"Heeelp!" Marinette screamed as she ran through the halls of at night, being chased by and .

The designer ran away from Stormy Weather, but was soon blocked by the other supervillain. When she tried to escape, running back toward Stormy Weather, Lady Wifi sent a pink pause symbol at her. After Marinette was locked in place, Stormy Weather raised her parasol and aimed at the paused girl, freezing her in a block of ice. The two supervillains met up beside the ice block and shook hands in accomplishment. But then, a mysterious boy landed on the floor behind them.

The two supervillains turned around and saw the new arrival, who twirled his pencil in his hand, ready to make his move. Stormy Weather quickly raised her parasol, opening it up to attack the boy, but he merely erased the parasol, much to her shock.

Lady Wifi then stepped up to attack, but he spun his pencil in his hand again before he drew a box around the two villains, trapping them in a see-through cage. Once the two super villains were taken care of, the mystery boy erased the ice block Marinette was trapped in, letting her stumble to her feet, before looking at her rescuer.

"Oh, Super Nathan, you're my hero!" Marinette gushed, right before running to the mysterious boy.

"It was nothing," Super Nathan assured as Marinette tightly embraced him.

"I love you!" Marinette proclaimed, looking up at her hero, before he returned her embrace.

"I love you too, Marinette," Super Nathan replied, feeling so happy at that moment. Literally nothing could bring him down right now.

"Nathaniel! What are you drawing?" A voice exclaimed, interrupting the sweet moment, and caused Nathaniel to wake up, seeing Ms. Mendeleiev standing above him, and his sketchbook, pulling him back into reality.

'Oh right, it was just a dream.' Nathaniel thought to himself after realizing what was going on.

"Wha, wha—" Nathaniel began, trying to defend himself.

Let's clarify, shall we?

While Jim was now dealing with the fact that trolls exist, and he was chosen as their new chosen protector, Marinette had her own stuff to deal with. It had been two weeks since Lady Wifi, and things had been quiet since then, save for Rogercop–Sabrina's dad, who was now Police Lieutenant Roger–a few days back.

Sadly, that went down when Hawkmoth decided to break the silence, and made an akuma yesterday. It took so long that Marinette was so tired afterwards that she skipped her nightly call with Jim, and missed finding out about trolls existing, and Jim essentially becoming a superhero. Not that she knew that part yet, but she still felt bad about missing the call.

Right now, all the girl wanted was a quiet day at school, with no drama at all. Unfortunately, that all went down the drain as soon as Ms. Mendeleiev grabbed one of the loose papers in Nathaniel's sketchbook, and waved it in the air above the boy.

"These artistic endeavors are clearly why you are failing science," Ms. Mendeleiev berated as she let go of the paper in her hands, letting it flutter to the desk as she ridiculed the young artist.

"I'm sorry..." Nathaniel mumbled.

"You go march yourself down to the principal's office and show him that chicken scratch! Then you'll be really sorry!" Ms. Mendeleiev demanded, seeming to enjoy torturing Nathaniel as he packed up his belongings and headed to the classroom door. But as he did, he tripped over Mylène's bag, and fell to the floor, his sketchbook flying out of his open bag. As the book fell to the floor, the pages were open for all to see, including Marinette and Alya as they saw what the drawing contained.

Chloé grabbed the book to get a closer look, while Ms. Mendeleiev picked Nathaniel up from the floor by his shirt collar, both embarrassing the boy further, and showed everyone just how strong the science teacher was.

"Ooh! Look, Sabrina! It's him as a superhero! And look who he's saving! It's Marinette!" Chloé snidely remarked, showing the drawing to Sabrina.

"Uh-" Marinette managed.

'It was sweet that Nathaniel thinks that way about me, but I already have my heart set on Adrien,' Marinette thought to herself.

"He's so totally crushing on you, Marinette!" Chloé teased as she discreetly took a page out of the sketchbook. Ms. Mendeleiev then let Nathaniel go, which allowed him to save himself from more embarrassment.

"Gimme that!" Nathaniel exclaimed as he snatched his sketchbook from Chloé, not noticing that she had stolen a page from it, frantic to keep others from looking at it more.

"Enough! Nathaniel, go!" Ms. Mendeleiev demanded, as she pointed to the door. Nathaniel then used the getaway she gave him, and ran out of the classroom, away from being embarrassed even more.

