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Kagami did not play video games.
This was a horrible problem that Marinette and Adrien agreed had to be rectified in order to ensure the health and stability of their relationship as girlfriend, boyfriend, and girlfriend.
Several training sessions on the machines in Adrien's room, when they weren't ... distracted, had Kagami prepared for their date to an arcade.
Through private messages, Adrien and Marinette debated their approach. While they would have liked to take it easy on the inexperienced girl so as not to sour the date, she would be incensed at the very suggestion that they weren't competing at their best, even if that meant that they mopped the floor with her.
Better to lose than be patronized and coddled.
On entering the arcade, hand-in-hand with Adrien, Kagami flinched and tucked into his shoulder, seemingly overwhelmed by the myriad flashing lights and raucous sounds of dozens of games and the milling throng of teenagers. Before Marinette, who stood at a 'friendly' distance from the known 'couple,' could spiral into recriminations that she should have realized that the atmosphere would be too much for the girl, Adrien, who understood his girlfriends' needs and triggers, acted. He puffed up, all kitty-cat smugness and gentle touches, and goaded her with assurances that she had no chance against him in his favorite on-rail shooter.
It got their girlfriend's competitive spirit flaring, leaving her focused as she dragged him over to the machine, forcing her way through the crowd.
They ranged through a dozen games, Kagami excelling at the shooter Adrien mentioned, wielding the plastic pistol with deadly accuracy after a few minutes of acclimatization.
Marinette, of course, dominated in fighting and racing games. There was a subtle thrill when she helped Kagami learn the controls, taking every opportunity to tease her fingers over the other girl's hands, pressing up close to show her how to position herself and execute combo attacks as she let loose a few of her own against the other girl. The sweet, flowery scent of the bee miraculous had her inhaling deeply, longing to brush her nose to Kagami's neck where the smell was the strongest. Her mouth went slightly dry.
Best of all, they enjoyed it all in public, the need to hide suddenly exhilarating rather than frustrating, heightening her senses. While they played in more than one way, though both were innocent, Adrien smiled over them and kept an eye open, letting them relax because he was looking out for them: their everyday Chat Noir.
An ever-so-slightly abashed expression crossed his face when Kagami rose from the racing game and gave him a kiss in passing, and he blushed as she whispered something into his ear that Marinette couldn't make out over the din of the arcade.
And then a dance game, suspiciously similar to the one in Adrien's room. Kagami, as it turned out, could 'bust a move,' as light on her feet as a civilian as she was as a bee superhero, Mitsubachi; however, she was no match for Adrien's practised feline grace...
Which was to say that he flopped all over himself and looked like a general idiot, but won all the same. That made it all the more impressive and infuriating for both girls.
Then, Kagami, her lips pursed, stood aside to let Marinette have her turn. With assurances that the princess would avenge this slight against the queen's honour, the baker ascended the dance platform.
"Ready to get your butt kicked, Agreste?"
"So violent, Princess," he chastised because he loved needling her. "You know how strong you are, all that bakery-girl muscle. You could kill someone if you're not careful when kicking his butt."
Her lips pressed together, blowing a raspberry at him.
"Oh, go cry to Kagami about it."
"Well, she is much nicer than you." The next words came out in the best low purr that he could manage as Adrien. "I'm sure that she'll kiss it and make it all better."
At that, Kagami stood a little straighter with a slowly spreading smile, while Marinette choked on air, swivelling to stare at their boyfriend as he started to move, racking up an insurmountable lead in points after only a few seconds. Try as hard as she might to catch up, she was impeded by repeated glances towards Adrien's derriere to admire the shifting and flexing of his glutes as he struck flamboyant pose after flamboyant pose while wrecking the existing high-scores.
With a fist-pump and a low, exaggerated bow for a slow-clapping Kagami, Adrien hammed up his victory because it was so rare – but more precious, if more common, was the chance to leave Marinette a flustered mess, her mouth flopping up and down.
There was no sweeter taste than that victory, even won through cheating. It even put to shame Tom's macarons.
The cocky cat was a nightmarish little shit all the way back to Tom and Sabine's. The revelation of their identities allowed him to amalgamate the absolute worst of his behaviours towards Marinette and Ladybug. Adrien had been a flirty and sweet partner, always holding something back when dealing with Marinette and Kagami; with 'Maribug' and 'Kagabee,' 'Chatdrien' was a painful, teasing, arrogant, loving, considerate, petulant, needy dork.
It was also the most wonderful thing: honest and real. An amalgamation of the best parts of his Chat and Adrien personalities: him. And, now, Marinette could actually hold her own, even one-upping him occasionally with the lingering awkwardness fading day by day.
"I told you: I am the dancing king," he boasted while they meandered their way down a alleyway towards Tom and Sabine's.
"Oh, lord," Marinette grumbled.
"Ooh, see that boy, watch that thing; digging the dancing king," Adrien began to sing, horribly off-key, prancing along beside them, throwing finger-guns.
"Kagami, help," came Marinette's plea as she clutched her girlfriend's shoulder and tried her best to emulate Adrien's best “kitten eyes.”
"I'm a teaser, I turn them on," Adrien continued, only encouraged by Marinette's lament, belting the the tortured lyrics at an inhuman pitch like the yowling cat that he was. Everyday Chat Noir indeed. "Leave 'em burning and then I'm-"
Hips jerking forward, Adrien yipped and leapt almost a foot into the air, a heavy smack resounding through the alleyway, reverberating.
Kagami rubbed the reddening palm of her hand absently before proffering it to their girlfriend.
"Bee-hive, Adrien," she cautioned while leading a groaning Marinette towards the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Adrien merely followed behind them, massaging his rear, which itself was left burning.
There was no way he could love that girl any more than he did in that moment.
Totally worth it.
"Marinette! Kagami's bee-ing mean," Adrien cried out to the retreating pair as he surged forward, trying to catch up. "I need you to kiss it and make it all better."
"Low effort, Agreste!"
