'Till the Next Time

Ladrien June- Day 4

Hello! Here is day four! I am still staying on track with this despite it also happening to be in the middle of the busiest school term ever, so I'm pretty pleased about that.

Now without further ado, let's get on with the story!

Prompt: Protecting

...

Adrien hadn't meant to cause an akuma. It was an accident, really. He hadn't even done anything to warrant being chased by the angry, and jealous, akuma who was determined to freeze him in place forever. He had simply come in for a last-minute photoshoot, not realising that another model had actually been scheduled on for the shoot but had been sent away. The model had apparently been told by the- rather rude- photographer that Adrien could do it better than him and had gotten upset.

Adrien didn't blame him. He'd be upset too if he was told that someone else could do his job better. He only wished that the other model hadn't gotten upset at him. He was now trying to run away from the akuma and at least find somewhere to transform, but Picture Perfect was right on his heels, sending a constant stream of tiny bullets at him. Granted, the photographer had been targeted first and he had frozen in place as soon as one of the bullets touched him, but then Picture Perfect had turned on Adrien, who had been trying to sneak away unnoticed.

The unnoticed part hadn't gone too well, it seemed. In fact, he hadn't really gone unnoticed at all. It was like the akuma had some sort of compass that instantly pointed him out before he had even taken two steps.

Adrien really hoped Ladybug would arrive soon, because he wasn't sure how much longer he could dodge all the bullets and still outrun the akuma. He spotted a tree up ahead and darted behind it for temporary protection from the bullets flying at him. He felt some land in the tree on the other side and the branches above him stopped shifting in the wind. Adrien winced. He'd end up like the tree soon if he couldn't get away. He peeked out from the side of the tree, seeing Picture Perfect only a few metres away and gaining quickly. Adrien frantically accessed the situation. He could either keep running forwards and risk getting caught by the next wave of bullets, or he could turn and try duck behind the bench on his left. It wasn't a hard decision to make, and he spun on his heel and dived towards the bench, just as he heard the familiar zip of a yoyo. Breathing a sigh of relief, he glanced up to see Ladybug dropping neatly down in front of him, swinging her yoyo to deflect the bullets that Picture Perfect had sent once he had realised that Adrien had changed direction.

The akuma was irritated by the arrival of Ladybug, and halted, glaring at her for a minute before raising his hand and sending another shower of bullets in their direction. Ladybug looped her other arm around Adrien's waist and pulled him into her so he would be behind the shield her yoyo made. He could only stand there and wait until the bullets ceased for a moment. She took that opportunity to launch them both up into the air, landing up on a roof out of sight of the akuma. "Are you alright?" She asked breathlessly, and he nodded.

"Y- yeah, thank you."

"We need to get you out of here before the akuma finds us. Hold on." She reminded him, then flung her yoyo out and swung away.

He wrapped his arms around her, probably a little tighter than he needed to. He was used to flying across rooftops like this, being Chat Noir, of course. But not when he wasn't transformed. Not when he was being held in his lady's arms. It was exhilarating. Adrien hardly dared to breathe. Maybe if he didn't breathe he'd pass out and Ladybug would stay with him longer just to make sure he was ok. No, he couldn't do that. Both of them had to get back to the akuma as soon as possible.

Almost too soon, Ladybug had swung into his room. "Stay here." She said. "Stay safe." She glanced up at his face, then with a start, realised she was still holding onto him and stepped back.

"You too." He echoed, his hand lifting to wave goodbye to her.

"I'll um... I'll see you later." She squeaked out, taking one more step backwards, then turning to leave.

"Y- yes. See you later."

And with that, Ladybug flung her yoyo out again and was off. "Well, Loverboy, you better transform and help her." Plagg floated up out of his pocket and stared at him. Adrien simply gave a dazed smile and transformed.

...

The fight was over and the two superheroes had done their customary fist bump before going their separate ways to detransform. Adrien was back in his room, scanning through the pictures of the battle that had already been uploaded to the Ladyblog when a tap at the window distracted him. He scrambled over to the window to open it when he saw Ladybug hanging there by the string of her yoyo and waving shyly at him. His breath caught in his throat. Maybe now was a good time to faint. There was no akuma now. But nevertheless, he opened the window for her, stepping back to allow her room to swing in. She did so, sitting on the windowsill. "Hey." He greeted and she smiled at him. Adrien felt his heart flutter in his chest. She could smile at him all day like that and he wouldn't tire of it.

"H- hey. I just came by to check if you were alright after the akuma." Her eyes drifted to the open pages of the Ladyblog on his computer and he felt his cheeks warm.

"Yeah..." He trailed off for a moment, smiling awkwardly at her. "I'm fine, thanks to you." He internally winced when he heard the words come out of his mouth. "I mean- thank you, for saving me. I- I really appreciate it. You're amazing. I mean- what you do is amazing. Well, you're amazing too but-" Adrien pressed his lips together, determined not to say anything else that would embarrass him further.

A small giggle came from Ladybug and Adrien felt himself smiling too. "It was no problem. I'm always happy to help a civilian in need." She assured him.

But did she always visit them afterwards to make sure they were ok? He couldn't help but wonder.

Before he realised what he was doing, he grabbed her hand. "I mean it. Thank you for everything you do to help Paris." He brought her hand up to his lips and gently kissed the back of it like he would usually do as Chat Noir.

Her cheeks went red under her mask and he couldn't help but notice how cute it was. Ladybug smiled at him then hopped up, balancing on the window sill. "Thank you Adrien. I'm... I'm glad you're ok. I have to get going now but perhaps I'll see you later." She said, giving him a typical Chat Noir salute before disappearing. He sighed happily and leant against the window.

"'Till the next time, My Lady."

…

I'm so tired y'all. And I want a hug. Please send hugs and cookies.

In the meantime, here's some cookies for all of you who actually read this. :)

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