A/n: Unedited.

A small upbeat tune wandered around the room as the hands played the keys. The boy smiled as his kwami danced and jumped to the song and landed on the key tiles from the piano. 

Adrien chuckled, looking down at the smiling Plagg. 

However, he stopped as he heard knocking on the door. Plagg yelped, flying inside the piano while Adrien looked back. 

His shoulders loosened as he saw Nathalie walking inside with her tablet. 

"Ready to go, Adrien?" she asked, looking up from her tablet. 

Adrien sighed, rubbing his nape. "Nathalie, since this is going to take a while, can I bring a friend?"

Nathalie took a moment but seeing as Adrien could get bored at the museum she nodded. Adrien visibly beamed and pulled out his phone to call. He stopped as he saw his two best friends' contacts. 

Nino or Gwen. 

Adrien thought back if Gwen was working today, seeing that it is Saturday and she spends the whole day working but thought back again to see if she had the day off. 

His thumb subconsciously pressed on a contact, making him look down and shrug as he waited for the call. 

"Whassup, bro?" he heard Nino from the other line. 

"Nino, I've got to go back to the Grévin Wax Museum. Do you want to come with me this time?" Adrien just realized that he spent some and most of the time with Gwendy that he hardly spends it with his other friend. 

"Sure thing, dude. I'll be right there–" The call was cut off which made Adrien frown and look back down at the phone. Did he just hang up? It was still on call and pulled the phone to check. "Uh, eh, actually. Alya and I are hanging together today. Wait! Do you think Alya could come too?" Nino grinned. 

Adrien turned back to Nathalie who was patiently waiting. "Can I bring two friends?"

Nathalia was quiet for a moment but nodded. Adrien grinned and turned back to the phone but saw that Nino was busy with something and waited. He couldn't overhear what Alya was saying but waited as Nino came back again with a grin. 

"Do you think Marinette could come too? That way you Marinette could–"

"Shh!"

"Uh, she could...stare at the statues with us...together! Marinette loves the...she loves statues! Which is perfect since the wax museum is, uh, full of them!" Nino nervously chuckled as Alya facepalmed. 

Adrien smiled nervously, looking up at Nathalie. "Can we make that...three?"

Nathalie rolled her eyes but nodded nonetheless. 

"But Marinette! What about my superhero costume? Hmph! Everyone always forgets about me!" Adrien overheard a squeaky voice from the other line. 

"Sorry, guys. I'm looking after Manon this afternoon. Go ahead without me." Marinette spoke from Alya's phone. 

Adrien saw the glance Nino was giving him and made him nervously look up at Nathalie again. "Would four work? Actually, more like three and a half."

"...I'll see what I can do."

"Don't forget Gwen, bud!" Nino grins, oblivious to Alya's look of disbelief. "I heard she had the day off today."

Hearing the news, Adrien grinned and looked up at Nathalie but stopped as Nathalie nodded to him and walked out of the room. He blinked and waved goodbye to Nino and went to call Gwen. 

🕸🕷🕸

Gwen grunts as she pulled back her fist and threw it on the punching back, releasing a gust of air. Her eye twitched as she saw a small rip from the bag and grew irritated. 

"Good punch!"

Gwen sighed and grabbed her towel, draping it over her shoulders, and sat on the bench, looking up at Anansi. 

"I'm trying to hold back strength, though. Don't want to break any more ribs," Gwen joked as Anansi grinned at the girl. 

It was a warm afternoon at the gym. Gwen already expected to see Alya's older sister there but didn't think that she would interact with her but here she is. Gwen didn't mind it. In fact, she wanted to see what kind of moves the woman had to learn. 

She's almost losing her touch in fighting and coming here was the idea. Her goal at that precise moment was to bring down her strength a little and work on her speed. Her eyes darkened when she thought of that woman. 

Mayura. 

The woman was experienced in fighting and was agile like her but was able to dodge her attacks. Gwen knew most heroes came from kids and adults but when they are akumatized, their body strains when they fight because they are not experienced in her book. 

But Mayura. The woman knew how to fight and defend herself very well. Even though it was not as strong as hers, it still bothered her that she had a long way to go. 

