Multimouse and Aspik were both pretty confident about this akuma fight - after all, they had fought off Frightningale before, and they were both prepared to give their partner an explanation on her strengths and weaknesses if such an occasion should arise. The two were currently huddled behind a large speaker that had been knocked over, weapons drawn.

Aspik knew he had a lyre... but Multimouse only just now discovered that her weapon was a skipping rope.

"What am I supposed to do with this?!" she squeaked, trying to keep her voice down.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Aspik said, trying to provide some ease for Multimouse - he knew what it felt like to have a Miraculous for the first time. Twice! He couldn't imagine how nervous poor Marinette was. "The weapon's actually one of the easier things to figure out. I mean, if it helps any, I've got a freaking lyre."

"Huh, thanks," Multimouse said, trying to sound as oblivious as possible.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir! Come on through that door!" Frightningale called out playfully. "I'm sure you want to visit your old friend, Frightningale, for some more!"

"Where are they, anyway?" asked Multimouse.

"I don't know, but evidently, they're running late," Aspik muttered. "However - you know us! Power duo! We can at the very least hold her off until they get here, right?"

"R-Right!" Multimouse nodded in agreement.

Aspik gave her a bright, radiant, Adrien-brand smile. It really warmed her heart to see him having fun as Aspik, especially after what had happened the last time he was in the suit... "Okay, you wanna come up with the plan of attack, or you want me to try?"

"Hmm... well, she likes singing, dancing, and rhyming, right?" she said. "What if we try to distract her with: singing, dancing, and rhyming, but on our own free will? Then, she can't get us!"

"Brilliant thinking, Mari-oops, Multimouse!" Aspik said, giving a thumbs up. "I wish I was as good at deductive thinking as you."

"I'm sure you are, Adrien-meep! Aspik!" Multimouse encouraged him. "You just haven't had the opportunity to find your moment in battle yet. But its only your first time; I'm sure it'll come to you soon!"

"Thanks Multimouse," he smiled. "I needed that."

Multimouse gave him a cute smile right back. "You're welcome! Okay... now time to put the plan into action."

-0-

Five minutes later, and Frightningale was starting to grow impatient. So was Hawk Moth - where were the heroes? They were normally here by now! She was currently bored dancing - literally her least favorite style of dancing.

"Oh, Ms. Nightingale!" a sing-song voice called out to her.

Frightningale turned around, and saw the last thing she ever expected to see - a snake and mouse themed duo of heroes. Since that was the case, why the heck did that sing-song voice sound eerily similar to Ladybug?!

"I-I-wha?! This just makes me go, 'huh?!'!" Frightningale exclaimed. "You're not the heroes I know! You both seem to be a new foe..."

"We're Multimouse and Aspik!" Aspik said, taking out his lyre.

"Which one goes in first? Go on, take your pick!" Multimouse said, pulling off her skipping rope from her waist.

"You definitely aren't the heroes, by far! You might, however, be sub-par..." Frightningale said. "Go on, strut your stuff! Let's see if you've got skills enough!"

However, instead of them just attacking like she thought they would...

Aspik began to play his lyre.

Multimouse briefly looked over, a bit startled (not a bad startle, however) at this sudden skill... that must've come with the suit. She otherwise had no idea whatsoever that Adrien could play the lyre!

"You can play?" she asked her partner-gah! No! Stop it Marinette! He's only a temporary assistant, and you're only a temporary assistant to him. Adrien was not her partner... at least, not yet. Right? "I-I had no idea!"

"I didn't either!" he whisper-laughed. "Guess it came with the bangle..."

Multimouse figured it was best to just roll with it; she could drool over Adrien being able to play a lyre, and imagine him one day playing songs for her on said lyre, later. She pulled off her skipping rope... belt? Weapon? She didn't exactly know what this thing was.

Anyway, she pulled it out, and danced along to Aspik's song to the best of her ability. She was surprisingly good at this!

Aspik, meanwhile, was doing some weird shuffle dance. It shouldn't be adorable, but it was.

Frightningale seemed confused as heck, but hey, they were at least dancing! That meant she couldn't exactly strike them down just yet...

And besides - they weren't even the main event! Ladybug and Chat Noir would be here soon, wouldn't they?

Yeah...

Anyway, the two continued to get closer and closer to the main stage (among the pink statues of poor souls that had no time to start boogieing), and Frightningale smirked. "Great job - that footwork is quite a refresher! Now, let's see if you can keep it going under pressure!"

And with that, Frightningale took out her pink whip, and lashed out at Multimouse and Aspik - the two dove for cover immediately, with Multimouse tackling Aspik to the ground and being forced to realize that she was literally on top of Adrien Agreste.

"Hehe, sorry!" she squeaked out.

"Oh, no worries!" he smiled innocently, before gasping. "LOOK OUT!"

He then grabbed Multimouse as gently as he possibly could, rolling over with her several feet as Frightningale's disco boots came eerily close to stomping on one of them, and her whip got even closer.

