A/N: Barely passed the midterms by the skin of my teeth 😭 Thank you for your patience!

Gwen stared blankly at the wall in her room. Although it was currently messy with clothes piles and coffee cups and dishes, her eyes remained on the hologram she showcased.

After all, she tried to look up patterns after the whole time-traveling maniac, she couldn't help but look through this. She had several theories about the outcome. If her future self did create this ningatō just six months from now and wasn't able to use it:

1. She used the stones to save the universe or something.

2. Hawkmoth successfully captured her and used the stones, therefore causing a new Hawkmoth to want to use the power of the stones and come back in time to get them...again.

3. She left the universe–no. She couldn't because she needed to remove the stones before leaving the universe.

4. She accidentally died somewhere or something.

Gwen knew that in order to use the stones, it must be used by someone compelling to hold them. When Gwen became the host of the stones, she knew her body could not contain the stones as she could become a powerful bomb.

Sure, her body was able to live this long because of Chaos' remains and giving her a stronger body for a while but if she or someone else makes a wish using the stones while they're still in her, her body will not be able to sustain the stones anymore, therefore killing her.

That would explain why Gwen was making a weapon to try to remove the stones but she couldn't take them off before someone used them on her, killing her instantly.

Every timeline has the same outcome, however, it cannot change other futures. Changing the past does not change the future. She's not sure how it works in this universe, but she definitely knows that no matter how many times she goes back in the past, it will not change her future.

"If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past. Which can't now be changed by your new future"

...hopefully, it sounds better than the way she thought.

OKAY! If she time travels, it creates an alternate timeline that differs from the one she came from.

This should explain how even if Gwen were to solve her theories and remove the stones from her body, her future self would still remain dead. Although she feels oddly disturbed by the news, she knows that she can do something about it and try to make this right...in her future.

It was common knowledge from this information as she recalled talking to Peter Earth-616, knowing Peter lost his Gwen Stacy in a tragic battle against the Green Goblin. She remembered vividly how Peter refused to look at her, feeling guilty that it would happen to her but she proved him wrong.

Gwen sighed, standing up before rubbing her hands on her face to remove the slight stress she had. Walking over to the wall where she had her scanned blueprint of the ningatō, she tried to think of alternatives. She thought of using a syringe but now thinking about it, it was not a great way to remove the stones. She can't imagine the stones being mushy or something.

Ninjatō wasn't a good choice either as the weapon was painful for her, giving her a hard time healing to fight. She'll have to think about something else.

Gwen stepped out of her room, walking over to the kitchen to grab a new cup of coffee. It was a nice few hours of work at the bakery before getting the rest of the day off, seeing how they weren't that busy. She liked the coziness of her small apartment. It can be lonely sometimes without Gramps, but they would sometimes call each other to check up on each other.

Just the other day she scolded the man for going into multiple jobs. It's too risky. What if one of the heroes, including her, accidentally lures Hawkmoth to him? She can't let that happen. But like always, the man didn't listen. In fact, he got himself into another job. He refuses to say but she'll eventually figure it out, hacking through the surveillance cameras over Paris can be time-consuming but easy to look through.

She couldn't help but chuckle at the small picture frames next to the couch. One with her and Fu and one with her and Lila. She remembered vividly that very moment as Lila wanted to hang out more and wanted to take a picture.

A/N: Picture edited by Spanish translator Franciscaamaya22 🥰

Of course, she had her favorite pictures with Adrien too but had them saved in her phone, not wanting to lose them. Just as she sat on the couch, her phone buzzed with a notification. She frowned, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out her phone, surprised to see Mylène calling her.

It's rare to get calls from the girls these days but it would be her fault as she was always busy with work after school, hero work, and patrols. She softly smiled and answered, bringing the phone to her ear.

However, it was not Mylène she heard on the other side. It was Nino. She blinked, bringing her phone to look, and noted that she actually answered Nino instead. Did she accidentally answer him instead of Mylène?

Gwen shrugged, bringing the phone to her ear as she continued to drink her coffee. "Door to Door Dildo Delivery, no job too big or too small" Gwen spoke as she enjoyed her drink.

"Gwendy!" Nino laughed nervously from the line, making Gwen's eye twitch in annoyance, and pouted.

Only Adrien calls her that.

"What's up? It should be good, I'm drinking my fresh dose of coffee," she murmured, not wanting to comment on the name.

"Well," she heard Nino shifting. "You're one of the guys, right? Adrien's and I's best bud?"

"I think so," Gwen frowned in amusement. "Get to the point."

