Jagged Stone's latest album "Rock Giant" remained in the top charts, not only overthrowing XY's from the number 1 spot but amazingly buried it in sales. It was all thanks to Marinette Dupain-Cheng's artistry and innovative designs.

The main reason why it became a sensationalized single was due to the bonus track "It's Ladybug" composed by Jagged Stone himself, as a dedication to the Parisian super-heroine who saved him from Numeric. And because it was a famous song, everybody was expecting a music video.

Which brings Marinette to the current situation.

"Mr. Stone proudly talks about you, and always wear those Eiffel-tower shades you made to the press." the violet-haired assistant told her. Sitting beside her was the photographer Vincent, who somehow became 'real buddies' with the rock star after his akumatization.

"He suggested having you be the cover of his music video 'It's Ladybug', that is if you want to."

"Me-me? Jagged Stone wants me to be in his music vi - video?!" the designer squeaked, thankful that she was not holding a tray or she might have dropped it. "Wow, I - I can't believe it!"

"So, are you going to accept it?" the assistant asked. "I understand if you'll reject it. We'll just look for a different model that can play as Ladybug - "

"No, I accept! I accept it!" Marinette interjected. "I'll do it."

They were talking about her alter-ego, for Pete's sake, and the one requesting it was her favorite singer, so why decline?

"Perfect! Now, we'll collect you here tomorrow for the measurements and dress rehearsals then there will be some briefings for the shoot the following day. Vincent here will be the one who's going to coordinate with your schedules. Of course, we'll issue an excuse letter to your school in case the shoot will conflict to your lessons. Next week will be the launching and will be televised initially around noon."

Marinette gulped loudly when she received her schedule. It was all new to her, and the information was quite overwhelming. Her parents almost agreed to all terms and conditions stipulated in the contract so she signed it before the assistant and her companion left the bakery.

"We're looking forward working with you, Miss Dupain-Cheng."

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When Marinette finally entered her room, Tikki immediately flew out from her purse.

"I'm so happy for you, Marinette!" the kwami congratulated her. "You'll be featured in Jagged Stone's music video as Ladybug!"

"Oh my God! Tikki! I can't believe it!" her charger gave a muffled scream then performed a happy dance. "I'll be in Jagged Stone's music video! Jagged Stone! Please pinch me if it's all real!"

The kwami complied, which earned a yelp.

Tikki chuckled. "You're becoming a celebrity, Marinette."

The horror finally dawned on her. "My gosh, Tikki. What if I'm going to mess things up? What if I will trip and ruin the set? What if I will be late and won't wake up and Jagged Stone will be angry with my clumsiness that he'll be disappointed with me that I don't deserve to be Ladybug and -"

"You're over-reacting again." the kwami rolled her eyes. "You're Ladybug. You'll be playing as yourself there. Would you like to have someone take that role instead?"

"I don't like that idea." the designer grimaced. "Will it be okay that I'm going to play as Ladybug? What if this will reveal my identity?"

"Don't fret about it. You haven't seen the set yet."

"Yeah, you're right."

She pulled out her CD copy, then slipped it to her player. With an adjusted volume, she played the 'Ladybug' track.

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"You got what?!"

"Shh! You're not being discreet, Alya!" Marinette hissed as she covered her mouth with her hands.

Her best friend slowly removed her hands then whispered: "You'll be covering Jagged Stone's 'Ladybug'?"

"Sounds elusive, right?"

"No!" she declared loudly, only to be hushed again. "It's not like that, Marinette. Actually, merde, I can't...how can I say this. Mon dieu! I'm so happy for you!"

The reporter finally squawked as she crushed Marinette with a big hug.

"You're so loud, Alya!" the designer bemoaned.

"I - I can't help it! You - oh, gosh - I'm so proud of you! I mean, seriously, my best friend is going to play my favorite heroine? That's super amazing!"

"Don't tell anyone about it."

"Don't tell what?" a male voice inserted which made Marinette squeaked incoherently. It was Adrien.

"Salut, Adrien! Salut, Nino!" Alya waved as she greeted the two boys then gave her female friend a pitying look when she scrambled to hide. "Hey, Marinette. Want me to tell them your secret?"

When she got incorrigible grunts as a yes, the reporter chuckled "You see, our Marinette here was scouted to do a music video."

"A music video? Cool!" Nino cheered. "Who's MV?"

"Jagged Stone."

"Wow." Adrien breathed. "That's amazing, Marinette!"

"And guess what song?" Alya announced with a squeal. "It's 'Ladybug'!"

The blond looked at the shy designer with disbelief then broke a large, toothy grin. He knew his Princess could pull off his Lady with ease.

"You're perfect to be Ladybug."

If only you knew, Marinette thought.