Now, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was underneath Adrien Agreste. (her cheeks were probably so red at this point...)

"You okay?" asked Aspik.

Oh yeah, perfectly fine! she thought inwardly. "Y-Yep!" she said outwardly.

"You two are too cute!" Frightningale cooed. "Makes me wonder if you, Aspik, really are a brute..."

"Where the heck did that analogy come from?" Aspik asked in confusion.

"No need to keep chatting," she said, pulling her whip back out. "You two, to my collection, I'll soon be adding!"

And with that, now came the part that both of them knew was coming: RUN.

The two broke out into a sprint away from Frightningale, who quickly gave chase behind them, fully intent on freezing them for not rhyming and dancing anymore. She was pleased at the beginning, but boy, these two had turned out to be disappointing as of late!

"I'm gonna get her off our tails," Multimouse said firmly.

"How are you gonna do that?" Aspik asked. "I mean, not that I doubt you at all! I fully believe in you! I just, well... I don't know the plan."

Multimouse smiled at her partner. "You're fine! Here, I'll show ya - MULTITUDE!"

And with that, Multimouse pulled her jump rope back out, and skipped until she was wrapped in some sort of pink cocoon. And then... like, ten tiny copies of Multimouse started charging Frightningale.

Honestly, Aspik couldn't help but chuckle. That was both awesome and shockingly adorable.

"Ugh! Pest!" Frightningale shrieked, trying to use her whip to freeze all of the clones - but this girl was too agile! "This is most certainly not the best!"

Aspik laughed at how agitated she was getting; Marinette was a good fighter!

But then...

Her whip started cracking, and he heard something freezing. Or rather, someone.

One by one, Multimouse's clones began to be frozen; it was easy to assume that, even without one of them, she couldn't get back to full size.

"S-Second Chance!" Aspik called out.

...It didn't work.

"What the heck? Work, you stupid thing!" he yelled out, looking up briefly to see that Frightningale was close to freezing all of the Multimouse clones. "Second Chance!"

It still did nothing. He hadn't actually looked at the bangle yet, but in his defense, he couldn't stop himself from watching Multimouse get struck down one by one by Frightningale. He wanted to help, but for some reason, he felt immobilized.

"SECOND CHANCE!" he screamed.

The final Multimouse clone was frozen, and Frightningale was beginning to walk over to where Aspik was hiding.

His mind was racing a million miles an hour, and his breathing was becoming rapid and sporadic, almost like he was having a panic attack. And then, he remembered something...

I tried for months, but I still couldn't save you... it was the 25,913th time.

He had failed to save Ladybug.

And now, because of this thing not working, he was going to fail to save Marinette.

"N-No..." he quietly panted.

But then, he finally looked down - he had just forgotten to charge the bangle. There was still hope! There was... there was still a second chance!

"Oh, thank you Lord," Aspik sighed heavily. "Second Chance!" he yelled to charge the bangle, and then, he screamed it out again to send himself back right before Multimouse had used Multitude.

"Here, I'll show ya!" Multimouse said, "MULTI-woah, Adrien! Are you okay?"

His heavy breathing was a sign that he had gone back in time... or worse. What if he had suffered some sort of trauma as Aspik that had caused him PTSD? Oh God... should she have given him the Miraculous again?!

"I-I'm fine Marinette," Aspik said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Just... just thought I was doomed for a sec, hehe."

"Do you need a minute? Can I get you something?" Multimouse asked, her protective mode turning on at the thought of Adrien needing help.

Aspik chuckled. "You never cease to amaze me, Marinette... but no, thank you. You can still use divide, just give it a sec; I need to do something first."

And with that, Aspik hurled himself back towards Frightningale, and launched his lyre right at her stomach right off; he absolutely hated having to do this to his favorite music artist, but boy, he was fueled by something right now, and he intended on using this newfound energy wisely!

"Gah-what's all this mess!" Frightningale said loudly, using her whip and missing once more. "You're really putting me to the test!"

"Would you like more company?" Aspik asked with a smirk. "NOW, MULTIMOUSE!"

"MULTITUDE!"

And then, again, around ten tiny clones of Multimouse came charging up to Frightningale. This time, however, they all hurried behind her, forming a tripwire of sorts - Frightningale was so distracted by the fact that she had just seen ten tiny clones of Multimouse that she actually fell down!

And also dropped her whip.

One of the clones ran over to it, and kicked it over to Aspik. "Well, what have we here then?"

"GAH!" Frightningale yelled.

"This things more powerful than it once was - freezes people instantly," Aspik observed. "Oh... I hate to do this..."

He noticed two of the Multimouse clones pry off the glasses of Frightningale before she could get back up, and then, he struck her boot with the whip.

And it worked - she was frozen in place.

The clones then started regrouping, and Multimouse quickly came back to full form. "Well, would you look at that!" she smiled, flipping the glasses. "We did it!"

Aspik then did something unexpected - he hugged Multimouse. Full force. "I'm so glad we did..."

"O-Oh!" she squeaked. "U-Uhm... Adrien? Y-You o-okay?"

