"C'mon, LB. I've been done for twenty minutes."

"Oh shut up, Chat. You know my craft is a little more delicate than yours. Besides, I'd be done already if you weren't bothering me." She licked her lip and tied another knot around the seam, praying it would hold the way she wanted it to.

"Hey, just because you work with yarn doesn't mean that paint isn't delicate."

She clipped the last thread. "There. Now I'm done. Now we can go." She gathered the stray ball of yarn and flung it into her bag like a yoyo.

The two ducked into an alcove as a passerby threatened to reveal them. His black hoodie blended into the shadows, but she was always more nervous with her red and black spots. She pushed a finger over his lips, praying they wouldn't be discovered.

Sure, the whole thing was vandalism, but hers wasn't hard to remove since it was just yarn and only took a pair of scissors. She'd gotten into yarnbombing on her own, originally for a charity event, but she never seemed to lose the knack for it and started doing it at night, always leaving a little ladybug button on her work. It took a while for people to connect all the dots, but now they eagerly anticipated her latest yarnbomb.

Meeting Chat Noir had been an accident. He was in the middle of a graffiti painting when she'd wandered by the bench he had tagged, frustrated that he ruined her plans for bombing that exact bench. They eventually worked together and decided on leaving little clues on when and where they'd be next on their shared Tumblr account, which led them to where they were now.

Ladybug relaxed as the footsteps faded, and the two started to laugh.

"Too much excitement, my lady?"

"Maybe a little." She hugged him tightly. "Thanks for another great night."

"Girls usually say that to me after I've heard them scream my name."

"Probably because they're angry that you're bad at pool."

"Scratching on the eight means I have eight more lives." He kissed her head and toyed with her pigtails. "Hey, can I see your phone?"

"Sure, why?"

He easily unlocked it—the password was chat, after all—and dialed a number.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

He plucked his phone from his pocket and swiped to ignore the call. "There. Now you have my number." He grinned.

"And you have mine, jerk."

"Hey, it's easier than constantly checking online. Anyway, when will you have your next piece done?"

"Well, I don't have work for a couple of days, so next week sometime? Bring blues and purples. It's something yellow, and that'll make it pop."

"Where?"

"I was thinking near the Eiffel. I'll let you know more later."

"Alright. See you then."

"Au revoir, chaton."

Marinette woke up and yawned. Staying out so late with Chat had been a bad idea. Well, baddish. She didn't have work, so that was a plus, but Alya would insist that they go see the new artwork. Mari liked to, of course, but she was never as excited to see her own work. Sure, she liked to look at Chat's work for the first time in the light, but she hated returning to the scene of the crime. Alya, however, was not one to be dissuaded.

Alya dragged her out almost as soon as she got to Marinette's and pushed them both to the front of the small crowd so she could get good pictures. "I love that gradation. So well done in the yarn, and Chat Noir totally made it look awesome by doing that perfect background. I'm so posting these as soon as I get wifi."

"Why not right now?"

"I'm almost out of data."

"That's fair."

"Sh. I'm taking photos."

Marinette snickered and let her friend get super close and personal with the work. Not too many people minded; she was the outspoken owner of the Ladyblog, and most everybody knew she would be showing up at some point.

"Okay, I'm happy. Let's get out of here."

Marinette's phone buzzed softly, and she almost missed it. She turned the screen on and smiled when she saw the cat emoji she'd used as his contact name.

'Hey bug, how's the publicity?'

'pretty public. saw the ladyblog girl taking some pics, hope they turn out'

'How's the next piece coming along? I think I have something new to try with all the blues you want'

'I'll work on it tomorrow. don't wanna rush it'

'Ok. See you whenever, lady.'

'Tuesday. 3 blocks northeast of the Eiffel. 12:30.'

'Isn't that technically Wednesday?'

'just don't be late, chaton.'

"Marinette, quit texting and get ready to like my posts so it looks like I have activity."

"You're acting like you don't have an obnoxious amount of followers."

"Twelve thousand isn't that many. It's not even a full one percent of the population of Paris. Besides, the real Ladybug and Chat Noir have at least a hundred thousand."

"See? You have twelve percent of what they have, and you probably have some that they don't. Maybe they'll reblog something when you post this time. That should drive traffic. Either way, you're the most popular fan blog of theirs. Even if people aren't following, they've probably at least heard about the blog."

"True. It just feels like I could do better. Oh, praise whoever put a Starbucks here!" Alya ducked inside to order a coffee and quickly posted a few of the best pictures. "There. Now hurry up, like it!"

"I'm on it, gosh." Marinette pulled out her phone and liked and reblogged the post, adding a quick comment and a few tags. "Woah, someone liked it before I did."

"Who?"

Marinette held up a finger and quickly scrolled through the strange blog, searching for a selfie thanks to the vague title and description. "Holy crap. Adrien. It's Adrien Agreste. Adrien Agreste stalks the Ladyblog!"

Alya nearly choked on her coffee. "What?!"

