To Dragon Lord Draco: I write the entire story before publishing a single chapter. Every so often I make a change in the middle of publishing (I added a chapter early in "Running out of Time" that I'd partially-written and discarded), but for the most part all that's ever left is rereading/editing before publishing. The only exception (since starting on Miraculous fan fiction) is "An Adrienette Anthology," which is just a series of one-shots.

To Speckleflower: After ripping them apart so much in the last 2½ chapters, they need at least a little resolution… Which brings us to this chapter.

To anonymousfriend27: After this chapter, the rest of the story is going to be Alya's perspective!

"You do realize the point of this game is to win, right, Agreste?"

Adrien grunted as his character – Weredad for this round – was thrown off the platform by Max as Stoneheart. "Shut up, Nino," he growled. "I don't see you doing any better!" And sure enough, Nino's Lady Wifi followed Weredad a moment later.

"Yes!" Max whooped, pumping his fist in the air. "You have nothing on me!"

"Two-against-one and you still wipe the floor with us! It's not fair," Nino complained. "You wrote the game. You lived the game, even!" He flipped around the menu a couple times before finally settling on Bubbler for the next round. He glanced over at Adrien. "Come to think of it, you did, too, dude! You should be way better than this."

"You lived it, too," Adrien retorted, gesturing toward the screen.

"As a character option," Nino shot back, "not as a player!"

"Marinette's the one who won the game that time, and she crushes me almost every time we play," Adrien confessed, shrugging. "You have to admit, though, it's a brilliant premise. So far everyone you've given it to loves it, Max. Have you considered selling copies?"

Max shrugged. "I have considered the possibility, but it is not feasible at this moment. I calculate that it would take at least €50,000 of startup money to finish the graphics, commission the audio, and purchase the equipment to mass-produce copies."

"What if I front you the startup money and get Kitty Section to record the music?"

"Is that a serious offer? What do you want in return?"

"Split the profits, with my half divided between the Akuma Victims' Charity and paying back the startup? Then when that's repaid, put that portion toward the Heroes' budget?"

"Deal!"

"Are you going to add any of the new Akumas from after you wrote the game?" Nino asked. "Startrain, Party Crasher, Oni-Chan, Mind Games…"

"Perhaps," Max nodded. "I suppose since Hawk Moth is gone I do not need to worry about the game becoming outdated as more Akumas appear."

"That's true," Adrien agreed. He snapped his fingers. "But you could make a follow-up or mod kit to add some of Impératrice Pourpre's Akuma heroes, once there are a few more of them. The Fairy Princess and Guitar Hero were both pretty cool. Chloe would probably demand royalties for Worker Bee, though!"

"Then we could answer the age-old question," Nino added. He grinned at their confused looks. "Who would win in a fight: Guitar Villain or Guitar Hero?"

"I suppose we can already answer the other question," Adrien chuckled. "Who would win between Ladybug/Antibug and Cat Noir/Copycat? Answer: whichever one Max chooses!" He finally decided on Stormy Weather for the next round.

"Why not just add in all the heroes in the first place?" Nino asked. "You could even give it a campaign mode to actually defeat Hawk Moth!"

"Would that include both Akumatized and non-Akumatized versions of Guitar Hero?" Adrien wondered.

"A campaign mode would increase the expense," Max objected. "I estimate another €30,000 in graphics and coding just for the campaign as a single-player, to say nothing of writing a multiplayer version or programming the Heroes."

"What you have now is amazing as-is," Adrien assured him. "We're just fan-boying now. Besides, a campaign mode to defeat Hawk Moth which included Impératrice Pourpre as a hero who can Akumatize helpers for the other heroes would seriously break the continuity!"

They played in silence for a few minutes, the only sound Nino's frustrated grunt as Max's Sandboy floated over a stream of bubbles and Stormy Weather was nearly caught in the crossfire.

"The Kwamis have been awfully quiet since they disappeared to raid the kitchen," Nino commented eventually. "Should we be worried?"

"Nah," Adrien replied. "Though Mme Lenoir might get annoyed tomorrow if they leave a mess!"

