Archive of Our Own

“Wow, m’lady, you’re fiery today.”

“Ugh, I’m so sick of dealing with you, I swear—”

“Ha! For a moment there it almost sounded like you didn’t like me, Bugaboo!”

“I don’t like you, fleabag!”

“There it is again! Someone might actually believe you hate me, Buginette.”

“And we wouldn’t want that now, would we?”

He smirked at her as he thrust his baton in her direction. She jumped out of the way and evaded it just barely, her body exhausted from the fight already. She already dealt with the akuma of the day—now she just needed to get away from Chat Noir so she could de-transform in peace and get back to her life.

Her earrings beeped for the third time, meaning she had two minutes left before her time ran out and she turned into a pumpkin. Unfortunately, Chat Noir had the habit of showing up after every single akuma has been dealt with so he could fight her and try to get her to hang around long enough for her transformation to fall and leave her with no protection.

The most annoying part about all of this, though, was that he looked so happy whenever he showed up to do it, constantly trying to chat with her and joke around… she felt like this was all a joke to him when in reality he was trying to help Hawk Moth win, which she couldn’t allow.

Throwing out her yoyo, Ladybug tried to get away, but Chat Noir was just as fast as she was and he caught up to her in no time, his smirk still in place as he tried to trip her and get her to fall and splatter. Thankfully, Ladybug managed to twist out of the way of his baton; unfortunately, it threw her off course and she ended up bumping into a street lamp. Her yoyo got tangled up around the lamp and Ladybug yelped when her body got bounded by it as she fell down and found herself swinging upside down not too far above the pavement.

Chat Noir landed next to her with ease and leaned on his baton as he watched her struggle to try and free herself.

“I knew I could make you fall for me again, m’lady,” he said smugly.

“Ugh!” She twisted desperately but the yoyo wouldn’t let her go. Her earrings beeped again and she knew she really didn’t have much time left. “This is not happening to me. Worst day ever—worse than that day the girl in my class poured hot chocolate all over my math homework right before class.”

Chat Noir tilted his head to try and look at her properly. “Want me to Cataclysm her for you?” he asked, his power instantly activating at the word as he held his hand away from his body, showing it to her.

“I want you to leave me alone already! I have enough to worry about without some annoying guy in a catsuit that works with a terrorist!”

“Oh, same! I have homework to complete before class. You know, since I had to leave before I could finish. It was really annoying, honestly. It’s like people just don’t care about how busy I am with these akumas.”

“Your buddy is the one who sends these akumas!” she snapped at him.

He sighed heavily. “Yeah, well, he doesn’t care about my schedule, either.”

The guy shifted a little and leaned against the street lamp, forgetting that his power was activated. In an instant, the lamp was gone and Ladybug fell down, her yoyo finally retracting from around her body. She blinked in surprise and sat up quickly.

“Oops,” said Chat Noir.

“Thanks for that!” she called over her shoulder as she hastily got up and started zipping away again.

Chat Noor didn’t follow her, instead standing in place and watching her with a grin. “See you soon, Bugaboo!” he called after her.

She groaned and landed behind her school right before her transformation fell away, leaving Marinette to stand there alone. Tikki landed in her hands, looking tired and worried—the same as she did every other day since Chat Noir showed up to attack Ladybug.

“He showed up again,” Marinette informed her Kwami as she gently put her in her purse, where there were cookies Tikki could eat in peace.

Tikki took a bite from a cookie before she answered, looking concerned. “I don’t understand—I don’t feel anything from Plagg that might tell me he has a bad holder. His energy feels the same as ever—like he has a good owner that can be trusted. Plagg chose his holder, just like I chose you. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Like a lot of things in Marinette’s life, but she didn’t say that out loud. She knew that this whole thing with Chat Noir really concerned her because it meant that not only were the butterfly and peacock Miraculous missing, but the black cat Miraculous was also out there, being wielded by someone who was definitely not hero material.

“I hope we can get Plagg and the other Kwamis back as soon as possible,” she said instead, offering Tikki a comforting smile before she closed her purse and stepped toward the school. “Oh, I hope I’m not late to class. Though it would have been nice to have time to eat lunch…”

“Hey, Marinette!”

She froze and turned around, her heart instantly beginning to race as she took Adrien in. He was walking toward her, his bag hanging from his shoulder as he waved at her with a smile. His hair was as perfect as ever, his skin just as flawless as it always was. He looked so dreamy, she almost let out a lovestruck sigh right to his face.

“H-hi, Adrien. Did you, uh, eat lunch back home?” she asked, congratulating herself for not messing up the words completely.

He reached her and they made their way together up the stairs and to their class.

“Yeah. My father doesn’t really want me to have lunch in the cafeteria here. I take it you ate at your place, too?”

“S-sure!” she squeaked.

Adrien smiled. “It’s so cool that you live in a bakery. I can’t imagine always being surrounded by sweets. It sounds like a dream come true.”

Marinette smiled nervously at him as they entered their homeroom. “I-I guess?”

He looked at her warmly one last time, then moved to fist-bump Nino and greet him as he took his seat and pulled out his textbook. Marinette stared at him for a few moments longer, then forced herself to walk up the stairs to her seat right behind Adrien.

“Girl, I don’t think that even if you started drooling over him right now it would be more obvious—all of Paris must know by now about your little crush,” said Alya teasingly.

Marinette startled and snapped her head around to glare at Alya. “I’m not drooling!”

“You’re on the verge of getting there.”

She moaned and buried her face in her hands. Her heart warmed when she heard Adrien laughing in front of her—probably from something Nino had to say. It wasn’t fair—why was Adrien’s laughter this… charming? Beautiful? Melodic? Angelic? Unearthly? Mesmerizing?

“And now you’re actually drooling,” Alya pointed out.

Marinette whimpered and banged her head on the table. “Shut up.”

Alya laughed at her and patted her back. “Don’t worry, Marinette. At least he’s not looking at you. It would only be embarrassing if you got caught.” She shifted a little. “Oh, hey, I wanted to show you this footage I got! Someone submitted it to the Ladyblog just now—it’s Ladybug and Chat Noir and it’s adorable!”

Frowning, Marinette pulled her hands away from her face and looked at Alya’s phone. There was a picture there, from when Marinette was tangled up in her own yoyo string, flailing hopelessly. Chat Noir was, of course, standing right next to her, a dopey grin on his face as he held his head upside down to look at her.

“It’s not adorable—it’s a catastrophe!” she objected.

“You mean it’s a catastrophe,” said Adrien as he turned around to look at the picture, too. “Wow, that’s a great photo! You didn’t get it yourself, huh?”

Alya sighed. “Unfortunately not. I had to talk to Ms. Mendeleiev so I couldn’t go to the akuma fight myself.”

“Good,” said Marinette. “You put yourself in way too much danger.”

Nino nodded. “I’m with Marinette here.”

Adrien pointed at Alya’s phone. “Is there a chance you can send me this?”

She grinned. “Sure.” Then she sighed dramatically and looked back at the photo. “Look at them, though. Marinette, I’m telling you, if Chat Noir wasn’t a bad guy, Ladybug and he would have been a couple in under a week. Their chemistry is amazing!”

“What chemistry? He attacks her!”

“Yeah,” agreed Alix. “The guy’s a bad guy. Can we not cheer for him? He helps a terrorist that uses people’s emotions against them.”

“And it’s so scary to walk down the street alone, because he wears all black and he might be lurking in the shadows,” added Rose fearfully as she snuggled closer to Juleka. “I hope Ladybug catches him soon.”

Alya smirked. “Maybe she’ll tie him up in her yoyo.”

“Alya!” shrieked Marinette.

Her friend only laughed.

“I could take him,” said Kim, eyeing the picture Alya was showing everyone now. “I mean, how tough could he possibly be? He has the powers of a cat—cats aren’t all that menacing.”

“Says the guy who ended up running away from a panther,” said Alix mockingly.

Kim’s face turned a bright shade of red. “Panthers are, like, enhanced cats,” he grumbled.

