Work Text:
Marinette. That will be my name. It’s a good name, one that he will never suspect. “He’ll be here soon.”
“Good.” Marinette turned to smile at Tikki, her friend and mentor and, for the next several years at least, supervisor. “I have to check a few more things, please invite him in when he arrives.”
Marinette hurried through the grand room and found her gamebook. She flipped through the pages quickly, searching for the rules one last time. Knowing him, he somehow convinced Plagg to change something… “Game is won by the player who correctly identifies the other’s civilian identity first. Both players will be placed by Plagg and Tikki, their supervisors, and will begin the game within the limits of the same city. Neither player will be able to leave the city during the course of the game. Plagg and Tikki are forbidden from giving hints, upon completion, both players are immediately returned to the god’s realm…” Oh, this one’s new. “Hawkmoth – is that the name he chose? – will be placed in the same city to facilitate contact between the players. He will send out akuma, which both players have to stop. He will send no less than one and no more than eleven akuma every two weeks, though the players are allowed to assume their ‘superhero’ identities at any point. The number and density of akuma outside of this restriction is entirely at Hawkmoth’s discretion.” Makes sense. I trust him not to go too overboard, but it’s good to put that restriction in place.
“My Lady! Are you excited?” A familiar voice echoed through the hall as a young god in tight black clothes pranced toward her. “It’s finally the day! I thought I’d never get Plagg to stop obsessing over those dumb rules.”
“When you’re dealing with the god of design,” Plagg said behind him, coming along at a much more casual pace, “if you aren’t thorough, she will take advantage of it. I’m doing you a favor, kid.”
Marinette scanned through the rules specifically pertaining to the interactions between the players. “I know,” he whined, “but you take so long!”
“We have all the time in the world. Impatience is for the mortals.”
“Good thing we’re going to be mortal soon then, isn’t it?”
“It’s a very temporary, conditional mortality. Honestly I think you might be spending too much time being mortal. Sit back once in a while.”
“Well,” Marinette said, “I’m satisfied. Good job, Plagg. I’m only worried about you, Tikki.” She frowned at the other goddess, who stood confidently next to Plagg. “This says you’ll be adding a glamour element to our costumes, so that no one will be able to recognize the civilian form based on our superhero form?”
“That’s right.”
“Can you handle doing that so often and for so long?”
“I can handle it. I won’t be mortal, so it should be fine.” She furrowed her brow. “And Plagg put in the time limit for that, so as long as Hawkmoth doesn’t give you eleven akuma in a day, we should be okay.”
“I see. Good then. Shall we get started?” Marinette grinned, matching her other player’s expression.
“That’s what I like to hear!” He took her hand and started bouncing excitedly. “Let’s go.”
“Just a moment,” Plagg said. He stepped forward and held out a hand. Marinette obliged his silent request and handed him the gamebook. “You know how this works, kid.” He opened it seemingly to a random page and glanced at it momentarily before grinning. “I trust you both saw the modification clause in section twenty-three.”
“The supervisors shall meet every two weeks and are allowed to alter the situations of the players, with the oral approval of a third moderator. Any decision must be unanimous and the players do not need to receive notification before the change takes effect,” Marinette recited. She had been over the book hundreds of times at least, and that one wasn’t a recent addition.
“Oh, that sounds fun,” Her fellow player said. “Make sure to keep things interesting for us, alright?”
Plagg just smirked deviously and looked back at the book. “Both players will retain their memories this round, so it’s important that you both have your names prepared.” When both of them affirmed that they were ready, Plagg looked at Tikki. “Have you found your place for her in the city?”
“I have.”
“Great. The last thing I want to confirm is the rules between you two.” He glared at the god still grinning at Marinette. “That means you, kid. Rules can be lazy sometimes, but they are definitely not meant to be broken.”
“I know, I know. I’ll play nice. I always do.”
Plagg rolled his eyes. “Anyway, you two. Since you’ll be seeing each other throughout the course of the game, this is a very delicate procedure. Absolutely no watching the other’s transformation, no following the other at the end of an akuma attack for more than three blocks, and no telling. The only exception to these rules are in the event of a severe injury, in which circumstance Hawkmoth, who will be watching everything, will immediately eliminate the akuma and Tikki and I will cut your transformations off. The game will be over, with no winner, so it’s not in your best interest to let either of you get injured.”