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Far away, Hawkmoth chuckled. "Artists can be so emotional. I love it," he purred as he released a blackened butterfly. Soon enough, the akuma found Nathaniel in the hallway, landing on his pencil.

"Are you tired of having your creative spirit crushed? Evillustrator, I'm your friend and patron of the arts. I'm here to offer you support. But I don't give this kind of power for free. I have a couple of items that need retrieving," Hawkmoth offered from the safety of his lair, not intent on going out and doing his own dirty work like always.

"Just tell me what you want," Nathaniel agreed, before the outline disappeared and the dark purple aura emerged from the pencil, turning him into the

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Back in Ms. Mendeleiev's classroom, the science teacher was facing the class as she began to assign groups for the class's particle physics project.

"The next particle physics presentation group is Nino, Adrien and Alya!" Ms. Mendeleiev announced. At her words, Adrien and Nino fistbumped, while Marinette gasped in excitement.

"Oh! So lucky!" Mairnette exclaimed, slightly jealous that Alya was with her crush, before Ms. Mendeleiev continued assigning groups.

"And then, Sabrina, Chloé and Marinette," Ms. Mendeleiev continued, causing Marinette to gasp in shock, slamming her head onto the table.

"So unlucky," Alya pittyed, before she patted Marinette on her back. But it looked like Chloé wasn't going to have any of this.

"Uh, Miss, can't you add her to another group? Sabrina and I work much better on our own," Chloé demanded.

"This is a group presentation, not pairs! Deal with it," Ms. Mendeleiev denied, not folding for the heiress. Unlike her colleagues, Ms. Mendeleiev didn't bend to Chloé's whims. Quite frankly, she didn't care about what her father would do to her either, much to Chloé's annoyance.

"I hate dealing with it!" Chloé growled, right before the bell rang, signaling everyone to pack up and head to their next classes.

"You wouldn't be willing to trade groups, would ya?" Marinette asked Alya, hoping that her best friend would help her out.

"And deal with that twosome terror? Sorry," Alya refused as she placed a comforting hand on Marinette's shoulder, while the designer slumped in disappointment.

'Fair enough, it's not like anyone would be in Chloé's group willingly, save for Sabrina of course,' Marinette rationalized.

"But I promise to talk all about you in between particles and the physics!" The reporter promised, immediately peerking Marinette up.

"You're the best!" Marinette exclaimed in excitement before she glomped onto Alya, sending both of them to the ground in a fit of giggles.

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Soon, everyone was in the locker room, either getting ready for their next class, or talking amongst themselves. Chloé and Sabrina were two of those people as they stood at the heiress's locker, discussing the assigned physics project.

"Forget it, Sabrina. I don't have time for some dumb project," Chloé dismissed, as she closed her locker, turning to face the police lieutenant's daughter.

"Besides, now you have Marinette to help you," The spoiled brat justified, thinking she didn't need to do any work and pawn it off onto Sabrina... like she always did.

"Okay, that's fine, Chloé. We'll do the work. Don't worry," Sabrina reassured. But there was one small detail that was different from the last times... Marinette was in their group now.

"Um, is everything okay?" Marinette questioned as she walked over.

"It is fine, Marinette," Chloé dismissed.

"Well then, why can't you help us with the project?" Marinette asked, not willing to let Chloé back out of her fair share.

"None of your business, Miss Nosy!" Chloé exclaimed, trying to get Marinette to drop her insisting/interrogating.

"Uh, actually, since I'm part of this group, it is," Marinette countered.

'If I can fight Akuma, I can stand up to you too, Chloe!' Marinette reasoned in her thoughts.

"It's okay, Marinette. You and I will do all the research, and the writing for our project, and then, Chloé can present it! That way it's equal," Sabrina assured in hopes to quell any conflict.

"That's not equal at all! Is that how you two work?!" Marinette questioned, realizing how Sabrina and Chloé usually 'worked together' with school work. It was the definition of a parasitic relationship.

"Yeah! We've been doing this ever since grade school, when I started doing Chloé's homework! And we've been BFF's ever since!" Sabrina explained cheerfully.

"You got a problem with that? Come on, Sabrina," Chloé demanded, turning to Sabrina to get her lackey to follow her. But Marinette wouldn't have any of it. She had to get Sabrina to see that this wasn't healthy.

"Sabrina, Chloé's totally taking advantage of you. You don't have to do what she says. That's not how a real best friend acts!" Marinette explained as she placed her hand on Sabrina's shoulder.

