Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
Pale moonlight drifted through the window and reflected off the surface of the clock suspended above the room's doorway, illuminating the numbers in the otherwise dark room. Whiffs of sugar and cream leaked from the plastic containers sitting snugly in a makeshift nest of blankets. Standing over the containers, Marinette glanced at the clock and bit back a tiny smile.
'Only ten minutes until I need to leave,' she thought, taking a considerable amount of care into tying the blankets together with the containers inside. This makeshift sack she slung over her shoulder and gave a little hop in order to see if the knot would come undone from her movements. When she was satisfied with the results of her blanket-sack, she took one more survey of her room to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything; her eyes landed on two thermoses set next to her computer keyboard. Why she had set them there where they could potentially spill all over her computer was beyond her, but she shrugged and picked them up too. They were tied together with the strongest twine she had in her sewing kit, which also made it easy to carry them both.
A tiny beep sounded from her pocket, and Marinette quickly went to silence her phone; she couldn't afford to allow her parents to hear she was still awake. Her midnight phone alarm shut off at the slide of her finger across the screen. Time to go. She outstretched her hand and whispered for her kwami to transform her, embracing the familiar tingling sensation as her suit covered her body. It was always pleasantly warm when it formed on her skin, like a towel that had been soaked in hot water. Climbing the steps upwards to her balcony, she moved stealthily to ensure that none of the steps squeaked when she placed a foot on them.
A sudden gust of wind slapped her in the face no sooner than she had stepped outside. Almost instantaneously, her body shivered from the abnormally chilly weather. It was one of the coldest nights Paris had gotten in the past few years, complete with a fresh batch of snow. Outstretched before her when she fully stepped outside of her room was a glistening expanse of ivory whiteness, which muffled the usually-blinding lights of the city. Although her spotted suit was warm against her skin, she decided it would be best to venture out with proper snow gear. The extra minute it took for her to bundle up in one of her handmade down jackets made her impatient, but definitely warmer for it. Her fingers itched to fling her yoyo across the rooftops and sail through the air, and so she hastened her retreat from her room. Once more she made sure she had all her provisions, and then she flung herself off her balcony and into the stinging night air.
Adrien was incredibly nervous. He had been on this upstairs patio for the past twenty minutes trying to not explode from the butterflies in his stomach. To think he was lucky enough to spend Christmas night with his lovely lady, and on a date, no less! Well, at least he considered it to be one. He wasn't quite so sure that Ladybug would feel the same way, but he did intend to make it a night equal to her splendor. They had agreed to meet on the upper floor of the cafe at midnight, but he had arrived early in order to set the mood. Dusting off the snow from the chairs and tables, he cleared space for him to start on the real preparations. At first he had feared that his lavender-scented candles wouldn't light because of the wind, but his mind was put at ease when he discovered the cafe was secluded enough by the nearby buildings that the wind posed no problem. He strategically placed the smaller candles on the surrounding tables where they would give off a soft, warm glow in the harshness of the night. On the middle table he had arranged a set of crisply cut roses and more candles, making sure they were spaced out and not too close to Ladybug's seat so that she would have some elbow room. Above their seats and as garnish for the surrounding tables, he tied bundles of bristly mistletoe together in what he thought to be vain hope.
For a final touch, he tapped his cell phone screen and scrolled over to where he kept his music. It had taken him four days (and some assistance from Nino) to create the perfect romantic playlist, and he set down his phone on the table so it would be ready to go when Ladybug arrived. Now that his preparations were complete, there was nothing to keep him from wondering about how the night would progress. Would Ladybug chastise him for putting this much effort into their meeting? Would she be angry at him for making it too romantic? Would she even be impressed at all? What if she laughed?
His stomach flipped and his murmured under his breath to keep it together. A glance at his watch told him she would be here any minute, and he reluctantly called out to his kwami. Plagg poked his head out of Adrien's pocket and drily commented on the lack of cheese there was in compensation for this, but transformed him into his alter ego Chat Noir anyway. It only took a minute for a faraway figure to bound across the rooftops towards him, and he almost didn't recognize that is was Ladybug. Slung across her shoulder was a sack that made her look like a trim Santa Claus. He bit his lip in order to contain his laughter, but he could tell Ladybug noticed in a heartbeat.
