One: Concert

Several months after discovering who Ladybug was beneath the mask, Marinette invites the old Dupont gang to hang out at a Kitty Section rehearsal as a kind of reunion of sorts. Adrien realizes he's still smarting a little bit over the situation, and really doesn't want to go until Nino drops an unexpected bomb.

Author's Note: This is a follow-up to Is There In Truth No Beauty?, a story I wrote as part of Multimouse Appreciation Week 2020. I have to admit, I felt there were some threads that hadn't been entirely tied up into neat little bows by the final chapter, and from the moment I published the finale, found myself wondering what life might look like a few months later for Chat and Marinette. Unexpectedly, Love Square Week 2020 appeared on my horizon and I realized I had a very unique version of same; before I knew what I was about, the first few chapters appeared in my word processor. So while not technically a true love square story, I have used the prompts in order to bring some closure to my star-crossed duo. -ep

Yet, though thou troublest me, I must be meek;
In weakness must be stout;
Well, I will change the service, and go seek
Some other master out.
Ah my dear God! though I am clean forgot,
Let me not love thee, if I love thee not.

- The Affliction by George Herbert

"No."

Nino looked at me over the rims of his designer frames. "Everyone is going to be there, dude. It wouldn't be right if you're not there, too."

I stared at the dregs of coffee in the bottom of my mug, contemplating the delicious irony. It had been months since I'd discovered Marinette was not only Ladybug, but also deeply involved with Luka Couffaine, who happened to be one of our part-time Miraculous holders. We were all aware that Luka's band had signed a lucrative recording contract with none other than Bob Ross, and would be heading out on tour fairly close to the end of our spring term at University; what was news to me that morning, however, was Nino's casual comment that while Kitty Section would be out of the country for a good part of the summer, Marinette had plans to tag along.

I'd been mulling that part over as he'd continued on to explain that we'd been invited - summoned, really - to what was essentially a technical rehearsal for the band and their roadies. We were to act as the friendly audience willing to let them work the kinks out before they loaded up the tour bus and the semi-trailer. Marinette had cleverly couched the invite as a reunion of sorts for all of us that had attended Dupont back in the day.

I had little interest in seeing the "old gang," as Nino had put it; aside from my best friend and his fiance, once my other childhood friends had been banned from using their Miraculous after the catastrophic Miracle Queen battle with Hawkmoth, we'd scattered to the four winds and rarely, if ever, had a reason to reconnect. My more pressing concern, though, was Ladybug, for she had yet to tell me she was planning on being missing in action for the summer. Seeing we were less than two weeks from the end of the semester, it was a bit of an issue to be addressed in very short order. Given how our relationship had chilled it wasn't surprising she was delaying the inevitable confrontation until the very last minute.

Unfortunately for her, of course, she had no clue who Chat was and had incorrectly gambled he wasn't in her inner circle. Nino had inadvertently given me a much needed heads up.

"Look, Adrien," Nino was saying, and I turned my green eyes toward him. "Allie and I are a bit worried about you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You." He sipped his tea. "You've not been yourself in months! What's worse? You've become a bit like your old man - something of a recluse. I had to beg you to meet me this morning, and Allie says you've been avoiding her and Mari on campus."

I bristled at the mention of Father. "I'm nothing like him," I said icily. "I just happen to be very busy. Between school and modelling, there's not much downtime." Not to mention the near-daily akuma attacks, I added mentally.

Nino looked at me, his face betraying his concern. "What happened between you and Mari?" he asked. "Whatever funk you are in started right after she hooked up with Luka."

"Marinette and I are-"

"Yeah yeah," Nino said, waving his hand at me. "Just friends. You've told me a million times."

"It's true," I said hotly, though I could also feel a bit of a flush creeping up my face. "And I'm not avoiding her. We just don't have any classes in common this semester." I neglected to add I had made a point of ensuring we were in different tracks for the spring.

"Right," Nino said, winking and snapping his finger. "You suddenly don't have any classes together after three semesters nearly lock step?"

I shrugged. "It happens."

"Right," Nino repeated, clearly seeing through my lie. "Come."

"No."

