One Miraculous Circus

Chapter 10

Kagami froze and stared at Adrien with immense confusion, "What? Where did this come from Adrien? You seemed so happy with me, with us." 

Kagami went from confused to sad to distraught in a matter of seconds and tears seemed to uncontrollably pour out her eyes and roll down her cheeks rosy cheeks.

 "I'm sure your happy. I'm sure you've found someone else already," she said while staring at Marinette with burning anger in her eyes before running off.

 Everyone stared around blankly, not sure what to do with the awkward silence that lingered throughout the air. 

Adrien checked his watch and fixed his red bowtie before standing up and facing everyone, "I should go, I'm setting up Ladybug's station today." 

Alya's face lit up and she stood up as well and grabbed Nino's hand, "Can we come, I really want some extra videos for the Ladyblog." 

Adrien laughed slightly, "Yeah, you guys can come. Ladybug won't be there for another hour though so you'll have to spend a while there if you want to see her." 

They all stood up and started walking towards the circus and Marinette watched as she realized the original group of six had now shrunk down and become a group of four.

Later that evening, the second show rolled around and Marinette decided to get ready at home instead of risking her friends discovering her identity by accidentally walking into the wrong room at the wrong time. She was dressed in her costume and her mask was spread across her face. She wrapped herself in a large black hoodie, pulled up her hood and walked slowly down the winding pathway to the circus. The bitter wind whipped around her and all the buildings that surrounded. She shivered as she started to walk faster to escape jack frost as he chased after her. The pathway continued to curve and she was noticed quicker than she expected. 

"Ladybug!" a group of teenagers shouted to her as they began to run over. She picked up her pace and ran a bit faster down the street in her trainers that she put on for the walk, a little scared by the sudden attention. 

"Ladybug! Who are you? Can we get an autograph?" 

She stopped at the mention of an autograph. "People actually like me?" she thought.

The group of teenagers ran over and she pulled down her hood to greet them, "Hey guys!" 

All these people she didn't know swarmed around her and she smiled and joked with her fans while signing autograph after autograph. 

After a few minutes of signing and having a smooth conversation with her smiley fans, she glanced at her watch and waved goodbye, "I've got to go guys but I hope I'll see you guys tonight!"

 Marinette broke into a run and bumped into a worrying Adrien on the way. When they hit, Marinette's mask fell to the floor and she immediately covered he face with her hood. 

"Ladybug! We were looking for you!" Adrien said while he looked down and picked up her mask, "And here is this." Adrien handed her the mask while looking away as to not reveal her identity - he may have been immensely curious but he couldn't do that to her.

"I'm sorry about the mask thing and for being late, I'll head straight in," Marinette muttered before heading straight to the front door. 

Adrien grabbed her arm, "I wouldn't recommend doing that Ladybug. Take off the hoodie and go through the back door, I'll show you there." 

Marinette blushed and removed her hoodie. The air hit her like a ton of bricks and she shivered as the bitter air nipped at her skin. Adrien slithered his arm around her shoulders and held her close in a protective but comforting way. 

"Stay close and keep warm Ladybug. Sadly keeping on the jumper and being out of costume isn't allowed this close to opening," he said while blushing aggressively. Marinette blushed harder than ever, matching the deep red of her mask, but kept it hidden by facing towards the shadows.

Adrien and Ladybug managed to make it inside the circus unnoticed... they hoped. 

Once they were inside the building, Adrien showed Ladybug to her new starting station, "This is where you'll start. You'll jump off this platform and catch onto that trapeze there and then you'll just do the original choreography. My dad isn't here today so I'll be taking his place in the closing and opening of the show. I need you with me in the ending so get off your ending station immediately." 

"Okay, that sounds good. I'll see you later Adrien," Ladybug said while making her way down to her dressing room, "Let me know when I need to get on stage."

Marinette was sat in her dressing room when a small knock interrupted the silence, "Come in!" 

The door creaked open and Alya came running in at full speed, speaking a mile a minute, "Hey, I'm Alya, I run the Ladyblog. I was wondering if I could have an interview one day and I would like some photos for the blog." 

"Hey Alya, I'll do an interview one day for sure and I've seen the Ladyblog, it's really cool," Ladybug said giggling slightly at the over-excited fan that was practically bouncing off the walls in front of her. 

Underneath the mask, Marinette was planning her next move to make Alya the happiest little fan of all. The conversation was going smoothly, a few photos taken and a few questions asked, when Adrien peaked his head around the door to call Ladybug to her station. 

"I've got to go get ready to perform," Ladybug said getting up and beginning to leave, "I hope to see you in the audience!"

The performance was going perfectly, like it always did, and then came the big moment. Ladybug ran down quickly from her ending station to meet Adrien for the ending sequence. She ran past all the different acts and weaved in and out of the equipment that was dotted around the backstage area. Adrien waited patiently at the side of the performance area, ready for when Ladybug ran up beside him.  

"Hey, so, is it the same sequence or am I just going to have to play along with a random one you made up?" Ladybug asked and Adrien just laughed. 

"It'll be the same sequence but an added speech that I have to say at the end." The loud claps of the audience were their cue to go and complete the second show, "It's time to go," Adrien whispered. 

They took a deep breath, smiled and ran out on stage for the final part.