Chapter 2: Coffee Dreams

Prompt: Ladybug and Chat Noir: Coffee

Rating: K

Requested by: Adesteny

Marinette was tired. Really tired. No wait, tired was an understatement. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was exhausted! And she still had to finish her math homework and read an entire History book and write a Literature essay that was worth 10% of her grade. By tomorrow.

"Why does the universe hate me?" Marinette groaned in her head as she sat in her desk chair, glancing fleetingly at her bed. It looked soooo comfortable. If only…. She unlocked her computer and switched to the open Ladyblog tab for a few seconds, scanning it to see if there was an akuma running around. "There better not be…" she muttered.

"What?" Tikki asked, flying up to the desk. The little kwami let loose a huge yawn. She was just as tired as Marinette was.

"I was saying there'd better not be an akuma out today," Marinette explained. There had already been three akuma attacks this week alone! Plus her patrols every other night. Marinette was running herself ragged.

Tikki suggested asking Chat to cover her patrol, but both of them agreed that it wasn't a good idea when Chat Noir nearly passed out from exhaustion on their last patrol. He was pushing himself even harder than she was. Through pleasant (but vague) small talk, she had also learned that he was severely punished if his grades fell. Strict parents, maybe?

Anyway, after that little episode, they had decided to patrol together. That way, if one of them did end up passing out (it was ridiculous that it had come to that) then the other one would be there. Marinette glanced at the clock. 9:37pm. She had to meet Chat in an hour and a half.

"What should I even start with?" Marinette asked herself, groaning. Tikki hovered over her.

"Start with the Lit essay. Then do the math if you have time. You can read the book in between classes and at lunch because History is the last class of the day. Maybe you'll read enough of it to fake reading the whole thing," Tikki suggested. Marinette groaned again.

10:45 came too fast. Marinette forced herself to her feet, looking at the half completed algebra equation on her paper. Shaking her head, she called "Tikki, spots on!" Transforming brought her no extra energy, because Tikki had none to give.

"This is gonna be horrible," she commented as she swung out the window. Leaping across the rooftops, every step she took, she nearly stumbled. Only the wind against her face kept her eyes open. At one point, she did actually trip and ended up sprawled across the arooftop.

"Okay, I'm calling for intervention," Tikki said inside of Marinette's head. "You're gonna kill yourself if you patrol while you're this tired."

"What are you gonna do? Give me an energy drink?" Ladybug groaned. Tikki giggled.

"Kinda. You see that café down there?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I want you to go down there and buy yourself some coffee!"

"As Ladybug? I don't have any money… And those people will freak out if a super hero comes into their shop."

"No silly, as Marinette. I know for a fact you have a leftover ten dollar bill in your back pocket," Tikki said. Marinette gasped.

"I do?" She leapt down and de-transformed. Digging around in her back pocket, she pulled out a crumpled ten dollar bill. "Booya! I'm freakin' rich!" she cheered tiredly. "How did I miss this?"

She crossed the street and entered the coffee shop, rubbing her eyes. "Hi, I would like a caramel mocha Frappuccino," she ordered. The barista nodded and went to work on her drink. Mairnette turned to wait and nearly crashed into somebody. She leapt backwards, letting out a squeak as their eyes connected.

Standing in front of her was a very tired Adrien Agreste. You could see his attempts to cover the dark circles under his eyes with makeup, and his blonde hair was messier than usual. His Agreste brand clothes were all wrinkled as well.

"A-Adrien!' Marinette nearly shrieked. The boy smiled at her.

"Hey Marinette!" he greeted, before yawning. "Looks like I'm not the only one that needed a caffeine boost!"

"N-no I mean YES! I mean, yes I needed a boost of coffee- I mean caffeine…. and…um…tired…yeah…" she finished, wincing. Adrien looked at her a little strangely, but nodded nonetheless.

"Adrien?" a voice called. He looked up to see a barista holding his cup, a name scribbled across it. Adrien walked over.

