#tiger!alya

“I’m sure,” Kagami says. “I’d rather not leave in case my mother comes to check in on me. But I’ll have my phone with me, so you can call me even when I transform back. Give me a moment.” She places her horseshoe down on her bed, giving Ladybug a fuzzy view of her ceiling, and slides to her feet. After a few seconds, there’s a faint, “Voyage!” and a crackling blue portal opens in front of Ladybug, showing Adrien leaping out of his bed and calling on his Chat Noir transformation as soon as it appears.

“Right.” Ladybug squares her shoulders, ignores her fluttering stomach, and walks straight through the portal, followed by Tigresse and Redfang. Chat Noir envelops her in a quick hug as soon as her spotted feet land on his shiny wooden floor, and she takes a moment to bury her face in the crook of his neck and inhale the scent of sweat and musky earth, just like whenever she’s hugged Adrien; thank god for Miraculous identity magic, because otherwise she’d feel like the world’s biggest dumdum for not figuring out that her crush was her superhero partner, considering how…intense her feelings for him have gotten in the past.

“Thanks for letting me be the one to sting him,” Chat Noir says with a twisted little grin once Ladybug’s stepped back and handed him the Bee comb. Pollen appears in a flash of golden light and bows to Chat Noir as he slides the comb into his messy hair.

“At your service, my king,” Pollen says.

“Still as stuffy as always, honeybun,” Trixx teases. Pollen shoots him a glare that’s somehow regal and dignified despite its venom.

“I’m not your king,” Chat Noir says. “This is a one-off. Actually, I don’t even know who your new holder’ll be. Kagami, maybe, if she’s not too attached to Longg?”

“She would make a good Bee,” Ladybug agrees. “But we don’t have time for that. Where is everyone else in the house?”

“My bodyguard’s in his room,” Chat Noir says immediately. “I took a risk and, um…told him who I am. He agreed he wouldn’t get in our way, so he won’t come running no matter how much sound we make, but that means he also won’t be able to help us. Considering that he’s got, like, ten figurines of me, I’d hope he’d be on our side,” he adds under his breath. Ladybug snorts.

“Yeah, okay, I doubt he’ll betray us,” she says. She wants to be annoyed that Chat Noir had just up and told someone his identity, but he’s her partner and if he says he can trust someone enough to keep the secret, well, she has to trust him enough to let him handle it. “And the others?”

“Nathalie’s in her office and Fa – Hawkmoth’s retired for the night. I hoped Nathalie would go home but, well…she’s been spending more and more time here since Heroes’ Day. Now I know it’s because she’s Mayura and she and Hawkmoth have this weird thing going on.”

“Ugh, gross.” Tigresse wrinkles her nose, which only makes her look adorable considering that it’s underneath the black feline nose of her magenta mask. Chat Noir, meanwhile, looks like he’s trying to fight back a gag. Had he seen something during one of his Aspik cycles? “I don’t even want to know what supervillains get up to. You ready, babe?”

“Of course.” Redfang gives her a quick kiss and then crosses over to Adrien’s light switch and hisses, “Thunder Dragon!” Once he’s turned into a bolt of electricity, he zips into the light switch and the crackling that accompanies his elemental transformation fades with him.

“Let’s do this, kitty cat.” Ladybug clasps her hands. “Tikki, Trixx, unify!”

“Plagg, Pollen, unify!” Chat Noir echoes. His new merged outfit is pretty much identical to his Chat Noir outfit, only with a black-striped yellow belly, gloves, and boots, a yellow and black tail that now looks a lot like a long stinger, black strands in his golden hair, and a trompo around his waist rather than a lyre. Ladyfox’s suit, on the other hand, has turned as orange as the Fox, while a white patch has formed on her belly, her arms and legs are black up to her elbows and knees, she has a wide fox tail around her waist under her yo-yo, and her black spots remain.

“Well, kitty, you look pawsitively bee-autiful,” Ladyfox purrs. Abeille Noir’s cheeks flush red.

“You’re one to talk, foxy bug,” he shoots back. Tigresse clears her throat.

“Can we get on with this before I throw up?” she says. “Because now that I know that you two are my best friends, I don’t know whether to cheer you on or force you to stop.”

“Fine, fine,” Abeille Noir grumbles. “I’ll remember this next time you’re making out with Nino. Let’s go.”

Thankfully, unlike Multimouse and Aspik’s failed adventure, there’s no one out in the halls this time; considering that it’s pretty much midnight, Ladyfox hadn’t really been expecting anyone, but overconfidence has never served anybody well, so it’s better to be wary in cases like this. Tigresse summons her invisibility with a whisper before they set off through the dark maze of hallways, deep into a wing of the mansion where Ladyfox has never gone before. Abeille Noir probably hasn’t been here too often either, if the growing apprehension on his face as they plunge deeper into the depths of the mansion is any indication.

