Author's Notes:

Once again, I'd like to thank my readers for their overwhelming support! This was supposed to be out yesterday, but...allergies. Y'know? Enjoy!

MIRACULOUS LADYBUG: "HOW TO CRUSH YOUR CRUSH"

by Mythril Moth

Chapter Three: Comparing Notes

Chloé Bourgeois looked up from filing her nails as Adrien walked into the classroom, Marinette at his side. She immediately put on her sunniest smile and rushed over to him, body-checking Marinette into the wall by the door frame. "HIIIIII, Adrikins!" she cooed. "My daddy got me tickets to the XY concert this weekend, and I can't think of anybody I'd rather go with—" She broke off abruptly as she realized that Adrien wasn't standing there with her arms wrapped around his arm; instead, he was leaning over Marinette. "Ahem. I was talking to Adrien," Chloé informed Marinette.

"And I wasn't listening, because you just knocked my girlfriend into a wall," Adrien said brusquely. "You okay, Marinette?"

"Pssh," Chloé snorted dismissively. "Who cares about that little half-and-half—"

A sharp sound filled the room.

The entire class fell silent.

Chloé clutched the cheek Adrien had just slapped, her eyes wide in shock.

"Don't ever insult my girlfriend again," Adrien said in a low, dangerous voice. "For that matter, don't ever talk to me again." With that, he walked a blushing Marinette to her seat.

Everyone stared at Adrien, then at Chloé.

Chloé stared, slack-jawed, at Adrien as he gently kissed the back of Marinette's hand, then sat down next to a wide-eyed Nino.

"No," Chloé said numbly, shaking her head. "NO!" she shrieked. "You can't possibly love her! She's nobody! MY DADDY IS THE MAYOR! I'M RICH! I'M IMPORTANT! I'M—"

"Nobody gives a damn, Chloé," Adrien said in a tired, bored voice.

Chloé stared at him, then at Marinette. Her hands balled into fists at her sides as her face burned with shame and fury. Stamping a foot, she burst into loud, wailing sobs and fled from the room.

Marinette leaned forward across her table. "You didn't need to do that!" she hissed. "I can handle Chloé!"

Adrien turned back and shrugged. "I know you can. I'm just sick of her crap." He flashed her a smile that belonged on Chat Noir's face. "Besides, I can't just stand by and let someone insult my lady like that."

Marinette looked shyly away. "Okay, well...thanks."

Alya grabbed Marinette's sleeve and yanked her around sharply to face her, eyes wide behind her glasses. "Girl! WHEN? SPILL!"

Marinette jerked her sleeve away and ducked her head. "At lunch," she said. "We, umm...talked."

"Musta been some talk," Nino put in. "Dude. You didn't tell me you had a thing for Marinette!"

"Yeah, well..." Adrien put on a sickly grimace. "I knew you had a crush on her, so I never...y'know."

Nino gave him an appraising smirk, then shrugged. "Yeah, okay."

The teacher entered the room then, and Alya nudged Marinette gently. "Tell me everything later," she whispered.

Marinette nodded. "During study hall," she promised. "Oh, and I, um...have plans tonight. With Adrien."

Alya just grinned.

After school, Adrien walked back to the bakery with Marinette. Chloé had not reappeared for the remainder of the day; Sabrina grew increasingly frantic as her constant texts went ignored, eventually being sent to the director's office for excessive phone use during class.

"I really hope Chloé doesn't get Akumatized again," Adrien said with a grimace. "Seriously, Antibug was bad enough the first time around."

"Can that even happen twice?" Marinette wondered. "Can the same person be Akumatized again after we've captured their Akuma?" She opened her purse and peered inside. "Tikki?"

"I honestly don't know," Tikki replied. "The only reason we even knew the Akuma could multiply is because it's happened with a past champion of the Butterfly Miraculous' holder. And back then it wasn't being used for evil like it is now." She shuddered. "Poor Nooroo..."

"Yeah, there's never really been a need for the person with that Miraculous to use it on the same person more than once," Plagg said from Adrien's jacket. "It's possible Hawk Moth could Akumatize Chloé again. It's even possible she'd become a completely different supervillain the second time around. We'll just have to watch and wait."

