WELCOME TO- ... well I was gonna say "Welcome to Hell!" but this is the literal opposite of hell. This is going to be fluff and cute non-stop. I'm talking the kind of fluff that'll make this unreadable on public transportation because you're probably gonna squee and blush harder than Adrien.

There will be translations at the bottom for the bits of French you'll see :)

Cover designed by edendaphne - and special thanks as well for helping me get this story off the ground the night I came yelling to you about it XD
Also thanks to KryallaOrchid for the usual stuff :P and Qookyquiche and Portentous-Offerings for the art as well.

ENJOY, FOLKS.

This was definitely not how Ladybug expected her day to go.

It was supposed to be just another normal day of summer break. No responsibilities beyond the ones her parents gave her, no homework, no babysitting, and no akuma. Just a trip to a butterfly garden so Tikki would have a chance to fly around for a while in a comfortable environment where she wouldn't be in danger if she was glimpsed. It was going to be a nice, relaxing day free of stress.

Would've been nice if she and Hawkmoth could've been on the same page.

Instead of butterflies and flowers, they got an akuma tearing through the place. Instead of a picnic, they got screaming and fighting.

It was another kid. In the years she'd been a hero, Ladybug had been forced to face off against more than one young child turned villain by Hawkmoth. The reasons behind a child's akumatization were usually far simpler than adults. Justified or not, it usually boiled down to a temper tantrum. For some reason, Hawkmoth had decided the way this child could have what she wanted was to give her the power to turn everyone she touched into a child.

Even if she hadn't seen the transformation before her very eyes, the mass of children stumbling along the sidewalks and streets in clothes far too big for their bodies would've given it away. None of them looked older than maybe ten. She couldn't tell if the transformation was mental or just physical, either. Some of the newly transformed children seemed to be behaving responsibly and were getting themselves out of harm's way, helping each other, or talking frantically into their cell phones, but more than one of them had elected to simply sit down and start crying, although those ones seemed more on the younger side.

Gaminette was about four and a half feet tall with fair skin and bright blue hair in twin braids that hung from the sides of her head. She wore a pair of oversized overalls over a pastel pink t-shirt and magenta sneakers. She had no weapon, transformed people with her bare hands, and the only thing that looked remotely like a possible corrupted item was the dark bracelet on her wrist.

She should have been an easy win. She just wanted to play. Chat Noir had courteously proposed a game of jouer à chat to entertain her while Ladybug cooked up a plan to get the bracelet from her wrist. With his superior speed and agility, Chat Noir should've been able to keep well out of Gaminette's reach.

Key word: should've.

They had not expected Gaminette to run up walls like a spider and backflip through the air like an Olympic gymnast in her pursuit of the superhero.

"TAG! YOU'RE IT!"

A startled yelp and a flash of light and Chat Noir the hero was gone. In his place was a scrawny boy about four-foot-two who staggered about like a cat on his hind legs while he tried to get his bearings. When he was sure-footed once more, he raised his arms for inspection, then he spun around to face the akuma who he was now almost eye-to-eye with.

"No fair!" the boy howled. "You cheated!"

Gaminette blinked in surprise and then scowled. "Nuh-UH! You were jumping and flying around all over the place so why is it cheating when I did it, too? Huh? Huh? HUH?!"

"B-BECAUSE!" he sputtered.

"BECAUSE WHY?!"

"I'M CHAT NOIR!"

"THAT'S A STUPID REASON."

The two bickered back and forth like the obnoxious children they were, gesturing wildly with their arms, and Ladybug could only gawk from the sidelines. She'd seen at least six people turned into children with her own eyes but for some reason, Chat Noir getting turned into a child was just a bit too much for her to process immediately.

He looked almost the same; same hairstyle, same outfit, and unlike her other victims, his clothes had shrunk with him. Did that mean his kwami was affected as well or just reacting to the situation?

