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How on earth did this happen? Marinette wondered for a thousandth time that day. She was supposed to be the lucky one! Things were supposed to be going smoothly! Well, they weren’t. And if she was being honest with herself, her luck was probably reserved to her masked alter ego anyway, not stretching to her boring civilian self as well. Considering how many times had she accidentally stolen someone’s phone, tried to confess to Adrien, or to ask him out, and failed miserably, that was probably the case. Still, she’d take Marinette’s bad luck every day, if it meant she’d be able to pull another absolutely incredible and impossible stunt as the spotted heroine of Paris and save that “every day”.Right now however, she was out of ideas. She was babysitting Manon again, when the Sculptor attacked at the park next to the bakery. Before Marinette even managed to think about finding a replacement, her parents were already turned into classical marble statues, complete with togas and laurel wreaths. Convincing Alya that she should abandon her live streaming of the attack to take care of the little girl would be like convincing the sun to cool off.So what did Ladybug do? The first reasonable thing that came to her mind - she pretended Marinette had been turned to stone just like her parents and with a very excited Manon in tow she left the bakery to find someone who would help.Even in her wildest dream she wouldn’t have suspected that the first person she’d be able to find would be… Adrien Agreste. Yet here she was, rubbing her forehead after running into him at full speed and trying to suppress the treacherous blush and stutter.‘Ladybug, hi!’ her crush winced rubbing an impressive bump on his forehead. An admirable display of pink colored his cheeks, probably due to his earlier run.‘Hi, A-adrien, isn’t it?’ she helped him up.‘You remember me?’ he stared at her, lot letting go of her hand. ‘How could I n-’ she begun, only to realize she was Ladybug, not his classmate right now. ‘I mean your face is- ‘ she reluctantly separated her fingers from his and gestured to the nearest billboard with the fragrance ad.‘This is Adrien the Fragrance?’ a tiny voice supplied from behind her. ‘I get to meet Ladybug and Adrien again? Woohoo!’The boy started in surprise as Manon jumped from behind her back and started dancing excitedly around the couple.‘La-drien! La-drien! Ladybug and A-drien!’ she sing-sung as she circled them, flailing her hands.‘And isn’t this Manon?’ her companion asked, eyeing the little girl. Right, he had met her when Marinette had been babysitting before.‘My-yy... new friend,’ the heroine introduced, reminding herself that Adrien wasn’t and shouldn’t be aware of any connections between Ladybug and the Mme Chamack’s daughter. ‘Her babysitter was turned into a statue and I couldn’t leave her alone.’‘Her babysitter?’ Adrien’s eyes widened in panic, his gaze shifting in the bakery’s direction in an instant. ‘Isn’t her babysitter Marinette?’ZAP!A flock of pigeons peacefully pecking at some bread crumbs next to them suddenly turned into stone. Ladybug didn’t waste another second. She caught Manon and Adrien and pulled them inside the nearest shop and to the other side. There she ducked into a staircase, and ran onto the first floor. She peeked from the window and sighed in relief, as the Sculptor seemed to wander away from the building.‘I need to get his akuma,’ she turned to her companions. ‘Chat is taking awfully long to arrive. I can’t wait any longer or the Sculptor is gonna turn this arrondissement into a marble exhibition.’‘Artists these days have no granitute,’ Adrien supplied with a lopsided grin.‘Hah,’ Ladybug snorted. ‘Good one,’ she nodded appreciatively, looking to the street again. She had to consider her options. This wouldn’t be the first akuma Chat Noir missed, nor would it be the first she’d defeat by herself. But she’d rather it wouldn’t also be the first akuma that she’d fight with Manon at her side. She eyed Adrien up and down. The boy wandered away from them and was now inspecting their surroundings, including the corridor.‘Hey, Adrien,’ she called reluctantly, ‘could you maybe…’At the sound of her voice he snapped to attention and turned to her with an expression of such innocence on his angelic face, that Marinette’s heart melted a bit under her Ladybug’s armor. ‘Maybe what?’ he asked carefully.‘I need help, but maybe this is too much to-,’ she wasn’t sure, where the hesitance came from. Adrien was kind and brave, and he would do what she’d ask of him. Or maybe that was the problem? He always did, she thought and shuddered at the recollection of the latest case in point, when he threw himself off Tour Montparnasse after Ladybug’s request. The sight of him soaring towards the concrete pavement featured prominently in her nightmares ever since.‘Maybugs don’t fly in June,’ Adrien’s determined voice cut through the haze of the awful memory. ‘What do you need?’‘Can you help me with Manon?’‘Manon?’ the boy echoed, looking at the girl at the window, a little ball of enthusiasm, peeking at the statues and inspecting the skies for any signs of the other half of Paris super duo. ‘I, er… sure,’ he offered. ‘How can I help?’Ladybug sighed in relief. ‘I need you to make sure she is safe, okay?’She rushed to Manon’s backpack and retrieved a piece of paper and a pencil.‘Here,’ she scribbled a few letters she never would have thought she would be revealing to him of all people and pressed the note into his hands. ‘If you need to contact me, this is my “superhero” e-mail,’ she smirked marking the air quotes with her fingers. ‘It goes directly to my yoyo and to my civilian phone should I detransform.’Adrien’s lips formed a perfect “O” as he stared at the address. ‘You have an e-mail as Ladybug?’‘Yeah,’ she chuckled. ‘This is new. My kwami thought it might be useful to be able to contact people when I’m not transformed and she set it up for me two days ago. Of course, this stays a secret,’ she lowered her voice to whisper. ‘You cannot show this to anyone. Promise?’The boy put a hand on his heart, ‘I can keep a secret,’ he stated solemnly. ‘I promise.’‘Thanks!’ she smiled at him. ‘I’ll be back soon, but in case you need to move now you know how to contact me. Manon,’ she crouched next to the girl, ‘stay here with Adrien and I’ll make sure Marinette and everyone else is back in no time, okay?’Manon smiled excitedly. ‘Okay, Ladybug. Good luck!’Adrien took a place on her other side and patted the little girl over the shoulder. ‘She’s all about luck,’ he announced proudly. ‘Stay safe, and maybe get Rena if Chat doesn’t show up?’ he offered timidly.‘Will do!’ Ladybug nodded and rushed to send the Sculptor to Monsieur Papillon’s Akuma Museum.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Adrien turned from the window, stomping from one foot to the other anxiously. He tried to calm down his racing heart although he couldn’t do anything about the heat on his cheeks. The inconspicuous note in his hand seemed like a miracle, a gift from faith, a feat he couldn’t achieve as Chat, but that somehow happened to Adrien. He tried not to be jealous, especially of himself, but he couldn’t help being at least a little disappointed that the feline hero wasn’t the one trusted with that contact. On the other hand maybe Ladybug wanted to give her partner the e-mail too, but there was no occasion so far?
‘So… what’s it like to walk on air?’ Manon asked eyeing the statues outside and the disappearing shape of the red clad heroine.
‘Walk on air?’ he echoed, unsure of what she was getting at.
‘I saw that on TV. You were running over a rooftop,’ Manon supplied and panic gripped him. Did she somehow find out he was Chat?
‘A rooftop?’ he repeated weakly.
The girl huffed in exasperation. ‘The ad, duh?’ she said, raising her brows. ‘You running over a roof and into the air? And all those feathers?’
Oh, phew, she was talking about the ad. He should have known. He crouched next to her and smiled.
‘That wasn’t real, you know,’ he explained. ‘I was running in front of a green screen and everything else was added afterwards.’
‘Hmm,’ Manon deflated a bit. ‘Pity. I wish I could run over a rooftop like Ladybug or Chat Noir.’
Adrien looked wistfully to the roofs visible behind the window. ‘Me too,’ he thought about his partner. He pulled out the phone and checked the Ladyblog and news sites, but there were no reports about progress on the Sculptor. His stomach clenched with guilt. He didn’t feel like a babysitter material, and he’d rather help his Lady with the akuma, but he didn’t want to disobey her request, especially as his civilian self. Besides, he’d seen Manon in action and knew perfectly well the girl couldn’t be left alone, or bad things would happen.
‘Wanna play with me?’ the girl offered reaching to her backpack. ‘Ladybug said I could borrow them from Marinette,’ two rag dolls appeared in her hands - ones he’d become familiar with when the girl herself had fallen victim to Hawkmoth.
‘Can I be Ladybug?’ he asked, pointing to the little rag heroine.
Manon pursed her lips and looked at him warily. ‘I think you’d do better as Chat Noir,’ she stated. ‘I’m Ladybug’s friend, so I should be Ladybug.’
‘That seems legit,’ he nodded, smirking at her reasoning. A little Chat Noir landed in his hands and time flew.
Adrien didn’t even notice when the news site came to live again to announce the Sculptor’s defeat, by Ladybug and Rena Rouge’s hand. The reporters already speculated that Chat must have gotten hit as he hadn’t shown up. Adrien checked the Ladyblog after that, but there were no new entries. Maybe Alya got sculptured too?
He pulled out the piece of paper Ladybug had handed him before she left and quickly typed a message saying that they would be heading back to the bakery. As an afterthought he then messaged Marinette as well, saying Ladybug left Manon with him and that he’ll bring her soon. He could only imagine how she would feel waking up after the miraculous cure and without the girl that was left in her care.
They were welcomed by two very relieved bakers, one strangely out of breath Marinette and a hoard of pastries offered as a thank you for looking after Manon. Apparently Ladybug swung by the bakery on her way back and asked to award Adrien on her behalf, but the Dupain-Chengs were more than happy to do so of their own accord. The little girl wouldn’t stop babbling happily about all the adventures rag Ladybug and Chat Noir had while they waited for the akuma to be defeated, which earned Adrien even more appreciative nods and pats over the shoulder.
He selected a tasty looking pain au chocolate and a few
gougères to later share with Plagg and with last respectful bow and a wave to Marinette he left to finally get to his fencing practice. The rest of the afternoon and evening where spent on swooning over the fact that he had now a direct contact to his Lady. Plagg helpfully pointed out that he had always had a direct contact to Ladybug thanks to his baton. The little cat didn’t appreciate Adrien’s rant on how this was different, and went to sleep in a very sour mood not speaking to the boy out of spite.
Next morning at school Adrien was greeted with a Dupain-Cheng patisserie box on his desk, filled with more
gougères and a few sweet pastries. His heart fluttered and his chest puffed with joy and pride, as he spied a little post-it with a yoyo doodle sticked discreetly inside. He guessed Marinette must have informed Ladybug of his choices the day before. The buttery smell of all those treats was absolutely gorgeous so he dipped a hand inside and stuffed his mouth full with a little fluffy savory ignoring the indignant gasp from his bag. Suppressing a laugh he threw a couple of puffy cheese balls as well as a chocolate chip cookie inside and tucked the box under his seat as the lesson started. After that he stopped paying attention to the little noises coming from under his desk and focused on the classes.
The day was extra busy, with a photoshoot squeezed into his schedule at the last moment, and some of his extracurriculars afterwards. Adrien hadn’t realized he left the pastry box at school until he finally got home and fell on his sofa exhausted and hungry. Pity. He really could use something sweet right now. Plagg probably had finished the gougères long time ago, because he didn’t demand any food for the whole day.
Wait. Plagg didn’t demand food for the
whole day
. And he wasn’t raiding the mini-fridge as soon as the door closed.
Driven by sudden spike of fear Adrien rushed to his messenger bag. Was his little friend sick or still sulking? Was he-
A sight of big blue eyes greeted him as he opened the bag. Small lips stretched in an anxious smile. A cute little blob with antennas peeked at him from behind his books. This was undoubtedly another kwami, the same size as Plagg, but red in color with a black dot on her forehead.
‘Hi, Chat Noir,’ she blinked at him. ‘Wouldn’t you happen to have a cookie on you?’ she asked hopefully.
Adrien drew a sharp deep breath and exhaled slowly.
Ladybug’s kwami was in his bag.
Ladybug’s
kwami was in his bag.
Ladybug’s kwami was
in. his. bag
.
Was this a good time to have a little freak out? he mused, landing numbly on his butt in the middle of the carpet.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Today was a nice day, Marinette mused, collecting her things after classes. First of all, there was no akuma attack so far and after yesterday’s tense battle Ladybug could definitely use some time off. She used this opportunity to gaze affectionately (but discreetly) at the blond in front of her. He had really helped her yesterday with Manon. The girl wouldn’t shut up about him the rest of the day, complaining that he had been much better at being a rag Chat Noir than Marinette and retelling all his ideas and made up stories.
As Marinette, she was definitely delighted; as Ladybug she was grateful and impressed. That’s why she brought a double amount of thank you treats for him today. She was happy to see he liked that little surprise and even slipped a few cookies into his bag, for easy access she assumed. She noted that he chose the cheese ones as well as chocolate chip and smirked at Tikki’s jealous whine from her purse.
The idea of Adrien as Ladybug’s sidekick had its undeniable appeal, although there was also the risk that Chat might see right through her and discover the identity of her crush. But maybe… just maybe, she could consider giving Adrien another miraculous one time? Alya wouldn’t be pleased, even if that would give her a possibility to gather footage for her blog, but maybe time would come where another set of powers, another wielder would be more needed than Rena’s illusions? Hmmm, an idea worth remembering for later. Marinette’s cheeks went red at the sheer thought of fighting with a masked Adrien at her side, protecting her and Paris at the same time. That would be awesome, and if he was as big a fan of the superheroes as he seemed based on what Manon had noticed, he probably would be as excited as Alya if not more.
After that Marinette’s lessons went in a blur, with the girl’s thoughts filled with vision of Adrien in skin-tight fashionable and stylish suit. He’d look good in royal blue. Too bad the peacock brooch was missing. Eh, just her luck. Maybe she could give him the bee comb? Or something from the lower compartments? And before Marinette even notice through her daydreaming and planning the school was over, the seat in front of her and the whole classroom empty. At least now she could finally treat her kwami to more cookies she saved specifically for her. She took one out of her backpack and opened her purse.
‘Want a cookie, Tik-’ she stopped abruptly staring at the empty space, lined with red fabric. ‘Tikki?’ she whispered. ‘Where are you?’
Silence was her only reply. But then she heard a gentle snore from somewhere near. Although she never heard Tikki snoring, there was no one else in the room who could make that sound. Marinette carefully lowered herself to the floor and searched for the source of the snoring.
The box of pastries she had brought for Adrien was lying forgotten under his seat, the whistle of a sleeping creature definitely came from inside. She never would have guessed Tikki was such a glutton to sneak her way into other people’s boxes of treats! All the more after she lectured the girl so many times about the importance of keeping her identity and her kwami’s existence secret. It was the miraculous holder’s responsibility to protect their kwami. How could Marinette do that if Tikki sneaked out unattended?
The girl huffed in indignation and pulled the box out. ‘What do you think you’re doing!’ she scolded opening the box. ‘You’re- a- a- a-’
‘Afternoon, Ladybug,’ a little black cat yawned blinking his green kitty eyes.
‘You’re not Tikki,’ Marinette pointed out eloquently.
‘Nope,’ he stretched his paws and arched his back. ‘The name is Plagg. Nice to meet you.’
The little sprite peeked from the box and after making sure they were alone he flew up to her face. ‘Got any cheese?’ he asked licking his lips. ‘The
gougères were delicious, but they didn’t last long,’ he sighed mournfully.
‘You- you’re- ‘ Marinette forgot her voice for a moment and just stared at the sprite, so similar to Tikki yet so different. She would describe him as cute, but something told her he wouldn’t have appreciated that.
‘Chat Noir’s kwami,’ he finished. ‘Although temporarily Chat-less, it seems.’
Her eyes got as big as saucers. ‘Chat Noir is here?’
‘Was,’ Plagg shrugged. ‘He probably went home.’
‘Probably?’ Marinette asked weakly. The gears in here head were turning at high velocity. If Chat Noir’s kwami was here, then Chat had to be somewhere near - or had been for a while. That meant Chat must be much closer to her, than she ever imagined.
