Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Oh shoot!” Ladybug shrieks as light envelops the entirety of Chat Noir’s form, so bright that she has to blink away the black spots in her vision after being momentarily blindsided.

“Chat Noir!? Chaton!” She looks around, rubbing her eyes, gaping as her gaze falls on the little kid standing where Chat Noir had just been moments before.

“Oh no! Oh no no no no no!” She panics, kneeling on the rooftop, reaching out for the kid who was clearly Chat Noir, but much smaller and cuter.

As soon as she lays hands on his little shoulders, little Chat Noir, who had been standing still, staring at his surroundings dazedly, comes alive by hissing and snapping his teeth at her fingers, almost nipping her in the process.

“Wha- Chat Noir!” She yells, drawing her hands away, and glaring down at him. Her ire instantly disappears as she looks at him closer, taking in his rosy little cheeks, soft tufts of golden hair, and tiny, twitching ears. His cat-like green eyes are so wide they cover almost a quarter of his small pointy face. “Chaton,” she says softly, watching the kid’s lips quiver, his eyes welling up with tears. “Do you… remember anything?”

Dammit, the potion was supposed to make him grow large, not turn him into a Chaton Noir.

He shakes his little head, backing away from her. It breaks her heart a bit, to see him look so confused and frightened. “I-It’s okay, kitty. I’ll fix this, don’t worry,” she tries to say soothingly. She has no idea how to fix this, this was a disaster and all she wanted to do was break down, because how could she be so stupid to let Chat Noir drink the potion? Why couldn’t she have experimented on a pine cone or something, clearly her brain was addled to give her partner a shiny unknown brew and think everything was going to be okay.

Now she either had to bring the spellbook or the miraculous box here to confer with the kwamis to see how to undo the effects of the potion, or bring the miniature Chat Noir into her house.

Ladybug sighs, flicking her yo-yo open and scrolling through her communicator’s contact list.

A loud thud draws her attention away from Alya’s texts. She gasps when she finds the rooftop empty, with no little Chat Noir in sight. She rushes to the edge of the rooftop, and her eyes bulge as she watches the kid slide down the metal pipe, casually leaping down a three-story building.

“Chat!” She cries out, lassoing her yo-yo and swinging down, grabbing the kid’s waist before dropping onto the ground carefully.

“Mmmph!” The suited boy in her arms struggles weakly against the death grip she has on him. Her heart was still racing, her brain conjuring up all grisly images of kid Chat Noir splattered on the floor. Thank goodness he was suited up. “L-l-let go of me!!”

“Don’t do that,” she growls at him, placing him down on the ground. “You could have gotten seriously hurt, Chat Noir!”

He glares up at her, his lips pressed tightly, clearly trying not to let the tears in his eyes spill down his cheeks. “Wh-why do y-you keep calling me that?”

“Call you what?” She asks, brows knitting in confusion.

“Cha-Chat Noir.”

Ladybug gasps, lifting a hand to her mouth. “Do you really not remember anything? What- what is the last thing you remember?” She demands, before realizing that was a horrible, potentially identity-revealing question, and she quickly backpedals, ignoring the frantic chiming of her communicator. “No, don’t answer that… uh, how old are you?”

“Nine,” Chaton Noir answers reluctantly, his eyes darting to her before they flicker away. “I’m not su-supposed to t-talk with str-strangers. Wh- where’s my Mère and Pè-Père? And- and why do I- why am I wearing this?” He asks quietly, staring down at his sharp claws, and flicking at his bell curiously, ears twitching as it chimes. Ladybug feels her heart melt at the sight of how tiny the golden bell was against Chaton Noir’s neck.

“Um,” she frantically wonders how to answer his completely reasonable and valid questions. But she can’t help but focus on how strange Mère and Père sounded on the little boy’s lips, so unlike the casual disregard and informal way Chat Noir usually spoke. “They’re… out on vacation? And- and I was asked to babysit you!” She latches on to the first thing that comes to her mind.

She holds her breath as she watches Chaton Noir cutely wrinkle his little nose, appearing extremely dubious about this explanation. “Th-then where’s Nath-”

“Stop!” She yells out, grimacing when the kid stares up at her in fright, hugging his hands to his chest, withdrawing away from her slightly. “I- I mean- ugh! We’re on a secret mission? And we- we’re not supposed to reveal anything about ourselves!”

Chat Noir was kind of a nerd, right? She could totally imagine him as the type of kid who loved playing make-believe.

“Oh,” Chaton Noir frowns, now playing with his shrunken tail. “I- Is that why we- we’re in costume? Are you dressed as a wa-watermelon?” He asks, staring at her seriously.

She bites against her lip, trying not to laugh. Chris always got upset whenever she giggled at anything because, in his words, he was not a little baby, and only babies got laughed at.

“... No. I’m a Ladybug.”

For the first time since this whole mess, she sees Chaton Noir’s eyes light up, a small smile suddenly playing on his lips.

“Do you like ladybugs?” She can’t help but smile back. He was soo cute. She wants to hold him again and squish his adorable little cheeks.

“Yes,” he tells her shyly and she resists the urge to squeal. “There’s ladybugs in Mère’s garden. They like plants like daisies, fennel, and cilantro. And when they feel really cold they like to hi-hiver-hibernate in leaf litter, or under tree bark, or in other crevices to stay warm.”

“Wow,” her eyes grow wide as he keeps talking, watching him bounce on the balls of his toes. “I didn’t know you knew so much about ladybugs.”

He peeks up at her from underneath his fringes as she draws closer. “I like learning ‘bout- sorry, about them. Miss…?”

She hums lightly as she walks closer. “Yes? You can call me Ladybug. Do you have any other questions?” she asks, carefully taking his small hand into hers. He was so polite, it shouldn't be so odd to see it, his older self could be unfailingly charming and polite when he wanted to, but it was still a bit strange to see a child being so formal. Even his posture, which had been hunched and full of suspicion and fear, had disappeared, and now he stands taller, his back stiffening straight.

He doesn’t answer her, watching her curiously, gaze traveling to their locked hands, and there’s something else about his expression, something unreadable. He shakes his head.

She knew Chat Noir could be sensitive, and was easily prone to anger, and the few times she entertained the idea of a younger Chat, she always imagined him as a loud, rambunctious kid, charming and mischievous. When she pictured his family, she conjured up two younger siblings, maybe both girls, like Alya’s family. She couldn’t say why, she just did, he had that sort of protective, older brother energy, and he was always empathetic to all of her moods, as if he was used to being around teenage girls with bad tempers. When she thought of his parents, she imagined them to be as sweet and doting as her own.

So, it almost felt like she was having whiplash, at how quickly this inaccurate, fantasy life she built up for Chat Noir was crumbling before her very eyes. Chaton Noir, in reality, was a wary, shy boy who apparently could recite random ladybug facts off the top of his head. In reality, he was a little boy who stared at her with unreadable eyes, unquestioning of the strange situation he found himself in, and walked with her hand in hand, as silent as a drifting spector.

She tries to shake off the uncomfortable feeling of realizing she didn’t know her partner as well as she thought she did, and instead tries to explain away the strangeness of the whole situation, because surely, Chaton Noir was going to have more questions regarding why he appeared on a rooftop, clothed in a black, leather suit complete with moving ears and a tail along with an equally unusual-dressed stranger?

“Umm, so your parents didn’t want to wake you… because you were in a pretty deep sleep. And- uh, they had to find a last-minute babysitter, um, that’s me! And now we’re playing a game, where we’re superheroes of Paris and we have to save the city from evil people trying to take our jewels.” She poked at his glowing ring, hiding a smile as his eyes grew endearingly wider and wider with every word. “This ring, and my earrings-” she points at her ears, “are very, very important, okay? You cannot remove your ring no matter what, because… because otherwise, the bad guy will win, okay?”

She waves her free arm wildly. “I mean you can totally take off the ring when you need to use the restroom or something, of course, but, uh, for now, just don’t take it off anywhere else, okay? Not even in front of me, got it?”

“Okay,” he whispers, bouncing slightly. She grins at that. Got you, she thinks. If this was Chris or Manon, they would be jumping up and down in excitement by now. Chris would probably whine about how she was lying and playing baby stories with him, trying to hide how thrilled he was to play being a superhero, but his eyes would be shining with anticipation. Manon at this point would be begging her to get her dressed in her ladybug costume so she could fight off the akumas with her lucky charm, which was almost always her purple wand. Though, they were a bit younger than nine… but nine-year-olds liked playing pretend, right? She’s pretty sure she did when she was younger.

“Now, I’m going to take you to a super, duper secret superhero hideout, okay? This is where we make our potions to gain power-ups to fight the villain.”

“Okay,” Chaton Noir says again, and she can’t help but laugh lightly at his confused expression. She boops his nose, laughing again at how his eyes go cross-eyed, just as it did when he was his older self. He squeezes her hand tightly, his other hand reaching out to touch his nose. There’s an expression that almost looks like wonder on his face as he gazes up at her again, so similar to the one Chat Noir always reserved for Ladybug. She feels her heart skip slightly at this, her chest feeling heavy and warm at seeing that shining adoration directed at her.

She lifts him up when they get closer to her house, and he freezes as she wraps her arms around him. “You okay?” She asks, concerned.

“Mmh,” he nods, then startling her as he presses his cold, little nose into her neck, throwing his arms around her shoulders.

“Oooph,” she pretends to struggle to hold him, shifting him higher up so she could carry him easier. “Such a clingy cat,” she teases, smile slipping when she feels him tense.

“Sorry,” he mutters, hiding his face. “O-only babies get ca-carried. ‘M sorry for being a b-burden.”

She gasps, holding him tighter and she leaps up onto her balcony, quickly shimmying down her skylight before anyone could see. She pulled him back slightly, so she could look at him properly.

“Who said that to you?” She demands angrily, her arms going rigid. “You are not a burden!”

Both of them startle when they hear a slight thud, sounding like a book falling. Ladybug looks to her chaise, only to see Alya gaping back at them.

Chapter Text

“So, let me get this straight,” Alya whispers, looking way too amused as she regards kid Chat Noir, who was tilting his head curiously at all the dolls she had sown by her own hand, but not reaching for them, “you made Chat Noir drink that experimental potion you spent a week working on, hoping that he would grow into a giant, only for it to turn him into a little kid, and worse, he lost all of his memories.”

“Oh, Alya,” she groans quietly, tugging hard on her pigtails. “I screwed up so badly. I have no idea how long it will take to create a counter-brew and all the while I have to keep him from revealing his identity to me, or vice-versa or the world is doomed, and I can’t be Ladybug, babysit a de-aged superhero in secret, brew a whole other concoction, go to school, and finish all my assignments at the same time!!! And what if I cannot make the potion- or if I do and he remembers all of this, like being in my civilian room, seeing you and-”

“First,” Alya puts her hands on her shoulders, pressing down gently to ground her, “you have to calm down. The kid’s gonna get suspi- wait a minute!” She pivots so quickly that Ladybug loses her balance, almost face-planting on the ground. She points accusingly at baby Chat Noir. “You have superhearing!”

“Oh my gosh!” Ladybug shrieks, holding her head in her hands. “I’m so stupid, how could I forget!”

Alya sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Did you hear all of that, kid?”

Ladybug watches Chaton Noir shift guiltily, looking everywhere but at them. She groans again. “Screwed,” she mutters. “I am so screwed. So dead. The world is doomed. Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot-”

“Okay, okay, girl,” Alya, pats her head soothingly. “It’s okay, because if you really screwed up so bad, wouldn’t uh, what’s her name, Bunnyx show up? You know, the holder of the miraculous of time? It’ll be okay Mar- Ladybug.”

“E-Excuse me,” comes a quiet, timid voice. “S-so, I’m guessing that th-this ring actually gives m-me superpowers then?”

Alya pats her one more time and she collapses despairingly on her floor, before turning back to the younger Chat Noir. “Got it in one, kid.”

“... And I-I’m older? I’m in the future right now?”

“Yupp, welcome to 2016, Chaton Noir.”

“Wow,” she hears him giggle softly and Ladybug can’t help the upward curve of her lips. She sits up, smiling as he stares at Alya as he plays with his tail. “Also, Chaton Noir?” He rolls his eyes, and her smile grows wider, happy to see him acting like a bratty kid. “How original.”

Alya laughs, “you chose the name, you know?”

He wrinkles his nose. “Why Chaton Noir!? Th- That sounds a little… um, ridiculous. I’m not a kitten.”

‘Well, actually, it’s Chat Noir, but you’re a kitten now, so we’re going to be calling you that.”

He crosses his arms, pouting a little, but there’s a pleased smile on his lips. “I can’t believe I become a superhero when I’m older.” He bounces on his toes, “that’s super cool.” He stares at his hand in concentration, and Ladybug’s eyes widen, but before she can cry out in alarm, he says the words.

“Cataclysm.” They all stare at the black swirling mass of particles, looking bigger than usual in the small hand. She sees his lips part in surprise, staring at the destructive energy in wonder. “I-It’s like a Rasengan!”

“Chat Noir,” she says carefully, springing to her feet as Alya fingers her necklace. “Don’t move, okay? That is very dangerous, don’t let your cataclysm touch anything, including you, nod if you understand.”

The boy nods slowly, looking slightly worried now as he glances at their serious expressions. Ladybug grabs an unused scrap of lined paper and walks toward him, handing the sheet out. “Touch the paper with your cataclysm, please.”

He immediately does so, with no hesitation, and her chest warms at that, the unquestioning, blind trust he has in her, just like his older self. She didn’t realize how much it hurt for him to be so wary of her until she found those kind, unwavering eyes looking back at her again, age making no difference.

He trusted her so much that he drank that potion she gave him without a word of protest.

“Don’t do that again, okay,” she says, hesitantly reaching out to curl her fingers against his wild locks of hair, smiling a little as he gives a startled look at his ring as it starts beeping. “How did you even know how to activate your power? Cataclysm is a destructive energy that can crumble any material, so it’s important to be very careful with it.”

“Okay,” he agrees in a small voice. “I don’t know. The word just came to me, and I said it. I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. ”

“I know you won’t,” she smiles, and his simple explanation does make sense. A lot of their powers seemed almost instinctive when they wore their suits.

She ruffles his hair, sharing a grin with Alya as he presses further into the touch, even purring slightly, which elicits a delighted giggle from him.

Alya walks over, poking at his cheek, smirking as he glares bewilderedly at her, but he doesn’t push away her finger. “How old are you, kid?”

“Nine and three months,” he says, tilting his head so Ladybug could pet his ears. He purrs even louder as he leans closer, eyes falling shut, a serene smile curving his lips as he rubs his head against her palms, just like a cat would do.

She laughs at him, and he opens one eye and peeks at her, before closing it again and leaning even closer. She wonders why she’s surprised to find that the younger Chat Noir also does not show an ounce of shame or know the definition of personal boundaries.

“Nine?” Alya repeats, sounding perplexed. “My sisters are nine, and they are taller than you, squirt. Are you lying?”

“What?” Chaton Noir opens his eyes again, frowning up at her. “I really am nine. Promise. My birthd-”

“No personal information like that,” Ladybug cuts in hastily. “You’re about to detransform by the way, that’s why your ring keeps beeping, it’s a warning because you just used your power.” She takes the string cheese she left on her desk as a snack from Alya, giving the girl a grateful smile. “Eat this for now, it’ll give your kwami some power to hold your transformation for a bit longer. I’m sorry, Chaton, but we have to keep our secret identities safe, okay?”

“Okay,” Chaton Noir nods, taking the stick of cheese. “But won’t I remember all of this when I’m older, anyway, right?”

Ladybug chuckles nervously. “I really hope not.”

This kid pouts at her, ears and tails drooping down dramatically. “B-but I want to re-remember you. I don’t want to forget,” he bites into the cheese tearfully and her heart breaks.

“Then you’ll remember,” she says frantically, waving her hands wildly. “Don’t worry, Chaton, you’ll remember me!”

“Promise?”

She grabs him in a hug. “I promise,” she says warmly, rubbing his back so he could calm down.

Alya laughs at them. “Like Chat Noir will ever forget Ladybug.”

Chaton Noir gasps, drawing back from her to look at her with wide, shining eyes. “Are we dating?” He asks, jumping up and down in delight. Ladybug suddenly misses the shy boy she had met less than an hour ago, and she boops his nose.

“You wish,” she laughs.

He stops bouncing, staring at her in confusion. “Yeah, of course, I wish. You’re amazing. I love you.”

“I-” her cheeks go warm at this earnest declaration, shooting a glare at Alya’s loud guffaws. She sighs at her traitorous friend, who was no help at all and turns back to Chaton Noir, patting his head. “You’re too cute,” she tells him.

“Do you love me too?” He asks with pleading eyes.

She rolled her eyes, trying to ignore her cheeks which she was sure were flaming by now. This was crazy, baby Chat Noir was even more forward than his older self, and it was just about the cutest thing ever.

“No, I don’t,” she says jokingly, pushing his forehead away with a finger. She turns back to Alya, who thankfully stopped laughing.

“Hey girl, looks like my Ladynoir ship is sailing.”

Ladybug rolls her eyes again. “You know there’s only one boy for my heart, Alya. Now, let’s please get started soon. The sooner we can get Chaton Noir back to his regular, dorky self, the better.”

She looks toward the kid, blinking when she finds him staring down at her dolls again, and most of the expression she could see on his half-hidden face is unreadable, completely blank. She glances at Alya, who’s staring thoughtfully at the boy.

“Go on, girl,” she says, waving Ladybug away. “Get started on your magic brewing, I’ll keep the kitten occupied for a bit before joining you.”

“Alright,” she says uncertainly, walking to her desk. She smiles at her dollhouse, where she’d hidden the miraculous box. It looked like the kwamis were busy in their realm, and she hoped they would keep that way for a bit, sure that if they all came rushing out now, she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on brewing, and Chaton Noir would probably get overwhelmed by so many creatures crowding her room all of a sudden. Though, knowing him, he would probably be absolutely delighted to have more company, especially by tiny, magical gods.

She settles down, pouring through the pages of the miraculous spellbook, hoping to find a counterbrew. She’s always been great at multitasking, so she can’t help but try to keep her ears peeled, curious to know what her best friend and de-aged partner were conversing about.

“Hey kid, you see any dolls that you would be interested in playing with?”

“Hm,” Ladybug hears Chaton Noir hum disinterestedly.

“Well, what do you usually like playing with? Or, any video games you’re interested in? I know the older you like them.”

“I like playing Roblox,” he mutters. “Animal Crossing is cool too.”

“Oh yeah, my twin sisters like those too, and Etta loves playing Minecraft. Do you have any siblings?”

Ladybug’s hand freezes on her page as she waits for his answer. She wants to turn around and tell Alya to stop, too much personal information has been shared already, but she’s too curious, too deep in already to halt them.

“No, but I have a cousin who’s the same age as me, except he lives in London. He could basically be my twin though.”

Ladybug stares blankly at the illustrations of a potion that could grant them the power of flight. There was another person in the world who looked exactly like Chat Noir’s civilian form. She couldn’t wrap her head around that. She never, in her wildest dreams imagined that Chat Noir could have a lookalike. Were they similar at all, she wondered. Did they ever try switching with one another and playing pranks on people like Ella and Etta did? She had so many questions. She now knew that cousins could look supremely alike, thanks to Adrien and Félix. It was pretty strange, but she guessed it was possible. It made her shudder to imagine Chat Noir acting like Félix though.

“Oh,” Alya teases. “Is he a shrimp like you too?”

“I’m not a shrimp,” she can hear Chaton Noir’s clear pout. “And I think he’s just a little taller, but I’ll catch up to him soon. My Mère says I still have a lot more growing to do.”

“Oh, definitely,” Alya's voice falters for a second, probably caught off guard by the sudden formality, “You get pretty tall when you’re older.”

“Really!?” He finally sounds a little excited, and she’s glad that he’s happy again. She didn’t like seeing him sound so morose, especially not knowing why. “That’s awesome. Can I see a picture?”

“Yeah, sure, I’ve got plenty! I actually run the Ladyblog, it’s a blog dedicated to both of Paris’ favorite team of superheroes.”

“Me and Ladybug?” Chaton Noir asks eagerly.

“Yup,” Alya says, popping the p. “The superduo of Paris.”

“If we’re a team, then why isn’t your blog called LadyChatBlog?”

Alya laughs. “I got that question a couple of times. I was a Ladybug fan, she saved me from the first akuma ever made- those are the brainwashed victims the villain Shadowmoth uses. So I dedicated the blog to her.”

“That makes sense.”

