A/N: I've gotten a couple questions whether this fic is going to continue. I've mentioned this in some of my ramble-y end notes, but just in case people aren't interested in reading those, I'll add it up here. Yes! I'm definitely going to be continuing this fic. It will at least be nine chapters. Probably longer, depending on how things play out. I've got the entire thing plotted out (I never start writing fics until I have the whole plot hammered out). It's just a question of whether the chapters will stay the same length, or if I'll decide to break them up a little bit. At most, I don't think this story will wind up being any longer than 15 chapters, and that's a really high estimate.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this gigantic chapter!

"Plagg, I just don't know what to do," Adrien said for the umpteenth time, staring hopelessly at his bedroom ceiling.

"Here's a novel idea: why don't you try to get some sleep." Adrien felt his pillow shift as Plagg rolled over with a huff.

"I've tried," Adrien said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "I can't. I just can't figure out what I should do."

"Nothing good is going to come from worrying like this," Plagg told him grumpily. "If anything, you're just going to be too worn out to properly deal with an akuma when another one finally rears its head."

"I know," Adrien said miserably. He tried to force his eyes closed, but his worried thoughts spun recklessly around and around his head, too chaotic to make sleep an option. "But what if she won't talk to me anymore? What if I completely blew it?"

"Listen," Plagg told him, his tone becoming more sympathetic. "You guys are a team, right? If you talk with her, I bet you guys can work it out. Now seriously—go to bed."

"Yeah… you're right," Adrien said with a sigh. "Night."

Not even thirty seconds later, he could hear the even breathing of Plagg as he slipped off to sleep. In comparison, Adrien had barely been able to sleep the past two nights. He doubted tonight would be any different.

More than worrying about whether he had messed up his chance, Adrien couldn't help but wonder if he had ever had a chance to begin with.

Because I already like someone else!

The words echoed painfully across his mind. Somehow, the idea had never crossed Adrien's mind. He had always thought Ladybug was just being coy and having fun flirting back at him. He had never considered that perhaps she was as preoccupied with someone else as he was with her.

Even more importantly, he was worried he had hurt her. His classmates had been upset with Ladybug for how she had said it. And he had to admit, it did hurt. But Marinette was right. He had put Ladybug in a bad situation. Was it any surprise that she had snapped at him? He was well aware of how uncomfortable she was with sharing her true identity, even with him. Although he felt a pang of disappointment at the thought, Adrien respected her decisions. And she had been close to transforming. She had been in a rush to end the conversation—of course she would snap at him.

With a sigh, Adrien carefully got out of bed and walked over to his windows. He leaned against the frame, looking out over the lamplit street below.

A part of him hoped that maybe, just maybe, the whole bit about liking someone else had just been an excuse to get him to drop the subject. It was a stupid thing to wish for, because he knew he was getting his hopes up. But there was a slim—miniscule—chance that Ladybug had been lying. He told himself he wasn't going to cling to that weak idea. He also knew that it was probably too late.

Because what if she just said it out of pressure? he asked himself. What if she didn't really mean it? I would still have a chance, in that case. True, I messed up. But I can apologize.

Apologize, and then try to figure out how to make her understand. Marinette had said his actions made his confession seem insincere. What if Ladybug had felt the same way? She was always rolling her eyes or giving him flat looks whenever he tried to flirt with her. He had always thought that she was just being aloof. But what if she actually didn't take him seriously because of how he acted?

Hell, if he wasn't smooth enough as Adrien and was too smooth as Chat Noir, then was there any hope at all? For the first time ever, Adrien felt himself doubting Chat Noir. It was so amazing to be able to put on a mask and act however he wanted. To be someone who was cool enough to openly flirt with a girl like Ladybug.

Then again, he could only imagine how unimpressed Ladybug would be if she met the real Chat Noir. Quiet, reserved, boring Adrien. Adrien, who only had one real friend, and whose own father didn't find him interesting enough to spend any real time with.

Who did he have to be to impress her?

There was a low rumble, and Adrien felt the window frame shake slightly under his arms. Concerned, he looked down at the street below, squinting at the shadows.