‘Easy, Ladybug,’ the black kwami flicked his paw, as if reading her thoughts. ‘You don’t want to accidentally figure my Chosen out. It’s bad enough you met me, Tikki is going to kill me for sure.’ He shuddered. ‘Speaking of the charming
yin
to my disastrous
yang
, where is she?’
Marinette sank to her seat in resignation. None of it made sense and Plagg was right, too many clues and bam! goes Chat’s secret identity. ‘I have no idea,’ she sighed. ‘How did
you
get here?’
‘I smelled cheese?’ he offered innocently. ‘I found the gougères and then I must have fallen asleep.’
‘You… smelled cheese,’ the girl echoed. ‘And came here. But that means-’
‘That means you have to stop thinking, princess,’ he warned.
‘Aren’t you even going to look for Chat?’
‘Nah, he probably went home already,’ Plagg plopped himself on the desk in front of her.
‘Do you know where Tikki might be, then?’ Marinette asked anxiously. That little cat’s attitude was slowly getting on her nerves and she was worried about her kwami.
The black sprite shook his head and stretched lazily. ‘Nope,’ he murmured. ‘If she hasn’t shown up yet, I’m as clueless as you.’
Now she felt the panic rising from the pit of her stomach. ‘Do you have any idea how to contact her?’
‘Do I look like a phone to you?’ he scoffed in reply and then his lips stretched into a sly smirk. ‘So… you seem to find yourself kwami-less, while I’m chosen-less, what a happy coincidence,’ he mused.
‘What are you even saying?’
‘Take me home,’ Plagg suddenly flew up and zipped to her.
‘You’re joking, right?’ she blinked at him in disbelief. ‘What if Chat comes looking for you?’
‘If he hasn’t come yet, he probably doesn’t know I’m not with him,’ the feline kwami replied easily. ‘And if you leave me here I’m gonna starve. I’m so hungry!’ he swayed slightly mid-flight. As if on cue his stomach gurgled, the sound much deeper than his size should allow. Plagg swooned theatrically. ‘
Please, Ladybug! Don’t leave me here. I’ll starve. Chosens must protect kwamis! And I might come in handy if there’s an akuma attack.’
‘How?’
‘How what?’
‘How can you come in handy, if you’re not with Chat Noir?’ she asked and then his words finally sunk in. And just like that the day wasn’t so good anymore. ‘Oh no!’ she moaned, ‘Oh, this is bad. Neither of us can transform now!’ She cursed her luck. This was exactly the time Chat would need her email as she would need his. But she had yet to share that contact with her partner and now it was too late.
‘I will admit this is unfortunate,’ the kwami stated. ‘But I’d rather stay with you than here. Look at it like this: out of the two missing kwamis you at least know the whereabouts of one. That’s better than none?’ he suggested.
‘Okay,’ she sighed. ‘You’re probably right. Let’s go,’ she offered him the place in her purse and he happily curled up inside.
‘Can I get more of those heavenly cheese puffs?’ he asked hopefully.
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ she smiled, closing the clasp.
There was something
right
about having a kwami, even if it was the
wrong
one. Plagg’s presence somehow calmed her nerves. Even if she was still worried over Tikki, the little cat’s easy demeanor suggested his miraculous counterpart would be all right. If he wasn’t panicking, she probably shouldn’t either. Maybe he knew or suspected something he didn’t want to share? Still, what had been Tikki thinking! Sneaking out of her purse like that. Had she been trying to find Plagg? If Chat was at the same school she might have wanted to contact the other kwami. Which meant-
‘Stop it!’ Her purse hissed. ‘I can hear you muttering under your breath. Too much thinking isn’t good for you right now. It’s bad already that you know Chat Noir is in the same school.’
‘Fine!’ Marinette gave up. She reached the bakery anyway. ‘You want only
gougères or something else too?’ she whispered.
‘Any chances for a cheese danish?’ the purse ventured.
‘You really like cheese, huh?’
‘What can I say? Rotten milk is the feast to my stomach,’ the purse snickered.
‘Oh god, I’m so happy Tikki likes cookies,’ Marinette muttered, collecting a few treats to a plate and heading upstairs. ‘I can’t even imagine the smell of your emergency food!’
‘A divine smell, mind you,’ the purse pointed out. ‘Even if my Chosen constantly complains about it. He’s just too young to appreciate good cheese.’
The girl chuckled, imagining poor Chat grumbling over it. He was kind enough to allow his kwami everything the little sprite asked for, even if that made him miserable at times.
Plagg was a good companion. He kept silent, although he snickered after seeing her room. ‘This pink is ridiculous,’ he offered as a way of explanation, but Marinette had a feeling this wasn’t what he meant at all. After that comment he patiently worked through the contents of the plate and then sprawled himself next to her screen, while she was doing her homework. She could swear he purred lightly, when she rubbed his cute head with her finger, but that might as well have been her imagination.
The afternoon was slowly melting into evening when a ping from her phone startled them both. It was a notification from her
special
e-mail account, that so far only one person knew of. What would Adrien want from Ladybug?
“Found your little friend. She’s fine. I hope you’re not too worried. How can I get her to you? A.”
Marinette stiffened, nearly dropping her phone.
Adrien
found Tikki?! But how? Where?
‘Oh, that’s good news!’ Plagg’s voice managed to break through the questions screaming in her mind. He plopped himself on her shoulder.
‘Yeah,’ she admitted, once again calming down. Was this a cat magic that she was somehow susceptible to?
‘Now I think we should go and get her,’ the black sprite suggested, clicking his tongue.
‘Are you kidding me?’ Marinette raised a brow. ‘I’m supposed to waltz just like that to the Agreste mansion and ask Adrien to return my kwami? Yeah, that would go well for my secret identity,’ she snorted.
‘Hey, I’m not saying you should go to him as Marinette,’ he took flight again. ‘That would be stupid indeed.’
‘Yeah, well, I don’t exactly have any masks on me,’ she scoffed.
Plagg flew over to her and inspected her earrings. ‘It’s been a while,’ he mused, ‘and they aren’t as comfortable as my ring. But I can definitely work with that.’ He turned to her. ‘Obviously not everyone would look good in black, but with your ideas I bet you’re gonna give us a showstopper, huh?’ he wiggled encouragingly.
‘W-what?’
‘Claws out?’ he suggested.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Adrien paced nervously around his couch. From time to time he stopped to cast a glance at the red kwami nibbling on a cookie on his coffee table. There were so many issues fighting to get his attention, he didn’t even know where to start his freak out. Technically he had a kwami, but not the right one. He was worried sick where Plagg might be. Was his secret identity safe if Ladybug’s kwami had somehow found her way to his bag. Was Ladybug’s?Somewhere under all those panicky thoughts there was also the excitement of getting closer to his Lady, the awareness that she must have been nearer than he suspected. In his own school! He had been right all along that they might have known each other on the other side of their masks! Even if their kwamis hadn’t know who the other holder had been, since Dark Owl they had the knowledge of their appearance. But now he suspected, they knew more, if Tikki didn’t have any trouble in finding him.The red kwami openly asked him not to dwell too much on this subject. It was bad enough that he now knew Ladybug was in the same school, she said. It was in his best interest not to know, for his safety as well as hers, and for their families and friends. The consequences of any slips could be disastrous. And although he agreed, he couldn’t help but to think it wasn’t his mistake, nor Ladybug’s, that the little bit of quite useful information got out.Tikki claimed she had needed to talk to Plagg so she decided to visit him, but he wasn’t in Adrien’s bag, so she chose to wait for him and must have fallen asleep. It seemed a bit careless to Adrien, but he was polite enough not to comment on that.He would have been infinitely more nervous if he didn’t have the email . Tikki convinced him to message Ladybug to let her know the kwami was okay. She assured him there was no risk to his identity and she promised to explain things with her Chosen once she got back. She was a bit worried over Plagg’s absence, but according to her he could take care of himself just fine and would be waiting for Adrien at school. At that she smiled and warned the boy to bring a few wheels of camembert, because knowing Plagg he’d be hungry like a swarm of locusts. As for Tikki, she could spend the night at the mansion and get to school and to Ladybug the next day. He asked about the email to make sure his own kwami would provide him with such contact box of his own. For now he would have to wait until his partner would officially share that bit of information with Chat Noir. It would be more than a little suspicious if he came up with the idea just as she had given the email to his civilian self. It might look like Adrien had betrayed her trust.The lack of response on Ladybug’s part worried him. The email went through some time ago and she still kept silent. Adrien was about to ask the red sprite what she thought about that, when knocking from the window interrupted him.There was a girl clad in black behind the glass, waving at him frantically. He froze, gaping at the form fitting costume wrapped snugly around her body. He couldn’t pick the details from his spot, but he saw enough to get all red and hot, and that was even before his gaze traveled up to the electrifying sapphire eyes with midnight blue cat sclera, hidden behind the black domino mask. The cat ears seemed similar to Chat’s, but they were less obvious over the jet black hair. The twin tails with blue highlights much longer and less kempt than Ladybug’s brought to mind Sailor Moon’s hairdo.‘Let me in,’ the girl mouthed and Adrien felt a pinch and a poke as Tikki nudged him to get his attention.‘This is Ladybug, Adrien,’ she stated. ‘You can trust her.’‘This is Ladybug ?’ he still was processing the strange occurrence. If this was Ladybug, where were her spots and red suit? But then, those came with her kwami who was currently hovering over him with an extremely worried expression.‘She must have found Plagg and he transformed her!’ the red kwami prompted. ‘Let her in before someone notices!’At that his brain finally rebooted. ‘Right! Right!’ he exclaimed and ran to the window.‘Hi,’ Lady Noir greeted when she was finally inside his room. ‘I got your email. You found my kwami?’‘Uh buh,’ Adrien mumbled articulately, earning a giggle from those gorgeous pink lips. He was sure his face was close to self combust. Up close he was finally able to admire the details of her version of the black cat suit, and it was doing all kinds of things to him. She caught him off guard, really. The red material of Ladybug left little to imagination, yet her curves clad in black somehow looked more… well… curvy? Enticing? Attractive? The changes to his normal costume were subtle - the cuffs, tails and ears stayed, but the boots were replaced with something more girly yet still functional, making her legs seem longer. Electric blue embroidery created a nice contrast to the darkness of the outfit, bringing out her assets even more. The bell was still there, but instead of being attached to the blue zipper, it swung lightly on a velvet choker wrapped around her neck like a collar. He didn’t dare to look at the tail. Ladybug’s derriere was enticing enough, but Adrien wasn’t sure he would survive seeing it in black leather.The overall result still made his teenage blood boil and his knees wobble. The depth of her stare stole his breath away and emptied his head of every word he’d ever learned. If he had been smitten with her before, now he was slayed . He knew this sight would stay with him forever, even after the respective kwami would return to their rightful chosens, he would never look at Ladybug the same knowing what the spots could become.Tikki mercifully took pity on him. ‘I’m here, Ladybug,’ she waved at her. ‘It’s a surprise to see you.’‘Is it?’ Lady Noir turned her eyes to the little sprite and raised a brow. ‘I got the message you’re here and I’d rather have you with me. Besides,’ she lowered her voice to whisper, but Adrien’s enhanced hearing allowed him to still pick up the rest of the sentence. ‘Chat’s kwami also went AWOL as you can see, so I thought it would be better if I got you back at least.’‘Good thinking,’ Tikki praised and continued in staged whisper. ‘Does Chat’s kwami have any idea how to return to Chat?’‘Let’s talk about it later,’ the girl suggested discreetly rolling her eyes in Adrien’s direction.The red sprite shook her head. ‘I’d rather be sure of his plan before we leave,’ she mumbled. ‘This is quite a mess.’‘Hah, and whose fault is this?’ Lady Noir snorted.Tikki had the decency to look ashamed. ‘It’s our fault,’ she admitted reluctantly. ‘But what the plan is?’‘He said he can find Chat at school tomorrow,’ the currently black clad heroine admitted. ‘Is that okay with you?’The sprite shot a quick look at him and he nodded barely noticeably in acceptance. ‘Okay, if he says so,’ Tikki whispered in reply.Lady Noir turned to Adrien. ‘Thank you,’ she said and her smile almost blinded him. ‘This is the second time you save me in two days. How can I repay you?’Adrien cleared his throat, as the connection between his brain and his mouth came back online. ‘The pleasure is all mine,’ his hand shot to his neck out of its own volition. ‘And you saved me and my friends more than that. There’s no reason to repay me. I should be thanking you,’ he added shyly, rubbing the back of his head.He noted with no small amount of satisfaction that the girl blushed, the pinkness of her cheeks more pronounced over the blackness of her mask. The sight struck something deep within him. With their earlier encounters he had been under the impression she was somewhat awestruck with Adrien, even though she quickly recovered due to circumstances and returned to her tasks at defeating the akuma. Could it be that she liked him? If they went to the same school, this was a possibility he could entertain. She could have known him after all, not his public persona, but the normal boy under the model makeup. He wouldn’t dare to employ his feline bravado, not when clues and identities were at risk, but even if he had to keep things toned down, he still could make a move, right? He could beat that other boy, wooing her as his civilian self. He already had her email, maybe he could ask for her company too?‘In fact,’ he started trying to keep the excitement out of his voice. ‘In fact, I’d like to thank you for everything you’re doing for this city.’‘Thank me?’ Lady Noir blinked at him in confusion. ‘Everyone is thanking me plenty, you don’t need to worry,’ she waved her hand dismissively. ‘I even got a statue, you know.’He knew all too well. He was even responsible for akumatizing its creator.‘I know,’ he soldiered on. ‘But I’m suggesting a more… personal approach?’ he ventured. ‘You saved me a couple of times. You saved my father too. I’d love to do something for you in return.’His suggestion apparently rendered her speechless, because she only gawked at him, her mouth opening and closing a few times. Tikki giggled lightly next to her, covering her face with her paws.‘How about this,’ Adrien decided not to push his luck. He needed to tread carefully and keep things comfortable for her. ‘I’ll think of something and email you the details? If you don’t like it, you’ll just decline. I won’t feel offended, I promise. What do you say, my L-, I mean Ladybug?’ he asked, his voice trembling slightly with hope.Check out the amazing Lady Noir art @kellarhi drew for this chapter!!!
