"I loved you from the start/
So it breaks my heart/
When you say I'm just a friend to you/
'Cause friends don't do the things we do."
Just a Friend to You, Meghan Trainor

    "I am the Caffeinator!"

    The loud voice bellowed throughout the cafe as the glass windows next to the group shattered into hundreds of sharp, jagged pieces that rained down onto them and other customers in the cafe. Adrien and Marinette both covered the nearest person to them, Nino and Alya, taking the brunt of the damage. However, it seems that Marinette's Ladybug Luck had kicked in as both Marinette and Adrien had very minimal cuts on them, as did the others around them. Pushing Alya under the table for protection, Marinette got a quick glimpse of the latest akuma.

    A young boy, not much older than eight, stood in the center of the cafe, his wide green eyes looking around wildly at the cowering customers around them. He was like a constant barrage of movement, his body never staying still, as if he were vibrating. He became almost transparent by how fast he moved, but he stayed in one place. His skin was paled into an almost translucent colored, almost appearing to be a ghost. He wore a suit and tie that seemed to be too large for him, and his brown hair was mussy and sticking up in various places as if it was charged with static electricity.

    That was all that Marinette had gotten to see as Adrien grabbed her wrist and pulled her under the table with him just as the young akuma began to laugh irrationally, his head cocked back as he watched the fear in his victims' eyes. His booming voice, much to deep to look natural to such a little kid, rang throughout the cafe once more.

    "She said I was too young to have coffee! Am I too young now? Huh?" He cackled once more as he continued, "Now everyone will get to have caffeine!" Marinette could hear the youth in the akuma's pronunciation of caffeine, coming off more childish than anything, but he was quick to prove his point. The tiny, constantly moving object he held in his hand was aimed at one of the hostages, moving too fast for Marinette or Adrien to get over to her. At first, she seemed fine as she glanced over her body. As soon as the relief had washed over her face, however, she grabbed her head and winced in pain.

    "Now, I will get their Miracuwous!" The akuma hollered before exiting the cafe in the blink of an eye, leaving the people inside to run out at every available exit in a hectic rush.

    Alya rushed over to the victim of the Caffeinator's hit, who was now grabbing at her head and moaning in pain. "Guys, guys get over here! We need to get her help, fast!" Nino hastily made his way over as well, whereas Adrien and Marinette stayed back. They were going to take this as their chance to transform.

    "I'll go get some help!" They said simultaneously, before sending each other incredulous looks. They didn't stare too long though as the lady moaned in pain again, both bolting for the door. Just as Adrien turned to give Marinette an excuse as to why they need to split up, he realized that Marinette was no longer behind him; lost in the frenzied crowd of people running away from the Caffeinator.

    He dealt with a brief flash of worry for her, but quickly brushed it off as he heard the Caffeinator call for Ladybug and Chat Noir. He had to focus on his fight for now, and save others from the same fate that the lady in the cafe is suffering. Ducking behind a dumpster in an alleyway, Adrien didn't even give Plagg enough time to make a snarky comment as he called out his transformation, quickly changing into Chat Noir.

    This was going to be a dangerous fight, Adrien could feel it in his bones. It wasn't exactly a comforting feeling either as Adrien bursted into the cafe he had left his friends in to find Ladybug already in their with the Caffeinator, who had found and followed Ladybug back to this location. "Chat Noir!" Ladybug's eyes lit up in hope as she noticed her partner arrived.

    She didn't need to verbally convey her plan, it was obvious enough as he noticed the lady from before convulsing on the ground. He was needed to be a distraction so that Ladybug could get the victim from earlier to some place like a hospital to get help. He popped the joints in his fingers, preparing for a fight as he extended his baton into a staff. "No worries, My Lady," He sent her a flirtatious wink in order to keep his partner calm, "It's going to take a lot more than caffeine to hold me down."

