The curtains were thrown open, spilling gorgeous sunlight into the room.

Marinette flinched at the invading light, then buried herself farther into her blankets. 'Go away Maman, it's too early,' she muttered, attempting to find enough darkness through her blankets to sleep.

'Bonjour, my lady!'

It was a familiar masculine voice that greeted her that morning, and Marinette stuck a hand out to wave whoever it was off. 'Go away-y-y Ad-d-r-ien,' she yawned unintelligibly, 'you have fencing class.' Grumbling, she tucked the covers around and under her.

'There's no time to stay in bed, it's too gorgeous a day to stay inside!' The voice unhearingly insisted, and she peered through her blankets to glare at Adr-nope, that was Chat.

Not Adrien, whom she definitely hadn't been dreaming about at all, no sir.

Chat crossed the room back over to his own bed, where a tray of delectable delights awaited.

Marinette, still half-asleep, transformed herself, before sitting up. Her hair was still in tangles around her, but at least the suit made it look neater. She rubbed her eyes carefully. 'What time is it?'

Chat opened his mouth to speak, saw her, froze for a long moment, before seeming to find some semblance of control over his jaw again.

'Half nine, ma belle,'

She stretched, pushing some loose strands out of her face. 'I didn't mean to sleep in,' she admitted.

Chat still hadn't moved, and hadn't taken his eyes off of her. 'Uh, I brought, breakfast?' He offered, stunned. 'I, uh, was thinking of sitting on the balcony?'

She nodded sleepily, standing and moving over to the sliding door.

Shaking himself, he grabbed the tray and followed her out to the balcony, where he sat and threaded his feet through the bars of the railing, before grabbing a croissant.

'Beautiful morning, isn't it?' He started up.

'Mmph, it is. How long have you been awake?' She draped herself through the railing as well, slouching against it.

'Not long,' he evaded, but he caught her look. 'I got up around seven. I'm not really used to sleeping in. But I had another look around the ship, and swiped this from the kitchens,' he offered her a pan au chocolat.

'Sorry,' she admitted, taking it. 'I'd hoped to get up a bit earlier.'

'Not really a morning person, eh my lady?' Chat laughed.

She shook her head. 'Sometimes, sometimes not. When you get behind on sleep it piles up, and there isn't a lot of time to catch up.'

He nodded, looking out to sea. 'That's fair.'

They sat in silence for a long moment, chewing thoughtfully.

Chat found himself staring again, but this time out of the corner of his eye.

Curiosity was just bursting out of him, he was desperate to know a little more about her. And here was the perfect opportunity!

They have so much alone time together on this trip, and he was eager to know anything she was willing to say.

'You look nice with your hair down,' he started, then mentally facepalmed. What a great starter.

'Really?' She fiddled with a lock a little self-consciously. 'I don't know,'

'Do you always go for the pigtails?' He questioned.

She paused, before 'usually, it keeps it out of my face.' She looked sideways at him.

'I see,' he paused thoughtfully again. 'I've never met a girl who's so into Mecha-Strike.'

'I feel like you're gathering information on me.' Ladybug said suspiciously.

Chat shook his head. 'That's not it, I just want to know a little more about you.'

'Is that so?' Her eyes narrowed. 'Plagg says you don't know me.'

'Well that may be so, but I want to know about your interests, and things like that. I don't want you to tell me who you are if you don't want to.'

'Alright,' she paused. 'Yes, I almost always wear pigtails. But as you might have noticed, I don't sleep in them.'

He laughed slightly. 'I can't imagine that would be particularly comfortable. What's your favourite colour?'

'Pink,' she said without hesitation. 'But I also like yellow, and green.'

'Very floral colours,' he approved. 'Hmm, I think mine's green, or possibly white.'

She paused, taking a breath. 'Why do you travel so much?'

He shook a finger at her, smiling. 'I can't tell you, my lady.'

'Alright,' she complied, 'do you travel alone or in large groups or?'

'Larger groups, almost always. Why do you ask?'