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
‘What do you say, my L-, I mean Ladybug?’ Adrien said with that strange gleam in his eyes.As Ladybug, well technically at least, she should have said no, she knew that. Nothing good would come out of hanging out with a civilian. But Tikki was giggling without any apparent reason and Marinette’s strong will was dissolving under the pleading gaze of her crush.‘I… ‘ she rasped, then cleared her throat and began again. ‘I don’t know if this is really a good idea.’‘Please, Ladybug,’ the boy knitted his brows and she swore his eyes got bigger. ‘It would mean a lot to me.’She glimpsed hesitantly at her kwami looking for confirmation she should refuse, but Tikki only nodded encouragingly. Lady Noir gave up. There was only so much resistance in her teenage heart when the love of her life asked for something. ‘I suppose I can agree to that,’ she sighed, trying not to show her excitement too much.‘Great!’ Adrien shot her a brilliant smile. ‘Well then, be sure to check your inbox tomorrow!’Oww, a sting of guilt. He was still the only person who had that email. She should have given it to Chat first. Even if the circumstances had justified that, it still felt like betraying the trust of her partner. She promised herself to message Chat as soon as she was Ladybug again. There was no telling what would happen to her message now, that she was transformed by his kwami. Speaking of kwamis it was time to head home and release Plagg.‘Thank you,’ she ducked her head. ‘I’ll be going, it’s getting late.’Adrien looked to the already darkening sky. ‘Yeah, well, it was really nice to have you here,’ his gaze swept over her suit. ‘Surreal but nice,’ he added with a smirk.‘A Notting Hill quote?’ she snorted, ‘Really?’‘What?’ he pouted in mock offence. ‘That’s a classic.’She raised a brow in amusement, ‘Two in a row?’His smirk got wider and cheekier.‘Just kidding,’ Lady Noir smiled before turning to leave. ‘My parents love that movie.’‘Wait!’ his hand landed on her shoulder. ‘Before you go can I…’ he trailed off.‘Yes?’ she frowned. ‘What is it?’‘Just tell me if I’m overstepping any boundaries here,’ he mumbled. ‘And believe me, I know what I’m talking about but-’‘Adrien, asking won’t hurt,’ she smiled encouragingly. ‘At worst I’ll say no.’He took a deep breath and she noted his cheeks colored. If she didn’t know better she would have thought he was flustered. Adrien flustered because of her? Nah, it must have been her imagination.‘Could you… take a selfie with me?’ he finally blurted out. ‘I promise I won’t show it to anyone!’ he quickly added. ‘It’s just, well, I still can’t believe you’re here and wearing that,’ he gestured to the suit and now there was to denying he was flustered, ‘and comes morning I might not believe myself that this actually happened.’‘Um…’ Lady Noir wrung her neatly manicured claws, ‘I really shouldn’t…’He didn’t reply. He already said to tell him if he asked too much, but that sparkle in his eyes dimmed and his smile turned from deliciously awkward and hopeful to studied and false, with disappointment peeking from underneath. She really shouldn’t, but she couldn’t bear the thought of being the cause of that. And his request was sweet after all.‘Ah, what the hell, let’s do this,’ she winked and his face lit up instantly as he fumbled with his phone.A few selfies and one promise to send some to her email later Lady Noir was leaping over the rooftops, with Tikki safely tucked in her pocket (a real, functional pocket! Marinette would be having words with her kwami once Plagg was finally out of her room). She couldn’t keep the smile off her face and the memory of Adrien posing for the selfie next to her, their heads cramped closely together to fit in the photo. Tikki agreed to take a few pics herself so that the whole suit would be visible. Ladybug’s trademark red was prominently featured in those courtesy of Adrien’s ears.The email was waiting in her inbox when she woke up, as Plagg helpfully informed her, earning a scowl from Tikki. Even though they both were pleased with an evening and night together, Marinette couldn’t help but to notice that Tikki hissed at Plagg every time he so much as looked as if wanting attention from their host. She never would have pegged Tikki as jealous, yet apparently that seemed to be the case. The red sprite sighed in relief, when they dropped Plagg in the locker room so that he could return to Chat. Despite Tikki’s protests Marinette left him a small box of gougères and a few wedges of camembert in case he’d have to wait.The message from Adrien was simple - only time and location, but for Marinette it was the most precious bunch of words on Earth. Hiding her excitement throughout the day proved to be a rather difficult task, especially since the reason for that was sitting right in front of her and looking at least a bit awestruck. He kept checking his phone and after a while Marinette realized she never confirmed she got his message, or that she was planning on showing up. She quickly typed a few words and clicked send. When the screen of Adrien’s cell lit up, he almost dropped it to the floor and when he read the text he started wiggling with joy. Marinette allowed herself a small giggle, earning a puzzled glare from Alya.The location was in the 19th arrondissement, so outskirts of the city, really. Quite far, but Marinette guessed that maybe Adrien wanted to find an area away from the crowds. Parc de la Villette was a huge place, allowing comfort and anonymity, especially after dark.When Ladybug showed up that evening she was close to self combust with excitement. She mentally chided herself for slipping up a few times and calling this outing “a date”, even if silently she counted it as one. And it was Adrien who asked her, which only added more fuel to her romantic dreams.First thing she noticed upon arriving was her crush dressed up to the nines. “Drop dead gorgeous blond” would surely be written in her obituary as the cause of her premature death, she thought admiring his impeccable outfit. The second thing she saw was a lovely bouquet of roses he was hiding behind his back, and her heart gave a little whoop. The third thing she noted was how he nervously stomped from one foot to the other casting sideways glances at something hidden from her view.‘Hi!’ Ladybug greeted dropping from the sky right in front of him. The double somersault wasn’t maybe necessary but it made a good entrance.‘H-hey,’ Adrien replied gingerly, once again glancing sideways.She followed his line of sight and paled. André the ice-cream matchmaker was standing next to his cart and waving at them cheerfully.Adrien winced. ‘I swear, I had no idea he’d be here!’ he whispered frantically. ‘He saw me and the flowers and decided to stick around! I didn’t have a heart to ask him to leave but it’s not like we have to have his ice cream. I actually planned something else, but-,’ he gestured in the ice cream vendor direction and slumped his shoulders in resignation.Ladybug giggled lightly. A flustered and embarrassed Adrien was a sight she could definitely get used to. ‘Calm down,’ she gave him a sweet and reassuring smile. ‘I know André can be a bit… assertive. All good vendors are.’‘So you’d want some ice cream?’ the boy asked hopefully.She froze, pun totally unintended. She had dreamt of having André’s ice cream with Adrien, there was no denying that. But she didn’t want it like this, out of the blue, by accident and feeling pushed by the ice cream man again. She eyed the cart regretfully. Above everything else those ice cream were exquisite.‘Maybe some other time?’ she finally offered. She was replied with a puzzled frown and a suppressed pout of disappointment. He wanted to have the ice cream. ‘Look, if you want to get some for yourself, that’s fine with me,’ she continued, fidgeting nervously. ‘I just… well, André seems to know or sense things and I’d hate to give out clues as to my civilian identity?’ She hated how her voice got higher as she tried to explain herself, but the vendor was excellent at detecting crushes and while he was charming and sweet, she didn’t trust him not to babble to random customers how he found Ladybug a boyfriend. She might as well stick an invitation for Hawkmoth to Adrien’s back. “Will exchange for one miraculous” was not what she wanted to see next to his face on the news.‘Oh,’ Adrien looked between her and the cart, considering something. ‘How about you wait in the park, and I’ll bring us the ice cream?’ he ventured. ‘He won’t even know they are for you.’‘M-maybe…’ she hesitated. The offer was tempting.‘Maybug’s don’t fly in June,’ he interrupted putting on a Cheshire cat worthy grin and she couldn’t help but to laugh. He used the same line the day before, but then she had been too focused on the akuma to appreciate it.‘Have you been spending time with Chat Noir lately?’ she teased as this was similar to her partner’s brand of humor.‘Maybe,’ he winked and chuckled at her shocked expression. ‘Not with Chat per se, but with a charming feline lady,’ he added smoothly. ‘Any requests as to the flavors?’‘Not really,’ Ladybug shrugged. ‘I’m okay with most of them.’‘Is there something you like the most? He probably has it.’ Adrien nodded in the direction of the vendor. ‘Come on, this is all to thank you. Please, have some fun,’ he encouraged.Well, one flavor wouldn’t hurt, would it? It’s not like she was giving away anything substantial. ‘Mint,’ she said.The boy nodded and they parted ways. Ladybug pretended to leave and circled the park to wait for him. Soon he arrived carrying two portions of the famous ice cream. She could make out his red face from afar, way before the reason for his fierce blush became apparent.As he came to a halt in front of her bench she stared at the assorted scoops and it finally sank. Adrien was holding an ice pile consisting strawberry with black chocolate chip, blackberry and blueberry dollops. Since there was no mint flavor there, she could only assume that this - let’s be honest - evidently Ladybug combo was his order. In his other hand there was a portion of dark chocolate and mint scoops, topped with a drop of lemon sorbet and sprinkled with chocolate flakes. She would have burst into laughter at the sight of the little licorice tail stuck to one side, if she wasn’t afraid to offend Adrien. Yep, those were definitely Chat Noir themed ice-cream.‘André said those would go well with mint,’ Adrien said weekly, passing her the wafer.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The last thing Adrien would expect was for Chat Noir to crash his date with Ladybug. Not that it was a real date, well for her, because he obviously counted it as one. God only knew if he’d ever get another chance, so he decided to make the most of it and even Plagg wouldn’t spoil his mood, despite trying his best at being little flying shit of a kwami.Adrien wasn’t sure what to think about André’s flavor selection. Had he decided to go with the heroes theme, since the boy’s ice cream screamed Ladybug? Or could it be that Ladybug’s treat resembled her partner because they would end up together? Or maybe this was just a prank? He really couldn’t tell and he tried not to feel at least a bit disappointed that her scoops didn’t resemble his civilian self. It would be such an ice breaker . (Boy, he really was on a roll with puns tonight).‘These are really tasty. Thank you,’ Ladybug said working her way through the frozen dollops with gusto. ‘What a great idea to ask André for hero themed ice cream.’The statement was innocent and a good way out of some potentially awkward questions, but Adrien decided to go for the truth. Deep down he hoped this wouldn’t be his last date with her, and if he wanted more, he’d have to work towards it.‘I… um… this,’ he raised his wafer, ‘is what I always get at André’s,’ he confessed. ‘With that cute little rhyme explaining the meaning behind the colors.’‘Oh,’ Ladybug blinked a few times and suddenly became very busy with her dessert. He noticed the pinkness of blush spreading over her cheeks. It was obvious she read the colors of his scoops correctly. ‘When I go to André as a civilian, I get a different set,’ she admitted after a while. ‘That’s why I thought-’‘Well, it probably was just his joke,’ Adrien shrugged, trying to suppress his disappointment at another confirmation that she wasn’t crushing on Chat Noir. ‘Is it good, though?’She crooked a smile, ‘It is. A little bit unexpected, but sweet, with just a hint of spice in that dark chocolate, freshness from the mint and lemon, plus a kick from the licorice,’ she chuckled. ‘Just like Chat.’His poor heart skipped a beat. ‘Ladybug tastes great too!’ he squeaked and then realized what he’d said. ‘The ice-cream I mean! I really like berries and here I have three different kinds!’Her amused smile told her that she didn’t mind his slip. ‘You’re berry funny,’ she murmured stuffing a spoonful of chocolate ice cream into her mouth.‘I see you don’t mint,’ he shot back barely engaging his brain. Ladybug giggled delightfully. (Yes, definitely on a roll tonight.)This exchange quite unexpectedly started a pun off they kept while eating. Adrien led her slowly through the park to the location he had set up for the occasion. It was already dark, which was also part of the plan.‘Ouch!’ Suddenly Ladybug’s head disappeared from his vision. ‘Crap,’ her voice came from the ground. ‘I slipped on my own ice cream,’ she laughed with a hysterical lilt. ‘Yup, this is me, the graceful heroine of Paris.’‘Are you okay?’ he crouched next to her. ‘Did you hurt yourself?’‘Only my pride. This suit protected me from worse falls than this little trip,’ she replied cheerfully trying to pick herself up from the gravel path. ‘Can you help me up?’ she asked placing a hand on his knee and Adrien’s brain short circuited.He had been channeling Chat in small doses so far, but the sight of her sprawled on the path, relaxed and chuckling at her own clumsiness spurred his feline instincts to take over. In one fluid motion he scooped her into his arms and off the ground, princess style. Pretty much how she had carried him over the rooftops.‘Oh!’ she squeaked in surprise. ‘Thank you, I can take it from here,’ she made an attempt to disentangle herself from him but he only pulled her closer to his chest.‘Nope,’ he tried to keep his tone light, despite the erratic beating of his heart, ‘I need to make sure the Lady gets to our spot without any harm.’She gaped at him, ‘You’re joking, right? You know I’m capable of walking there myself and I’ve fallen from buildings without any harm?’He shrugged, or at least moved his shoulders as much as her weight allowed him to. She was light as a feather, and easy to lift even without the super strength of Chat Noir, but the position of his arms currently didn’t allow for much shrugging.‘This evening is to appreciate you and thank you, remember?’ he replied, pointedly staring ahead and not at the lovely girl in his arms. If he allowed himself to think about that, he would probably break his own brain.‘So you’re just going to carry me there?’ he heard both disbelief and amusement in her voice.‘Yup,’ he confirmed speeding up his steps. If he was going to impress her, he might as well commit to it. ‘I see you carrying people all the time. Including me, I might add,’ he smiled at the memory. ‘It’s time to return the favor.’‘Are you going to save me too before the evening ends?’ she teased.‘I already saved you, remember? That’s how I got you here,’ he turned to her and winked. ‘So I suggest you enjoy the ride, my L-,’ he faltered, ‘I mean Ladybug.’She stared at him for a few long steps, before clasping her hands over his neck and relaxing in his arms. ‘Lead the way,’ she whispered sending pleasant shivers down his spine.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Ladybug wasn’t sure what was real and what was a dream anymore. She resisted the urge to pinch herself, when Adrien carried her through the Parc de la Villette to the mysterious spot he had prepared. The heat of his body seeping through her suit told her, that this must have been reality, and not one of her pink bubbly fantasies. Though it was quite a feat to come to terms with reality of Adrien Agreste basically confessing his crush on her through ice cream, arranging a secret meeting in a park (that “date” term seemed more and more fitting) and then carrying her there, when she fell.
Hidden safely behind the mask Marinette found herself wondering if she’d ever be ready to accept this turn of events. She suspected that the boldness and ease she displayed so far were lent by her super alter ego and she expected to run out of suave any minute now, especially since Adrien made a few more remarks clearly indicating his interest. Internal meltdown was quite an accurate description of the pile of goo her civilian self turned into under the miraculous armor of Ladybug. A few moments of traveling in Adrien’s arms and chatting as if it was the most normal thing on Earth and she felt her grip on reality slowly slipping away.
The boy finally came to a halt in front of the big screen of outdoor cinema that usually ran in the park during summer, basked in the soft glow of nearby lanterns. It looked like it was half ready for the new season at
Cinéma en Plein Air, but Adrien
used what was already set up to organize a screening of his own. He invited her to one of the two deck chairs he had brought and started to uncover the heap of grey canvas behind them. Everything was there - a projector, loudspeakers and a computer they were plugged into. A picnic basket looking stuffed to the brim stood next to those devices. She could only gape mutedly at everything he’d prepared.
‘You set this up all by yourself?’ Ladybug finally found her voice when he passed her a bottle of rhubarb lemonade.
Adrien ducked his head. ‘Yeah,’ he pulled out a little folding table and started to unpack the basket. ‘I thought we could use the screen before the festival begins. You like it?’
‘Do you really need to ask?’ she raised her brows in disbelieve.
He smiled. ‘Of course my equipment is nowhere near as powerful as the projectors they use,’ he pointed his thumb to the back of the area, where a half built booth with the Plein Air festival banner stood, ‘but I thought it would be enough for the two of us.’
Ladybug wrapped herself in the blanket she had found on her deck chair and took a sip of her lemonade. ‘I think it’s brilliant,’ she admitted. ‘What are we going to watch?’
Adrien’s eyes lit up. ‘It’s your call, Ladybug,’ he said, pulling the computer to his lap. ‘I have a wide range of choices here, movies mostly, as I thought those would be most appropriate in the circumstances. See if you like anything,’ he suggested passing her the device.
She started browsing through his selection while he finished setting up the food on the table. She got to N when Adrien crouched next to her, close enough for their knees to brush lightly. Her treacherous heart sped up.
‘Found anything interesting?’ he asked, glancing up at her from under his lashes.
‘Y-yup,’ Ladybug did her best to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. Her eyes landed on the title that was mentioned the evening before. ‘What do you think?’ she pointed to her choice.
Adrien’s smile widened. ‘I think it’s perfect,’ he chuckled taking the computer and plugging it back to the projector. ‘I knew you had good taste,’ he murmured appreciatively.
‘As I said, my parents love that movie,’ she felt first stings of blush sprinkling her cheeks. ‘I’m surprised you know it, though. It’s a shameless romcom after all.’
‘I watch a lot of things in English,’ he shrugged fiddling with cables. ‘It helps me learn the language and besides, this is a classic,’ he winked. ‘All set. Shall we start now?’
She nodded in reply reaching out for a plate. ‘Let me just take some of those and I’m ready,’ she giggled.
Adrien helped her get everything she wanted to try and returned to his chair just as Elvis Costello’s voice broke the evening silence.
She
May be the face I can't forget.
A trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay.~
She may be the mirror of my dreams.
A smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell~
Ladybug sank to the deck chair, absolutely enthralled with the evening. The breeze brought the scents of approaching summer and the chill of June night. The blanket was soft and smelled nice too. And the food was delicious. She didn’t even try to make it last longer, especially since Adrien seemed so content that she enjoyed the meal he’d planned.
When the plates and containers where empty he moved the table back and pulled his chair closer to hers, close enough for their elbows to touch, but neither of them withdrew their hands. Their little fingers traced patterns over the armrests, seemingly innocently, but they brushed against each other almost constantly. Marinette was stunned with how this little touch could be so electrifying, sending goosebumps all over her skin. She felt them crawling under her suit. The girl managed to keep the happy squeals inside, but it took too much effort to also gain control over her lips, so they were stretched in a dopey smile. If anyone would ask, she’d say it was because Hugh Grant and his colleagues were really funny.
After about an hour of tentative finger brushing Elvis Costello’s voice brought the film to its ending and the magic melted away. Adrien removed his hand to stand up and turn the projector off. Ladybug mourned briefly the loss of this sweet and delicate caress, that made her giddy with excitement and anxious with possible interpretations of it. She didn’t really have time to ponder on the revelations of the evening, when Adrien crouched next to her again.
‘Want to watch something else?’ he asked hopefully, his hand returning to the armrest right next to hers, close enough for her to feel its warmth.
She wasn’t stupid, but perfectly aware he was doing this on purpose, just like her. It wasn’t her imagination. All those subtle cues were there, little signs of affections, shy questions, invitations to take it further. And she almost would, right there and then. She almost reached for his hand and made it absolutely clear she liked him too. But a superhero should always listen to her head, not her heart. Ladybug made a decision.
‘It’s getting late. I should be going,’ she replied, keeping her tone gentle but firm. ‘Thank you for this. I had a really good time tonight,’ she stood up and he followed.
‘You’re welcome,’ the boy smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. ‘Anything for the brave heroine of Paris.’
Ladybug bowed slightly preparing to leave.
‘Can we meet again?’ Adrien blurted stopping her in her tracks.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
One look at her face and Adrien knew what her answer would be. He stretched his lips in one of his model smiles, but despite his best efforts his eyes refused to participate in this lie.‘I… uh…’ she stuttered wringing her hands. ‘Today was really nice but…’ she paused, her blue eyes searching his, undoubtedly assessing his reaction.‘I don’t think it’s a good idea,’ she sighed, while Adrien’s heart gave a painful tug. ‘You’re a civilian and me…’ she gestured to her dots. ‘I really shouldn’t.’He stared at her in silence for a few long seconds, taking in her hunched posture, saddened eyes and dejected frown. She was rejecting him for a second time, and for a second time she looked absolutely crushed to do it. Yet, unlike with Chat, she seemed to reciprocate his feelings, even if only for one evening.He wouldn’t give up that easily this time. ‘You want to, though,’ he whispered.Now it was her turn to keep quiet for a moment as she bit her lip.‘Yes,’ she muttered, barely audibly, ‘I want to.’Adrien was about to take a breath of relief, when she added. ‘But I’m not allowed to.’He knew that. He shouldn’t have pushed her to say it. This whole affair was the result of his selfishness. ‘Okay,’ he nodded, trying to replace the disappointment in his voice with all the admiration he felt for this selfless girl. ‘I understand.’Once again she turned to leave, and once again his voice stopped her. He didn’t want to end what had transpired between them. Maybe he could salvage some of it and let it bloom later?‘How about emails?’ he called after her. ‘Can I message you?’Ladybug looked back at him reluctantly and Adrien wondered, if he was doing the right thing. ‘I promise I won’t spam you or anything,’ he raised his hands defensively. ‘J-just to chat? Sometimes?’He shot her a hopeful but restrained look. ‘I- I don’t want to pressure you or anything- just... ‘ he sighed, when she still kept quiet gnawing at her lower lip. ‘Just forget I asked, okay?’ he let his shoulders slump and pressed his lips into a thin line.‘Okay, you can message me,’ Ladybug said. ‘I’d like that,’ she smiled timidly.‘Okay,’ Adrien felt the blush blooming on his cheeks. ‘Then I will.’‘I look forward to it,’ she whispered, before giving him a little wave and leaping away.After her parting words Adrien ran on excitement high for a few days. Using up all of his self restrain he waited full 24 hours before emailing Ladybug for the first time with an innocent opening, that launched the enthusiastic exchange of messages.
Me 14:15: Am I bugging you?
LaB 19:02: yes, agreste deal, why do you ask?
She was a great person to write to, although careful to keep any information on her identity out of their correspondence. So while he jokingly complained about teachers or homework, she reciprocated with something funny but vague, making it impossible for him to guess which class she was in. Not that he tried. When he realized she might have read his intentions wrong, he made sure to keep such topics safely neutral identitywise. They also kept their conversations to late afternoon or evening hours. Adrien tried messaging Ladybug during the day, but she always waited with her reply until after school.
Me 16:46: Knock knock
LaB 18:50: Really?
Me 18:52: Knock knock
LaB 18:55: Are you sure this is something you want to continue?
Me 18:57: Knock knock
LaB 18:58: [sighs] Who’s there?
Me 18:59: Night Owl says
LaB 19:02: [sighs more] Night Owl who?
Me 19:03: Yup, that’s what he says
LaB 19:04: xD
A few days of exchanging emails and Adrien felt bold enough to suggest another meeting. Ladybug declined. He accepted, doing his best not to let his disappointment seep into his texts. He really wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting. Their first meeting went amazingly well, and he still felt shivers at the recollection of their hands brushing. But Ladybug was smart and responsible. Of course she wouldn’t want to risk her identity or his safety for something personal. He admired her self control.
LaB 19:30: Knock knock
Me 19:31: Well well well
LaB 19:32: Knock knock
Me 19:33: :D Who’s there?
LaB 19:33: Canoe
Me 19:34: Canoe who? :D :D :D
LaB 19:35: Canoe help me with my homework?
Me 19:36: I can even do it for you if you want
LaB 19:38: Sure, knock yourself out xP
Me 19:40: *o*
But the annoying feline part of his personality nagged him to keep trying. So once in a while he sent her something suggesting he was thinking about her, in that special way. He hinted to the ice cream or the movie they had watched. She never reciprocated and he slowly spiraled down into a depressing sinkhole, understanding her position but at the same time craving for more. He hated himself for it. He was constantly looking for confirmation that he was somehow special to her, inspecting each and every of her compliments closely, but it was never enough.Ladybug had given Chat Noir her secret email at first possible occasion and even if Adrien technically was the only person in the whole world in possession of this address, he still sulked to Plagg’s utmost annoyance, because for her he wasn’t the only one.
LaB 18:44: Knock knock
Today had been particularly hard with an akuma attack at their school. Ladybug personally supervised their evacuation, making sure his class was okay and effectively preventing him from sneaking out. She refused to let them out through the school, ordering them to escape via windows, and even promised to look for Marinette, who was unlucky enough to get stuck in the bathroom, stealing the only excuse he could come up with to conveniently disappear.
LaB 19:30: Knock knock?
And the worst part was she wouldn’t look him in the eye, acting as if she didn’t even recognize him. He knew she did that for his safety, but it still hurt. She even emailed Chat because he was so late. She carried Chloe out, when the girl was hurt by the akuma. And Adrien was jealous of each and every interaction the heroine had with his classmates, when he received so little of her attention.
LB 20:01: ???
Adrien sighed, looking at the string of knocks in their chat window. He didn’t feel like replying. It seemed that he ran out of luck again. He should be happy with the possibility of talking to her, even via text. Yet he wanted more and somehow her denial to Adrien hurt much more than it had when he had been Chat.He reached to his desk and pulled out the lucky charm Marinette had given him. He didn’t remember when he stopped carrying it around, but it was around the time Ladybug decided to trust him with her contact. Maybe both of those things were a mistake. He was now more miserable, than ever, brooding in sorrow and self depreciation.
‘Knock, knock?’
Oh, why of all times did she choose to be that persistent? Adrien unlocked his phone to reply but he stopped and stared at the last message from good 20 minutes ago and no new texts underneath.‘Ekhm…’ he heard someone clearing their throat.‘Are you going to let me in, or should I just hang in there?’ Ladybug asked from behind his window.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
By the end of week Marinette was a ball of nerves. She cherished the memory of Ladybug’s date with Adrien at the park, but at the same time she regretted it deeply. Rejecting him was one of the most difficult things she had to do, but she kept reminding herself that she had responsibilities as a hero and miraculous holder. Even if it was easier to interact with him with her mask on, even if he seemed to harbor feelings for her spotted alter ego, pursuing a romantic relationship with a civilian would never be a wise choice. It would be too dangerous, too careless, too selfish. So she said “no”, not to lead him on more that she already had.
It terrified her when she realized Adrien was her weak spot. It was so difficult to refuse him, she didn’t have the heart to follow it with another “no” about the emails. And that turned out to be another mistake. She enjoyed their correspondence greatly. It was so easy to write to him, safely hidden not only behind the screen but also behind the mask. But how was she supposed to keep her cool when the boy of her dreams opened up to her, joked with her, wanted to talk to her, while she had to censor half of her messages so that he wouldn’t get more about her identity than he already knew? She had no idea how she could have even resisted replying to his messages right away . If it wasn’t for Alya’s curious stares at the notifications from her phone, she probably would have caved in.
Things were going so well, she almost succeeded in convincing herself that it was possible to keep it on just-friends level, but then recollections of their previous meetings started to seep into his messages, small suggestions, virtual equivalents of hand brushing. All leading up to Adrien asking her out again. It was a mystery how she managed to say “no” again. Marinette was sure that if he asked her face to face, she wouldn’t have been able to refuse. She still was crushed and it was clear the boy wasn’t dealing with the rejection well himself. He thought he was hiding it, and he did a rather good job with his texts, but she had the front seat to Adrien’s misery show every day at school.
Mistake. Mistake. Mistake.
That single thought was echoing through her head when another akuma appeared at their school and she finally had to face Adrien as Ladybug. Acting as if she wasn’t texting him every night, as if she wasn’t aware he liked her, and as if he didn’t know she was in the same school turned out to be almost too much for her. The saddened look in his eyes, when she kept her distance, like her self preservation instincts told her to, was the proverbial cherry on top of everything else - she still saw those eyes hours after the battle.
Me 18:44: Knock knock
Guilt driven she sent the message as soon as she was sure she wouldn’t be interrupted. She had to explain, she had to help him understand. She couldn’t bear the thought of Adrien as miserable as she’d seen him earlier, when he returned to classes - hunched, slumped, dejected.
Why wasn’t he responding though? Usually it took just a few minutes for him to notice her text and reply. Marinette started gnawing at her nails. She finished the rest of her homework and there still was no reply from Adrien.
Me 19:30: Knock knock?
Now she was really worried. It wouldn’t be the first time someone got akumatized over their love life. Had he been depressed enough to call out to Hawkmoth? Damn, it would be her fault, her fault only, if he’d fallen victim to the super villain’s powers. She should have kept her distance. She should stop herself before she encouraged the boy to keep in touch. Barbed wire ball of anxiety settled deep in the pit of her stomach.
Me 20:01: ???
Marinette waited and waited, pacing in circles on her balcony and casting nervous glances at Tikki. The kwami seemed to understand her inner turmoil.
‘If you’re so worried,’ she offered, ‘you can just go and check on him.’
The girl stopped and cast a suspicious look at the sprite. ‘Why do you do this?’ she asked. ‘Why are you encouraging me?’
Tikki shrugged. ‘I just want you to calm down.’
‘No, I don’t mean just now,’ Marinette shook her head. ‘I mean this whole situation.
You
got “lost”,’ she crooked her fingers marking the air quotes, ‘and ended up with Adrien.
You
encouraged me to accept his invitation. You haven’t said a word about us messaging each other, even if this was supposed to be my emergency email for Chat only.’ She crossed her hands in front of her chest. ‘I don’t buy it.’
‘But you’re talking to him,’ the kwami raised her brows. ‘You’re joking, you’re punning. Even if you’re clumsy, you can laugh at yourself. This is called
progress,
’ she added proudly. ‘And if you need the mask to make it, well…’ she shrugged again, ‘better this than nothing, I guess. I hope that with time you’ll be confident enough to do everything you want without the dots.’
‘I… you… what?!’ the girl exclaimed. ‘What about Adrien?!’ she rubbed at her face. ‘Geeez, Marinette doesn’t stand a chance now, do you realize that? He likes Ladybug and he has a direct line to his crush!’ she sank to her knees. ‘And you’re supposed to be the wise one out the two of us,’ she moaned reproachfully reaching for her phone only to find no reply from the boy.
‘I need to check on him,’ she decided. ‘But I’m going to end this, just so you know. It’s too dangerous and it’s unfair to both of us,’ she waved a warning finger at Tikki before calling on her transformation and rushing to the Agreste mansion.
She looped her yoyo on the roof, cursing that Adrien’s room didn’t have an adjacent balcony. Those were really convenient structures, especially when you were a superhero and wanted to check on your civilian friend. Ladybug sighed in relief, when she saw him safe and sound in his room. But he still looked as awful as at school. He held something in the palm of his hand, his thumb grazing lightly over the content.
‘Knock, knock,’ she called, intent on cheering him up, but he didn’t hear her. Instead he reached for his phone and stared at it dumbly.
‘Ekhm,’ she cleared her throat. ‘Are you going to let me in, or should I just hang in there?’ she jested.
Adrien whipped his head to the window. Before his fist closed, Ladybug glimpsed a few familiar looking beads on red string. She raised her eyes to his face. His very rosy face.
‘Hi!’ he squeaked, hiding the fist behind his back. ‘I didn’t expect to see you tonight.’
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
To say Adrien was surprised would be to say half of it. Obviously Ladybug’s sudden appearance startled him, but the origins of the fierce blush that warmed his cheeks were a mystery. He also had absolutely no idea why he decided to hide the lucky bracelet as if it was something the heroine shouldn’t see.
It was silly. He acted as if he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t. His fingers clenched around the beads and he sighed, trying to calm his racing heart.
‘Are you okay?’ Ladybug asked gently, her eyes darting to the hand hidden behind his back.
‘Yeah,’ he muttered. He wished his cheeks would stop burning, but he felt better already. The touch of Marinette’s Lucky Charm bracelet soothed his strained nerves, the sight of his Lady in front of him did the rest. She was clearly worried, but her presence here meant she cared for him. She took his stupid sulking for something more serious and she came, despite her earlier reluctance to meet him again.
‘I’m okay,’ he dropped his eyes to his feet, suddenly ashamed. ‘Sorry I didn’t reply to your messages,’ he mumbled. ‘I was… a bit down, but it’s okay now.’ He cast her a quick glance.
Ladybug studied him for a moment. ‘Look, about today and-’
‘Don’t worry,’ he silenced her raising a hand. ‘I understand, really. I just…’ he sighed, ‘I think I needed some time to accept that. What-’
Only then he noticed she was staring at his hand. He followed her gaze. The red string of the bracelet was dangling from between his fingers. Ladybug was looking at the charm with a mix of awe and surprise, mouth agape. Adrien waved his hand chuckling lightly when her eyes followed the movement as if she was a cat. At the sound of his laughter she snapped out of her reverie.
‘Sorry,’ she giggled sheepishly, ‘I was just intrigued with...,’ she pointed to the bracelet.
‘This?’ he wiggled his fingers and smiled, ‘See, you have your lucky charms and I have mine,’ he stated proudly. ‘This one is more permanent than yours.’
‘And not spotted,’ Ladybug pointed out. ‘It’s pretty.’ She crossed the room in few wide strides and before he noticed she was reaching for the item. ‘May I?’
‘Of course,’ he offered the bracelet in his open hand. ‘But be careful. It’s dear to me.’
She shot him a strange look. ‘Why?’ she asked taking it gently and twisting the string causing the beads to dance happily in front of her eyes.
‘Why?’ he echoed, not understanding what she meant.