Nino sighed, "Adrien's dad is going to Tokyo for a few days, leaving Adrien alone and I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out with us?"

Gwen stood up, walked back to the kitchen, placed the empty mug on the sink, and leaned her back on it. "And Adrien agreed to this? You know how he can be nice and don't want to see you," she teased, grinning more as she heard laughs on the other side.

"Are you coming or not?" Nino huffed.

Gwen glanced back at the time, seeing that they had plenty of time. "Last I heard, you and the boys were going to help Mylène in planting trees near the river."

Nino winced, rubbing his nape. "It was the plan but I didn't want to leave Adrien by himself, you know? I thought of all people, you would understand."

Gwen gasped in fake offense, "Are you saying that I am a bad friend? Me of all people? That's just cruel."

Nino chuckled, "Well, are you coming or what?"

Gwen chuckled, stepping back from the kitchen, walking over to her bedroom door, and closing it before locking it. Grabbing her skateboard, she grabbed her keys and stepped out of her apartment.

"On my way."

🕸🕷🕸

Arriving close to the mansion, Gwen picked up her skateboard and started walking over to the boy with the familiar hat. She spotted some of the boys too and quirked a brow. Where's Nathaniel? She looked around but couldn't find him anywhere and shrugged, walking over to Nino.

"Hey, guys," she waved, standing next to Nino.

Kim grinned, rushing over and draping an arm over her shoulder. "Gwen! I thought you were at work?"

Gwen shrugged her other shoulder, "It wasn't busy and I was just in my apartment. So...are we waiting on Nathaniel, or–?" She glanced at Nino but the boy started sweating as he had yet to explain the plan to the rest of the group.

"About that," he cleared his throat as he looked at the rest of the group. "Okay, remember our objective. To penetrate the impenetrable fortress, aka Adrien's pad," he pulled out a few sheets of paper and presented it to the group.

Gwen couldn't help but be amused by the little red markings on the photos, showing Adrien's mansion as a castle. It later changed to Gabriel Agreste who now had devil horns with fangs and a pitchfork.

"Our main objective, Adrien's old man, is headed for Tokyo's fashion week along with Obstacle #2," he changed the picture to Nathalie whose face was drawn like a witch before showing another of the bodyguard drawn as a gorilla. "As for Obstacle #3, we have our own secret weapon to neutralize him."

With that, Nino nodded to Max who proudly patted his bookbag.

"Operation Adrien begins now!" Nino grinned at his brilliant plan. Looking at the others, he could see the uncertainty in Ivan's face.

"Uh..." Ivan started. "Now now?"

Nino deadpanned, "Yeah, now now! What now?"

Ivan blissfully smiled, "Uh, now now is when I promised Mylène I'd go help her plant some trees down by the river."

Gwen felt a shift from Kim as the boy's eyes widened in realization and looked at the group in shock. "Wait a sec! The street thing's today?"

Max nodded, pulling out a phone to calculate. "Yes, and the probability of the girls being terribly disappointed if we don't participate is 100%."

Nino cockily grinned, went through his backpack and pull out a few sheets of paper, and started handing them out to everyone. "Which is why I already came up with official excuses for each of you. Like you, Kim, have a swimming lesson."

Kim grabbed the paper and grinned, "Great! I always have my swimming trunks on me."

Gwen chuckled, shaking her head as Nino groaned. "Dude, you don't actually have swimming lessons. That's just your excuse."

Ivan frowned, "But isn't that lying?"

Gwen internally grimaced, knowing that she had to lie most of the time to keep up her job.

"Sorry, but Max is right. The girls can't know about this. So, is this mission still on? For Adrien?" he looked around the group, noticing them second-guessing this plan. "And if it doesn't work, Gwen can help." He nervously glanced at her as Gwen looked at the group before giving a slight shrug.

With that, Ivan, Max, and Kim stood by the side and started texting the girls of their excuses. Gwen stood next to Nino as they got it in order. She glanced at him, noticing he wasn't letting Alya know. "I'm assuming you already let Alya know?"

Nino grinned, "I got it all under control."

Gwen rolled her eyes and looked back at the boys as they started walking back to them. They nodded one last time before they crossed the street and walked over to the gate. Taking a deep breath, Nino rang the doorbell, causing a security camera to come out and shove towards them. Gwen blinked, not expecting it to be directly at their faces.

Nino cleared his throat, "Hello. We're here to see Adrien. We got to work on a school project together." Just as he finished, the camera went back in, not letting them enter. He snickered mischievously as he nodded to Max, who nodded back and stepped forward, pulling out some figurines from his bag.