'I-I'm curious, is all.' She shuffled uncomfortably. She struggled for a long moment, to find another question. This was a rare opportunity, after all. 'Okay, do you know anyone on this ship? For example, if you get stuck somewhere and have to de-transform, how quickly am I going to have to track you down with cheese?'

He paused to consider, but then fought to conceal a shudder. 'Immediately, if you don't mind. Persons on this ship will know me, and if I'm recognised I'm in for a world of hurt.'

Ladybug herself shuddered. 'I know the feeling. If my, people, back home find out I'm here, my life will be officially over. I will be grounded, until I die.'

They both were silent for a moment, considering their individual consequences, until-

'Luckily I'm usually in the habit of keeping cheese on my person, but assistance would be appreciated.' He smiled at her.

She nodded in understanding, then lay back against the metal balcony floor. 'Same here.'

He joined her, twisting to lie on his side and look at her. 'Have you ever had any major mishaps with your miraculous?'

She flushed slightly. 'Well, I've not had issues with my miraculous, but one time I lost Tikki.' It was so refreshing to be open with Chat, even about the inane, or embarrassing things. 'I once tripped and accidentally dropped her, and a friend thought she was a cute little plush toy. It took me almost a day to get her back!' She laughed nervously. 'What about you?'

He laughed easily, before reaching one hand dramatically towards the sky. 'Oh, I have a great kwami story for you, my lady. See, Plagg mistook something of a friend of mine's for food,' he gesticulated, 'and got his head stuck in the thing! Of course, at the time it was pretty serious, but in retrospect it was hilarious,' he chuckled.

She giggled. 'What ended up happening to the thing?'

'I managed to sneak it back to my friend without them noticing, but I could've seriously squashed Plagg for that. So many diet threats were made that day, I have to tell you. I wanted to take a photo of him with his head stuck in it for blackmail, but I'll bet you can guess why that wouldn't work out,'

She was outright laughing at this point, and it made him want to, well, kiss her, mostly.

'What do you think of me?' He blurted, and then flushed.

Of course he'd ruined the moment, she had been laughing at something that he'd said, and now he threw her under the bus.

He wanted to slap himself.

'What do you mean?' She questioned, tilting her head to one side. 'You're my partner. I trust you. But you make pawsitively woeful puns. Why?'

He lifted his chin proudly. 'My puns are purrfect. And, no reason, I'm just curious.' He moved to change the subject as quickly as he could. 'I heard we're stopping in at Brittany this afternoon.'

She nodded, slightly slower than usual. 'I'll be honest, I haven't really had time to look at the specifics on the program of this trip.'

'Oh? Alright, first is Brittany,' he checked them off his fingers, 'then Bordeaux, then Bilbao in Spain, then Porto, Lisbon in Portugal, then we finish in Barcelona, with the ball on the last night on the ship. Then comes the Eurostar back.'

'You know the itinerary really well?' She commented, then froze, sitting up. 'Ball?'

'Oui, a masquerade ball. Seems appropriate, no? They're throwing it in our honour.'

'I, um,' she laughed nervously. 'Sure? I really should've checked that itinerary before we left, I can't believe I didn't see that,' she kicked herself.

'It'll be fine, we're stopping in at lots of places on the way.' Chat soothed her. 'If you're not happy to wear your suit, which you look chatteringly radiant in anyway, we could definitely find something?' He sat up and peered out over the ocean, but most of that view was blocked by land now. 'We seem to be getting close to Brest.'

'Right,' she settled slightly. 'Okay.'

He stood, patting her on the shoulder, before grabbing the now empty tray and disappearing back into the room.

Ladybug looked down at her hands. 'Tikki, I wish I could talk to you,'

The press was unbearable.

They could hardly move for having microphones in their faces, questions thrown at them, or being blinded by flashes of light.

It seemed like every journalist on the ship, then every journalist from Paris had come to meet them, along with the other celebrities.

Even after the initial landing, it was terrible.

Every time they wanted to look at something, they were swarmed. Then the owner would immediately just try to give it to them.

It was, unbearable.

Ladybug and Chat Noir ended up hiding atop the roof of a library to get away from them, but they could still hear the bustle in the search for them below.

