A/N: Buggachat started this whole crazy nonsense. Please direct all blame towards her. I couldn't help myself. Wrote this a bit ago on AO3.

Chat Noir is the East and Adrien is the Sun

Were his eyes open too wide? He didn't usually need a mirror to know what his expression looked like, but at just that moment, he couldn't tell if he was overcompensating for how much his eyelids wanted to droop. Adrien didn't just have to keep his eyes open in class, he had to look alert and attentive and perfect. Father demanded nothing less from him for the Agreste brand, and Adrien had just had to convince his father last week that school wasn't taking up too much of his time. So he did his best to plaster on one of the faces he usually left for a photoshoot and kept his back straight and made sure to acknowledge his classmates as they passed him in the few minutes before the bell would start classes for the day.

If it had just been the premier he'd gone to the night before to represent his father, it would have been fine. It was a bit late, and a bit draining, but he'd gotten home with enough time to finish his homework and get a few hours of sleep, at least. It was only as he was finally slipping into bed that he got the alert on his phone about the Akuma attack.

Adrien Agreste, of course, couldn't use that as an excuse. He had been asleep at home. Where else could he have been? Chat Noir, on the other hand, had spent most of the rest of the night dashing across rooftops after an Akuma whose plan seemed to be to tire them out first with a big chase across Paris.

"Did you hear about Genevieve Lamont?" he heard Alya ask Marinette.

"Who?" Marinette asked.

"From the Lamont Three? That band I showed you last week? With the trumpet?"

"Oh," Marinette said. "Sure. Why, is there a new album?"

"Next month," Alya said. "But no, there've been a few threads popping up lately. People think she could be Ladybug."

That got Adrien's attention.

Marinette let out a huge yawn. She didn't seem interested in the news. "Why would people think that?" Marinette asked.

"Well, she sort of looks like she could be, and she's sort of got that same Ladybug kick ass attitude on stage. Of course, then there's people trying to figure out if they've ever been seen at the same time."

"That's a pretty low bar," Marinette said. "Are you putting it on the Ladyblog?"

Alya hesitated. Alya had once convinced him that Chloe could be Ladybug, so Adrien was in favor of caution this time. "It probably isn't the best theory. I'll probably report on the rumors; it is taking off right now, I can't not address it."

"Sure," Marinette agreed.

Knowing Alya, she'd have a post written by the end of classes that day. Adrien could check it out when he got home, after fencing practice. Adrien resisted the urge to let out a big yawn of his own. For the rest of the morning he thought he did a good job of not looking as if he'd spent the night pole-vaulting across the city. He must not have been doing a good enough job though because Marinette surprised him towards the end of lunch by bringing him a coffee from her parents bakery.

"You looked like you could coffee some," Marinette said. "I mean, use some. Not that you look bad. You look great actually. Not that I was looking, so here's coffee, bye."

She left before he could so much as say thank you and the coffee was left on his desk and Adrien was left feeling a lot like he normally did when he interacted with Marinette. Slightly touched at her consideration, and a bit put out that he still made her so uncomfortable. They'd gotten off on the wrong foot his first day of class and ever since then he couldn't seem to talk to her without her becoming red in the face or getting tongue tied. Still though, Marinette was the sort of person who would get you coffee even if you she didn't particularly like you just because she thought you needed it.

Adrien popped the top off of the coffee and looked inside. Lots of cream and sugar, two things that were definitely not on his meal plan. Caffeine was definitely on the banned list. In general, coffee wasn't something he normally had access to at home, and he was usually under too much scrutiny when he was out representing the brand. Adrien took a sip and hoped the coffee would be enough.

This, it turned out, was the wrong thing to worry about. He wasn't sure how much coffee had been in his cup, but about fifteen minutes later Adrien came to the conclusion that it had been too much. His leg wouldn't stop bouncing, and a couple of times he answered questions before he'd been called on. Adrien was absolutely certain that everyone could tell. His classmates were cool though, and he was pretty sure that photos of him with caffeine jitters weren't going to show in a tabloid where father would see.

Another thing he didn't think to worry about initially was how long it would last. He crashed during fencing in a most literal fashion.

"Are you okay?" Manuel asked, offering him a hand.

"Just slipped," Adrien said. He looked up at the Gorilla. He was less likely to report missteps to father, but Adrien couldn't look like something was wrong. He got back to the on-guard line and after he and Manuel had finished, he kept his mask on while he waited for his next bout. By the time he got home, the only thing keeping him awake was Plagg and his burning desire to find out more about the Ladybug rumor.

