#multimouse au

“Marinette!” 

Glancing up from her sketchbook, Marinette smiled when she saw Rose and Juleka approaching her, looking excited about something. 

“Hey, guys! What’s up?” She asked as she closed her book to give her friends her full attention.

“You won’t believe what happened to us! It’s so amazing!” Rose said, almost bouncing in excitement. Next to her, Juleka was flushed pink with a wide smile. Marinette actually DID have a pretty good idea of why her friend was so excited, but she wasn’t going to rob Rose of the chance to spread the good news to others herself.

“What happened?” She asked, doing her best to look innocently curious and NOT like she had any hand at all in her friend’s glee.

“Kitty Section’s opening up for Clara Nightingale at the May Music Festival!!!” Rose almost screamed before dissolving into a fit of giggles. “And Multimouse is the one who recommended us to her! We’re one of Multimouse’s favorite bands! I can’t believe a superhero is one of our fans! Isn’t that amazing?!”

“Totally cool!”Juleka agreed at her side, looking more excited than Marinette had ever seen her quiet goth friend.

“That’s great!” Marinette said with a wide grin. “Congratulations, you guys! Kitty Section totally deserves this, you guys are all so talented,” Her friends both practically glowed at the praise, and Marinette felt a swell of happiness at seeing the pair so excited. Especially when she caught sight of Mylene giving a surprised laugh as Ivan swept her up into a hug and literally spin the both of them around as the small girl giggled breathlessly about getting dizzy. She was happy she could play a role in giving her friends this chance, and she was sure they would knock everyone’s socks off when the big night came.

“Thanks, Marinette! That means so much, coming from you!” Rose said, looking giddy. Marinette blinked a little at that.

“...Coming from me?” She repeated, a little confused. Why would her opinion matter so much to her friends?

“Well, you see, we actually wanted to ask you something…” Rose explained, fidgeting slightly, “See, Clara is actually gave us a budget so we could get the things we need for the show, and we were wondering if we could commission you to make us some costumes for our performance. But only if you’re not too busy! I know Lila mentioned that you’ve been designing for some contest and said we shouldn’t bother you earlier this week when we were talking about going to the movies, and I don’t want you burning out or anything!” Marinette frowned a little. So Lila was taking advantage of her friends attempts to be considerate to justify excluding Marinette from group activities as well as taking advantage of them so they’d wait on the little liar hand and foot, was she? 

“Lila must have... heard wrong,” she said, biting back the temptation to accuse her of intentionally lying again. Her friends were happy right now, and she didn’t want to ruin that for them. She knew even if Rose and Juleka did ask, Lila would turn this into another he said/she said thing by claiming she heard it from someone else and Marinette had no evidence of Lila’s true nature to warn her friends away. “I’m not doing any contests right now, and I’d love to help Kitty Section make costumes.”

“THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOOOOOU!!!” Rose said, grappling Marinette into a spine shattering hug. “Oh, this is going to be so INCREDIBLE! Your designs are always the best, Marinette!”

“It’s no problem, Rose. I’m always happy to help,” Marinette told the blonde once she’d freed herself from the other girl’s vice grip and regained the oxygen her lungs had lost. “Is there a theme to the concert?”

“Midnight in Paris!” Rose told her, grinning widely. “Clara showed us the designs for it, and it’s going to look so romantic!”

“It’s awesome,” Juleka agreed, grinning. “All dark, with smoke and candles and stuff.”

“We can do something like that, with Kitty Section’s image and sound,” Marinette said, the creative wheels in her head starting to spin, “a kind of Phantom of the Opera sort of look. Rose, we can put you in a punked out ball gown, and Juleka can wear a tuxedo dress. Maybe Ivan and Luka can wear capes…!”

Fully lost in a cloud of inspiration now, Marinette flipped her sketchbook back open and began putting pencil to paper, sketching out rough concepts of the image she had begun to form in her head. Rose and Juleka eagerly took up seats on either side of her to watch over her shoulder as an image began to take shape under her pencil.

She didn’t know how long she sat like that, only half in reality and listening to Rose and Juleka give suggestions or excitedly praise the design details they liked while the rest of her sank further into the creative bliss. In fact, Marinette was so caught up in designing that it took her a minute to register the sound of someone chuckling in front of her. Blinking out of her daze, Marinette brought herself out of her head to focus on her surroundings once more, glancing up to see who was laughing.

