Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Adrien had a bad history with today.

Two years ago, his mother died. Last year, Felix nearly ruined all of his friendships. And this year, he discovered his father was also Paris’ most dangerous supervillain.

He should have known better than walking into his father’s office. He had thought his father was just out, and Nathalie was still stuck upstairs. Adrien was alone, he was bored, and Plagg encouraging him to tour the house was the only thing keeping his mind off of things. And when he saw the painting of his mother, he couldn’t help but touch it gently, imagining himself hugging her one last time.

He didn’t mean to get sucked into the giant lair underneath. The sight of his mother’s corpse, her green, full-of-life eyes closed, and her cold hands wrapped around a bouquet of flowers was enough to make him cry. And he did. It would take a while for Adrien to notice the butterflies, or Hawkmoth’s startled stare, as he just lay crumpled at his mother’s coffin.

“Adrien!” His father’s voice echoed underground, a mix of concern and fear. No, not his father - Hawkmoth, nearly twice his size, sprinted in his direction. Adrien jumped up, shielding his mother and shaking only slightly.

“What are you doing with my mother? What kind of monster keeps an innocent, dead woman’s body?” Adrien spat at Hawkmoth, wishing he could transform and Cataclysm Hawkmoth right now.

Worse, Hawkmoth approached him slowly, repeating his name in a softer tone. He began to move his arms around Adrien. Was Hawkmoth trying to suffocate him? Was Adrien going to be murdered in this dank basement next to his mother?

Even if he was, Adrien certainly was not going without a fight. He punched Hawkmoth square in the gut and ran. He wasn’t sure where - the elevator he had fallen down in was gone and there weren’t any apparent doors in sight - but maybe he could hide to transform and call Ladybug. Even if he couldn’t, if he could just grab his phone, he could call someone to help him out. He was sure Marinette would be able to talk him through this and help him wrap his mind about what was going on.

“Nooroo,” Hawkmoth sputtered between heavy breaths, “dark wings fall.”

Adrien hid behind the column and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to open them. Hawkmoth’s true identity was right there, and he was afraid of who it might be. What if it was someone he knew?

It’s my duty as a miraculous holder, he told himself as he peeked around the corner, but that wasn’t true. What drove Adrien to find out Hawkmoth’s true identity was the same curiosity that compelled him to try for Ladybug’s, the same anger that fueled his Cataclysms, the same sadness he felt for his mother. Because as Adrien gasped as he met his father’s sorrowful and regretful eyes, he realized the life he knew as both Adrien and Chat Noir was over.

For so long, Hawkmoth had been this simply evil enemy. Someone who killed for the sake of it, who wanted the miraculous out of selfishness and greed. Someone who was easy for Adrien to focus his anger on as Chat Noir. But as Gabriel explained why he was Hawkmoth, that it was all for his mother, it gave Gabriel and his villainous alter-ego a greater power than the akumas: motivation. And a good motivation too.

Would Adrien sacrifice Paris to bring his mother back?

The answer was, unfortunately, clearer than Adrien would have expected.

“Adrien, I know this is a lot to take in -”

“I’ll do it, father.” Adrien’s eyes fiercened in determination as he met Gabriel’s gaze. “I’ll join you.”

Chapter Text

Adrien barely caught Plagg in time once he made it back to his room. His kwami didn’t even spare a look for his cheese as he flew out Adrien’s jacket towards the window.

“Plagg! What are you doing?”

“I have to go tell Tikki what’s going on.”

“No!” Adrien whisper-shouted, perhaps a touch too harshly. It reminded him of his father’s scolding, and he hated it. This was why he needed his mother back. To return to the happy family they used to be. “Let me talk to Ladybug. I need to explain it to her on my own terms.”

Deep in his heart, he didn’t want to explain it to Ladybug. He wanted her to talk him out of it. He could barely believe what he was doing, but every time his father looked at him with that level of pride, every time his mother smiled at him from his computer background, every time he flipped through the scrapbooks his mom made, he could never bring himself to argue against it.

There’s a solution to all of this, he told himself over and over again. He can have both the love of his lady and the love of his family. He can, he can, he can. But only if he helps his father.

“The guardian needs to know you just joined the enemy she’s fighting against!” Plagg protested, more invested in this issue than he had been about anything not involving cheese.

“You’re right. Just, please, I need to do it. I only want to save my mother. I promise, after that, I’ll return the miraculous, I’ll undo any damage.”

Plagg floated for a moment in hesitation, but eventually slipped back into Adrien’s pocket.

“Tonight. You need to tell her tonight.”

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Adrien really had meant to make it to patrol with Ladybug. He’d never want to disappoint his lady. But ever since he became Hawkmoth’s sidekick, sneaking out as Chat Noir became more and more difficult.

His father had added nightly miraculous training sessions to his already packed schedule. He disguised it as “family bonding nights” on the written schedule, which Adrien would re-read over and over again every morning. When his mother was still alive, they used to have family dinners and movie nights every Friday. Maybe, soon, they could have them again.

As his father came down gracefully into Hawkmoth’s lair, Adrien was pulled back into the present. It was 8 pm, and Adrien was an hour late to patrol. His father had somehow become even more protective, and Adrien was now either stuck in the basement, at school, or asleep. Even his modeling time had been removed in favor of more training, with Gabriel excusing that based on him working on a secret new collection.

That wasn’t exactly untrue; Gabriel was trying to secretly collect two very important things. And yes, he needed two. Adrien wasn’t ready to give up the Chat Noir miraculous yet. First, he needed to figure out if bringing his mother back was even possible. Then, he needed to convince Ladybug to help him and willingly give over her miraculous, not take it from her.

Of course, he couldn’t explain that to his father yet. How do you tell your supervillain dad that you’re one of the superheroes you’re both now trying to defeat?

Speaking of which, Adrien now had another alter-ego, and alter-alter-ego if you will. Paon, the holder of the peacock miraculous. It wasn’t his choice - Gabriel instructed Adrien to take the peacock miraculous. “Hawkmoth and Paon,” he said, beaming, “the perfect duo.”

Adrien, like always, did as his father said. He slipped the peacock miraculous on the side of his jacket, the pin piercing into him.

He figured he deserved it.

“Duusu, spread my feathers,” Adrien called half-heartedly. It was strange not calling for Plagg, and he was glad he caught himself before calling out his true kwami’s name. He hoped that after this was all over, Duusu would be able to convince Plagg to forgive him.

Adrien stood still as the costume coated him. A long cape of peacock feathers shot behind him, where his tail would normally be, combined with a matching teal suit underneath. His hair shifted, turning a dark purple and blue at the ends. It reminded him a bit of Luka, Marinette’s ex-boyfriend, although Luka would never betray Marinette like Adrien was. An ornate mask formed across his face, with a lone feather poking out the side. Adrien sneezed. Why, oh why did his father have to give him the miraculous of the only animal he was allergic to?

Gabriel smiled, proud of his design. Adrien hadn’t chosen the outfit - if he had, it would be far more flexible and comfortable. Surprisingly, his leather catsuit was easier to breathe in than this look.

“Wonderful. Now for your first sentimonster, start with something small. It will take practice before you can reach the larger ones Nathalie and I create,” Gabriel instructed. Adrien knew it was his father underneath, but instinctively shuddered in the presence of Hawkmoth towering over him. In all honesty, Adrien wasn’t sure which one he feared more.

He closed his eyes, imagining all the details of the first thing that came to mind and moving his hands as if drawing it out in a game of Pictoinary. As he felt the object forming with his power, he wondered if this was how Ladybug felt when creating her lucky charms. Being the hero of destruction, he was familiar with the feeling of this dusting in his hands, but creating (even for villainous purposes) was an altogether different and beautiful experience. It reminded him of the time he was Misterbug, which only made him long for his lady even more.

“Eugh, of course,” Gabriel groaned, pinching his nose as a result of the floating piece of Camembert. “Now make it disappear. I don’t know how you stand, much less enjoy, the smell.”

Now destruction, he knew. But he couldn’t bring himself to snap his fingers. His mind drifted to Buginette, the sentimonster Mayura cruelly killed. Nathalie had killed Ladybug; maybe not his love, but a version of her. Could this floating Camembert feel?

He didn’t understand these new powers, and it scared him. He wanted his mom back - no, he needed his mom back - but he didn’t want to hurt innocent people in the process.

As he stared up at Hawkmoth’s menacing glare though, he realized he wouldn’t have much of a choice.

Adrien snapped his fingers, and the Camembert disappeared.

And, as Plagg watched hidden in the corner, any hopes of bringing back the old Chat Noir did too.

Chapter Text

Unlike she normally would be, Marinette wasn’t all that concerned when Adrien was missing in class today. It was the second anniversary of his mother’s death, after all. The boy deserved some time alone to grieve.

She did, however, help coordinate the class into writing a card and getting a few gifts together. She planned to deliver them to the Agreste mansion along with some baked treats after school.

Of course, she could never truly understand what Adrien was going through, but she could relate. The anniversary of Master Fu’s ‘death’ was coming up in just a few weeks, and Marinette could already sense that it would be a difficult day for her. She had mixed feelings about being the guardian, but most of all, it was hard seeing her mentor not remember all their times together at all. He was coming in for the day, not knowing why that day was so important, and Marinette planned to take him to the Louvre. Master Fu loved art, and Marinette needed a holiday.

But that was all besides the point, and Marinette needed to stop stressing about that anyways. It was still almost a month away, and she had some bigger emotions and responsibilities to deal with as the Guardian. Balancing her personal and superhero life had only gotten more difficult, and today was no exception.

Admittedly, her being late to patrol was partially her own fault. She should have ran to the Agreste mansion as soon as the bell rang, but the class had spent another hour after school had ended prepping the gifts and chatting, and then she had to run home and bake with her parents. The streets were crowded too, given it was rush hour, and so she had to run on foot to the Agreste mansion. She half-wished she could just transform into Ladybug so she could move faster, but Marinette had learned her lesson about using her superpowers to deliver gifts to Adrien Agreste. She’d never risk something like that again.

Oddly enough, the house was completely empty, save for Gorilla who grunted and let her in. She had forgotten how large the mansion was, and her footsteps echoed in the tall main hall. That, combined with the boring grey and black color scheme, made the whole house reek of a constant mourning for Emilie.

Carefully climbing up the marble steps, Marinette strode to Adrien’s room. After the blue scarf incident, she didn’t just want to leave everything at the front door; besides, Adrien might want company on a day like today. But just before she could knock on the door, it flung open right in her face, sending macarons and meticulously wrapped presents flying.

