Author's Note:

Another reupload of an old favorite that I polished off (and added some content). I've broken it into chapters also. Takes place immediately after Chat Blanc.

I do not own any of these characters.

"Tikki?" Marinette asked as she turned her face towards the tiny god of creation.

"Yes," came the hesitant reply as the miniature god of creation had watched her chosen collapse onto her bed from the mental exhaustion of having to free her partner from an akuma... and being one of the few people who will ever know it almost really happened.

"How did I change the future unknowingly?" Marinette half asked, half whined.

"What do you mean?" Tikki tried to play innocent.

Marinette repositioned on her bed. "Bunnyx couldn't have come from a future she didn't exist in... so what I did must've changed the future. But how? And why was Bunnyx still able to come back after I altered the future?"

Tikki sighed and decided to reply honestly. After all, she was being trained to be the next guardian. "Every time you transform into Ladybug, you change the future. Sometimes a little, and sometimes a lot. That's why I tried to warn you against using the miraculous for personal reasons."

"I don't understand, Tikki. All this is making my head hurt!" Marinette lamented.

"Think about what you did today." Tikki prodded gently.

Marinette sat up on her bed and rubbed her temples before replying. "Okay... I tried to deliver Adrien's Fifth Name's Day gift to him as myself, used you to do it anyway, and ended up having to fight an akumatized Cat Noir."

"Right. Now think about what would've been different if you couldn't have transformed... if kwamis didn't exist for example." Tikki directed.

Marinette sighed and shrugged. "I would've just had to walk away or wait for Adrien as myself."

Tikki was excited because Marinette didn't take very long to get to the correct conclusion. "Exactly. By using the miraculous, you altered the future."

"So, every time we fight an akuma, we change the future?" Marinette tried to confirm.

Tikki nodded. "A little. But you're mostly correcting the future back to what it should be if Hawk Moth hadn't altered the future by creating the akuma in the first place."

Marinette grimaced in thought before finally asking, "Does the miraculous cure fix the future?"

Tikki smiled brightly. "As much as it can. But it can't fix the emotional damage caused by Hawk Moth."

"So, we really do need to only use the miraculouses when absolutely necessary." Marinette let out a hum as she contemplated all the ways she and Cat Noir might have affected the future. "Tikki? Should we stop doing patrols then? To minimize the potential of altering the future?"

"That's up to you. Do you think it does more good than bad?" Tikki cocked her head to one side.

"That's just it... can't something bad ultimately happen later by me or Cat doing something good today?" Marinette expounded, so Tikki would understand her previous question.

"That's always a possibility, Marinette. It's just that as a civilian, if you intervened on someone else's behalf, the miraculouses weren't used and therefore couldn't fix anything bad that happened later because of it." Tikki explained.

Marinette frowned deeply. "I hate the idea of stopping patrols and telling Cat Noir that he can't just transform whenever he feels the need to get away from his civilian life. From the little bit we've shared, I get the feeling he doesn't like his home life very much and uses Plagg to escape it sometimes."

Tikki nodded knowingly, more knowingly than Marinette could currently guess. "As long as he doesn't interfere with anything or end up being caught not where he's expected, it won't be a problem."

Marinette nodded at that. "Still, I feel obligated to talk to him tonight before patrol."

"Marinette? You're not planning on telling him he was akumatized, are you?" Tikki asked with wide eyes.

"Not if I can absolutely help it, Tikki." Marinette patted her on the head to reassure her, earning a giggle.

"You're looking beautiful as always, My Lady." Cat Noir gave her a bright smile before he noticed the concerned look on her face. "Hey... Bugaboo... What's wrong?"

Ladybug gave him a half smile, trying to reassure him it wasn't as bad as it looked. "I had a very... interesting... conversation with Tikki today. Something... we need to talk about."

Cat Noir stiffened a little. "Sounds serious."

"It is. I was talking to her about why she's always warning me to not use my miraculous for personal reasons. I was curious because I know you like to get out sometimes just for the sake of getting out, and I wanted to know why she was always warning me not to." Ladybug held up her hand to stop Cat Noir from becoming defensive. "I'm not upset about you using your power to get out. I know you don't have the best home life. I was mostly just curious."

Cat Noir nodded. "Sorry for looking like I was about to argue with you, LB. But I'd go crazy if I couldn't get away from home whenever things get particularly... uncomfortable. I'm sure I'd have been akumatized several times by now if I didn't have Plagg to help me get out and blow off some steam."

