Ah, this was an interesting one. I feel like I probably took a different direction with it, but I hope you enjoy it!


It's A Trap

Marinette finished up her maths homework, and after taking a few minutes to look over it to make sure that her answers looked right, she turned to Tikki, who was sitting on top of her computer screen.

"Finished my homework for tomorrow, so I'd say it's about time to go on patrol!" Marinette told her kwami, and Tikki nodded. "Tikki, spots on!" Marinette transformed into Ladybug, and opened the hatch above her head to get to the balcony. Closing it behind her, she instantly felt like something was off.

"Something doesn't feel right… Maybe there'll be some action tonight." Ladybug tried to dismiss the feeling, and launched off from her balcony, heading to she and Cat Noir's meeting place on top of Notre Dame. As usual, she was first to get there, and she sat down to wait for her feline partner to show.

Half an hour later, Ladybug was starting to get worried. Cat Noir hadn't shown up yet, which was very strange, since he usually showed up five minutes after her on most nights. She wondered if he was playing a prank on her, and she was determined not to let him have the last laugh.

"Cat Noir? If you're hiding, this isn't funny!" Ladybug called out into the night. Silence was her answer. Ladybug let out a sigh. "Looks like I'll have to come and find you, then!" Ladybug swung down to the street, and started her investigation. "Surely he would be nearby, since he'd want to keep an eye on me, probably so he can laugh at my searching."

Ladybug walked over to the church doors to see if he was possibly hiding inside when she saw that a note was attached to the door, her name written across the top in thick red letters. Thinking the worst, Ladybug dashed over and grabbed the note, only to find that the entire note was written in red marker, and Ladybug sighed in relief as her thoughts were laid to rest. Calmed, she scanned the note.

"'You're in for a surprise tonight, Ladybug. These clues will lead you to your final destination. First up, look for the place that talks about you the most.' A riddle, seriously?" Ladybug groaned. This was the last thing that she wanted to do tonight. All she wanted to do was patrol Paris like normal and spend the rest of her time before bed working on her designs. But it looked like this would have to be her priority tonight. "Hm, where am I talked about a lot…? School? No, that seems too simple… Oh, the TV station! Every time we make an appearance in Paris fighting akumas, we make the news!" Ladybug grabbed her yo-yo and started to head toward the TV station.

When she reached the TV station, as she expected, she found another note pinned to the door. She grabbed it and read. "'Your being all over the news must be tiring, right? When tourists have had their fill of this city for the day, where do they go?' Wow, these clues are really lame. This one's obviously the hotel. They'd return to their rooms and go to bed." Ladybug left the TV station and went over to the hotel. On her way there, Ladybug wondered who was making her go on a scavenger hunt all over Paris. Her first thought was Cat Noir, since he wasn't with her at the moment and hadn't seen her and joined her. She accepted that as the answer for the moment, and figured that he was either watching her go all over Paris or he would be waiting for her at the end.

Reaching the hotel, Ladybug was confused when there wasn't a note attached to the front door of the building. She wasn't wrong, was she?

"Maybe he placed it somewhere else…" Ladybug said to herself, and she walked around the hotel to see if she could spot anything from ground level. Finding nothing out of place, Ladybug started to scale the building, and that's when she found the open window leading into an unoccupied room. She entered the hotel and had to hold back a laugh at finding the note on the bed. "I guess he really did want me to find a bed." She picked up the note and read the next clue. "'I wonder how long it took you to figure out that you needed to enter a room to find this clue. You're smart, so probably not too long. Now go to the spot where you and that mangy cat like to look at us all as if we were ants.'"

Ladybug frowned as she read the note again. The clue was referencing the Eiffel Tower, that was easy to figure out, but the wording seemed to be different to the other notes. It seemed to be almost hostile. And the way it had called Cat Noir 'mangy'…

"He's annoying sometimes, but I wouldn't call him mangy. Does that mean that Cat Noir isn't the one leaving these notes?" Ladybug wondered, and her feeling from earlier returned. She felt apprehensive about following these notes now. They could lead to something dangerous. But she was Ladybug, and fighting danger was in the job description, so if this person could be a threat to Paris, she'd need to find out what was going on. Again Ladybug wished that Cat Noir was around, and she wondered what had happened to him. "I hope he didn't find these letters already and got himself into a bad situation." Feeling a bit panicky, Ladybug left the hotel room and swung to the Eiffel Tower as quickly as she could.

Following the note's directions, she went to the top of the tower and found the note there. "It can't be a civilian; they aren't able to come to the very top of the tower… An akuma? But why would they leave letters instead of causing chaos?" Ladybug questioned, and she shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind as she scanned the letter.