"Uggh," Plagg said. "You haven't fed me in forever, I'm starving."

"I fed you before we got in the car," Adrien said. "You ate en entire wheel of camembert."

"That was ages ago," Plagg complained. "I don't know if I could possibly transform you right now if there was an Akuma attack."

"Ha ha. You know how hard it is to keep this up?" Adrien asked.

It was one of his great successes, keeping so much food under everyone's nose, and it all went to his kwami.

"Come on, I smell something good."

Adrien was surprised Plagg could smell it. It had come wrapped up tight. He had actually gotten it to surprise Plagg. It wasn't easy to get and Plagg spoke of it with reverence. Adrien would have to give it a taste to see what all the fuss was about.

"You must be imagining it," Adrien said. He sat down in front of his computer and pulled up the Ladyblog. Plagg settled down in his hair, still talking about the tantalizing smell that was going through the room, probably just a sweaty sock that had rolled under his bed.

Adrien scrolled through the new post that had popped up that afternoon. Alya had actually managed to put together a pretty comprehensive article about the theory, but Adrien could already tell though that they were stuck in the wrong tree. Looking at the band's performance schedule, he had been patrolling with Ladybug during their last concert. Alya came to basically the same conclusion.

"Is anyone claiming they know who Chat Noir is?" Plagg asked.

"What would you do if someone suspected me?" Adrien asked.

"Not saying."

"Hmm." Adrien opened up a new window and typed in Adrien Agreste Chat Noir.

"Oh wow," Adrien said.

"What is it?" Plagg asked.

"There's a lot of hits." He clicked on the first one. It took him a moment to realize what he was looking at. "Oh no!"

"What, what, who's onto you?"

"It's not that," Adrien said.

Plagg floated down and got a closer look at the screen before he started guffawing loudly.

"It's not funny," Adrien said.

"Kid, this is hilarious," Plagg said.

"Why would someone write that?" Adrien asked.

"Everyone loves a good love story," Plagg said.

"Yeah," Adrien said. "Stories about fictional people. I'm a real person. Chat Noir is a real person. Don't people know Chat Noir loves Ladybug?"

"Kid, I don't know what to tell you," Plagg said. He looked closer at the screen. "'Oh kitty cat,'" he started a dramatic reading. "'Will I ever see you without your mask, will I ever know who kisses me every night?' Chat Noir just held Adrien close, a silent promise of the future they would have together."

Adrien quickly clicked back out of the page as Plagg cackled. There were so many entries in the search result. He started clicking through.

"What's em preg?" Plagg asked.

Adrien's eyes caught the word in the tags at the top of the page, right next to 'pregnant photoshoot.' Adrien thought he knew exactly what mpreg was and exactly who was doing a pregnant photoshoot.

"Nope," Adrien said, clicking back. He clicked on someone's Deviant Art. "Why do I have to be eighteen or older to look at a drawing someone did of me? I'm fourteen."

"Are you going to look at it?" Plagg asked.

Adrien looked at the blurred out square on the screen and the little dialogue box at the top. He shouldn't. He really didn't want to know. He'd blame it on how dead tired he felt. He clicked through.

stopped working.

Plagg was howling with laughter.

Nope. Adrien jumped up and leapt away from his computer. His heart was pounding in his chest. His cheeks were burning. He felt… weird. He was… That was… He absolutely did not like that. He couldn't possibly like that. That was himself with… himself, who was also a guy.

"I am not thinking about this," Adrien said. "Who wants some Pont L'eveque?"

"What did you say?" Plague asked, all laughter ceasing.

Adrien went over to his backpack and pulled out the special package.

"This was expensive," Adrien said. "I get to try some."

"Is that really?" Plagg asked.

Adrien held it up so the label showed.

"You are the best chosen I've ever had."

"I thought I was starving you," Adrien said.

"Who said that?" Plagg asked. He swooped in and swiped the package from Adrien's hands. Adrien was pretty sure he used a bit of Cataclysm to get the wrapping off so quickly.

It took a moment.

"Oh my god," Adrien said.

The smell.

"This is divine," Plagg said.

"Oh my god," Adrien said.

Plagg usually devoured whatever he ate, but here he paused to savor what was the worst thing Adrien had ever smelled.

"It's so strong," Adrien said.

It was in his room.

