I was the most excited about this chapter and had most of it written already. :)
Also, I bumped up the rating a bit because there's extremely mild nudity in this chapter.
—
She looked fierce. Nails done, a cute, white skirt (that she hadn't spilled her breakfast on!) and a red and white polka dot blouse. She was cute, she was hot, and she was ready to nab her man!
Said man walked into class wearing...
Oh boy.
A leather jacket, with no shirt underneath, a kilt, and knee high combat boots. There was not a single person that didn't stare at him.
"Sup nerds?"
Nino entered with him, slightly chuckling, like he had heard a very funny inside joke.
Marinette gawked at him. "Adrien..."
"Aww! Pooh Bear! Look at how cute you are!"
Marinette's initial horror in his appearance turned into excitement. He called her cute!
"Adrien, do we have to have this dress code talk again?" Miss Bustier sighed.
It turned out he did have a shirt on under the jacket. A black button-up. He untucked the flaps, and buttoned them, unevenly, to cover his sweet sweet bod. "Better?"
Miss Bustier shook her head, but urged him to sit down.
"Soooo," Alya asked, with a wiggling eyebrow. "Are you wearing that kilt...properly?"
He grabbed the hem, squeezing his knees together to shuffle shyly. "You wanna see?"
Marinette burst into color. "Adrien!"
He laughed, "oh, I'm just kidding. I'm wearing boxers under this."
"Alright everyone, get in your seats, it's time to start!"
—
Marinette tried to do her very best to stay calm. But the very idea that a confession to Adrien would be happening today kept her distracted.
She stared at him, watching as he scrawled notes...in Chinese? He really was an overachiever!
The day passed in a crawl, Marinette fretting every minute.
Then the lunch bell rang, and students began to pack up for break.
"Adrien?" She blurted, her hands shaking.
He turned and looked at her, grinning, and lowering his sunglasses to flash her half-lidded eyes. "You rang?"
"Um...can we talk together? Er, go somewhere together to talk? I have something I want to tell you."
His grin turned into a full tooth smile. "Of course! Where to?"
"Um...mom's got stuff for sandwiches, if you want to come over."
"Sounds wonderful!" He packed up his bag, and then held out his hand for her.
He wanted to hold her hand! Ah!
Nervously smiling, she put her hand in his, and let him lead her from the room.
At the risk of having a horribly awkward lunch, she took the lead, and led him upstairs to the slowly emptying third floor.
"What's up here?"
"I...can't wait anymore. If this makes things weird, you could probably catch up with Nino or the guys..."
He very gently touched her cheek. "I told you I wanted to have lunch with you, and I will. So say whatever you have to say." He took his sunglasses off and put them on his head.
Marinette took a huge breath. "Now, I just need to know...who is the real you? Are you...is this who you are, and you were suppressing the rebellious, chaotic side? Or are you putting on a show?"
He blinked at her, eyes wide. "Whatever do you mean?"
"I mean...I support whoever you are. I want you to feel free to be you, and celebrate what makes you special, but..." she tucked some hair behind her ear, a nervous motion. "I just miss the boy I fell in love with."
"Marinette..."
"I love you no matter what, though! I promise! I just...your kindness, your shy sweetness and honesty really captivated me. That day when you gave me your umbrella, and you went out of your way to apologize for the misunderstanding. You didn't have to. I was the one that jumped to conclusions, but you wanted to make friends and get on the right foot with me. Your laughter, your smile...I was a goner." She hugged the strap of her purse. "So this new version of you has been jarring, but...if I've been reading your signs right...?"
He pulled her into a hug. "Oh Marinette. Sweet, kind, thoughtful Marinette. You've figured me out. This is all an act. Except my attitude towards you. I feel the same."
"You...love me?"
"Yes. More than I can express."
She raised her head, tilting her chin and slowly closing her eyes.
The gag kiss during truth or dare was one thing, but Adrien would kill Plagg if he kissed Marinette in earnest like this.
