Panting, Ladybug threw her yoyo. "Come on. Up there!" She indicated the roof she'd just grappled. Swinging, with Cat hot on her heels, the pair alighted, almost too exhausted for either to tuck and roll. Almost. The penultimate beeps issued from both Miraculous. Nodding in unspoken understanding, Ladybug and Cat Noir each took a side of the present chimney stack, occluding the other hero from view before their transformations dropped.
"Thank you, Tikki," said Marinette as she handed her kwami a macaron.
"Got anymore cheese?" A raspy little voice grumbled.
"God, Plagg. You're a bottomless pit." Adrien grimaced at the smell still emanating from his little black cat kwami. "And, no. That's all I brought. Sorry."
"Ughhh! I'm so hungry," Plagg whined pitifully.
Still separated by the chimney, Marinette sent Tikki over with another cookie to share.
"Well," Plagg shot a skeptical look at the sweet. "It's better than nothing, I suppose. Thanks, Sugar Cube."
"Thank you, Bugaboo. You know, I could've come around to get that from you, though." Adrien crooned, equally devious and gracious.
"Not yet, sneaky Kitty. I just wanted Plagg to hush," said Marinette with a chuckle.
After another moment's rest to catch their breath (and so their kwamis could recharge) from the battle they'd just endured, the pair transformed and came away from the chimney.
"Montparnasse Tower is close. Race you there!" Ladybug smirked and took off, leaving Cat Noir in a cloud of surprise.
Cat reveled in his partner's newfound playfulness that she'd allowed herself to show over the last few weeks, despite how busy they'd become. He nearly got lost in his rumination before remembering he was supposed to be winning a race!
"You cheated!" He called over to the red-clad heroine as he landed and leaned against his staff.
"I did not!" Feigning indignation, Ladybug's eyes sparkled with new mischief. "It's not cheating if I know you're going to watch all this leave," she stated simply, indicating to herself.
Cat's heart fluttered. "Milady, are you flirting with me?"
Ladybug winked at him - another new development.
With a sharp intake of breath, Cat said, just loud enough for her to hear, "You have cat to be kitten me right meow."
"Oooo, didn't hurt yourself with that one, did ya?" Ladybug asked as she flicked the bell at Cat's neck. He could only smile at her.
Making her way to sit on the edge of the roof, Cat Noir in tow, Ladybug let out a heavy sigh. "So, Kitty. What are we going to do about Hawk Moth? Because this is just getting ridiculous. Does he not sleep? Every day."
"And I think we can safely guess the Peacock Miraculous has been fixed because of all the new sentimonsters that are almost always paired up with the akumas now," Cat offered sagely.
The heroes looked out over the city, twinkling like the sky above them should, their shoulders and knees just touching. Cat grinned distractedly, noting the simple contact and realized that, not only had Ladybug just blatantly flirted with him, she hadn't rebuked his flirtations of late.
"I think we need to go to the temple."
The sudden declaration pulled Cat from his reflection. He turned to look at his partner, finding those bright blue eyes peering at him, almost questioningly. Was she asking his opinion? Or, wait..We?
"You want me to go with you?" He tried to keep the surprise from his voice, but it did not go unnoticed by the ever receptive lady in red.
"Oh, Kitty." Wearing the mask emboldened Ladybug; she pulled his hand into hers as bright green eyes watched the movement. Oh, that's new, he thought.
"Of course I do. You're my partner, my best friend. I may be the Guardian. But, we are a team. And I have no idea how to be a Guardian." Cat was still looking at their interlaced fingers as she continued with a veiled desperation, "We have to do something. This last month has been insane. The Eternal?! He was a vampire, Cat. He had a giant bat as his sentimonster. He fed on fear. And I don't know about you, but I'm starting to fall behind in all my non-superhero duties. Homework is piling up. I'm always distracted when I'm at work - which, thankfully, isn't often. And I'm pretty sure my friends think I'm ditching them because I don't want to hang out since my excuses - no, lies," she shuddered, "are becoming weaker and less believable by the day. We won't be able to keep up this pace for much longer." She took a deep breath, realizing that she'd barely done so since she had started speaking.
Ladybug had turned her body to properly face him and Cat Noir recognized the spark of fear she tried to hide behind her determination. He cupped her cheek with the hand she wasn't holding and said, softly, "I'm with you. I'll always be here for you and follow your lead, Bugaboo. Cat's honor."
Ladybug pushed into the hand on her cheek. The pressure beginning to anchor her back to the now. Turning her head into the black, clawed hand, she planted a light kiss on Cat's palm. "I don't know what I would do without you, Kitty."