It occurred to her about ten seconds into the argument that this was probably going to be her best chance at taking the akuma down. Between her brattiness and his stubbornness, those two be go at it for a while. Ladybug pulled her yo-yo from her hip and began creeping towards them. She was well aware that many of the people on the sidelines were Gaminette's victims and she silently hoped they were mature enough to not yell out in excitement. It had happened before, even from adults, and if Chat's outburst was any indication then maturity levels had dropped with their ages.

"—and it's not my fault that Hawkmoth didn't warn you about that!" Chat Noir declared, leaning around Gaminette. "Right, my lady?"

Ladybug's eyes flipped wide. Crap!

Gaminette whirled around, surprised to see Ladybug only a few feet away. "Hey!" she cried and lunged.

Ladybug scrambled to get away but before she could even make it more than a few feet, Gaminette had tagged her. The world melted away and a curious tingle rolled through her body like a wave. She stumbled, shaking her head from the weird sensation and shift in gravity. Opening her eyes, Ladybug blinked a few times to clear her vision, already knowing what she was going to see.

God, she hadn't been this close to the ground in years. Had these buildings always been so tall? At least her costume had shrunk with her like Chat's had.

And speaking of Chat…

"HEY! You keep your hands off of her you or—or— just keep 'em off!" he yelled and then his Miraculous let out a beep. "What?!" Chat yelped. "I haven't even used Cataclysm! What the heck did you do to me?!"

Ladybug shook her head and spun around. Right. She'd officially had enough for one day. Either Gaminette was too focused on Chat's yelling or she no longer considered Ladybug a threat but she had her back to her. With a growl, Ladybug drew her arm back and flung her yo-yo at Gaminette. It wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides. Gaminette squealed, twisting and wriggling in a futile attempt to free herself.

"Now, Chaton!" Ladybug ordered and he pounced.

The strength of the miraculous remained with him despite his transformation and, so used having a larger and heavier body, he forgot to compensate for his lesser mass. He seemed to realize this as he hurtled through the air and Ladybug glimpsed a flash of panic on his face just before he crashed into Gaminette, knocking her back into Ladybug, and the three of them toppled to the ground.

Ladybug grunted as she had the wind knocked out of her. "Chat!" she rasped in frustration.

"Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry!" Chat wailed as he rolled off of the top of the pile.

Gaminette lashed out with her foot and he only just managed to dodge the blow. "YOU WILL BE IN A SECOND!"

"You hush!" Chat snatched the bracelet off her wrist, snapping the string, and the beads clattered to the street. Ladybug's eyes widened as the butterfly fluttered out of the object and took to the sky. From the look on his face, Chat clearly had not expected that to happen.

"CHAT! GET IT!" she screamed, frantically trying to push Gaminette off her.

Chat sprang into the air after it, arms outstretched, but the akuma was fast and he missed it by mere inches. He yelped as he fell, hands scrabbling futilely at the air. He was off the moment he landed, tearing up the street after the akuma, and he jumped again.

Ladybug was almost free when Gaminette suddenly went still. Darkness bubbled around her then dissipated, leaving behind an ordinary little girl who was suddenly experiencing post-akuma disorientation for the first time. That was bad enough on its own and the yo-yo binding her arms did absolutely nothing to help the situation. It took less than five seconds for the poor kid to devolve into a full blown panic. Then, just to make things worse, Ladybug's Miraculous let out its first beep.

She was able to get free but as much as she wanted to go after the akuma, Ladybug had to deal with the poor, terrified victim. Carefully but quickly, she removed her yo-yo from around her arms, speaking soothingly the whole time. The poor girl was only eight or nine at most, with big, dark eyes that were full of tears, and missing her two front teeth. It took nearly a minute for Ladybug to calm her down, hugging her and reassuring her that everything was okay and she was safe.

Ladybug's Miraculous had just let out its second beep when Chat Noir returned emptyhanded.

