Chapter One

Ladybug soared above the city streets of Paris anxiously looking for a safe place to drop her transformation. She and Cat Noir had just defeated an Akuma calling themselves Magnetic Mayhem. He was a worker in a high tech, high security company and after months of presenting new security ideas to his higher ups someone else had taken credit for his ideas. He was using electromagnetic powers to disrupt all the technology for blocks. In the end he was planning to set Paris back ages technologically.

Of course Ladybug and Cat Noir were able to fix everything. After the signature fist bump with her partner Ladybug took off, the beeping of her earrings warning her of her short amount of time left. She couldn't risk de-transforming in a place close to such a high security building though so she used her yoyo to swing half way across Paris looking for a safe place to change back to her civilian form. She sighed in relief when she spotted an alley way with just the right amount of cover for her to safely let her transformation down.

After landing she scanned the area to make sure no one could see and then with a "Tikki, spots off," and a flash a pink light Marinette stood in Ladybugs place.

"Oh, Tikki! I'm totally going to be late to class again!" Marinette said worriedly.

There had been a rise in early morning akumas lately and Marinette was running out of excuses for being late to class. Alarm didn't go off, having to help at the bakery, helping an old lady cross the street, and tripping and hurting herself on the way there had already been used in the past two weeks.

"Just tell them you were held up by the akuma. I'm sure everyone already knows there was one with Alya in class." Tikki suggested settling into Marinette's purse with her cookie.

Marinette had no time to think about whether or not the excuse was good enough as she focused all her energy on running to class. Her Ladybug luck wasn't with her as she arrived in her class room mere seconds after the bell rang.

"Oh look, its Late-inette. What's your excuse this time?" Chloe asked with a smirk and a hair flip.

Marinette managed to glare at the bully but she had no come back. Because of the recent akumas she had been late more often than not. Even without the akumas she was the type of person to be running late but it was becoming ridiculous.

"Chloe, there's no need for that. Marinette, why are you late?" Miss. Bustier asked.

"I um…well, there was an akuma, so you see um, I had to hide and wait until it was safe." Marinette stuttered through her lie.

Miss. Bustier and the rest of the class were looking at her half confused and half concerned.

"Liar. The akuma was nowhere near here or your house." Chloe sneered.

"Hey, the akuma was causing chaos for blocks. Scared people running away and the news report on it could've caused enough panic for her to need to stay home safe for a while." Alya said jumping to her friend's defense.

Marinette gave her a weak smile; she was grateful to have such a good friend.

"Girls, I can handle this thank you." Miss, Bustier said giving them both pointed looks.

"Sorry." They both muttered, Chloe's more halfhearted than Alyas.

"Marinette, what were you doing far enough away from home to be affected by the akuma?" Miss. Bustier asked clearly concerned.

Marinette could feel the stutter of incomprehensible words rising in her throat. She had no real excuse and would just ramble out whatever she could think of. This was not going to end well.

"Sorry I'm late." Came a welcome voice behind her.

She turned red as her crush Adrien Agreste walked up next to her. She was already embarrassed by being called out in front of the whole class but now with him here her nerves were even worse.

"And why are you late Mr. Agreste?" Miss. Bustier asked.

"I was in the bathroom." He said calmly.

She looked at the two with an exasperated expression. She shook her head and sighed.

"Both of you just get to your seats. You weren't too late anyway so I suppose it's not that big of a deal." Miss. Bustier said, the last part more to herself than them.

Marinette rushed to her seat settling in and starting to relax now that the attention was off of her.

"You owe me an explanation later. The truth." Alya whispered.

Marinette was thankful she had the whole day to think up something to tell Alya. She never was very good at lying and Alya knew all her tells so she had to think of something similar to the truth.

"Hello Alya and Marinette would you like to go to the café down the street with Adrien and I?" Nino asked very robotically.

Ever since Alya and Nino had gotten together offers like these had become very common, not that Marinette minded since it gave her a chance to hang out with Adrien in a casual way. It had even started helping her to stop stuttering around him…for the most part. The most problematic part about this was actually how bad Nino was at masking the fact that Alya had told him what to say. It made it very obvious that they were scheming to get Adrien and Marinette in the same place. Marinette just hoped Adrien was as oblivious to their friend's intentions as he was to her feelings.

"I would love to go, thank you for the offer Nino. What about you girl?" Alya asked.

"Oh, um…" Marinette hesitated.

She definitely wanted to go but she had planned to go home and take a nap. The akuma happening so early in the morning had her day dreaming about her bed.

"You still owe me an explanation for why you were late to class. You kept dodging my questions all day." Alya urged.

"Oh right. Okay, I can hang out for a while I suppose." Marinette said sheepishly.

"So why were you late to class?" Alya asked as they started on their way to the café.

"Well, maman and papa were busy with the bakery but they had an early morning order that needed to be delivered over there. I thought it would be a quicker delivery than it was but, I really did get held up by the akuma because of it." Marinette recited the lie she and Tikki had come up with.

"That doesn't sound like your parents at all. They wouldn't want you to be late to school. They should've known how long that would take you." Alya said.

"Hehe yeah, I guess they don't think as clearly in the morning." Marinette said nervously.

"It really sucks that there's all these akumas." Nino said.

"Knowing that our classmates are always in constant danger is really upsetting." Adrien agreed.

"You say that as if you aren't in constant danger too." Alya said smirking.

Just then a group of people ran past.

"She's crazy!" one yelled.

Marinette prayed it wasn't an akuma but her luck had run out as a girl appeared around the corner. The translucent butterfly mask around her eyes, a pencil in her hand, and notebook in her arm.

"Paris needs so much revision." She sighed though a smile was on her face.

"We should hide." Marinette and Adrien said in unison.

"Are you kidding? And miss the chance to see Ladybug and Cat Noir in action?" Alya protested.

Just then the side walk next to them ripped itself off the ground and crumbled turning into a gravel path. The group exchanged shocked and horrified looks before following another group into a nearby building. In the commotion Marinette separated herself from the group and snuck out a side entrance.

There were no well-hidden alleys on this block. She would have to run a block over. She peeked around the corner to see the akuma was busy looking at a building deep in thought. Marinette bit her lip and decided to take the chance and ran across the street. Unfortunately, she didn't reach the other side.

"Of course!" the akuma yelled and the buildings around Marinette came to life.

She felt a sharp pain on the back of her head and then the world around her went dark.

Authors Notes

I'm new to fan fiction I have two other stories on the site but those are the only fan fictions I've written so any feedback would be super appreciated. Let me know if you like it and if you think I'm keeping the characters in character. Thank you for reading though and I really hope your enjoying what you've read so far.