[Narrator's POV]

Marinette and Adrien hightail it back to The Ultimate Competition stall where Kim and Max are already running away with the rest of the school.

"Kim wait!" Marinette calls out as she and Adrien tackle him down.

"Are you crazy? Get of off me we need to run!" Kim cries.

"You need to take these off." Adrien stresses, waving his handcuffed wrist in Kim's face.

"Here just take the key!" Kim scrambles up and runs away, throwing the key behind him.

Marinette snatches up the key and unlocks the handcuffs.

"I need to go find Nino." Adrien excuses.

He runs off as soon as he is free from the handcuffs to change into Cat Noir. Marinette allows Adrien to leave and slips into the cover of a nearby stall.

"Tiki, spots on!" She orders.

In a flash of pink light, Marinette is transformed into Ladybug. She hops out of the stall and runs towards the akumatized villain formally known as Theo, who she finds chatting with Cat Noir.

"Why are you called the snack-witch?" Questions Cat Noir.

"It's a play on words. Instead of sandwich." Theo answers grumpily.

"But you're a dude." Cat Noir points out. "So shouldn't you be called the snack-wizard?"

"That's stupid." Theo grunts.

"And snack-witch isn't?" Cat Noir retorts.

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" Ladybug cuts in.

"Ladybug!" Cat Noir says happily. "We were just waiting for you."

Theo looks at Cat Noir with a mixture of anger and disgust. "I don't care about you losers. I have a couple of sandwich-stealing pipsqueaks to find."

"Now now, violence isn't the answer. How about we just taco bout your feelings?" Cat Noir jokes.

"That was terrible." Ladybug says bluntly.

Theo growls in annoyance. "Get out of my way!"

He slams his fist down on Cat Noir, who barely dodges in time.

"Woah." Says Cat Noir as he jumps back from Theo. "You want a pizza me? Because if you're craving a sandwich so badly I've got one for you right here."

Cat Noir leaps up and punches Theo in the face. "Taste this knuckle sandwich!"

Ladybug pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration. "This is the stupidest villain I've ever been up against and that's saying really something considering that we fought Mr Pigeon."

"You think I'm stupid? I'll show you." Theo roars in fury.

As his enraged voice booms through the courtyard, surrounding food stalls begin to shake. Cookies and cakes, crepes and burgers, food items from every corner of the parade sprout legs and monstrous teeth and begin scuttling their way towards the fight.

"Is this you showing me?" Ladybug laughs.

"The eaten has become the eater!" Cat Noir cries as he fends off the food monsters with his staff. "This is just unnatural!"

Ladybug merely kicks away the tiny food as she surveys the enemy. She notices Theo is carrying a yellow lunchbox.

"The only item he has on him is his lunchbox so the akuma is obviously in there." Ladybug extends her yoyo up in the air. "Lucky Charm!"

A spotted box of cling wrap falls into Ladybug's hands.

"Shall we move this fight along? I'm getting bored." She taunts.

Theo snarls, picks up a demolished stall and throws it at Ladybug. She lets out a frightened peep before being crushed by the pile of junk.

"You think this proves anything, meathead!" Ladybug yells from under the stall debris. "You're still a stupid villain with stupid powers who got akumatized over a stupid sandwich!"

"Are you alright?" Cat Noir calls out.

"Just get me out of here so we can finish this." Ladybug orders.

"Right. Cataclysm!" Cat Noir slams his hand down on the demolished stall that Ladybug is trapped under.

The stall slowly erodes away leaving Ladybug on the floor. Cat Noir offers her a hand to help her up.

"Thanks Chat." Ladybug says as he pulls her to her feet.

"Orange you glad I was here?" Cat Noir jests.

Ladybug frowns and immediately takes her hand away from his.

"Hold this." She says shortly, shoving the cling wrap box in Cat Noir's hands.

Ladybug takes the end of the cling wrap and slings her yoyo onto the school roof. She then flies into the air, swinging in a circle around Theo. Cat Noir grips the box tightly as the cling wrap unravels rapidly. Ladybug swings around and around, wrapping Theo in the sticky plastic. He hollers and rages and thrashes around but he cannot break free.

"Hurry and get the akuma, these things are freaking me out." Cat Noir says, hoping on his feet to avoid touching the army of food monsters beneath him.

Ladybug lands with a flip in front Theo. She takes his lunchbox and rips it in two.

"Bye bye little akuma. Time to de-evilize!" Ladybug captures the black moth that had emerged from the lunchbox and releases it as a white butterfly. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

Ladybug throws the cling wrap box into the air and restores the school and the Story Book Parade inside to the way it was. Cat Noir sighs in relief as the food monsters disappear from around him.

Ladybug and Cat Noir fist bump each other happily. "Pound it!"

For some reason, Ladybug doesn't feel as rushed to leave as she usually does. She finds herself lingering around Cat Noir despite the beeping of her earrings. Much the opposite, for once in his life Cat Noir feels the urgency to change back to his normal self and see his normal friends instead of sticking around to chase after Ladybug.

"Good job, Chat—" Ladybug starts.

"Uh, sorry I have to go." Cat Noir says quickly before rushing off.