The night was quiet. Frowning, Adrien, looked around his room. Had the sound come from the house? What would make the wall shake like that?

Suddenly there was another rumble, a little louder this time, and he could hear the windows rattle gently in their frames.

Adrien quickly opened the window in front of him, looking down into the street. Everything seemed still… then he caught a glimpse of something moving above the rooftops. The next moment it was gone, though another rumble shook the wall.

"Hey, Plagg," Adrien whispered quietly, training his eyes on the rooftops. When Plagg continued to snore, he added a bit louder, "Plagg!"

"Huh? Wha? What's wrong?" Plagg asked sleepily from the pillow.

"I think there's something—" Adrien was cut off by yet another rumble. Grimacing, he turned to Plagg. "Something out there," he finished quietly.

Plagg quickly zipped over to the windows, looking out at the dark night below. "What's going on?" he asked, all traces of grogginess gone in the face of trouble.

"I dunno," Adrien told him, eyes still trained on the rooftops. "I thought I saw something above the houses, but I'm not sure. Wait, there!"

A shadowy figure had risen above a nearby roof, though in the shadows Adrien couldn't make out any of the details. "Plagg, I think it's time to transform," he said, and Plagg nodded in agreement.

"Transformation: Chat Noir!" Adrien said. Plagg was sucked into his Miraculous and the transformation took place. With the suit came the familiar thrill of being Chat Noir. With his mask, he could be anything he wanted to be—someone who mattered in the big city of Paris.

Adrien took a breath to steady himself, then opened one of his larger windows all the way, slipping out his regular escape route. From there it was easy work to climb up the decorative wall of his father's mansion to the roof. As he went, he kept an eye on the dark shadow. It was to the East, probably a few blocks over, and was slowly moving forward as the rumbles continued.

Adrien quickly judged the best route across the rooftops. Although there was another house directly between him and the mysterious shadow, he knew a little further on there was an open square that would make it a little more difficult. Better, instead, to go a little ways northeast and try to cut the shadow off from ahead.

Mind made up, he took a running start and leapt into the night, relishing the cool whip of air against his exposed cheeks. As much as he loved protecting the city during the day, when the people of Paris could watch, Adrien had always felt a strong affinity for working in the night. He was the black cat, after all, able to blend into the shadowed corners of the City of Lights. Silently slipping from roof to roof always gave him a thrill of excitement.

After crossing several buildings, Adrien stopped again in the shadow of a chimney to survey the situation. The dark shadow was only one block over now, still moving forward. From closer up, Adrien could tell that it was huge—the figure stuck up above the rooftops like a thick column, moving at a surprisingly slow pace.

There was little doubt in Adrien's mind that this was the work of an akuma. What would be the best way to approach?

Suddenly he heard a familiar whirring of a zipline, and looked around just in time to see a much smaller, lithe figure come careening down the street towards the shadow.

"Ladybug," he said quietly. Adrien took off across the remaining buildings between him and the mysterious shadow.

"You need to stop!" he heard Ladybug call out to the figure. Worried, Adrien ran faster. Just one last, sloped roof and he should be right in front of the thing. He crested the peak, then stopped cold.

Standing in the street below was a dinosaur. Not a skeleton, like the exhibits at the museum, nor a replica like Adrien had once seen erected at the zoo. This was a living, breathing, moving dinosaur. And it was enormous.

The shadowy column Adrien had been following was simply the creature's neck and head, stretching above even the rooftops. The neck sloped down to a massive body, which was roughly the size of a small car. The dinosaur took a slow step forward, its gigantic legs rattling the street below.

On its back was what looked be a young boy, decked out in paleontologist's gear.

"Did you hear me, kid?" Ladybug called out, zipping around front of the massive beast with her yoyo. "You need to stop!"

"I'd like to see you try to stop The Dinomite!" the kid yelled back, urging the dinosaur forward.

Deciding it was high time for him to jump into the fray, Adrien extended his baton to the length of a pole and vaulted across the street, landing next to Ladybug.

"Hey," he said, glancing at her hesitantly.

"Hey," she replied stonily, not even bothering to glance at him.

