"Ladybug?! Ladybug?! Ladybug!"

Ladybug's power of restoration swarmed around Paris, fixing all that had gone wrong in the fight against the akumatized Gamer. Most of her wounds had been healed but left some nasty scars, similar to the burn scars on Chat Noir's face. She was fully unconscious, no matter what Chat did. If she didn't wake up soon, her transformation would wear off and she'd be fully exposed.

And that's exactly what happened.

Her transformation wore off.

In a flash of pink light, Ladybug's costume quickly disappeared. Chat Noir barely had time to avert his eyes. Instinctively, to prevent himself from seeing her face, he hugged her close so that all he could see was anything that lay behind her, with her face hidden in his shoulder. That was safe, right?

Tikki, now released from the transformation, got straight up in Chat Noir's face.

"You absolute buffoon!" Tikki snapped, contorting her face into hatred. "What have you done! Ugh! This is an impossible situation!"

"Hey- I didn't mean to!" Chat Noir exclaimed.

"Oh you're lucky this area is completely clear of civilians who would have seen her!" Tikki fumed, "but it won't be for long!"

"I'll figure something out!" Chat Noir said desperately. "Do you know-"

"I can't believe Plagg chose you. This was a mistake! All of this was a mistake!" Tikki ranted, pacing in circles in the air. "I mean, was he even thinking?! Picking some socially incompetent model boy!"

"Hey!"

"Oh, you don't like that huh?! I ought to have a word with Plagg! Honestly, this is absolutely absurd!"

"Tikki-"

"Oh don't you 'Tikki' me! What are you still doing here! Get her somewhere hidden!"

"I-I'm afraid that if I move, I might accidentally see her," Chat Noir admitted. "And I don't know how much of her injuries were healed... I wouldn't want to hurt her."

"Well, if you were being smart, you would have taken her somewhere private so that we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!"

"I-"

"You know, theres a reason Daizzi always picks Ladybug to give visions within dreams to. She's more trustworthy, and at least smart enough to process the information! If the roles were reversed here, MAYBE she would have taken care of all this before it had happened! But that's the thing! She's irresponsible! You both are!"

"I-"

"I should have never chosen a teenager!"

"Well, I'm technically an adult-"

"You're a child!" Tikki said. "It would be better if I had just done all this on my own."

"But that's dangerous!"

"So? We could have gotten Nooroo back by now!"

"Lives of the people are at stake!" Chat Noir argued. He felt tears forming in his eyes. "And her life could've been at stake today too!" He clutched onto Ladybug's body a little tighter. "I-I- I didn't know what to do..."

"Well that's obvious."

"Can you heal the rest of her wounds?" Chat Noir asked. "Please..."

Tikki seemed taken aback, and composed herself with a new demeanor. "Oh- yes. Of course." As she said this, her hands flushed in a glow of pinkish light. Phantoms of ladybugs spread about her fingers and raced in elegant stream-like formations to Ladybug's body, to which Chat Noir could not look down. When the light of the ladybugs had subsided, he knew that she had been healed. He hugged her closer, feeling himself slowly break into sobs. He ran his fingers up the back of her head, and found her hair to be shorter than he'd expected from seeing her as Ladybug. And it was tied loosely into a bun at the top of her head, which was falling apart already.

He tried to control his breathing, though already felt the world caving in on him. That stupid gaming tournament was the trigger that led to all of this. Stupid school drama. Drama that caused these horrors to occur. And though the miraculous ladybugs had fixed everything, presumably, he didn't feel like everything was right and good.

"My transformation will wear off soon," Chat Noir said, trying to control the weight of his heavy breathing.

"Then you best scurry off now, cat," Tikki said with the same bitterness as before. "I'll take Ladybug, if you'll just close your eyes."

"What... is my third power...?" Chat Noir asked, realizing that there was no way in hell Plagg would actually answer him if he asked. "I saw it... in the fight with Gamer."

"Give me Ladybug," Tikki demanded.

"The Lucky Charm is the equivalent to my Cataclysm," Chat Noir said. "So what is my equivalent of the miraculous ladybugs?"

"You shouldn't be asking," Tikki warned.

"Because I should already know," Chat Noir narrowed his gaze. "Plagg never told me of it, and I doubt I'll get an answer from him. Please, tell me."

