Marinette checks her watch. It's just gone six, usually too late to make an episode, but she's decided it's worth it to stay up a bit later. Firstly, it's a Saturday, so she doesn't have school tomorrow. Secondly, she and ChatNoir were messaging for hours yesterday and basically planned out the entire episode.

She's probably going to regret this, but oh well.

She can't wait to finish Season 3, and finally reveal Nooroo's backstory. She can almost imagine Alya shrieking when the final episode is posted.

LadyBug: hey chaton. i know it's (relatively) late, but u wanna make a new ep?

ChatNoir: sounds good, mlady. miraculer, yeah?

LadyBug: yup. ngl, i'm excited. finally time to drop another hint!!!

ChatNoir: technically, it isn't a hint

Marinette scowls.

LadyBug: moot point. it still alludes to nooroos past!

ChatNoir: still

She doesn't want to admit that he's right.

But he is.

Ugh, stupid cat.

LadyBug: ANYWAY

LadyBug: where were we

LadyBug: oh i recall

LadyBug: DRAWING THE EPISODE

ChatNoir: i dont think we actually got that far, but ok

Marinette sighs, because he's right again, and clicks Create New Episode. For a moment, she wonders why they didn't just draw the episode yesterday instead of messaging. Right, ChatNoir wasn't at home. Had some thing with his dad, he didn't go into details.

When finished, it's nearly eleven because this episode is so long. Marinette makes this comment to ChatNoir, and he agrees. In all honesty, Marinette would be surprised if he didn't.

It's reasonably early on that she mentions what she likes to call a hint, and what ChatNoir calls finally knowing what you're talking about.

Marinette would like to deny it.

But she can't.

That's the third time this has happened in the space of five hours.

Nooroo: Hello, my friend. While attempting to rescue children from their bus crash, Tikki came in and saved them. Now I'm giving you the power-

Victim: No

Nooroo: (confused) What?

Victim: I was trusted to rescue the children, and while I am upset that I didn't get any credit, I should be grateful that Tikki saved the children. There was no guarantee I'd save them all. I'm in her debt

Nooroo: You can wreak-

Victim: I don't want to hurt Tikki!

Nooroo: (hesitates)

(Picture of item. Item is still dark purple from the akuma)

(Over several frames, the dark purple shrinks away, leaving the item the same as before. The evilised akuma flies off to find someone else)

Victim: (breathes heavily in relief)

Nooroo: Go, my little akuma, and find someone else

Marinette grins as she finishes drawing the last panel.

LadyBug: ooh i am so ready for the reactions to this

ChatNoir: tell me about it!! a lot of my friends are tp fans, theyre going to be so excited

LadyBug: my best friend is a MASSIVE tp fan, there's no way anything could get past her!

LadyBug: sometimes i smile at something small i mention, and she STILL notices!!

ChatNoir: im so sorry, but its like 11. we should go to sleep. and no offence u sound sleep-deprived 🤷

Marinette groans.

Right again.

LadyBug: i suppose. see you, chat

ChatNoir: see you, mlady

Marinette turns her laptop off, and changes into her pajamas. She climbs up into her bed, and falls asleep the moment her head touches the pillow.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Marinette groans, and slaps her phone. Apparently this doesn't work, because the alarm keeps beeping cheerfully.

"I thought I said weekdays only?" Marinette groans at it, sitting up and picking the phone up. She dismisses the alarm, and goes into Settings. She was right. It's set to go off only on weekdays.

Marinette frowns, and swipes down.

Monday.

She has made a terrible mistake.

"You're kidding," she complains. "I thought..."

The rest of the sentence is lost as she flops back down onto her bed, still groaning loudly. If she'd realised it was Sunday yesterday, not Saturday, she would not have stayed up until eleven.

Or maybe she would.

It takes a while, but in the end, Marinette manages to get herself up, dressed, and pack her bag for school. And, perhaps most astonishingly, she actually gets to school a good ten minutes before the bell.

"Morning," Marinette huffs as she sits down, now properly awake.

"Did you see the new episode of TP?"

"How did I know that was coming?"

"That girl rejected the akuma!" Alya shrieks. "But, you see, the best part is that she didn't reject it. She said no, but even if she wasn't upset enough for Nooroo to take control of her anyway, she would have become upset under the pressure. Nooroo chose to revoke the akuma!"

"Cool," Marinette says, using her slightly sleepy, slightly grumpy state as an excuse to not tell Alya why Nooroo didn't have the stomach to force an akumatisation. Partially because she'd regret it when she wasn't half a second away from falling asleep, and partially because she doesn't have the energy.

"Why?" is Alya's next question, which makes it a good deal harder to ignore. "Why did Nooroo choose to revoke the akuma? If he's prepared to turn the citizens into supervillains..."

"I don't know, Alya," Marinette groans, and puts her head on the table. In front of her, Adrien laughs.

She didn't even know he was listening.

She doesn't know Adrien was listening from the moment Alya mentioned TP. Doesn't know he was considering telling LadyBug that he knew a bigger fan, because he knows RenaRouge in person.

[A/N: Yes, I used sleep-deprived Marinette to excuse my bad writing 🤷 no hate]