Yeah, I probably deserve that, Adrien thought miserably, heart sinking.

"What happened?" he asked, trying not to sound to hurt.

"I have no idea," Ladybug replied, still pointedly looking at the dinosaur and not at Adrien. "I've been following him for a few blocks. He just seems to be heading toward the park, but I can't figure out why. His ride, however, is causing quite a bit of damage."

Adrien finally glanced down at the street below, just now noticing the large, spiderweb cracks from where the dinosaur had stepped.

"Do you know where the akuma is?" he asked, looking back toward gigantic creature.

"No, I couldn't get close enough to see in the dark," Ladybug said. She glanced at him then finally, her face tightening into a stern frown, before looking away again.

She was pissed. Before Adrien could begin to apologize, Ladybug straightened up and started across the rooftop. "Come on. He may be moving slow, but we need to stop him before he wrecks the whole city."

Snapping his mouth closed, Adrien quickly followed behind as Ladybug took off at a run. "So what's the plan?" he asked, glancing back to the kid on the dinosaur's back.

"Find the akuma, get rid of it," Ladybug replied coldly. Then she flung her yoyo and swung across the street, jumping much closer to the boy than Adrien could manage with just his baton.

Deflating, Adrien did his best to keep up, sprinting across the rooftops so he was opposite her, ready as backup should she need him.

"Why don't you stop for a moment so we can talk?" Ladybug was telling the kid, loudly so he could hear her. "Maybe I can help."

"No!" the boy shouted stubbornly. "Now leave me alone!"

"But your brontosaurus is ruining the street!" Ladybug called back.

"It's not a brontosaurus!" the boy screamed suddenly. Adrien tensed, taken off guard by the child's angry outburst. "It's a brachiosaurus! Get it right!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Ladybug apologized quickly. "Brachiosaurus, then. Maybe we can—"

"NO!" the boy screamed. "Get away from me!"

"Listen, kid, you're not leaving me much choice here," Ladybug warned him, slinging her yoyo. "If you can't cooperate, we're gonna have to use force."

Suddenly the kid held up something—in the dim streetlights Adrien couldn't make out what it was. "Transform: Diplodicus!" the kid shouted.

Adrien watched in horror as the brachiosaurus shifted, it's necking shortening somewhat while its tail elongated into a twirling, whip-like thing. As Ladybug swung toward the boy on its back, the dinosaur—a diplodicus, apparently—snapped its tail at her, knocking her from midair.

"Ladybug!" Adrien yelled, his heart leaping into his throat. Not giving himself time to think about it, he launched himself into a dive across the street. He stretched out his arms as he fell towards her, grabbing her as she careened toward the pavement. Then, twisting them into a better angle, he extended his pole to lessen the impact of their landing.

"Thanks," Ladybug told him, quickly standing up. She still wasn't looking at him, and Adrien restrained himself from saying something about it. They had bigger problems to worry about for now.

"He can make it transform into any dinosaur?" Adrien asked.

"Looks like it," Ladybug said, frown growing.

"So," Adrien said slowly, glancing toward her. "Any ideas?"

He surveyed the street around them. Luckily, the bulky diplodicus was ambling along at a relatively slow pace. Still, how could you stop something that massive?

For a moment Ladybug was silent, and Adrien was afraid she was going to tell him to just leave it to her. She hesitated, then said gruffly, "I'm going to trip it. You grab the akuma."

"Wait, what?" Adrien asked, taken off guard. How was she going to manage that? But Ladybug had already taken off, running ahead and leaving him to follow.

Adrien forced himself into motion, trying his best to follow her lead. If she wanted him to grab the akuma, then he needed to be level with the kid on the diplodicus' back. He quickly scaled a nearby bakery back to the rooftops, shadowing the creature as it continued down the street. Wanting to be ready, Adrien put himself in position a little ahead of the dinosaur, so that by the time it reached him he could leap out onto it.

Suddenly, the dinosaur swayed, it's neck continuing forward while it's body stayed behind. Horrified, Adrien realized that Ladybug had already sprung her trap, tangling up the creature's legs with her yoyo strung between two lamp posts. Cursing silently to himself, Adrien quickly backtracked, leaping across his current building to a place that was closer to the boy.