    Marinette took her cue as Chat Noir leapt towards the akuma. Grabbing the victim as carefully as she could, Marinette began to swing towards the hospital when she heard Alya shout out from under the table. She got to turn in time to see Alya had jumped in front of her to take the hit from the Caffeinator for Chat Noir.

    "Alya!" The duo yelled in unison as they saw their friend get struck with a beam. Alya, however, was mostly calm on her part. Not taking any chances, Marinette grabs Alya as well before slinging out of the cafe as Chat Noir swung his staff to hit the Caffeinator in the shoulder to draw his attention back to him. He determinedly tried his best to ignore the fact that Alya could very well be in danger thank to him, instead releasing his immense anger onto the akuma as he swung and missed the Caffeinator several times, the little boy laughing joyously as he vibrated from place to place, as if he were disappearing and phasing into another area.

    Please hurry, LB.

    ~*~*~

    Ladybug frantically latched her yoyo onto a random chimney, yanking herself and the two others she was holding closer and closer to the hospital as the lady in her arm shook crazily, unable to keep still. Marinette abruptly fell to her feet, probably spraining her ankle as pain shot up her leg from the shotty landing. She tumbled to her knees, keeping the convulsing lady in her arms as she skid across the cement. Biting back her pain, she pulled Alya along behind her as she ran into the hospital, immediately taking notice as one part of the dynamic heroes of Paris.

    "These people need help! Quickly!" A gurney was instantly rolled over to her where she laid the shaking lady on, helping the nurses strap her down as they rushed her off into the emergency room. The sighting of Ladybug brought on a commotion within the hospital as people began to question loudly what was going on and if they were in danger.

    One calm nurse eventually approached Ladybug and Alya, gently resting her hand on Alya's shoulder as she spoke to the spotted heroine. "Can you tell me what's happening? Is there anything we should be keeping an eye on or looking for in these two young ladies?"

    "I'm not sure," Marinette answered honestly. She truly didn't know what was happening and she was terrified of it. She was even more terrified about leaving her partner out there without backup for too long. "Maybe something with caffeine? The akuma's called the Caffeinator, so that is the most likely scenario and-" Marinette's throat swelled as her eyes were drawn to the TV that was on TVi news. Her partner was on the screen, the akuma running literal circles around him as he shot at him carelessly, the slim cat-themed hero narrowly dodging the hits. The camera captured Chat Noir being knocked into the air over the Seine by the Caffeinator before the screen went black as the cameraman was hit by the Caffeinator's beam.

    "Send everyone you can to find victims that have been hit by the Caffeinator!" The moment Ladybug saw the nurse nod her head in confirmation, she ran outside of the hospital, jumping into the air to swing over to where she had seen Chat Noir on TV. Feeling the indestructible wire on her yo-yo go taut, Marinette pulled on it so she would be launched over the apartment buildings around her. Rolling on the roof, she could see the speck that was Chat Noir leaping over the roofs with his staff in hand, the Caffeinator right behind him. Said staff was knocked out of his grip, rolling along the roof until it fell to the street below them.

    The Caffeinator held the spinning weapon in his hand, a wild shot heading Chat Noir's way along with several others. Adrien's eyes widened as he saw the approaching shots, knowing that he would not be able to move out of the way fast enough, not without his staff. He didn't have to worry about it for long though as Ladybug suddenly swung in front of him, her yo-yo spinning at an incredible speed in front of them. The beams of whatever it was the Caffeinator was shooting were deflected off of the makeshift shield that Ladybug had made.

    "Perfect timing as always, My Lady." He didn't have to be looking at her to see that she was rolling her eyes at him. He sent her a flirtatious wink regardless before saluting to her as he  jumped off the roof to go retrieve his baton so that he could have more protection for himself. He grabbed the cool metal and promptly shot himself into the air, trailing after his partner as they fled from the akuma. Swinging around the akuma to confuse him, the quickly managed to lose him behind a few apartment buildings, hiding out on a balcony as he searched for them. A light beeping noise was coming from the yo-yo in Ladybug's hand, probably the reason why they had to flee.