“I’m a huge fan of Chat Noir too though, and my boyfriend is an even bigger fan! And my twin sisters are huge fans too,” Alya laughs. “I think most of their pajamas are Chat Noir themed honestly.”

“Wow,” Chaton Noir giggles. Then he whispers lowly, “I want a Ladybug shirt. I love ladybugs.”

Ladybug bites her lip to keep her laughter in. She grins softly at the thought of kid Chat Noir running around in an overly large Ladybug t-shirt.

“Well, we seem to have a lot in common, short-stack.”

The kid giggles again, before asking shyly. “Do you want to be my friend?”

Alya lets out a loud, exaggerated gasp. “I would love to be the famous Chat Noir’s friend. And I bet there’s a bunch of your other adoring fans who would want to be your friend too.”

“I only have one friend,” Chaton Noir admits. “Her name is Ch-”

“Oh, I’m ‘fraid I gotta stop you there, kitten. That’s crossing personal territory.”

“Oops, I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, squirt.”

Chaton Noir laughs again. “You’re really nice,” he declares. “I guess that’s why Ladybug likes you too, you’re an awesome friend.”

“Thank you for that ringing endorsement,” Alya chuckles. “I’m lucky to have both of you as my friends.”

“No, I’m the one who’s lucky,” little Chat Noir disagrees, sounding solemn. Ladybug, who had been squinting at the tiny text of the enlarging potion, snickers silently. He was such a cute kid.

“Well, who am I to disagree, I am awesome after all,” Alya says, and she can hear her ruffling the kid’s hair.

“Yup,” Chaton says, popping the p, imitating her from before.

They’re quiet for a few moments before Chaton Noir suddenly says, “I don’t want to go back.”

“What?” Alya says, sounding as startled as Ladybug felt. “Go back where?”

“Home,” the boy says simply. “It’s better here. I’m never allowed to be outside of my room.”

Ladybug frowns. What did he mean he was never allowed to leave his room?

“O-oh, that sucks, kid. Do you mean like you’re not allowed to leave? Do your parents not let you?”

“Mm,” Chaton Noir hums. “Yeah, I can only leave if Nath- I mean, um, one of Père’s assistants allows me.”

Ladybug swirls around, almost falling off her rotating chair. “What do you mean?” She demands, almost crawling towards them in her haste to get to them, ignoring his startled look as she grabs his shoulders. “Do they lock you in your room or something?”

Little Chat Noir looks down at his lap, playing with his gloved hands, fidgeting under her grasp. “Yeah, sometimes.”

“That’s-” She shakes her head, feeling upset. For so long she had wondered, if whenever Chat was sad or injured, did he have people to reach out to like she did? Did he have people to confide in, make him laugh, hold him if he was upset… do all the things her partner, her Chaton did for her? She had always believed so, where else could he learn to be so kind and giving? So heroic, so comforting… so… self-sacrificing.

“What do you do in your room all day, then?” She asks softly. “Don’t your Mom or Dad spend time with you?”

He shrugs. “Not really. I haven’t seen them in more than a week. Mère asked my Père to install a rock-climbing wall in my room, so I do that a lot. I almost can reach the top now,” he grins up at her, puffing his chest up slightly.

For some reason, that sounded a little familiar to her.

She glances at Alya, who’s looking at the floor with furrowed brows, and she thinks about all those times her partner had died for her, sacrificed himself for someone else, did he get more than a quick, tearful hug from Ladybug, before she had to swing away and drop her rapidly timing-out transformation?

“Marinette,” Alya says gently, drawing her away from her depressing thoughts. “You’re hurting him.”

She gasps, letting go so fast that he almost plants over her. “I’m so sorry, Chaton!”

“It’s okay,” he says, smiling sweetly, and she remembers another time when he looked at her just like that.

“My Lady,” he looks at her with soft eyes, a gentle smile curving against his lips. “I hope you have a Happy New Years.”

“You too, kitty!” She beamed at him. “My parents are throwing a party and all my grandparents will be there too. I’m really excited.”

His smile falters, but he’s back to grinning at her with so much joy she thinks she imagined that sudden change of expression.

“You deserve all the joy and parties in the world, Milady,” he says cheesily and she huffs at him, pushing his nose away with her finger as he gets too close again.

“You’re such a flirt,” she rolls her eyes.

He’s smiling softly again. “Only for the Lady of my heart, of course.”

She laughs, smiling back. “Of course,” she repeats dryly. They parted ways quickly after that, she needed to get ready for the party and she had already wasted too much time.

“See you next year, my Buginette,” he says, bowing extravagantly, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand.

She laughs again. “Bye, Chaton. Have a Happy New Years!” She swings away, and only after she’s running her hands down on her satin hand-sewn gown, she finds a word to describe the sudden gloss she had thought she’d seen in his eyes.

Sadness.

She slowly cups the younger Chat’s cheek, her chest panging as they watch him immediately lean into her touch, just like always. Only this time, having just the slightest context as to why her partner was so clingy, breaks her heart into pieces. She glances at Alya, who stares at the boy with a similarly worried look.

“I’m sorry,” Ladybug says again, not sure who she is apologizing to, this younger, lonely Chat Noir, or her older partner, who she’s sure is just as alone. It hurts, it hurts so much to realize that she never noticed, as all those strange, little behaviors he exhibited all these months she knew him made sense in hindsight. “I’m so sorry, mon minou.”

Chaton Noir’s brow creases. “Is s-something wrong?”

Alya sighs, putting a hand on his shoulder, frowning as he once again leans into her touch. “Ladybug and I are just a bit worried, little guy. It sounds like,” she chooses her words carefully, “you don’t like your home… or your parents all that much, huh?”

Chaton Noir shrugs, not meeting their eyes. “I,” he bites his lip, “I like this room better,” he repeats. “It’s warm and small and both of you are here. And…” He looks toward her trap door, eyeing the handle, “Your door is not locked.”

Her hand drops, and she has to swallow back bile at how relieved he sounds about such a simple thing.

Alya turns back to Chaton Noir. “Kid, I’ve seen you eye the Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls for a while now, you can pick them up if you want to, you know? I promise they won’t bite. Mar- Ladybug and I need to go out for a second, but we’ll be right up there, on the balcony, so holler if you need us, ‘kay? Or… just poke your head out, or whatever, alright?”

“Okay,” the boys says hesitantly, and when Ladybug finally looks back up, he gives her a sweet, concerned smile. “I’m sorry for making you upset, Ladybug. I ca-can leave if you w-want?”

“No!” She shouts at him, wincing as he draws back. Right. Superhearing, and his older self hated any loud sounds too. “You are totally fine, Chaton! I’m not upset at you… I just, me and Alya gotta talk for a bit. About what to do next, and get you back to your regular, cool self. N-not that you’re not cool, you’re super cool, the coolest really, like so coo-”

“Oookay,” Alya laughs, dragging her up the ladder. “I think he gets that you think he’s super cool, Ladybug.”

When they get as far as they can between a pair of superhearing ears, Alya lets go of her arm, and Ladybug collapses on a folding chair.

“I should have realized something was wrong,” she says blankly. “I’m the worst partner in the world. How could I have not noticed he was so unhappy? I mean it’s so obvious now, he was- he’s always so clingy. He always loves it when I extend our patrol times, and oh my gosh, Alya, he never talked about his home life. At all. How did I never notice!?”

“It’s not on you, Marinette,” Alya tells her gently. “If he never told you, it means he didn’t want you to know. You’re definitely not a bad partn-”

“But I am!” She wails, tugging on her pigtails. “I am, he’s been upset at me for a while now since Scarabella, he knows I told someone else my identity instead of him… and- and I’ve been pushing away ever since Bunnyx took me to the future, and I just know he’s mad at me, but he never really shows it-”

“Oh he can get pretty angry, trust me,” Alya mutters.

“-anymore, he just smiles and barely calls me his Lady anymore, even though I told him I don’t mind, and I- I really messed up.”

“Girl,” Alya takes her hand, “even if you did, you’re also under a lot of pressure, you know? Being guardian, fighting akumas every other day, and evading Shadowmoth and Mayura’s sentimonster spies- it’s a lot for anyone, and we’re just a bunch of kids, Marinette. It’s not fair for this to be put on all of our shoulders. And you just told me, before this you had no one else to confide in.”

She smiles at Ladybug, lifting her chin with her fingers. “Give yourself a little bit more credit, girl.”

“I still hurt him pretty badly,” Ladybug sniffs. “I could have told him everything too, he always supports me no matter what, and I just pushed him away.”

“You had your reasons, and as long as you let him know why, I’m sure he’ll forgive you,” Alya tries to reassure her.

Ladybug shakes her head. “But I can’t tell him. He’s- well, imagine if I told you that you get akumatized and destroy the moon and end the world!? How would you take it!?”

Alya grimaces. “Okay, that’s pretty bad, but you have to tell Chat Noir, Marinette. Either that, or your partnership with him is gonna keep sinking.”

“Or it’ll be worse if I tell him,” Ladybug says flatly. “I have no idea how he’ll take it. And once I manage to reverse the potion effects, what if he remembers everything? Our identities will be compromised.”

“Well, you can’t control everything,” Alya gives her a sad smile. “Just like you can’t control what Adrien’s reaction will be if you ever get around to confessing your feelings to him. But that’s life, right? You can’t always be in control.”

“I have to though,” she says, looking down at her padded hands. “One wrong decision and Shadowmoth wins, and I’ve already made so many mistakes. One wrong move and Adrien will hate me and never want to talk to me again. I’d rather just be his friend than have that ever happening.”

“Stop catastrophizing,” Alya sighs. “Those are like the worst-case scenarios. What if that never happens, it’s super unlikely that Adrien could ever dislike you, he’s like sunshine incarnate, and you’ve already thwarted Shadowmoth for almost two years now, and you have me, Chat Noir, the rest of the team. It’s gonna be okay, Marinette.”

“But what if it isn’t!?”

Alya slaps her palm to her forehead. “Okay, we’re not gonna go through this cycle again, c’mon girl, let’s get back inside before baby Chat Noir gets too worried.”

Ladybug jumps to her feet. “Oh my gosh, what if he used cataclysm again!?” She dives through her skylight, ignoring Alya’s exasperated sigh.

“Chaton, are you okay?” She demands, landing on the floor. Her racing heart calms a bit when she sees him curled on the floor near her chaise, quietly playing with the Chat Noir and Ladybug dolls.

“Yes,” he says softly, shooting her a small smile that melts her heart. Then they both freeze when his stomach lets out a loud grumble.

Alya climbs down the ladder, grinning on the last step as she regards them. “Looks like someone’s hungry, shall we all get some lunch?”

Chapter Text

“My parents are catering for some party, and they won’t be back till late in the night, so we’ll eat lunch here today,” Marinette tells them, opening up a cupboard to grab some bowls and plates.

She had detransformed, figuring it was pointless to stay in the suit after Alya had called her by her name several times, and once Chaton Noir regained his memories and remembered everything while he was de-aged, he would likely be able to put all the pieces together even if she stayed transformed.

Chaton Noir’s eyes go wide once all the food is placed on the table, and he looks at her hesitantly when she gestures at him to eat.

“What’s wrong?” She asks in confusion when he doesn’t move to grab anything.

“Um,” he says quietly, looking down at his lap. “I’m really sorry, Ladybug, I cannot eat any of this, I’m on a diet.”

Alya pauses, putting her bowl of soup down. “What kinda nine-year-old goes on a diet?”

Marinette narrows her eyes at him. “You’re already way too skinny and small, you don’t need to be on a diet, Chaton.”

Chaton Noir peeks at them through his fringes. “My Père would be very mad at me if I strayed away from my diet because I’m mode- uh, I mean, Mère would get sad if Père got mad.”

Once again, hearing Chat Noir, of all people, younger or not, using such formal words to call his parents made her blink in surprise. She exchanges an uneasy look with Alya.

“Well you’re actually older, remember, so you might not be on a diet anymore. And your parents are not here. So you can eat whatever you want,” Marinette says firmly.

The kid still looks hesitant, which is not boding well for the safety of his parents. Marinette swears she can almost feel her spoon bend in her hand from how hard she’s squeezing it.

“Eat,” she stares him down. “Please, Chaton, just eat. It’s okay.”

He hesitantly takes a bowl of onion soup.

Marinette glares. “You gotta eat more than that,” She pushes a baguette towards him.

“Let him finish the soup first,” Alya cuts in, shooting her an exasperated stare.

She watches him intently as he slowly takes a sip of his soup, breaking her stare when she feels Alya kick her in the shin. “Drink your soup, Marinette.”

There’s an awkward silence for a couple of minutes as Marinette seethes quietly, thinking of all the times Chat Noir had happily taken all the pastries she offered to him during patrols or the few, rare times he had come across her sitting on her balcony in her civilian form. Had he been on a diet those times too? She had always gotten exasperated at the way he would eat like a chipmunk, stuffing everything in his mouth like it would disappear if he didn’t eat fast enough. She had thought it to be mannerless, uncouth, and just like him, but now she can’t help but wonder if there were darker reasons for that.

She discreetly watched him daintily sip at his soup, even though she knew he was hungry, with the way his stomach kept rumbling.

He puts his ladle down, pausing to stare at Alya, then shifts his gaze to her. He smiles widely at Marinette when he notices her looking. “This is really nice,” he declares. “I almost always have to eat alone, so it’s really nice to have some company.”

Marinette spills most of her soup all over the table. Chaton Noir gives her a startled glance and then looks even more worried as Alya chokes on her sip of water. He quickly scrambles out of his chair and pats her back hesitantly, which was probably a good thing, given the strength that was afforded to him while transformed, he could have accidentally thrown Alya across the room.

“Th-Thanks, kid,” Alya coughs. “I’m good now.”

Older Chat Noir had said something similar, hadn’t he, when he had dined with her family that one time? She had never given it much consideration before, but now it was all she could think about.

“Well, actually, Mr. Dupain, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, Marinette, here’s the thing. You're really nice people and this meal is delicious and by far the friendliest I've had in a long time.”

She had thought he was just being nice and considerate. Dammit, how many things had she dismissed like that? She wants to pull her hair in frustration. She was such an idiot. How could she have not noticed her partner suffering right in front of her? She'd met with him almost every day for two years now! How could she have missed all these signs!?

“Your parents suck,” she grits out, eyes widening as she watches younger Chat pale at her words.

“N-No,” he stammers. “Th-They just don’t have much time for me, th-that’s all. They- They’re really busy, they gotta run a company, and- and I have Nat- oops I’m sorry, I forgot I’m not supposed to say personal things like names and stuff.”

“It’s alright, kid,” Alya says warmly. “But thank you for remembering. So, do you do anything else other than rock-climb in your room all day?” She asks casually.

Chaton Noir plays with his ladle. “Yeah, but it’s okay,” he tries to smile. “Père installed some games in my room, though they’re all single-player. Mère is very sick though, so I can’t be with her as much as I used to, and I’m not supposed to disturb her.”

Marinette feels her heart sink.

“Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that. That must make you pretty worried, huh?” Alya asks sympathetically.

“Yes,” Chaton Noir whispers. “I’m really scared, and Père and Na- h-his assistant never tell me what’s wrong!” His voice grows louder until he shouts the last word, dropping his ladle with a sharp clang.

Distantly, Marinette is aware that he’s already revealed too much, such as the fact that his family seems pretty well-off that they run their own company, and that his father has an assistant. But she finds she doesn’t care as worry bubbles in her chest, reaching out to put a hand on the kid’s. She stares down at his tiny fingers and claws, and all she wants to do is take her little partner in her arms and hug him tight.

“That really sucks, kid,” Alya says, frowning deeply.

“I- I’m sure you’re Mom’s fine now, Chaton,” Marinette says reassuringly. “It’s been a couple of years, and she must be right as rain now, and maybe you both are closer again.”

Chaton Noir smiles at that, his eyes suddenly shining with hope. “Oh yeah, I forgot! C-can I go see her?”

Marinette chews on her lip, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, kitty,” she tries to tell him gently. “But I’ll fix this potion mix-up soon, and then you can go see her, okay?”

He nods excitedly. “Okay! Thank you!” He says, resuming to sip at his soup slowly. Marinette sits back as well, pondering on this new information she has learned about her partner’s life. For some reason, she always imagined him living in a modest-sized apartment, maybe a room smaller than hers, with posters taped and plastered all over his walls. But he had called her room small, and apparently, his father had an assistant.

Huh, she thinks, rubbing her head a little as she feels an incoming headache. It was kinda funny that Chat Noir’s home life reminded her of Adrien’s of all people, who also had a rock-climbing wall and a pretty neglectful father. Who also had an assistant. And was the only other person she knew who spoke about their parents so formally. And earlier, it sounded like he was about to say the word modeling before he cut himself short. She shakes the idea away as quickly as it came. It was absurd to think Chat Noir and Adrien could be-

“Marinette,” Tikki cuts through her thoughts. “Some of the other kwamis are demanding to be fed,” her kwami sighs exasperatedly. “Even though they just ate this morning.”

Before Marinette could say anything, Chaton Noir gave a loud, delighted gasp. “Wow! What are you?” He asks Tikki, leaning so close to the kwami that he goes cross-eyed. Marinette and Alya laugh at him as he tries to poke at Tikki, who giggles and flies up to land on his disheveled hair.

“I'm a kwami,” Tikki smiles, patting his head. “The Ladybug kwami, bonded to Marinette. Your kwami's name is Plagg, and he's the kwami of destruction, and I am creation.”

“Wow?” Chaton Noir whispers in awe, eyes shining with excitement. “That's so cool! Can I meet him?”

“Well,” Alya glances at Marinette, “you can drop your transformation in the bathroom, so you can protect your identity from the both of us. Your kwami already knows who you are, so you can talk to him once you detransform.”

“Okay!” The boy hops out of his seat in a hurry. He tilts his head at Marinette, “May I be excused, please?”

“You most certainly cannot,” Alya crosses her arms. “Finish your soup first.”

“Aren't you hungry?” Marinette asks.

He climbs back up the chair on his knees, head tilting as he pats his stomach. “I don't think so,” he says, brows furrowing as his stomach rumbles quietly.

Marinette stares.

“Uh, that means you're hungry, kid,” Alya points at him.

“But I don't feel hungry,” he pouts.

Marinette rubs her forehead. “Once you eat proper meals at the right times, you'll start to feel hungry,” she tells him. “So please eat how much ever you can now and then you can go detransform.”

“Okay,” the boy nods and begins eating again. “How do I detransform though? Do I just have to take off the ring?”

“You can do that, there's another way too, you have to say your detransformation phrase, I'm not sure what it is, mine's Spots off…”

“It’s Claws in,” Tikki chimes from her perch on Chaton Noir's head.

“Claws i-”

“No, don't!!” Marinette shouts. “Don't say it, or you'll detransform here Chaton.”

“Oops, sorry!” He looks at her with wide, apologetic eyes.

Her heart melts again. He was the cutest thing ever, Manon who?

Chapter Text

“What are you doing?”

Marinette paces in front of the bathroom door, jumping to grab her friend when she appears.

“Alya!” She cries. “He’s so adorable, I would die for him, what the heck is wrong with his parents!?”

“Um,” a tiny voice from the bathroom calls out. “I- I heard that.”

“Oh shoot!” Marinette waves her hands frantically as she hears Plagg’s clear cackling from behind the door. “Please ignore me!”

Alya laughs at her, patting her head fondly as the door opens, and little Chat Noir’s head pokes out. “I would die for you too, Ladybug,” he tells her solemnly.

Marinette screams into Alya’s shoulder, trying not to think about all the times he did die for her. “Help!” She groans. “If Chat Noir found out this newfound power he has over me, he’ll never let me hear the end of it.”

“D-Do you not like older me?” He asks in his little voice, sounding so achingly sad.

She immediately whirls on him, gaping. “What!? No, Chaton, I like you so much! All versions of you!”

He smiles up at her hopefully, biting his lip. “But y-you said you did-didn’t love me earlier. Were you lying?”

“What?” She says taken aback. “When did I say that!?”

Alya steps in. “She was just joking around, kid. Don’t worry your little head, Ladybug adores you.”

Chaton Noir smiles wider at that, peeking shyly at her from behind his messy fringe, tugging on her heartstrings.

“P-Plagg is really nice,” he says, changing the topic. Marinette can’t help but laugh at that, imagining how affronted the black cat kwami would look hearing someone describe him as ‘nice.’ “I’m glad we’re all friends when I’m older.”

“I’m glad too,” Marinette grins, holding out a hand for him to take. He instantly latches onto her, like a little barnacle, and she smiles softly. “Do you want to meet all the other kwamis? I need to feed them all and talk to them anyway about how to reverse the potions’ effects anyway.”

