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Julia slammed the door of her car shut and wished her boss’s head had been in the way. Seriously, who did he think he was, rejecting a perfectly good special interest story simply because it didn’t focus on the ever-popular, and apparently ever newsworthy, heroes of Paris. She hit her head against the steering wheel, almost loosening her bun that was currently being held in place by a dull pencil.
“Sometimes I just wish everyone would just forget about Ladybug and Chat Noir!”
“Hello Refresh , my name is Hawkmoth.”
Marinette was almost grateful that the akuma alert had gone off in the middle of chemistry today. Yeah, it meant that she didn’t get to spend the entire hour with Adrien on their group project with Alya and Nino, but it also saved her from sticking her foot in her mouth like she’d been in the middle of doing when they’d had to evacuate.
“Hello, Milady. And how are you feline this fine day?”
She groaned, “I was doing fine before you started bringing puns into this.”
Chat laughed, “Ahh, but puns are the cat’s meow! I don’t know why they bug you so much.”
“Maybe it’s cause you’re the one saying them.”
“Oh, Milady wounds me! I’ll never recover!”
Ladybug rolled her eyes, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, now can we get to fighting the akuma already? What do we know so far?”
Chat grinned, “Well, she’s calling herself Refresh and she seems to be pointing that wand...pencil...thing at people and shooting them with white light. I’m not quite sure what the light does, but it’s strange...the people seem to be more scared after they get hit than before. One minute they’re just normal parisians, resigned to the fact that they’re probably gonna get turned into mummies or something, then the next they’re screaming their heads off and running for cover. Honestly, I kinda wish people did run for cover more often, but it’s strange that it’s happening.”
“Hmm, it might be some kind of fear enhancer? Better not to get hit, obviously.”
“Obviously.”
“So the Akuma’s in the pencil?”
Chat shrugged, “I think so. Ready?”
Ladybug started spinning her yoyo into a shield, “Ready.”
They jumped down onto street level and made their way toward the akuma, who was going after anyone in sight.
“Ladybug, Chat Noir! I think it’s time you give up those miraculous so everyone can just forget about them.”
“Ahh,” Chat pouted, “but I don’t have another ring that matches this outfit!”
Ladybug snorted, “Yeah, I think that it’s gonna be a hard no from both of us. These are my favorite earrings after all.”
Refresh frowned, “Then I guess I’ll just have to make you forget how much they mean to you.”
“Good luck!” Chat ran at her on all fours. “You’re gonna need it!”
“Stupid cat!” Refresh pointed her pencil at him and fired.
“Chat! Watch out!”
There was a flash of bright light and Ladybug watched in shock as Chat stumbled and looked around in confusion. He wasn’t screaming, so the light couldn’t be a fear enhancer, but what was he doing just sitting there?
“Come on kitty,” Refresh growled, “just give me your ring.”
Chat looked at Refresh in confusion, and Ladybug decided enough was enough. Until she knew what effect the light had on Chat, it was too risky to have him near the akuma. She grabbed Chat with her yoyo, which did make him scream, and launched them a few buildings away to cover. She set Chat down gently as he kept looking around in confusion and feeling his ears and tail as if he didn’t know why they existed.
Finally he turned to her, “Why am I dressed like a cat?”
“Chat?” What did that light do to him?
“Yes.” He said. “I know I’m dressed as a cat, but my question is why?”
It was Ladybug’s turn to be confused, “Because you’re a superhero?”
Chat’s eyes widened in understanding, “Oh, I’m playing a superhero?”
“What? No! You are a superhero!”
“Oh, right. Method acting.”
“Method…?” Ladybug looked at him incredulously. “No, Chat you really are a superhero.”
Chat had the audacity to wink at her, “That’s what we want the audience to think. But wait what superhero am I? I can’t be Black Panther, I’m not black, but the only other cat themed superhero is…” his face fell in horror. “No, I can’t play Cat Woman, I’m not a girl! I can’t! What was Father thinking? This is even worse than white-washing, this is… like gender washing! The controversy will ruin my career and then I’ll never be able to show my face…”
“Stop!” Ladybug yelled. “You are not Cat Woman! That would be ridiculous.”
Chat sighed in relief, “Oh thank goodness. But...then who am I playing?”
“You’re not playing anyone! You are Chat Noir!”
“Right.” Chat smiled. “Method acting.”
“No!”
“Oh crap!” Chat facepalmed. “I just realized I never read the script! Oh, Father and Natalie are going to kill me! This is so unprofessional! This is why I’m a model, not an actor, so I can just show up and put on the clothes, and not have to worry about all the prep work, but Father has been trying to get me to diversify. I mean, voice acting is fun and all, but with that at least I’ve got a script in front of me. Oh, I’m gonna die! My first movie and I didn’t even read the script before showing up on set! Unless of course they didn’t give me a script...but why wouldn’t they give me a script. Did you read the script?”