Gwen look back up as Anansi threw a high kick at the punching bag, causing it to swing away with a thump. Whenever Gwen throws a punch or kick, she subconsciously causes the damage from the inside and not from the outside which makes the bag unable to move like Anansi. 

Gwen groaned as Anansi grabbed her wrists and pulled her over to the bag. "So you're telling me that you don't want to use your strength much when fighting? What are you looking for?"

"Speed and agility?" Gwen shrugged. Most of the people who fight her are slow to get her unless she's not on guard. 

Anansi goes to speak when Gwen's phone rings. Her eyes wandered to the bench, seeing Adrien's face plastered on it. Gwen chuckled, walking over and grabbing her phone, answering it. 

"Omen! Nice of you to show your face on this small monitor," Gwen grinned. "What can I do for you?"

"Gwendy!" Adrien grinned, making Gwen's heart punch her ribcage. "I'm going to the wax museum. Want to come?"

Gwen looked back to Anansi who was now busy with her sets and back at the phone. "Sure, what time? I have to shower."

"I'll come by after I pick up the others. See you later," Adrien waved and hang up. 

Gwen smiled but stopped as she realized that Adrien is basically on his way. She cursed and grabbed her things and bolted out of the gym. "Bye Anansi!" she shouted as she flew out of the door and out to the street to the apartment. 

"Stupid Omen! A little heads-up would have been nice!"

🕸🕷🕸

Adrien sat on the passenger's seat as Nino, Alya, Manon, and Marinette were in the back. He instructed his bodyguard to pick up Gwen but to go for a few circles for the girl to get ready. 

In the back, Alya was already starting her master plan between Adrien and Marinette, unaware of the internal conflict Nino had about it. 

Gwedrien all the way ✊🏽😔.

"You leave Adrien alone, and then, I'll leave Marinette alone–" Alya whispered but Manon was able to hear it as she loudly questioned her actions. 

"Hey! Why are you leaving Marinette all alone? Don't you like her?" Manon asked, looking up at the couple. 

"Huh? What are you guys talking about?" Marinette blinked out of her daze and looked back at Alya and Nino. 

"Nothing! It's got nothing to do with us leaving you and Adrien alone–" Nino grunts as Alya elbows him. "Uh...to...look at the statues as, uh, just friends, of course!" he nervously laughs, making Marinette gasp. 

"Don't worry, Manon," Adrien smiled, not looking back at the others. "It's just that Alya and Nino are boyfriend and girlfriend and they probably want to spend some time alone together. Without us."

Marinette sighed in relief, waving her hands on her face to calm down the heat flooding her cheeks. 

"Really?" Manon blinked. "But I thought you and Marinette were boyfriend and girlfriend."

Marinette's eyes widened and turned to the little girl in disbelief. 

"She has a lot of photos of you all over her bedroom," Manon pointed out. 

Adrien laughed at the little girl's innocence. "That's because she loves fashion and I'm a fashion model."

"But then why are there so many hearts drawn on them?" Manon obliviously asked as Marinette loudly laughed nervously. "Those aren't hearts! Those are, uh, upside-down spades! I was just coming up with some new, uh, patterns, for my fabric designs."

Marinette turned to Manon and hurriedly covered her ears and leaned to Alya with clenched teeth. "You told me you wouldn't tell Nino!" she hissed. 

"I haven't told him. Right, Nino?" I didn't tell you anything," Alya elbowed her boyfriend who yelped at the pain. 

"She didn't tell me. And besides, I told her I wouldn't tell," Nino whispered. 

"So you didn't tell anyone what Alya didn't tell you. Or did you?" Marinette narrowed her eyes. 

"What are you guys talking about?" Manon looked up at the teens as Marinette let her hands fall. 

"Nothing."

The car stopped after a moment of silence. The bodyguard nodded to the girl who was running out of the apartment. Adrien opened his window as Gwen peeked in, grinning at the group. 

"Hey guys," she smiled and looked to the backseat, seeing it full. 

Marinette smiled at her and stepped out of the car as Gwen entered and placed Manon on her lap as Marinette stepped inside again. 