"I'm sorry," he apologized and the look of utter sorrow on his young face was almost enough to absolve him in Ladybug's eyes. Almost. "I tried so hard but everything's weird and it was so fast and I couldn't get it and then it went over the river." He gestured helplessly.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. They both knew what this meant. Within half an hour, dozens of Gaminette's would appear, dormant, throughout the city, and the people inside would remain trapped until the child huddled against Ladybug was inevitably re-akumatized. They were. So. Screwed.

"Julie!" a woman yelled, startling both heroes. Ladybug looked around and spotted a woman running up the sidewalk towards them.

"Mama!" the little girl cried, pushing herself to her feet. She ran away from the heroes towards her mother.

Ladybug saw Chat Noir hold out his hand in her peripheral vision and she sighed, accepting it. He pulled her to her feet and cocked his head to the side, looking her up and down. "We're stuck like this," he announced. "And you're down to four spots." His Miraculous beeped again. "And I'm at three. Do you live very far from here?"

Ladybug looked around at the unfamiliar street, only realizing for the first time that she had no idea where she was. She knew the Arc de Triomphe was within a few kilometers but she couldn't quite remember in which direction or how far. Even if she managed to get there in time, she lived nearly two and a half arrondissements away from it. Normally she would have easily been able to make her way home from there but for some reason, the prospect of traversing the kilometers between here and home suddenly seemed terrifying.

The buildings suddenly seemed larger than ever around her. All the faces of the people emerging from the buildings around them were unfamiliar. She felt small, helpless, and wanted her mother. Tears welled in her eyes and she looked back at Chat Noir, nodding vigorously.

It was the transformation, it had to be. The de-aging must have affected their minds as well. She was Ladybug, she should not be feeling like this! And Chat may be a handful but he normally wasn't as irresponsible or childish as he'd been since Gaminette had touched him.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't cry! I didn't mean to make you cry, my lady!" Chat threw his arms around her. "Please stop, I'm sorry. I'll get you home, I promise. Okay?"

Ladybug nodded, wiping her eyes again, and took a step back to give her space. Then he tensed, ears lowering warily, and he looked around. A crowd was beginning to form around them and with the people came cameras and questions. What was going on? Why hadn't she undone Gaminette's transformations?

The two of them made their escape quickly to the safety of the rooftops. They managed to make it half a block away before his Miraculous beeped again and she decided it was time to stop. They located a roof with stair access and landed on it just as her Miraculous let out its third beep.

"I'm scared," Ladybug whimpered. Two minutes left.

Chat Noir shook his head. "Don't be, okay? We'll get home."

"That's not why I'm scared. What are my parents going to say? How am I going to explain why I was so far from home?" she fretted.

"We'll figure it out," he promised. "A-and I'm sorry I gave away your position earlier. I don't know why I did that I just really, really wanted to prove her wrong." He scowled, frustrated. "This is messing with my head."

Ladybug laughed weakly. "Mine, too. I shouldn't be so scared like this."

"We're gonna get that akuma," he reassured. Then his eyes widened and he smacked his forehead. "Oh, crap! We forgot to warn her mom!"

She wrinkled her nose, fighting the urge to stamp her foot in agitation.

Chat's miraculous let out its final beep and Ladybug squeezed her eyes shut. There was a fizzing noise, almost like electricity crackling, and green light flared behind her eyelids. Her hands flew up to cover her eyes automatically.

"Cheeeeeseee," a high voice whined a moment later.

"How are you hungry? How are you even out of power!? I didn't use Cataclysm!" Chat protested. "What's up with that?"

"Oh, yeah, you're welcome."

"What?"

"Kid do you even realize how much energy it took me to change your costume when you shrank?" the kwami griped. "And notice how that ring isn't falling off your finger? Yeah, that's right. I actually altered your suit while you were transformed. You're welcome. Now feed me."

"Right. Let me just pull out the secret stash of cheese I keep in my pocket."

