A Revealing Patrol

Written by: JuliaFC

Language Betas: Khanofallorcs, Agrestebug, Spntumblrin2021, Ohlittlebarchie, MahouOkami

Concept Betas: EtoileLeadSama, Malauu_Ladynoir, Genxha and Rosehealer02

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Written for the March Exchange of the Miraculous Fanworks Server

oOoOoOoOoOo

Part 1 - Two Forgotten Heroes

It all started, as things often did, because of Alya. Or Rena Rouge, because when it happened, she was wearing her Miraculous.

It was a rare joint patrol where Rena had been giving them a hand, so it was Chat Noir, Rena and Ladybug. They had finished patrol and were nearly saying goodbye when Ladybug yawned and complained that she was tired. Stupidly, in hindsight. Chat Noir had immediately followed (they do say that yawns are infectious, don't they?); the second he had also complained about being tired, Ladybug saw Rena lifting an eyebrow.

That couldn't be good, thought Ladybug, but pretended to not have noticed.

"So, I'll see you next time," she started, and was about to say 'bug out' when Rena tsk-ed.

"You see, that's the problem with you two. You're always patrolling, always fighting… you never take a day of rest, even when we're lucky enough to not have an akuma," the superheroine said. "Sometimes you should just delegate! Other heroes can gain visibility with the public, and you two can take a day of well-deserved rest!"

"But I don't want to rest, Rena," Chat Noir said with a pout. "I enjoy my time being a superhero!"

"You just said you were tired. A day without superheroing wouldn't hurt either of you. Of course, if there was an akuma, it would be different, but a regular patrol? You could ask any member of the team to do them and the city would still be safe."

"To be completely honest, Rena, I feel as if other heroes have had more visibility than me recently," Chat Noir complained again. "But I do see your point. It would be nice to see some superheroes that you haven't called in a while."

Ladybug sighed. "What do you mean, Chat Noir? Recently the team has been even busier than usual. I've called on all the heroes that I have, and even recruited new ones!"

Chat Noir slid his baton from behind his back as the bells of Notre Dame rang a new hour. Extending it, he balanced it lazily across his shoulders. "I can think of at least one superhero that we haven't seen in a very long time."

"Such as?" Ladybug crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Multimouse!" Chat Noir exclaimed. "She was amazing!" But when he looked at Ladybug, she hadn't lost her frown.

"She can't work with us anymore, Chat. Besides, we have Polymouse now."

Chat Noir sighed and looked at the ground. He extended his baton enough to use it as a pole to put his hands on, and rested his chin on top. "No offence to Polymouse, but I can't help preferring Multimouse to her, Bug."

His mind wandered to the day that Marinette had worn the Mouse Miraculous. She was adorable with space buns and the grey and pink suit. A gloved hand passed in front of his face.

He turned to see Rena shooting him a crafty look. "Did I say that out loud?" he asked, and was mortified to see both girls nodding at him. For some reason, Ladybug's face was almost redder than her suit.

"Okay, this goes beyond flirting on the job. Someone here has a little crush…?" Rena raised an eyebrow, sizing the crush in question between her index and thumb.

Chat Noir's face flushed. "Who? Me?"

A small, wry smile graced Rena's lips as she nodded. "Even if your velvety tongue hadn't slipped, Chat, just by the colour of your face, we'd know. Wow, I never thought I'd see the day you moved on from Ladybug. Multimouse must've been really pretty! What should we call the ship? MultiChat?"

Chat Noir couldn't help his face growing redder as Rena chuckled, increasing his frustration. "No! You know that my heart is all for My Lady!"

Rena's smile widened as she waved a finger in front of his nose. "Aha…you said it yourself; my ears have yet to fail me. 'She was adorable with space buns and the grey and pink suit'; that's what you said. Your words, not mine."

"No…" started Chat Noir again, but he was interrupted by Ladybug clearing her throat loudly.

"Whatever," she said abruptly, looking at her partner, "Multimouse can't come back. You know who she is."

The smirk on Rena's face grew. "Even better," she said, causing Chat Noir to gulp audibly.

"But…" he argued, trying to ignore Rena, "I know who Ryuuko is, and Pegasus, and some others, including Viperion, but you still call on them…"

"Okay," said Ladybug. She looked tense, but she took a deep breath and continued, "Point taken. I can maybe allow Multimouse to come back for a patrol." She glared at him as he raised his hands and cheered happily.

"Can I be the one to give her back her Miraculous? Please, please, please!" He clapped his hands together with a pleading look.

Ladybug sighed. "Alright. But as Rena said, you should take time off too…"

Rena invaded Ladybug's personal space and shot her a look. "Do I detect here a hint of… jealousy?"