“I wouldn’t dream of hurting My Lady to grab the win.”
“Of course not. But the measure has to be put in place.” Plagg shrugged. “Conversation between you two will be unrestricted, save for the rule to not tell your identity. Be careful not to drop too many hints though. If I went through all this work for a three-day game, I am officially disowning you all.”
“You love me too much to ever do that.”
“You wish, kid.”
“And I have to remind all of you,” Tikki said, looking between them all, even Plagg, “that by our laws you can’t return to the human world within an average human lifetime after the completion of the game.”
“That’s about seventy years now, I think.”
“So,” Tikki said, “are both of our players satisfied with the rules?” Both of them smiled and nodded in confirmation. “Then it’s time to get started. Remember that Plagg and I will serve as advisors and supervisors. If you have any question about whether something is against the rules, you ask us. And if we tell you you’ve broken the rules, the game is immediately put on pause. Plagg and I will discuss it and determine whether to continue or not. Now, before we get started, do you two have anything you want to say to each other?”
“I do!” The young god grinned and looked straight at Marinette. “My Lady, you truly are an inspiration. This is one of the most interesting games I’ve ever had the pleasure of partaking in, and with you as my partner it is only even more of an honor.”
He bowed extravagantly, making Marinette giggle. “Should I be delighted or dismayed that the god of opposition has taken such an interest in me?”
He pouted a little. “You say that as if I’m just contrary. Come on, My Lady, I’m more sophisticated than that.”
“I’m sure you are. Now is your chance to prove it.” They smiled at each other for a moment. “Tikki, do remind Hawkmoth to be careful with the humans.”
“He’s always careful, but I’ll remind him. Don’t worry, Plagg and I are always watching as well.”
“Let’s go then.”
“Chat Noir, I realized the other day that you are literally Satan.”
“And horribly misunderstood, too. But you get me, My Lady, don’t you?” Chat Noir grinned at her as he leaned in close. The two had agreed to meet for “patrol” three times a week, as a gesture of goodwill to the people of Paris, who had two superheroes and a supervillain appear seemingly out of nowhere, as well as to ensure plenty of interaction between them to grease the wheels on the game. Marinette, though she would never say it to his face, was actually starting to enjoy getting to know him. “After all, would you play this game if you didn’t?”
“I’m playing this game exactly because I don’t get you, Kitten.” She tapped his nose gently, causing him to beam at her. “Make me understand. That’s your challenge.”
“Well,” he began, “I’m not sure I want to accept that challenge. If you figured me out completely I’d totally lose my mysterious charm, wouldn’t I?”
“Maybe work on getting one before worrying about losing it.”
“Ooh, burn. You’re so mean, LB.”
“But seriously, how did you get that reputation? How much of that is true?”
Chat Noir sat down roughly and sighed. “Well first of all, before Jesus came along I wasn’t even there. As for the stories, well.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “There’s truth and there’s exaggeration in all of them. It’s hard to tell you very simply. That’s just what I get for bothering the storyteller. Now the humans hate me as much as he does.”
“They don’t hate you.” Ladybug frowned at the way her partner’s face fell. “Humans are just afraid of things they don’t understand. They’d be scared of Tikki.”
“Okay, but Tikki is terrifying. I mean, desire? What kind of domain is that? How much power does she have?”
Ladybug chuckled at him. “A lot, Kitten. But she’s still very unassuming.”
He shrugged. “Whatever. It’s not a big deal anyway. The big issue here is, did our dear Cupid decide to ruin your game yet?”
Ladybug frowned. “Cupid wasn’t supposed to be involved. I haven’t noticed him.” She smirked a little, watching his face turn red. “Why, has he gotten to you?”
“I’m blaming him, at least.”
“It has been another fortnight. Depending on what exactly you’re feeling…”
“It’s not Tikki.” He buried his head in his hands. “Ugh, this is so lame.”
“I will admit, I never thought of you as the type of god to like humans.”
He gave her an odd look, raising his eyebrows slightly. “Well we’re all full of surprises. What about you? You said Cupid hasn’t messed up anything?”
“Oh there’s a chance that I may be feeling something within his domain.” Ladybug smirked, looking at Chat teasingly. “But it is through no direct intervention of his, I can assure you that.”
Chat sighed. “I think it’s the same for me. I’m still blaming him though.”
“I’d think the god of opposition would know better than to blame others for things that aren’t their fault.”