He could see Ladybug below, struggling with her hold on the yoyo to keep the beast in place. Adrien skidded to a stop across the shingles, readying himself to make sure he'd have a clear shot. Then he pounced toward the thing's back.

Mid-leap, the creature suddenly gave a long, deep bray and reared up on its hind legs, completely blocking Adrien from making a clear landing. Panicking, he slammed into the creature's side, knocking the wind from him as he fell toward the ground. Adrien managed to twist as he tumbled, landing into a roll. Ignoring his bruised side, he quickly jumped out of the way as the diplodicus came down heavily on its front legs, the impact splintering the pavement into pieces.

"I said LEAVE ME ALONE!" the boy screamed from the creature's back. Adrien looked up just in time to see the boy lift up his hand again, clutching a dinosaur toy. "Transform: Quetzalcoatlus!"

The diplodicus quickly shrank, everything pulling in towards its center. Then two wings stretched outwards, each easily twenty feet long. Its body, though far smaller than its wings, was big enough to support the boy on its back.

"You'll never catch me!" the boy yelled at them, the pterosaur soaring off across the sky.

Adrien watched the massive nightmare disappear into the dark with a bad feeling.

"Where were you?" Ladybug asked him angrily, re-slinging her yoyo. "I had him caught!"

"It would have been nice to know when you were going to trip him," Adrien shot back, trying to keep his irritation from his voice. "I was in the wrong position."

Ladybug faltered for a moment, her shielded expression falling for the first time tonight into a guilty frown. But she quickly shook her head, determination firming her expression again. "Come on," she said quietly. "We gotta go find him."

She was off again before Adrien could reply, slinging herself up onto the rooftops. Frustrated, Adrien picked a good building and hurried his way up the wall to the roof.

They couldn't work like this—they were supposed to be a team. But as frustrated as he was at her icy attitude, Adrien also knew that he had caused it. Chat Noir was supposed to solve problems, not create them. He needed to apologize and get this sorted out. Taking a deep breath, he made up his mind and hurried after Ladybug.

"Do you know where he's going?" he asked as he caught up.

"I think the park," Ladybug told him, not bothering to look back.

"Right," Adrien said, fumbling for a way to ease into the subject. "Look, we need to talk."

"You mean about how you cornered me in front of thousands of viewers?" she asked icily. "Honestly, I've been doing my best to forget about it." Then she leapt forward with a burst of speed, launching herself to the next roof. She landed with a level of grace that was criminal.

Adrien watched her go, hopelessness momentarily overwhelming him. Taking a deep breath, he kicked himself into motion and followed her, streaking across the sky. "Right," he said, landing with a thump beside her. "About that. I just…"

Suddenly she turned on him, cutting him short with a glare and a flash of blue eyes. "Listen, Chat. It seems like you really need to work on your timing, because right now isn't really the best."

She started forward again, and he quickly followed, careful of his footing on the shingles.

"At least tell me if you were being honest," he said, struggling to keep up with her quickened pace.

"Honest?" she asked, shooting him a scathing look. "About the urgency of my miraculous about to wear off? I thought that was fairly evident."

"No," he said quickly, guilt rippling through him. "I know that. I mean, about what you said. That you like someone."

Ladybug's cheeks tinged a light shade of pink beneath her dazzling blue eyes, visible even in the ambient glow of the city lights. It hit Adrien like a punch in the gut, and he found himself struggling to breath for a moment.

"Well, yes," she said, though her blush had been confirmation enough. Then, her expression growing guarded once more, she added more gruffly, "Now come on, I want to find him before he causes any more damage."

Somehow Adrien's legs managed to propel him forward, his mind reeling. She hadn't just been trying to shut him up after all.

Stupid, he told himself. You knew this would happen—why did you even get your hopes up? He should have realized. Ladybug had never been interested in him—he had never had a chance.

He should have known, and yet the pain was no less suffocating, clogging at his throat as he trailed after her.