“Hey.” Ladyfox grabs his yellow-gloved hand. “It’ll be okay. You’ve got me and Tigresse right here with you.”

Abeille Noir swallows and shoots her a small grin before pausing in front of a door and closing his eyes. With a deep breath, he opens them and reaches out to grasp the doorknob, then turns it and pushes the door open ever so slowly, pausing frequently to avoid any squeaking. Ladyfox probably has about ten panic attacks in the time it takes for Abeille Noir to get the door fully open, but there’s thankfully no sound of alarm from within the room, so they seem to be undetected…for now.

Also, thankfully, Gabriel Agreste is wearing clothes. He doesn’t seem the type to sleep in the nude or at least shirtless but, well, considering that he’s ninety-nine percent certainly Hawkmoth and he’s definitely been plotting to get her akumatised and sell Adrien off to Lila, there’s a lot that Ladyfox doesn’t know about him. And sure enough, once they’re close enough that they can touch him – not that they would if they could help it – there’s a small oval brooch on his nightshirt, gleaming in the sliver of moonlight streaming through the closed curtains. Abeille Noir sucks in a deep breath that thankfully doesn’t wake Gabriel. Now they just have to get the brooch off and then they’ll be home free; they can only hope that Gabriel doesn’t expect anyone to come into his room at midnight and steal his magic jewellery, especially not a team of superheroes.

But when Gabriel suddenly awakens and clamps his hand around Ladyfox’s wrist right as she’s got a grip on the brooch, she can’t help but let out a small squeal and almost crash backwards into Tigresse and Abeille Noir, who also give twin shrieks. Ladyfox tries to back away, but Gabriel has all the leverage once he’s straightened up and grabbed her by the throat, and he forces her down onto the dishevelled blankets with wild eyes.

“You really thought I wouldn’t order my kwami to wake me at the first sign of danger?” Gabriel growls. “Nooroo, dark wings rise!” Now it’s Hawkmoth who’s got her pinned to the bed, grasping furiously for her earrings…but then he suddenly freezes and turns into nothing but dead weight that Ladyfox quickly kicks off her.

“Are you okay, milady?” Abeille Noir says frantically as a trembling Ladyfox snatches the brooch off Hawkmoth’s shirt. He turns back into Gabriel Agreste in a flash of purple light, accompanied by a purple kwami with butterfly wings who lets out a gasp and shoots for Abeille Noir, burying themselves in his shoulder. “I’m sorry, I should’ve Venomed him sooner instead of panicking –”

“It’s okay, kitty. Really.” Ladyfox lets him tug her in for a tight hug. “We all panicked. I hadn’t even expected that he’d get Nooroo to warn him if someone tried to take the brooch. Tigresse, you can stop filming.”

“Oh, thank you, Master Adrien!” Nooroo cries into Abeille Noir’s suit. Abeille Noir’s hands instinctively rise to cover the tiny butterfly kwami. “I’m so sorry – I never wanted to do any of what I’ve done, and I didn’t want to warn him, but he ordered me to do so, and now I’ve scared Ladybug –”

“Nooroo, it’s fine. Really,” Ladyfox says soothingly. “It was just a fright. And you couldn’t help doing what you were told.”

“Wait, how do you know who I am?” Abeille Noir pulls Nooroo away and cups him gently. “You’ve known all this time?”

“Of course,” Nooroo says. “I was ordered to hide my presence from everyone except for Master Gabriel and Nathalie but Plagg wasn’t under any such instructions. It wasn’t hard for me to detect him, even if I was forbidden from giving him any sign that I was there.”

“And you didn’t tell Hawkmoth?” Abeille Noir says. “I didn’t think you could disobey him.”

“I didn’t disobey him,” Nooroo says with a shaky little shrug. “But he never directly asked if I knew you were Chat Noir. He’s asked for my thoughts and he even said that he suspected you of being Chat Noir but so long as he didn’t give me a direct order, I didn’t have to tell him.”

“Okay, as sweet as this all is,” says Tigresse, “I’m gonna time out soon and that Venom won’t last forever.”

“Right. Right.” Ladyfox tucks the Butterfly Miraculous into her yo-yo and Nooroo vanishes with it. “Let’s just hope that Redfang got the Peacock.”