"He hasn't told you because it is so inexplicably horrible that we dare not speak of it, or its name. It's best to be forgotten," Tikki said sternly, "now, don't you EVER ask about it again. You won't be getting an answer."

"Oh..." Chat Noir frowned. He shifted, closing his eyes. "Take her, I won't look."

"Good," Tikki said, taking off Ladybug's earring so that she could resume her full sized form. He felt her scoop Ladybug out of his arms, and after a few moments of silence, he knew she was gone. He allowed his transformation to fall away.

"Ahhhh," Plagg's voice sighed dramatically. Adrien could tell he was smiling. He opened his eyes, and where Tikki previously stood, was Plagg, stretching his arms and back as if he were sore from keeping Chat Noir transformed for so long. "Long day, eh?"

"Yeah..." Adrien mumbled, deciding not to say anything about his discovery of a third power. He was sure Plagg already knew he knew, but silently, both told each other not to bring it up. "Let's go-" he felt something tugging at his ring, and looked down to see Plagg. "Plagg!" Adrien yanked his hand away.

"Oh, but I wanted to feel free again!" Plagg exclaimed, zipping over to where Adrien's hand was and pulling at the ring again. Adrien pulled it away once more.

"Maybe when we're back in my room but not in public-" Adrien felt Plagg pulling roughly on the ring. "Hey! Quit it!"

"I can't... pull it off..." Plagg said, his eyes going blank as Adrien stuffed his ring hand in his pocket.

"Good!"

"No like... it's stuck. It's stuck on your finger."

***

"Did you try soap? I heard that's supposed to work," Plagg said with slight serious tonation. The two were back in Adrien's room. Specifically, they were in the bathroom as Adrien was frantically trying to get the ring of the black cat off his finger.

At first, when Plagg said the ring was stuck, Adrien thought Plagg was joking, trying to trick Adrien into taking it off so that he could resume his full form. But he quickly realized the kwami was dead serious and now had been spending the past forty-five minutes trying to get the stupid thing off. He had his finger covered in lotion, desperate to squirm his finger out of the ring. But nothing was working.

"I'm trying that right now," Adrien said as he ran his finger under hot water. He'd thought, at first, that his finger must have swollen. But that wasn't the case. It rather appeared that the ring itself had shrunk in size.

"Man... that's not good..."

"Why did it shrink?!" Adrien asked urgently, as he lathered his finger with soap. He already knew the trick wasn't going to work on this. His finger had begun to ache from it even.

"I don't know! This has never happened before!"

"Has there ever been a cursed wielder of the cat miraculous as long as me?"

"Yeah- but not many! Maybe my curse has gotten worse after all these years?"

"Your curse has made Tikki hate me!"

"She can be pretty strict..."

"She hates me now more than she did last time I met her!" Adrien exclaimed. "In fact, she didn't seem to hate me at all during the Princess Fragrance fiasco. Is that from the curse?"

"Maybe. She thinks I'm stupid," Plagg snickered.

"She thinks I'm stupid now too! That was not the case two months ago!"

"Tough luck?" Plagg grinned.

"It's not funny, Plagg. What if it affects Ladybug too? What if she hates me?!"

"I don't know, kid! Just try to calm down!"

"I am calm!"

"Clearly, you're not!" Plagg argued.

"Plagg, are you sure you can't tell Tikki about this? Or that I can't even tell Ladybug?"

"Positive. It's not worth risking it with Ladybug either," Plagg warned.

"This is not what I signed up for!" Adrien groaned, frantically pulling against the ring as hard as he could. He felt it budge a little. "Hey, wait!" His face lit up. He pointed the finger at Plagg, "pull on it."

"Ew, no!"

"No, not like that! The ring!"

"Ohhhhh!" Plagg grabbed the ring with his tiny hands, pulling against Adrien as the two tried to wriggle the finger out from the ring. After a while of struggling, the ring popped free of his hand and Adrien fell flat on his back with a hard thud.

"Ow-" Adrien grumbled. He then sat up triumphantly. "YO! WE GOT IT!"

"Nice," Plagg said, not standing a whopping seven or so feet in the air over Adrien, twirling the ring in his hands. 

"Alright, what now?"

"Mario Kart?"

