"Chat." The red suited heroine pouted and crossed her arms. "We agreed on no gifts." Blue eyes glared at the tiny wrapped box for emphasis.
"I know, my lady, but I could not resist." A sly grin spread across his lips, making Ladybug's blood boil. Here he was on one knee, offering the present like some actor in a Shakespeare play, the box balanced on one palm that was held out to her while his other hand rested over his heart.
"I'm not taking it." The statement was final and she turned her back to him, eyes closing as her nose turned up. "I refuse."
"Oh, My Lady. I am wounded. After three years of being partners and you still reject me. Besides, I have had this gift for awhile now and this is the only good time I have as an excuse to give it to you."
Ladybug made the mistake of opening her eyes and turning to glance at him. Sure enough, there was her leather clad partner with his wide green eyes that shone in the moonlight. Those thin lips pressed together as the bottom poked out only slightly to where the darker color of the inside of the lip could just barely be seen. The black mask crinkled as his brow bent inward, somehow making the eyes look bigger. It was the sad kitten face. The same face Manon used to give her when she had first started babysitting the little "angel." It was a face she couldn't resist.
Her suit covered hand shot out, snatching the gift. Immediately the impish smiled returned to the cat's face and he jumped to his feet, hands resting on her shoulders. "Don't worry, My Lady. You're going to love it I promise!" All traces of sadness were instantly gone, replaced with the child-like excitement she had come to expect.
"Don't touch me! I'm still mad at you..." She moved away from him. Now it was her turned to pout. Nimble fingers pulled the black ribbon away, letting the ends fall on either side of her hand. She was very much aware of Chat sneaking up behind her to peer over her shoulder, awaiting a reaction. After shooting a glare from the sides of her eyes at the man, she went back to opening the gift in a painfully slow manor. A whine of annoyance sounded from behind her making a smirk flash across her face. Finally the top was off. A gentle gasp escaped as her fingers carefully pulled out the small glass statue of the Eiffel Tower. "Chat... Oh you remembered..."
The memories of patrol three months earlier popped into her mind.
It had been raining the entire day, putting Paris in a grumpy mood but it had stopped just in time for their patrol. Everything shone under the moonlight as it peeked through a hole in the clouds. Chat was perched on a chimney, doing his best to get as far away from any puddles as he could. His tongue stuck out and he shook his hand wildly, water droplets flying off. They had surprised him when he had grabbed the side of the chimney.
Ladybug was late. A rarity. When she finally landed on the roof, it was thirty minutes after they were supposed to meet. "Sorry I'm late." Her voice was soft as she walked quickly to the opposite end. "Lets get going." No greeting, no explanation.
Chat frowned and bounded after her. Instead of running like she usually did, Ladybug was swinging through the streets. With his heightened senses, he could have sworn that he heard sniffling coming from her direction, but didn't have time to investigate.
The heroine landed on a rooftop, running and preparing herself to leap to the final building when her heel caught on a wet spot. The girl cried out in surprise and went sliding toward the edge, frozen in shock and fear. A streak of black raced forward, arms wrapping around her before they skidded to a halt, inches from the edge, both of them now in a sitting position. "T-Thanks..." Her voice was still soft and she refused to look at him, until a clawed hand reached over to rest on her cheek. After a moment, pressure was applied and he turned her face toward him, without much fight from the blunette. A fading redness on the edges of her eyes was the first thing to alert him to her feelings.
"What's the matter, My Lady?" His gentle tone surrounded her, much like his arms, pulling out the words before she could stop them.
"I broke my small glass Eiffel Tower statue..." The confession made her sigh. "I know it sounds like a stupid thing to cry over, but it was from the first time I remember being there. I had saved up all of my allowance from working for my parents and they took me to the Tower after shutting down the shop for an entire day. That was the only souvenir I bought. I tried to replace it, but they didn't have anymore at the gift shop. It was a perfect little replica with white lines representing the crossing beams. It didn't come with a base and was completely solid but not heavy at all. Along one side of the neck of the tower was the word "Paris" painted in gold lettering. It was only about fifteen centimeters tall and it sat on the desk near my computer. My bag was sitting next to it and when I went to return to school, it got caught on the corner and shattered on the floor. There's no way to fix it because it's in millions of pieces and they don't sell them anymore and..." She finally took a breath, wiping away tears threatening to fall.
Ladybug turned to him, white teeth pulling at her bottom lip before she spoke again. "You remembered."