"That would be me. Hey, would you mind scribbling my name over with Sharpie?" he politely requested. The barista gave him a look. She picked up her pen and scrawled the black ink across his name. Marinette was utterly confused. But whatever. If Adrien didn't like his name on a coffee cup, that was his business. Maybe they spelled his name wrong…

"See ya tomorrow, Marinette!" he called as he walked out the door!

"Yup! Tomorrow I'll see… I mean I'll see you! Tomorrow!"

"Marinette?" a barista called. She went over and accepted her cup from the girl. She frowned as she looked at her name on the cup. She couldn't let Chat see it. She'd have to pull an Adrien.

"Can you…maybe… scribble my name over...too?"

The barista gave her a 'really' look and muttered something about crazy people as she pulled out her pen again. Once Marinette's name was satisfactorily hidden, she accepted the drink and handed the lady some cash, leaving her a rather large tip even though the coffee was over-priced to begin with. The barista's face lit up and she waved at Marinette as she went to take another order.

Marinette smiled briefly before taking a sip of the warm liquid and sighing. It tasted good. Totally worth the price. She took another three gulps as she headed over into the alleyway and transformed.

Swinging across the rooftops while trying not to spill your coffee is very complicated, Marinette decided. Finally, she made it to the rooftop that she was supposed to meet Chat at. He was already there, leaning casually against a chimney and sipping some coffee.

He was drinking coffee. So what?

The cup had the name of the same shop that she had gone to sprawled across it.

Could her partner have been in that building earlier or even at the same time as she was? She didn't want to know, lest she accidentally realize who he was.

She couldn't help but run a mental image of everybody who she had noticed in the shop through her head before she could stop herself. She shook away those thoughts. Ladybug actually planned on setting down her half-full coffee cup behind a chimney and leaving it there so Chat didn't question her, but it was too late.

"Meow-velous evening, m'lady. Isn't it?" he called at her. She reluctantly stepped out of the shadows.

"Yeah, I guess. I would appreciate it much more if I wasn't so tired!" Ladybug responded. Chat eyed her coffee, his eyes widening a bit. Had his lady visited that shop too? It was on the way to this spot... She must've gone in after him... He was positive he would be able to spot her immediately if they had been in there at the same time.

"Needed some caffeine too?" he asked, knowing if he made a comment about them being in the same cafe, Ladybug might throw him off the roof. She looked a little startled for a second, but recovered her Ladybug grace almost instantly.

"Yeah, I'm dead tired. Let's just get this patrol over before I collapse!"

"Me too..." Chat agreed. "I'd much rather be asleep. Although if I had to choose this or homework, I would choose this. Even if I do get into a lot of trouble later."

"Tell me about it," Ladybug muttered. She took another sip of coffee and then took her yoyo off of her hip. Chat Noir raised an eyebrow.

"You're gonna swing across the rooftops with coffee in your hand?"

"I did it all the way here. And you must've too."

"True. Let's go."

The two super heroes made their rounds a little slower that night. They kept stopping every so often to sip their coffee. About halfway through patrol, the caffeine kicked in and they sped up a bit.

Once they were almost finished, Ladybug was about to collapse. And she was worried about Chat Noir. The poor cat boy was breathing heavily, and moving sluggishly as exhaustion kicked in. When they were a few miles from their finishing point, she actually made them stop because she was afraid he would fall over.

"Chat, you're exhausted. I mean, more so than I am. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, m'lady. No need to worry."

"Well you just missed the perfect op-purr-tunity to make a pun, so I know for a fact that you are not fine," Ladybug stated firmly.

"I did?" Chat's blank look worried her a little more.

"Yes, you did. You should have said you were 'feline' fine," Ladybug corrected. Chat shrugged. "Are you getting enough sleep, chaton?"

"I dunno. As much as I can since I stay up every night patrolling until past midnight."

"And do you got to sleep as soon as you get home?" Ladybug demanded. Chat faltered. It was only a second. A look flashed through his eyes and then it was gone.

"Of course!" Chat lied.

"You're lying," Ladybug said immediately. "Please tell me you don't stay up and do homework, Kitty!"