Just as Stormy Weather was about to call down a tornado to throw Sandboy off the platform, Adrien's bedroom door flew open. Adrien and Nino both turned to look, identical expressions of surprise on their faces, as Marinette and Alya entered the room. At that moment the game beeped, signaling the end of the round. Turning back, Adrien saw that Sandboy had hit a combo, launching his pillow at the Bubbler and sending him crashing into Stormy Weather, knocking both of them off the platform.

"Hey!" Adrien whined. "That's no fair! We were distracted!"

"Yeah," Nino added. "I was…"

When Nino's comment trailed off, Adrien glanced over at him, to see him with his eyes still fixed on the doorway, a concerned expression in his face. Looking at the girls more closely, he saw the same expression mirrored on Alya's face. Alya had one arm wrapped around Marinette's shoulders, and Marinette for her part looked close to tears.

"You have only yourselves to blame, gentlemen," Max began. "After all, you were distracted by your… by your own… girlfriends…" he finished lamely, turning to find out why the room had gotten so quiet.

Nino finally broke the silence, asking, "Um, babe, who died?"

"Huh?" Alya nearly jumped. "Oh, no, nothing like that!" She gave a high-pitched laugh. "No one died. But… it's a good thing your game just ended because I really need to borrow Max for something. Something heroic? As in, down in Headquarters?"

"Of course," Max agreed, bemused, standing up from the couch and walking over to the door. "I would be happy to assist."

"Nino, you should probably come, too," Alya told him, giving him a pointed look.

"No way, babe." Nino shook his head and nodded over at Adrien. "My brother needs me."

Alya stared at him for a moment before she rolled her eyes affectionately, walked over to him, grabbed his arm, and dragged him, protesting, from the room. "Your brother is going to literally have his hands full in about fifteen seconds," she hissed. "They really don't need an audience for this, babe." She shut the door behind them, cutting off Nino's reply.

When they were alone, Adrien examined Marinette closely, waiting for her to say something. She hadn't moved since entering the room. Her eyes were guarded, but he could see hints of fear, guilt, and self-loathing in them. She chewed on her lower lip anxiously as she stared at him wide-eyed, hugging herself tightly.

At last Adrien spoke first to break the silence. "Wow, Alya sure is something else, right?" he chuckled uncomfortably, running a hand through his hair. "I don't remember the last time I saw her get this intense…"

Marinette didn't respond for a long minute. Adrien was about to walk over to her when her expression suddenly crumbled. She ran to him, tears streaming down her face, and threw herself into his chest. Unprepared for the sudden assault, Adrien was thrown off-balance. He couldn't keep them upright; the best he could manage was to guide them down to land on the couch. He tipped over the armrest and landed on his back across the cushions. Marinette sprawled on top of him with her arms wrapped tightly around his chest, tears falling hard and fast, her chest heaving as she cried. She pulled herself up and peppered his face with kisses between sobs. Adrien simply lay on the couch in bemusement and held her close, rubbing circles in her back and allowing her to release whatever emotions had caused this display.

When Marinette's breathing had evened out and she'd stopped kissing him and instead buried her face in his chest, Adrien gave her a gentle squeeze and asked, "What's wrong, Princess?"

"I'm s-sorry," Marinette sobbed into his shirt. "I'm s-so sorry."

"What are you sorry about?" he wondered. "If you're sorry about getting tears and makeup all over my shirt, I promise I'm not upset about that! If you're sorry about the whole Givenchy thing, I think they're making a mistake; they would be lucky to have you."

Marinette stopped sobbing immediately. She looked up and furrowed her brow. "What about Givenchy?"

"The online security system flagged the email you received from them yesterday," he explained. "About the design you submitted and your internship request that they denied because they didn't have lycée-level internships."

"I never received an email from Givenchy," Marinette told him indignantly. "And I never contacted them in the first place! Or sent them a design! Why would I?"

Adrien shrugged. "That's what the email said."

"And anyways," Marinette went on, "the brochure on my desk said Givenchy did have lycée internships available."