Ringing the doorbell again, the camera came out and lowered to see them. "Word is, you're one of the biggest superhero figure collectors in the world. Is it true your collection is only missing a few pieces? Including this incredible rare Majestia Millennium Edition?" Nino smirked as Max shoved the figurine at the camera.

The camera went back in and Gwen was surprised to see the guard opening the mailbox for them. Max placed the figurine inside, allowing the gate to open and giving them entry. Gwen chuckled, so bribing worked on the man. Good to know.

The boys cheered, giving high fives before stepping inside the gate. The mansion was a shade of tan and cream with black shingles on the roof. it's been a while since Gwen came by the mansion in the daytime as she would prefer to come by at nighttime if Adrien needs help with something. She can see the small garden by the sides as the ivy covers the sides of the house.

Walking up the stairs, the bodyguard opened the door for them and looked around to see anything suspicious before nodding. Nino stepped inside as the others followed. "By the way, two more of Adrien's buddies are gonna show up later and help with the project–" he yelped as the bodyguard started pushing the group back and out of the mansion but Gwen pressed her foot, stopping the door from closing.

Gwen raised a hand behind her as Max handed her another figurine and showed it to the guard. "Vintage Knightowl, 65th-anniversary edition," Nino grinned.

The bodyguard grunts, taking the figurine from her hands and opening the door for them. This time, the group immediately rushed inside before the man changed his mind. Nino stopped not far from the guard and spoke up again, "But if Marinette, Juleka, Rose, Alya, Alix, or Mylène come knocking at the door, don't let them in. 'Kay?"

The guard grunts, opening the door threateningly. Gwen groaned, shoving a hand into her back pocket, pulling out €20, and slapping it on the man's hand. "Buy yourself something nice," she grinned. The guard grinned, taking the money before guiding everyone up the stairs towards Adrien's room.

"He sure strikes a hard bargain," Max couldn't help but comment.

The group silently nodded as they entered the room. Adrien seemed surprised as he stopped typing in the computer and turned to them confused. He blinked owlishly, finding Gwen part of the group, and grew concerned. What's going on?

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked innocently, standing up from his chair.

Nino and the rest of the boys sweated nervously as they had to put up an act for the guard. "We're here for the school project," Nino grinned nervously.

Adrien frowned, "Project? What project?"

Nino discreetly glanced at the guard, seeing the man frowning further. "You know, the project?" he winked.

Adrien's eyes widened in realization, "Oh...that project!"

With that, the guard left the room and closed the door behind him. The boys grinned and cheered for their victory. "Surprise project!" they all gathered around the boy who couldn't help but grin to see them.

"You've never had any hang out at your place, right?" Nino grinned, wrapping an arm around the boy's shoulder as the rest followed, save for Gwen who only stood by the side and crossed her arms with a soft smile on her face.

"We get to have it whenever we want," Ivan grinned.

Max nodded, "So we've come up with a plan to right this injustice."

Adrien smiled at them, happy for the small gesture they made to see and hang out with him. However, his smile slowly dropped, and stepped away from them, "That's really cool of you all. But my father would never allow this. It'd be best if you..." he glanced back at the boys, seeing the disappointment in their faces. "Uh, but hey! As long as it's not very long and he never ever finds out about it..." he tried, making the boys cheer up.

"Hang out time!" the boys cheered as they ran all over the place.

Gwen chuckled, seeing Kim running over to Adrien's bath, Max going up the ladder to look at Adrien's game collection, Ivan playing at the foosball table, and Nino going over to an arcade machine. Adrien stepped beside her and gave her a soft smile, concerningly glancing at her abdomen where her stab wound used to be.

He couldn't help but wonder, did it leave a scar? What did she think of what happened? He couldn't help but think over it too. Even though he's not very good when it comes to investigating things, he knows that what happened was not just a mere coincidence. If future Gwen really does die in the 6-month time period, he has to figure out a way for Gwen to still be alive.

"How are you doing? With the..." he looked around, hoping no one would hear. "With the stab wound?" he frowned in concern.

Gwen smiled, grabbing the end of her shirt and lifting it up a little. Thankfully, it didn't leave a scar based on the brutal wound but she can still feel the slight tenderness from her repaired tissues. "I'll live," she joked. "I still feel cold on it sometimes when I move but other than that, I'm fine."

"But how are you feeling about this?" Adrien frowned. Even though he was there to witness what happened to her, she still called him in the middle of the night to explain what happened. Obviously, because he couldn't tell her his true identity, he went along and heard her thoughts about it but hoped she could rely on him for anything.