“Yes, but the god of opposition also knows that it feels really good to have a scapegoat.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
He flashed her a cheeky grin and stood abruptly. “Well, now that that’s out in the open, we should let the people see us.”
“You’re right.” Ladybug stood, taking a comfortable place at Chat’s side. “Returning to the previous topic, though…”
“The satan thing?”
“‘Satan’, meaning ‘adversary’, correct? Fitting.”
The two started a casual pace across the rooftops as Chat responded. “I suppose. Most people forget that though. Or they don’t understand what it really means.”
Ladybug lifted her eyebrows. It was rare to see gods, especially Chat, so despondent. Especially not because of their image with the humans. Then, most of us aren’t the modern great villain. Though, there are many, most, places in the world where they don’t believe in him or think of him that way, so I still don’t understand the fixation. “What does it really mean?”
“I would think you, of all people, would have some idea.” Chat looked away, obviously disappointed.
Ladybug had no intention of hurting her partner, but he was the one who proposed the game, and he was the one who declared its intent as a bonding moment. Plus, she was curious. “Why would you assume that?”
“Because… design!” He threw his arms up. “What is design to you, My Lady?”
Ladybug thought her answer through for a moment. “Design is the transition from idea to reality. It’s the process and the enactment. Making order from chaos, tangible from abstract.”
“But why do people go through the effort? What makes them want to design?”
Ladybug blinked. “Desire, I should think.”
Chat sighed. “And if you go one step further?”
“I’m not sure I know what you’re getting at.”
He shifted uncomfortably even as he soared through the air mid-leap. “I don’t mind being Satan. Not really. I just wish people had a better idea of what the concept means. I’m not evil. I hope not, anyway. I’m fine being the antagonist. Everyone needs a villain, someone to put them down and tell them they aren’t doing good enough. If they don’t have that then they’ll just stagnate, thinking they’re as good as can be and never improving. It’s opposition that feeds desire.”
“As well as spite.”
“…Yeah. But spite is the ultimate motivator.”
Ladybug bit her lip as she looked sideways at her partner. It’s easy to conflate opposition with villainy. But in his mind, I suppose, it’s like exercise. If you don’t increase the weight, you won’t get stronger. You’ll stay at the same place forever. If you push on someone, god or human, they push back. Out of spite or greed or envy, but regardless they generally improve. It’s certainly an interesting take on the matter.
“Ladybug?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t take it the wrong way, but your domain… it’s basically inherently complicated. People hear ‘design’, they think of art and architecture. Things that they either think of as very tactile or infinitely deep. They either don’t think much of it at all, or they are open to even strange interpretations. That’s not how it is for me, and I’m not sure if you could ever really understand that. People hear ‘opposition’ and they think of some cruel monster that stops at nothing to keep them from what they want. They think of the destruction of their hopes and dreams and – desires.”
Ladybug hummed. “In a weird way… would you describe your domain as ‘personal growth’?”
Chat smiled. “That certainly sounds nicer, but no. I’m not in charge of that, I’m just one of the causes. Even if that is the goal with the typical human. The thing is, in all the time I’ve spent here as a mortal I’ve noticed something. Humans generally are remarkably self-absorbed.”
“You say that like it’s new. Or that we’re any different.”
“Of course not, but the problem is that people like to think that I’m not just an adversary, but their adversary. They think I single them out and hold them down for… I don’t know, pleasure? But it’s bigger than that. If everything was easy, do you know how many terrible crimes would happen? Why do you think Plagg and I get along so well?”
“You two get along well?”
“I’m the god of opposition, that is well for me.”
“Only teasing, Kitten.”
He smiled a little and shook his head. “Rules and opposition are linked. Like desire and design. And like desire and opposition. I don’t think many humans, or gods even, think much about how our domains overlap.”
“I have.”
“You have to. That’s pretty much literally part of your thing. Anyway the point is, the rules are in place to protect people, and they realize that, but how do rules protect people?”
“By pushing back on anyone who breaks them.”
“Exactly. In a way, opposition is the enforcement. People just don’t realize that. Without opposition, rules would be meaningless. Without rules… anarchy.”
Ladybug pondered his words. “Can I be honest with you, Chat?”
“Of course.”
“Before we started this game, I would have assumed you’d have liked anarchy.”
