Chapter Text
“It’s a beautiful morning in Paris today, and everyone is buzzing with anticipation for the second day of open auditions for the titular characters in ‘Ladybug and Chat Noir’. Creator of the acclaimed ‘Ladyblog’ and Co-writer of the series Alya Lahiffe, formerly Césaire, claims that this series will be unlike any other creative take on our heroes, in that it will focus on the heroes’ lives outside their masks just as much as in them. Here’s what she and Co-writer Nino Lahiffe had to say.”
“Every Ladybug and Chat Noir story so far has focused on their superhero sides. We wanted to delve into the struggles that go on behind the scenes in keeping up what is essentially a double life.”
“Now it goes without saying that we don’t know what their real identities are, so the series will be a creative reimagining of events, so to speak. We’re very grateful that our executive producer came up with the brilliant idea of imagining that Ladybug’s civilian identity was Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Chat Noir’s civilian identity was Adrien Dupain-Cheng, formerly Agreste.”
“I still can’t believe you tricked Mr. Marchand into thinking he came up with that idea.” Adrien chuckled, interrupting the news broadcast that was playing on the café’s TV screen. Nino leaned back in his chair with a confident grin.
“Yeah dude! Although, I’m kinda worried how much subliminal messaging works.” He commented, face shifting to a slightly concerned expression.
“You excited about getting back into the auditions?” Adrien asked, giving a thankful nod to the waitress clearing their mugs. Nino huffed.
“Definitely not. If the kids we get today are as awful as the ones we saw yesterday then this is going to take forever! Why did we choose to have an open audition and to run it ourselves?” He whined, draping an arm over his face dramatically.
“Because you don’t want someone whitewashing your life?” Adrien asked in an amused tone. Nino dropped his arm and sat up with an unimpressed expression, having risen to his best friend’s bait to annoy him.
“I obviously haven’t forgotten that. Just let a bro complain.” His response only made Adrien laugh, before the blond stood up with energy and determination.
“Let’s go bro. You can complain on the way.”
“I can’t imagine how who you’ve seen so far could be all that bad. Surely there was at least one that had potential.” Nino paused to consider what Adrien had said, causing Adrien to stop with him.
“Yes and no, I guess? All the dudes we’ve seen that had any potential were either great at playing Adrien but awful at Chat Noir, or vice versa. They all seem to struggle with forming the two into one person.” Nino explained. Adrien pulled his lips tight in a mild grimace. To him, the difference in his behaviour between his personas was natural. He was forced to be complicit as Adrien, so he let out his chaotic energy as Chat Noir.
“Do you want me to sit in on the audition panel? I could give you advice on giving them character motivation and see if that helps.” He suggested. Nino’s eyes lit up with a spark of hope.
“Really? You wouldn’t mind sitting through awful renditions of yourself just on the chance that we’ll stumble upon someone who could potentially work?” He asked, carefully making sure Adrien knew what he was getting himself into.
“Well, I am the fight choreographer slash stunt coordinator. I should be in there anyway making sure we pick people who are capable of more than just acting.” Adrien pointed out. Nino’s expression dropped.
“Ugh! I didn’t even think of that! It’s going to be even harder than we thought!” He cried out, shoulders slumping dramatically. Adrien couldn’t help but laugh.
“What did you think it would be like? Did you expect the perfect actor to just fall out of the sky?” Adrien teased. He was about to prompt his friend to continue walking to the car when a rumble in the ground nearly threw him off balance.
“Plagg, was that you?” Adrien hissed under his breath.
“That wasn’t me! It wasn’t even a destructive wave, and if you were better at reading energy you’d know that.” Plagg hissed back, his angry voice tickling as it vibrated against his chest.
“If it wasn’t destructive then what was it?” Adrien asked.
“Was it connective?” Nino chimed in softly. Adrien raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Sorry, it was just a guess. The energy felt like when bumper cars bump into each other, or if a boat docks too quickly.” Nino explained, looking a little embarrassed for trying. Plagg chuckled darkly.
“See, even your stoner friend is smarter than you. He got it straight away!”