Adrien rushed to the window and threw it open. He could still smell it. He couldn't possibly open his doors. If Nathalie smelled that, or worse, father, there'd be trouble. Unable to escape, Adrien sat on the ledge and leaned against the wall.

"Top ten anime betrayals," Adrien said.

Plagg was enjoying his stink bomb too much to say anything.

"You begged me to get that for you and then you did that to my room. This is worse than what you did to the dinosaurs."

"Um, excuse me, have you been eaten by a dinosaur lately? You're welcome," Plagg said. "Besides, Tiki was bored, I needed to give her something to do."

"That's Ladybug's Kwami?" Adrien asked.

"Sometimes creation needs a bit of destruction," Plagg said.

"Remind me to never tell you I'm bored," Adrien said. He covered his face with his hands. It had been a very long day.

"Didn't you say you wanted to try some?" Plagg asked.

"Never talk to me or my lover, Chat Noir, ever again," Adrien called back.

Plagg cackled.

Marinette had been exhausted all day. After staying up half the night to work on a commission, she'd just managed to get into bed before the Akuma alert had gotten her back up. Marinette was used to long nights though and a couple shots of espresso had gotten her mostly in shape for the day. Noticing that Adrien also looked run down had been her chance. Her coffee run had turned into an opportunity to talk to him. An opportunity she had wasted when she'd completely failed to say anything comprehensible, and then poor Adrien might have had too much coffee. Marinette had lost all sense of what was sensible when it came to caffeine. Adrien probably hated her now.

By the time she got home she found herself struggling to get work done.

"Maybe you should take a nap," Tiki suggested. Tiki was always looking out for her.

Marinette tried. She really tried, but as exhausted as she was, she was also restless. Eventually she gave up on work and she gave up on napping and decided she had to do something.

"How about a quick patrol?" Marinette asked Tiki.

"If you think that would help," Tiki said.

Marinette pulled out a cookie for Tiki to eat and checked to make sure she still had a spare in her purse just in case.

"Tiki, spots on," Marinette called out and let the magic wash over her. It didn't wash away her fatigue, but it did give her strength.

Swinging around the city for a while helped with her restlessness, but it didn't help with her anxiety over how horribly things had gone with Adrien earlier. He really had looked run down that day, and she probably hadn't helped at all. Was she ever going to be able to talk to him properly? She found herself swinging closer to the Agreste Manor. It wasn't deliberate or anything. When she saw Adrien sitting on his window ledge she got a bit worried, when she realized he was asleep, she got a bit alarmed.

Swinging down she lit on the ledge and took hold of Adrien's arm. She didn't want him to startle and fall off. He did startle awake, but she held him securely. His arm was probably cool from sitting out in the evening air, but it felt hot in her hand.

"Ladybug!" he exclaimed.

"Probably not the best place to fall asleep," Marinette said.

"Oh my gosh," Adrien said,

"Are you alright?" Marinette asked.

"Yes," Adrien said. "I can't believe I did that."

"Let's get you inside," Marinette said. She took his hand and stepped into his room, drawing him along with her. It was always different when she was Ladybug. Why couldn't she just always be Ladybug? She was Ladybug at the moment though. She shouldn't waste it.

"So what's got a boy like you sleeping on a ledge?"

"Just needed some fresh air," Adrien said, he was still looking at her with wide eyes, like he wasn't sure if he wasn't still dreaming. "Are you thirsty? I have water in my fridge."

"Sure," she said. She wasn't, but she wasn't going to turn anything down from Adrien.

She followed him to his desk, which had a mini fridge built in on one side. It was stocked with San Pellegrino and… cheese? He handed her a bottle and then leaned against his desk and opened a bottle for himself. He must have nudged something because the screensaver on his computer went away and there was- there was- there was something she was never going to be able to unsee. There was Adrien, and Chat Noir and they were…

had stopped working.

Her eyes shot back up to Adrien who had gotten the cap off and taken a drink.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue there," Adrien said, oblivious to the image behind him. "Though by now, I'm sure I owe you many times over."

Marinette just looked at him.

"So, um, I'm sure you're busy, protecting Paris and all, but if you wanted to take a break, I have some games we could play."

"Paris!" Marinette said. "Yes, well, can't stay. I've got to go…" she gestured out the window. "The city…"

"Oh," Adrien said. "Yeah. Well, have a good night, Ladybug. Thank you, again."

"You're welcome," Marinette said. "So, yeah, I'll just…" She leapt out the window.

Releasing the transformation when she got home, Marinette collapsed onto her bed.