Gwen sighed, dropping her shirt, and glanced at the boys who now gathered around the foosball table. "I'm still thinking. I'm...confused, almost excited?" she chuckled, shaking her head. "I'm not sure, but one thing I know is that I am exhausted just thinking about it. But I'll let you know if something comes up, promise."

Adrien smiled, reaching his hand out and grasping her scarred hands. He found comfort in them, they were warm and strong yet soft with her nails scratchly painted red, assuming it was Lila's or Chloé's doing, knowing how they liked to paint the girl's nails.

"Cool," he looked at her.

Gwen lightly blushed, feeling his hand on hers but smiled back, grasping it back before slowly dragging him with the others. She stepped beside Nino who decided to do the commentary when Adrien decided to play.

"Zitune and Platino, who dribbles and passes to Kili and the Kaki," Nino continued before Adrien finally scored. "Goal!" Adrien cheered, giving Gwen a fist bump.

Ivan stopped, hearing a notification from his phone, and pulled it out, noticing Marinette was calling him. "It's Marinette!"

Nino's eyes widened in alarm and snatched the phone from his hands, "Don't pick up! You can't lie to save your life. If she finds out we're here, you can say goodbye to guy time–Ow, Guy with Gwen time," Nino gave Gwen a pointed look as she lightly stepped on his foot.

Gwen sighed and snatched the phone from Nino's hand and handed it back to Ivan. "You don't have to answer the call. Just text her back and say that there's hardly any internet and they're about to start your appointment but you'll give her a call."

She turned to Adrien, seeing Marinette already calling him but she hung up. "You're studying, so no distractions." She turned to Max, "Say you're busy. And Kim is swimming, he doesn't have to answer."

Nino grinned, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, "And this is why she is cool."

Gwen sweatdropped but decided to walk towards the gaming machine and play Pacman, knowing she could be competitive. However, Ivan, Max, and Adrien started to get upset, confused about why they should ignore Marinette. What if Mylène really needs their help?

"Why can't we just answer Marinette?" Adrien asked, glancing at Max who crossed his arms, disappointed as Nino grabbed everyone's phone and placed them far from them.

"Because..." Nino nervously glanced at Gwen for help but deadpanned as Gwen cursed for dying and played again. "You don't want to get distracted from your only chance to hang out with your guys."

Adrien frowned, "But isn't Marinette...one of my guys?"

"Yes...but no. Right now, she's with her guys, so we aren't going to go and disturb her and her guys. Otherwise, we wouldn't be the good guys. Get it?" Nino tried and gave Gwen a pointed look as she snorted at his save.

Adrien hummed, "This whole guy thing's super complicated."

"Okay...music!" Nino tried. Adrien walked over to one of his drawers, pulling out some vinyl records. It piqued Gwen's interest, stopping the game and walking over to see what albums he had.

Nino grinned, "Woah! These can't be your awesome old records."

Adrien smiled, "They were my mother's."

Gwen's smile slowly dropped, not knowing what he was thinking. He is really nice and compassionate and tries to impress everyone including his father. It made Gwen bad that she always relied on him when it came to her problems but he didn't have anyone to talk to. She wanted to try but she's not sure if it would make the boy uncomfortable.

From what he's told, it's been a year since he last saw his mother. Gwen snapped out of it, seeing Nino taking out the box and pulling out a vinyl. Glancing at Adrien, she saw that he was talking with him. She smiled, if he wanted to talk to her, she'd be there for him.

Placing the Stationation record on the player, the music started playing all around the room. That was when Gwen noticed the speakers hung on Adrien's wall and was impressed at the music. It was more of 70s music, liking the rhythm.

"Uh, wait a sec. Is this as loud as it gets?" Nino turned to Adrien before turning to the geniuses in the room. "Gwen, Max, Markov! Can you do something to turn it up?"

Max nodded, stopping from playing a game, and walked over to sit on the chair. Inspecting the computer, he nodded. "Affirmative!" he pressed on the keyboards, pressing a few codes in. Markov flew over and plugged into the computer before downloading. "I just need to hook to the home's electrical panel," Markov explained.

Gwen glanced at the door, seeing the guard opening it for Nathaniel and Marc. Ivan noticed too and grinned, rushing over to them and giving them a hug. "Hey, guys!"

Max continued looking through the computer and gasped, "Woah! Your house has an insane power supply, Adrien. It could compete with a nuclear power station."

Adrien smiled, "My father always has to own the biggest and the best."

Nino grinned, "Cool! Give me the biggest and the best."