“What? No!” Ladybug was panicking. Chat was starting to give clues to his identity, which she didn’t need, at all. Was he an actor in his civilian life? But he said he was a model, maybe Adrien knew him? No! Stop thinking about it!
“Oh, well that makes me feel a lot better. At least this way we’re both irresponsible! Was that crazy lady I saw earlier the actress playing the villain? Her costume was kinda tacky, don’t you think? There’s this girl who sits behind me in class, Marinette, who could have done a much better job. Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes I think she’s an even better fashion designer than my Father, which is saying something. Umm...are you ok?”
Ladybug was in no way, shape, or form okay. “A-adrien?!”
Chat... Adrien smiled, “Well that is my name.”
Okay. This was bad. Adrien was Chat and Chat was Adrien and now she knew that, which was bad, and he also didn’t seem to realize he was Chat, which was worse and he thought he was on a movie set which...she could actually probably work with.
“Ok A-adrien. I guess I should explain what’s going on.” Ladybug took a deep breath. “Congratulations! You got cast in a Marvel movie, which is why they didn’t give us a script. You know how strict they are about avoiding spoilers.”
“Whoa!” Adrien smiled brightly. “That’s awesome! I’ve always wanted to be in a Marvel movie, but I didn’t think it’d ever happen.”
“Yep!” Ladybug gave a strained smile. “Um…you’re playing a superhero named Chat Noir, and I’m playing your partner, Ladybug. The thing is that...the, um, director! Yes! The director wants us to improvise the take down of that villain out there, Refresh, but we have to stay in character, or he’ll get really mad, ok? That means that you can’t talk about your secret identity, at all , because we’re superheroes, right?”
Adrien nodded in determination, “Right!”
“Ok, so to defeat this villain, we are going to need to break her pencil. A butterfly will fly out and I’ll catch it with my yoyo, ok?”
Adrien smiled, “Ok! Let’s do this, co-star!”
Ladybug blushed. She could do this. “Ok, so your powers…”
“There you are heroes! ” Refresh shot a beam of light at Ladybug, who dodged. “You can’t hide from me. Give me your miraculous!”
“What are our miraculous?” Adrein asked.
“Doesn’t matter right now, Chat! Just make sure she doesn’t get your ring or the director is gonna get really mad!”
Adrien frowned, “This director seems like a jerk.”
Ladybug tried to trip Refesh with her yoyo, but had to jump out of the way to avoid a light attack from her pencil.
“Whoa!” Adrein looked on in shock. “These special effects are crazy! Don’t they normally do this stuff in post?”
“This is Marvel, Chat!” Ladybug said, blocking another attack with her shield. “They’re cutting edge on everything!”
“Cool.” Adrien smiled. “Now why don’t you hand over your pencil, villain, so we can all go home?”
Refresh scowled, “Never! You and your miraculous deserve to be forgotten, while I will go down in history!”
“Wow...is that really the best you can come up with?” Adrien looked at her skeptically. “I mean, I get that it’s improv, but come on!”
“Less talking, more fighting!” Ladybug threw her yoyo around Refresh’s ankle and reeled her in. “Now, I think I’ll take…”
She was cut off by a beam of light to her face as Refresh smirked, “I’ll be taking your miraculous now.”
Marinette blinked a few times, “My what?”
Adrien ran and grabbed Marinette out of the way, “Ladybug! Are you ok?”
Marinette stared at him for a moment, “Why are you dressed like a cat?”
“Wait? You can’t remember?” Adrien scowled. “I am seriously gonna sue this production to within an inch of its life. I mean, I get that special effects this advanced are probably experimental, but come on! You can’t have a piece of equipment that endangers your actors!”
“A-actors?” Marinette looked down at herself. “Just what is going on?”
“We got cast in a Marvel movie, so we don’t really have a script, we’re just supposed to improv taking her down,” Adrien pointed at Refresh, who had gotten distracted by a particularly large group of extras. “By breaking her pencil and catching the butterfly with your yoyo.”
Marinette nodded, “Ok, that makes sense…” She switched to frantically shaking her head. “Actually, no, that does not make sense at all! How in the world did I get cast in a Marvel movie? I’m a designer, not an actress! I’m not supposed to be here!”
“Enough chit-chat!” Refresh had finally finished dealing with the extras and remembered her mission. “Ladybug, Chat Noir, give me your miraculous!”
Marinette looked at Adrien desperately and he shrugged, “Yeah, I don’t really know either. All I know is the director will be really mad if we let her get them. Honestly, our director is kinda annoying. We’re not allowed to give out any clues to our secret identities either.”
