Bit of a shorter chapter this time, guys. Didn't have a lot of time to do something plot-y as I'm visiting the other half, and this prompt stumped me for a while.

Thanks as ever for your support. It really does mean a lot!


Day Twenty-Two: Sun and Moon

Summer had begun to slowly ebb into autumn. With the warm nights encroaching on the days earlier and earlier, Marinette had decided to make the most of their time left before lycée started again by inviting Luka to her balcony to watch the stars for a while.

With a flask of hot chocolate and a plate of Tikki's favourite cookies between them, they sprawled out on several thick blankets and waited for the last purple dregs of the sunset to fade into the velvet night. Already, they could pick out stars struggling to flicker against the sun's final blaze.

"You can just see Polaris," Luka said, pointing at one such star. "When it gets dark, you'll be able to see Ursa Minor."

"Ursa Minor? What's that meant to be?"

"The Little Bear," he replied. "Ursa Major, too. That's the Great Bear. But in Britain they call it the Plough. And in America it's the Big Dipper."

"Ohh…"

As the sunset died, Marinette drew closer to Luka, curling up in his welcoming arms and giggling when he laid his head on hers. More stars gradually emerged, and he pointed out a few more constellations. Draco the dragon, Aquila the eagle, Cygnus the swan. He motioned a rough patch of sky where he assured her Serpens the serpent resided, although he couldn't quite see it at the moment.

The moon was a lopsided grin, tearing the black sky like a ripped seam. Marinette sighed that it would have been more romantic had it been full, but Luka shook his head.

"Star-gazing's a lot harder with a full moon," he said. "It's too bright, washes out the stars."

"I didn't think of that," she said. "I suppose the moon can be pretty bright when it's full...it's still more romantic, though."

"Then in a couple of weeks, we should go moon-gazing."

"That's not a thing."

"We'll make it a thing. Our thing."

The evening wore on, flinging more stars across the heavens. As they tried to make their own constellations out of the stars, a figure darted through the darkness, vaulting across rooftops. Marinette untangled herself from Luka's arms to peer into the night.

"Chat Noir," she said.

"I wonder what he's doing out. Maybe there's an akuma?"

"Nah, we would have heard it by now." At least, Marinette hoped there wasn't an akuma because she was enjoying the star-lit evening and she would hate to cut another date short because of Hawkmoth's obsession with teenagers' jewellery. (She knew the Miraculous were more than teenagers', but at this point she didn't care to acknowledge the difference.)

She was constantly worried that Luka would grow tired of her always disappearing at the worst times. But lately he had seemed less worried when they reunited after the attack, and fewer missed phone calls during her Ladybug stints. It wasn't in an uncaring way; he still fussed over her and made sure she was okay and hugged her a bit too tightly. But it had changed somehow, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Her mind twinged when she thought about it now, as though there was something she wasn't getting.

"Good evening, young lovers."

Chat Noir's grin matched the moon as he landed nimbly on the balcony rail, eyes gleaming.

"Hello, Chat Noir," Marinette replied. It wasn't common for him to stop by, but it still happened occasionally. She grabbed the plate of cookies and offered it to him. "What are you doing out this evening? Is there an akuma?"

"Not that I know," he responded, happily taking a couple of treats. He shoved one whole in his mouth before adding, with a spray of crumbs, "It's just nice to get out of the house, you know? And who knows! Maybe I'll be lucky enough to bump into Ladybug under the moonlight."

Marinette sighed. The smallest smudge of guilt rubbed against her chest. She hadn't yet had the heart to tell Chat Noir that she, as a civilian, was dating someone. Partly because she didn't want to hurt his feelings, and partly because she didn't want to risk him acting out as he sometimes did whenever she rejected him.

Chat Noir swallowed the first cookie and flashed them both knowing smirk. "I'll leave you two to your date. Thanks for the cookies, princess."

Like a leaf on an autumn breeze, he was gone. Marinette retreated back to the warm spot in Luka's arms and burrowed her head into his chest.

"Princess, huh?" he commented.

"Don't…"

"Do I need to be worried about you being snatched away by a man in a black cat suit?"

Marinette snorted and lightly smacked his shoulder; her chuckles reverberated in his chest. "Don't tell me you're jealous."

"Do I need to be?"

"Luka!"

His laugh was louder this time, but his fingers curled slightly tighter around her arm. "I'm not," he assured her. "But what can I say? Any man would get a little possessive when another man gives his girl a pet name like 'princess'."

She knew by his teasing grin that he wasn't serious. "Especially when said man doesn't even have a pet name for 'his girl'," she quipped, poking his nose.

"That's not true! I called you 'angel' for a while."

"Yeah. For, like, two weeks."

"Uhh…" She could hear the frown in his voice. "I think I called you 'melody' a few times."

"I don't remember that."

