"Hey, buddies. As you know, Friendship Day is officially coming up-"Marin immediately skipped past the ad on his phone, silently apologizing to Mireille.

"What's up with you?" Alya asked as they sat together on the second-floor staircase together. "I thought you were excited about this, you had me remind you about this about one hundred times."

"That was before I found out who the celebrity host was." Marin grumbled before he started watching video on crocheting, not noticing Alya's frown.

"Dude!" She suddenly snapped, startling her best friend. "What the heck happened between you two? Apparently you two talked and Adrien's fine but you're still acting like this? What's up with that?"

Marin sighed heavily, "Don't worry about it. But you should know that I'm not doing it."

"Not going to do what?" Adrien asked as he walked up, resting his hands on the railing as he looked at his friends.

"Nothing, good-bye." Marin reflexively said placing his headphones on right about to leave before Alya pulled him back and locked her arm around his, keeping him in place. The two glared at each other before Alya turned towards Adrien with a smiling face.

"Oh, we're just talking about that Friendship day scavenger hunt tomorrow."

"Oh cool you two are doing that?" Adrien asked looking intrigued.

"Nope. Alya is, I'm not." Marin interjected, intentionally looking down at his phone with an annoyed expression on his face before Alya jabbed his side.

"Yes. We are. Because a good friend wouldn't abandon his best friend who made sure he signed up by filling out all the forms for it, right?" Alya remarked glaring at her best friend, to which Marin returned with the same intensity. This went on for a while before he then sighed heavily.

"...right." Marin said as he adjusted his headphones. Despite what he felt there was no way he could ignore all that Alya did for him. "I guess we're going to be there as well."

"Who knows, maybe Cutie Pie and I will get teamed up and I'll just have to force him to play the game just to reach the goal."

"That'll be tougher than you may think Alya, practically everyone is going to be playing, even my friend Kagami and she's a force to be reckoned with." Adrien remarked as Marin's eyes darted towards him for a moment before they turned back to his phone.

"Sounds like a challenge, care to make a wager?"

"What do you have in mind?"

Alya hummed for a moment as she glanced at Marin then back at Adrien, "How about a winner take all between the three of us?" She recommended. "The two losers have to do any one thing the winner says, within reason."

"What are the win conditions?"

"Whoever wins the contest wins the game, or in your case, doesn't make it to the end."

"That sounds like fun."

"For you maybe, considering almost the whole city is playing and all you do is have to wait around." Marin remarked curtly.

"I'll only lose if you don't try." Adrien pointed out, undeterred by his not-friend's tone. "Are you willing to place your fate in Alya's or my hands?"

Marin lifted his head as he stared at the two before him feeling the presence of blackmail behind their friendly smiles. "You guys are the worst." He sighed as the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day.

Alya waved as she shouldered her bag and then jumped down the stairs towards the entrance."The contest is gonna start soon, so I'd better get my head start, see ya."

"Head start?" Adrien asked, sitting down next to Marin.

"She's going to head to the heart of the city so she can have a better chance at reaching any location," Marin explained.

"Smart." Adrien remarked, resting his head against his hand as he glanced at Marin whose face was slowly turning red as he could feel Adrien's gave on him.

"...What?"

"So I know we agreed not to tell about...you know, but don't you think that Alya and Nino know at least? They are our best friends." Adrien asked as Marin grew more flustered.

"Well, I mean- they are, and I love them, but- you know," Marin stammered rubbing his back of his neck. "I'm no good at the feelings stuff or people stuff. And they're our friends so they'd be happy n' stuff but, if we do tell them."

"Then this becomes real?" Adrien suggested gesturing between the two of them.

"...yeah, does that bug you?" Marin asked with a guilty expression.

Adrien hummed to himself as he rested on the stair behind him. "Not really. I like being with you, but I'm not a fan of hiding something as important as this from them, kinda feels like lying."

"If you want to tell them, I trust you to make that choice."

Adrien, in turn, smiled mischievously, "So if I want to tell our best friends that the cutest, most amazing guy in our class is my boyfr-"

"AHH- ha, goodbye!" Marin said promptly, taking this chance to hide his face as he started walking down the stairs.