Cat Noir had been spending a few evenings a week at Marinette's and she found herself becoming more enamored of him having seen his sweet, genuine side. Though all they ever did was talk, watch movies, and play video games, she found herself stealing glances and starting to believe there was more to the boy sitting in front of her than she had previously given him a chance to show. Of course she cared about him as a crime-fighting partner, but there was something about seeing him turn to stone that painful day that had opened her heart to him a little more. That, and knowing she had no future with Adrien.
"I'm never washing this paw again," Cat Noir proclaimed. As he met her gaze, they both started to laugh, boisterous in their exhaustion.
As the pair regained their composure, Ladybug stood up, pulling Cat Noir with her. "Okay. Well, if we're going to do this, we'd better come up with a plan. Can't leave Paris unattended while we're off gallivanting around Tibet. See you soon for patrol? Barring any akumas, that is."
"Of course. I'll see you soon, Milady. Rest well."
"You, too, Kitty." Ladybug startled him by swiftly pulling him into a hug. His surprise was momentary, however, as he quickly settled into the warmth of her embrace, not daring to hope his luck was turning for fear she'd come to her senses.
Neither hero wanted to admit to feeling the electricity sparking between them or the growing intimacy of the contact as gentle hands caressed the other's back. Cat stayed quiet, nestling into the crook of Ladybug's neck, still unsure that it was really happening. Ladybug, for all she would accept that there was a deeper emotion bubbling within her, she couldn't yetadmit that...that... They lingered for a while and when they broke apart, Cat lamented the diminishing warmth. Ladybug's breath was heavy as she bid the boy goodnight. Cat stayed a few moments longer to fully cement that evening, that hug, that feeling, into his memory as his butterflies tried to settle.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Adrien tried to focus on his homework, but was failing miserably. He kept coming back to earlier that evening with Ladybug. (It's not a big deal! Pull yourself together!)And when he wasn't thinking about that hug, he was overwhelmed with disappointment over the fact that it was far too late to visit Marinette.
Cat Noir would sneak over a few times a week to hang out. It started out as a means to check on his friend, but it became much more than that over the course of the last month. Naturally, Adrien saw Marinette at school and often had lunch with her, Alya, and Nino, but he still couldn't really break through her shell. Busy though he was with photo shoots and modeling, extracurricular lessons, fencing, and fighting akumas, he did his best to make time to see her as Cat so he could actually talk to and spend time with her. He found her to be high spirited and passionate, still clumsy (but less so around others than around him as Adrien), sweet, and a fiercely loyal friend. He, very simply, realized how much he enjoyed her company and that, it seemed, was up to Cat to deliver.
Little did Adrien know that a few blocks away, a detransformed Ladybug lay in her bed, reliving that energy felt between her and her partner, reflecting on what it meant. Of course she still loved Adrien. She lived for seeing him at school and the few group hangouts with Alya and Nino. But she'd become convinced that, romantically, Adrien was unattainable. And, while it didn't make logical sense to look at Cat Noir that way (After all, who is he really? We wouldn't even be able to legitimately date.), she couldn't help herself. I mean, really, it's his fault for coming by so much and showing me he can do more than fight and flirt, she thought with a solemn chuckle.
"Tikki?"
"Yes, Marinette?" The sleepy voice came from the pillow next to Marinette's head.
"Why did Cat have to become so sweet all of a sudden?"
"Are you sure it's sudden? That rooftop date after you fought Glaciator seemed pretty romantic when you told me about it. Maybe you're just opening yourself up to more possibilities."
"I guess you're right. Can I ask you something else I don't understand?"
"Certainly." Tikki stifled a yawn.
"I don't know why I never asked Master Fu. Why can't I tell who he is? Besides the obvious answer that maybe I just don't know him in daily life... Alya knows me as Marinette, but she's been hunting for clues to Ladybug's secret identity and I've been her best friend for a long time now. You know what I mean?"
"Well, the best way I can explain it is that the magic from the Miraculous enacts a quantum masking field which acts as a kind of perception filter of sorts. When you're transformed, even the glaringly obvious similarities, like your pigtails, become difficult for anyone looking at you to notice. Short of telling or transforming in front of someone, your secret is safe. I was concerned about Alya, though, for a little while."
"I guess that makes sense. Thanks, Tikki. Sorry for keeping you up." Marinette gave the tiny god a little kiss and rolled over to sleep. Tired though she was, the girl's still-whirring brain wouldn't allow sleep until the wee hours of the morning.