As Adrien strides out from the most boring cover lesson on Chemistry ever, he makes a beeline to the toilets. He drops a quick apology text to Luka, letting him know that he's an engagement with a spotted friend and won't be joining him in the dining hall.
Nearly silently he whispers, "Claws out."
As the thrum of Plagg's power infuses into his body, he clambers atop the toilet to the cubicle's window. After so much regular abuse as his escape route, the hinges slide open without any resistance, the screws long since removed. The janitors don't seem to have raised any complaints or made any attempt to fix it, so Adrien is content enough leaving the window hatch unscrewed. Saves him a few extra minutes every akuma attack.
Slinking across the rooftop, he moves with feline grace that would rival an Olympic athlete, moving almost unseen from the building's rooftops until he's confident he's far enough away from Francoise Dupont that he can just use his staff to travel faster, without anyone linking the location he came from to him.
Landing atop the Arc de Triomphe, he notes how unsubtle a meeting location this is. After only now noticing Ladybug already sat there, he retracts his sceptic thoughts. From the ground view, an extra meter or so atop the Arc is functionally invisible anyways.
The spotted heroine pats the spot beside her, and in an act of utter feline defiance, Chat sits opposite her. As much as she tries to maintain her veneer of professionalism, Chat can see the tiniest twitches of bemusement in the corners of her lips, and in his head charts a point for the small victory.
"So," he swishes his tail behind him, "What is this all this about?"
"After the Matriarch fight yesterday, I've been doing some thinking."
Chat nods.
"Shadowmoth seems to be significantly more powerful than before, and he's only just settling into that power." Ladybug's face is grim. "We can only expect him to become more threatening from here. Furthermore, he's changed his tactics, and I'm absolutely certain he's going for the long game."
Chat raises his eyebrows.
"So, I searched through the Grimoire again." Ladybug leans in, her brows raised in the tiniest hint of excitement. "I think I've found something."
Rocking back and forth with his legs crossed, Chat feigns petulance. "Come on then." He grins, "Don't keep me waiting." He pretends to eat invisible popcorn.
"The miraculous' limits are only those that we impose upon ourselves." She reads aloud, eyes twinkling enigmatically. "What limits have we got, right now Kitty?"
"I mean, we can only use our powers once, right?" Chat puffs his cheeks.
Ladybug grins.
Realisation dawning on him, Chat tilts his head a little. "No way. But that's we're kids, right?"
"It's been years since we first got the Miraculous"
"But we're not adults." Chat counters.
"The limit is a safety precaution."
"I mean yeah, but how do we bypass that limit?"
"Simple." Ladybug smirks. "I'm the Guardian. I can invoke commands over the Miraculous."
Chat gasps incredulously. "You've been able to do that the whole time?"
Ladybug puffs, moving a stray strand of hair from out her eyes. "I mean I didn't know I could but, yeah."
"So – when you revoke this limit, what happens?"
"I'm not entirely sure." She admits, brows furrowed, "But the reason adults don't need to detransform is their bodies have a greater stamina to endure the toll of the Miraculous." She pauses. "So, my best guess is that the longer we hold the miraculous transformation after we transform, the more exhausted we'll be."
"Does that mean we can use our powers more than once."
"I'm not entirely sure." She taps her temple. "I'd theorise that the more times we use our powers, the more of our stamina we'd drain. Using the power probably takes more energy than just holding the transformation. We'll probably be able to feel when we only have enough stamina to hold the transformation, and can't use our powers anymore."
"Hopefully the more we use them, the more stamina we develop over time." He offers. "But it's going to be risky."
"We don't have much choice. Shadowmoth and his villains are getting stronger. We have to be able to keep up." She outstretches hand. "Shall we?"
He nods, hesitantly placing his ring hand in her palm.
Closing her eyes, streams of mystic power gather around her, taking patterns similar to those found atop the old miracle boxes.
"この力のすべてを自由にさせてあげる."
The characters converge around the ring, and Chat feels something within the part of him the resembles Plagg unlock itself.
"Uh, thanks" There's a kind of anticlimactic awkwardness, before he bows. "Oh, miraculous Guardian of the miracle box who makes miracles."
Ladybug snorts.
"Um, also?" Chat gestures to her ears. "Are you not going to do yours?"
"Oh," she shuffles a little. "I already did mine."
"Oh, that's cool." Chat blows a puff of air out.
There's an awkward silence that stretches out for a while, before Chat remembers. "Oh! Also, I need you to come with me to visit Kagami in hospital?"
