Day 13 (December 13th) - Hot Chocolate Mustache

"Adrien?" A familiar voice called. "Adrien Agreste?"

Still sipping his drink, he turned to see who was calling his name. That turned out to be a mistake.

It was her. And one glance of her had him sucking in a breath. Unfortunately… well, humans aren't made to breathe liquid. Especially not hot liquid. So….

Gasp.

Choke.

Cough.

Spew out remaining liquid in mouth.

And be reduced to a wheezing mess of a man who'd forgotten how to breathe.

"OhmyGod, Adrien! I'm so sorry!"

"Are you all right, sir?"

"Eww, gross, it got all over my coat!"

"Geez, some people!"

"Sir?"

"Adrien? Adrien?! Are you okay?" Marinette's voice broke through the rest of the noise as he finally got a hold of himself.

"Yeah. Yeah. Sorry," he coughed, the last of the drink finally leaving his system.

"No, I'm sorry!" she insisted. "Oh, look at you! You're a mess! I'm so sorry I startled you. I'll clean this up, sir," she said. Adrien looked up to see her addressing the waiter who'd come to check on him. "And I'll buy him a new drink. And those ladies as well. I'm so, so sorry!" She continued to apologize to the people closest to them. Even though, he thought ruefully, it wasn't her fault in the first place.

Ladybug saves the day again, huh? He grimaced at the thought.

And then, almost as if his thoughts had forced their way into everyone else's minds….

"OMG, you're Ladybug!"

"Oh wow, Ladybug! Hey, forget the drink, can we take a selfie with you?!"

"Well…."

"Oh, please, Ladybug! Please!"

Adrien vaguely wondered if it would be possible to sneak out while she was distracted. He glanced over and waited for her back to be turned… there! He slid out of his chair and headed for the door. With a sigh of relief, he made it outside.

What a day. Seeing her again was bad enough, but then he'd had to go make an absolute fool of himself!

"Adrien, wait! Please!"

He jerked to a stop at the sound of her voice. Damn it. He'd almost gotten away too. Vaguely, he wondered what she'd think if he just burst into a run.

Too late. She was already at his elbow. And, as always, his manners won.

"Hey," he said.

Marinette stopped short. "Hey," she said, her voice quiet. She gave him a nervous, hopeful smile. "You forgot your drink." She handed him a cup. He took it automatically.

"Thanks."

"So… I, um… I haven't seen you around lately," she said, fishing for conversation.

"I haven't been around much lately," he replied.

"Right. Right! You've been travelling all over! Are you having fun?"

He shrugged. "It's work."

Her shoulders slumped further and further at each of his short, pointed answers. Part of him wanted to crack and ask his old friend how she'd been these past few years.

But the other part just wanted—ugh, he didn't even know! Did he want to make her squirm? Make her go away? Start running away himself?

"I'm sorry again," Marinette said quietly. "I must be making you uncomfortable."

A part of Adrien saw red. How dare she try to play the victim?!

"You sent my father to jail," he pointed out. "I really don't know what you want me to say."

"He was hurting people, Adrien!" Marinette cried.

"I know. I didn't say it was wrong. It's just—"

You stopped my mother from coming back. You took away what was left of my family! And then—THEN you had the gall to protect me and get your own identity revealed in the process!

"CHAT, RUN!"

"But, my lady—"

"I'll take care of it, just go!"

And now, everyone loves you. Adores you. You're the heroine who saved Paris! And I…

I have nothing.

"—it's complicated," he finished awkwardly.

"It doesn't have to be," Marinette said, hope creeping into her voice again. "We used to be such good friends. You have to know I never meant to hurt you!"

"Of course not." Now supremely uncomfortable, he took a drink. Mmm, hot chocolate. He didn't even know how she'd known what he'd ordered before, but she'd sure gotten it right. He glanced at her when she let out a giggle.

Caught, Marinette gave him an apologetic smile. "You've got a bit of a…" She gestured around her mouth. "…hot chocolate mustache."

Great. As if he hadn't made enough of a fool of himself around her! He quickly wiped his face.

"Is that stubble I see?"

He froze. Trust a designer with an eye for details to notice!

He cleared his throat. "Yeah."

"Doesn't Gab—ahem—your modeling agency have a clean-shaven policy?" she asked, probing with a curious look on her face.

He nodded, and then decided to cut her some slack. They'd danced around the issue long enough as it was.

"My father has this long-standing belief that facial hair is tacky and unrefined," he explained. "So, whenever I go to visit him, I make sure not to shave for a couple weeks beforehand."

Marinette's face softened. "Oh. You still visit him, then?"

"It's Christmas." He paused for a moment before adding. "And he's the only family I've got."

There was another awkward silence between them.

"You must really hate me, huh?" she asked quietly.

"What?! No!" he exclaimed. "I don't! I swear! It's just—"

I'm hurting and you're the easiest target! I mean, I'm glad you brought the bad guy down, but I hate that it had to be my own father! I still miss my mom! And I both hate and love that you're Ladybug; it's made me scream into my pillow more than once!

This frustration! This despair!

I hate that I'm Chat Noir! I thought I was someone you could depend on! Someone you needed! But, in the end, you saved me, along with everyone else! And I'm grateful—but…

But part of me was hoping the bad guy would win.

And what kind of superhero does that make me? One who needed to be saved!

He covered his face with his hand, trying to stop this onslaught of unwanted thoughts.

"—It's complicated," he mumbled.

"Well, if you ever want to talk about it—I've had to change my number at least five times now, people are crazy—but I'd love to talk to you again," Marinette said, holding out a business card to him.

He regarded it with a wry smile. "You sure you wanna give your number to the son of Hawkmoth?" he asked.

"I'm not giving it to the son of Hawkmoth," Marinette replied, her tone serious. He glanced at her.

Poised.

Confident.

Ladybug.

"I'm giving it to my friend, Adrien Agreste, whom I'd dearly love to hear from again."

His heart warming a bit by her words, Adrien finally took the card. "Thanks, Marinette."

"I'll see you around, okay?" she said.

He nodded and waved, waiting until she was out of sight before throwing the card in the nearest trashcan.