"Don't touch that!"

Marinette leaps across the room, grabbing Chris' hand before he can start to fiddle with her sewing machine. The moment her fingers grab his wrist, the hand goes limp and Marinette moves to stand guard over the machine protectively. It's turned off at the socket, but she's quickly learning that Chris can stop anything being child friendly.

Roar! Can you-

Immediately recognising the beginning of Grim Monster Clash 3, having heard it a million times today, Marinette automatically reaches over and turns her laptop off. Unfortunately, the only thing open is Grim Monster Clash 3, and she needs to close the game to log off. But if she closes the game Chris will see her wallpaper and tell Nino, and then the truth is out.

So she has to settle for turning the screen off and pulling Chris away for the umpteenth time.

God, Alya is lucky Marinette loves her.

"You're too young to play Grim Monster Clash 3," Marinette says, and Chris folds his arms in childish defiance.

"I'm not scared of monsters anymore. I'm a-"

"A big kid," Marinette finishes, murmuring the words under her breath in resignation. "Yes, I know. Why don't we watch a cartoon instead? I have Pototty and Potato if you want?"

It was the first one that came to mind, and clearly fails to impress Chris.

"That show's for babies. I'm a big boy!"

"We could play with your snow globe?"

Normally, Marinette wouldn't go that far, but she's only got a few more minutes until Nino comes to take his brother home and she's run out of options.

"Ew!" Chris says in contempt, dropping onto her lounge and making her phone bounce into the air. It lands back on the lounge, perfectly fine and Marinette breathes a sigh of relief because if her bad luck holds, it would have bounced off and onto the floor and quite possibly have broken.

Her luck does hold though, because the screen lights up and Chris pounces on it.

"Miraculous? You have a new message?"

Marinette's eyes widen and she dashes across the room.

"Give me that!"

She snatches the phone from Chris' hand, but the damage has been done.

"Nino has Miraculous. Are you talking to Nino?"

A thousand absurd scenarios race through Marinette's head in an attempt to convince Chris not to mention this to his brother, but it's too late.

"Just go right up."

"Thank you Sabine."

Marinette glances at Chris, but before she can speak, the trapdoor opens. Nino and Alya's heads appear in the hold and they emerge into the room.

"Ready to go Chris?" Nino asks. Chris nods, and packs up the toys he's spread across the room.

"Ready!" he declares, throwing the backpack over his shoulder.

"Were you good for Marinette?"

"Yes!"

Behind Chris' back, Marinette raises an eyebrow at Nino, and he nods in understanding.

"Say thank you to Marinette for looking after you."

"Thank you," Chris says, but it's the opposite of grateful.

Oh no.

"Don't be grumpy," Nino scolds. "You could have come and watched a boring movie."

"You didn't even watch the movie," Chris mutters. "You were messaging Marinette."

Nino, who was about to start talking to Marinette, looks down at his brother with a frown.

"What?"

"I saw you," Chris says. "On Miraculous."

Alya and Nino both look at Marinette, both of them clearly wanting an explanation that she can't give.

Oh god. How is she supposed to get out of this?

"I made an account," she tries, barely avoiding making it a question. She says each word slowly, trying to work out the rest of this story. "After the ChatNoir incident."

Alya raises an eyebrow.

"And who was messaging you?"

"Luka."

Luka. She can rely on Luka. He'll back up her story, no questions asked.

Alya still doesn't look convinced. With a sigh, Marinette pulls out her phone and makes a call.

"Hey Luka."

"Marinette?"

He sounds confused, which is good.

"I'm talking to Alya," Marinette says, trying to work out the best way to clue Luka in without letting Alya know. "She doesn't believe that I've been talking to you on Miraculous."

She holds her breath and prays.

"Why not?"

Thank you Luka. She's saved.

"Because I only made the account the other day and didn't tell her."

Luka sighs.

"Hi Alya. Yes, I've been messaging Marinette on Miraculous."

Alya still looks slightly skeptical, but Chris has just escaped Nino's grip and is heading down the stairs faster than Nino can chase him.

"I should probably go with them," Alya says. "Message me."

Marinette isn't stupid enough to think she means text.