He shrugged. “Most would. But I like people. I want them to grow and be the best they can. True anarchy would ruin that. Sure, they’d grow and adapt to their world, but think of how much would be lost in the process. This way is much healthier.”
“Girl, where have you been?” Marinette was tugged roughly to the side before she could enter the classroom by her best (mortal) friend, Alya. “Shit hit the fan this morning.”
“I slept in.” Marinette said honestly. Gods did sleep, but the exertion of her comparably less impressive physical body often left her perennially tired. It was by Tikki’s influence only that she even managed to get to school every day. “What happened?”
“Adrien told off Chloé.”
Marinette gaped at her. “You’re joking.”
“Does this face look like it’s joking?” Alya stared intently into Marinette’s eyes.
“Oh dear… what did he say?”
“I believe his words were ‘Chloé, I cannot believe how much of an asshole you are.’ And then quite a few other colorful words that he would probably have been put in detention for if we were in class. And if anyone actually liked her.”
“No way. There is absolutely no way Adrien cursed at her.”
“He did, I swear! I think even Chloé was too stunned to even say anything. But you’re a favorite of her, so you should probably know before we get in class. She’s bound to be in a nasty mood.”
“As if she ever isn’t.” Marinette sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
Inside the classroom, the atmosphere was tense. Adrien sat at his desk as usual, but he was slouching and fiddling idly with his pen, a faint frown on his face. Chloé was absent entirely. The rest of the class sat on edge, anxiously waiting to see if Chloé would show up and if she did, what she would say.
But she didn’t. Class began and resumed and completed without hide nor hair of her. Adrien gradually seemed to return to normal, with a smile once more after the bell, but most others were still exchanging nervous glances. Marinette likewise was nervous, both for Chloé’s return and possible akumatization. Surely Hawkmoth would capitalize on something like this, so close to one of the players. It was definitely within his power to make a human an akuma more than once.
And of course, she was also worried about Adrien. It wasn’t like him to curse at all, much less be so direct when he knew it would hurt someone’s feelings, even Chloé. Something had to have driven him over the edge, made him explode. Aside from her worry for Adrien, Marinette had to admit she was satisfied with Chloé’s reaction. She deserved to feel so badly that she’d miss school (Marinette did hope she came back the next day, though. She didn’t wish extended suffering on the girl.).
Because of her embarrassing stutter around him, Marinette relied on Alya after school to ask Adrien what had happened. He grinned sheepishly at them. “I’m sorry, she’s just been getting worse and worse and I couldn’t keep letting her get away with it.”
“What happened though? Alya asked. “What triggered it?”
Adrien shrugged. “Nothing, really… she was just bothering Nathanaël again and Alix wasn’t around so he was just – whatever. It doesn’t matter.” He shook his head, turning to leave. “She’s too reckless,” he muttered as he passed.
Marinette exchanged a glance with Alya and the two of them simultaneously rounded on Nino.
He held up his hands in defense. “Hey, girls, I don’t know anything.”
Alya kept up her glare for just another moment before sighing. “Keep an eye on him.”
“Was going to.”
With that, Nino left as well, so Marinette was alone with Alya. “Hmm.” Alya tapped her chin and stared after the two boys. “Nathanaël, huh?”
Marinette saw that Alya was trying to piece together the puzzle. But Marinette had an entirely different puzzle to figure out. Not for the first time, Marinette was frustrated with her domain. Being the god of design, she knew when a plan was in action. She could see that Adrien’s actions were spontaneous, but there was still something that bothered her. A certain rightness that she at first attributed to Chloé getting some comeuppance and the irony of it coming from Adrien. But that didn’t seem quite right anymore. She was almost certain, maybe ninety-six percent, that the feeling was tied to her lingering powers over her domain. She obviously didn’t have much magic as a mortal, but after being in charge of something for thousands of years, one gets a certain sense for it.
But that didn’t make sense. What being would have the power to design such an event? Well, that was a stupid question, perhaps. What reason could someone have to design such an event? Right next to her, no less. It had to do with the game, there was no other option. It has been the greater part of a year since we started. Maybe Tikki and Plagg decided to expedite matters. Could this be a hint? But that seems a little unfair. It wouldn’t make sense for them to give me a hint and not him. Plagg wouldn’t stand for it.
She decided to make a note and think about it another time. Alya began pulling her deeper into the school building and she, quite frankly, missed the explanation as to why.