Gwen's smile dropped, "Wait–"

But she wasn't able to speak as Max redirected all the power to the speakers, increasing the volume and basically knocking everything away from the streets. Gwen's jaw dropped, seeing some cars flying back by the volume. Adrien and Max immediately covered their ears, hearing the loud music blasting the room.

"You sure it's not too loud?!" Adrien shouts through the music.

Nino excitedly danced to the song and turned to them, "Are you kidding? This is the way it's supposed to be for guy time!"

Gwen, on the other hand, felt obnoxious pain. She internally cursed her spidey senses, making her hearing, taste, touch, smell, and sound enhanced. The music blasted loudly into her ears, causing her to run over to the bathroom and shut the door. Even though it didn't completely cover the music, it muffled the sound just lightly.

She panted, feeling ache in her head. And to think that she was used to hearing loud music, it somehow frazzled her brain or something. Sighing, she slid to the ground and leaned against the wall to soothe her senses. However, she stopped once the music completely stopped.

Ignoring Kim who continued to swim in Adrien's tub, she walked out of the bathroom. Eye twitching to see Officer Roger in the house.

"Sorry, officer," Adrien apologized. "We're just doing..." he tried but Nino interrupted him. "...a school project! We're just working on a school project!"

Roger glares, "What's the topic? Eardrum damage?"

Might as well be, Gwen thought.

Nino shook his head, glancing at Adrien to let him do the talking. "No, it's uh, on foosball," he pointed to the table where Nathaniel, Ivan, and Max were.

Gwen facepalmed. And to think this boy could be good in some things but lying and terribly at it, she just knew that this was over.

"Seriously?" Roger approached the table, seeing the way Max and Ivan played. "You're doing it all wrong! Let me show you how it's done!"

Gwen deadpanned. She stands corrected. She's surrounded by idiots.

Roger placed the ball on the table and shuffled through the players, not helping himself to give some commentary of his own, and grinned. "Caset! To Baliage! Goal!" he scored, throwing his arms in victory as the boys watched him in awe.

It didn't take long for people out in the streets to know what was going on in the Agreste house. Thomas and Vincent arrived a little more after and started taking photos of everyone having fun. Gwen couldn't help but laugh as they all posed for the pictures but yelped as Vincent shoved her away from the photos.

Jagged was the man of the party and presentation. So it felt wrong for the man to not arrive at the mansion in his helicopter with his crocodile. Of course, Gwen was stoked to see Luka arrive not long after that with his guitar. Jalil also came along with Fred, they brought instruments so it didn't matter much.

Although Gwen knew it was getting out of control, she couldn't help but dance a little to the music. Thankfully they lowered the volume but she couldn't help but see more guests arrive and how crazier it gets.

Hell, even Adrien's fencing teacher, Mr. Bourgeois, Ramier, Chloé's butler, André with his ice cream, some guy with a leaf blower, Simon, Mr. Banana, Mr. Damocles, and a firefighter. It's insane.

Gwen laughed, shaking her head as she sat beside Luka. "This is so stupid."

Luka chuckled, "You seem happy. After that stunt you pulled in the grocery store, you better be."

She rolled her eyes, thanking André for the ice cream. "Not my fault you're slow. How's your mom, by the way? We haven't hung out in a while."

Luka thanked the man too, grasping his cone, and turned to her. "She would sometimes ask for you but understands that you've been working. And besides, the end of our show is getting near and I have recorded the last few episodes for us to watch."

Gwen's eyes widened, "Oh yeah! Cool. I can come over this weeke–Oof!" She grunts as Adrien excuses himself and sits between them. He grinned at them, "Hey guys!"

Gwen's eye twitched and looked away as Luka chuckled at their behavior. Instead, he continued talking with Adrien while Max used the leafblower to dump all the confetti to fly around the room.

Adrien smiled, nudging Gwen and turning his head a little, amused as Mr. Banana decided to swing himself around the room. "Is hang-out time always like this?"

Gwen scoffed, "It should be. Although I'm the only girl here, it's not so bad."

Adrien chuckled, turning to her. His eyes softened as some confetti landed on her hair. He couldn't help himself, reaching a hand and gently removing a stray green slip. Gwen blinked but didn't move as he concentrated. That was when she noticed how close they were.

She could feel his warm breath hitting her skin softly, making her shiver as she looked into his polished forest-green eyes. She felt warm as Adrien scooted himself closer to her to get the confetti better and it wasn't helping the girl's heart at all.

Adrien was oblivious to the girl's internal dilemma and tried to remove all the confetti. He nodded, finding no more papers left. However, his hand didn't move from her strands that now started to go below her shoulders. He blinked, threading his fingers through her blond strands.