And then promptly freezing in shock at the sight of Adrien Agreste’s green eyes less than a hand’s width away from her face.

Yelping in shock, Marinette flailed to put some distance between her and the model, but just ended up throwing off her balance and nearly falling into the rosebush planted behind the bench she’d been sitting on instead. Luckily, Juleka caught her before she had a VERY uncomfortable encounter with the thorn-covered plant, but unfortunately Adrien was standing right there and witnessed the entire thing.

Quick! Distract him from your total lack of grace! Say something!!! “Adrien! How you be?!” Marinette babbled out helplessly, cringing a little and screaming inside as Rose and Juleka shot her sympathetic looks.

“Oh, hey Marinette! Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to see what you were working on,”

“Marinette is making Kitty Section’s costumes for the May Music Festival!” Rose told the model happily. “We’re opening up for Clara Nightingale.”

“Seriously? Wow, that’s incredible! Congratulations, guys!” Adrien said, turning to give Marinette a grin and a cheeky wink. “You guys are gonna look AND sound amazing! I can’t wait to see you perform!” Marinette was in danger of passing out from all the blood that rushed to her face at her crush’s praise.

“W-what were you laughing about, anyways?” Marinette asked, suddenly remembering what had distracted her from her drawing and fearing the worse, “is there something weird about one of my designs?”

“What? Oh! NO! It wasn’t your designs, I swear!” Adrien reassured her quickly, looking a little self conscious. “I just thought it was cute that you kept making little squeaking sounds, actually.”

...What?

“Squeaking sounds?” Marinette repeated, perplexed. She turned to Rose and Juleka to see if they knew what Adrien was talking about, but found them both studiously avoiding her eye.

“Yeah. You kept making these cute little squeaks. Kinda like a happy hamster or something,” Adrien told her. Marinette gaped at him, mouth opening and closing soundlessly as she tried to process what he was saying. “Anyways, I’d better get going. Gorilla’s gonna start looking for me soon. Tell Kitty Section to break a leg for me!” and, with that, Adrien was off, oblivious to the fact that he had just tilted Marinette’s entire world on its axis.

“Wow, Marinette! You did a lot better that time!” Rose praised her. “Most of your sentences were completely coherent!”

“...Do I squeak?” Marinette asked her friends.

“Erm, sorry, what?”

“Do. I. Squeak?” Marinette repeated, already dreading the response she knew she was going to get. Sure enough, Rose and Juleka exchanged looks that told Marinette all she needed to know, and she buried her face in her sketchbook with a wail of dismay.

“You don’t do it all the time! Just when you’re happy!” Rose assured her hastily. “We didn’t want to say anything because we didn’t want you to feel self conscious about it. Right, Juleka?”

“It’s cute,” Juleka assured Marinette quickly at Rose’s prompting. Rose nodded aggressively in agreement.

“Adrien probably thinks I’m a nutcase!” Marinette moaned, curling into a ball.

“No he doesn’t! He even said he thought it was cute too!”

“What if he was just saying that to be nice? He was laughing at me about it!” Marinette said, curling further in on herself. Rose and Juleka exchanged uneasy looks, clearly stuck on how to make their friend feel better. Marinette gave a sigh, feeling a bit guilty for dumping her baggage on the two when they just wanted to be excited about the amazing opportunity that they had. Composing herself as best as she could, Marinette collected all her things and put them in her bag, giving her worried friends the closest thing to a smile that she could manage. “I think maybe I should head back home now. I’ll focus better in my own room. I’ll show you the first drafts for your costume designs tomorrow at school, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks again for helping out, Marinette!” Rose said as Juleka waved at her quietly. Marinette nodded at the pair before making a break for it, heading back home as quickly as she could manage without superpowers. She nodded absently at her parents when they greeted her in the bakery on her way up to her room, but didn’t stop and speak to anyone. Then, as soon as the trap door was shut, Marinette collapsed into a lump on the floor, moaning loudly in humiliation and self-pity. 

Away from prying eyes, Mullo flew out of Marinette’s purse to give her teenage companion a concerned look.

“You okay, Pinkie?” she asked worriedly, brows pinching together when Marinette just groaned and curled into an even tighter ball.

“Is it really too much to ask that I go one day without making an idiot of myself in front of the boy I like?” she asked her Kwami miserably. 