"Of course, My Lady." Chat Noir gave a deep bow, looking up at her through his eyelashes. "I'd never forget something that made you cry like that, Bugaboo." A few seconds later, he straightened. "Now shall we..." His words were cut off as the air was knocked out of him from the force of her hug. The flirtatious attitude disappeared for a moment as he stood there, surprised at the intimate action. Once his brain began to work again, he wrapped his arms around her as well. Their relationship mostly consisted of Chat's flirting and Ladybug's rejections. There were rare times that they went any further than that unless it was necessary during a battle. And it wasn't like they hadn't hugged before. But this hug was different. It leaked with emotions. Sadness, joy, surprise, a tiny bit of leftover anger, and something else that Chat couldn't quite place. "Careful, LB. You'll get akumatized if you get any more emotional." The deep voice purred.
"Shut up kitty." And surprisingly he obeyed. After a minute of standing with her face buried in his chest, Ladybug stepped back. The gift was placed back in the box and hidden behind a chimney. "So it won't break while we patrol." She explained, seeing the skeptical look cross his face. "Lets go. It's getting late." With that she was gone.
Chat hesitated a moment, watching her red form pierce the dark of the night sky. "Now why did you have to go and react like that, Bugaboo." He whispered into the wind. "I was just starting to get over you."
Marinette collapsed into her desk chair, eyes following the red kwami as she floated to the bottomless jar of cookies sitting on the opposite end. It had been moved there after the Eiffel Tower incident. A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth as she pulled the replacement souvenir out of the box. Her hands hesitated when she went to place it in the same spot as before. "Perhaps that's not the best idea." Tikki pipped up from her spot on the cookie jar rim.
"I know but... I want it near my computer..." Her lips twisted into a partial frown as she tried to determine where the gift would go. Finally she decided on the window sill behind her computer. That way she would still be able to see it easily and the sun would be able to reflect through it during the day.
With a satisfied nod, the student turned back to her desk. Her science assignment sat there, mocking her with its unfinished problems. She had been working on this for hours and it was barely halfway done. Perhaps she would talk to Adrien about it during lunch tomorrow if he didn't have a photoshoot. With a sigh she moved on, pulling up a web browser on her computer.
Google was pulled up before she typed "fashion internship in paris" in the search bar. Her eyes scanned the pages, hoping to find something new. It was the beginning of the school year, but if she wanted to have a chance to get into IFA Paris, then having some sort of experience would be helpful. She was stuck between trying to find an internship she could actually get into and putting all her hopes on an application for a larger company. Of course her prefered choice would be working for Gabriel Agreste. Maybe she could talk to Adrien about the process. Her hand reached for her phone to text the blonde, but after looking at the time she decided against it. School started in seven hours. He probably wouldn't appreciate being woken up to talk about his father.
"Probably best to get some sleep. I don't want to be late too early in the school year." She said aloud, partially to Tikki but mainly to herself. It took a moment to find the motivation to move. Patrols always left her drained. Even with the magic suit to help her leap across rooftops and the lean muscles that had formed from three years of saving Paris, racing through the city was still an exhausting experience. The best thing to do would be to go to bed earlier and be refreshed when her alarm eventually went off, but Marinette was a night owl. During the summer she would stay up until one or two in the morning and sleep until noon. But that wasn't possible during the school year and habits were hard to break.
It was five minutes before the girl finally rose from her seat and headed to the bathroom. The ribbons holding her hair up fluttered to the counter. Once a brush pulled the knots from her hair, she leaned forward. Maybe she should start wearing her hair down more. Alya had been trying to convince her to for over a year now, claiming it would make her look older. Sure the pigtails were childish, but she had worn them for three years now and they were Ladybug's hairstyle too. It was hard to change something that seemed so important to her personality. But change was good...sometimes.
"Marinette?" TIkki floated in to find her chosen inches from the mirror. "What are you doing?"
"Well I started out trying to decide how to wear my hair tomorrow, then I started noticing all the pimples..." Fingertips brushed the skin of her cheeks where small red bumps were starting to form.
"Well don't touch them! It will only agitate it. Didn't you buy that special face cream?" The bug scolded, pushing her hand away.
"Yes mom." Marinette stuck her tongue out before rifling through the cabinets, bottles clattering onto the tile. "Where is it... Where is it... AHA!" A thump echoed through the wood as she sat up too soon. A hiss escaped clenched teeth as her free hand moved to rub the back of her head.
"Careful." Tikki mumbled, peeking over the side only to receive a glare from bluebell eyes.
"A little too late there Tikki." A growl followed each word as she stood, grabbing a hair clip to pin back her hair as she wet her face. The kwami quickly flew out of the way, but Marinette was able to splash her with water droplets from her fingers. Now it was Tikki's turn to glare. The cream was applied and left to dry as she brushed her teeth. Once everything was cleaned off, she donned her pajamas which were just pink yoga shorts and a baggy t-shirt, before crawling into bed. With the alarms set on her phone, she settled into the blankets. "Goodnight Tikki."
"Goodnight Marinette." The kwami answered from her spot on a pillow.