'Ello, 'ello, welcome back to chapter two.

Day two: Famous

...

The akuma hadn't taken long to defeat, despite the fact that as soon as they landed near the akuma, all of Ladybug's previous confidence had seemed to fade away and she had yelped and hidden behind him, and proceeded to keep trying to hide for the rest of the fight. She had, to her credit, yelled encouraging things to him for most of it, though quickly realised that calling on her Lucky Charm would also be helpful and had done just that. Instead of figuring out what to do with it, she had immediately bounded out, babbling in excitement and trying to show him the large mirror she now had. The akuma had taken that momentary distraction as a chance to try hit the pair of them, but the light had simply reflected off the mirror and had hit him instead. Ladybug had practically shrieked in excitement, jumping up and wrapping her arms around him, and he had to remind her that the akuma still needed to be purified. "Oh, right." She said, and let go of him to pull out her yoyo. Once the newly purified butterfly was fluttering away, she grabbed the mirror and chucked it into the sky, though in place of her usual words, she went "YEET!" instead, and Chat Noir could hardly stop laughing.

The ladybugs swept past her, returning her to normal, and she turned confused eyes on him. "Chat Noir? Is everything ok?"

"Everything's just fine M'lady." He told her with a grin.

He was just about to say something else when a lady came running up to them, waving her phone, breathless with excitement. "Ladybug!" She huffed, then paused for a minute to catch her breath. "I saw you just before kissing Adrien Agreste. Does that- does that mean you two are you know… a thing?"

Ladybug's eyes went wide. "Uh… what?"

"A thing." The lady repeated. "Like, a couple?"

Ladybug blinked, then looked over to him for help, still looking utterly confused.

Chat Noir decided to help her out. "Oh no!" He said. "Ladybug, your transformation is about to wear off." Just as he said that, her earrings beeped another warning.

She nodded. "I'm sorry, I have to go." She said to the lady, then turned and swung away.

The lady turned her gaze to Chat. "Do you know whether Ladybug and Adrien are together?"

He shrugged with an easy grin. "Nope. I think that's something you'll just have to try ask them another time." He pulled out his baton to prepare to leave. He did have to get back soon. He had managed to convince his driver to let him walk home from his latest photoshoot just this once, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be allowed again if he was terribly late.

With a quick polite goodbye to the lady, who was looking pretty disappointed that she hadn't had her question answered, he bounded away.

Landing nearby to his house, he let his transformation drop and walked the rest of the way. As soon as he walked through the door, Nathalie informed that that his father wished to speak with him. Adrien gave her a surprised look. "What for?"

Nathalie did not answer and instead, turned and escorted him to his father's office. He sighed. He was probably in trouble for being late home. Adrien paused for a second to think of an excuse, then pushed open the door. "You wanted to see me, Father?" He asked.

A moment passed before Gabriel lifted his head from his work to look at him. "Yes. Have a seat."

He closed the door behind him and sat down in the chair in front of the desk, staring nervously at his father. He looked displeased, as he often was, and the feeling that he was in trouble intensified. "I have heard about the latest akuma attack." Gabriel began.

For a second, Adrien didn't get it, then Gabriel lifted his tablet to show the picture that was on it and he flushed. "O- oh."

"Mm. This picture, Adrien, is all over the internet. It's been causing speculation."

"Uh." Adrien stared at the picture for a second longer. His face felt very warm as he remembered how her lips felt when they pressed against his for not nearly long enough. "It's not- we're not really… Ladybug was just under the influence of the akuma, that's all. It's just the same as any other picture from other akuma battles. This sort of stuff happens all the time." Except it doesn't. Far as he knew, Ladybug had never kissed anyone else before because of an akuma.

Gabriel stared at him for a long moment. "You have a public image to maintain, Adrien. You can't just go around kissing people, whether you meant to or not. People are everywhere with their cameras and you never know what rumours might spread. You must be more careful in the future."

He bowed his head. "Yes, of course Father." All he wanted to do, even after that warning, was kiss Ladybug again, but he wasn't going to say that out loud.

With a nod, Gabriel turned his attention back to his work. "That is all I wished to speak to you about. You may leave now."

As Adrien turned to leave, Gabriel lifted his head again to watch him, wondering whether his son had feelings for a certain miss Ladybug, or whether he'd been imagining the blissful look on his face when he'd seen the picture.