“I’m so sorry, Marinette!” Adrien shot to the ground to pick everything up, bumping heads with his very good friend. After another slew of apologies from both sides, Adrien seemed to realize exactly what had fallen all around him.

“Is this… for me?”

“Yeah! The class wanted to do something special for you because we know it’s a hard day. Not that it has to be! Or, rather, that there’s anything strange about this day. I mean, I don’t even know what day it is anyways!” Marinette’s voice ran quicker and higher as she rambled on, but Adrien didn’t seem to mind. He smiled, and brought her in for a tight hug.

“Thank you, I appreciate having amazing friends like you. Today has been... well, strange would be putting it lightly.” His voice dropped to a low whisper, so quiet Marinette could barely hear it (and Adrien definitely didn’t think she could). “I’m so sorry.”

Marinette melted into his arms. Although the smell of Adrien’s cologne was overwhelming (and was that a touch of camembert she detected?), Adrien’s hugs were the best. She immediately missed it when he pulled away at the sound of his father’s voice that had seemingly come out of nowhere.

“Adrien! It’s time for,” Gabriel coughed, “father son bonding time!” It took Marinette a while to process this. Gabriel’s tone was the same cold, commanding one she was used to, but his words didn’t match anything she knew about him at all. Well, she supposed it was important for the Agrestes to stay connected, especially today, and Marinette knew Adrien would be ecstatic at his father’s proposal to spend time with him.

At least, that’s what she thought. Instead, Adrien slumped, not even turning to look at him.

“Father, I’m kinda busy right now,” he muttered, the acoustics of the room being the only reason Gabriel could hear his son.

“Is what you’re doing more important than you-know-what?” Gabriel snapped, emphasizing the last phrase.

Adrien stared into space, weighing his two options. Marinette took this time to glance at the time on her phone. She didn’t want to awkwardly leave, but she was already 30 minutes late!

This time Marinette leaned in for a hug.

“Have fun with your father,” she whispered with her head pressed against Adrien’s chest, “and call me if you need anything.” Marinette ran down the stairs, tripping on the bottom step with Adrien thankfully behind her to catch her. She shot him a quick smile before rushing out the door, just turning the corner behind the gates before transforming.

She swore at herself while swinging towards their meeting spot at the Eiffel Tower. It wasn’t like her to be late, and after all the times she had harped on Chat for being so, she wasn’t looking forward to his playful jabs (well, she was, but wouldn’t admit that).

She stood on the lower beam of the Eiffel Tower, searching for Chat in the sunset. She spotted a few tourists below, not sure if they were taking pictures of her or the landscape behind her. She waved anyways, trying to appear calm as her worry grew. Hooking her yo-yo onto the top of the tower she did a full sweep, but still no luck.

“Chat, if this is some prank, I swear to god -” she said to no one. Ladybug swung her legs off the side of the tower as she waited, not very patiently. After nearly two hours of no Chat, no akumas, and no sign of anything interesting, she resigned to go home.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the first patrol Chat had missed, and it would be far from the last.

Chapter Text

Adrien fiddled with his ring as he sat in the stool next to Marinette at the Louvre. Master Fu stood at the opposite side, and Adrien glanced at the sketch that lay on the easel in front of him. He had never known how talented Master Fu was at art. It wasn’t finished enough for Adrien to guess what it was, but the rough outline seemed to take inspiration from the Mona Lisa with a Ladybug twist. Even with his memory erased, Master Fu always wound up back with Ladybug, whether he knew it or not.

His gaze turned to the other side, and Marinette gave him a wide smile. He grinned slightly back, but stared off into space as his mind returned back to what he’d say to his partner.

He could end this war now. That’s what Ladybug wanted, and what he wanted too. No more akuma, no more danger and fear. A simple solution that would save Paris and his mother, while also getting the miraculous back to the guardian once it was done. Surely Ladybug would agree with that?

He just had to figure out a time he could leave and tell her. So far it’d been two weeks, and the only time he’d been let out of the house was to help

Marinette and her great uncle (what a coincidence that she’s related to the old guardian, Adrien thought).
Well, not just that. Hawkmoth was waiting in a utility closet with the peacock miraculous waiting for Adrien to practice summoning his first full, public sentimonster in - Adrien checked his phone - approximately 10 minutes. He groaned, propping his feet up on the bench and laying his head down on Marinette’s lap. He felt her tense up and leaned up slightly to look at her, although she wasn’t meeting his eyes.

“Sorry,” Adrien said gently, “are you okay if I lean against you?”

“Yep! Yep, yep, no totally cool with it,” Marinette stuttered out, still not making eye contact with him. He shifted back down and closed his eyes. The museum was nice and silent today, given Adrien had got them in on a day it was closed to the public. He could have taken a nap there, if his phone hadn’t rang only a few minutes later. Adrien stood up, said a quick goodbye to Marinette and Master Fu, and went to go take the call from his father.

“Your boyfriend is quite cute, isn’t he?” Master Fu chuckled from behind his easel. Marinette blushed, if that was even possible given how red she already was.

“He’s just a friend,” she muttered out, before pulling out her own sketchbook to avoid the conversation. Having Adrien here was a good distraction though, especially since even a few moments without him let her mind wander to the whole superhero situation. First, she lost Master Fu a year ago today and now Chat has gone MIA? Could being a guardian get any more difficult?

As if on cue, a sentimonster burst in through the door. Marinette leapt up and grabbed Master Fu so fast that the easel and sketchbook fell and clattered on the floor. Master Fu shouted at first out of confusion, but one look at the giant clock with arms and legs had him running almost as fast as her. They split once they reached the bathrooms, despite Master Fu’s reluctance, and Marinette transformed into Ladybug. She ran back into the main room and gauged up her villain for the day. It was an inanimate object that appeared to be almost puppeted by string, which was normally the cue for a sentimonster rather than a loud, human akumatized victim. Not only was the humanish clock horrifying, but the design was shoddy and not like anything she’d seen Mayura or Shadowmoth create.

She had to duck as the clock shot out a laser at her, hitting the bench behind. It flew up, but oddly moved in slow-motion through the air. She guessed that was this sentimonster’s superpower: slowing things down in time.
Sliding underneath its feet, she searched for a likely matching akuma victim nearby, but couldn’t see or hear anything. The clock wobbled behind her, struggling to turn, and it wasn’t difficult for her to knock it flat on its face. While the sentimonster tried to get up, Ladybug started kicking down nearby doors. Surely something - or someone - had to be inside to control this thing, but the Louvre was still empty, save for her, Master Fu, and Adrien.

Adrien! He must be walking around, terrified. She called for him, but still couldn’t find him. Distracted with worry, she didn’t even notice the sentimonster picking itself up behind her, aiming the sharp, laser-shooting clock hand right at her.

“Wait, wait!” A voice called, bursting out behind a nearby column. There stood the new holder of the peacock miraculous, far shorter than the former wielders but dressed just as intimidating. “Sentimonster, I - uh - release you from life?” the teenager struggled out, wincing at the cliche phrasing. He scrunched his eyes in concentration, and the enemy dissipated before it could hit her.

“Hi, Ladybug,” he said, extending a gloved hand towards her, “I’m Paon.” He grinned for a few seconds, but the superheroine remained stone-faced and motionless in shock. Paon rubbed the back of his neck, looking away. He wanted to shrink back into the bathroom with his father, but this wasn’t exactly a conversation you could walk away from. He turned an even brighter red when Ladybug made her first move, wrapping him up with her yo-yo and pulling him up against her.

“Give Hawkmoth a message for me, pretty-boy,” she sneered, working the peacock miraculous off his suit jacket. He felt his shoulders lighten as his cape faded, and his mask slowly disappeared right off his face. He knew his father would tell him to fight (and it was, in fact, what Gabriel was screaming through Adrien’s earpiece), but he couldn’t fight her no matter how mad she was at him. To be honest, he was glad to just be done with all of this. If Ladybug took his miraculous, he wouldn’t have to worry about being Paon - he could just be Chat Noir again.

“Why don’t you tell me yourself!” his father shouted, and Adrien’s heart sank as Ladybug was swung aside with his father’s staff. Hawkmoth posed next to his son as if there were some superhero duo, which as Adrien was slow to realize, they were. Adrien fixed the pin of the miraculous and his costume returned, tight as always. Adrien immediately missed the small reprieve from the costume he had had, but understood why he couldn’t reveal his identity yet.

He needed more time. More time to tell Ladybug the truth. More time to get his father to stop hurting civilians. More time to spend with his friends. More time to be Chat Noir, which he hadn’t been in weeks.

More time to figure out who the heck he was becoming, and why he hated it so much.

Chapter Text

Marinette was about to lose it. She never thought she could hate someone more than Hawkmoth - heck, more than Lila - but Paon was really starting to get on her nerves.

Akumas still appeared, although they were rarer than the sentimonsters. Now that Ladybug was able to protect akumatized victims with a charm, Hawkmoth was far more precise when choosing his villains. Paon never seemed to run out of ideas, emotion, or power for his sentimonsters, and despite hours upon hours of brainstorming with Alya, Marinette hadn’t come up with anything to defend against them.

And Paon always seemed to show up at the worst times. Marinette knew, logically, that he wasn’t doing it on purpose but it still irritated her nonetheless.

Oh, that one time Adrien is free to go to coffee with her, Alya, and Nino? Paon shows up and she has to cancel.

The day the class gets to take a trip to England and she’s seated next to her dreamy crush? A sentimonster shows up on the train.

Even the night before their final exams a “teacher” sentimonster, whose gaze would drain you of your knowledge and leave you without any answers, appeared. It was at this point that Marinette started to fear Paon knew her true identity and was just toying with her.

More concerningly, his sentimonsters had gotten better and better. That final exam one was his first human one, and while it was devoid of emotion, was a heart-stoppingly accurate clone of Madame Mendeleev. She would have guessed it was just an akuma if she hadn’t seen the real teacher crying over her failure to recite the first few elements of the periodic table.

Unlike Hawkmoth, Paon always showed up with each sentimonster, usually standing off in the distance. Ladybug always imagined she was laughing as she tried to fight the increasingly stronger competition and save civilians at the same time.

Plus, without Chat Noir to cataclysm sentimonsters, she always had to face off against him in the end to get the amok. And he wouldn’t stop talking.

“Hey, Ladybug,” he smiled, almost flirtatiously, as he dangled his legs off the lower level of the Eiffel Tower. She growled, already struggling with the weight of Examinator, who swung tied up below her. Not like she could open her eyes to check though. She thrust a hand out blindly in hopes to grab his miraculous while he was off guard but just felt air.

