Marinette's about to start writing in her diary when her phone suddenly buzzes, Bloom's ID showing up on the screen. "Hello?"
"Mari, trust me on this, get back to school. There's an Ultimate Mecha Strike 3 tournament happening, and Adrien's currently trying out to be Max's partner. I already mentioned your family's love of the game, but everyone's saying Max is unbeatable."
Marinette's answer is a high-pitched squeal, equal parts for the idea of playing a UMS3 tournament and at the prospect of being partnered with Adrien, and she's tearing out the door before Bloom even hangs up.
Bloom grins and shakes her head even as she rubs her ringing ear, and says "She's coming, Principal Damocles. She was at home when she picked up." Does it count as cheating if I know Mari's family regularly has UMS3 showdowns? Eh…probably not.
Maybe a minute later, Marinette's tearing up the school stairs. Bloom smirks when Marinette gets inside the room, then says "Adrien just beat Max, making them partners…unless you can do better, Mari?" Bloom knows she can, but the reminder of a challenge is in hopes that Mari's semi-calmer state around Adrien will continue. Plus, she hasn't got a clue as to whether or not Marinette will be paired with Max or Adrien.
Principal Damocles clears his throat, and says "The library is closing up in five minutes…but I suppose that leaves time for one more tryout."
Adrien hands Marinette his joypad, Max takes a seat once more…and Marinette pulverizes him. Everyone bar Bloom watches in shock as Marinette's fingers fly across the buttons of the joypad with practiced ease, and the only reason Bloom isn't staring in shock is because she was at Marinette's place the last time they had a UMS3 showdown. She was staring then, completely amazed that anyone could move their fingers that fast and not either hurt themselves or mess up. Out of all the Dupain-Chengs, Marinette is easily the best of them, regularly trouncing her dad in showdowns while Sabine and Bloom watch from the sidelines as they went round for round for a few hours.
Max willingly - reluctantly, dejectedly - relinquishes his position on the team to Marinette, then goes off on his own for some solitude - Kim said he'd been training for a straight year to get into the tournament, but he's had to have lost a few times by now…right? Bloom had pegged Max as a rational guy, surely he wouldn't be a sore loser, right? He said Marinette won fair and square, after all…
And then Marinette realizes something horrible as they're walking back - Adrien's going to be over…so Marinette has to clean her room. Specifically, hide her dozens of pictures of Adrien himself - some with hearts drawn on them, others from when he modeled for his father's brand, all of them highly embarrassing for Marinette if he sees them.
Marinette, Bloom, and Tikki zip around the room, gathering up armfuls of posters and hiding framed pictures of Adrien…until the doorbell rings, moments after Tikki said it's not like he's coming over right this minute to practice.
Bloom facepalms, and says "Tikki, do us a favor and never say stuff like that again. It always comes back to bite you and everyone around you."
Tikki nods, a horrified squeak coming from her as Marinette's mom opens the door, and Bloom quickly says "I'll distract them, Mari. Hide all this in your bench! And change your computer screen!"
Marinette squeaks and rushes over to her computer, temporarily setting it to a neutral Jagged Stone image instead of her picture of Adrien before yanking open her storage bench and hastily putting every photo of Adrien she can inside along with Tikki. And then she gets a text on her phone a moment later, saying 'I just did a Lilo and Stitch scene for you, Mari. Get down here fast b4 your mom outs your crush by accident.'
Bloom gives Sabine a panicked look when she says Marinette's talked a lot about Adrien, getting the message across that Adrien doesn't know about her crush on him. And then promptly pantomimes a few things for Sabine to say when Adrien asks what she's said - top of their class, model, and Nino's best friend, to name a few. Thankfully, Marinette comes scrambling down soon after Bloom sends a text to the dark-haired girl.
The three of them head upstairs, and Adrien says "Like your room, Marinette. It's really cozy." As compared to his massive, sterile, cold room that you wouldn't know he lives in if he didn't have his computer there. It's big, has plenty of things to do…and it's like his father tried to make it so he wouldn't need to leave. One-person arcade games, a climbing wall, the massive bed, foosball table, piano…lots to do, nobody to do it with until Plagg showed up. And his Kwami can't exactly flit from foosball handle to handle to play a few games with him. He'd stay at Marinette's every night if he could.
Hey…why can't I? A few hours a night when I'm not on patrol wouldn't kill me…right? An idea to run by Plagg another time, right now he's got to train for the tournament.
Bloom makes herself comfortable on Marinette's Chaise, saying "Don't mind me, I'll just be drawing over here. Enjoy."