“Nathanaël!” Alya called. “Hey!”
Alix intercepted her, stepping between her and Nathanaël. “Alya. I love you, but you’re not allowed to talk to Nath right now.”
“What? Why not?!”
“Because he doesn’t want to talk about this morning and you’re going to ask him about it.”
“You don’t know that!”
Alix just gave her the most doubtful look in her arsenal and shook her head. “Yes you are. Leave it alone this time, Alya. Just please, for once, shut your mouth and let it go.”
Alya’s jaw dropped and she looked, baffled, over to Marinette. With a shrug, Marinette said, “Alix is his best friend. She knows better than us.”
“Thank you,” Alix said, nodding to her. “Now get lost.”
“But-”
“Alya.” Alix fixed a stern glare at her. “Chloe brought up the Evillustrator.”
“Oh.” Alya visibly deflated. It had become a general rule among all the class to not bring up each other’s akuma forms. It was okay to talk about if that person brought it up, but you don’t talk about it if they don’t want to. Even Chloé stayed away from the subject after the first few. It was strange that she’d suddenly target that. And for Nathanaël too. Why?
Marinette followed Alya away, but looked over her shoulder to see Alix gently wrap an arm around Nathanaël, who sat in a tight ball, knees pulled to his chest, and never even glanced up at them.
“Ladybug.” Chat Noir’s voice was uncharacteristically solemn. It drew her attention fully.
“Chat?”
“I’m not sure I want to play anymore.”
“You don’t?”
“The humans are hurting.” He shook his head. “Hawkmoth is going too far.”
Ladybug shifted to face him more fully. “How do you mean?”
“He’s giving them free will. When they’re possessed. And they’ve figured that out.”
“That’s bad?”
“Yes!” Chat ran a hand through his hair. “They realize they have free will, then they believe they’re partially at fault for everything they did. I understand that giving the akuma free will increases the diversity, but… not at the cost of the humans.” He hugged himself tightly. “I already talked to Plagg about it, but the rules can’t change except during the meeting every two weeks, and there’s still a whole week before the next one. We have to put a stop to it immediately.”
Marinette frowned. Odd that he cares so much. Perhaps one of the akumatized mortals is the one he mentioned way back then – the one he likes. “Well, it is only a game. I wouldn’t be opposed to doing what we can to fix any problems.”
“Thank you.”
“But we have no way to contact Hawkmoth, to tell him our concerns.”
“That’s why the only way to stop this is to break the rules.”
“I’m sorry?”
“If we break the rules, then Tikki and Plagg have to pause the game, remember? That’s the only chance for them to talk before next Sunday. They can talk through it and find Hawkmoth and ask him to fix this.”
“Chat, why do you care so much?”
Chat Noir glared at her with a ferocity she had never seen in his eyes before. “You say that like you don’t.”
“Of course I wouldn’t wish unnecessary suffering, but they’re humans.”
“And?” Chat gave her a look mixed with betrayal, disbelief, and rage. “They’re humans.”
“They adapt. They grow. The few others who would become akuma next week will be fine.”
“Will they?”
“You said yourself that adversity helps them develop.”
“I think you overestimate me, Ladybug. Believe it or not, I do think about what I’m doing.”
“I didn’t mean-”
“Oh, you ‘didn’t mean’.” Chat stepped forward aggressively, making Ladybug instinctively take a step back. “There is a plan to these things, you know. Shit happens, yes, but the stuff that I control? The stuff I have power over? You know that human saying, ‘God never gives us more than we can handle’? That’s humans vastly underestimating the contempt of gods. Gods like you, apparently.” He shook his head. “I thought… never mind. You know what? If that’s what you think, that they’re just humans, then I don’t even want to play with you.” He muttered as he turned away. “I thought you might have learned something.”
Ladybug reeled at his intensity, feeling guilty for angering him. “I never said ‘just’ humans. I said that they would compensate. And I agreed to help you stop it. I was only curious as to what caused this.”
“Nathanaël,” he said shortly.
Ladybug’s eyes widened. “Nathanaël?”
“Yeah.”
Ladybug suspected that Tikki and Plagg had arranged to place them in the same school, so the idea that Chat knew Nathanaël wasn’t strange. He must have seen what happened that morning. Alix said Chloé brought up the Evillustrator. “What about him?”