“Well, I’m sure Ladybug will throw that mangy alley cat behind bars soon enough,” said Chloé, eyeing her fingernails critically as Sabrina worked on painting her other hand. “I mean, she’s amazing—and he’s only got a stick for a weapon.”

“Ladybug has a yoyo,” said Max, “which is actually a worse weapon if you consider the—”

“It’s a magic yoyo!” snapped Chloé. She waved her hand dismissively, nearly slapping Sabrina. “And anyway, my point still stands—Ladybug will handle that nobody soon enough and she’ll put him where he belongs. He will share a cell with Hawk Moth and we’ll be celebrating soon enough—mark my words.”

Marinette frowned down at her hands. “I mean, I don’t think he’s completely bad…” she muttered.

“Huh?” Kim gaped at her. “How can you say that? He’s fighting a superhero—that makes him bad by definition.”

“But haven’t you noticed how he somehow always ends up assisting Ladybug?” she said uncertainly. “I mean, last week he caught up to her after that akuma attack and she didn’t have anywhere to run, but he ended up accidentally clawing at the binds pinning her to the spot instead of tearing her apart and taking her Miraculous. And it happens pretty often—every time Ladybug gets stuck in some way, something goes wrong for him and she ends up being able to escape.”

“What, you think he’s trying to help her?” scoffed Alix. “Sorry to burst your bubble, Marinette, but Chat Noir is helping Hawk Moth. He can’t be a good guy.”

Alya nodded solemnly. “As much as I hate to admit it, the guy probably just has the bad luck of a cat. It’s the only explanation—he doesn’t help Ladybug. Flirts with her? Sure. But he’s not on her side. If he got the chance, he’d take her Miraculous away in a heartbeat.”

Biting her lip, Marinette didn’t reply and just let the others continue the conversation until their teacher arrived. Peering up at her from the purse, Tikki gave her an encouraging smile that only did so much in lifting her spirits.

According to Tikki, Chat Noir was supposed to be her partner. He was supposed to be her other half; to balance her. The ladybug and black cat Miraculous were the most powerful and the most important ones according to her Kwami, and while no person was supposed to wield both at the same time, if one of the two was to be get out into the world, the other one always followed.

Tikki, the Kwami of Creation, often talked about her counterpart—Plagg. He was the Kwami of Destruction, which explained Chat Noir’s ability to destroy everything he touched. They were the most ancient concepts in the world, hence why they were the first two Kwamis to come to be.

Even though Tikki was sweet and cheerful, Marinette knew that she’s been around for a long time now. Years on top of years, always finding people who would be able to channel her power and do some good with it. And wherever Tikki went, Plagg went. They were a package deal, always bound together.

Which was why it was so strange to discover that while Tikki picked herself a holder—Marinette—Plagg chose whoever it was under Chat Noir’s mask. He was supposed to pick a partner that would fight alongside Marinette, but instead ended up with a guy Marinette ended up fighting multiple times a week.

And while he tended to annoy her to pieces with his constant comments and the nicknames and maddening grins, she found that he wasn’t actually as horrible as she’d expected him to be. He rarely ever landed a hit on her, even though he probably could; he tended to congratulate her on her victories, like he was a fan rather than an enemy; he would be efficient but nonchalant until she would suddenly get in trouble—then he would suddenly become clumsy enough to release her and help her escape.

It was like an unspoken agreement between them—she would do her best to stay away and keep him from reaching her and getting her Miraculous, and he would do his best to somehow release her before her time ran out.

Was it confusing? Definitely. It was like she still had a partner—but he also fought her every time they met, which kind of put a dampener on their relationship. Was it all right with her? Certainly, considering she found herself stuck more often than not, desperately trying to get away without any success—unless he helped her.

And once… once he got really close to getting her Miraculous. He wasn’t even trying to catch her yet since she was in the middle of battling the akuma of the day, yet he was probably biding his time until she was done when she was flung across the city, too disoriented to catch herself before she hit the concrete. But instead of letting her go splat, he caught her and helped her balance on his baton that was stretched between two buildings.

At first she tried to only catch her breath, too alarmed by the close call. Then she noticed where she was and who was holding her securely in place. With a surprised yelp, she shrugged his hands off her and glared at him as he smiled at her softly, looking more surprised to see her than smug.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, shifting on her feet to prepare herself for an attack while also maintaining her balance on the staff.

“Well, I was just humming Clara Nightingale’s latest single, but then I saw you falling and I figured it would be pretty chivalrous to catch you, m’lady.” He winked at her, looking very comfortable despite her tense stance. “Having trouble with the akuma?”

She glowered at him. “None of your business.”

“No, of course not. But if I were you—which I’m definitely not—I’d probably go for the keychain in the akuma’s pocket. You know—just a hunch there might be a pretty butterfly inside.”

She stared at him. “Why are you helping me?”

“Oh, I’m not helping you, Bugaboo—don’t read too much into this. I’m just getting bored, waiting for you to be done, so I’m trying to speed things up so it’d be my turn.” He grinned widely at her. “I can’t wait for our little pas de deux.”

Her fighting stance faltered as she stared at him. “You don’t take any of this seriously, do you?”

A shadow crossed his face for a second, then it cleared as he blinked his green eyes that seemed to pierce into her soul as his smile softened and he pulled her closer to him. She was caught by surprise so she didn’t even fight it, instead staring at him with wide, curious eyes.

“Of course I do, Buginette. I always take you seriously,” he told her lightly.

She blinked dumbly. “Oh.”

His expression softened. When he spoke, his breath ghosted over his face. He smelled like sunshine—which made no sense, but there she was, being held by the guy who wasn’t attacking her or trying to take her Miraculous, thinking he smelled like a ball of gas and fire that burned everything that tried to get too close to it.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t a good thing, but sunshine made her think about Adrien since Alya always called him that and it spread around their classmates. And Adrien was good, so… how could anyone who smelled like that be bad?

“I wish I didn’t have to fight you,” he said softly, quietly, like it was a secret between the two of them.

“Then don’t,” she said.

When he bent his head down to kiss her she knew what he was doing, she knew she shouldn’t let him. And she could escape—he wasn’t really holding her in place firmly or anything—his grip was gentle, like he wanted her to feel safe and free despite him being her enemy.

But she didn’t move.

No, wait, that was a lie. She went on her tiptoes to meet him halfway, her hands numbly capturing one of his hands and going through his messy blond hair. It wasn’t passionate or rough or desperate. It was sweet and light, just a brush of their lips against each other that felt more intimate than anything else Ladybug’s ever experienced.

It was over before her brain could even catch up with her fully, but she still found herself smiling uncertainly to herself when she went back down, falling back to earth. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she opened her eyes and found Chat Noir looking down at her with an expression that didn’t belong on the face of someone who kept on fighting her regularly.

“You know, as much as I appreciate you dropping in, you should probably leave before Hawk Moth realizes you’re with me and gives me the order to take your Miraculous.”

His fingers brushed lightly over her left earring and Ladybug startled and stumbled back, nearly losing her balance and slipping off the slick baton. There was mirth mixed with sorrow in his gaze as Ladybug created some distance between them. She expected him to follow her when she tossed her yoyo away and let it carry her back toward the akuma, but when she looked back, Chat Noir was walking back and forth on his baton, looking like he had no care in the world.

“Knock, knock! Is the princess in her tower tonight?”

Marinette startled at the familiar sound coming from her skylight. She pushed her desk chair back and looked up, her heart in her throat when she noticed Chat Noir waving at her lightly from her balcony with a friendly smile on his face.

Was she supposed to open the hatch and let him in? Call the police and pretend like she wasn’t Ladybug? Call her parents and tell them Chat Noir just came to see her out of the blue?

Did he know she was Ladybug? Was he aware of her identity now? That would be bad—terrible. As conflicted as she was about him, she also knew that for some reason he was siding with Hawk Moth and she couldn’t let her guard down around him too much unless she wanted her Miraculous stolen and taken away.

Glancing at Tikki, she found her Kwami hiding from Chat Noir behind the sewing machine. Instead of looking worried, though, Tikki wore an expression of longing on her face, like she yearned to go out there and talk to Chat herself. Or maybe Plagg, more accurately.

