Switched

Chapter 1 - What Could Go Wrong?

Beep...beep...beep

"Ugh, just five more minutes," Marinette mumbled as she slammed the snooze button on the alarm clock next to her. She fell back asleep instantly, as she does every morning after her alarm goes off for the first time. She got only an extra five minutes of sleep, just as she had asked for before she was awoken again by a vaguely familiar voice.

"Adrien, get up."

Marinette didn't comprehend what was going on at first. She was still half asleep.

"You have to get ready for school. If you can't even wake up in the morning, how do I know you're capable of being productive in school? Should I ask Nathalie to homeschool you again?"

Marinette was starting to get her senses back in order. She was great at adapting to crazy situations. She was a superhero who dealt with lots of crazy stuff, after all. Nothing seemed to surprise her anymore. That is until she heard this man's voice in her bedroom. She shot up from her pillow and stared at the man with wide, panicked eyes.

"Mr. Agreste?" she asked him, shocked by his presence. "What are you-"

"Mr. Agreste?" he said back to her with confusion, but he quickly turned from confused to furious. "What makes you think you can call me 'Mr. Agreste'? I am your father, and that is how you should acknowledge me. We're going to talk when you get back from school."

As he turned around and walked out of the room, Marinette couldn't bring herself to move. She just sat there, staring at the door for a while after Mr. Agreste had closed it. Once she had gotten over the shock of his presence, she began to look around the room. There was no doubt about it. She was in Adrien's room.

Her first instinct was to scream, but she knew that could only end badly. After talking a few deep breaths, trying with all her strength not to panic, she stood up, paced, and began talking to herself as she usually does to get her thoughts in order.

"Alright," she said. "I'm in Adrien's room, no doubt about that. His father thinks I'm Adrien, so..." At this moment, she looked down at her body. Her face turned a dark shade of red. She ran into the bathroom next to Adrien's room to look in the mirror. "N-No way," she said, stumbling on her words. She clasped her face, which appeared to be Adrien's face, between her hands. "This can't be happening. This is too much." She ran out of the bathroom and sat at the edge of Adrien's bed with her head in her hands. "What do I do? What do I do?" she mumbled, almost in tears.

"Adrien, are you alright? What's going on with you?"

Marinette jumped up from the bed and let out a small, startled scream. She knew that voice. She knew the small creature floating above Adrien's pillow, but she didn't believe he was there. This is all just some crazy dream, she concluded. Yeah, none of this is real. There's no way.

"Plagg?" she said, hoping with all her heart this really was just a dream. "Why are you in Adrien's bedroom? Does Tikki know what's going on?"

Plagg stared at who he thought was Adrien, just as confused as Marinette was at first. "Uh..." he said as he collected his thoughts, trying to formulate a response. "I don't even know what's going on. What are you talking about? What exactly would Tikki need to know? You're not making any sense."

"I'm not Adrien," Marinette said to Plagg, now 90% sure it was a dream. "It's me, Marinette. It's Ladybug. Do you have any clue why I'm here?"

"W-What are you talking about? Marinette isn't Ladybug. What's going on with you? You're starting to freak me out."

Even if it was a dream and this Plagg was a figment of her imagination, Marinette didn't like seeing him scared. "Plagg, I am Marinette," she said, in the most composed voice she could muster. "It's me, but I'm in Adrien's body. I know it sounds crazy and hard to believe, but it's true."

"I know you're a fan of pranks Adrien, but this is too weird. Anyway, I'm hungry," Plagg said, hoping Adrien was just playing a trick on him and changing the subject would make him forget about his odd joke. "Could you grab me some camembert?"

"This is not some kind of joke!" Marinette said as if reading his thoughts. The longer she stood there talking to Plagg, the less she began to think this was a dream. "I'm scared. I don't know what to do. This all feels so real, but none of it is possible. I'm dreaming right now. Plagg, please tell me I'm dreaming. Wait a minute," she paused as the sudden realization hit her. "If I'm not dreaming, and you're in Adrien's room...no way...don't tell me..."

"Adrien!" Mr. Agreste said from outside Adrien's bedroom door. "Your bodyguard is leaving in ten minutes to drop you off at school. Be downstairs by then." Marinette listened to his footsteps as he walked away, waiting until she was sure he was gone before speaking again.

"Help me!" Marinette whisper-yelled to Plagg. Plagg had never seen such a worried expression on Adrien's face.

"Ok," Plagg began, going along with what Marinette was saying. There's no way Adrien would do something like this, he thought. He was with Adrien all the time, every day, so he knew him. He knew that the person standing in front of him was not Adrien, even though he looked just like Adrien. "For now, you should probably get ready for school. There, you can meet with whoever is in your body, which would probably be Adrien, since you're in his."

"WHAT?" Marinette yelled, almost too loud. She took a deep breath and began to speak quieter so she wouldn't be heard by anyone other than Plagg. "No way. I'm going home first. I have to make sure Adrien doesn't figure out that I'm Ladybug. He can't find Tikki when he wakes up as I found you. Why are you here anyway? Adrien can't be Chat Noir. It doesn't make any sense! None of this makes any sense!"

"Marinette, stop!" Plagg said. He had to get her back to her senses. "You know Adrien's father well enough. He's going to be suspicious if you're not downstairs really soon. Trust me, the best thing to do right now is to go to school. You'll get yourself and Adrien into trouble if you do anything reckless right now. At least wait until we get to school to do something crazy."

Marinette thought about what Plagg was saying. She didn't think trying to go home and stop Adrien from finding out her secret was reckless. She thought it was the smartest thing to do in the situation. The more she thought about it though, the more she realized how bad of an idea it was. Her parents would be suspicious. Adrien's father would realize something is up when he's not downstairs or in his room. She didn't want Adrien to figure out she's Ladybug, but she also didn't want to risk his secret getting out. She concluded that she would go to school and be Adrien for the day. Maybe it would even be a little fun.

"Alright, I've decided. I'll go to school and be just like Adrien. It's the smartest thing for both of us. I know his schedule by heart for the next three years, and I've been his friend for a long time now. It shouldn't be too hard. Hopefully, if Adrien is in my body, he won't do anything stupid. I trust him. Besides, you'll be with me all day and Tikki will be with Adrien. Everything will be fine."

Marinette did her normal morning routine as Adrien. She brushed her teeth, fixed her hair (which was a lot harder to do as Adrien), and got dressed, being careful to keep her eyes closed the whole time she was doing so. After, she grabbed Adrien's schoolbag, which Plagg flew into, and ran downstairs. Adrien's bodyguard was waiting for her as she arrived. She smiled as she thought Adrien would when greeting his bodyguard, hoping it looked natural. She sat in the car, thinking about how she would greet the person that looked like herself.

What could go wrong? she thought to herself as she closed the car door. The longer she let her mind wander, the more she realized all the things that could go wrong that day.