The sequel to If We Only Die Once (I Wanna Die With You), as promised. This series is currently projected to have at least four works in it in all, all to be posted on the first Friday of the month.

Disclaimer: I don't own ML.

The thing is, neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir really expected to win the fight.

Taking on one akumatized villain at a time is difficult enough. Taking on a few dozen, plus Hawk-Moth himself? That's almost impossible.

Except, Ladybug thinks to herself as she grips Hawk-Moth's Miraculous tightly enough it feels like it could cut through her suit, apparently it was less impossible than they thought.

"Hawk-Moth is in police custody," Chat Noir reports as he vaults up onto the rooftop. Police officers were the first on the scene after Ladybug and Chat defeated Hawk-Moth. Unmasked, he was a random Parisian, no one Ladybug recognized. She's glad of it. Speculating on who Hawk-Moth could be had been horrible. Ladybug hadn't even wanted to consider that he could be someone she knew. She's thankful he's not. "All the akumatized villains are free, and all the akumas purified themselves when you got Hawk-Moth's Miraculous."

"His kwami hasn't come out," Ladybug reports. "But it can't stay in there forever, can it?"

"I doubt it," Chat replies. As if to confirm the point, his ring beeps. Ladybug's down to two spots on her earrings as well. "We should get out of here, my Lady."

"Why doesn't this feel as great as it should?" Ladybug asks, not making a move to leave. "We beat Hawk-Moth. We should be celebrating."

Chat holds up a tentative fist. "Pound it?" he offers. Ladybug can't stop the smile from spreading across her face.

"Pound it," she agrees, tapping their fists together.

"I know what you mean, though," Chat admits. "I didn't think we would win. I don't think it's sunk in yet."

"We won't need to be Ladybug and Chat Noir anymore, not with Hawk-Moth gone," Ladybug remarks. "We won't have any more akumas to purify, or akumatized villains to stop."

"There's always crime to stop in Paris, even without akumas." Chat scuffs the ground, not looking up. "I don't want to give it up yet."

"Neither do I," Ladybug agrees. Her earrings beep again. One minute left before she changes back.

"We should at least get somewhere out of sight," Chat tells Ladybug, taking her arm gently. "We don't need the entire world to know who we are."

"Yeah," Ladybug replies distractedly. She follows Chat into the building. Once they're out of sight, Ladybug releases her transformation and Chat Noir does the same. They're Marinette and Adrien now, and Marinette still hasn't had the time to fully accept that she's told Chat, he's not disappointed, and he's Adrien Agreste, of all people.

"We'll need to make a public appearance," Adrien remarks. "As Ladybug and Chat Noir, of course. There were a bunch of reporters who got frozen by that one ice villain. They'll probably start searching for us soon."

"We need food before any public appearances," Adrien's kwami states loudly.

"There's a mini fridge," Marinette points out, going over to it. There's not much inside, but there's some cheese and an apple.

"Cheese!" Adrien's kwami cries, swooping into the fridge. Tikki goes for the apple.

"Plagg likes cheese," Adrien tells Marinette, a smile on his face.

"Tikki likes anything sweet," Marinette replies. Her usual awkwardness around Adrien is apparently gone. Yes, he's Adrien, but he's also Chat. Marinette's never been awkward around Chat Noir. Anyway, the cat's out of the bag, and it went well. Adrien knows Marinette's secret now, and he returns her feelings. There's no reason for her to be nervous.

"Are you okay?" Adrien asks. Marinette jumps. "I asked about Alya and your parents."

"I was spacing out," Marinette admits. "Um. Alya and my parents. I don't know? Alya probably fled. My parents may have. I'm not sure." They definitely weren't possessed by akumas, and Marinette didn't see them while she was fighting, but that didn't mean they weren't still in Paris somewhere. "What about your dad and Nino?"

"My dad was out of town already," Adrien replies. "And I'm pretty sure Nino got out. What are we going to say happened to us?"

"I think the best option is to say we didn't escape in time," Marinette decides. "That way, we won't know anything about what happened. And no one can refute our story."

"Sounds good to me," Adrien agrees. "Nino's gonna be a total mother hen, though."

"What about your dad?" Marinette asks. She realizes it was the wrong question a moment later, when something closes itself off in Adrien's face. Adrien's never said anything specifically about his father that Marinette's heard, but when he thought her homemade scarf was from him, he was so happy. And Chat's said a few things about an unhappy home life too, which Marinette now puts together as being about Gabriel Agreste.

"What are we gonna do about this?" Marinette blabs quickly, holding out Hawk-Moth's Miraculous.

"Put it someplace tightly sealed," Plagg calls, his mouth full of cheese. "Like a jar. Tikki and I can talk to the kwami when he comes out. He can't stay in there forever."

