"I think I know who Malin is," Ladybug voices, absently rolling her yo yo about, a little bored, a little thoughtful.
Beside her, Chat tenses. Turning golden brown eyes to her, he warns, "Bug."
Ladybug ignores him. She watched her yo yo snap out before reeling it back. "He sneezes a lot," she notes aloud.
Just like another classmate she knows.
Both around feathers.
Both are attracted to a certain feathered heroine.
Chat groans loudly beside. "Don't," he stresses. "If they don't want us to know, they, they have a right to keep that secret."
She sharply reels her yo yo back to her hand, shooting him a wild look. "What sort of cat are you?"
"A cautious and respectful one."
"More like boring."
He sighed. "Look, seriously, don't. I don't know about you, but, to me, BB is one of those super sweet kids you don't want to piss off." Chat shuddered. "People could die," he adds with a fearful whisper.
"Good thing I'm not wondering about Belle." At this moment.
"I think she'd still be pissed if you tried to figure that fox out without his consent." Malin has clicked faster with Belle than he has with either of them.
Actually, it seems like Belle was the only thing he cared about.
It rubbed Chat a little wrong.
Why even Belle seemed to get along better with him than either of them...
Ladybug huffed. "Whatever." Throwing her yo yo out, she zipped away, leaving the frowning cat alone on the roof. Sighing, he went home, dropping the transformation. Flopping onto his bed, he sighed loudly, running a hand over his face.
"Is she being ridiculous?" he asked as Plagg floated back into his room, carrying a cheese filled croissant Nino got from Marinette's bakery.
Plagg made an unhelpful noise, sitting on Nino's desk and starting to dig in.
"Plagg," he pleads.
The kwami pauses, then huffs. Lowering his croissant, he sad, "Identities, I stay out of that. There's a reveal, there's a reveal. A consented one, great. If not, you guys will figure it out."
"You really don't care?" Nino asks.
Plagg shrug. "What matters is the teamwork. If it works better revealed, fine, if it works better with secrets, that's fine too." Plagg tears off a huge chunk of is treat.
Nino flops onto his back, sighing. Furrowing his brow, he asked, "What about Malin?"
"What about him?"
"Should I, should I trust him?"
"If the peacock trusts him, yes."
"It really all comes down to Belle?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because a fox can't lie to a peacock."
Nino rolls to his side, eyeing the little god. "It's really not enough to trust him on my own? I have to have her confirm it for me?"
"Well, you can trust him if you want, just a word of caution. There is a reason why foxes are infamously known as tricksters and liars. The fox miraculous winds up misused a lot, especially for selfish reasons. You can just never really know with whoever is wielding it. Like uh, oh what was his name... that Hood guy. Robby or something."
Nino gasped. "Robin Hood?!"
"Yeah! That was his name, he caused such an uproar back in the day. I think Vixx had a lot of fun with him. Why, I think she chose him instead of the Guardian at the time. Did it because she thought it'd be interesting, I believe."
"Robin Hood was a fox," Nino repeats in awe, "Disney called it..."
Plagg raises a brow before shrugging. "Yeah, no one wasn't really sure if he could be trusted. You humans tend to pretty up his tale a bit." Plagg finished his croissant.
Shaking his head, Nino asked, "What about, uh, Vixx? She can be trusted right?"
Plagg considers the boy, humming as he debates his answer. "Vixx," he starts, "she's... hmm, what that's thing again, um, chaotic good! That's it, that's a good way to describe her!" Nodding happily, Plagg states, "She's on our side, ultimately, but if it's interesting... well, I wouldn't count on Vixx too much. She really likes seeing how things will play out, if she's curious."
"Oh great," Nino butters.
Plagg shrugs. "Eh, don't worry about it. Malin seems like a cool fox, and he is willing to work with Belle. That's a plus in my book!"