"Why a blue scarf?" Shoto asked.

I shrugged. "It's complicated."

"How so?"

"Just trust me." My costume was still pretty normal, except for the addition of the blue scarf and the green piping on my suit. I pushed my mask onto my face, still having the vertigo of wearing my suit but not being transformed, Plagg complaining, and my mask not being attached to my skin where no one can tear it off. The freaky thing about the scarf, it was the exact same on my father gave me for my birthday, but more ratty, as if I was an alley cat.

"I think it looks awesome!" Mineta said. "I wonder if Marinette's costume will make her breasts look bigger, kinda like Tsuyu's..."

I punched Mineta's head. "Don't talk that way about my lady."

"Ow! Sorry dude! Protective much?"

"When if comes to my lady, very."

"Oh crap!" Shoto said, looking at me. "Adrien, you went full cat mode."

"Huh?" I asked, feeling my fake ears. They were covered in fur. Maybe I can just keep my eyes the same way, for some weird sense of familiarity.

"You still have the eyes."

"I was planning on that. What better way to keep your identity secret than to have cat eyes?" I said, pulling on my boots. Somehow, it was the same level of skin tightness my usual suit is, just not sticking to my suit.

"Well, let's go." Izuku said, opening the door. "All Might doesn't like to wait too long..."

"Unfortunately, Deku is right." Katsuki said, adjusting his grenades. "Let's go."

Once we got to the training area, Marinette ran forward, looking adorable in her red and black costume, with yellow details, hitting her Chinese heritage on the nail.

"I don't know how, but this feels even more skin tight than my usual costume." She complained.

"It feels the same to me. You can still move, right?"

"Yeah. Obviously." She said, crossing her arms. "Just saying, it feels just as weird as when I transformed the first time."

"All right class!" All Might yelled, standing on a rock. "Before we start everyone's training, I want to see where Marinette and Adrien stand in fighting against villains."

Marinette snorted quietly. "Easy as taking down Puppeteer."

"That are their classmates."

"Up that up to Stoneheart?" I asked.

"The two students I have chosen for them to go up against are Midoriya and Todoroki."

"Oh no." I said, gripping Marinette's hand. "His two strongest students. He doesn't wanna make this easy on us..."

"Of course not. We're literally teenage super heroes. He wants to see what we could do in our prime." Marinette said, studying Izuku. "They're both pretty big threats. Izuku has super strength, and can smash things. Like, a lot of things. His power is similar to All Might's, meaning that it depends on what smash he uses. Detroit causes wind to go everywhere. That's all I know though. What about Todoroki?"

"Shoto's pretty strong too. Out of the side with the red hair, he can create fire. Out of the side with his white, he can create ice. Both are really powerful. This is gonna be hard."

"The good thing about Izuku is that he can only use 5% of his power. Which, is a lot, but if he uses more, his bones break."

"He told you this?"

"Yeah."

"Midoriya, Todoroki, you two are the villains. Marinette, Adrien, you're the heroes. The object is to either capture the villains or to retrieve the bomb they're hiding in the building. Heroes, you have five minutes to prepare. Villains, go find the bomb."

As soon as Todoroki and Midoriya went into the building, I looked at Marinette. "Lucky Charm first, that way, you'll have energy in there and won't have to wait a third of our time."

Marinette nodded. "Good plan. Lucky Charm!"

Two pairs of ice skates, one with black and green, another with red and black, formed in her hands.

She looked exhausted, staring at the skates. "Two? Of the same object? In one go? That's new."

"Either way, how ever we use them, I claim the black and green ones."

Marinette scoffed. "Obviously. Shoto... He can make ice... I think I know what his plan is."

"Really? Just by getting ice skates?"

"Yeah. He's gonna coat the whole building in ice to make it harder to reach the fake bomb. He might even have Izuku pull a Stormy Weather and use his quirk to blow us back. Granted, skates won't solve the going back, but they'll help us move around faster."

As if on cue, the entire building was coated in ice.

"Told ya." Marinette said, reaching into her vest, behind her back, grabbing a yoyo. "Do you have your pole?"

I reached into my boot and, sure enough, there was my pole. "Yeah."

"We can use your pole to help us stay in one spot, sorta." Marinette said, looking at the building. "All Might gave me the capture tape. Chances are, Shoto also put ice around the bomb to prevent us from touching it's surface. So maybe..."

"We can trick him into using his fire to melt everything!" I finished. "But how-"

"Easy. I can get behind Izuku and put the tape around his wrists without him noticing. That counts as capturing. Shoto will think that we're gonna go after him next, so he'll use fire to burn off the tape. Then, he'll accidentally melt all the ice, including the ice around the bomb. While you distract him using Cataclysm to keep him in the floor, I'll go and retrieve the bomb."

"Good plan. As always."

"Thanks." Marinette just stared at the building, not meeting my eyes.

"Are you... Um... Doing okay?"

"Huh?"

"Are you doing okay with me being Cat Noir?"

"Well, I'm surprised by it, but it could be worse."

"Worse?"

"That's... Not what I mean."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I mean, I've had a crush on you for the longest time. Finding out that you're my partner in crime fighting, it was a shock. Especially knowing that I rejected you many times..."

"You had a crush on me?"

"Yeah. I still do." Marinette's face went red. "Um... Let's talk about this later."

