Sometimes, she wondered who her chaton could be underneath his mask. It was a fun distraction, to consider that perhaps he was across town getting gelato while she was procrastinating a book report she didn't want to do, as she was now.

She would never ask him, even though she knew that she would be bothered until she knew. That, coupled with the knowledge that she only needed to ask and she would know, kept an air of mystery around him that she loved to play with. She knew that she could speculate as much as she wanted, but the chances of knowing him were slim. Paris had a population of about 2.24 million people, after all.

She smiled to herself, enjoying the complete anonymity that came with being Ladybug.

Her distraction was short lived, however, when the floor of her building gave a lurch. She looked out her window, over the chunk of skyline she could see from her vantage point. There was a cloud of smoke emerging

Tikki sped to her side. "Marinette, that could be an akuma!"

Marinette nodded. "Let's go check it out."

She scrambled up the ladder to her trap door, and Tikki shot past into the sky.

Within moments, Ladybug was swinging away.

It didn't take Chat Noir long to join the fray. After his arrival, the akuma fight was a walk in the park.

The explosion had been the result of the super-strength akuma throwing a (thankfully empty) bus as hard as he could towards a gas station. Thankfully, the employees and patrons had fled at the sight of the akuma, and those who hadn't left by the time Ladybug had arrived took the hint and went on their way briskly.

Chat Noir held up a fist for their traditional post-battle fist bump, and Ladybug humored him.

"So, my lady, any plans for the rest of the day?" He asked, a confident smirk lighting his face. She wasn't sure where he was going, but she knew it would probably be in a direction that she wasn't prepared for it to go.

"I'm in the middle of a project that I can't skip out on. Why do you ask, Chaton?" She replied, carefully. She narrowed her eyes at him to indicate her interest, but also her suspicion.

"Well, you see..." Chat stopped, as if rolling the rest of the sentence around in his head. He looked everywhere except her face as he seemed to grasp for any way to continue.

"Chat..." She began, but his brilliant green eyes snapped back up to meet hers, and he seemed to gain the resolve to continue.

"My lady. I would be delighted if we could grab a cup of-"

At that moment, her earrings beeped loudly. She watched an expression of defeat cross Chat's face. A pang of sadness hit her as she realized what Chat had been trying to do.

She sighed, and Chat plastered a smile on his face. It didn't cause his eyes to gleam the way they did when he was truly happy, which told her that his smile was false. "Chat..."

He gestured for her to go. "You're running out of time, my lady. Perhaps some other time."

She offered a halfhearted smile. As she began to turn away, Chat reached out and snatched her wrist. She looked at him, and he looked back at him. He looked to be on the verge of saying something, but seemed to change his mind. He let go, and after a moment's hesitation, she threw her yo-yo, and left.