"It's getting long," he whispered, his warm breath hitting her again.

Gwen's eyes widened, looking down to look at her hair. She blinked, just noticing how long her hair had gotten. Damn. When was the last time she cut her hair?

Picking a few strands, she murmured. "Oh, I guess it's time to give it a cut." Before she dropped her hand though, Adrien gently grasped it, picked up the strand, and comically placed it under his nose like a mustache.

"You look beautiful with long hair, though," Adrien stated.

Gwen's eyes widened in shock, she cursed her heart for racing. They were just mere words. It didn't matter. They were just his breath. It didn't matter. It was just his words...It didn't matter.

Gwen looked back down at her hair and chuckled, "Sucks. I'm cutting it anyways," she lied. She couldn't help but look around the room. It was heavily crowded but it seemed to make Adrien happy, having a party of his own.

After all, it wasn't his first party that Nino made. From what she encountered at the last party Adrien had, everybody was forced to be there but this is a nice change for him.

Adrien stood up, giving Gwen a hand. She gladly took his hand and stood up. However, just as she stood, her eyes narrowed on the familiar figure in the corner. Her eye twitched and smiled at Adrien. Even though he knows her identity, he still doesn't know who the guardian of the miraculous is.

Excusing herself from Adrien's side, she walked over to the man. Fu noticed the slight shadow over him and looked up, blinking to see his adopted granddaughter glaring at him with a devilish grin.

"What the hell are you doing here, Gramps?" she hissed lowly, looking around. "Shouldn't you be working? Somewhere far away from people? Where no villain find you?"

Fu chuckled, waving a hand. "Don't worry about it. I'm currently working as a DJ. Wii, wiki, waa!"

Gwen's eye twitched, "The last time you heard my music, you said they were terrible. What kind of idiot would hire someone with no taste?"

Fu sighed, chuckling at her. "I missed you too, Gwen."

Gwen scoffed, looking away. "You're unbelievable, you know that? What am I going to do with you? Where are the babies?" she asked, knowing Fu would know the deep meaning of the kwamis he was hiding.

"Don't worry, Gwen," he patted the ice cooler under him. "They're cool."

Gwen rolled her eyes, chuckling as she walked away. Unaware that Marinette disguised herself as a man to enter the mansion. Gwen sat by the bed, talking contently with Nathaniel and Marc, knowing more about the next art project they were working on before.

As they conversed for a little longer, the music stopped and was replaced with Stationation again. This time, Mr. D'Argencourt, André, Hessenpy the firefighter, Roger, Jean the sanitation engineer, and a new short guy decided to dance to the song.

Gwen bobbed her head to the song and chuckled as the short guy was messing up the dance miserably. She glanced to the side, finding Fu dancing on top of the cooler next to Kim. She stiffened, noticing the man getting off balance, and rushed to her feet to catch him but Kim was faster, grabbing the man before he hit the floor and placed him down.

Gwen silently sighed in relief, walking over to them. "Are you okay?"

Kim grinned, "He's fine."

A small glint appeared in Fu's eyes, watching Kim closely. "Thank you, young man. Your natural reflexes are quite good."

Kim grinned proudly, "Helping others should always be a natural reflex like swimming is for fish." He waved at Gwen before running back to the bathroom and diving into the bath.

Gwen noticed the man's glint and chuckled, "That's what happens when you stand on the cooler. You're supposed to be safe."

Fu nodded, "I know, I know."

🕸🕷🕸

"I don't feel any negative emotion. There's only...joy" Hawkmoth gasped, snapping his eyes open. "What's going on in my house?!"

🕸🕷🕸

The men continued to dance to the song, twirling in pirouettes. Save for the small guy who stood confused and tried twirling too before he tripped over his feet and fell to the ground, dropping the glasses and helmet. Gwen's eyes widened, seeing Marinette on the floor.

Adrien blinked too, walking forward to help her. "Marinette?"

Marinette panicked. She knew that the boys were horrible liars and to see so many guys just enter Adrien's apartment, she had to go through a different alternative, now dressing up as a guy too. But she just had to be dragged into a dance the moment she stepped inside the room. Not only that but for Adrien to see her like this, it's embarrassing.

Grabbing her glasses with a mustache, she spoke. "Uh...no, no, no, no! It's a-me: Marino!" she tried but no one was able to say a word before the door slammed open.

"So, Adrien?" an akumatized man spoke, pointing his disco ball at him. "Too busy for your number one fan? Well, I'll make sure to never forget to invite me to one of your parties again." The man then started touching people, making them disappear.