"What's so funny, Chat? Cat got your tongue?" Her lips curved into a teasing smile, and he let the laughter he had been holding loose. Over the years she had taken to his puns and even threw some his way once in a blue moon-he loved her even more because of it. As his laughter died into tiny chuckles, he mentally traced over her rounded cheeks and her gleaming, cerulean eyes. Now that she was directly in front of him, he could see that the sack she was lifting was actually two blankets tied together. His eyes only lingered on the blankets for a moment, because what caught his eye was her petite figure enveloped in something different than her Ladybug suit. Of course she still was in her suit, but on top of that she was wearing a stylish ski jacket that he thought looked a bit familiar. He examined her so intensely trying to figure out why the jacket was familiar to him that he nearly missed her lips agape and her eyebrows raised in amazement. It registered in his mind that she was gazing at the candlelit table for two behind him, and he thrust his chest out with pride.
"Are our dinner reservations to your liking, my lady?" He purred, and he knelt down to peck her hand. Her cheeks were a muted pink colour, and he was unsure if it was due to his actions or the cold.
"You've certainly been hard at work," she replied, slipping her hand away from him coyly. Grinning, he fell into step behind her as she confidently strode towards the table and settled down in her designated seat. Opposite her, he tapped his phone screen and sweet saxophone notes began to swirl around them as his playlist began. In front of them both he set down a giant plate of spaghetti; it was from a famous Italian restaurant on the corner and he had gotten it on the way home from modeling this afternoon. He microwaved it to make sure it was fresh and warm before he left home.
They each picked up a fork and Chat Noir watched as Ladybug twirled hers around noodles until they were transformed into bite-sized balls. He felt a little embarrassed that he was slurping the noodles into his mouth instead of eating prim and proper as he did at home, but soon enough he saw Ladybug copy him that he grinned at her in a silent thank you. With both of their mouths full, there was little room for small talk, but Chat Noir didn't think it was necessary. He hardly had the chance to just sit down and admire her delicate facial features or her toned body since they were always fighting akumas when they met. It was a welcome change.
He jabbed his fork into the plate to take another bite and brought it up to his mouth. Chewing his mouthful of spaghetti, he started to slurp the last noodle and noticed it was stuck on something. His eyes flickered up from his fork and felt his face turning crimson as he saw the noodle connecting to Ladybug's mouth. Both of them stared at each other for a few moments, their foreheads bumping into one another as they leaned over the plate. Thinking she would bite off her end of the noodle, he continued slurping until their mouths were a few centimeters away from each other. Just as he was about to bite down himself, Ladybug sucked the remainder of the noodle into her mouth and brought their lips together for a brief moment. A hint of vanilla brushed his lips as her mouth gingerly twisted away from him, and he longed to keep their lips together for even a second longer. His mind flew somewhere else entirely as he was left with his mouth slightly ajar, dribbles of spaghetti sauce dotting around his mouth.
"L-Ladybug…? What was that?" He stammered and did his best to contain the blush encompassing his entire face. His heart was soaring so high it was beginning to hurt, and he thought that all of his life he had been waiting for this moment. It was a second full of warmth and affection that were given only to him; it was someone who had cared so deeply for him that they had given him a piece of themselves. That one second had been his everything.
"Merry Christmas, Chat," she whispered, and she leaned back in her seat once more-out of his reach. The next minute passed by in absolutely blissful silence for the both of them as Chat Noir struggled to contain his need for more air than his lungs were taking in at the time and Ladybug was bending down beneath the table to reach something. Ladybug kissed him. This was not an elaborate scheme his mind had conjured up while sitting in his lecture hall being taught by his dreadfully mundane calculus professor. She actually kissed him without their lives being in jeopardy! When Ladybug surfaced from underneath the table, she placed a thermos in front of him and nudged his hand towards another plastic container she'd retrieved.
"I figured this would warm us up," she shyly murmured, and it took a moment for Chat Noir to return back from his thoughts and realize the biting chill of the winter's night was eating at his skin. Rather quickly, he scooped up the thermos and unscrewed the cap; steam billowed out from the flask and warmed his face rather nicely, although he had felt perfectly thawed ever since their lips had touched. Her voice had gotten uncharacteristically quiet since that moment too, and he absently took a swig of his drink while he stared at her round, comely eyes. He couldn't pin where exactly he'd seen those eyes before-as he was sure he would remember such exquisite diamonds-but coupled with her more demure attitude it sparked a memory within him that he couldn't grasp.
His thoughts were interrupted when a hand holding tightly onto a napkin entered his vision, and he blushed as Ladybug began to dab the smudged spaghetti sauce around his lips. He gulped down the hot chocolate that was resting in his mouth and shuddered. It was excellently crafted, but it was a bittersweet sort of flavor. Tastes of cream and powdered sugar dazzled his tongue, but it couldn't overpower the bittersweet chocolate in the cocoa.