“Give me your miraculous, mini-moth.”

“Woah, now who’s sounding like Hawkmoth? I’m really happy to give you the amok and my miraculous, if you can just hear me out.” He stood up, shouting about how he aimed to unite the miraculous to bring back loved ones and solve major issues in Paris, like pollution. Something about how “one wish can unite the people.”

She didn’t really care. It was her job to protect the miraculous and the people of Paris, and Hawkmoth and Paon could not be trusted to do that.

“La, la, la!” Ladybug yelled back in return, using her spare hand to plug her ears and, unbeknownst to Paon, pull out her lucky charm. Midway through his speech, she sensed his foot and tripped him off the tower, using the red and black spotted magnet to steal the metal pen with the amok. A satisfying clink of metal confirmed her plan had worked, and she snapped the pen on the tower to release the amok. Opening her eyes, she used her now-free yo-yo to de-evilize it before bounding down to where Paon lay, groaning in pain.

“I’ve also got an interview online,” he struggled out between breaths, “if that’s more your thing.”

She bent down to grab his miraculous right off him, but he grabbed her wrist right in time.

“Okay, I guess we’ll continue this another time, m’lady.”

“You don’t get to call me that,” she snapped, holding back more tears for Chat Noir. Her partner was either dead, or he would be once she saw him again. He hadn’t even bothered to call her when a new supervillain showed up, when her life as the Guardian had become even more complicated.

Paon stiffened, before throwing her to the side and jumping away. Right before taking off though, he paused and turned to look at her, sadness and regret filling his eyes.

“Just please, give me a chance,” he begged her. Ladybug wouldn’t let herself be manipulated though, and remained cold.

“Never.”

Chapter Text

It turned out though, never was an awfully short time for her, and Marinette’s curiosity about Paon overcame her that night. Googling his name came up with interviews from Nadja Chamack, Reddit forums supporting him, and even merch with his stupid, smirking face on it. The new supervillain had been around for a few months and there were already talks of adding him to the third installment of the Ladybug and Chat Noir animated movie series.

Marinette shut down her computer before she could get any more frustrated. She’d stick to her Adrien Agresete interviews and commercials, thank you very much.

“Marinette, maybe Ladybug should just hear him out,” Alya said at lunch the next day, interrupting Marinette’s rant about Paon.

“I’m with Alya,” Adrien added, perhaps a little too quickly. The issue of Paon v Ladybug had staunchly divided the school, with Adrien and Nino pro-Paon and Alya and Marinette pro-Ladybug. Chloe was neutral on the issue - she hates Ladybug but Paon’s design was just a fashion atrocity - but most other classmates fell on one side or the other. Thankfully, the fellow miraculous holders (Rose, Juleka, Mylene, Kim, Zoe, and Max) were all team Ladybug, but she knew Mylene and Ivan had gotten into a huge fight over whether Ladybug was being too hard on a guy who just thought he was doing the right thing.

“He’s just a teen like us,” Nino chimed in, as sympathetic as always. “Maybe he doesn’t know what he’s gotten himself into.”

“Well…” Adrien trailed off, thinking delicately about what he was going to say, “it might be a bit of that, but I think the ideas he proposes would actually be good. What do you think, Marinette?”
Marinette flinched as the table turned to her, Adrien’s eyes a little too focused on her response.

“Um, I mean, the ideas are certainly ideas?” She grimaced. Her crush for Adrien had faded quite a bit upon learning he was pro-Paon, but she’d be lying if she said her stomach still didn’t do flips when he looked at her like that.

“Marinette refuses to watch even a single one of his interviews.” Alya rolled her eyes and shoved Marinette’s side lightly. Both Alya and Tikki had been bugging her about it since the interviews premiered, but Marinette was adamantly against seeing them. They were hard to avoid, but Marinette would sprint past stores showing them on television, blocked the YouTube videos on her phone, and even asked her parents to stop watching the news when she was in the room.

“Oh, come on, Mari! How is that even possible?” Nino asked, laughing.

“I guess I’m just not obsessed with him like you guys are.”

In truth, Marinette was a little obsessed, in her typical Marinette way. Determined to figure out his identity, she compared the times he showed up to school schedules in town, pictures of public events on social media, and even possible sports tournaments he could be involved in.

She was able to narrow down the list to approximately 12,567 Parisian boys who could be Paon.

On her own, her research got her nowhere. But to defeat him, to save Paris, she had to know him.

It’s why when Adrien slid up next to her to show her the interview she didn’t complain, or close her eyes, or push him away. She watched as Paon slid on that red couch she and Chat Noir had sat on so many times. She listened as he enthusiastically went on about how he wanted to help, and how all four miraculous would be returned to the guardian after he unified and wished for a better Paris. She noticed the glint in his green eyes, that big smile, and that feeling of honesty in the way he spoke.

He was still naive in the power of the unification of the miraculous - no one wish could pull off everything he was hoping to accomplish - but, despite Marinette not wanting to believe it, he seemed to be speaking the truth. She couldn’t say the same about Hawkmoth, but Paon did genuinely want to be good.

The problem was, Marinette couldn’t risk the miraculouses on a gut feeling. There was a reason unification had never happened, and the bigger the wish the bigger the consequences.
When asked whether a better world was worth risking all of Paris, the answer was obvious to both Marinette and Adrien.

It just wasn’t the same answer.

Chapter Text

Ladybug had never thought she said she’d miss a supervillain. Yet, here she was, grateful for Hawkmoth’s first akumatized villain in months. Maybe he had finally given Paon the day off.
Bob Roth, donned in his gold-plated armor and matching crown, landed at her feet, cracking the street she was standing on. His now long hair flew in the wind.

‘Greed’ held his scepter in front of him, summoning another item out of thin air. His new mansion towered behind him, hiding Paris’ monuments that surrounded this spot. The fire-breathing unicorn was an odd addition, but Ladybug was too distracted dodging the blasts from Greed’s new pet to comment.

Seemingly satisfied with the enemy, Greed returned to his throne room. Ladybug never understood why akumatized villains did this, especially since Greed would likely get far too distracted with creating fancy items to take her down.

She wrapped the horse’s mouth with her yo-yo, but it broke through. Ladybug stared at her broken yo-yo, trying to piece together an idea to get back inside and back to defeating Greed.

Dashing up a lamppost, she rummaged through her yo-yo as the horse fumed (literally) from below. The lamppost burned her feet, and started to wobble as the base melted. Luckily, she found what she was looking for, and threw the macarons she normally kept in her bag for Tikki at the horse.

It paused, taking in the sensation of the treat. The fire slowed, and Ladybug lowered herself down.

“There, there,” she said gently, throwing another macaron far away. The horse chased after it. A few more, and it was out of sight, completely forgetting about her. A fire-breathing horse on the loose wasn’t ideal, but hopefully she could miraculous ladybug this away in no-time. She didn’t exactly have a partner to do damage control right now - she had to focus on the main issue.

She entered the palace, taking in the gold rimmed ceilings, crystal chandeliers, and white marble floors. You could fit the entire Agreste home just into the entrance room alone. Big piles of money, along with the main velvet throne, lay across the way, but Greed was no where to be seen. She walked around the house, her footsteps echoing away. She spotted a music studio where XY jammed away, unconcerned about his father’s current state; a walk in closet with nearly any outfit you could ask for; and, as she almost slipped on the entry, an indoor pool with a waterslide.

“Glad that you could make it, Ladybug,” Greed’s voice boomed over the speakers, disorienting the superheroine. Without her yo-yo, she could only brace herself for an attack.

She turned around too late. Greed’s hands pushed on her back, and as her foot shifted, she noticed the, of course, gold weight cuffed around her ankle. Her head sunk underwater, her hands skimming the surface of the pool. She opened her mouth in an attempt to get her lucky charms but just lost valuable breath. Her lungs burned, her eyes stung, and she was making no progress on breaking out of this thing.

She eventually gave up on trying to break out. It was, in reality, only a minute, but to her felt like a lifetime. She was so tired. Her hands stopped splashing the water, before a firm one grabbed them. He pulled her out in a surprisingly swift motion given the weight on her, and she coughed heavily on the pool edge.

“M’lady! Are you alright?”

“Chat?” She asked in disarray. Her blond rescuer smiled, standing up from his hunched pose around her to place himself between her and Greed.

“Close.”

Greed yelled in frustration, launching golden swords, daggers, and any other weapon he could think of at the two. In an impressive, dual-weapon combo, Paon deflected all of them. Ladybug stood up, slightly shaky, and summoned her Lucky Charm.

“That must be the akumatized object!” Paon glanced over at the object in her hands. She hated admitting it, but that was exactly what she was thinking. “I’ll hold him off, you go look for it.”

She wasn’t one to argue against Paon sacrificing himself, albeit odd, and after her incident in the pool she was a bit nervous to face off against Greed on her own right now. There were a million places the object could be hiding, but she had a gut feeling it was in the throne room.

She rummaged through the piles of hundred dollar bills with no lucky. Examined the throne, the chandelier, the walls for a clue and got nothing. She was just about to give up and leave when Paon and Greed’s fight was brought to her. The villain - well, the akumatized one specifically - accidentally shot the chandelier, and it came crashing to the ground. Ladybug pulled Paon away just in time.
He thanked her, but she was frustrated. She hated that she needed his backup right now.

“No! Not my chandelier!” Greed shouted in agony. That’s when inspiration struck Ladybug.

“Yeah? Well, your chandelier is the least of your worries, because I’ve got your akumatized object! Prepare to lose all your powers!” She held up the fake pair of glasses, a gold and diamond studded version of the ones Bob Roth always wore.

“How is that possible? I hid it in the chair!” Greed realized his mistake in his anger a touch too late. Ladybug grabbed one of Paon’s sharp fans and cut open the velvet seating. Hidden in a chest below were the glasses, and while Paon held Greed off, she snapped them.

She tossed the fan back to paon, and used the fake pair to miraculous ladybug the town. Marble faded to cobblestone, gold walls traded for the Arc De Triomphe. Her now-repaired yo-yo took down the akuma, and Paris was back to normal.

Well, except for the fact the Hawkmoth’s partner had just helped her take him down. Bob Roth ran off after Ladybug placed his charm in his suit jacket pocket, leaving the two enemies (but secret friends) in a stand off.

“Why?” is all Ladybug could say, perhaps a touch too accusatory considering he had just saved her life.

“I don’t kill, you know this. Plus, I could never let the woman I love die.”

His eyes were far too full of love for Ladybug’s comfort. She didn’t know what to say. It was easier, almost, when it was Chat Noir; she knew, at least, he wouldn’t burn down all of Paris if she said no.

