe gasped at his cell phone screen. "That little hussy! Oh, she is so trying to get into your pants."

"You're really not helping," Nino said. Chloe held the phone out to him. He took one look at the screen and whistled. "On second thought, that's a pretty bold move."

Adrien snatched his phone back. "Thanks a lot," he said. He stared at Ladybug's designs, even though he'd already stared at them long enough to commit them to memory. A ladybug and a black cat. Their relationship, on display for everyone to see. "I do love Ladybug," he said to Nino and Chloe. "Talking to her has helped me in ways I didn't even know I needed. She's fun and smart and talented. Her emails can turn my entire day around." He smiled. "But who knows? Maybe when I meet her and we've spoken face-to-face, I'll realize she's just another dear friend and none of this will be an issue anymore."

Chloe stole Nino's drink and took a sip from it. "You'll go after Marinette, then?"

Nino stared at her. "Dude!"

Adrien thought back to the day before. After the shock of seeing him had worn off, Marinette had been the only girl in the room who hadn't giggled and gotten flustered over his presence. Why would she when she was in love with someone else?

He envied the lucky guy who held her heart in his hands.

"I guess we'll see," he murmured.

Nino tried to take his drink back from Chloe, but she somehow managed to stuff it down her shirt without spilling it. He sighed. "Adrien, if you really want to know who Ladybug is, you can just ask me. I'll be at Agreste HQ on Monday."

For a split second, Adrien had no idea what Nino was talking about. And then he remembered that he'd hired Nino to do the music for the competition finale and the after party. He was supposed to meet with the finalists that week so he could compose something based on their final designs.

Nino would get to meet Ladybug on Monday.

Adrien half-stood from his seat, then dropped back into it. "No," he said. "No, it's okay."

Nino's eyes widened. "You sure?"

Chloe loudly slurped the last of Nino's drink.

"Tricking my father into going through with the competition so I might have a chance at meeting Ladybug was sneaky enough," Adrien said. He tapped on his phone screen. "If this is how she wants me to find out who she is, I'll do my best to respect her wishes." Then he met Nino's dubious expression with a sober one. "But if you want to give me a hint, I wouldn't hold it against you."

Chloe slammed the cup into the table and stood up. "Adrikins, I love you, but you're boring me." She shoved her purse up onto her shoulder. "And you should get better taste in Italian soda flavors," she said to Nino, then walked off without another word.

Adrien and Nino watched her go.

"I don't know why, but I suddenly have a very bad feeling," Nino said.

"You know exactly why," Adrien replied. They'd both been acquainted with Chloe long enough to recognize her moods. "My employee identification card won't work after the stunt I pulled yesterday, so if you see Chloe in the building, please stop her from doing something stupid."

Nino grimaced. "Taking down Chloe is a tall order," he said, then shrugged. "But my best bud's happiness is a cause I am willing to die for."

x.x.x

Models were tall.

As an aspiring fashion designer, Marinette knew this well. But she never got over the surprise of having to lift her head to talk to them. At five-foot-short, she felt like a bird circling a skyscraper as she took their measurements.

"It's a shame we can't do this pose on the runway," her male model, Henry, said as he admired Marinette's designs. "I never pass up a chance to kiss the beautiful Alexa."

Alexa, Marinette's female model, held still as Marinette wrapped a tape measure around her waist. "Stop it, you. If you keep hitting on women like this you'll never get a boyfriend."

Henry lifted a hand to his chest. "Hitting on? Am I not allowed to compliment a woman without my intentions being misconstrued? What is this world coming to?"

Marinette laughed. They'd been arguing from the moment they walked into the room, which made her nervous at first, but after a few minutes it became clear that bickering was a part of their banter. Henry and Alexa were the best of friends—and, much to her delight, they looked incredible together.

"Do you have a boyfriend, Marinette?" Henry asked.

Marinette felt heat creep into her cheeks. "No boyfriend," she said. Just a supermodel black cat who snuck into buildings to try and catch a glimpse of her.

"No way! A pretty girl like you?"

Alexa rolled her eyes. "See what I mean? He can't help himself. I have to go with him to the club or else he'll spend all night hitting on girls."

Henry made a face at her. "Just you wait. I bet my soulmate is out there compulsively complimenting every girl he sees, too."

"Done," Marinette said. She took a step away from Alexa and scribbled the measurements on the margin of her design sheet, then straightened. "I want to thank you both ahead of time for modeling my designs. I've been super nervous about all this, but I feel much better now that I have people to envision them on."

Alexa laughed. "You don't have to thank us for doing our job, Marinette."

"You don't have to thank Alexa. I'm not opposed to a little bit of gratitude." Henry leaned over and kissed Marinette's cheek. "You're very welcome. And if you don't have a boyfriend now, guys will be falling all over themselves for a chance at you after this competition."