"Ugh, not only am I Sabrina's best friend, I'm her only friend, so she better do what I say, 'cause without me, she has nothing,"' Chloé threatened, grabbing the bespeckled girl possessivly.

"Well, I'd rather have no friends than be friends with you," Marinette remarked, not wanting anything to do with a toxic relationship like Sabrina and Chloé had.

"Whatever. I've got more important things to worry about. My hair is a hot mess and Jean Claude promised to work his magic. Later!" Chloé farewelled, departing in a huff.

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A few minutes later, in the college courtyard, Marinette had grabbed her bag, and was leaving the building. But that all changed when...

"Marinette!" Sabrina's voice called out, causing her to turn around to see Sabrina before she slammed into Marinette, hugging her tightly.

"I can't believe you stood up to Chloé like that! It was so amazing." Sabrina gushed as she backed up from the hug, not believing that someone stood up for her against Chloé.

'Literally, no one has done that for me,' Sabrina gushed in her head.

"Uhh, well...Yeah, what are friends for?" Marinette managed through her surprise.

"You are my friend, and I'm really super excited to hang out with you, and have a new best friend who actually helps with the project! We're going to have the absolute best time together! Then, we'll do the presentation, and tell Ms. Mendeleiev the truth about Chloé! Sound good?" Sabrina rambled, excited to have someone stand by her in a more healthy way.

'So, this is how I sound to others? I owe Alya an apology,' Marinette thought to herself.

"Sounds...great?" Marinette agreed, not sure how to take Sabrina's excitement so quickly.

"YAY! Then I'll see you in the library, bestie!" Sabrina cheered before she practically skipped to the library, leaving a smiling Marinette behind, happy to see Sabrina enjoy herself for once.

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Pretty soon, the two girls were in the school library. While other students working on the same project were searching the shelves for books to help in the research part of the assignment, Sabrina was finally putting her foot down.

"Ugh! What do you mean, you're not doing my assignment?!" Chloé complained.

"Marinette's right! I...I'm not your slave!" Sabrina exclaimed as she and Marinette sat at one of the library tables.

"Well, I never actually said that..." Marinette began. She didn't exactly say anything along those lines, but she had still meant something like that.

"Besides, considering the events of my dad being akumatized, I'd say you owe me for getting him fired," Sabrina snarked irately.

"Need I remind you that he got his job back and was promoted after that?" Chloé attempted drily.

"No thanks to you! At least Marinette is supporting my choice to stand up for myself," Sabrina remarked, not wanting to back down. She was on a roll and wanted to keep going, which made Marinette smile at the girl's determination.

"But Marinette didn't buy a super cute beret at Gabriel's, and I did! Perhaps I could lend it to you," Chloé offered, pulling out the newly bought beret from her bag, showing it off to the bespeckled girl, much to Marinette's disgust.

'Was she serious?' Marinette wondered.

"Excuse me, but are you trying to bribe her into staying your friend? With a hat?" Marinette questioned, appalled with Chloé's tactics of keeping Sabrina loyal to her.

"Uhhh... really, really adorable hat! That would look fantastic on me!" Sabrina gushed as she poked out from behind Marinette to get a better look at the hat, only to snap out of it and resist the offer.

"No, not this time. I'm not going to be bribed again by you. Either you treat me like a real friend, or we are through!'' the bespeckled girl threatened, stealing her resolve to not back down.

"Excuse me! Who do you think you are?!"Chloé shouted, just as a mysterious figure had seen the three girls from the second level of the library, and drew a beret on his drawing pad with his silver pencil.

"This is all your fault, Marinette! You are trying to steal my friend from me, with homework!" The heiress shouted at Marinette. But a second later, a shower of berets suddenly fell from above, and onto Chloé.

"Ahh! My hair!" Chloé exclaimed, raising her arms to cover her head in a form of protection, while the mysterious figure drew a hairdryer onto his drawing pad. A second later, the giant hair dryer appeared out of thin air in front of Chloé.

"Ahhh! Please! Please! Ahhhh!" The spoiled brat cried out as she ran away from the hairdryer, only for it to follow behind her.

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Meanwhile Adrien, who was one of the students looking for books in the library, saw Chloé in distress close by and decided that Chat Noir should step in, and ran to find a good hiding place. Once he did, he started the transformation sequence with the familiar phrase...

"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien shouted.

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Back with Chloé, she was still running from the giant hair dryer.