'They're not going away,' Ladybug noted, and Chat shook his head.

'Do you want to go back to the ship?' He questioned.

'Maybe,' she said slowly, 'but I don't want to be stuck in there the whole time. We shouldn't be prisoners in this.' She peered over the edge, past the arms of the giant clock face and down to the crowds below.

'The Library was a good idea,' Chat commented, 'I can hear them saying to check church roofs, because that's where we're normally seen.'

She nodded, retracting her face. 'Even from what I can see here, it's a nice town,'

'The marketplace is particularly pleasant, I hear.' Chat said. 'There's a whole lot of cobbled streets through the very centre of town, and the markets are every day.'

'AHA!' Came a voice from behind them. 'I finally found you!'

The two nearly leapt out of their skins, and fell into defensive positions as a figure clambered over the edge of the roof behind them, to where an obvious fire escape hung over the edge.

It was Alya.

'How did you know we were here?' Chat exclaimed.

Alya set down the duffle bag she had with her, and shrugged. 'It wasn't so hard,' she said, 'the idiots down there seem to think that you'd hide on rooftops that are so slanted you can see them easily from street level.'

Ladybug and Chat Noir exchanged a look as the girl unzipped it and started to rifle through it.

'Now, I know you guys want to look around and explore as much as I do, so I was thinking,' Alya continued her rummaging, 'How about a deal?'

'What do you want?' Ladybug immediately questioned, while Alya extracted something long and flowy from the bag.

'If I give you guys disguises,' she revealed the white fabric to be a maxi dress with long, Grecian-styled sleeves, 'and a camera, could you take selfies for me at the places you visit? You'd be doing me a massive favour...' Alya looked proudly at them.

'What sort of camera?' Chat questioned curiously.

This she pulled from her pocket; an average red rectangular-shaped camera with a retractable lens, very normal for a pair of tourists. 'You can even keep the camera, as long as I get a copy of the photos. I love sponsorships,' she added to herself.

Ladybug had a sudden urge to kiss her best friend, but refrained. 'That's reasonable.' She said instead.

Chat was eyeing the dress. 'So what's Ladybug wearing?' He joked.

'Ha ha,' Ladybug shot at him, crossing over and taking the dress from Alya. 'It's a lovely design,' she commented.

Alya laughed nervously. 'I don't have as much style as my friend Marinette, but I thought that this would do,' she continued to extract articles of clothing, including a long sleeved, button up blue and white Hawaiian shirt covered in and a large, floppy hat.

Ladybug was halfway through pulling the dress over her head when the hat was planted atop it, and she was forced to shake it off so that she could pull her head through.

'Chat,' she said warningly, glaring at him whilst straightening the dress.

'It wasn't me,' he said innocently, buttoning up the hawaiian shirt. 'It was her.'

Alya giggled. 'If you hurry, there's enough time to go to Océanopolis for a while as well,' she handed a straw trilby to Chat, who pushed it firmly over his ears.

Ladybug picked up her own hat, and looked at Alya. 'Do you have any preferences for photo places?'

'Anywhere.' Alya said firmly. 'Everywhere.' She bent and plucked from the bag two sets of large sunglasses, and offered them in one hand, and the camera with the other. 'You kids have fun, you two deserve a fun trip as well.'

'Thanks, Alya.' Ladybug said, taking the camera and one set of sunglasses, before sneaking back over to the quieter edge that Alya had come up.

'Ciao!' Chat said, grabbing the other set and disappearing over after her.

When Chat landed, Ladybug snapped a picture of him.

He pulled a face at her, and she smiled. 'Come on, let's look around.'

He unfolded the silver rimmed, maverick-looking glasses and stuck them on his face. Then, he peered over the top of them and eyebrowed Ladybug.

She shook her head, before putting her own on her face, these were brown tinted and roughly square-shaped. 'Are you coming?' She said, stepping forward into the light of the day.

'Of course, my lady.' He said, following her.

They ambled easily down the street, and commenced their actual exploration of the city.