She still had feelings for Adrien, and anyways, she couldn’t love someone she had to fight against.

Even if he was just as passionate as her, just as determined, just as brave. Even if he had just saved her life in the most attractive, suave way possible. Even if -

She was pondering all the reasons why she couldn’t love him while Paon waved goodbye to her stuttering self.

The moment she got home, she screamed into her pillow. She desperately wanted things to just go back to normal.

“Chat Noir,” she whispered to the stars as she stared up through her skylight, “where are you?”

Chapter Text

If you had asked Adrien six months ago where his life would be now, he would never have guessed he’d be this happy.

Adrien loved being Paon, and he felt Duusu loving him more too. His costume was way more comfortable now, and the original formal teal suit his father had him transform into was now a bodysuit, not unlike his Chat Noir design, of the same color. Purple and navy swirls covered it as well, to separate his look from those of Aspik and Viperion.

Adrien had kept the cape (he loved the way it floated when he jumped), but it was far looser and more casual. As for his hair, it was nearly completely turquoise blue with purple highlights, and tousled the same way Chat Noir’s was.

His father hated it. It only made Adrien like it more.

Hawkmoth had long ago run out of things to train Adrien in, and, although Gabriel never officially gave it to him, Adrien kept the Peacock miraculous at all times. He transformed whenever he pleased, sometimes just to wander around and take pictures with fans. His sentimonsters were more polished, and he took care never to be the one to destroy them unless he lost control and it threatened a civilian, although instances like that were rare now.

His popularity was soaring, pun intended. Paon was rated Paris’ most popular superhero, beating out Ladybug for the first time ever. He even came in second in the global competition, with a close vote to Eagle (formerly Sparrow). Citizens would often gather to cheer on sentimonsters, and public pressure on Ladybug to loan her miraculous to Paon was growing.

At first, Adrien felt bad for Ladybug. He had never meant to create so much animosity against her. He wanted them to be a team. It’s just, at this point, this was her own fault. He was all over the news, he had repeatedly told her his motivations, and he had never put her or any civilians in danger. Yet she barely spoke to him. Battles had become boring, especially when only she wanted to fight.

He felt her hesitation though. That’s one new extra power he got as Paon that he loved: reading emotions. Not only as Chat Noir did he know her well enough to recognize doubt, guilt, and grief, but he could physically feel the waves of it when he neared her.

Today, Ladybug had already defeated his sentimonster, although he cared more that she hadn’t immediately taken off. There was something new this time. Sympathy, and was that a hint of attraction?

“You watched my interview, didn’t you?”

“I may have,” Ladybug said slowly, looking past Paon.

“Don’t you get it now?” he asked excitedly. Paon bounded towards Ladybug, and while she looked slightly scared, she didn’t move as he grabbed her hands. “You can help me!”

“That’s not what I said.” Ladybug pulled away and sat on the side of the roof. Paon matched the motion, still too close and staring too intensely for her liking. “You need to stop this. It’s too much of a risk.”

“What can I do to get you to trust me?” Paon let out, exasperated. All this time he had been worried about how to tell Ladybug. He had never guessed she’d be against helping Paris and the world. Against saving his mother.

She swallowed hard, avoiding eye contact, seemingly running through all the scenarios in her head. He felt her stress, and it hurt him. Hesitantly, he drifted his hand towards her cheek, bringing her to face him.

“You’re the most incredible girl, Ladybug. You’re brave, and kind, and I know you would do anything for the people of Paris.” He paused, and her eyes flickered to his. He could feel her stilted breath, warming him on this cold Parisien night. “I promise you, we’re the same, you and I. I would do anything for the people I love.”

A beat passed. He couldn’t help it. He had to blurt it out.

“I would do anything for you.”

She recoiled slightly in shock, but didn’t move his hand from her face or her leg pressed against his. He watched as her beautiful, bluebell eyes met his. He watched them soften, and she gave him the same glance he was used to back when he was Chat Noir.

“It doesn’t work that way.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way,” she repeated quietly.

Paon put an arm around her, and tilted her chin towards him.

“It can, though. It can.”

He closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss her. He felt her lips get closer, anticipating their first kiss (that he’d remember, at least). He could sense the same in her. He could sense…

He tried reaching for the power again, and couldn’t feel anything. He opened his eyes and jumped back, his costume gone and the peacock miraculous in Ladybug’s hands.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, shaking.

“You tricked me!” Adrien yelled, full of fury and betrayal and disappointment. “You used my feelings for you to, what, force my identity out of me?”

Ladybug didn’t move, still open-mouthed at the sight of him. Before she could react, Adrien snatched the peacock miraculous back, the pin scratching her hand in the process.

“I would have told you, you know. I would have given it to you, if you had just trusted me! Why do you always trust everyone except me? Why am I never allowed to be the one to make the call to save the world?” Adrien let all of it spill out. Months of frustration trying to convince her as Paon, not to mention her confirming his worst fears: that Chat Noir was completely unnecessary. She didn’t care about Chat Noir being missing, and didn’t even feel like she needed him to defeat Hawkmoth.

Ladybug had always been the one to make the final call. As Guardian, it made sense, but her being so against his plan made him really doubt what he fought for with her. He was never included in the long-term plan to defeat Hawkmoth, if there even was one. Maybe taking strange jewelry from a random old man without knowing who his partner truly was wasn’t Adrien’s smartest decision.

“Until we meet again, Ladybug,” he seethed, transforming back into his superhero self.

If he hadn’t decided before, this solidified Adrien’s choice. He was doing this now, with Ladybug’s help or not.

Chapter Text

If it was even possible, Marinette had gotten awkwarder around Adrien. She refused to look him in the eyes, say more than two words to him, or even walk next to him in the halls. Alya didn’t understand how her friend had regressed so much. She thought Marinette had gotten more confident around her crush, but her nerves were so high around Adrien now you’d think they were nemeses.

Alya needed Marinette to toughen up, especially since Adrien needed them right now. Nino had confided in her that Adrien was acting really oddly, going through deeply sad periods and snapping out at the smallest things. His bro had only told him that he had a falling out with another friend, but Nino knew there was more to that. Having Marinette abandon Adrien too just because she liked him was not what either of them needed.

So, Alya and Nino decided to play matchmaker. They swapped seats in Madame Bustier’s class so that Adrien and Marinette were seated next to each other. They asked them out on double dates to romantic movies. Alya and Nino had straight up locked them in a closet together during a field trip to the Louvre but Marinette still wouldn’t say a word!

Alya knew Marinette was going through a lot as Ladybug right now, especially with Paon, but she couldn’t help her if Marinette wouldn’t let her. Alya wanted to respect her space and decision to keep that secret, but not when it started to hurt her other friends at this extreme level. Marinette wouldn’t explain why she had frozen up so often, and had even ripped all of Adrien’s photos down and thrown them in the trash.

It was in the middle of one of Alya’s routine naggings that Marinette took off as Ladybug for “patrol.” Not that she had any set times for it anymore, given it wasn’t like she was meeting her partner.

Marinette couldn’t explain to her best friend why she couldn’t support Adrien the same way; Paon was right, it was wrong of her to force his identity out of him that way. Telling Alya would just make it worse. She had sunk to the same level as Buginette and Mayura manipulating Chat Noir all those months ago.

She hadn’t begun to process that Adrien was in love with Ladybug. Although she doubted he was anymore after she pulled that stunt. Had Adrien really friend-zoned her for her alter-ego? It would have been almost cute if it wasn’t revealed in the worst way possible.

Ladybug and Adrien could have had a nice, sweet relationship, and it wasn't like Chat Noir was still around to compete for her affections anyways. Maybe she would have swung to his window for dates, visited movie premieres as a couple, and gotten Andre’s ice cream together on the bridge…

“What are you doing here?” A voice shot at her from inside, snapping her out of her daydream. Oh god. There she was, sitting on top of Adrien’s windowsill, while the boy she was in love with but now supposed to hate glared at her from below. He made a shooing motion, as if she was a stray cat.

Oh, now she missed her partner in crime. She wished Chat Noir was here to take her out of this humiliating situation.

“Just, hear me out,” she asked, turning to face him. He snorted, and slammed the window.

She left before he could see her tears.
__

“Plagg, what was that?” Adrien whisper-screamed at his Kwami, who for an all-powerful being of destruction looked awfully nervous. Adrien fidgeted with his ring that forced Plagg close at all times. Despite his protests, Plagg hadn’t had the chance to see or talk to Ladybug - at least, until he almost shot out of Adrien’s room just now.

“I need to meet with Tikki’s holder to understand what’s going on. You’re fighting on the same side as Hawkmoth, for cheese’ sake!”

“I did, Plagg. And she rejected me, manipulated me, used me, like she always did and always does. She doesn’t want to save Paris. She just wants to keep her own superhero status.”

“I thought you loved her.”

“And where did that get me?”

“I get that you’re hurt. I, too, have had the finest, most delicious piece of Camembert turn sour. I still mourn the loss of that cheesy goodness, the taste of -”

“Will you shut up about your stupid Camembert?”

Silence hung in the room. Adrien wasn’t wrong to interrupt - Plagg would have gone on for hours about his cheese if he hadn’t - but it was still the first time Adrien had yelled at his Kwami. At anyone, really.

Much to Adrien’s surprise though, Plagg’s mouth zipped. Despite his muffles, the Kwami physically could not speak. Adrien stared at his ring. He hadn’t even known he had this sort of power before.

He liked it a lot more than he wanted to admit. If only he could use it on his father, or on Ladybug.

“I can’t convince you not to go to her, can I? Convince you not to take the miraculous and leave.”

Plagg shook his head. The kwami still couldn’t speak, but it was probably for the better that Adrien didn’t hear what Plagg was thinking.

“Don’t you trust me? I’m doing the right thing.” Adrien’s nose stiffened, and his voice cracked as he tried not to cry. Ladybug betrayed him, Marinette hated him, and now Plagg didn’t believe in him anymore.

He twisted off his ring in one smooth motion.

“Plagg, I renounce you.”

Plagg sucked back into the ring, his face twisted. Adrien stuck the ring in Plagg’s stash of cheeses. It seemed fitting, after all.

Duusu flew out from behind a corner.

“Master,” she said shakily, “are you sure that was a good idea?”

“No,” Adrien answered honestly. He already missed the company of his original Kwami. “But I had to do it. He left me no choice.”

He glanced at the cat miraculous’ hiding spot.

“No choice,” he repeated to himself. All of this, he had to do it, for the sake of his mother, his father, all of Paris.