"Especially when they find out she can bake." Alexa pointed at the macarons Marinette had brought for them. "These things are so dangerous. Don't hold it against me if I never come to your bakery. I have no self-control for someone who needs to watch her figure."

"Then you won't mind if I take the rest of them home?" Henry asked.

Marinette watched them fight over the macarons on their way out of the room, then turned from the door. In the silence left in her models' wake, she walked around her private little slice of Agreste HQ. She had everything she needed in that room: sewing machine, thread in every color imaginable, a couch for napping, room to stretch and pace, and a tablet with which she could order any fabric she might need and any food she might crave. Gabriel Agreste did not do things by halves.

Marinette walked over to the window, snapped a photo of her view of the city, made sure her reflection couldn't be seen anywhere, and emailed it to Adrien. She'd been sorely tempted to drop his name the night before, but had decided against it. She didn't want to tease him anymore. Not like that.

She pushed her thoughts of Adrien aside and turned her back on the window, facing her arsenal of supplies with determination. "Time to get to work," she said.

She had a potential employer to impress.

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: SummerJust now

I was thinking…

x.x.x

LadybugRE: SummerJust now

You can do that?!

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: SummerJust now

Ladybug, please.

I was thinking that after this whole competition business, you might be hungry (assuming that stress makes you hungry, as it does me). And it just so happens that I have the perfect solution for your future hunger—namely, I have a job, which pays me money, which can be exchanged for food. So I figured, "Ladybug is going to be hungry and I have money to buy her food with." Do you see where I'm going with this?

x.x.x

LadybugRE: SummerJust now

Hmm.

Spell it out for me.

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: SummerJust now

I'm asking you to lunch. Or dinner. Whatever your preferred meal and time of day.

x.x.x

LadybugRE: SummerJust now

I am quite partial to dinner.

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: SummerJust now

Then dinner it is.

x.x.x

Marinette wasn't the only one with a potential employer to impress. On Saturday and Sunday afternoon, she conducted interviews for the four new bakery positions she and her parents had agreed to open: two assistant bakers and two cashiers. She thought the excitement from Jagged Stone's Twitter shout-out would die down, but one week later the landline phone still rang off the hook and the bakery's Twitter account continued to gain followers. If she was going to survive reopening week, she needed more staff.

Luckily, Manon had come back from vacation and offered to train the new cashiers so Marinette wouldn't have to take time off the competition. One of her assistant bakers, Sophie, also offered her help in acquainting the newbies with Tom and Sabine's baking practices. Marinette thanked them both profusely. She would have gone insane without the help.

Monday afternoon found her back at Agreste HQ, working on her Chat Noir gown. She measured out the electric green cloth for the claw marks with butterflies in her stomach.

Adrien had asked her on a date.

She could have laughed at herself for her silliness. Adrien had asked her on dates before. Play dates. Fake dates. Dates where the only thing at stake was their best friends' happiness. And how many times had he asked her out as Chat Noir, only for her to turn him down with a lighthearted rebuff? No, she wasn't a stranger to being asked out by Adrien Agreste.

But this was different. Her agreement to go to dinner with him was further proof of her trust in Chat Noir. Not only would he get her identity, he'd get the opportunity to sit across from the person he'd been emailing for over a year and decide, once and for all, what he thought of her.

Marinette ran her fingers along the green fabric and willed herself to focus. She needed to be present. The last thing she wanted was to make a careless mistake and have to start over.

A knock on the door startled her. She looked over her shoulder. Nathalie Sancoeur stood behind the glass, her face impassive. Marinette hurried to open the door, and was surprised to find not only Nathalie in the hall, but Nino as well. He waved at her.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Dupain-Cheng," Nathalie said. "We're sorry to interrupt you during the creative process. This is Nino Lahiffe, our Director of Music. We have asked him to compose tracks inspired by each of our talented finalists' designs to better set the atmosphere for the runway show. Do you have time for a quick interview, or shall we come back at a later hour?"

Marinette moved out of the doorway. "Now is perfect!" she cried, relieved to have a familiar face to look at. Then she remembered that Nathalie didn't know she was acquainted with Nino, and quickly offered him her hand. "Nice to meet you, Monsieur Lahiffe."

"Oh. Uh, nice to meet you too," he replied.

Nathalie's phone rang. She glanced at her screen and her frown deepened. "Please excuse me," she said as she retreated down the hall to take the call.

Nino stepped into the room and Marinette left the door cracked to give Nathalie some privacy. "Busy woman, isn't she? I wonder if she ever takes a vacation."