Instead, he pressed a finger to her lips and smiled at her confused look. "Not yet. The timing isn't right. If I could give you the world, I would. In fact, anything else, I'll give it to you. You have my heart, and that will be yours as long as you want it. But I don't think you want a relationship right now."
"I'm confused..." Marinette said, her lips trembling.
"I want to protect you from my father and Lila. If I make you my girlfriend, they will try to hurt you to get to me. I'd hate to ask you to wait for me, since you've finally gotten the courage up to confess...but would you wait?"
Marinette reached up to hold his face, letting her thumb pass reverently over his cheek. How had she gotten so lucky to fall for a man so thoughtful? So loving?
"Adrien, I'd wait a hundred years to be with you. It'll be our secret for now."
He kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry. I know you wanted more from the conversation-"
"Just knowing my feelings are returned are enough. Thank you."
He took her hand again. "You still want to feed me sandwiches? Do I still deserve it?"
"Of course you do...My Prince."
Plagg almost retched, but he schooled his face into an adoring grin before he faced her again. "That's adorable!"
"You like it?"
"I love it!" It was just cheesy enough for Adrien.
"Then that'll be your nickname...in secret. No one else will know."
"I think you'll come to find that our little secret will be so much more fun between us."
—
After lunch, Plagg and Marinette returned to school. They stopped holding hands as they approached the building, but they stood close and bumped each other coyly.
The behavior didn't go unnoticed by Alya or Lila. But Alya was the only one to confront them.
"You two seem close," she asked, twinkle in her eye.
"Oh, we just had a very funny lunch together."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yep. Some great inside jokes. You had to be there." Plagg sent a wink at Marinette and she seemed to swoon on the spot.
Plagg let her go back to her seat, ignoring the whispering from the girls behind him.
They thought he couldn't hear them. He could.
Nino bumped his elbow. "Everything cool dude?"
"Absolutely. I'll tell you later."
—
Later came after school, of course. The second Plagg and Nino were away from school property, Plagg blurted out, "I'm a genius. I got Marinette to confess her undying love for Adrien. Boo-yah!"
"What?!" Nino shrieked. "Dude! She's been trying to get that out for months! How on earth—no, wait. I know the answer."
"Confidence."
"And obvious flirting." Nino scoffed. "Adrien always threw out the line, 'you're such a good friend' in front of her. It was like wearing a big sign that said, 'I will reject you!'"
"I'm right here, you know," Adrien said, poking his head out of Plagg's jacket. "And to my defense, I was trying to be faithful to—"
Plagg covered his mouth before he could accidentally reveal Marinette as Ladybug. "No excuses, lover boy!"
Thankfully, Adrien seemed to realize the mistake he almost made and nodded. "Fine, fine. I appreciate that you didn't kiss her...again. So now what? Have we fulfilled that part of the contract yet?"
"Not quite." He held up the ring. A paw print with three pads faintly shone on the surface. "Once a condition is met, you'll hear the ring give its telltale beep and a pad will disappear. Once the paw print completely vanishes...well, you'll be back in your own body anyway."
"So...what do I need to do? She already confessed to me."
This was a conversation better had without Nino involved. Of course he was a bro, and would be helpful for things. But Ladybug's identity should still remain a secret.
"Nino..." Plagg began, with a drawl. "How much do you know about the birds and the bees?"
Nino sputtered. "HA! BYE!" And he made an about face and hurried towards home.
"Wait Nino!" Called Adrien.
"We'll meet up with you later!" Plagg sang after.
Adrien looked to his body. "Please tell me you don't have to...get up to some nasty stuff with my lady. Sure, it's my body, but you're like a bazillion years old and I was rather hoping to wait until marriage—"
"Calm down, Romeo. No, there's not any hanky panky involved. I just needed to get Nino to leave without saying, 'hey leave'. If he's going to be suspicious, I need him on a whole other wavelength."