Ladybug winced at the mention of him being akumatized, but Cat Noir didn't notice. "And I don't blame you... but what Tikki told me was important enough that I felt I should share it with you. You know... so you can do it, but do it wisely."

Cat Noir quirked an eyebrow. "Wisely?"

"It seems that every time we suit up, we have the potential to change the future from what it would have been." Cat Noir just stared at her and blinked a few times trying to understand what she was saying. "For example... if on patrol tonight we stop someone from getting mugged, that changes the future. If we didn't have the miraculouses, we likely wouldn't have been there to stop the mugging. Tikki explained it was different because of the miraculous magic than if we went out patrolling as civilians and ended up stopping the same mugging."

"Wouldn't the result be the same?" Cat Noir replied.

"In that case, yes. But let's say because we stopped the mugging, the person being mugged ended up being hit by a car because she crossed the street at a different time than she would've if she had been delayed because of the mugging. If we did it as civilians, then that's just what the future was supposed to be, and the miraculous magic can't be used to undo it... at least not without altering the future from that point instead altering it during the mugging." Cat Noir nodded slowly. "If she was hit by the car because we stopped the mugging using the miraculous magic, then time-sensitive miraculous holders could sense the change in their future."

"So, wouldn't it be better to stop the mugging using our miraculouses? That way, if something really bad happened, that changed the future drastically, that a future miraculous holder could come back to fix it?" Cat Noir asked with his head slightly tilted.

"It would seem that way... but in reality, time is being manipulated even further to fix the initial event that got the future out of whack to start with. And... time is a fragile thing." Ladybug had to fight back a lone tear, but thankfully it went unnoticed by Cat Noir.

"Oh. I see." Cat Noir said softly, with a certain distance in his voice.

Ladybug took a deep breath to reset her emotions. "We have to use the miraculouses to stop the akumas and minimize the damage they cause and minimize the impact on the future. Tikki said it wasn't prohibited for us to do patrols... or even for you to blow off some steam. But we need to be aware that even if we think we're doing something good... we're still altering the future. And while I certainly like to think we're changing it for the better, we certainly could accidentally change it for the worse. So... we just need to be smart about it. If you're blowing off steam, try to not interfere with anything else. If I'm tempted to use it to leave a present for the boy I love, then I have to stop myself from doing it."

Cat Noir was really quiet. Ladybug was worried that he might try to just swallow down his emotions instead of running them off... which could be worse in the long run. Cat Noir walked over to the side of the roof and glared at the billboard across the street. Ladybug walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. She blushed a little as she realized they were standing in front of a larger-than-life image of Adrien. She was trying to catch her breath and reset her brain back to focusing on Cat Noir when he spoke. "It's amazing sometimes. We're the ones who save Paris, but that rich brat is the one whose face is all over town."

"WOAH! Hold on, Cat! Where did that come from? And for the record, Adrien Agreste is anything but a rich brat." Ladybug nearly yelled.

Cat Noir glared at her. "How would you know? He's the son of the famous Gabriel Agreste, lives in a mansion, and has the looks of a model... obviously. Rich brat is probably too nice compared to the way he really is."

Ladybug poked Cat Noir's chest. "Hey! He can't help who his father is or how much money they have. He also models for his father's company because his father makes him. He barely has any time to be with his friends because, on top of modelling, he does fencing, plays the piano, and has Chinese lessons... all in addition to going to public school."

Cat Noir leaned in menacingly. "Why are you defending him? If you knew him, you couldn't tell me... and if you don't know him, then you couldn't defend him like you're doing. What does your crush have that I don't?" Cat Noir finally yelled.

Ladybug was in complete shock. "M-My crush? Wh-What on earth gave you that idea?"

"I saw you at the Agreste Mansion earlier today. And that comment about you not letting yourself use your miraculous to leave the boy you love a present, along with how you looked at the billboard when I walked over here, made it crystal clear that Adrien Agreste is the boy you love. You're in love with a fake! It might look like he's perfect, but that's just a mask... just as much of a mask as you and I are wearing right now!" Cat Noir threw out his arm towards the billboard.

Ladybug regained her gumption and went on the offensive. "Don't call him a fake! I'm sorry I messed up and you found out who my crush is... but that's no reason to berate him like that. And if anything happens to him... you're now on the top of my list of people to hunt down and interrogate."

Cat Noir held onto the railing of the roof and stretched his back, like the cat he seemed to be, and cackled. "Don't worry about that. I won't lay a finger on pretty boy. But I still say you're blinded by his façade. You might as well be just another one of his millions of crazed fangirls... even if you think you know him in your civilian life."

