It all started with a simple challenge from Ladybug strangely enough, "I bet that you can't answer every question with 'Not since the accident' whenever anyone asks you anything, whether you're transformed or not, but you have to be discrete, because you don't want to accidentally reveal yourself."
Truthfully, Ladybug had never been the sort to say something even remotely like that without a reason to it, and there had been more than a little bit of a reason.
Cat Noir had been more of the cause of it than anyone probably would ever realize other than himself and Ladybug as he'd started a whole if you can't figure out how to use your Lucky Charm in so many seconds, you have to do this or that with mostly innocent results such as kiss my hand, write a love letter to someone regardless of whether you have a crush on them or not, and sign it with your Ladybug signature, and so on.
He'd both been amused when she lost that one and wrote one to Alya somehow and sorely disappointed; surely, if she could get one into Alya's schoolbag, she could have written one to Adrien instead.
Alya had never been so red in her life of that Cat Noir was sure; she'd squealed and gushed, even to the point of being called a liar by a jealous Chloe and an annoyed Lila.
Either way, Cat Noir knew that it was from Ladybug not just by Alya's extreme reaction and excited gushing, but also because of the picture that Ladybug had taken with her yoyo's camera before she gifted it somehow; the picture was void of anything other than a light brown table to distinguish wherever Ladybug was.
Alya hadn't discussed LadyNoir for at least a week after the love letter incident, and Cat Noir had gotten more specific in the kind of things that he wanted from their or rather his bets to her.
Ladybug had finally opted to play along more than just be the betee, and she'd laid down the law of her bet with the ease of a long standing better.
"After every question, regardless of whether I'm transformed or not?" Cat Noir asked, somewhat nervous, since Ladybug may go to his school and figure him out.
"Yeah, within reason. Like if I ask your civilian self a question somehow, don't answer with that phrase if you know that I'm asking you the question such as if Ladybug walks up to your civilian self on the street and asks something random, don't answer that way, please." She spoke clearly, "I do not want to find out your identity right now."
"Okay, sure." He shrugged, "That's only if I incorrectly use Cataclysm or fail to use it during our next Akuma fight, right?"
"Yep, and you have a month to answer this way, so that you definitely have to answer questions while transformed." Ladybug informed him with a more confident smirk than she'd really need as it sent nerves all over his stomach and left him a little uneasy, wondering if somehow she knew what Akumas Hawkmoth would be sending out soon.
When Cat Noir lost the bet, he'd been so stunned.
"So Ladybug, Cat Noir, can I get an exclusive interview sometime soon?" Alya asked, ever the fast reporter.
"Cat Noir can do an interview the day after tomorrow, right?" She asked, giving him a look that told him that now he was to act perfectly normal.
"Y-Yeah, Friday at five PM." He sent a hopefully charming and not at all scared smile Alya's way before he hurried off.
"So Adrien," Alya chirped with a pleasant smile, "Are you free Saturday to go to the movies with Nino, Marinette, and me?"
The model gulped, "Not since the accident."
Alya dropped her phone that she'd been holding just in case he said, 'yes,' and she'd have to update in her calendar who all was going or whether she had to purchase another ticket or tell her parents that Adrien was also coming along and may stay for dinner.
"Oh, my gosh." Alya gasped, "What accident? Are you okay?"
"Not since 'the' accident." Adrien hoped that it wasn't too obvious to Ladybug wherever she was who he is, "I'm perfectly fine, sort of." He shrugged, wondering if it was too much to add the last couple of words.
"Oh, something gone wrong when you were modelling?" Alya asked, looking a little relieved, but mostly some strange combination of curious and slightly concerned.
"Something like that." Adrien shrugged, trying not to say it a third time in a row and to not sound entirely moronic.
"So Cat Noir," Alya took a deep breath, a nearly forgotten glimpse of mischief in her eyes, "Are you and Ladybug dating now?"
"Not since the accident." He felt nerves kick in, and he was pretty sure that if Ladybug saw this interview at all or ever, that she'd be laughing at his misery.
"The love letter incident?" Alya looked hooked on this particular theory, "But that hadn't been an accident."
Cat Noir suddenly perked up in amusement, knowing that Ladybug would kill him for this not entirely true admission, "Oh, that wasn't an accident."
"Oh, oh." Alya half choked on her spit as her face turned bright red.
"She shown me a picture of that love letter, you know?" Cat Noir added with a playful smirk, watching his friend still look a little dazed.
"O-Okay." Alya waved it off frantically, like she desperately didn't want this on the air, "So it was some other accident?"
"Yeah." Cat Noir answered with ease.
"So you haven't dated since this accident?" Alya asked, watching him closely.
"Not since 'the' accident." Cat Noir agreed with a Cheshire like grin.
"Alright," Alya muttered, glancing down at the time, before sending a hopefully bright smile his way, still a little frazzled over when he casually told her that the love letter was not an accident, "It's time to go."
"See ya." Cat Noir gave his signature salute before he left there, so relieved that he didn't have to answer any other questions from Alya for the time being.
Ladybug was more than a little ticked off with him when she saw the video which only left Cat Noir to receive the mostly silent treatment other than whatever he needed to hear while they fought this Akuma which was very little.
"Why won't you just give Hawkmoth your Miraculouses?" Screeched the Akuma, making Cat Noir inwardly groan.
"I can't." He sighed, "Not since the accident."
It did lend the positive effect of stopping the Akuma who stopped when Hawkmoth probably started screeching just as loudly in his head.
"What do you mean, 'Not since the accident?' Is your Miraculous stuck on your finger?" The Akuma looked ticked off which was kind of silly with his mostly bright orange outfit.
"Not since the accident." Cat Noir parroted, aware that he sounded vague and quite stupid, as well aware that Ladybug was trying to muffle her giggles with her gloved hands.
"So it used to be stuck on your finger? What's wrong with you?" The Akuma screeched as if something was completely wrong somehow with the world and all that's going on in this moment.
"I said, 'Not since the accident.'" Cat Noir tried.
The Akuma screeched and practically just gave up and let Ladybug purify the Akuma with little to no effort.
"Cat Noir," She spoke up afterwards, "I can't believe that Akuma." Ladybug smiled at him.
"Yeah, me either." Cat Noir sighed.
"Hey, Ladybug!" Alya called, "What accident made you and Cat Noir break up?" She was determined to uncover this secret since her Cat Noir interview became a global sensation and every other reporter was clamoring for answers as well.
There were absolutely no leads on any Cat Noir related accidents since the superhero duo first made themselves known, and all reporters were coming to the consensus that it had to have been something in their civilian lives.
She sighed, giving her a slightly smug smirk, "Well, that's private information, LadyBlogger. I will not tell you why or how, and I can assure you that Cat Noir won't either." She shrugged.
"Will you ever get back together or are the two of you moving on?" Alya asked; her face turning a light hue of pink at the possibility that Ladybug may like her.
"We'll have to see." Ladybug winked, "I can't speak for Cat Noir's feelings." Alya practically fainted before she turned off her camera and waved to them just as Ladybug turned to leave.
May be Cat Noir will just get through this bet alive and scare Hawkmoth off in the process, but he was much more interested in finding out whether 'his' lady returned his feelings.