So an angry cheeto got elected. I'm mad. Everyone's mad.

Please take this cute and savor it instead.


The look on Sabine's face when Marinette and Adrien stumbled into the bakery was priceless. It was clear for a moment that her mother didn't recognize her and she gave the two of them and their bare feet a disapproving frown. Then the penny dropped and her jaw hit the floor and she clutched the counter for support.

Marinette waved weakly. "Hi, Mama. I can explain."

"Tom. TOM!" Sabine called. Something clattered in the kitchen and Tom appeared a moment later, alert for whatever had distressed his wife. His eyes fell on the two children and he stared blankly.

Marinette smiled sheepishly. Adrien shuffled his feet, eyes downcast.

"Honey," Tom said after a moment. "Someone shrunk the kids."

Sabine sighed in exasperation but his lighthearted joke worked to defuse some of tension in the air. Having been in Paris since the very first akuma attack, Tom and Sabine were well used to the strange happenings that had occurred in the city since. They didn't even need to ask how this was possible. News of the attack hadn't even reached them yet but they had no reason to doubt their daughter's explanation when she gave it. After all, how else could she have become a child again?

"Are you hurt?" Sabine asked. "And who's this?"

Adrien smiled brightly—probably trying to be charming but managing to be utterly adorable instead. "Adrien Agreste. We've met before. Marinette's my friend."

"We're fine, Mama." Marinette reassured her, drawing her parents back to her before that sudden gleam in their eyes could progress further. "We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and…got tagged by the akuma."

"I thought you were going to a garden or something?" Tom looked at his wife for confirmation and Sabine nodded.

"I was."

"I asked her if she wanted to hang out so we were going together." Adrien lied smoothly. "But then Gaminette started turning everyone into kids—that's the akuma's name, by the way—and we couldn't get away fast enough." His mouth twisted like he was still upset about that.

"The butterfly thing got away," Marinette added. "We don't know what happened, exactly, but we're not back to normal so I guess Ladybug wasn't able to fix things." She shrugged. "So I think we're gonna be stuck like this until it's over."

Tom and Sabine exchanged worried looks. "I'm going to go check the news," Tom decided, clearly remembering the last time an akuma escaped.

"We didn't see anything on the way over," Adrien told him. "We had the news on."

"On where?" Sabine asked, confused. "How did you get home?"

"Oh, uh, yeah." Adrien cleared his throat. "I should probably go. My bodyguard came and picked us up. He sorta doubles as a chauffeur. I figured it'd be safer for him to drive us."

Sabine looked over their heads at the silver car parked outside. She pursed her lips thoughtfully then walked around the counter. "I'd like to thank him."

"Thank him for me, too, dear," Tom requested as he disappeared through the back door. Sabine held up her hand to show she'd heard him and opened the front door.

It had scarcely shut behind her when Adrien smacked his forehead. "I just remembered! We forgot to go back for Jade! We could've at least warned her."

Marinette groaned. He was right. "We really messed up today, huh?"

"No," he corrected glumly, "I messed up."

Well, he wasn't wrong. "I forgot about her, too. It's not all on you."

"An army of Gaminettes is gonna suck."

Gaminette had been annoying enough on her own, the same way Stone Heart had been a challenge, and she remembered what it was like to fight a small army of him. Having a couple dozen little Gaminettes running around was gonna be a pain in the butt. Except now they had experience on their side and, assuming it was even possible at all, they had the skill to thin the army's numbers if necessary.

They could handle this. …It was just gonna suck.

"Oh, is Plagg still in there?" Adrien asked, peering at her bag.

Marinette opened it to check. Tikki was nestled between Marinette's wallet and the baggie holding the uneaten sandwich but there was no sign of the black cat kwami. Lowering the flap, she shook her head. "He must've slipped out in the car."

Adrien frowned suspiciously and cast a glance around the room. "You don't have any cheese items on display, do you?"

"I don't think—wait! Papa made cheese croissants this morning!" Marinette spun around pointed at the display case where they should be located. Adrien dashed over to the case, pressing his hands against the glass, and searched inside for his kwami frantically. After a few moments, he sighed in relief.

"Not here, good. He's not above stealing food, though." Adrien scowled. "I gotta say, your kwami seems a lot nicer."

Marinette cocked her head to the side. "Is he mean?"

