Miraculous One Shot Compilation

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"Fire!" Roger Rencomprix yelled out to his officers. Many police firearms discharged their bullets simultaneously, directing them at the akuma.

"Stop! There's an innocent person in there under Hawkmoth's spell!" Ladybug pleaded with the cops.

"What do you expect us to do?" the police chief asked her. "You failed to stop him." It was true. Every time Ladybug had thrown her yo-yo at the enemy, it had flown true until it almost made contact, then dropped short of its mark.

"You didn't do any better," Chat pointed out. The spent bullets lay harmlessly in a circle, the center of which was where the akuma had been.

"If you don't stop him, Mayor Bourgeois will have me - er - you fired!" Roger bellowed in frustration.

Chat cracked his knuckles calmly, "We don't work for him anyway." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed his partner tensed to run. "Got a plan M'Lady?"

"Tools seem to have no effect on him, so I hope you're ready for hand-to-hand combat, Kitty!"

--

"My name is Bunyan! Like the American folk-tale, my strength is unparalleled - yet my job was replaced by a machine! You will come to appreciate my power once all your tools become useless!"

"Chat Noir, now!" A female voice called from the rooftops above the akuma's head, and the spotted superheroin dropped straight down onto its back.

"You think that in that suit you are so strong! What you don't realize is that your suit counts as a tool too, and without it you are nothing!"

A wave of pink sparkles washed over Ladybug, leaving in her place a white-shirted girl in a gray jacket and pink pants.

Looking down at herself, Marinette let her grip slack, and she fell from her perch on the akuma's back. "I - I..."

The akuma took advantage of the girl's startled stupor to take a swing at her.

"Ladybu- Marinette!" Chat Noir sprang to protect his partner's civilian form. Seeming to realize that his transformation would wear off as soon as he was in range, he chose to forgo his staff and block the punch with his bare hands. The anticipated wash of green sparkles took from him his black suit, but Adrien stood firm, grunting from the effort. "We can still win this together! See if you can find his akumatized item and get it away from him. I'll keep him busy so that you can get far enough away to transform again."

Marinette was awed by how Adrien seemed to take her identity in stride, protecting her the same way he - for it had been he behind the mask - often had protected Ladybug. She couldn't let him down! She took a deep breath and scanned the akuma's body, attempting to identify where the akuma might reside. Her eyes came to rest on a hammer holstered in a work belt; she snatched it up. "Isn't this a tool of sorts? Then you don't need it."

"That's a hammer, it's not some fancy machine. It still takes man power!"

"And my partner's staff didn't? You can't pick and choose. I'm taking this." With that, Marinette took off running.

The akuma tried to chase after her, but Adrien caught him by the suspenders. "I'm the only one who gets to chase after her. If you want to catch up with her, then you'll have to go through me."

When Marinette got far enough away, she called upon her kwami - "Tikki, spots on!"

Ladybug purified the akuma and watched from a distance as the akumatized victim reverted back to normal. "Where am I?"

Adrien relaxed his fighting stance and helped the victim to reorient himself. As he finished, he noticed his partner swing in and detransform beside him. Apparently she wanted to stand in the same form with her partner, and there was no added risk since everyone around had already seen her. The two shared a silent moment, searching for what to say, but ended up settling on their traditional fistbump. "Pound it!"

--

Marinette was confused. She was sure that the identity reveal would change her partner's behavior, but it didn't seem to... much. She'd thought at first that perhaps the knowledge that Ladybug was just Marinette would dissuade him from his crush on her, but Chat had never missed a beat in his continued flirting. The only difference was the introduction of - albeit far more subtle - flirtatious overtures from Adrien to her civilian form. He did seem to be interested in her after all, so why didn't he just ask her out?

She acknowledged that she had never succeeded in telling him her feelings, but shouldn't it be different for him? She was a nobody trying to confess to a minor celebrity. He was a minor celebrity trying to confess to a nobody!

Too far engrossed in her thoughts of him, she took a tumble and went face down on the sidewalk. The pounding of feet told her that Adrien was, once again, coming out of his way to help her. As she gratefully accepted his hand up, she noticed a strangled emotion showing in his eyes that might be labeled as 'hopeful uncertainty'. She couldn't fathom why he was thinking that way, but she knew she'd have to give him a confidence boost.

He pulled her into a hug. "You okay, Marinette?"

"Yes, thank you." She knew this was her moment, but what should she do? Think. He had fallen first for Ladybug, and Ladybug could be bold. She should surprise him and show him that she could be bold as Marinette too, when she felt like it. She leaned into his ear and whispered "My heart is yours if you want it."

She was satisfied by Adrien's sharp intake of breath. That had clearly affected him even better than she had hoped it would. He pushed her an arm's length away, hands still on her shoulders, looking incredulously at her.

After a moment, he spoke. "I'm sorry, Marinette, I can't accept your heart..."

'What? No! How could I have been so stupid as to think he actually liked me? Now I've just made an enormous fool of - he's still talking.'

He cracked a grin. "Unless you'll accept mine, everyone needs a heart to survive."

Marinette could only stare at him in disbelief. 'Did he just? Well... He is also Chat. What did I expect?'

Marinette's silence worried Adrien, and he began to regret his joke. "I'm sorry, I was trying to be funny, but it wasn't. Please give me your heart, I swear I'll take care of it."

Marinette scowled at him, then seemed to have a change of heart and broke out laughing. "You're right, your joke wasn't funny, but this whole situation kind of is. You have no idea what you're doing, and neither do I. Yes, I'll gladly take care of your heart too, but," she scowled again, this time playfully, "you had better take good care of mine as well."

"Of course I will, Bugaboo." He kissed her forehead.

"Uh-uh, like this." She reached up and planted a kiss on his lips.

The crowd they didn't know they had gathered, cheered.