"How long do you think it'll take?" Adrien asks. Plagg shrugs.

"Probably not that long," he replies. "Kwamis can only stay inside a Miraculous for so long."

"Plus he really overworked himself," Tikki adds. "Akumatizing that many people wouldn't be easy. He'll have to come out soon."

As if on cue, the Miraculous beeps and the light illuminating from one of the wings on the butterfly flickers. Marinette looks over at Adrien with wide eyes.

"I'll find a jar," Adrien assures her quickly, tearing through the kitchen cabinets. He returns with an empty jam jar. "I rinsed it, but it's still a bit sticky," he apologizes.

"We can put it somewhere better later," Marinette replies, dumping the Miraculous into the jar and screwing the top on tight. "You're sure the kwami won't be able to get out?" Marinette asks. "Can't he just go through the jar, like you can, Tikki?"

"Hawk-Moth's kwami will be tired and hungry," Tikki explains. "He won't be able to do anything until we feed him."

"Four more minutes?" Adrien asks. Plagg nods as he swallows the rest of his cheese.

"Do you think the kwami is evil?" Marinette asks, biting her lip. "Is it the kwami that made Hawk-Moth do these things or was it the other way around?"

"The butterfly kwami wasn't evil when I knew him before," Tikki replies. Marinette stares at her kwami with wide eyes.

"You knew him?" she demands. Tikki nods.

"And he was nice! But once a kwami finds a master, they have to do what their master says. If Hawk-Moth had the butterfly Miraculous, the kwami would have to do whatever he wanted."

The Miraculous beeps again, another wing flickering out. "What's the kwami's name?" Adrien asks.

"Noroo," Plagg replies. "Tikki's right, he was always pretty nice. If a bit of a wimp." Tikki smacks Plagg, who cackles.

"We should probably make a quick appearance before too long," Adrien says, looking out the window. "Marinette?"

"Sure," Marinette replies. "It'll have to be quick, though. We don't want to leave the Miraculous alone for too long."

"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien cries, as Marinette declares, "Tikki, spots on!" A moment later, Ladybug and Chat Noir stand in the apartment.

"Let's go face the music," Ladybug sighs. Chat Noir grins.

"After you, milady," he replies, gesturing at the fire escape. Ladybug climbs out the window and uses her yoyo to swing up onto the roof. Chat Noir follows with his baton.

The second they're in view, the crowd around the building gets loud. Ladybug swings down onto the ground and is immediately mobbed by people, everyone shouting questions at her. It occurs to her that perhaps she and Chat should have prepared a statement before they exposed themselves to the crowd of reporters.

"Hawk-Moth has been defeated," Chat states to the crowd. He sounds definitive and confident. Normally, Ladybug deals with the press, but perhaps Chat should do it instead. "We have the situation under control."

"Who was Hawk-Moth?" a reporter yells.

"He's in police custody," Chat replies. "We're not at liberty to talk too much about it."

"So you two are working with the police?" another asks. Chat nods.

"In this instance, yes."

"Are you sure that Hawk-Moth won't be able to return?" someone yells.

"We are very sure," Ladybug replies. She makes eye contact with Chat for half a second. It's long enough.

"My lady, your earrings," Chat says, pointing. Ladybug covers her earrings, although she knows for a fact that they haven't beeped yet. She pulls out her yoyo and swings away, hearing the crowd clamor behind her. Chat Noir extends his baton and does the same. They return to the rooftop and grab Hawk-Moth's Miraculous, then they both jump down to the alley behind the apartment.

"Should we go to my house?" Chat asks. "We can figure out a way to deal with the Miraculous there."

"We'd better hurry," Ladybug replies. "And we should turn back, or we'll attract too much attention."

"Good point, my lady," Chat agrees. With a flash of light, Chat Noir turns back to Adrien Agreste. Ladybug releases her transformation as well, switching back to Marinette.

Her phone is buzzing like crazy in her pocket. "Is that your parents?" Adrien asks.

Marinette checks. Relief floods her body as she reads the texts. "Yeah. They were trapped in the bakery. But they're okay. They want to know where I am."

"You could go to them," Adrien offers. "I can deal with Noroo."

"Don't you have anyone waiting for you?" Marinette asks. Adrien shrugs, looking uncomfortable.

"My dad's out of town with Natalie. The Gorilla- Er, my driver might be waiting for me, but I can just call him and tell him I'm alright."

"We can deal with Noroo," Tikki offers, flying out of Marinette's pocket. "There's not much you and Adrien can do anyway. Plagg and I will talk to him when he comes out." The last wing flickers out, leaving only the butterfly's body lit. Noroo will have to come out soon.

"Then we'll go to my house," Marinette decides. "Plagg and Tikki can deal with Noroo and my parents will know we're safe."

