A/N: Keep an eye out, I have some commissioned art in progress for this chapter! I'll post it on my Instagram when it's ready and leave a note in a future chapter.

Song Rec: Falling by Drama

Claw found Marinette a hotel not very far from his apartment that evening, and she spent the next day on her living situation, as well as a little light reconnaissance.

Going off of what she knew from her own universe, she had a few guesses as to who might be some of the holders in this one. Even though she and Chat Noir had moved away from bringing on extra holders after an incident had left Alya exposed, there had been a time when most of the Miraculous in her possession had been used by various classmates of hers.

Even though the holders for three of the Miraculous in her world had been confirmed to be held by their doppelgangers in this one, it would be a mistake to assume it was the case across the board. Especially with the Supreme looming over them, they needed to be sure.

Which meant taking their time.

Late in the afternoon, Marinette made her way back to Adrien's apartment. It was probably a good thing she'd gotten the hotel room, because sneaking to get to his place was already getting old. "Hey, I have some ideas—"

"Walk and talk, Red. I got somewhere to be." Adrien slung a small duffel bag over his shoulder as he walked right past her, Marinette turning around to follow him back out the door.

"Are you going to the gym?" she asked, curious.

"Yeah, you could say that. There's this class I teach sometimes. So, what ideas?"

Marinette moved faster to catch up, not wanting to speak too loudly as they walked along the street. "I think I know who we should try to get on our side first."

"Who is that?"

"Well, with the Rabbit and the Rooster Miraculous out of play, one of the most powerful ones left would be the Snake Miraculous. Luka Couffaine held it for a time in my world."

Adrien groaned. "Fuck me—you want to ask Cobrax?"

Marinette raised her eyebrows, though Adrien missed it as he was still glaring straight ahead as they walked. "Is that what he's called here? What's wrong, do you know him? If it's a problem, we can work a different angle first."

"Yeah let's do that. Anyone else."

She pursed her lips as she tried to get him to meet her eyes. "His power would be helpful. But if you think he won't join like Chloé, then—"

"No," he interrupted through gritted teeth. "Whatever. He's fine. I just—" he groaned again, his voice lowering petulantly, "—really fucking hate the guy."

"Luka?"

"No, I don't know who the hell that is. It's fine. Good plan. Better you take lead though, or I'm sure I'll fuck it up." He stopped outside a building. "I'll be out in an hour or so."

He went through the doors, but Marinette paused, looking up at the building that seemed to have no signage. There was a line of windows, however, and she moved over to glance inside.

A small amount of bench seating surrounded a large mat that took up most of the space in the room. She watched Adrien remove his shoes before walking across and greeting another man on the other side. Then he took out some clothing from his bag, slipping them on over the shorts and shirt he was wearing.

It was a gi, she realized as he wrapped a belt around his waist and tied it. Karate, perhaps?

Then she saw a sign she had missed before. Jiu-jitsu brésilien.

Ah. BJJ. Interesting.

She was about to walk away to leave him be, but then she saw a little girl who must have been seven or eight walk in through the doors, wearing a bright pink gi. Several other younger boys trickled in behind her, along with their parents, until a group of about ten ended up on the mat, with Adrien and the other man joining them.

As the kids began to run around the mat in a circle, Marinette realized he was actually a teacher—a coach?—for the class, and she found she didn't want to leave.

There were enough parents inside that Marinette was able to slip in and find a seat in the corner without disrupting anything.

One thing that stood out as she watched the class was how much the kids seemed to like Adrien. They listened to his instructions without goofing off (too much, at least). When it was time for a 'rocking horse' drill that involved climbing on the coaches' backs as they tried to knock the kids off by rolling around, most ran to Adrien, who seemed to have a grand old time throwing the kids around.

Despite working with kids, Adrien still seemed to have trouble with his mouth.

The first time a curse slipped out, laughter bubbled up from the kids, and one jumped up and yelled, "That's ten push ups, Coach Adrien!"

Adrien groaned in an exaggerated way as he dropped down to do his punishment. Thankfully, the parents seemed not to mind, most of them apparently used to the antics.