"Absolutely not!" Adrien exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "We need to figure out how to take care of this curse! Who knows if the next time I put on the ring it will never come off again!"

"Ok, you're right..." Plagg hummed, stroking his chin.

"You need to talk to Tikki."

"No can do Mr. Agreste."

"Plagg, you don't have to tell her about the curse. Obviously, you can't. But... you need to get her to somehow like- I dunno- kiss you!"

"Wayyyyy harder than you think, kid," Plagg chuckled.

"Ok, well, you hardly ever tell me about kwamis. Have kwamis ever had romantic relationships with each other or is this just a you and Tikki thing?"

"Oh-" Plagg's ears twitched, "well, yes. Of course. It's not very common. We're all really close, almost like family but not in a sibling or cousin type of way. But you know, most of us are too afraid to ruin the friendships we've built over an eternity of years."

"So it's never happened."

"I didn't say that!" Plagg exclaimed. "One time, Mullo and Sass were kinda an item. I've never seen Sass so smitten over it. But Sass had to create a time loop one day with his wielder of the era and... when he got back from that their little spark was just gone."

"So like... a fling..."

"Yeah, a fling. The only others in our miracle box that I know for sure had a lasting relationship was..." Plagg stopped talking, biting his lip nervously.

"Was...?"

"Dusuu and Nooroo."

Ok... That was a bit surprising to hear. Adrien immediately jumped to the conclusion that the two might've just run off to be together which caused this whole mess to happen, but quickly brushed the thought aside.

"Dusuu and Nooroo..."

"For a long time," Plagg chuckled. "When Dusuu got sick, Nooroo took it real hard."

"That was centuries ago..."

"I told you it was a long time. Still is," Plagg smiled, "I guess Tikki and I do have a chance... if she ever liked me."

"You're a bit annoying. I don't see annoying as her type."

"It'll have to be somehow if we want this curse to ever go away."

"We need to figure out what to do with this ring," Adrien said, taking it from Plagg's hands and inspecting it. "I don't wanna put it back on if it's gonna decide to latch onto me forever."

"What's the likely-hood of that? We're fine!"

"What if it shrinks so small it severs my finger?" Adrien threw back at him. "Or, what if the ring starts to-"

"Adrien?" Natalie's voice came in through the door of his bedroom. Adrien had a short panic attack, shoving Plagg into his shower, turning the shower on for the sound and slipping on the floor himself.

"Ah! Natalie! I'm showering!" Adrien called, trying to regain himself.

"Ah, sorry for the intrusion. Your father wants to speak to you, so please come downstairs when you're done."

"O-ok-"

He heard her shut the door.

"Phew," Adrien said in relief. He looked over to Plagg, now soaking wet and grumpy in the show.

"For the record, you did not have to shove me in here," Plagg grumbled. Adrien helped him get out. "But did she say your father was going to talk to you? That's great! He never talks to you!"

"Uh- yeah- it's a bit weird, actually," Adrien admitted. "It must be important." He opened the glass door of the shower and stuck his head under the water for the illusion that he had just taken a shower, and turned it off. He went to the mirror to touch up the smudges of makeup that had appeared on his face (both from the fight with Gamer and from the shower exertion) then looked to Plagg who appeared very worried. "Relax Plagg, he's not going to beat me or something."

"No, I'm not worried about that."

"My father is a good man."

"That's what I'm worried about..." Plagg mumbled. Adrien looked at him with some confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"You go talk to your dad. I'm going to pay Tikki a visit," Plagg said with his ears sinking on his head pitifully.

"But-"

"Your dad probably wants to talk to you about some modeling thing anyway." He gave Adrien a warning look. "But if he says ANYTHING that's out of the ordinary, please tell me."

"Out of the ordinary?"

"Just listen and don't question me."

"...Ok?"

***

Plagg snuck out Adrien's massive bedroom windows and carefully, making sure not to be seen, crept out over the lawns and magically made his way through the back gates where the fancy car garage was hidden. From there, he wound his way through a few blocks till he was sure it was clear enough for him to step out onto the sidewalks streaking in front of the millionaire neighborhood of celebrities and pretended to be a totally normal Parisian citizen. While he was behind the houses, hidden from view, he'd used magic to change his outfit so that a black beanie–which he tucked his cheeks' whiskers into–covered his cat ears, and his robes were exchanged for a loose T-shirt with a fleece, and some somewhat baggy ripped jeans to hide his tail in. He definitely believed he looked like a normal, average, teenage kid who lived in the same decade as everyone else. He actually looked like some older hip millennial dude who was over seven feet tall, creeping around a rich kid's block. Onlookers would think he was the paparazzi.