They fall into the post-adrenaline trap of taking much less care on their way back to Adrien’s room, not bothering to keep the sounds of their footsteps and breathing down, so it’s no wonder that around the corner from Adrien’s room, they’re forced to skid to a halt and hold their breaths to avoid being detected by Nathalie, whose heels clack against the expensive floor as she makes her way down the hall.

“Adrien? I thought I heard something.” She raps on Adrien’s door and frowns when there’s no answer. “Adrien?”

“Do something, milady!” Abeille Noir hisses in Ladyfox’s ear. She immediately unslings her flute and frowns, waiting for Nathalie to knock on the door again so that she can play her flute and summon her Mirage without being heard. A moment later, there’s a massive crash somewhere else in the mansion, and Nathalie takes off running immediately in the opposite direction. Huh. She may be evil but Ladyfox can’t help but envy her ability to run in heels like that.

“Nice thinking, Ladybug!” Tigresse says as they dart for Adrien’s room and shove the door shut behind them. Nino’s on his feet next to the white couch, his eyes wide, with Longg hovering next to him.

“You’re okay!” he says. “I heard the crash and I thought – shit, I thought you guys got caught –”

“It’d take more than an old, crusty white man to take us down, babe,” Tigresse grins and lets her transformation fade before kissing Nino. “You got the Peacock?”

In response, Nino holds out a pin that’s shaped like a peacock tail. “You gotta make her shut up!” he says. “I can’t take any more of it!”

“Any more of what?” Abeille Noir says. “Pollen, divide. Claws in.”

In response, a small blue thing comes whizzing from Adrien’s bathroom and careens around the room, squealing. “Woohoo!” it cries. “A midnight heist! Oh, the drama! The betrayal of father and son!”

“For the last time, Duusu, shut the hell up!” Nino hisses. “You’re gonna get us caught!”

Duusu just giggles and zooms over to bop Plagg on the nose. “Plagg! It’s been so long! You’re it!” she trills and darts away. Plagg facepalms.

“Don’t worry, she’s always been like that,” he says. “Tikki reckons I’m an angel compared to her.”

“Yeah, I can see why,” Adrien says, his eyes glued on Duusu and her mad flight. Ladyfox just sighs.

“Trixx, divide. Spots off. You’ll be okay, Adrien?”

Adrien nods. “I’ll just pretend that I heard a crashing sound that woke me up and my bodyguard told me to stay in my room. He’ll back me up. But you guys should go before we push our luck. And I…” He runs a hand through his messy golden hair. “I need to process the fact that I really am living in the same house as Hawkmoth.”

Marinette grimaces. “I promise we’ll all meet up tomorrow and sort through this together,” she says. “We’ll skip school if we have to. Now that Hawkmoth’s defeated, I think I’ll be okay telling my parents who I am if it means I can be there to have your back.”

“Same here, dude,” Nino says. “No way we’re gonna let you deal with it alone. I just texted Kagami, so she should have the portal ready right –” A crackling blue portal opens right in front of them. “– now.”

Adrien gives Marinette a quick hug and then steps back with a twisted mouth. “See you tomorrow, bugaboo,” he says, sliding the Bee comb out of his hand and handing it to her. “You too, Alya and Nino. And…thanks. For everything. For having my back. For not turning on me because I’m related to Hawkmoth. I’ll text Kagami and thank her too.”

“Of course,” Alya says with a small smile. “You’re our best friend. See you tomorrow, sunshine boy.”

With one last smile and wave, Marinette ducks through the portal and lands back into her room, followed by Alya and Nino. While Alya calls Kagami to fill her in on the mission, Marinette fetches the Miracle Box and opens it up so that she can deposit the Fox, Bee, Peacock and Butterfly where they belong, followed by the Dragon and Tiger when Nino passes them to her. Is the Peacock still broken? It hadn’t malfunctioned at all when they’d touched it, but she’s not sure what knowledge Hawkmoth had wrangled out of Master Fu during that dreadful day, or even if it malfunctions in its disguised form. Maybe he’d fixed it. Maybe it’s still broken. She’ll just have to wait and ask Nooroo and Duusu after a good night’s sleep.

“Well, we’d better get going,” Alya says once she’s hung up, hugging Marinette. “We’ll spin some tale to Lila about losing track of time and making out and stuff. She’ll eat it up, especially after the interview she gave us today. And we’ll tell our parents that we were on some secret mission for Ladybug, so they don’t get mad at us for ditching the kids and being out so late. They don’t need the details, at least till I’ve posted on the Ladyblog.”

“Thanks for everything, Alya,” Marinette says into Alya’s hair. “You too, Nino.”

Nino joins the hug and slaps Marinette on the back. “What are best friends for, dude?” he says. “No one fucks with my bro and gets away with it.”