“Shut up Plagg. What does that mean, ‘connective energy’?” Adrien asked.
“I don’t understand. Do you want me to shut up or to tell you?” Plagg bantered with a mischievous tone. Adrien groaned with frustration, wishing Tikki were here. She’d just explain what was happening immediately without feeling the need to make fun of him.
Suddenly a loud crack in the atmosphere interrupted them, causing everyone in the area to look up for the source of the sound. What appeared to be a portal was forming high in the sky. But it was less like something was appearing and more like the air in the space was tearing, like a cat fighting its way out of sheer stockings. Adrien braced himself, ready to run off and transform to fight whatever monster would burst out of the portal once he had the heads up on what it was. What he wasn’t ready for, was a human girl in active wear to fall out of the portal screaming.
His heart dropped into his stomach. There’s no way she could survive hitting the ground from that height, and even if he transformed right here in front of everyone, she was too far away for him to run and catch her. The girl stopped screaming and aimed her trajectory towards a flagpole. At first Adrien flinched, assuming she’d grab the flag. If the rope and pulley holding the flag up were secure, she’d rip the flag, and if it weren’t she’d just drag the flag down with her. Either way would only slow her velocity enough to only break several bones rather than die instantly. Then he saw that she instead grabbed the flagpole through the flag, using it to shield her hands as she slid down. The girl heaved her legs up as she clung to the pole, redirecting her momentum into spinning around. As the flag wrapped around the pole her momentum slowed, until she was able to grab onto the pole with her thighs and come to a complete stop. Keeping her legs wrapped around the pole, the girl let go of the flag and allowed herself to slide down the pole safely. Adrien and the girl only had a moment to sigh with relief before cheering erupted from her audience on the street.
“That was insanely lucky! If that flag pole hadn’t been there you’d be dead!” A particularly excited man commented loudly. The girl looked at the crowd, seeming startled by how many people were looking at her. She glanced up at the French flag before looking back at the crowd.
“Uh…Vive la Chance?” She responded with a shrug and a dismissively playful smile, which turned to a satisfied grin when people in the crowd laughed. A wave of nostalgia hit Adrien as he looked at the teen awkwardly dealing with an onslaught of questions from the building crowd. She reminded him so much of his younger self, especially now she was still enough to look at. Most of her golden blonde hair was swept into a messy bun on the crown of her head, apart from the messy fringe framing her face that went all to well with her exhilarated grin. That combined with her all black activewear gave the girl a strong Chat Noir vibe. Before he knew what to do with that thought, the girl’s face went instantly serious as her head angled sharply to the side. In almost a flash the girl had launched away from the pole and was sprinting toward the road. Following the direction she was running, Adrien glanced over to realise that a small child had walked backwards from the crowd onto the road to try to get a better view, right into the path of an oncoming truck. The teen girl made it to the little boy, sweeping him up into her arms as she leapt out of the truck’s path. They made it just in time as the truck flew past, only to end up in the next lane over in the path of a car that seemed to hit its brakes too late. Adrien held his breath as the girl hefted the little boy above her head just as the car slammed into her, throwing her backwards through the air. As she neared the ground, the girl pulled the child close to her, hand shifting to his neck to brace for impact. Hitting the ground heavily, she bounced once before coming to a stop. The crowd, only now seeming to have caught on to what happened, began a medley of panic ranging from confused murmuring to full on screaming.
“Leon!” A woman cried out, sprinting over to where the girl lay cradling the young boy. The child, Leon, seemed to be realising what just happened to him and what could have happened, burst into manic tears. The woman pulled him from the girl’s hold into a comforting embrace. As the crowd shifted to huddle around Leon and the woman, Adrien watched the girl crawl away, weaving through legs until she made it to the other side of the road, before she limped off down an alley way. A quick look over at Nino’s distressed expression told him that his friend was thinking the same thing. Silently they darted across the road and made their way over to the alley they saw the teenager go.