"You keep a stash of cheese in your pocket?!"

Ladybug's Miraculous let out their final beep. Moments later, she felt the transformation release and she had to lower her hands and open her eyes to catch Tikki as the kwami came sailing out of her earrings. Her hands were normally large enough that Tikki could sit comfortably in a single one but now Tikki's tiny body filled the space of both, which only further emphasized how much she'd shrunk.

She could feel her clothes sitting on her body awkwardly. The white bag over her shoulder containing their picnic supplies felt cumbersome and heavy. Her short sleeves now reached her elbows and when she shifted, one of the sleeves slipped off her shoulder, along with her bra strap. Her shorts went past her knees but fortunately for her, the elastic in the waistband of her shorts kept them from sliding off her non-existent hips. Out of curiosity, she looked down at her feet and was unsurprised to see them completely dwarfed by her sandals.

Marinette sighed.

"Are you alright?" Tikki asked tiredly.

She nodded, taking a deep breath, and raised her head so she could see Chat Noir. His green eyes were human, his hair was shorter and much nicer than she was used to, and he had a smattering of very light freckles across his nose and cheeks but other than that he looked exactly the same. The look of childish wonder on his face was adorable. His eyes roamed, taking in every single detail, from her pigtails, to her eyes, button nose, and her awkwardly small feet. She bit her lip, waiting for him to say something. A few moments passed in silence and she cleared her throat.

"Hi," she said timidly. "Um, I'm—"

"Really pretty!"

Her eyes flipped wide and so did his and she squeaked in surprise and he dropped his kwami as his hands flew up to cover his mouth. Both their faces flushed with embarrassment.

"U-um, thank you," Marinette murmured.

Chat looked like he wanted to melt into the ground. Marinette couldn't help but giggle, covering her own mouth with one of her hands. He perked up and at the noise and his eyes searched her face intently. He slowly lowered his hands, revealing his mouth which was round in surprise.

"Marinette?"

Marinette's laughter died in her throat and her eyes flipped wide. Crap.

"Oh my god, you're Marinette!" he pointed at her and she only had a moment to feel panic before the biggest grin appeared on his face and he laughed gleefully. "No way! This is incredible! I know you! I mean, I actually know you, Ladybug!"

"Wait, you do? How?"

"Yeah! It's me! C'mon, Marinette, you can't tell me you don't recognize me."

Her brow furrowed as she looked him up and down again. His clothes were too big to fit and they hung limply off his small body, but Marinette knew designer when she saw it. That ring on his hand, she'd seen it before, dozens of times. That hairstyle…and those eyes…

"Adrien?!"

Adrien Agreste grinned at her. "Hiya, princess!"

Marinette felt her face go beet red. Oh my God it was Adrien. Adrien was Chat and Chat was Adrien her goofy dork of a partner was the kind and modest boy she had crush on. He wasn't handsome, either, oh no, he was absolutely adorable with those round cheeks and that big toothy grin of his and he was looking at her like she'd just told him Christmas had come early. He was Chat and he was Adrien and she was absolutely entirely unprepared for this and oh my god her shirt was falling off!

She yelped again and yanked her sleeve back onto her shoulder, ducking her head in embarrassment.

This was not how today was supposed to go!

While she was freaking out, Tikki flew out of her hands and waved at Adrien. "Hi, Adrien."

"Hi," Adrien greeted, taken aback by the familiarity in her tone.

The black kwami on the ground ceased his feeble whining and perked up at the sight of her. "Tikki!"

Tikki's tail wiggled and she trilled at him excitedly. He shot into the air, colliding with her, and the two of them tumbled away, all exhaustion forgotten.

Both Marinette and Adrien watched them for a few moments before looking back to each other. His smile was timid this time, hopeful, and she pursed her lips before finally smiling back.

"This is okay, right?" Adrien asked.

Marinette nodded. "Yeah. It's okay." He still seemed a bit unsure so she went on. "More than okay. It's great."