The crowd panicked, screaming in fear as they started running away. Gwen's eyes narrowed, seeing as the guy was after Adrien. She rushed over and grabbed Adrien's and Marinette's wrists and dragged them out of the room and towards the entrance.

"Marinette, run and hide!" Adrien shouts as the three separate. Gwen rushed towards the restroom and punched her fists.

🕸🕷🕸

The three heroes met up in front of the mansion, standing defensively as Party Crasher started to descend the stairs to meet them.

"Hey, Disco Dude!" Chat calls out, gripping his staff. "When the heroes show up, the party's over."

Party Crasher chuckled, "Ha, fools! All I need to touch you and your miraculous and Ghost-Spider will be mine." He bolted towards them, throwing punches at them but they dodged his attacks. They took the fight outside the gate and into the streets, making sure to avoid his touches.

Ghost dodged his attack and webbed towards his wrist but he saw it coming, dodging her webbing and bolting toward her. She cursed, seeing the man becoming unpredictable and hard to get to. Every time she tries to attack him, it's like he can read her moves.

Ladybug noticed the situation too and swung herself on top of a statue to read it more. Her eyes widened in alarm as Chat tried to attack Party Crasher but he predicted it again, kicking him before he could touch him.

"Chatnoir, look out!" Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo on Chat and dragged him to the statue. Ghost continued fighting him in hopes of finding a weakness. Whenever she throws a punch, Party Crasher just dodges and punches, making Gwen flinch back.

Chat stood next to Ladybug, frowning too as Ghost started to have a hard time getting to the guy. He was fast and relentless. "How'd he know exactly what I was gonna do?"

Ladybug frowned, "It must be his power. He can anticipate our moves. We're gonna have to figure out how to surprise him. Lucky Charm!" a cassette tape dropped on her hands, and looked around, not finding anything that could be useful for this mission.

"Look out!" they heard Ghost shout, making them turn to the fight. They jumped away just as Party Crasher shot a beam at them. Party Crasher looked at Ladybug, looked down to where she would land, and rushed over.

Ghost noticed and ran right behind him, elbowing his back. He choked, feeling a sharp pain in his back. He grunts, reaching back to touch her but Ladybug rushes over to them to grab his wrists but both heroes end up being sacked with the disco balls, making them disappear.

Chat's eyes widened in horror, screaming in shock. He lunged towards the villain but felt a tug from his belt, seeing Master Fu behind him and hiding behind a car.

"Don't go in there alone!" Fu spoke. "You'll never pull this off by yourself."

Chat gritted his teeth, wanting nothing more than to get Ladybug and Gwen back. But one thing he knows about fighting alongside Gwen is to keep going. Find other alternatives to fight and get them back. Looking back at Fu, he closed his eyes in shame and dropped beside him, surprising Fu.

"What should I do?" he spoke, glancing up to see Party Crasher looking around for Adrien.

Fu hummed, turning to his cooler and pulling out the miracle box, showing all the miraculous jewels. Chat's eyes widened in shock, never seen so many jewels before. Is this where Ladybug and Ghost get the miraculous from?

"Chatnoir, pick an ally you can trust right alongside you on this mission. Choose wisely. Such powers are meant to serve the greater good," Fu nodded.

Chat frowned, not sure how each of the miraculous works. "I need someone to weaken Party Crasher's powers. Just enough to bring Ladybug and Ghost-Spider back to fight him. Do you have a miraculous for that?"

Fu smiled, seeing the boy thinking strategically with this. He's starting to think Gwen gave some sort of influence. The boy may not show it but it's there. He seems to be taking everything into account. Because of the many times that Gwen had to sacrifice herself for her teammates to get the advantage, Chat is tired of it and wants to make a change.

Fu grabbed the monkey miraculous and handed it to him. "Who do you have in mind?"

Chat started thinking of everyone he knew. They have to be strong, trustworthy, and flexible. He can't think of anyone like that other than...he glanced back at his mansion, knowing a certain swimmer was still in his house. He nodded in determination and turned to Fu, grasping his shoulders.

"Thank you for trusting me, but you need to hide," Chat nodded before jumping away.

🕸🕷🕸

Chat stormed into his room, not caring for the mess at the moment. He needed to get the girls back and fast. He's not sure how long it will take for Party Crasher to get everyone in Paris. Entering the bathroom door, he could hear the swishes and splashes from his tub.

Taking a deep breath, he walked towards it and dropped the small box in the water. It didn't take long for Kim to surface with the box. He yelped, flinching back to see Chat there. "Chat noir? What are you doing here?"