"Gwen!" Manon squealed, hugging the young teen. 

Gwen chuckled, hugging the girl's waist in concern as the girl jumped around. "Careful. We don't want to get into an accident. 

"Okay!"

Adrien chuckled, glancing back to Gwen who smiled at him back and started having a small argument with Nino. 

🕸🕷🕸

Arriving at the museum, they were met with a petite woman in a red dress. Adrien was the first to step out and greet the woman with a smile as the others followed. 

"Hi, Véronique," Adrien smiled. 

"Thanks for coming on such short notice, Adrien," Véronique greeted. "I'm sorry, but a piece of your statue went missing yet again! Just goes to show how popular you are," she teased as she guided everyone inside. 

"Look, Marinette," Manon grinned, holding her hand. "We get to go in even though it's closed! It's like we're princesses." She stopped as she noticed Marinette wasn't paying attention. "Hey! Did you hear me?!"

Behind them, Alya was whispering to Nino about their plan. "Be careful this time, right? Marinette's the only one that's got to spill the beans to Adrien–not us! So no matter what Adrien asks you, just deny. Okay?"

Nino glanced at Gwen behind them who was distracted with the other statues and grimaced. He turned back to Alya and nodded. 

Gwen followed not far from them as Manon ran ahead of the group and look around. She stopped as she saw a Jagged Stone statue with Fang and grinned excitedly. "Mr. Jagged! Can you give me an autygraph, please?"

Her smile dropped as Jagged only kept staring at her. "Why isn't anyone paying attention to me today?!"

Véronique chuckled, walking over to the little girl. "That's because this isn't the real Jagged Stone. It's a wax statue of him. The Grévin Wax Museum is the kingdom of illusions!"

Manon's eyes widened in awe, looking back at the statue. "Woah! But he looks for reals!" She grinned as she made silly faces at it and ran off. 

Gwen stepped in and looked at the statues closely. Her eyes widened as they got every single speck of the man very well. Back in New York, they have it slightly way off but she's impressed by how they look exactly like the person. 

"Pretty cool, right?" Gwen didn't bother looking next to her as Adrien spoke up. 

"You're getting one too, right?" she grinned. "I wonder if it's going to be small or tall," she teased as Adrien chuckled, shaking his head as he placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her back to the small tour before going to the factory. 

"The museum opened in 1882. We have about 200 wax statues on exhibition at any one time. We bring new celebrities in on a regular basis, the most recent one being Adrien," Véronique smiled. 

Gwen smiled as she paid attention to the woman while Adrien turned to Nino. "So if I've got this right, you and Alya want to spend some alone time together, yeah?"

Nino tensed up. 

So no matter what Adrien asks you, just deny.

"Not at all! That's not why we came here at all," Nino nervously grinned, making Adrien blink. "Oh! Well, then it's real nice of you guys to come here just to keep me company."

"That's not why we came here at all, either!"

Adrien frowned, more confused. "Really? So why did you want to come here then? Did it have something to do with Marinette?"

"Uh, no! You've got it all wrong, dude," Nino glanced back, his nervousness more wrecking as Alya smiled at him and gave him thumbs-up. "Not with Marinette, or with you, and even less with you and Marinette alone by yourselves!"

He glanced back again and sweatdropped as Alya now signaled him to zip his lips. 

"I'm confused," Adrien frowned. "Marinette wants to be alone with me?"

Nino looked back at Alya for help but proved futile as Alya urged him to keep going. "Marinette alone with you? Uh, no way, dude! You couldn't be further from the truth. It's the exact opposite, actually."

Adrien blinked, "Marinette doesn't want to be with me?" he looked back at Marinette sadly. Did he make her uncomfortable in any way? "Does she hate me?"

"No, no!" Nino's eyes widened. "Dude, she likes you a lot! I mean, no! I mean, yes? I mean...barely? She barely likes you a lot, so there you have it."

"You sure?" Adrien frowned. "I'd be really bummed if I knew Marinette didn't like me."

Nino sighed and turned to Gwen, hoping the girl could cheer Adrien up but deadpanned as the girl was now conversing with Véronique about the statues. 