“Um…” muttered Marinette uncertainly.

Chat Noir seemed to realize she wasn’t sure about what she was supposed to do because he pulled a white flower—one of the ones she grew up on her balcony—and said, “I come in peace! I don’t have an actual white flag, but this should be enough, right? Sorry I borrowed it.”

“More like stole it,” she grumbled as she got up and climbed up to her bed slowly, eyeing Chat warily the entire way there. Instead of opening the skylight, Marinette said, “What do you want? Give me a reason not to call for help.”

His wide grin melted away until he looked at her with desperation. “I needed someone to talk to—someone who might be willing to hear me out. And as much I’d love to find Ladybug and talk to her… it won’t be a good idea. And I heard you don’t think I’m all that bad, so I figured maybe you’ll be willing to at least… hear me out?”

He sounded genuine. He also sounded like a stranded kitty in the pouring rain—miserable and lonely.

Thinking she would most likely regret it soon enough, Marinette sighed and unlatched her skylight before pushing it open and allowing Chat Noir to assist her in climbing up to the balcony from the bed—at least he didn’t invite himself into her bedroom.

The look of surprise and relief on his face when she turned to face him made her heart ache a little.

“Wow,” he said breathlessly. “I wasn’t actually sure you’d be willing to hear me out, Marinette.”

He knew her name.

“How do you know me?” she asked suspiciously.

His hand came up to rub the back of his neck and she realized it was the first time she saw him looking actually nervous about something. He was always so smooth and calm; collected in a way that made Marinette envious. But now he looked like any other normal teenager (in a leather catsuit), shifting uneasily and avoiding eye contact.

“Um… I have my ways?” he said lamely.

Marinette frowned but didn’t press him. “Okay. So… what did you want to say? You’re not actually going to murder me, right?”

“Of course not.”

“Don’t look at me like that—I don’t know what you might or might not do. You have the power to destroy things with a touch—it’s pretty scary.”

He shrugged. “I’d de-transform to make you more at ease, but I… I can’t yet.”

“Yet?”

“I need to make sure I can really trust you. I want to trust you, but… but I don’t really have the best luck when it comes to trusting other people.” He set his jaw, like some kind of bitter memory floated in his head. Then he offered her a small smile that scratched at the back of her head from how familiar it was, though she couldn’t figure out why. “It’s going to sound crazy—what I want to say.”

“You mean crazier than talking to a guy that gets his powers from a magic ring?” she said flatly.

Chat chuckled. “I suppose there’s that.”

Marinette bit her lip. “Wait, I’m gonna get us something to eat. Do you like croissants?”

He opened his mouth in surprise, then shrugged. “I, um, don’t know? I don’t really get to eat anything sweet… at least, I rarely get to eat pastries and sweets and… anything like that.” He pressed his lips together and shrugged.

“What?”

He shrugged again, looking even more awkward, so Marinette took pity on him and just told him to wait for her as she climbed back inside and snuck down to the kitchen to get a plate of macarons and croissants without her parents noticing her or questioning what she needed all of that from. She couldn’t explain to them that Chat Noir—the outlaw—was waiting for her on her balcony, or that she knew he was probably very hungry after spending his energy with his Miraculous.

A part of her was worried she might get back up and find the space empty. She wasn’t sure Chat would actually wait for her to return—maybe he would realize it was a bad idea and just leave? Maybe he would be called back to meet Hawk Moth?

But he was there, leaning against the railing and closing his eyes as the soft evening breeze brushed his hair back softly. Like that, standing under the light of the moon and the fairy lights Marinette had spread around the balcony, Chat Noir looked ethereal.

She took a moment to just stare at him, her lips tingling when she thought about that one kiss shared between them—not that he knew it was her that he’d kissed, of course. He couldn’t know. He could never ever know. It would be horrible if Hawk Moth’s accomplice knew who was under the Ladybug mask.

It would be slightly less cold if she at least got to kiss him one more time before her Miraculous got whisked away, though.

She shook her head. No, she couldn’t focus on that. She pictured Adrien, instead. She was in love with Adrien. Adrien. Not Chat Noir. She didn’t even know who Chat Noir was, after all. Adrien, on the other hand, was real and genuine and kind and simply… good. He was good and he melted her heart and made her want to be a little better every time he sent her a smile.

Sniffing the air, Chat Noir stiffened before he turned around sharply to face her, his catlike eyes zeroing in on the pastries on the plate.

“Wow,” he said, “this smells amazing.”

Marinette smiled nervously and held the plate out for him. Chat glanced at her once, then gleefully picked up a strawberry macaron and took a bite. His eyes widened and his lips tugged up in delight as he hummed cheerfully. Marinette stifled a laugh at the childlike wonder on his face as he chewed the macaron slowly.

“It tastes amazing, too!” he said once he swallowed the bite, grinning brightly at her.

“Thanks. It’s all from my parents’ bakery. We always end up with things that come out a little damaged—mostly in shape—so my parents take them up so we can eat them, since we can’t sell them. So… this is just some of today’s unsuccessful batch.”

She put the plate on the small table, then took a seat on her lounge chair before turning to look back up at Chat Noir who finished the macaron and quickly grabbed a chocolate croissant, his eyes fluttering shut as he moaned and leaned his back against the railing.

“So, um…” said Marinette awkwardly after a moment or two. “You wanted to tell me something?”

Chat swallowed the rest of his croissant, then nodded at her. “Yes, yeah, I… had something to say. It’s kind of… messed-up, actually. But if anyone’s going to be able to hear me out without outright judging me, it would be you.”

She wondered how well he knew her out of the suit for him to claim such a thing. Were they actually close? That would be quite a coincidence, huh?

“I’ll try not to,” she said, offering him a small smile.

He nodded. “Okay. So… wow, this is really difficult to say. I’m not even sure where I’m supposed to start. I suppose… um… yeah, so… I’m kind of being forced to fight Ladybug.”

For a moment she just stared at him blankly, then she said, “Oh.”

“I mean—Hawk Moth wants me to fight her, and I can’t say no to him, so I do. But—”

“He has some kind of leverage on you?” Marinette asked, frowning.

Chat Noir’s tail—was it sentient?—thrashed around behind him. “You could say that. He can sort of… control me? Force me to do things against my will.”

“Control you?”

He gulped. “So here’s the crazy part,” he said, looking into her eyes with wary hope, like he was waiting for her to call him insane. “Apparently my parents couldn’t have a baby even though they wanted one very much—I know it’s out there, but just hear me out, okay?—so thy used this brooch that they’d found one day while exploring. And this brooch had a sort of magic that could create living things by mering a tiny feather into some kind of object. You following so far?”

“A magic brooch that can bring things to life?”

“Well, um, no. It’s more like… you pick an object that allows you to control a living thing that you create from nothing. It’s connected to the emotions of the person who wields object. And this person can control the being that’s created. This being is called a—a sentimonster.”

Marinette blinked. “Okay.”

Chat Noir hesitated, searching her face with his eyes. His hands picked up his tail and he started rubbing his thumb up and down the belt, looking more anxious than he’s ever been before. Marinette almost didn’t recognize him without the signature smirk and the smug posture he usually supported around her when she was with her mask on.

It made him look so much more… human. Instead of a faceless person she had to avoid for the best of her abilities, Marinette saw a scared teenager that wasn’t sure who to trust with something that seemed to weigh on him quite a bit. So she brought a hand up and clasped the hand he was using to rub his tail, making him freeze for a moment before he met her gaze once again and kept on talking.

“Okay, okay,” he said quickly. “So my mother, wanting a baby so much, used the brooch to create herself a son by putting an enchanted feather in her wedding ring. And her kid… with the ring on, she could control him completely if she wanted by ordering him around. But she didn’t—she raised him like any other child, never forcing him to do anything—not that he was aware of this power, anyway.

“But the brooch was damaged. It was flawed. Something must have happened to it at some point in time, before it reached the hands of my parents, and so using its power made my mother really, really sick… until she died.”

Marinette’s breath hitched. “I’m sorry,” she said, knowing it was a lame thing to say to all of that, but unable to keep completely quiet—or find the right words for this situation.