His answering grin outshined the sun. "Great! So, uh, that offer to get you home is still there… and it's not even trouble since we live near each other. If you want."

Marinette glanced at the two kwami chasing each other through the air. She had a cookie in her bag but it would take more than that for Tikki to have enough energy for a transformation. Even if she could, she couldn't leave Adrien all alone out here! Her eyes flicked back to him. He looked so happy and hopeful—she'd never seen him like this before, not as himself. Not even as Chat. He'd found out her identity and he was happy! The circumstances may not have been ideal but she couldn't imagine this going any better than it had.

It wasn't like they had a way of finding the butterfly before it re-possessed Julie, either. It was bad but they kind of needed that to happen. For now, there was nothing they could do except go home and face the music.

"Okay," she agreed.

Adrien plunged his hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "I'm going to call my bodyguard. He'll come and pick us up."

"But won't you get in trouble?" she fretted. She knew from past conversations that Adrien wasn't supposed to walk around in public without his bodyguard.

He grimaced as he scrolled through his contacts. "Yeah but there's not exactly a way to avoid it." He gestured to himself with his free hand and held the phone up to his ear with his other.

After the initial process of convincing his bodyguard that he was, in fact, Adrien, he spoke quickly with the man about getting a ride out of here. Marinette gleaned from his half of the conversation that this was most definitely not the first time he'd had to place such a call. He wheedled him into not informing Nathalie or his father just yet and gave him their approximate location then hung up.

"It'll be about forty-five minutes," he informed her apologetically.

"That's fine. It's the safest and smartest thing to do in the situation. Actually, getting off this roof would be the safest and smartest thing right now."

"Yep. Plagg," Adrien called and the tiny cat turned towards him. "Come on, we're heading down!"

The two kwami came zooming over. Tikki dove for Marinette's bag and Plagg, instead of heading into Adrien's pocket or something, followed suit. Tikki held the flap open for him and he flew inside. Tikki waved at them once then dropped the flap. Marinette and Adrien looked at each other in surprise.

"You don't mind?" he asked.

She shrugged. "There's room. So long as he remembers to go home with you and not me."

They took the stairwell down from the roof and ended up in the lobby of a small hotel. They received an odd look from the concierge but were out of the lobby before he could question them.

There were a few shops in the area, most of them tailored towards locals rather than tourists since the bulk of them were drawn to those of the Champs Élysées nearby. One was a candy shop and Marinette wasn't sure if it was the childish impulses or her own sweet tooth that drew her in. Adrien followed her inside eagerly. There was some initial concern from the clerk but they explained that they were both nearly adults but had been victims of the akuma attack and weren't just random, improperly dressed children. The clerk accepted this explanation without any noticeable doubt and left them be. They both spent five minutes simply browsing the assortment of treats offered. She decided to get a small bag of chocolate pieces and encouraged him to pick something for himself, her treat.

"I—I shouldn't, I'm already going to get in trouble for this, I don't want to make it worse but eating something I shouldn't…"

"That's dumb," she declared, "a little bit of candy isn't gonna kill you or make you fat, which I'm guessing are the reasons you're not allowed to eat candy, right?"

Adrien nodded, though taken aback by her forwardness. Honestly, she was, too. Sixteen year-old Marinette was still in there and functioning but it seemed younger Marinette was at the helm. Oh well. In for a penny…

"Besides, if you eat it quickly, no one ever has to know," she pointed out with a sly wink.

Adrien blinked in surprise.

Five minutes later, they both walked out with chocolate bars.

They sat on the edge of the sidewalk not far from the shop and ate their chocolate. Adrien was far too happy about being able to eat a chocolate bar and Marinette decided that she was going to single-handedly ruin his diet with as many pastries and cookies as her parents would let her. She thought of the time he'd come to her room to play Mecha Strike III for tournament practice and how she'd dismissed her parents and their offerings of baked goods. Had he been excited for them? She couldn't remember. Either way, she felt a little bad now.