Adrien and Marinette try to take a joypad twice, accidentally going for the same controller both times, and then they just take the one closest to them and get started. Adrien tries to make small talk - not so easy when his Kwami's been teasing him relentlessly about his growing feelings for Marinette lately - saying her parents seem really nice, and Marinette says "They are, but they can be-" Tom comes up right then, a plate of Croissants in hand and asking if they'd like a snack.
Bloom grins to herself, and says "Thanks, Mr. Dupain-Cheng! I'll put it over here so it doesn't get knocked off." She takes the plate from the larger man, leaving him no other option but to head back down for now.
Marinette exasperatedly says "They can be a little nosey. You want a Croissant? If we don't grab some now, there'll be none left when we next look over." The words get said with a discrete pointed look at Bloom - translation: eat all the croissants we don't take. It's made twice as hilarious by the fact that Adrien does the exact same thing - if it weren't for the Miraculous' concealing their identities, she'd seriously wonder just how neither of them has figured it out yet. As it is, she's been reliably informed that the concealment magic of the Miraculous' is very effective - ordinary humans would either need to be shown the transformation or they'd need to have irrefutable proof shoved down their throats. And, even then, they wouldn't be able to see through it - at least, not for the ones that really change your looks, like the Cat Miraculous - they'd just know the identity of whoever they were told about. Ergo, unless she tells these two each other's identities, or Tikki and Plagg decide to end everyone's misery, they're almost certainly going to remain clueless forever.
Adrien agrees to take one, along with Marinette, and Bloom shrugs and says "Suit yourselves." Still, she has to wonder how the two of them can't see they're actin identically - both of them making sure she gets as much food as possible while not making it possible for her to say it's because they feel bad for her. If they all have some, then it's shared...even if Bloom gets the overwhelming majority. Her brother knows how to play her like his own piano, and her best friend can manipulate her like sewing thread.
About two rounds later, Marinette's parents are back up again, a fresh batch of cookies in hand. Marinette shoots them an annoyed look, and they quickly head back down after Bloom takes the plate to Mari's Chaise.
Another round where Marinette basically decimates their opponent, and Adrien says "You're amazing, Marinette. I guess you wouldn't even need me, I'm so lame compared to you." He closes his eyes, only to start and open them back up when Marinette lays a hand on his shoulder gently.
When he looks over, she's got a serious look on her face as she says "You're incredible, Adrien. You helped me out with my great-uncle when I thought he couldn't speak English, that's amazing. I'm just lucky when it comes to the game, that's all." She gestures for him to come closer, digging around in her pocket, and pulls out…a beaded string, with a green square that looks a bit like jade at the center. "This is my secret to winning, my own lucky charm."
Adrien stares at the handmade charm, then at Marinette's face - she doesn't look like she's pranking him, but still…he lives with Plagg. A millennia-old prankster with a sarcastic sense of humor and a Camembert addiction. After a moment, he asks "Are you messing with me?"
Marinette shakes her head with a quiet chuckle, and presses it into his hands while saying "Try playing a game with it." Before he can answer…the trapdoor opens with Sabine and Tom there, Sabine holding a spinach and salmon pie in her hands.
Bloom could just about scream, the urge to bury her face in one of Marinette's pillows is almost overwhelming. Every time, EVERY SINGLE TIME these two start on some romantic moment that could bring the two of them together...SOMETHING HAPPENS!
Ten minutes later, they're finishing off the last of the pie - which, while a decidedly odd combination, didn't taste that bad at all - and Adrien comments on how he didn't know Marinette's parents made such good pies. Bloom disbelievingly says "Uh…Adrien? They're bakers. They'd be out of business if they didn't make good pies, pastries, etc." Adrien has to reluctantly concede her point there, but before he can say anything they hear a loud banging noise. And look over to see…a gigantic level 2 version of Max's preferred UMS3 avatar.
Marinette nervously says "Tell me this is some kind of publicity stunt for the tournament…"
Bloom says "Sorry, can't." You've gotta be kidding me...
Adrien says "Doesn't look like a publicity stunt to me."
And then the thing shoots a laser beam at the bench they're on, making Adrien tackle Marinette out of the way while Bloom leaps off the bench in the opposite direction. The two of them start running, but Adrien goes cold when he hears Bloom yell "Max Kante, you absolute brat! I never pegged you for a sore loser, yet you went and got yourself Akumatized over a video game tournament?! Are you EFFING KIDDING ME?!"
