"Nope! I told you it's your turn to drive, wait… you do have your licence don't you?" Adrien sat in the passenger's seat of his own car, arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his stupid, perfect face.
Mari whined in reply "no! I can't do that, I've never driven anything this nice! It probably costs as much as my uni fees… and my textbooks combined!" Mari was in the driver's seat, car door still open as she tried to talk Adrien out of the idea of letting her drive. " I was flat out turning the thing on, and it's dark and raining, I hate driving in the dark. I'm so night blind."
"Hmm okay, when you put it like that, but that means I get to pick what we do next, okay?" Adrien jumped out of the car, an elated ball of pent up energy and ran around to the drivers side. Excitement sparkled in his bright green eyes. Mari sighed dramatically as she climbed out of the car and made her way around to the passenger seat.
"Fine, fine, but I need to text my mum quickly and let her know where I'm going. I don't want her to worry about me being out late in the cold. Not that I think you're going to find much for us to do tonight."
Just as Mari spoke her phone began to ring, Lighting up the screen with a smiling picture of her mother, "Mamma hi, I was just about to message you, what's up?" Mari spoke into her phone, pausing briefly to listen to the reply. "Oh, okay sure. I was just out with a friend but that's okay, I'll see you soon. Love you bye." Mari ended the call and looked at Adrien who was watching her expectantly.
"Sorry, that was my mum, they have a really big last minute order and need me to help, can we take a rain check?" She looked at Adrien sheepishly for a reply.
"Sure, sounds good, it will probably be more fun when it's not raining anyway, not that I haven't already had fun. It's been really nice just hanging out and talking, I don't do it often." Adrien paused as he reached for his seatbelt before continuing "So, where to?"
"Is it okay if you drop me off? I would normally walk… but I'm still a little shaken from earlier. But if it's a bother I can get someone to pick me up." Mari had started to twist the strap of her bag anxiously again, looking down as she spoke. Not wanting to think about earlier.
Adrien rolled his eyes. "What's the address Mari? I'm not letting you walk, or wait in the dark. I'm going to make sure you get home safe. And trust me I have nothing better to do, I'll tell you a secret, I'm actually a very boring person." Adrien mock whispered, placing a hand around his mouth as he leant towards Mari's ear, as if to ensure no one else would hear. Despite being alone in the car.
…
The rain had continued all through the night and late into the next morning, though the weather didn't damper Adriens mood. The night before had been a blissful preview of what it was truly like to spend time with friends. Granted he hadn't met Mari in the best of circumstances, but he was glad he had found her when he did and was able to comfort her some. And now the hours until he finally got to see Ladybug again slowly crept past as he kept a careful eye on the time.
With the eerie silence of Hawkmoth combined with busy schedules they had decided that they would split patrols of the city, Ladybug taking Friday, Chat Sunday and meeting together on Tuesdays. This gave them a chance to keep any eye on things around Paris and report back anything they might deem suspicious. Though the majority of the night was spent swinging and bounding through the streets in a mostly good natured competition to outdo each other. Things of course occasionally got heated, with them both being so competitive.
While Adrien had enjoyed the quiet from Hawkmoth, he did not enjoy having his time with Ladybug limited to once a week. Most of his teenage years she had been his closest friend -not that he had ever actually told her that- so secretly he had been more than a little upset that he now only got to see her once a week.
Thus, by the time Tuesday rolled around he was always jittery with excitement to see his dark haired partner, today was no different. With more than an hour until they were due to meet Adrien had donned his black leather, alter ego attire and headed out into the early night . Too excited to wait any longer, he figured he could either look for citizens up to mischief, or create some himself.
….
"Come one LB, you're getting slow with the lack of Akumas to fight, it's hardly fun anymore, beating you like this." Chat laughed into the wind as he darted across rooftops, always just out of Ladybugs reach. Chat couldn't make out her reply but could hear the grumble in her voice, she was no doubt, rolling her eyes at his antics. Chat laughed again sure that if he had been within her reach she would have smacked at him.
That was their relationship, playful, competitive, with Chat going out of his way to antagonise her wherever he could, what did they say? If a boy picks on you it means he likes you? Something like that.
"I swear to god Chat Noir! Once I get my hands on you! We need to debrief on last week, and we need to have a little talk about throwing civilians into the Serine!" Chat had heard her this time and come to a stop, doubled over in laughter, he had forgotten about that.
During his brief pause to laugh Ladybug had managed to come up behind him and gave him a light smack on the back of the head. "I'm serious Chat! I heard about that, there are like, three separate videos on the Ladyblog. What were you thinking?" Standing in front of him now Ladybug had strapped her yo-yo to her side before she planted her hands on her hips and fixed him a dangerous look.