"I thought she got discharged?"
"Readmitted."
"Do I have to?" Ladybug sighs, "I've got a lot on my plate at the moment. Can't you just do it?"
Chat restrains the urge to argue back about his own workload, "The doctor needs you. The Post Akuma Trauma (PAT as they're calling it), is a kind of corruption. They're hoping you might be able to fix it. Since that's, you know, kind of your shtick."
"Fine. I'll try and fit it in."
"They also want me to bring in this girl called Marinette, see if she can help since she caused the akumatisation."
Ladybug lets out a long-suffering sigh, "Of course... just what I need." She murmurs. "You can sort that. Anyways, I need to...uh.... get back to work at... my job."
"Yeah, me too." Chat comments as Ladybug heads to the ledge as "My shift manager really has me on a tight leash."
She laughs, "Yeah mine too."
Internally he feels Plagg roll his eyes. It might be a lie but he sold it! And to be fair to him, Ladybug could very well be making up having a job too. She does take keeping her identity secret very seriously.
Chat heads off in the opposite direction of Francoise Dupont, whilst Ladybug seems to head the way he'd initially come. It's going to give him a detour of an extra twenty minutes to his travel time, but he knows better than to head in the same direction as her.
~
After getting Adrien's text, he resignedly takes his tray to sit next to Juleka. Not that he has anything against his sister – she's his best friend as well as sworn blood enemy whenever they encounter in the corridor. He just usually prefers not to sit by himself and today he'd specifically excused himself from song writing club that went on during lunch to sit with Adrien to talk to him about how stuff went down. Hence, most of his usually friends he'd sit with in lunch are all at the club, and if he turns up now it'll raise questions, he doesn't have a good answer for.
Juleka gives him a quiet smiles from her side of the table, as Marinette slides in next to her, looking somewhat bedraggled. To be fair, most days she does look like she's been running around like a headless chicken, so it's not exactly too far from her normal. Luka begins to tune in to the girl's conversation.
"Okay, you're so right Alya, but," Rose continues, "Don't you think that, like, Chat lowkey looks a bit like Adrien. There was that photoshoot where he dressed up like him and gurlie I'm not kidding there was some serious resemblance."
Before Luka can come up with a believable counter, Marinette interrupts, albeit quite loudly. "Chat is way too sleazy." That catches people's attention, "Adrien is far too perfect to act like that." She side eyes the table, seemingly gauging the reaction of the girls around her.
On her right, Rose widens her eyes with a smile and taps her feet excitedly. "Marinette would know, after all," Rose nods adamantly, "He's her true love, I'm absolutely sure of it."
Luka politely resists the urge to roll his eyes.
Rose turns to Marinette. "I'm so glad you found a guy you like. You know, I was worried about you for a few years. It almost seemed like you were never going to find a guy you actually like."
Juleka awkwardly side eyes Luka, mouthing a subtle, 'Sorry'.
He shrugs in response.
Mylene adds quietly, "I'm glad we all get to share the bonding experience of talking about boys now." She turns to Marinette apologetically, "I used to be worried you would feel left out."
Rose pipes in, "Since you were the last one to get a crush, and all." She gestures to the table, "We're all here to support you in bagging your man."
The rest of the girls seems to chorus in agreement, although Juleka does so with what only Luka can recognise as reluctance. The only one on the table not to join in is Alya, who seems to be buried deep in her phone typing out something.
Seemingly spurred on with impetus by the girls, Marinette begins again, "I mean... did you see his photo shoot that he did?" She gestures to Luka, "I mean you were in it. I would've fainted if I'd had the honour of that situation."
From the table behind, a voice calls out. "Oh, please."
Sauntering across comes Lila, with Sabrina not far behind. "You're only saying that because you're so beneath him, Marinette." She sneers.
"I mean look at the company you're keeping." Sabrina adds, gesturing distastefully at Juleka. "Ugh, her hair."
Luka seethes.
Marinette wrinkles her nose in disgust, "If I'm beneath him then you must be the sewage below me since you smell so awful, Lila"
Sabrina laughs, nudging Lila. "Told you your lunchbox smelt like faeces."
Lila presses her lips together, red turning almost white from pressure despite the lipstick. "It's the last of my dad's kimchi." She whispers, barely audible.
Marinette's expression seems to wilt a little, coloured with regret.