My best friend of more years than I could count caught my hand as I raised my coffee mug to drain the last of the brown liquid. "Do it as a favor to me. Or to yourself," he said quietly, eyes intently boring into mine. "Whatever Marinette was to you, or you thought was to you, this is your chance to get some closure."

"I haven't got a clue what you're-"

"I might just be a DJ," Nino said, smiling wryly as he cut me off, "but that also means I have to be able to read my audience. Know their feelings, their current mood, and spin up the right vinyl to keep the party going." He sat back. "Come. Say goodbye or whatever it is you need to do. Do it," he added very quietly, "before it's too late. Before you can't tell her anything."

I stared at him, and despite myself, added, "Before she's gone."

Nino simply nodded.

I dropped my head, allowing my bangs to fall forward before I pushed them up with an exasperated shove from a hand. My friend was right; if there was a chance that Marinette was leaving for the summer, there was a better-than-average chance she'd actually never return. Kitty Section was taking off, and she'd want to be by Luka's side to support him. I couldn't blame her for that. Somehow, though, I'd need to figure out what the Hell I was feeling and deal with that first, preferably before Ladybug dropped her little bombshell on me.

Looking up, I nodded. "Okay. I'll be there."

"Good. You won't regret it."

I smiled wryly as I stood and shrugged into my jacket. "Dude, I already do."

Landing on the rooftop overlooking the venue Bob Ross had rented for Kitty Section, I perched atop the concrete half-wall and took in the view. I had a clear line of sight to the stage entrance, where a nondescript tour bus was already parked; the trailer for the stage materials looked sad, sitting on it's legs waiting, like a jilted date, to get hooked up to it's truck. There was little activity for my feline eyes to pick up, and less for the feline ears; popping open my baton, I saw I was edging up on being beyond fashionably late and moving into rude.

Sighing as I shook my unruly mane, I flipped over the edge of the roof and landed in an alley opposite from the theater. Quickly dropping my transformation, I trotted across the street and pulled the door open to the atrium. Several rent-a-cop types greeted me, but one quick Million Dollar Model Smile and I was waved through to the theater proper.

To my surprise, the vast darkened space was empty save for what I thought were heads three-quarters of the way to the stage. The only illumination was a single spotlight on stage center, making me privately thankful for the residual night vision my civilian self experienced as a side effect of being Chat. It allowed me to deftly make my way down the aisle and safely around the haphazardly placed cables and partially unpacked equipment that appeared to be everywhere. Locating the correct row, I tried not to do a double take; Marinette was sitting closest to me, completely and totally alone.

Odd.

I quickly moved down the row and plopped onto the velour-covered seat next to Marinette. "Hey, stranger," I said as I leaned in for a traditional French air kiss.

"He lives!" Marinette smiled as she returned the favor. "I'm glad you came."

"Me, too," I said somewhat untruthfully. "Where's everyone else?"

Marinette looked at me. "Everyone else?"

"I thought—" I started before abruptly cutting myself off. It dawned on me that my good-for-nothing best friend had contrived to ensure I had met up with Marinette. There was a reunion, all right; just not the one Nino had alluded to. A wave of guilt washed over me that I'd nearly skipped out.

Quickly I changed directions; my eyes flicked to the stage which, save for a few microphones, seemed to be missing anything remotely akin to performers. "I thought I was going to miss everything."

"Hardly," Marinette sighed. "They've had nothing but trouble with the tech. And the set's not even up correctly," she added, pointing to a rig with lights and maybe a banner that was still sitting at the rear of the stage. "At this rate, it will be midnight before they actually get to sing."

I groaned inwardly, for I'd little desire to stay.

"How are you?" Marinette asked. "I rarely see you around campus these days."

I see you every day, Milady. Sometimes twice a day.

"You know the drill," I said, leaning on my model skills to give her a warm smile that was anything but. "Class. Projects. Modelling." Saving Paris nightly. I shrugged. "Honestly? I think I get two or three hours of sleep at most."

To my surprise, a genuine smile appeared on her beautiful face. "That's funny. It's about the same for me. And now I have this added complication," she said, waving to the stage.

"I heard you might be going with them," I said.

Marinette looked back at me. "Maybe. I've not made up my mind yet."