“Other kwamis?” he gasps, eyes growing wide. “Yes, please!”

Alya takes his other hand. “I’m sure they’ll be excited to meet you.”

Chaton Noir smiles, looking pleased. “I’m excited to meet all of them too!”

They climb up to her room and immediately get surrounded by said kwamis.

“Oh my gosh!!” Daizzi squeals, clapping her hands together. “You’re so cute!”

“Hello!” Chaton Noir smiles sweetly at all of them, bouncing on his feet. “It’s nice to meet all of you.”

Orikko laughs as he flies closer, peering at the boy. “Wow, Plagg has such a polite holder. Is he still demanding cheese from you all the time?”

Tikki rolls her eyes. “All the time, -” bubbles sprout off her lips as she keeps talking, unable to say civilian Chaton Noir’s name, “-over here completely spoiled him, he’s even more insufferable for his stinky cheese than usual!”

Chaton Noir smiles uncertainly. “Plagg said something about camembert and that he was starving when I detransformed. I gave him some of the swiss cheese you gave me,” he says, turning to Marinette, “and he was really offended by it.”

Marinette shrugs sheepishly. “Swiss cheese was all I had in hand at the moment.”

“Speaking of food, can I get some grapes?” Trixx asks, trailing out of Alya’s side bag, yawning loudly.

This gets most of the others to start clamoring for their favorite treats and food, and as usual, Wayzz and Sass have to get them to calm down while Barkk floats away, rolling her eyes, Pollen stares impassively, Kaalki sniffs disdainfully, and Longg tries not to look too eager for his favorite food, tea eggs.

“Alright, alright,” Marinette holds up her hands. “Please calm down everyone! I have the basket downstairs, and since my parents are not home, we can go down there. Don’t cause a mess,” she warns, wagging a finger at Xuppu and Roaar.

Chaton Noir is following them all eagerly as well, so Alya pushes Marinette towards him. “You go and ask for their advice, and I’ll flip through the spellbook and see if there’s any way to fix this.”

“Thanks, Alya,” she smiles gratefully. She is so, so glad she told her, she had no idea how she would be handling this mess without her best friend’s support and guidance.

When they’re back at the dining table, little Chat Noir looks as excited as the other kwamis. “Ca-can I feed you guys?” He asks shyly.

“That would be wonderful,” Mullo smiles up at him. “I love bell peppers.”

Chaton Noir peeks into the basket, tilting his head at the mouse kwami. “Umm… which ones are the bell peppers?”

Mullo and Marinette gape at him. “Wha- Chaton, you don’t know what bell peppers look like!?”

The boy flushes slightly. “Sorry, I’m not allowed in the kitchen at home so I don’t know much. I know I’m dumb,” he mutters.

“No, no, you are not dumb, kitty,” Marinette pushes his forehead lightly with her thumb. “Don’t talk about yourself that way. You’re super smart, you save Paris almost every other day with me, and you’re the only one who can understand most of my crazy, convoluted plans without even a word exchanged.”

He grins, perking up at this. “Really? What was your craziest plan?” He asks, while peeling a banana for Xuppu, and feeding some leafy greens to Ziggy with his other hand.

She watches him laugh happily as she describes some of their more bizarre fights and weirder-looking akumas. She never put much thought into how overjoyed Chat Noir got about almost everything. She had always shrugged it off as him being an extroverted, energetic sort of person like Rose, who found delight in the smallest of things.

But observing him these past few hours, she saw little Chat Noir show more sides to him than he had ever revealed to her as his older self. She never knew he could be so reserved, that he could get so sullen and wary, which was depressing to see in a kid who was not even ten yet. She knew her partner had a bit of a short temper, and he hated getting left out of things, but most of the time, he hid all his dismay from her, covering it up with silly puns and charming grins.

She knew he hid his feelings from her, but they never got to have time to talk about it. Or, well, maybe she had even tried to ignore how their partnership was slowly breaking apart from all the secrets she kept from him because if she was forced to talk about it, she would have to admit that she pushed him away purposefully.

An image of a city full of silence flashes through her mind and she has to ward away thoughts of a snow-white world, standing on a rooftop thick with pale ash, staring at eyes that were chips of blue-ice.

But even before Chat Blanc, she had pushed him away. They had pushed him away. She remembers trying to convince Master Fu to be more honest with Chat Noir, but why hadn’t they involved him in the first place? He was her partner, right? She remembers Chat Noir telling her that he had only spoken with Master Fu properly just once before. Her heart sinks as she recalls the hurt look in his eyes, the disappointed silence he gave her every time she spurned him away when he had pleaded with her to stop sidelining him over and over again.

Now that she’s actually thinking about it, Marinette’s honestly surprised that he didn’t just walk away from her, giving up his ring as he did in New York. With the way she had been treating him, she wouldn’t blame him if he did.

She fiddles with one of her earrings, staring at little Chat Noir for a long moment. “I think your older self might be very upset with me,” she blurts out, watching his smile drop and stops throwing grapes into Trixx’s mouth.

Sass glides over, chewing on his small portion of fish as he slants his head at her. “What makess you think that, Guardian?”

“Yeah,” Chaton Noir chimes. “Why would he be mad at you?”

She eyes his pressed lips, as he drops his hands to his side, walking closer to her. “Ladybug?”

She lowers her head into her hands, sighing. “I- I pushed him away,” she says simply, lifting her head back to look at his younger self. That was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it? She had distanced herself away from him, even though they were supposed to be partners, and she had hurt him deeply because of that, plain and simple.

“Oh,” Chaton Noir frowns. “Di-Did I- he do something bad? I- I’m sorry if we did.”

“No, it was nothing you- uh, he did,” Marinette smiles sadly, raising her hand so she can let it rest on his hair. He freezes, before nudging at her fingers, pressing against her, sighing contentedly, a small smile crinkling up his masked eyes.

He was such a cute, little kitten.

“Maybe you can apologize to him,” he advises, looking up at her.

“I think he deserves more than an apology,” she grins shakily, scratching behind his leather ears.

He tilts his head at her. “Well then, you can play a video game with him, or- or throw a rooftop party, and then he’ll forgive you! I sure will,” he giggles, and she can’t help but laugh with him, remembering that extravagant rooftop romantic surprise he arranged for her.

“Maybe I’ll do that,” she concedes, ruffling his hair.

He giggles louder at this. “Père would surely have a heart attack if he saw the state of my hair. He would be like-” Chaton Noir straightens up and pastes a mock-serious and grumpy expression on his face, “Agre- I mean, ‘Chat Noir, remember, you’re a reflection of our family, and sloppiness is not tolerated in this household, especially when it comes to your appearance.’”

“Wow,” Marinette stares at him. “No offense, but your father sounds pretty awful.”

Chaton Noir shrugs, playing with his ring. “He’s just a bit strict, he has to be because I’m too sensitive and overdramatic.”

Marinette’s hand freezes on his head, her heart dropping to her stomach. “That’s-” she breathes deeply, trying to unclench her jaw. “He’s totally, completely wrong.” Well, Chat Noir could be sensitive and over-the-top dramatic at times, but there was nothing wrong with that, and certainly not something a father should be criticizing in his young son.

“I’m sorry you had to hear him say such stupi- dumb things to you, Chaton,” she hugs him close, ignoring how he suddenly tenses. “You’re allowed to feel things and express them, there’s nothing wrong with being sensitive. It just means you have a bigger heart than most people. Did you know one of my best friends is also very sensitive, and- and actually that’s one of the reasons I love him so much!”

“Really?” He asks in a muffled voice as he melts into her embrace.

“Really,” she laughs. “I actually have the biiiiggest crush on him, and I fell in love with him because of how sensitive and sweet he is- just like you!”

“Do you have a crush on me too?” He asks her shyly, and she’s glad they’re hugging so she can hide her grimace at the thought of a fifteen-year-old crushing on a kid of nine years.

“Uh…” She laughs nervously, wondering how to say no without hurting his feelings. She had already spurned older Chat so many times, and now she had to break his little self’s heart too- what even was her life!? “You’re a bit too young for me, Chaton, but I love you very much like- uh, like a little brother! I always wanted younger siblings.”

“Me too!” Chaton Noir jumps, pressing his pointy chin against her midsection as he peers up at her. “I only have Félix, but we’re the same age, and he can be so annoying sometimes,” he says, wrinkling his nose as the world comes crashing down her ears. “B-But do-don’t tell him I said that! He doesn’t have many friends, like me, a-and I think he’s kinda lonely, so he’d be upset if he knew I called him annoying.

“Oh no!” Chaton Noir who was Adrien- little Adrien- exclaims, pulling back from her still, limpless arms. “He’s probably gonna figure I said that anyway, he’s crazy smart and it’s like he can read minds or something… L-Ladybug? Are you alright?”

Yeah, that sounds like the Félix I know, she thinks faintly. “Adrien?” She whispers, because she has to confirm it, even though she knows deep in her bones that she’s correct.

“Oh,” he pales slightly, scratching at the back of his neck uncomfortably. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “How did you figure out my name? I know I was supposed to keep it secret.”

“Adrien,” she says again, louder, and she hears Tikki gasp nearby.

“Oh no!” She hears one of the kwamis exclaim in dismay. “Aren’t the Ladybug and Black Cat holders supposed to keep their identities hidden from one another so Shadowmoth would have a harder time figuring out who they are?”

“Marinette,” Tikki says quietly into her ear. “Marinette, you got to sit down.”

Her head is spinning and her ears are ringing and all she can hear is Chat Blanc- Chat Noir- Adrien’s broken pleas and laughter.

“Nette? Ma… nette? -ear me?”

“-dybug?”

“Mari- Hello… come on girl- Marinette!!”

“Huh?” She says weakly, finding herself sitting on the couch in the living room, fingering a heavy, weighted blanket. “What am I doing here?” She asks blankly.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Alya sighs in relief. “You weren’t responding for a minute there.”

“Ladybug?” Comes a small, worried voice. “Is she going to be okay? It’s my fault, she knows my secret identity now.”

Marinette whips her head towards the little Chat Noir- who was Adrien, he was freaking Adrien, and she feels her hands tremble, hot tears immediately spilling down her cheeks.

Alya curses lowly.

“I’m really sorry,” Chatondrien whispers, looking at them hesitantly. “I’m really, really sorry.”

“Not your fault kid,” Alya is quick to reassure him. “Don’t worry about Ladybug, she’ll be fine, okay?”

“Okay,” mini Adrichat sniffles and her heart breaks all over for him.

“Come here,” she demands, opening her arms. “Adrien, come here.”

“What!?” Alya splutters, as the boy runs to hug her with no hesitation.

“Ooph,” Marinette chuckles as he squeezes his little arms around her, and she tightens her hold. “Sorry if I worried you, mon Chaton,” she says, kissing his wild locks of hair. It feels weird thinking that she was calling Adrien by that nickname, but the strangeness dissipates quickly as the boy all but collapses into her arms.

‘Can we backtrack here for a sec?” Alya asks weakly. “That’s Adrien?”

Marinette nods, still in shock, as Chaton Noir speaks, his voice muffled by the fabric of her shirt. “Yes, that’s my name. I-Is that surprising?”

“Very,” Marinette laughs. “You know that sweet, sensitive boy I was talking about earlier?”

He nods against her belly, as Alya chokes out a laugh. “I was talking about you, Adrien, you’re actually one of my best friends in school.”

“What?” Adrien gasps, gazing up at her. “You were talking about me?” He asks, sounding bewildered, but happy. “Wait- I get to go to school!?”

“That’s right, you’re homeschooled right now, aren’t you?” She ruffles his hair. “When you’re thirteen, you run away from home to attend our collège- Françoise Dupon.”

“Oh!” His eyes widen. “That’s where my friend, Chloé, is going to attend school in a couple of years.”

“I know,” Marinette grumbles.

“Wow,” he says, staring at her. “I can’t believe you know Chloé. You’re not like her at all, Ladybug.”

“Thank god for that,” Alya laughs, coming to lean against the couch with them.

Adrien squints at them in confusion, before perking up again. “Does this mean I can detransform again? I wanted you guys to meet Plagg,” he says shyly, and her eyes soften as she meets his earnest gaze.

“Of course,” she says, all worries pushed to the back of her mind as he gives her a brilliant smile.

“Claws in,” he says excitedly, and Marinette gasps softly as the black leather disappears in a flash of green, leaving behind a grinning, little boy who’s clearly a miniature version of her crush.

She mouths his name, taking in his small form, his eyes the same vivid green as usual, and his hair much more tamed and styled with gel. He has a sleeved, grey-purple shirt on and relaxed-fit jeans.

Marinette had combed through old magazines and squealed at all the cute pictures of a younger Adrien, who had started modeling at eight-years-old. But all of that paled in comparison to the real thing, who looked so cute that she thought she was going to faint.

“Oh my gosh!!” She puts a hand to her flaming cheeks. “YOU ARE SO ADORABLE!!!”

Alya snorts at her as she waves her hands wildly, flailing so hard she knocks over her friend’s glasses. “B-baby Adrien!! Oh my gosh, I am looking at a real-life baby Adrien right now! Is this a dream- Alya- look at him! Isn’t he the cutest thing you have ever laid eyes on!? Even baby hamsters cannot compare!!”

Baby Adrien slowly slinks towards a snickering Alya, crossing his arms and pouting adorably. “Plagg,” he whines, cupping the cackling kwami in his palms. “Both of you- this is not funny, you know.”

“No, it’s hilarious,” Plagg corrects, still chortling.

“You’re acting like I’m a doll,” he points accusingly at Marinette, and she feels some of her delight vanish at the hurt look in the boy’s eyes. She knew that Adrien never liked modeling, only did it for his stick-in-the-mud father, and she instantly felt bad for probably making him feel like she was just gushing at his looks. It was a fact that Adrien was a beautiful boy and that he would only grow more handsome as he became older, and only now does she realize how sickening it was that her friend had been forced to model and have his image plastered all around the world without his consent.

She gets up and extends her arms out in a pacifying gesture. “You’re right, I’m sorry if I was making you feel uncomfortable, Adrien. I- you just look exactly like a mini-version of my friend, and I, well, basically had a-”

“Cuteness overload,” Alya finishes dryly. “Don’t let her get too close, Adrien, she might pinch your cheeks off.”

Marinette glares at her traitorous friend as baby Adrien lets go of Plagg and places both hands on his cheeks protectively. But then he slowly lowers his arms and glances at her bashfully. “You can pinch my cheeks if you want to, Ladybug,” he tells her solemnly. “I know I’m very cute, so I’ll let you.”

Plagg snorts loudly, and Alya bursts out laughing again.

“Yeah,” Marinette says, grinning widely. It’s starting to make a little more sense that this boy in front of her was a younger version of her silly, boastful partner. “You’re super cute,” and then without warning, she reaches out and squeezes his cheeks.

He giggles, but once again, he’s leaning towards any sort of positive touch. She never dreamed that Adrien could be so affectionate and clingy.

“Hah,” Plagg sticks out a tongue at baby Adrien. “How does that feel, kid? You’re always grabbing and clutching me too, so, serves you right to get the same treatment.”

“I don’t remember doing that to you,” Adrien reminds his kwami, “but it feels great!”

Plagg’s gaze softens, but he quickly goes back to grinning like a Cheshire cat when Marinette looks his way. “Finally!” He gripes, throwing an arm around Tikki. “They both know, no more chasing after each other in circles, aren’t you relieved, Sugercube?”

Tikki sniffs, pushing her counterpart’s head away. “Sure, you’re happy about it, as usual, never caring about the dangers or the consequences-”

“Shh,” Plagg shushes her, pulling her away from them, and they start hissing at one another in a musical language that Marinette couldn’t make heads or tails of.

“Soo,” Alya grins at Marinette. “Plagg’s right. I still can’t believe it. You two were literally tangled in a love square!”

“A love what?” Adrien asks, wrinkling his little nose.

“Have you heard of a love triangle?” Alya asks him.

He shakes his head, giving her a blank stare.

“When person A loves person B, who loves person C, who loves person A, or if Person A and Person B both love Person C, and Person C can't decide which one they love back,” Alya clarifies in the most complicated way possible.

Now Marinette stares at her as well. Kid Adrien stares for a few more moments, his brows furrowing, before his eyes light up in comprehension. “Oh, I get it,” he giggles.

“What?” Marinette demands. “How the heck did that make sense!?”

Alya reaches out to pat her shoulder commiseratingly. “You’re just bad at math, Marinette.”

“Wha-” She squawks. “What did that have anything to do with math?”

“So, what’s a love square then?” Adrien asks, eyeing her as she flails around in indignance.

Alya’s eyes light up.

“Oh no,” Marinette groans. “I don’t want to hear this.”

Alya resolutely ignores her, being the traitorous friend that she was. “Basically, Marinette here has a ginormous crush on older, regular you.”

Adrien nods, shooting Marinette, who was sprawled dramatically on the floor, a timid smile.

“And then there’s Chat Noir- you’re older, superhero self, who also, coincidentally has a huge crush on Ladybug. But here’s the catch,” Alya smirks, almost bouncing in excitement like she got the most juiciest scoop of the year, “you both don’t know each other’s identities, so basically it’s a square- Marinette likes older Adrien but Adrien is also Chat Noir who likes Ladybug and Ladybug is Marinette but Ladybug does not like Chat Noir that way and older Adrien considers Marinette as a good friend… probably because someone never got around to confessing her feelings.”

“Aaaaalya,” Marinette whines. “If Adrien remembers all of this, I am going to kill you.”

Baby Adrien laughs at her misery. “I’m sure my older self will be super happy, so it’s okay, Ladybug,” he says, clumsily patting her hand. “But that’s so crazy, it’s like our lives are from a storybook!” He grins infectiously.

“Well, it’s not as clear-cut as that,” she grumbles, but she smiles up warmly at Adrien. “It is kinda insane though, right?” She sighs, sits up, and pulls down Adrien into her lap. Now that she knew how terribly clingy he was, she was going to give him all the hugs and cuddles he deserved before all of this could end.

“I’m glad we know now,” Adrien twists his head upwards to smile at her.

“Me too,” she says truthfully, bopping him on the nose, eyes crinkling into a gentle smile as he giggles. And hopefully, this won’t spell out the end of the world again, she prays. Bunnyx didn’t show up yet, so maybe this was okay? But seeing little Adrien’s bright, sweet smile… that in her opinion, was worth anything.

Chapter Text

“So you guys don’t have any idea on how to fix this?” Marinette drops her head in her hands, several hours later. They had just had dinner and then she had tucked Adrien to sleep in her bed since the boy had started to look exhausted as the day dragged on.

“I’m sorry, Guardian,” Sass tells her apologetically. “We have never encountered such a problem before.”

"Hm,” Kaalki daintily taps her chin, “there's a strong chance that this poorly brewed potion operates on a timer, and you simply have to allow it to run its course. Similar to the enlargement potion, which was also time-based according to the spellbook, it was supposed to last for a couple of minutes. However, it's been much longer than that since Chat Noir transformed into a child. Nonetheless, I speculate that this spell may persist for several more hours, or at most, a few days."

“Wait, really,” Marinette perks up. “Oh, thank god, I was so scared that this could be permanent.”

“Nah,” Plagg waves his paw dismissively, “there’s nothing that powerful in this spellbook. The kid will be back in no time, though,” he grins, “he’s a lot more agreeable in this form.” He shakes his head. “Actually, no, scratch that, I want older Adrien back, he's the only one with the means to provide me with all the cheese I desire.”

Tikki rolls her eyes. “Do you think of anything other than your cheese?”

“Do you do anything other than worry and complain?” Plagg shoots back.

“Nah, I’d say the title of the biggest worrier ever would go to Ziggy,” Xuppu chimes in his two cents.

Ziggy huffs at him, “Well, at least I have the brains to worry!”

“Hey, what do you mean by that?” Xuppu shouts.

“She means you’re braindead, moron,” Roaar cackles.

“Could you all stop squabbling for even one second?” Barkk rolls her eyes.

Trixx grins, hovering next to an amused-looking Alya, “Where would be the fun in that?” They ask, sharing a high-five with Plagg.

Marinette hits her hand against her head. “Sure, you find it funny,” she whines to Alya, “but anyone would go crazy if they have to listen to this twenty-four-seven for several months on end.”

Alya stops smiling, crossing her arms. “Come on guys, Marinette needs to think, and she needs some space to herself. Don’t you guys have like unlimited space in the miraculous box? Please go fight among yourselves there if you guys have to.”

“Yes, shoo all of you, my kid needs to sleep, if you guys are any louder, he’s gonna wake up any second,” Plagg adds.