"Silly cat, you've made quite a mess of yourself. I do hope you'll hold back with the cream," she giggled, and Chat Noir's ears perked up at the mention. She indicated to the plastic box she had been pointing to before, and he opened it greedily without a second thought. The smell from the box was one of the first things to hit him, and if Ladybug hadn't kissed him earlier he would consider this to be heaven. At first he tried to contain himself, he really did. But after the first two scoops of whipped cream, he went berserk-half the container was upturned into his hot chocolate in a matter of seconds.
Apologetically, Chat Noir scooched the rest of the whipped cream over to Ladybug, whose face simply looked stunned. To ease the recklessness of his actions, he started to stir the cream into his sacchariferous drink and eyed his phone. One of his selected songs was winding to an end, and for a few seconds there was no noise to cover the sounds of their breathing. A few keyboard notes sang through the air as his phone booted up another song. A look of recognition crossed Ladybug's face, and she smiled as she rummaged through the bundle of blankets at her feet.
"That's 'I'll Be' by Edward McCullen, isn't it?" She asked as she withdrew another plastic container and set it on the table in front of her. Popping the lid off of it, puffs of sugary goodness reached her nose as she offered one of her macaroons to Chat Noir. Unsurprisingly, he leaned forward and took a bite out of it directly from her hand. Crumbs dusted the front of his suit, but he hastily wiped them off as he reached out to take her hand.
"Isn't it an absolutely purrfect song?" He gently lifted her hand and tugged her out of her seat, his playful eyes softening into soulful pools of emerald stardust as he cradled her closely to him in time with the beat. At first she tensed up, but after a few seconds she allowed her body to relax against his. While one of his hands grasped her waist, the other lifted up to caress her jawline. Her own hands hesitantly slid up his back and rested on his shoulder blades.
Puffs of their intertwined breath mingled in the air around them as they began to dance. Amidst the music, she swore she could hear catches of Chat Noir's voice whispering in her ears sweet melodies and poetic words. Candlelight reflected in her partner's eyes as they stepped in time to the music, and somehow she could not quite catch her breath despite their slow pace. Chat Noir's hair curled around his face like grapevines on a trellis, and she was tempted to wrap some of the glossy strands around her fingers. His hair had been cut and styled differently over the passing years, but it was still long enough that snowflakes caught the tips of his hair and slid down onto her cheeks. These changes his body had undergone she had noticed, but she tried her best to ignore them; no matter how handsome he was, her heart still could not be his. If she allowed love to blossom with Chat Noir, they would only be jeopardizing the city and themselves. But now, twirling under the stars, Ladybug felt her chest constrict with pain as she stared into his eyes and no longer wanted anything else but to hold him tightly. Soon enough the lights in Chat Noir's eyes and the lights blinking around them began to blur. Her gaze was fixed upwards on him so intently she didn't think that if an akuma attacked she would be able to see it at all-and she didn't want to.
At the climax of the song, Chat Noir's feet suddenly started to pick up the pace as he swung her around in an arc and dipped her down into his arms. The hand that had been so tenderly caressing her cheek now pulled away to grasp one of her hands, melting the frost on it with its warmth. The dizzying lights of the candles around her began to still into their rightful places, but her head still spun when she gazed back into Chat Noir's radiant eyes. The waning moon in the sky reminded her that there were only a few more hours left until their midnight spell wore off and left them at the mercy of their daytime schedules. It was a thought she did not care to dwell on for long, and she soaked up every image of him that she could between blinking snowflakes out of her lashes. If she had known love hurt this much, she would have stayed away from the black cat before they met.
'No,' she thought, 'I would rather be stuck in this endless cycle of good and bad luck than give him up.'
While she was lost in her thoughts, Chat Noir's head bent closer towards her until their foreheads were touching. Ladybug wanted to close her eyes and remain in his arms for however long she could. All she wanted was to be with him. His lips snugly nestled against hers for a few tender moments before withdrawing. Her first instinct was to mash their lips together again in a passionate embrace, but she maintained control over her body and felt her mind numb with shock. Even though this is what she wanted more than anything, she knew they could not put the city in jeopardy by having this relationship. She knew that; Chat knew that.
"I thought it was about time to give you your Christmas present," he winked, and her tense muscles relaxed. Although his mouth was turned upwards in a grin, she saw a deeper melancholy reflected in his eyes. It struck her that this was painful for them both. She curled her lips into a smile mirroring his, and stroked the nape of his neck with her fingers. Everything would be okay as long as she could see his smiling face. Everything would be okay in the end.
Slowly drawing him back down, her lips were about to brush his when a deafening explosion of noise blasted her ears. A strong gale of wind followed the noise and sent them both tumbling to the ground; all of the candlelight vanished within seconds of the chilly gust. Snapping her head around to peer in the direction of the perpetrator, her jaw dropped as she took in the sight before her. The city was burning.