“Is it really something to feel so embarrassed about? Is it offensive? I squeak all the time,” Mullo reminded her, slightly confused. The rules of propriety among humans seemed to change with every new generation, and within each culture, so it was difficult for her to keep up with social taboos.

“You’re a mouse, Mullo. You’re supposed to squeak. Humans are not. Girls are not. Especially not in front of the boy they like.”

“Not even if you picked it up from spending time with me?” Mullo asked. That caused Marinette to unfurl, giving Mullo a confused look.

“...What?” 

“Your squeaking. It’s something you started doing because I squeak around you all the time. Because I’m happy here. You just kind of… picked it up. I never said anything about it because I thought you were aware of it.”

“I… oh. Oh.” Marinette said, coming to a bit of a revelation. Mullo did squeak around her a lot when it was just the two of them and the little mouse kwami was happy. Marinette had never minded the little mouse noises- even thought they were adorable- but hadn’t realized that she had adopted the habit purely due to spending so much time with the kwami.

Suddenly, Marinette remembered something her mother had told her years ago, when she asked her why her mother had a habit of sticking her tongue out a little when she was focusing on something. Her Maman gave a little, embarrassed laugh at the question and admitted that it was just a weird habit she’d picked up from spending time with her Uncle, since he did the same thing.

“Sometimes we pick up little quirks from people when we’re close to them, sweetie. I guess that’s just human nature,” Sabine told her warmly. Marinette remembered feeling a little jealous at the time, wishing that she had people she was close enough to to ‘share’ habits with.

“Pinkie? Did you hear me?” Marinette was jolted out of her thoughts and back to the present at Mullo’s concerned question, blinking a few times to focus on the worried Kwami floating a few inches in front of her.

“H-huh?”

“I asked you if you want me to tell you when you squeak from now on. So you can break the habit.” Mullo asked patiently with a gentle smile. “That way, you don’t have to worry about embarrassing yourself around Adrien again.” Marinette studied the kwami for a second, giving her suggestion some consideration, before flashing Mullo a warm smile.

“No, it’s okay,” she said, pulling herself off of the ground and dusting herself off. Mullo gaped at the teen as she pulled her sketchbook out of her bag and opened it up to the sketches she’d been working on before.

“But… you were so upset about it!” Mullo said, clearly struggling to make sense of the girl’s sudden change of heart.

“Yeah, but know that I know why I’m doing it, I’m okay with it,” Marinette said, giving Mullo a soft look as the Kwami puzzled over her actions. Maybe it was a little weird and yeah, doing it in front of Adrien was extremely embarrassing, but it was kinda nice to know she and Mullo were close enough that she was picking up new habits from the kwami. Trying to break those habits felt like a rejection of that bond, and Marinette didn’t want to do that for anyone, even Adrien Agreste.

“...You humans are so confusing sometimes,” Mullo said with a small huff of frustration.

“Yeah, but you love us anyways,” Marinette said, grinning teasingly at the mouse when she shook her head in fond exasperation and sighed before settling herself comfortably on Marinette’s shoulder. Giggling a little, Marinette reached up to give the kwami a small, affectionate pat on the head.

“I’m not comfortable with the idea of having more miraculouses out and about, but the situation is too dire. Since Scarab has the Ladybug Miraculous and his partner Psyche is abusing the Butterfly, it leaves us at an incredible disadvantage. Especially as I cannot join you in battle as often as I’d like,” here, Fu gave a heavy sigh that seemed to originate from his toes, “you have proven to be a remarkable hero, Marinette. Incredibly clever and adaptive. But I’m worried that the longer the fight drags on, the more dangerous our enemy will become. And I don’t like the thought of leaving you alone in their line of fire.”

“I definitely wouldn’t turn my nose up to a little extra help,” Marinette admitted, biting her lip, “trying to do all of this by myself is really stressful sometimes.”

“I can certainly appreciate that. And you did an excellent job of securing both the dog and the rooster miraculouses and returning them to me before Scarab could claim them for himself and abuse their powers as well,” Fu said, giving her a warm look of appreciation that had Marinette smiling back. That battle had not been an easy one, since a lot of her classmates had gotten caught in the middle of the fight, so she had to both keep Scarab from finding the mystical artifacts he was after AND protect her friends at the same time.