"Okay, so if there's no horizontal tango happening, then what are we doing?"
Plagg slipped the ring off his finger. "You need to spend time with her. Tell her or don't. Just spend time with her outside of school and akumas and get to know her better. For an alibi, tell her that you haven't been feeling well and you need to be in proximity of the Miracle Box. Then have her send her earrings to me so things stay even."
"Will she go for that?"
"Probably. You know her better than I do."
"What about the ring? Don't you need to wear it because we're switched?"
"Nah. It should be alright for a little while. It should stay with my body though."
"Okay...I guess...I'll go see Marinette."
"Have fun!" Plagg wiggled his fingers in a farewell and started walking to where Nino had disappeared.
Nervous as all get out, Adrien fled to the bakery, trying to figure out what he was going to tell Marinette.
When was it appropriate to come clean? How long should he wait? Should he blab at all?
Soon, he was hovering above her trap door, and peering inside. Marinette sat at her desk, music playing as she worked on homework. Her head bobbed to some tunes.
"Okay, she thinks you're Plagg. So she'll welcome you in and listen to what you tell her. And if she finds out you're Adrien, then she loves Adrien and everything will be fine. Right? Right!" He psyched himself up.
Using his poorly practiced phasing powers, he entered her room and came to float by her desk. "Hiya pigtails!" He chirped, in the typical Plagg style.
She jerked, before turning to him. Her eyes landed on the ring and widened with surprise. "Why do you have that?! Is Chat okay?! What's wrong?!" She stood, and nearly knocked over her chair.
Even Tikki looked surprised.
"Everything is fine!" He rushed to rectify. Then he remembered Plagg's crafted lie. "Mostly. I haven't been feeling very good, so I think I need to be closer to the Miracle Box for a little bit. I brought the ring for you, if you would send Tikki to Chat for a little while. That way he's covered in case there's an Akuma attack."
Luckily, she bought his dirty fib and started to remove her earrings. "Oh, well if you aren't feeling well, that means Chat won't be in top form. We can't have that! Of course we can trade!" She took the earrings off and handed them to Tikki, before putting on the ring.
Adrien felt a tingle down his spine as the black metal turned rose gold on her dainty finger.
"Is he at home?" Asked Tikki.
"No, come with me, I'll tell you." And he escorted her up to the balcony.
"Did Plagg put you up to this?" She asked, once outside. "This seems like one of his hair brained schemes."
"I mean...he came up with the excuse...but I thought Marinette's confession today would fulfill one of the conditions of the contract, but it didn't. Plagg said I should just spend time with her."
Thankfully, Tikki was the nice one. She patted his paws. "I'm sure you miss her too. I won't say anything. But I will be having a word with Plagg about this whole thing. He should know that body swaps don't always work!"
"Don't tell me that! I'm struggling as it is!"
"Sorry!" She giggled. "Why don't you go on in. Be prepared though. She's been all sighs since 'Adrien' returned her feelings today."
If he could blush, he would have. "Oh boy..."
"Where am I going?"
"Oh, Plagg is staying with Nino now. He left home. And uhhh...Nino knows. About me, not Marinette."
She scoffed. "That rascal."
"Thanks for understanding, Tikki."
"I'm understanding with you, because you're the victim of a manipulative, chaotic creature of destruction and havoc."
"He can be a bit of a turd."
"What am I doing? You could be spending time with the love of your life! Now, go on!" Tikki pushed him towards the door before flitting off to Nino's.
Suddenly faced with seeing Marinette again, and continuing to lie to her face, he sheepishly returned to her room.
She had ducked out for the moment, and he found himself alone.
Alone, but surrounded by dozens of pictures of himself.
Knowing about her crush put these photos in a different context, for sure.
"Just a fan" she said. She was a big fat liar too!
"Adorable, isn't he?" Her voice grabbed him while he was off guard.
"Uhhh...I guess? For a human?"