After they'd finished their chocolate, with nothing else to do, they tried to go for a walk but quickly became frustrated with their clothes. Marinette took her hair ties out and used them to tie off the excess fabric in the waistlines of their shorts. They'd also decided to simply take their shoes off, their feet were far too small and they kept tripping. It was then that they made a very important discovery: Marinette was approximately two inches taller than Adrien.

Marinette nearly screeched in delight. She was taller than him! After all the times Chat Noir had poked fun at her for being so much shorter than him now, finally, she had the upper hand! Adrien was not at all pleased by this discovery and alternated between jumping and standing on his tip toes to try and regain his lost height and simply pouting at her. Marinette skipped around him, gloating and teasing playfully. A few people gave them odd looks as they passed by but neither child cared.

It was strange. Not even an hour ago the thought of acting like this around Adrien would have been unfathomable. Maybe it was the influence of her transformation making her bolder or maybe it was because he was acting so much like Chat Noir. Or it could have something to do with the fact that her teenage hormones were nowhere to be found and he wasn't hot anymore. Whatever the cause, it was a bit of a relief. She liked being able to interact with him like a human being for once.

From within her bag, Plagg guffawed rather loudly at Adrien's continued protests about their height differences, though thankfully no one was around to hear him. Both kwami even risked being seen just to see this discovery for themselves.

Adrien's bodyguard, whom he had affectionately dubbed 'the Gorilla', arrived approximately twenty minutes later. Adrien spotted the sleek silver car cruising up the street before she did and hurried away from the building they'd been leaning against to flag him down from the curb. Marinette hung back unsurely. She didn't know anything about this man other than that he kept Adrien 'safe' (although she questioned his efficiency since Chat Noir Adrien managed to ditch him all the time). Would he be upset? Would he blame her for their situation? She would gladly take the bullet for Adrien this time though she had a feeling he wouldn't let her.

Wait, had Adrien even mentioned she was with him when he was on the phone? She couldn't remember.

The car pulled up along the curb, slotting in between two parked cars with ease. The driver door opened a moment later and out stepped the massive form of his bodyguard.

The Gorilla loomed over Adrien and frowned sternly down at him. Adrien hunched his shoulders and smiled sheepishly. Marinette pushed off the building and approached them slowly with her shoes held behind her back. The Gorilla's attention snapped to her and he stared for a moment before his eyes flicked between them curiously. Marinette smiled brightly, rocking forward onto the balls of her feet, and slipping her arm into the strap of one of her sandals so her hand was free to wave at him.

"Um…" Adrien cleared his throat. "This is my friend Marinette. She lives really close. Can we take her home, please?"

The stern expression melted from the Gorilla's face so quickly that Marinette knew he had never really been angry to begin with and smiled knowingly at Adrien. Without a word, he opened the back door for them. Adrien grinned at Marinette over his shoulder and they scampered towards the car. He motioned for her to climb in first then followed after.

Marinette was not too familiar with travelling in a car. Like many Parisians, she had relied on the metro and bus systems to get around for most of her life. Her father owned a van for delivery but she seldom went with him on those deliveries, and the few times she'd actually been in a car, they had been older models owned by family members who lived outside the city. Nothing like a luxury car.

She was surprised at how soft the seats were. Nothing against the public transportation system but those seats weren't exactly the most comfortable. She spent a few moments bouncing up and down on her butt before she wriggled her back against the seat and appreciated just how comfortable it felt. Adrien watched her with an amused grin on his face and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Shut up, this is new to me."

"I didn't say anything!" he replied, grinning.

"Yeah, well, you're thinking it," she grumbled, looking down at the arm rest on the door. Ooh, what does this button do? she thought and jumped in surprise when the window rolled down.

Adrien laughed.