Kaalki huffs, grabbing Longg to trail after her. “Fine, I can see when we’re not wanted. Come along all of you, the Guardian is under a lot of stress, and we do not need to add to it.”

“Thank you!” Alya calls to all of them except Trixx, Tikki, and Plagg, who stay.

Tikki huffs at her other half, “Look at what you did, you started this.”

“Wow, Sugarcube, you have zero self-awareness,” Plagg says drolly.

“Stop calling me Sugarcube!”

“Kids, kids,” Trixx breaks them apart with their paws. “You can have your lover’s spat later, we’ve got bigger problems to contend with.”

Tikki and Plagg make similarly disgusted faces, and Marinette can’t help but giggle at how alike they look all of a sudden.

“Lover’s spat!?” Plagg gags, while Tikki fumes beside him.

“Trixx, please don’t joke about things like that,” Tikki puts a paw to her forehead. “I will actually throw up.”

“That should be my line,” Plagg mutters, still looking disgusted.

“Wow,” Alya chuckles, “you two really hate being called that, huh?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Tikki quickly nods, shooting Trixx a venomous glare. “Plagg- sadly, is my counterpart, we cannot exist as concepts without one another, but that means he’s like the other half of my soul. In human terms, the closest you could get to describe that is like we are identical twins, intertwined with one another. So, yes, calling us lovers, is… sort of repulsive to us.”

“Sorry,” Trixx waves a paw, not looking apologetic in the slightest.

“Anyways,” Marinette cuts in, trying to change the subject, “you guys are absolutely positive Kaalki has the right theory? Adrien won’t be stuck as a kid forever?”

Tikki flies over to her. “Don’t worry, Marinette, I also think this is just a temporary thing. At most, it will be for a couple of days.”

“Okay, okay,” Marinette nods, wiping her brow. “That’s good, but if it does last that long, what am I going to tell my parents?”

Alya hums. “You could just tell them you’re babysitting Adrien’s younger cousin or something, I’m sure they’ll believe that, and I’ll back you up on it.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a pretty good idea, I forgot he was detransformed for a second,” Marinette chuckles sheepishly, and then slaps her forehead. “Wait- what on earth are we going to tell his father!?”

Alya grimaces. “That… is a problem.”

“Eh,” Plagg shrugs. “Kid’s run away before, they’ll probably think he’s done that again.”

Marinette gapes at that. “He- what? More than once!?” She shakes her head, deciding to come back to that subject at a later time. “He’s probably going to get into a lot of trouble when he goes back though, what if his father tries to take him out of school again?”

Alya scowls. “From what I’ve gleaned for these past few hours, and considering the last two years we’ve been with him, Gabriel Agreste is a grade-A asshole, and I wouldn't trust him to water a houseplant, let alone be a good dad to Adrien.”

“You’re right,” Marinette sighs, glancing back at her bed, where Adrien is sleeping soundly, “but it’s not like we can just kidnap him.”

“Sure you can!” Plagg claps his paws, before wincing and lowering his voice, shooting an apologetic stare in Adrien’s direction when the kid mumbles slightly and shifts in his sleep. “I promise you guys, the kid will be much happier if he’s out of that prison of a house.”

Marinette clenches her fists. “Is it really that bad?”

Plagg shrugs. “You tell me, Pigtails, I can count on less than two human hands the number of times the kid got to hang out with you guys and not have to play it off as a group project or other such nonsense.”

“Plagg’s right,” Alya says wearily. “I mean the number of times Nino has complained about what a shitty dad Gabriel is- I think he has some sorta personal vendetta on the guy.”

“Well, he should get in line,” Marinette snarls. “I wish I could go as Ladybug and just punch his face off.” She glances at Tikki. “Wait, can-”

“No, Marinette,” she smiles at Marinette. “You can’t use your powers to go start fights with civilians. No matter how much you or I want to.”

“That civilian, Tikki,” Plagg says, “deserves to be catacylsmed out of existence once or twice at least.”

Trixx whistles. “Wow, I kinda want to meet the guy now, he must be an absolute douchebag to get both Plagg and Tikki to agree on something.”

“He is,” Alya sighs, crossing her arms. “So what’s the game plan here? I don’t want Adrien to get in trouble with his father, apparently, the guy has no qualms about locking his son up.”

“What?” Tikki scowls. “That’s horrible.”

“Isn’t that like abuse?” Marinette asks, tapping on her desk. “Can- can we report it or something?”

Alya looks conflicted. “I dunno, I have a distant cousin who was in the foster system, but she’s from Barbados, I think… but I can reach out to her and ask how it works. I don’t really know anything about it, but shouldn’t this be Adrien’s decision if he wants to report it to the police or something.”

“I don’t even think the kid will agree to do that,” Plagg shakes his head. “He loves his father, unfortunately, even though that man doesn’t deserve it at all.”

They all scowl at that.

“Anyways, you guys need a solution right now,” Trixx emphasizes. “People will notice if Adrien is missing for a couple of days, so some of my illusions can help to cover it up.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Marinette nods. “I’ll go as Ladybug and take Adrien with me to his house and tell his Dad that I accidentally dropped the potion on him or something, and this happened. But just in case, so it won’t be suspicious that I’m the only one there when I was last seen with Chat Noir, Alya, can you create an illusion so it’ll look like Chat is there too? That way it can all look like an unfortunate accident.”

“That’s a great plan, Marinette,” Alya grins.

“Yeah, but you’re forgetting one thing,” Plagg adds. “Adrien’s father will probably want the kid to stay with him until the potions’ effects disappear, and I don’t want to leave the kid there with that man, he’s already too vulnerable like this.”

“Why can’t you just conjure up an illusion of Adrien letting his father know that he’ll be with friends for a couple of days?” Trixx asks. “That’d be a lot easier than this whole complicated plan, you know.”

“Yeah, no,” Plagg says flatly, as Marinette shakes her head. “He loves to have control over the kid and have him stay caged up in his room day and night.”

“Nino and I have to beg to go see him each time,” Marinette growls. “And most of the time, we’re not allowed in. Plagg’s right, his father would never allow him to stay out for an hour let alone a couple of days.”

“You can say that Ladybug needs to monitor him,” Alya says, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Don’t even take Adrien with you, he can’t protest too much if you state it firmly. Your status as Ladybug is pretty credible, and my Chat Noir illusion can back you up.”

Marinette still feels a bit worried. She always felt like a dumb kid whenever she confronted Adrien’s father, but she had to do this for her partner, for her friend. She didn’t want him to get in trouble with his father because of her.

“Okay,” she nods determinedly. “Let’s do it. And if he disagrees, I’ll punch him in the face.”

“Yes!” Plagg cheers.

Chapter Text

“No,” Gabriel Agreste stares down at her coldly from where he stood on top of the imposing staircase. “You will return my son to me right this instant, or I will call the authorities and let them know what happened.”

Ladybug widens her stance, as the Chat Noir illusion beside her tenses slightly.

“I’m sorry, sir,” she says, gritting her teeth. “But I really cannot do that. It’s important that Chat Noir and I supervise him in case for his own safety until he can return to normal.”

“Little girl,” Gabriel sneers, and she distantly wonders how she ever could have admired this man, “you were messing with unknown powers and due to your carelessness, my son has been put in jeopardy. How can I trust you to take care of him, I am his father!”

“Look,” Illusion Chat Noir steps in front of her, “we’re very sorry, it was a mistake, but we promise Adrien is fine and he’ll be back to normal in no time. And…” Chat Noir’s image glances back at her for a second, before turning back to Gabriel. “If you do contact the police, we’ll tell them the same thing. That it was our mistake and that we’ll never let this happen again.”

Gabriel sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Why can’t you just let me see him, then? What is with all this cloak and daggers?”

Ladybug places her fists on her hips. “We’ve already told you, sir, Adrien is sleeping right now, and we don’t want to move him around too much because we don’t know how the potion affected him.”

“I cannot believe this,” Gabriel mutters, facing away from them to look up at the grand portrait of him and Adrien, standing side-by-side, her friend staring into the distance somberly. As always, she felt uncomfortable looking at it, questioning why the man would hang such a huge picture of them depicted like that.

It hits her suddenly, staring up at Adrien’s miserable expression, that the person in the portrait is also Chat Noir, her silly, dorky partner. She sees it now, she only has to add the pointy ears, the whole leather suit, and picture his cat-like eyes, and suddenly it’s Chat Noir who is gazing away sadly, and she feels her breath hitch.

Ladybug had rarely seen Chat Noir look so upset, the whole Chat Blanc situation notwithstanding, and it felt strange to remember that this was Chat’s house, that Gabriel was Chat’s father, that him and Adrien were the same person. Those haunting, empty icy-blue eyes that had stared past her, surrounded by a sunken wasteland that had once been Paris… that had been Adrien, calling out her name, clawed hands inches away from her earrings, someone who had become absolutely unrecognizable to her.

“Get out of my house,” Gabriel hisses, “and when you come back, it better be with my son.”

They leave quickly, and as she swings past the mansion, she can’t help but glance back towards Adrien- Chat Noir’s room, which looks wide and empty in the glittering sunlight. Lonely, she thinks, landing next to Rena Rouge, barely taking notice of the illusion of her partner disappearing. He must have been so lonely in there.

“Ladybug?” Rena Rouge puts a hand on her shoulder, peering at her in concern. “Are you alright?”

She shakes away the hollow feelings that house always conjured up, and tries for a smile. “I’m fine, I’ll feel better the sooner we get back to Adrien.”

When they arrive back at her room, she’s met with Adrien barrelling into her front, barely a second after she's finished detransforming, his little arms circling her tightly.

“Hello,” she laughs bemusedly, automatically hugging him back. “I see you’re awake.”

“Hello,” he says back shyly, lifting his head to look up at her. “Plagg told me that you and Alya went to my house. Is Mère feeling better?”

All her good mood vanishes, and she freezes, staring down at his innocent, questioning eyes. Besides her, she can hear Alya curse silently.

“I- she,” what was she supposed to say? How was she going to tell a little kid, tell Adrien that his mother was gone? “She’s… she’s fine!” Marinette blurts out.

“Marinette!” Alya hisses next to her. “What are you doing?”

Adrien pulls back, looking at them back and forth in confusion. “Is my mother still not well?”

Marinette ignores Alya elbowing her ribs and turns to Adrien, pasting a wide, manic smile on her face. “She’s completely fine and she said she misses you!”

Adrien perks up. “Really? Can I go see her?”

Alya groans, pushing past her and kneeling in front of the boy. “Adrien,” she says gently. “I know this might be hard to hear… but your mother actually disappeared a few years ago, it was in the news and your older self told us.”

“Wh-what?” Adrien steps back, shaking his head, tears instantly filling his eyes. He doesn’t react as Plagg flies to him, pressing against his wet cheeks. “Wh-Why? Wha- What d-do you mean? Where- where did she go!?”

Marinette can’t stop her own tears from falling as she stares at little Adrien’s distraught face. “W-we don’t know, Adrien. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“No!” He keeps shaking his head, backing up until his legs give out, and he falls against the chaise. “No!” He cries. “I want my Mère. I want Mère. P-please. Want her, want her, want her…” He keeps repeating, curling into himself.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have told him,” Marinette whispers, unable to look away from the heartbreaking sight.

“You can’t keep that from him,” Alya says, looking teary as well. “Right? He has the right to know.”

“What’s done is done,” Trixx sighs. “The only thing you can do now is be there for the kid.”

Tikki nods, flying towards Adrien, landing on his hair. She murmurs something too low for Marinette to make out, before patting his head.

Marinette approaches him slowly, bending down to sit next to him. “Can I hug you?” She asks him softly.

“I want my Mère,” he repeats.

“I know. I know,” she says back, swallowing back the lump in her throat. “I know.”

After what feels like several hours, Adrien’s cries slowly taper out, and he collapses into Marinette’s arms, sinking into an exhausted sleep. He had already slept earlier in the day, but she had put that down as the toll the day’s events had taken or possibly the effects of the potion.

She plays with his locks of hair, still feeling numb and upset. “You know,” she says hoarsely, “I can’t even imagine how he feels. I can’t imagine losing… my Mom.”

“Yeah,” Alya agrees quietly.

Plagg flies up to rest beside Tikki atop Adrien’s head. “We’ve lost a lot of our holders,” he says, glancing at Tikki, whose antennas droop slightly.

“You never truly move past it,” she says softly, curling closer towards her counterpart.

“Says you,” Plagg mutters, but he looks pensive, like he’s lost in his memories. He shakes his head, brushing Marinette’s thumb away so he too can paw at Adrien’s messy locks. “I’m probably the closest thing this kid has had to a parent for these last two years.” He shudders. “Can you imagine? Me!? I never signed up for this.”

“Hah,” Trixx snorts. “I never thought I’d see the day when you would be raising a human child. How’s he even still alive?”

“Not for his lack of trying,” Plagg grumbles and Marinette’s blood runs cold.

“What!?” She sits up straight. “What do you mean he tried!?”

“Lower your voice,” Plagg glares, “he’s sleeping.”

“What. Do you mean?” She hisses.

“I mean, have you seen the kid? He’s sacrificed himself way too many times already, and when I try to talk to him about it, he just brushes it off!”

Alya gasps softly, putting both her hands to her mouth as Marinette pales.

“And,” Plagg continues, and her heart sinks, because there’s more? “He barely ever eats nowadays, barely talks to anyone except that turtle boy, and when he gets to his room at night, he just lays on his couch and does not get up no matter how much I yell or bite him.”

“Plagg,” Tikki pushes him. “How many times have I told you not to bite your holders?”

“Oh, bite me,” Plagg rolls his eyes.

She does.

“Hey!” He whines. “Whatcha do that for!?”

“You asked for it,” Tikki preens.

“That’s awful,” Marinette whispers, ignoring their antics. She pulls her head into her hands. “I mean, I always knew he was stupidly brave, and always taking hits for me even though I never asked him to… but I don’t know. I- I just-” She tears up. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair that he- he has to be Chat Noir too.”

She knows she’s not making any sense, but she feels Alya slide up next to her anyway, placing an arm around her shoulders. She leans into her friend’s side, wiping away her tears.

“It’s not fair that they’re the same person,” she says, quieter. “Adrien already had so much on his shoulders, I- I know his schedule by heart and I can’t believe I missed the fact that he was my freaking partner-! B-but, that was Adrien, Alya,” she sniffles. “Adrien, who’s been sacrificing himself for me, who’s always been there for me, and- and I pushed him away. I- I hurt him. He’s already so alone, and I must have made him feel worse.”

“Hey, you couldn’t have known, Marinette,” Alya pressed her hand on her shoulder more firmly. “Not all of this is on you. And you didn’t mean to hurt him, right? Adrien’s such a sweet guy, he’ll definitely understand when you explain everything.”

“What,” Marinette throws her arms up. “I- I can’t explain about what happened to him in that timeline when he got akumatized, Alya, he destroyed the whole freaking world. How can I explain to him that that’s the reason I’ve been sidelining him?”

“You prevented that timeline,” Alya points out. “It never happened-”

“What if it does happen again!?” She groans, pulling at her hair.

“It won’t,” Alya stresses. “Bunnyx is not here, right? So it won’t happen. It’s gonna be fine, girl. And remember what I said? You can’t control everything, all of this is not on you. It’s okay to ask for help sometimes, Marinette.”

“My holder is right,” Trixx jerks a paw at Alya. “I’m all for keeping secrets and hiding behind the scenes, but there are some truths you just can’t hide. And the worse it gets if you keep lying ‘bout it.” The kwami eyes Marinette speculatively, “You know, ladybugs are all about keeping the balance, and if you want to be a half-decent Ladybug, you gotta keep things equal between you and your partner.”

“See,” Alya nudges her shoulder, “if you’re not gonna listen to me, at least take the some hundred-thousand-”

“-three-hundred-thousand,” Trixx corrects.

“-year-old god of illusion’s advice.”

Marinette huffs out a watery laugh. “Maybe you guys are right.”

“Maybe?” Trixx crosses their arms. “I’m always right!”

“Sure,” Plagg drawls, “the Bermuda Triangle, Taos Hum, the Miracle of the Sun, that one ancient Chinese waterfall never happened.”

“Umm, hello, says the guy who’s responsible for the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the sinking of Atlantis, killed all the din-”

“Hey, I take accountability for those events!”

As always, listening to historic events spoken like that sends Marinette’s head spinning and feeling dumbfounded. She glances at Alya, who looks even more confounded, her mouth agape, and Marinette starts giggling, before she’s folding over herself, laughing like a maniac.

“I needed that,” she says, grinning as she wipes away a stray tear.

Besides her, Adrien shifts, mumbling for his mother in his sleep, and she sobers up, trailing her fingers in his hair for a moment, before springing up. “My parents are gonna be here soon, are we still going with that cousin story?”

Alya nods, pulling up her phone and tapping away at it. “I asked my Mom if I could stay over at your place, and she said yes. And tomorrow’s the weekend anyway, so hopefully, the potion’s effects will reverse by the time school starts.” She turns to Adrien, who’s still tucked next to Marinette’s side, and bends down to pick up the boy.

“He’s really light,” Alya mutters, frowning. “I can’t even carry the twins, but holding him is a piece of cake.”

Marinette gets to her feet. “He can’t even tell if he’s hungry, that’s a bad sign, right?”

Alya gives a tight nod. “Nino’s always complaining about how Adrien keeps getting put on new, extreme diet plans, and that they keep getting worse. He’s always so upset whenever he talks about Adrien nowadays.”

“Now I really wish I punched Gabriel Agreste in his face,” Marinette grouses, watching Alya climb up her bed to gently lay the boy down. He looked distressed even in his sleep, his eyes screwed shut, as if he were in pain. Alya brushes away the messy fringe falling across his face and places a kiss on his forehead.

She sees Marinette staring at her with a raised eyebrow. “What?” She says defensively. “He’s a really cute kid.”

“Yeah,” Marinette chuckles, eyes sliding to her trapdoor as she hears her parents’ footsteps echoing downstairs. “Seems like they’re back. Let’s go tell them the news.”

Her parents take hers and Alya’s explanation in stride, which is a relief. Marinette did not need any more complications in the mess they already found themselves in.

They go back to her room, and after preparing for the night, she nestles herself beside the still-sleeping Adrien, softly bidding Alya, who had claimed the chaise, goodnight.

“I’m actually kinda hoping the potion doesn’t reverse too soon,” Marinette whispers over to Tikki. “Otherwise, I’d be waking up to a grown-up Adrien, and that would just be super embarrassing. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look him in the eye again if that happens.”

Tikki giggles, “Oh, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

She smiles. “Night, Tikki, sweet dreams.”

“Goodnight, Marinette!”

Chapter Text

“-ybug!? Ladybug!! LADYBUG!!!” A loud, childish voice shouts into her ear.

“Huh- wha-!” Marinette’s eyes blink open, staring blearily at the smattering rays of sunlight filtering through her windows.

“Yes, you’re finally awake!”

She blinks again, shivering when she feels tiny, warm hands clutching her thin nightshirt, and stares up at a pair of brilliant green eyes looking down at her.

“What!? Adrien!?” She shrieks, pulling away so quickly that she actually tumbles out of her bed, because those eyes could only belong to one person. She stares up at her bed dazedly from the floor, wondering if she is having some vivid hallucination. This seemed too real to be a dream, but what else could it be but a dream!? Adrien Agreste was in her bed!

The memories from last night come flooding back in, and she groans, slapping her head. “Uh, hey Adrien, sorry, I just got a bit surprised.”

“Are you okay!?” He shouts, almost falling over himself as he cranes his head to look at her.

“I’m fine,” she chuckles, wincing slightly as she gets up, rubbing her stinging elbow. “This happens to me a lot. I’m super clumsy.”

He scrambles down her ladder. “You should be more careful,” he tells her seriously. “I’m glad you’re okay, though.”

She smiles at him, reaching out to ruffle his hair as he rubs at his eyes with one hand, which are still a little red.

He lifts up her phone with his other arm, yawning as he does so. “Your alarm is really, really loud, so I switched it off for you. But then there were two more alarms, and you weren’t getting up, so I tried to wake you. Sorry, I scared you.”

“No, you’re totally fine, Adrien.” Marinette pauses, before carefully asking, “Did you sleep well?”

Adrien looks down at his feet. “Yeah,” he says quietly. “I miss my Mère, though. Do you think I can see her again?”

She feels her heart breaking once more, but before she can reply, her trap door opens, and her mom pokes her head in, eyes landing on them. “Oh, wow, Marinette,” her mom laughs. “Are my eyes deceiving me, or are you actually awake before 11h?”