"You don't understand Ladybug, I have to!" Chat protested. "If I don't get perfect grades on everything he'll kill me! Or worse yet, pull me out of school!"

Chat's words were slurred now, and she could see his eyelids beginning to droop. He waved off her concerned look. "It's what coffee does to me," he explained. "Worth it for a little while, and then deadly afterwards. I always end up crashing."

The poor guy's mask couldn't hide how tired he was. His green eyes were completely dull, and he hadn't made a single pun. He didn't even flirt with her. Not once. Overwhelming instinct made her wrap her arms around him.

He hesitated for a bit, and the melted into her hug. She caressed his head and scratched behind his cat ears as he went limp in her embrace. She earned some soft purrs of pleasure.

"You're purring," she whispered, wanting to giggle a bit.

"Mmm," came the groggy response. It only took a few seconds for Ladybug to realize that Chat Noir had fallen asleep in her arms, purring softly. His coffee cup fell out of his limp hand and rolled on the ground.

Her eyes followed it as it rolled, and then stopped to perfectly display the side where the barista had written his name. Oh mon dieu! It was scratched over with black Sharpie!

Ladybug closed her eyes and took a deep breath, because no it's not possible for Adrien to be Chat Noir because that completely violates every rule she has made for her life and that cannot happen.

But the Sharpie scrawl was identical. Same place, same size, same shape. NoNoNoNoNo!

Looking down at the sleeping cat, she completely freaked out. This could be be Adrien Agreste cuddled against her! She could have kissed Adrien Agreste during the whole Dark Cupid thing. Adrien Agreste could have been flirting with her for two years!

Reluctantly, she shook him awake. "Chat! Chat, wake up!"

"Argh, five more minutes!" he groaned.

"No, chaton. I have to go NOW! Come on!" She pushed his head off of her lap. He blinked, looking slightly more alert. "Can you get home safely?" she asked. Chat nodded.

Ladybug took off across the rooftops, disappearing into the night. A sleepy grin crossed Chat's face as he watched her leave. Then he turned to pick up his empty coffee cup (and apparently hers as well, because she left it behind).

When he bent down to pick up hers, he froze. Because even though the name was scribbled over in dark Sharpie (great minds think alike), whoever had done it had done it carelessly and fast. He could clearly make out the name underneath.

Marinette.

There was no way. There was absolutely no freaking way that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug. Chat Noir ended up having a mental battle with himself all the way home. When he finally de-transformed, he had finally convinced himself that it made sense. Way too much sense.

Fortunately, his exhausted mind left him no time to stew over it. He collapsed into his bed before changing into pajamas and fell asleep instantly.

Meanwhile, a little farther away, Marinette had also fallen asleep fully clothed in her bed. The only difference is that her parents (who had heard a noise upstairs when she had come home) went up and took her shoes and jacket off for her, wrapping her in a blanket and kissing her forehead.

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The next morning, Marinette woke up a few seconds before her alarm went off. Hitting snooze, she tried to re-call the dream she had last night. After a few seconds of thought, she laughed a bit to herself.

"What's so funny?" Tikki asked.

"I had a dream that Adrien was Chat Noir! Now how hilarious is that? It's literally impossible!"

Tikki chuckled along with her chosen. "Not as impossible as you think," Tikki thought.

"Well, I have fifteen minutes before I need to get ready. Let's finish this math!" Marinette said determinedly.

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Adrien rolled over. He felt a little stiff and sore. Realizing that he had fallen asleep in his clothes, he got up and went to go take a shower. Once he was done he went through his usual process of brushing his hair, finding the perfect designer clothes to wear, and applying the makeup to hide his exhaustion.

As he made his way over to the computer to check the Ladyblog, he remembered something. A dream he must've had last night. And in it, Marinette was Ladybug? And he had found out because of a coffee cup?

He laughed a bit at his wishful imagination, thanking his brain for providing him with entertainment while he slept. He sat down at his desk, determined to finish his essay. Maybe he should pick up some coffee on the way to school this morning.

Then again, maybe not.

A/N: Okay, I honestly had way too much fun writing that! Thanks for that awesome suggestion, Adesteny!