"Yeah," he smiled. "Just... relieved. That's all."

Multimouse was still flustered, but managed to hug him back for as long as they did. They then left the glasses next to Frightningale, and agreed to tell Ladybug and Chat, wherever they were, that the akuma had been dealt with.

They also agreed to meet up later that day, because Multimouse claimed she had a surprise for Aspik... now that made him excited!

(When the two main heroes did arrive, they both were "extremely" confused, yet impressed... and Ladybug's Lucky Charm was a tripwire.)

-0-

6:00 PM

Aspik was waiting nervously on the rooftop that Multimouse had told him to meet her at, right on the dot for time... boy, he was nervous. Very, very nervous. What if this was how Marinette told him she didn't want to be friends anymore? That their battle with Frightningale was their last hurrah?! Or what if-

"A-Adrien?" a soft voice squeaked from behind him.

"Woah!" he said, turning around faster than a startled snake. "M-Marinette!" he said delightfully. He then noticed a large box in her hands; two medium boxes, he noticed upon closer inspection. "What are those for?"

"T-They're my way of saying... of saying thank you!" Multimouse said, blushing madly. "For, y'know... for being such a good partner today."

Aspik looked in one of the boxes out of curiosity, and he nearly gasped.

Twelve. Heavenly. Pastries.

If he could activate his deduction skills as quick as he thought he could, then that meant that there was another box of twelve below this one. Oh gosh... she was literally the best. The absolute best.

"Marinette..." Aspik said warmly. "I-I... I-I don't know what to say! Th-This is... this is so sweet!"

"I-I just wanted to thank you, y'know, for today!" Multimouse said, blushing as she set down the boxes on the ground. "So-So I figured, why not bring you s-some pree fastries! GAH-free pastries!"

Aspik smiled wholeheartedly.

And then, he launched himself forward, hugging Marinette with full force, giving her all of the gratitude he could muster through his tight squeeze.

"Thank you so much, Marinette," Aspik said happily. "You have no idea how much that means to me..."

"A-Aww," Multimouse cooed, hugging back, "y-you're welcome, Adrien..."

The two could've stayed in that hug for a minute. For three minutes. For an hour. They really didn't know, and to be honest, really didn't care - this was a moment where it was just the two of them. And although neither of them could put their finger on it, something about it just felt right.

When the two separated, they then spent a fair amount of time just gazing into one another's eyes. It wasn't awkward, actually; it was quite pleasant. They were both happy, and that's what mattered.

After that, they both sat down on the rooftop, and began munching down on the pastries together. Adrien pulled his hoodie down, leaving his golden hair free to be blown around by the wind.

(As if poor Marinette wasn't already distracted enough by him leaving his biceps exposed...)

-0-

The next day, at school...

Marinette woke up bright and early that day to get to school - she was in an extremely good mood that morning. She had just spent around two hours the night previously with her crush, eating pastries on a rooftop and talking with him like they'd known each other all their lives!

In other words, yesterday went very well.

She was practically skipping to school when she left her home that morning. She had also kept on the pendant necklace - just in case Mullo was required for another mission. Tikki hopefully wasn't getting too jealous... she was always going to be Ladybug first! But, you never know when an emergency would require two Miraculouses at once...

"Hey, Marinette!"

Right as she entered the school, she heard Adrien call out to her. As she saw him walking over, instead of becoming a stuttering mess... she smiled and waved back. "Hi Adrien! Good morning!"

"Good morning!" Adrien said back. His voice then became a quiet whisper, "Yesterday was so cool. You were so great as Multimouse!"

"Aww, thank you," Marinette blushed. "Don't sell yourself short though - you were fantastic as Aspik?"

"I-I was?" Adrien asked. "Well, I'm honored you think so; even though I personally don't think I was too great..."

"Adrien, you're allowed to think you did good on these things," smiled Marinette. "You saved me, didn't you? We had each other's backs that whole time! I'd say... I'd say that makes a good team, no?"

Adrien couldn't help but smile at that.

"You're right," he beamed, "we do make a good team, don't we?"

Marinette nodded happily... could that have been it? Could being Multimouse and Aspik, and working out in the field with him, finally have helped push her to the point where she could talk to him without stuttering? Well, she knew she still would at some point... but it had definitely gotten better.

"Hey, speaking of making a good team," Adrien said, "after the battle, I was exhausted and I am pretty sure I have next to no clue what's on the physics quiz today. Do you think you could help me out there?"

Marinette smiled warmly. "Of course! C'mon, my book's in my locker."

And with that, the two casually walked off to Marinette's locker, making pleasant conversation on the way there.

What they failed to notice was pretty much their whole class, and then some, watching them with shocked facial expressions, pretty much looking like their souls had drifted out of their bodies.

I hope you guys have enjoyed this cute lil story! I know I had so much fun making it :) once again, shout out to chatsclysmes for being such a wonderful inspiration!

Thanks for reading guys! Reviews are always appreciated :D See ya next time! Love you all!