He just hadn’t wanted all of this.

Chapter Text

“What happened to your ring?” Gabriel asked when Adrien came down the next morning, attempting to be the caring father. It didn’t fit him.

“It didn’t suit my style anymore,” Adrien shrugged. “Why do you care? You never liked it anyways.”

“Don’t talk back to me. And, speaking of which, what do you think you’re wearing?” Gabriel motioned to the ratty hoodie and sweats. It was over 3 years old, and the faded grey color alongside some stray strings showed it. But Adrien couldn’t bear to throw it out; his mother had given it to him, some promotional gear for her movie she had exclusively gotten for him on set. He hadn’t worn it since she died. But he needed the comfort today, something to remind him exactly what all of this fighting was for.

Nathalie tried to usher him back to his room to change, but Adrien stayed glued to the bottom of the steps. He glared at his father, waiting for him to break eye contact.

“I’m wearing my mother’s hoodie. Just to remind you what I’m winning us back.” Adrien knew his father needed him. Paon was far more powerful than Hawkmoth, not only in direct ability but in Adrien’s popularity in Paris.

Adrien loved his father, but he was the adult here now. He was the one who was in control of bringing his mother back for the both of them. And, so long that he held this upper hand, by god was Adrien going to break free of the grasp his father had held on to him for so long.

Gabriel relented, just like he did when Adrien stopped informing him of his sentimonster plans, just like he did when Adrien changed his superhero outfit, just like he did whenever his mother dictated the family plans for the day. His father’s expression was the same as the time his mother canceled their son’s photoshoot for an impromptu trip to Rome just for some gelato. Adrien had spilled chocolate all over his shirt, he remembered. His father had been desperate to clean it up with napkins. His mother had just laughed and bought him a new shirt. It was still in his closet, he thought. He should wear it tomorrow.

When Adrien finally arrived at school, 10 minutes late due to the debacle with his father, he simply collapsed his head on the desk. He was seated next to Marinette now, in the front row, but she wouldn’t even respond to his gruffly good morning to her. She scootched away from him on the bench, and didn’t bother to wake him up when he started snoring midway through Madame Bustier’s lecture. She made him feel like a bad guy, just like she had on that first day of school so long ago. He was already getting plenty of that from Ladybug anyways, between her manipulating and stalking him just to defeat him.

Marinette, the sweetest, most intelligent girl he knew, hated him. And he had no idea why.

So when Madame Bustier asked him to stay after school for detention, he was too tired to argue. After everything that had happened, he probably deserved it.

He shot off a quick text to his father informing he’d be home late from school. God, texting his father - so much could change in only half a year.

And then, he’d put his head back on his desk, dreaming of whatever new sentimonsters he could get Ladybug’s attention with next.

Chapter Text

For a straight-A student, class president, and secret Parisian superhero, Marinette got detention far too often.

Today, it was some snap at Chloe she made during PE. The school had really cracked down on any negative peer interactions with the whole akumatization situation (not to mention, Paon advocating for stronger anti-bullying policies on the news), and so her smart but sharp retort had landed both her and Chloe in detention.

Oh, did she mention Adrien was in detention too? Yeah, Mr. Model had suddenly turned into a detention regular, likely thanks to her crushing his feelings as Ladybug. She had been avoiding him at school after their awful window-encounter; she couldn’t stand Adrien hating Marinette too.

She watched as he slumped next to her, not even surprised to see her.

“Chloe?” He asked, a knowing smile. She nodded. Marinette blushed at the moment of eye contact, scolding herself and focusing back on her work.

Adrien’s face fell, and not even bothering to appear to be doing work, he slouched back on the desk. Slouched so far, in fact, his foot tripped Chloe as she walked by them, almost as if he purposely tripped her. Marinette hid her laugh in a macaron.

Once Chloe marched her way to her spot (after much high pitched whining), a mandated silence fell across the room again. Well, apart from Adrien’s snores. Madame Bustier was too kind to wake him up.

The rest of detention proceeded about the same way as always. Marinette almost wished there was a mid-detention akuma attack, which to be fair happened pretty often due to Chloe’s complaining.

Marinette’s eyes kept going back to Adrien by her side. A year ago she would have done everything except use the miraculous wish to have the chance to be this close to Adrien. Close enough to observe his drool even - she avoided fantasizing about that too much, trying to be less of a creep than she used to be.

When Madame Bustier dismissed them all, Marinette gently nudged Adrien. Well, gentle at first, but it took a few hard pokes to actually shake him awake. She wasn’t sure if she liked being able to jostle a supervillain or just liked the excuse to touch Adrien. She told herself it was the former.

She slid a cookie on a napkin his way (Tikki was a little peeved at her snacks being given away, but she would deal). He murmured a thanks as he inhaled it in one bite. A reward, she thought, for his nice revenge on Chloe earlier.

She was packing her bags as classmates filed out, noticing Adrien waiting for her despite having no bags of his own. His lack of effort in school was stressing her out just seeing it. Despite everything that had gone down, she still cared enough about him to worry. And despite her best denials, her heart still fluttered when he said her name.

“Hey, uh, Marinette, is everything okay?”

“What? Yes, yes, everything is fine - nothing out of the ordinary, honestly,” she rushed, tripping over her words.

“Alright. It’s just…” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking flustered himself. “I feel like you’ve been avoiding me? Which is totally within your rights to do, and you don’t owe me anything, but I’m not sure why.”

She was struck with an extra layer of guilt. Her attempts to not ruin her relationship with Adrien by speaking to him was of course ruined by her not speaking to him.

“It’s not you,” she let out, which was honestly true. She had gotten so stressed over this Paon situation that she made a rash choice, and it wasn’t Adrien’s fault she had revealed his identity. “I’m just all in my head about not making the right decisions, and it’s hurting my relationships with the people who are important to me.”

“Like, about university next year?” He guessed.

“Sure.” She shrugged. “It’s just… one of my friends is going to a school because of his parents, and I think it’s a risky choice for a lot of reasons, but he feels like I don’t understand him.”

“Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Understand him.”

She looked at Adrien, all disheveled (and, unfortunately, very hot). She saw Paon, aching for someone to love him back.

“Not yet. And I’m not sure I’ve earned the chance to.”

“Marinette, you are the most selfless friend I know. This guy is stupid for not listening to you.”

If only he knew how funny that was. And honestly, Marinette wasn’t sure if he was right.

“Anyways, how are you?” She meant to divert the conversation, but she realized she actually wanted to know. She should have asked about it earlier. She forgot how nice it was to talk to him.

“Oh, you know,” Adrien brushed it off.

“I feel like we’ve just established that I don’t,” Marinette chuckled. She and Adrien started to make their way out of the classroom.

“It’s similar to you, actually. I know I need to do something, I’m just not sure how to do it. I was hoping to do it with this person but… I’m not sure we’re on the same page anymore. Or if we ever were.”

“You were. I mean, I’m sure you were, and that she is really trying to be there for you.”

“At least I have you, my fellow juvenile delinquent friend.” Adrien bumped shoulders with Marinette, almost sending her flying down the front steps of their high school.

“Always, sleepyhead.” Marinette blushed again, not meaning for it to come out so flirty. Without Chat Noir, there was all this flirtatious energy, and now here it was, coming out with Adrien of all people.

They stared at each other for a quick beat. The limo had pulled up, but Adrien made no attempt to move.

Suddenly, Marinette wrapped him in a tight hug. He swore he heard her whisper to him, “I know you’re a good person, Adrien.” Then, as quick as that happened, she bounded away, and he waved a soft goodbye.

And for the first time since that night on the roof with Ladybug, Adrien smiled.

Chapter Text

Adrien laid on his bed, tossing his basketball up at his so very far up ceiling. He hadn’t expected that losing Plagg would make his life so boring again. No offense to Duusu, but she was terrible at conversation. There was so much to do in his room and yet after spending nearly his whole life trapped in here late nights like these made it feel like there was nothing.

He set the basketball down and paced around. He traced his fingers along the rows of video games and records, fiddled with the rungs of the foosball table, tried and failed to scale the giant pole. He finally settled in front of his giant full sized mirror, if full sized could mean like three times the size of him. Adrien just stared at himself, in this old hoodie with these huge bags under his eyes and a sneering face. What happened to the golden happy boy?

He’d get him back, he told himself. That’s what his mother was for, when she was back he’d lose all this exhaustion, this hate.

“Duusu, spread my feathers.” Adrien stared himself in the mirror as he focused on his transformation. This wasn’t an uncommon routine - most of his new designs for his costume came from many late night trials of learning to change it.

He played with the loose peacock feathers along his collarbone and sneezed. He wished Marinette were here - she would have made a far better design for this than he could have.

“Adrien?” He jumped back at the sound of her voice. There’s no way - it’s not possible. His father certainly wouldn’t have let her in - did she sneak through the window? Either way, there Marinette was, standing in her double pigtailed glory in the middle of his room, illuminated by the moonlight.

He couldn’t help but acknowledge how beautiful she looked. And more importantly, happy. She was smiling at him, the first time in weeks. He missed her smile.

Adrien grabbed her sides, taking her in, before wrapping her in a tight hug.

“I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Why of course. You created me.”

His face dropped, losing all color as he stepped back. As his hand unraveled from being tightly wrapped around her back, he realized his fist was clenching something.

His old lucky charm bracelet, from back when he and Marinette were friends, back before he ever became Paon, back when he was just a superhero in love with his partner.

“I don’t understand. You look… so real.”

Marinette - or whatever this Amok Marinette was - laughed. “I am real!”

Although he tried to avoid reminders of his life as Chat Noir as much as possible, Adrien was drawn back into the memory of Buginette. Was it possible - did he create a real, alive amok?

“I believe this belongs to you,” Adrien said, handing over the lucky charm without a second thought. Was it insanely weird that Marinette now basically had a clone? Yes. Could he bring himself to kill her? Never.

“You can’t stay here, by the way. Get out of Paris. I can fly you anywhere - New York, Shanghai. I’ll book your tickets now.”

But as Adrien turned around from the computer, Amokinette was gone. He breathed a sigh of relief at first. To be honest, he wasn’t quite sure how he’d hide even a fake Marinette in his house without his father losing it. He just hoped Amokinette had enough common sense for someone who was only five minutes old to not immediately run into someone he knew. I mean Paris was a city of over 2 million people - surely one copy would go unnoticed?

Maybe it was the power drain of creating a whole new living being, but Adrien suddenly was hit with exhaustion. He detransformed and marked this as a later problem as he collapsed into empty dreams.

