Marinette POV

"So, how are the costumes going?" Alya asked over the phone.

"Great! I just have to put on a couple finishing touches, and then I'll be done."

"That's great news!" Alya said, then paused. "The mask has spots on it, right?"

I sighed. "Yes Alya."

"And Chat Noir has clip on ears?"

"Yes Alya."

"Good. Just making sure. Also, did you remember to read that audition script last night?"

"You mean The Little Mermaid?" I asked, holding up my copy of the audition script. "Yeah, why?"

"I called Nino and Adrien, and they want to meet up in an hour at the park to go over lines. Can you make it?"

"Yeah, sure. And maybe you and I can meet earlier to go over last night's homework?"

"Yeah. See you in five minutes?"

"See you then." I hung up as my phone vibrated.

Adrien💚: Hey Mari, can I come over in fifteen minutes?

Marinette: Um... Why?

Adrien💚: When we were working on our project for English, I think I left my English notebook in your room. Can I come pick it up?

Marinette: Sure. I'll be meeting Alya at the park in five, but Annabeth should be there. Just knock before you enter.

Adrien💚: Noted. Thanks Mari! You rock!

Marinette: I'll see you at the park, right?

Adrien💚: You bet! See you then!

Marinette: See you then!

"Hey Mari," Annabeth asked, tugging on her braid. "Do you have anything I can borrow for tonight?"

"What's going on tonight?" I asked.

"Percy and I are going out, and I forgot to pack something for dates."

"Yeah, sure." I went to her closet and grabbed a white dress I made that would look great on Annabeth.. "Will this work?"

"Yeah. Thanks Mari."

"Welcome." I grabbed her phone and looked at the time. "Oh crap! I'm late!"

"What are you late for?"

"I'm supposed to meet Alya at the park so we can go over a homework assignment. I'll be back soon. My parents are downstairs in the bakery. Tell them where I am if they ask. Bye!" I grabbed my purse and ran down the stairs, then back up to my room. "Also, Adrien needs to pick up something, so he'll be here in about ten minutes."

"I got this Mari. Just go meet Alya."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

I ran all the way to the park where Alya stood at our normal bench, tapping her feet.

"Why are you late this time?" Alya asked, not bothering to say hello.

"I was helping Annabeth find something for her date with Percy tonight and Adrien texted me because he left something at my house Wednesday night, so he wants to grab it before meeting us."

"Okay, you're off the hook. This time." Alya raised an eyebrow.

"This time?"

"Yup. Now, I need help with my math. Can you show me question 21?"

"Yeah sure." I pulled out my math homework and showed her the problem, which Alya copied down.

"Thanks Mari! You're the best!" Alya beamed.

"Welcome." I said, taking a deep breath as I glanced up at the statue of me and Chat Noir, near where we were sitting. "This is going to sound completely random, but why do you admire Ladybug so much?"

"You're right. That does sound random." Alya said, smirking.

"Alya, I'm serious."

"Okay, fine. I admire Ladybug because she takes responsibility for her actions. I mean, during the Santa Claus incident, she said that it was all her fault, and that she would do whatever she could to fix everything. Also, she steps up to the plate whenever something bad happens. I can depend on her."

"She really means a lot to you, doesn't she?" I asked.

"Yeah." Alya sighed. "She does."

I took a shaky breath. "So, um, you know the earrings I'm wearing right now?"

"What earrings?"

"You know, the earrings I wear every day of my life?"

"Well that's a lie."

"Why?"

"You aren't wearing them right now."

"Wait, what?" I lifted my hand to my ears and felt nothing there. "Oh no, this is bad."

"Why? Girl, what's going on?"

"I'll tell you later. Right now, I have to look for my earrings. Don't worry, I'll be back in time for Little Mermaid."

"Um, Girl, are you sure everything's fine? What's so important about a pair of earrings?"

"You have no idea." I muttered, then spoke up. "I'll be back in a couple minutes."

"You know, that didn't exactly anwser my question!"