Chat smiled at her sadly. “It’s okay. I’ve made my peace with it already.” He shook his head. “But my father hasn’t. He wants to bring her back to life, no matter the cost. He’s using the other jewel he and my mother had found along with the brooch—a second brooch that uses butterflies to grant emotional people powers.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “The butterfly Miraculous,” she muttered.

He looked down at his feet, shuffling them.

“Now I found a black ring with a green pawprint on my desk one day before Hawk Moth sent his first akuma,” he said, absently flexing the fingers of his right hand, where his ring shined a dull green. “I found out I was supposed to use the powers it would give me to help people along with a partner. But my father found out before I could even have the Miraculous for one day, and of course he wanted to have it and the ladybug Miraculous, so… so he used the ring to make me help him.”

His hands clenched as he glared at the floor.

Marinette took him in slowly. His blond, messy hair; his narrow pupils and green irises; his yellow-toned skin and the few freckles that were visible to her; the magical suit that covered him, granting him powers that allowed him to do some pretty incredible things; his glowing ring…

He called the creatures created by the first magical brooch—probably the peacock Miraculous—sentimonsters. But as she took him in, she couldn’t help but think he looked like any other living person she knew. He didn’t look like a monster. He didn’t look like he was any different than her or her parents or her friends.

Feeling the tears springing to her eyes, Marinette got up from the lounge chair and wrapped her arms around Chat Noir, who stiffened in surprise. She hugged him as tightly as she could, knowing he won’t really feel any sort of pain even if she tried really hard.

A few seconds later Marinette felt the way his body melted and he brought his hands up tentatively to land on her back. He buried his face in the crook of his neck and she felt his tears dampening her pajama shirt though she couldn’t say that she cared in that moment, her own tears streaming down her face.

All this time she thought this annoying guy was going to one day decide he was bored of playing with her like he was a cat and she was a mouse; she figured he would take her Miraculous when he was done being nice around her. But knowing all of this… knowing he had no other choice but to help Hawk Moth…

Her heart broke for him.

“I can’t tell Ladybug any of this,” he said, his voice utterly broken now. It was muffled, his lips brushing against the fabric of her shirt, but Marinette could still understand it just fine. “Every time I meet her his voice is whispering in my ear. He’s usually busy with the akumas at first so he doesn’t pay me any mind, but after she defeats them he turns to me and I try my best, but everything in me tries to obey him even though I don’t want to.

“I’m afraid I’ll meet her and try to tell her the truth and my father will make me lie or stop or Cataclysm her.” He whimpered and a shudder ran through his body. Marinette rubbed his back soothingly. “And I can never find out who she is because he’ll make me tell him. He asks me if I know her identity from time to time, and I have to tell him the truth, so I can’t know. I can never learn who she is.”

And it sounded like it killed him to say this—like he really, truly hated the fact that he couldn’t help Ladybug or get close to her.

Marinette wasn’t sure what to say or do as he kept on crying, sounding like it was the first time he got to let it all out, like he’s never been able to let loose like this before in his life.

“I… I believe you,” she whispered—because what else could she say? That she was sorry? That she could fix this?

She couldn’t fix this. She didn’t know enough. And she certainly wasn’t sure how to fix this other than stealing that stupid ring from Hawk Moth so that he won’t have any power over Chat Noir—which she couldn’t actually do when the man was transformed since Marinette saw him once and he had gloves, which were probably covering the ring.

Pulling away, Chat leaned back and stared at her openly, his mouth agape and his eyes filled with tears. There were tear tracks running down his mask and cheeks. His face was blotchy and more miserable than it has ever been before. He didn’t seem to mind that, though. Instead he just looked at her like he wasn’t sure she was real.

And then he quietly said “Plagg, claws in,” and a flash of green light made Marinette close her eyes for a moment before she blinked them open and found herself gawping at Adrien Agreste. A devastated and broken Adrien Agreste, but still Adrien Agreste.

“Oh, my God,” she said. She blinked furiously at him, as if expecting his image to change eventually, but it was still the same boy from her class that she had a crush on. “I thought you weren’t going to de-transform in front of me,” she found herself saying.

He let out a breathless, wet laugh. “I trust you,” he said simply, his green eyes twinkling sadly. “You believe me.”

“I—of course I believe you.”

“Great!” a raspy high-pitched voice said. “Now that we’ve established you believe in each other, can I get some cheese or does my effort mean nothing to you?”

Marinette blinked several times before realizing there was a black blob hovering over Adrien’s shoulder, crossing his arms over his chest as his tiny tail thrashed around wildly in irritation. It wasn’t hard to come to the conclusion that this was Plagg—the Kwami of Destruction—but Marinette still found herself slightly caught off guard at suddenly seeing him after hearing so much from Tikki.

With a roll of his eyes Adrien pulled out a piece of camembert cheese that Plagg plucked from his fingers in an instant before shoving it in his mouth in one quick bite before sighing in delight and smacking his lips together.

“Right… Plagg, this is Marinette. Marinette, meet Plagg—my Kwami,” said Adrien, giving the little guy a side-eye and looking less than impressed.

“Uh… a Kwami?” she repeated, trying to act like she had no idea what the word meant—no one was supposed to know that Kwamis existed except for Miraculous users, after all, and right now that included her. “What’s that?”

“A god,” replied Plagg lazily.

“A nuisance,” countered Adrien. He turned to Marinette. “Don’t listen to anything he has to say—he things the only thing better than himself is cheese.”

She couldn’t help the incredulous laugh that tumbled out of her as she moved to stare at the two of them. Plagg was patting his belly in content before letting his eyes zero in on her. For a second he seemed to pierce her with his green eyes, then they narrowed a little as he sniffed the air.

“Hey,” he said, flying a little closer to her, “you smell familiar.”

Taking a step back, Marinette smiled weakly. “Um…” she muttered unsurely.

“Plagg, you know I go to school with Marinette.”

The Kwami waved his paw dismissively and sniffed the air again. “No, no, I smell cookies and sugar and—”

“We’re on top of a bakery,” Adrien pointed out flatly, then he gestured toward the plate of pastries. “You probably just smell these.”

Before either one of them could say anything, Plagg’s eyes focused on the open skylight and he zoomed into Marinette’s bedroom without another word, startling Adrien and making Marinette wonder how happy Tikki would be to see Plagg after worrying about him for months.

Staring at the skylight, Adrien blinked several times, then offered Marinette an apologetic smile. “Sorry. He’s… rude.” He shifted a little uneasily. “But he’s not harmful or anything. The only thing he might steal is cheese, so unless you have cheese randomly lying around your room, you should be safe.”

“Uh, I don’t mind,” she said, turning her back on the skylight and smiling at Adrien. “So… Plagg, you said? He’s related to your Miraculous, right?”

They both turned to look down at the ring that now looked like a plain silver band around his finger. Marinette has seen this ring on Adrien’s finger for months—since she got her own earrings, actually. It was surreal to think that it’s been Chat Noir’s Miraculous all along and she had no idea.

Sure, she already knew that her earrings didn’t look like they did when she was transformed, instead being a dark shade of red that was almost black, lacking the five spots that signaled the time she had to be transformed. Yet for some reason she hasn’t actually considered the fact that Chat Noir’s ring would camouflage itself as well.

Come to think of it, she hasn’t really spent much time imagining who he might be under his mask in general. She was more concerned with evading him whenever he came after her to get her Miraculous to Hawk Moth while pushing away the intrusive thoughts of what it had felt like to be close to him, to have his lips briefly pressed against her own.

Oh, God, Adrien Agreste had kissed her!

Marinette was probably going to squeal into her pillow later that night.

Twisting the ring, Adrien seemed to hesitate before he met her eyes, the green in them melting to reveal the trust she wasn’t sure how she’d earned in the first place without even trying.

“Plagg hasn’t explained it all that well, but… Kwamis are sort of born along with certain concepts,” he told her slowly, looking like he was trying to recall the answer to a question in a test. “He said there are plenty of Miraculous and that their Kwamis are bound to them, each representing a different concept. Plagg is the Kwami of Destruction, which is why he gives me the power to destroy things. Not that I need a superpower for that.”