"Hold on a sec." Adrien asked, standing up as Marin made the mistake of turning around.

"What is-" Marin asked, freezing up as Adrien placed a hand on his shoulder before kissing him on the cheek. It wasn't uncommon for close friends to give each other a kiss good-bye, but Marin knew better when it came to Adrien, who knew exactly what he was doing.

"For good luck, you did say you'd need it." Adrien said, slightly enjoying his not-friend's flustered expression.

"You really are the worst."

Adrien bounded down the stairs just as school ended, lifting his head in surprise to see Kagami waiting for him nearby his car.

"Hey Kagami." Adrien said as he walked up to his friend but then noticed that she had a conflicted look on her face. "Is something wrong?" He asked, knowing that she usually tried with her mother around this time, and would most certainly be late.

She glanced towards his direction for a moment before sighing heavily. "I'm just unsure about doing this, so I wanted to see you before it began."

Adrien smiled sympathetically as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "If I pushed you towards doing this-

"No, it's not that." Kagami immediately interjected. "I'm just worried about what will happen if my mother finds out I signed up. She won't be happy if she finds out I was wasting time on a game rather than training or studying."

Adrien nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I know the feeling. But I think this'll be fun, after all, you're awesome and I know whoever ends up as your partner will be lucky they did." He said, grinding victoriously as he broke through Kagami's uncertainty. "Oh yeah, a few of my school friends are doing this as well, maybe you'll end up with one of them."

"Your school friends?" Kagami questioned, tilting her head curiously.

Adrien thought for a moment, trying to recall who Kagami had met before. "Well, remember back when I invited you to my friend's band practice? Basically, everyone who showed up there and then some."

"I'm not certain that your friends would like to be paired up with."

"Everyone is so nice, don't worry about a thing, if you're feeling worried or overwhelmed and I'm sure they'll help you out. But I'm sure you'll be great." Adrien praised, but then reflexively stepped back just as Kagami was about to grasp his hand. He felt a momentary rush of guilt seeing her smile fall. "Sorry!" He said, averting his gaze for a moment.

"...No, it's fine." Kagami insisted, shouldering her bag.

"It's just-" Adrien sighed, taking a deep breath as he faced an awkward conversation. "There's something I need to tell you."

"With one turn of a handle, I can raise the level. Which leads me here of all places." Marin re-read aloud as he stood before the location with a frown, hoping that his bad luck wasn't following him around again.

"Canal Saint-Martin?" Tikki asked peaking out of his jacket pocket.

"Yes, my almost namesake, the place where my parents first came across the magic ice cream man." Marin muttered in embarrassment as he placed his hands on his hips, "Hopefully this isn't a sign-" He said, but then laid his eyes on a familiar face standing before him, looking around.

"What is it? A supervillain?" Tikki asked as she spotted the same person that Marin did. "Isn't that Kagami?"

"Okay, time to go home." Marin said promptly, clapping his hands together as he turned the other direction.

"Marin!" Tikki called out, "You can't just leave her."

"I can if you let me walk away far enough." He reasoned before then feeling his Kwami pinch him in the side. "Ow!"

"Marin, this isn't fair to Kagami. If you won't be her friend, she won't be able to play."

"It's just a game." Marin pointed out, but Tikki frowned at him in disappointment.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to be friends with her?" Tikki asked.

"Tikki I'm pretty sure she can't stand me, also you don't sprain the wrist of someone who you'd consider to be a possible future friend."

"Even so, she's one of Adrien's close friends, shouldn't you at least try?" Tikki suggested as Marin sighed heavily, wondering how he ended up with the sweetest, most right Kwami of the bunch. "Why are you always right?" He asked, grinning a little as he felt her peck a kiss on his hand as he petted her head.

Marin took a deep breath, slapping his face a few times to shake off the nerves. "Okay, I can do this." Marin said to himself as he walked towards the bridge. He saw Kagami already waiting for him as she appeared to be glaring at him. But knowing her, that could just be how she normally looked.