And it was a great time, Ladybug looked at huge amounts of fabric, Chat bought a huge wheel of cheese and a satchel to hold it in, and they managed to avoid the press the entire time.

Ladybug eventually found a fabric store selling exactly what she was looking for, and bought nearly a whole ream of red and black fabric.

'It's my most popular sell!' The vendor was saying. 'Everyone wants to look like Ladybug these days. We haven't even seen her in these parts before today, and yet!'

'She's quite popular, isn't she?' Chat leaned on the counter while the vendor was measuring a length of fabric. 'What do you think of her?'

'I'm just glad that those monsters or whatever don't come out as far as here.' He shrugged. 'Beyond that, I'm sure she's lovely. I'm more of a Chat Noir person myself, cats keep the mice out of my shop. It's the wife who's a Ladybug fan.'

Suddenly Chat felt a nudge at his feet, and he looked down.

A beautiful black and white cat was rubbing its face against his calf, and Chat grinned. 'It's not often I meet another Chat person,' he reached down and petted it.

It meowed up at him, and he couldn't help it. He picked up the cat, and looked over at Ladybug. 'He likes me,' he grinned, using a finger to make the cat wave a paw at her.

Ladybug mercilessly snapped a photo.

The vendor finished his cutting, and shrugged. 'Here you are, enjoy.'

'Thank you so much!' Ladybug smiled at him. 'You're a real life-saver.'

They wandered on, and Chat soon stopped to get them crepes. 'Shall we go down to the Océanopolis now?'

'Sounds good,' She held up her bags. 'I think I'm all shopped out for the first stop.'

Chat pulled the map out of his satchel and opened it. 'I think we have to go this way.' He directed.

They started off down the street.

'I can't believe how well these disguises are working,' Ladybug said, eyeing a passing reporter. 'That girl Alya is really clever.'

'She runs the Ladyblog, doesn't she?' Chat said. 'We seem to see her at most of our fights.'

'That's the one. I've done an interview for her before.' Ladybug said. 'She's a nice girl.'

Chatting amicably, they wandered down the road, back onto the main one, and started down the main street.

'I can't believe you ended up taking more photos than me.' Ladybug said, throwing herself back down onto her bed. She pulled up the camera again and kept flicking through it.

'That was so funny when that giant turtle scared you.' She offered up the picture for him to see, and he rolled his eyes.

'I wasn't scared.' He denied. 'It snuck up on me.'

'I've never seen so many kinds of fish before,' she continued. 'It was amazing. I had no idea that was there either?'

'Nor I, it wasn't on the itinerary. I'll bet it was in the pamphlets though,' he shrugged. 'We're lucky we made it back onto the ship on time.'

She laughed. 'It looked like they were just about to leave without us.' She paused, looking at him. 'Does that mean that the dress that Alya gave me now stinks of cheese?'

He pulled the dress out of his satchel apologetically. 'I hope not.' He moved over to the wardrobe to hang it up. 'I brought a tablet, do you want to look at that on a bigger screen?'

'That would be great.' She agreed, offering the camera to him.

'I wasn't really sure what to expect with the Océanopolis, sometimes those aquariums can be a bit, well,' he let the sentence trail off, taking the camera. 'I'm glad that one turned out so nice. I'm glad we could just walk around without getting noticed, going there with the press would've been awful.' He wandered over to his bag to retrieve the tablet.

'That girl at the ticket desk noticed us though?' Ladybug corrected. 'We took a selfie with her, in exchange for her keeping quiet until the boat leaves tonight.'

'That's right,' he remembered, 'I'm impressed she noticed us. Although, I can understand the policy of not wearing sunglasses and hats inside, it does tend to make people look suspicious.'

'You did indeed,' Ladybug teased, and he stuck his tongue out at her. 'You're lucky she made an exception for us. It must've been your hilarious looking shirt, nobody could look dangerous in that thing.'

'You're just jealous,' he said, pulling the memory card from the camera and inserting it into his tablet. 'If you have a USB I can put a copy on there as well?'

'That would be great.' She smiled.

'Do you want to have a look through while this is loading?' He questioned, and she nodded.

