*A/N I don't own Ladybug characters. (Do I have to say this every time?)
Ladybug's shoulder hurt a lot, but she couldn't let him know that. That would give away her identity. She pushed an angry and painful groan back down her throat, trying to appear as confident and proud as she did each time she defeated evil.
Why had she been so stupid? Why would she lead Chat Noir away from the room in the first place? Why did she take the hit for him when he was stronger than she had been at the moment, and probably could've dodged if she had just called out to him instead of pushing him out of harm's way?
Luckily, Alya and her blogging hadn't gone far, and Marinette was able to recover her purse quick enough to get to Chat Noir just in time. Her speedy excuse for having to ditch Alya was mediocre at best, but everyone was so distressed, per usual, that Marinette had been able to slip away and transform fairly easily. She figured she made it through the fight well enough, without incurring Chat's suspicion of her secret identity, but as soon as Chat Noir outstretched his fist to her, she struggled to act natural as she bumped her own against his.
With what Ladybug hoped was a pain-free smile, she began to hurry off, aware of her slight staggering. She resisted the urge to lift her hand up to clutch at her hurt shoulder.
"Uh, one moment, my lady."
Ladybug stopped in her tracks.
"About… yesterday…"
She started, heart pumping at the thought of how personal she had gotten with her partner last night. "Sorry, Chat, my Miraculous is runni…"
"Did you go for it?" Chat Noir asked. He took a step towards her, sliding the baton behind him. "Are you happier today?"
Turning her head over her shoulder, Ladybug sighed, "He's as blind as ever, kitty."
Letting his face fall with hers, Chat offered a joke, "Maybe we should've saved those glasses, huh?"
Ladybug laughed. She raised a hand in parting and darted into a faraway classroom to transform, gripping her shoulder in pain.
Adrien looked both ways before exiting the classroom he had transformed in. School was most likely dismissed, as if often was when an akuma would attack, but Adrien didn't want to go home just yet. The attack had been so short, he was positive maybe Ladybug would stick around. Maybe even talk more. He really loved talking, especially with her. But his partner seemed out of it today; maybe she really needs rest. Adrien sighed, nodding to himself that it was for the best that Ladybug had left so quickly.
Plagg grumbled from his shirt pocket, "Well, that was a weak akuma."
"I wouldn't say that exactly, Plagg. After all, I couldn't take it down myself."
"Right, that reckless girl in pink had to throw the warmest, coziest scarf ever at other you," the kwami spat. "That was my sleeping space."
Adrien pulled the scarf from his bag, "We got it back, Plagg. No need for all these complaints." He slipped it around his neck, fingers brushing it a moment longer than necessary.
It was a very warm and cozy scarf, but that wasn't the reason this scarf was Adrien's favorite. This one was his favorite because of his father's thoughtfulness in getting it, possibly making it, for him. His shoulders rolled back as he felt a bit prouder at the thought; Gabriel Agreste had never done anything like the scarf for him before, and Adrien thought maybe it would be the start of a new kind of life between them. Of course, it wasn't, but Adrien could always hope.
"Also, that dumb girl in pink taking the baton strike for you." Plagg whistled, burying himself in Adrien's shirt. "Now, that was something."
Adrien nodded to himself, "It sure was." He gulped remembering Marinette; maybe he should try and find her before he left for home. What would he say, though? Only Chat Noir knew of her injury.
"Speaking of something, you got cheese?"
"You're horrible," the boy responded with an eye roll, pulling a piece of cheese from his bag's pocket.
"Thank you!" Plagg shouted, flying out of the shirt briefly to grab the cheese before disappearing again.
Realizing his return home was inevitable and that Nino and the others had probably already ran away from the school due to fear from the attack, Adrien slowly strolled out to his car. If he had to go home, at least he could postpone it a few seconds with slow, thoughtful steps.