She giggled, and set down the plate of cheese danishes onto her desk. "That's Adrien. He's kind of my boyfriend. It's not official yet, but he loves me." She smiled widely. "He told me just today."
"'Kind of' your boyfriend? You're okay with that?"
"He can't date right now because of his father. But he asked me to wait for him. I'd wait a thousand years for him."
His heart hammered in his chest. "What about three years? What if he can't date until he's 18?"
"That's fine." She said nonchalantly. "We can still hang out. We can focus on school and drama doesn't have to come between us..."
"And if someone else available comes along?"
Marinette couldn't know the real reason he was asking that question. She just fondly patted his head. "Sorry Plagg. I know you care a lot about Chat, but Adrien...Adrien means the world to me. I love Chat too, but in a different way. And he's not available, not to me."
"What do you mean?"
"Chat will always just be my partner. Can only be my partner. We couldn't date if I wanted too. It would be too difficult." She sat back at her desk and sighed. "It would hurt too much."
Adrien was struck speechless. How was he even supposed to respond to that? Was that an admission that she actually did have some feelings for Chat Noir?
It didn't matter. Not now. "I didn't mean to put you on the offensive. I was just...curious, is all. I'm happy you've found someone who loves you."
She smiled at him then, scooping him out of the air and scratching his cheek with her finger. "Thanks Plagg. I hope I didn't come off as snooty. I know you care about Chat. But he can fight his own battles."
Her words made him feel like garbage. She had no idea, of course. Because up until the body swap, Adrien's battles were not being fought. They were purposefully not being fought, because he was too chicken shit to upset anyone.
"Yeah...he's brave alright..." he muttered.
Marinette settled down at her desk and continued on her homework.
What was a boy to do? He sat on the desk, and helped himself to the cheese danishes.
They were almost worth the trip over here by themselves.
"Enjoying yourself?" Marinette asked, eyebrow quirked.
At that, Adrien realized with thinly veiled horror that he had been moaning.
Eek.
"These are the most delicious things I've ever had!" Or maybe it was because Plagg had only fed him Camembert until now. Sure, Plagg's taste buds were attuned to the foul stuff, but after a while, the same foods over and over get old.
Marinette just smiled at him fondly and continued with her work.
Would it be odd to look at her? Would she notice? He certainly found it hard to look away. He couldn't stare at her during school. Not as Plagg, and not as Adrien from now on.
She tapped her pencil against her perfectly kissable lips, scrunching her nose and narrowing her eyes as she studied the page. It was adorable, but more so, it was the same face she made as Ladybug, when she was trying to solve her Lucky Charm.
Was it hindsight? Or if he saw Marinette making that face, would he have realized it?
Would he have cared enough to look at her?
Of course he would! He argued with himself. Marinette was always special, and her being Ladybug only elevated her in his mind. It was a match that made sense. Of course she was Ladybug. No one else could be so…wonderful.
But faced with her, and not knowing what to say or how to begin to explain the truth, he had to ask himself the tell tale question:
Did he like Marinette now because she was Ladybug? Or did he always like her, and was only in denial?
He begged it was the second. It had to be.
Her qualities were the same. There was nothing about Marinette that made him recoil or actively deny her identity.
Scratch that, Marinette was ridiculously clumsy.
But besides that, they were the same.
"Thinking about something tough over there?" Marinette asked.
"Huh? Oh. Uh...yeah. You know how it is." Like that made any sense.
"Right. Like I could understand the problems of a Kwami." She teased. "If you need to talk, I'm all ears."
Soon. Soon he'd explain everything. But right now, he was just too nervous and scared of her wrath. "Thanks Marinette. I appreciate it. But I don't want to distract you from your homework."
She shrugged a little, not wanting to pry, before going back to work.
Adrien and Marinette shared the cheese danishes, and occasionally talked as she worked. When she got severely stuck, he would throw her a few hints.
Then she stretched, finished. "Oh thank goodness! I'm so tired, and I could use a lazy evening."