I felt my eyebrows go up. "This is quite an opportunity, Mari. Kitty Section is likely to do a world tour if this summer thing works out." I paused for a moment. "Your designs will get amazing exposure."

"I know," Marinette sighed. "But it's not a simple decision for me." She looked away. "My life is here in Paris. I've never considered leaving it. At least, not before Luka asked me to join him."

"Have you mentioned any of this to Luka?" I asked, unsure why I wanted to know.

"No," she said quietly. "I can talk to him about almost anything, but this… I can't bring myself to broach the topic. I know he wants me to go; I'm just so torn."

My inner Chat just couldn't help it - despite my conflicted feelings, I could see Marinette was adrift, which was extraordinarily unusual. I leaned closer, genuinely concerned now. "I'm happy to lend an ear, Mari," I said quietly, now very much aware I'd cut my friend loose in a rather childish attempt to get back at her. "I know I usually feel better when I'm able to use a sounding board," I added even more softly, realizing I was speaking more as Chat than Adrien at that moment.

"I'd like that," she said, then looked up. "Luka!"

I turned, and caught Luka's expression a fraction of a second before he recomposed his face into it's normal Zen-like repose. Nevertheless, I knew I looked (and felt) guilty, for reasons that were somewhat unclear to me. "Luka," I smiled. "This looks like a complicated mess."

"It is," he frowned. "And we're nowhere close to a musical rehearsal yet." He looked to Marinette. "Rose burst a seam on her costume. Can you-"

"On it," Marinette said as she pushed up from her chair. She leaned over to hug me quickly. "I'm glad you stopped by. I'll see you on campus?"

"Yes," I said.

She hurdled the row and then trotted backstage, leaving me with Luka. We stared at each other for a few uncomfortable moments; while he was still unaware that I was Chat, he knew Marinette's history with Adrien. "Why are you here?" he asked without preamble.

"Marinette asked me to swing by," I said. "By way of Nino."

Luka frowned again. "She's got enough on her plate right now without you suddenly popping back into her life," he said.

My eyes narrowed a bit. "All of us go back a ways," I said cautiously, my latent feline instincts picking up the implied threat from someone I also considered a friend, "so I'm going to let that pass. I have no intention of inserting myself between the two of you, Luka. I'm well aware of how she feels about you." I paused. "And me. Or how she used to."

"She's never fully gotten over you," he said, and in the semi-darkness, I could see his eyes were flashing. "I'd prefer if you continued to keep your distance."

"Luka-"

"You hurt her pretty badly when you disappeared from her life a few months ago," he continued. "When she leaves Paris with me in a few weeks, I'd rather not have her have to deal with that a second time."

She's hurt? When I dropped out of her life?! WTF? I thought, considering how I'd tried and failed to get over my own hurt at how everything had played out with Viperion. Irony was rife that evening.

Fur firmly up along my spine, I held my ground. "If she leaves Paris, don't you mean?" I said coldly, my eyes locked with his in a sudden burst of protectiveness. "It's her decision."

Luka stepped toward me; the space in the row was limited, and he tried to use it to advantage as he leaned into his menace as Viperion. "Steer clear of this, Adrien," he said quietly. "Go back to whatever cave you've been hiding in. We've got this."

I stood toe-to-toe with him, and cocked my head in a classic Dangerous Chat move. "I don't back down easily," I said with a cold smile. "And now that I am aware she is hurting and adrift, I am compelled to help." I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer to him, turning the full force of Chat's personality on him. "I can assure you, whatever decision she makes will be in her best interest. Not mine. Not yours. Hers."

Luka took a step back. "She doesn't need your help."

"That remains to be seen," I said as I pulled my jacket off the back of the chair.

"Don't do this, Adrien," Luka called after me as I made my way down the row. "Don't hurt her again."

"I only want her to be happy, Luka," I said as I paused at the end of the row, back to the blue-haired guitarist. "That's always been the most important thing in my life. I'd forgotten that until tonight."

"That's rich," he laughed cruelly. "Your actions don't back that up."

He wasn't wrong. "That might be true, but I intend to make up for it." I looked over to him. "Good luck with your rehearsal," I said as I started up toward the exit. "I hope it goes better than our conversation."