'You had one job, Gwen,' Nino thought in irritation. 

🕸🕷🕸

Véronique opened the door as everyone entered. Gwen's eyes widened at the place and grinned at the place as head sculptures and paint were everywhere. 

"Welcome to the workshop!" Véronique smiled. "This is where our sculptors create and repair all of our statues." She guided the group to the back and were instantly hit with a strong smell and heat on their faces. "And this is where we store our wax. It comes straight from our own beehives up on the roof of the museum. 

Walking back to the workshop, Gwen saw Théo already waiting for them as he prepared for the statue. 

"So I heard we have to do your hand again. Right, Véronique?" he turned to the woman who nodded. 

Gwen and Nino stepped to a head statue of Thomas Astruc and gasped at the hair. Nino even ran his finger over his beard. "The beard's really well done." He yelped as Gwen slapped his hand away. 

"It's genuine yak hair," Théo answered and had Adrien inside a box to put some wax in it. 

Véronique stopped as her phone rang, seeing it came from an important upcoming meeting. She apologetically looked at the group. "Okay, we have to leave you for a while, if you don't mind."

Théo noticed the look and grabbed his timer, placing it on the table. "It'll ding when it's over. We'll be back as soon as possible."

"Take your time," Adrien smiled as the adults left the room. 

Gwen smirked, walking over to him and looking at the box. "How does it feel? Is it cold or warm?"

"You ask the weirdest questions, Gwendy," Adrien chuckled. "I heard Ghost-Spider's statue is here too."

"No way," Gwen beamed but pouted. "They made me smaller than Chatnoir, huh? Pisses me off."

Adrien sweatdropped but laughed nonetheless. 

Not far from them, Manon was looking at the doll heads in awe. She stopped as she also saw Nino's head statue on the table and gasped. "Oh! I didn't know Nino was a famous person, too!"

Nino screamed out, making Manon scream too but laughed. "My turn! My turn! I want to play statues, too! Marinette!" she grabbed Marinette's hand. "Come on! Let's go and play hide and seek and statues in the museum!"

"We can't, Manon. We came here to keep Adrien company," Marinette frowned worriedly as Manon pouted. 

Alya glanced at Nino and winked at him who nodded at her. "We'll play with you," Alya turned to Manon. Marinette, you take good care of Adrien. He must not get bored a single second!"

Alya turned to Gwen and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to the others. Gwen blinked but shrugged, waving at Adrien before leaving the room. 

"Uh, what?" Marinette's eyes widened in horror. "But I-! Not! Don't leave me alone with him!" she sighed as Alya shut the door on them. She sighed and turned to Adrien who was already looking at him. "I mean–That's not what I meant to say...I just...I..."

Adrien frowned, "Are you mad at me, Marinette?"

Marinette gasped, accidentally dropping plastic eyeballs on the floor, and started picking them up. "No! Of course not. Why would you say that?" 

"Because Nino told me–"

"I have no idea what Nino told you, but whatever he said, it's totally not true," Marinette tried. 

"Oh," Adrien blinked. "So that means you like me, right? I was afraid you didn't like me."

"Of course I like you," Marinette smiled lovingly. "Well, like, uh, like! But not, like that! What I mean is, you're not exactly a 'good friend,' you know?"

Adrien pouted, looking away. "Okay."

Marinette's eyes widened as she saw him sad. 'How does Gwen do this?!' she groaned. 

"But then, if I'm not a good friend, what am I to you?" Adrien sadly asked. 

"You're..." Marinette struggled. "Toilets! I-I really got to go to the toilet now," she immediately ran out of the workshop. 

"See you later," Adrien sighed and gasped as a floating head flew at him. 

"Oooh, Aadrieeen!" Plagg teased. "What is it with the girls?" he playfully played with the doll's eyes. "At least you don't have these kinds of troubles with cheese!"

Adrien chuckled, "Stop pranking, Plagg. Put that head back down before you cataclysm it."

Plagg laughs mischievously as he places the head back. Adrien chuckled before frowning at what happened earlier. "I'm sure I did something to mess up our friendship by accident. I'm so clueless about these things!"