She was still a little amazed that she had made it out of the fight in one piece, honestly. If it hadn’t been for Adrien jumping in at the last minute and carrying her to safety, she probably wouldn’t have managed at all. She hadn’t been happy about it at the time, nearly blinded by the panic that the model was recklessly endangering himself, without the protection the magic suit gave her. Thankfully, Scarab seemed to have been taken by surprise by Adrien’s sudden appearance and didn’t attack, so everything turned out okay in the end. Still, Multimouse had spent about twenty minutes chewing the blond out before his sad eyes made her cave and she thanks him, but asked him to leave the heroics to the heros from that point on.

And hopefully, getting more heroes involved in the fight would mean that Adrien would stay safe, far, FAR away from the danger where he could potentially give Marinette yet another heart attack.

“So you’re going to find new heroes for the rooster and the dog, then?” Marinette asked eagerly. Fu gave a small frown at the question.

“Just one for now, I think. Throwing two inexperienced heroes into the mix at the same time could make things more difficult rather than easier. Once the first choice is adept enough, we will revisit the potential of adding another to the team.”

“But Master Fu, with my Miraculous training two new heroes at once would be easy!” Marinette protested with a frown, “we could have more allies trained faster if I just used Multitude to help both of them at once, and then we’d be better prepared to handle Scarab and Psyche!”

“Perhaps, but that would also weaken you, and as you are currently the strongest fighter we have it’s not a risk that I feel comfortable taking. Our enemies know that we have more miraculouses in our possession now, and their next attack will be much more aggressive in response to that. If our line of defense comes down to myself, an elderly man who can barely help with the fights, two new heroes who will have no idea what they’re doing, and you, weakened from overusing your powers to train both of your new allies at once, it will leave us in a bad position, even if we outnumber our enemy.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Marinette admitted, a little reluctantly. It was a little disappointing that they weren’t going to double their team’s power right off the bat like she’d hoped, but she did see the logic behind Fu’s caution now. And they’d still be getting a little stronger, going forward with his plan, which hopefully meant less weight on Marinette’s shoulders.

“Luckily, I already had an eye on someone who should be a strong asset to the team,” Fu said, making Marinette perk up. “If worse came to worse, I was prepared to surrender Wayzz to them, so that you would have a more battle capable partner to help with your fights. But now that we have other miraculouses, I believe that they could be an excellent choice for the Dog Miraculous.”

“Great!” Marinette said happily. “The sooner we can get them familiarized with the Miraculous, the better. It’s probably better for them to try to train first, instead of throwing them into a fight unprepared.”

“Indeed,” Fu said with a rueful smile, no doubt remembering the near disaster that was Marinette’s clumsy first attempts with the Mouse Miraculous. It was lucky for both of them, and Paris as a whole, that she was a quick study and eventually got the hang of it. Otherwise. Scarab would have already won, “I will give them Barkk today, and hopefully their training can start tonight.”

“I can do that,” Marinette agreed. “Just let them know to meet me at the Mazarine Library tonight around 11 or so. It should be quiet enough over there that we can work with getting them more comfortable with their miraculous before their first fight.”

“Of course,” Fu said, nodding. “However, I will not be revealing myself to the one who will be given the Dog.” THAT made Marinette start a little, staring at her mentor in confusion.

“What?” She said, eyebrows stitching together. “But… why not?”

“With a new chosen in play, it may be wiser for me to remove myself from the battlefield more, so I can instead focus on helping from a more supportive position. I’m too old to be of much use in a fight, but my knowledge may help serve you and your team in the coming battles. Not only can I put more time and effort into locating the other Miraculouses before they fall into the wrong hands, but I can also find ways to help you unlock even more power, so you can fight more efficiently.

But we need to be safe about how we proceed from here on out. Yes, we will have more allies going forward, but that may also mean making ourselves more vulnerable to the enemy, should one of us be discovered. For that reason, we need to be even more cautious from here on out. I will hand out the Miraculous, but will not allow the one I chose to know my true Identity. And when I believe our new hero to be adept enough, you will choose the holder for the rooster. Neither of us will tell the other who we chose, and of course We will not reveal our identities to either of the new heroes or allow them to reveal themselves to each other. If, at any time, anyone’s identity is compromised, then the hero or heroes involved will have to relinquish their Miraculous. Even if that hero is one of us. Do you understand?” Marinette stared at the elderly man across from her for a moment, too stunned to speak as he held her gaze with his own unwavering look. It was only after Mullo gave her palm a worried nuzzle that Marinette realized that he was still waiting for her response.

