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In the weeks since Stoneheart and Ladybug and Chat Noir’s appearance, Adrien had found that he much preferred being a superhero to being a teenage boy. Chat Noir was a kindhearted, light spirited, beautiful young woman; Adrien Agreste was a boring teen with an impossibly busy schedule and no friends. Well, almost no friends.
Adrien smiled to himself. He had Chloe, and now Nino. He’d had Chloe since forever, since their parents were friends. Nino was the new addition. Adrien had sat next to him that first day, and they’d just clicked. Nino helped Adrien apologize to Marinette about the gum incident, and now Adrien was going to help Nino ask Marinette out.
He was so good at this friendship thing.
He got Marinette to go to the zoo with them, but oh no! Adrien never showed. Neither did Alya. Was she sick? Adrien hoped she wasn’t. They had an essay due the next day, and Mme. Mendeleiev took off late points.
Alya’s absence, regardless of reason, worked in his favor. Nino and Marinette were alone. Well, not actually alone; Adrien was hiding in nearby bushes while calling Nino to give him advice. A completely normal friend activity, Adrien was sure.
Kim and Max showed up too, although separately. Thankfully, it didn’t look like they interfered with Operation Date very much. Everything was going pretty much according to plan until Nino confessed his love to the wrong girl.
That and the fact that the animals started running all throughout the zoo. An akuma? He checked the Ladyblog. Yep, akuma. Chat Noir time.
Chat arrived at the scene and quickly began unsuccessfully attempting to herd the animals back into their enclosures. Thankfully, she heard the voice of her Lady nearby. She dropped in beside Ladybug, just in time for the heroes to be herded themselves. And nearly run over. Yikes.
Ladybug glanced at her partner before going to save two teens that looked suspiciously like Alya and Nino. Alya and Nino!
They didn’t look injured, however, so Chat let it go. Her Lady would keep them safe.
The heroes met at the top of the panther enclosure. Ladybug spoke first, “There are too many of them. We can’t capture them all.” And her Lady, ever so smart, brought them back to Akuma Plan A: Break The Akumatized Object.
Chat grinned. Time to hunt down a panther.
Said panther was flying away as an eagle. Ah. This may be a bit more difficult than she envisioned.
Nothing the heroines of Paris couldn’t handle.
The battle went smoothly, saving Kim, luring Animan into a bus, and trapping him there. Until he turned into a tyrannosaurus rex.
“Hey, since when do extinct animals count!” Chat exclaimed. Well, there goes that trap. Technicalities.
Animan chased them through the streets, wrecking buildings and smashing cars. Chat had no idea how they would fight a giant dinosaur, but that was what she had her Lady for.
“Lucky Charm!”
Chat had no idea what Ladybug was holding. She wasn’t absolutely certain that it was a real object.
“Huh? A car jack?” Her Lady was so smart.
“Too bad Animan doesn’t have any flat tires.”
Ladybug’s eyes narrowed. “Look how small his arms are.”
“So he won’t be great at basketball, what are you getting at?”
As it turns out, not only was her Lady smart, she was brutal . This girl was going to deck a full grown dinosaur. Oh, how Chat loved her.
And deck the dino she did. Slight problem, they couldn’t get anywhere close to the bracelet, the only possibly akumatized object, without getting chomped.
“I know what to do.”
Ladybug ran and jumped and-
“Ladybug!”
“Enjoy your meal!”
The T-rex ate her . Oh no. Oh no. How was she- What was she supposed to do??
Fear like ice poured over her, and bubbles of hatred burned through her skin. “You’re so gonna pay for this,” she growled.
But before she could do anything, Ladybug, who was in one piece , opened the dinosaur’s mouth with the car jack.
Chat gasped. Oh thank god. Her lady was alive . She was- Oh, she was in trouble is what she was!
The words “Miraculous Ladybug!” were barely out of her mouth before Chat barreled into her, tackling her to the floor.
“Ladybug! Don’t do stuff like that!”
“I needed to-” she started, but stopped when Chat's breath hitched.