I ran back to my house and started looking around my bedroom. I ran up to the roof and searched up there, remembering that I was talking to Alya on the phone up there before I left.

"No, no, no! This can not be happening!!!" I said to myself, running back down the stairs. "How could I have been stupid enough to lose my miraculous! If it got into the wrong hands..."

Suddenly, a knock was at the trap door. I shrieked. "Marinette! Are you up here!?" Adrien yelled.

"Yeah! Come on up!" I said, not bothering to clean up my room or take down my Adrien pictures.

Adrien took a quick sweep of my messy room. "Are you looking for something?"

I sighed. "What gave you that idea?"

"Can I do anything to help?"

"I'm missing my favorite pair of earrings."

"Huh. That's funny. My silver ring is missing. Maybe we can search together?"

"I don't know..."

"Marinette!" Dad yelled from downstairs. "You should call Alya!"

"Why?" I yelled back.

"There's something wrong with Chat Noir and Ladybug! Either they purposely dyed their hair the color of their soulmate's, or it's two different people in the suits." Mom yelled as I turned on the computer which was on the news stream.

"That can't be them." Adrien and I muttered before realizing what we both said.

"What?" Adrien asked me, confused.

"How do you know it can't be them?" I asked with the same level of confusion.

Adrien POV

"So let me get this straight," Plagg said, chewing on a piece of Camembert. "You think that Marinette is Ladybug?"

"Exactly!" I said, exhausted from explaining it to Plagg ten times.

"And what makes you think that?"

"As I said the first nine times, pink pants."

"What does the color of her pants have to do with her identity?"

"As I explained the first nine times, the only person I know who wears pink pants is Marinette. Not to mention the physical similarities."

"And they are?"

"Remember that poem I tried to write for Ladybug last Valentine's Day?"

"Yeah."

"Remember what I said?" I said, reciting what I wrote. "Hair as dark as midnight, your pretty bluebell eyes, I always wonder who you are beneath that strong disguise. That easily sums up both Marinette and Ladybug. Both at the same time!"

"How so?"

"You're as oblivious as me! Hair as dark as midnight, your pretty bluebell eyes. Both Marinette and Ladybug have dark hair, not to mention that they both wear their hair in the exact same styles, and both have bluebell eyes. I always wonder who you are beneath your strong disguise. I wonder who Ladybug is under the mask, and Marinette is so different around me than she is around everyone else. I often wondered what caused her to act a different way around me. And yesterday, when she saved me, I felt like I saw 'beneath the disguise' for the first time ever!"

"What about the earrings?"

"They both wear earrings. Enough said."

"Dude, you're gonna need proof."

My phone vibrated from a text from Nino.

Nino: Hey Dude! Park. One hour. You, me, Alya, Marinette. We're going over lines for LM. You'll be there, right?

Adrien: Of course I will!

Nino: Kay dude. See you there.

"I have an idea since I have some time..." I said, scrolling through my contacts.

"What's the idea?" Plagg asked.

"You'll see..."

Adrien: Hey Mari, can I come over in fifteen minutes?

Marinette: Um... Why?

Adrien: When we were working on our project for English, I think I left my English notebook in your room. Can I come pick it up?

Marinette: Sure. I'll be meeting Alya at the park in five, but Annabeth should be there. Just knock before you enter.

Adrien: Noted. Thanks Mari! You rock!

Marinette: I'll see you at the park, right?

Adrien: You bet! See you then!

Marinette: See you then!

"Good idea Kid. Now you better get going."

"Yeah." I said, accidentally bumping into Percy as he got out of the shower. Our rings fell to the ground. "Oh my God! Sorry Percy!"

"It's cool." Percy picked up his ring and I picked up mine.

"See you later? I'm meeting Alya, Nino, and Marinette in the park."

"I'm going on a date with Annabeth. See ya!"

I ran out of the house before Father could stop me and about a block away, I bumped into a guy wearing Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. "Oh, sorry sir!"

"Oh, it's no problem Mr. Agreste. But just tell me, is your mansion just up ahead."