“Haha,” Marinette rolls her eyes, wishing her mom had better timing.

“Hello, dear,” her mom smiles at Adrien, who waves at her shyly, the sad look in his eyes disappearing a little.

“Hello, Madame. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh, what a polite young man! What’s your name, sweetie?” Her mom grins.

Before Marinette can cut in and answer, Adrien readily gives out his name. She winces inwardly, wondering how she and Alya could have forgotten to give her parents a fake name for the boy when informing them that she was babysitting Adrien’s cousin.

Her mom just blinks slightly at that, before smiling. “Well, come down and brush up you two, breakfast will be ready soon. Alya’s already downstairs- she told me Adrien here was going to take care of waking you up, Marinette. Thank you for doing that, sweetie, it’s so tough to get my daughter up, especially on the weekends!”

Adrien giggles slightly. “It was no problem, Madame.”

“Call me Sabine, sweetie.”

“How would you like your pancakes, Adrien?” Mom asks him, once they’re all seated at the table.

Adrien glances at Marinette. “Um, I’m not sure, sorry. I never had pancakes before.”

Marinette’s not really surprised by this, but her mom actually whirls around and stares at the kid for almost a whole minute.

“Never had pancakes!?” She gasps, trying to school her surprise as Adrien hunches down a little.

“Who’s never had pancakes?” Her dad asks, walking into the dining room, looking over at Alya and Adrien. “Good morning, Alya!” He smiles at her friend, before leaning towards Adrien, extending a hand. “And you must be Adrien!”

“Hello, sir,” Adrien says politely, reaching out to shake her dad’s hand solemnly. “It is very nice to meet you. Thank you for having me over.”

“No need to be so formal, son,” her dad chuckles, not noticing Adrien’s eyes widen. “Just call me Tom.”

Her mom walks over, one hand on her hip and she uses the other to pat down her apron. “Adrien was just telling me he’s never tried pancakes before.”

“Really?” Her dad raises his eyebrows in surprise. “Well that just won’t do, but if it’s your first time, my wife makes the best chocolate pancakes in the entire world.”

“Yeah, I love your pancakes, Mme Cheng,” Alya chimes, grinning, then turning to Adrien. “You’re gonna love them, kid.”

Adrien gives them all a small smile. “Okay.” He stares with wide, round eyes as her mom passes a plate of pancakes to him first.

“Wow,” Adrien whispers, glancing at her mom and then at Marinette. “Is this really all for me?”

She feels a pang in her chest at the pure joy etched on his tiny face. There was only a stack of two pancakes on his plate. “Yes, all for you,” she tries to smile.

“Thank you,” he tells her mom, either not noticing or understanding the worried look on her face.

“Wait a minute, dear,” her mom reaches out to lightly brush his hand, and he freezes at her touch. “Did Adrien’s parents tell you if he has any dietary issues, Marinette?”

Marinette scowls, meeting her mom’s eyes. “No, he has none. The only thing he’s allergic to is bird feathers.”

“Hm,” her mom narrows her eyes, glancing between Marinette and Alya, and the bitter looks on their faces. She doesn’t comment on it however, as she pats Adrien’s hand gently. “Just making sure, sweetie, here you can also add some syrup to your pancakes if you want.”

Just then, her dad walks out, with four more sets of plates. “Here you go, pumpkin, your favorite strawberry pancakes,” he hums, “and for Alya, the blueberry ones.”

“Thanks, M. Dupain!” Alya beams, and they all begin to eat.

Mom watches Adrien discreetly as he slowly chews on his pancakes, smiling and swinging his legs under the tablecloth. “You look a lot like your cousin, Adrien,” her mom comments, sounding thoughtful.

“Uh,” Adrien says, swallowing his food, and shooting a brief-panicked look at Marinette. “Th-Thank you, Madame.”

“Call me Sabine, dear,” Her mom smiles, and Adrien nods hesitantly

“Yeah,” Marinette laughs a little too loudly. “They look pretty alike, huh?”

“They even have the same name,” her dad chuckles.

Adrien ducks his head as Alya smiles nervously, “Haha, what a coincidence!”

“Marinette told me your parents went out on a business trip for a couple of days, Adrien, is this your first time being away from them for so long?” Her mom asks curiously.

Adrien speaks before Marinette can cut in, “No,” he shakes his head, after taking another tiny bite of his pancake. “My Père goes on business trips all the time, and sometimes Mère- M-Mère-” he drops his fork, his eyes instantly filling up with tears.

“Oh, Adrien,” Marinette whispers, dragging her chair closer so she could take him in her arms. “Shh, I got you.”

“Oh no!” Her mom gasps. “Is he alright?”

“What’s wrong, son?” her dad asks gently, as Alya scoots closer, placing a hand on Adrien’s back.

“He’ll be fine, Mme and M. Dupain-Cheng… his mother is sick, and- and he’s really worried for her.” Alya meets Marinette’s distraught eyes. Why hadn’t they thought this through better?

“Poor darling,” her mom says sympathetically. “It’ll be okay, sweetie. I’m sure your mother will get better in no time.”

“N-No,” Adrien chokes out, words muffled by Marinette’s shirt, “she won’t get better. She won’t.”

“I’m gonna take him back to my room, he might feel more comfortable there,” Marinette says quickly, lifting the boy up in her arms easily. “Alya, could you grab his plate?”

“If you’re sure, honey,” her mom says, watching them with knitted brows.

“Call us if you need anything,” her dad adds, looking worried.

Marinette nods, before rushing up to her room, Alya following behind her. “I’m so sorry, Chato- Adrien,” she places him down on her rotating chair, kneeling in front of him. “I didn’t think they would ask those questions…”

“I want my Mère,” Adrien sobs, tightening his hold on her. “Please, I want to see her.”

“I know,” she whispers, feeling absolutely useless as he cries and cries.

Alya sits down on the floor next to her. “Here,” she says, pressing a cup of water against his lips. “You need to drink some water, or you’ll get dehydrated.”

He gulps down a few sips, his hands trembling noticeably, before pushing the cup away with barely half of its contents consumed. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly.

“Don’t apologize for this, kid,” Plagg says, startling Marinette, who hadn’t noticed the kwami had been perching on Adrien’s head. “We all have our moments.”

“I just want to see my Mère again,” he says tiredly, breaking away from her and pulling his knees forward toward his chest.

Her heart aches for him, but she didn’t know what else to say except just sit near him and hope that would be enough.

Chapter Text

Alya suggests they watch a movie after handing over the plate of pancakes to Adrien.

“What would you like to watch, kiddo?”

Adrien tilts his head cutely, tapping his fork against his lips. “I like watching anime like Naruto, Pokémon, and I’ve started watching some of the One Piece episodes, and I like-”

Marinette’s mouth falls open as the boy goes on and on.

“Wow,” she says, smiling weakly as she leans against a pillow on her chaise. “That’s a lot.”

Alya snorts, “he sounds just like the twins, they’re huge anime fans too.”

“Oh,” Adrien looks shy again, “c-can I meet them? They’re my age, right?”

Alya glances at Marinette. “Uh, maybe kid, but it’s probably best you don’t go out too much because that could jeopardize our identities.”

“That makes sense,” Adrien nods, but he wilts sadly.

“Bring them over!” Marinette turns to Alya. “Bring your sisters over today. That way Adrien does not have to go outside but he can still meet them.”

Alya sends a text to her parents, and after a couple of minutes, she looks up smiling. “They’re free to come over- they’ll be here in a couple of hours.”

Adrien smiles at that, looking more happier than he did all morning.

In the end, they all pile up next to one another to watch the Incredibles. Marinette, absolutely shocked the boy’s never seen the movie, urges Alya to play it on her desktop, and they move the chaise over so they can see the screen better.

As the movie starts to play, she’s unable to pay attention, which was fine as she pretty much memorized the dialogue by that point.

Instead, she can’t help but watch the boy tucked beside her, playing with his locks of hair, fingering the places where his ears would usually be if he was transformed. He looks lighter than he did all of last night and this morning, laughing at the parts he found funny, his green eyes fixed intently on the screen.

Even as immersed in the movie as he is, he still whines softly, nudging against Marinette’s hand when her massaging comes to a stop, acting in the same way his older counterpart would. It makes her blush a little, imagining her Adrien doing the same thing, being as affectionate as Chat Noir, with whom she’s still coming to terms that they are the same person.

After the movie ends, he’s grinning widely, and Alya laughs fondly and asks, “Who was your favorite character?”

“Elastigirl,” he instantly replies, and Marinette can’t stop her loud snort at that.

“Of course,” she smirks. “I like her too.”

Adrien turns to Alya. “Who’s your favorite character?”

“Hm, I’d say Edna and Mirage.”

“What!?” Marinette squawks. “Why Mirage?”

“First of all, her voice, and her entire appearance, so gorgeous- she’s like so sexy-”

“-ALYA!” Marinette’s eyes go wide as she slaps her hands over Adrien’s ears.

Alya’s mouth falls open and her eyes fall on Adrien, who’s grinning widely, which of course he is.

“Uhhh- I mean, haha,” Alya scratches the back of her neck, before pouting slightly. “Etta and Ella say the word all the time, there’s nothing wrong with it, right?” She stares Adrien down. “There’s nothing wrong with the word sexy, alright-”

“Alya!” Marinette moves her hands away, but she can’t help but smile at Adrien’s expression, his eyes sparkling as he giggles behind his palm. “Besides that, Mirage literally has no personality, she just followed orders, and she’s just plain evil. She showed no sign of remorse for her actions until it came to her own safety, and maybe for the kids when they were put in jeopardy.”

“I dunno,” Alya shrugs, “I see her as a pretty interesting character- like her relationship with Syndrome is pretty interesting. And I think she came to her senses after Syndrome shot down the plane with Helen, Violet, and Dash inside. She’s just not entirely good, but not entirely bad either, you know?”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Adrien chimes in. “She reminds me of my Père’s assistant, Nathalie, though Nathalie is not evil.”

Alya snorts, “You know, I kinda see it.”

Marinette could kind of see it too. Especially in that weird kind of relationship Gabriel and Nathalie seemed to have with one another. She apparently even lived in the same house with him and Adrien… which was a bit strange, wasn’t it? For an assistant?

“Oh,” Alya looks down at her phone. “My sisters will be here in a couple of minutes.”

“Let’s go downstairs then,” Marinette gets up, smiling as Adrien takes all their plates and stacks them up carefully.

“You don’t have to do that, Adrien, here, let me take them-”

He shakes his head. “No, you said you’re clumsy, Ladybug, so don’t worry, I can do it.”

Marinette glares at Alya as she laughs. “I’m not that clumsy,” she retorts, crossing her arms, but she lets him carry the dishes. He looked so cute as he did so, concentrating carefully as he stepped down the stairs. “Also,” she lowers her voice down to a whisper, “could you call me Marinette from now on, please? My parents cannot know about our identities.”

“Sure,” he whispers back.

Her mom takes the dishes away from Adrien with a grateful smile, patting his shoulder, the worried look in her eyes still there, but she doesn’t press about what happened, which was a quality that Marinette loved about her. She always knew the right thing to say at the right time, and she was extremely intuitive about people and how they could be feeling even before the other person knew it themselves.

Alya opens their front door after the bell rings, rolling her eyes as her sisters immediately rush in, chattering loudly and telling her that they missed her.

“Hey, Mom,” Alya grins up at the older woman near the doorway, “I thought Nora was supposed to drop them off.”

“Nora had a last-minute practice match she had to attend to,” Mme Césaire smiled, waving at Marinette and her mom.

“Marlena,” Mom greets Mme Césaire with a wide smile, both of them reaching forward to kiss each other on the cheeks.

"Are you Adrien?" comes a younger voice, prompting Marinette to glance at the twins, flanking the boy on either side, looking down at him curiously. Looking at them, Marinette now understands why Alya was so confused when Adrien told them he was nine because if they were all around the same age, it certainly did not look like it.

It was strange, how small he seemed compared to them, especially knowing that he would be much taller than this in just a couple of years.

“Hi,” Adrien says softly, shrinking a little. “It’s very nice to meet you, Ella and Etta.”

“Nice to meet you!” The girls yell at the same time, before looking at each other in confusion as Adrien claps his hands on his ears and backs away from them. He notices Marinette staring, and he straightens, bringing his arms down, and quickly walks toward her. He stands for a moment, rigid and unblinking, but when Marinette takes his hand, he immediately melts into her side, almost hiding behind her.

She ruffles his hair gently, “are you alright, kitten?”

He bites his lip, looking up at her, and then giving her a hesitant nod.

“I’m sorry,” one of the twins says, drawing closer to them. “Sorry if we scared you.”

The other one- Marinette should really try to tell them apart, but it’s so difficult- reaches out and pokes Adrien in the cheek.

“Ella!” Mme Césaire admonishes, “How many times have I told you not to go around touching people if they haven’t given you their permission?”

“Sorry,” Ella pouts. “Whenever I do it to Chris, it makes him feel better, so I thought it would make Adrien feel better too!”

Adrien is staring at the girl with wide eyes, before he lets out a soft snort, lifting his hand to cover his giggles. “Wow,” he says, eyes shining as he steps toward the girl and away from Marinette. “You remind me of Chloé a lot. I think you two would be really good friends.”

Marinette choked, hearing that, and beside her, Alya looked similarly disoriented.

“Chloé?” Etta asks, drawing closer. “Is that your friend? Which school do you go to, I’ve never seen you before.”

“Chloé’s my friend, but only she attends school,” Adrien says as they all start moving to the living room, Mme Césaire and her mom heading to the kitchen, the latter rambling about some new desserts she wanted to try adding to her menu. “I’m homeschooled.”

“Huh,” one of the girls tilts her head, and Marinette’s already lost track of who was who again, “that’s so cool. Does that mean you never have to take tests and you don’t have to do any homework? You’re so lucky!”

Adrien’s smile falters a little. “I get a lot of homework, all my tutors assign work for me too, and I have examinations every other Tuesday and Thursday so my tutors can check my progress and see if I am improving in my studies.”

They continue trading snippets about their lives and Adrien looks extremely curious to know every single thing that they do in school, but Marinette’s lost in thought. She knows how hectic Adrien’s schedule could get, how even the time he got to get dressed and eat was meticulously planned in timed increments, but hearing how much Ella and Etta’s daily lives differed from Adrien’s really drove that home.

And he was just a little boy, barely even a pre-teen yet, and his life seemed busier than a person holding a nine-to-five job! No wonder, not even an hour after he had been de-aged, he had told them that he wanted to stay with Alya and her and not go back home. He was being worked to the bone, even at this young age.

Alya decides she wants to go take a shower, so Marinette takes the kids upstairs to play, still lost in thought. Chat Noir had always seemed so free. It was in the way he expressed himself, never staying still for even one moment, always doing something with his hands or legs, whether that was playing with his tail or running and bouncing over the rooftops. He was almost always smiling, one hand out as always to lift her up or catch her whenever she fell, and equipped with cheesy puns. His hair, a chaotic, windswept mess, and his silly grin were always a familiar and grounding sight.

Before she knew he was Adrien, she had always thought him as unburdened, even with the safety of Paris resting on their shoulders. He never truly seemed to worry about anything, and sometimes that had driven her mad, and she had been secretly jealous, by how unaffected he looked by absolutely everything. She had thought he had looked at life with that same carefree attitude as a civilian as well, the same boastful confidence he always carried around with him.

She felt bad about thinking this, but her subconscious had even assumed that wherever he had attended school, that he would be the class clown, that he would get scolded by his teachers for getting too loud or for not taking things seriously. That he had mediocre grades, because he didn’t try, didn’t put any effort in, even though he was so intelligent- she knew he was good at understanding physics and crazy mathematical concepts she couldn’t wrap her mind around, but she had thought him as a bit lazy, and that would carry over to his academics too.

Marinette had never, not in a million years, could have imagined that Chat Noir had been homeschooled till he was thirteen years old. That he was the type of person to maintain perfect, flawless scores on his assignments and tests. That all the teachers adored him. That all his classmates admired him and thought him as untouchable and perfect. That he was almost as quiet as Juleka in class, that he could present himself as unassuming, effortlessly blending into his surroundings (well, to anyone else but Marinette, whose eyes were almost always locked on the back of his head) even though he was a freaking model.

She never imagined that Chat Noir could be a model— well, actually, scratch that; she may or may not have once or twice entertained the thought that with a body like his, Chat Noir could make a great model.

But that was beside the point!

The point was, that Marinette did not know Adrien or Chat Noir as well as she thought she did.

For example, she never knew Adrien could fidget non-stop for hours without problem. She never knew Adrien could stuff four-and-a-half pastries into his mouth and look as silly as a chipmunk. She never knew Adrien was such a romantic, the way he went on and on about all his favorite shoujo animes, especially his favorite, Ouran High School Host Club, and professing his love to her three times a week, either platonically or romantically. She never knew he could be such a dork, that he could fit six cat puns in one sentence- he had told her afterward that it was pawsibly one of his greatest achievements ever and he had even done it in a single attempt.

She never realized that she had spent more time with her crush, the love of her life, over the course of almost two years, than she had with anyone else.

It had been a day since the truth was revealed, but the revelation still had her gasping in shock at times, like right now. Some of her disbelief might have been showing on her face because Adrien paused from where they were acting out something with her other dolls, it looked to be that they were pretending to be the United Heroez.

Adrien had looked initially confused at the additions of Uncanny Valley, Sparrow, and some of the other younger heroes, who were a new addition to him, but he seemed to quickly remember that he was in the future and probably reasoned that new heroes must have joined later onwards.

“Are you alright, Lad- Marinette?” He asks, soft and sweet as usual.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” She smiles back, trying to look reassuring. It must have worked, because he flashed her another sweet smile, turning back to rejoin his conversation with the twins.

“Etta, if you want to play the role of Snowflake, we can trade places-”

Marinette’s eyebrow raises and she cuts Adrien’s soft voice off, “Adrien, can you tell Ella and Etta apart?”

All three kids look up at her at that, staring at her blankly. “Yes?” Adrien answers, uncertain.

Marinette looks at the twins, who are dressed in matching color-coded outfits from top to bottom, sporting identical hairstyles and expressions on their faces.

"Oh, would you guys tell me how I can tell you both apart too? I am having some trouble."

“She’s Etta,” Ella says, pointing at her sister. “And I’m Ella.”

“Okay-”

She blinks as they both hold hands and start running in circles, giggling slightly.

“Now, what’s my name,” one of the girls asks her, turning to her and spreading her arms wide open.

“Umm…” She’s sort of embarrassed to admit she lost track and was lost all over again.

The other girl turns to Adrien. “Adrien, what’s my name?” She demands.

“Etta,” Adrien says easily and Marinette’s jaw drops.

“Wha- How are you doing that!?”

They all giggle at that, and Ella and Etta run around in circles again, and each time they demand Marinette and Adrien to guess who was who. Marinette stared blankly the whole time, while Adrien answered correctly each time.

When Alya joins them a couple of minutes later, they play the same game, and Alya scratches her head.

“Huh, even I can’t tell you guys apart like this! How are you doing that, Adrien?”

The twins giggle louder and Adrien smiles sweetly, a twinkle in his eyes. It reminds Marinette can’t help but be reminded of her partner, especially when he's being silly or mischievous. “I don’t know, I just can!”

Ella and Etta envelop him from both sides, planting a kiss on either side of his cheeks. "You're the only one who can tell us apart, Adrien!" one of them declares.

"Yeah, even Alya can't tell us apart," the other says dramatically.

Adrien’s eyes grow wide before he’s giggling too and then they’re all laughing and clutching their stomachs.

“Okay?” Alya crosses her arms. “Please tell me how you’re doing that Adrien, I need to know your secret. I mean I know that’s Ella,” she says, pointing at the girl on the right, “and she’s Etta,” she points at the girl on the left. “But I can only tell you two apart when you speak, not when you guys say just a word or two!”

The girls laugh again, running around in circles. “Who am I?” They both ask Adrien again.

“Etta,” Adrien turns to the other twin, smiling, “and Ella.”

“Correct!” They both beam, and they all giggle again, looking at one another with secretive, mischievous smiles.

“How?” Alya demands again.

“I don’t know,” Adrien says again. “I just know she’s Ella, and she’s Etta.”

Marinette narrows her eyes at them. She had a feeling they were being played as she’s familiar with the little tells whenever Chat Noir lied. His slight shift to the side and the curling and twisting of his tail at the end would give him away. Adrien didn’t have a tail of course, but he still shifted in the same way her kitty would have whenever he was hiding something.