Ladybug's face became beet red again as she glared at Rena Rouge. "NO!" she burst out with a pout that, frankly, gave the complete opposite impression. "B-but you said that Chat Noir should rest, too, and…"

"So I did," Rena admitted. "But who's gonna take his place? You said it yourself, recently you've been using the other members of the team a lot."

Ladybug looked up and suddenly, her eyes widened and her lips curled in a smile. "I know! I can think of another superhero we haven't seen in quite a long time, and I've always wanted to give him a second chance."

Rena's face dropped and Ladybug's expression turned smug upon seeing it. "And who is it?" Rena asked.

"I don't know his name, but... he was very brave. And very unlucky." Now it was Ladybug's turn to show a dreamy expression as she joined her fingers and swooned. "He saved my life a lot of times."

"I have no idea who you're talking about, girl, and I've followed all of the akuma attacks closely," objected Rena.

"You remember the first time I called on Viperion?"

"Yeah?" said Rena. She was looking at Ladybug so intently, and Ladybug was so lost in her daydream, that neither of the girls noticed Chat Noir's gasp and the way he paled at Ladybug's words.

"Before him, I gave the Snake to someone else, but unfortunately it didn't work. He eventually had to admit that he wasn't the right person for the Miraculous." Ladybug sighed. "He tried over twenty five thousand times."

Rena's eyes grew wide. "Wow! That's an awful amount of Second Chances…"

"Yeah. And I haven't called him anymore since, as I said. But…" She shot a quick glare at Chat Noir, who gulped awkwardly. "If we're calling Multimouse back, then… we could give him a chance too!"

"I don't know why, but I detect a little crush here too…" said Rena, putting a hand to her chin.

Ladybug's face flushed pink. "N-no…what about are talking, you…" She bit her bottom lip. "I m-mean…"

"Yep, that's it. Right there. Typical you!"

Ladybug cringed, looking ready to strangle Rena. "ARGH, stop it Rena!" she groaned. "But there you go, we can call that snake hero and Multimouse for the next patrol maybe."

"The Snake and the Mouse," muttered Rena. "What a strange partnership…"

Ladybug huffed. "Not any more strange than the Cat and the Mouse, so…"

"Also very true," said Rena before they separated for the night.

oOoOoOoOoOo

And that was how Marinette found herself wearing the Mouse Miraculous again and whipping her jump rope to use to pull herself around. Without even thinking about it, she reached the usual spot where she met Chat Noir for patrol and sat on the rooftop. Looking at the lights of the city flickering in the dark, Multimouse tried to calm the mad beating of her heart.

Why, oh why did she have to make it harder on herself? She'd been so busy trying to undermine Chat Noir's eagerness to get Multimouse back that she put herself in this awkward situation.

Sure, Adrien would be transformed, and he did look very different when he wore the Snake Miraculous, so maybe Multimouse would be able to keep her cool, but… well, she wasn't sure if she could really succeed. And what if he figured out who she was because of her behaviour towards him? She wasn't meant to wear the Mouse again officially… it was a risk!

When she heard the soft thump of boots on the rooftop, her previous efforts were rendered useless because her heart found a new home inside her throat and started beating madly.

Alright. Breathe in and breathe out. Although she knew that the hero was Adrien Agreste, he didn't know that she was Marinette! She could do it! She did it all the time when she met him as Ladybug, right? And this time, maybe the transformation would help, since it would make him look different and maybe she could forg—

"Good evening," he said, moving to sit down in the same spot as Chat Noir usually sat. Multimouse didn't pay much attention to the detail, busy as she was with the apparently simple task to calm down and just breathe.

"Evegood ning," she spurted out. "I-I m-mean, ningeve—oh, bother, eve-ning. Good evening." She placed a hand on her heart and closed her eyes, trying to breathe in and breathe out. She had made some progress in talking to Adrien face to face even as a civilian, after all. What was it about this situation and feeling even more overwhelmed? She forced herself to turn her head and look at him. He looked exactly like she remembered him from the very brief time she had seen him wearing that Miraculous against Desperada, before he had detransformed and gave it up.

He smiled softly at her, as if he expected her word vomit. Why did he expect her to react like this? He didn't know she was Marinette!

"You must be Multimouse. Ladybug spoke very highly of you," he said, his smile now reaching his eyes and brightening his whole face.

Multimouse's stomach filled with butterflies and she was grateful that she had sat down because her knees felt like jelly. Yes, she usually spent time with Adrien at school, and had spoken to him a little better recently, but…this was different. This was much more intimate. There was nobody else; they were alone, on a rooftop, with no worries and no concerns.

"Y-you must be the Chat my partner—" She smacked her forehead. "Oh, God, I mean the partner Chat Noir told me about."