"Brochure?"

"There was a whole stack of them waiting for me yesterday, right under a flyer for the Lead Designer competition," she answered.

Adrien's jaw dropped. "What Lead Designer competition?" he demanded.

Her eyes widened slightly. "You didn't do that?"

"Of course not!" Adrien insisted. "Why would I need to hold a competition to find you? If… I mean… if you're still with me?" he added hesitantly.

Marinette squeezed his chest tightly, burying her face in his shirt. "Of course I'm still with you, Kitty," she told him. "You're my partner. In everything."

"Good," Adrien breathed, running a hand through her hair. He swallowed. "I… I was a little worried. Agreste needs you… I need you."

She hugged him so hard his ribs started to ache. "I need you, too."

"So what are you sorry for?" he asked, rubbing her back.

"I'm sorry I didn't trust you," she confessed into his chest. "I'm sorry I believed that you would cheat on me."

"What?"

She pushed herself up above his chest on her elbows so she could look him in the eyes. "I… received a picture," she explained hesitantly, guilt clear in her eyes. "It came in an email yesterday, right after you were escorted out of the building. It showed you out with another girl the night before."

"Two nights ago?" he asked in confusion. "But I was–"

"–on patrol with Multiplice," Marinette finished. "I know. Alya told me about the switch, and we called Mylène on the way over. But you weren't at my house that night, and then the next day you were talking about Kagami, and she's so much more 'high society' than me, and–"

Adrien leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss. "You are the only girl for me. You are beautiful and creative and fearless. You are strong in ways I can only hope to be. You push me and inspire me to be the best I can be. You forgave me for my mistake over the summer. You stood by me and supported me when Father was arrested and all of Paris hated me. I could never find a better friend, partner, or girlfriend than you, Bugaboo. I would never betray you. I love you far too much to do that to you."

"You might need to say that a couple more times before it actually sinks in," Marinette muttered, her cheeks turning a light pink.

"I will tell you all of that and more every waking minute of every day for the rest of our lives," Adrien assured her, pulling her down into a tight hug.

"I just feel so foolish for believing such a thing of you," Marinette mumbled. Adrien felt fresh tears soaking into his shirt.

"Milady," he told her, "if I ever cheat on you, you have my permission to beat me senseless and tie me upside-down to the top of the Eiffel Tower!"

"What?" she yelped. "I could never do that to you!"

"I would," Plagg interjected calmly, having just returned from the kitchen and coming to hover over the couch.

"Plagg!" Adrien admonished. "You wouldn't!"

Tikki phased out of the purse Marinette had dropped at the side of the couch and crossed her arms. "He would," she assured them, looking truly angry for the first time since Adrien had met her. "And I would help!"

"Tikki?" Marinette squeaked.

"And the same is true for you, if you ever break your partner's heart!" Tikki glowered at her. She threw her arms up in exasperation. "Honestly, it's hard enough finding holders who work well together in the masks, but to find two who are so good for each other in every other part of their lives, too… Ugh! To think someone would try to destroy this partnership!"

Plagg put an arm around Tikki and steered her away from the couch, toward the bookcases. "Sorry," he called, stifling a grin. "She gets like this every couple hundred years or so… Now that I think about it, I think the last time was over her last French holder…"

Tikki allowed him to lead her away, muttering and gesticulating all the way. "… they thought the Black Death was bad? Oh, if I ever get my hands on whatever lowlife tried to turn those two against each other… I have half a mind to create some painful sores on their–" Plagg cackled as the two phased into a drawer together.

Adrien stared after them. "Should we be worried?" he finally asked. "I mean, the literal embodiments of Creation and Destruction just threatened us with bodily harm if we ever break up, so…"

Marinette giggled. "I guess that means we're stuck with each other, Kitty."

He pulled her in close and gazed softly into her eyes. "You know I wouldn't have it any other way, Milady."

If Plagg can be responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs and destruction of Atlantis, why can't Tikki have created the Black Death as retribution for the death of Joan of Arc?