"It's terrible, I just have no inspiration at all," Ladybug sighs. "I'm honestly completely clueless."
"I wish I could help you out, my lady," Chat says. Once again, the rooftop seems to be their meeting place. They're sitting opposite each other, Ladybug against a long, white chimney, Chat against the broad edge of the roof. The wind is light and warm, ruffling up their hair.
"Don't worry about it, Chat," Ladybug says, waving her hand dismissively. "I'll figure something out eventually. I always do. I just… tend to stress a whole lot about it beforehand, too," she laughs.
Chat smirks. "You might even say- ah, hold on!" Ladybug frowns as Chat suddenly crawls forward over her legs.
"Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?" she demands, blushing hard.
He sits up, straddling her calves. "Spider."
"Get it away, then!"
He grins down at her. She can't help but notice how he… well, he looks incredible attractive from that angle. It must be the light, she supposes. It makes his hair look like a halo. She's never really noticed, but he has really long lashes too. And his eyes, they're so-
He clicks his tongue at her, shaking her out of her trance. "Impatient, aren't we?"
She frowns at him, sticking her lower lip out a bit. "Get on with it, Chat. Chat?"
Chat Noir is not responding. Instead he's staring down at her in the strangest way.
She finds herself captured in the depth of his forest-green eyes and so she doesn't protest when he leans down, his lips brushing against her jaw.
They're soft, she notices. She also can't help but notice how hot his breath is against her cheek, and how close their bodies suddenly are, and how she just can't seem to move no matter what.
"Tell me," he says, "Please." Three words are all he utters and yet they seem so full of emotion. Love and want and curiosity and a need. A need to know.
"Lady," he continues, growing more desperate. Feather-light kisses, so light she hardly notices them there, fluttering across her jaw, down her neck. His hands grip her upper arms gently. "Lady, who-"
"Chat," she interrupts, finally waking from her daze, it seems. She turns her head away from his and immediately he pulls back from her, though he keeps her gaze locked with his.
She cups his cheeks lightly. "It's better this way," she says. Is she convincing him or herself? No, she's right on this. If they learned each others identities… It wouldn't be the same. Their relationship wouldn't be.
"It's- it is. Okay? Someday, maybe. But not today. Not now."
"At least let me show you who I am, then-"
"Chat!" Ladybug interrupts, pushing him off of her as she stands. "Look, it's for the better if we don't know who we really are."
"Why is it?" Chat demands, growing angry and frustrated. Why shouldn't he get to meet the girl he loved – properly? He doesn't, can't understand why Ladybug kept insisting on hiding their identities.
"Because!" Ladybug growls back. "Because I say so!"
She whips out her yoyo, but before she can leave Chat grabs her wrist.
"I just want to know who you really are," he says, locking his gaze with hers. "What's so wrong about that?"
For a moment she says nothing. Then she tears her wrist out of his grip and before he can react, she's gone.
"Sir."
The woman knocks on the tall, wooden door and pokes her head inside.
"May I enter?"
"Hmm," a man behind a large desk mumbles, though he doesn't as much as look up from the papers he's holding. "You may. What's the status?"
"They're fighting, sir."
The man smiles. "Good. The more negative feelings he experiences, the better. They're making this easy for me, really."
The woman allows a small smile to show on her otherwise stern face. If her boss is happy, she's happy.
"How are the experiments coming along?"
"Good, sir," the woman replies, regaining her professional feauters. "You were right in assuming we would need one of them, however. The soul needs to be very strong to withstand it. They'll need to wear their Miraculouses."
"Hm," the man says. "Well, as long as this works, I won't need the Miraculouses, anyway. Thank you, you may leave."
The woman turns to leave but then came to a halt.
"Sir. Do I have permission to test my latest experiment?"
The man looks up in surprise. "It's ready?"
"Yes, sir," the woman says, prideful.
The man nods. "Then you have my permission."
"Thank you, Mr Agraste."
