Author's Notes:

Here's a little rampantly OOC silliness for you all! This is inspired by the "taking a shower" thing that Adrien pulled in "Jackady" and "Volpina" to cover for his disappearances. Don't take this seriously, because I'm not. :3

Enjoy!

MIRACULOUS LADYBUG: "SHOWER HIM WITH ATTENTION"

by Mythril Moth

A red-gloved hand knocked on a door that was becoming entirely too familiar. "Adrien?"

The sound of rushing water came from beyond the door, muffling the reply of "I'm, uhh...shower!"

Ladybug blinked. "Again?"

The door opened a crack, and Ladybug jumped back as a damp head peeked out, a towel draped over shoulders. "I, umm...heheh...just really incredible timing?" He ducked back inside and closed the door.

Ladybug stood there, staring at the door and blinking, her cheeks flushed. After a long, awkward moment, she shook her head and jumped out the window, swinging off in the direction of Collège Françoise Dupont. It was still twenty minutes until lunch ended, but she wasn't in the mood to be grounded for missing classes again.

A short while later, Marinette emerged from the bakery entrance of her home, nibbling on a croissant. "Hey, Tikki. Don't you think it's a little weird?"

"What's that, Marinette?" Tikki replied from her purse.

"Well, it's just...in the last month, we've had five Akuma attacks that put Adrien in danger. Every single time, I've caught him in the shower. Even in the middle of the day!"

"Hmm..." Tikki frowned. "Now that you mention it, he does shower way more than the average kid." She tilted her head. "Then again, have you ever noticed that weird smell that hangs around him?"

"Well...yeah," Marinette said. "I mean, I love Adrien, and he's perfect, but sometimes he does smell like a cheese shop." Her brow furrowed. "Maybe that's it?"

"He could have a medical condition," Tikki said. "Back during the early Qing Dynasty, when the Miraculous holders were secret protectors of the Forbidden City, there was this one minister who had some kind of fungal parasite in his bowels, and he always smelled like sh—"

"Shh," Marinette hissed, pushing Tikki into her purse as she saw Alya approaching. She waved and smiled broadly at Alya. "Hey, Alya!"

"Hey Marinette," Alya said with a grin. "Did you hear? Your favorite boy in Paris was saved by Ladybug and Chat Noir again..."

And with that, Marinette listened to Alya regale her with the adventure she'd just lived through halfway through class, all the while thinking back to the absurd number of times she'd caught Adrien in the shower as Ladybug...

A very strange idea formed in Marinette's mind.

Adrien groaned and rubbed his shoulder as he tossed down his gym bag and headed for the bathroom, massaging his shoulder. Fencing had been unusually brutal today; Monsieur D'Argencourt had been in one of his moods, and had ripped Adrien's foil from his hand three times.

Opening the bathroom door, he started to peel off his clothes to toss them in the hamper when his foot brushed against something just inside the doorway. Blinking, he looked down.

There was a basket sitting on the floor. It was full of fragrant soaps, shampoo, and conditioner. There was even a small bottle of aftershave. The whole thing was tied in a red ribbon with black spots, and there was a little card tucked between two lavender soaps. The card said "Happy Showering!", and had a cute little drawing of a ladybug on it.

Adrien stared at it for a long time, his cheeks heating up.

Two days later...

Adrien picked up yet another gift basket of bath items left by Ladybug in his shower. "What in the world...?"

Two days later still...

Adrien scratched his head as he stared at the full set of ladybug-print bath towels hanging neatly on his towel rack.

Plagg floated beside him, tilting his head. "Again?"

"This is getting weird," Adrien said.

For the next week, it continued. Every day, there was some new gift waiting for Adrien in his bathroom. Most of them were bath products. Sometimes, there were other things—sweets, breads, sweetbreads, video game strategy guides.

The bath products tended to have the strangest, occasionally vaguely insulting notes attached:

This scent is a personal favorite, I think it'd smell nice on you.

This product might help with that dry hair problem you've had lately.

Try this. It has a stronger odor deterrent. It might help with that cheese smell.

The cheese smell is getting worse. Have you seen a doctor about it?

And so on.

"Well, she's right about the cheese smell, except for wanting it to go away," Plagg said.

"And who do you think makes me smell like cheese?" Adrien snapped, running his hands through his hair. "Okay...as much as I love Ladybug, this is starting to creep me out."

"Starting to?"

"I have a high tolerance for weird behavior from My Lady," Adrien said.

Adrien's tolerance was pushed past its breaking point when, the next day, he found Ladybug herself waiting in his bathroom, holding a scrub brush. She gave him a sheepish wave. "Scrub your back?" she offered.

Adrien facepalmed, letting out a tired sigh. "Ladybug...what's going on here? Why do you keep leaving things in my bathroom?"

"W-well," Ladybug stammered, "It's just...lately, every time I meet you, you're taking a shower, and I just thought..." She poked her fingertips together. "Maybe you had...some kind of thing about...showers...always taking, and...in the shower all the time, and—"

Adrien groaned. "Ladybug."

"So I just, you know, thought you were such a shower afficionado, you'd appreciate shower gifts, and—"

"Ladybug."

"—probably could use some tips from a girl, because you want to look and smell your best always, right? Because you're a model, and—"

"Ladybug."

"—eh, yes?"

Adrien sighed. "Okay, enough is enough. Ladybug, I'm Chat Noir. I keep using the 'taking a shower' thing to cover transforming."

Ladybug blinked. "Oh," she said softly. "Well." She coughed. "That...that explains a lot, actually..."

"It doesn't explain your comments about his hair and his cheese smell," a new voice intruded into the conversation as Plagg flew out of Adrien's jacket. "I never took you for the kind of weird stalker fangirl that you've been acting like lately."

"GAH! No, I'm not! I..." Ladybug sighed, slumping forward. "Okay, I guess I have been acting like a stalker lately."

"Yeah, what is up with those notes?" Adrien asked. "The only time I've been leaving the house lately is to go to school, so—"

Ladybug detransformed, becoming Marinette, who gave Adrien a sheepish wave.

"Oh," Adrien said. "Well. That explains it."

Marinette wrung her hands awkwardly. "So, umm...we're both here, in your bathroom..." She pasted a sickly smile on her face. "Shower together?"

Adrien blushed furiously. "Umm...sure?"

FIN.

Miraculous Ladybug is the intellectual property of Zagtoon, Method Animation, Toei Animation, and Thomas ASTRUC. This intellectual property is used without permission with no intent to profit from said use. The unique content contained on this page is the property of Mythril Moth, and redistribution of this content without express permission is strongly discouraged.