"Tiki this is the worst day of my life," Marinette wailed.

"What's wrong Marinette?" Tiki asked.

"Adrien's in love with Chat Noir!" Marinette exclaimed.

Adrien face planted on his bed.

"Games? What is wrong with me?" Adrien asked.

Plagg was laughing at him.

He managed to actually sleep for a while after that and life seemed to settle in the next few days. Father went out of town on business and there wasn't anything extra for Adrien to do that wasn't regularly on his schedule. Even Hawkmoth seemed to be taking a break, and Adrien had time to hang out with Nino on Saturday. All in all, if he wasn't miserable for striking out with Ladybug as Adrien as well as Chat Noir, it would have been a great few days, except that Ladybug had been missing from patrols.

Saturday night saw him vaulting over Paris. A robbery here, a little old lady with her groceries there, and about a dozen kids to take photos with. A good night normally, but without his Lady… Adrien brought his route a little closer to home and found himself perched on top of the school when he saw Marinette watering the plants on her balcony. He smiled. Marinette could usually cheer him up, as long as he was Chat Noir. If he was lucky she would feed him pastries. Getting closer though, he noticed that she looked a little down. Adrien landed gracefully on the railing next to her.

"What's got you looking down tonight, purrrincess?"

A few quick expressions crossed Marinette's face. The first one was surprise, and that was followed by something else Adrien couldn't identify before it was replaced by weariness.

"Nothing I can tell you about, Chat," Marinette said.

"Sounds serious," Adrien said.

"It is," Marinette said solemnly before looking down. "Or, well no, I guess it isn't. Not like anything you deal with."

"Just because you're not protecting Paris doesn't mean it can't be serious," Adrien said.

"What do you think about Adrien Agreste?" Marinette asked.

Adrien wasn't sure if this was Marinette trying to change the subject, or if Adrien was somehow the trouble she was having, but maybe this was his chance to smooth things over between them.

"He's a pretty neat guy," Adrien said. "We've interacted during a couple of Akuma attacks. Kept a level head, tried to help." He didn't generally like tooting Adrien's horn. He was fine bragging as Chat Noir, but that was because Chat Noir could actually be him. Adrien was just the guy he pretended to be to keep father happy. He did wish that Adrien and Marinette could get along though. "I could totally see being friends with him. You know? I think he's lonely. Maybe he wants to play video games or something."

"You like him?" Marinette asked, sounding upset. Adrien frowned.

"Well sure," Adrien said. "He's a cool cat. Why, do you have something against him? Maybe you should talk it out with him."

"What? No, I don't have anything against him," Marinette protested.

"You sure?" Adrien asked, a bit confused.

"Very," Marinette said.

Maybe Marinette didn't dislike him. Maybe she was just intimidated because his father was Gabriel Agreste and she wanted to break into the fashion industry.

"Well anyway," Adrien said. "I think he'd surprise you. I wouldn't say no to spending some time with the guy."

"Like, as friends or as a date?" Marinette asked.

Adrien was suddenly reminded very strongly of the picture he'd seen online. The mask might cover half his face, but he was sure his cheeks were burning bright red. Did Marinette know about what was online?

"A date?" Adrien said. "No, of course not? I totally don't think he's hot or anything."

Marinette gasped. "You do."

Maybe he should stop before he got anymore behind in this conversation.

"Right, well, I should go," Adrien said.

"But Chat!"

"See you later, byeee," Adrien said and vaulted away.

Why did everyone think that Adrien and Chat Noir should be boyfriends?

"What's wrong Marinette?" Tiki asked.

"Chat's in love with Adrien!" Marinette exclaimed.

"What are you reading so late anyway?" Plagg asked.

"Just research!" Adrien exclaimed, clicking away from the fan fic.

A couple of nights later Ladybug showed up for patrol.

"I was beginning to worry My Lady," Adrien said.

Ladybug just walked right on up to him, looked him straight in the eyes and said, "may the best one win."

Adrien grinned. "Are we racing to the Eiffel Tower?"

She seemed to think about it for a moment.

"L'arche de Triomphe," Ladybug said. The route suited her yo-yo more.

"What do I get if I win?" Adrien asked, giving his flirtiest smile.

Ladybug looked thoughtful for a moment. "I suppose you'll get a kiss," she said.

"You're on!" Adrien said, his heart aflutter. Maybe a kiss from Ladybug would be the first of many; and maybe a kiss from Ladybug would stop the really weird dreams he'd been having.