    "Why are we running away from the akuma?" Ladybug held a finger up at him, ignoring him as she opened her yo-yo to find a new video on the Ladyblog.

    Alya was inside a hospital room, a nurse next to her checking her vitals as Alya spoke to her phone. "Ladybug!" the video began, a look of concern washed over the usually devious features that Alya held. "You were right about the caffeine, the Caffeinator is putting deadly amounts of caffeine inside the victims he hits and-" The camera turned sharply to the nurse that Marinette had spoken to earlier, taking over for Alya to explain what was happening.

    "That first victim you brought in, she has ten minutes at the most. It only takes fifteen minutes for a caffeine overdose to kill a person, but it can vary for person to person. You don't have much time-" The video cut off as Ladybug set a ten minute timer on her yo-yo, Chat Noir doing the same with his staff. Ladybug's already porcelain colored skin paled into an almost ghostly color. These people could die, Alya could die. This was serious, and now they were being limited by time.

    Wasting not a second more, Ladybug called out for a lucky charm. A red and black spotted bottle fell into her hand, confusing the duo as they inspected the tiny item that was supposed to help them.

    "I know that we're in a sticky situation-" Chat Noir winced at Ladybug's glare, forgetting for a moment about how dire of a situation they were in, "but how is super glue supposed to help us?"

    Marinette didn't have time to answer as the space between her Chat Noir became smoldering burnt bricks. The Caffeinator had found them. He shot at them again, this time missing them by a profoundly large distance.

    "Slow your roll, you can't even hit us!" Chat Noir taunted as the Caffeinator missed once again, making a show of it as he sat on his the top of his extended staff. He tilted his head as the Caffeinator botched another shot at him.

    "Slow your roll"... He's moving so fast that he can't aim! I can work with that.

    "Chat Noir!" Her partner turned to her with a grin, easily dodging another shot from the Caffeinator, who was growing increasingly frustrated. She sent him a cheeky wink in return as she told him what needed to be done. "Time to slow down."

    "Well," Chat Noir said with a shrug, leaping over to Ladybug in a leisurely pace as the Caffeinator grew more and more fed up, showing just how young the boy was. "No use in procaffeinating, right?"

    Chat Noir earned no response as a resounding beeping came from Marinette's earrings, alerting them that she had just four minutes before her transformation dropped. Acting quickly, Ladybug slipped the bottle of super glue into Chat Noir's right hand. That was when Chat Noir got the hint of what they were going to be doing. He kept the tiny container in his fist, holding his baton in the other as the previously set timer counted down. They were at less than seven minutes now, giving them one chance to defeat this akuma before some irreversible damage could happen.

    Ladybug deflected an oncoming shot, contorting her body in a weird twist as she spun her yo-yo at high speeds in front of her. She covered Chat Noir as well, as he searched for a way to get close enough to the Caffeinator without getting hurt. And... He was coming to a blank. Running across the walls, he becomes an easily accessible object, even with Ladybug defending him. He could just run straight at the Caffeinator, but Adrien had a feeling that even the Caffeinator wouldn't miss a head on shot. He was running out of ideas. Unless-

    He was just going to have to risk it.

    "Ladybug, throw m-"

    "On it!" The yo-yo was wrapped tightly around his middle before he even finished his thought, the beeps of her earrings going off once again. No matter how many times Ladybug threw him, nothing could ever prepare him as he was thrown through the air and straight at the Caffeinator. His cry of "Cataclysm!" was what made the Caffeinator's eyes widen as Chat Noir approached him at an incredibly fast speed. He shot several beams of what was probably caffeine at Chat Noir and Ladybug, a few of the shots actually manage to hit Chat Noir in the chest.