‘Why is it dear to you?’ Ladybug added returning the item to his hand.
‘Because it’s important?’ Adrien started and then realized this wasn’t much of an explanation. ‘I got this from one of my first friends at school. I think it brings me luck and the girl who made it... well, she’s super nice,’ he said ducking his head and rubbing the back of his neck. ‘She’s nice like… like that’s her super power or something,’ he offered. ‘I don’t know how she does that, but it’s amazing. Oh, since you’re in our school, you might know her,’ he raised a brow. ‘Her name is Marinette.’
Ladybug gasped, her cheeks becoming increasingly pink and Adrien replayed in his head the last two sentences.
‘Sorry! Sorry!’ he exclaimed. ‘Please don’t be mad! I know I promised Tikki not to mention that, but I really wouldn’t tell anyone,’ he babbled, mentally slapping himself for that slip, ‘but you’re, well,
you
, so you know which school you are in…’
Her hand landed on his shoulder and he trailed off.
‘It’s okay, Adrien,’ she whispered. ‘I know who Marinette is.’
Oh, right, the boy thought, she had been in contact with Marinette during the whole Evillustrator affair and then she somehow hid the girl when Befana was shooting people with candies. But that was Chat’s knowledge, not Adrien’s.
He looked at the bracelet again and then closed his fist over the beads. ‘Yeah, well, Marinette is my friend,’ he bragged. ‘In case you didn’t know, she’s awesome,’ he added wondering why on Earth Ladybug was blushing as intensely as him.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Marinette would have been lying if she said she didn’t like the attention Adrien had been giving Ladybug. The mask allowed her to be more confident and mysterious. Apparently guys liked that, at least according to some teenage magazines. But when she heard him talking about her civilian self with such pride and joy, for a brief second she entertained the thought of dropping the transformation, grabbing his face and kissing him into oblivion.
He genuinely liked her, both sides of her. Well, he obviously thought of Marinette as his friend, but his eyes twinkled when he spoke of her, his lips stretched into a happy smile, his whole demeanor screamed fondness. He held the bracelet as if it was the most precious thing in his possession.
Her resolve to end things with him crumbled to dust under the weight of this realization. Maybe she could eat a cake and still have a cake? She had two identities at her disposal, she could easily be her own wingwoman. Yes, she could work with that. He already liked her. If Tikki was right, she could get confident enough by talking to him and then at some point she wouldn’t need her mask anymore.
‘It’s good to know you’re okay,’ Ladybug smiled softly. ‘I was really worried. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have made such a big deal out of it.’
Adrien beamed at her. ‘I’m glad you came. I missed you.’
She sighed. Not a direction she wanted to take this. ‘Look, Adrien,’ she tried to keep her voice firm, despite the giddy dance of the butterflies in her stomach, ‘I’m still not sure this is such a good idea. Earlier I was afraid you were upset and-’
‘You thought I’d get akumatized?’ Adrien finished her thought. ‘Don’t worry, I think I might be immune,’ he chuckled. ‘Out of our entire class only me and Marinette haven’t been akumatized.’
Ladybug winced. She should think about a reasonable alibi, otherwise people would finally notice. Thank god she wasn’t the only one.
‘There’s always a first time, Adrien,’ she pointed out. ‘I’d hate myself if I was the reason for your akumatization.’
The boy reluctantly put a hand on her arm. ‘Please, don’t worry about me,’ he repeated. ‘Trust me, I know what I’m saying.’ He started rubbing soothing circles over her suit with his thumb, which made it more difficult to focus.
‘You know I trust you,’ she pointed out, doing her best to ignore the pleasant warmth filling her limbs at his touch. ‘You’re the only civilian who has my email. The only one who gets to talk to me like this.’
‘But?’ He raised a brow. His smile dropped from his face but he didn’t step back.
‘But?’ she echoed.
‘There is a “but” in there somewhere,’ he shrugged, ‘the reason you’re pushing me away, you’re closing yourself.’
‘Ah, that “but”,’ she nodded. ‘In that case, yes, there is a huge “but”. All I can offer you is friendship. We both know that we would want more. I’m not blind or deaf, Adrien,’ she locked her eyes with his. ‘I’ve noticed all your hints, subtexts. And I’m not that good at hiding my own feelings. I’ve tried that today during the attack and I sucked at it.’
‘Well, to be fair, you got me convinced,’ he chuckled humorlessly.
‘Yeah, believe me, it took a lot of effort to pretend you’re just another person in the crowd,’ she muttered. ‘I can’t risk something happening to you because of this,’ she gestured between them.
Adrien straightened up. ‘I can take care of myself, I promise.’
‘What if you can’t?’ she whispered, the images of him dangling from the Eiffel Tower in Volpinas grip, soaring to the ground from Tour Montparnasse and escaping Riposte’s blades danced before her eyes. ‘I can’t take that risk. You’d be my Achilles’ heel. An invitation for Hawkmoth. Can’t you see that?’
He sighed, a deep, loud exhale. ‘I can’t convince you, can I?’
‘Sorry,’ she shook her head. ‘I don’t want to see you like this, but I can’t give you what you want. It’s too dangerous and…’
‘And?’
She blinked a few times, aware of the heat crawling from under her mask again. ‘Too distracting,’ she confessed. She climbed to her toes and pressed her lips to his cheek. He gasped and stilled under her touch.
‘Goodnight, Adrien,’ Ladybug whispered into his ear and pulled back. She felt his fingers closing around her wrist, locking her in place.
‘I will be waiting though,’ the boy said, his other hand going to the cheek she just kissed. ‘Maybe you’ll change your mind,’ he added with a small smile.
‘Maybugs don’t fly in June,’ Ladybug shot back turning to the window and he snorted out a laugh.
‘
Touche
, my Lady,’ he uttered under his breath, his voice strangely close to a rumble.
Her eyes snapped back to him. ‘What?’
‘Touche?’ he rasped. ‘Like in fencing when you score?’
‘I know what it means, Adrien,’ Ladybug rolled her eyes. ‘What did you say after that?
‘Nothing,’ he averted his gaze.
‘You said “my Lady”.’ Of course she heard it this time, as well as on a few other occasions when he had stopped himself. Those three syllables sent chills down her spine. It felt so right to hear that from his lips, it terrified her. Because it shouldn’t be right, it should feel wrong, no matter how much she wanted to be his.
‘And what if I did?’ he asked defiantly, crossing his hands over his chest.
‘I’m not your Lady,’ she sighed, ignoring the pleading stutter of her heart. ‘Only my partner gets to call me that. I’d appreciate if you’d restrain from that in the future,’ she cast him one last look and nodded. ‘Goodnight, friend,’ she said, leaping out of the window. She raced off into the night, but she didn’t manage to lose her confusion on the way, no matter how fast she ran.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Adrien woke up with a start. Each and every one of his senses screamed at him that something was wrong. He was in a dark room he didn’t recognize and in a bed that wasn’t his. And he wasn’t alone. Someone was lying beside him under the covers. He pulled himself to a sitting position and tried to make out any details in the scarce moonlight filtering through the curtains. Dark hair on the pillow glimmered in the darkness with that so familiar glint. He gasped.
Ladybug
, but
not
Ladybug. In more ways than one.
For starters, Adrien realized as his heart sped up, she wasn’t transformed and there was definitely
more
of her. She was taller than he remembered, her hair longer, obscuring her face, and her curves… he glimpsed the dip of her waist and hip accented by the sheet she was covered with and he felt heat rushing to his cheeks. Yup, her curves were definitely more pronounced than they should be. This wasn’t his Ladybug, but a grown-up woman. In bed. With him.
Finally he sobered enough to recall the last thing he remembered before waking up. There had been an akuma attack. Whoever got hit, disappeared. He’d been running, looking for a place to transform, when Ladybug swooped him out of the street. As she swung them onto the rooftop she had failed to see DeLorean aiming at her. His instincts took over, he had flipped them so that the ray hit him and not her. And then it all went black.
What happened? Where was he?
When
was he? Adrien inspected his own body, but it looked the way a fourteen year old boy would look like. So if he had been sent to the future, he still was himself. That was a bit of a relief.
He heard Ladybug shifting under the sheets and mumbling something in her sleep. Judging by her uneven breaths that wasn’t a happy dream.
‘Adrien!’ she called, her voice clearly lower than her younger counterpart’s and he swore his heart stopped for a second. That tone, that cry for help, was something reserved for Chat only. If he had been sent to the future, the realization finally sank, then this was
his
future. If DeLorean had been switching people with their aged up versions that meant he landed where his older self was supposed to be. To discover that he was supposed to be in Ladybug’s bed came as quite a shock, but he decided to put that major freak out for later.
Carefully he reached out and touched her back. He felt clumsily, not used to caressing her like this, but she calmed almost instantly. As he started to rub circles over the covers she fell deeper into slumber again.
‘Shhh,’ he soothed, keeping his voice as low as he could, not wanting to alert her. ‘I’m here. I’m here.’
The temptation to brush the dark veil of glimmering hair away and to see her face was getting stronger with every stroke of his fingers.
‘Don’t look,’ he heard a tiny but firm voice, the tone clearly indicating that disobedience was out of the question. ‘You’re not supposed to know her yet, Adrien.’
A red blob appeared in his view as he turned to the source of the voice. He recognized Ladybug’s kwami right away. ‘Long time no see, Tikki,’ he whispered extending a finger in greeting.
‘For you I’m guessing a few days or weeks since our first meeting, since you already know me,’ the sprite replied. ‘For me,’ she smiled tenderly, ‘barely an hour. Of course an hour of not seeing your older self, but with my lifespan, merely a blink either way.’
Adrien cast a look at the sleeping figure.
‘Don’t look!’ Tikki chided again.
He ducked his head resisting the impulse. ‘This isn’t how I find out who she is?’
‘No,’ the kwami replied sadly. ‘Your presence here is an accident, but it’s even more important that you don’t look.’
That sounded ominous. ‘Why?’
Tikki studied him for a long moment. ‘How old are you now?’ she finally asked.
‘Fourteen. Why do you ask?’
‘Then it still hasn’t happened for you,’ she gnawed at her lower lip, considering something. ‘It’s difficult to keep track of time when you’re so old.’
‘What hasn’t happened yet?’
‘Another source of her nightmares,’ the sprite replied cryptically.
Adrien had nothing to say to that. The superhero job took its toll. He saw it in Ladybug’s eyes when she came to check on him. He knew how his own dreams looked like. Something warm and tiny touched his cheek.
‘You too have had your share of nightmares over the years,’ Tikki murmured tenderly, running her paw under his eye. ‘She’s not the only one who needs comfort, you know.’
‘How-... how often does this happen,’ he swallowed, trying not to think too much about himself. ‘For how long…?’
‘It started shortly after Gorizilla,’ the little sprite sighed. ‘When you took that jump. Then things sort of piled up, with you being recklessly heroic on both sides of the mask until…’ her voice trembled.
‘Until she knew I was Chat?’ Adrien ventured.
Tikki scrunched her nose. ‘I can’t really tell you that, Adrien.’
‘Please, I have to know,’ he whispered frantically. ‘I don’t want to hurt her. If something happens in my future, something terrifying enough to be the fuel for nightmares I need to know.’
The kwami shook her head. ‘It doesn’t work like this, Adrien. You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t have seen her like this. Not yet.’
‘Do you want me to beg?’ he couldn’t hide his desperation anymore. ‘Because I will if you want me to.’
She put her paws over his palm. ‘The less you know, the safer you are. What’s coming... ‘ she hesitated. ‘It is going to be difficult, but at the same time it will bring good things. Things you’re waiting for.’
‘What things?’
‘This,’ she gestured to the room, the bed and its occupant. ‘The future you wanted.’
Adrien looked around the dark space. It wasn’t a room of a teenager. This was a bedroom of a couple of adults. Women and men’s clothes hung in the opened closet. Some cosmetics and personal belonging were scattered over the bedside table. He couldn’t asses Ladybug’s age, not without looking at her closer, but she must have been at least a few years older than him, already in her twenties, judging by her figure. If he considered the moment couples usually could afford living together in Paris, the resulting age was even closer to thirty.
‘When?’ He scratched the back of his head. ‘When is this?’
Tikki frowned. ‘I can’t tell you that. But it’s obviously not going to be your tomorrow.’
He nodded taking a deep breath and trying to remember every accessible detail as best as he could. The warmth of Ladybug’s body seeping through the covers, her deep and even breaths, the quiet shuffling of her feet under the sheets, the sounds of the street outside, the play of moonlight on the bed and walls, the scent of fresh linen, chocolate cookies and perfume. The lingering note of camembert. He recognized the slightly sour scent of his own sweat mixed with a sweet note of something flowery. Something he didn’t know he already had memorized. Ladybug’s fragrance, he thought with a smile. She always smelled like home and now he knew why.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Not again, Ladybug sighed inwardly. One moment her hands were full of Adrien as she was trying to get him to safety, and in the next one the boy was gone with a loud pop. The loss of weight mid flight screwed her trajectory enough to send her right into a billboard with, oh sweet irony,
Adrien the Fragrance
ad. She smacked into the cardboard face of her crush and with the grace of slime she slid to the ground.
She braced herself for the inevitable meeting with the pavement, but it never came. Instead Ladybug found herself in the arms of a stranger who caught her and before she even had time to blink he took off in the direction of the nearest archway. There was something disturbingly familiar about the way he carried her, as well as about the scent she picked up from the black t-shirt she was currently pressed to, but she didn’t have time to dwell on that too long. Her (hopefully) savior ducked into the doorway and slammed the door shut behind them.
He deposited her gently on the ground and bent down with hands on his knees to catch a breath. All she could see was a mop of golden blonde hair and muscular yet lean frame of a young male.
‘I’m getting to old for this,’ he rasped, panting. ‘Just give me a second, and we can get back there, okay?’
A second? What was he talking about? Getting back there? With a civilian?
Not a chance, mister!
Ladybug thought.
‘Look, sir,’ she pulled herself up to her full height. Despite him bending down his head was at the same level as her. ‘Thank you for the save, I really appreciate it, but I can’t allow a civilian to go out there and face a super villain.’
‘Well, I can’t allow you to face him alone,’ the stranger murmured matter-of-factly. There was a hint of smirk in his voice, though she still couldn’t see his face. Yet his pleasantly low voice made her toes curl. Another flash of familiarity ran through her system.
‘Excuse you!’ she scoffed. ‘Who do you think you are?’
The man straightened up and locked his eyes with hers. His gorgeous green eyes. And yes, just like she suspected, his lips were stretched in a cheeky smirk.
Ladybug opened and closed her mouth a few times, but no sound came out. Her eyes skipped over the handsome face surrounded by the sun-kissed strands, over sharp cheekbones, well defined jawline, and then turned lower to the broad shoulders and nicely chiseled chest, wrapped snugly in the black fabric of his Jagged Stone ‘25 tour tee. Her gaze darted to where the t-shirt disappeared under the waistband of plaid pajama pants and down his long legs. She gulped, her throat suddenly going dry. At the sound of chuckling she snapped back to his face.
His smirk widened, as if he took pleasure in her ogling him. He put his hands on his hips and cocked a brow, her reaction clearly amusing him.
‘Is this a trick?’ she finally asked. ‘DeLorean’s illusion or something?’ She knew the akuma hadn’t displayed a power like that, but who knew what he was capable of. For if she had to put a name to the man standing in front of her, there was only one that would fit. But it was impossible, because that man was merely a boy as far as she knew and had disappeared from her embrace just a moment ago. No one could gain ten or fifteen years so quickly.
And then the man spoke again, with a sassy lilt to his deep, velvet purr. ‘Your hair shines like the sun,’ he began, ‘your eyes are gorgeous green. I look at you and wonder your innermost thoughts and dreams,’ he recited barely above whisper not taking his eyes off her. ‘Yes, your Valentine I will be, our love will be so true, together for eternity, my heart belongs to you,’ he finished with a self-satisfied wink, strangely out of place on his angelic face.
Ladybug’s brain must have short circuited, because apparently the connection between her head and her mouth was down again.