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Marinette didn't want the whole school to know about her collaboration with Jagged Stone but after she was paged by Mr. Damocles, plus Vincent's flashy entrance to her classroom, all hell went loose.

She had to squirm away when her classmates fired several questions. She even tried to compose herself when Chloe gave her usual nasty comments but everything was toppled when Adrien called her attention before she left for the shoot.

"Good luck."

She'll survive.

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She barely survived.

When she first got the script, her first thought was 'I'll be wearing a Ladybug Egyptian-themed costume'

The second was 'It's a very daring dress.'

The third was 'It'll be a one-man act.'

The director was a very patient man who was too used to deal with newbies like Marinette. The make-up artists were kind too, and they even gave her some tips about cosmetic brands and how to match the palette with the clothes. Her instructors were also good at teaching her movements and never once mocked her clumsiness.

They made a shoot on three different locations. Aside from the studio, the rest were quite isolated. Since Alya couldn't go with her for obvious reasons, she was forced to keep tabs on her, especially in between breaks.

"Are you ready?" the director asked.

Adjusting her mask, Marinette stood up.

"Yes."

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"The MV will be launched in television this weekend. Around noon. Nationwide." Marinette sighed exasperatedly while covering her face.

"You'll be okay." Alya consoled while patting her back. "I bet you looked so dashing there."

"I'm not. I made several mistakes during the shoot."

"You're putting yourself down again," Adrien commented. "And don't worry, we're all here to support you."

"With big banners and shoutouts," Nino added.

The designer buried her head more out of embarrassment. She didn't want to reveal her beet-red face to everyone, especially on her crush who was standing in front of her desk.

"She'll be flamed by the fans after ruining Jagged Stone's image." Chloe cackled. "Shame on you, Clumsy-nette"

"Chloe, you're not helping." the blond model admonished much to her childhood friend's chagrin.

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Sunday finally came.

Adrien set his television, as well as his VCR, to be tuned in during the MV launch. He was amused that the Ladyblog made a countdown widget for its live streaming, and even though unnecessary, he still opened his browser.

"That's too much doting, you know," Plagg observed while munching his cheese. "Even for a friend."

"I'm just being supportive, like what friends normally do - well, what Marinette's friends mostly do." the model grinned as he pulled out the CD autographed by Marinette to play the 'Ladybug' track. "Besides, this song was made for My Lady, so that's a double support."

"You mean extra."

"Shut up, Plagg."

The kwami was about to say something but decided not to.

Adrien was getting antsy. He was too excited he couldn't settle himself in one place. Instead of checking his wall clock every after five minutes, he resorted in scanning some social media posts to divert his attention. It was a success, because he never noticed the time until his alarm broke off.

He immediately rushed towards his sofa, and despite his television was programmed to turn on by itself at the airing time, he still grabbed the remote to increase the volume.

Plagg hovered above his charger's head as they looked at the intro's dark screen.

˹In the daytime.˼ a female narrator began. ˹I'm just a normal girl with a normal life.˼

Then the screen lit up a bit enough to show a female silhouette with highlighted curves, and a thin red cloth that was draped around her body.

˹But there's something about me that no one knows yet, 'Cause I have a secret.˼

When the camera panned up to focus the female's masked face, Adrien literally dropped.

Followed by his jaw, and his clutched remote that was smashed on the floor.

In the name of all that was holy, she was definitely not the Marinette he used to know!

God bless his heart, she even smirked!

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The entire video lasted for almost two and a half minutes that matched Marinette's agonizing period as she covered herself up with blankets.

She could hear the muffled noise in their living room as her parents watched Jagged Stone's music video. She began eyeing her phone for incoming complaint calls and text messages, but for some weird reason, nothing came. Yet.

She didn't open her computer for any social media news or even Ladyblog - damn you, Alya - for comments.

Marinette was scared.

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˹Miraculous~˼

"Wow." Plagg said. "That was a bravado."

The VCR stopped recording, the television resumed to its normal programming, however, his charger was still not back to his 'reality'

"Yo-hoo~ Adrien?" the kwami flew on his blanked face.

Green eyes finally met his, and instead of answering, the charger picked up the remote (spare one) to replay the video.

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Marinette's door creaked open, revealing Sabine and Tom's smiling faces.

"I suck." their daughter squirmed as she bundled herself more. "Be honest with me."

"You might be my daughter." Sabine said as she walked towards her. "But I'm sincere when I told you that the MV was awesome."

"And that's without any preferential treatment!" Tom added as he sat at her bedside. "It was a hands-down performance."

"You sure?"

She answered her with a tackled hug.

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˹Miraculous~˼

Adrien's eyes were glued on the screen as he hit the replay button.

Plagg moaned "Not again."

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"Marinette!"

Marinette moved her phone inches away from her ears. "Wa - what is it this time, Alya?"

"Have you seen the comments?"