    The bottle disintegrated in his hand thanks to his Cataclysm, the liquid spilling out onto his leather covered hand as Chat grabbed the Caffeinator's wrist, which held the spinning weapon. As the boys collided, the weapon flew out of the akuma's fingers and skidded to a stop over to Ladybug. The little boy put up a fight, clawing and kicking at Chat Noir as the cat-themed hero tried his best to restrain the sprightly akuma. With his hand glued to the Caffeinator, the akuma couldn't run away at impossible speeds, he was stuck where he was at with Chat Noir.

    Ladybug flung her yo-yo at the still vibrating weapon, breaking the gun-like firearm in half as a black akuma fluttered its way out in an attempt to escape and flee back to Hawkmoth. Capturing the akuma within her yo-yo, a white butterfly was what left, successfully purifying the akuma. She threw her yo-yo in the air, calling "Miraculous Ladybug" as everything returned to normal. Thousands of ladybugs swarmed around Chat Noir, ridding the caffeine that had been added inside his body.

    "Chat Noir!" Adrien looked up as a frantic Ladybug ran up to him, dropping on her knees and grabbing his shoulders as she inspected him. "Are you okay?" along with a few other questions that were full of concern tumbled out of Ladybug's lips as she placed her fingers against his throat to check if his pulse was faster than it should be, searching for any symptoms of a caffeine overdose that she knew of.

    Adrien chuckled breathlessly, the flush of his cheeks hidden under the dark mask that covered most of his face. Ladybug grabbed his hand to check his pulse at his wrist when Chat Noir finally grabbed both of her arms, holding them in place as he sat up, gently pulling the confused boy up with him.

    "I'm fine, bugaboo. I just don't think I'm going to be having coffee for a while." Ladybug made a face at the mention of coffee, her tongue sticking out in disgust.

"I hate coffee."

"Really? My friend does too, she won't drink anything with caffeine in it and-"  His ring and her earrings beeped simultaneously, and Ladybug's eyes widened in a panic as she realized she had less than two minutes to get to safety before her transformation ran out.

    "Ladybug? Chat Noir?" The little boy said their names as if he were in a drunken confusion, looking up at Chat Noir with cloudy green eyes as he did so. Ladybug squatted down next to him, her hand held up in a fist bump as she spoke with him.

    "Hey buddy, what's your name?" He knocked his tiny fist against hers weakly, a grin on his face as he did so.

    "Victor."

    "Hi Victor," Ladybug looked at Chat Noir's ring, which still had three toes on it. "I have to go now, but Chat Noir is going to help you find your maman. How does that sound?" Marinette looked up at Chat Noir in confirmation, who nodded as the boy excitedly bounced in his lap, his brown hair swaying all over the place as he looked up at the blonde teen in glee.

    "That sounds awesome! Can you do that cool thing you do with your stick?"

    "You mean my baton?"

    "Yeah!"

    Ladybug smiled at the scene before her before the Miraculous gave her the final warning. She quickly knocked fists with Chat Noir before swinging away towards her house. The last thing that she had seen of them was her partner lifting the little boy in his arms before rocketing into the sky with his staff, the little boy screaming in delight.

    She swung past the cafe she had been at, Espoirs et Rêves to see if she could spot Nino or Adrien along the way to make sure they were okay. She didn't come upon any of them, so she'd just have to wait until later to text them in the group chat. She did, however, come upon the memory of Adrien buying her that quiche and hot chocolate. That was so sweet, and Marinette was confused about why he had done it. It wasn't against their rules, per se, but it was definitely not something that they would normally do. And it was puzzled her. Why would he do something like that? Just because he was nice? Or was there something that she couldn't see?

    Marinette landed on her balcony just in time for her transformation to drop, a tired Tikki rubbing her eyes as she laid on Marinette's shoulder. She would have to worry about the Adrien thing later, for now, it was more important for her to get the ladybug kwami some cookies and to check up on her friends.

Ughhh hate the way this chapter turned out, but here it is! Don't worry, there will be Marichat! Soon? Maybe.

Until next time, peace!