‘Still not sure, my Lady?’ he tilted his head. ‘Well, then, I need to jog your memory some more,’ he smiled, but this time it wasn’t cocky but soft and bright.
‘Your hair is dark as night,’ he reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. ‘Your pretty bluebell eyes,’ his fingers traced the edge of her mask and she stood still as if his voice turned her into stone. ‘I wonder who you are beneath that strong disguise. Every day we see each other and I hope that you’ll be mine,’ he took a step back. ‘Together our love could be so true, please, will you be my Valentine?’
He looked at her expectantly, patiently waiting for her reaction. Ladybug tried to focus despite the intensity of the emerald stare piercing her. She had no idea what happened to the valentine she’d sent to Adrien. It hadn’t been signed, so how would he know the words would be familiar to her? And the poem Adrien had thrown away on that faithful Valentine’s Day was now reverently stored in the safety of her diary and its magic-proof chest. There was no way anyone would get access to it. So how did this man know what had been written on those two cards? Unless of course he’d written one of them, and received the other, and… then talked about it with its author?
‘Adrien?’ she uttered, as if trying to convince herself.
The man bowed with a flourish. ‘In flesh and blood, my Lady.’
Ladybug tried to ignore the frantic flutter of her heart. ‘I’m not your Lady,’ she glowered at him. He might have been older, but the rule for that nickname still stood.
‘Indeed, you’re not,’ he agreed and added with a smug smile. ‘Yet.’
She bristled and opened up her mouth to snap at him, but he put out his hands in a conciliatory gesture, chuckling lightly. ‘I’m just teasing,’ he snickered. ‘I haven’t meant to offend you, Ladybug.’
What he had found amusing in this situation was beyond her. A loud crash outside diverted her attention from the smirking blond.
‘Nevermind,’ she shook her head, but ignoring the drop-dead-gorgeous grown-up version of Adrien was proving to be a Herculean task. ‘You’re still a civilian, even if a gorgeous one- I mean! even if an older,
an older one
!’ she tripped over her tongue but he only smiled at her kindly. ‘ That’s what I meant, yeah! Chat will be here any second now. He must have heard about the attack,’ she slid out her yoyo to call her partner, but he was still unreachable, hence untransformed.
‘And if he doesn’t come?’ Older Adrien supplied.
‘He will,’ Ladybug stated confidently. ‘He always comes.’
The man frowned at her. ‘Always?’
She pursed her lips. ‘Okay, there were a few times when he wasn’t there or was really late,’ she admitted reluctantly. ‘But that’s not a reason not to trust him.’
‘Oh, I’m not saying you shouldn’t trust him,’ Adrien interjected. ‘Just that he really might not make it and assuming that he
always
does is a bit of a stretch in this case, don’t you think?’ he blinked at her innocently. ‘Besides, I
remember
this akuma, and I distinctly recall that this time he wasn’t there. But I’m here,’ he pointed his thumb at his own chest. ‘I’m here, I know what happened and I can really help you.’
Ladybug gave him a long and thoughtful stare. She noted with satisfaction that he wiggled uncomfortably and the smug smile disappeared from his handsome face.
‘Okay,’ she decided. ‘But you let me do all the heavy lifting. No risking for you, sir.’
Older Adrien nodded. ‘Believe me, I’ve learned that lesson. After you m-, I mean Ladybug,’ he gestured to the door.
Even long after the battle was won, the swarms of Ladybugs took the older Adrien to his time and returned everyone zapped away by DeLorean, Ladybug couldn’t shake off the thought nagging at her mind. Not so long ago she had chided young Adrien for using the nickname “my Lady”, openly declaring how it was reserved for Chat. She wondered what made future Ladybug change her mind after all.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Arms wrapped around his legs, chin on his knees. A blonde ball of misery and confusion named Adrien sat on the white sofa and bit his lip.
‘You know what you need, kid?’ Plagg chirped. ‘A nice piece of camembert. It does wonders for your stomach and any existential crisis.’
‘Thanks, Plagg. I’m not hungry,’ the ball murmured into his pajama pants.
‘Whatever you saw in there, couldn’t be this bad,’ the little cat plopped himself next to his Chosen. For the past half an hour he had been trying to find out what happened to Adrien during the akuma attack, and now he was clearly worried. He never had been so attentive before.
‘It wasn’t,’ the boy sighed. ‘Me and Ladybug will be a couple.’
‘That’s…,’ Plagg dropped his ears, ‘well, I can’t say that’s a surprise. But this is good, right?’
‘Right,’ Adrien breathed and rubbed his chin into his knees.
‘Wow, you’re so happy you’re about to explode,’ the kwami muttered under his breath. ‘Considering how not so long you were moping about how Ladybug is immune to your wooing.’
‘Well, it’s not the result that worries me,’ the boy finally confessed. ‘It’s the journey. Tikki said,’ he chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully, ‘she said something bad happens.’
‘Tikki said that?’ the little cat was authentically taken aback. ‘She never tells anything important.’
Adrien shrugged, ‘She didn’t. She wouldn’t tell me anything. But the way she said it makes me scared of what’s coming.’
Plagg’s whiskers sank. ‘Occupational risk?’ he ventured. ‘Being a superhero is not a piece of cake.’
‘I guess, I never saw it that way,’ the boy drawled.
‘Ooops!’ the kwami shot at him and zapped back, phasing through the sofa.
‘Ooops?’ Adrien followed the movement, knitting his brows. ‘That’s all you have to say about that?’
‘What do you want me to say?’ a feminine voice came from the window. Adrien turned his head back so fast he almost got a whiplash.
‘Hi!’ Ladybug gave him a shy wave. ‘Can I come in?’
‘Y-yeah,’ he uttered, jumping to his feet and gesturing her to come inside.
‘I just wanted to check if you were okay after DeLorean,’ the heroine hopped onto the the floor and hugged herself. He noticed she seemed to lack her usual confidence and she swayed a bit.
‘I’m fine,’ Adrien replied automatically, earning a glare from her.
‘You don’t look fine,’ she pointed out.
‘Neither do you,’ he snapped and backpedalled immediately. ‘Sorry,’ he said sheepishly. ‘Maybe I’m not as fine as I thought. Sit down?’ he asked.
Ladybug looked like she was about to collapse from exhaustion. She didn’t argue, just sank to the sofa, grateful for the offer. She rested her head on the back of the couch and sighed.
Adrien took a deep breath. ‘I think we need to talk.’
‘About what?’ she hummed. Her eyes were closed, but he thought it was more to avoid his gaze, than to actually relax.
He strolled to his desk and pulled out a piece of paper from a secret compartment. ‘Here,’ he passed it to Ladybug.
She took it and unrolled, frowning at the content.
‘Returning this is more of a symbolic gesture, I guess,’ Adrien scratched the back of his neck as she kept staring at the paper with her secret email scribbled on it. ‘But I think you were right, we shouldn’t see each other or interact in any other way. That was a bad idea.’
‘Why?’
‘I can’t…’ he hesitated. ‘It’s difficult to explain, but in our future-’
‘
Our
future?!’ she gasped. ‘Y-you saw me in the future?’
He winced. ‘Kinda?’ I mean I knew it was you but I didn’t see your face. I mean, I don’t know who you are under the mask. But Tikki was there so...’ he trailed off.
‘I was in your future?’ Ladybug whispered.
‘Yeah, we were… I mean we will be…’ he shook his head. ‘It’s complicated and Tikki warned me not to tell anyone what I’ve seen or heard.’
‘So you won’t be writing to me anymore?’ she asked. ‘Or invite me anywhere? Is that what you wanted to say?’
‘Basically, yes,’ he nodded. ‘But… I feel I should… look for you? The real you?’
‘The real me?’ she echoed.
‘You’re somewhere there, somewhere near, and maybe you need a friend,’ he tried to explain, but no words could describe how he felt. He wasn’t sure himself how to shape those thoughts. ‘But I can’t see you, because I’m,’ he chuckled, ‘blinded by the spots.’
‘But you can’t know who I am,’ Ladybug worried her lower lip.
‘I know, but… if we end up together I feel it’s not fair to you if I don’t find you,’ he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was saying it wrong but he had no idea how to say it right.
‘Together?’ Ladybug’s eyes got as big as saucers. ‘If we end up together?’
‘Tikki said I should just wait, but I can’t,’ Adrien admitted. ‘I get that contacting you on this side of the mask is a mistake, that’s why I’m returning this and I won’t be writing again, but… I can’t just
wait
.’
‘Why?’ she breathed. She stilled, palms clenched, and eyes warry.
He pursed his lips and dropped his gaze to his feet. He couldn’t tell her about the nightmares. About the bad thing that was coming. He didn’t really know anything substantial. It was just a hunch, just a feeling slowly creeping down his spine and making his blood run cold. The tone of her voice, broken and hurt, when she called his name. He needed to find her before he starts haunting her dreams. Never in his life did he feel so helpless as in this moment - unable to tell her anything, but reluctant to let her go. Scared of what was coming, but also excited for it. Their paths were tangled in so many ways, fate must have had its fingers in that. Even if he could, he wouldn’t know how to start explaining.
‘I think you know why,’ he said instead, his voice soft and tender. He tried to contain what he felt for her in every syllable, in silent confession of love and devotion, hoping she’d know.
Her lips formed a perfect “O” as she mused upon his words. The reddening of her cheeks told him she understood that at least. She crumpled the paper with her e-mail in her red fist.
‘I don’t know what to say to that,’ she admitted.
Adrien shrugged, ‘I don’t really expect you to say anything. I’m confused myself.’
Ladybug nodded, then gave him a searching look. For a moment he thought she saw past the polite façade of the model boy and into his Noir soul, but she blinked, and the sensation was lost.
She scrunched her nose. ‘I’ll be going then. I guess I’ll see you around,’ she chuckled humorlessly. ‘Thank you.’
Was it his imagination, or did she actually look smaller, when she climbed to the window and swung away?
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It wasn’t fair. Her brilliant plan of romancing Adrien as Marinette with Ladybug’s encouragement had been busted by the boy himself even before she could set it into motion. On the other hand maybe it was for the best. At least it didn’t get the chance to backfire, like every plan before that.
After Adrien’s declaration that he’d find Ladybug on the other side of the mask Marinette was terrified. It was like a trap. He was so close to her on a daily basis, plus with Nino and Alya dating avoiding him was nearly impossible. Besides, she didn’t want to avoid him. On the contrary, she needed to keep an eye on him, because with every passing week Adrien only looked more and more depressed. It was their last year of college. After the end of the school year they would go to other schools, so understandably he was all the more desperate to find the heroine while he still had the opportunity.
She was the only person who knew the reason for his state. Their classmates suspected the pressure of the exams and decisions to be made, but Adrien had no trouble with those. He was looking for Ladybug and Marinette was afraid what the fruitlessness of his quest might bring upon him. So she made sure to remain one of his closest friends. She tried to cheer him up, to divert his attention from the task he’d appointed himself with. To keep him distracted and occupied with Alya and Nino’s assistance. They even threw him a birthday party at Nino’s when he turned fifteen. Their friends were hoping for the two of them to get together, especially with the amount of time Marinette was dedicating to spend with Adrien, she was sure of that.
But Adrien’s confession made her realize, that he might discover her secret if she makes her feelings known. He enjoyed her company at least, always eager to spend time with her. Still the few times she caught him staring were enough to almost give her a heart attack. She also saw him observing other students, especially when akuma struck. Some of them he even approached, although the hesitant interactions always made him more dejected afterwards.
When the gifts started coming, they scared the life out of her. They weren’t frequent - once every few days something small but meaningful would appear in her locker. A postcard with ice cream print on it, an origami flower, a bottle of rhubarb lemonade, a ladybug keychain. All with a little card “for Ladybug” attached to them. All from
him
. The handwriting didn’t lie. The only thing that helped her to keep her sanity was that Adrien didn’t seem to act differently towards her - either on a daily basis with Marinette, or during the occasional attack with Ladybug.
She was careful. She never took the gifts out when there were people around, and a few times she even smuggled them out of the locker room using her super alter ego. Still, just to be on the safe side she photoshopped a picture of herself, pasting Ladybug next to her and including a short dedication and an autograph from the spotted hero of Paris. It looked good enough to fool Alya (who whistled appreciatively) and Chloe (who bit her pencil in half). Adrien was very enthusiastic and admitted he’s a little bit jealous. But other than that, he showed no signs of surprise, as if he wasn’t suspecting her to hide under Ladybug’s mask. Then how those gifts found their way to her locker?
And then one day Marinette opened the locker door only to find Plagg sprawled over her belongings and inspecting the card on the latest gift - a box of fancy chocolates.
‘Ewww,’ he said as a way of greeting. ‘Your secret admirer doesn’t have a taste,’ he complained. ‘I bet if he had given you proper cheese, you’d be his already.’
‘It’s you?!’ Marinette exclaimed eloquently at the sight of the little black flying cat.
‘Yes?’ Plagg seemed totally unperturbed. ‘Who were you expecting? The Little Mouse?’
‘Did you bring those gifts?’
The kwami collapsed in laughter. ‘Not the Little Mouse, but
Père Noël now?
’ he cackled.
She huffed in exasperation and stomped her foot. ‘Then what are you doing here?! Shouldn’t you be with Chat now?’
‘Ah, I need to talk to Tikki,’ Plagg wiped a joyous tear from his cheek and eyed Marinette’s purse. ‘Kwami business,’ he added tapping the tip of his nose.
The red sprite popped her head up. ‘What do you want?’
He wiggled his brows meaningfully. ‘
Kwami
business,’ he repeated with emphasis. ‘Can you leave us here for the next lesson, Ladybug?’ he turned to the girl. ‘I promise I’ll get back to Chat directly after that.’
Marinette sent Tikki a questioning look. The sprite nodded and zipped into her locker. The girl carefully closed the door. Just before she left she heard Plagg’s hushed voice.
‘This is bad, Tikki. I’m really worried…’
‘Shhhh, keep your voice down,’
the girl recognized her kwami’s voice and then the sound of shuffling as the two sprites buried themselves in her things.
She shrugged and turned to leave, running into Adrien at the door. Actually it was
him
who ran into her, sending her backpack and purse flying to the floor.
‘Gosh, I’m so sorry,’ he cried helping her to her feet. ‘Allow me!’ he threw himself to his knees to pick up her belongings.
Even in her stunned state she couldn’t help noticing, how careful he was while picking up every item and placing it in the backpack. Then he picked her purse and before she could stop him, he opened it and pulled out her phone. A flicker of disappointment danced on his face, but it was quickly replaced with a model smile.
‘Oh, thank god,’ he sighed in relief. ‘I didn’t break it,’ he put it back in her hands, his fingers lingering over hers a little bit longer than necessary. ‘Wait a second,’ he asked. ‘Let me take my history book and we can go to classroom together?’
Marinette nodded silently. She used the time he spent fetching his book to calm her racing heart. This was a close call. Too close for her liking.
‘Let’s go!’ Adrien brought her back from her musings. He offered her a hand and shot a bright smile. But it never reached his eyes.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
He’d been so sure and yet it wasn’t her. It wasn’t Marinette.
Plagg wouldn’t tell him where he’d been taking the gifts, but Adrien thought he saw him loitering near his friend’s locker. It was worth a shot. A carefully orchestrated one. But there was no trace of the chocolates in Marinette’s backpack. There was no kwami in her purse, where he expected to find Tikki. He even imagined the red sprite pretending to be a plushie should anyone discover her. Adrien wasn’t anyone. Adrien knew Tikki.
His time was up.
School year was almost over. Even if Ladybug wasn't a final year student he’d be leaving for lycee. Besides it didn’t matter anymore, he thought bitterly. He believed he’d found her. It all clicked together. It made perfect sense that it would be Marinette. He thought his heart had led him to her.
His heart had lied.
He’d fallen in love with the wrong girl and now it was tearing him apart.