"Hi Kagami." Marin greeted unconsciously gripping his wrist. "What were the odds of you and I being paired up? One in ten million at least. Right? So awesome..." He said trying to faux optimism.

"You didn't look too happy about being my secret friend, though. I saw you turn around and walk away just now." She said bluntly as Marin could feel a cold chill go up his spine.

"I-I actually thought I'd, um, gotten the place wrong. I totally hadn't seen you yet. No way! Really, I'm super excited to play the game with you." He said forcing a smile. He then thanked his stars that both of them received a notification on their phone.

"Congratulations! You've just located your game partner. And who knows? Maybe even a new friend for life. You've just received the second riddle." The app said and then popped a text.

"To get closer to your goal, you must explore further and deeper. This is ridiculous." He sighed, placing his phone in his back pocket, already walking off the canal, closely followed by Kagami.

"You already figured it out?" She questioned.

"Yeah." Marin said. "Each riddle is customized to the area each pair is stationed in. Meaning that as we have to do is to go further down the banks of the Seine, which is deeper than this canal, meaning the next clue is close by." Marin reasoned.

"That is quite insightful of you." Kagami said, "it's surprising to hear someone like you talk like that."

Marin held back for a moment, as he was put-off by her tone. He didn't know Kagami that well, not even knowing if Adrien talked about him at all to her. But even so, he couldn't shake the feeling that she was being a little condescending to him, but then again she was someone who was extremely hard to get a read on. That part of her kinda reminded him of Luka in a sense.

As the approached the end of the canal Marin heard his phone beep, unlocking the screen to see that Alya had sent him a video message. "Heya cutie! I sure hope your partner's as cool as mine; meet Wayhem. You'd better hurry up if you wanna get to Adrien before we do, 'cause we've already solved our first riddle!" She said cheerfully as Marin was surprised to see Wayhem with her. He recalled that he was one of Adrien's other friends one of his biggest fans.

He smiled for a moment before texting her a response before then jogged to catch up with Kagami who was already at the second challenge location. She was fiddling with something in her hands, squatting down next to a box. Next thing he knew Kagami pushed a fishing rod in his hands with a magnet attached.

"Here. Now fish." Kagami said as he reflexively cast out the rod into the river. He saw the lure bob in the water before he reeled up a rusty whistle. Kagami then promptly removed it, tossing it into the box next to her while he cast out again. He had to assumed that the clue had to be marked rather than just be a piece of litter in the river. He reeled in what appeared to be a rusty pan. Kagami then tossed it in the box as they continued fishing.

"Do you prefer to be called by your whole name, or a nickname?"Kagami asked out of nowhere, then flashed her teeth at him.

Marin stared at her for s moment trying to process what she just said. "Uh–my whole name?" He questioned in confusion just as he reeled up another rusted piece of trash.

"What do you mean-"

"Your hair is… very shiny." She seemingly complimented, flashing her teeth again as she tossed the litter in the box.

"...right." Marin said wondering what she was doing. "Your hair is...shiny too?" He then saw her peak at her phone before turning towards him again.

"What is your blood type?" Kagami asked, once again flashing her teeth at him.

"Why?" Marin asked in confusion at this new barrage of information.

"Everyone in Japan knows their blood type, it tells you what kind of personality you have. Mine is O, which means I'm independent, optimistic, strong-willed and intuitive." Kagami explained.

"Well, I'm-"

"What's your favorite season?" Kagami asked cutting him off again.

Marin thought for a moment, hoping she'd actually allow him to respond. "Well, Summer's nice 'cause it's nice and hot. Spring is also nice because that's when all the flowers bloom. Autumn is great too, I just love walking through parks when all the trees turn all sorts of warm colors. But then again I also like everything about winter, despite the fact that I get sick more around that time-"

"You're indecisive, scatterbrained, irresponsible, you have a split personality," Kagami said bluntly as she tossed another piece of litter into the box. Marin willed himself not to bit back at her, but his patience was slowly waning with her constant interruptions.

