#everyday i think about this cause the melody is just stuck in my brain lol

[ahappyphjl]

*phil voice* saturday night and my clit is getting lit!

[authenticcadence18]

“The Start of Something New” Love Square Fluff Week Day 4: “Your Voice”/Day 6: “AU”

It’s AU Day for Fluff Week....WHICH MEANS IT’S TIME FOR A HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL AU, WOOO!!!

(this fic also counts as my contribution for Day 4, since it is all about singing...lol. Hope you enjoy!! And thanks to @lovesquarefluffweek for organizing this amazing event!!) 

AO3

-

“Any last minute sign ups?”

Ms. Bustier glanced around the auditorium over horn-rimmed glasses.

Marinette and Adrien both flinched from their position huddled at the door of the auditorium.

“....we should go…” Marinette whispered tersely, looking back at the boy behind her. His gaze remained fixed on the stage.

What had she been thinking, wanting to participate in Francois Dupont High’s winter musical as anything other than a costume designer?? Any lingering desires to do so had been squashed by Chloe Bourgeois’ RIVETING performance of the musical’s climactic emotional duet….by herself. Marinette definitely didn’t want to be witness to that every day for the next few months.

Even if it meant saying goodbye to Adrien as he drifted away to join the fencing team...right?

“No? Good? Done.”

Ms. Bustier flicked off her lamp and set about gathering her things.

As the light dimmed, Adrien’s desire to grace the stage and participate in theater swelled. Against his better judgement, he burst from the door frame and blurted out, “I’d like to audition, Ms. Bustier!!!”

Ms. Bustier whirled around and eyed Adrien incredulously before launching into a spiel about the importance of punctuality and being intentional in the theatre. Adrien’s face went red, and he cowered before her, the sharpness of her tone reminding him a little too much of his father.

Meanwhile, Marinette’s eyes practically bulged out of her head, her arms gesturing about wildly to convey thoughts she couldn’t articulate. What was Adrien THINKING??? Did he seriously want to audition for the musical NOW, after they’d spent the last half hour gathering their nerves to do so but chickening out at the last second??? She groaned, burying her head in her hands and hiding behind the door frame in an attempt to escape the awkwardness of it all...even though a tiny part of her wanted to join her new friend.

“The individual auditions are long long over, and there are simply no other pairs!!” Ms. Bustier finished.

Marinette peeked out at Adrien, who’d deflated at Ms. Bustier’s last words. Seeing such a sad expression on his face did something funny to her heart.

And suddenly, her heart was taking over for her brain.

“I’ll sing with him!!!” she called out before clasping her hands in front of her mouth.

HAD SHE REALLY JUST SAID THAT??!?!? Warning sirens went off in Marinette’s head, a precursor to the panic and shame that most certainly awaited her in Ms. Bustier’s response.

...but the way Adrien caught her eye and smiled at her as she timidly emerged from behind the door frame made it worth it.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng!!” Ms. Bustier articulated, eyebrow raised. “I thought you were just a costume designer. Did you bring something for me to look at?”

“No, like I said before, I’m here to….” Marinette hesitated before glancing at Adrien.

“...I’m here to sing with him.”

Ms. Bustier pursed her lips and shook her head. “Yes, well, as sweet as that is, we take shows VERY seriously here at Francois Dupont High. I called for the pairs’ audition, and you didn’t respond.”

“But--” Marinette protested as Ms. Bustier walked towards the door. “He has an amazing voice!!!”

“Perhaps the NEXT musicale,” Ms. Bustier snipped back before leaving the room.

Marinette chanced a glance at Adrien, almost afraid to witness the devastation he must be feeling.

But, to her surprise, he didn’t appear sad at all….in fact, he was looking at her, an awestruck twinkle in his eyes.

“...you think I have an amazing voice?” he whispered shyly.

Marinette flushed, memories of a certain New Year’s Eve party tumbling back into the forefront of her mind.

“Of course I do…” she replied softly. “It’s just a shame that no one else will ever get to hear it….”

Adrien smiled at her, and gently took her hand in his. “Well, for what it’s worth, knowing you like it is all the recognition I need. And...you have an amazing voice too.”

Marinette’s heart thundered in her chest. “...thanks…” she breathed.

A cough and pointed exclamation of, “Are we interrupting something?” snapped Adrien and Marinette out of their reverie. They both jumped and turned in the direction of the stage. One of the show’s writers--a girl with firey red hair and glasses--waved at them with a cheeky grin before gesturing for them to join her onstage. The show’s other writer--a boy wearing glasses and a red baseball cap--awkwardly waved as well.

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a glance before shrugging and walking towards the stage.

“I’m Alya, and this is my boyfriend Nino!!” the girl exclaimed cheerfully. “We wanted to introduce ourselves. It’s too bad Ms. Bustier didn’t let you guys audition...we were hoping more pairs would show up.”