---

Marinette was half asleep on her chemistry textbook when the doorbell rang.
“I’ve got it, Maman and Papa!” She called, racing down the stairs. She wasn’t quite sure what to expect - Adrien, here to apologize and talk more? An amok, off to instigate some sort of late night damage? Paon, in some strange door to door plea for the miraculous?

Whatever crazy ideas she had could not compare to what it felt like opening the door and seeing your own face stare back at you.

“Hello, other Marinette.”

Chapter Text

“Paon! Paon!!” Marinette called angrily off her balcony. Sure, her neighbors may think she’s a little crazy - but to be honest, this guy kinda was driving her insane.

“He’s not going to magically hear you, you know. That’s not how it works,” Amokinette chuckled, her arms propped up right on the edge of the trapdoor to her balcony.

“You have to hide. Someone is going to see you.”

“It’s fine, I’m, like, basically just your sister. And no one is going to be at your balcony this late anyways. Especially Paon.” Amokinette placed extra emphasis on the final name, twirling her pigtails in contrast to Marinette’s growingly irritated expression.

“You showed up here pretty late.”

“Hey, to me I was only born a few hours ago. And it took me a while to find… myself,” Amokinette said vaguely. Knowing herself, Marinette understood where those stalkerish skills came from.

“Well, anyways, I don’t exactly have any other options. He caused this, so this is his problem.”

“Right, and I’m sure this hour’s the charm.”

“You’re not exactly one to be talking about charms here, Amokinette.”

“That’s such a terrible name, for the record.”

“How about Inette?” A male voice shot up from above. Both of the girls’ faces looked up, one fuming and one slightly amused.

“Finally! Look what you’ve done! Is this just to torture me or something?” Marinette seethed. She tried to bite back her anger, remembering that civilian her had never actually met Paon before.

“No way, when he made me, it was much more of a ‘oh Marinette I missed you, oh I love you, please just marry me!’”

Both Paon and Marinette flushed at Inette’s suggestion. There’s no way; was Adrien finally crushing back on her? Now, after she had discovered he was a supervillain?

She side-eyed him, looking for hints of manipulation, that deadly charm; instead, he was timid, struggling to find words like a schoolboy with a crush. Like her schoolboy crush, the dreamy teenager that used to cover her walls. Like her Adrien.

“Just because I gave you back your stupid token does not mean you have the freedom to share my secrets,” he muffled out between his hands covering his face.

As the tension in the air loosened, Marinette let the realization set in. Paon had given her back her control? He had finally created this perfect human replica, and didn’t even want to use it in some plot.

“I’m sorry,” Paon said, looking for the first time at Marinette again, his baggy eyes open and genuinely apologetic. “I didn’t mean to disappear on you for so long. And I’m sorry for the clone too, I’m sure it’s awkward to say the least.”

He motioned for Inette to step up, joining them on the balcony. “I’ll get you on a train out of here tomorrow, like I promised. And then you’re welcome to live your life, as long as you never return to Paris.”

“She can stay the night here, and you can pick her up for the first train in the morning.” Marinette sighed. She still didn’t love the idea of a clone wandering around somewhere, certainly not near Paon, but she wasn’t very well going to advocate for killing the girl.

Paon gave Marinette a grateful and tired nod, as Inette chased over to wrap her arms around her twin. “My first sleepover!”

Inette’s energy perhaps made sense as an excited 3-hour-year-old, and she unfortunately doubted either of the girls would be getting much sleep.

Chapter Text

“So what are we supposed to talk about at these things? Boys? World domination? The ever existent drain it is to be a woman?” Inette flopped on Marinette’s bed, looking up at her twin eagerly as her elbows propped her up.

“If it’s alright with you, I’m still going to try to get a tiny bit of sleep tonight.”

“ERR! Wrong answer.” Inette swung her legs out before dropping down to the main level.

“Don’t poke around my stuff!” Marinette awkwardly placed herself in front of the sewing box guarding the miraculous as she watched herself snoop.

“Ooh, who’s this?” Inette teased, pulling out a picture of Adrien from the trash bin. She laughed to herself. “Cutie pie.”

“He’s just a model. I used to use him for inspiration for my projects.” Technically not a lie.

“These projects?” Inette lifted a cover off one of Marinette’s mannequins. A half finished dress - she had started it with intent to wear it to the winter dance, even though it had passed several months ago.

“Yeah, I need to fix that one. All of these, really. The seam ripped on Alya’s blouse over there, and the stitch is too tight on Nino’s glove here.” Inette rifled through each of her friends’ items as Marinette explained their problems.

Her twin tilted her head, suddenly becoming oddly serious. “You really take it on to fix everything, huh.”

“Well, you know, that’s who I am.”

“Is it?” The two Marinettes stared at one another. “I suppose you would know better than I do. It just seems like a lot. I thought I would be more fun.”

“I am fun!” Marinette protested, trying to hush her whispers so as not to wake her parents. “I’m fun. I go to movies and things. I have friends.”

“Ooh, tell me about movies. When was the last time you saw one?”

Marinette paused, racking her brain. “Okay, maybe I don’t see movies with friends too often. That doesn’t change my point.”

“Sure, whatever. I’m going to see that new Ladybug & Paon movie when it comes out after I leave Paris. In the crazy 4D IMAX. I saw ads for it on my walk over here.”

Cue Marinette’s mandatory eye roll.

“Not a fan?” Inette asked, pausing from her scavenging to look up.

Marinette hesitated, her normally knee-jerk answer caught in her throat. “I don’t idolize superheroes, I guess. They’ve all got their own problems,” she said, after a while.

“Oh, don’t be all deep about it. He’s hot.”

Marinette laughed, relaxing her arms. “Well then maybe you can stay here and deal with him and I’ll fly off somewhere.”

“Nah, I think the whole superhero-ing part is better suited for you.” Marinette took a deep swallow, not quite understanding what Inette was saying.

“The whole Ladybug thing,” her twin casually clarified. “What, I’m a magical object created out of a miraculous, and I’ve got your smarts! Of course I’m going to notice your identical earrings and that box you seem so intent on protecting.”

“That’s - me? What?” Marinette chuckled nervously. “No way. I couldn’t be Ladybug.”

“You can’t lie to me, I’m you!” Inette grabbed Marinette’s shaking hands, eyes shining. “I know we’ve got it in us.”

Marinette chewed on her lip, tightening her grasp around her sister’s hands. Carefully stepping away from her protective corner, the two girls sat down on Marinette’s sofa.

“So, what if you’re right. You can’t tell anyone.”

“Duh. I’m leaving tomorrow anyway. Just giving myself a little pep-talk is all, self-love and all that.” Inette laid her head on her twin’s shoulder.

They sat like that for a while, Marinette finally enjoying the silence. She remembered confessing her secret to Alya a while ago on this very same couch. It had been a while since she had truly been able to talk to her friend about everything that was going on. She missed it.

“Hey, if you’ve got all my great advice and are in the pep-talk business, I’ve got this guy. My friend. His name is… Buttercup. I used to have this enormous crush on him, but then I learned we totally disagreed on something really important and, well, I kinda screwed it up. The friendship and the crush. But Buttercup doesn’t know it was me who screwed it up, and so I don’t even know how to apologize, or if I have anything to apologize for, or if I should just give up on love in general since it seems like I suck at it.”

Marinette let everything from the past year fly off her chest. She was just talking to herself anyways, right?

She got a snore from Inette in response. An answer for another day then.

Chapter Text

“Good morning, ladies,” Paon greeted them charmingly, far too nicely for a sleep-deprived Marinette who scowled in response. Inette gulped down a coffee and pain du chocolat from downstairs. She and Marinette had rotated in and out of the kitchen, somehow fooling her (their?) sleep deprived parents. “Ready?”

“Yup,” Inette made out between mouthfuls. She crawled up to the balcony, coffee in one hand and pastry held in her teeth. Marinette followed behind.

Paon pulled Inette closer, holding one hand around her waist to keep her steady before they took off.

“Wait!” Marinette cried, pulling Inette back into a hug much to both of their surprise. “It was nice meeting… me.”

Inette smiled. “Samesies. See you in another version of the same life.”

Paon picked her up bridal style as they jumped gracefully away. Marinette stood on her balcony far after she had lost sight of them, waving in the distance.

—

There should not be this many paparazzi at the train station in the morning.

Paon had trouble even finding a spot to land without tripping over folks with cameras. As he set Inette down, he noticed she didn’t even look troubled or surprised. She had an easy laugh, and she waved as she took a sip of her coffee.

“You tipped them off, didn’t you?” Paon whispered underneath a tight fake smile and stilted wave. It wasn’t like his skills for this were rusty - he’d been doing press tours as Paon for months - but it had been a while since he had to do one of these against his will.

“Well, it’s not exactly like I’m getting more chances to be photographed with a popular superhero. If I’m getting kicked out of Paris I might as well go out in lights.” As she said this, she stopped waving, and turned to Paon. He still had an arm around her back, and so when he looked back down at her they were far too close.

Whether it was the train or the lack of sufficient sleep, Paon was not paying attention to any of the swirling questions of the reporters. Or maybe it was the fact that his eyes kept drifting to Marinette’s - Inette’s - lips.

When Inette moved in closer, pushing her hands through his teal hair and her lips against his as a response as to whether the pair was dating, Paon could only focus on how amazing it felt. He closed his eyes and pulled her face closer, but when he re-opened them, she was gone, and the train was racing off. He was left there, stunned, as reporters grew even louder with questions.

Equally stunned was Marinette, watching herself kiss her longtime crush turned nemesis on loop at home. Her phone would not stop buzzing with texts from Alya, her other classmates, and even Nadja Chamack.

The only important one, though, was from the boy all of Paris had just seen her make out with.

Hey, can we talk?

Chapter Text

If there’s one thing no one wants, it’s fanfiction written about them.

When Alya showed Marinette the Paon x Marinette fic (thankfully censoring out certain parts), Marinette could not believe her eyes. In less than a week, she’d gone from a minor celebrity (she was still riding off that Jagged Stone fame) to a front page magazine spread. Well, not her technically - but her face! And it was Marinette that was being followed, and questioned at school, and having to delete all her social media. Inette had probably dyed her hair and jet setted off to somewhere in rural Canada until the attention died down. Smart girl.

Paon had visited her balcony every night since that day, which wasn’t exactly low profile. Adrien had tried to approach her every lunch after she ghosted his text. At this point, Marinette was considering dropping out of school, but her academic gratification tendencies wouldn’t allow for that.