"Let's say you found out about some special chocolate ice cream; you really want to try it, but someone else gets there first. Do you, A, steal it from them? B, get another type of chocolate ice cream, even if it's not as good? Or, C, never eat chocolate ice cream ever again?" Kagami asked, flashing her teeth at him again. Wait a sec, was she trying to smile?

Marin thought to himself as he reeled in a new looking rice cooker. "Uh– I guess I'd try another flavor?" He said, kneeling down next to the container, opening it up he saw a bottle inside.

"Would you like to get some orange juice with me?" Kagami then asked before Marin held out the bottle towards her. She stared at it for a moment before taking it from his hand. "You've done a great job fishing. Congratulations, Marin. First, we win, then we get orange juice to celebrate." She said, flashing her teeth in what he thought was a smile, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Trust challenge. Exchange unlocked phones. Separate and take a selfie in front of different monuments using each other's phones. Then regroup and take a selfie together like the true friends you've become. Once we've received the selfies, we'll send you a final text revealing where Adrien Agreste is hiding." Kagami read aloud as Marin crashed on the bench. His jacket and messenger bag on his lap as he was exhausted from running around the city all day.

"Can't we take a break?" Marin asked as Kagami held out her phone towards him.

"We can take a break once we win." Kagami said bluntly, taking Marin's phone as he took hers. "You really are an indecisive boy. We'll meet back here; we're going to win!" She called as she started sprinting away, leaving Marin alone.

"Ugghh, I'm not built for this kind of thing." He sighed heavily as he rested his head against the bench and closing his eyes.

"Are you alright?" Tikki asked looking up at him in worry.

"I'm alright sugarcube, I just need to do this one more thing, and then I can win the bed."

"Bet."

"Hm?"

"Bet. You said bed."

"Ah." Marin said as she smiled sheepishly, "guess I'm more tired than I thought." He then stood up, stretching his arms over his head. He folded his jacket and placed it in his messenger bag. But just as he was about to start the trek towards the nearest monument Kagami's phone ran. "WAh!" Marin snapped, accidentally pressing the answer button.

"Kagami, where are you? You were supposed to wait for me at home!"

Marin immediately panicked hearing Kagami's mother on the other end. "Uhh– Hello ma'am, I'm not Kagami, actually-"

"Who are you?! Where's my daughter?!" Tomoe demanded.

"I'm uh- I'm a friend of Kagami's-"

"Kagami doesn't have any friends. Why do you have her phone?!"

Marin tried not to let his voice crack but Tomoe was incredibly frightening when she was mad. "Because she took my phone in this game we're both playing, I can assure you that she's-"

"A game?!"

"A game? Did I say game? Oh no, I meant a grab… to grab–"

"Stop fooling around, young man, and put my daughter through. I can assure you she will not be enjoying any glasses of ugh-"

Marin grew worried as he heard Tomoe abruptly stop talking. "Ma'am? Hello?"

"-With pleasure, Hawkmoth."

Marin immediately shut off the call, staring at the phone for a moment. "This is fine." He said as Tikki popped her head out of his messenger bag.

"You need to save Kagami's mom!" She said.

"I know I know, but I need to make sure Kagami's safe first." Marin said. He furiously paced back and forth, trying to think and then lifted his head in realization, running in a random direction and dialing at the same time.

"Marin?"

"Kagami!" Marin said in relief, "does your mother have a tracker on your phone?"

"Wha- yeah probably, why?"

"Because your mom has been Akumatized and she's after you but if there's a tracker on your phone, chances are that she's going to come after me first. So sorry in advance if anything bad happens to your phone!" Marin said as fast as he could before cutting off the call.

"What's your plan?" Tikki asked.

"Run away, as fast as I-" Marin said but then tripped as he felt the ground shake from under him.

He looked back to see a giant red pointy centaur furiously rushing toward him yelling aloud Kagami's name. "Tikki, evasive maneuvers!" Marin beckoned, handing off the phone to Tikki as he dove for cover behind a tree. He peaked out to see Ikari Gozen following the direction Tikki flew in and ran in the other direction, knowing that he'd need help with something like this.