“I… yes. I understand, sir,” Marinette said, holding Fu’s gaze with her own. She understood the seriousness of this undertaking, and the reason the precaution was necessary, and she knew that she needed to step up and be more authoritative if Fu really was stepping back away from the fight. These new heroes would be looking to her for guidance, and she couldn’t leave them vulnerable. She was going to be the one with the knowledge and experience. And she was the one who was going to have to make sure that these rules were enforced.

“Excellent,” Fu said, giving Marinette a warm smile. “Tomorrow, start giving serious consideration to anyone you feel would be fit to use a Miraculous themselves. But for tonight, get some rest, so that you’re ready to help your new partner.” 

“Of course, Master,” Marinette agreed. She already had a few potential people in mind, but needed to mull it over carefully before she committed to any of them. And before THAT, she had to devote her full attention to training whoever Fu chose to wield the Dog.

Whoever it was, she hoped they were better prepared for it than she was.

Multimouse was a little surprised when she got to the library and found someone else already waiting for her on the roof. Surprised, but pleased. Being eager to start was a good sign that the new wielder wouldn’t be a clumsy, half panicked mess like she was. 

Landing nimbly on the roof, Multimouse smiled warmly at her new companion. Male, from the look of it, with sunny blond hair that almost blended perfectly with the yellow of his suit and big green eyes that went wide with awe at the sight of her.

“You must be my new partner,” Multimouse greeted him cheerfully. “It’s nice to meet you…?” She trailed off inquiringly, waiting for the new guy to introduce himself. After a moment, the blond snapped out of his daze and grinned widely at her, and the belt that served as his ‘tail’ began to wag aggressively behind him.

“Me? I’m Chien de Garde! At your service, Ma Souris!” He said, bowing in flouish. Multimouse arched an eyebrow and gave him a bemused smile. ‘Guard Dog,’ huh?

“Affectionate, aren’t you?” she observed, eyes flitting to his wagging tail. She grinned when Chien de Garde blushed and grabbed the offending appenage to try and stop it, to no avail. “you planning on flirting Scarab and Psyche into submission, puppy?” Chien de Garde pulled a face at the question, clearly not finding her little tease that amusing.

“I’ll have you know I am a well trained attack dog, Ma Souris,” He said, pouting a little. Multimouse snickered a little at his antics.

“I’ll be the judge of that, puppy,” she said, motioning for him to follow her, “come on, let’s go see if your bite lives up to your bark,”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Chien de Garde said happily, eagerly following behind her. Multimouse felt her lips tug up into an easy smile as the feel of his presence right behind her, already comfortable with this boy she hardly even knew.

Hesitating for just a second longer, she steeled her resolve and decided to go for it. Darting out of her hiding place, she bolted full speed for the goal, heart hammering in her chest as her hands found purchase on-! SNAP!!!

Mullo screamed loudly in surprise as the world around her suddenly went completely dark. Freezing in shock, the mouse kwami looked around her to try and figure out what in the world had just happened. After a minute of sitting in pitch black, she heard the sound of a lock clicking as the lid to the box she’d suddenly found herself trapped in was opened, revealing her chonsen’s smug grin as Marinette flaunted a piece of grey cloth with her free hand. “Lose something?” the teen asked, arching an eyebrow as her grin widened slightly. Mullo gave a small huff and a pout, abandoning the pink cloth that served as Marinette’s ‘flag’ in their game to float over to Marinette, tiny arms crossed in front of her body.

“That was cheating!” the kwami complained, though she couldn’t quite keep the smile off her face, more impressed by her chosen’s cleverness than she wanted to let on.

“Sorry, Mullo. All’s fair in Love, War, and Capture-the-Flag,” Marinette said, not sounding sorry in the least. Mullo’s pout deeped a little at Marinette’s response, making the designer laugh a little before setting her plunder aside to scoop the kwami out of the air and use her thumb to rub her whiskers affectionately. “Come on, cheer up, Mullo. Why don’t we sneak downstairs and get some peanut butter cookies from the bakery? Will that make you feel better?” Marinette grinned in triumph when Mullo brightened, immediately giving up on all illusions of being upset at the bribery of her favorite treat.