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Two small rings fell into Ladybug's hand. "Hey Cat Noir," she called out. "Can you Cataclysm these for me?"
"Cataclysm," Cat Noir said tonelessly. "Uh. I didn't decide to — um?!" He lurched forward, looking more terrified than anything.
"Cat Noir, stop fooling around," Ladybug said, suppressing a groan.
Instantly he froze in place. "... I don't know what just happened but I think maybe I shouldn't Cataclysm those."
Ladybug stared at Cat Noir for several seconds, eyes growing wide in realization. Wordlessly, she opened up her yoyo and dropped the two rings into it.
(Nobody noticed Flairmidable wince slightly as she did that.)
"... if this means what I think it means, we need to get the Peacock Miraculous away from Shadow Moth ASAP."
"I, uh, actually had a plan for that, as it happens" Flairmidable spoke up, surprising everyone. And with just a little modification, which I will definitely not mention wasn't the original plan to begin with, I can still use it.
"Sublimation. I grant myself the power to create imitation Miraculous that persist indefinitely and Shadow Moth will never realize are fakes even though they don't work. Genesis." Fifteen very special fake Miraculous dropped into Flairmidagoat's hands.
He frowned as he handed them over to Ladybun and she dropped them into her yoyo. "I don't see a way to pull this off without handing him the real Dog Miraculous, though..."
"Under the circumstances, that might be a trade worth making," Ladybun said. "... Especially if you can get him to hand over the Butterfly Miraculous too."
Flairmidagoat shook his head as he removed the Goat hair clips and handed them back over. "I... have personal reasons to want the Peacock, which Shadow Moth is aware of. But I have no such connection to the Butterfly."
Ladybun frowned loudly. "Well... I'm going to take some time to think before sending you off to fake a betrayal. Just to see if I come up with anything. Burrow." And with that, she retreated into the time bubble. (And you probably thought that was a typo.)
...
Slowly, quietly, Adrien removed the cup from his bathroom door and set it back down on the sink. "... god damn it, Félix."
"It's just lucky you got back before he did," Plagg muttered. "Otherwise nobody would've realized the swap."
"Should I confront him? Or should I just tell Ladybug?"
"Good question. We've got til Ladybug gets back to think about it. You realize what this implies though, right?"
"A lot of things! I'm gonna need forever to process it all!"