"Marinette! Dinner time!"
"Well, after dinner, I'd like a lazy evening." She scratched Adrien's head. "Let's just hope there's no Akuma attack."
"Fingers crossed!"
"You'll be fine up here alone?"
"Of course. Have fun with your parents."
"Oh," she wilted. "Should I tell them about Adrien?"
"Why not?"
"I'm just scared that my nosy parents will ask a hundred questions. And we're not even official."
"Maybe by mentioning it now, when it becomes official, it won't be much of a shock."
"And maybe we can avoid another disaster like when my dad got akumatized. You're right." She couldn't help but sigh. "Well, I'll tell you how it goes!" And she went downstairs.
Adrien sat on her desk, scanning the walls and taking in all of his pictures. She really loved him, didn't she?
And how long had that gone on, and he never noticed?
Was it okay to snoop? Of course morally and ethically, no, it wasn't. But he was technically her sort of boyfriend. It couldn't hurt.
Right?
So he snooped. Just a precursory glance through her belongings. It was all very innocent.
Until he found the pink half-circle book. Her diary.
Maybe it was the influence of Plagg's magic in him. Or this whole experience was turning him into a rascal.
But he opened the book and started to read.
The entries were pretty innocent too. Day to day things, balancing life as a superhero and a student. She mentioned him a few times. Using phrases like, 'golden hair', 'handsome face', 'emerald eyes', and 'abundant kindness'. She wrote about the times they interacted. From him catching her when she tripped, to the glances they shared. Just the smallest interactions between them, she cherished.
It almost made his heart hurt with how moved he was.
And then there was an entry whose content made him feel a different sort of pain. She recounted a day he had not experienced. Her encounter with his akuma, Chat Blanc.
He read the pages, soaking up every heart breaking moment. All the cruel things he had said to her that he would have never known. Why hadn't she said anything? Was it too painful? Or did…
Did she think he didn't need to know?
The diary slammed shut as he was finishing the entry, and a very angry and embarrassed Marinette stood over him, glaring. "Little snoop."
"Yeah yeah, cats and curiosity and all that. So sue me."
She took the book away and put it in a box with a lid. "Remind me never to leave you alone in my room ever again."
"Aw, you're no fun."
She walked away, heading to her dresser. "Are you like this with Chat, too?"
"Oh, I'm much worse. You have no idea."
She laughed at him, and took her pajamas out of her drawers.
Then without warning, she took off her pants.
And Adrien's mouth went dry. He watched as she slipped on her pajama pants, and then took off her shirt, and even her bra, before putting on a loose t-shirt.
He was not going to get that image out of his head for a long, long time.
She turned to him and started talking like nothing had happened. "So what do you want to do? I'm all done with homework, and so as long as there's no Akuma attack, I can do whatever I want. What do you and Chat usually do?"
Adrien didn't know how to tell her he didn't really have free time. Plagg just looked up cheese blogs on his phone, or watched a movie while Adrien worked on homework.
"You pick. I'll just watch if you want to play video games or design."
"I'm actually kind of tired. I might just watch videos in bed."
"Sounds fun! Can I join?"
"Sure! Whatever you want, Plagg." Marinette climbed her ladder up to her loft and settled against her pillows. She pulled a fuzzy blanket around her legs and sighed in content. "Just what the doctor ordered!"
Adrien hesitated a moment, trying to decide where to sit. Her shoulder? Her stomach?
But Marinette took the choice away and patted her chest, just above her heart.
Eagerly, he settled, curling his tail around his body, and absorbing her body heat. She scratched between his ears and made him purr almost instantly.
This was heaven. When he got his body back, he'd lay his head here. Hopefully, she'd scratch his scalp just the same.
The videos played on her phone, just memes. Every time she chuckled, her chest would rumble with the noise, and fill him with joy.
He could hear her heart beating. The heart she had opened for him just today. A heart that he lived in.