Marin was gasping for air as he limped into the theatre, "Pop...corn..." He wheezed, holding a ticket for a movie in his hand as half of his body was lying on the snack counter.

" Excellent choice, Marinus, would you like butter on that?"

"N-one sec." Marin said, lifting himself up and then jumped over the counter. "No thank you. No time for pleasantries, I need to help out a friend."

Master Fu nodded, taking the Miraculous box out of a cooler and opening it before him. "Marinus Dupain-Cheng. Pick an ally you can trust right alongside you on this mission. Choose wisely; such powers are meant to serve the greater good."

Marin narrowed his eyes as his hand hovered before the Miraculous Box. For a moment he shut his eyes as he picked up the Dragon Miraculous. "I'm sorry Master, but time I have to do this on my own." He said as he placed the choker on.

"This game you're playing is extremely dangerous Marinus." Master Fu warned as Marin placed the box inside of his messenger bag "Every time you merge two Miraculous together it places a strain on your body that cannot be easily recovered from, especially when you still haven't completely recovered from the last time you used multiple Miraculous at once."

Marin averted his gaze for a moment as he clutched his shirt. He never truly realized how much he actually needed Chat Noir by his side, but asking him for help wasn't an option anymore. "I know you're right master, but sometimes all you can do is trust in yourself."

He took a deep breath, focusing his thoughts summoning a red ball of light that materialized into Tikki.

"Your summoning has improved." Master Fu complimented.

"Marin you need to hurry, Ikari Gozen is close to finding Kagami!" Tikki informed.

"Then we have no time to lose. Thanks Master." Marin said,

Ladybug landed on top of a fountain as he overlooked Ikari Gozen just as she swallowed Kagami. Which was very weird, but he didn't have time to unpack that right now.

"You're Miraculous is mine Ladybug!" She proclaimed, trying to impale him with her weapon, destroying a foundation in the process.

"Ladybug!" Kagami proclaimed as Ladybug saw her expression of shock. "You were captured by my mother too?"

"...Yes." Ladybug said as he tried to escape the seatbelt, but he wasn't budging.

"What happens now, is Chat Noir going to come save us?" Kagami asked.

Ladybug frowned but sighed before turning towards her. "No. Chat Noir and I aren't partners anymore." He said bluntly but felt bad a little as he saw Kagami looking worried." I promise, I'm going to get us out. Long!" Ladybug called out and a moment later he smiled as he saw the dragon Kwami flew through the Akumatized villain.

"At your service!" She said proudly.

"What is that?!" Kagami gasped in shock at the being hovering before them.

"This is Longg and she's going to help us save your mother. Longg, Tikki unify!" He said, transforming into the combined form of both Kwamis. He could feel Longg's added strength course through his body but at the same time his chest felt tight, similar to back when he unified the powers of multiple Kwamis, he had to do this quickly.

"What just happened?" Kagami asked as she stared at the hero's new form. He couldn't hold back a small smile as he felt a little proud being able to catch the usually stone-faced Kagami off guard.

"This is one of my other forms, Lóng Chóng." He said, then threw his yo-yo in the air, "Lucky charm!" He said, catching a black box with red trim. He hummed in confusion just before he opened up a box of what looked to be red and black bath bombs. Ladybug quickly realized what he had to, throwing them to the ground as he cut Kagami free of her belt using his Jian. Lóng Chóng then held his hand out towards Kagami. "Do you trust me?"

Without hesitation, Kagami grasped his hand as she smiled at him. "Without a doubt Lóng Chóng."

"You'll want to hold your breath then." Lóng Chóng warned just as he closed his eyes focusing all of his energy on himself and Kagami. Next thing he knew he felt his form morph from a solid to liquid, expanding and in turn activating the bath bombs which started to fizz up. Ikari Gozen started to spaz out, falling to the ground as she threw up Kagami. Lóng Chóng quickly caught her in his arms as he regained his physical form then jumped towards a distant fountain before placing her on the ground. He turned to see Ikari Gozen grasping her sword as she struggled to stand.