"No, not yet." the raven-haired grumbled. "I only have an ounce of self-preservation here. Don't make me commit suicide."

"Aw. I'm so sorry to hear that." her best friend answered dryly. "Too bad you are missing lots of congratulatory posts and online marriage proposals, which made my blog froze due to high traffic. And I bet you're not interested to know that your video garnered more than a million shares!"

"Wait, what?!"

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˹Miraculous~˼

Adrien hit the replay button again.

The poor kwami exclaimed "You gotta be kitten me!"

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Alya was not exaggerating. At all.

The MV reached almost a million likes and shares in various social media post, and all just happened in less than a day.

Marinette received a call from Jagged Stone himself few minutes after its release, as well as his producer who was requesting for an extension of her contract Since she was considered as minor, her parents handled the talk on her behalf.

She was proud to be a Dupain-Cheng because Sabine and Tom didn't close the deal without the seal of her approval.

"You know me, Maman, Papa." she smiled. "I was born to become a famous designer, not a celebrity idol."

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Adrien didn't make a mental count about the times he replayed the video.

He knows the music by heart and memorized the lyrics even before the MV release, but it didn't have that spark until recently.

Jagged Stone was there, singing and doing his act together with his band like a normal MV do, but most of the screen time was purely on 'Ladybug' who pops and disappears, dances and runs on scenic angles with a smile as if she won the day.

Even though the song was about Ladybug's miraculous deeds, the video portrayed her human side.

Marinette's presentation wasn't contradictory; she gave the song a new meaning. That despite Ladybug being a 'super-heroine', she was still a 'normal being' who has a dream.

The video was like a slap on Adrien's, as well as on Chat Noir's reality.

He told himself that he was going to love the 'girl' behind the mask, but it only showed that he didn't really know the 'girl' as a whole.

What he only see was her other half - which probably overlapped by his fantasies - and even though he entertained the idea of knowing her remaining half, he didn't make any attempts or initiatives to learn her civilian side.

His naivety might be the reason why Ladybug has never been serious on his advances.

He was blindsided by her masked side that he failed to see her true self.

He has to see the 'girl' behind the mask with or without knowing her real name.

Whether Ladybug silently collaborates on the scripts or the creatives were just genius to give her a different light, Adrien wasn't sure. He could ask his partner about it on their next patrol patrol.

But before that, he needs to talk to the person who portrayed 'Ladybug' first.

While dialing her number, Adrien replayed the video again.

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Marinette didn't expect that her phone will be swamped by several messages, mainly from her classmates.

Some were just brief texts while others were quite lengthy. They were congratulating her for a job well done, and their praises were enough to give her happy tears.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated. She almost dropped it when she saw the caller ID.

It was Adrien.

She hurriedly punched the answer key. "He - hello?"

Then the call got disconnected.

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"You hang up?!" Plagg gaped as he looked at his frantic charger incredulously.

"I - I blanked out when I heard her voice!" Adrien stammered. "I forgot what I'm going to say to her! Merde, I don't know what to do once I see her tomorrow!"

"Uh...congratulate her?"

"But that's not enough, Plagg. You got to admit Marinette's performance was a stellar. Congratulating her is not enough."

"Then tell her what you really feel."

"What - what if I mess it up?" the charger whimpered while cradling his head. "You think I should say 'Hey, Marinette! You look so sexy in red, with black spots around your body so ooh-la-la, and the way you swing your hips can make one pop a boner'! That definitely sounds so perverted!"

Plagg deadpanned "Definitely perverted."

"See?! I told you -"

Adrien jolted when his phone rang then choked his spit when he saw Marinette's number.

"Why don't you answer it?"

"I - I can't." the blond groused. "I'm too shy."

The kwami rolled his eyes as he pawed the answer key much to his charger's protest.

"Plagg!"

"He - hello, Adrien? I - I'm so so sorry I might've pressed the wrong button and accidentally ended up the call!"

The blond was unaware that his heavy breathing was audible on the other line.

"Adrien?" a worry was laced on her words. "Are you okay?"

I'm fine, was the words he wanted to say but because of nervousness, he answered her with a pant.

"I don't know if it's the reception, or that you're in a boiler room."

"Ma - Marinette?" he finally spoke. "You see...erm, I am...I am in love...I love...I love yo - no...I your..."

"..."

"I love..."

"..."

"...your performance."

A loud crash was heard in the other line.

"Are you okay there, Marinette? Marinette?"

"Uh, yeah! I'm okay! Not, that okay - okay, but still okay!"

"Okay...?"

"Anyways, thanks!"

"...okay."

"See you tomorrow!"

Then the call ended.

Adrien huddled himself with bed sheets as he whack his head with pillows as he screamed incorrigibly, probably out of embarrassment.

Laughing at his charger's demise, Plagg flew towards the study table to fetch a block of cheese.