This is a throwback to the episode Volpina. Because there are a lot of things that could have been different. Also I had planned to get the long oneshot written and up by now but it's actually taking longer to write than I expected. So here is this shorter one instead.

Adrien was not dumb.

Oblivious, maybe sometimes.

But one thing he wasn't, was dumb or incompetent of any means of intelligence.

So when the girl claimed she was Ladybug's best friend, he was immediately skeptical. Because he (or his hero persona actually) was Ladybug's best friend and he knew how much of a stickler for identities she was. It took a while for her to even trust him fully so she would never just automatically be close with someone who had only just come to Paris. Especially as Ladybug.

And then she asked him to meet him at the park later. Saying she had to tell him something important.

Whilst also trying to steal the book that had been in his father's possession.

In all honesty, he was intrigued with what she wanted with the book. So he let her take it. And maybe he did regret letting her, just a little bit. But he would get it back anyways.

So there he was, sitting with Lila on the park bench, listening to her spiel about how she was a superhero herself, totally not distracted by the fact that Marinette was behind a trash can (two if you counted Lila) looking equally as vexed as he felt.

Since he had become Chat Noir, Adrien had been becoming more and more observant. More aware of the things around him. The way things smelt, how they sounded, he even remembered certain details that others wouldn't- such as how just in the last month, Marinette had been late to school exactly 17 times (it was the 24th). Plagg said, or had rather explained through several gulps of disgusting cheese, that because he was so compatible with the miraculous, it meant the magical traits he gained when he was Chat would seep through to his civilian life much quicker than some of his past holders. Apparently, since Tikki and her holder were as compatible, it would be the same for them.

So when Adrien noticed the distinct floral scent- which he had always been aware of being behind him in their classroom- was becoming stronger, his senses honed into the direction it was coming from and he could make out the adorably pouty face of Marinette Dupain Cheng.

Absentmindedly, he replied to something Lila had said to give her the impression that he was listening, when in reality he was paying more attention to the girl behind her.

She seemed to be arguing to herself, maybe? But it couldn't be, because she would pause and then reply to whatever or whoever she was arguing to but he couldn't really make out what she was saying because they were moreso hushed whispers than her normal voice. There was no visible ear piece to suggest she was talking to someone on the phone and she didn't have her phone to her ear either.

He had to hold in a gasp when he caught sight of a red blur whiz into the trash can and struggle to get the book (and he so wanted to cataclysm Lila then and there for putting such an obviously sacred snd ancient book in the bin! Without any care! He really didn't like her.)

When he saw flashes of pink come from where Marinette was it did nothing but confirm that she was Ladybug.

And when she came to confront Lila harshly (and he was so going to tease her for being jealous later- because he knew his lady and could tell when she was being jealous) he just gaped in awe.

Because Marinette was Ladybug.

Marinette is my lady. Aww yes!

He only just remembered to put in his euro of thought about Lila and didn't even acknowledge her when she stormed away angrily. (Though somewhere in the back of his mind he winced. That was probably going to cause a problem soon.)

Right now, he was just focused on transforming and following Ladybug to her destination- Marinette's balcony.

He sort of felt bad for her when she dropped her transformation right on front of him before whirling around and gasping in shock that he gad been behind her.

"Cha-uh-what. What are you- did you-" her eyebrows furrowed and she pointed an accusatory finger at her, "Did you follow me here?"

He gave her a sheepish grin and held his hands up, "Maybe, m'lady."

Oh, she was definitely angry at him now. If the way her nose scrunched and her teeth became more gritted and how her glare could have killed him on the spot if it had the power to. She was still cute though and he couldn't help but smile.

"How could you? You know what I've said. That our-"

He grabbed the hand that was still pointing at him and put it down, "-That our identities must remain a secret. Yes, yes. I've heard it many times before. But maybe you shouldn't have taken my father's book and then transformed right in front of my line of vision just so you could go confront the girl who claimed to be your best friend. And that was actually quite harsh, even for you M'lady."

Her mouth opened and made a very Marinette noise. Then it closed. And then it opened again. As if she was trying to comprehend the information he had just given. He could see the cogs in her head turning quickly as she realised what he was trying to tell her.

"A-Adrien?!?"

He smiled and moved towards her as he released his transformation, "The one and only, m'lady," as the green light burst around him, he greeted her with a fancy bow.

......

"Okay," she said, after dfinally being done with her freak out, "You're right. I shouldn't have followed you and transformed and acted on my jealousy. It was wrong of me. But Tikki really did seem to think this book was important. I'm sorry Adrien but we might have to hold onto it until we know what exactly the book is."

"We will talk about the jealousy thing later but I understand M'lady."

Marinette blushed and pouted at him at the same time, but before she could open her mouth to retort, Tikki zoomed up in between them, "We need to get this book to the guardian. If I'm correct, he needs this information immediately. The book is definitely about the miraculous."

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other and nodded, standing up to start moving, but something in the distance caught her eye.

"What the hell?"

.......

Immediately they knew that Lila was an akumatised victim once they saw her.

She was dressed like a superhero and they made it just in time to see her catch a meteor (a goddamn meteor!) in her hands and fling it to God knows where.

"Oh," Adrien whispered, his eyes trained on the sky where the meteor had disappeared, "I think it was an illusion."

She looked at him, her eyes furrowed, "What makes you say that Chaton?"

He looked at her, grinning at the nickname before saying, "I've only really noticed recently, but my senses have been dialed up a lot due to the miraculous. Even though cats can normally not see as well as humans, I think the miraculous has made me much more observant of little details that normal humans can't. And whilst you were focused on our lovely little akuma," the sarcasm in his tone was evident, "I noticed that the meteor didn't dissappear out of the normal human sight line, but it actually disappeared."