"No! Not the hair!" Chloé cried as she kept running from the hair dryer, while Marinette ran to hide behind a bookshelf, eager to transform.

"Time to transform!" Marinette said as she opened her purse to let Tikki out.

"Tikki, spots on!" the pigtailed girl exclaimed, turning into Ladybug

"No! Stop!" Chloé begged as the hair dryer finally cornered her against some shelves. Then Ladybug arrived, wrapped her yo-yo around the giant appliance and jumped onto the hairdryer.

"Run and hide!" Ladybug ordered, allowing Chloé to run as the hair dryer gained a mind of its own, trying to buck Ladybug off it like a rodeo bronco. While Ladybug tried to hold on and gain control of the hair dryer, Chat Noir had finally arrived.

"I got wind that you were being blown away by a hairy situation," Chat Noir punned from the top of one of the bookshelves, smirking at his 'clever' wordplay, while Ladybug passed right by him.

"Fewer puns, more action!" Ladybug managed to say as she wrangled the hair dryer in, needing Chat Noir to have his head in the game. Thankfully, the hero in black stepped in and tried to spear the hair dryer with his staff, only for the appliance to move, which made him miss and hit the floor instead.

Ladybug unwrapped her yo-yo from the hair dryer and throwed it, making it wrap around a support pole in the library, and used the momentum to swing the hair dryer to the floor, which allowed Chat Noir to destroy the hairdryer. The figure above them glared at them in annoyance for ruining his plan, which allowed the heroes to look up and see him from the upper level.

"Well, that guy looks pretty sketchy!" Chat Noir quipped, seeing the Evilustrator above them, right before he and Ladybug jumped up to the upper level, and went after the Evillustrator. But when they went after him, he drew a see-through wall in their path, causing them to knock into it and fall backward.

When they recovered and got back to their feet, they saw the artist akuma was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Ladybug wondered as she looked for the akuma.

"I don't know, but he sure has a way of illustrating his point." Chat Noir punned, trying to lighten the mood. Ladybug didn't seem to like it as she groaned out in annoyance.

'He really needs to either work on his timing... or find better material.' Ladybug thought to herself.

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(Time Skip)

After the two heroes left the library, they headed to the Le Grand Paris Hotel, hoping to get some answers from Chloé.

"Seems this Evilustrator is targeting you specifically, Chloé. Any idea why?" Chat Noir questioned Chloé, while Ladybug sat on one of the couches in the room, and the heiress was doodling on a piece of paper. Only when she was done did she decide to answer.

"No. Everyone adores me," Chloé declared.

"Yeah, because you're sooo adorable," Ladybug deadpanned, but Chloe's eyes lit up.

"Yessss! Ladybug just said I'm adorable! I totally need a picture of the two of us together!" Chloé squealed as she quickly latched on and snapped an unexpected selfie..

"Ugh! That was unpleasant," Ladybug groaned as she peeled Chloé's arm off of her, and walked away as the spoiled brat looked at the selfie she had taken.

All of this while Chat Noir only observed, not knowing how to help in this situation. He'd had plenty of times that this had happened to him as Adrien, so he didn't know why someone would object to a photo op.

"Well, I look great, of course, but your smile is all wonky. I'll take another!" Chloé decided before she once again, quickly wrapped her arm around Ladybug's neck and took another picture of them. Ladybug only slumped over and frowned, until the picture was taken.

"Sorry, I'm just a little camera shy," Ladybug sighed as she peeled away from Chloé again, and walked away. The heiress gushed about the photo, while Ladybug was angered by Chloé's behavior. Chat Noir took the opportunity to walk over to his annoyed partner.

"Looks like somebody's got a fan!" Chat Noir noticed, trying to cheer her up. But it didn't work.

"Yeah, great," Ladybug groaned, her voice conveying her annoyance and anger.

"So what's the deal? Why are you acting so weird? Come on, you gotta admit that having this girl worship you is pretty awesome," Chat Noir remarked, trying to get to the bottom of Ladybug's sour mood, while she saw the paper on Chloé's couch was Nathaniel's drawing.

Ladybug picked it up, only to see it was spoiled by Chloé, mainly the parts with Marinette in them since they had ugly glasses and a mustache added to it, further souring her mood.

"Ugh, seriously? I'm over this! Let's go!" Ladybug declared as her hands angrily balled up into fists.