One thing was clear: Adrien enjoyed teaching the kids, and seemed to have a true interest in their improvement.

Considering Claw had claimed that he cared very little about anything, it was definitely an interesting development.

When the class was over, Marinette noticed his interactions with the parents were much more forced than those he had with the kids.

While talking with one parent, his gaze strayed over to her, noticing her for the first time. He looked surprised for a moment before abruptly ending his conversation and walked her way. "I didn't realize you had stayed."

She thought she noticed a hint of embarrassment in his tone, though he didn't show it as he walked with her out of the gym. "That's really awesome that you teach those kids. You seemed like you were enjoying it."

"It passes the time." He shrugged, though she could see the upwards tilt of the corner of his mouth.

Unable to let her curiosity pass by without being indulged, she asked, "How long have you been teaching?"

"Not long, actually."

The evasiveness of his answer only made her prod more. "What made you start?"

Adrien gave her a long look. "Fuck, Red. You're so much more nosy than Shady. Then again, we never talked about this kind of thing." He frowned, looking away as he shoved his hands in his pockets, his bag continuing to bump against his leg as they walked. His eyes darted over to hers once more. "It was because of her, alright? We used to practice, just the two of us. I hadn't ever taken any classes or anything, but she was always so good at it. Don't tell her I admitted this, but she kicked my ass plenty of times."

Marinette snorted, but otherwise remained quiet as he continued. "Anyway, when she left, I was bored." His eyes darted over and away, and Marinette could almost see the truth in them; he'd missed her. "I joined the gym, wondering if it might have been the one she had used." His expression shifted, anger flaring up. "Of course, now I know she probably never went to any gym. Probably just watched from the outside, or something."

A bit of the pain in his expression leaked over to Marinette, as she thought about how her other self had hardly ever transformed back into her civilian form, something Claw had never figured out.

Knowing Shay was doing just fine now, Marinette tried to get him back on track, to help stave off any feelings of guilt he probably still harbored. "So, you joined the gym, and jumped right into coaching?"

Adrien shook his head, the anger smoothing out on his brow. "No. But they could tell I was pretty dedicated from the start." He winced. "...I might have been a bit too intense for a while. But they needed coaches for the kids' classes. I didn't understand why they asked me, but I thought, why the hell not? I barely know more than some of those gremlins do, but it's a good time. I guess."

He didn't look at her to catch her soft smile. "You seem to be really good with them."

Shrugging, he said, "The gym hasn't kicked me out yet. I guess that's something."

They continued to walk towards home, as Marinette tried to keep from thinking about just how much Claw Noir continued to surprise her.

As the week continued, Marinette focused on getting acclimated to the new world, as well as on her mission of tracking down their first potential convert.

Claw Noir kept up with his usual schedule, letting her take the lead on their plan while he took on keeping things smooth with the Supreme.

And on vexing Marinette every moment he got.

Truly, she didn't understand how he ever managed to get anything done, not with the way he seemed to enjoy pushing her buttons as the two of them completed tasks that the Supreme threw their way.

If Marinette had been the same Ladybug she had been a year ago, she would have been able to put her foot down much easier, keeping her own focus completely on the infiltration. She knew it was the most important thing.

Instead, she found herself unable to fully resist him, on the inside at least.

It became almost like a game.

Claw would grin and say something ridiculous. "Betcha I can beat you there, Red. Winner gets a kiss."

She'd respond with an eyeroll. "In your dreams, Claw."

She would race him, of course—Marinette was nothing if not competitive—dodging his attacks along the way to slow her down. She'd done enough patrols with Shadybug and Chat Noir to get used to the unfair tactics Claw and Shady had apparently used on each other to win.

When she'd lost the first race, he'd leaned over her, his cocky grin in place. "Well look at that? Looks like I won."

She'd moved quick, spinning her leg out in a kick that brought his unsuspecting ass to the ground. "How about that, Kitty? You can kiss the asphalt while I do our job."

He'd hopped up, his grin unphased as he'd rejoined her.

Other times, he'd catch her off guard.

