Adrien had an awful lot on his plate already. He had school with everything that came along with it, fencing after school, photo shoots on the weekends, and then there was the whole Chat Noir shebang. There wasn't a whole lot of leeway in his schedule. The only time he got to do what he liked was either when he was holed up in his room or between classes at school. It was highly unlikely that he would be able to go to any parties that his friends threw. Nino was his ultimate best friend and he wished he could spend more time with him. Then there was Chloe. Chloe had always been a slight thorn in his side but was one of the few people he could "hang out" with outside of the classroom. She was tolerable and that was fine.
Adrien and Nino were walking to the lunchroom when around the corner came a wide-eyed Marinette. They froze mid walk. She was wearing a mix of emotions that he couldn't quite place and looked frantically around the hallway. When her eyes met his surprise covered the rest of her features and she dashed past him, heading in the opposite direction he was. After she disappeared behind another turn, Nino and Adrien just looked at each other, as if one of them had an answer. Two seconds later, Alya comes barreling towards them. "Did Marinette come through here?"
"Yeah," Nino said, "but is it safe to ask why she came through here?"
"Oh, yeah," Alya replied, trying to catch her breath and looking over their shoulders to see if she could catch a glimpse of her friend. "Long story short, Marinette is trying to find her sketchbook." She then made a move to go around them, but Nino caught her arm.
"Wait, but doesn't she always have that with her?"
Alya sighed and turned to face them. "Well, Marinette was sketching some designs in her sketchbook when Chloe came over snatched it from under her. She started flipping through pages and saw that she had some pretty cool designs of Chat Noir and Ladybug and asked if Marinette could make her a Ladybug costume. She said no and so Chloe said fine, but I'm pretty sure she saw either a drawing of you," she pointed at Adrien, "or a design for your dad and got all huffy and gave it to her annoying assistant and told her to flush it and she ran off, but we all know Chloe wouldn't resist stealing designs like that, so she most likely hid it somewhere, so we ran off to look for it and it's not in her locker and Marinette's running mad, so if you would let go of my hand, I can go help her." She finished by glaring at Nino, who dropped her wrist like it burnt him, and she ran off.
Adrien and Nino took a couple seconds to process the information before walking again. He'd seen Chloe be kinda mean to others in the past but really? She couldn't do her own thing and had to steal someone else's book? She had stolen one of Marinette's sketches before, but it was just a bit sad to know that she had to do it again. Marinette was a nice girl and great designer. She should have her designs stolen just because someone couldn't think up their own ideas. "Wouldn't put it past Chloe to do something like that to Marinette," Nino sighed. "She's probably done worse. Besides, she is totally obsessed with you."
Adrien looked over at his friend. Obsessed was not something he saw Chloe as. Touchy feely and a bit overbearing, yes, but not obsessed. It would just make it weird if she were obsessed with him in particular. It was that she liked things to go the way she wants them to. "Not me," he said. "Just maybe perfection."
Nino laughed. "You calling yourself perfect? Your fame's getting to your head, man." He returned the laughter in a less hearty tone and Nino caught on. "Joking, Adrien. But you are pretty perfect."
"Maybe we should go help?" Adrien asked, throwing the conversation back to the previous topic not so subtly.
"Sure, but after lunch. Then we can join the sketchbook finders' brigade."
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
There was a news reporter saying something about an attack going on when Adrien excused himself from lunch saying that he was going to go to the washroom before finding Alya and Marinette. He went to the washroom and persuaded the ever so gracious Plagg (who was stuffed in his bag all day, mind you) to transform him into Chat Noir. He then jumped out the window and started toward the sound of blaring sirens.
He saw Ladybug running and decided to join her. "Wonderful day, isn't it, My Lady," he called to her.
"Not today, Chat," was all the reply that was given to poor Chat until they reached the enemy. It was one that happened every so often. Someone got their heart broken or a date went terribly wrong and POOF. Perfect akuma material. This one seemed to act like Kim when he was infected, making people turn on each other. He made sure with ones like these that he didn't let himself get hit in fear that he might hurt his Lady.
Not that she wasn't entirely capable herself, but she seemed rather irritated, so he would help all he could.