"Are you kidding me? What if the Evillustrator attacks her again?" Chat Noir questioned, as he followed behind her, trying to get her to calm down.

"Fine! You stay! Later!" Ladybug exclaimed as she opened the balcony doors, and walked onto the terrace.

"What do you mean later?" Chat Noir asked as Ladybug jumped up onto the railing, looking out at the city in front of her before she turned to face him.

"I mean, you're the one who wants to protect her, but you don't need me. So, later!" Ladybug called out as she pulled out her yo-yo and swung away, leaving Chat Noir behind. Immediately after she left, Chloé ran to the balcony and waved goodbye to the retreating hero.

"Ahhh! Ladybug! Text me! OK!" Chloé exclaimed, all while Chat Noir could not believe his partner left him there with... Chloé.

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(Time Skip)

Soon enough, Ladybug reached the Dupain-Cheng bakery, landed on her balcony, opened the trapdoor of her room, and transformed into Marinette. After climbing down to the ground level of her room, she threw her purse on her chaise, forgetting Tikki was in there for a second.

"Ow!" Tikki cried out, before she popped out from the purse, and flew to her holder.

"Hey!" The kwami exclaimed, causing Marinette to realize her mistake.

"Sorry, Tikki... Chloé! She just...fires up this little red bug!" Marinette said, apologizing for taking out her anger on her kwami, before slipping back into her anger.

"Well, simmer down! A hot head isn't going to get you anywhere!" Tikki chided.

"It's hard to keep my cool. Especially in school," Marinette sighed, right before she remembered an important detail.

"Oh my gosh! Sabrina! The project!'' The designer cried out before she dived onto her chaise, grabbed her phone from her purse, and checked it, seeing a lot of missed calls from Sabrina.

"Uh-oh... Looks like you got yourself a new BFF!" Tikki teased, making Marinette drape herself onto her chaise in defeat.

'What am I going to do now?' Marinette thought to herself. But before she could ask advice from Tikki, the little kwami saw someone in the window, and hid in Marinette's purse. Marinette then looked up and saw that the one in the window was the Evillustrator, right before he erased the window pane, and entered her room.

"It's you! From the library! What are you doing here?" Marinette questioned, shocked that the villain was in her room as she sat back onto her chaise.

"I just wanted to see you," The Evilustrator began, much to Marinette's confusion.

Neither of them noticed the trapdoor that led to the living room had opened slightly before halting in its tracks. A pair of frightened eyes peeked out of the crack to see the interaction between the girl and supervillain.

"Okay... But why did you attack Chloé?" Marinette asked, trying to get more information out of the Evillustrator. Thankfully, he was all too eager to comply.

"Because Chloé is cruel and selfish!" The Evillustrator growled, much to Marinette's surprise to find she actually agreed with him. This was the first time that she ever agreed with an akumatized victim.

"Can't argue with that... Are you going to hurt me?" Marinette checked. (Hey, an akuma was in her bedroom, of course she would be worried.)

"You? You're Marinette! You're beautiful and sweet and... you're perfect and I could never hurt you!" The Evillustrator rambled, letting his crush on the girl show as he gushed about her.

"Wow...that's, uh... very, umm...flattering! Uh, thank you?" Marinette thanked, feeling flattered that the Evillustrator thought about her like that. Though she wished Adrien would feel that way about her.

"So, I just came by to ask you, uh, well, it's my birthday today, and, uh, would you wanna come to my party?" The Evillustrator stammered out bashfully.

"Oh, umm... Actually, it's not really the best night. See, I got a presentation to work on, and...I have to call my friend, so we can meet and..." Marinette trailed off as she stood up from her chaise, grabbed a blue folder that was sitting on her storage trunk, trying to explain why she couldn't make it. Not to mention that if she went, Ladybug wouldn't be able to save the day.

"Oh please, Marinette! It'll just be you and me." The Evillustrator begged. He then sketched something, and grabbed the resultant invitation that appeared to present it to Marinette on one knee.

"Oh my gosh! That's...me!" Marinette gushed, surprised to see herself so well drawn on the invitation before looking back at the hopeful Evillustrator.

"You like it?" The Evillustrator asked, his hopes laid bare to the girl standing in front of him, as she looked at the invitation... and saw an exclamation mark on the bottom left corner of the page, recognising the signature.

"I...love it! So much that I will absolutely be at your party," Marinette decided, forming a plan in her mind while Evillustrator's eyes lit up at her response.