Who did she like? What kind of guy could win Ladybug's attention? Sourly, Adrien realized that he had zero chance of ever finding out. She didn't even want him to know how she truly was. There were more than two million people in Paris—she could be anyone. He could pass her in the street tomorrow and be none the wiser.

And as much as it hurt, Adrien knew that he couldn't press it. He wanted to know more about her, but he would respect her wishes. If she wanted to keep work separate from her real life, then so be it. Even as his heart was breaking, Adrien couldn't find it in himself to hold it against her. It wasn't Ladybug's fault he had fallen so hard for her. If anything, she had stymied him at every turn. It just wasn't fair how lovely she could be, even when turning him down.

It didn't stop him from wanting the best for her. If that was truly how she felt, then shouldn't he respect her wishes? She had made her feelings apparent. Maybe now it was time for him to back off a bit. He could be happy with just teammates, couldn't he? He tried to assure himself, though even in his head it sounded like a weak attempt.

"Look," Ladybug said suddenly, stopping short. Adrien came up beside her, trying to keep his breathing even.

The park spread out before them, sporadically lit by lights along the winding walkway. In the middle of the park, a dark shadow descended, blending into the trees.

"How do we corner it?" Adrien asked, avoiding looking over at her.

"If we can find some way of keeping it from moving, one of us should be able to hold it down long enough for the other to grab the toy," she replied.

"Okay," he said quietly. "But how? That thing can shapeshift—even if we get it pinned, it could just transform into something else."

"I'm still working on that part…" Ladybug quipped back, sounding a little on edge. "For now, let's just get closer and see what we're working with."

They slid down the side of the building, then hurried across the street toward the park. Adrien stayed close to Ladybug, letting her lead the way.

Unlike the rest of the city, the park was slightly unnerving in the night. The lighting here was far more sparse, and the light breeze constantly shifted through the trees, creating an unending rustling that left him feeling jumpy. Adrien kept his mouth shut, not wanting to alert the kid and his dangerous pet to their whereabouts.

They swiftly made their way deeper into the park, following the winding path. As they neared the center, there was a loud rustle in the bushes. On full alert, Adrien carefully slid his baton into his hand, getting ready for whatever was behind there.

There was another loud rustle, and he glanced uneasily at Ladybug, who had frozen in her spot. They waited silently, eyes trained on the brush.

When nothing else happened, Ladybug nodded toward the bushes, slowly creeping forward. Adrien followed, his grip tightening on his baton.

As quietly as she could, Ladybug pressed one of the bush's long branches aside, glancing into the dark on the other side. Adrien looked inside, the rustling growing louder. Even with the nearby lamp, it was virtually dark inside the bush, making it hard to see anything.

Suddenly a huge snout pushed forward, snapping twigs as it moved. With a startled yelp, Adrien and Ladybug both leapt backward, sharing an uneasy glance. The rustling grew louder, now accompanied with a crunching noise.

Ladybug furtively waved for Adrien to follow her, then quickly stole around to the side of the hedge. Adrien poked his head around the side, jaw dropping as he saw a gigantic triceratops munching on the bushes. The boy was sitting on its back and petting it adoringly.

"If I wrangle its front legs, can you jump on its back?" Ladybug asked quietly, the beast's crunching covering the sound.

Adrien nodded in silent reply, widening his stance. Ladybug threw her yoyo, tangling the front legs. With a tug, she brought it down to its front knees.

Adrien burst forward, using his pole to launch himself up onto its back. The boy looked around in horror as he landed beside him. Clutching his toy, he shouted, "Transform: Tyrannosaurus!"

Adrien wobbled as the dinosaur suddenly shifted underneath him, its back becoming sloped. Without anything to grab onto, he tumbled to the ground yet again, watching as a gigantic T-rex reared up before him.

"Chat, out of there now!" Ladybug screamed at him.

Snapping himself out of his shock, Adrien scrambled out of the way. The monster behind him let out a terrible roar, shaking the ground beneath his feet.

"Run!" he shouted at Ladybug, sprinting towards her. She took off, and Adrien followed close behind.

"What do we do now!?" she yelled, yanking him sharply to the left. The dinosaur went thundering past them, closely missing Adrien.