Plagg deadpanned, basically pointing at Adrien's dog tag. They stop as the timer went off and Adrien opened the box, removing his hand from it and standing up. "I got to make it up to her."

🕸🕷🕸

"What's the relationship between you and Adrien?"

Gwen blinked as Alya leaned her face close to her as Nino sweated nervously. Gwen sighed, realizing Marinette hadn't told her best friend, but this was an awkward situation. 

"You can say...crush."

Nino deadpanned, internally facepalming at her bluntness. Alya's eyes widened and took a step back in shock. "What?! I thought you were Marinette's friend?! How did this happen?!"

Gwen sweatdropped, rubbing her nape. "I'm not sure. It just happened. I don't plan to do anything about it as I'm currently focused on other things."

Gwen stepped aside and went after Manon. Alya frowned, walking after her while Nino sighed. 

"Manon, where are you hiding?" Gwen called out, looking around. She smirked as she spotted the girl in the heroes and villains section, between the heroes. 

Gwen couldn't help herself watching the akumatized victims. They looked so lifelike. She stopped in front of Volpina and sighed, frowning as she realized Lila is a victim of Hawkmoth. 

"Excuse me, lady. What exactly is your superpower, making people fall super in love?" Gwen heard Nino ask. She turned around, seeing the couple standing in front of Lady Wifi and Nino teasing Alya. 

"I don't need a superpower for that," Alya smirked before frowning. "I know that we're not really ourselves when we're akumatized, but it's...weird to see ourselves like that. As supervillains."

"It's because you don't look at them properly," Nino smiled at her. "These aren't supervillains, these are all the people Ladybug, Chatnoir, and Ghost-Spider have saved."

"You're right," Alya smiled, hugging Nino. She giggled as she felt Nino tickling her, pushing him gently away from her. "Hey! What are you doing?" she giggled. 

"Oooh! I've been akumatized, now I'm Tickle Man!" Nino screamed as he started chasing after Alya, leaving Gwen and Manon behind. 

Gwen chuckled, amused at their playful banter. She turned around, finding her statue. She chuckled again as it was the old suit she had. Not only that, they made her taller just like before. 

"I look like that?" Gwen asked herself, seeing her suit stuck to her skin. "Damn."

"Boo!" Manon scream as she jumped out of the three heroes. Gwen flinched, not seeing the small girl in front of her. Gwen loudly laughed, throwing her head back. "You scared me! Go hide again."

"Okay!" Manon ran off. 

🕸🕷🕸

Adrien was in the elevator, thinking to himself while Plagg kept talking. 

"Seriously, who cares about friendship?" Plagg asked. 

"Marinette's important to me, so I'll do whatever it takes to make her feel good when she's around," Adrien replied as he stepped out of the elevator, seeing himself surrounded by many statues. 

"Like giving her cheese?"

"Like cheering her up," Adrien smiled. "Making her laugh, doing pranks like you always do for me," he petted Plagg. 

Adrien stopped as he spotted Marinette coming into view and posing, making Plagg confused. "What are you doing?" Plagg whispered as he hid. 

"Shh, I can't let her think it's the real me," Adrien whispered back as Marinette stopped at his statue, yelping in shock at him. 

"Oh, it's only a statue," Marinette sighed. "How come I didn't see it earlier?" She frowned as she took a look closer at him. "Wow...it looks so...real," she reached to his face, feeling the smooth warm skin. "The wax is nearly as hot as his skin."

Marinette stopped and looked back as Gwen stepped out of the hallway, looking for Manon. She really sucks at this game. 

"Hey, Mari," Gwen waved and walked towards her. 

Adrien paled for a moment, knowing Gwen would instantly recognize him. "Check it out," Marinette smiled. "Adrien's statue."

Gwen hummed, looking at him. "Huh. It looks like him."

"That's the point," Marinette giggled, looking back to Adrien while Gwen narrowed her eyes at it and smirked. Gwen walked towards the "statue" and poked his chest. 

"Oh my," Gwen mused out loud. "Adrien made him smaller here and more feminine. Cute, cute. Not only that, his nose looks smaller than the original one."