“This entire production is a mess!” Marinette scowled as she dodged yet another light beam. “Seriously, the director, the casting director, even the costume designer! I mean, seriously, have you seen what that villain is wearing?”
Adrien laughed, “Yeah, she’s seriously a fashion disaster!”
Marinette giggled, “Then I guess we better get to beating her. The sooner this take is over, the sooner I can give the designer a piece of my mind.”
Adrien smiled, “Perfect plan, Milady! Hey disaster! Maybe you should have let your Mommy dress you this morning! Or does she have horrendous fashion sense too?”
Marinette shot him a look, “Is that really the best you could come up with?”
Adrien shrugged, but the insult seemed to do it’s work as Refresh turned to them in rage, “How dare you, you stupid cat! I’ll make you pay for that!”
“Talk to my lawyer, maybe you can work something out!” Adrien yelled as he sprinted away on all fours. “How in the world am I this flexible?”
“Ok, so I have a yoyo…” Marinette threw it to try to grab the pencil, but Refresh managed to move her hand out of the way at the last second.
“That’s not going to work, Ladybug!” She yelled. “You should just give up and hand over your miraculous!”
“I don’t even know what a miraculous is.” Marinette muttered. Not that she’d hand it over if she knew, not when her co-star had told her not to. Say what you will, but not wanting to look stupid in front of a cute boy was an excellent motivator.
She tried to trip up Refresh with her yoyo again, but she was too fast and instead of spooling like it was supposed to, the string ended up wrapping itself around Marinette’s ankles and making her fall right into the line of fire of one of those stray light beams.
“Ladybug!” Adrien ran forward and shielded her with her body. She’d just have to explain the whole thing to him again.
“Chat? Are you ok?” Marinette finally managed to untangle herself and kneel beside Adrien as Refresh advanced.
To his surprise, Adrien actually was, “Yeah...I still remember everything. We’re on a movie set, right?”
Marinette nodded with tears in her eyes, “Oh, thank goodness. I was so worried that you weren’t gonna remember and then neither of us were gonna know what was going on and the director was gonna be mad and…”
“It’s ok, Ladybug, I’m ok. It must only work on girls, so don’t worry, I’ll protect you!”
They screamed and rolled in separate directions as Refresh grabbed at them, “Give it up! Your miraculous are mine!”
“Look lady, I don’t know if you didn’t get the message or what, but we’re here to fight, not surrender!”
“Ladybug!” Marinette looked over to see Alya hiding behind a trash can.
“Hey Alya, what are you doing here?”
Adrien dodged another blow, looked over and smiled, “Oh hey Alya! What’s up?”
“I’m...recording the fight…” Alya gestured helplessly to her phone and Marinette and Adrein looked at each other and nodded. The director must be going for a found footage effect.
“Ladybug! Why haven’t you used your Lucky Charm yet? Do you need help?”
Marinette was confused, “My Lucky Charm? Ahhh!”
She threw her yoyo to the ground as it started glowing and swarming with...ladybugs? Well, she supposed she had to give the director credit for sticking with a theme.
“Whoa!” Adrien smiled. “The special effects budget must be insane! ”
“Was I supposed to scream?” Marinette asked. “I feel like I probably wasn’t supposed to scream.”
“The director didn’t yell cut, so it must be fine.”
Marinette walked over to the doorknob that had spontaneously appeared, “What am I supposed to do with this? ”
Adrien walked over to stand beside her, “Maybe you’re supposed to use it to beat the villain?”
“Seriously?” Marinette groaned. “How am I supposed to use a doorknob to defeat a villain?” She looked around to see if she could come up with any ideas. “Wait...that might actually work…”
“Lead the way, Milady!” Adrien said happily.
“I need your belt...your tail...actually does that even come off?”
Adrien shrugged, but undid it and handed it to her, “Apparently it does. Nice to know.”
“Good. Go ahead and distract the villain while I set this up.”
“Will do!” Adrien ran up and started trying to hit Refresh with his staff, since he apparently wasn’t affected by her weapon. A weird beeping started nearby and Marinette whipped her head around to look for the source. There wasn’t anything around, so now that was bugging her. Where was that annoying beeping coming from?
The beep sounded again and Marinette’s hand went up to her ears. Was it her earrings making that sound?
“Ladybug?” Chat yelled. “Feel free to do something anytime!”
“Yeah, well, it’d be a lot easier if my stupid earrings would stop beeping and distracting me. Why are they beeping anyway?”
Chat shrugged as best as he could mid-battle, “Maybe they’re almost out of batteries?”
“Who puts batteries in earrings!?”