"Stay here I'll handle her." Lóng Chóng said before he blindingly sped away, only appearing for split seconds as he used vehicles as platforms to gain height. He and Ikari Gozen then clashed swords against each other, both at equal strength before Lóng Chóng's form changed again, this time he could feel himself grow lighter as he dispersed into the air around him, swirling around Ikari Gozen at high speeds. She tried to attack the growing whirlwind around her but was literally trying to attack the wind. Slowly but surely the water that was still on her started to crystalize until a few moments later Lóng Chóng materialized above her, holding his Jian in hand. In a split second he seemingly teleported back down before Ikari Gozen.

Lóng Chóng took a deep breath as he returned his weapon to its sheath. He didn't even react to Ikari Gozen's sword shattered behind him and released the Akuma. "No more mischief from you little Akuma. Time to purify!" He said as he swung his yo-yo towards the possessed Akuma, capturing it in one motion. Then opening it once more, watching the newly purified Akuma fly away. "Bye-bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug said throwing up his lucky charm, returning everything back to normal.

"Tikki, Longg separation." Ladybug said as Longg fell into his hands. "I'll thank you properly later." He promised just before he removed the Dragon Miraculous, then knelt by Tomoe's side, helping her to her feet.

"What's happened to me? Where is Kagami?" She asked grasping Ladybug's arm.

"Your daughter is safe ma'am." Ladybug said glancing at Kagami, who was shaking her head furiously. "She- uh, she's hiding, but I'll make sure she comes back to you safely." Ladybug then escorted her to her car, watching as the car drove off before turning back to Kagami.

"Is there somewhere you'd like me to drop you off?" Ladybug asked but Kagami shook her head, I need to find my partner, I'm worried he may have gotten hurt."

"You don't need to worry about Marin. In fact, he was actually worried about you when he saw Ikari Gozen." He said sincerely.

Kagami folded her hands together, averting her gaze for a moment before facing Ladybug. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I snuck away from her because I wanted to play a game, but..." She clutched the hem of her skirt. "But I was just thinking about myself, I didn't think about how it would affect everyone.

"Kagami, you're not an inconvenience, and I doubt your friend thinks so either. If there's something you're worried about, I'm sure he'd listen." Ladybug said just as his earrings started to beep. "Ah, that's my cue, gotta go!" Ladybug said quickly, then used his yo-yo to escape onto the rooftops. However, the moment his feet hit the top he immediately lost all strength, tumbling to the found as his entire body started to ache.

"Tikki...spots off." Ladybug said as he rolled onto his back. Tikki landed on Marin's chest as she flew out of his earrings.

"This is what happens when you push yourself." Tikki murmured as she crawled towards her snacks in Marin's messenger bag.

Marin couldn't even find the strength to respond just wanting to sleep for the rest of his life, but knew that he had to move so as to not worry Kagami. He tried to pick himself breathing shallowly as his insides hurt every time he breathed.

Adrien stepped out of the car near the park looking around. He had gotten a text from Kagami asking him to meet them. His chest swelled with bliss as he saw two of his closest friends getting along together.

"Hello Adrien."Kagami greeted while Marin averted his gaze.

"I need to go, I promised my mother I'd be home before dinner." Kagami said, brushing the dirt off of her skirt as she stood up.

"I can walk you home if you'd like." Marin offered, but Kagami shook her head.

"No, the game is over and I lost." She said as Marin looked up at her in confusion. "But despite that, I'm glad you were my partner for this game I can see why Adrien like yo."

"Ngh- we're not friends." Marin said in annoyance as he turned his head away in embarrassment.

"Of course," Kagami said with an amused smile on her face. "Walk with me to the bus stop."

"I'll walk with you to the bus station." Adrien offered, walking beside her.

"You and I perfect for each other you know." Kagami remarked as the bus pulled up. "We're so alike."

Adrien glanced at her in surprise for a moment before he nodded. "Yeah, but you don't have to be perfect for someone, I think it's enough if you just like each other."