"Will do."

"Thanks for watching Chris."

"No problem."

And with that, Alya heads back down the stairs and Marinette takes a deep breath.

"So." Luka's voice comes from the phone in Marinette's hand. "Guess you're making a Miraculous account now."

"I suppose I am."

Neither of them end the call as Marinette walks over to her computer, simply because it's easier than using her phone.

"Any name ideas?"

"Multimouse?" Luka suggests. "Because you have multiple accounts?"

"Mouse?"

"I don't know, it starts with an M."

Marinette laughs as she logs out of her LadyBug account.

"Thank you, Luka."

"No problem," he says, and Marinette ends the call.

She gets a strange sense of deja vu as she clicks Sign Up.

She uses her school email address, because Miraculous won't let her have two accounts with the same email, and verifies her email address before she realises.

She needs a profile picture.

Oh no.

Her phone buzzes. Grateful for an excuse not to think about the "If I draw my own profile picture Alya will work out I'm LadyBug" problem, she opens the text from Luka. An image.

She sees it and two things hit her at once. Firstly, it's Multimouse. A mouse hero, with Marinette's dark hair up in two buns. Secondly, ChatNoir drew it.

how the HELL did you manage this?

She can almost imagine Luka grinning.

you aren't the only one with friends

ChatNoir drew this

wow, really?

Marinette scowls.

how did you get chatnoir to draw me a profile picture in less than two minutes?

magic

Marinette sighs.

are you going to tell me?

are you going to guess right?

Well, that answers that.

Marinette emails the picture to herself, downloads it onto her laptop and uploads it to the Multimouse profile. The bio is pretty simple, pretty much just crediting ChatNoir for drawing the profile picture, and she follows Viperion and ChatNoir. She hesitates, trying to decide whether it would be conceited to follow herself, before doing it anyway. She won't stand out, one LadyBug follower inside thousands.

The phone, still logged into her LadyBug account, buzzes.

You have one new follower.

Marinette grins, before remembering that she had a notification that definitely wasn't from Luka. She quickly messages Alya, and switches accounts. Predictably, it's ChatNoir. She could have seen that coming from a mile away.

ChatNoir: you up for drawing another episode?

LadyBug: i am now

LadyBug: and i even have a plot idea!!

ChatNoir: oh thank god i'm run dry

Marinette laughs.

LadyBug: anything in particular?

ChatNoir: general existence

ChatNoir: you said you had an idea?

LadyBug: right yes

LadyBug: the most RIDICULOUS thing happened just now

LadyBug: so my friend is going to the movies with her boyfriend (also my friend) so I babysit boyfriend's little brother

LadyBug: and your message turns up on my screen

LadyBug: and this kid immediately recognises the Miraculous logo and says "doesn't my brother have miraculous??"

ChatNoir: oh NO

LadyBug: and i'm like...

LadyBug: no?

LadyBug: but the kid isn't stupid, and he outs me to his brother😫

ChatNoir: this keeps getting worse

LadyBug: i had to come up with a cover story so fast 😫😫

She very nearly mentions Luka, before realising that if Luka knows ChatNoir, it then becomes very easy for him to work out who she is.

Would that be so terrible?

LadyBug: i already had a miraculous account, but i didn't have it on my phone, so i had to log in so fast before they realised i was logging in

LadyBug: disaster 😫😫

ChatNoir: no offence your life literally sounds like an episode of TP

ChatNoir: hey we should make a comic where we're superheroes saving paris from the akumas

LadyBug: superheroes, huh?

ChatNoir: you bet. LadyBug and Chat Noir. it'd be famous

LadyBug: you bet

ChatNoir makes a new episode and they start drawing. Just before they finish, she works up the courage to ask.

LadyBug: hey, i've got a new follower. it isn't new, but her profile pic was definitely your art style, and she's credited you for it in her profile

ChatNoir: oh yeah! multimouse

LadyBug: do you know her in real life or?

ChatNoir: everyone's got to have their secrets, mlady.

LadyBug: i suppose they do.

[A/N: Luka definitely flexing, but he just saved Marinette's skin, so I suppose he's deserved it 🤷‍♀️]