| BALANCE | Miraculous Ladybug x Reader |

☼ Observe ☼

Episode: Simon Says
Word count: 9,145
Key:
• Y/N - Your Name
Third Person:

✧ ☲ ☲ ☲ ☲ ☲✧

Live on TV, Alec opens with a greeting.

"Welcome back to everyone's #1 live game show: The Challenge! Let's give it up for our awesome contestant, Nino!"

The screen behind Alec shifts colors, showing an image of Nino. Behind the camera, Adrien laughs and encourages Nino to go on stage.

Y/N cheers as Nino walks on confidently, shaking Alec's hand.

"So Nino, you're a student and a DJ. That's pretty awesome! Check out the decks we got for you!"

A portable DJ table is wheeled in next to Nino, and his face lights up.

...

Meanwhile, Marinette is in trouble at her house...

"Grounded? For what?!"

Tom unfold a paper, "Let's jog your memory, Marinette. Monday morning, absent from P.E..."

Marinette puts on a nervous smile as a flashback of Ladybug saving a helicopter along with Cat Noir and Soleil Ailé plays in her mind.

"...I was in study hall."

Tom's face hardens, "Friday evening, absent from study hall."

Another flashback of the Miraculous Trio saving a kitten from a tree plays in Marinette's head.

Marinette blinks for a moment before blurting out, "I was at P.E.!"

"You're never where you're supposed to be, Marinette! The only way we can keep track of you is by keeping you here, grounded."

"But I was invited... Nino is my friend, he was counting on me."

...

"So, the challenge our viewers have chosen for you is..." Alec opens an envelope, "To get the mayor of Paris, André Bourgeois, to dance! Thank you for agreeing to play with us today, sir. What are Nino's chances tonight?"

As Alec finishes talking, a live video of the mayor plays behind them.

André, on the screen, answers the question. "Zero. I despise dancing. The last time I set foot on a dance floor, Madonna was in kindergarten."

...

"I know Nino's your friend. But until your unexcused absences come to an end, that's the way it's going to be," Tom puts his foot down, Sabina nodding.

"Awesome..." Marinette mumbles as she goes to her room, sad.

Marinette sits in her chair and groans, spinning in place.

Tikki flies out of her hiding spot, "Can you blame them? How are they supposed to know that you're missing class to save the world?"

"I guess being grounded comes with the territory of being a top secret superhero," Marinette lightly rolls her eyes. "Doesn't seem fair though."

"It's not," Tikki agrees. "But hey, if Nino wins, you're not grounded next week. You can go see him at the show!"

The bluenette nods, and turns to her computer. "Yeah, but Y/N was there today!" She turns on the computer, and Nino can be seen DJing.

...

Something stirs in Paris as the window to an evil lair whirs open.

"The Challenge... what an interesting concept. A TV show with such potential for negative emotion," Hawk Moth clenches his fist. "Oh, the destructive mayhem we could cause..."