Switched

The alarm on the table went off. Marinette stretched out in her bed, reluctant to open her eyes. She knew she should get up and finish her Algebra homework, but she was so sleepy.

After her fight with Cat Noir the previous night, Marinette wasn't looking forward to patrol with him after school. In fact, she was beginning to wonder if she should just cancel.

She stretched again, sleepily turning the alarm off. Marinette flexed her foot beneath the covers. The sheets felt stiffer than normal, and the bed was just a little bit more lumpy than she remembered. She snuggled into her pillow.

Five more minutes really wouldn't make a difference when it came to finishing her homework. She could always do it before class started.

She was just drifting off into another dream about Adrien and hamsters when she was interrupted by a loud knock on her door. Marinette tried to rouse herself from her slumber but only heard,

"...why aren't you up yet?"

Did her mom have a cold? Her voice sounded funny, and Marinette's mom never raised her voice at her like that.

She finally cracked an eye open. The green numbers on the clock across from her gleamed five thirty-five. Five thirty in the morning? That didn't make any sense.

"Did you hear me?" her mom called again.

"I'm up, Mom," Marinette said, having not moved an inch. "I'll be down for breakfast soon."

This had to be some kind of weird dream within a dream. Marinette only got up early like this during school breaks when she was working the morning shift at the bakery.

The voice went silent for a moment. Then, "Are you feeling okay?"

"I feel fine," Marinette muttered sleepily. "Just fine." She pushed back the covers and stepped onto the cold wooden floor.

Wait, her bed was in a loft. She had to climb a ladder to get down. Was she not at home?

Sleep evaporated as Marinette's eyes went wide. She blurrily looked around the room. It seemed familiar. With a rising panic, Marinette realized it was Adrien's room.

Adrien Agreste.

She was in her crush's room! Marinette felt exhilaration course through her as she took a sweeping glance of the huge room that had a rock climbing wall, basketball hoop, and fooseball table.

She was in Adrien's room! Marinette threw herself back onto the hard mattress. She pulled the pillow onto her chest and giggled.

But why? Marinette stood again and stumbled to a full length mirror. When she got there, she looked into the glass only to see Adrien's reflection.

This had to be a dream. A horrible nightmare.

"It's not possible," she said in horror. Marinette looked down. She was still wearing her pajamas from last night and her hands looked the same. When she turned back to the mirror, all she saw was Adrien in his normal school clothes.

"What have you done, Marinette?" Plagg flew up in front of her face.

"You can see me?" she cried. "Plagg, this must be some kind of nightmare." She didn't stop to think about why Plagg was in Adrien's room.

Plagg shook his head. "Something must have disrupted the balance of the magic."

Marinette thought back to the previous day. "Our fight," she groaned.

"The miraculous have forced you to switch places in order to achieve balance again."

"But I'm in Adrien's body?"

"No, you are still in your body. The magic of the miraculous makes you look like the other to everyone but yourselves and the kwamis."

"No, I mean why am I in Adrien's house?"

Plagg just stared at her.

"Oh..."

Marinette sank back onto the bed, finally letting herself think about what she had been avoiding. Adrien—the boy she was in love with—was Cat Noir.

"I can fix this," she said confidently. Marinette looked at Plagg. "After all, I'm Ladybug. Tikki, spots on!"

The little flash of red that always appeared when Marinette powered up was nowhere to be seen.

Plagg flew over to her. He lifted Marinette's hand. On it was the ring—the miraculous of destruction.

"You aren't Ladybug anymore."

Marinette's hands flew to her ears. There were no earrings. "No," she said. Marinette tried to pull the ring off, but it wouldn't budge.

"Fix this, Plagg! I thought your magic controlled the miraculous!"

"That's only part of it," he explained. "Think of me as a conscious magic. The jewels also have power on their own—an unconscious magic more powerful than even the kwamis."

The door to the room flew open. Plagg disappeared behind a trash can.

"Adrien, are you still in bed?" Nathalie stood over the bed angrily. "You should already be practicing your piano." She held an iPad in her hand and appeared to be scrolling through an itinerary for the day.

Marinette realized it was Nathalie who had woken her earlier. That's why she had sounded so strange. Marinette had called her 'Mom' which meant Nathalie thought that Adrien had done it!

"Five forty-five to six thirty you practice your piano. Then six thirty to seven fifteen your Chinese. Seven fifteen to seven thirty, you can shower and change. Don't forget you have breakfast with your father today from seven thirty to seven forty-five."

Marinette stopped listening after that. Adrien only had fifteen minutes breakfast with his father? No matter how busy the bakery was, Papa always made sure he came up for breakfast and to say good morning before she left for school.

"Adrien, are you listening?" Nathalie snapped. "Hurry up. If you miss this breakfast, your next one with your father won't be until a week from today."

Marinette hadn't thought it could get worse, but somehow it had.

"Is this what his life is always like?" Marinette asked Plagg after Nathalie left.

"Pretty much," said the kwami. "At least you don't have a photo shoot today."

"Oh my gosh, Adrien." Marinette realized where he was.

Her room.

With all her photos and Tikki and her family.

"This is a disaster." Marinette pulled a pillow over her face and screamed.

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