She’s not sure what was the breaking point that made her finally unlock her roof tonight. Perhaps recent reflection that her avoidance strategies are what ruined her friendship with Adrien in the first place. Or maybe she just needed someone to talk about this all with that wasn’t Alya just totally fangirling over her imaginary relationship.

“I’m not fake dating you, for the record.”

Paon turned around from romantically staring out at the Paris city nights. “What? You’re here! Also, what?”

“I’m just saying I’ve read enough romance novels. And fanfics about us. I’m not doing a fake dating thing just because you forced Inette to kiss you.”

“I would not have forced something like that. I wouldn’t force anything. I’m really sorry for getting you into this mess.” Paon seemed genuinely apologetic. Right - because she was Marinette right now, who Paon didn’t absolutely loathe.

They stared at each other.

“Also, I’m sorry that I didn’t plan anything else to say other than that I’m sorry. To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting you to show up.”

“I wasn’t really expecting it either. I guess there’s just only so many people who can understand accidentally gaining notoriety because your clone kissed someone famous.”

“You think I’m famous? Even more than that guy over on all the billboards?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Are you asking if you’re more famous than Adrien Agreste?”
“Am I?” He asked sheepishly. Unfortunately, he asked the only other person in Paris who understood that joke (well, technically one in two, but Marinette didn’t know that). Marinette snorted, then remembered that she couldn’t know.

“Nah, I think Ladybug would give over the miraculous to Adrien Agreste in an instant.”

Another shared laugh. Another shared moment.

“Listen, all I wanted to do was come over and say that I’m going to shut these rumors down right away. I can say it’s a long lost twin sister, or just a really good AI video manipulation, or whatever better idea I’m sure you’ve come up with.” Paon rocked back and forth, grasping at his teal hair sheepishly.

Marinette always had an idea. She had been replaying the video, not only in her mind but literally on screen, since it happened. She already had to do the awkward conversation with her parents that it was only a kiss, so the long lost twin sister was certainly out.

And, must she admit, during her idea planning she had tried to imagine what kissing him would have felt like? For story purposes only - she obviously would have been asked to describe it, and would need to know what to say - but it was difficult to watch yourself all over someone else and not hold any feelings about it.

She thought back to the infamous night on the roof. The one that went horribly wrong. But before then… she would be lying if she said the plan to steal his miraculous only developed midway to kissing him.

And then, at that moment, she developed another plan. A plan to really understand Adrien - Paon - and to convince him to do what’s right. Her moral justice Ladybug approach definitely did not work. But maybe, for once in her life, Marinette had a power Ladybug did not.

“No, actually, it’s okay. I don’t mind it. Chloe has actually stopped bothering me at school - I suppose having the threat of a superhero show up and kick your ass is the best anti-bullying countermeasure. If you want, we can keep hanging out for a few weeks, so you don’t get some player reputation, and then have some classic breakup over me not being able to handle your secret identity.”

“You don’t want to know my secret identity?”

“No!” Marinette exclaimed, far too loudly for one in the morning. “No, that would put me in danger. I don’t like, well, it’s not like we’re really in love with each other anyways.”

Paon stared at her, his eyes obviously disagreeing but his voice resigned to any option that involved spending more time with Marinette. “Right.”

Chapter Text

“The Baker’s girl?” Gabriel exclaimed, catching Adrien in the front hallway. “Why is it always the baker’s girl,” he muttered, exasperated.

“Come on, Gabriel, she’s good for the press. And you must admit, your son has truly made Paon an icon for Paris to look up to. The miraculous are closer than ever,” Natalie chimed in.

“Well, I’m sure Ladybug would come save her if we put her in danger, now that everyone in Paris is obsessed with her now.” Gabriel stated, already scheming.

“Absolutely not.” Gabriel winced at his son’s authoritative response, fiddling with a ring that no longer did anything to the peacock miraculous holder. “It’ll just be for a few weeks.”

“Son, I need your full attention for the next three months. You know how important this is.” Gabriel, the closest to pleading he has ever been, placed his hands on his son’s shoulders to focus him into the moment.

This time, he did listen. Adrien knew he could not get distracted with what was at stake.

He was not celebrating one more anniversary of his mom’s death.

Because in three months, they were getting her back.

---

“So, a superhero huh?” Marinette’s pigtails flipped around at the sound of Adrien’s voice. “Is that your type or something?”

She almost choked on her croissant as he slid down next to her at the cafeteria table.

“Oh, don’t tell me you started your thing with Chat Noir up again,” Alya didn’t even glance up from her phone from across the table, sick of her best friend’s romantic antics.

Adrien hid his own blush. Marinette was too flustered to notice.

“What? I barely had a thing with him. I mean, I didn’t have a thing. At all. And anyways, this thing with Paon is like, super caszh.”

“Girl, you have never been ‘super caszh,” Alya teased, finger quotes included.

“And that kiss did not look casual at all, brogelina,” Nino chimed in. Of course he and Alya would know, being the experts on PDA. In fact, she was leaning against his chest as they spoke, Nino’s arms wrapped around her waist. The moment for some reason reminded her of the time at the Louvre, the first day she met Paon, where she was too distracted by Adrien leaning on her for like a minute to properly fight off Hawkmoth. The odds of Adrien disappearing and Paon showing up made a lot more sense now.

“Speaking of Chat Noir, where the hell has he been?” Alya questioned, meaning to be pointed at Marinette but inadvertently making Adrien question his life decisions.

“I heard he was, like, in L.A. or something,” Adrien said as casually as he possibly could. Thankfully, Nino and Alya were too wrapped up in the Paon drama to push that weak excuse. Marinette seemed less sure, but barely had enough time to process the lie before being surrounded with more first years.

Adrien’s hired security team for her (not that she knew he was paying) had been enough to ward off annoying paparazzi but unfortunately they could not keep first years out of high school, otherwise Adrien would have hired them for that long ago. And anyways, Marinette was so kind that she encouraged the kids to ‘become their own superhero’ and that ‘their lives were not defined by their relationships.’ She didn’t even seem bothered by all the kids looking up to her.

“So what’s the plan for tonight?” Alya asked once the first years dispersed (at the young journalist’s shooing). “Since we can’t really go anywhere anymore thanks to Ms. Popular, want to do a movie night at my place?”

“I’m sorry guys, I can’t,” Adrien offered apologetically, “I have to do this thing for my dad.”

“Aw man, how is your dad still such a bummer? Anyways, I’m always down to hang out with my hot g.f. and her best friend.”

Nino and Alya’s expectant faces went to Marinette. She didn’t answer, slinking deeper in her chair.

“You so have a date!” Alya shot up, playfully hitting her arms. “Marinette’s got a date with a superhero,” she teased sing-songy.

“I thought it’s like a whole debate if he’s a hero anyways.” Marinette protested.

“Dude, dating a villain is even hotter,” Nino chimed in. Alya had really gotten him into dark fantasy recently, and that’s all Adrien or Marinette wanted to know.

“Well, Marinette,” Adrien chimed in, thinking he was the only one in on the irony of it all, “we can’t wait to hear all about it tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

If Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng had a nickel for every time they opened their apartment door to a superhero there for a date with their daughter, they would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but is weird that it happened twice. Tom attempted to size up the bright feathery teenager, while Sabine stroked her husband’s arm to avoid another akumatization event.

“Paon! It’s lovely to meet you - Marinette’s father and I are such big fans.” Sabine, greeting him with an unexpected hug, brought him into the living room.

“Paris is in great hands with young folks like you!” Tom exclaimed, slapping Paon on the back, perhaps a bit too hard. “I wanted to ask more about your idea of using the wish to help the environment. You know, as a baker, we rely so much on healthy wheat, and having something that could really improve the soil to grow them -”

“Tom! Don’t talk his ear off, he’s got so many problems he’s already working on solving. And let him spend his valuable time here with our daughter.” Sabine said, passing a coffee to Paon without him even asking. “Marinette? You coming down soon sweetheart?”

“Coming!” Marinette yelled, fixing up a gorgeous dangling purple earring as she raced down the stairs. It matched her short, sparkling tulle dress that Paon couldn’t take his eyes off of. He felt underdressed - he had tried to change his costume to fit more of a teal tux look, and had even slicked his matching hair back, but knew he couldn’t hold a candle to the beauty that was Marinette.

She was similarly shocked. “You changed your costume.”

“I, um, wanted to look nice for you.” Paon was flustered, which he wasn’t used to in his superhero disguise. Politely, he guided Marinette out the front door, even though he wished he could carry her flying across the rooftops of Paris.

Sure enough, the bakery was swarmed. Paon shoved intrusive paparazzi and well meaning fans as nicely as possible, his arm floating around her shoulder to guard her from them without touching her. She almost wished he wasn’t so gentlemanly, so she wasn’t so precisely aware of how far his arm was from hers.

Never the one to stand back to a man protecting her, she stepped out of his bubble and got in a few shoves herself as they made their way down the Parisian cobblestones to some fancy French restaurant he had picked out. She had never been - her dad’s baker salary could probably afford it now, but certainly not before - and it wasn’t necessarily her style.

I mean, objectively, it was gorgeous. Dark red walls with oak paneling, low light chandeliers decorating the ceiling. Cream tablecloths to highlight the single red rose in the middle. Some pianist playing a slow, romantic piece that reminded her of kissing in the rain. But tiny portions of food she had never had before delivered by overly proper waiters made her feel all out of place. She felt anxious Chloe was going to pop out at any moment telling her she was using the wrong fork.

“I’m sorry for this. This whole place was chosen by my - I mean, none of this was my pick.” Paon pushed around some colored vegetables from his Amuse Bouche. The date was going much more silently than Marinette had hoped, and she was counting down the courses left before she could tell him she changed her mind on this whole dating thing.

“You have a press team or something?”

“Or something.” He took a large gulp of his sparkling water.

“I have a friend who was once in a similar situation. He’s a model, but his dad and his team were so controlling, it was like he couldn’t be himself. It’s easy to get caught up in wanting to do the right thing for your family and wanting to do the right thing for your future.”

She thought back to Adrien underneath that mask. A long time ago, she would have been freaking out over being on a date in such a nice restaurant with him. Now, she just wanted to get her friend back.

“My family is my future, though. My future was cut off a long time ago because of something that wasn’t supposed to happen, and I’m going to fix that mistake. Don’t you ever feel like you want to go back and right a wrong? I can. I can right all of the wrongs.”

“There’s some stuff in the last year that I wish never happened. But what if you destroyed the world in the process? How can that risk be worth it?”

Paon scoffed. “Please, tell me what in this world is worth saving anyways.” He wrapped his hand around hers, running his thumb lightly along her knuckles. “Except for you.”