Marinette sighed. "Well, we'll just have to deal with that if and when it happens. But seriously," she added, glancing at Adrien, "don't get into it with Chloé on my behalf again. I can take care of myself. I'm pretty sure if word got out you were slapping the Mayor's daughter around, your dad would have a fit. So would Mademoiselle Sancoeur, for that matter."

Adrien laughed. "Fair enough."

When they arrived at the bakery, Marinette's mother Sabine greeted them with a bright smile. "Alya texted me," she said with twinkling mischief in her eyes. "I'm so happy for you two!"

"Mama!" Marinette cried, blushing. "Wait, what's Alya doing texting you?"

Sabine raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Are you kidding? Handling you is a two-woman job!"

Adrien laughed; Marinette stepped on his foot. "Seriously!" she protested, throwing her hands up.

Adrien laid a hand on her shoulder. "They just worry about you," he said. "You're lucky to have a mother and a best friend putting that much effort into looking out for you."

Marinette blushed. "Well...okay. I'll overlook it because I'm too happy today to be mad. But we're talking about this 'handling me' thing later!"

Sabine giggled. "Alright. I guess you two lovebirds want to be alone, so go on upstairs. I've already got some snacks ready for you to take with you so that Tom and I don't have to bug you every five minutes and this poor boy actually gets to eat something." She winked.

Marinette smacked a hand to her face and dragged it down. "You're never letting me live that down, are you?"

"Nope!"

Adrien snickered. Shaking her head, Marinette grabbed the tray of snacks Sabine had prepared for them, handed it to Adrien, then stomped upstairs with her boyfriend following behind.

Sabine watched them go, a knowing smile on her face.

Chloé sat in her suite at Le Grand Paris, bawling her eyes out as she had done for the last few hours.

How could Adrien—her Adrien—treat her so coldly? And all because of that Marinette?!

"I hate her," Chloé sobbed into her handkerchief. "I hate her so much..."

"Chloé? What's wrong, my dear?" Mayor Bourgeois strolled into the room, concern written across his face.

"DADDY!" Chloé wailed, shooting to her feet and rushing across the room. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng did something awful to me! No, the worst possible thing she could ever do to me!"

Mayor Bourgeois frowned. *What now,* he wondered. His Chloé had hated that particular girl for years, and he had never quite understood why. He'd only met the girl a handful of times himself, and she seemed pleasant, polite, and kind, only showing a darker side when Chloé accused her of petty theft—an accusation he was ashamed to say he had blown way out of proportion.

And there was no question that Chloé had committed an offense against the girl's highly-respected uncle, the honorable Chef Cheng. He knew because he had been there when it happened.

Still...Chloé was his little girl...

"There, there," he said soothingly, enfolding his daughter in a hug. "What did she do this time?"

"I..." Chloé sniffled. "I don't know how she did it, but somehow she tricked Adrien into thinking she's his girlfriend! And...and he slapped me and told me he never wants to talk to me again and it's all her fault!"

Mayor Bourgeois was taken aback. "Adrien Agreste struck you?"

"It isn't his fault," Chloé whimpered. "She's controlling him. She's like...I dunno, one of those supervillains Ladybug and Chat Noir fight. I just know she is!"

Marinette stood over a battered Chloé, foot planted on her stomach, an evil leer on her hideous face. In one hand, she held the still-beating heart of Adrien Agreste, who stood at her side, eyes dull and glassy. Flames towered behind them as Paris burned. "He will NEVER BE YOURS!" Marinette sneered. "He is MINE, ALL MINE, and so is EVERYTHING YOU EVER CARED ABOUT because I HATE YOU AND I AM EVIL! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Mayor Bourgeois scratched his cheek. "Umm...I think perhaps you need to lie down, dear. You're...you're overstressed."

"Daddy, you have to DO SOMETHING about that MARINETTE!" Chloé screeched.

Mayor Bourgeois sighed. "I'll look into it," he promised. "Why don't you just rest for now, alright?" Hugging his daughter again, he left the room, straightening his sash and frowning worriedly. Chloé trudged over to her bed and curled up on it, clutching her stuffed ladybug tightly to her chest.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Hawk Moth muttered as he stared out into the darkening evening sky. With a sigh, he formed an Akuma. "Ah well, if I'm not expecting anything to begin with, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. Fly away, my evil little Akuma. Do your thing. Whatever."