He moved over to sit next to her on her bed, and she shuffled up to give him a bit of room. 'Yep, there's the alleyway,' she swiped through the photos on his lap. 'There's the crêpes that we had, and the selfie with the store in the background. I like that one,' she smiled. 'Markets, markets, markets, jeez, how many am I in?' She looked at him, and he looked away guiltily.

'I was holding the camera for most of when we were in the markets, you know,' he shifted slightly. 'It's not my fault,'

'Never mind. I do like these selfies, that was a great idea to make sure that your shirt and my dress aren't in it so that we can use them later.'

'You're lucky the sleeves roll up really easily on that dress.' He agreed. 'What are you going to do with all that fabric?' He questioned, swiping past the photos with the fabric vendor, and the one that Ladybug had taken of Chat and the vendor's cat.

'I'm going to make a dress out of it. For the ball.' She said resolutely.

'You can do that?'

She shuffled uncomfortably. 'I'm not half bad at it. It'll be harder without a sewing machine, but luckily that's not a massive drama outside of how time consuming it'll be.'

He stared at her in wonder. 'Do you know what it'll look like yet?'

'No, but I bought enough fabric for most things so I should be fine.' She reached over to continue swiping through the photos. 'Oh look, there's the main street. That book seller was nice as well.'

'My, I mean, I know people who can sew like that, but it's an amazing talent.' He said.

She flushed slightly. 'Oh, I'm probably not as good as them.' She said. 'It's just a hobby of mine.'

'I'll be the judge of that, my lady,' he grinned.

She shook her head. 'Here we are, there's the selfie with the ticket girl.' She looked a little closer. 'What was her name again? Caity? Kelly?'

'I think it was Kasey.' Chat said, and he zoomed in on her name tag. 'Oui, Kasey.' He zoomed out again. 'I love how you can see the aquarium in the background, you really can't mistake where we are.'

Ladybug nodded, then rolled onto her back to look up at the ceiling.

'Do you think Papillion's really here?' She questioned.

He paused in his photo browsing to look at her. 'Sure I do. I also think he's going to be biding his time, to sense us into a false sense of security, else make it so that we're so nervous we go home early, my lady.' He offered the screen to her. 'Come and look at this adorable selfie you took with that manta ray who was smiling at you.'

'But, what if he's not?' She worried.

'Then we would have most certainly heard about it from Paris the nanosecond that it happened. It's alright, my lady,' he soothed.

'I want to go and do a check around the ship.' She pulled herself to her feet. 'Just to be sure.'

'If you so feel the need,' Chat said, but just as she turned to leave the room, her earrings bleeped at her.

She sagged against his bed in defeat. 'Well, I guess I'm staying here then.'

He put the tablet down and stood, moving to stand in front of her. 'If it makes you feel better, I'll go and have a look around.' He rested a hand atop her head, and smiled at her. 'Just to be on the safe side.'

She smiled up at him. 'Thank you.'

His hand shifted slightly, to tuck a loose strand behind her ear, before he withdrew it, grinned and left the room.

She got up and flopped on her own bed, picking up the tablet to flick through a few more photos disinterestedly, before putting it down and releasing her transformation.

Tikki appeared, and she landed right on Marinette's chest.

'Are you alright, Tikki?' Marinette asked. 'That was a long day.'

'It was a little,' Tikki admitted. 'What was that, six hours? Seven?'

'We transformed at about nine thirty, Chat said, so,' she returned the tablet to its desktop to look at the time. 'six and a half. Of course the background of his tablet is cats.'

She looked at the picture a little more closely, and it was a gorgeous litte tabby kitten sitting on a grassy area, reaching up to bat at a passing ladybug. 'What a nerd.'

'I think it's kind of cute,' Tikki said, lying on her back and looking up at the tablet.

Marinette pulled up the photos again. 'Alya's going to be so pleased with some of these,' she gushed.

Seeing that the copy had finished, she pulled out her USB and plugged it into the side of the tablet to start the copying that way.

Then she safely ejected the memory card, and put it safely back into the camera.

Finally, she sent a copy of the photo of Chat with the cat to her phone through a cord that she had packed.