Adrien looks at Marinette in surprise. "You want me to come with you to the bakery?" he asks. Marinette nods.

"Come on, silly kitty," she tells him, grabbing his hand and dragging him down the street. "I think we should say that we were trapped by that sand akuma," she declares. "He was trapping people in piles of sand everywhere, and we can say we were too far from the fighting to really know what was going on."

"Whatever you say, my lady," Adrien replies. Marinette blushes slightly. Chat Noir calls Ladybug "my lady" all the time, but there's something different about Adrien saying it to Marinette.

Marinette's phone rings again, and this time Marinette picks it up and answers. Her parents are understandably frantic, but Marinette assures them that she's unharmed and already on her way back to the bakery. "Can I bring Adrien back with me?" she asks. "Adrien Agreste. He was trapped in the sand with me, and his dad is out of town."

"Of course you can," Sabine replies immediately. "Just come home, honey."

"What did they say?" Adrien asks as Marinette tucks her phone back in her purse. He looks almost worried, like he thinks her parents have forbidden him to come.

"They're waiting for us," Marinette replies. "Have you told your driver that you're okay?"

"He knows," Adrien replies. Marinette grabs his hand again and drags him along to the bakery.

"We'll take Noroo up through the roof," Tikki declares, wrapping her little arms around the jam jar. Plagg grabs the other side and they fly off to the roof. There's a quick flash of light that Marinette knows means Noroo has finally left the Miraculous. She trusts Tikki and Plagg to deal with it and drags Adrien inside the bakery.

"Marinette!" her parents cry, and in a second, they've both wrapped their arms around her. Marinette thinks she feels tears on her shoulder, but she's not sure if they're from her mother or father.

"I'm fine," she assures them. "I just got stuck in a pile of sand." If her parents are this worried about her now, Marinette can't imagine how they'd feel if they knew she'd been the one fighting Hawk-Moth and just barely scraping a victory.

"We were so worried," Tom whispers, his warm bulk comforting and safe.

"I'm fine," Marinette repeats. "I'm just glad you guys are okay."

Adrien is standing awkwardly to the side of the embrace, which Marinette realizes at the same time her parents do. "Come here," Tom urges, grabbing Adrien's arm and tugging him into the embrace. His eyes are wide and surprised as Marinette's parents seamlessly fold him into the hug. Marinette kisses his cheek quickly, hoping to reassure him. Judging by what she knows of Gabriel Agreste's parenting skills, group hugs probably aren't something Adrien's used to.

When her parents finally release her, Marinette realizes that every clear surface in the bakery is covered in baked goods. "What happened here?" she teases, gesturing at the counters.

"You know how your father is when he's worried," Sabine replies. "He only stopped baking when we ran out of ingredients."

"And your mother cleaned the whole house," Tom adds. Marinette pulls them both in a hug again, unable to help it. She knows they were worried about her, but she was worried about them as well.

"Would you two like something to eat?" Sabine asks. Adrien looks stunned to be included. "Someone has to eat all of this, after all."

"Thanks, Mom," Marinette replies, grabbing a croissant. "What do you want, Adrien?"

"I'm... not hungry," Adrien replies, obviously lying. Marinette rolls her eyes.

"Mom, Dad, tell Adrien to eat," she whines. Tom grabs a macaron and passes it to Adrien.

"Sabine's right, someone needs to eat all of this," he tells Adrien with a smile. Adrien glances over at Marinette, then takes a bite of the macaron.

"It's delicious, sir," he tells Tom, who beams and claps Adrien on the back.

"Call me Tom," he tells Adrien. "Please, eat as much as you like."

"I'm..." Adrien shifts slightly. "My dad has me on a strict diet. For modeling."

Marinette looks at her parents quickly, not quite sure what to do. Sabine steps forward, putting a hand on Adrien's shoulder.

"I think, all things considered, perhaps you can take a break from your diet today," she suggests kindly. Marinette grabs another macaron and stuffs it into Adrien's hands. Adrien looks down at the macaron, then gives Marinette a smile that's 100% Chat Noir.

"I guess I can," he replies, finishing the first macaron and starting on the second. Marinette hops up to sit on a small bit of empty counter and pats the spot next to her until Adrien hops up to join her.

Marinette can tell her parents are a little confused. She doesn't blame them. She went from not being able to say a word to Adrien without stammering to pushing macarons on him while sitting on the bakery counter together. She hopes her parents will buy the excuse that being trapped in sand together for a few hours gives people a new perspective on each other, since she can't exactly admit that Adrien has been her crime-fighting companion for over a year now.

But her parents seem happy for her, and as long as Marinette's happy, she thinks they'll keep from asking too many invasive questions.

The real problem, she realizes with a quiet groan, will be explaining the whole thing to Alya.