Marinette nodded slowly. “Right. Okay, so.. he gives you your powers.”

“Exactly! Ladybug has one too. He told me her Kwami’s name is Tikki, but… obviously, I haven’t actually met her. He said she was the Kwami of Creation.”

“So they’re opposites.”

Adrien smiled and picked up a pistachio macaron from the plate. He wrinkled his nose a little at the taste, but then shrugged and ate the rest of it anyway, looking like he didn’t mind that flavor that much after all. Marinette tried not to melt to a puddle right before his eyes.

“So he’s always with you? Do you get along?” she asked, figuring she could get herself a few answers to Tikki’s questions, even if she was certain Plagg himself was most likely sharing everything he could with Tikki right this second, anyway. “What’s he like?”

Swallowing the food in his mouth, Adrien hummed thoughtfully. “Plagg is… a lot, sometimes. He’s rude and brash and lazy. He doesn’t really care about most things. I mean, unless it’s got anything to do with cheese.” His lips tugged up into a fond smile. “But he’s great company. He’s not all that good with feelings, but he can tell when I’m upset and usually does something silly to cheer me up.”

“Sounds like you like him.”

“He’s my friend,” said Adrien plainly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “When my father found out about him and I tried to renounce him and get Plagg to take the Miraculous to someone else, he refused to leave. Don’t let his indifference fool you—he cares, like, a lot.”

“Like a cat,” giggled Marinette.

Adrien chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

She watched with a warm feeling in her chest as Adrien look at the skylight again, his smile still intact. He acted like he was irritated and annoyed by Plagg earlier, and he talked about the Kwamis fault like he could think of plenty more to throw out there, but the spark in his eyes was enough to reveal how much he cared about the Kwami.

If Marinette found herself being controlled by her parents, forced to do things she didn’t want to do, she would’ve probably been more than a little glad to have a contact presence by her side, someone who cared about her instead of anything or anyone else.

“I’m glad you’ve had him with you all this time,” she said.

He went back to looking at her, his smile looking more genuine than it usually did when they talked during recess or while bumping into each other in the halls of the school. For the first time since meeting Adrien, she realized he was opening up to her for real instead of offering her the same thing he gave to everyone else who knew him—some polished version of him that was probably his father’s idea of what his son should be.

She frowned a little when she remembered his father. How could anyone use their child like this? Of course, the same person was also Hawk Moth, so it was kind of understandable, but Marinette still found herself feeling sick to her stomach at the mere thought of Gabriel Agreste—a person whose work she admired—terrorizing people and using his own son like a puppet.

“Do you have an idea on how to deal with this… whole thing?” she asked.

Adrien grimaced. “Well, my first thought was giving the Miraculous to someone else so that Ladybug would have someone’s help,” he said. “But Plagg didn’t want someone else—trust me, I tried to talk to him about it—and also… my father will just make me tell him who I gave the Miraculous to, so it wouldn’t have worked for long, anyway.”

“And I’m guessing you can’t get the butterfly and peacock Miraculous without him stopping you.”

“Nope. I’ve tried that already. It didn’t go—” he cut himself off suddenly, the color quickly draining from his face. “I never told you the other Miraculous was the peacock one.”

Marinette was frozen for a moment as the realization of her slip-up caught up to her. Right, Adrien’s mentioned feathers and a brooch but not the name of the Miraculous. And it wasn’t exactly common knowledge that there was another Miraculous on the loose other than the butterfly, black cat and ladybug ones, so there was no reason for plain Marinette to know about it.

Staring at each other with growing horror, the silence between them stretched. Adrien took a cautious step away from her, his eyes wide and brimming with panic as his gaze flitted all around before briefly landing on her ears, where her own Miraculous was resting.

She instinctively reached up her hands to touch her earrings, as if to make sure they were still there, and Adrien traced the movement with trepidation.

“You did,” Marinette said hastily, words babbling out of her mouth quickly as she let go of her earrings and plastered on a big, fake smile. “You said earlier that your parents had the peacock Miraculous. How else would I know about it, right? Right! It’s not like I could have heard about it somewhere else before now.”

He still stared at her with growing mortification. “I—um—” He shook his head a little. “Marinette, tell me you’re—tell me you’re not actually…” he trailed off and gulped thickly as his back pressed against the railing.

“Not what?” she said innocently, though her voice was a little too strained to be completely believable.

Adrien looked like he wanted to burst into tears again, but instead he seemed to compose himself quickly. “Nothing,” he said. “Just a silly thought, forget about it.”

She could tell he didn’t actually believe his own claim as his eyes took her in as if he was seeing her for the first time. She could imagine his brain suddenly noticing just how similar she was to Ladybug and her heart raced erratically as she hoped against all hope that he would doubt it enough for it to not be a fact he would share with his father the moment he returned to his house.

“Plagg, get back here!” he called.

Marinette flinched a little but didn’t say anything as the Kwami zoomed back up from her room, giving Marinette a quick look before focusing on Adrien’s pale face.

“What’s up, kid?” he said casually.

“We’re leaving—before anyone notices I’m gone.” Adrien didn’t sound like he truly believed that could happen. He bit his lip as he looked at Marinette again, then put on a weak smile on his face. “Thank you for listening, Marinette.”

“Sure. What are friends for?”

For a moment longer he just took her in; then he shook his head, said “Claws out!” and hopped up and away with his baton, not looking back even once as he moved in the direction of the Agreste mansion, his dark figure soon melting into the shadows.

She could barely sleep that night, constantly jumping at every single noise around her, thinking it was Hawk Moth that showed up to take her Miraculous away with the newfound knowledge that she was actually Ladybug. But when she got up eventually to her alarm clock blaring at her like every other morning and she saw Tikki yawning and getting up next to her, Marinette heaved a sigh of relief.

Either Gabriel Agreste didn’t think to ask Adrien about Ladybug the previous day, or he asked and Adrien was denying the truth enough to be able to tell his father that he didn’t actually know her identity. Both answers were fine by her as long as she didn’t get jumped at by anyone.

Despite being extremely tired, Marinette found herself ready and walking to school with a box of different-flavored macarons with five minutes to spare, which was actually amazing when it came to her because she tended to run into class five minutes after her teachers started their lessons.

Alya met her in the schoolyard, surprised to see Marinette arriving early, but also clearly not finding it all that strange. Luckily, Alya was so bubbly, talking about some kind of theory she had regarding Ladybug, that she didn’t notice Marinette looking all around before finally spotting Nino and Adrien sitting together on a bench.

Alya’s voice didn’t even register in her brain as she watched Adrien bobbing his head lightly as he listened to music with Nino’s headphones. He must have made a new remix and wanted to get the opinion of his best friend, then. Next, Marinette guessed, would be Alya. Nino usually went to her first, but he could probably tell that his girlfriend was too engrossed in the new Ladybug theory to be able to focus on anything else.

A minute later Adrien took the headphones off and told Nino something that made the boy grin proudly.

“Marinette, you’re not even listening to me,” complained Alya, her voice loud enough to draw looks from a few of the other students that were hanging around. “You’re not even trying to pretend to pay attention.”

Looking over, Nino and Adrien focused on the two of them immediately. While Nino offered them both a cheerful wave and a smile, Adrien’s green eyes instantly bored into Marinette. For a moment he just looked blank, like he wasn’t sure what to think or how to react to her presence there; but then his lips tugged up and the light in his eyes looked genuine enough to calm down Marinette’s beating heart.

“Oh, of course,” said Alya in a much quieter tone when she noticed the guys and waved back at Nino. She rolled her eyes at Marinette. “I should’ve known I would lose your attention if I let you be too close to Adrien. What was I thinking?”

“Hey, I’m not that bad,” Marinette protested weakly, her cheeks feeling hot as she turned to glare at her best friend.

“Sure you’re not,” said Alya skeptically, then started dragging Marinette toward the stairs as the bell rang. “Come on, let’s get to our seats before you start stammering helplessly—oh, too late, they’re coming over.”

