Marinette walks home, stopping at the red light. While she waits for the cars to drive past, she thinks about last week. It's Friday, the usual day that she starts making TP to post on Saturday, or Sunday if it takes longer than expected. The issue is that she cannot think of a single interesting thing that has happened this week. Not one single thing that could inspire an akuma.

Well, she thinks as she crosses the road, maybe Nooroo is taking this week off. But she wants to make another episode.

As she enters the bakery, her mother passes her a macaroon and Marinette thanks her as she goes upstairs. She tries thinking back to sometime she said no to someone and made them upset, and by the time she's logging onto Miraculous she knows exactly what this episode will be about.

As usual, there's a message from ChatNoir waiting for her.

ChatNoir: afternoon, mlady. i hope uve got some ideas for an episode bc ive had a super boring week with nothing happening

LadyBug: actually, yeah i do. my week was boring too, but theres this thing that happened to me when i was a kid. i was like seven, and this artist in my class had a crush on me. i was obsessed with princesses at the time, so this artist drew himself as a prince saving me as a princess. class bully spotted said drawing and he was too embarrassed to ever act on the crush (which was good bc i didnt like him)

She decides not to mention that this boy currently sits two rows behind her, continuously drawing.

ChatNoir: aww, poor princess. that would have been rlly embarrassing for both of u, lol

Marinette opens the design section, and sees that ChatNoir has opened it too.

ChatNoir: if u dont like him, who do u like?

Marinette's mind flashes to Adrien. Watching his blond head bob slightly as he writes in front of her, seeing the real smile he never gave to photographers, his beautiful green eyes.

LadyBug: theres this boy in my class and hes literal perfection. he doesnt like me back but whatevs i can wait

ChatNoir: im sure he does like u back. just through messaging i can tell hed be an idiot not to

Marinette wonders whether this is ChatNoir flirting with her, if he's trying to tell her that he likes her without saying the words. If she's going to have to reject him for Adrien.

LadyBug: haha thats nice of u to say but im a lot more confident via messaging. im generally awkward and clumsy and unable to speak around him, so he probably thinks im an illiterate dork

And before he can reply to that message, she sends another.

LadyBug: ready to design??

ChatNoir: whenever u are, princess

Marinette frowns at the reference to her story, and draws a huge red frowning face on the canvas. Within a minute, ChatNoir's used the select tool to select the frown and quickly turns it upside down. Marinette wants to keep frowning, but she can't stop herself laughing.

ChatNoir: considering ive never met this kid, do u want to do the honours of design??

LadyBug: my pleasure

She draws Nathaniel's trademark red hair first, but ignores the real Nathaniel from there. She adds tints of purple to his hair, and then gives him a purple face and a black face mask.

ChatNoir: kinda funny actually he looks kinda like this kid i know. wei-rd

Marinette makes him wider, shorter, less like Nathaniel, and a follow-up message comes through a moment after she resdesigns his hair.

ChatNoir: nevermind lol

He knows Nathaniel. Marinette doesn't pause in her drawing as she begins on the first panel, but her mind isn't on the drawing. She barely notices ChatNoir going through and correcting mistakes in every panel.

ChatNoir knows Nathaniel.

ChatNoir might know her.

When she finally gets around to drawing herself, the Evillustrator's love interest, she makes her look exactly the opposite. Super-long light brown hair, glasses, and wearing a short dress. Just the kind of girl who would dream about being in a fairytale, but not at all like herself.

To her relief, there's no message from ChatNoir about the girl, so she begins to relax. When the girl finds out that Not-Nathaniel has been akumatised, she's more worried about his well-being than the potential risks. She's guided a lot by Tikki, but she eventually gets his akumatised object, a drawing stylus based on the one in Marinette's own hand. Marinette has just finished drawing the girl snapping the stylus when she gets a message from ChatNoir.

ChatNoir: ok but i ship u need them to get together

LadyBug: u ship me and him huh??

Laughing, she sends another message before he has to reply.

