DAY THIRTEEN: KISSES

The chocolate kisses came out perfect, thanks to her Papa's expertise. The chocolate was beautifully tempered to produce a smooth sheen, and the flakes of passion fruit were like nuggets of gold. Marinette found another confectioner's box and arranged as many kisses as she could inside, then tied a length of golden ribbon around it to keep the lid shut.

She put the box, the bear, and the letter all in a bag, put it on her desk, and stared at it.

This is it, she thought. One more sleep, then she had to do it. She had to tell him. She would take it to school, wait for him by his desk and when he arrived…

No. She would go to school early, ask Tikki to help her open his locket, hide the bag inside and then…

No. She could text him and ask him to come to school early again, wait for him outside, and…

No.

"I'm overthinking," she muttered, clambering up to her bed so she could lie down and stare at the ceiling. "All that matters is that I give it to him."

She gazed across at the photos of Adrien littering the wall. His gentle smile, his bright green eyes, his perfectly coiffed hair. She tried to imagine how he would react to receiving her gift. She hunted through her pictures for the correct expression. Surprise, bemusement, joy? Then his eyes would soften and he'd thank her and then…

Usually, the daydream would continue playing: he'd sweep her off her feet, administering a mind-blowing kiss, whisper that he loved her and that he'd die if she didn't agree to be his girlfriend, and then they'd date through school and lycée, and then get married and have three kids and that hamster…

But today, it wouldn't play. Today, her mind stuck on the acceptance of the gift and would go no further. When she forced herself to think about him sweeping her into his arms, her stomach twinged uncomfortably. Too forward for him, perhaps. Maybe he would just take her hand, kiss and her fingers.

Her stomach twinged again.

Marinette looked for another picture. All of these were taken from magazines and fashion websites; they were fake. Forced. Perhaps if she tried staring at a real picture of a real smile…

Her eyes alighted on a photograph taken on the Liberty. Adrien was there, sandwiched between herself and Kagami, smiling at the camera, one arm raised in a wave.

Marinette sighed fondly at the memory. It had been a hot summer's day, and Kitty Section had thrown an impromptu concert for their friends. Adrien had brought Kagami, and afterwards everyone gathered in a large group so Anarka could take a picture.

It was Luka who'd given her the copy, saying he knew she liked photographs of memories, though part of her wondered if it was because he knew she'd like a photograph of herself next to Adrien.

Luka. Marinette sighed again. Poor Luka, stuck with his unrequited love. She wished there was some way to cheer him up, but she couldn't think of anything. Maybe she could siphon off a few of the left-over chocolates for him? He never said no to free food, and she remembered how his face had lit up when she'd given him the first batch of chocolates for Adrien.

Suddenly, the sympathy she felt for him turned into something else. Something… sadder, shrouded in shadow and buried in the back of her heart. Without thinking, her eyes found him in the photograph on the Liberty, his lips tilted in his care-free smile.

She'd never noticed before, but he was standing right behind her.

The room felt stuffy and hot. Marinette sat up, disentangling herself from her blanket. She needed to think—or maybe she just needed to not think. Maybe she just needed to run and leap and soar until the messy knots tangling her heart were beaten undone and fell away. She grabbed the bag of spare chocolates—she wouldn't eat all of them, just a few to make sure they tasted okay—and called on her transformation.

A disgruntled Tikki was dragged out of her nest of blankets, and seconds later Ladybug was leaping from the balcony onto neighbouring rooftops.

For what might have been minutes or hours she swung across Paris, relishing the cold hair biting her skin and blurring her eyes. The moon was gleaming like a thin, fallen smile, and with the streetlamps below, there was less light pollution obscuring the sea of stars.

Ladybug didn't think. She tried not to feel. Just swing, fly, swing, fly, swing, fly, until she was half-way across Paris. The Seine glittered beneath her like a jewelled snake, ignited by a trail of small lamps on either side. She followed its course for a while, looping around Notre Dame, then down towards her favourite highstreet, the one stuffed with independent boutiques.

She nearly slammed into a brick wall when she noticed a figure sitting on top of an office block overlooking the Seine. One leg dangled over the edge, the other curled into his chest. In the gentle, silvery light of the night, his outfit gleamed turquoise.

"Viperion?" she murmured. He looked deep in thought, so Ladybug turned to leave him alone, undisturbed. But before she could disappear back into the night, she heard his voice.

"Ladybug?"

Oops. Well, perhaps he wanted company. She could do with some herself, and she had wanted to check up on him. He hadn't seemed himself during the battle today, neither to her nor Marinette. So, she turned back and came to sit next to him.