She was right. Nino and Adrien were both no longer with their bags—they must have already put them in their homeroom—but they hurried over to join the girls as they climbed up the stairs, Nino eagerly inserting himself next to Alya.

“Anything new on that theory of yours?” he asked.

Alya’s eyes lit up. “I have so much new information,” she said and started ranting all over again to an amused Nino.

Marinette walked behind the two, acutely aware to the fact that Adrien was walking right next to her, his hand almost brushing against hers. Most of the voices in her head were screeching loudly because right now the previous day felt almost like a fever dream so Adrien wasn’t Chat Noir—he was her cute classmate. But the wary voice in her head was still there, tucked away safely as it told her insistently to keep an eye on the guy next to her and make sure he never got too close to her earrings.

She decided to chance a glance in his direction and her stomach swooped when she found his eyes already on her. At least he no longer looked as panicked as he did the day before, instead looking at her with the same warmth and softness he’d supported after realizing Marinette truly believed everything he’d shared with her.

“Hey,” he said.

“H-hi.” She ignored the look Alya threw at her over her shoulder.

Adrien opened his mouth to say something, but before he could utter a single word they entered the class and Chloé attached herself to his arm, immediately rambling to him about someone named Jean-Claude that gave her the wrong drink the night before and ruined her night—utterly ruined it.

Bowing her head, Marinette moved past the two of them to get to her seat, only lifting her eyes again once she was safely seated. Alya was already sitting next to her, Nino’s headphones now resting over her head as she hummed under her breath to the sound of the boy’s remix. She looked absolutely enthralled by it, which meant it was most likely really good.

“That’s great, Chloé,” said Adrien as he extracted himself from Chloé’s hold and backed toward his seat in the front row. “I’m glad you managed to survive the night without your special banana and honey drink, really.”

He sat down and glanced over his shoulder at Marinette. The look on his face nearly made her laugh—he looked like he couldn’t care less about Chloé’s drink whatsoever. He was just too polite to say it to the girl’s face. Marinette could easily imagine him being much more blunt as Chat Noir, though. He always seemed to be able to just speak his mind when in the suit—while also chasing her around Paris.

“Marinette?”

She blinked several times, then felt her cheeks warming slightly when she realized Adrien was still looking at her with a smile that now seemed a little nervous, waiting for her to respond.

“Huh? What?”

His eyes crinkled a little. “I wanted to tell you something yesterday, but I didn’t have your number,” he told her, rubbing the back of his neck as he sent a look around, as if to remind himself that there were other people around and he couldn’t talk freely anymore. “Um… yesterday, after I got home”—meaning, after he’d fled from her house—“Nathalie—my father’s assistance—came to tell me that our school’s going to let people design something he would personally judge. She said something about adding to his next show.”

Her eyes bugged out. “R-really? No, but I’m not ready! I don’t have good enough designs! What if we get assigned something I can’t make? Something I don’t have even an idea for? It’s going to be a catastrophe—”

“Catastrophe—I like that word. But that wasn’t really the point.”

Her thoughts screeched to a halt at the pun and she stared at Adrien with her mouth hanging open. She let his words run through her brain again, this time fully registering and making realization dawn on her heavily.

“Is he… is your father going to come here personally?” she asked slowly.

She didn’t need him to say anything—his gloomy momentary frown was enough of an answer. Still, he also added a verbal “Yes.”

Her breath hitched. Hawk Moth was going to come to their school… he would be so very close to her. If he somehow ended up realizing she was Ladybug, he would surely use this to get close to her and snatch her earrings, and no one would even notice because why in the world would Gabriel Agreste want to steal some random girl’s earrings?

“Thanks,” she managed to mutter.

Adrien watched her worriedly for a moment longer even though Ms. Bustier was finally walking into the classroom, her voice ringing clearly around the room as she called for everyone to turn to her and be quiet so she could share exciting news with them all—surely about the fashion thing Adrien just warned her about.

Adrien looked at Marinette like he was fighting himself, wondering about something he wasn’t sure he should voice out loud.

With her eyes alone she begged him to keep quiet. If whatever it was had anything to do with her being Ladybug, she didn’t want him to acknowledge it. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she wouldn’t be able to tell him the truth, so Adrien keeping quiet for now would be the best course of action until she figured out what to do.

She could o to the authorities with the knowledge that Gabriel Agreste was Hawk Moth—Sabrina’s dad and the other cops would surely hear Ladybug out. Like most people in Paris, they trusted her to protect them all and tell the truth. But, then again, who would believe her if she claimed Gabriel Agreste of all people was Hawk Moth? And she didn’t even have any evidence to show that she was right other than the word of Chat Noir—who would surely lie for his father if it came down to it.

There was a half-made derby hat waiting for her on her desk back home, and instead of finishing it, Ladybug found herself zipping through Paris with her magic yoyo, chasing a guy that kept on hooting with a serious face and making pigeons do his dirty work and capture every single park keeper in the city.

Seriously, her day could not get any weirder.

She kept her eyes peeled as she tried to spot the akumatized villain, Mr. Pigeon, but she saw nothing. The only evidence she had that he’s been around was that there were barely any pigeons around and there were no park keepers in sight no matter where she looked. Plus, a few people kept on pointing her in different directions, telling her that they saw Mr. Pigeon even though it wasn’t exactly all that helpful.

Sighing, she landed on a rooftop and scanned the view that spread before her. Still no sign of Mr. Pigeon, sadly. She frowned and kicked the air in frustration. Why couldn’t the akuma just come to her and make things easier? Why did she have to figure out a plan just so find the guy? Wasn’t fighting him difficult enough?

“Achoo!”

Ladybug startled and looked around wildly. Her eyes roamed over the area, searching, before she noticed the dark shape in the alleyway between the building she was perched on and the one next to it. When she peered down and squinted she could make out Chat Noir groaning and leaning casually against a wall while rubbing his nose.

It was amazing how he managed to sneeze and look utterly annoyed while also keeping the perfect posture of a model, like there was someone around to take a picture of him and print it on the cover of a magazine. She figured it was probably ingrained in his body and not actually a conscious choice, but it was still amusing to take note of.

“For some reason I expected a cute sneeze from a kitten,” she commented.

His head snapped up and a pair of green eyes locked on her immediately, shining slightly in the dark alley like the eyes of an actual cat. His cat ears perked up and his tail twisted around his legs as his lips stretched into a grin.

“M’lady! What’s—achoo!—up?”

“Was that another pun?”

His widening grin was enough of an answer.

She tied her yoyo around a chimney and used it like a climbing rope, lowering herself so that she leaned against the wall of the building while keeping herself above the ground. Chat pushed himself off the wall and walked to stand in front of her, his hands leaning on his staff as he kept on grinning.

“Are you sick?” she asked.

He scrunched up his nose. “No. Just allergic to feathers.” He shrugged, then leaned a little toward her. “Still looking for the akuma, I take it?”

“Have you seen him?”

Chat Noir gasped dramatically and put a hand over his chest. “You want me to betray my own comrades? Bugaboo, I would never!”

Rolling her eyes, she watched as a slight breeze brough a few feathers close to them. Chat sneezed instantly, kicking the feather away with a loathsome look before turning back to face her with his familiar smirk.

“Of course, if I were a pigeon-loving lunatic with superpowers—which I’m obviously not—I might go to some place like, oh, let me think… Grand Palais, maybe?” He winked. “Of course, that’s just me. I’ve been told I’m weird like that.”

She giggled. “Of course. It’s obviously just a random guess.”

Instead of zipping away to deal with the akuma now that she knew where to find him, Ladybug found herself staring down at Chat with a smile, the smirk on his face softening a little as he cocked his head to the side and kept his eyes locked on hers.

“Pretty sure this is the part where you usually leave, m’lady,” he whispered after a few moments in amusement, his hand cupping his mouth like he was sharing a secret. “Not that I’m in a rush or anything—just thought you ought to know.”

“Right.” She shifted a little against the wall. Her eyes drifted over to one of the feathers on the ground. “Hey, mind handing me one of these?”

Chat frowned. “A feather?”

“I need it.”

“For what? You’re planning on disguising yourself as a bird? Because I’m sorry to inform you, m’lady, but I just don’t think that’s going to fool even Mr. Pigeon.”