Once Bloom's sure Marinette and Adrien are out of danger for the moment, since she thoroughly distracted Max, she quickly makes the head of the gigantic robot-like structure turn away from her so she can disappear and go transform.
Marinette tries not to lose her lunch as she clings to Cat Noir, the blonde boy having decided fifty miles an hour and several high-speed leaps were a good idea to get her away from Max - who, despite Bloom's efforts, found her again - and tries not to dry heave when he sets her down on the roof of the Mayor's hotel. To be fair to Cat Noir, the suits do protect them from the nasty side-effects of running at such inhuman speeds, leaping twenty feet in the air, and landing solidly on the ground. And it was an emergency, what with Max apparently having a vendetta against her after losing that spot. And, between losing her lunch and getting hit by that laser, she'd pick the first option at any time.
Cat Noir gives her his usual Cheshire grin, and says "I heard Miss Video Game Champ really ticked off the final boss."
Marinette just rolls her eyes, and says "Doesn't give him bonus points for going around transforming people." And then she gasps, hands flying up to her mouth as she says "Adrien! Ohmigosh, we got separated at the park! Cat Noir, we've gotta go back and find him-"
Cat Noir puts his hands on Marinette's shoulders to calm her down, saying "I picked Adrien up already, Marinette, he's fine. Just stay here and let Ladybug and I take care of everything." Kwamis, if my heart didn't belong to Ladybug…
Marinette's willing to risk her own safety for him, to make sure he's alright. How did it take him this long to figure out she's so amazing? Right, his father's a control-freak who barely let him into public school - his sister's words…but she's not wrong either. He quickly heads off to find Gamer, hearing a few explosions that clue him in to both Gamer's location and the detail that his sister's already there…and if he shows off to Marinette, just a little bit, he's sure his sister won't mind overly much. Ladybug's always saying she's not into him like that anyway, so she won't mind.
When Cat Noir gets to the right intersection, he sees Dragon Fyre waving her hands around, yelling up insults at the large robot as she dodges beam after beam - if he had to guess, judging by the deserted bus nearby, she's making a distraction so people could get away. He quickly joins in on the distracting, hoping to make Gamer's system crash somehow or other, and then Ladybug shows up and makes the thing fall on its side by wrapping her yo-yo around its two legs. They hear a shout of alarm from inside the head, and Dragon Fyre yells "He's gotta be in there! I'll get him out and look for the Akuma inside, you two find wherever it might be on him!" She then snaps her fingers, blowing the glass circle out before it can fire another of those beams.
"Hey! That's vandalism!" Gamer's head comes out of the hole, only for him to get ripped out of it completely and Ladybug to tie him up. Cat Noir quickly Cataclysms the robot, but no butterfly comes out.
And then Gamer starts laughing, saying he saved his last level and tries to reach his glasses - Dragon Fyre deadpans "Thanks for the hint." And then she decks him square in the face, breaking the glasses and freeing the Akuma.
One Miraculous Cure later, and Dragon Fyre's taking Max back to his house while Ladybug and Cat Noir head to go hide and detransform.
That night, Adrien gives up his spot to Max to play in the tournament - it obviously means the world to him, if he got so upset over losing his spot that he got Akumatized. Of course, he has to stop Marinette from giving up her spot to - good thing he got there just in time, making sure the two best gamers in the school are on the team.
Neither Bloom nor Adrien is particularly surprised when the two of them absolutely obliterate the rest of the teams, between Max's APM and Marinette's simply insane skill with the game.
AN: Hey everyone! Next chapter is up! And, can I just say...Max was SUCH a sore loser in this episode! I like his character well enough, but...seriously?! I get that he practiced for a year straight, but he lost fair and square. And, seriously, the Chosen One?! Are you kidding me?! There's dedication, and then there's obsession. I think he might've crossed the line for the tournament. Yeah, it wasn't cool of Marinette to swoop in and just steal the spot out from under his feet like that...but he knew the rules, he knew it was a possibility. And Adrien beat him the first time, and he was fine with that! Dude, I know you're a computer genius, probably close to an actual genius if not there, but you should be smart enough to know when to let it go.
And that's not even getting into the napkin incident. I read a fic featuring that, and actually had to look it up. Then i was questioning exactly how the smartest person in the class - probably the entire school - could be so extremely gullible. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look up Chameleon. It's enough to make you want to smack them all upside the head - probably why there are fics about the lot of them watching the episode out there.
Anyway, enjoy! More chapters coming soon!
PS. Considering putting Queen pt 1 and 2 earlier and starting Chloe on a much-needed redemption path. Like...maybe just after Robustus, earlier. Any comments?