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It had all started out as some harmless fun. Chat had made the Twitter account as a way to reach out and connect to their fans and fellow Parisians. Ladybug had wrinkled her nose at it for a while until Chat finally convinced her to make her own. While Chat was much more interactive on his account, Ladybug was more subdued. Chat retweeted memes, jokes, and fanarts. He answered questions and made his own jokes. Ladybug mostly retweeted highlights of the Ladyblog or other news stations regarding their missions. Articles on how to stay positive and stories from victims.Adrien kept her account set for any and all notifications. When it did go off, he was always slightly disappointed when it was just a retweet recapping the last battle or her greeting everyone a good day or happy holiday. It seemed others were growing bored or restless with her lack of content. Chloe, for one, complained that her best friend never answered any of her tweets. Alya didn’t seem to mind. She got hits on the Ladyblog and the satisfaction that Ladybug was checking out her accounts.So that’s why when Adrien checked his latest notif, he was shocked to see a reply. It was simple. Ladybug agreeing with a follower’s bemoaning on how her Chinese parents always insisted she help with making dumplings. Ladybug’s response was a simple: The inescapable sticky flour. She’d followed it with an emoji with its tongue out.The wheeze that came out of him was enough to have Nathalie look up from her tablet. “Adrien?” He shook his head and mumbled an apology.His Lady was Chinese or part. She probably made dumplings with her family. She hated the texture of flour and eggs mixed together.It was public knowledge. Something so simple. But it made his Lady more real to him. Helped color out the edges of her in his heart. He locked this new information away with his more three-dimension image of his love.From then on, her tweets were more and more relaxed. She interacted with their fans. She never gave away too much information. Just enough to make Adrien crazy.Her favorite color was pink. She liked flowers and poka-dots. She admired the work of Gabriel Agreste. She hated physics. (He tried to not let that break his heart too much.) Her favorite flavor for deserts was strawberry. She also liked mint ice cream.Some of the little tidbits Adrien already knew and he tried not to be jealous of that information being shared with the whole world. He wanted to keep some of her to himself. Which, he supposed he actually did. No one else knew what she looked like when she was upset. Or noticed her cute little butt wiggle when she was excited. Or the way her nose scrunched when she was trying to figure out a puzzle. That belonged to him and no one else.So, when he found one very pink Marinette Dupain-Cheng eating strawberry and mint ice-cream in the park near her house and she told him she was taking a break from a boring Saturday of physics homework and making dumplings with her Maman, he kept that information locked inside his heart, too.
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The first time Chat Noir had seen the Princess Coccinelle, he had been ten and she had been eight. There was a grand parade to celebrate a bountiful harvest that season. It had been a bright, hot summer day. Chat, well, he’d been Adrien Agreste back then, weaseled himself away from his tutor and ran through the crowd of thousands. His father had told him so many horrible stories about the royal family. That Princess Coccinelle was the reason his mother was dead. And yet, when his tutor or friends or the townspeople spoke of her, they spoke of a foreign beauty who was sweet and feisty. She was always smiling and when her parents’ backs were turned, she would play like all the other townschildren. She would be scolded for dirtying such expensive dresses with dirt, but her tears were always cured by a sweet pastry.She had raven hair that looked blue in the light. She was a strange porcelain color that made her unique blue eyes pop out. The Princess was always dressed in pink and white. Her clothes gave the general idea she liked dots, flowers, and bows. Quite the contrast for her playful nature.Coccinelle fascinated Adrien.And that was why he was elbowing his way through the thick crowd, ignoring the grunts and shouts to reach the edge of the pathway. He could hear the engine of a vehicle and from the shouts of her name, Adrien knew she was close. That the white convertible car steadily following behind the others of black or brown, was his princess. Panting from the action and heat of the sun, Adrien had finally made it to the forefront.He looked down at the rumpled red rose he’d managed to snatch from a florist on the way over. The stem was very nearly broken from how hard he gripped it and it had lost a few petals. It was unworthy of her, truly, but he wanted to gift her something. Something to convey to her his trust and loyalty. That regardless of what his father claimed, she and her family were not wicked or evil.Princess Coccinelle drew closer and he could barely make her out around the shoulders of the driver and the leather seats. And then finally, she was there. He blinked and winced against the sudden brightness of the sun as they drove under its path. Coccinelle sat beside who he assumed was the older princess, Melodie. Melodie seemed to take after the king with her more European features. Both girls sat straight like queens, no slouching or pouting. They waved daintily and pleasantly towards the crowds, beautiful smiles upon their faces. As the car passed nearly in front of him, Adrien swore time froze. Coccinelle locked eyes with him and he swore her head tilted ever so slightly in curiosity. That her smile seemed more genuine.The wind caught her long blueish-black hair and the artificial curls billowed into her face, causing her to blink and comb the tresses away with her fingers. Adrien noticed the dainty white gloves upon her hands that matched the pale pink satin of her dress.