"No, not really. Sarcastic, self-centered, rude, obsessed with cheese—but not mean."

"Yep!" Tikki piped, her voice muffled by the bag. "That's Plagg!"

"Sounds like the opposite of Tikki," Marinette mused. That made sense. Ladybug and Chat Noir were, after all, two sides of the same coin. Their powers were widely different but they balanced and complimented each other. To think that the kwami were similar in that respect was not much of a stretch.

Outside the bakery, Sabine and Gorilla were having a conversation through the driver's side window. They couldn't see Sabine's expression from the way she stood but the Gorilla was smiling. He nodded and said something to her, waving his hand a little in the universal 'don't worry about it' gesture.

Adrien sighed. "I should probably go. And I doubt I'll be able to sneak out for a patrol tonight, either. My father and the staff are going to be all over me."

"I—" She wanted to stay she understood but did she, really? She knew her parents were going to hover but from what she knew of his home life, their worst sounded like his father's best. "It's okay," she reassured him. "But if Gaminette comes back today…"

A grin appeared on his face and he may as well have been wearing a mask because it was all Chat. He bowed, sweeping his arm out in a dramatic flourish, and winked at her. "Never fear, my lady, this cat won't leave you hanging."

She sighed heavily and shoved his shoulder playfully. "Cut it out before my parents see."

He straightened up but the grin never wavered. "Do you have my phone number?"

Marinette nodded. "Alya gave it to me a while ago." No way was she telling him why.

"Good. Text me if anything goes wrong. Or if anything doesn't go wrong. Or, y'know, if you just want to."

"No cat emojis," she warned him.

He winked. "I'll see you later, purrincesse."


Marinette's parents were taking the whole thing rather well. Under any other circumstances, their daughter being the victim of an akuma attack would've terrified them. They'd barely coped with all the attacks at her school even though she was always well away from them. All things considered, in her opinion, being turned back into a kid wasn't that bad, just a bit unexpected. Tom and Sabine agreed.

Armed with a stack of photo albums, Tom set out on a mission to determine exactly how young she was right now. After five minutes of searching and holding up pictures next to her face, he surmised she was somewhere between eight or nine years old. Marinette thought about how she was at that age compared to how she'd been acting since Gaminette touched her and quickly agreed. She wondered if Adrien had ended up the same age as her since they were the same age normally. What about the others—the adults who'd been touched or the other teenagers? Were they all hovering somewhere in the eight to nine range or were some older? Younger? Jade, the little girl who'd become Gaminette, might have been 8 or 9 herself now that she thought about it.

Marinette dug around in the depths of her closet to find the smallest clothing she could and changed into a shirt she'd outgrown sometime last year and a pair of shorts that probably wouldn't fit by Christmas. They were still a bit big on her but nothing a few rubber bands and safety pins couldn't solve. Sabine eyed her daughter's handiwork doubtfully and asked if she'd rather run out and buy a pair of clothes that would actually fit her.

"No thanks, Mama," Marinette said resolutely as she pinned the waistline of her shorts. "I've got this."

The only thing she couldn't do was shrink her shoes and after half an hour of fiddling with every single pair of shoes she owned, trying to get them to fit her small feet and actually be comfortable, she surrendered. Her mother took her out to a nearby shoe store and Marinette picked out a pair of simple white Velcro sandals.

Not long after they got home, she got a text from Alya telling her to look at the Ladyblog. She sighed to herself as she booted up her computer, having a hunch of what was waiting for her. Sure enough, the homepage of the Ladyblog was packed with submitted photos and footage of the fight and a video post by Alya which she described as her speculations on the events of the battle and the aftermath. But the pièce de résistance was the post containing nothing but footage and shots of the young Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Marinette grimaced. Her suit, which had never been the most creative design, looked like footie pajamas on this younger, smaller body. She repeated the thought aloud to Tikki who hummed thoughtfully but didn't comment. Moving on, she went to Alya's speculative video and pressed play. As usual, she didn't seem to be onto anything that neither Miraculous wielder wanted her to be and now that they knew each other, she and Adrien were going to have to try even harder to make sure things stayed that way.

On-screen, Alya commented on how unusual was that Ladybug had not reversed the damage caused by Gaminette or the transformations of her victims like she always did.

Marinette smacked her forehead. "Oh, duh! Tikki, we should do that!"