Adrien felt very content for the first half of the ride back to his house. The moments after the battle were the best, when he was back to Adrien but still felt like the mask was still covering his face. A hint of a smile was almost always on his face, and jokes were always at the tip of his tongue. But the second half of the ride was when the crushing reality of his life was beginning to hit him again. He was Adrien, at least, right now he was. And Adrien, quite frankly, was not Chat Noir.
It was going to be another long night at home again. Alone.
With a short breath, he muttered under his breath to Plagg as he was walking into his house, "We're probably going out again tonight."
"You were just…"
"I know, but I have to patrol," Adrien reasoned.
"You know, Ladybug doesn't patrol every night like you do, Adrien," came the kwami's answer.
"I know."
"So why…"
To silence the kwami, Adrien shoved more cheese into his shirt as he walked through the kitchen on his way up to his room. Plagg shut up and let Adrien enter his room in peace and quiet, left with his thoughts for a the long hours until it was past midnight, and he could slip out his window as a masked hero of Paris unseen.
Marinette rotated her shoulder in circles, cringing with each rotation. She let her fingers probe the bruising area lightly, making her shiver with a small shock of pain with each touch. The girl sucked in air harshly through her teeth, "Ouch."
"If it hurts, stop doing it!" Tikki whined, flying around the girl nervously.
"I can't help it! Normally, as Ladybug, my injuries just fade away with the cleansing light! But I wasn't injured as Ladybug, and this was a more serious injury than I expected." She moved her shoulder again, gasping, "It's just weird that it hurts so bad."
Tikki was stunned into silence for a moment before letting out a giggle through her anxious whimpers, "You're so strange, Marinette."
"Tikki!"
"In the best way!" her kwami assured her.
Marinette giggled as she stood up to walk over to her design table and the jacket that was due in a few days. No time to be lost with pointless injuries. She bit her tongue and got to work.
Chat Noir had no clue where he was going. He was just leaping on a whim, landing without purpose, and running from rooftop to rooftop with his instinct.
It just felt good to be out as Chat, but part of him worried he was growing too attached to it. What if he never wanted to return to Adrien? He had realized a long time ago that he was already almost at that point. Though it was an awful thought, Chat partly loved the days when akumas were unleashed. It meant Adrien was free to forget about himself and his life and be Chat Noir, who was almost the complete opposite of Adrien Agreste. Being Chat also meant he could be with Ladybug. Biting his lip, he tried to hide the thought.
With a sigh, the hero slowed down, crouching on a rooftop to watch the stars for a moment, his smile only widening. How many other teens got to leap between rooftops whenever they wished to view the night sky of Paris so freely? Chat was pretty lucky.
Looking down from the stars, his eyes caught something strange. Lights still on. Plus movement creating shadows, showing someone was up and about. It was well past midnight. Who in their right mind was still awake and busy? Okay, well, besides himself.
A light wind swept Chat's hair from his forehead as he crept a bit closer to the edge of his roof, holding onto it with his claws as he leaned out to peer closer through the window.
With slight surprise, Chat Noir noted that he recognized the building. It was the bakery Marinette lived above. This made his thoughts returned to Marinette and her injury because of him. He was really wondering how she was doing. She couldn't have been doing awful if she was moving around fine just now, as he could see.
Thinking he would just stop by and see how she was doing, the superhero leapt through the air, landing on her terrace. Once he was on all fours on the stones above her room, his eyes widened.
Why did I jump? It's past midnight! I can't just show up at Marinette's! It's… It's Marinette's! His thoughts were stopped by a long scream inside his head. At least she probably didn't notice him. He could just sneak away unnoticed! Grabbing the sides of his face, Chat Noir rose to leave when suddenly, the trap door to the terrace opened.
"Who's there?" her voice was shaky.
As it should be shaky, moron! It's past midnight! Chat Noir yelled at himself. He froze in place, thinking maybe if he didn't move, he could blend in with the blackness of the sky and just wait for her to go back inside before slipping away. It was a brilliant idea.
"Chat Noir? Is that you?"
Or not so brilliant.