"Yes. End of the block." I noticed that the man bore a striking similarity to Percy as he walked away and one thing crossed my name. "Wait a minute... How'd you know my last name?"

The man didn't respond as he turned towards my house and disappeared. I slowly turned back around and walked to Marinette's house where Annabeth answered the door, my head still spinning in confusion because that guy knew my last name.

"Hey Adrien. What's up?" Annabeth answered.

"Where's Marinette?" I asked.

"Wow. Not even a hello? Harsh." Annabeth crossed her arms.

"Annabeth..." I growled.

"I'm kidding. She's at the park. She had to meet Alya to go over homework."

"Oh." I looked down. "I forgot."

"She told me you have to go pick something up."

"Yeah. It's in her room. Can I go up and get it?"

"Yeah. Go ahead." I ran past Annabeth and up the stairs.

"Okay Adrien. Priorit-" I took a quick sweep around the room. "Wow. Marinette has a lot of pictures of me in her room. She must really like Father's work."

Okay, if I was evidence that Marinette was Ladybug, where would I be?

I looked around until I found the box that had Marinette's diary. "Damn it! It's locked."

I looked around Marinette's desk until I found a bobby pin and a needle. "I hope this works..." I said as I tried to pick the lock on the box. I succeeded, and pulled out Marinette's diary, flipping through the pages.

"Eureka! Ladybug and I took this picture last week!" I held up the picture and read the caption. Hanging With My Kitty. "This proves it!"

As I was turning away, Marinette's sewing kit fell on the ground as I scrambled to pick everything up.

"Adrien, is everything okay?" Annabeth's voice ran from downstairs.

I poked my head through the trap door. "Yeah, everything's fine."

"Well can you hurry up! I still have to get ready for my date with Percy!"

"Okay, okay. Chill." I walked down the stairs carrying a picture in my hand. I showed the back to Annabeth. "I just had to grab this picture."

"Why?"

"It's..." I hesitated. "Complicated."

"Where did you find that?"

"In Marinette's diary." I said sheepishly.

"Yeah, okay. I'm sure Mari didn't want you snooping through her diary. So take a picture of it, then put it back in the exact same page and position. I won't tell her if you won't, okay?"

"Okay, fine." I ran back upstairs and put back the picture, but not before taking a picture and cleaning up the rest of Marinette's sewing supplies, then walked back down, not saying a word.

When I was just outside the park, I took out my phone and looked at the picture. "At least I have proof."

I went to turn the ring on my finger, like I usually do while thinking, when I realized that it wasn't there. "Crap! I lost my ring! I'll check Marinette's room. Maybe it fell off while I was cleaning up her sewing supplies..." I checked the time on my phone. "I still have time."

I ran back to Marinette's house and up the stairs. When I got inside, I knocked on the trap door. Marinette shrieked. "Marinette! Are you up here!?" I yelled.

"Yeah! Come on up!" Marinette said.

I took a quick sweep of the room. The sewing kit was on the ground. Clothes were out of the closet. Papers were all over the room. "Are you looking for something?"

Marinette sighed. "What gave you that idea?"

"Can I do anything to help?"

"I'm missing my favorite pair of earrings."

"Huh. That's funny. My silver ring is missing. Maybe we can search together?"

"I don't know..."

"Marinette!" Her father yelled from downstairs. "You should call Alya!"

"Why?" Marinette yelled back.

"There's something wrong with Chat Noir and Ladybug! Either they purposely dyed their hair the color of their soulmate's, or it's two different people in the suits." Her mother yelled as Marinette turned on the computer which was on the news stream.

"That can't be them." We muttered before realizing what we both said.

"What?" I asked her, faking confusion.

"How do you know it can't be them?" Marinette asked, keeping her eyes glued to the screen as I took a deep breath and tried to come up with the easiest way to explain who I really was.

A/N:  THAT'S IT! GOING BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE PAST AND PRESENT IS OVER! THE REST OF THE STORY SHOULD BE ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE PRESENT!!!!!