"On one condition," the designer continued, hoping that he would comply with her simple request.

"Anything for you, Marinette," The Evillustrator responded, wanting no more than anything to make the girl he loved happy, and have the chance to go on a date with her.

"You can't hurt Chloé anymore. I simply cannot bear violence," Marinette said, laying it on thick considering she dealt with violent akuma's on the daily. But it's not like he knew, or needed to know that.

"For you and only you," The Evillustrator agreed as he got up from the floor, and turned to face the erased window.

"Meet you on the left bank, next to Notre-Dame, at sunset!" the artist themed villain announced as he drew a rocket pack on his drawing pad; which appeared on his back, and flew away through the damaged window, leaving the designer alone in her room.

"Ahh...." Marinette sighed as she sat back down on her chaise, not believing that she managed to talk to an akuma without it turning south. But her relief was soon short-lived.

"Marinette, are you okay!" Sabrina exclaimed, bursting out of the trapdoor leading downstairs, shocking Marinette's soul out of her body at the surprising entrance.

"AHH! Sabrina! You scared me," Marinette yelped, her heart pounding as she placed her hand on her chest to calm her pulse as Sabrina walked over to Marinette.

"Sorry...I was just seeing if you were home, and your mom told me that you'd be up in your room. Did you get my messages?" Sabrina asked as she sat down next to Marinette, putting a hand on her back to help calm her down.

"Yes! Yes I did! And I was totally gonna call you," Marinette answered, telling the truth since she had planned on calling Sabrina before the Evillustrator had shown up.

"You were? I knew you would! Eventually. And so I'm guessing you won't be able to work on the physics project tonight," Sabrina asked, causing Marinette's eyes to widen in surprise.

'Just how long had Sabrina been watching.' the designer wondered.

"Uh, how long have you been watching?" Marinette asked, hoping that Sabrina had missed Ladybug transforming back into Marinette.

"Not long. Probably just started when he came in, why?" Sabrina asked much to Marinette's relief. Thank goodness, her secret was still a secret.

"No reason. But yes, I'm afraid I can't work on the project tonight. I'm so sorry, Sabrina, but it looks like I'll be pulling yet another all-nighter," Marinette joked, apologizing for the unexpected change of plans that occurred.

"Oh, it's okay. I totally understand. This is an akuma we are talking about, how can you say no?" Sabrina assured, knowing that akuma's don't normally take the word 'no' very well, if their actions afterwards in the past were any indication. But her response made the designer feel slightly better about her not being able to work on the project at that exact moment.

"Thank you Sabrina. I promise that we can work on the project tomorrow in the library," Marinette promised as she faced Sabrina, offering a time and place to work on the project.

"Sounds good. Though, I noticed that you made that deal with Evilustrator to keep him from attacking Chloé. Why would you do that?" Sabrina asked, not understanding why Marinette... the girl Chloé tortured for years... made a deal like that.

"Well, despite her tormenting me, I don't want to see Chloé hurt. Yes, she has bullied me for years, but that doesn't mean I should treat her like the way she has treated me. That would make me no better than her," Marinette explained.

'Sure it's like a mule kicking the stomach to protect the spoiled brat that bullied me for so long, but I wouldn't have it any other way,' the designer thought to herself.

"She does have some good in her. She just doesn't like to show it in public," Sabrina admitted, trying to defend Chloé, despite trying to break away from her a while ago.

"What do you mean?" Marinette asked, not understanding why Sabrina was defending Chloé all of a sudden.

'Wasn't she just putting her foot down with her a few hours ago?' Marinette remembered.

"Chloé thinks she has a reputation to uphold, despite what me and the rest of her family say. She thinks she has to be ruthless like her mother, and strives to be like her to win her approval," the bespeckled girl revealed.

"But in private, she is actually a nice person... when she wants to be. That type of mentality does not go away fully with a snap of her fingers, no matter what she thinks," Sabrina admitted with a soft blush and fond smile, revealing a bit of Chloé's more personal qualities that she kept close to the vest, and tried to defend the heiress.

'Looks like there might be something Sabrina isn't being fully honest about,' Marinette thought to herself.

"If she is as nice as you say, then maybe you can get her to show it more often. She seems to trust you enough to show that side of her," the designer said, now realizing that Chloé and Sabrina's relationship was a little less toxic than it seemed.

"Maybe. But I don't think she'd listen to me after what happened in the library," Sabrina sighed, thinking back to the two girl's last interaction, and knew that Chloé wouldn't talk to her.