“ Tell me next time,” she begged her partner. Relief washed through her body and made her go limp. “I thought- I thought-”
“I’m sorry, Kitty. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Ladybug rubbed her partner’s back. “I’ll tell you next time, okay?”
“Yeah, sorry,” Chat replied when she could breathe again, and helped her partner up.
“No biggie.” Ladybug smiled at her. “Pound it?”
“Pound it,” Chat smiled back. But before they could fist bump, her ring started beeping. “Whoops! Better take my whiskers and run!”
Chat Noir scrambled home and turned on the news footage of the akuma battle. “Plagg, are all Ladybugs like that?”
“Like what?” Plagg asked through a mouthful of cheese.
“So reckless . I mean, she could’ve gotten killed today!”
“Oh, yeah, totally. If you think she’s bad, you should meet her kwami. Sugarcube used to be way too impulsive.”
“Really?”
Plagg chuckled and pointed at the screen, which now showed the footage of the end of the battle. “She actually got herself eaten by a dinosaur. Just to see what would happen.”
“What happened?”
“Well kid, there aren’t dinosaurs anymore, are there?”
“I thought you said that was your fault?”
“I was very worried!”
Adrien laughed at his kwami, before stopping suddenly. Ugh. He wished he could talk to Plagg as a girl, but Plagg gets sucked into his suit every time he transforms. Woe was him. If only Adrien could be a girl all the time. Alas.
…Unless?
He waited for Nathalie to be out of the house and Plagg to be napping. Should he google it? What if his father could see his search history? He did not want to know how that conversation would go.
Father couldn’t see his reddit search history, right?
Well, no time like the present, Adrien thought as he clicked on the app. He typed in What to do if you would rather be a girl? And scrolled through the results. He(?) quickly had a new thing to search: What is being mtf?
Oh. Huh. Definitely not something to tell Father.
Adrien thought it over. Gender euphoria sounded a lot like how being Chat Noir felt. But was that enough? Adrien could probably live just fine only being a girl half of the time. But… did Adrien want to? No!
A sleepy Plagg grumbled from nearby, “Whatcha doin’ kid?”
“Hey, Plagg?” Adrien tried to sound nonchalant. “How come I’m a girl as Chat Noir?”
“Because you're a girl when you're not Chat Noir.” Plagg yawned. “Now, if you have no more silly questions, I’m going back to sleep.”
“ You knew?! This whole time?!” Adrien shrieked. Good thing Nathalie was out. “Why didn’t you say anything!”
More awake now, Plagg floated up in front of Adrien. “Say what, kid? It’s not like you didn’t know.” When Adrien didn’t respond, Plagg laughed at her.
“Hey!”
“What did you think it was like those hero girl shows you watch?”
“...they’re called magical girl shows.”
Plagg roared with laughter. “Kid, you have gotta get outside more.”
“Shut up, Plagg!” She huffed.
“Aww, I’m just messing. Congratulations on your gender, kid.” Plagg half teased.
Adrien put her head in her hands. “I really should’ve just asked you, huh?”
“Yep.”
There was, well, another thing. Adrien didn’t quite fit, and it wasn’t like she could just go around as Chat Noir 24/7. Adrienne? No, too similar. What on earth could she go by?
Emilie? No, no. She wanted her name to remind her of her mom, but she didn’t want her mother’s name. Ugh, if only she knew what she would’ve been named if she were a girl.
“Hey Plagg?”
Plagg, whose mouth was full of cheese, didn't respond, but did look in her direction.
“I think,” she started nervously, “I want to change my name.”
Plagg gave her a thumbs up and kept chewing.
“No, I want name ideas.”
Plagg swallowed. “Uhh, there’s a girl named Rose in your class, right? Steal her name.”
“Plagg,” she whined. “I want my own name. Plus, I want it to remind me of my mom.”
Plagg actually looked thoughtful. “What about using your mother’s name?”
“No, I don’t think I’m an Emilie.”
Plagg snorted. “I don’t know, you could be an Emilie.”
When she groaned, Plagg continued speaking, “Did your mom have any nicknames for you that weren’t based on your name?”
A thousand smiles, photos, and flowers flew into her brain. “She called me Dandelion.”