And then her phone started flashing with a red light. And akuma alert!
"Uh oh!" Marinette clicked on the alert, checking out the details. "It's a sentimonster! Come on Plagg, we can't leave Misterbug out to dry!"
As she scaled the ladder to her balcony, he panicked. How was this going to work? Was she going to notice once they transformed? Would he be able to hear her thoughts like he could when Plagg transformed?
Would he look through her eyes?
She raised the hand with the ring on it. "Alright! Plagg, Claws out!"
Nothing happened.
"Um...Plagg, Claws out?"
"Oh." Adrien gasped, "oh no."
"Oh no what? Are you broken? Do I need to fix you?"
"No! I mean—sort of, but you already did your part! I'm just..."
"Plagg, what's going on?"
He sighed, screwing up his lips and unintentionally showing his fangs. "Um...I'm not...I'm not actually Plagg."
She stared at him, brows furrowing and eyes narrowing. "Then...who are you?"
"Promise you won't be mad?"
"No guarantees!"
"Well, okay." He gulped. "I'm...Adrien?"
She blinked. "Adrien? Like...no. No no no not like Adrien Agreste, my new supposed boyfriend?!"
"That's me! Hi P-Pooh Bear?"
"What?!" She shrieked. "How?! When?! What—" she snatched him out of the air with firm hands. "HAVE YOU BEEN ADRIEN THIS WHOLE TIME?"
"I mean, I've been Adrien my whole life," he awkwardly chuckled.
"No, no don't joke with me right now." She sniffed. "How long have you been like this?"
"Um...about two weeks now. Since that day he came to school in a crop top."
Marinette shut her eyes tight, a few tears slipping past her cheeks. "That long..."
"Marinette?"
"So it was all a lie? Plagg's just—messing with us? With me? You don't really—" she squeezed her eyes shut and started crying in earnest.
"No! No Marinette! Of course I love you! I've always loved you, you know that! The second I learned you were Ladybug, everything made sense! I was so happy and I told Plagg he had to win you over. Please Marinette, this was never supposed to be malicious." He nuzzled against her fingers, offering up a purr. "I promise."
With her free hand, she wiped her face. "Alright, well suppose I believe you. What happened? Why are you like this?"
"I made a deal with the devil. Plagg, specifically. He said he was tired of me complaining all the time. So he said he could solve all my problems if I just agreed to it. Then I woke up in his body."
"What problems?"
"Well...my unrequited love for you, for one."
She blushed.
"My relationship with my father for two, and the third is Lila's harassment."
"Oh, I get it now." Marinette sighed. "That's why he was doing all those things..."
"You mean dressing like a moron and messing with Lila?"
"Yes. And flirting with me."
"To be honest," he scratched the back of his head. "I would have flirted with you earlier if I had known you were Ladybug. I liked you before, I was just trying to pretend I didn't, because I wanted to be loyal to...well, you."
She held him softly in her hands. "We've made a mess of things, haven't we?"
"It was for our own good. Secret identities and all that."
"You almost sound like you just repeat that to yourself, but you don't believe it."
"I had to repeat it to myself," he urged. "Every day. Because I so desperately wanted to be with you, to spend time with you out of the suit. I was so lonely and I thought, if there was one person I could trust with my identity, it had to be you. But I wanted to honor your wishes. I just hoped to wear you down, eventually."
She passed her thumb over his cheek and whiskers. "I had been thinking about it, ever since I became the guardian. I wanted to keep you safe, but if something happened to Plagg and you couldn't transform, no one would know. I'm not upset with you, Kitty. Though I wish this reveal had happened a little more...mutually." Suddenly, her eyes widened. "What are we doing?! We have a sentimonster!"
"Aw let him fight on his own! He deserves some sort of punishment for this and I have yet to come up with a good one."
She chuckled. "Alright, fine. We'll give him a few minutes and see how things are going."
"You're taking this better than I expected."
