One Miraculous Circus

Chapter 9

Adrien went home that night with a huge smile on his face after the moment between him and the new acrobat, Ladybug. His cheeks were dyed red and he couldn't help but think of her. 

"Who is she?" was the question that ran through his head, over and over again.

 He threw himself onto his bed and reached into his side table draw to grab his notebook. He flipped through the pages that were covered in his plans about a new bar, a place full of people but lots of disguises to allow a free and non-judgmental atmosphere. He thought this would be the perfect place to meet new people on the down-low. After becoming the face of the new circus with his family he couldn't make any true friends.

 Maybe this place would be where he could meet Ladybug again, properly. Just thinking about her, he blushed uncontrollably but then he thought back to Kagami, his girlfriend. He liked someone new. The immediate link between Ladybug and him was undeniable. How was he going to tell Kagami he'd started to feel for someone else?

Marinette was back at home after the first show and she was unbelievably happy with how it went. The look on Adrien's face was all the recognition she needed. She was sat on her chaise, flipping through her designs before smothering her panicked expression in her duvet when she remembered she'd actually have to see him tomorrow. Face to face. She froze for a minute before remembering he saw Ladybug, not her. It hurt her heart a little that Adrien liked Ladybug instead of Marinette, instead of the girl he had been friends with for years. She was her true self when she was Ladybug, the confident, strong, non-stuttering girl that she couldn't normally show him but one day she would, even if it was through an alter ego. 

She wished she didn't stutter around Adrien and she wished she had the confidence to tell him how she felt but she was just clumsy Marinette. Ladybug was the opportunity she needed to show who she truly was to him and she was prepared to use that to her advantage.

Marinette froze once again when she fully thought over every thought her brain had just quickly filtered through. Tell him how she felt? Her stomach fluttered and a smile forced itself onto her face when she finally consciously realised. She liked Adrien again. 

The next school day arrived quickly and Marinette went into school proud for once and was determined to go through a day, stutter-free. A goal she had never been able to complete before.

"Hey girl!" she called to Alya as she walked over. 

Her friend jumped up from the staircase she was originally sat on to greet her, "Hey girl, you seem happier than usual. I mean that in a nice way," she reassured.

Marinette giggled and smiled a little brighter than usual, "Yeah, trying to be more me. Anyway, how was the circus last night? I heard the new acrobat was amazing."

 Alya quickly grabbed her phone out of her pocket and started to open something up, "Omg, she was amazing, look what I made." Alya brought up a website and showed it to Marinette, "I made a blog for her, she's truly amazing. I wish you were there to see her."

 On the screen was a page called the Ladyblog. At the top of the screen laid a red strip with black spots and the rest were all the posts Alya had posted. Marinette blushed at how she'd started to become popular already after only one performance but she also wished she could tell her best friend the biggest secret she had ever had to keep. 

"I wish I was there Alya, I'll try to go next time. That blog looks really cool, I'll make sure to take some videos if I ever see her and you're not there," Marinette said while laughing along with her new reporter of a best friend. 

A few minutes later, the boys walked over to them both.

"Hey, guys!" Adrien shouted to them as he ran over with Nino at his side. 

Marinette looked back at them and smiled widely but instead of going red as she would normally she stood strong and waved at the handsome blonde boy sauntering towards her. 

"Hey Adrien, hey Nino. How was the circus?" she said without a single stutter, shocking both herself and the friends that surrounded her. She thought her stutter would come back when the feelings did as they had all the previous times she'd liked someone - Adrien specifically.

"It was amazing Marinette. I may have been working but I still saw how beautiful Ladybug was," Adrien said, dreamy-eyed. 

Marinette smiled slightly but quickly hid her smirk, "Falling in love Adrien?" she joked leaving Adrien a bright crimson and hurrying to cover his own warm cheeks. 

"N-no. Definitely not," Adrien stuttered. Marinette laughed along with Nino and Alya but Adrien continued to look embarrassed. It seemed as if the stutter had switched over from Marinette to Adrien. As if there had been a body shift.

The bell rang and everyone filtered into the classrooms for their first classes of the day. Alya caught up with Marinette as they walked. 

"Hey girl, I seriously thought you had major feelings for Adrien again and yet you just go ahead and lose all stuttering. You always surprise me, Mari," Alya said while linking arms with her. 

The foursome made their way to their seats, still talking as they sat down. Marinette was sat next to Sabrina still and Luka and Chloe continued to flirt at the front of the classroom, obviously making it louder and more animated to grab Marinette's attention. She rolled her eyes at the pair and turned to Alya to talk to her a little before class started. Adrien placed himself in his seat next to Kagami, looking very uncomfortable in the process. 

"Babe, are you okay?" Kagami said after noticing Adrien's obviously awkward expression and his weird shuffling in his seat. 

"Yeah, I'm okay Kagami. Just something on my mind is all."

The day quickly passed by of Adrien being distracted, Marinette finally being confident and Alya making jokes about how they had obviously switched bodies and were trying to hide it. Kagami noticed Adrien was acting weird, questioning him constantly the whole day but brushing her off each time. They all walked with a wary atmosphere weaving between them, all of them casting glances at Adrien as he stayed suspiciously silent on the way to the park.

"Babe, you've been acting really strange. What's up with you today?" Kagami said to her boyfriend sincerely, once they had reached the park.

Adrien sat next to her on the bench and held her hand, "I wanted to do this later and not in front of everyone but I think we need to break up."