Adrien didn’t wait for the end of the lessons. He excused himself from classes. Marinette’s presence, the highlight of his days, suddenly became too much, as his guts filled with guilt. He hid in the library and gazed at the lucky bracelet he’d been wearing on his wrist all the time.
Where was his luck now? Where was his Lady Luck?
Not only did he fail in his quest, but he also made another mess. How was he supposed to be with future Ladybug, if there was a second girl in his heart? Things would have been much simpler if he just knew who hid behind that red mask. Adrien felt the anger and regret bubbling inside him. Somewhere at the back of his mind a tiny voice of reason squeaked that his obsession was driving him insane and destroying him from inside. It sounded suspiciously like Plagg, but Plagg wasn’t here. The tiny voice was quickly clamored down by his despair and disappointment.
He set his jaw and clenched his teeth, failing to hear the flutter of the purple butterfly that landed on the bracelet.
*
It seems like our goals align
,*
A voice in his head spoke in deep, treacle dripping tone. *
You wanted to save someone you loved, you wanted to be with them. And yet you were denied because of a silly mask. I also strive to reunite with my loved one and like you, I’m constantly denied because of that same mask.
*
Adrien froze and listened to the words echoing in his brain. The anger he felt earlier coursed through him pouring into his veins like hot iron. There were other emotions but they dimmed and hid deeper within his core, while he listened, unable to shut the voice down, unwilling to escape, as it seeped the poison into his mind.
*
Fate is cruel to lovers
,*
the voice crooned.
*
All you wanted was a chance with a girl you love. But because of her you’re falling apart
.*
Adrien nodded. The voice was right. Was this his own voice? They clearly knew what was happening to him. The boy already felt lighter, relieved that his emotions weren’t dismissed but accepted. He found compassion. The voice cared about him when no one else would.
*
I can help you and you can help me,*
the velvety whispering continued.
*I can give you the power to unmask her. To find out who she is under those spots.
Find her and you can save her! She’ll have you. She won’t be needing the mask anymore. No more akuma. No more madness.
*
The reasoning was flawless. When Adrien learns Ladybug’s identity
he
can protect her. She won’t have to risk her life and identity day after day. She trusted him, she said that herself. Without the threat of akuma they could finally get on with their lives. How had he not thought about it earlier? It made perfect sense!
He relaxed his muscles, the wave of acceptance washing through him, as the remaining edge of resistance melted under the sheer pressure of his new goal. It didn’t disappear though. Adrien could feel it lurking somewhere over his skin, like a grain of sand causing mild discomfort. He decided to ignore it, as long as it stayed out of his way.
*I want that*
, he thought.
*
Then we have a deal,*
the voice sounded relieved and anxious.
Adrien’s skin tingled as black mist covered him from head to toe. It was different than transforming.
*
Transforming?*
He thought of the times he’d been hit by akuma’s power. When he was captured with Pixelator’s ray or touched by Despair Bear. He felt similar tingling then, but it was a fraction of the sensation rushing through him now.
*
Really? Despair Bear touched you?*
*Why would you ask that?*
, Adrien mused.
*
Professional interest?*
the voice offered.
Oh, this was understandable.
The mist disappeared and Adrien felt like a new man. His misery dulled in the light of his mission, converting the anger and distress into his fuel. It was exhilarating.
*What do I do now?*
he wondered.
*
Since you’re a new man, son, you need a new name,*
the voice announced.
Strange choice of a term of endearment, but Adrien dismissed it. Different people had different mannerisms. It wasn’t the first time he heard this nickname. He looked at himself instead, inspecting his refreshed appearance.
His body was covered with red material, similar to Ladybug’s spandex, but without the dots. It was a slim fit suit, Adrien realized, with impeccable cut corresponding to newest trends in fashion. His hands were black as far as he could see, clad in fitting leather gloves. There was a black embroidery over his sleeve where his bracelet had been, in the exact shape of the beads; a stylish accent against the redness of the fabric.
He inspected his clothes in the glass of the nearest bookcase. The collar of a black shirt peeked from under the red jacket and vest. The boy fixed the crimson tie that completed the look. He was quite content that he would get to meet the girl behind the mask wearing something this tasteful.
*Spotificator,* the treacle poured into his thoughts again. *Ladybug is the person who matters to you. It will be easier to find her, if everyone else disappears. Remember, that when you take away her miraculous, your troubles will finally be over.*
A weapon appeared in his hands. A black paintball marker. This was going to be
fun
.
Spotificator turned around the corner and noticed the librarian. He aimed and shot a black ball of paint in her direction. On contact it covered her whole body and the figure disappeared with a splashy sound. He looked at the sleeve of his jacket. A black dot bloomed on the red material.
Eager to test the rule, he fired his weapon at the group of students sitting at the nearby table. A set of new dots appeared on his right leg. Things seemed to be working nicely. He ignored another grain of sand that was causing an itch somewhere under his clothes and stepped outside of the library.
‘Ladybug!’ He boomed from the stairs, enjoying the view of the school’s interior. ‘It’s time for you to come to spotlight! I’m here to save you, for the days of your struggle are finally over!’
He was answered with cries of fear and sounds of running feet. Now that wouldn’t do. How would he find the person he was looking for in this chaos? He threw his hand to the side and all the doors and windows to the school closed in an instant, the shutters falling down.
*Resistance is futile,*
he snickered inwardly and was met with three fat question marks.
*???*
Nevermind, he sighed, aiming the marker casually at another group of students. A collection of black spots now adorned his left sleeve. He set off down the stairs eliminating person after person to get him a better view once he finds Ladybug.
He was already stepping over the basketball court when the sight of blue pigtails caught his attention.
Gotcha.
Spotificator made a quick turn and ran under the stairs to cut the way to the locker room only to be met by a startled blue gaze of Marinette.
‘It’s you,’ he breathed. That was a face he’d somehow forgotten in the past few minutes. How could he forget that face?
The girl looked at the black lucky charm bracelet embroidery on his sleeve.
‘Adrien,’ her voice trembled.
He shook his head raising the gun.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
‘Adrien.’Marinette cursed her voice for cracking in such situation.Spotificator shook his head sadly and aimed his weapon at her.She had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. She could only pray for Chat Noir to come to her rescue now. But somewhere deep inside she didn’t even care. This was her fault, her responsibility and she failed to protect the person she loved from this fate. She deserved this.His hand trembled.‘You’re not her,’ he drawled, his brow furrowing.Marinette saw him curling his finger over the trigger. His whole hand tensed. He looked at the gun, then at her again. She noticed that his irises lost their enchanting green color and turned acid purple instead.‘This doesn’t concern you,’ he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut. ‘Go. Go now .’She didn’t need to be told twice. She bolted for the locker room wincing at the sound of pulled trigger and the cries behind her back.‘Who’s been akumatized?’ Tikki phased through the locker door.‘Adrien,’ Marinette panted, pursing her lips. ‘It’s my fault. I think he figured me out but then he thought I couldn't be Ladybug.’‘Why is that?’ the kwami cast a worried look at the locker.‘He ran into me right after I left you here and he then started going through my things, as if he’d been looking for something,’ the girl recalled. ‘He even took a look at the purse,’ she pointed to the pink bag usually occupied by the red sprite.Tikki covered her mouth to prevent the horrified gasp. ‘You need to transform,’ she ordered.‘In a second,’ Marinette raised a finger. ‘He… he let me go… like this,’ she gestured to her civilian attire. ‘He’s looking specifically for Ladybug, so maybe Chat could try-’At that a black blob emerged from her locker.‘You’re still here?!’ the girl cried. ‘Where’s Chat?’Plagg locked his eyes with Tikki. His ears lay flat against his head and his whiskers dropped miserably. His counterpart shook her head but he only gave her a determinant glare.‘I’m afraid you’re on your own, Ladybug,’ the little cat muttered, ignoring the frantic waving of Tikki’s paws. ‘Chat Noir won’t be coming today.’Marinette looked at the door to the locker room. More cries could be heard from the courtyard.‘Chat won’t be…,’ she echoed, looking back at the distressed black kwami. ‘Chat…, oh Chat ,’ she moaned, the realization hitting her like Gorizilla’s fist.Her mind instantly filled with scenes from previous battles, her own private horror show. Adrien taking a hit from Dark Cupid for her. Chat almost getting sliced in half by rabid Riposte. Adrien disappearing under Timebreaker’s touch. Chat falling to his demise from Tour Montparnasse, while she had waited for him to step in and save the day. Adrien being possessed by Puppeteer. Chat running with her to escape Gamer’s shots. Adrien cataclysming Troublemaker’s pen.‘Oi, girl!’ Plagg’s voice managed to break the terrifying spectacle. She zeroed her eyes on the paws snapping in front of her face. ‘This is not the bit where your life passes in front of your eyes!’ he hollered.‘Plagg!’ Tikki hissed.The little cat flicked Marinette’s nose once he got her attention. ‘This is the bit where you go out there and kick butts!’ he grinned at her.Next to him the red sprite gasped.Plagg rolled his eyes. ‘Preferably metaphorically ,’ he amended. ‘Hey, if you want to confuse him, we can do the Lady Noir trick again.’Marinette bit her lip. ‘How would that help exactly?’‘Well, like you said, he’s after Ladybug ,’ the black kwami supplied.‘But he’s under akuma’s influence, Plagg,’ Tikki pointed out. ‘She’ll need to use Lucky Charm.’‘You never know when you might need a cataclysm,’ he pouted.The girl rubbed a finger behind his ears. ‘I’ll go as Ladybug, but please, stay with me?’ she asked. He blinked at her happily and moved away as she called on her transformation, then hid in one of her pigtails. She could feel his tiny paws gripping the ribbon.She checked the windows, but all the shutters were closed. Getting through the ventilation system was not a preferable way as it wouldn’t allow her to counter attacks. She stopped in front of the door and put her ear to the wood.Silence. How could she check if the coast was clear?As if reading her mind Plagg left her hair and phased through the wall next to the door. A few seconds later he was back.‘This side of school is empty,’ he announced. ‘Judging by the cries, he’s on the second level now.’‘Okay,’ Ladybug nodded. ‘Hold on to something,’ she warned stepping to the courtyard.She clutched her yoyo until her knuckles hurt. There was no plan this time. Spotificator was after her, he was making people disappear only to grab her attention, she figured out this much. But there was no telling what he’d do once he finds her. He wouldn’t shoot at her, he’d want her miraculous. What other powers did he have at his command?Ladybug thought she was being sneaky when she heard someone landing lightly behind her. She spun around only to catch the villain pushing himself up from a crouch with a cat-like grace. His clothes were now covered in a myriad of dots of all sizes. She felt dizzy at the thought of all the people he must have hit.‘Found you!’ Spotificator called stretching his lips in a grin. ‘Now we can end this once and for all, Ladybug,’ he reached out to her. ‘Give me your miraculous, please.’‘No.’His face twisted in a surprised frown. ‘No?’‘No,’ she repeated and then recalled how he let Marinette go, when everyone else got zapped into spots on his suit. ‘I know you’re in there, Adrien,’ she stated softly. ‘You can fight him. You can disobey him.’‘Why would I?’‘Because this isn’t you! Adrien wouldn’t want this to happen,’ she pleaded.‘I am Adrien and I wanted this to happen,’ he put a hand on his chest. ‘I wanted to find you. To save you.’‘It’s not me who needs saving,’ she countered.‘Give me your miraculous,’ he reiterated. ‘Show me your face.’Ladybug shook her head. ‘I can’t do that.’‘Then you leave me no choice,’ he shrugged and raised his gun.His hand started shaking and he watched it with a mix of disdain and amazement.‘See, you can resist! I know you can!’ she cried triumphantly, pointing to the marker.The hand holding the weapon jerked as if trying to act on its own and a red ball of paint shot out of the barrel. Ladybug leaped and rolled to the side, dodging it at the last moment. She heard his steps as he followed her.‘Lucky Charm!’ she called ducking under the stairs.She caught the object and stopped dead in her tracks. For the first time the Lucky Charm wasn’t spotted. She raised it to her eyes. The only red thing on it was the string. The beads dangling from it were most certainly neither red nor black: a few tiny blue and green, a few caramel brown, two distinctively familiar - a bird at the central position, and a bell at the end. This was the bracelet Adrien had given her for her birthday. How Tikki pulled that off was beyond her.Ladybug looked around in search of ideas on how to use the Lucky Charm when Spotificator caught her arm.‘Don’t run from me,’ he seeped through clenched teeth.As she looked at him black dots danced over her vision. She waved the hand with the Charm in front of his eyes.‘Recognize this?’He froze, zeroing on the bracelet. ‘Where did you get that?’‘Remember who you gave this to?’ Ladybug asked. ‘Remember her?’‘Yes,’ he whispered, voice trembling. His free hand clutched at the bead-shaped embroidery. A tremor ran over his body.‘Remember her,’ she repeated. ‘And fight him .’Spotificator’s features contorted into a grimace of pain. He breathed heavily as his fist clenched and unclenched over the gun’s handle. A single tear rolled down his cheek but he didn’t take his eyes off the Lucky Charm.‘That’s right,’ Ladybug encouraged. ‘I know you can do this, Adrien. Just a little bit more,’ she scooted closer and put her hand over his on the sleeve.He turned to look at her as purple and green lights flickered in his eyes.The gun fired.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Adrien opened his eyes and saw the bracelet he’d made for Marinette dangling from a red-gloved hand. Fear twisted his stomach.‘Where did you get that?’ he asked though he had no idea who was he talking to. Right now there was only him and the bracelet in this universe.
‘Remember who you gave this to? Remember her?’
He couldn’t make out the source of that voice. It seemed to be coming from all directions at once.‘Yes,’ he whispered, voice trembling. Marinette’s face filled his mind and suddenly sharp pain pierced his right hand. He clutched at the place surprised there was nothing there that could cause it. He shuddered as another wave of pain coursed through his body, almost knocking him out. He concentrated on the bracelet and the pain subsided to manageable levels. ‘Remember her. And fight him ,’ the ubiquitous voice instructed.Adrien did as he was told. He trusted that voice, even if he had no idea why. Glimpses of memories slid into his consciousness. Marinette’s empty purse, his lucky charm bracelet, a purple butterfly, a red suit, paintball marker, him strolling through school corridors firing a weapon...Oh, god. What had he done? * Stop. You haven’t completed your task yet.* Another voice. The poison it seeped into his mind. The things it made him do. *Spotificator. You have to focus on the task*, the voice spoke again, pouring like sugary syrup into his thoughts and drowning his panic in liquid comfort. *You are so close. She’s right in front of you. Just take her miraculous and it’s done*. *No.* he thought. Something wasn’t right. Someone was calling to him, but he couldn’t make the words through the fog that filled his head. *No?* the voice spat. *No?! How dare you refuse me after I’ve given you so much? After I’ve helped you find the girl you love?* *This isn’t right.* Adrien thought. *I don’t want to do this.* *We’ve made a deal,* the voice ranted. *You’re in my power now!*At that the pain returned. It squeezed the air out of his lungs. It caught his head in a vise grip. It tried to take command of his limbs. Tried to shut his eyes. *NO!* Adrien thought defiantly. He fought to keep his eyes open up to the point they started tearing up.‘That’s right,’ someone spoke in front of him. He felt the weight of a hand on his wrist, its touch chasing away the pain ripping him apart.‘I know you can do this, Adrien. Just a little bit more.’He turned to the source of that voice, his vision blurred due to tears and something else. Someone was there, behind his eyes. Someone other than him, trying to push him away, trying to gain control. *Over my dead body,* he thought. He concentrated all the power he still had to push back and hit at the force that was fighting him. Something snapped and he was falling, falling into a purple tunnel, tangled in thoughts that weren’t quite his.
Miraculouses.
Absolute power.
A wish.
A woman resting in a repository.
A butterfly pattern on a round window.
A dark dome.
Flutter of hundreds of wings.
Icy blue eyes staring at him from a mirror.
A firing gun.
