What if Troublemaker grabbed both earrings from Ladybug when she first had the chance?

Troublemaker is On Task

Ladybug and Chat Noir were searching the Dupain-Cheng's living room and kitchen.

"Be careful!" said Ladybug. "She's probably hiding somewhere in this room! If she wants to take our Miraculous, she can't be untouchable."

"And if we can grab her, we can also grab her pen," Chat Noir said.

Ladybug said, "And capture the akuma! But we'll have to act fast!"

Troublemaker phased down through the ceiling landing between them. Boing! She clicked her pen, turning solid. She kicked Ladybug away, then grabbed Chat Noir's right arm and twisted it behind his back. She was trying to take off his ring when Ladybug lassoed them both with her yo-yo. Boing! Troublemaker dematerialized and slipped out of the string. Ladybug pulled it back. Boing! Troublemaker was solid and she kicked Chat Noir. Boing! Desolid, she leaped through Ladybug. Boing! She kicked off the wall and landed on top of Ladybug.

Troublemaker had Ladybug pinned to the floor. She grabbed her left earring.

"You've already lost half the battle, Ladybug," said Troublemaker. She was tempted to gloat over the one earring, but she was supposed to get both.

"And now the other half," said Troublemaker, taking the second earring into her right hand also, while she held Ladybug's hands pinned with her left.

"Excellent, Troublemaker!" sent Hawk Moth telepathically.

Ladybug detransformed into Marinette.

"Cataclysm!" said Chat Noir, charging at Troublemaker. He was willing to destroy the villain completely to get Marinette's earrings back.

Boing! Troublemaker went intangible. Unfortunately for her, the earrings didn't. Both rolled on the floor as she slipped down to the room below. Chat went through her; he tripped and fell. He held his Cataclysm hand tightly to his chest to avoid wasting the power.

"I had them!" Troublemaker said angrily to herself and Hawk Moth as she descended.

Marinette grabbed one earring and Chat Noir got the other. He offered it to her after she put the first one on.

When both were back in place she invoked her kwami: "Tikki, spots on!"

"So..." said Chat Noir. "That was certainly not how I dreamed we'd share your secret identity."

"Talking about it will have to wait, at least until we kick Trouble's butt," said Ladybug. "Lucky Charm!... A broken plate? That's strange; I don't see how to use it."

"Maybe losing your earrings weakened your power," said Chat Noir.

"My power has to be working!" said Ladybug, running around looking until she spotted a tube of super-glue. "It is working! Sticking time!"

"Seriously?" asked Chat Noir.

Ladybug told him the plan, and they made preparations.

They went back up through the trapdoor into Marinette's bedroom, with Chat in the lead holding his black-glowing right hand in his left, as if it were a gun.

"All right! We're comin' to get you!" said Chat Noir.

Ladybug appeared timid. "Be careful, Cat Noir! She could come from anywhere to get my Miraculous!"

Chat said, "She's nowhere to be seen. I'll check on the roof. Stay here!"

He leapt up to the bed loft, then went out to the roof thorough the skylight.

Ladybug said, "No! Don't leave me here alone! I only have a plate to defend myself!"

Troublemaker phased thorough the ceiling above her, turning solid on the way down.

Ladybug dodged out of the way and threw the plate at her. It missed, hitting the wall and cracking in two along its original break lines. By this point, Troublemaker had pinned Ladybug down again.

Troublemaker grabbed both of the earrings and tried to pull them off. They wouldn't budge, and her hands were stuck to them. She couldn't use the pen to phase free,

"What?" said Troublemaker.

"Having some trouble?" asked Ladybug, grabbing Troublemaker's hands at the wrists.

"My poor Bugaboo! Another supervillain fan has literally glued themselves to you!" said Chat Noir from the bed level. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm the only one to stick to M'Lady."

As he jumped to the floor, Troublemaker pulled Ladybug up and they whirled around. Chat Noir got hold of Troublemaker's pen with his Cataclysm hand. It disintegrated and the akuma butterfly flew out.

The glue lost its grip on Troublemaker as she transformed back to Penny Rolling. She sat down on the floor while Ladybug purified the akuma.

"Bye-bye little butterfly," said Ladybug as she completed the ritual.

Ladybug was ready for the healing step, and as usual the creative magic sensed her intent and set it up. The plate, whole again, was in her hands. She threw it into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

The usual swarm of magical ladybugs put everything in the house and bakery to rights.

"What happened?" asked Penny Rolling. "Where's Jagged?"

"Always so helpful, worrying about anybody before you," said Ladybug. "Let's worry about Penny for a change. How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. Thank you, Ladybug," said Penny.

There was a ringing sound from the earrings. Ladybug's time was nearly up. (So was Chat Noir's – the timer started from his actual use of the Cataclysm to destroy something, not from when he first invoked it,)

"Gotta go! Rock and roll!" said Ladybug,

"Rock and roll!" said Chat.

Both leaped up and out through the skylight. On the roof, Ladybug said, "I need to stay here, Chaton. Come back once you're recharged. We'll talk about you learning my secret identity today."

Chat Noir said, "I already knew who you were."

Ladybug gasped.

"The girl of my dreams," said Chat Noir with a smile.

A few minutes later, Chat Noir was back on Marinette's balcony.

Marinette was frowning. "I'm surprised you still want to pursue a relationship after knowing I'm plain old, normal-girl Marinette."

"You're not plain at all. You're as beautiful and wonderful as Marinette as you are as Ladybug," said Chat.

"It's nice that you think so... but this really doesn't change anything between us. You know all those pictures of Adrien Agreste in my room? If you were someone at school I would tell you that it's just because I'm into fashion and Adrien models the Gabriel brand..."

"That would lying, wouldn't it?"

"Yes. I have a major crush on Adrien. That's why you and I can only be friends. It's not some fangirl thing. I know and like him from school. He's sweet and kind, and recently he's started to stand up to a mean girl in my class. He's the only boy I can really love. I'm sorry, Chaton."

"Then there's something about me that you need to know, Marinette. Claws in!"

Chat Noir detransformed in front of her.

"Adrien? It was you, all along? I pushed you away... for the sake of you!"

"I guess so. Silly, wasn't it?"

"Life is going to be tougher since Hawk Moth knows who I am... but it's worth it just to be closer to you, Adrien Noir."

"I think so too, Marinette Bug."

They embraced and kissed.

The End