"I'm in shock." She chuckled, a little hysterical. "It took me so much courage to confess…and it wasn't even to your face. That would happen to me."
He floated out of her hand and nuzzled her face. "All that matters is that I know. We can't be together quite yet, but the second I get my body back, I plan to make you mine."
"Really?"
"Absolutely, Bugbear."
She kissed between his ears. "Okay, My Prince. I look forward to it."
The ring on her finger beeped, and a paw pad faded out.
"What was that?"
Adrien sighed with relief. "The condition has been met."
"Condition?"
Just then, a swath of Ladybugs rushed over the city, righting whatever the Sentimonster had ruined.
"Well, looks like he didn't need our help after all."
Marinette laughed slightly. "They have been doing this a long time. It probably only took them this long to get it because of travel time."
Adrien nodded. "So, just to clarify, you aren't mad at me?"
"Of course not! It sounds like Plagg tricked you. Though I am mad at you for reading my diary…and watching me change!"
"In my defense, I was not warned you were going to change."
"Still you could have turned around!" She blushed.
"Sorry, Bugaboo, I guess I was just a little star struck."
She bopped him on the nose. "Now don't try to flatter me to get out of being caught."
A yoyo wrapped around the chimney above their heads, and Misterbug made his appearance. His very jarring, ancient appearance. He wore black leggings with a red loincloth around his waist. His shirt was cropped and had billowing sleeves. The mask was just a cloth that tied around his lower face.
"Well well well, I figured if you weren't on the battle field, you were busy having a lover's quarrel." He smirked, the smile only creasing his eyes.
Marinette looked to Plagg. "Dearest Sunshine, do you mind terribly if I abuse your body?"
"Be my guest."
Marinette wound up a punch and socked Plagg right in the shoulder.
"Ow! Hey, that actually hurt."
"I hope you, you monster! How could you hurt my poor, sweet, innocent Adrien!?" She cuddled him close to her cheek.
Plagg scoffed. "Puh-lease. There is nothing innocent about that boy. Spots off."
The pink light faded, and Adrien's body remained. It was almost hard to look at him, even though she knew it wasn't really Adrien.
"Oh, now she gets all shy~!" Plagg taunted. "I should have retransformed when I landed. Maybe she wouldn't have punched me!"
"You deserved it." Tikki said, flatly.
"Yeah, whatever. So? How'd it go?"
Marinette held out the ring. "It beeped?"
"Excellent!" He took it off her finger. "Two to go!" He slipped the ring on and took off the earrings. "Now I just have to focus on Gabriel and Lila. I think Gabe's getting ready to crack. Lila though, I might have to push a little harder."
"Thank you for the warning," Marinette added. "It makes me feel better that I might not have to put up with her for much longer. So I can take a little damage."
Adrien frowned. "Can't I stay with Marinette a while longer?"
Plagg huffed. "I mean you could…but then you couldn't see the absolute chaos that I planned."
Adrien winced. "Ugh, fine. I'll go with you." He turned to Marinette, pressing a kiss on her cheek. "Bye Bugaboo. I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Okay Kitty. I love you!"
Adrien's heart nearly burst with love. "I love you too!"
"Gross." Plagg gagged. "Alright, time to go! Adrien, Claws Out!"
—
Chat Plagg Noir returned to the Lahiffe residence, and swung in through Nino's window.
Nino for his part, was nearly dancing in panic.
"You good, my man?"
Nino shook his head frantically. "There's a policeman here for you! I tried to stall as long as I could, and said you were asleep and a heavy sleeper! But I think he's about to burst down my door!"
"A policeman? What for?"
"I don't know! He just said he had to talk to you!"
"Claws in." Plagg walked over to the door, and exited, pensively watching the uniformed man in the living room.
"Did you have a nice nap?" The man asked, arms crossed.
"I did, until I was shaken awake. Is there a problem officer?"
"Adrien Agreste, you are under arrest."