Tikki's under the weather - Multimouse x Chat / Marinette x Adrien

The Mouse is out of the bag?

Marinette grabbed his hand lightly, her soft, nimble fingers guiding him up the stairs and into her bedroom. The air around her was different after that Akuma. She was far too caring to be unbothered by the damage. He knew that he knew she was hurting, but why did he feel happy right now?

As they entered her room, her fingers slipped away, a chill ran up his spine, and suddenly the room felt heavy. He watched as she made her way across the room and toward her desk. She pulled a tablet from the drawer. It was different from the one she normally used in class, an older one, with classic Chinese design.

She sat on the corner of the desk, taking a deep breath before looking him in the eyes. What could she be thinking right now to have such a determined gaze?

"Adrien, there's something I need to tell you... something that you can't tell anybody..." her words died on her lips, and she fell silent.

"You can trust me, Marinette."

"No! I mean.. This isn't about trusting you Adrien, of course, I trust you. This is... what I... If I tell you, you will be in danger."

"Danger? Is someone trying to hurt you?"

"No. Well, yes. Technically? But I'm okay, I have someone who is helping me. And I was hoping you could help me too." She was wringing her fingers together.

"If you need help, then you have it. Who are we killing?"

Marinette let out a small laugh. "We aren't killing anyone. Besides, I was hoping you would lend me that smart brain of yours, not the brawn. There is no way I would let you face this him anyway."

She turned the tablet around. On the screen was what appeared to be a scanned copy of an old book, it's parchment pages were discolored and worn. On the page was a man, dressed in silver and purple. The man was welding a cane. Next to him were numerous symbols and a drawing of a violet butterfly. He recognized this page. This was from his father book.

"Hawkmoth.." He said under his breath. Marinette nodded slowly.

She swiped a finger along the screen, allowing another page to render, then another. She handed him the tablet, allowing him to swipe through himself.
"I received this from Ladybug a few days ago. She said it contains information about the miraculous. I-we need to find a way to decipher the text asap."

"This is from Ladybug? Why is she having you do it instead of herself?"

"Um, well.. Ladybug is going to be gone for a while, I'm not sure when she will be back... hopefully, there is something in here that can help her come back sooner."

Adrien's jaw clenched. "She's okay.?" He said as if to tell himself rather than actually asking a question.

Marinette nodded slowly. His jaw relaxed, and he gave her a smirk.

"So, since Ladybug herself can't do it, she chose the next best person. Our resident Everyday Ladybug."

Marinette blushed hard at his statement. "Y-yeah, something like that... The tablet wasn't the only thing she left, though." She ran her finger along the neck of her shirt. A glimmer of silver emerged from under as she pulled out a circular pendant. "She also left me this. It's the miraculous of the mouse, I'm Multimouse."

Upon seeing her Miraculous, Adrien subconsciously turned the ring on his finger. It wasn't often he saw another Miraculous. Marinette's eye flicked to his. It was then that he realized he should probably respond. Feigning ignorance, he pointed at her.

"Y-You're Multimouse? So.. earlier at the bridge.." He left his sentence short, hoping to give the implication that he's thinking really hard about this revelation.

Again. Marinette nodded her head quietly. The small smile that crept its ways to the corner of her mouth showed that she was secretly amused by his reaction. Happy that she didn't look disappointed. He pressed a bit further.

"Jeez Mari.. You really know how to sweep a guy off his feet, huh?" He gave her a sly wink and a smile.

--MarinetteBrain.Exe has stopped working--

After Marinette managed to reboot, the duo spent the next three hours combing through Chinese script in a mad attempt to translate as much as possible. They had managed to translate some of the characters, but they still had a long way to go.

Peering over Marinette's laptop. Adrien watched the Blue haired girl. The tip of her tongue was caught between her lips as she focused on typing. A single strand of hair slipped free from her pigtails, which she promptly slid behind her ear with her slender fingers.

Since Ladybug was so abatement that they could never reveal their identity. Adrien dropped the idea of ever knowing who another weirder was. Let alone working together detransformed like he was now with Marinette. She was opening his eyes to new possibilities at every turn.

An alarm blared. Marinette hissed in pain as the sudden noises startled her to the point that she bit her tongue. She quickly looked for her phone before Adrien grabbed it for her. He glanced at the alarm on the screen 'Training w/ Chat'.

Marinette must have noticed his gaze. "Chat Noir asked me to start training with him."

"He's going to teach you how to fight?"

"Yes, we both think it would be a good idea. I have been working off instinct. Plus, it should help to get in shape."

"Get in shape? Are you working out too?"

"Well, I'm trying to at least. According to Ladybug, if I don't, it can put a strain on the miraculous. I woke up early just to train before school, but I don't think I'm doing it right."

Plagg had never mentioned anything about a strain on him, but maybe it's because Adrien worked out every morning hoping to impress Ladybug.

"If you don't mind, I can help you with that."

Marinette looked at him, confused.
"Help how?"

"Well, normally I work out before school starts. You can join me if you want."

"No, I can't do that, I wouldn't want to impose. I just need to watch some videos on it."

"Mari, I insist. Besides, it can be pretty boring by myself. If it helps, think of it as you helping me not die of boredom."

Marinette thought about it for a second before a second alarm went off on her phone. Startling her again.

"I have to go. I'll... I'll message you when I get back."

"Sure."

Marinette led him out of the house and thanked him profusely for his help and understanding. A few minutes after he left, he watched as a small gray figure zipped above him towards their meeting point.

Ducking into an alley, he called upon Plagg to transform.

----: Author Note
Hey everyone, thank you for getting this far or returning.
Sorry for such late delays. The most difficult thing while writing for me is dialogs. Almost everything in these stories is dialog... damn.

Anyway, as always. Please leave a review if you get a chance. Feel free to critique or compliment. That is the only way for me to know what is and isn't working when writing these, and I won't lie, it definitely makes me want to work on it when I know people are viewing it and wanting more.

My goal is to at least double the chapters this year, with a minimum length of 1k words.

If you have any ideas for these chapters feel free to type them in the comments, if they don't fit I can always add them as a bonus chapter like I did for SMASH.

Thank you all for being patient and I'll really try not to go on a hiatus this time.

If you are following Resonance, there is a chapter in the works