Marinette Dupain-Cheng yawned. Her eyes closed briefly before Alya Césaire nudged her painfully in the ribs.

"Drew all night?" Alya said, smirking.

Heh . . . Marinette wished that could have been the case, but it wasn't - she had stayed up all night fighting an akuma.

Marinette shrugged. "I can't remember," she said sleepily.

Alya shook her head.

The bell rang to signal the end of the class. "Students, you all have theater next," Ms. Bustier called out. "Make your way to the auditorium!"

"So . . . what's the real reason you're so tired?" Alya said as their class walked down to the auditorium.

"Just sketching, I suppose," Marinette said. Now was not the time to reveal herself just yet.

Perhaps never.

"I wonder what the play will be this year?" Alya asked thoughtfully. "Ooh, maybe it's another classic, like Alice in Wonderland!"

"Did your school do that?"

"Yeah, my old school put on a performance of Alice in Wonderland," Alya explained.

They pushed the doors open to the auditorium and took seats in the front rows.

"Hey, dudes," Nino Lahiffe's voice came, waving to them. Alya waved back, but Marinette caught sight of the person behind Nino and looked straight ahead, blushing. Nino moved past her to sit next to Alya, leaving the Adrien Agreste to sit next to her.

"I can't wait to be in a play this year," Adrien said. "Knowing my father, I'll probably be the leading role."

"But isn't that a glood - I mean, a good thing?" Marinette said, mentally face-palming herself for her stuttering.

"I guess," Adrien said, shrugging his shoulders. "But when your father is a head fashion designer and wants the best for you, you always expect the best - even if you don't want it."

The class started to grow silent as Ms. Bustier walked onto the stage and started to talk.

"This year, our class will perform a play for Valentine's Day," Ms. Bustier said, holding a stack of scripts in her hands. "Rose, will you pass out the scripts? Once everyone has a copy, I'll explain what the script is about."

Rose took the scripts and passed them out eagerly. It was no mystery that Rose Lavillant loved romance.

Once everyone had a copy, Ms. Bustier said, "This year's play is called A Midnight's Wish. It's set in the 18th century, and a man moves into a mansion that's haunted by a ghost. He falls in love with the ghost, but it takes a long time for the ghost to love him back.

"The ghost is Lady Coccinelle des Taches, and the man is named Felix Manoir. There will be plenty of other characters, like Sir Claude and Madame Marceline, but today we'll audition for the two leading roles. Gabriel Agreste has asked for his son Adrien to be the leading role, but we'll have to audition," Ms. Bustier said, smiling in Adrien's direction.

"Now, who wants to audition for Felix Manoir?"

Adrien walked on the stage with the script in hand. He turned to a random page, skimmed the lines, and figured it sounded like his other persona, Chat Noir.

"Wherefore art thou, my ghostly lady?" he said, doing a dramatic pose. "Is it thee I see, or is that just a mouse?"

Ripples of laughter spread throughout the class. "That's not in the script," Mr. Damocles said, bewildered, but faltered with a look from Ms. Bustier.

"Nay, perhaps not, fair lady of bugs," Adrien continued, a smile coming on his lips. "But as the bug of luck arrives on my hand, an unlucky cat shall run through you."

The class laughed harder.

"You're sounding like an 18th century Chat Noir!" grumbled Plagg. Adrien poked him to stop his Kwami from talking.

"You shall not be silent, my lady," Adrien said, regretting his choice of words immediately (he was improvising on the spot), "for I so desire to hear your rants of complain - especially of thee, Coccinelle." Another dramatic pose as he gestured to himself.

The class was laughing harder than ever; he spotted Marinette doubling over with laughter.

"Adrien gets the part," Ms. Bustier said immediately, smiling and laughing. He had been the last one to audition, and he could tell that the audience was expecting puns and jokes and humor.

"Now for Lady Coccinelle," the teacher continued, and over half the girls lined up. Adrien's heart sank.

"Girl, why don't you audition?" Alya said, nudging Marinette, as Rose was the first to try out for the part.

"I'd make a mess of myself," Marinette replied, shaking her head. "I'm not going to."

"Party pooper," Alya said, sighing and rolling her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Ah, well. I guess the 'fair ghostly lady' doesn't want to audition with Mr. Dramatic."

Marinette giggled.

"There seems to be no suitable Lady Coccinelle," Ms. Bustier said, biting her lip. Chloe had stormed off angrily when she hadn't been picked.

The doors opened with a loud bang, causing everyone to jump in surprise and look at the doors.

A girl dressed in a red and black-spotted gown and a mask similar to Ladybug's mask sneered and continued down the aisle.

"I am Dame Ladybug, and you will repay for your actions, Caline Bustier!" the girl shrieked.

Chloe, Marinette thought with fear.

She ran off without thought, leading others to flee to safety. Ducking into the bathroom, she said, "Tikki, spots on!"

Emerging as Ladybug, she headed in the direction of the auditorium.