He gave a melodramatic huff and pulled her closer so she was practically in his lap. "Alright, Your Highness. I'll think of something else."

"Don't call me that!"

"Okay. Princess."

"Nooo…" she whined.

"Sorry, that's Chat Noir's special name for you."

"Shut up."

"Rude." He hummed thoughtfully, chin once more on her head as he traced little patterns across her arms. Then, quietly, he murmured, "Cherry blossom."

"What?"

"It's your pattern," he said. "It suits you. My cherry blossom. My midnight cherry blossom."

Marinette felt her heart melt into a warm soup which dripped into her stomach. "You're so sappy," she giggled.

"And yet you love me."

"Don't make me regret it…" she muttered, lifting her gaze lazily back to the stars. In the distance, she saw the figure of Chat Noir, picked out in moonlight, leap into the horizon. "He seems so lonely sometimes."

"Hmm?"

"Chat Noir," she said. "He seems lonely. Like...like the moon."

"The moon isn't really lonely," he replied. "It's surrounded by stars."

"But they're so far away," she pointed out.

His shrug made her body bob against his. "Comparatively, I guess," he said. "There's also the sun. You know, we can only see the moon because the sun shines on it. Otherwise it would be invisible all the time."

"The moon sounds like a moody teenager. Whenever it can't see the sun it throws a tantrum and goes dark."

He laughed. "That's one way of looking at it."

Marinette looked back to the moon, tried to imagine the crescent as sunlight turned silver by the night. Like the gleam on Chat Noir's outfit, the glint of his bell. "If he's the moon," she mused. "Does that make Ladybug the sun?" Because even though she didn't like thinking about Ladybug—it was difficult to separate your being into two, and talk about one as though it isn't also the other—Chat Noir and Ladybug were caught in a dichotomy, just like the moon and the sun.

"I think you're right," Luka said. "Chat Noir's important but—no offence to him—he needs Ladybug to, well, be. Like the moon needs the sun."

And, Marinette thought, he tends to mope whenever Ladybug isn't around or refuses to shine on him. But she didn't say that out loud because how would she, just Marinette, know that about their relationship?

"It makes them sound quite romantic," she said, but it felt wrong to think of them like that, think of them as romantic when they weren't. "The moon and the sun."

"Aren't they?" Luka asked. Not accusatory, or insulted like Alya or any other Parisians when the romance between their two heroes was brought into question. Just curious.

It still irked her somewhat, which she knew was ridiculous because, just like the rest of Paris, he had probably seen the articles and headlines and gossip columns about Ladybug and Chat Noir. Seen the rumours and the shipping wars and that damn kiss Alya had put on the Ladyblog following Oblivio.

"No," she said, sharper than intended. Then, "What about Viperion? He's part of the team now."

At least, she thought he was. It had been a surprise to see him turn up to a battle a few weeks ago. Even more surprising to see her shock mirrored on Chat Noir's face. If he hadn't delivered the Miraculous, who had? But Viperion, sounding the tiniest bit nervous, like he was worried he would be sent home, explained how the box had appeared in his room along with a warning note. His help, however, had been invaluable. He was right; the akumas were becoming more dangerous. Each mistake could be fatal, could be final. Secretly, she was hoping he would be a good buffer between her and Chat Noir, that maybe Chat would flirt less with another man around. But it seemed nothing could dissuade him from his romantic endeavours.

"Is he another moon?" Marinette continued. "Or another sun? Or a star?"

"Another moon." Luka said. "He wouldn't shine very bright without Ladybug either."

"But without him, Ladybug might not be around," she countered. In their last battle, she knew she'd been struck or injured or worse by the way Viperion's face broke in relief after he yanked her behind a car as the akuma's ray blasted the ground she had just been standing on.

But Luka bit his lip and turned so her head was no longer tucked beneath his chin. "Maybe this space analogy is getting out of hand," he said.

"Maybe you're right," she agreed, and smiled when he rested his head on hers again and began rocking gently like a slowly falling leaf.

Marinette knew they couldn't stay much longer. Knew her parents would soon be insisting she go to bed, and that Luka would have to go home. But she wasn't ready for it to end, wasn't ready to leave the warmth of his arms or the moon's silver smile.

"You're my sun," she said, surprising herself because the words weren't meant to leave her mouth; they were meant to stay safely tucked in her heart. She blushed and closed her eyes when she felt him chuckle.

"You're my sun too," he said and kissed her hair.

"We can't both be the sun. Someone's got to be the moon."

"You know, the sun is a star."

She felt his chin move on top of her head as he looked up at the stars above them. Draco, Cygnus, Aquila. Glittering like frost.

"Maybe we're just two stars in the same galaxy," he finished.

Two stars, bound together in their own constellation, each shining with their own brilliance. She craned her head up to see his face, see the stars trapped in his eyes' night sky, and wondered if there were stars in hers too.

"I think you're right."