Marinette huffed. She wanted to take the stupidly loud earrings out, but with how strict their director was, she knew she’d get in so much trouble for messing with her costume. She set her shoulders and prepared to just ignore it as she attached the doorknob to the buckle of his belt and held it behind her back as she started spinning her yoyo with her left hand.
“Hey Refresh! Look alive!” She threw her yoyo at the villain’s head, who dodged and laughed.
“Hey Ladybug?” Adrien said, “Maybe you shouldn’t announce when you’re attacking.”
“I agree...hey!” Refresh cried out as Marinette used her distraction to throw the knob/belt contraption at her ankles. The weight of the knob was just enough to make it wrap entirely around her legs and bring her down. Chat ran up to her and snatched the pencil from her hand.
“I’ll take that!” He turned back to Marinette and handed her the pencil. “I’m sorry for not trusting you Milady.”
Marinette smiled, “It’s ok, Chat. No harm done.”
She broke the pencil in half and to her surprise, there really was a live butterfly that flew out, “Wow. I seriously need to know how they do these special effects.”
“I think you’re supposed to catch it with your yoyo.” Adrien said.
“Oh! Right.” She spun her yoyo and caught the butterfly on her first try. “Perfect.”
Her earrings beeped again and she groaned, “Ugh! That is seriously so annoying! I really need to have a word with the costume department.”
“Um, Ladybug?” Alya jogged up to them, still holding her phone. “Aren’t you gonna release it?”
“Release it?” Marinette was confused. “But I just caught it.”
Alya looked at her like she’d grown a second head, “But if you don’t release it, can you still set everything back to normal?”
“Just do what she says, Milady.” Adrien shrugged. “She might actually know what she’s talking about.”
“Ok.” She looked at her yoyo. How was she supposed to get it open? Everything else was a ladybug so...didn’t ladybugs’ shells open down the middle? She drew her finger down the middle and jumped when it actually worked and a white butterfly flew out.
“Wasn’t that guy purple before?”
Marinette practically screamed as her earrings beeped again, “Seriously? That is so annoying!”
“Um, Ladybug…” Alya said. “You should probably cast Miraculous Ladybug. You’re almost out of time.”
“Out of time?” Marinette looked at Adrien, who shrugged. “What’s Miraculous Ladybug?”
She managed not to scream when her yoyo erupted into a swarm of ladybugs that started flying around fixing the damage, “Whoa! I really did not know these kinds of special effects existed.”
Adrien resisted the urge to run as a swarm of ladybugs flew toward him. Ladybugs were supposed to be the nice kind of bugs, right? They flew around him and Adrien gasped as the pieces all came together.
He’d just lost his memory of everything miraculous, revealed his identity to Ladybug, who had also lost her memory of everything miraculous, and they’d managed to defeat the akuma only because he had been entirely convinced that they were on a movie set. Oh, and Ladybug, who was watching her own ladybugs in awe, only had about thirty seconds before she detransformed. Crap.
He ran forward and wrapped his arm around her waist right as the Ladybug’s finally swarmed her. She froze and her eyes went wide as her memory came back, but she might not have realized yet how little time she had left and it was his job to protect her! Adrien used his staff to vault them onto the next rooftop and practically dropped her as soon as they landed because a pink light was passing over her as her transformation fell. He spun as fast as he could so his back was facing her, but even as he did so, he realized he hadn’t been quite fast enough.
“Oh crap!” Marinette said. “Umm...did you see?”
“...Yes?”
Marinette sighed, “You may as well detransform Adrien, Plagg’s probably tired.”
“I didn’t use cataclysm.”
“Just do it!”
“Claws in.”
Adrien detransformed and turned around to see a very stressed looking Marinette feeding Tikki a cookie. He grabbed a slice of cheese before Plagg could complain and practically stuffed it in his mouth so he would shut up.
“I am so, so sorry Marinette. I didn’t mean to…”
Marinette smiled shakily, “I know. You didn’t know what you were doing. I guess we’re just lucky you have acting experience because I’m not sure we actually would have known to fight the akuma otherwise, so...I guess it all worked out.”
Adrien laughed and went to sit next to her, “When you put it like that…”
“... I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
Marinette bit her lip, “You’re probably really disappointed. I mean, you’re famous! You were probably expecting Ladybug to be super pretty and graceful, not a klutzy spaz like me.”
Adrien laughed, “You introduced yourself to me as Madly Clumsy , Marinette. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into.”
Marinette chuckled, “Well, when you put it like that…”
Adrien smiled and wrapped his arm around her as they waited for their kwamis to finish eating. Yeah, things weren’t ever going to be “normal” again, but...they were partners. Whether they were facing an accidental reveal, a superpowered terrorist, or a group project, he knew they’d figure it out together.
Afterall, it had always been them against the world, why should now be any different?