Adrien looked around the small balcony above Marinette's room. "Wow," he said. "I feel like I've been here before."

"You have," Marinette said. "I mean, this isn't the first time you've been to my house, you know."

"I mean this balcony," Adrien corrected. "It seems familiar."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "This is where we landed when we were following Kim that time the shapeshifting zookeeper was after him."

"Oh yeah!" Adrien said. He chuckled. "I guess I didn't recognize it because we were kinda busy that day." He blinked. "But wait..." He tilted his head. "That means we ran into your parents as Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"And we've run into your father since then while transformed."

"And both of our best friends have been Akumatized..." Adrien shook his head. "We need to compare notes or something," he said. "All our adventures together just took on entirely new levels of context."

"Yeah," Marinette agreed. She frowned. "Now that I think about it, I think I've missed a lot of really obvious signs you were Chat Noir."

"I've probably missed just as many that you're Ladybug," Adrien said. They shared a look, then a laugh.

"Okay, let's go back inside and then start back at the beginning."

Adrien and Marinette weren't the only couple from their school spending a quiet evening alone together; Nino was hanging out with Alya in her bedroom. Alya sat at her desk, organizing files ranging from newspaper clippings to photos and videos for Ladyblog while writing a couple of new articles for the school blog. Nino sat on the bed, canvassing tracks on his phone for ideas for a new mix in between idle rounds of the latest popular mobile game.

Alya let out a frustrated groan. "UGH! I'm still no closer to solving the biggest mystery!"

Nino looked up. "Which one?"

Alya glanced over at him. "Uh, duh! Ladybug's identity!" She shook her head. "She could literally be anyone in Paris...it's hopeless..."

Nino blinked. "Seriously?" He popped out his earbuds and slipped his phone in his pocket.

Alya folded her arms and shot him an annoyed glare. "If you're gonna tell me I shouldn't obsess over unmasking the heroine who's saved my life and countless hundreds of others dozens of times—"

"No, not that," Nino said, shaking his head. "I mean, you seriously don't know?"

"Of COURSE I don't know!" Alya ranted, throwing up her arms. "Why do you think I'm so frustrated over the whole thing?"

Nino stared at her in disbelief. "Dude," he said. "It's so obvious."

Alya blew on her bangs, her eyebrows drawing down. "Really," she said. "Do enlighten me, O Master Detective who can't even figure out why Marinette and Adrien keep wandering off during class and disappearing."

Nino rolled his eyes. "Uh, duh. Because they're Ladybug and Chat Noir?"

Alya blinked. Twice. Then started laughing. "Seriously? You think my best friend and your best friend are—"

"Have you ever even looked at pictures of them side by side?" Nino cut in. "Not to mention I've never seen them in the same place at the same time, have you?"

Alya froze.

"Then there's all the disappearances and absences. It's so classic. You're a superhero fan, you should have suspected them from the very beginning." He held up a finger. "And how's this: Haven't you ever wondered how it is that any time one of these supervillains attacks our class, no matter where we are, they're there? Immediately?"

Alya's jaw dropped. "But...no, that's—"

"Like I said, it's so obvious."

"You know, thinking back," Marinette said as she paced across the lower level of her bedroom, "I should've figured it out when Mylène was turned into that slime monster. I mean, it was so obvious."

Adrien, who was sitting in Marinette's favorite chair, tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm."

"I mean, Chat Noir just showing up out of nowhere when the school was sealed by the Akuma?" Marinette threw her hands up. "How did I miss that?" She paused. "And there was no slime anywhere close to your shoe."

Adrien scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I dropped a shoe to make it look like Mylène got me," he admitted. He looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "So that 'secret mission' Ladybug was on that one time," he said slowly.

Marinette laughed. "Yeah, sorry about that. I needed you around to back me up when I had to deal with Nathanaël as Marinette."

"Speaking of which, it does explain why Ladybug hates Chloé so much," Adrien said.