Sabrina doesn't seem to catch it, or doesn't seem to care. "She's right Lila, you know." She gestures back to her table, "The only girl who could possibly bag Adrien is Chloe." She gestures judgmentally at Marinette with a smirk. "Her on the other hand? She's even worse than you, Lila. Not to mention the freak with the purple hair."
"Leave them alone, Sabrina." Luka exhales, barely containing his temper. Nobody insults Juleka like that. "Haven't you got better things to do, like suck Chloe's toes or something?"
"Oh?" She exclaims, "Does the weirdo guitar freak think that just because he got to appear on a cover page, he's hot stuff now?"
"Just because you had a glow up when Chloe started picking your wardrobe for you doesn't mean you have to be a douche, you know." Luka counters. He knows he's escalating, but his patience has been well and truly worn thin throughout this conversation and sobeit if Sabrina is his little outlet. A little punching up never hurt anyone. Luka already sat down here stressed about Adrien, he doesn't need this too. "Did she pay for you to get a nose job too?"
Sabrina gasps.
Lila's gaze seems to flicker between Luka and Sabrina for a moment, as though synthesising some kind of picture.
"You know Luka," she places a hand on the table menacingly, "I heard from Adrien the only reason you're in the cover is he felt bad for you." Her eyes flicker back to Sabrina, searching for approval. "Since, you know." Lila smirks. "You have that big unrequited crush on him."
Luka's jaw drops a little.
She laughs coldly, "Yeah, he told me how uncomfortable you're making him."
Sabrina falls in behind her, as they lean in further, eyes glinting with predatory intent. Lila shrugs, malignance only visible in her eyes, "No wonder you're lashing out against Sabrina."
~
Lila is in so much trouble.
As Sabrina slides back into her chair, she goes to high five Lila. "That was such a good one, Lila." Her eyes flicker desperately over to Chloe, who seems still uninterested in their conversation. Sabrina seems to raise her volume a little, as though playing for Chloe's approval. "We should totally get Adrien to talk about it to embarrass the weirdo."
Shit.
"Yeah, of course!" She laughs, covering her discomfort. "I'll talk to Adrien about it tomorrow."
"No-no," Sabrina's eyes seem to glint a little. "He insulted a Throne. Us girls have to stick together. Why don't we all talk to him?" She turns to Chloe with a beam, "Would you care to join us, Chloe?"
"Pardon?" the blond looks up from her phone. Lila is one hundred percent sure Chloe didn't listen to a word, and has no clue what's going on. "Um- yes of course, girls. Sounds rather lovely."
Sabrina seems to wilt a little at that, returning her gaze against Lila with renewed vigour.
"Great! It's such a shame Kagami can't join us, but since Chloe couldn't do mall day, it's important we get up to something fun this week with her!"
She fights the urge to call out Sabrina as a suck up.
"Yeah, absolutely." Lila turns back to her kimbak. She messed up so badly. She's not told a lie that big in years, and now she can not afford for it to be proven as a lie. Luka's reaction was as personally affronted though, so she wouldn't be surprised if he did actually have a crush on Adrien.
But that isn't the important bit of the lie. The important bit is that Adrien has to testify to Sabrina to make the lie work now. She's not spoken to him in forever, there's no way she can convince him to lie like that. She has no clue what he actually thinks about Luka.
They're probably friends! He was in a cover with Adrien. Lila is so fucked.
Thankfully, Sabrina seems oblivious enough to lie right now. As book smart as she was, she was never very good at reading people. Of all the Thrones, Lila always found her the easiest to lie convincingly to.
As Sabrina jokingly makes wafting motion around her nose as Lila finishes her kimchi, she restrains the urge to punch the ginger girl.
It's some of the last of her dead father's Kimchi. How dare she insult it. How dare Marinette. As much as Lila seethes inside, she knows she needs Sabrina to like her. Lila is the weakest of the Thrones, the least relevant and powerful. Her continued ability to remain in the elite circle, albeit at the bottom, relies on her keeping the others on her good side. It's why she so quickly snapped to Sabrina's defence despite her insults. Lila knows how precarious her position is right now. That's why she's desperate not to lose it at any cost. Maybe... just maybe if she lasts long enough, she'll be able to take Chloe's spot, and then she won't have to grovel to anybody.
Lila longs for a future where Sabrina wouldn't dare to make snarky comments about her Korean food. Where she's important enough in school, that no microaggression will go unpunished. The day she's not constantly fighting not to slip to the bottom of the hierarchy.
If she becomes the Crown of the school, that future will be realised. No. Not if. When she becomes the Crown.