"I hate it, Tikki."

The little red kwami looked up from her cookie at her charge with a confused expression. "Hate… What, Marinette?"

Marinette turned to look at her with a deep scowl as she motioned angrily at her desktop monitor. "This! Everyone treats Chat like such- such- crap! And you know what? I'm sick of it. He's my partner, for crying out loud! If I wanted a new one then that's my own business. They're in no place to say such awful, hurtful things like this. Honestly, I'm ashamed. How could people be so judgmental of him?"

Tikki's eyes were wide as she thought about how to respond. She honestly didn't know exactly what to say. "Uhm… Maybe talk to Chat about it. Have him tone back his teasing and messing around to only patrols. I think people are just worried, Marinette, that he's not taking this seriously."

Marinette frowned even harsher at her kwami. "You know, at first, I would have totally agreed and done that. But now that I've known him for five years, I know I can trust Chat to be the level of seriousness I need from him."

"I don't know… It's just that he often gets distracted by- well, uh- you, and no matter how many times you tell him to keep it professional, he just doesn't."

Marinette's eyes were like the blue flame of torment in that moment. "Are you agreeing with them? If Chat only paid half the attention to me that he does, I'd probably be dead by now, Tikki. Or worse; Hawkmoth could have stolen my earrings." Marinette shook her head and turned back to glower at her screen. She hummed quietly to herself as a plan began to form.

"You know what? Maybe I'll just show Paris how much Chat Noir really protects them- How good of a superhero he truly is. If they have no Ladybug to save them, they'll have to take what they can get."

Tikki choked on her cookie as her eyes shot back to Marinette's face. A dark smile had stretched across her lips and her bright blue eyes seemed much more sinister now. "Marinette- please tell me you aren't going to-"

"That's exactly what I'm going to do; I'm going to be the villain."


"Ladybug!" Chat cried as he landed gracefully on the street behind her. "What are you doing?!"

Ladybug grinned almost manically as she turned to face her ex-partner. "What does it look like I'm doing, Mon Cher?"

Chat paused for a second, mask pinched in worry as he looked around at the devastation of the street. How she had managed so much destruction with only a yo-yo was so beyond his pay-grade.

"Uhh… It looks like you're destroying downtown?"

"Correct, Chaton!" Ladybug cried, throwing her yo-yo up high into the air. Chat watched, mouth dropped open, as it came falling back down and shattered an entire light post.

"H-H-How…?"

Ladybug tipped her head to the side. "Oh, Kitty. There's just simply so much we didn't know about our miraculous. It really is a shame we were practically forced into being heroes. Being a villain is simply so much fun!"

Ladybug was doing her best not to laugh out loud at the struck expression on Chat's face. He kept looking between her, the destruction, the yo-yo, and back to her before repeating the cycle all over again. As if he simply couldn't wrap his mind around the turn of events.

"But… You're supposed to be my partner…" He choked out, and suddenly there were tears pouring down his cheeks and his shoulders hunched inwards. He was giving her the saddest kitten eyes Marinette had ever been on the receiving end of in her whole entire life.

Ladybug's jaw dropped the slightest bit as she stared at Chat crying in the middle of the street. This is not at all how she had expected this to go. She had expected Chat to try and talk her out of it, and then declare he'd force her to come back to his side, blah blah blah- maybe they'd have a bit of horseplay to show that he could hold his own. She hadn't expected him to start crying! No, the worst case scenario she had thought up was if Chat had been dumb enough to say he'd just join her and then ruin any attempt to make him look better to the public.

"Chat- Oh, Kitty, no," Ladybug slung her yo-yo around her waist and rushed over to Chat, reaching for his shoulders. He hunched further in on himself, stepping back from her. "Chaton… I- I didn't mean any of it! I'm not really going to leave you, I promise! Please, please don't cry…"

Chat sniffed and looked up at her through his thick, blonde lashes and Ladybug momentarily forgot how to breathe. Had his eyelashes always been so gorgeous? The way his tears clung to the ends of them and clumped them together was almost picture perfect.

