One Miraculous Circus

The school day was over and Marinette threw herself onto her desk chair to look for the email from her new job. She had been checking her inbox constantly and it was always empty but this final time she checked, a new email had arrived. She squealed when she saw it and opened it immediately. She read it thoroughly before working on her costume. It said that Marinette should design herself a new persona, that she should design a character and an outfit to go with it. After thinking for a while, she came up with a persona: Ladybug.

She loved that she could now be the person she dreamed of being. She could be confident, brave, easy-going and beautiful. She got working on her outfit as soon as she had finished her designing. It was leotard with a deep V-neck and long sleeves, the sleeves made of sheer fabric. It had a low back that exposed a majority of her back down until the top of her waist. It had a small chiffon skirt that started where the open back ended, and it was removable for things such as silks as to not get caught in the ropes and all. The skirt was a see-through black and the whole leotard was red with black spots, like a ladybug. She had a small mask that only lay around her bluebell eyes but with the whole outfit on, she was almost unrecognisable. Her hair was to be put in a tight bun with her fringe was left flowing out of the hairstyle. It was to be accessorised with red ribbons to add a pop of colour to the midnight-coloured hair.

It was Sunday evening and Marinette was rehearsing her new routine for her first day on Monday. The opening that included the new masked acrobat was hugely publicised and the opening show was sold out in minutes. The circus was gaining popularity fast and a lot was riding on Marinette to make her main part of the shows perfect. They spent hours rehearsing until the show had not a single mistake left. After the rehearsals, the only thing left that Marinette had to focus on was the Adrien issue. Adrien went through with getting Marinette the ticket and her whole friend group was going; Adrien may be working but he was still going to be there. Marinette was jogging home from the circus when she got a call from Adrien. 

"Hey, Adrien. What's up?" Marinette said as she slowed down and leant on a tree nearby. 

"Hey. You're the only one who hasn't confirmed that you're coming to the circus yet?" Marinette panicked and didn't know what to say. "Marinette?" Adrien questioned after waiting for a few seconds in awkward silence. 

"I- I can't make it. I've got that bakery interview I said I was going to do. I'll come to visit you at work another time," Marinette said using her improvisation skills she learnt in drama class, she was nowhere near the top of the class but they came in useful when she needed them.

"It's okay Marinette. We'll do something another time."

The performance on Monday night arrived quickly and Marinette was already putting on her new outfit. Gabriel decided that Marinette would go through the back door and get dressed into her outfit in a private room before she went anywhere else. This precaution was taken so that nobody would find out who Ladybug really was. Marinette was in her new outfit and it was perfect. She could feel herself filling the part of Ladybug quickly and she couldn't wait to perform. 

When she left the private room, she immediately entered into a hectic workplace that she had expected from an opening day. People were rushing around, and the stage was dark. She looked out to the audience and saw her friends sat together at the front. The nerves started to get to her, but she took deep breathes to calm herself down. "Ladybug! On stage!" a backstage manager shouted at her and she ran to her starter position at the top of the trapeze stand. She looked down and saw the long drop but stood brave like Ladybug would be. She may be awkward in real life but that wasn't Ladybug. Ladybug was everything Marinette was and more - some things like the awkwardness removed of course.

Although she found herself terrified, she stared at the silks and pulled herself up ready to begin her debut as Ladybug. She did a few moves, wrapping the silk around her waist and getting a few claps and calls from the audience and slowly prepared herself for the first drop. The drop that she had spent the most time practising over and over and yet she still wasn't sure if she'd get it right, her heartbeat in her ears as she wrapped the silks around her waist and hung high above the ground. She took a large breath in and squeezed her eyes shut as she breathed back out - letting go of the strong grip she had on the silks - prying her eyes open so she could do the move right. She gracefully dropped and the black silks spun around her. 

She felt her feet touch the floor slowly and stared up at the audience, all of them yelling praise and clapping as she took a small bow. As she basked in the attention she ran towards the trapeze, her confidence rising by the second. The light shone on her and into her eyes, but she didn't let that phase her. She stood strong and jumped towards the trapeze, feeling the air push against her. She wrapped her hands around it and swung through the air, switching trapezes and doing flips as she flew. People were clapping and cheering as she flipped through the space above them, showing her that her routine was going well. She had spent ages perfecting this routine - she didn't want to mess up on her first day. 

She switched her position the next time she moved on the trapeze, her legs holding her on with her hands outstretched in front of her. She swung against the wind, a smile spread on her face when time seemed to slow down. She looked up from the crowd to find her eyes melting into his. Adrien. They locked eyes as time stopped, an immediate connection flowing between them. The green and blue of their eyes mingling to make an unbreakable bond. A string tying them and never to be broken...

Her heart was thumping in her head once she was off stage and her cheeks burning red. Her mind was rushing with so many different thoughts but the ones she focused on most were that the show had gone perfectly and Adrien had blushed at her wink.

Author's note: I don't do silks or trapeze or any circus acrobatics so don't judge my bad explanations! I hope you've enjoyed the story so far even though it is terrible - Wrenn <3