Day 25: Multimouse

"I'm sorry, Chat. You want me to what?"

"Let Marinette be Multimouse again. Just for a night."

To say that Ladybug was surprised was an understatement. Here they were, taking a quick break on the roof of a tall building during an evening patrol, and Chat just told her about his small request.

All he wanted was for his bluenette princess to join him for a patrol. He visited her constantly and they spent a lot of time together in her room, but he wanted to get out with her sometimes too. He loved his late night runs as Chat Noir and wished Marinette could go with him. He could carry her on his back, but he thinks it would be more fun if she could run beside him. Argo, she'd need her own miraculous, if just for one evening.

Marinette remembered Chat hinting about this. She knew that he knew that it had been her wielding the mouse miraculous the day they fought Kwami Buster and he had been praising her for doing such an amazing job.

However, for obvious reasons that she couldn't tell her partner, Ladybug had reservations about the idea.

"Chat, I don't think that's such-" she started to say.

"Come on," Chat urged her. "So she accidently revealed her identity in front of me? So what? It was only me. Nobody else. I know the identities of a fair few other of our temporary holders and you still call on them. And I know she'll be more careful and won't expose herself again. She knows better now," he ranted, trying to persuade her.

Ladybug thought for a moment. Everything tracked. She didn't really have a legitimate excuse why Marinette couldn't wield a miraculous.

"Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?" she asked. It had been a while since their fight with Kwami Buster. Why was this the first time he's bringing the subject up?

"Actually, I've been thinking about it for some time now. And the fact that you just found a new person for the mouse miraculous just seemed weird to me. Don't get me wrong, Polymouse is great, but Marinette did an amazing job when we were in serious danger of being exposed," he explained. Ladybug nodded in understanding. Just the other day while they were fighting a re-akumatized Malediktator, with the sentimonster Mega Leech, she needed someone to wield the mouse miraculous again. They prevailed thanks to her, but Chat could tell that she wasn't Marinette. "I just really think you should give her another chance. It would really mean a lot to her, and…" Chat trailed off, looking a bit sheepish as he rubbed his neck. "I'd really like to run a patrol with her, that's all," he added.

Inside, Marinette was sort of touched. She loved spending time with Chat in her room, and she loved their patrols. Chat loved patrolling with his lady but he wanted to also patrol with his princess.

He technically already was but he didn't know that.

But if she agreed to this, in his mind, he'd be patrolling with Marinette.

After going over how she could make this work without revealing herself in her head, she looked at her partner and said,

"Okay."

Chat's head zipped forward to look at her. "Okay?" he asked, not sure if she really said what he thought.

Ladybug nodded her head, grinning. "Sure. And you're right, Marinette was a great ally and I could use a night off." Yet another good excuse for allowing this, even though she wouldn't really be taking the night off.

"Oh, thank you, LB!" Chat exclaimed as he lunged at her and wrapped her in a hug. "So, how would this work?" he asked her when he let go.

"I will give you the mouse miraculous tonight, then you can give it to Marinette to borrow and patrol with her tomorrow night. But as soon as it's over, she has to give it back to you. Then you return it to me at the beginning of patrol the next evening. Sound good?"

"Yes! It sounds perfect!" Chat jumped up in glee. "Marinette's gonna be so happy!"

Ladybug just smiled at his goofy joy before taking out her yoyo and opened it. She pulled out the pendant necklace and offered it out to Chat.

"Take very good care of Mullo."

"I promise," he swore as he took the pendant and put it in his suit pocket, zipping it closed. "What does she like to eat?" He needed to know if she was staying with him for a least two days.

"Cheese, of course," Ladybug replied.

Chat made an odd face. "Oh," he uttered. "Well, as long as it's not Plagg's camembert, I think we'll be fine," he said hopefully. He kept stashes of other kinds of cheeses in his room, which he prayed Plagg would at least be willing to share.

The following evening, when Chat came over to the bakery, Marinette tried to act as casual as possible.

She wasn't supposed to know what was going to happen. She had to act like this was going to start like any other night he came over.

"Evening, princess," Chat greeted her as he usually did, jumping through her skylight, to her loft bed, then down to her floor, where she was waiting for him with snacks and a video game ready on her computer.