There she was, huddled on the ground leaning against the wall, face pressed into the arms that rested on her bent knees. Somehow, seeing her this way gave him more nostalgia; of times where he was just begging for a moment of rest while life continued to throw shit at him. In those moments, he always wished that somebody would notice, and hoped that they would care. Right now, Adrien noticed, and he definitely cared. Cautiously he approached her, attempting to not startle the girl as he crouched in front of her.
“Are you ok? That was quite a show back there.” He asked with a light tone, hoping it would make for a comfortable introduction. Without lifting her head, she let out a breathy laugh.
“That wasn’t one of my greatest hits, was it? Definitely fell flat with the audience.” The girl said dryly, slightly muffled by her limbs. Adrien gave a hearty chuckle at her jokes. She was definitely coming for his gig and he wasn’t even mad about it.
“Dude, this isn’t really a time for jokes. We need to take her to the hospital.” Nino reprimanded in a soft but urgent tone. At this the girl tensed, head jolting up with an expression of panic over her face. Startled, Adrien flinched as he finally saw the details of her face up close. From just her eyes she could have been mistaken for a younger version of his mother, sporting the same vivid green and upturned corners that he inherited himself. The girl’s buttony nose dusted lightly with freckles and her pouty, cherubic lips were what broke the similarities, but the eyes were enough to almost scare Adrien as he looked at her.
“No! No hospital, please! It was nothing…I’ll be fine.” The girl pleaded desperately to Nino.
“Are you crazy? You fell out of the sky and got hit by a car! That’s not nothing!” Nino exclaimed, clearly getting distressed as his protective instincts were working overtime. Adrien watched the girl panic, looking between Nino and the way back out of the alley. Instinct told him that speaking loudly wouldn’t help her calm down, so as he knelt down closer to her, he placed a hand gently on her shoulder. She flinched at the contact, eyes jolting to him and locking into contact with his. He saw a flash of recognition momentarily, but she only froze.
“That was really brave how you saved that kid. But pretending you aren’t hurt isn’t brave, it’s just dumb. I know that better than anyone. So be honest; are you okay?” Adrien spoke softly and with as much warmth and care as he could project. The girl’s eyes shimmered, before breaking eye contact and relaxing her body.
“My head hurts a lot…but I still can’t go to hospital! I don’t have any documentation or form of ID, so once they find out they’ll just detain me and I can’t be locked up again!” She explained, voice gaining emotional momentum as she spoke, turning her body away from them and curling up against the wall as if attempting to shrink. Adrien’s heart felt heavy with empathy. He recognised this fear. He lived with this fear nearly his whole life. He was not about to let another child deal with it alone. He moved closer again, replacing his hand on her shoulder.
“It’s okay, everything’s going to be okay. Look at me.” At his words, she turned to face him with a look of apprehension and anticipation.
“I’m not going to let anyone lock you up. I promise.” He declared, eyes watering as he stared into hers. As her expression began to show traces of hope, he felt a hand on his shoulder pulling him back. Turning towards the hand he saw Nino crouching beside him wearing a very concerned expression.
“Adrien, you can’t make promises like that.” He whispered harshly. As Adrien prepared to argue, he realised that his friend was only coming from a realistic point of view. If she were detained after he made a promise like that, it would only hurt her more. Breaking him out of his line of thought was a small burst of giggles that came from the girl in front of him.
“Adrien? Is that really your name?” She asked, shoulders shaking slightly from silent laughter.
“Yeah…why is that funny?” He responded, not sure why his name has caused this reaction. The girl steadied herself as she gained composure.
“I’m sorry, it’s just with the blonde hair and the green eyes you look like Adrien Agreste.” She explained, grinning as if she were revealing a punchline. Adrien blinked in surprise.
“Come again?” Was all he could say. This girl had come through a magic portal from what he assumed was another realm, or world even. How did she know who he was? On top of that, how did she know enough about what he looked like to see a resemblance without being able to tell that it was him? Her expression shifted in a way that showed she was realising that she had to explain what she was saying.
“He’s a character from one of my favourite cartoons. You probably don’t have it in this world. ‘Miraculous: Adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir’. Have you heard of it?”