"R-Really?" He asked, voice wavering.

Ladybug threw her arms around his neck. "Of course, Chat! I could never stop being your partner! I'd never last a day without you! I only said and did all of that because I was sick and tired of everyone in this city stepping all over you and calling you a worthless sidekick. You're not a worthless sidekick, Chat Noir, you're my best friend and I'd never win a single fight without you!"

Chat took a moment before he wrapped his arms around her as well, sinking into her hug and holding her tight. It felt so right to hold her against his chest like this, and her head fit so perfectly under his chin.

"Ladybug, I don't care what anyone else says. I know my worth, and I know that if I did something wrong, you'd put me back in my place. It doesn't matter what anyone else says- I only listen for your approval."

Ladybug huffed. "Yeah, well, it still pisses me off. I thought that maybe if I pretended to be a villain and showed them how much of a hero you really are, and that you could hold your own, that they'd stop talking so badly about you."

Chat didn't respond for a moment- once again looking around at the street she had knocked out pretty well.

"You know, you could have just done an interview with Alya. Or made a post on the Ladyblog, or something other than pretend to be a villain and destroy a whole street. I don't think anyone's going to like either of us very much now."

Although his words themselves sounded condescending, Ladybug could hear the laughter behind them. She pulled back and slapped his bicep.

"Yeah, well-! Uh- If they hadn't been talking shit in the first place, I never would have had to!" She 'hmph'ed and crossed her arms, refusing to meet his gaze. Chat was right; there were plenty of easier ways to have dealt with this. She had just been so fed up!

Chat snorted and then suddenly dissolved into gut wrenching laughter.

"What?!" She demanded. "What's so funny?"

"You swearing and getting all worked up in such a tizzy! I never would have thought-!" He fell back into his loud laughing, holding his stomach with one clawed hand.

"Yeah, yeah. Frickin' hilarious, I know."

Ladybug waited for him to stop laughing with her hands on her hips and her mouth pressed into a tight line. Once he was finally finished he jokingly wiped a tear away (a real tear of mirth, actually) and looked once more around him.

"Alright, Bug. I think it's time to take care of this mess and call it a day."

Ladybug jolted as she realized they were still standing in the middle of the mess she had made.

"Oops," she said as a blush worked its way out from under her mask. "Yeah, lemme just…"

She threw her yo-yo up into the air, calling out for her lucky charm. She immediately threw it back up upon catching it (it was a small rice bowl, and she knew she was going to have to go talk to the Guardian now for this mess-up) and spoke the magic words that would put everything back together.

Chat nudged her and motioned behind her. Ladybug turned around to look at what he was pointing at, and saw Alya standing there, recording them. She let her head fall back as she groaned and made her way towards her civilian friend. She put her hands up in front of her placatingly, not wanting the girl to freak out and run away.

"Ladybug, what was all that about? I heard you saying it wasn't real?"
Ladybug sighed. "Yes, that's correct. I was merely trying to show the citizens of Paris what would happen if Chat Noir and myself had decided to become villains instead of heroes. The two of us work very hard, day and night, to protect this city and its people. I'd expect a little more gratitude from them, and for everyone to stop berating my partner. Chat Noir is the best hero any of us could have asked for, and he isn't going anywhere on my watch, so I'd appreciate it if people would stop asking for a replacement. Thank you. Uhm, that's all."

With that, Ladybug swiftly turned on her heel and marched back towards Chat Noir.

"Alright, let's go now."

Chat grinned at her, offering his arm after bowing to her graciously. "Allow me to escort you on a walk, M'Lady?"
Ladybug grinned back at him, happy she wouldn't have to pretend to be against him after all. "How about you allow me to beat your ass in a race to the Eiffel tower?"

Chat's grin turned almost feral with delight. "You're on, you evil little bug."

The people of Paris were very confused about the happenings of that day, even after seeing the video the Ladyblogger had uploaded. It was unanimously decided that it should forever be the day that no one mentioned, and no one questioned, so long as Chat Noir and Ladybug were always their protectors.