The villain in front of them was a young man in what looked to be his mid-twenties. He was throwing pencils at people and it was rather funny seeing someone playing darts with any writing utensil because of love. The man was wearing a dark blue vest, plaid shirt underneath, and khakis. Apparently, he was an aspiring writer according to the people who saw him. He didn't seem to notice either of them sitting on one of the rooftops, observing him and building a plan.
"Okay, Chat, let's do this," Ladybug murmured next to him. "You see that laptop bag he has? I'm pretty sure that's where the akuma is. All we have to do is get it off him and we should be good."
Chat jumped to his feet and helped Ladybug up as well. "Shall I be acting as a distraction, perhaps?"
A smile played at her lips. "Thank you, Kitty. That'd be most helpful."
"Anything for my wondrous Lady." With that, he leaped down and made his way to the villain in front of him. "Purrhaps you're suffering from post-grammatic stress?" The man spun to identify the voice and as soon as he saw Chat, he started laughing. It sufficed to say that the super was taken aback. Akumas usually don't find his puns all that funny.
"About time, Chat Noir!" he beamed. "I'm a big fan of you and Ladybug. You'd be surprised how much I look to you for inspiration."
"Really?" Chat asked wearily, still confused, but glad he wasn't getting skewered.
"Oh, yes. The dynamic between you and your Lady, as you say, is quite interesting." Chat laughed, but even he could tell that there was a slight nervous undertone. But the last of it nearly faded when Ladybug gave him a reassuring thumbs up from afar, then getting back to work trying to figure out how to defuse the situation without using her Lucky Charm. "But you know what's the best part?"
"Hm?"
"The fact that little miss over there's trying to stop such a well-versed villain." The man spun and threw a highlighter with intense precision. Ladybug didn't even have time to see it hit her side before her eyes went from blue to bright red. She stood from her crouch on the ground. Inker laughed behind Chat as he gaped at Ladybug, who was smiling with an evil glint in her eyes. "Say, Ladybug?" Inker asked. "You think I should give you a chance to take on dear Chat Noir for me?"
"It would be my pleasure, Inker." She laughed shrilly and started swinging her yo-yo, walking toward the black cat. "You ready to have some fun, Kitty?"
There were two options for Chat. Either he fought his Lady or ran. He ran.
"You scared, Kitty?" she called after him.
"Not a chance, m' Lady!" Totally blatant lie. He was terrified. Not only because Ladybug had consistently said she was just as good without him, but the was the fact that there's was no way he would risk hurting her even by accident. That behind him was not the Ladybug he knew, but he was not going to engage in anything close to combat. And there was no doubt that she would.
He jumped from roof to roof with Ladybug mere meters away from him. Her laugh was still high and all too excited. Chat was tiring and it seemed like his partner wasn't going to run out of steam anytime soon. She kept throwing her yo-yo at him and purposefully missing just to keep him on edge. His movements were mainly dodging and evading while she sounded like she was having the time of her life. Was his Lady really enjoying this? Or was it all the infection?
No, she wouldn't. He knew his Lady and even though she didn't have the same feelings towards him as he did toward her, she would still be the kindest she could. Whatever was up with her earlier must have really thrown her for a loop.
"You not having fun, Kitty?" she cackled. "Why are you running? I thought you loved me, Kitty. What would happen if you were to trip?" He could hear the light footfalls behind him and thundered forward…
… totally missing Ladybug's obvious intention to trip him. (Though, in his defense, he was being chased by his true love and only thought it to be obvious later.)
His foot got caught in her yo-yo string and he flew off the roof and into the alley next to them. Ladybug kept her yo-yo strung around his foot and when he tried getting up, he was pulled back onto his bottom. She jumped to the ground and dragged him closer. "So, Kitty, are you going to make this hard or easy? You know how this works; all I want is your Miraculous. Now you can either give it to me willingly, or I pull it off your finger."
It was pretty clear that Chat was torn. There was no way he was going to just willingly hand her Plagg. They had worked so hard to keep them away from Hawkmoth. He couldn't just throw that away. But he couldn't hurt Ladybug, either. No ifs, and's, or buts about it. He just had to weigh the differences.
"Sorry, m'Lady, but you're going to have to catch me again first!" He gave her a quick smirk before slipping his foot out of the last loop and leaping back onto the roofs. He heard a groan of frustration from where he was before and then the thump of Ladybug landing He didn't look behind, but sprinted any which way. Although he did know he would tire if he kept it up for too long, it was better than pacing himself right now.