"Can you distract her whilst I confirm with Tikki. She told me there was a miraculous that could make illusions. She may be mimicking what the actual fox miraculous is used for. And if so, it is likely that the necklace is where the akuma is."

He nodded and they went their seperate ways.

...... 

Only a few moments later Ladybug had come to the scene of Chat Noir and Volpina- as she had named herself, talking. Though it was more that she was talking and he was pretending to listen.

Obviously, Chat had heard her and she could see his leather ears perk up a bit. Discreetly, he turned his body in what looked like an action to face Volpina, when in reality he had done so to catch Ladybug in the corner of his eye. Once their eyes locked, she nodded and that was all the confirmation he needed.

Now he turned fully to face her, giving her a genuine wave, "Hey M'lady. Glad you could join us."

She gave him a smile before turning to the akuma, "Volpina, that was a great thing you did with the meteor. I think you will be a great asset to the team."

The girl, in response giggled, "Thank you Ladybug," her face became a bit more reserved, "I do have something serious to tell you though."

"Oh?" She raised her eyebrow.

"Yes. I have some intel on," her eyes shifted to a spot behind Ladybug and Volpina ran up next to her clutching her flute in a fighting position, "Hawkmoth!"

Ladybug sucked a breath in and quickly turned to face the villain. Chat Noir quickly came to her side. He squinted his eyes in the direction Hawkmoth supposedly was and was promptly skeptical, Ladybug could tell. She was too.

Prior to this, no one had truly seen Hawkmoth in all of his glory, but it was pretty easy that because she was an akuma, her illusions were of an image Hawkmoth himself could have given her.

If that was true, though, that this was the image of the actual Hawkmoth, she wanted to get the details down quickly. And she did exactly that. As she guided both Chat and the akuma down to spy on the figure, she took in the appearance of the silver mask that matched the face that everyone had seen, albeit with butterflies, the day Hawkmoth had made his presence known.

(Btw. I still think the best miraculous episode is Origins pt 2. It just hits differently. Like marinette gaining the confidence to be Ladybug because of Chat saying he needs her. The speech she made. Goosebumps. And obviously. The umbrella scene. This episode will always be a masterpiece.)

"I think we should attack him now. He seems distracted. Ladybug, you go to the left. Chat Noir, the right. I'll go from behind him."

The foxy hero- but actually an akuma- jumped up and charged forward before either of them could say anything. Ladybug signalled to Chat to play along and they went their seperate ways again. In actuality, Ladybug had also gestured to him with her finger going round in a circle- a symbol they came up with to make a round and come back in a bit in whatrver situationthey were in.

She summoned her lucky charm, a water hose.

Instead of going in the direction Volpina all but declared she had to go to, Ladybug scanned for a fire hydrant in the ground. There was one close enough to her to quickly attach to the hose and she was back at the roof in no time.

Only to be met with a huge array of missiles right in her face as well as Volpina right behind it all.

"I had a feeling you wouldn't do as I asked. Guess you're not as daft as I initially thought. The kitty on the other hand. He's like a headless chicken trying to find its head."

Ladybug snorted at that in a way that made Volpina think Ladybug agreed. In reality, she was thinking about how wrong she was and was about to say something when she got a beep on her yoyo from Chat. It was an indication that he had found the real Volpina, watching Ladybug and the missiles from a distance, "Chat said that he'd lost Hawkmoth," she scoffed, "But of course there was never any Hawkmoth. Because that's what you do, isn't it? You create illusions of outlandish things, yet, people believe it. The meteor, hawkmoth. The lie that we were best friends. And that's why you got akumatised wasn't it. Because I called you out on your lie, Lila. I shattered the illusion you created on front of Adrien. And you got angry, Lila."

"The name is Volpina," the illusion, and Ladybug was sure of that, cried out, "If you move, these missiles will be triggered. Not only you, but your beloved Paris and that little kitty will be nothing but dust."

"Yeah...How about no?" With that, Ladybug pressed the setting to set off the water but she didn't aim it at the projectiles. She aimed it in the opposite direction where she knew Volpina was standing and sprayed the water at high speed.

She heard a gasp and a disgusted scream as well as protests from the villainess as she used her yoyo to break the illusions that had been casted. She quickly manoeuvred to the other roof, just in time to see Chat cataclysm the necklace which had been around Volpina's neck. But even with the Butterfly coming out, he still kept a hold on her, as the purple and black started to deform her supernatural appearance.

Ladybug made quick work to catch the Butterfly and de-evilise it.

She tried to apologise to Lila for being the reason of her akumatisation, but Lila wasn't having it. Despite this, Ladybug found that she didn't really care for the girl's attitude, and put her full attention on her partner instead.

"Let's go Chaton."

.........

Tikki and- by extension- Plagg had led them to a Chinese therapeutic shop- the same one which Marinette had gone to in order to heal Tikki from her sickness.

She told Adrien just that as they stood outside of the inner door, wondering what to do, before finally Marinette gathered enough courage to knock on the door.

Rather than them immediately seeing the old man however, a customer came out of the room instead.

It was after the customer left the shop completely that they stepped into the room, shutting the doors behind them.

A short, old man wearing a hawaiian red short-sleeved shirt sat there facing the two with a knowing smile. Adrien let out a gasp as he realised he recognised the old man from the day he recieved his miraculous.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste," she was sure his eyes twinkled as if he was aware of something, "Or should I say, Ladybug and Chat Noir."

That's it. I imagine that after this, Adrien and Marinette come to the conclusion that Gabriel is Hawkmoth and immediately come up with a plan that would mean they could retrieve both miraculous quickly and safely.

This oneshot probably isn't my best one. I am a bit rusty. But I hope you liked it anyways.

Bug out lovelies 😘.