"That's a very, you answer." Kagami said, kissing his cheek just before she entered the bus.

Adrien watched the bus drive off for a little while before he took a deep breath. As he turned around, he saw that Marin was already waiting for him causing a smile to draw on his face as he walked over to him.

"So, what did Alya order us both to do?" Marin asked, crossing his arms.

Adrien shrugged his shoulders, "Not sure, all she did was text me a riddle just before she left." He said handing Marin his phone pulled up to the text box.

Marin narrowed his eyes as he read over it, muttering the words aloud under his breath. "I know where she wants us to go." He said almost immediately, handing Adrien back his phone.

"You solved it that fast?" Adrien asked pocketing his device while Marin walked past him.

"Yeah? Not like these things are that hard if you think about it for more than a second." Marin said simply as he turned back towards his not-friend. "You coming?"

Adrien smiled as he ran up towards Marin unable to hold back a smile on his face.

Marin slapped his forehead in displeasure as he overheard familiar singing as they approached the Pont des Arts bridge.

"Oh hey, isn't that-" Adrien started to say.

"Andre Glacier." Marin finished saying just as he received a text on his phone further dampening his mood.

[Cupcake: Need a selfie with the two of you for proof. Please and thank you ;3]

"How does she know where we are?" Adrien asked as he looked on Marin's phone.

"We all have our location set up on this messenger app." Marin sighed. "Of course she'd send us to this guy."

"Do you not like ice cream?" Adrien asked in surprise knowing all too well about Marin's sweet tooth.

"It's not that, it's just-" Marin said hastily before averting his gaze, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I just think his whole styx about two people falling in love and magic ice cream is a little ridiculous and is just probably a placebo that was formed from hundreds of coincidences." He said trying to sound reasonable. But then grew more embarrassed as he could see Adrien trying to hold back his laughter. "What?"

"Nothing." Adrien chuckled, trying to hold back his amusement, "It's just, that's a pretty bold statement for someone who confessed their feelings first."

Marin's eyes widened with him, growing more furious by the moment. "Bye."

"No nooo-" Adrien said as he grabbed Marin's hand. "Come on, we both lost right? Be a good sport about it."

"Funny, because this seems to be more of a reward with the way you're smiling."

But Adrien didn't even try to hide joy. "I'm always smiling when I'm with you now."

"See. Things like that, saying things like that is why we aren't friends anymore." Marin pointed out with a frown on his face while he was blushing furiously.

"Come on, you like ice cream, I like ice cream." Adrien prompted, tilting his head towards the vendor. "

"...Fine." Marin sighed, allowing himself to be dragged towards vendor, his stomach sinking with every step.

"Ah, Marinus!" Andre said in glee as his eyes rested on the two of them. "You've found your way back with a beau in ha-"

"No no. We're not friends." Marin interrupted with a frown.

"I'm his not-friend." Adrien said proudly as he clutched Marin's hand with a sickeningly sweet smile on his face.

"Congratulations!" Andre said as eyes lit up. "I have the perfect pair for the two of you,

"Peppermint, the refreshing taste of wintergreen familiar to all yet there's only one true opposite to complement its refreshing taste. Combined with something that is more underappreciated; A bitter dark chocolate with hints of sweet chocolate chips. Alone both are good, but together, it becomes an explosive mix, often times its opposites that complement each other the most. One of my proudest creations for a complementary pair, on the house." Andre said with a smile as he handed Marin the ice cream.

"Thank you sir." Adrien said gratefully while Marin nodded his head. They sat together on a bench nearby just as the sun was beginning to set.

"Is this the first time you've tried the ice cream?" Adrien asked taking a small spoon of both the flavors.

"Technically, I came back here with my friends but, well-" Marin blushed slightly. "You remember what happened."

"Right, you had a giant ice cream man chasing you down, and a cat-in shining armor to save you." Adrien said with a wink.

Marin chuckled at him, taking the other small spoon and scooping both flavors. "We're already a couple, you don't have to lay on the charm all the time."