"I think now would be a good time for a little luck!" Adrien yelled back nervously. "Like, right now!"

"Right!" Ladybug said, extending her yoyo. "Lucky Charm!"

There was a flash of red hearts, and a giant pair of branch cutters fell into her hand.

"What on earth are those for!?" Adrien asked, dragging her into a sharp turn as the T-Rex thundered toward them again.

"I'm trying! Just gimme a second!" she yelled back at him. He could see her looking around, assessing the situation.

Suddenly, her eyes widened. "I got it! Can you lure the T-rex into the pond?"

"Yes," Adrien said firmly. "Do what you need to do."

"Make sure you get out of the water, okay?" she asked, and he nodded.

Taking a deep breath, Adrien split away from Ladybug and turned toward the T-rex.

"Yo, brontosaurus!" he called out, waving his arms frantically.

"IT'S NOT A BRONTOSAURUS," the boy yelled at him, careening toward him as Ladybug slipped away. Silently praying that Ladybug knew what she was doing, Adrien took off at a run for the pond. The earth shook as the T-rex followed.

Off to the side he could see Ladybug swinging towards a nearby construction truck, which had been left overnight near the edge of the pond. The dump truck was piled high with dirt. The hatch was locked, though Ladybug was about to make quick work of that.

Adrien quickly splashed into the water, trying not to let the unnerving sound of the T-rex crashing behind him throw him off guard.

"Ready?" Ladybug called to him.

"Yes, do it!"

With a loud snap she cut through the lock, which fell to the ground. She slammed her hand onto the "Open" button on the control panel at the back of the truck, and the hatch slowly lifted open, a cascade of dirt spilling into the pond.

Adrien glanced back to the T-Rex, which was quickly approaching the water's edge. He waited anxiously in the middle of the pond, watching as the dirt continued to pour in.

"Chat, get out!" Ladybug yelled at him.

Adrien waited another moment, just to be sure that the T-Rex was heading for the water. Then he quickly turned on his tail and raced toward the other end of the pond. Already the water was murky and thickening into mud, slowing his progress.

There was a slick squish as the T-rex ran into the pond, racing towards him.

"Chat!" Ladybug yelled again, fear straining her voice. Adrien continued toward the edge, not allowing himself to consider what would happen if they had somehow miscalculated. As he finally reached the shore, Ladybug came running for him, lending him a hand.

Nervously he turned back to look at the water. It had been transformed into a giant mud pit, the T-rex struggling in the middle.

"Hurry," Adrien told her. "Grab it while he's distracted."

Ladybug wound up, then threw her yoyo toward the boy. It wrapped several times around the toy in his hand, and she quickly yanked it away.

"HEY!" the boy yelled, unable to stop as Ladybug caught the toy and quickly ripped the miniature dinosaur's head off. She dropped both pieces to the ground, a black butterfly working its way free. She caught the butterfly, purifying it with her yoyo and letting it go. Then, looking relieved, she threw the branch cutters into the air. "Healing Light!"

Bright red hearts flooded the park, cleaning up the water, restoring the dump truck, and making the T-rex disappear. A cloud of hearts huddled around the boy, bringing him safely to the shore. They dispersed, revealing a boy wearing dinosaur pajamas.

"What happened?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

Suddenly sirens blared, and two police cars rolled down the wide walkway. They parked nearby, and a police officer stepped out of one.

"What's going on here?" he asked, looking between Ladybug, Adrien, and the kid. "I've got reports of giant dinosaurs wandering through the park?"

"Another akuma attack," Ladybug told him, helping the kid to his feet and handing him his repaired toy. "This poor boy was under its control. Can you get him safely back home?"

"Yes," the officer said, helping the kid toward the cruiser. "You sure you got everything taken care of?"

"Yes, thanks," Ladybug told him.

The police officer helped the kid into the car, then nodded to the two of them before heading off.

"Right, well, I'm heading to bed," Ladybug said, turning away.

"Wait!" Adrien said quickly, grabbing her hand. Ladybug shot him an impatient look, and his heart clenched painfully in his chest.