'If Chat saw that he'll be so happy,' Tikki said, looking at her phone. 'What would Alya say if you had those photos before she did?'

'Marinette,' she put on Alya's voice, 'you'd have to be Ladybug herself to get these photos before I did!'

Tikki laughed. 'She would indeed.'

'It's so exciting that she's here on the ship with us, but, it would be easier to not be recognised if she wasn't,' Marinette admitted.

'You still wouldn't be able to do some of the other activities like swimming and the like without her here,' Tikki reminded her.

'True, but it would be so much fun to be on a trip like this with her!' She grinned. 'Imagine if we brought the whole class along!' She hesitated. 'But maybe not Chloé. We could be lounging by the pool, working on my tan, swimming, or else going to the movie theatre,' Marinette put down the tablet, sighing a little. 'And it's strange spending so much time with Chat Noir. We don't usually just "hang out", unless it's an akuma or patrol. It's making me more curious to know what he's like.' She looked over at the discarded satchel next to the door. 'Does that make me a bad person?'

Tikki just looked at her. 'What makes you say that?'

'Well, because, I can't tell him who I am. At all. Marinette cannot live up to the expectations that Ladybug sets. Ladybug is cool, calm, and collected. She flies through the skies with the help of her trusty yoyo, and stops akumas on a daily basis. Marinette?' She sighed. 'Cannot.'

'That's ridiculous.' Tikki scolded. 'Even as Marinette, you've saved Chat twice now. You're the class president, and you do so much other cool things as yourself! And you're forgetting, Ladybug is a part of you! Her strength, her courage, is yours as well!'

Marinette crossed her arms. 'I don't think so, Tikki. I can't even talk to Adrien properly.'

'You seemed to have a lovely date with Chat today though?' Tikki questioned.

'What?' Marinette yelped. 'It wasn't a date!' She glared down at her kwami. 'It's two friends, hanging out! He's my partner, and finally but most importantly he's not Adrien Agreste! I won't date anyone but him!'

Tikki sighed. 'But you know that Chat likes you,'

'Well, sure, anyone with eyes can see that, but it's not that serious?' Marinette deflected. 'As soon as he finds out who I am he's going to run for the hills.'

Tikki shook her head. 'Pass me a cookie, I'm going to drown my frustration in chocolate and pastry.'

Marinette obliged, and got out her sketchbook for herself. 'He looks at me the way he does, but he'll be so disappointed I'm telling you.'

'You're wrong, Marinette.' Tikki disagreed through a mouthful of biscuit. 'I will bet you anything at all.'

Marinette shook her head, and dove into her sketchbook with a vigor. 'I need to think of a design for my dress.'

Tikki decided to take her biscuit elsewhere, and slipped through the crack under the door to go and pilfer the refreshed welcome basket.

'Honey, I'm home,' Chat called as he let himself in the door.

'Hello!' Tikki replied from the coffee table. 'How did you go?'

Where's Ladybug?' Chat questioned immediately.

'She's in the bedroom, my money's that she's listening to music.'

'Alright,' he moved over to the couch to seat himself in front of the kwami. 'I don't think we've been formally introduced.' He offered a hand to her, but then realised his error of size. 'Ah, well, I'm Chat Noir.'

'Tikki,' the little kwami said, landing on the palm of his hand, cookie in tow. 'It's a pleasure.'

'My guess is that if Ladybug gets stuck somewhere on the ship, bring cookies?' He smiled at her.

'Or any pastry really, but M-Ladybug does spoil me.' Tikki giggled.

Chat's ring beeped, and he looked at it, to see it was on its last warnings.

He laughed a little. 'I may have pushed Plagg a little further than he wanted to, I just wanted to make sure everyone was safe.'

'And are they?' Tikki questioned.

'As far as I can tell, yes.' Chat nodded. 'I scoured the ship pretty thoroughly.' He looked at his ring, and looked at the little kwami. 'I know that Ladybug's very against knowing who I am, and I don't blame her really. But, do you mind? Plagg's going to kill me. Don't tell him about the massive wheel of camembert I bought, I want to keep it a secret as long as I can.'