“He’s hurting. You can tell just by looking at him.” He shook his head again. “You know, once I passed by him and Alix as Chat Noir. I said hello, but Alix couldn’t even look at me. She just mumbled ‘sorry’ and walked the other way. That’s not okay. We can’t be doing that to them.”
“If we can put a stop to it, I agree that we should.”
“Good, then. We have to tell each other out civilian names.”
Ladybug hesitated, thinking back. “If we do, the game is over.”
“I know.”
“We will go back home.”
“I know.”
“You won’t be mortal anymore.”
Chat clenched his jaw. “I know.”
“You won’t be able to come back soon.”
“I know all this, Ladybug!”
Ladybug frowned, hesitating before bringing up the elephant in the room. “Nathanaël won’t ever see you again.”
“He’s probably better off for it.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“I do.”
“You don’t want to leave, though.”
“No.”
“So why? We can’t fix what happened to him, and there’s only a week before we can change the rules to eliminate free will in the akuma.”
“It’s not just about him! Yes, I like him. But this is about all the humans. This is a game for us, but it’s their lives, Ladybug. We can stop it and if that prevents even one other person from suffering the way he and Alix are, then that’s what we have to do.”
“You don’t have to give up.” Chat Noir looked at her incredulously. Ladybug quickened her words, already seeing him contemplating just blurting out his civilian name and ending the game on his own terms. “If you like him, then you should pursue it. Maybe you can help him grow and get over what happened.”
“It’s not about h-”
“I know, but if you’d be happy with this boy, you shouldn’t throw your chance away because of a week of akuma.”
“But-”
“No. I’ll talk to Tikki. You talk to Plagg.”
Chat Noir froze where he stood, and slowly, a smile creeped onto his face. “You have a plan.”
Ladybug smiled. “We don’t need to reveal our identities to force a meeting. There’s not actually any rule in place keeping Plagg and Tikki apart except the requirement that they remain with us.”
“So if we meet anonymously, then Plagg and Tikki can talk before the week’s end! Ladybug, you’re brilliant!” He dove forward to hug her tightly. When he let go, he fixed a serious gaze on her. “So how would we do that?”
“Simple. Before school tomorrow – you had to have figured – Nathanaël, yeah, you already know we go to the same school. Anyway, before school tomorrow, I’ll place her in a trash can in the corner of the courtyard.”
“A trash can.”
“It will be glued shut. Tikki and Plagg are still proper gods so they can just phase through. They will, technically, still be in the same room as us so long as we don’t leave the courtyard. We talk to them about it tonight, let them confer tomorrow, and see what they think. The rules don’t actually say that the biweekly meeting is the only time the rules can be changed, so the only problem is that they need a third moderator present to make any changes to the rules. We can’t count because we’re players.”
“But?” Chat looked at her expectantly.
Ladybug smirked coyly at him. “How much do you trust Nathanaël?”
Chat Noir gasped. “You don’t mean…”
“If we both agree that they can moderate the game, then a mortal would technically count. They could change the rules, to eliminate the quick departure clause, and then we’re golden.”
“Wait, the quick departure clause?”
“That way, we can end the game without being ejected from this world. No matter if or when we find out each others’ civilian identities – which by the way, I’m already suspecting and this entire escapade could potentially reveal – we can stay on Earth if we so choose. You can stay with Nathanaël.”
Chat shifted nervously. “Okay, but…”
“But?”
“Humans hate me. If we tell him, then…”
“Well you’re obviously not just going to go up to him and say ‘Hi, I’m Satan’.”
“No, but he’s going to find out.”
“Are you going to have a dalliance with him?”
“It’s not a dalliance.”
“Something serious, then?”
“Maybe.”
“Would you hide your identity even in a serious relationship?”
“I could… but you’re right. He’s got to find out sometime. Maybe still just keep away from saying I’m literally Satan.”
“That might be smart.”
“What about the akuma?”
“If you’re so concerned about the effects, perhaps it’s best to just put an end to it. After the quick departure clause is removed, we can tell each other our identities and end the game.”
“I meant, we caused the akuma. It’s our fault that Nathanaël went through that. Do you really think he’d even give me a chance? Satan not included, that is.”
“I think that if you like him, it’s worth a try.”
Chat Noir sighed. “Plagg’s going to be pissed when we end this.”
“I think he already knows the game is coming to an end.”