Ladybug huffed loudly. "No more so than you're blinded by my mask. You wouldn't even give the girl I am under the mask a second look... if she was even lucky enough for you to give her a first look."

Cat Noir turned towards her held his arms in front of his body, palms out and angled towards Ladybug's feet. "You won't let me get to know the girl under the mask. How could I ever accept any attention from any civilian girl? I'd constantly feel like I was giving up on you even if I was lucky enough to find the civilian you. And you wouldn't know that it was me either. For all you know, you could be rejecting me for me!"

Ladybug snorted. "You and Adrien are nothing alike."

"Have you ever even asked him out?" Cat Noir huffed.

"No... I..." Ladybug stuttered.

Cat Noir interrupted. "Then how do you know what Adrien Agreste is really like? You said he goes to public school and has friends. I doubt he could even be his real self around them because of his father's influence."

Ladybug was about to reply, but a portal opened next to the two heroes. Bunnyx stuck her head through. "That's enough talking while you're transformed! If you say anything else... well... just don't." Bunnyx disappeared and so did the portal.

"See, Kitty? Altering the future when we're transformed." Ladybug swung away, letting the wind carry off her tears.

As Marinette lounged in her room, a portal opened and Bunnyx walked through. "Mini-Bug, what were you doing?"

Marinette tapped her fingers together nervously. "I'm sorry, Bunnyx. I just wanted Cat to understand the dangers of using the miraculous for personal reasons. I didn't mean for it to turn into a conversation about my crush on Adrien."

"I understand. I've been chasing down all the little side effects of Cat Noir being akumatized. Things changed on me again as I was almost done, and I was able to back-track it to that conversation. Just knowing what you know was enough to keep the future from being exactly the way it was. I've come to the conclusion that we needed to just talk it out." Bunnyx stated with a sigh.

"What other messes have I made that you've had to clean up because of today?" Marinette asked with wide eyes.

Bunnyx shook her head a little. "For one... you start putting more distance between you and Cat Noir because of Cat Blanc's comment that it was your love that destroyed the world. I'm sure your intentions are good, but it ends up putting a big strain on your partnership. It actually changed quite a bit about the future."

Marinette looked down. "So, should I just act like nothing happened? I'm so worried about how close Cat and I were becoming and that I might still cause the end of the world. Ever since I learned Adrien loves someone else... I started allowing myself to see a potential future with Cat Noir. But... now..."

Bunnyx places a hand on Marinette's shoulder. "Oh, Marinette. Fear is the only thing causing all of your problems. You're afraid to confess to Adrien. And now... you're afraid to give Cat Noir a chance."

"Maybe I should just try to return Luka's feelings? At least I know he won't reject me." Marinette smiled sadly.

Bunnyx deadpanned Marinette. "Do you really love Luka?"

"No... not like he loves me. But maybe... in time?" Marinette grinned awkwardly, like she was somewhat hopeful but didn't really believe it herself.

"And that's one of the things I'm here to fix." Bunnyx sighed.

"Oh... I can't even get it right with Luka, huh?" Marinette asked dejectedly.

Bunnyx shook her head. "Sorry, Mini-Bug. It ends in a complete disaster."

"Is... Is Adrien at least happy with Kagami?" Marinette nearly whispered.

Bunnyx let out a humorless chuckle. "No... Same disaster... literally."

Marinette looked up at Bunnyx in shock. "That's a new level of klutz even for me... breaking up two relationships in one fail swoop."

Bunnyx's face softened. "It's okay, Marinette. You were just reacting to something that happened to you that never should have happened. And as far as everyone else knows... it didn't."

"So..." Marinette straightened up and looked Bunnyx in the eyes. "How do I fix this? You wouldn't be here if you were able to fix it on your own."

Bunnyx nodded. There was the Marinette she knew. "What were you doing before today? You already mentioned it earlier."

"I was getting closer to giving Cat Noir a chance?" Marinette looked at Bunnyx silently asking if that was the correct answer to her question.

Bunnyx nodded. "Then wouldn't that be the appropriate course of action? Doing what you were doing before the future got changed?"

"Is it safe?" Marinette bit her bottom lip in fear.

"It must've been... because that's the future I remember. And it's a good future." Bunnyx smiled reassuringly at Marinette.

"Thanks, Bunnyx." Marinette smiled genuinely, but reservedly.

Bunnyx opened a portal and stepped halfway in before turning back. "Don't worry, Mini-Bug. I've got your back!" She stepped into the portal and it closed.