He definitely didn't look like he was of the elite class living in that billionaire's row.

Plagg quickly hustled down to the bus stop which was completely empty and deserted. Deciding this to be so, he concluded it would be safe to use magic and disappeared entirely as if he'd teleported. Plagg, moving faster than light itself (a talent all kwamis had) traveled through streets, over cars and into the heart of paris where he found himself to be on a narrow one way road with cars parked along the side. The buildings on either side hugged the sidewalks tightly; their windows were barred and the glass was distorted to protect privacy. Plagg gave it a quick look around of this place–which the signs called Rue Huyghens–and concluded Marinette nor Tikki would not be living there.

He had no idea where Marinette lived.

So he tried again, running through a few streets, practically leaping across all of Paris, moving too fast to be seen by the human eye, and stopped once again in a new area. This time, he was much closer to the Seine, which was where he believed Marinette possibly lived. The school was in the area of the Seine after all. Unfortunately, the river was very long. He now stood in l'Opera Paris, which was a significantly larger street bustling with people at this time of night. No one took any notice of Plagg's sudden appearance. There was a merchandise store called the Paris Louvre–not the actual Louvre of course–with a Carmina shoemaker next to it. Plagg gave the place a little stroll, under the hopefulness he might spot a face he recognized from Adrien's school. Unfortunately, there was no one, and he realized he was completely lost.

Tikki had the advantage here. Adrien was a celebrity, she could find his house easily. Marinette was a baker's girl. Finding her place would be difficult.

Wait... Baker's girl... Bakery...

Plagg had a brilliant idea.

Knowing he was a street away from the Louvre, he tracked his way over there... as if there would be a bakery there. Finding he was mistaken, Plagg took to his magic again and started hunting through every bakery in Paris. Plagg did not remember the name of Adrien's school, so sadly, he couldn't just go there and search that area. No, he was much too dull to pay attention to details like that.

It took a while... maybe an hour. But he found it. Safe and sound and without losing his sanity.

The Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie was practically glowing at this time of night. The humming of cars in the streets below seemed calm and mellow in the aroma of sweet baked goods and warmth radiating from the bakery. Plagg perked his ears under his beanie with excitement, and couldn't help but smile at the thought of meeting Tikki once more.

Unfortunately, the bakery was closed. He'd have to find a different way inside. In the windows, he could see Marinette and her father cleaning up the anteroom and packing away the unsold pastries that could be recycled for the morning or were to be thrown out. Plagg tried to not look suspicious as he walked along the sidewalk in front of the shop, slow enough to assess a plan as he looked inside. He rounded away from the bakery in defeat, walking down the rest of the block before turning and deciding to tackle the challenge again. He neared the shop windows and slowed his pace again. Maybe Tikki could see him and separate herself from Marinette?

Plagg looked inside the shop again and found Marinette was no longer mopping the front area anymore. His father was still packing away the still fresh pastries and goods, and did not see Plagg. So Plagg stopped, scarring for any trace of Marinette of Tikki.

Someone popped up in the window in front of Plagg, scaring him half to death. It was Marinette, wiping down the windows. She'd previously been ringing out the rag, or something, crouched below the window out of view. Neither Marinette or Plagg were expecting the jump scare, and Marinette, inside the shop, tripped backwards on her feet and fell with a hard thud. Plagg immediately ducked away from the window.

It totally wasn't suspicious.

Plagg waited a few seconds, trying to regain himself. He considered returning to Adrien in defeat, but then again, he didn't want to look like a failure in front of the boy. He wanted to inspire Adrien to accomplish things he set his mind to. The first one being the ability to stand up to his father.

He heard the jingle of the bell which hung over the bakery door and the next thing he knew, Marinette had approached him outside the shop this time.

"H-hello?" Marinette stammered, looking up at Plagg with some confusion. Yep. She was definitely Ladybug. She had never met Plagg before, that Plagg could recall, but judging by the look on her face, she must've figured out who he was.