Marinette didn’t even have time to process what to say in response before an enormous piece of rubble shot through the window and destroyed her table.

Chapter Text

“Please, Marinette, do not move.” Paon gently set his date inside a broom closet, as all good fake boyfriends do. Knowing her tendency to attempt to save the day in class (combined with the fact that she always seemed to disappear, presumably consumed or transformed by the akuma), he locked the door for good measure.

Especially given the hovering monster was calling out his girlfriend’s name.

He should have known his father better. The minute he revealed any tie to Marinette he put her in danger. Paon thought that after everything he had contributed to the cause his father might know better than to try to mess it up by attacking civilians again - but here he was, terrorizing the citizens of Paris with this terrifying, three story tall gorilla creature again. He wondered what his father had lied about to hurt his bodyguard enough to akumatize him again.

Paon swiped at Gorizilla’s legs with his fans, and didn’t even make a dent. He tried to summon an amok and his knight was crushed on impact. The costumed teen was spending all of his energy just trying to dodge the attacks and guide the monster away from Marinette to even begin to think about a strategy to defeat this thing.

Admittedly, strategies were Ladybug’s thing. Where was she anyways?

Hopping between the city rooftops, the Godzilla-esque villain slowly wobbled through the streets, crushing poor Parisians underneath his feet.

“Come and get me, you Kong disappointment! Bet you can’t catch me, NBA reject!” The American slang Paon shouted understandably upset the creature more.

Distant enough from the restaurant, and tired of running, Paon jumped on the giant monkey’s head, pounding at it with his fans. It was less effective than he hoped, and he had a worse grip than you would expect for a kid with a rock climbing wall in his room.

A room he had just been thrown off into, actually.

Adrien slammed his fans to the floor, detransforming. He stared at the cabinet he had been crushed into, his fall softened with piles of cheese.

The only way to fix the destruction caused by this akuma was a stronger destruction.

He sunk by the floor nearby, resting against the side of his bed, rehearsing what he’d say. To Plagg, to Ladybug if she’d ever show up. Debating if he had the courage to change in the first place.

Then before Gorizilla could finish saying “Marinette,” Chat Noir was racing back towards him, Cataclysm out.

He hit the akumatized villain square in the nose.

Gorizilla fell back, triggering a tidal wave of cement as he clutched his face.

Crap. The actual object. He needed that to defeat it.

Crawling up the villain’s hairy chest, Chat Noir searched for the akumatized object. There were no pockets or unusual items on his person. Nothing in his hands, that were holding his face.

Well, holding Chat Noir’s tail now.

The akumatized villain slowly stood up, keeping Chat Noir upside-down and investigating the interestingly dressed superhero. Gorizilla’s fat finger tried to ring Chat Noir’s bell, much to his hisses. Fearing another flying crash, Chat Noir braced for the worse - and landed face flat on the ground not much later.

Not due to Gorizilla, however. Or at least not directly - his hand had been wrapped in yo-yo string yanking it towards a nearby lamppost.

Picking his head up from the stone, Chat Noir scowled upon looking at the red and black spotted girl. Showing up just in time to take credit, it seemed. He double checked to make sure his ring was tight on his finger so that she didn’t try to take that off too.

The motion, combined with a great look (and smell) of Gorizilla’s feet, triggered a realization. There, glinting in the sunlight, was a small silver ring cutting off the circulation to the pinky toe.

He wished he hadn’t already wasted his Cataclysm - he didn’t dare detransform and have to talk to Plagg mid-fight.

With Ladybug flying around Gorizilla’s attempt to escape, Chat Noir worked at pulling off the akumatized object. He slid his claws as deep as he could, creating a yelp of pain and sending the foot flying. This time, he held on - to the ring at least. The quick movement was enough to yank Chat Noir and the ring into a nearby building, enough to destroy the object and his ribcage.

Groaning in the rubble, he clutched the broken ring in his hands as Ladybug did her high-pitched and frankly cringey de-evilization speech. She comforted the bodyguard as Chat Noir stayed hidden in the room he had been thrown into.

To anyone else, this would have just been a classic silver band. But even in the split second of looking at it before it was washed over with miraculous ladybugs, he knew what it was.

How could you forget a ring you saw on your dead mother’s body?

Chapter Text

Chat Noir slid the ring into the zipped pocket of his suit as his spotted former partner came bounding over.

“I can’t believe you’re here. Now,” she said, her voice half-astonished and half-furious. Her face squished up as she examined him, hesitating for her next move as he just stared at her blankly.

She leapt forward, embracing him as he stood there awkwardly. His arms stayed frozen to his sides even as she wiped away tears from her face, staring up at his cold expression.

“Hey, I’m the one who’s supposed to be angry, remember?” She tried to tease, punching him playfully. He shrugged her off. Her face fell, and it hurt him a little inside to see that, but he pushed it down underneath layers of his own pain. “Chat, what’s going on?”

“What, you think I’ve been gone for nearly a year because we’ve been all buddy-buddy? You don’t think you could possibly be at fault for, I don’t know, never listening to anybody’s ideas except your own?”

“Chat, if this is about the team thing again, I thought we talked about it.”

“Right, the team thing, please remind me that I’m not even an important partner to you anymore. In fact, you seem to have been doing fine without me the last little while. Please, continue on, I won’t bother you.”

“Kitty, what’s going on?” Her eyebrows knotted with concern as she cautiously reached out, her gloved hand touching his shoulder in a way too similar to that infamous night. “I missed you.”

“Yeah well I -” he spat, knowing what he could say to hurt her. And it wasn’t necessarily that he didn’t want to. He just wasn’t a good liar. “I’m not your ‘Kitty’ anymore,” emphasizing the point with finger quotations, and then using his baton to push away. You’d have thought, after having several months to rehearse this reunion, he’d be more well prepared.

Once sufficiently out of sight, and ensuring his old partner wasn’t stalking him to find out his other secret identity like the at-all-costs strategist she was, he tore his ring off as fast as he could. He wasn’t avoiding this conversation, he told himself, he just needed to get back to Marinette.

“What the cheese, Adrien?” A grating (get it?) voice screeched in Adrien’s ear, Plagg nestled into the top of his white collar. “We’re a team, we’re on Ladybug’s team, you can’t get rid of me that easily!”

“Plagg, will you just be quiet? I can’t do this right now,” he seethed, magically shutting his kwami up. Glaring at his holder with impossibly green eyes, the floating creature disappeared into the folds of his shirt.

In the moment of silence that followed, Adrien stared at his old miraculous, his fingers shaking ever so slightly. Three words, and he could shove Plagg back into his drawers and not have to think about all these painful memories again. Three words, and he wouldn’t be yelled at for not doing enough, criticized for wanting to save his mother. Three words, and he would never have to see that face Ladybug made when she saw him ever again.

He shoved his hand into his pocket, instead muttering the transformation words to bring him back to his more comfortable skin of Paon.

---

“Marinette? Marinette!” He called, not caring about the looks from the patrons settled back into their seats of the magically restored restaurant. They had no place to complain; he helped save them, afterall.

He nearly tore the closet door off of its hinges to find the spot he left her. Her purple dress was easily spottable as she curled up in the corner, and he breathed a sigh of relief. She lifted her head, which had been hidden in her arms, and Adrien immediately noticed her puffy eyes and splotches of mascara running down her face.

He kneeled down to her side, his cape - now tuxedo tail - catching some wind as he dropped to the floor.

“I’m fine!” She shouted, pushing him away as she jumped up. “I was just so scared,” she blabbered for a moment, turning to make direct eye contact. “I was so terrified you would never come back for me.”

He draped his arms over her shoulders, making it easy for her to bury her face in his chest. His hands intertwined in her dark hair as he held her closely. Both afraid to break the moment of peaceful intimacy, the world disappeared around them save for the dull buzz of the air conditioner in the small room.

His eyes on her, her eyes on him, and no eyes on the suspicious butterfly flying away with its own speckles of eyes on its wings.

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry about the interruption on our date,” Paon said, gently setting Marinette back on her balcony. It was too late at this point to come back through the front door, and he had spent far too long cheering her up with ice cream and his hilarious puns to not finish off with a tour of Paris from above. Her eyes were still a tad puffy, but she laughed with her whole heart, and didn’t even take a step towards her trapdoor once her feet were on the ground.

“Hey, at least I know for sure that this monster wasn’t your fault.”

“Hawkmoth isn’t very considerate of my romantic life, alas.”

“I thought we were just fake dating,” Marinette suggested coyly. His arms were still wrapped around her waist, hers around his neck, and he could feel her heartbeat pressed against his. Well, a little lower than his given the height difference, but he was hyper aware of every sensation she was making - and more importantly, that she was not moving away.

He must admit, he had kinda forgotten that this was not a real date somewhere along the way. And, just judging from the closeness of her face, he thinks she had too.

The silence lingered dangerously long. He knew he liked Marinette as more than a friend - had known, to be honest, before Inette had forced that out - but he didn’t want it to happen this way.

He had made a promise to his father, to himself that he would fix everything before his mother’s anniversary. And look at what he had done since that day at the train station - not a single amok created as he instead fretted over what he would say to Marinette, what Marinette would think of his outfits, his jokes, his plans. It wasn’t that she was a bad distraction, but he didn’t want to start a relationship - this relationship - while having to fight off Ladybug.

Her face fell around the same time his arms did, and he felt as though every inch that grew between them was like a hole digging in. “Not - I mean, yes, but - I can’t right now, I’m sorry.”

“It’s totally fine! I don’t even know what you mean anyways. This is fake! We just said that.” She grimaced, folding her arms in on herself. “I’m tired, so I’m going to sleep, but I’ll see you around, m’kay?”

He looked at her, longingly and full of guilt. He didn’t want to confess to her that he could feel her hurt, her perhaps inklings of a crush. How could he explain it all, anyways? So here he was, putting off another tough conversation for later.

“Goodnight, Marinette.”

---

Even after he took off, she couldn’t go inside. How was she the one who ended up breaking her own promise? She was just feeling emotional after Chat Noir, she told herself, and was caught up in the romance of Paris. It wasn’t a Paon thing - she would have fallen for anyone who showed that level of care for her that night.

But then again, who was as caring as Paon? As Adrien?

Staring out the balcony in anguish, she spotted him leaping back over her. She beamed, in spite of herself. She squinted as she made out his features, his tight suit, the slight lift of his cape -

The purple. The mask covering the entire head. The spikes of the butterfly wings extending from the suit.

Hawkmoth landed square on her balcony, looming down upon Marinette who was nearly falling off the opposing edge.

“Hello, Ladybug.”