"We can't," Tikki said with a shake of her head. "I would've already told you if we could."

"What? Why not?" Marinette asked with a frown and paused the video. She'd performed the restoration before without having already captured the akuma. What was so different this time?

"Because even miracles have limits and the power will only work once per akuma," Tikki explained. "Akumas are made up of negative energy but each one also has its own unique…signature. I can sense and read these signatures but it seems you haven't inherited that power. Or simply haven't come into it yet," she added thoughtfully. "But anyway, this signature is like a scent but made up of energy and it leaves a trail. Your power picks up on the negative signature then seeks out everything within the vicinity that has been affected by it."

"So why won't it work more than once?"

"Because the restoration is practically infallible and once it has eliminated the damage done by one signature, it no longer recognizes that signature as a threat."

"What? That's ridiculous! Not to mention impractical! Why does it do that?"

"Magic isn't alive, Marinette," she explained patiently and flew up to the monitor, tapping the screen. "In a way, it works like a computer. It has the potential to do many things but can only do what it's told. The magic spell you cast each time you restore was crafted long ago and for a different purpose, and you're right, it is a bit impractical in this situation, but it's one of the most powerful things we have in our arsenal and the best suited to counter the destruction."

"Does that mean…there are other things? I have more powers?"

"You have more potential powers," Tikki corrected. "You'll learn some of them in time. Some you'll never manifest but that's only natural—you're not a goddess. But does that answer your question?"

Marinette nodded. "So, if I fix things now then I won't be able to fix anything that happens later on?"

"Exactly. A rematch with Gaminette is inevitable and you need to save your magic for that. It won't hurt you to be a child for a little while. Although—" Tikki folded her arms "—it is a bit odd that her akuma hasn't multiplied yet."

"Why? Speaking of which, how did you know the akuma would multiply to begin with? Has this happened before?"

Tikki sighed. "The multiplication is a defensive tactic that happens if the butterfly is torn from the host without being recalled. Under normal conditions, these butterflies attempt to reattach themselves to their willing host before it's too late, but the dark powers corrupting these akuma weaponized that instinct and they latch onto other people instead. He probably wasn't even aware it would happen the first time until it did."

"So why don't they multiply every time I free them?"

"Because when you purify them you're removing their 'programming', so to speak, and they return to their neutral state."

"Oh," she murmured, understanding. That…actually made a lot of sense. File this one under: Things I Wish I'd Known Earlier.

"But since you didn't purify it and it hasn't multiplied, then that can only mean that Hawkmoth himself has instructed it not to."

Marinette blanched. "That's kind of concerning."

"It is," the kwami agreed. "Although, there is a chance he simply does not want to be indirectly responsible for several dozen whiny children."

Tikki grinned impishly and Marinette snorted. "If that's the case then I don't blame him at all."


Marinette sent Adrien a text at around six in the evening.

Salut! It's Marinette!

His reply was almost immediate and she wondered if he'd been waiting for her to finally get around to texting him.

Salut my lady! :3

What's up? Is Gaminette back?

Nope! Just saying hi.

I remembered you don't have my number.

Did you get in trouble?

Not really. My father is annoyed. Not happy I snuck out, either.

Uh oh.

But he's not mad at you!

Actually when I told him who you were he seemed more okay.

Really? Did that mean Gabriel Agreste remembered and actually liked her?!

Really! :D

But he made a point and I can't stop thinking about it. Why don't you just fix everything?

Plagg said you couldn't? But I've seen you do it before we capture an akuma.

Oh, yeah. I asked Tikki about that.

Um, mind if I call you? This will take too long to type.

Sure! :3

As it happened, they didn't hang up until 10pm.


Alya took the news that her best friend had been a victim of Gaminette with…less grace than her parents had.

Marinette knew she couldn't keep it from her for forever though she'd hoped they would be able to deal with Gaminette before Alya had to find out. But by the next morning Gaminette had still not reappeared and there were no signs of a multiplying akuma and Marinette decided it was time to tell her. She sent Alya a selfie and waited on her chaise for the response.

She didn't have to wait long.

YOU GOT CHILDIFIED?!

That's not even a word, Marinette text back.

I'M COMING OVER. YOU BETTER STILL BE THERE WHEN I ARRIVE.

And if I'm not?

THEN YOU'RE GROUNDED.