"Howdy," Plagg said nervously.

"Plagg?" Marinette asked tentatively.

"That's me," Plagg said with a foolish grin.

"Cut it out," came a new voice which he immediately knew to be Tikki. His heart fluttered.

"Oh, hi Tikki," his foolish smile melted into a foolishly in love smile, "how's it been?"

Tikki flew right up in his face, the size of an apple at the moment, looking irritated. "You better have a good excuse for coming here, cat!"

"Tikki, you can't just fly out in the open like that!" Marinette said, jumping up and grabbing the tiny kwami in her two hands.

"Let go of me!" Tikki snapped, squirming out of Marinette's hands. "Ugh, Marinette, come with me. Plagg, stay right here!" Tikki commanded. She grabbed Marinette by her pinky finger and pulled her off into a small gap between the bakery and the building behind it to hide. The next thing he knew, Tikki, now in her full size, was walking out with Marinette at her heels. She stomped over to Plagg, still standing in his spot as he was told, looking still all angry and red in the face.

"Hi Tikki," Plagg said sweetly.

"Plagg," Tikki furrowed her brows. She had a more modern clothing disguise at the moment. She had a puffy long light jacket for the cold, and black leggings underneath. Her antennae were tucked into a little knit hat with a puffy ball on top. Plagg thought she looked rather cute.

"So-"

"Why are you here?!" Tikki snapped.

"To see you!"

"Uh huh," Tikki shot a glare at him.

"And to continue our discussion from earlier," Plagg said. He nodded in Marinette's direction, "Alone."

"Oh, yeah," Tikki looked at Marinette. "Marinette, you'll have to go back inside. Plagg and I won't be too far. If something happens, put on the earrings and I will come straight back here."

"Oh, ok?" Marinette raised a suspicious brow.

"This is about hero identity stuff, that's why it must be private," Tikki said. Ok. Half of that was a lie, so technically, not a lie.

"Ah," Marinette nodded. "I will just be... inside..." she looked back up at Plagg. "Yeah, bye."

Marinette scurried off, leaving the two kwami's alone. Plagg looked down at Tikki sheepishly. She seemed to have cooled down a bit, as she was no longer red in the face. When her brows weren't furrowed and angry, as they usually were, Tikki looked quite beautiful. At least to Plagg.

But that's exactly what thousands of years of being in love did. Thousands of years, and never once were his feelings requited. But still, Plagg would rather live a thousand more years like that than live in a world where Tikki didn't exist. Loving Tikki was the best feeling Plagg could ever feel. Loving Tikki made him feel real, and happy.

"Stop staring at me," Tikki said. She was much softer now. She'd been putting up a tough act in front of Marinette. Plagg was happy she was letting her guard down around him. But he had trained himself to never get his hopes up, so he treated this as normal.

"Sorry," Plagg looked away.

"You look ridiculous. Those pants are... questionable," Tikki remarked.

"Well excuse me, I don't get out much," Plagg pouted.

"You live in the home of a world class fashion designer," Tikki retaliated with a smirk. "Come on, let's go for a walk. There are important things we need to discuss."

"Alright, sugarcube."

"Don't call me that."

"Now, I know the events of Gamer happened very rapidly and we didn't get a chance to finish our conversation earlier. But, since then, have you made any move to investigate Mr. Agreste?" Tikki asked.

"No. I thought we said he wasn't a suspect?"

"He's not high on my list of suspects, but he's still there," Tikki said. "I most suspect Rena Rouge's family. But of course, I'll never be able to make an excuse for Marinette to investigate them. I mean, you know she's Alya, right?"

"Yeah, that'll be rough. What if you get Marinette to visit Alya for a sleepover?"

"I wouldn't be able to go out and about. It's too risky. I've been to that apartment a few times on excursions with Marinette, the family is huge. She has two little twin sisters who are both absolute menaces. And Nora... Nora is one I would expect. She's Alya's older sister. Very witty, smart, super strong and athletic."

"And since the miraculous can disguise sex and gender, Hawkmoth could be a woman underneath the mask..." Plagg nodded.

"We have work to do."

"I'm willing to fight for every second."

A/N This chapter was for all my Plikki fans out there

Also I did not realize I made it so long.... its over 4k words....