Upon entering, she saw that Dame Ladybug was heading for Adrien, and in anger she swung her yo-yo to the stage.

Landing on the stage, she stood in front of Adrien and faced the villain.

"Not today, Dame Ladybug," Ladybug scowled. She grabbed Adrien and held onto him tight as she threw her yo-yo to safety.

She landed on the balcony and let go of Adrien, both blushing furiously.

"Thanks, Ladybug," Adrien said, looking at his feet.

"No problem," Ladybug said, her face burning. "Just promise me one thing - stay here. Do not run off. Okay?"

He looked slightly disappointed but nodded.

Ladybug pulled out her yo-yo and started to call Chat Noir. She didn't notice Adrien's frightened expression.

When he didn't pick up, Ladybug left a voicemail, saying, "Hurry, Chat Noir! I'm at the Collège Françoise Dupont's auditorium, and Chloe Bourgeois is the akuma victim!"

"Maybe . . . he's sleeping?" Adrien suggested.

"If that cat's taking a dumb cat nap I will end him," Ladybug growled. Adrien looked terrified.

"Don't worry, I'll just lecture him on the importance of being there when someone's been akumatized," Ladybug assured Adrien. His expression didn't relax much.

Ladybug spotted Dame Ladybug's sunglasses, which she was using to turn people into black cats and ladybugs. Like the lines Adrien said, she realized.

"Remember, stay here!" she called, as she swung her yo-yo to land on the main floor of the auditorium.

She landed behind Dame Ladybug and cried out, "Lucky Charm!"

A picture of Adrien fell into her hands.

Looking around, she spotted Dame Ladybug and remembered that the akumatized villain was Chloe, and Chloe believed that Adrien liked her . . .

"Dame Ladybug!" she yelled, waving the picture of Adrien in the air. "I have a picture of your sweetheart for you!"

Ouch.

Dame Ladybug looked at Ladybug, spotting the picture. She eagerly ran to the picture as Ladybug let the picture fall to the floor, grabbing Chloe's glasses and breaking them, releasing the akuma.

She cured the akuma, saying, "Bye-bye, little butterfly," and throwing the picture of Adrien up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" she cried.

Everything returned back to normal, and Adrien was sent back to the stage. Everyone cheered.

Her earrings beeped. "Gotta go," she told the students. "Bug -"

"Wait!" Rose cried. Ladybug paused and glanced at Rose, who was running towards her and pushed a script into her hands.

"We need a person to play Lady Coccinelle in A Midnight's Wish," Rose explained, her eyes bright. "Could you possibly do it?"

Ladybug bit her lip. With balancing out school, fighting akumas, and now being in a play, could she handle it?

"Let me audition first," she decided. "Then I'll see."

She walked up to the stage and faced Adrien, who smiled nervously. She opened to a page and found nothing, but got an idea.

"Ignorant mortal," she said, addressing Adrien, "I am most certainly not a mouse. What mouse looks like a human and is transparent?"

Adrien was baffled, but then realized that Ladybug was using his lines from earlier! Had she been watching?

"I do hope that a ladybug will come to rest on me - oh, wait, it cannot, for I am a ghost and cannot touch anything," she said.

Her class was watching the two perform. Ms. Bustier looked at them, watching intently, her eyes shining.

Ladybug gestured for Adrien to say something. "I - do not mean to offend thee, my lady," Adrien said, sweeping into a low bow. "I merely question thy existence."

Ladybug felt her face heat up. Suddenly an image of Chat Noir ran into her head, but she pushed it away.

"Questioning my existence?" Ladybug said, putting a hand over her heart and gasping dramatically. "How dare thee! I have never been so offended!"

"I am truly sorry, fair lady -"

"You have everything to be sorry for," Ladybug said, getting into character. She smirked.

"Are you a ghost?" Adrien said, returning the smirk.

What? "Of course, you dumb mortal," Ladybug retorted.

"Because you seem to haunt my dreams, fair lady," Adrien replied.

The students watching awwed and Rose squealed. Alya frowned.

Ladybug turned red as her suit. Adrien had used a pick-up line . . . on her.

"You are trying to romance a ghost?" Ladybug said, giving him a puzzled expression. "Ghosts should never mix with mortals!"

Everyone started to clap, loud and hard. Ladybug and Adrien turned to the students, and Ladybug did a little curtsey. Adrien's face was tinted pink, but he bowed once again.

"Oh, Ladybug, will you please play the part?" Rose asked. Everyone else nodded.

Ladybug glanced at Adrien. He nodded slightly, as if to say, Please.

"I don't know . . ." she said slowly. Adrien's face fell.

" . . . if I can refuse," Ladybug ended, smiling at Adrien. "I will indeed play Lady Coccinelle."

A cheer came up from the crowd of students, but Alya's frown only got bigger. 

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE

The first chapter of A Midnight's Wish is finally up! I hope you guys liked it so far (don't worry, there's plenty more to come soon). 

Thanks for reading, and have a "paw"some day!