10. Love rivals

In which Adrien has questions

Battling an akuma with Marinette's hankie safety tucked in his pocket was a piece of cake. Thought Chat Noir tried very hard not to think about Dupain-Chengs' pastries nor their sweet daughter as he leaped from roof to roof, drawing the villain away from Ladybug who had a PlanTM. Astute as ever she seized the akumatized object in no time and send her swarms of ladybugs to repair the minor damage that another Hawkmoth's minion had inflicted upon the city.

Her eyes were brighter and he spied a fresh coat of blush right under the rim of her mask when he had caught up with her. There was spring in her step and Chat couldn't help but wonder how much spring did she have to suffer through.

Trapped inside the suit, feverish Adrien felt unhinged. Yet he was determined to prove Plagg wrong.

'Hey, um, Bugaboo?' he called eyes trained on their fists still touching after the "Bien Joue". 'Can we have a word before you leave?'

Ladybug's hand shot up to her earrings. 'Four minutes?' she offered.

'I'll take it. Rooftop?' he pointed up. 'It's kind of personal.'

'Oh,' she blinked. He had never brought up a personal issue with her before, well, except for his inept love confessions. 'Sure. Whatever you need.'

She led the way to the nearest rooftop and chose a comfy place hidden between the chimneys. He watched her closely as he followed, trying to decide what exactly was he experiencing. Because for sure he wasn't indifferent towards his partner. There was this warm fuzzy feeling in his chest that until that day he had used to associate with Marinette's presence. He knew he would follow Ladybug to the end of the world if she told him. He admired her courage in the face of danger and her wits that allowed them to win so many battles. He would do anything she asked for and he'd trust her blindly as he had for months. She made him feel safe and welcome. But was that love?

Where was the frantic ba-dum-dum his heart used to make at mere sight of her? Where was the reckless need to show off, to flirt even a little bit, to goof around because she made him feel like everything was possible? Those memories left a lingering melancholy and a pinch of guilt. He couldn't decide if this made things easier or more difficult.

'So, um,' he stuttered, once they were out of public eye. 'Do you remember the "True Love's Kiss" that um… got rid of Dark Cupid's influence?'

Ladybug frowned. 'Yes?'

'Do you…' he started fiddling with his belt tail. 'Do you think it could cure other things?'

'Chat, we've got like three minutes,' she sighed. 'You might want to be more terse.'

Right. It was time to cut straight to the point.

'What would you say if I asked you to kiss me?'

She put a hand on her hip and grinned at him. 'I'd say you used to be much more inventive while trying to steal a kiss. Besides, we kissed twice already.'

'And I remember neither of those times,' he shot back. There was no rush of blood, no lightheaded sensation, no swelling in his chest at that and he found it scared him. The thought of kissing Ladybug suddenly didn't seem so appealing. 'But that's beside the point. Would you kiss me if I asked?'

'Chat, I told you, I don't like you in that way.'

Apparently the feeling was mutual. So was Plagg right again? Chat decided to take a risk. 'But the kiss - true love's kiss - it worked, didn't it?'

Now she pursed her lips. 'There's more than one kind of love in this world, Chat. I'm sure you have people you really like, just not romantically. You'd do pretty much everything for those people and yet you are not interested in pursuing them romantically. Family. Friends.'

'What if it was the only thing that could like, cure me, free me from a curse or something?'

Ladybug sent him a sharp look. 'You've been cursed, too?' she muttered under her breath. 'I swear, curses are blooming everywhere this spring.'

He didn't have the time to properly consider the "too" that slipped into her comment, because her earrings gave a warning beep.

'And you need me to kiss you?' she asked, wincing at the sound.

A beat of silence. He looked to Ladybug, who worriedly stared back at him. The determined gleam in her eye told him she would do this. She would kiss him if need be, like she had in the past. But that wasn't what Plagg told him. That wasn't what his heart was prompting him to do.

'Chat?'

'To be honest,' he clenched his fists and dropped his gaze to his feet. 'I was told there's someone else who I need to kiss.'

'And?'

'I don't know!' he groaned. 'How do you even go about this sort of thing?' He made a face and sing-sung in a falsetto voice. '"Hi, I have a problem and only a kiss from you can help me",' he mocked. 'Yeah, that does sound plausible and totally not like the lamest pick up line ever!' He scrunched his nose. 'I don't want to lose a friend,' he whispered.

'Do you really mean it?' Ladybug put a hand on his shoulder. 'That you need a kiss? From a specific person?'

'Yes. That's what my kwami said.'

'Then just be honest with them.' She tilted her head to look him in the eye. 'Is it someone you know? Someone you're close to? You mentioned you don't want to lose a friend.'

He nodded. He didn't want to go into details that could lead to revealing his identity or to connecting him to Marinette. Ladybug knew her, too. It would be too risky.

Her lips stretched in a compassionate smile. 'I think you don't give your friend enough credit, Chat. You are one of my favorite people even if I know you only on this side of the mask. There's no reason to think it's different for a friend of yours.' She gave him an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder. 'If it was me, I'd do it. I have done it, Chat.'

She was right. Of course his Lady, even if no longer the lady of his heart, would smack some sense into his poor confused brain.

'Thank you,' he murmured putting his hand over hers.

And then he felt it. A surge of power, of pure luck coursing through her and running into him, filling him with strength and courage, feeding him the energy to achieve the impossible. He removed his hand and the sensation subsided. He looked at her in astonishment.

The one dot before last blinked on her earrings and faded with a beep. 'I need to go now,' she paid him a short nod. 'If you need anything-'

'I know, Bugaboo,' he smiled at her. 'Thanks.'

Author's Note: I will repeat myself, but thank you for all your support to this story – for the wonderful reviews, favs and follows. They are much appreciated.

Now I forgot to point you to my tumblr blog, where I also post Spring Fever, and now there's art for it showing a peek into Marinette's POV, as some of you were curious about that. Spring Fever has been and will continue to be written solely from Adrien's perspective though. So check it out: perditaalottachocolate-blog. tumblr. com [slash] post [slash] 184534461518 [slash] people-keep-wondering-what-does-marinette-think-of

A big hug to my beta Remasa, who sadly is going through a difficult time, since part of her work had been plagiarised on AO3, and what's even more shocking to me, the user who had done it, instead of apologizing and admitting to a mistake, is throwing a pity party under their works, playing the victim, as if they weren't aware of what they had done. Of course they also started moderating comments once they had been caught so there's no chance of hearing the real version of the events. This is a very disturbing experience.

Anyway all of you authors out there, search for fragments of your works occasionally. With so many stories chances are no one will spot a plagiarised work (or part of it) except you. And if you find something fishy, report! You can do that even if you're not the author of the plagiarised work.