"I know you need to get going, I promise I won't hold you long," he assured her, struggling to find the right words. "I just… want to apologize. I shouldn't have put you on the spot the other day. I didn't mean to embarrass you like that. I'm sorry."

He took a deep breath, then made up his mind. "I really think you're amazing," he told her quickly. "Whoever this guy is who you like, you should tell him. You deserve to be happy."

"Oh," Ladybug said quietly, looking completely taken off guard. "... Thanks."

"Well, I better head out," he said quickly, trying to hide his disappointment. "See you later."

Not waiting for her to say anything, he turned on his heel and took off across the park.

A/N: Full Disclosure: my son actually is the one who came up with the idea for this akuma. He has a dinosaur OBSESSION, and naturally I have had to learn about all of the dinosaurs right along with him. (I know WAY more about dinosaurs than I ever wanted to…) I got my son into Miraculous Ladybug this past week, and he loves it. I've been reading the subtitles out loud for him for now until Nick finally starts airing it in December. When we were driving home one day he just started telling me this story about a dinosaur-related akuma, and I took the idea and ran with it for this story. (Also, if you're curious, I'm a rather young mom. Not gonna give specific ages, but he's not QUITE old enough to read subtitles yet, and I'm only in my mid-twenties. You can do the math yourself if you want ;D)

In case any of you are dinosaur purists, like my son, I should clarify: yes, I know that pterosaurs aren't technically dinosaurs. Dinomite's power is the ability to transform his animal companion into any prehistoric creature he knows of. His preference is just for the reptilian ones.

If you're wondering why the kid didn't specifically try to steal their miraculous, it's basically because I couldn't think of a good way to do it xD Let's just pretend he was hoping to have his T-Rex pin them down so he could take them away? I'M MORE CONCERNED ABOUT THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, I'M SORRY.

This chapter turned out HUGE. Just fair warning, I'm not planning on writing any more fight scenes after this. I mean, it's not like I'm cutting scenes I originally planned to include or anything. But before I started this chapter I was thinking about working in some more action scenes to make things more interesting. And, just, no. As much fun as this was to write, 5,000 words is quite a bit longer than I intend the majority of these chapters to be. (Aside from maybe the last chapter or two, which will likely be pretty big.)

I've also been hearing a couple songs on the radio that remind me of LadyNoir recently, and I decided to put together an 8tracks playlist for writing inspiration. A lot of it is music that I was a HUGE fan of growing up in the late 90s/early 00s, but that I haven't listened to as much since then (a lot of poppy/angsty love songs, including tons of classic early 00s crush songs—I'm talking Jump5, B*Witched, LMNT xD OLDIES BUT GOODIES MAYBE? hahaha). When I was going through my library trying to pick out songs that I felt fit the dynamic between Marinette and Adrien, a bunch of these adorable teeny-pop songs just seemed to fit the bill. Also, a few songs by Justin Bieber, One Direction, and Jonas Brothers. Which, if you know me, is kind of surprising. I don't have anything against their music, but I've never been a huge fan. But there are a handful of songs that it's just like, "THIS REMINDS ME OF LADYNOIR, IT'S GOING ON THE PLAYLIST." Hahaha. For whatever reason, Bieber's new song "What Do You Mean" has really stuck with me while I've been working on this story, and I feel like it fits Adrien's insecurities about the whole thing in this chapter. Anyway, there's also a mix of other songs on the playlist that tend to be more up my alley these days, both in the realm of pop and alternative. Not sure if anyone would be interested in checking it out, but it kind of sums up my general emotions when it comes to this ship. Which is to say, LadyNoir melts me into a gigantic, sticky pile of sap. If you go on 8tracks, the playlist is named "It's Complicated - LadyNoir"

Also, WOW. I can't believe I forgot to include this in earlier chapters: Feel free to come hang with me on Tumblr! I'm on sporadically (busy life T_T), but I am ALWAYS up to chat about Miraculous Ladybug! And a million other shows too (Steven Universe and Star vs. the Forces of Evil, as well as Free! and other anime). Although, be warned, my blog is definitely NSFW. ANYWAY, come join me at the same name (Konekat).

Thanks as always for reading and for all of the wonderful comments!