*No!* the hostile voice bellowed and the images disappeared, leaving him alone in the darkness.…...Someone was screaming at the top of their lungs and Adrien realized it was him. A banshee shriek of pain he never thought a human would be capable of producing ripped from his throat. But he wasn’t entirely human now, was he?He opened his eyes as the aching sensations subsided. There was a purple butterfly, an akuma he realized, resting calmly on the sleeve of red jacket he didn’t remember putting on. He felt a pressure on his shoulder and moved his gaze to where a red spotted hand was giving him a comforting squeeze.Ladybug.‘I knew you could do this,’ she whispered proudly, patting him one last time before reaching for her weapon. ‘Time to de-evilize,’ she cooed invitingly, opening the yoyo.Adrien watched mesmerized as the butterfly willingly hopped inside.‘Gotcha,’ Ladybug smiled sliding the lid shut and releasing a white insect a second later.‘Miraculous Ladybug!’ she threw Marinette’s bracelet into the air and he realized this was her Lucky Charm, not the original gift.A heavy feeling set low in the pit of his stomach, dull realization who’d been the latest victim of Hawkmoth’s intrigues. Little red wings fluttered around him, stripping his suit off spots and ripping the material covering him. It came as a shock when the black dots swished away with swarms of ladybugs and unraveled into students and teachers. Relief and guilt in equal parts filled his heart.Ladybug’s earrings gave a warning beep.‘Let’s go,’ she said wrapping an arm around his waist.‘Go?’ his grip on reality wasn’t quite strong yet.‘I don’t think you should face all this right now,’ she tightened her hold on him. ‘You need to rest.’Only then did he notice how exhausted he felt. Every muscle in his body screamed in pain when he tried to move. He would have probably collapsed if it wasn’t for Ladybug sustaining his weight. He was in no condition to meet with anyone, and probably half of Paris already knew that the Adrien Agreste had been akumatized. Journalists would be knocking at school’s door any minute now.But… he couldn’t leave yet. Something was missing. Someone .‘Wait, I need to…’ he hesitated, not sure how much she knew or figured out. ‘I lost my…’A set of black ears popped out from Ladybug’s pigtail.‘I’m here,’ Plagg whispered, sending his head spinning again.So she knew. He hadn’t found her, but she found him. The finality of the reveal made his heart beat like crazy.He felt her fingers gently caressing his side.‘Hey, it’s okay,’ she murmured, casting him a timid smile. ‘Really.’It wasn’t okay, he thought bitterly. She had no idea how much not okay it was. She didn’t have a clue what was the real meaning behind the Lucky Charm this time.Ladybug took off without warning as the first flash of camera blinded him. He didn’t question the kidnap, content to be soaring through skies at her side. But the journey ended almost as quick as it started, with the heroine landing with a practiced ease behind a chimney on the roof opposite school. She guided him to a familiar balcony, keeping them away from prying eyes of the press that had already gathered in front of the Collège.‘Where are you taking me?’ he whispered, even though he knew exactly whose house this was. And suddenly it was much more not okay than before.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Ladybug’s earrings gave the third warning as she ushered him inside her room. She had yet to answer his question, but she decided it would be best to put off any talking until they were both safely out of public eye, just in case.
‘Don’t tell me you don’t know where you are,’ she jested settling him on the loft bed.
‘I know where I am,’ he huffed. ‘But
why
am I here?’
‘Marinette is a friend,’ she evaded. ‘I’m sure she won’t mind and this is the only place I could take you on such short notice.’
‘Oh,’ he muttered. He didn’t look happy to be here.
‘Hey,’ she put her hand over his. ‘Obviously I couldn’t take you to my house. We don’t want any more reveals today, Chaton.’
‘Yeah, sorry about that,’ he dropped his gaze to the pink comforter.
‘You have nothing to be sorry about,’ this came out sharper than she intended. ‘I hate this stupid mask more than you think. If it wasn’t for Tikki-’
‘If it wasn’t for Tikki, Hawkmoth would already know who you are,’ Adrien squeezed her hand.
‘But maybe if I revealed myself to you earlier, it wouldn’t have come to this,’ she shook her head. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. He had been upset because of her, of her identity, of his quest to find her. If he had known all along, he wouldn’t have been at risk, he wouldn’t have been Hawkmoth’s target.
‘Stop that,’ Plagg interjected. ‘I can practically hear you taking the blame.’
‘But maybe-’
‘As Adrien likes to say, maybugs don’t fly in June,’ the black kwami countered. ‘It wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t mine, Tikki’s nor Adrien’s. Miraculouses always come with a price, they are in equal parts a reward and a burden. What happened today however,
that
is all on Hawkmoth.’
‘But-’ she tried to argue and was interrupted by the fourth beep of her earrings.
‘You have to go,’ the boy pointed out. ‘I’ll be fine.’
‘You’re sure?’ she hated to leave him now, but she didn’t have any choice.
‘Yes, go,’ he repeated.
Ladybug ran down the steps, thinking how surreal it was that Adrien, no,
Chat
, was now resting in her bed after becoming a supervillain.
‘You realize, no more reckless stunts from now on, Chat?’ she teased nearing the trap door. ‘Now that I know who you are, I can make your life miserable should you be so careless in risking your life?’
‘Hey, not fair,’ he pouted. ‘Only because I can’t reach your civilian self to reiterate! Like you haven’t done any risky stuff,’ he complained. ‘Even more often than me!’
She stuck her tongue at him and closed the trapdoor before the pillow he threw at her hit its target.
Phew.
A breath of relief escaped her lips as she climbed down the steps. The apartment was empty, so she made a dash for the bathroom before her transformation finally faded.
‘You both did amazingly well today,’ Tikki praised her as soon as she was out of her miraculous. ‘You’ve earned your rest too. Go to him. I think he has things to tell Marinette as well.’
‘He found me,’ she hummed under her breath. ‘What do I do now?’
‘Whatever you want,’ the red kwami offered. ‘We’ve passed the point it was necessary to keep the identities secret. You already know his and I doubt Hawkmoth will try targeting Adrien again.’
‘Hmmm,’ Marinette tapped her lip thoughtfully. Was she ready to show him the girl behind the mask? She had been wanting to reveal herself to Adrien and to Chat for so long, but learning that they were one and the same person had been quite a shock. He went through so much in just a few hours. Maybe this particular revelation could wait a day or two? The boy certainly could use a breather.
Turning this idea in her head she took her time refreshing herself a bit, and then she went to the kitchen to collect some snacks and lemonade. Outside students were leaving school, the classes were probably cancelled. All the better for them, Marinette thought heading upstairs.
Adrien’s voice made her stop just in front of the trap door.
‘Plagg, you need to hide,’ the boy ordered.
‘Why?’ the black kwami didn’t sound eager to do as he was told.
‘Are you kidding me? Marinette is a civilian,’ there was an edge of exasperation in Adrien’s voice. ‘She’d be freaked out by a flying cat. She has no idea I’m Chat Noir and we should keep it this way for her safety.’
‘Oh, right,’ Plagg muttered darkly. Judging by the silence that fell over the room, he disappeared from view.
Once again Marinette hesitated. Her partner had just been akumatized over this, and yet her lucky charms - on
both
sides of the mask had given him strength to fight Hawkmoth all by himself. Didn’t he deserve to know?
With a heavy sigh Marinette entered the room.
Adrien jumped when he saw her and turned a bright shade of red in an instant.
‘Hi! Um… hi!’ he squeaked. ‘Did Ladybug…?’
She waved her hand dismissively, ‘Oh, yeah, she told me she brought you here. It’s okay.’
‘Thank you,’ he dropped his shoulders in relief.
Before she climbed up the bed, Marinette left a small plate with a few pieces of camembert on her desk, out of Adrien’s sight. She set the tray over the blankets. ‘I have some snacks and lemonade, but if you’d prefer something from the bakery I can go down and get it for you.’
For some reason he looked even more embarrassed. ‘This is more than fine, Marinette. You… you don’t need to do this.’
‘I want to do this,’ she assured him hotly. ‘I was worried about you!’ Well, she’d been mortified, but he didn’t need to know that.
Adrien’s phone chirped in his pocket. He fished it out and blinked at the amount of messages in his inbox.
‘Seems like the school was canceled,’ he commented. As he went through the texts his eyes got bigger and bigger.
‘What is it?’ Marinette stopped herself before she could glimpse the messages on his screen.
‘Basically our whole class wants to know how am I,’ his voice trembled. ‘They said not to worry. They all have been there and if I want to talk about it… and so on and so on.’ He tried to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal, but he was clearly touched. ‘Oh, and apparently Chloe is taking care of the media,’ he snickered.
‘You mean she’s bullying the media?’ Marinette giggled. ‘Good, they definitely deserve it.’
‘Nathalie’s asking, where am I,’ Adrien whispered. ‘She wants to take me home. I’d better reply to that.’
That was understandable, but something in his voice told her, he didn’t want to leave yet. Marinette put her hand on the screen, interrupting his typing.
‘Stay with me,’ she asked timidly. ‘I know you must be exhausted, but maybe you can rest here? We can even make a sleepover out of it, if you want,’ she mumbled, the cogs in her brain working at high velocity at how to keep him here longer. He looked like he needed it, but if she was honest with herself, she needed it as well. She needed his presence. She needed to make sure, he would be okay. And she needed to make him feel okay.
‘I don’t want to impose…’
‘You’re not. I’m inviting you,’ Marinette shook her head. ‘Please?’
There was a long pause, filled only with their breaths. Adrien looked at her, knitting his brows. She did her best to hold his gaze.
After a while he nodded. ‘Just let me-,’ he waved his phone and started typing. Then he showed her the message.
“At friend’s house. Safe. Need some time. I’ll contact you later”
‘Marinette?’ Adrien asked reluctantly, after he put away his device. ‘Did I… did I hurt you at school today?’ He didn’t meet her eyes, just picked at a stray thread on her comforter.
‘No!’ she exclaimed. Was that the thing bothering him? Poor Kitty. ‘In fact, you let me go,’ she rushed to explain, ‘when you were akumatized. You spared me.’
‘I don’t remember much,’ he admitted, still avoiding her gaze. ‘Only glimpses, mostly sensations, not much really. But I was scared I-’
‘It wasn’t you, Adrien,’ she assured him again. ‘No one is blaming you. Ladybug told me what happened. You’re the first victim who resisted Hawkmoth, who defeated him!’
‘But not before I made god knows how many people disappear,’ the boy mumbled.
‘It wasn’t you,’ she repeated. ‘You just need some time to digest it, but I’m sure you’ll come to the same conclusion.’ Guided by a sudden hunch she climbed to her knees and pulled him into a tight hug. She heard his breathing hitched but he quickly reciprocated. Marinette felt his hands resting clumsily on her back, while he buried his face in her shoulder and shuddered. After a deep sight he pulled away.
‘Thank you,’ he whispered.
‘Now rest,’ Marinette ordered. ‘Make yourself comfortable. I’ll take these,’ she collected the now empty tray.
He sent her a shy smile, leaning on her pillow. Something rustled. Adrien turned, surprised by the sound and felt over the material of the pillowcase. Before Marinette remembered what she’d hidden there the boy put his hand inside and pulled out a sheet of paper.
He gaped in silence at its content.
It was a print. A print she liked to have close to her. A print he was bound to recognize as it featured him and his red ears next to a black clad heroine, posing for a picture inside his room.
The selfie with him and Lady Noir.
Marinette froze, just like her guest.
What reasons would she have to acquire such a selfie (well, maybe apart from her former habit of collecting every available photo of Adrien and plastering it to her walls)? She probably could come up with a plausible explanation of why Ladybug had given it to her, but did she really want to?
She had to admit, it would be hard to imagine a more clear signal from reality to make up her mind, to let the maybugs out of the bag.
Adrien finally found his voice and his brains.
‘My Lady?’ he rasped looking between the picture and Marinette.
Maybugs don’t fly in June, she thought. It had felt right when he called her his Lady, because she had always been his.
‘Yes,’ she said, smiling at the choice she made. ‘Yes, I am.’
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
10 years later
‘You’re sure this is the right place?’ Plagg murmured, inspecting a crack in a floor tile.Adrien watched the moonlight dancing over the now empty floor and walls of the bedroom. He listened to the sounds of the traffic from the street below. He took a breath full of dust and old wooden floors.‘Yes, I’m sure, Plagg,’ he said. ‘This is it.’Marinette was probably going to kill him for not consulting with her. But the apartment was perfect. Three bedrooms, one of which could be turned into her workshop, the other - for now it could serve as kwamis’ playroom, but he was hoping that after a while it could become a nursery. The apartment also had its own rooftop garden accessible from the living room’s balcony. The view was stunning. The location practical.But these were not the reasons that made him sign the papers upon first visit. It was this room - the main bedroom - and the play of lights on the walls. That was the room he’d visited ten years ago courtesy of the akuma DeLorean. That was the time and place he had learned what the future held. He’d been naive to think only good things awaited over the horizon. But as long as the good outweighed the bad, things were fine, and that was another good thing.His mind wandered to the desperate and dark period of his last days of collège. He had thought he had hit the rock bottom and in a span of just a few minutes everything did a one eighty, starting with Ladybug, who not only revealed herself to him, but turned out to be the one person he had hoped she would be and the one person he had been convinced she couldn’t be. He’d been akumatized over that secret.Adrien chuckled under his breath. That revelation had pushed him in some kind of stupor and he had managed to seriously freak Marinette out. If it hadn’t been for the kwamis she might have had called for help. When he had finally come around, the weight and meaning of her identity crashing down on him, he wouldn’t let her leave his arms for quite a while. Marinette hadn’t complained. Plagg had, but his heart hadn’t been in it.He patted the keys in his pocket, as if checking if this was real, and then sauntered to the balcony door in the living room. He saw Ladybug on the other side of the glass, enjoying the sights and admiring the plants.‘Hi!’ Adrien greeted, opening the door.‘H-hi!’ she jumped, startled with his sudden appearance. ‘I thought I was meeting with Chat in this location.’He burst into laughter, ‘You are, aren’t you?’‘Well, yes,’ she rolled her eyes playfully, ‘but when you asked me to come to this balcony I thought you meant another rooftop date, dork,’ she hit him over the shoulder.Adrien wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to his chest. ‘I have a surprise for you, bug,’ he confessed rubbing his cheek over her head. He would never have enough of her scent.‘A surprise?’ Ladybug echoed.Instead of explaining he lifted her up, earning a surprised squeak.‘Adrien, what are you doing?’ she asked, when he strengthen his hold on her and carried her bridal style towards the balcony door.‘Carrying my lovely fiancée over the threshold of our new home,’ he murmured passing the door.‘ What?! ’He put her down and produced a set of keys. ‘I signed the papers today, the transfer went through in the afternoon. This is our place.’‘H-how? W-why?’ Ladybug stuttered, looking around. She didn’t scold him, which was a good start. The place was lovely and he just knew she’d like it here.‘Why didn’t you ask me?’ she finally got her voice back and prodded him with a red finger.‘I didn’t need to,’ he shrugged. ‘This is the place I visited when DeLorean hit me. I just knew it would be ours.’Ladybug stared at him for a very long moment, soundlessly opening and closing her mouth.‘Remember that I knew what the future held.’ Once again, he pulled her into his embrace, kissing her forehead. ‘I know we’ll be happy here. This is our place. It was supposed to be ours all along.’‘Okay,’ she murmured in defeat.The apartment was too perfect for her to argue. And he had checked if it met all the requirements she had formulated when they had started talking about getting their own place.‘But,’ she withdrew from the hug, eyeing him suspiciously, ‘this means, you’re now that Adrien who appeared after DeLorean sent your teenage self here, right?’‘Technically,’ he agreed. ‘Not for another few weeks or months, but yes?’A sly grin appeared on Ladybug’s face. ‘Grrrreat!’ she drawled, crossing her arms in front of her chest.Somewhere in the kitchen Plagg cackled.‘Then boy, have I words for you, Kitty! A few long overdue words!’ she added with a wild gleam in her eyes.Yup. They were home. Just like he imagined. This was the best place on earth. * The End *