Tikki shrugged. 'I don't mind. And if Plagg says you don't know Ladybug, then?' She paused. 'What do you mean, you don't blame her?'

Chat released his transformation, and Plagg landed heavily on the boy's head.

'Eight hours.' Plagg grumbled. 'I swear that's a new record. Also, I know about the cheese.'

The blonde rolled his eyes. 'Of course you do. I should have guessed.' He looked at Tikki, who was staring at him in blank shock.

'Adrien!?'

Adrien rubbed his neck nervously. 'You know who I am, then. I suppose that's to be expected, I am sort of famous.'

Tikki dropped her cookie, and rubbed her eyes. 'Is that really you?'

'Yes, that's me. I'll bet you've seen my posters around.' He said shyly.

She shook her head. 'That's not it at all! I-, She-, Ladybug-,' she span to look at the closed door, and looked back up at Adrien as all the pieces fell together.

The first thing that Tikki did was smack herself in the forehead.

The second thing was much the same as the first, only harder, and this time running her little hand down her face pressed hard.

The third thing she did was to tell Plagg he was the biggest idiot this side of the moon.

Then she up and disappeared out into the bedroom, leaving the half-eaten cookie in Adrien's open hand.

Adrien stared at it for a long moment, before looking up as Tikki appeared through the door again.

'Also, no. She would not blame you at all.' The little kwami said shortly. 'You two are wonderful for each other and I don't think you could've been chosen any better.'

And she disappeared back through the door.

Adrien looked at Plagg. 'What on earth was that all about?'

'I was going to ask you the same thing,' Plagg admitted. 'Now about that cheese?'

'Plagg, this is serious.'

'So is cheese.' Plagg said. 'Did you notice how she only called you Adrien, and not your full name like your fans usually do?'

'I did, actually. It was refreshing.' Adrien said.

'Maybe Ladybug knows you but you don't know her?' Plagg suggested.

'That's entirely likely, I work with a lot of different people. It would explain the fashion thing, maybe she's one of the models I work with sometimes?' He paused. 'I mean she's gorgeous enough to be,'

Plagg made a disgusted noise, sticking his tongue out. 'I think you're biased. Where'd you hide that cheese?'

'You're obsessed, Plagg.'

'As are you, Adrien.'

Adrien sat back in the chair and sighed. 'Shut up.'

'Well I'll just go and look for it, then.' Plagg up and crossed the room, and Adrien stormed after him.

'Hold on a second!' Adrien tried to make a grab for him but he had disappeared through the door.

Adrien leant against it, pressing his forehead on the cool wood.

Which then attacked right back as someone knocked hard on it.

'What did you say to Tikki?' Came the accusatory voice of one miraculous Ladybug.

Adrien jumped back slightly, rubbing his sore forehead. 'I didn't, why? Has she said anything?'

'She said she's not speaking to me, or you for that matter.'

Adrien had the distinct feeling that had there not been the issues of identity, she would have ploughed through the door and be holding him up by his shirtfront. 'Nothing in particular, I mean,' he said uncertainly. 'I don't know?'

'Well?'

'I'm not honestly sure. I didn't find anything on the ship by the way, no sneaky akumas we didn't know about, and no signs of Papillon. Everyone's safe.'

There was the distinct rustling of Ladybug leaning against the door, and sliding down it so that she was seated against it. 'I don't like this, Chat Noir.'

Adrien seated himself in much the same manner. 'I know.' He rested the back of his head against the door in a comforting sort of manner. 'But think of it this way; Papillon can't walk around in his suit for much the same reasons we can't go civillian around here.'

There was a pause, before, 'I'm sure you're right.' She shifted slightly. 'I'm still worried though.'

He nodded. 'Is there anything I can do to help you take your mind off it? Mecha Strike maybe?'

'No, but thank you. I think I'll keep working on dress designs.'

He smiled. 'Any ideas?'

'A couple, I am going to have to do so much sewing between now and then,'

'If I could help in any way,' he suggested.