Alya groans, and the kids leave her stewing in her own guilt and misery, muttering that she can’t even tell her own sisters apart when some kid they just met could, as they resume playing the United Heroes, before they drag Alya and Marinette into the game, and she wonders if this is what it is like to have younger siblings. She never knew playing pretend could be so fun or that little kids could have such vivid, creative imaginations- though she could have realized this earlier, considering she babysat Manon once every three weeks or so and had fought off many children who had been akumatized, and had subsequently manifested their fantasies into reality.

The twins soon have to leave with their mom to pick up their oldest sister, and after they do, Adrien lays on Marinette’s lap after some cajoling, because she saw the boy had been yawning and looking tired.

“That was really fun,” He says, yawning again. “I nev’r had a playdate for that long.”

The twins had stayed for just over two hours.

Marinette and Alya exchange unhappy looks. It wasn’t unusual for older Adrien to say things like that, but it always made Marinette sad to hear Adrien say it so casually like he thought it was all normal. It felt worse, somehow, hearing him use that same casual tone as a child though.

“Wow, you’re already so tired, huh squirt?” Alya laughs lightly, changing the subject, curling on the chaise next to them as their kwamis fly out after checking the coast was clear.

“I’m sorry,” Adrien says, looking ashamed. “I’m usually better than this, I know only babies always take naps, I don’t know why I’m so tired, I’m sorry.”

“Woah, kiddo,” Alya holds up her hand. “I was just teasing, you know.”

“Don’t apologize for feeling tired,” Marinette admonishes gently, caressing his hair, smiling as he basically melts into her lap. For a moment, he bore such a striking resemblance to her partner that she could almost envision it being his older self, sprawled all over her again, as they gazed down at the city lights on the cleanest rooftop they could find.

“Besides,” Tikki chimes, hovering down to rest on Marinette’s knee, “the sleepiness you're feeling might be due to the potion you drank. The more tired you feel, the more it indicates that the effects are wearing off, which is a great sign!”

“Oh,” Adrien frowns, even as his eyes are drooping. “But I don’t wanna- want the potion to turn me back into him. I want to stay here. I don’t want to go back home- wh-where my Mère is not- not even there.” Tears start to spill down his cheeks, and Marinette immediately reaches to gather him in her arms, like she had done so many times these past two days.

As she holds him, she ponders whether Adrien had received any comfort at all when his mother vanished from his life. Did anyone hug him, wipe away his tears, and assure him of their love? That they were there for him?

The thought of Gabriel and Nathalie with their cold demeanors doing such a thing painted a laughable and unlikely picture. No, she suspects this might be the first time Adrien has been shown genuine care and support. The fact that it happened due to being transformed into a young child due to a magical potion, causes tears to well up in her eyes. It all was so profoundly unfair.

“You’re not gonna go back kid,” Plagg says firmly, reaching down to pat his cheek. “You’ll just turn back to your regular, old self, with all your memories attached.”

“B-but you said you- you hoped I forget everything!” Adrien looks up at Marinette, brows furrowed in distress. “I- I don’t want to forget you, or Alya, or any of this. You- why are you both so nice to me? You give me so many hugs, even though I don’t deserve them, and you call me nicknames, but they’re not mean, they’re nice, and I like it so much here, please, I don’t want to forget.”

Marinette’s heart breaks. “You won’t forget,” she whispers, and she knows she can’t make it true, but suddenly she’s wishing with all her might that her words alone will make it possible, “you’ll remember everything, you won’t forget.”

“Even if you do,” Alya says, whipping out her phone and looking like she is about to record them, “Marinette will definitely not let you forget anything, she’ll tell you every detail, and I also already recorded you both a bunch when you two weren’t looking, because you two are just too adorable, and there was no way I was gonna let this opportunity pass by me.”

Adrien sniffles into her navy blue shirt quietly. “Okay. I’m sorry I’m being such a crybaby.”

“Oh, kitten,” Marinette places her lips on his forehead, kissing him. “You are not a crybaby, and you deserve all the hugs and nicknames in the world. Yesterday had been a lot, anyone would have a breakdown or two over all of this, and you’re just a kid.”

Adrien sobs harder, and Marinette glares slightly at Alya who keeps recording.

‘What are you doing?’ She mouths.

Alya just smiles, whispering, even though Adrien could probably totally hear her, “C’mon, you’re telling me Adrien’s not gonna appreciate this once he’s back?”

Adrien tightens his grip on her shirt. “Wh-What if when he comes back, he’s mad at you? You sa-said he’s mad at you because you- you pushed him away.”

“Huh, when did you tell him that, Marinette?” Alya asks.

Marinette winces, then pulls him higher so he’s almost sitting on her, rather than lying down. This way he could meet her eyes, and see how serious she was. “Then, I’ll apologize to him,” she says simply, “and then I’ll throw him a rooftop party, or play video games all day and night if it makes you happier. I’ll do everything in my power to fix the mistakes I made between us, Chaton.”

Adrien smiles a little at that, wiping at his eyes and nose. Alya hands him a tissue, and he takes it with a soft, bashful thanks.

“You do have some apologizing to do to my kid, Pigtails,” Plagg throws a wheel of cheese into his mouth from who knows where. “But he loves you and he’s a huge softie, so as long as you start sharing things with him properly, he’ll be as smitten with you as I get when I see a hidden stash of gourmet cheese.”

Adrien giggles, patting Marinette’s arm. “Plagg’s right. Older me would be stupid to be mad at you in the first place, anyway. You’re the nicest person in the world, Ladybug.” He shoots a panicked glance at Alya. “You are a really great person too, Alya.”

Alya snorts, still recording. “Thanks, Adrien, I think you’re pretty great yourself. I understand that I can’t compete with your Lady though, she’s just so much more superior, I couldn’t possibly compare.”

“Alya.” Marinette turns red in embarrassment.

Adrien shakes his head. “No, you’re awesome too. Both of you are really awesome and nice,” he says, casting a glance between them, giving a sweet, sincere smile that melts Marinette’s heart.

“Aww,” Alya reaches out to pull them into a hug. “You always say the nicest things, Adrien, it doesn’t matter what age you are. Have you always been so precious?”

“Excuse me,” Plagg grumbles, scarfing down another wheel of cheese- where the heck was he getting those!? “What am I, kid, chopped liver?”

Adrien gasps, squirming as he twists from Alya’s hold. “I am so sorry, Plagg, you are really amazing too. But I was talking about people. You’re my favorite kwami in the world though.”

Plagg pauses for a moment as Tikki floats next to him, grinning. “Of course I am,” he sniffs, playing with his tail.

Trixx pretends to cry. “What about me, I thought I was the best kwami!!”

Adrien’s eyes grow wider, and he opens his mouth to speak.

Plagg scoffs, cutting the boy off. “What are you doing, that’s my kid, don’t manipulate him, you demon fox, he said I was his favorite first.”

Trixx sticks out a tongue at him and floats near Adrien’s ear. “C’mon, Adrien, it’s okay, you can admit it, you think I’m the best, right? That stinky old sock is such a boring geezer compared to me.”

“What did you call me!?” Plagg shrieks, pouncing on top of the Fox kwami, and they tussle with one another in the air while Tikki looks on with a half-disapproving and amused look on her face.

“Ignore them,” Marinette says dryly, then smiles as Adrien giggles and leans back on her. “Now, go to sleep kitty-kat, I know you’re tired, so you should get some rest.”

“Okay,” he says, closing his eyes. She meant that he should go rest on the bunkbed, so she laughs quietly when he takes it as permission to use her as a bedrest. Plagg flies over, a small blanket carried between his teeth and he drapes it over them. She can’t help but feel her chest warm at that, she never knew Plagg could be so sweet and caring from the short time she had with him in the past or the way Tikki spoke about him.

She didn’t realize that they all dozed off for a bit, when she found herself blinking awake at the sound of her dad’s voice near the trapdoor.

“Papa?” She asks in confusion, rubbing at her eyes. He looks tense and worried, which immediately has her sitting up in alarm. “What’s wrong?”

He wrings his wrists and walks closer, staring at her and then at the still-sleeping Adrien, taking a seat on the floor next to them.

“Papa, what’s wrong? You’re scaring me,” she says, a little annoyed that he’s not answering her. He was never this quiet, and he was staring at her intensely for some reason.

“M Dupain?” Alya asks sleepily, patting around for her glasses as she yawns, sitting up.

Her dad stares for a moment longer, before he’s lifting up his phone and unpausing the news report playing on his phone. Marinette’s face pales when she reads the headline.

"Renowned Fashion Designer Gabriel Agreste Issues Public Plea: Urges Ladybug and Chat Noir to Safely Return His De-Aged Son"

Alya curses lowly, as Marinette falls back against the chaise, feeling dizzy. “Papa,” she murmurs. “I can explain.” She puts her hand on her head, sensing an impending headache.

“Please do,” her dad says, looking more serious than she has ever seen him. “Your Mom’s out at her art studio, and I haven’t called her yet. As soon as I saw this, I came up here. Why is Gabriel Agreste saying that Ladybug kidnapped his son? And that apparently she did something to turn him younger? Is this really Adrien’s cousin?” He points at Adrien, who’s still sleeping even though her dad’s voice rises with concern and worry with each question.

“I- yesterday,” she starts, trying to speak slowly. When she panics, she tends to rush her words, her mouth moving faster than her brain can conjure up lies, but she cannot mess up here. “Yesterday, I- I was walking home. And Ladybug dropped in front of me, holding a little kid who looked just like Adrien.” She points at the dozing boy in her arms. “Si-Since Ladybug knows me, from akuma the attacks- I mean from all the akuma attacks! She saved me a couple of times, remember? She told me that she knew Adrien and I went to the same school and she asked me if I could take care of him for a couple of days- because she accidentally dropped some magical potion on him and turned him into a little kid.” Marinette looks up at her dad hopefully. “So there, I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you or Mom, Ladybug told me to keep it a secret.”

Her dad’s quiet for a moment. “Why didn’t Ladybug take Adrien to his Father then? Why are they saying on the news that he was kidnapped?”

Alya cuts in as Marinette freezes slightly, no answer coming to her mind. “I was there with Marinette, and since this… accident happened a couple streets away, Ladybug saw the both of us, and she handed Adrien over and told us that she was going to speak with his Dad.”

“Yeah!” Marinette smiles widely. “And of course, I- we couldn’t say no! Because it’s Adrien, he’s our friend!”

“And because Ladybug asked us to,” Alya adds.

Her dad still looks worried, but a lot less concerned than he did minutes before. “I’m glad you girls did this for your friend, and that you are helping a hero, but should I call M. Agreste- or his assistant, to tell him Adrien is here? He’s telling the news that his son’s been kidnapped!”

“No!” Marinette and Alya shout in unison, causing her dad to draw back in surprise.

“No, no, we should not do that,” Marinette says hastily, remembering that she told Gabriel Agreste that she would be taking care of his son, she, as in Ladybug. And, merde, there were so many people who knew that Adrien was living at her house now- the twins, Alya’s mom, her mom and dad. She was so screwed. “We should wait for what Ladybug has to say! There was probably a reason she didn’t take Adrien straight to his Father, right?”

“What? Why would there be a reason?” Her dad asks uncertainly, reaching to rub the back of his neck.

“Can’t we just wait for Ladybug?” Marinette pleads, and her dad relents.

“Alright, let me just call your Mom, and let her know too in case she sees the news.”

“Thank you, Papa!” Marinette cries, flinging her hands around his neck before he could get up.

“No problem, pumpkin,” he says, patting her back. “I’m so proud that my daughter is helping out a superhero!”

Marinette smiles back, sure that her lips are spread out unnaturally wide, but thankfully her dad doesn’t notice the tension on her face or in the room. He leaves, closing the trapdoor roughly, he had always complained the door was a little small for him to completely fit through.

Marinette turns to Alya. “What do I do? I’m so screwed!”

“Breathe, girl,” Alya tells her, tapping at her phone, presumably bringing the news report up. “All you got to do is tell the public that you did not kidnap his son and that you told that man already that you can’t move Adrien around too much because that could cause unknown effects from the spilled potion.”

That man!” Marinette scowls, slamming her fist against her palm, as Alya turns up the volume on her phone and they listen to Gabriel sounding as if he was close to crying, pleading for his son to be brought back safely to him. “What the heck is his problem!? I told him that Adrien would be safe, it’s just two days, he doesn’t even care about Adrien, barely even talks to him and now he’s crying for him!? He’s so disgustingly fake- I feel bad that Adrien has to even be related to him!”

“I completely agree,” Alya says, her brows drawn scrunched together in anger. “I wish we could tell everyone what a liar he is, and how he actually treats his son.”

Tikki and Plagg drift closer to them, the little black cat looking just as annoyed and upset as Marinette. “Why not tell them, he sucks. Everyone should know.”

Alya shakes her head, “it’s a breach of Adrien’s privacy. Besides, if we say it like that, it’ll still sound like we kidnapped him because his Dad’s a big asshole, and I don’t think the police would be okay with that without proof.”

Marinette groans. “Fine, I’m just gonna go now and set everyone straight. Can you stall my Dad if he asks for me?”

“Sure, no problem, you sure you don’t need me to come?”

“No,” Marinette says, gently laying Adrien’s head on a pillow after she moves him off her lap. Her hands close in fists as she marches up her ladder. “I know what to say.”

Chapter Text

“Ladybug! Ladybug!”

“Is what M Agreste said, true?”

“Ladybug! Did you kidnap Adrien Agreste?”

Ladybug grits her teeth, pushing her way through the group of reporters, falling short before a familiar one, Nadja Chamack.

“Ladybug,” Nadja smiles down at her, eyes shining with excitement. “Are you here to answer Monsieur Agreste regarding the whereabouts of his son?”

“Hello. I spoke with Gabriel Agreste about Adrien yesterday. As I am the Guardian of the Miraculous, I sometimes create brews and concoctions to strengthen our powers in our fight against Shadowmoth. Yesterday afternoon, I was moving around one of my finished, but untested potions, and well- there’s no other way to put it. I slipped, and spilled the potion on top of Adrien Agreste.”

Nadja shoves her mike closer to Ladybug’s face. “Was this the reason M Agreste made insinuations that Adrien was turned into a younger version of himself?”

Ladybug nods. “Yes, I wanted to keep this confidential, in respect of Adrien’s privacy. The potion not only affected his physical appearance but impacted his mind as well. Don’t worry though- its effects are temporary,” I hope, she thinks, “- but I need to keep Adrien under observation to see if there are other side effects. This is why I went to speak with his Father shortly after the incident and told him that it would be better if Adrien stayed with a trusted friend for a day or two until the potion’s effects are reversed.”

She gazes directly into the lens of the nearest camera. “I want to make it clear, Monsieur Agreste, I did not kidnap your son. I'm ensuring his safety, just as I promised you yesterday. Moving him around would only put Adrien in further danger. I understand your concern, and I accept full responsibility for this situation. However, going to the news about it— frankly, this was not done in Adrien's best interests. Thank you, and I swear to all of you that Adrien will be just fine. I will do everything in my power to protect him. His safety and his privacy are my number one concern, along with saving Paris from Shadomoth’s attacks of course.”

“Ladybug! Ladybug! Lady-”

She swings away before she can answer any other questions.

Alya whistles as she drops her transformation, landing on the floor. “Damn girl, that was an impressive speech. And it’s pretty clear you don’t completely trust Gabriel, even without outright saying it. And with the amount of heading and popularity you have as Ladybug, I think a lot of people will agree with you and take our side on this.”

“Yeah, that was pretty great, Marinette!” Tikki says cheerfully, flying to grab a cookie off her desk.

“Thanks,” Marinette says ruefully. “I was just really angry that he would take this to the news and act like a caring parent. But I’m not sure it’s gonna work, it was my mistake that started this whole mess, but hopefully, it’ll just be one more day, and Adrien will be back to normal.”

Her gaze falls to the boy in question, who still looks completely knocked out.

“I wonder when he’s going to wake up,” she wonders.

Just then, Alya’s phone begins to ring.

“Alya!” Comes the crackling noise of Nino over the phone speakers. “Did you hear about Adrien!? I can’t believe he got turned into a little kid! No wonder he hasn’t been picking up any of my phone calls. I was getting worried. Do you think we could see him? Do you think Ladybug will let us see him? I just want to make sure my bro is okay, you know? Do you think you can send Ladybug a message on the Ladyblog or somethi-?”

“Woah, Nino!” Alya laughs. “I’m sure Adrien is just fine, I mean, uh, because Ladybug said that he was alright. But yeah, I can try to send her a message!” She looks directly at Marinette, raising an eyebrow.

Marinette shakes her head in a hard no. Not that she didn’t trust Nino or anything, but he had a tendency to overshare and was generally not great at keeping secrets. Whenever the names Carapace, Rena Rouge, or even Ladybug were uttered near his vicinity at school, he would go rigid, and to Marinette, it always seemed super obvious that he was hiding something.

He also was never great at concealing the fact that Marinette had a gigantic crush on Adrien, just like her, honestly, but thankfully Adrien never seemed to pick up the clues. Out of all four of them, if she had to rank them as best secret keepers of secret identities, she would have first picked Adrien, because wow, he was pretty good at keeping his identity a secret.

She had never seen him as so much as twitch when Chat Noir was mentioned around him. The next in the secret keeper rank would be Alya, who was pretty great at coming up with half-hidden truths or lies on the spot. And then there was Marinette and Nino, who she knew also hated lying with a passion, but he was also way more straightforward and honest than her, which she loved about him, but of course, it was not so great when it came to keeping secret identities.

Alya sighs slightly. “I’m not sure if she’ll agree though, Nino, I mean she’s keeping Adrien away from his own Dad as well.”

She hears Nino’s slight laugh at that. “Honestly, I’m super glad about that. Gabriel Agreste sucks. He should not even be around children, let alone a sweet dude like Adrien.”

“As you’ve said. For like the billionth time, may I add,” Alya rolls her eyes in exasperation, but there’s a fond smile on her face.

“It bears repeating,” comes Nino’s grinning voice.

“Mmh? Bears?” Adrien mumbles sleepily, eyes still closed. “Pol’r bears ‘r worl’s biggest carnivores.”

There’s a long pause, before Nino shrieks. “Is that Adrien!?”

Alya’s attempts to convince her boyfriend that he did not just hear his best friend’s voice in the form of a child go in vain.

“Alya.” Nino says firmly. “Stop gaslighting me, that’s definitely my bro there with you.”

Alya looks at Marinette in despair, who’s just clutching her pigtails and staring at her ceiling with a dead look in her eyes. In less than two days, she had learned Chat Noir’s identity, and he had learned hers. Her identity could be in jeopardy at any minute because of the twins and Alya’s mom if they decided it was a bit odd that Adrien’s ‘little cousin’ who coincidentally also went by the name Adrien was being looked after at her house, just after Gabriel’s news broadcast. She still had to make sure her parents were convinced by the whole ruse she made up in front of her dad.

And now Nino, whom Alya had told through text that she was hanging out at Marinette’s place, had heard Adrien’s voice through the speakers, and by now had probably figured out where they were, and her identity was going to follow suit.

“I’m undercover as Rena Rouge right now,” Alya says weakly. “I’m helping Ladybug look after Adrien.”

There’s another long pause. “But you’re not transformed right now, are you?” He asks slowly.

“Yes, I am,” Alya says quickly, maybe a little too quickly.

“But you’re on your regular phone?”

Alya lets out a strained laugh. “I mean, yeah, I always carry my phone around me. For Ladyblog news.”

“Wouldn’t that put your identity in danger? You don’t have pockets sewn into your suit, Alya. And how are you looking after Adrien? Are you guys outside!? Didn’t Ladybug say she can’t move Adrien around too much in case something happens?”

Why did Nino decide to become a good investigator now of all the times? Marinette has never heard the other boy so inquisitive!

Adrien decides to wake up at the same moment and yawns loudly. He notices Alya’s tense expression and narrows his sleepy eyes at her. “Wha-”

Marinette reaches out to cover his mouth.

“Mmm Mmph,” he glares at her as she makes a shushing motion at him.

Alya slaps her forehead quietly. “Look, Nino, this is verging really close into secret identity business, and I cannot tell you anything else.”

“Oh,” Nino says, sounding a bit forlorn. “I’m sorry, I just really wanted to see Adrien, you know?”

Adrien squirms harder hearing that, twisting to look at Marinette questioningly.

“I know,” Alya says, sounding just as dejected as her boyfriend.

Of course, right at that moment, her mom has to call her name really loudly. “Marinette! Would you please come downstairs for a bit?”

What the heck!? Was this just her unlucky weekend or something? Did Plagg’s presence affect her luck?