"I'm serious, look! Tell me that's not a selfie on the Eiffel with Jagged Stone." Marinette turned her phone around so Alya could see it.

"I didn't know he was on Tumblr."

"I didn't, either. I'm following him now, though." She hit the button and scrolled back a few more posts before putting her phone down. "See? You don't need those artists to reblog it. You have Adrien freaking Agreste."

"Right? I'm checking my follower count. Oh la vache, it's gone up by fifteen already!"

"Pound it, girl."

Alya reciprocated the fist bump and put her phone down. "Okay, I'm not checking it for an hour. It's too much pressure."

"You'll be fine. I'll be right back. Gotta use the ladies room."

Once she was locked in the stall, Mari sent a quick text to Chat Noir. 'hey, adrien freaking agreste reblogged from the ladyblog. had no idea he was a fan!'

'I saw that! I reblogged it to our official blog, too'

'oh, that girl is gonna flip. first a supermodel and then paris' fav vandals…what a morning. but seriously, that supermodel likes our stuff! how cool is that?'

'Very cool!'

'gotta go, hanging out with a friend, see you next week'

He sent her a cat and a ladybug, and she excused herself from the stall.

Adrien Freaking Agreste laughed to himself when Ladybug sent him that he'd reblogged something from the Ladyblog. Of course he was a fan; he was the mysterious Chat Noir, the notorious graffiti artist who always signed his work with a cat stencil painted black.

His work had never been noticed until he'd teamed up with Ladybug that one night. He'd gotten bored, if he were being honest, and sneaking out of the house to paint the bench sounded like a great idea. When a small woman in a red hoodie started yelling at him, he almost ran, but then he saw the knitting supplies she'd brought—crocheting, excuse him. She finally relented and let him have the bench. Half of it, anyway. She bombed the other half, teaching him how it was supposed to look seamless. In return, he helped her stencil his cat and made a quick ladybug stencil for her to paint on his work. She even had a cat button to put beside the ladybug. As they admired their work, he suggested that they do it more often. Thus, the Tumblr account was born.

Adrien noticed that his follower count had gone up, which was pretty surprising. Sure, he posted selfies with celebrities, but he never expected to be an account of great notice. He clicked on the new blog and scrolled through, finding the girl was really into fashion and an avid fan of the Ladyblog. She had occasional reblogs from their blog, but not much. He scrolled a little further and found a selfie with the Ladyblog girl. He liked the photo and followed the girl; might as well make the day of two fans.

'Adrien, we're leaving for your next shoot in an hour.'

Adrien sighed and stretched. They'd be upset that he looked a little tired, but they could definitely get over it. Makeup could fix most anything.

"I need you to look at the most recent post on the Ladyblog asap."

"What? Alya, do you even know what time it is? Gimme a sec. The sun isn't even up." Marinette squinted and clicked the speakerphone button. "You're on speaker. Let me get on Tumblr. Holy…what the hell?" Her stomach dropped. Someone had vandalized her work with a huge purple butterfly spray painted on top. The same mark was left over Chat Noir's. "Who the hell?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty pissed. Like, I understand that it's already vandalism, but it's pretty well accepted that they're not trying to be malicious. This is malicious. Like, what a jerk. It's not even a good butterfly."

"No…" Marinette sent a quick text to Chat Noir while Alya kept talking. 'check the ladyblog. it's urgent.'

"I'm angry for them. I know they work hard on what they do, especially Ladybug. Knitting's not easy!"

"It's crocheting, Alya."

"You would know. Anyway, point is, he's not gonna get away with it."

"You can't guarantee that."

A text popped up from Chat: 'Tell me it's a joke'

'I wish, doesn't look like it'

'I feel sick'

'same'

"Marinette, are you even listening?"

"Sorry. I'm just tired. You woke me up stupid early."

"I know. I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep, and I checked my inbox and I found that. Now I really can't sleep."

Mari yawned. "It's fine. I'm gonna get off, though. I need more sleep before work."

"Wanna go for coffee after work?"

"Mm. Maybe. Later, Alya." She hung up before Alya could say anything else and popped her head up when her phone meowed—she'd set that as her text tone for Chat.

'What are we gonna do about the butterfly jerk?'

'don't know, chaton. probably just make more art. I'll plan something really cool after we finish the next piece. gotta get more sleep before work'

'I thought you didn't work today.'

Marinette rubbed her eyes and thought hard about it. He was right. 'in that case, I just want more sleep. we'll talk later'

Ladybug and Chat Noir met up at the Eiffel a few nights later, both full of nervous energy. Would Papillion—as everyone was calling him—strike their work again?

"What's the plan for tonight, bug?"

"Oh, it's a good one. I changed my original plan a little, but it still works with what I told you to bring."

"Care to share?"

"You'll see when we get there."

A/N: Hey all! I'm back with yet another au fic because I'm awful. I hope you like it! I'm posting it early because I'm just too excited. Updates will likely come on Wednesdays; This should be pretty regular for a while because I have the first ten chapters finished already. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think! Love you all! -wwot