"There's an akumatized villain on the loose. Ladybug and Ghost-Spider were taken captured. I currently cannot take on the villain without help," Chat spoke with seriousness.

Kim blinked, looking down at the box and opening it, surprised as a bright light shined and flew around him before facing him. He gasped, finding a small monkey floating in front of him. "Aww! A flying monkey plushie!" Kim gushed.

Xuppu deadpanned. Only Gwen calls her that! "I'm no plushie! My name is Xuppu, you nitwit!" he blows a raspberry at him making Kim's eyes widen.

"My name's not nitwit! My name is Kim!" Kim retaliated making faces at Xuppu but the kwami wasn't one to give up and retaliated too.

Chat can only watch this with slight amusement and confusion. He's starting to wonder if this was the smartest move after all. He cleared his throat, getting their attention. "Kim Lê Chiến," Chat spoke. "This is the miraculous of the monkey which grants you the power to weaken your opponent's power. Once the job is done, you must return it to me. We don't have enough time, so I need to know that I can trust you enough to finish the job and bring back the people I care about. Can I trust you?"

Kim grinned, excited to know that he was worthy to fight alongside the heroes. "Xuppu, showtime!"

🕸🕷🕸

King Monkey hung by the statue, observing as Party Crasher released a helicopter and spoke up. "Hey, wait a sec! King Monkey loves to party too!" he jumped down and backed away to get some distance. With that, he threw his staff in the air. "Uproar!" The staff glowed for a moment before it gave him a banana plushie.

"Eat this!" he shouts, throwing the banana at the villain.

Party Crasher was definitely not impressed as the banana hit his chest but didn't feel any pain from it. "Seriously?" he deadpanned but grew surprised as the helicopter he sent out turned into a piñata. "What's going on?" he looked around, suddenly seeing the place out of hand. He started hallucinating and grew more confused, seeing King Monkey moving everywhere at once.

He couldn't predict where he's going!

"Sorry," King Monkey cackled. "I just love disrupting other's powers." He runs towards the villain and hits the piñata with his staff, freeing Ladybug, Ghost-Spider, and the rest of the people from Party Crasher's hold.

Party Crasher gritted his teeth, growling for getting off guard. Ladybug looked down at the cassette tape and her eyes widened, turning to Ghost. "Ghost, do you have a cassette player on you?"

Ghost was still confused about what was going on but turned to Ladybug. "Let me scan it."

Ladybug held out the tape and Ghost raised her bracer, scanning the tape before smirking. "Music, huh?"

Ladybug smirked back, "The only solution is to be so unpredictable that he can't read our dance steps. So..."

The group grinned widely, hearing music blasting from Ghost's bracers. it was the same song from Stationation but it felt just right with the villain.

"Freak out!" Ladybug shouted as the group started to crazily dance, doing whatever felt right from the rhythm.

Party Crasher couldn't comprehend what they were doing as their steps were unable to read. "What are you doing? It's nonsense!" he shouts but yelps as every single hero throws a kick and a punch at him, catching him off guard.

Ladybug grunts, kicking his abdomen hard. His glasses fell off into Ghost's hands. She smirked, tossing it over to Chat who blinked at her. He could almost feel her smirk behind her mask as she nodded to the glasses.

"You're the hero of the day, take your victory," she smirked.

Chat grinned, using his cataclysm, and destroyed the glasses. Ladybug grinned, throwing her yo-yo to capture the akuma and purify it, bringing everything back to normal.

Party Crasher turned back to Wayhem.

Ghost turned to King Monkey, Chat, and Ladybug before raising a fist. "Pound it?"

🕸🕷🕸

It was expected to clean the house after the crazy party they had. Gwen stood by Adrien as she swept the ground and picked up the trash.

"Scrub harder, guys!" Nino shouts, cleaning the foosball table. "Any trace of our awesome hang-out time must be long gone before Mr. Agreste gets back."

Gwen chuckled, crouching down to help Kim to get the trash. Not far from them, Adrien swept with Wayhem, picking up the confetti from the ground. "I'm sorry, Wayhem. I swear I had no idea my friends were gonna surprise me," Adrien apologized.

Wayhem grinned, "What matters is that you had a great time, with or without me. And now I get to clean the house with my idol. This is the best day of my life!"

Adrien couldn't help but smile back, going back to clean. He glanced up, finding Gwen picking up more pieces, causing some loose strands to fall over her shoulders. He blissfully smiled, liking how the sun shined on her like a halo.

He seriously loves that girl.

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ Next Episode: Gamer 2.0 ♥

Published: October 20, 2023

Word Count: 7268