“Milady!” Adrien called out, diving under the guards keeping the crowds at bay. The white car came to an immediate stop and Adrien was grabbed roughly. The boy yelped as he was hauled upwards by his underarms, his rose falling from his hands to the cobblestone pathway below. Three horseback riding guards appeared and flanked before the princesses while the one holding him tightened his grip and a fifth came up to him with a pistol.Shouts of shock and outrage rang out. How could they manhandle a child?! Release the boy!The guard before him grabbed his chin roughly. “Have you no manners? Respect?” His hissed. “How dare you think yourself worthy of approaching the princesses! Dirty peasant!”Adrien had never been one to notice his clothes, but now he was embarrassed by the dirty blue trousers and black shirt he wore. His shoes were caked in mud and dirt; his hair unkempt and unwashed. Father said it was disgraceful how the Agrestes had fallen. That they should still be in the Palace with the King and Queen. But after the events of Mama’s death, Father said the King wanted him dead to keep him silent about the truth of the matter.It was why his father was secretly leading the revolution.It was why Adrien wanted to swear his loyalty to the princess. For how could a child be held responsible for the deeds of a father? Adrien wanted nothing to do with the upcoming revolution his father spoke of. He assumed Coccinelle wanted nothing to do with the events that transpired back then. She’s been no more than an infant, by Adrien’s calculations.“Wait!” A soft, yet strong voice called out.Adrien was snapped out of his thoughts and the housemen parted to allow the princess to exit the vehicle. Princess Melodie looked appalled by her sister’s actions. Yet, the small girl was standing before him, her head held high and her bluebell eyes shining with determination. “Let him go. He is a child, no different than myself or my sister. What harm can he do?”“Your Highness,” the guard that had been threatening him began. “This boy-““Put him down,” she demanded, her small finger pointed at the cobblestones below. “Let him speak.”Adrien was roughly dropped to his knees and he scooped up the rose. Sheepishly, he held it out to the Princess. “My Lady,” he tried again. “A small token of my loyalty to you, my Princess.”Coccinelle smiled ever so sweetly at him, a poor, dirty peasant boy on his knee with a ruined rose. The bright sunlight caught her unique ladybird earrings as she leaned forward just enough to accept the rose. “I thank you, my brave dark knight.”Their fingers brushed. His fingers smudged her pristine white gloves with mud and an odd sparkle sizzled through his body from the small touch. Coccinelle’s mouth dropped open in a small circle and he knew she had felt it, too.“Sister,” Princess Melodie called. “Nelle, please come back.”Coccinelle was promptly escorted back to the vehicle and the parade resumed. It was highly improper, but the girl was twisted in her seat to look back at him one last time.Adrien bowed to his Lady.The next time Adrien saw Princess Coccinelle, was the last time.For his father shot her and her siblings dead. To this day, her screams still wake him from the deepest of slumbers.
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After Ladybug had finally been convinced to join Twitter, Chat slowly tried to get her to try other social medias. She had a playlist she shared and updated regularly and an Instagram with a few pictures here and there. That was about it. But when six months into their social media adventures, she suggested they try for video chatting at night. He was speechless. “You want to video chat with me? Outside the suit?”She nodded. “Yeah. Just make sure your room is dark and I had us these masks we can wear. I can even make you kitty ears if you want,” she teased while handing him a soft cotton mask.And that was how Adrien found himself alone in the dark with a mask and cat ears made by Ladybug. (Or, rather, Marinette. He’d know that stitching anywhere.) Plagg was asleep on his pillow already and Adrien was eagerly holding his fully charged mobile and waiting for her to sign into the app.That first night was awkward at first. He kept getting distracted by seeing her in pajamas. He’d seen Marinette in them before, but now that he knew she was his Lady, all that extra skin made him feel funny. In a good way, of course. The talk lasted well into the early morning before he sighed and suggested they stop. “Believe me, Milady, there’s nothing more I’d like than to stay awake with you all night, but you need your beauty rest.”Their weekend nights continued like that for about month.It was a Saturday, and both were exhausted from the day’s akuma and his darling bug was nearly asleep when she called. “Bug,” he whined. “We don’t have to do this tonight.” He loved her, but he didn’t want her to keep risking her sleep for him. He’d noticed it Monday mornings at school.But she was stubborn. “No,” she grumbled as she curled further into her cat pillow. “I wanna have a sleepover with my kitty.”Adrien blinked at that. “How?”“Plug your phone in and just lay in near you?” She asked quietly, those sleepy, gorgeous eyes glowing in the light of her phone. He obeyed and rolled onto his side, his Ladybug body pillow cuddled in his arms. She smiled sleepily and that’s when he noticed the Chat Noir plush she’d made months ago. “I always sleep better after talking to you,” she admitted quietly.“Me too…”“I care about you, kitty…”Adrien swallowed thickly and licked his lips. “I love you,” he said, an echo of words he’d said so many times. They were still just as true, more so than the first time. He loved all of her.Ladybug nodded lazily. “I want to reveal myself in the morning…I want…” She trailed off as she yawned deeply. “…See your face in the morning…” She slurred once it had passed.It was like a shock to his heart. “But…Ladybug…I want to do it in person…”“Too shy…” She murmured and then she was out, her deep breathing coming in through the phone speakers. Adrien chewed his lip briefly. He wanted this. God, he wanted this so bad. But, it wasn’t right. Not like this.He’d give her a sleepover but wake up early to disconnect the line and send a private message. For now, he cuddled his pillow and listened to her breathing and it was almost easy to pretend she was there with him…He’d never slept so peaceful.