She rolled her eyes fondly and pointed at the feather more insistently. “Come on, just give it to me.”

He hesitated for one moment, then gingerly picked up the feather from the ground. He wrinkled his nose a moment before he sneezed, then quickly shoved it into her outstretched hand, backing up instantly as he rubbed his nose again with disdain.

Observing the feather, Ladybug beamed. “Yes, this should do it,” she said happily, then turned back to look at him, her face bright. “See you later?”

Chat Noir sniffed, then bowed to her. “I wouldn’t miss it—unless you decide to play dirty and bring this”—he pointed at the feather—“with you.”

Reluctantly, Ladybug forced herself to leave him behind and deal with Mr. Pigeon. She thought she heard him wishing her good luck, but she wasn’t sure and she wasn’t about to head back there and ask him about it. Maybe later when he came to try and intercept her before she could get to a safe place to de-transform…

Heart racing uncontrollably, Marinette stood next to her covered hat next to Alya. Her friend was bouncing on her tiptoes, clearly excited to see what Marinette’s creation ended up looking like. She just hoped it would be good enough… she needed this to be good enough.

Lifting her gaze, Marinette looked at Gabriel Agreste as he strolled from one stand to the other, inspecting the derby hats that were put there by the students with a critical look, his hums sounding more foreboding than encouraging. So far he hasn’t said much, mostly just nodding with a frown and pointing out the most obvious flaws in the designs of the hats that were presented to him.

A step behind the man was a woman Marinette assumed to be Nathalie. Her face was completely blank as she took notes on her tablet, her eyes never actually looking at the hats that were on display. Instead she seemed to glance at the creators of said hats every time they moved on; then she would tap on her tablet a few times before leaning in to whisper something in Gabriel Agreste’s ear.

It unnerved Marinette, but she tried not to fidget too much as she followed their progress warily. Her stomach was tied into notes, her heart beating so erratically she thought it was skipping beats every once in a while, as if too careless to notice such a frivolous thing.

Then her eyes trailed over to Adrien, who stayed a couple of steps behind Nathalie, offering comforting smiles to everyone as his father seemed not to care about how his critique might be taken by the teenagers he was judging. Unlike his emotionless—tactless—father, Adrien seemed to be the embodiment of a ray of sunshine, spreading light wherever he went or looked.

She caught him glancing at her hidden hat multiple times already, curiosity shining in his eyes as he seemed to wonder what her design ended up looking like—after all, she hasn’t shown it to him. Only Alya knew what the sketch in Marinette’s sketchbook was, and she was still very clearly vibrating in place and wanting to see the real thing.

Soon enough, Gabriel Agreste reached her and Marinette tried not to clinch away from him on instinct—both because the man looked so distant and cold, and because he was Hawk Moth. She was standing in front of her enemy, fidgeting like a scared little girl. She forced her hands to drop by her sides as she straightened in place, refusing to show weakness in front of this man.

It helped that Adrien caught her eye and winked at her.

“Next one we have mademoiselle…” started Nathalie before trailing off and waiting for Marinette to speak up.

She was so busy trying not to show any kind of weakness, though, Marinette felt like her brain was turning to mush as she tried to remember her own name. The name Ladybug was on the tip of her tongue, but she held herself back from saying it, figuring this would be a horrible mistake on her part right now.

Luckily, Adrien jumped in and put a hand on her shoulder, offering her a warm smile as he said, “Marinette.”

“Well, mademoiselle Marinette, what did you make?” said Gabriel Agreste, looking and sounding utterly bored.

Marinette took in a deep breath, smiling back at Adrien for a moment. Then she revealed her hat, noting with satisfaction that Adrien’s father looked impressed—actually impressed. A part of her—the one that’s been admiring the man for ages now—squealed loudly in her head. The rest of her brain scolded her for caring about his opinion so much.

When Alya nudged her from behind, Marinette quickly started explaining the design of the derby hat, watching as Gabriel Agreste picked it up to observe it more closely, humming with a little more emotion than he has while looking at the other creations. She almost jumped up and down excitedly when she showed him her hidden signature that made the man’s eyebrows rise up in wonder.

She shot Adrien a look when he took a step closer to the hat and instantly sneezed. Alya actually jumped back, caught by surprise, and eyed him with a wide-eyed look he ignored in favor of sending Marinette a glare, though she wasn’t too worried about it, considering his eyes were twinkling with mirth.

“Quite impressive,” noted Gabriel Agreste finally before setting the hat down. He shot Marinette a quick look, his face still very expressionless. Then he moved on to see the next hat on display, Nathalie quickly following behind him.

Adrien lingered a little behind. “A feather?” he said flatly. “Really?”

Marinette felt her cheeks heating up, but she still grinned at him. “What can I say? I was inspired.”

He shook his head at her, then walked ahead to join his father again.

The moment he was far enough away, Alya grabbed Marinette’s hand and shook it. “Girl, you actually got a compliment from Gabriel Agreste!” she hissed at her, eyes sparkling. “This is actually phenomenal! No one else in here got more than a few criticizing comments from him, and not only did he not find any flaws in your design, but he also seemed to like it! You’re totally winning this!”

Any other day, this would have made Marinette extremely happy. Heck, a little over a week earlier she would have danced happily in her room after getting such a reaction from her favorite designer. This was phenomenal. Everyone knew Gabriel Agreste was extremely difficult to impress, so this was… incredible.

But seeing as she also knew that the man was a terrorist that used people’s emotions to try and get two Miraculous that didn’t belong to him and should stay as far away from him, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy at the gratifying words from the man. She didn’t want anything to do with him—she only wanted to send him to jail and make sure Adrien was as far away from him as possible.

She couldn’t tell Alya any of this, though, so she just forced a smile onto her face and nodded at her best friend, hoping it wasn’t too obvious that she wasn’t too thrilled by the situation she was in.

After that it didn’t take long for the whole thing to wrap up. Marinette watched as Gabriel Agreste looked at the rest of the designs with the same expression, Nathalie taking notes dutifully behind him. Principal Damocles watched anxiously from the side, shaking almost as much as the students who were showing off their hard work.

And then finally Gabriel Agreste was done and he told something to Nathalie, who nodded and tapped on her tablet again.

Silence fell around the courtyard as everyone waited for the verdict—who would the fashion designer choose? Whose hat would be worn by Adrien in the next fashion show? Alya, despite not being all that into fashion, was squeezing Marinette’s hand tightly, clearly anxious to hear who the winner of this competition was.

“While there have been some… interesting displays here today,” said Gabriel Agreste, looking like he wanted to use another word instead of interesting to describe the hats surrounding him, “I only saw one design that was truly spectacular.”

“Girl!” whispered Alya excitedly, her grip on Marinette’s arm so tight that it was a little painful.

Gabriel Agreste turned to look at Marinette, his lips actually tugging up just a tad to reveal a stiff smile. “Congratulations on your demonstration, mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng. Very exquisite creation. You definitely have the laboring hands of a hat maker. You’re the winner.”

For a moment Marinette couldn’t seem to let the words compute in her brain, and then she hurried forward excitedly, a wide grin on her face as she rambled thanks quickly and shook Gabriel Agreste’s hand tightly, beaming at him and the discomfort that was written clearly on his face.

From his place a few steps back, Adrien cocked his head at her behavior but she paid him no mind, instead thanking the man before her again and again.

“Adrien will wear your derby on our next advertising campaign,” Gabriel Agreste went on, a brief look of annoyance on his face as he allowed Marinette a few moments of shaking his hand before he pulled away, still looking remarkably indifferent to the entire scene.

Stepping forward, Adrien smiled. “Congratulation, Marinette!”

“Yes, girl!” cheered Alya who jumped forward and hugged Marinette from behind. “I knew you could do it! Your designs are always incredible—it’s impossible for people to look at them and not recognize your talent!”

Marinette followed Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie as they walked toward the principal for a moment, probably to departure; then she turned to watch as Adrien tried to pull the hat over his head only to end up sneezing again.

He rubbed his nose miserably and threw her a look. “Tell me the feather isn’t going to stay,” he said.