Chat shrugged. “Well, you said you already have a suspect for me, right? After the clause is removed, at least guess first so we don’t actually break the rules.”
Ladybug smiled. “I can do that.”
As she had told Chat Noir, she had guessed. After the entire episode that went down with Chloé and Nathanaël, it made sense. If Adrien liked Nathanaël it is only natural for him to go to his defense. That weird feeling of rightness would be not Adrien’s intent, but his purpose falling into design. A backlash against Chloe to make her improve as a person, that is exactly the concept Chat was trying to convey to her earlier in the game. Everything fell into place nicely when it wouldn’t have otherwise.
The only problem was that Marinette had a crush on Adrien.
Their plan went off without much of a hitch. Marinette noticed that Nathanaël looked dubious and perhaps a little pale when he stood awkwardly next to the sealed trashcan containing Plagg and Tikki. And he certainly jumped when he, no doubt, heard their voices, but he didn’t make a scene, and when Tikki finally returned to Marinette, she informed her of the rule change. “Good,” Marinette said.
She caught sight of Adrien across the courtyard, talking to Nathanaël with a worried expression. The moment the two parted, with Nathanaël finding Alix, Marinette swooped in, surprising Alya and Nino, who were nearby.
She took hold of Adrien’s arm, pulling him away from their two best friends, saying she needed to talk to him privately. Still holding onto him, she pulled him into a deserted hallway and faced him intently. “Adrien Agreste, I accuse you of being Chat Noir.”
Adrien’s baffled expression morphed into one of humor. “You ‘accuse’ me? If you don’t watch your tone, I might take it personally. Chat isn’t a criminal, you know.”
“I’m pretty sure vigilantism is illegal.” Marinette smiled. “But fine. Adrien Agreste, are you Chat Noir?”
Adrien bit his lip, a smile hidden in his eyes and skewing his lips. “So, Plagg, can I say I am if she’s already accused me?”
Plagg, who had, apparently, taken the appearance of a small black cat (with quite awkward proportions, though Tikki was no better) appeared next to them. “No, you can’t,” he said. With a flick of his ear (and Tikki’s appearance as well), Plagg rolled over lazily in the air where he hovered. “Now you can. The game is over. I removed all the magical boundaries so you can leave Paris and all that now. More importantly, now I can get away from you.”
“Aw, Plagg, don’t be that way.”
Marinette met Plagg’s serious gaze. “This kid is so in love, I swear. He’s hopeless. You have no idea how horrible it was to be stuck with him.”
“I think I have an idea,” Tikki said teasingly.
Marinette blushed.
“Oh, that’s precious. I totally forgot about that!” Plagg started howling with laughter when he met Tikki’s eyes. “Right, you two keep on doing your mortal thing, and we’re going to go talk to Hawkmoth.”
Tikki bumped gently into Plagg. “He’s going to feel so guilty when we tell him why we changed the rules.”
“I know. Alas.”
“Plagg!”
“It’s his own fault. He was supposed to be responsible about it. He knew no one was spotting him.”
“You’re terrible. At least pretend to care.”
The two floated away, bickering.
Marinette saw Adrien turn to her, and turned in kind. She knew her face was still red. “So, My Lady, should I ask?”
“Don’t you dare.”
“Right. Anyway, thank you for this. I really do owe you. If ever I can help you with anything, let me know. Do you plan to stay mortal?”
Marinette looked him over carefully. That’s the problem, isn’t it? I like him. Him, of all people. No, I guess that’s not fair of me to say. He’s a good person. If Nathanaël chooses him, then I wish them luck. Of course, if Nathanaël chooses him, then there’s a very real chance that he won’t be coming back for a long time. Marinette shook her head, out of resignation rather than in answer. “For a while, at least. I’d be sad to leave you after all this.”
“Aw, My Lady! That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me!”
Marinette rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay. We’re friends, right? I think I’ll stick around for a little. Besides, Alya would be worried sick if I vanished.”
“That’s true. I’m glad.”
“Yeah. And I can be your wingwoman. There’s no one better to devise ridiculous plots to get you and Nathanael together than the god of design, right?”
Adrien smiled brilliantly. “You’re the best, have I ever told you that?”
“Once or twice.”
“We should really get back to Nino and Alya.”
“Yeah.”
Marinette lingered, though, watching him leave for only a few seconds before setting off after him.
A lifetime, she thought, I have more. And I can wait.