'Thanks. I'll, let you know.' She paused. 'I think the only saving grace for that cheese wheel is the fact it's been sealed in wax,' she noted with a giggle. 'Plagg can't move it at all beyond knock it over, which he's done already.'

Tiny, indignant swearing eminated from the other room.

'I can't phase into it and just start eating, there's no room for me!' Plagg was complaining. 'But it's so. Much. Cheese!'

'Can't you get through the wax?' Ladybug laughed.

'This must have been made by a candlestickmaker, the wax is that thick!'

Adrien could almost imagine his wild scrabbling against the smooth, red wax.

'Tikki? Come and help me out!' Plagg called, but whatever Tikki's response was, it wasn't what Plagg wanted to hear. 'Traitor,' he accused her.

Plagg appeared over Adrien's head through the door, and disappeared into the kitchenette.

'What are you looking for?' Adrien questioned.

'Something, anything!' Plagg said in desperation.

'It's not like it's going to go off, you know,' Adrien laughed at him.

'Can't you see the pure torture you're putting me through!?' Plagg shouted at him desperately.

'But I have more in my bag.' Adrien pointed out.

'I ate that already.' Plagg shot back.

'You say that as if that's my fault.'

Ladybug was laughing through the door, and he was grinning himself.

'I think I'll leave it sealed,' Adrien suggested.

'How could you!?' Plagg gave up on his search, and disappeared back into the bedroom. 'You like me,' he addressed Ladybug, 'you said I was nice, how about helping a kwami out?'

Ladybug however was still trying to keep her sides together. 'Haha, nope, that would be a betrayal of trust of my minou.'

'Exactly.' Adrien said through the door. 'You're on your own on that one, no trying to appeal to Ladybug.' He paused. 'I wonder how long camembert will keep if it stays sealed?'

Plagg appeared almost like lightning in front of him. 'Don't you dare.'

'Certainly a lot faster than if it was unsealed,' came through the door.

'I think you're right on that one, my lady,' Adrien grinned wickedly. 'At the very least, I'll have to leave it until the end of the trip, otherwise it might spoil.'

Plagg looked like he was about to cry. 'I'll get you for this, Ag-asshole.'

'Now that is no kind of language to use in front of a lady.' Adrien reproached.

'If you don't let me, then you won't be able to go and eat dinner as Chat Noir,' Plagg threatened.

'Ladybug and I can get room service and play Mecha Strike.' Adrien shrugged.

'But who will answer the door!?'

'I've got you covered, kitty cat.' Ladybug said.

Adrien laughed evilly at the little kwami, who blew him a raspberry and disappeared back into the bedroom.

'For the record he's gone straight to the cheese.' Ladybug updated.

'Good.'

Dinner was fairly subdued, with pizza being ordered during copious amounts of Mecha Strike.

And then afterwards, just as Marinette was about to go to sleep, Chat spoke up.

'Ladybug,' he questioned.

'Yes, Chat?' She rubbed at an eye, and she could feel Tikki's eyes on her.

'Everything's going to turn out,' he said, 'you know that, right?'

She chuckled. 'I know.' She rolled over to look in his direction. 'You and I? We're Ladybug and Chat Noir. We can overcome anything together.'

He smiled ruefully. 'I think Tikki hates me now though.'

'She'll come around. I'm sure you're not that bad. It's not like you're a wildly famous supervillain.' She paused. 'You aren't a supervillain, are you?'

He laughed. 'No, I'm not.'

'That's exactly what a supervillain would say.'

'Goodnight, Ladybug.'

'Goodnight, catwoman.'

'Catwoman?' He was mildly offended.

She shrugged. 'It's the only person I could think of that was a cat-themed villain.'

'What about Black Panther?'

'Black Panther isn't a supervillain. And I'm pretty sure you aren't Wakandan.'

'You don't know that. And he spends most of the movie trying to kill the main characters.'

'Anti-hero. At best.'

'I will accept that as long as you never refer to me as Catwoman.'

'Fair enough.'

There was a long pause of quiet silence.

'Goodnight, Ladybug.'

'Goodnight...Catwoman.'

'DAMN IT LADYBUG'