"I don't know, now that you know I was Chat Noir I don't think I can turn it off." Adrien admitted.

Marin averted his gaze from Adrien, feeling weighed down by the presence of his Kwami as he knew that Plagg was no longer there to keep him company. Part of him did wish that he could have been the one to give up his Kwami but at the same time he couldn't imagine his life without Tikki now that she was so intertwined with his. He knew all too well the bond between Kwami and master and he had no right to sever that connection.

"Marin?"

"Hm?!" Marin snapped back to attention as he heard Adrien's voice.

"Your ice cream." He pointed out and Marin grew frantic as he realized the ice cream was starting to drip on his arm.

"Aw crap!" Marin gasped, quickly licking it off. "Hurry up and snap a picture before I get all sticky."

"Right, right." Adrien said pulling out his phone, holding it up like a selfie. "Okay, can you feed me some, and I'll do the same?" He requested.

"Sure?" Marin said, for a moment questioning the sappiness of the photo, but then he remembered this was for Alya. He held up the small scoop of ice cream while Adrien did the same. As soon as the flavor hit his tongue he wished he had known about it earlier. "That tastes amazing." He complimented while Adrien nodded in agreement, holding his phone in hand while he seemingly sent the photo.

Marin then heard a beep on his phone. He took it out as he took another spoonful of ice cream, allowing the flavor to seep over his tongue as he looked in confusion at the photo that Adrien sent to the group chat, one of them just sitting on the bench together with the ice cream.

"This isn't the photo you took."

"Hm? Oh yeah, that's one I took a little earlier. The one afterward is just for me." Adrien said nonchalantly, taking another bite of ice cream, then saw Marin's flabergasted face. "What? Despite being forced into it, I consider this our first date." He said shrugging his shoulders.

Marin rested his hand on in his free hand, wondering for a moment how he ever fell for someone as cheeky and sweet as Adrien. But then recalled, it was those traits along with his combined quirks he had formerly associated with Chat Noir.

"...gimmie your phone for a second." Marin said as he still rested his face on his hand.

"Sure. What do you need it for?" Adrien complied, watching as a reluctant smile drew on Marin's face.

"Here."

Adrien took his phone back from Marin who quickly grew more invested in eating the ice cream. His eyes locked onto the page that was open, what was suppose to be Marin's contact info now had a secondary name attached to it.

"Xiang?" Adrien asked, looking at his friend for an answer, but was met with Marin averting his gaze, so embarrassed that his ears were turning red. He mumbled something under his breath while biting down on the plastic spoon. "Come again?" Adrien prompted, and Marin sighed heavily.

"It's...my real name, my other name." He admitted with some reluctance.

"Alright?" Adrien's head tilted slightly, still confused.

"No one else knows about it besides my parents. I figured since you revealed a big secret about yourself, I'd share one of mine..." He mumbled just before biting on the plastic spoon again. Next thing he knew, he saw Adrien's face light up brighter than he'd ever seen before and for a moment he thought he had made a huge mistake.

"No one's ever really trusted me with this big of a secret before, thanks." Adrien said gratefully as he rested his hand on Marins.

"It's no-"

"Xiang." Almost immediately Marin tensed up at the sound of that name and quickly realized that yes, he had made a huge mistake by giving Adrien too much power. But, compared to what he had sacrificed for him...he could take a little embarrassment.

"Oh yeah, I told Kagami about us."

"What what?!"

Notes:

-I'm no good at writing fluff, if the chapter takes longer to come out, it's generally because I struggle with writing sappy dialogue.

- Marin and Adrien's relationship is in the dark because one of these kids is shy af, and the other has a disapproving father.

-Adrien's Chat Noir is showing every time he's with Marin, and Marin can't really handle how flirty he comes off now that he knows that Adrien and Chat Noir are the same person so he tends to be a tsundere when around other people.

- Lóng chóng just translates to Dragon bug.

- Kagami and Marin aren't exactly friends, but are on okay terms.

- Whenever Marin abuses the power of multiple Miraculous it strains his heart, which is not a good thing when you take into consideration of how frail he is.