Gwen smirked widely as she saw Adrien's eye twitch at her words. 

"Oh! Not only that! They got the clothes that he wears on a daily basis. Really," Gwen shook her head. "For a rich boy, they ought to change his clothes...right, Adrien?" She clenched her fists and lightly punched his abdomen, making him cough over. 

Marinette's eyes widened in shock and yelped. 

"I...hate you," Adrien coughed. 

"That's what you get for being stupid," Gwen joked. 

"Not funny! Not funny at all!" Marinette frowned, punching her fists on Adrien's chest before backing away. 

Adrien frowned worriedly. Plan didn't work at all. He walked towards the girl and sat beside her. "Forgive me...even after all these months with you guys, I guess I'm still not used to being a good friend."

Gwen sadly frowned at them and goes to keep looking for Manon but Marinette grabbed her wrist, pulling her beside her. 

"My nose isn't that big," Adrien pouted, touching his nose. 

"I was joking," Gwen deadpanned. 

Adrien sighed, "I'm really sorry, Marinette. I was hoping that you at least like me as a friend. I just keep messing everything up."

"I like you a little bit, just like a regular human being," she smiled. 

Gwen's senses flared, making her eyes widen as footsteps came near them. The three gasped as Hawkmoth stood in front of them. 

"Hawkmoth?!" The three gasped as Hawkmoth bolted towards them. 

Gwen immediately grabbed Marinette's collar and pushed her towards Adrien as she grabbed an umbrella from Aurore's statue. 

"Go get some help!" Gwen shouted at the pair. 

Adrien's eyes widened and grabbed Marinette's wrist to pull her away but Marinette was rooted on her spot, worried for the girl. 

"Gwen!" Marinette shouted. 

"Don't worry about me! Go!" Gwen shouted as she swung the umbrella, hitting the man back. 

"Oh, no! You're going to stay and play with me this time!" Manon spoke from the intercom. 

"Manon?!" then three gasped. Gwen's eyes widened in worry, realizing she left Manon for too long. 

"Nope! I am the Puppeteer, and I want to play with you and my statues!"

"Go!" Gwen shouted as Adrien finally managed to drag Marinette with him. "Be careful!" he shouted, looking back. 

"Don't worry about me!" Gwen shouted back as she turned back to the main objective. 

Seeing the pair gone, Gwen gripped the umbrella tightly and swung it down at the statue, breaking off its arm. Gwen webbed its feet and turned around, swinging it in front of her to the ground in a splat. 

Gwen webbed its head and pulled it, breaking it from its body. She panted as the statue was now in pieces. She looked around and punched her fists together, having her suit on. 

She stood over the pieces as her partners landed next to her. 

"Whoah! You've defeated Hawkmoth!" Chat's eyes widened and grimaced at the mess. "Brutal." Chat looked closely, "Ohh, a wax statue." 

"The Puppeteer is back!" Ladybug nodded. "She must be here somewhere."

"We got to go and save her!" Chat followed along as the three ran towards the rest of the villains.

"The Hero's Room. That's where she found Hawkmoth's statue," Ghost informed as she ran ahead. 

"After you, Kitten," Chat nodded. 

The three kept running but Ghost's senses flared and jumped over. Ladybug and Chat took that as a sign and did the same thing, causing The Bubbler and Lady Wifi to attack each other accidentally, immobilizing them from the fight. 

Ladybug spotted Puppeteer next to the other villains and threw her yo-yo at her. Her eyes widened as she felt the solid figure and pulled it back. "It's not her. It's a statue! Look," she pointed to the statue. "The real Puppeteer had a wand, remember?"

"Then this Puppeteer must've taken it. That's where the akuma must be," Chat nodded. 

Ghost frowned as she realized the middle of the room was missing. Where did they go? She stopped as the rest of the villain statues moved from their spots and started walking towards them. 

"Okay, who wants to play red light, green light?" Chat joked as he and the others prepared their stance. 

Guitar Villain and Dark Cupid attacked Ladybug while Chat fought a mummy. Ghost was unfortunate to fight Timebreaker and Volpina. 

"Nobody's for hopscotch, either?" Chat joked as he dodged their attacks. 

