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"Plagg?"
The kwami mumbled something in the affirmative, focused on his Camembert. Adrien lay on his bed, gazing up a the ceiling. His heart was thudding in his chest, but he'd already committed himself to this conversation; he took a long breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth.
"Could you? I mean... I can look however I want when I'm transformed, can't I?"
Plagg swallowed the last of the cheese, sighing in happiness. He didn't appear to be paying too much attention to Adrien, but Adrien knew better by now — Plagg was always listening, especially when it looked like he wasn't.
"I mean, like, when I was Catwalker... I looked different. Obviously. My hair, and... And my costume. But could I change other things? Could I..." Adrien trailed off.
Plagg rolled his eyes, finally focusing on him.
"Get to the point, kid."
"Ok. Um. You promise not to laugh?"
Plagg snorted.
"You have to promise not to tell Ladybug though. For real."
"I can't tell her anything that could give away your identity."
"This is... I mean… it won't give my identity away."
Plagg moved closer to him, floating in a loose zigzag 'til he was close enough that Adrien had to go cross-eyed.
"Fine." Plagg said, moving out of his face. "I promise I won't tell pigtails anything."
"Thank you. So... Um..."
"Spit it out."
It came out in a rush, words all jumbled together: "Could you make me into a girl. When I'm transformed. Just to see."
Plagg just looked at him for a long minute. Adrien couldn't decode his expression, but he tried to make eye contact anyway. Every time his eyes flickered away he forced them back to meet Plagg's inscrutable gaze.
"... Sure kid. What's the plan here? Just show up at the next akuma attack and hope Ladybug won't say anything about your new look?"
Adrien slumped back against the couch, tension releasing from his shoulders.
"No, I'm going to tell her that I — Chat Noir — have to leave Paris for a couple of days, but I've picked a replacement in case something goes wrong."
"And the replacement will be you."
"Yes! Girl me."
Plagg rolled his eyes. "And Ladybug won't notice that you're far too competent for a newbie?"
Adrien preened under the faint praise. "She didn't with Catwalker."
"Alright," Plagg said, flying over to Adrien's desk.
He disappeared out of sight, phasing behind the drawers to find the secret sketchbook that Adrien used for his superhero note-taking. It mostly had little doodles of Ladybug and hearts with the initials LB+CN, but he wrote down things about the Miraculous sometimes, so he liked to keep it hidden. He knew Natalie searched his room sometimes, when he was at school, so he was extra careful leaving anything that could expose his identity just laying in a drawer or under his bed where anyone could find it. Plagg unearthed it, dragging it out and onto his bed.
"How do you want to look?" Plagg asked.
Adrien picked up a pen, feeling nervous — but in a good way, maybe?
"Well..."
Marinette jolted awake to the sound of a distant explosion and was halfway upright before she realised it. She took a deep breath, then another.
"Tikki?"
Her room shook with another distant explosion. Tikki swooped in front of her.
"Hurry, Marinette!" She said. "Paris needs you!"
Doesn't Hawkmoth ever sleep, Marinette thought, pushing away her blankets to transform. Moments later, Ladybug was swinging through the streets of Paris, getting closer to the deafening explosions that continued to ring into the night. With any luck, Chat Noir would have beaten her to the scene and figured out what the akumatised object is. Then all they would need to do was break it, and Marinette could be back in bed...
Only, Chat Noir wouldn't be at the fight, Marienette remembered, slowing to a stop on the roof of a building a few streets away from the akuma. He'd give the ring to a friend for a few days so he could go on holiday, or something. (Marinette had insisted he be vague on the details.)
So Marinette was awake in the middle of the night to fight an akuma, without her partner by her side. Wonderful.
Just as she was beginning to get properly annoyed, a figure dropped onto the rood next to her.
"Hi!" the figure said. "Ladybug! It's so cool to meet you, Chat Noir has told me everything about you!"
Marinette went wide-eyed, looking at the Black Cat holder who was practically bouncing on her heals in front of her. She was a little taller than Marinette, with pale pink hair pulled back into a bun. Her costume was similar to Chat Noir's, except with a more feminine cut, the major difference being a silver shimmery skirt that hung to her mid thighs. She was... Cute.
Marinette realised she had been staring for too long when the girl in front of her said, "Or, I mean, obviously he hasn't told me anything about you, because of our secret identities. I don't even know who Chat Noir is! But I read all the articles about you on the Ladyblog, so it kind of feels like we're already friends..."
Marinette internally shook herself. No Marinette, don't get distracted by the pretty girl! she thought at herself.
"Yeah, of course!" She said. "Nice to meet you..."
The girl perked up. "Miss Fortune! Or should I say, Miss Furtune."
"Don't tell me you like puns too," Marinette complained. She couldn't tell she found it more annoying or endearing.
"Of course!" Miss Fortune said, way too excitedly. "Chat Noir said they were very impurtant. I've been practicing!"
Another explosion shook the building they were standing on. Marinette jerked around, remembering the akuma.
"Let's just hope you can fight as well as you can pun," she said, readying her yo-yo.
"Is that a challenge?"
Marinette smirked at her. "If you think you can keep up."
She leapt from the roof, casting her yo-yo out to catch herself. Halfway down, she realised she was flirting.
Wait, do I like girls?