Marinette snorted. "Please. I can only think of three people that like Chloé. And one of them is Chloé!"

"Ouch!" Adrien said, laughing. He shook his head. "But yeah, thinking back on it all, it's really so obvious."

"Yeah," Marinette said with a giggle.

Alya frowned. "Well if it's 'so obvious'," she said in a snide, mocking tone, making air quotes with her fingers, "why haven't you said anything?"

Nino shrugged. "Adrien's my best friend. Outing him as Chat Noir would be like you spilling the beans on Marinette's crush, only a lot worse, right? Besides, I thought for sure you knew and were pretending not to because you don't want the whole world to know your best friend is Ladybug."

Alya pressed her lips into a thin line, her forehead creasing. She turned to her computer and quickly began pulling up a series of images, compositing them: Marinette next to Ladybug, Adrien next to Chat Noir.

Nino got up, walked over, and leaned over her shoulder. "See?" he said. "Same face shape, same body type, same hair—Marinette doesn't even bother with a different hairstyle as Ladybug. Same eyes. Hair color changes just a little bit, but you can chalk that up to whatever gives them their powers. Same deal with Adrien's eyes looking all cat." He shook his head. "It's so obvious."

Alya stared at the pictures, her brain locking up. "But...no! But..." She shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense! Why wouldn't she tell me, her best friend?"

Nino gave her a look. "Since when do superheroes give away their secret identities unless they have to?"

Alya sighed. "Point," she admitted. "Still." She shook her head. "I won't believe it until I hear it straight from her lips."

"So does Alya know?" Adrien asked.

"Of course not," Marinette said. "Does Nino?"

"Heck no!" Adrien laughed. "Although now that I think about it..." He grimaced. "I didn't do the best job covering my tracks when I was pretending to shower that one time. I didn't even bother turning on the water in the shower until you came looking for me." He smacked his face with a palm.

"Yeah, that's a bit sloppy," Marinette agreed.

"Well, in my defense, I was changing back and forth a lot that day, and my father was Jackady's target." He scratched his chin. "You know what else really should've been a clue?"

"There are only two kids in our class who haven't been Akumatized," Nino said.

Alya groaned. "Adrien and Marinette," she said, shaking her head. "I mean, it could just be a huge coincidence? But when you put it under a microscope, it does seem suspicious."

"Why is it the kids in our class are constantly being targeted, anyway?" Marinette wondered. While they had been talking, they had idly fired up Ultra Mecha Strike III and were busy pounding on each other with digital giant robots.

Adrien shrugged. "Well, to be honest..." He sighed. "I think it's usually Chloé's fault. I mean, remember that horrible picture she texted everyone of Kim on Valentine's Day?"

Marinette grimaced. "Yeah. And he turned into Heartbreaker right after that. Actually, now that I think about it, Chloé's bullying is pretty much to blame for almost all the Akumatization in our class."

"Almost all," Adrien agreed. "Definitely Ivan, Mylène, Sabrina, Nathanaël..." He hummed thoughtfully, brow furrowed as he tossed a killer combo at Marinette.

"Rose, Juleka," Marinette added as she countered and took off half Adrien's health in one shot. "Alix, but that one was really kind of everyone's fault." She frowned. "What about Nino?"

"My father," Adrien said with a grimace. "Nino wanted to throw me a birthday party. Father told him no and kicked him out of the house."

"Ouch."

"Hey, what about Max?" Adrien asked as he used a desperation move to level the playing field. "How'd he end up Akumatized?"

Marinette ducked her head. "That one's my fault," she said sheepishly. "The only reason I took his spot in that stupid tournament was so I could spend a little time with you as your partner." She blocked an attack and countered with a special, winning the round. "I didn't stop to think how important it was to him."

"Wow. Not cool, Bugaboo."

"Hey, I made it right in the end," Marinette said defensively. She gave him a sideways glance. "Besides, wasn't Copycat your fault? Because I'm pretty sure Copycat was your fault."

Adrien laughed sheepishly. "Okay, okay...so Chat Noir might've started bragging to the guy about being a thing with Ladybug, and he got jealous..." He frowned. "So whose fault was Lady Wifi?"