"Then make her listen. Why don't you go and talk to her now? I'm sure she'll be free," Marinette encouraged Sabrina, hoping she would go and talk to Chloé, who had more going on than she could ever think. Also so she could finally take down Evilustrator.

"You're right! I'm going to see her right now!!" Sabrina exclaimed, standing up from Marinette's chaise, and determined to act on her claim instead of only talking about them. But she remembered what she had witnessed earlier.

"But what about you? You have to go on a date with that akuma," The bespeckled girl said, remembering the 'tiny' detail.

'Oh who am I kidding, it's a huge deal,' Marinette thought to herself.

"I'll be fine. You go and talk to Chloé." Marinette reassured as she stood up from her chaise, and stretched to crack the stiffness in her back.

"You sure?" Sabrina asked as she walked to the trapdoor, thinking she should stay and help Marinette.

"I'm sure, you go on ahead. I'll be fine," Marinette assured as her arms went back to her sides, hoping that Sabrina would leave so she could start her plan. Thankfully, Sabrina listened, opened the trapdoor, and began to descend down the stairs. But before she went down fully, she looked back at Marinette, a certain look in her eyes.

"You won't tell anyone what I said, right?" Sabrina asked, knowing that if it got out, Chloé would immediately know she blabbed, and things between them would never recover. Thankfully, Marinette only smiled at her.

'Our little secret," Marinette said, making a 'zipper lip' gesture, and caused Sabrina to smile, and continue going back down the stairs, closing the trapdoor behind her. As soon as Sabrina left, Marinette slumped onto her chaise with a sigh, allowing Tikki to fly out of the girl's purse and float in front of her.

"What are you thinking, Marinette?" Tikki asked as Marinette pulled out the crumpled drawing she took from Chloé's room, and straightened it out to see it clearly.

"I'm thinking poor Nathaniel's got a crush on me. And his alter ego, the Evillustrator's gonna get crushed by Ladybug!" Marinette exclaimed, holding the drawing and invitation next to each other, and saw the identical exclamation mark signature.

Now that she knew that Nathaniel was the Evilustrator, it was pretty obvious, considering the boy's drawing of him as a superhero was his current akumatized form. Down to the last fine detail.

"Yes, but... how exactly is Ladybug going to crush this crush when...you're going on a date with as Marinette?" Tikki asked, bringing up the one flaw in Marinette's plan. Like she had brought up in her mind before, Marinette knew she couldn't be in two places at once, so she would need a little help.

"Maybe some cool cat needs to crash the party," Marinette remarked, thinking of the perfect solution to the problem... or more like a purr-fect solution.

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Back at the hotel, Chat Noir was regretting his choice to stay behind and keep Chloé safe. Because now she was whining about doing her part of the homework assignment on her own.

"Ohhh... Sabrina is so selfish! Making me do this project by myself?! Ugh, my brain hurts..." Chloé whined as she sat in her pink single seat, holding her head to stop the incoming 'headache' she had. But then she looked up at the hero as he stood guard. With a sly smile, the blonde thought of an idea to get out of doing her work, and walked over to the unsuspecting Chat Noir.

"Chat Noir, Are you any good at particle physics?" Chloé asked seemingly innocently, pulling his attention from guarding, and to the heiress as she asked her question.

"Oh, this cat's got particle physics in the bag," Chat Noir bragged, much to Chloé's joy.

"Ah! Great!" Chloé exclaimed before she pulled him with her by his arm toward the chair she was just occupying.

"Sit, kitty!" The heiress ordered as she gave him the project. After she had pawned off the work to Chat Noir, she walked away, grabbed a magazine and plomped down onto her pink lawn chair, intent on letting him do all the work.

"Now, make it sound purr-fect for my presentation. See what I did? I made a cat joke! Ah! I can be funny," Chloé laughed, amused by her own joke before going back to read her magazine, much to Chat Noir's annoyance.

"Yeah, hilarious." Chat Noir agreed sarcastically, now understanding why Ladybug was in such a sour mood before she left.

But thankfully, his staff rang, much to his joy to get out of working Chloé's project-when he had his own to finish, mind you-as he got up from the chair and walked to the balcony to answer it, already knowing who was on the other end.

"You can't just fly out of here and then decide to make cat calls, Ladybug!" Chat Noir greeted, feeling playful and yet berated her for leaving him alone with Chloé.