Chat choked down a terrified yelp. His eyes closed tightly as the superhero composed himself. He spun smoothly to face her, "Oh, yes, princess. It's me! I just came by to check on how you're doing!" His fingers grabbed his tail, and he swung it in what he hoped was a nonchalant way. One arm bent outwards as he searched for something to lean on casually, but he ended up just losing his balance a bit. There wasn't anything near him to lean on. A blush began to creep up his neck.
His mind yelled more. Calm down, Adrien!
The hero squinted to see through the dark how Marinette looked. He was shocked that her hair was down, waving in the slight breeze. She wasn't smiling or glaring, more neutral. And she looked exhausted. Okay, maybe she looked a bit annoyed with him. Or did she look on edge? A bit relieved? His head was spinning trying to figure it out, so he decided to just stop trying.
"Why are you awake?" he asked, letting his tail go and setting his hands on his hips unnaturally. She was in pajamas. He tried to look away, but her voice drew his eyes back to her.
"You just came by to see how I was doing?" she asked, ignoring him, hand grabbing at her shoulder.
Chat felt guilty, "You were hurt." He began to step closer to her before stopping himself. It was past midnight, and she didn't really know him, with or without the mask. It would be wrong even if she did know him. Instead, he opted to take a step back. "I'm sorry, I should go. I don't know what I was thinking…"
"Uh," Marinette seemed very torn. One part of her definitely looked relieved for some reason now, but the other part looked more unsure.
At least, Chat thought that's what her expression was. He was having a hard time figuring out what his classmate was thinking. She was biting at her thumbnail, peering through her trap door into her room.
"I would invite you in, but my parents probably have rules about that sort of thing…"
His hands waved wildly. Invite him in?
"Probably, I mean, I'm not really sure. I've never had boys on my roof past midnight…"
"I understand! I wasn't expecting to... I should really..."
"You came to check on me?" she interrupted. Squinting again, Chat Noir saw the girl was starting to smile a bit. Her fingers played with the ends of her hair. He had never seen it down before. It looked really good actually. Her head tilted slightly. "Uh, Chat?"
Chat was reduced to such a rambling mess. Hopefully, she would give him mercy for his idiotic stammering. He really hadn't expected to show up there that night. Taking a deep breath, he started over, "I, well, I just… Of course, princess. It was my fault after all. Would you… do you want me to look at the injury? I've had quite some experience with them myself. Saving Paris countless times and all."
Chat Noir bit his tongue. Look at the injury? What did that even mean? On top of that, he wasn't even sure he could help her. Normally his injuries were healed by the Miraculous. He might be a bit sore after the worst of the attacks, but nothing as serious as Marinette's shoulder probably was.
And did he really just brag?
Her eyes flashed back to her room below before they slid back at Chat Noir. "Okay," she told him. Then, Marinette began to laugh a bit, "Just for a little bit, though. I should really be sleeping right now."
An unexpected warm feeling surged through him, along with surprise. He was certain she would say no. This was… well, this was Marinette, right? If he knew anything about her, it would be that…
Chat's thoughts stopped as he looked at her concerned glance, her eyes wide and striking and worried about him.
Adrien was hit with the realization that he didn't know anything about Marinette.
Well, he knew she liked designing and pink. But all the other things, the important things, like why she would take a hit for him and allow him into her room this late… Those were mysteries to him.
"Chat? Oh, was that just an empty invitation. Well," she smiled good naturedly, "thanks for checking on me. Paris is lucky to have you as their protector."
"No! No! It wasn't empty. I just, I was surprised that you would allow me in, princess," Chat hurried to respond, trying to appear composed. The girl standing across from him seemed to be so calm and collected while he was going into a mild frenzy trying to think of what was the right thing to do in this situation.
"Well, I trust you, Chat Noir," Marinette answered easily. Like it was obvious. A fact. She had blue eyes, he wore spandex, and she trusted him.
"Uh, well… o-okay…"
She gave him a look, a very familiar look, before gesturing for him to follow her, "Come on in."