He chuckled. "Don't worry, I got it. I'm Aspik. Nice to meet you." He stretched a teal-clad hand towards her. She blinked before taking it timidly and giving it a shake.

"Multimouse," she said. Then she noticed how his hand reached for the nape of his neck and she smiled nervously. "Oh, yeah, you knew that already."

He eyed her. "Yeah, Ladybug told me your name and spoke very highly of you, as I said."

She blushed at the praise and lowered her gaze, trying to remember when she had spoken highly of Multimouse in front of Adrien. And when did she say Multimouse's name? She had only mentioned that he would have a partner for patrol, that's all.

"I wasn't that good and that's why I haven't been given the Miraculous again." She glanced at him and saw his eyebrow raised. "I mean, I was silly and detransformed in front of Chat Noir, so I was told I couldn't be a holder again, but Chat Noir mentioned that since it was only a patrol, this was okay."

"At least you didn't mess up the mission like I did." He lowered his gaze at her gasp.

"Don't be silly," she said dismissively. Then she noticed how mortified he looked and her heart sank, remembering very well what had happened the time he had been a Miraculous holder. "I mean, Chat Noir spoke very highly of you, you know. He said that you saved Ladybug's life many, many times."

Aspik frowned, as if taken aback by her words, and looked at her quizzically. But he didn't cheer up.

"How'd—" he started, but then bit his bottom lip and continued, "well, yeah, but that's the problem actually." He looked up and sighed. "Twenty-five thousand nine hundred and thirteen times. Can you believe it? That's the number of Second Chances it took for me to finally admit that I… was no good."

"You were good!" snapped Multimouse, glaring at him with a pout curling down her lips. She folded her arms across her chest and snorted. "Just unlucky."

Aspik gulped at her look of absolute rage, his confused frown still visible on his face. How did Marinette know these things, he wondered. He couldn't remember having said anything about Aspik to her when he'd given her back her Miraculous. Only that she would have a partner whom Ladybug wanted to give a second chance to. Had she made it up in her mind? Wow, if that's the case, her conjectures were so similar to reality that they sent a chill down his spine. It's as if she had been there!

He was still very confused and looking at her pointedly when she stood up, fuming and gave him a glare. "Let's patrol," she ordered and he gulped again, his face getting a little pale as he followed silently.

To think he was supposed to be the predator. In both forms.

The Snake (or the Cat) and the Mouse. The Mouse bossing the Snake around. Right-o…

To be Continued…


Author's Note:


Hello there! Yes, it's me with yet another new story (was supposed to be a one-shot, but as always, it grew legs…).

This one was for the March exchange. Funny story: you will see me posting two stories for the March exchange. Reason being, I was assigned a prompt and then the moderator of the exchange changed the prompts but, for some reason, I never received the new email. So I had started writing the first prompt I had been given (which will be story 2). Then, I went on Ao3 to check the tags of the prompt and I saw a completely different prompt! I PANICKED because it was the 25th of March and I didn't want to let down the person I had for the prompt, BUT I also loved the first prompt I had been writing for and I already had 5 chapters written for it. So I spoke to the moderator of the exchange, who allowed me to change the prompt back…and yet, I felt sad for the OTHER person I should have written for, because even that second prompt (this one!) was exciting. So eventually I decided to write this story too.

The prompt, by ducktoadz, was:

"Aspik and Multimouse talking to each other about their other secret identities. EX: Multimouse saying that Chat Noir is kinda cute because she feels comfortable sharing it to Adrien who doesn't know that she's Marinette. Aspik and Multimouse pretty much being best bros and gossiping about each other to each other without knowing it but also kinda knowing it because identities are a mess."

Hope you like it, ducktoadz! It's a great prompt and I hope I have given it justice. Sorry it was so late!

This story isn't finished yet, but I already have a second part ready, so I should be okay. Although please bear with me, because sadly, I had a family loss just a few days ago, and I may have problems posting in the upcoming weeks. I will do my best to keep my usual schedule, especially because writing (and reading your comments) helps me. It distracts him from thinking of what happened and keeps me where I'm happy, in my little Miraculous world.

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter in a comment. I really hope you liked it! I'm always open to a dialogue, I don't mind ANY type of feedback! To all of you who will write a review or a comment for this story, thank you so much! You always make my day! And especially now, I really need to see some support.

As usual, if you read this and you're not part of our wonderful Discord server already, but you enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join our Discord server, Miraculous Fanworks (for people on FFN, discord dot gg slash mlfanworks). Also, I recently joined another wonderful server! Even this one is friendly and there's a lot of wonderful people to discuss Miraculous and fanfictions with, so…now you get two invites :D Miraculous Discordance (discord dot gg slash QwgKdUhJNJ ). I wait for you in one of these servers :D