Marinette was still there, of course. She wouldn't have been able to leave even if she'd wanted to. Her parents had—well, they hadn't grounded her but they didn't want her leaving the house by herself. They had established that their teenaged daughter was still kicking around inside the child's mind but the vulnerability of her physical age was making them cautious. She understood, really, she did.

Alya stormed into the living room with a thunderous expression and piercing eyes that immediately locked onto Marinette. Sabine looked over her shoulder at their unannounced guest then pulled an extra bowl down from the cabinet. "Good morning, Alya," she greeted casually, as if teenagers barging in unannounced was an everyday occurrence.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Alya demanded shrilly.

Marinette winced. "Because I knew you'd freak out. Like you're doing right now."

Her friend sighed, rolling her eyes, and pulled out the barstool next to her. "So how old are you?"

"Best guess: somewhere between eight and nine."

"What's it like?"

"Annoying," she grumbled. "Everything is too big."

Sabine set two bowls, chocolate powder, and milk in front of them, along with a croissant for each. Marinette went about making her chocolate milk and Alya eyed her critically for a few moments before thanking Sabine for breakfast.

"You're welcome," Sabine replied with a smile. "Though to be honest, I expected you a lot sooner."

"Believe me, if I'd known, I would've been here sooner. Just what the heck were you doing all the way over there anyway?" Alya demanded Marinette who paused with the croissant halfway to her mouth.

"Going to a garden," she said lightly then took a bite.

Alya gave her a flat look. "Going to a garden. Alone. Uh huh. Sure. What were you really doing?"

"Going to a garden," Marinette repeated. "And I wasn't alone, I was with Adrien."

"YOU WERE WHAT?!"

"I was with Adrien. He asked me if I wanted to hang out so I asked if he wanted to come with me, he said yes, and…yeah."

Alya stared at her like she'd grown a second head. "You are way too calm about this." She looked at Sabine. "She's too calm about this!" To Marinette, "How are you so calm about this?!"

Marinette shrugged and dipped her croissant in the milk. "No idea. I don't have teenage hormones right now so that's probably helping." She took another bite of the croissant. "But it wasn't a big deal," she went on around the food in her mouth. "It's not like it was a date, were just hanging out. We talked a phone a lot last night, though. Did you know he's a huge dork?"

"Yeah, Nino's mentioned it," Alya answered mechanically, still staring at her. "So…you were out with Adrien across the city, the akuma came and you were—oh my god did she get Adrien, too?!"

Marinette nodded. "We didn't get to really do anything after that. After the butterfly got away, we thought it'd be better to go home. And our clothes were too big."

"Uh, they still are. Do you want me to go home and get you some? My little sister's should fit."

"Nope! Ladybug could undo things at any minute, I need to be ready! I can't be stuck in clothes that are too small when that happens, especially if I'm—oh, oh, Mama!" Marinette blurted out as the idea occurred to her. She hopped off her barstool and jumped up and down. "Can I go out if Alya's with me? She's got all those little siblings; you know she'll be able to keep an eye on me. Please, please, please?!"

Alya's jaw dropped. Sabine, however, had already experienced moments where younger-Marinette emerged and was only a little surprised by her daughter's behavior. "I don't see why not," she replied, looking between them. "As long as Alya's alright with that."

"Thanks, Mama! I'm going to get my shoes!"

Marinette was halfway up the stairs before she realized exactly how she'd acted, that Alya hadn't technically agreed, and she hadn't finished her breakfast.

"What just happened?" Alya asked.

Sabine could only shrug.


I can't even write something like this without delving into Miraculous history just a little. JFC.

Thanks to peachgreenteelemonade for the adorable fanart!

Feel free to come talk to me on my tumblr, wintermoth. I will be using the tag "Pint Sized ML" for everything related to this fic and you can, too. Be sure to put it in the first five tags, though, or I won't see it.

TRANSLATIONS
Fact: the oh so popular nickname/pun "purrincess" actually works in French. Princess = Princesse. "Purrincesse" X3

Salut - I feel like all Miraculeurs know this one by this point but just in case, "salut" is an informal greeting and farewell, like the Italian word 'ciao'. In the context of a greeting, the English translation would be "Hey"

Pièce de résistance - we use this in English from time to time. It signifies the most important thing or event, or the "main dish".