Once, they worked together on a mission to steal something the Supreme wanted from a highly-placed politician for blackmail. The Supreme had wanted them to keep a low profile on this one, and had demanded no sign be left behind.

While working on getting inside, Claw said, "Have I mentioned you look particularly ravishing today, Red?"

She rolled her eyes while focusing on carefully unlocking the door with the lockpick Lucky Charm she'd received. "I'm wearing Shady's suit as always, Claw."

"Oh, it's not the suit, Sweetness." He leaned down behind her as she worked, his mouth at her ear. "What I'm talking about is all Marinette, shining through."

Her pick slipped as she lost control of it, feeling suddenly flustered. She recovered quickly, but felt the redness in her cheeks, glad he was behind her at the moment and unable to see her reaction.

Damn this cat.

How was she supposed to remain unaffected when he sprinkled in truly sweet things amongst his ridiculous teasing?

She used her concentration on the task at hand to cover for the fact that she couldn't form a response, eventually letting out a sigh of relief as the lock finally clicked open.

"Just—oh hush, Claw. We need to be quiet."

Had he been able to see how much his words had affected her?

She didn't think so, and they went on to find the item with no further incidents.

For one who constantly nagged Claw Noir to stay focused on their job, Marinette sure was having troubles of her own.

One late morning as she moved around the city in search of any signs of Luka, she stumbled across the worksite where Adrien was working, noticing him outside.

Carrying several long pieces of wood on his shoulder.

Shirtless.

Marinette nearly squeaked, freezing in place as she watched him walk across the building site, the sweat glistening as it streaked through the dirt clinging to his very nicely-defined abs.

She watched him for a moment or two as he dropped the lumber, until he turned around and caught her eye.

A smirk slowly crossed his face as he straightened.

He winked at her, and Marinette abruptly turned away and kept walking, not stopping until she was out of sight.

Damn that man, she thought, her cheeks on fire. He is definitely going to tease me about this now.

Sure enough, when she transformed and met up with him that evening for their Supreme-scheduled patrol, Claw waited with a sly grin. "You know, Sweetness, if you wanted to see me shirtless again, you just had to ask. I'm not shy."

Having prepared her response, Marinette let out a scoff. "Oh please, I was merely astounded to see you doing actual work. Here I thought you just spent your days lounging around, letting everyone else do your job. You know, like how I'm carrying your weight now."

Claw narrowed his eyes on her, though his smirk didn't budge. "Uh huh, sure. Just keep telling yourself that. You're not as good as you think you are at hiding your emotions when you're surprised. Those beautiful eyes tell me everything, Princess."

"I—you—" Marinette fumbled with her words, flustered once again.

Damn him!

Finally, she managed a, "Whatever, Claw, let's get back to work," swinging away from the situation before he could see through her once again.

Claw Noir fucking loved to watch Marinette get flustered. It was his new favorite thing, and he worked to make it happen whenever he could.

Shadybug had never put up with him for long, and his teasing of her had quickly changed to the giving-her-shit-whenever-possible variety.

Marinette, on the other hand, reacted differently than Shady ever had.

Oh, she gave back when she could, teasing him in return most of the time.

Every once in a while, however, some of the stuff he said made her turn the most amazing shade of pink.

And here he'd thought red was his favorite color on her.

He didn't really think much of it going any further than teasing. Marinette was simply different from Shady. She'd get tired of him soon enough. They'd defeat the Supreme, go their separate ways, and he'd return to being miserable as all the people he cared about went home to another world.

It was what he deserved anyway, after his mother. And after Shay had suffered under his nose and he'd never noticed.

It didn't matter that he hadn't merely fallen for the little bug, but instead had dove straight at the ground at break-neck speed, not a care in the world that he would end up broken for it.

It was nothing new.

But he'd have fun while he could, and see how many times he could make the pink rise in Marinette's cheeks.

A/N: Don't mind me giving them Skyrim Thieves Guild quests from the Supreme XD Thanks for hanging with me as we watch these two dance around each other for a little bit! Would love to see you in the reviews if you're enjoying, even if just an emoji :)