"What are you doing out?" she asked. "Not another akuma, is there?"

"Nah, just wanted to get outside for a bit," he replied. "I'm sorry about today. I… I attacked you. Sass remembered."

Ladybug slowly shook her head. "It wasn't your fault. Chat did the same thing during another Valentine's akuma. At least I didn't have to kiss you to snap you out of it." She tried to laugh, but his melancholy expression robbed any humour. "How did you snap out of it?" she asked. "I held up the mirror but I don't understand it did."

Viperion idly touched his cheek. "Just...reminded me of...something, I guess," he said. Then he smiled. "Maybe it was a magic mirror. Miraculous magic or something?"

"That's not really how it works," she said, but he only shrugged in response. "Also, I meant to ask earlier but you disappeared pretty quickly. Are you okay? You seemed upset about something and I was really worried."

He gave her an odd look, confused, perhaps. "Yeah," he said. "I just...I told you I used Second Chance to stop the akuma from taking out students. He...the first time, he shot someone. I saw her… And even though it technically didn't happen, I reversed that timeline and no one else remembers it… I do. And I can't just forget it happened, forget I saw it. She was…" He shut his eyes, one hand, moving to clamp the side of his neck. "I can't unsee it. I can't...stop seeing it. I saw her afterwards and she, I mean, she was alive. She was fine. She didn't know what had happened but all I could see was the arrow and the blood and…"

He sighed, exhausted. "I'm sorry. It's been on my mind all afternoon."

Ladybug didn't know what to say. She, as Marinette, had either been seriously injured or maybe even killed. And she didn't even remember. No wonder he had acted so strange when he carried her away from the school, no wonder he had seemed so tired during the fight. He wasn't dealing with just a villain, he was dealing with a near-murderer.

For a while, they simply sat and stared at the city, listening to the cars and people as they passed beneath. At one point, Ladybug produced the bag of chocolate kisses and offered him one. "They're passion fruit," she said, pouring a few into his hand. Then, noticing that the bag had the Dupain-Cheng bakery logo on it, she added, "I bought them earlier. From, uh, some bakery. I don't remember which one…"

"I know the one," he said. "They're good. Best one in Paris. Thank you."

"No problem."

Another silence followed as they chewed on their sweets. Viperion's melancholy morphed gradually into a wistfulness, accompanied by a smile so heartbreakingly sad that Ladybug felt her eyes tearing up at the sight.

She blinked her eyes clear and cleared her throat. "So, any Valentine's Day plans for tomorrow?"

"Nah."

"No girls you're interested in? Or guys?"

"Well…" He shifted uncomfortably and fidgeted with his lyre. "There is this one girl but it's not going to happen."

"No?" Ladybug's shoulders fell. What a miserable Valentine's Day this was shaping up to be; she was surrounded by people who felt doomed in their romantic endeavours, including herself.

"No. She's...well, she's amazing. She's creative and smart and kind and funny and, well, beautiful. She could have anyone she wants and it's not me."

"It's a shame you can't just tell her you're a superhero," she said with a small laugh. "There's no way she'd say no to you then."

He laughed as well but it was hollow. "I wouldn't want her to want me because of this," he said, gesturing to his mask. "Viperion is me but...he's not all of me. I want someone to want me, just me, without the glamour of being a superhero, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," she replied. "That's how I feel about Chat Noir. Or, how I wish he saw it. He's in love with me, or so he says, but he's only in love with this side of me. Me the superhero, not me the person."

"No romantic plans with the cat then this year?"

"Oh, he wishes. But no. I do have plans. There's, well, there's this boy. And I'm going to tell him I love him."

"What's he like?"

"He's…" Ladybug stopped. How could she describe Adrien. She thought back to her list. Perfect, handsome...generous? What else was there…

"Can't describe him, huh?" Viperion's smile was a little more cheerful now, amused. "Thanks, Ladybug. For listening. I feel a lot better after getting all of that out. It's lonely having a secret identity; not being able to confide in anyone."

"It is," she agreed. "But if you do need to talk, Chat and I can listen. We know what it's like. I suppose it's worse for you though, remembering all those timelines."

He shrugged. "Maybe. I should get going."

"Yeah, me too. I was meant to get a ton of homework done this evening. Instead I've been running around and eating chocolate." Laughing, she stowed the paper bag, still half-full, back in her yoyo. "Have a good evening, Viperion."

"You too, Ladybug."

With a final smile and wave, Ladybug threw her yoyo and launched into the night.