"Hey, kitty," she greeted him back. "You ready for another round of UMS3?"

"Actually, I have something else in mind for tonight," he replied with a knowing smirk.

Marinette pretended not to notice as she turned to him and asked. "Like what?"

Chat bit his lip. "I've always wanted to do this," he said, almost gitty as he unzipped his pocket and pulled something out. Then he cleared his throat and held the object out on his palm to her. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, here is the miraculous of the mouse, which grants the power of multiplication. You will use it for the greater good. Which tonight means joining me in patrolling Paris," he declared, trying to mimic how Ladybug always does it.

Marinette pretended to be surprised as she looked at the familiar pendant in his hand. "I…Chat, how did you-?" she stuttered.

"I asked Ladybug to give you another shot," he replied, still grinning.

"But…what if I mess up again?" she asked timidly.

She remembered berating herself after mistakenly removing her miraculous too early after defeating Kwami Buster—or, the illusion did. She had to be convincing.

"You won't. I know you understand what you did wrong the last time and know not to do it again, especially not in front of anyone other than me or Ladybug. And I'll be with you the whole time," he tried to reassure her. He didn't want her to be afraid to try again. She was an amazing superhero. He and Ladybug have allowed her this second chance, so she should let herself have it. Chat took another step closer to her, still holding out the pendant. "What do you say, Multimouse?"

Marinette looked down in thought for a moment, still pretending to hesitate. "Well, okay. But just for tonight," she finally said.

"Of course." Chat cleared his throat again. "Once the mission is complete, you must return the miraculous to me. Can I trust you?"

That was a trick question. He trusted her completely.

Marinette nodded before taking the pendant. After putting it on, a small ball of light came out and circled her before floating in front of her and fading into a small and adorable mouse creature.

"Hi Marinette," Mullo said.

Fortunately, while Adrien was asleep the night before, the mouse kwami had gotten Plagg to brief her on what was going on and how to act once Marinette put on her miraculous.

"Nice to see you again, Mullo," she greeted the kwami like she hadn't seen her in a long time.

"You remember the transformation words, right?" Chat asked the bluenette.

"Of course," she said confidently. "Mullo, get squeaky!"

Chat watched in amazement as Marinette did a back flip as her clothes transformed into a pink and gray jumpsuit, her hair changed from twin pigtails to twin buns, a matching mask appeared over her eyes, then finally, a pink jump rope appeared in her hands, which she jumped with a few times before it wrapped itself around her waist.

"Awesome," Chat said in awe. "You look so cute," he gushed.

"Are you saying I wasn't cute before?" Multimouse said in a sassy tone. Chat's face dropped, afraid that he just insulted his beloved princess. But she quickly giggled. "Ha! Just teasing," she laughed, walking closer to him and flicking his bell. "Come on, let's get going," she said, walking pasted him then jumped up to her loft and out her skylight.

Chat just stood there, a bit stricken with affection, but regained his senses and quickly followed her.

They both were crouched on her railing, looking out at the city.

"After you, Marimouse," Chat said charmingly, gesturing for her to go first.

"You're the one who patrols every night with Ladybug. You lead the way," she replied.

"Oh, right," Chat said, a bit embarrassed that he forgot she'd never patrolled before. He jumped off the railing first and landed on the roof of the closest building. Multimouse was a second behind him. They ran together for a few minutes, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, hurtling over chimneys and billboards. It was so liberating and fun. "Maybe later, if there's no trouble, we can play a little game of Cat and Mouse," Chat suggested when they decided to stop for a minute to scout around. He expected her to roll her eyes and shoot down the idea in a sassy way, but was very surprised when she walked right up to him with a mischievous grin.

"I don't see any trouble right now," she said very sultry in his face before ringing his bell again and dashing to the opposite side of the roof. "Here kitty, kitty! Catch me if you can!" she yelled, shaking her hips a bit before jumping off, out of sight.

Once again, it took Chat a moment to regain his senses before grinning like a Cheshire and chasing after his prey.

Marinette was sweet and thoughtful. But Multimouse was charming and playful.

Chat Noir officially decided that night that he adored both sides of her; the girl and the heroine.

See u tomorrow =^.^=