"I'm sorry, that wasn't cool. But you can leave Chloé. I need you to protect this girl instead," Ladybug reported just before Chat Noir's baton buzzed. He then pulled it from his ear and saw that Ladybug had sent him a picture of the girl he needed to watch over.

"Her name is Marinette. Really cute, isn't she?" The spotted heroine teased. Chat Noir was shocked to see his classmate's photo on his staff, while Chloé's attention was brought from her magazine to the conversation on her balcony.

"The Evillustrator is in love with her, and promises not to harm Chloé as long as Marinette comes to his birthday party. While he's distracted, I want you to take him down," Ladybug explained as Chloé walked up to Chat Noir, dinged his bell, catching his attention, and pointed to the folder in her hand, telling him to do the project. He merely gave her a tense smile before he turned her around-his smile turning into a frown-and shoved her away.

"What about you?" Chat Noir asked when Chloé was back inside.

"I'm going on... a very important secret mission. I'll catch up with you later. Can you handle this alone?" Ladybug questioned, hoping that she could trust him to handle this on his own.

"Ha! Please! It'll be a cinch!" Chat Noir reassured before he closed the baton, feeling confident in himself before he went over to the balcony entrance to say to Chloé...

"You're out of danger, uh, so I'll see ya! Later!" The black cat hero exclaimed, right before he ran off and jumped away. Chloé, who stood at the end of the pink couch-her arms crossed and a frown on her face-was left in shock.

"Later?! What about my presentation?! Ughhhh!" Chloé griped as she gestured to the folder on her couch, and growled in frustration.

'Great, just great!' Chloé thought to herself.

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Back over at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, Marinette had just hung up on Jim, put her phone in her back pocket, and took a deep breath to center herself. She then opened the door, which revealed Chat Noir on the other side. He seemed to have heard a little bit of Jim's protests as she hung up, if the confused face he made was any indication. But he didn't let that bother him as he slipped back into his normal attitude.

"Wow, I thought I'd have to save you from that clawful con-purr-station. Get it? Claw? Purr? But, I haven't even introduced myself. I am... Chat Noir," The cat themed superhero greeted as he gently grabbed Marinette's hand, went down to one knee, and kissed the top of her hand, much to Marinette's surprise.

"Uh, yeah... I know! You kinda save the day all the time and stuff...I'm Marinette! So... What are you doing here?" Marinette questioned as she pulled her hand from Chat Noir, making the boy stand up, a smile on his lips as she finished speaking.

"I'm your knight for tonight's ball, Princess. If anything goes wrong, I'll watch over you!" Chat Noir proclaimed, as he flexed his muscles, much to Marinette's annoyance as her smile fell and she started to mimic his talking with her hands. But when the boy turned around to face her again, she immediately stopped and hid her hands behind her back.

"That puts my mind at ease," Marinette said, trying to seem like she wasn't just mocking him a few seconds ago. Chat Noir then placed his hand on the door frame and leaned against it.

"But I'll need a little helping paw. You up for helping a superhero?" Chat Noir asked, trying to seem suave and dashing to make a good impression. But Marinette wasn't the type of girl to fall for it.

"But where is Ladybug? Aren't you a duo?" Marinette questioned as she turned around, smiling to herself. She already knew this behavior from her time as Ladybug, and was immune to it. But she already knew the answer to her question, and was interested to hear what he would say.

"She has other things to do tonight, so..." Chat Noir trailed off, all while Marinette mimicked him and made faces as her back was turned to him, stopping her joking when she heard his truthful answer.

'So far so good,' Marinette thought to herself.

"... you'll be my Ladybug," The feline superhero revealed, causing Marinette to drop her smile, and softly sigh in repulsion.

'Looks like I jumped the gun a bit when thinking he would be serious with this,' The designer thought to herself as she turned back around to face him, dropping the annoyance and adopting a more welcoming attitude.

"Me and Cat Noir? Fighting crime together? Amaazing! What do I do?" Marinette exclaimed, acting excited, even going as far as almost swooning before straightening up.

'All a part of the act,' the designer thought, while Chat Noir was eating it up like the cat that got the cream.

"You just need to keep him away from the pen, Princess. I'll take care of the rest," Chat Noir explained as he turned to leave, gave her a two finger salute and then jumped away. Once he had left, and made his way to the rooftops, Marinette used the opportunity to giggle to herself. That cat bought it.