There’s another long pause on the other end of the phone and Marinette begins to find that she’s really hating those loud silences. And then, “Are you at Marinette’s right now!?”

Alya quickly clicks the end call button, though, in Marinette’s honest opinion, it felt a little bit too late for that.

Chapter Text

"Marinette, and hello, Adrien, darling," her mom says sweetly as she walks into the kitchen, Adrien in tow, holding her hand. Her dad waves merrily at them as he takes three huge pieces of baked loaf out of the oven.

“Hi, Mom,” she says tiredly. “Why’d you call me?”

“I’m guessing this is actually little Adrien Agreste?” Mom says, not answering her question as she bends down slightly to pat Adrien’s head. Adrien, as usual, looks startled and frozen at any sort of affectionate touch, before he almost topples over, rubbing his head and cheek against her mom’s hand, like a little cat.

“Adrien!” Marinette exclaims, her eyes wide in shock. Was that normal? Well, he always acted like that as Chat Noir, but were those cat-like tendencies carried over even when he was detransformed?

The boy immediately draws back, looking very contrite and embarrassed, even going as far as to hide behind Marinette. “I’m sorry,” he squeaked in a tiny voice.

Her parents look far too amused, but thankfully they don’t say anything.

“It’s okay,” Marinette quickly says, squeezing his hand a little tighter. If this was her older partner, she would have definitely been more shocked, but he was just a little kid, and there was no way she was going to make him feel bad about this. “Anyways, Mom, Papa, I’m sorry about lying to you both. It’s just, Ladybug asked if I could take care of Adrien for a day or two, and of course, I immediately accepted, but she told me to keep it a secret and that she was gonna come by to check on him.”

“It’s alright, darling,” her mom smiles, “we understand you’re just trying to help your friend out. But,” she reaches out to brush Marinette’s hair affectionately, “just remember me and your Papa are always here if you need us. Or if you want to tell us anything.” Her dad nodded enthusiastically at that, oblivious to the intense gaze his wife fixed upon their daughter, as if she was trying to communicate something without words.

Marinette just nods back, happy that her parents accepted her rushed-out explanation.

“Adrien,” her dad pushes two chocolate croissants into the boy’s hand. “Do you want to try these croissants I just baked, fresh from the oven?”

Adrien peeks from where he had hidden behind Marinette’s back. “Wow,” he says, staring at the croissants with wide eyes. He takes them, looking shy and unsure, but he looks up, a beaming smile taking over his little features. “Thank you so much, sir!” He turns to her, a slight frown creasing his brow. "Marinette," he says, gently removing her hand from her grasp and placing one of the croissants into it, "you should have one too."

He really was too sweet. “Thank you, Adrien,” she notices her parents are looking slightly teary from the side, at the adorable sight.

They get back to her room, now equipped with a plate full of croissants because Adrien had gotten her to bend down so he could whisper into her ear and ask if Alya could also try some of the warm pastries.

“Any news?” Marinette raises an eyebrow at Alya, who’s thrown an arm around her face, looking dejected.

“I’m really sorry, Marinette. Nino’s coming over right now.”

Marinette sighs, but for some reason, she’s not that beside herself over it. Well, not as much as she expected. She thinks something inside her thawed a little when Adrien had broken down in her arms and begged and pleaded with her that he could remember all of this when he was back to his regular, older self. In that moment, she too did not want any secrets between them, didn’t want that heartache and worry anymore, of hurting her partner with everything she kept close to her chest.

The thought of Adrien not remembering any of this, even though it burned her cheeks just thinking about all the intimate moments they had shared in less than two days, made her chest ache. She wanted, no needed,Adrien to remember. She wanted him to know how much they cared about him, how much she loved him. How much she loved his little self, loved him so much that the thought that he could change back any moment brought tears to her eyes. She almost didn’t want him to go, even though she missed his regular self so much at the same time.

She could barely understand her feelings, so she decided to put them on a back burner for now. Her emotional breakdown over the many forms of this one boy would come later. Right now, though, she finds the idea of Nino finally knowing not to be a world-ending thing. Perhaps she'll feel differently about it later, but at this moment, she finds the idea of all four of them knowing, with no secrets kept between them, almost a little appealing.

And maybe, just a tiny part of her, really, really wants to see Nino interacting with child Adrien, who was just about the cutest thing in the entire world, literally, nothing was cuter, and she needed people to see how amazing and sweet, and adorable he was.

“Oh my god,” are Nino’s first words after he climbs up to her bedroom and lays his eyes on baby Adrien. “He’s adorable!”

“I know right!” Marinette squeals, her hands on Adrien’s shoulders, practically jumping up and down in excitement to see more of Nino’s reaction. Because they were the ones closest to Adrien, her as Ladybug, and him as Nino, Adrien’s best friend. They were the ones who knew him best (she ignores that nagging thought of how she could even claim to know him at all after being so blindsided by finally knowing who he was under the mask) and they were the ones who could fully appreciate knowing how adorable younger Adrien was. Like, who ever could even have the opportunity to meet a younger version of their best friend or crush!?

Nino kneels in front of Adrien, who keeps looking up at Marinette uncertainly, before he turns to the older boy, taking a deep breath and holding out his hand.

“Hello, it’s very nice to meet you. My name’s Adrien.”

They had told Adrien that Nino would be coming over and that he was really close friends with Nino as his older self. That immediately had the boy’s eyes shining in wonder and he went quiet, seemingly lost in thought about something. He had jumped in excitement when he heard the doorbell ring, but now he was pressed against Marinette’s front, looking timid and self-conscious, but a quick smile made its way up to his face when Nino shook his hand vigorously, tipping his cap at him with his other hand.

“Hey there, little dude!” Nino doesn’t let go of Adrien’s hand, and the younger boy doesn’t seem intent on letting go any time soon either. “I’m Nino, and your older self and me are best buds!”

“That’s really amazing,” Adrien says sincerely, his eyes wide and happy, “I can’t believe I make so many friends when I’m older.”

“Well,” Nino smiles, still kneeling. “You’re really easy to get along with. And you’re a wonderful friend.”

“Thank you,” Adrien grins shyly.

Nino laughs. “No, thank you, little dude.”

Adrien giggles, putting a hand to his lips, “You talk funny,” as soon as those words leave his lips, his eyes widen, this time in panic. “I mean, like good funny? I never heard anyone talk like you. Only in movies.”

“You know, you actually told me this before,” Nino shakes his head, grinning slightly.

“Yeah,” Alya bends down to drape a hand over her boyfriend’s shoulder, “Nino here is really so unique,” she says sarcastically.

Adrien doesn’t catch on, and nods enthusiastically, making all of them laugh.

Marinette clapped her hands, gaining their attention, trying not to feel jealous of how Adrien had stepped away from her and was staring at Nino with stars in his eyes, still holding the older boy’s hand. “You guys up for playing a game or something downstairs?”

They all agree, and once they're situated in front of the TV, they pick out a few games. Just Dance wins the most votes, so they switch that on.

Alya reaches out to take Nino’s hands, but he whirls away from her, pulling his cap off and placing it on Adrien’s head, who blinks up at the older boy in confusion.

“We’re gonna be a team,” Nino points at himself and then pokes Adrien in the chest, grinning widely. “I’ve wanted to pick you as my dance mate for ages now, little dude, and now you’re finally free to play!”

Alya leans against Marinette, linking their arms together. “Then you and I are partners today, girl. C’mon, let’s go show them who’s boss!”

Surprisingly, they lose, because Adrien is apparently a whiz at footwork. “I play DDR in my room all the time,” he shrugs slightly, in answer to their question.

They switched to playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III after that, which had Adrien jumping up and down as it was technically a version of the game that hadn’t come out yet during his time.

Marinette’s dad comes to play with them, and soon it’s just her and her dad competing as they beat everyone else.

Hours later, they all sat down for lunch, which was crepes. “You just have to try the strawberry, nutella one,” Marinette tells Adrien, who had only tried a “vegetarian savory crepe” years back, which was absolutely unacceptable.

She steals a glance in Adrien’s direction and finds him delicately savoring his crepe, with an expression of wonder on his face that almost makes her cry. A loud sniffle draws everyone’s attention, and she sees that her dad is actually shedding tears at the sight.

When they get back to her room, they watch Adrien approach Nino and hand back his cap. “Thank you for lending it to me,” he says seriously.

Nino grins. “Of course. I would only ever trust you with it, buddy,” he says, taking it back from him.

“Hey, what about me? I am your girlfriend,” Alya laughs.

“Nuh-uh,” Nino shakes his cap at her, “you lost my favorite cap!”

“I said sorry and bought you new ones!”

“Doesn’t erase the fact that it was my favorite cap,” Nino pouts and Alya smiles sheepishly, throwing an arm around his shoulders.

Adrien nods solemnly. “I got really sad when Père told me to throw away all my favorite stuffed animals as well.”

They all stare at him in horror.

“Wha- that’s not even remotely similar-! Why did he ask you to do that?” Marinette gapes.

Adrien hunches slightly, playing with the hems of his shirt. “He told me that I should act more maturely for my age and that I should stop engaga- uh en-ga-ging in jun- juvenile activities like playing with such toys.”

“Juvenile!” Marinette fumes, trying to school her expression as Adrien draws away from her, looking slightly fearful. She never wanted him to shy away from her like that.

Nino puts his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “You should be allowed to play with stuffed toys no matter how old you are, Adrien. Your dad is totally wrong, I mean- I still play with them, and so does my brother, who’s the same age as you. It would be wrong if someone asked us to throw away all our toys just because they think we’re too old for that.”

“And you know that I make and play with my dolls, and so do the twins,” Marinette chimes in. “Nino’s right, there is nothing childish about it! And- and so what if it is childish? It allows us to use our imaginations, express our creativity, and I think that’s useful no matter how old you are.”

Adrien looks between them unsurely, his gaze lingering on Nino’s kind eyes and Marinette’s large reassuring smile, then at Alya, who’s nodding in support.

“I miss them,” he says softly, looking down at his socked feet, tugging at the bottom of his shirt. “I miss my toys a-and I miss my M-Mère even more.”

Marinette couldn’t handle seeing him look so weary and sad, and she was reaching out before she could even think about it, wrapping him in a hug. “I know,” she tells him, just as softly. “You’re allowed to miss all of it. You’re allowed to feel whatever you want,” she adds, thinking about all the times he has told them that he was sorry for feeling tired or apologized for crying.

He hugs her back and then lets out a small noise of surprise when Nino’s arms encircle them, followed by Alya joining the embrace from the side.

“You guys are so warm,” he laughs, the sound muffled beneath the weight of their bodies.

They break apart when they hear a bunch of chimes on their phones.

“Oh shoot,” Marinette pales slightly, without glancing at her device, knowing it signaled that there was an akuma attack taking place.

She presses her hands on Adrien’s shoulders. “We have to go, Chaton, you stay here, got it? The villain I was talking about yesterday, attacked again, and we have to go take care of it.”

“We’ll be back before you even know it,” Nino promises, rubbing his back reassuringly.

“O-Okay,” Adrien says back, looking a bit pale. He looks at all three of them, giving Marinette’s hands a slight squeeze. “C-Can I fight with you guys? As- as Chat Noir?”

“No!” Marinette shakes him slightly, getting him to look at how serious she is about this. “Do not come after us. We’ll be okay, we’re used to this.” She hopes that’s enough for him to stay put. She knows her partner all too well, how reckless he could be when he believed she was in danger.

Nino is gaping at him. “What the hell!?” He yells, grabbing his head, and tearing his cap away. “You’re- he’s Chat Noir!?”

Oh, right. She had forgotten he hadn’t known, with all their other secrets that had been revealed these past few hours.

“Yeah,” Adrien says, beaming, and Nino’s jaw slowly closes.

“You-” Nino took a deep breath, placing his cap back on his head. “A lot of things make a lot of sense knowing this, actually,” he says a bit wryly. He kneels in front of Adrien, taking the boy’s shoulders.

“The thing is, for the past month, we’ve kind of grown apart- your older self and me. I didn’t know why, but now, knowing that you’re also Chat Noir, I- there was a misunderstanding between us. It was all my fault. Adrien, I’m so sorry, I must have really hurt you with my careless words.”

Nino looks so sad, staring up at the younger version of his friend with a mournful expression.

Adrien lifts his hand up and clumsily pats the older boy’s cheek. “You guys keep saying you hurt older me,” he glances at Marinette, “but the thing is, I never had friends before. Only Chloe, and whenever she made me angry or sad, she apologized to me, and then everything was okay. So you both just need to say sorry, and it will be okay.”

Marinette smiled at how effortlessly he simplified everything. It was quintessentially him, irrespective of age, to perceive the world with such straightforwardness, a trait Marinette always admired and, at times, envied.

By the end of Adrien's words, Nino’s smiling as well. “I’ll do that then, buddy. I’ll apologize so much that you’ll probably get sick of it. Just… I just wanted to say sorry again, and that I didn’t mean it. Any of it.”

He stands up, giving Adrien one last pat and turning to his girlfriend.

Alya had already transformed into Rena Furtive. “I’ll go on ahead,” she says, biting her lip as she glances at Marinette, who could already tell that this was another secret that was not-really-a-secret-at-all if the unsurprised look on Nino’s face is anything to go by.

“We’ll talk about this later,” she glares at her best friend. Was she the only one who was worried about the dangers of revealing their identities?

She quickly transforms as well, handing over the bracelet to Nino, who takes it with a sheepish look in his eyes.

“You,” she points at Adrien warningly. “Stay here. Please don’t leave.”

“You’ll be safe?” He asks, his eyes laced with concern.

“Yes,” she smiles, ruffling his hair. “I’ll be safe.”

“Okay,” he nods again, and with that, she bounds onto her balcony, Carapace on her heels.

Chapter Text

The akuma is a middle-aged lady from the looks of it. She had seaweed for hair, and vines covering her bodice. Her skin tone was a pale green, and her eyes glittered unnaturally, covered in blue stones. A cloak of leaves drapes around her shoulders, rustling softly with each movement, while flowers and small plants bloom at her feet.

“Ladybug,” the akuma says softly when she catches sight of her. “You are finally here. Where is your partner? I have a job to fulfill, I must capture your Miraculouses.”

Despite her low voice, her words carry clearly through the wind. Ladybug curls her hand into a fist. “Sorry, lady, that’s not going to happen today. Now let’s wrap this up quickly, alright? I’m a bit busy.”

The akuma glares. “Of course you’re busy. Everyone is always busy. No one ever has time to care about the trees, to save the nature that’s dying all around them. Well, if I am the only one in this accursed city who cares, so be it.”

With a swift gesture, the akuma summons her vines, which begin to writhe and extend around her, shooting toward them like large, wiggling tentacles. They separate her and Carapace and surround the neighboring rooflines.

“Only I, Shadowvine, will protect all the greenery in this city!” Shadowvine declares as she tries to encroach the heroes into a cage of vines and thorns.

Carapace moves in front of her to provide cover, his shield deflecting the vines as they lash out.

“Thanks,” she flashes him a quick smile before narrowing her eyes at Shadowvine in search of where the akumatized object could be. It was pretty easy to find, the vines seemed to be originating from one of those bracelets wrapped around the woman’s wrists.

“Her name is Shadowvine?” Carapace snorts. “What’s with this shadow theme that Hawkmoth has going on?”
“His naming skills-” Ladybug's mind flickers to memories of poorly dressed akumas she has battled, "and his sense of fashion leave much to be desired, that's for sure."

After two minutes of evading and striking at the encroaching vines, with little progress made in reaching the akuma, Ladybug decides to call for a Lucky Charm.

“Hm, a wrench…” She mutters, chapping her chin as she scans her surroundings, tilting her head as she scans the building where Rena Furtive has taken refuge from top to bottom.

That pipe! It was probably connected to an air vent and Shadowvine was standing right in front of it. She nods at Carapace after she explains her plan, and she runs, leaping onto his shield. With a slight grunt, he thrusts her in the direction of the akuma. Tucking herself into a barrel roll, she lands precisely where she needs to be. With one swift unscrewing motion, a burst of air shoots at the unsuspecting Shadowvine, entangling the akuma in her own vines. Ladybug swiftly pulls at the bracelets on her wrists, tossing some to Carapace while shattering the three she had on hand under her feet.

Unfortunately, none of the bracelets had the akuma, and she's caught off guard by a vine creeping up behind her heel, swiftly wrapping around her ankle. It propels her high into the air, forcing her to shut her eyes against the sudden onslaught of vertigo.

The vines disappear into thin air as Carapace breaks the bracelet that holds the akuma with his shield, but unfortunately, she’s still flying high up in the sky.

She’s falling, the rush of wind deafening in her ears, the ground hurtling towards her with terrifying speed, and then there are familiar arms enveloping her, the reassuring sound of the baton extending, and they’re suspended mid-air.

"So much for keeping safe, huh?" He chuckles into her ear, sending a tingling sensation throughout her body as he adjusts his grip on her thighs. "You're lucky I got here in time, My Lady."

“Chat Noir!” She gasps, twisting around, heart leaping as she catches sight of those comforting, bright green eyes, that warm-dappled smile. “Y- You- you’re back-”

“Shh,” he presses a clawed finger against her lips and then taps her beeping earrings gently. “You’re about to detransform, perform your miraculous cure before anything else.”

Her mouth snaps shut, and she captures the akuma, purifies it, and flicks the wrench in the air, summoning her cure.

The writhing vines and all the destruction disappear, but she only has eyes for her partner and the radiant smile that has his eyes crinkling behind the edges of his mask before he’s effortlessly bounding across the rooftops, his firm grip on her remaining steadfast.

It seemed like it had been only seconds once he reached her balcony, lowering her down to the ground. She immediately misses his warm embrace, the secure feeling of his arms around her.

“You’re back,” she parrots her earlier words. “You- do you remember… everything?”

“Yes, I think so,” he says, still smiling, but now he looks more self-conscious, taking a step back as he rubs the back of his neck. “I’m sorry,” he says, not meeting her eyes. “I know you wanted to keep our identities a secret.”

“No,” she shakes her head. “It’s all my fault, Chat Noir, I shouldn’t have asked you to drink that potion. That was really stupid and careless of me.”

“I’m glad this all happened though,” he admits softly, eyes lifting back up to her. “I’m glad it’s you, Marinette. And,” he steps closer again, taking her gloved hand-

“I’m grateful. Of how well you treated me. Younger me, I mean.”

She feels her heart swell at those words. Just knowing it was him saying all of that. The way he was looking at her, made it feel like the very air around them was electrified, her fingertips tingling with just his touch.

“It was problem no- I mean no problem at all! You’re very cute- uh, you were a very cute kid.”

“Thanks,” he laughs.

“Can you,” she bites her lips. “Can you detransform? I’m sorry, that’s very random, but I just wanted to…” See you. She suddenly needed to see his regular self, to make sure he was actually alright. That there had been no unforeseen side effects because of the potion.

“Okay,” he says easily. “Claws in.” Green sparks of light flit around him, his ears, leather suit, and curling tail disappearing, and then Adrien Agreste, all four feet, and eleven inches is standing in front of her.

Somehow, his pale, uncovered hand is even warmer against her spandex than his gloved ones.

“Adrien,” she says his name in a breathless whisper, feet moving on reflex as she reaches up to cup his face. “You’re okay.”

“I’m okay,” he grins reassuringly against her trailing fingers. “All my limbs, hands, and toes are intact, fret not, My Lady.”

“Oh, thank god,” her face crumples, and then she launches herself at him, squeezing him tight.

“Woah,” he says into her ear, brushing a hand over her head, and wrapping his arm around her waist to steady her.

“You idiot!” She sobs quietly into his chest. It’s easier to admonish him like this, where she cannot see him and stumble on her words. “What possessed you to just drink the whole thing like that? What if you stayed a little kid permanently?”

“I trusted you,” he says simply, and she sobs again, the guilt threatening to consume her. “And I was right to trust you, My Lady, as always. It all worked out in the end, right?”

This boy. He would be the end of her.

“I remember, you know.”

“Hm?” He hums. “What do you remember?”

She circles her arm around his neck. “When we were fighting against Gorizilla. I asked you to jump, I asked you to trust me. Do you remember your answer?”

“Always,” he whispers, and she feels her eyes burn again, tears blurring her vision.

“You shouldn’t have jumped. You shouldn’t have trusted me so much! Don’t you understand, Adrien? You could have died.”

“But I didn’t.” His grip tightens, and then he pulls away, hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look up at him. “I’m alive, and I’m okay,” he gives her the warmest smile, “and that’s all thanks to you, Marinette.