"Come on M'Lady, he was vandalising our beautiful streets of Paris! And if you recall, I helped him out after I threw him in! I was simply teaching him a lesson." Chat snickered again as he thought about the indigent look he had been given once he pulled the civilian back out, yup so worth it. "Besides, our duty is to protect Paris and in my book that includes protecting it from graffiti."
Ladybugs jaw dropped at the recklessness of Chat and how unperplexed he seemed by his actions "I don't care what he did! We're heroes, we do not throw people into rivers! If you keep it up you won't be allowed to patrol by yourself anymore."
Before he could help himself, Chat's ears had flicked towards Ladybug at the statement, eyes bright he took in the sight of her before him. Tight red suit, caressing her lithe frame, like spandex, though he knew it was nothing of the sort. The magical armour shielded them from the harshest of blows and the icy touch of winter's kiss, yet it was also light enough that it let their skin breath in the humid summer nights.
Tiny silver hexagons patterned every inch of her suit, not that any civilian would notice, so fine, that they were only visible when standing practically chest to chest. The spattering of black dots across the suit somehow created the illusion that Ladybug was taller than she really was, but Chat knew, up close she was a petite little thing. Yet despite her small size her suit gave glimpse to long powerful muscles, perfectly honed from years of constant fighting; dodging, ducking, twirling and impressive acrobatics which were required when an akuma struck.
Chat plopped himself down cross legged on the rooftop where they had stopped and craned his neck up to face her, as always he was struck by her beauty. A dusting of gentle freckles kissed her creamy skin below the mask which concealed her identity. An identity Chat so sorely longed to know, dark hair framed her face, parted at the back in two little pig tales, tied up with what must have been incredibly strong ribbon, chat thought, as he had never seen them come undone.
"Is that a puuuurromise M'Lady? Because I'm sure I could find another civilian or two that could do with a quick dunk." Chat wiggled his brows, his lips pulled to a sly half smile.
"Keep it up and I'll start bringing a spray bottle to our meetups, they say negative reinforcement works best." Ladybug looked down at her partner, arms crossed before taking a seat opposite him. "So, nothing new on the Hawkmoth side of things I take?"
Mention of Hawkmoth had Chat sitting up straighter, long gone was his roguish attitude. If there was one thing Ladybug could count on it was that Chat was dependable when it mattered. "No, nothing, the usual, but the longer it's quite the more I worry. What could he be doing?"
Ladybug traced her finger in random little patterns on the grounds with her finger, thinking over what Chat said before she replied. "You don't think that maybe, something happened to him? Maybe this is it? Things can happen to people all the time, maybe something happened to him in his civilian life?"
Chat watched as Ladybug spoke, there was a trace of something -fear maybe- hiding in those eyes, that coupled with her words had Chat worried. Ears suddenly pulled flat against his messy blonde hair he rushed forward on all fours. "Why? Did something happen, when you were you?"
Chat Noir was practically nose to nose with Ladybug now, green eyes studying blue, daring her to lie to him, to throw away years of trust over something so small. Ladybug took a deep breath and braced her shoulders, "I'm fine Chat honestly, I just had a bit of a fright that's all and I guess I had forgotten that we're not invincible. With or without our suits." She gave him a soft smile but it never reached her eyes.
Chat sighed, releasing the breath he didn't know he held before wrapping an arm around his partner, still resting on his knees. "Please be careful M'Lady, you're one of the most important people in my life." He let go and sat back on his heels, never taking his eyes off Ladybug.
"But no, I don't think he's gone, that would be too easy. Even with your luck. Either way, we need to decide what to do from here." Chat settled back into a more comfortable position to continue their talk.
"At the moment, I'm not sure what more we can do. We followed every lead we had, which granted wasn't much. I suppose we keep doing what we're doing, be vigilant, keep patrolling." Ladybug shot Chat a pointed look, " and stop throwing people into rivers." Chat watched as Ladybug failed to keep a straight face as she finished her sentence.
"M'Lady I swear he deserved it!" Chat held a hand to his chest and the other palm facing Ladybug as if to mimic swearing an oath. "I reserve that punishment for the worst offenders." Chat got to his feet before continuing "now I believe we have a patrol to finish, one which I was winning." He turned on his heel, set to bound off over the rooftops again, only to find himself stuck in place.
Behind him Ladybug had a hold of his leather tail, still seated, "Chat Noir, patrolling is not a race! And besides." She stood now, hands still holding tight to his tail, "that's cheating!" She gave him a playful tug backwards before she ran off, unhitching her yo-yo, casting it out into the night and launching herself off the rooftop. Chat was left staring after her in awe.