"I have a crush on you too." I blurted out.

"No, you don't." Marinette sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"You have a crush on Ladybug. Not Marinette." Marinette said, looking at me in the eyes, something she wouldn't have done in France. "You only like one side of me. When you like both, come back and talk."

"Heroes, start!" All Might yelled.

"We'll talk about this later. Just hand me the skates." I said as Marinette plopped the skates into my hand.

We quickly strapped them on and started skating across the ice until we got to a staircase.

"Did you account for this?" I asked.

She nodded. "You jump, I'll fly. When we get to the next floor, use your hearing to see if you can hear Izuku or Shoto hearing."

"As my lady commands." I sassed, jumping up the stairs.

"You're not angry with me, are you?" She asked, flying next to me.

"Of course not. You've done nothing wrong." I responded, not being able to look at her. In truth, I've always had a slight crush on Marinette, her being one of my closest friends and all, but I've also had a huge one on Ladybug. Knowing that they were the same person should've my decision easy: but in reality, it made it harder. Did I really love both sides of her? Or did I just love the idea of her?

"Look, I know that you probably only like the Ladybug side of me-"

"That's not true. Why do you think I put you in high places when you're Marinette instead of stuffing you into an elevator like I do when it's Chloé?"

"Because I'm the princess that needs to be protected."

"Now I know that you can handle yourself, but back then, I didn't. You used to be this cute, small girl who didn't look like she would hurt a fly, and me, being the super hero, had to protect her smile from being corrupted from the bad people of this world."

"You-You thought I was cute?"

"Yeah. As both Ladybug and Marinette. Mar, I like both sides of you. No, I take that back. I love you, all of you, with or without the mask. Say you love me too."

"Of course I love you!" She horsely whispered, probably not wanting to have Izuku hear them. "There's a reason I kissed you during Dark Cupid, you idiot!"

"But I'm your idiot." I smirked.

"Yes, you are." Marinette said, grabbing my arm. "Now listen, please. If we do good, I might do a bit more than our usual thing."

I adjusted my ears, faintly hearing voices coming from above us, two floors. "Directly above us by two floors."

"Good. You know the plan, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Let's do this!" Marinette said, skating ahead of me, as if she was running across the rooftops.

"Trying to beat me?" I asked, getting next to her.

"Of course not!" She smirked. "I'm trying to make you earn whatever you get."

When we got to the third floor, Marinette pointed to where Izuku was positioned. She slowly skated over there slowly, being completely silent. I skated closer to Shoto.

As fast as lightning, Marinette quickly tied Izuku up, hands and all.

"It's a trap! Let's see how you guys handle water!" Shoto yelled, fire coming from his left side.

"Hey Icy Hot, over here!" I said, punching at him, then running a little bit away.

"Don't call me Icy Hot!" He fumed, chasing after me.

I put a hand to the floor, waiting until he got close enough. "CATACLYSM! NOW, BUGS!"

Suddenly, Shoto and Izuku were sucked into the ground as Marinette sliced left over ice off of the fake bomb and touched it. "Bomb recovered!"

"And the heroes win!" All Might's voice rang out from above us. "Good job you two!"

Marinette walked over to me. "Let's help them out first."

She grabbed Izuku and untied him while I dragged Shoto out of the collasped floor.

Marinette knealt down and touched the ground. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The ladybugs I've grown used too over the years spread out and fixed everything, setting it back to the way it was before.

"Ladybug and Cat Noir: still a good duo in the future!" I said, helping her up.

Marinette kissed my cheek as she pulled away. "We can pound it once we report back to All Might. I think I roughed Izuku up a little too much."

I looked at Izuku, who wad not only in a mess of the capture tape, but of Marinette's yoyo.

She walked over to Izuku and held out a hand. "Nice try Izuku."

He looked up at her, bewildered, and grabbed her hand. "You're way tougher than I thought. You have earned my respect and friendship. You may now call me Deku."

She giggled and walked Izuku out.

I walked over to Shoto. "Hey dude. You okay?"

"That's some serious power you have there." He said, holding out a hand as I helped him up. He didn't let go, however. He shook my hand. "Don't worry though. I'll beat you, eventually. I swear on it."

"Okay Shoto." I said, walking him out as All Might stood there, smiling.

"Good job, Young Agreste, Young Dupain-Cheng."

"That was an interesting fight." Tokoyami said, crossing his arms.

"Marinette is kinda like the female version of Deku, when you think about it!" Ochako said. "They both come up with amazing strategies!"

"I'm the brains, he's the brawn. We work like that." Marinette shrugged.

"Which is why the MVP of this fight is Young Dupain-Cheng, for coming up with an amazing stragety in under five minutes that actually worked!"

Marinette bowed her head. "Thank you, sir."

"Okay everyone, let's focus on team fighting, then lunch!"

Meanwhile...

"Kirigiri, so many kids in that group have the potential for evil. Especially from one of the two we brought back with us that are there. The boy. The girl, she doesn't have an evil bone in her body. She wouldn't work."

"Of course, my lord."

"Tomura Shigaraki, your opportunity to kidnap some kids is coming up. They'll be going on their class trip in a couple days, at a lodge in the middle of the woods. There, you can ambush and kidnap a good majority of them. Then, use the secret weapon to turn them."

"As you command, All For One."

"Excellent. Now get ready, that trip is coming up."