"'I bet you like it up here, Ladybug. Feeling like you can keep everyone safe. But if that were true, then why do so many akumas come from that building?' Where do most of the akumas come from?" Ladyubg thought for a few seconds of all the akuma victims, and there was a striking similarity between most of them. "The school! It's because of Chloe." Ladybug scowled as she thought of the blonde rich girl. Wasting no time, Ladybug headed straight to the school. There was no note on the front doors, so Ladybug looked for an alternative to get into the school to find it. She noticed that a window was open, and found herself in her normal classroom. She was about to exit the room and look when she noticed the piece of paper on the whiteboard.

"There it is! But how do they know that our class is the one most affected?" Ladybug frowned. Maybe they know that Chloe's in the class, Ladybug thought as she grabbed the note. "'One last place, Ladybug, and then we can confront one another. Head to the park near the Agreste mansion.' Wow, this one gave me the answer." Ladybug suddenly felt nervous. She had no idea what she was going up against, so she didn't have a plan to beat this opponent. Ladybug left the classroom and was about to zip to the park when she had an idea. "They probably won't expect me to come stealthily, so I won't fly in." Idea forming, Ladybug walked toward the park, looking around to make sure she wouldn't suddenly be attacked.

Once she made it to the park, Ladybug hid behind the gates, looking in to see if she could see anything, and she noticed someone standing in the middle of the park. However, it was too dark and she was too far away to make out who it was, other than that they had blonde hair. Ladybug got closer and closer, and when she could see who it was, she groaned. She came out of hiding and walked over to the person, who turned out to be…

"My lady, you made it!" Cat Noir waved, grinning. Ladybug was not amused.

"Cat Noir, what were you thinking?!" Ladybug exclaimed, and the grin was wiped off his face. "I thought it was an akuma! And even worse, I thought that something might have happened to you!" That was the wrong thing to say, because Cat Noir's grin came back, wider than ever.

"Aww, were you worried about me, my lady? I'm touched," Cat Noir said, and as Ladybug was about to retort, he held up a clawed hand. "Since you're here, don't you want to know why I led you on a cat and mouse chase around Paris?" Ladybug's response died on her lips, and Cat Noir took that as the time to explain. "It was a fun way to do your patrol! And even more importantly, someone wanted to hang out with you, but was too shy to come to you, so I helped out."

"Someone wants to see me?" Ladybug asked, forgetting her anger. She supposed that that could count as her patrolling being done.

"Yeah, and he seems to be a pretty big fan!" Cat Noir replied. "I'll take my leave, my lady, and allow him time to talk to you." Cat Noir grabbed her hand and planted a kiss on the back of it before she could move, and suddenly he was out of sight. Ladybug sighed, holding her hand as if it was injured.

"Silly cat…" Ladybug muttered, crossing her arms and waiting for this fan of hers to show up. Soon enough, Ladybug could see a person enter the park and head over to her, and Ladybug was stunned when they got close enough for her to realise who it was.

"Hello," Adrien greeted her, and Ladybug could only stare. "Cat Noir told me that you would be here. I asked him to help me out with seeing you, and I hope he didn't cause you too much trouble."

"No, no trouble at all!" Ladybug lied, chuckling to cover up her thoughts about having a long chat with that cat from showing on her face. "So, uh, why did you want to see me?" Adrien rubbed the back of his head nervously, cheeks pink, and Ladybug couldn't help but think how cute he looked.

"Well, actually, I prepared something…" Adrien offered his hand, and Ladybug took it, face heating up when she felt how warm his hand was. He led her over to a blanket with a basket sitting in the middle. "How would you feel about having a picnic with me?"

"A-A picnic? That sounds nice, I'd like that." Ladybug answered, and the two sat down on the blanket, facing each other, and Ladybug took in the nervous smile he had on his face that probably reflected her own. This almost felt like a date, and it made butterflies fly around in her stomach. "So Cat Noir did all this for you? You must know him well for him to put in the effort for you."

"O-Oh, yeah, he and I are pretty good friends, I guess," Adrien smiled, and it seemed that Ladybug could read some sort of amusement on his face, and also from the twinkle in his eyes. She wondered what he was thinking about. He reached into the basket and produced some sandwiches. "Here you are, I hope you're feeling hungry."

"Thank you, Adrien." Ladybug took the offered sandwich and took a bite. The two spent about an hour eating and talking, and Ladybug thought that the worry that she had felt before was worth it, since she had gotten to spend time with her crush, even if she had the mask on.


It was a trap, alright. A trap to have her go on a date with him. Not that she minds, of course. :P

-Green