“You saved my life a countless number of times. And we will always have each other’s backs.” His smile dims slightly. “Marinette, that’s what it means to be partners. We have to have trust and faith in one another. I have always trusted you, My Lady.”

Her lips quiver and the tears welling in her eyes do not seem to abate as she takes in the sincere, earnest expression on his face, a mirror image of his child-self she had left in her bedroom an hour ago. She is keenly aware of the unspoken words hanging in the air between them.

I trust you. But do you trust me?

Before she could say anything else, Rena Furtive and Carapace land next to them, and at that same moment, Ladybug’s transformation drops.

“Adrien!” Carapace shouts, throwing himself onto his friend, the force of his embrace causing them both to fall. “You’re back to normal! You’re alright!”

“N-Nino,” Adrien wheezes. “I might not be alright anymore if you squeeze me any harder.”

“Hey, Adrien,” Alya says, after detransforming, giving the boy a grin. “Glad to see you’re back. Though I miss your little, sunshine self.”

Carapace gasps, pulling himself off of Adrien to grab his cheeks. “Do you remember everything, dude? All your memories are back?”

“Yes, I’m fine Nino,” Adrien laughs, extracting himself from the other boy’s hold. “I remember everything, including all of the events… from the last two days.”

Carapace grabs him in a hug again. “I’m so sorry, Adrien!” He wails. “I swear, I didn’t mean to call Chat Noir obnoxious- oh my gosh, that was so stupid of me, I swear I don’t find you annoying or anything like that, dude, I just said it in the heat of the moment, though that does not excuse any of my behavior and-”

“Nino, just breathe, it’s okay,” Adrien grabs Carapace’s shoulders. “It’s alright, I forgive you, and you already told my younger self all your apologies. It’s fine. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was Chat Noir after you told me who you were, but uh… you know, it was a secret identity and all,” he smiles nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Wait,” Marinette holds up her hands, narrowing her eyes at Nino who had just detransformed. “You told Adrien that you’re Carapace!?”

Nino crosses his arms. “I’m sorry, but it’s Adrien. He’s my best bud!”

Marinette groans, feeling an impending headache, and she rubs her brows. “Okay, whatever, I guess we all know pretty much everything now. Let’s just head back inside before someone yells at us for making too much noise.”

Adrien shifts nervously. “I should go let my Father know I’m alright. I mean, I’m back to normal, right?” He sounds as if he were slightly dejected about the fact.

“Nah,” Alya says, flinging an arm around his shoulders. “Your dickwad of a dad can wait, you can even stay here for another day if you’d like. I’m sure Marinette wouldn’t mind.”

Marinette goes red. “Y-Yeah!” She stutters, her mind going on overdrive imagining what it would be like for regular Adrien to be staying in her house… in her room for an entire day. “I don’t mind at all, Adrien! You can stay forever! I- I mean as long as you want to!” She puts her arms in front of her and waves her hands, her cheeks all but flaming at this point.

Adrien laughs a little, shooting her a sweet and warm smile. “Thank you, Marinette. I would love to stay a while longer.”

“Great!” She squeaks, taking a step forward, and then promptly falling headfirst into the open skylight.

She yelps at the sensation of freefalling, before she closes her eyes, resigning herself to the pain that awaited her below. Then there are arms around her, and feeling a sense of deja vu, she cracks open an eye.

Adrien smiles down at her, his beautiful green eyes crinkling in amusement as she flails against him, pulling her closer to his chest. He feels just as warm and safe as before, and she can’t help but sniff him discreetly, taking in the familiar and intoxicating scent of fresh citrus and cedarwood.

“Are you alright, Marinette?” He asks softly, and every bit as sweet and charming as his alter ego, her dearest partner. How had she never noticed they were one and the same again?

“I’m okay,” she smiles back, and they climb down the stairs leading to her room.

Alya enters behind them, shaking her head in exasperation. “Girl, you gotta get a better grip on yourself.”

“Hey, you know what’s funny, Marinette? The first thing you ever said to me was that you were madly clumsy. I guess that’s a little true, huh?” Adrien grins at her.

“It’s very true,” she laughs and shrugs her hands in a what-can-I-about-it gesture.

They all pile up on her chaise, with Alya half-lying on Nino, and Adrien and Marinette next to one another, and each time their hands or arms brush, it sends sparks of electricity coursing up and down her body.

They all start talking about casual things, laughing at the hundreds of stupid antics and excuses they all made when they had to leave to transform and fight akumas.

Adrien tilts his head at her, “I remember one of your excuses, Marinette. I have to admit, I was a bit confused about that one. I think you said you were shaving your socks?”

“Oh my god,” Marinette groans, slapping a palm to her forehead. “I’m just going to go and die from embarrassment now, thank you very much for reminding me of that.”

“Don’t worry girl,” Alya grins in a not very reassuring way. “You’ve had way worse moments than that.”

Marinette slumps roughly on the floor, making Adrien wince. “I know,” she moans in despair.

“I think it’s cute.”

Marinette’s head swivels towards Adrien. “Y-you do?”

He nods, his gaze a touch shy. "Yeah, I don’t think you should be embarrassed about them. The way your mind works- I think you’re an amazing person, Marinette."

She thinks it was amazing of him how easily he was able to proclaim such things to her. She stutters, her face going red, and looks away.

They don’t talk much longer after that, as Nino lets out a huge yawn, which is soon echoed by everyone else, and before she knows it, Marinette closes her eyes and falls asleep to the sweet, lingering scent of sweet citrus.

Chapter Text

Marinette wakes up just in time to see him scale up the ladder and crawl out the skylight.

She makes her way up to the balcony as well, a heavy feeling in her limbs. There was so much they hadn’t spoken about yet, and she had been trying to wait for the right time, but deep down she knew that there was no right time. Not for this.

She lowers herself to the ground, sitting as close as she could get without touching him. She thinks about his younger self, who probably would have climbed onto her lap at this point and snuggled into her arms, seeking and craving that physical contact.

Adrien doesn’t turn to her, gaze lingering on the last vestiges of daylight, as the sun sinks lower, casting long shadows and bathing the sky in a soft, amber glow.

“What were you so scared of?” He asks softly. “Nino and Alya knew each other’s identities a long time ago. You told Alya all your secrets. If either of them got captured or brainwashed by an akuma, that would put us at the same amount of risk. Nothing would have changed if I knew some of what they learned too. So, I guess what I’m asking is, why were you so scared of me knowing about anything at all? I understand us not sharing our identities with one another, but why did you- no why do you push me away so much?”

He looks down, turning his ring around on his finger. “Do you… did you just distrust me that much?” His voice cracked, and she had been looking at him as he spoke, so she could see the raw pain that twisted on his face after posing his question, and then in a blink, it was gone, his expression smoothed over once more.

“No!” She shakes her head so hard, that she feels the bands holding her pigtails loosen slightly. “No- no it- it’s not that. I-” Her face crumpled, and she couldn’t take it anymore. She hurriedly takes his hand in her grasp, squeezing tightly.

“I never wanted to hurt you, Chaton. Never.”

“But you did, My Lady,” he whispers, still not looking at her, and she feels something in her tremble. “You did hurt me.”

“I’m so sorry,” she says, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I- I want to you now.” She shakes her head as her words come out jumbled. “I mean, I want you to know- but it’s hard to talk about. I never really told anyone this, not entirely, not even to Alya.”

He turns to her at that, and she doesn’t realize how tense she is until she meets his gentle, nonjudgemental eyes. He squeezes her hand back. “Tell me,” he commands softly.

So she does. Marinette was never good at denying Adrien anything, and after these past two days, she wonders if she ever can again. She loves him too much not to.

She tells him about a moon, bearing the scars of a colossal crater, she tells him about the eerie silence that enveloped the desolate landscape, as if the very essence of life had been drained away, leaving behind a haunting emptiness, she tells him about a city torn asunder, where once bustling streets lay in ruins, swallowed by the gaping maw of destruction, she tells him about the biting chill that permeated the air, sharp and piercing, sending shivers down her spine, she tells him about the how everywhere she looked, the world was cloaked in shades of blue and white, as nature itself seemed to hold its breath in the icy embrace of winter’s touch.

Then she tells him about meeting a lonely boy, the only one stranded in an empty existence of his own making, she tells him of a melancholic blue, void of any light or warmth, empty glacial eyes staring through her, a figure clad in pristine white, appearing intrinsically beautiful yet equally devastating, something timeless and terrifying.

She describes claws that tore through everything, including metal, of gloved fingers brushing against her earlobes, of shimmering white disks of energy, pulsating with power, of buildings crumbling beneath her feet, of the destruction that surrounded them, above and below, of air that crackled in painted azure, of a shaking world, and the feeling of plummeting through the air, the rush of wind whipping and tugging at her clothes, of staring up at an expanse of frosty-blue, stretched out before her like an endless abyss, of the sensation of freefalling, of the fear that gnawed at her heart, and finally, a shockwave of icy coldness penetrating her bones, of the uncontrolled shivers that racked her body, of nerves set on fire as frigid water drowned her lungs, pressed like concrete against her chest, stealing away her breath.

Of how the suit had done nothing to protect her against the chill that pierced her body like a thousand icy needles.

She spoke of breaking a white baton, then a white belt, with empty results.

Then she told him about how he let her come close, of cerulean eyes flickering with a depth of anguish she had never imagined possible in a human, of emptiness giving way to a painful vulnerability, leaving him stripped bare of everything except raw grief and sorrow.

Of how he looked away as he let her hands travel up his white chest, reaching for his bell.

She spoke and spoke until there was nothing left to say, her voice fading as she reached the end.

And then she waited patiently, taking ahold of his hand once more. He had pulled away from her somewhere around when she told him about outstretched claws effortlessly creating spheres of white energy.

He was silent for a long while. Eventually, after what felt like hours later, he finally spoke, eyes distant and voice hoarse.

“Oh god, Marinette-” He chokes, reaching up to wipe away his tears, a pointless gesture. He had been crying silently for a while now, tremors shaking his body, and he didn't look like he was going to stop anytime soon. “My Lady,” his voice breaks, “I am so, so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Chaton,” she tells him, cupping his face, and tracing a finger against his jaw. “It’s okay, it never really happened, that timeline's gone now, and it will never happen again.”

He shakes his head, reaching out to grasp her wrist. His hold is deceptively light, as if the thought of even touching her pains him. He pushes her hand away from him.

“It did happen,” he says, voice hard now. “I got akumatized. I let it happen. Then I destroyed the world. I hurt you. God, Marinette. You- you should take my miraculous away. Why didn't you? You were right, not to trust me.”

“Stop that!” She chides, reaching for his hand again. “Have we ever blamed an akumatized victim? It’s not their- or your fault, Adrien. Don’t blame yourself for this, for something that will never even happen.”

“It could,” he says softly, looking back up into her eyes.

“It won’t,” she shakes her head, squeezing his hand.

“I’m sorry,” he says again. “I can see how much me being akumatized hurt you.”

“I’m better now,” she tells him sincerely. “I’m sorry too, that I pushed you away. I can see now, that it was the wrong thing to do.”

He squeezes her hand back. “I’m glad we don’t have any more secrets between us now, and that you told me about me- about Chat Blanc. Thank you, Marinette.”

She watches his lips curve into a sweet smile, and for the first time since he transformed back to his older self, it completely reaches his eyes. She smiles back as well. “Adrien,” she begins, leaning in closer so he can see her properly in the remaining daylight. “I want to tell you something. Something I wanted to tell you for a while now.”

He smiles wider at that, his eyes inviting her to go on.

She takes a deep breath. “I love you. I love you so much, Adrien. My Chaton.”

His lips part, and he gazes at her with such wonder in his eyes that her heart feels as though it might just cease beating. Time seems to halt as his brilliant gaze remains fixed on her, drawing her closer until their breaths mingle, suspended in the air between them.

Then their lips are touching, and it’s everything and nothing like she imagined, electricity racing down her veins, the feeling consuming her, leaving little room for coherent thought as she instinctively leans in further, deepening the kiss. He holds her tenderly, and his arms circle her waist, her shoulders, like she’s the most precious thing to ever exist.

“Marinette,” he breathes out her name, so reverently, and she can’t help but melt into his embrace, moaning against his lips.

When they break apart, he’s still staring at her in awe which leaves her even more breathless than she already is. She’s sure that the same expression is written all over her face as well.

“Marinette,” he says again, grazing her face, tracing the freckles smattered across her cheek gently. His green eyes, which always reminded her of a sun-drenched meadow, bore into hers. “I love you too.”

It’s as if he has stolen her breath away. She whispers the words back again, and then they sit there, cradling one another, as they quietly observe each other amidst the city lights flickering to life down below, and for the first time with no more secrets between them.

All four of them sit around her room, staring at one another. Alya’s eyes are twinkling, a smirk playing on her lips as she alternates between glancing at Marinette and Adrien, finally winking at Marinette.

Marinette pointedly ignores her, hoping her face wasn’t as red as it felt.

She’s holding hands with Adrien. She’s holding hand with Adrien. Yes, they had kissed one another and everything, but now they were holding hands. What did this mean? Were they in a relationship now? Like girlfriend and boyfriend? Like Alya and Nino? Oh my god, were they dating? She is now dating Chat Noir, her loveable, goofy partner. Who was Adrien.

So, currently, Marinette was doing her best not to combust right there on her bed. Adrien, on the other hand, was glowing, looking more radiant, dreamy, and carefree than she had ever seen him. Aaaand he was speaking. He was speaking and smiling, and looking at her, and she hadn’t been listening to a word.

“Uh hahaha,” Marinette laughs awkwardly. “Sorry, can you repeat that bab- Adrien!? I mean- haha, Adrien?”

His eyes, impossibly green—were they even greener than when he had been a child?—softened even further.

He brushes a thumb over her knuckles and she does her best not to shiver. “I just wanted to thank you again, Marinette. For taking care of me as…” He trails off, and now it’s his turn to look awkward. “You- you guys were really-” He looks down at his lap, fidgeting slightly before stilling and meeting their eyes. His eyes shine with unshed tears, but his smile is crooked and sweet, unlike the practiced grins of his modeling poses. "You all made me feel so welcome and safe. I'm really grateful."

Marinette’s smile slips, and her heart aches at how grateful he sounds for being treated with basic decency. She squeezes his hand tighter.

Nino is scowling. "You shouldn’t need to thank us for that, dude. Your old man makes me so— urgh!"

Thinking of Gabriel makes Marinette get upset as well. “Adrien,” she says, grabbing his attention. “When you were a kid, you told me and Alya that you were… locked in your room a lot. Is- Is that true?”

Adrien shifts, glancing at all their serious expressions. “Yes?” He answers cautiously, then quickly adds, “I mean, my Father, he had to. Because when I wasn’t in my room, I would keep entering his office, or keep going to Mother or Nathalie and disturb them a lot. I was a really energetic kid.” He lets out a rueful laugh, oblivious to the horror churning in Marinette’s stomach.

“That’s- that’s-” Nino stumbles off her chaise and stands looming over them, his fists clenched. “That’s it. I’m gonna kill him. I’m going to go kill him, you guys can’t stop me.”

“Nino,” Adrien rubs the back of his neck with his other hand. “You can’t-”

“Can’t what?” Nino cuts him off sharply, and that’s when Marinette knows that he’s absolutely furious, as Nino rarely interrupts people like that. “Adrien, your old man is horrible.”

"He's abusive," Alya says softly. "You deserve better than him, Adrien."

Marinette feels Adrien's hand go limp in hers. "I know he takes things too far sometimes. But he... he can be really nice. You guys just haven't seen it. I only ever complain about him, so this is all my fault. I painted him in a really bad picture."

“Adrien.” There must have been something in her tone that made Adrien look up at her with wide eyes. “Do you remember what you just said?”

Adrien’s brows furrow slightly. “Marinette? What did I say?”

“You said you felt welcome. That you felt safe.” She tells him slowly. “And you implied much more as a kid. Adrien… that’s not normal, you know that, right? No one should have been treated like how you are being treated. You’ve met my parents. You should know that they would never withhold food from me. They’d never lock me up either.”

He's still staring at her with wide eyes. She wishes he didn’t look so surprised. It hurts, it always hurts when she hears of the hundreds of different ways that Gabriel Agreste could be so cruel to his own son. She wants to cry, but most of all, she wants to punch Adrien's father in the face. The rage Marinette feels towards that man could almost rival the feelings she has for Shadowmoth.

She thinks of little Adrien, with his big, innocent eyes, somber expression, and soft-spoken manner, and her chest aches. And it hurts even more, looking at Adrien now, and realizing that there had been no one there to tell him all these things as a kid. This Adrien had faced the loss of his mother, endured confinement, and suffered in silence, bearing the weight of grief all on his own.

“Marinette’s right,” Nino speaks up, placing his hands on Adrien’s shoulders. “I hate seeing you have to stay locked up in that cold mansion all the time. You always look so unhappy, dude.”

Adrien’s eyes fall to their linked hands. “I- Is it bad that I don’t want to leave? I don’t want to go back. I am happy here,” he says, his voice cracking, almost identical to the words his child-self had said.

"We won't ever send you back," Marinette insists with a playful grin, edging closer to Adrien. "I could even plan a kidnapping, you know?"

Adrien gives a watery chuckle. "I wouldn't put it past you, My Lady."

They gravitate towards each other instinctively, and then Alya and Nino join in, resulting in a big group hug. They start giggling as this results in flailing limbs and pointy knees jabbing against their ribs.

Marinette watches him laugh, the way his eyes close and crinkle up in the corners. The way his smile lights up the entire room. In that moment, Marinette found herself smiling too, caught up in the contagious wave of his happiness. It was a familiar feeling, one she had grown accustomed to whenever she was in his presence. His joy had a way of spreading, touching everything around him, filling her with warmth.

She’s realizing she always felt this way around him, even in suit, before she knew he was Chat Noir. In both forms, her partner, her Adrien never failed in brushing away all her fears and doubts. She always felt like a flower unfurling in the wake of his light.

“I love you,” she says, the words slipping from her lips. He gives her such a sweet smile, eyes shining with fond adoration that steals her breath away. She barely notices Alya and Nino leaving, her gaze fixed solely on Adrien's.

“Marinette,” his voice is barely a whisper. His lips brush hers, and she startles slightly, not realizing how close they had gotten. His gaze feels like a sunbeam on her skin. Then he meets her lips in a gentle kiss, and she responds in kind, feeling a rush of warmth spreading throughout her body.

He breaks away from the kiss just as she's about to run out of air, bumping his forehead against hers. "I love you too.”

She giggles.

“What’s so funny?” He laughs with her.

"I just—I can't believe this is happening. I'm kissing Adrien Agreste," Marinette's arms flail slightly as she attempts to convey the magnitude of her emotions.

“Is that a good thing?” He asks, sounding uncertain.

“Yes! The best thing!” She rushes to reassure him. “Sorry, I’m bad at words.”

Adrien frowns a bit, as he plays with her fingers. “You are pretty good at getting your words across as Ladybug. Am- Am I the reason you struggle to speak sometimes? I’m so sorry, Marinette. I never wanted to make you feel uncomfortable.”

She feels warm all over again. How could he be so unfairly sweet?

"It's not that, Adrien," Marinette replies softly, her gaze meeting his. "It's just... You have a way of leaving me speechless, in the best possible way. You make me feel things that are hard to put into words, both as Ladybug and as Marinette.”

“That’s kind of funny,” he says, giving her a crooked smile that has her heart beating faster. "Because whenever I'm with you, My Lady, I find myself uttering words I never knew I had. You inspire poetry in me."

She stares at him, her jaw falling open slightly. “How do you say stuff like that so easily?” She huffs.

Adrien laughs, wrapping his fingers around hers. "Do you want to hear more? Don't worry, My Lady, I've got a cat-alog of praises just for you."

Marinette groans. “Well, I hope they’re not all puns—”

He waggled his eyebrows. “Is that a challenge?”

“—Otherwise, I’m sorry to tell you this, kitty, but I think our relationship will be ending before it even starts.”

“Noooo,” He whines shamelessly. “Don’t be so cruel, My Lady. You just said you won’t ever let me go. You owe me a rooftop party and letting me win when we play video games. You can’t take that back so easily.”

She taps his nose playfully. “I can and I will. And hey! I think your memories are a bit jumbled up. Who said anything about letting you win?”

“Don’t you know, once you take in a stray cat, you have to let them have their way, Buginette? It also means I'm stuck with you for life now, by the way.” He shakes his head, grinning at her.

Using her free hand, Marinette traces the spot where his bell would be if he were transformed. "I'm counting on that," she says softly.