“Oh well, It’s nice to meet you anyway!” Adrien replied. “You guys co-wrote the musical, right?”

“Yup!!!” Nino replied proudly, reaching out to shake Adrien’s hand. “Alya came up with the story, and I composed the music!!!”

“It was going to be so amazing….until CHLOE came along and ruined everything…” Alya grumbled, crossing her arms with a pout. “Our musical is SUPPOSED to be the dramatic story of two heroes whose love for each-other is the only obstacle separating them...but if Chloe has it her way, it’ll end up being about a stuck up superhero showing off for two hours.”

Marinette cocked an eyebrow, not quite understanding Alya’s description of the plot. “Can you tell us more about your story?”

“Of course!!!!” Alya replied, clearly eager to divulge the details of her script. “Our two main characters are Bridgette and Felix. In their everyday lives, they’re classmates. Bridgette loves Felix more than anything, but he never sees her as anything more than a friend because he’s already in love with his superhero partner...who just happens to be Bridgette!!!”

“Wait wait wait,” Adrien replied, brows furrowed. “I’m confused. So….Bridgette and Felix are also superheroes?”

“Yes, they’re secretly the dynamic duo of Ladybug and Chat Noir! One is gifted with the power of creation, the other destruction. Every night, they take to the streets of Paris to protect the world from villainy!! Chat Noir is helplessly in love with Ladybug, but she always refuses him because she’s already in love with another boy...but the other boy IS Chat Noir, she just doesn’t know it!!”

Both Marinette and Adrien blinked.

“So they love each other….but they also don’t? That’s….a bit convoluted….” Marinette pointed out.

“Oh, it totally is,” Nino agreed with a chuckle. “But that’s the beauty of it!!”

“The pining, the longing, the dramatic irony! It’s BRILLIANT!!!” Alya insisted, swooning over her boyfriend’s shoulder.

Marinette and Adrien shared a grin at her dramatics.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir were written to be equals and SOULMATES, but CHLOE doesn’t like that idea at all….she wants the show to be all about Ladybug and get rid of Chat Noir entirely…..and since no one else showed up to audition for the leads, she’s probably going to get her wish...

“Which is a shame, because the duet Nino wrote for them is stunning. It’s all about the conflicted love Bridgette and Felix feel for one another, both in and out of the masks.”

“I’d love to hear it…” Marinette said wistfully, already swept away in the possibilities of the love story that could emerge from such an interesting concept.

“Do you have sheet music?” Adrien asked, gesturing to the instrument on the right side of the stage. “I play piano.”

“WE DO!!!!” Alya replied animatedly, grabbing a folder and flipping through it before extracting a few pages of sheet music and practically throwing them at Adrien.

Adrien smiled and crossed the stage, sitting down and the piano and squinting at the song’s key signature. He played a few scales to warm up the key.

He looked over his shoulder at Marinette. “Shall we?” he asked with an invitational grin and a wink.

Marinette gulped.

Singing a generic karaoke song at a New Year’s Eve party with Adrien was one thing.

But singing an emotional duet? Told from the perspective of two characters who were supposedly soulmates? With Adrien?? Could she do that???

...her brain said no, but her heart screamed yes.

“...let’s do it.”

The first notes of a lilting melody echoed across the stage. Adrien’s fingers floated across the keys, a hint of the main tune emerging in the intro before being echoed in his voice….

“I see her standing at my side….she smiles at me once, then looks away….I think I understand her strange game.”

Marinette took a deep breath before repeating the melody back.

“I see him and then, I’m not myself…my face turns red, my voice goes soft…I can’t breathe but my heart’s beating fast…"

...and suddenly her heart WAS beating fast.

“Run away!!” Adrien sang out, a rawness escaping from his throat as the notes climbed higher. “That’s what I have to do! My heart’s upside down, and yet something pulls me away and beyond this wall between us!”

“But why?” Marinette sang back, gradually losing herself in the story. “Why can’t I talk to him now? …I wish he were mine, ‘cause his light and his smile bring me over this wall that exists between us……”

The song continued, Marinette and Adrien’s voices intertwining as the lyrics became more passionate.

From her position across the stage, Alya pressed “record” on her phone, grinning like crazy.

...

“I’ll wait for you for all my life…because it’s true, I love you madly... Our love will blossom infinitely…..”

Marinette and Adrien’s voices faded away. As the final chord of the song rang out, their eyes left the sheet music and met each other, blue meeting green amidst the notes as they faded away.

For a moment...they forgot about Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Or, for just a moment…maybe they were Ladybug and Chat Noir.

“....I think we’ve found what we’ve been looking for…” Alya excitedly whispered to Nino.

“DUPAIN-CHENG. AGRESTE.”

Ms. Bustier’s voice rang out.

“You have a callback!”

...

Thanks so much for reading!!! If you guys like this AU, maybe I’ll write more for it someday! (I have a few more ideas for it, lol!)