It didn't take long for Chat to catch up and quickly overtake Ladybug, the countless hours spent at the gym, to perfect his model physique meant that once he donned the suit, Chat was a force to be reckoned with. Coming to a breathless stop Ladybug begrudgingly admitted defeat. "Okay Chat, you're right! You win tonight, I'm tired and ready to go home."
Having been meters ahead when Ladybug stopped, Chat had to spin himself around and make his way back to her, His movements a mix between running, parkour and bounding along in a very cat-like pounce, back arched, hands propelling him along every time they briefly touched the ground. "While I'm always happy to be declared the winner, I'm heartbroken to see you go M'Lady. Are you sure you can't say a bit longer and keep this alley cat company?" Chat stood in front of Ladybug, the only signs of exertion, the rapidly rising and falling of his chest.
"Chat, I have work I need to do." Ladybug let out an exasperated, breathy laugh as she spoke, as always the sound almost stopped Chat's heart. It was without a doubt his favourite sound in the world, hearing his Lady laugh, something he could listen to forever.
"Please M'Lady? We hardly see each other anymore and I'm so terribly lost without my Ladybug." Chat grabbed her hand in both of his, before kneeling on one knee, looking up at her with pleading eyes.
"Fine, fine, you win. I didn't want to do that assessment anyway!" Ladybug threw her hands in the air dramatically before she walked over to the edge of the new rooftop they had found themselves on and lowered herself down so that her legs dangled over the edge. "So what's new with you pussycat? Anything exciting happening in the wondrous life of Chat Noir?" She turned watch chat as he walked over to join her.
"As a matter of fact there is!" Chat came to rest beside Ladybug, sitting as close as he dared, so close that their shoulders occasionally brushed together. One leg hung lazily over the ledge next to Ladybugs, the other pulled up close to his body so that he could rest his chin upon it as he spoke. "I've taken a break from… my current work, to see if there's something else I might prefer to pursue. Which has given me quite a lot of free time, I've even made a new friend or two."
"Wow, let me count," Ladybug pulled her fisted hand up in front of them, lifting first her thumb, followed by her pointer finger then her index to count. "Three! That makes three friends now Chat well done".
He knew she was joking, but the words still stung. If only she knew how accurate she was, but Chat didn't want her to know how lonely his life really was, or had been until very recently.
Ladybug took no notice of his silence and continued to talk, "keep it up and soon you'll even have a girlfriend chat, maybe even some little kittens of your own running around." She bumped her shoulder playfully against his in their usual bantering way.
"I've told you before M'Lady, you're the only one for me." The soft sadness in his tone made Ladybugs laughter come to a stop. In the new silence Chat rested his head on her shoulder, the way he often did. It was a topic which came up occasionally, but Ladybug always countered it by saying that their duty to Paris came first, always.
She sighed realising that the conversation had become serious "Chat, I know you think you feel that way about me, but, I'm not some amazing super heroine in my everyday life. I'm boring, average and plain. You'd be disappointed and I would hate to disappoint you. It's the illusion of the suit".
"M'Lady, you could never disappoint me, ever!" Chat reached for the hand resting on her leg and placed his over the top before giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I don't care about the stupid suit, I care about you." With that Chat lifted the hand he still held and brushed his lips ever so gently across the back of Ladybugs knuckles. Unaware of the effect the small act had on Ladybug, goosebumps sprung up on the skin under her suit, while electricity shot down her neck making her body stiffen.
Noticing the change of posture Chat dropped her hand, assuming her body had reacted that way due to discomfort at his affection. His heart ached at the thought. "Sorry" Chat mumbled softly, "sometimes I forget that you don't see me the same way." He went to stand, but Ladybug pulled him back down.
"Chat, it's not that. But, how can we really know how we feel? We only know such a small, hidden part of each other."
Hope swelled in his chest as he spoke, "then let's change that, let me show you all of me." Chat turned his body so he was facing her completely, his eyes searched hers, desperately, pleading beyond all reason that she would say yes. That she would let him bare all that he was to her, but instead she broke eye contact, looking behind Chat and into the night. That small gesture told him all he needed to know, before she even spoke.
"Chat, you know we can't do that. We're not supposed to know and there has to be a good reason for that. Maybe, one day, when it's all over, but right now, with everything so uncertain we just can't risk it." Deep down he knew she was right and so he didn't push the issue any further for the time being. Letting their friendship and their closeness be enough for him… for now.