"Enough jokes, Kitty," Ladybug spoke as she attacked. "There's a little girl at stake!"

Ghost broke Timebreaker in pieces as Chat suddenly pops up and stood next to her. "You know, Kitten. the worse the situation, the more I realize how amazing you are."

Ghost's eye twitched and punched Volpina's head, breaking it off the body and making Chat flinch. 

"Come again?" Ghost asked as Chat shook his head and nervously smiled. 

"How do you do that?" Ladybug turned to them and dodged an attack from Pixelator. 

"Hmm?" Ghost turned to her, raising her fists and punching the air. "Oh, you know. Throw weak jabs and a strong hook as an illusion."

"No, I mean, how is it easy for you to say these nice things to her, even in the worse situations?" Ladybug turned to Chat after she slices the mummy. "The really important things are the hardest to say, aren't they?"

"It's precisely when something is important, that it's important to say it, no matter what," Chat grinned, glancing at Ghost who finished off another statue. 

Ladybug gasped, turning as she sees Thomas Astruc's wax head and plastic eyeballs falling down the stairs. "The workshop–She's got to be there!" she takes off. 

"Got it!" Chat shouts as he kicks the Mime. 

Chat was unfortunate as the Mime lassos him and trips him. He is later pinned down by Darkblade, Reflekta, and Evillustrator. Chat visibly cringed as Astruc bit his finger and tripped to take his ring off. 

"Ahh, that's so gross," he yelped as Kung Food, and Princess Fragrance," landed on top of him. 

"Ghosty? A little help," Chat spoke. 

Ghost just finished off another statue and runs over to help him when her senses flared, making her pale and drop to her knees. She shakily raised her hand, her eyes widening as she was visibly shaking. 

"What is this?" Ghost gulped and turned around. 

Her eyes widened as her statue now stood in front of her, silent as it stared down at her. But that's not what worried her. Her body showed colorful veins on her suit. 

"Shit," Ghost cursed as GS (Ghost statue) clenched its fist, glowing purple, and punched the ground. Ghost jumped away but yelped as a blue portal was below her, causing her to fall through and land in front of GS and grunts as it punched her with the purple hand, making her fly back and crash against the wall. 

GS walked towards her, its hand now glowing red as chains grew from the ground and grabbed Ghost's wrists and ankles. Ghost gasped as she pulled on the hold. 

"Ghost?! What's going on?!" she heard Chat call from the villains. 

GS didn't let her answer as its hand glowed purple again and grasped her throat, burning it. Ghost's eyes widened and choked, screaming loudly at the pain. 

This instantly alerted Chat as he shoved himself out of everyone's hold and swung his staff, breaking everything apart. He panted as he finished off Kung Food and ran over to where Ghost-Spider is. 

Chat ran over and swung his staff but gasped as his body was glowing blue and landed far away from them. Ghost Spider gritted her teeth and pulled on the chains, breaking them and swinging it on GS' face, swatting it away from her. 

Ghost looked down at her feet and kicked them off the chains and looked up. GS stood up and glowed red as all the wax pieces now crowded together and created a whole flock of birds and attacked her. 

Ghost cursed and jumped to the ceiling and webbing herself away. Chat jumped in and used his cataclysm but GS turned to him and used the space stone again, throwing him off and landing on Ghost Spider with a yelp. 

Ghost begrudgingly sat up and bolted towards GS again, webbing its face. GS stopped and tried to remove the webbing but Ghost was quicker, taking out her long dagger and stabbing its face to the ground. GS squirmed and used the power stone to throw her off but Ghost grabbed its wrist and placed it on its chest, burning it to wax. 

Ladybug ran down to meet them but Ghost webbed her chest and threw her to Chat. Chat's eyes widened and raised his hands in defense when his cataclysmed hand touched her chest. Chat's eyes widened in horror but sighed as it was a wax statue. 

Chat pants, standing up to meet Ghost. "How are you keeping up?"

Ghost coughed, turning away as she lifted her mask slightly to spit at the ground. "I'll manage. Come on."