"In five years, I don't think I've ever heard of her taking a vacation," Nino replied. He had a tablet tucked under his arm and, despite being in Agreste HQ, was only slightly more dressed up than usual in a crimson shirt and dark jeans. "How you been, Marinette?"

"Good," Marinette said. "Nervous, but good. And missing Adrien. A lot."

Nino's smile widened. "Really?"

Marinette's cheeks warmed at his insinuating tone. "He gives good pep talks! I could use one or two of those right about now."

Nino laughed and pulled his tablet out from under his arm. "I'll be sure to let him know. Oh, hey, maybe you and Alya can come over to my place and we can get Adrien on the phone. That way you won't show up in each other's call history, and he can give you all the pep talking you need."

Marinette sighed. "I am so glad you're dating my best friend."

"Me too," Nino said. He drew a complicated design on his tablet screen to unlock it and walked towards the table where Marinette's half-finished dress rested. "Now, I'm not going to take up too much of your time because if the other finalists are anything to go by, you guys are under crazy amounts of stress and oh my God, you're Ladybug."

A chill ran down Marinette's spine.

She looked at Nino, at his wide eyes and fading smile and dawning comprehension, and squeaked out an intelligent, "Huh?"

Nino turned to face her. "You're Ladybug," he said. "The girl Adrien's been emailing. It's you."

Marinette took a step away from him. How did he know? Well, it wasn't hard to guess that Adrien must have shown him the designs. Nino was his best friend. Why wouldn't Adrien tell his best friend about Ladybug?

"B-But he thinks—" Nino had entered full stammer mode. "He thinks you can't be Ladybug! He's convinced that it's someone else! Marinette—wait, oh my God, you didn't know Adrien was Chat Noir, did you? Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"Shh! Nino! Shh!" Marinette flailed her arms in front of him, desperate to calm him down. "It's okay. I already know Adrien is Chat Noir."

Nino was silent for a moment. "Because of Plagg."

"Because of Plagg."

"And you didn't tell him."

"I didn't know!" Tears sprang to Marinette's eyes. "I mean, I did know, but I thought—look, it's a long story, one that I will be more than happy to fill you in on later, but I need you to promise me that you won't tell Adrien. Please don't tell Adrien. I want to tell him myself." She put her hands on Nino's shoulders. He hadn't stopped gawking at her. "Nino, please promise me that you won't say anything to him."

Nino's jaw worked as he grasped for words, then a muffled commotion drew his attention towards the door. Marinette was forced to look as well.

"…know who I am? Mayor Andre Bourgeois is my father! You lay one hand on me and I will have you collecting your severance package before you can say 'Please forgive me, Mademoiselle Bourgeois!'"

Chloe appeared in the doorway.

Her eyes landed on Marinette first, then followed Marinette's arms to Nino, then focused on the unfinished dress behind them.

And her face contorted in unadulterated loathing.

"You," she snarled.

Several things happened at once: Chloe shoved the door open and ran at Marinette. Nino ran at Chloe. A terrified security guard rounded the corner along with an annoyed Ms. Sancoeur. Marinette staggered backwards, hit the table, and brought her hand down on an extremely sharp pair of scissors.

She gasped and ripped her hand away. Blood trickled from her middle finger and a longer, deeper cut on palm. She lifted her head.

Nino had managed to restrain Chloe and get her halfway to the door, but she still thrashed in his arms, clawing at the space between them and Marinette. "Let go of me!" she screamed. But Nino only continued to drag her towards the hallway, where Ms. Sancoeur and the security guard waited, presumably to escort Chloe off the premises.

He looked back at Marinette, who stood bleeding and bewildered with her injured hand cradled against her chest. "Man," he said, "I hope you have a really good explanation for this."

As soon as he and Chloe were out of the room, Ms. Sancoeur rushed in and immediately assessed Marinette's hand. "We must stop the bleeding," she said. "Come along downstairs. We have a first aid station, but depending on how deep the wound is you may want to seek treatment at a proper medical facility."

"I need to put the dress away," Marinette said, her voice faint.

Ms. Sancoeur's expression softened. "I will handle it, Ms. Dupain-Cheng. You do not want to get blood on your gown. Removing the stain will cost you even more of your precious time," she said. "Please." She gestured for Marinette to go ahead of her. "Your wellbeing is of the utmost importance to us."

Marinette nodded. She left the gown, certain that it would be taken care of, and walked down the hall toward the elevators, dripping blood and tears the entire way.

To Be Continued

A/N: "Wow PK, didn't you update earlier this week?" Try and stop me, you fools.

Lucky Us will end on Chapter 30! Hopefully. My brain has a bad habit of generating content like crazy when I'm trying to keep things short. Proof: This story was only supposed to be ten chapters long.

Comments? Screams? Leave them in that cute box below, which you may pretend I have decorated for the summer with pretty flowers.