It's somewhat odd for Ladybug to be the one watching Cat Noir's back as he leaves her, instead of the other way around. She stands in the courtyard, feet frozen in place, until Cat Noir is out of sight and she realises that she should probably get going also. Ladybug disappears into the girls bathroom just in time before changing back into Marinette. She creeps out of the bathroom and walks into the school courtyard, where a swarm of students are also emerging from hiding. Marinette looks around at all the faces in the crowd, wondering if someone amongst them could be Cat Noir.

Cat Noir had run off into an empty classroom. His body is consumed by green light as he transforms back into Adrien. Plagg flies out of his ring and immediately retires into Adrien's satchel bag in search for some camembert cheese. Adrien hurries out of the classroom. He pushes through the crowds of students hustling back into the parade.

"Marinette? Marinette!" Adrien calls out.

"Yes?" Replies a voice.

Adrien turns to see Marinette standing beside him and a wave of relief washes over him. Her beautiful gown, still clean and white like a heavenly angel. Her loose, midnight locks, flowing gracefully just below her shoulders. She looks up at Adrien with her large, azure eyes and his pounding heart slowly settles. His breathing calms as he gets lost in her gaze.

"You're okay." Adrien breathes.

He steps forward and hugs Marinette tightly. Marinette's heartbeat quickens. She stands still with surprise for a few seconds before slowly reaching her arms up to return his tender embrace.

"Is everything alright?" Marinette asks gently.

"It is now." Adrien answers, stroking her hair softly.

Marinette allows herself to relax and melt away in Adrien's arms. She snuggles into the crook of his neck and absorbs his warmth.

Mr Damocles' voice echoes throughout the school courtyard, interrupting the comforting atmosphere. "Apologies for the savage interruption. We are glad that everyone is okay but the Story Book Parade will be closing up early so that you can all return home and assure your families of your safety. Please come to the assembly room in ten minutes for the announcement of the Cosplay Competition winners."

Adrien pulls away from Marinette. "Sorry...I just felt guilty about leaving you so abruptly before."

"Uh...that's okay. D-Did you find Nino?" Says Marinette.

"Yes! Yeah, he's fine." Adrien lies. "Anyway, we should go find Kim and Max since we didn't get a chance to claim our reward for winning their Ultimate Competition."

"Good idea." Marinette replies.

Accustomed to being chained together with handcuffs, Adrien and Marinette walk closely beside each other despite their freedom of space. Kim and Max are currently taking down their stall. When he sees Adrien and Marinette approaching, Max gets out Adrien's CatBug plushie.

"Here you go Adrien." He says. "Congratulations again on winning our competition."

Adrien's eyes light up as he takes the CatBug plushie in his arms.

"So what's our prize?" Asks Marinette.

"Prize?" Kim repeats.

"For winning." Adrien says.

"I don't recall ever specifying that there was a reward." Max replies.

Marinette slouches with exhaustion. "Y-You mean we did all that...for nothing?"

Kim doubles over with laughter.

"Well, that's not entirely true." Max says, adjusting his glasses. "You cannot deny that your bond has grown stronger, am I correct?"

"You know what, I'm satisfied with that reward." Marinette says.

She smiles up at Adrien and his heart skips a beat.

"Yeah...I guess you're right." Adrien replies, smiling back at her. "Well, thanks guys."

Adrien and Marinette wave goodbye to their classmates before making their way over to the assembly room.

"Marinette!" Alya runs up to her best friend and gives her a big hug. "I haven't seen you guys all day! Ms Bustier gave us back the stuff you took and explained the competition to us."

"Ahaha, yeah sorry for freaking out in the locker room. I know you're a good guy Adrien but Marinette's like a sister to me so I guess I just panicked." Nino apologises.

Alya grins and elbows Marinette. "Sounds like you had a lot of fun today."

Marinette and Adrien both smile awkwardly, their cheeks turning red.

"...And now to present the Cosplay Competition winners." Mr Damocles speaks up. "For their outstanding participation and conquest of every single competition, including the ultimate competition, as well as their wonderful costumes—The winners are Adrien Agreste as Peter Pan and Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Wendy!"

"Hey, I was supposed to be Adrien's partner. What about Captain Hook?" Nino whines.

"That's what you get for ditching me to stay with Alya." Adrien shrugs. "The teachers only saw Marinette and I together."

He smiles and takes Marinette by the hand, walking her up to the stage. The crowd of student spectators cheer and whistle as Mr Damocles shakes Marinette and Adrien's hands and present them each with an envelope.

"Their reward, a gift card for the local movie theatre as well as their photo in the school newspaper and blog." Mr Damocles waves the school photographer on stage.

Adrien wraps his arm around Marinette's waist and they both smile happily at the camera. The students applaud as the photographer takes their picture.

"Alright everyone, you are dismissed." Mr Damocles announces.

The photographer lowers his camera and leaves but the smiles on Marinette and Adrien's faces stay brighter than ever.Happiness bubbles up inside Marinette as she looks at Adrien's beaming face because she had succeeded in giving him the best experience for his first ever Story Book Parade.