Chuckling, she shook her head. “I’ll use a synthetic one.”

“Good. I don’t know how I’ll be able to be near this thing for long if it remained like that.” He scrunched up his nose and put the derby hat back on its display before frowning a little at Marinette. “Hey, what was that just now? I didn’t think you’d be such a big fan of my father.”

Alya scoffed. “Are you kidding? She’s a fan of his work,” she said.

“I was,” corrected Marinette. Then she sent one more look toward Gabriel Agreste, who was currently walking out of the school and toward his car, his assistant at his heel. “I just had a plan—and I needed to execute it somehow.”

“A plan?” he echoed.

“What are you talking about?” asked Alya.

Marinette grinned at Adrien. “You are going to love me so much after today,” she told him proudly.

Alya choked. “Marinette, what?”

Unlike her, Adrien looked like he had no qualms with this statement. He just tipped his head to the side, the same way Chat Noir often did while talking to her, whether or not the conversation was civil. It almost made her laugh, but instead she bit her tongue and only widened her smile as she grabbed his hand and shoved what she was holding into it.

His fingers automatically clutched the object and when Marinette stepped back and motioned for him to look, both he and Alya looked down to see what was happening. At the sight of a silver ring resting in Adrien’s open palm, Alya furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and Adrien’s mouth fell open.

“Oh, my God!” he gasped.

“I don’t get it,” said Alya. She looked up at Marinette. “Did you just propose to him or something? You know you’re too young to get married, right?”

“I can’t believe you just stole this from my dad,” said Adrien incredulously, his wide eyes still staring down at the ring like it was more than just a simple silver band. Which… it was, but Alya didn’t know that. He moved to beam at Marinette. “This is… I mean… wow.”

Alya turned to gape at Marinette. “You what?” she demanded. Then she blinked once and deflated a little, her hand coming up to rub her forehead, like her thoughts were hurting her. “Why am I surprised? I was literally there when you stole Adrien’s phone.”

“Alya!” shrieked Marinette.

Adrien stared at them. “You stole my phone?”

Ignoring her best friend’s laughter, Marinette said, “I just needed to delete that one embarrassing voicemail I left before you heard it! It wasn’t a big deal or anything—that’s all it was, I swear!”

“You should have seen her,” cackled Alya. “She was wearing so many layer and trying to open your phone with a cotton swab because she was worried her fingerprints would be found on your phone and you guys will send her to jail.”

Marinette groaned and covered her face with her hands.

“Wait, there was that time my phone went missing…” said Adrien slowly, and as Marinette peeked at him through her fingers she saw the smile on his face as he put the ring on his finger, right next to his Miraculous. “I’ve been wondering what actually happened then. Guess next time I’ll know.”

“There won’t be a next time!” protested Marinette as she pulled her hands down.

“Sure,” Alya drawled out. “I’ll believe it when I see it, girl.” Then she glanced at her phone and grimace. “Shoot, I have to get back home. I’m supposed to watch the twins. So congrants on the win and everything, Marinette—you definitely deserve it! I’ll see you two tomorrow, okay? Bye!”

They waved good-bye to Alya, then turn to each other. There were so many emotions swimming in the green orbs that were becoming so familiar to Marinette, she wasn’t sure where to start. Well… maybe in finding a more secluded place to talk about everything—that would be a good idea.

“Come on,” she said and grabbed Adrien’s hand so she could drag him away, fighting hard not to show just how nervous and red in the face she was. She felt like all the blood in her body was rushing up to try and make it obvious to every single person around that she was feeling some very intense feeling because she was holding Adrien Agreste’s hand.

Luckily, he went after her willingly. When she glanced back at him several times she found his eyes locked on the new ring he had around his fingers, awe and trepidation warring for dominance on his face, like he wasn’t sure whether he liked the ring or not. Frankly, Marinette would have felt conflicted about having such an object, too.

It didn’t take very long to find an empty classroom since school was already over for the day. Adrien made sure to close the door once they were inside, though—just in case. And once they were all alone in there, Marinette let go of his hand and stepped back, rubbing the top of her head awkwardly.

Before either one of them could say a word, a red blur zoomed out of Marinette’s purse and flew toward Adrien. Marinette blinked in surprise as Tikki hovered in front of him, looking desperately at his jacket as Adrien tensed for a moment before relaxing and smiling at the Kwami.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Adrien,” said Tikki in a rush, and Marinette noticed she wasn’t even looking at his face.

“Oh, uh, you too—”

“Can I talk to Plagg?” she cut him off.

The remains of his shock melted away and Adrien turned to his jacket. “Plagg, wake up,” he said.

A groan could be heard from under the jacket, then Plagg flew out lazily, yawning as he blinked slowly at Tikki and Marinette, not looking surprised to see them.

“Oh, hey, sugar cube. Missed me, huh?” he said.

Tikki didn’t answer—she just grabbed Plagg’s paw and dragged him to the other side of the classroom, where the two of them started whispering to each other. Marinette squinted her eyes at them and was happy to see the grins on their faces—apparently Plagg was, in fact, happy to see Tikki again after all.

For a moment or two they both watched the Kwamis, then Marinette saw Adrien’s head turning to look at her and she turned to face him, too, her lips stretched in a smile as the realization that she no longer had to lie to him filled her up with warmth.

His smile morphed into a smirk—the cheshire one that she only got to see on his face when he was dressed in black leather. “You are so lucky my father hasn’t asked me about you since that day. I don’t think I would have been able to tell him I don’t know who you are if he did.”

“I figured,” she said. “I still can’t believe you actually came to tell me the truth without knowing who you were talking to. I thought you just realized who I was and that I would never be able to sleep in peace again.”

His grin turned more apologetic. “Yeah… sorry—for everything.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” She glanced down at the ring, her curiosity spiking a little. “Do you… do you feel anything different?”

He seemed to consider her words for a second. “I guess… maybe a little bit? I wouldn’t have noticed the change if I hadn’t known I had the ring.” He twisted it absently and frowned. “I’m kind of freaking out, though—if anything happens to it, I’m as good as dead.”

“Well, you’d better keep it safe then,” she said. “But… I’m still worried—if your father still has the peacock Miraculous, can’t he use it to control you?”

Adrien shook his head. “Control me? Not so much. Pulling the amok out of the ring and making me disappear forever?” He gulped. “Yeah, that might still be a problem. And right under it is the fact that the entire city thinks I’m one of the bad guys, and the fact that I definitely can’t go back home—my father won’t take too long to notice the ring is gone.”

“You can stay with me—we do have a spare room,” she said. When Adrien looked at her in wonder she hurriedly added, “Or you could go to Nino’s. I mean, he’d love to have you over—especially if it’s to help you, I’m sure of it. Alya, too. We’re your friends—we’d love to help.”

His eyes softened and he looked at her with an emotion swimming in his eyes—one that made Marinette’s insides melt a little. She found herself fighting back a lovestruck sigh—now was not the time to get lost in Adrien’s eyes. They had things to handle first.

“We’ll need to explain things a bit to the police, maybe. They do trust me—I mean, Ladybug—so I’m sure they’ll at least be willing to hear me out if I tell them you’re my partner instead of another terrorist. And if they’re not convinced, just flash them your kitty-eyes—it will make their hearts melt.”

“My what?” he snickered.

Marinette squeaked and moved on. “We can also go to Alya—she’ll be ecstatic if she was the first one to post anything about you. And most of the people living in the city already read her blog, so this could be really helpful in swaying people. Honestly, convincing everyone that you’re a good guy would be the easy part—defeating Hawk Moth and getting the peacock Miraculous away from him… that would be the hard part.”

He took her hand before she could understand what was happening and when she looked up at his face, she found a smirk and pure determination in his eyes. It made her lips part a little in awe as she got a little lost in his intense gaze.

“Well, you’re no longer going to have to do this alone, m’lady—wherever you go, I go; whatever you do, I do. We’re a package deal, right? Partners.”

She wanted to kiss him.

Nodding—maybe a little faintly—Marinette smiled sheepishly back at him. “Y-yeah. Partners.”