LadyBug: jkjk, the girl isn't based on me in any way, and ngl i ship it too. artist benefits, my friend, include making your ships sail.

ChatNoir: i second this

Marinette draws Tikki purifying the akuma and sending the Lucky Charm, the bouncy ball used to turn off all the lights so Evillustrator couldn't see, into the air. The next panel is the Evillustrator turning back into Not-Nathaniel.

ChatNoir: cmon cmon cmon my shiiiiiiiiip

And the next panel is the girl hugging the boy, showing him that she'd kept the picture of them in a fairytale, that he should have just asked her.

ChatNoir: omg my ship is sailing

He draws a long, blue wiggly line across the panel, meant to mimic an ocean, before quickly deleting it. In response, Marinette draws the next panel of the two kissing.

ChatNoir: *has heart attack bc fangirling*

Marinette can't stop herself laughing as she finishes the comic, and uploads it.

ChatNoir: ok but we need more ships in our episodes that was great fun

LadyBug: agreed. ships everywhere. u cant see the ocean, there are too many ships

He replies a moment later, and she can't stop herself laughing as they talk.

LadyBug: u seeing what im seeing, chat? people are getting the notifications that weve updated

Her phone is buzzing, and every time she refreshes the notifications, more and more votes are popping up.

ChatNoir: ikr my phone is going nuts. have u seen this volpina chick?

Marinette frowns, pressing refresh.

LadyBug: no?? should i have??

ChatNoir: try the comments on the second panel, she commented there. tell me im not being picky, please

Marinette frowns, clicking on The Adventures of Tikki and Plagg: Episode 8 The Evillustrator. On the second panel, the one with the drawing of Not-Nathaniel and, now she thinks of it, Not-Marinette, is the comment that ChatNoir is talking about. A user called Volpina, whose profile picture looks strangely like RenaRouge's.

Volpina: dont mean to criticise or offend but being princess-obsessed at their age is kind of immature :D

Marinette raises an eyebrow. Really? And the smiley face as well? She tracks through the comments that have already been made.

Volpina: she cant even hit on a guy whoa

Volpina: he can draw so what tikki and plagg how is he hard to beat

Volpina: why are they kissing he tried to attack her they arent even a cute couple what is this

Marinette frowns, but she starts to smile when RenaRouge comments on the last one.

RenaRouge: volpina i dont mean to offend u, but that could be considered rlly hurtful. i know ladybug bases some of her akumas on real people, and if those people were reading it they could be offended.

Marinette grins at her best friend's message, unbelievably proud of her. Unfortunately, it's promptly ruined by Volpina's next message.

Volpina: haha no offence taken. i actually know who ladybug is and we're real tight in real life. its just constructive criticism from one of her best friends, i didnt mean to offend anyone :D

Marinette quickly switches to her private chat with ChatNoir, glad that the layout means she can still see the comment chain.

LadyBug: u seeing this, chat??????????

LadyBug: volpinas message on the last panel

ChatNoir: ya i see it. i would have messaged but tbh idk whether u do know volpina in real life

LadyBug: as a matter of fact i dont, and renarouge is absolutely right. i do know one of those people in real life and im sure he'll read this. he may not know its about him but the point is he could and what she said is actually rlly offensive

She's about to put a message of her own on the comment thread, but a message from ChatNoir stops her.

ChatNoir: dont worry about it, princess. its just this one episode. we'll deal with it if it becomes a bigger issue via private messaging. maybe volpina is having a bad day.

Marinette glances between ChatNoir's message and the recent comment by RenaRouge, apologising and just reminding that Volpina's message could be taken offensively. She desperately wants to tell RenaRouge, and every other reader, that it's RenaRouge herself that is her best friend in real life, that no one knows who she is in real life.

LadyBug: fine, ill let her get away with it this time. but if it becomes a regular thing im not going to be happy

ChatNoir: :D thank u princess

For a moment, Marinette considers telling him not to call her 'princess', but she just sighs and turns her laptop off.