The Gorilla climbed back inside the vehicle and shut the door. Adrien put his seat belt on and Marinette stared dumbly at him for a moment before remembering she had to do the same. She fumbled with getting the metal doohickey into the whatchamajig attached to the seat but stubbornly ignored Adrien's offer of help. She smirked proudly when she heard the 'click' of the latch inside and leaned back against the seat once more.

Adrien showed her the screens in the back of the seats, which had access to different apps like the news, video calls, games, and even youtube. He showed her the main ones he used, as well as the list of games that were on there and Marinette just stared, completely dumbfounded. Was there a tablet in the seat? How was this even possible? Surely it couldn't be comfortable, how was the Gorilla managing to sit like he was?

"—and this is a cool radio app—" Adrien pointed at one of the icons on the screen that she didn't recognize.

"What's wrong with your car radio?" she demanded.

"Nothing. This is more of a personal radio thing. Here, look, I'll show you."

She let him explain how the app worked because he genuinely seemed eager to show her this little piece of his life and pointedly ignored the occasional glances the Gorilla gave them in the rearview mirror. Adrien picked a station at random, which turned out to be full off popular American music, and cranked up the volume just loud enough that it would drown out their words.

"See? He won't be able to hear us if we're quiet," he muttered to her, leaning across the space between them.

Marinette glanced up front. The Gorilla's eyes were on the road and hers narrowed. "You did that on purpose."

Adrien grinned, unabashed. "So, what do you think?" he asked at normal volume. "Completely over the top, right?"

"Completely," she deadpanned though she was glad he thought so, too. Chloe probably didn't.

Marinette frowned and looked away. What was Chloe going to say when she found out about this? They'd already agreed to say that they'd been out together to protect their identies but since neither of them had been up front about it to the authority figures in their life, it stood to reason that they'd wanted it to be kept secret. Teenagers didn't tend to keep platonic outings secret. Adrien's condition probably wouldn't be kept under wraps for long and it was only a matter of time before Chloe found out and swooped in to fawn over her precious little Adrikins.

"This is definitely not how I thought today was going to go," Marinette lamented, watching the city pass by through the windows.

"Me either," he agreed and then lowered his voice, "but I don't mind. I got to meet you. You know, for real."

Marinette glanced at him, noticed the dopey smile on his face, and looked away quickly. Damn cat, why was he being so—so…cute? She was still reeling from the revelation that Chat was Adrien but he seemed to not be affected at all. He'd just accepted it and carried right on like normal. Well, almost normal. It was probably a good thing that he hadn't resumed flirting yet. (She'd never noticed Adrien flirt, though, so was it only something he did as Chat? Would he flirt with her later when they were both back in costume or was flirting not something younger Chat was even capable of? Would he ever flirt with her again now that he knew his Lady was just his classmate?)

She glanced at the Gorilla then asked quietly, "Was learning my identity really worth getting turned into a little kid and probably getting grounded?"

Adrien nodded without hesitation. "Yep! You're worth way more than that, my lady."

Feeling the heat rising in her cheeks, Marinette covered them with her hands before he could see the blush his words had prompted. She looked at him and his stupid grin for a moment longer before turning away in embarrassment. Just when she thought she was going to be alright around him, he went and said things like that. Dumb cat.

Not that she minded.

Lol these darn children are too cute for each other to handle.

:D Feel free to come talk to me on my tumblr, wintermoth. I will be using the tag "Pint Sized ML" for everything related to this fic and you can, too. Be sure to put it in the first five tags, though, or I won't see it.

TRANSLATIONS
"jouer à chat" is what the French call "tag". In this case, it is very much a pun. Chat Noir uses it in Le Pharon to taunt the mummies into chasing him.

Gaminette - gamin (f. gamine) is a word used to refer to a scrappy and mischievous child or homeless child. The suffix -ette attached to a word is diminutive and generally refers to a smaller version of the word. (Si vous êtes français et que j'ai commis une erreur, dites-le moi plait.)