It wasn't enough, though. He had nearly gotten back to the Inker when he was jerked back when she decided to wrap his wrist with her yo-yo, yet managed to keep his footing. She came up next to him and grabbed his hand. "Thanks, Kitty."
Ladybug jerked the ring off his finger. Chat Noir's super persona immediately fell off him, leaving the everyday, run of the mill, Adrien out in the open. He opened his eyes only when he was pushed away and there was a gasp from in front of him.
She was staring down at him with absolute disgust. "You!" she spat. "You're Chat?" So she knew who Adrien was. A lot of people did. "You know what, this makes sense. You know, because you're the reason for all of this. Too sweet Adrien is also flirty Chat Noir? No wonder you're so happy at school sometimes. You two are the same person. The same, good for nothing, person.
"I suppose this is what it feels like to have an untouchable love to be ripped from your fantasies and into reality." Love?
Adrien thought about the last time, when he got infected like this. He didn't remember any of it, but Alya had interviewed several onlookers (since she was infected herself) saying that Ladybug snapped him out of it by kissing him. "True love's kiss" so to speak. With how flustered she was right after and how they skirted around talking about the incident for a while, he never mentioned that he knew. She wouldn't want to know. But it didn't stop him from thinking about how that worked. Adrien supposed it worked as a one-way street. He loved Ladybug, she didn't love him, yet it worked. Maybe that celebrity crush would do enough for it to work the other way.
Adrien looked around, making sure they were centered enough on the roof for no one to see them in the street. They were too consumed in the Inker right now to pay attention to them right now, anyway. This time, he grabbed both her wrists and pulled her right in front of him. There was surprise making her drop his ring and pause, but then she said something along the lines of asking how he thought the same trick would work twice before Adrien steeled himself and pushed his lips against her's.
It was just a peck, but it was enough. Nothing dramatic, nothing sentimental, quick enough to jump away from if it didn't work out. Adrien snatched his ring from the ground before backing away quickly so when his Lady opened her eyes, she was greeted with him on the other side of the roof, heading toward the fire escape, and no recollection of the recent events. Her eyes were back to normal; same beautiful sky blue they always were. He did a mental happy dance, but then remembered that there was a task at hand at the moment. "A-Adrien?" An assessment of her surroundings. "What am I doing up here?"
There was no doubt in his mind that Ladybug would connect the akuma and her memory loss soon enough, but he needed an excuse for the time being. "You blacked out and Chat brought you here. He used his cataclysm, so he went to recharge."
"But, why did he bring you up here?"
"Oh, I was going to get hit, so he brought me up here too before going." She nodded. Another mental congrats. "Um, you might want to go take care of that guy." She smiled and saluted before falling back and off the building. He gave himself a few solid seconds before he pulled his ring out of his pocket and out came Plagg. The little miraculous collapsed into his hand, understandably more emotionally stretched thin than simple exertion. He was mere moments away from being taken to Hawkmoth and had actually was taken off of Adrien.
The boy pulled out some cheese which Plagg took in whole down his throat. Adrien put his ring back on and called for his transformation once more. As soon as it finished, he jumped down from the roof to join his partner. The Inker was chasing down Ladybug and throwing felt-tip pens every which way. He dashed to her side. "What's the plan, My Lady?"
"Good, you're here. Did you rest up?" He nodded. "Okay, let's finish this. Can you go distract him? I'm going to use my Lucky Charm."
"Absolutely," he answered. He came to an abrupt stop and spun around to face the villain now behind him.
The plastered grin on the Inker's face only widened when he saw Chat in front of him. "You done playing chase, dear Chat Noir? It was fun, wasn't it?"
"Oh, yeah," he replied, words nearly drowning in sarcasm. "The best kind of fun there is." Chat took position just as the onslaught of stationary came flying at him. It was easy enough to deflect them with his staff, but that's all that it did. Deflect. Rather than hitting him, they were hitting everything around him. Lucky for him, Ladybug had activated her Lucky Charm and now had a wooden two by four in her hands. What she would do with it was beyond him, but it usually worked, so there was no point questioning it. Chat simply continued his staff work to block the ever increasing amount of stationary being thrown at him.