"Chloé, of course. She got Alya suspended over taking a picture of her locker."

"Ah." Adrien sighed. "Man, how could one person be such a major pain in the—"

There was a knock on the trap door. "Are you two decent in there?" Sabine called.

"GAH!" Marinette flushed, scrambling over and flinging the trap door open. "MAMA! What a horrible thing to ask!"

Sabine laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't resist." She sobered. "Would the two of you come downstairs for a minute? There's...there's somebody here to speak to you." Her eyes were troubled as she added, "It's Mayor Bourgeois."

Marinette's eyes widened. She turned to face an equally stunned Adrien. Pulses racing, they followed Sabine downstairs.

Mayor Bourgeois sat in the living room, sipping tea. He looked up as the two arrived. "Ah, Marinette, Adrien," he said, nodding to them. "Sorry to disturb the two of you—" He frowned. "Though I suppose finding both of you here together partially clears things up..."

"Clears...clears what up, Monsieur Mayor?" Marinette asked nervously.

Mayor Bourgeois studied both of them, tucking his thumbs in his sash as he set his tea on the table. "Chloé is rather upset over..." He glanced at Adrien. "Well, she says you slapped her."

Adrien winced. "Yeah, I did," he admitted. "She said something really insulting and racist to Marinette and I just snapped. I'm sorry." He wrung his hands in his lap. "I guess I should apologize—"

"No you shouldn't," Marinette said. "Sorry, but she had it coming. She can't just say whatever she wants to people without thinking about their feelings."

Mayor Bourgeois nodded. "I do get...a lot of complaints about Chloé," he said with a sigh. "Anyway, I just wanted to get your side of the story, and confirm Marinette isn't a supervillain who's somehow controlling you."

The teens blinked. "Sorry, what?" Marinette asked.

The mayor chuckled. "Chloé is desperate to make Marinette the villain here," he said.

"Yeah, no," Adrien said, putting an arm around Marinette. "She shoved my girlfriend into a wall then called her a half-and-half. There's no excuse for that."

Sabine's eyes tightened. "I should say not," she said icily.

Mayor Bourgeois grimaced. "That, I'll have words with her about," he said. "I have no idea where she's getting this disrespect—this racism—from."

"I think it's mostly whatever grudge she has against me," Marinette said, grimacing. "I have no idea why she hates me so much. I really wish I did. It's just...it's been going on as long as I've known her."

"Hmm. Well, it stops now," Mayor Bourgeois said firmly, standing. "Madame, thank you for the tea. Marinette, Adrien, sorry to have troubled you." With a polite nod, he turned and left.

Adrien glanced at the time and grimaced. "It's getting late," he said. "I really need to get home."

Marinette did her best to hide her disappointment as she wrapped her arms around Adrien. "See you tomorrow?"

"Of course, my lady," Adrien said with a grin, giving her a light kiss on the forehead. With a last hug and a wave goodbye, he left.

Marinette sighed dreamily and melted into a puddle on the living room sofa. Sabine giggled. "Well, he's certainly a charmer," she said, her eyes twinkling.

"Yeah..."

"Chloé? We need to have a talk. Chloé? Where are you?"

Mayor Bourgeois searched every inch of his daughter's suite, finding no trace of her. He called her phone, only to hear it ringing from her bedroom.

Icy panic gripped his heart.

Dawn was rapidly approaching. On a rooftop overlooking Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie, a dark figure stood, bright blue eyes narrowed. Only her honey blonde hair and the red spots that spangled her skintight black bodysuit and mask separated her from the darkness of early morning; the lights from the city reduced her to a silhouette, an incongruous shadow in the sky.

"Marinette," she growled into the stillness.

A massive, bladed black yo-yo with a reversed ladybug motif hit the concrete at her feet with a sharp *clank*.

"I'll show you what happens to anyone who tries to take what belongs to me."

À SUIVRE...

Miraculous Ladybug is the intellectual property of Zagtoon, Method Animation, Toei Animation, and Thomas ASTRUC. This intellectual property is used without permission with no intent to profit from said use. The unique content contained on this page is the property of Mythril Moth, and redistribution of this content without express permission is strongly discouraged.