🕸🕷🕸

They ran to the Workshop, seeing Ladybug now pinned down by other statues. Chat stretched his staff on a hand that was close to getting her miraculous. Ghost swung her blades, cutting all of the statues in pieces. 

Ladybug smiled as Chat helped her up. "Thanks, guys." 

Chat took notice of her Lucky Charm, being a cardboard tube. "Have you found out what to do with your Lucky Charm?"

Ladybug looked around and grinned as all of the materials she needs is in the room. "I do now!"

🕸🕷🕸

Ladybug grunts as Chat brought her inside the wax room. "Let me go, you fake!" she struggled in his hold. 

Puppeteer cackled, "I've almost beat you, Ladybug! Chatnoir, give me her earrings!"

Ladybug's eyes widened in worry as Chat reached over to one of her ears but froze, making Puppeteer confused. "Chatnoir! give me her earrings!"

"What's happening, Puppeteer?" Hawkmoth asked in her mind. 

"I don't know, my wand stopped working!" Puppeteer frowned at her wand. 

"Surprise!" Ladybug grinned as she pulled out her makeshift wand. "I swapped them earlier. You lose Puppeteer!"

"Heh! I don't care! If you break my wand, I'll just turn them into real wax statues!" she removed a cloak and revealed Véronique and Theo tied up and hovering over the molten wax.

"No!" Ladybug's eyes widened. "Don't do that! Fine, I'll give you your wand back."

Puppeteer snickered and flew over and took the fake wand from Ladybug's hand. She stopped, however, as she noticed Chatnoir's ring beeping. "Huh? What is that? Hey!" she exclaims as she started to put things together. "If you're the real one, then that means that–Ah!"

Ladybug was quick to grab the real wand from her hand and break it. 

"No!" Puppeteer screamed as an akuma flew out of the wand. 

Ghost bursts into the ran and jumped over to get Véronique and Theo out of the rope and pulled them aside for safety as Ladybug purified the akuma and brought everything back to normal. 

The Puppeteer turned back to Manon.

The three heroes grinned and pounded their fists in victory. "Pound it!"

🕸🕷🕸

"There we are," Véronique smiled as she and Theo finally set Adrien's statue next to his father's. "All back together again."

"Hey, wait, Manon has to see this! Oh, but where is she?" Marinette teased as she and the others looked around. 

"Maybe she's behind the weird statue over there!" Alya played along as they all walked towards Manon who was frozen and posing on the stadium. 

"Boo!" Manon shouted as they all screamed in shock, making her laugh. "Gotcha!"

🕸🕷🕸

Nino and Alya decided to walk home while Adrien took the rest of the girls home, dropping off Manon first. Marinette and Gwen waved goodbye and entered the car with Adrien. 

It was quiet for a moment but Gwen knew not to interfere with the silence. 

"I'm sorry–" Marinette and Adrien stopped as they spoke simultaneously. 

"I'm sorry," Marinette apologized. "I didn't know the statue was you."

"No, no...it's my fault. When you left the workshop, I was worried that you were mad at me. It made me do the stupid prank, and..." Adrien also apologized. 

"Of course I wasn't mad at you! I'm sorry that I made you believe that," Marinette frowned. 

"Is that true? We're still friends, you and me?"

"Of course! But to be safe, maybe we should stop playing pranks on each other," Marinette smiled at him. 

"I know, I'm not good with jokes. The girl I'm in love with doesn't think they're funny either but I try."

Marinette and Gwen both stiffen up at the news. 

"The girl that you–? You're...you're in love with?" Marinette's eyes widened. 

"Are you okay, Marinette?" Adrien frowned as he now noticed the slight change in her demeanor. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'm glad we're friends," Marinette turned away. 

The bodyguard arrived in front of the bakery as Marinette stepped out of the car, not looking back in fear of crying in front of him. 

"See you tomorrow at school?" Adrien asked as Marinette nodded and closed the door, entering her home. 

Gwen looked down at her hands and sighed. 

Figures. 

If only she knew that Adrien was lovingly staring at her at this very moment. 

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ Next Episode: Desperada ♥

A/N: memes created by halla92455

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Published: May 3, 2023

Word Count: 6033