I wanna say thank you for all the support! Y'all are amazing!

CHAPTER 13: The day after

[PROMPT: Aftermath]

When Ladybug woke up, her head was hurting as if someone had been banging it with a paddle, playing ping-pong all night long with her brain. Her head was also hurting from the unexpected contact with a hard surface, stiffening her neck and pressing into the back of her skull—it was not her bed, for sure.

She cracked an eye open, bright light assaulting it, forcing her to shut it again.

Shit, it looked like she'd fallen asleep on a rooftop. Again. But this time fatigue was not involved. Instead, alcohol was…

As she moved, stretching her numb body, her hand suddenly bumped into something which made a faint cracking sound, followed by a deep groan. Well, this was awkward. Rooftops could crack but they didn't groan, at least, not to her knowledge.

Her eyes immediately snapped open, the sunlight blinding her for a second until she made out the masculine shape lying next to her.

Her eyes popped out of their sockets and at that very moment, she became aware of a few details; more or less important according to the order of the following list.

The hardness underneath her head was definitely not the ground but Chat's chiseled and toned chest.

She'd sent an uppercut straight into his jaw and he hadn't even woken up.

The guy was snoring like a damn trucker.

She was cuddling with her partner.

She'd drooled all over her partner's suit.

Ever so slowly, she untangled her legs from his, and the telltale sound of glasses clattering somewhere near her feet didn't bode well.

She forced herself to look down at her feet, her head spinning quite a bit. Uh-oh. The sight of two bottles of Champagne and six… No, wait… Eight bottles of beer soon brought her memory back to the night before.

They had both obviously drunk quite a lot.

That was where the fucking headache came from.

Her memory refused to give her the full-extent of what had happened the night before.

Chat looked gorgeous with a bedhead.

She collapsed back onto her partner's torso, sighing heavily and… her breath suddenly hitched as two strong arms wrapped around her petite silhouette.

Okay, breathe girl. He's just sleeping and probably thinks he's grabbing his pillow or blanket. She could handle this. She was fine. Totally fine. She was…

"Ngh, Marinette…"

Abort! She was not fine!

"What did you call me?" She squeaked, breaking out of his embrace as if his arms were blazing embers which just burned her.

"Ngh…" Chat Noir groaned, slowly popping an eye open. "M'Lady?" His face was sheer puzzlement, and it was clearly not an act. He wasn't aware of what he'd said just before; he'd spoken in his sleep. "We fell asleep here? No wonder, considering the hangover, which is actually mocking me." Both his gloved-hands flew to the sides of his head, gently rubbing his temples.

"Did you know that you talk in your sleep?" Ladybug asked, her heart pounding madly in her chest. She had to dig this further for the sake of her secret identity.

"Did I?" He raised a questioning brow.

She nodded a little bit too forcefully.

"Well, sorry, I didn't know, I've never slept with anyone before." His hand rubbed the back of his neck. "Did I say anything compromi—?"

"A name," she whispered matter-of-factly, cutting him off.

His eyes grew wide and he paled, his lips slightly quavering in worry. "Mine? Did I screw up?" he inquired, his voice barely a sheepish murmur.

"Unless you're a girl... You didn't screw up anything," said Ladybug before adding in a low whisper, "yet."

"Yet? Wait… It was a girl's name. Are you jealous? Did I… Oh. Oh, shit!" he spurted, and she didn't know a face could lose its color that much. "It was her name. I probably said her name. Is that it? Oh gosh, the headache is even worse now," he groaned, pressing the palm of his hand against his eyes.

She didn't know her OWN face could lose its color THAT MUCH.

"You… Do you like Marinette?"

Chat Noir spread two fingers, casting her a glance through the small gap.

"I might have grown a bit of a crush over the years, but as I told you before, she doesn't see me that way, and anyway, I can't tell you more or I'll end up jeopardizing my identity." Some color was back in his face. A single color. A red one. "Plus, I thought you were my Queen now." He wiggled his eyebrows. As always, deflecting the conversation, hiding behind sarcasm and…

Wait, rewind. Chat Noir liked her? Marinette, her? Like, he had a crush on Marinette Dupain-Cheng. For real. And, wait again, fast forward now. His Queen?

She looked down at her hand—no ring adorning her finger, phew. She hadn't accepted some kind of crazy proposal while being drunk. Her gaze shot up to his, a frown furrowing her brows. He then fumbled around him and proudly showed her two paper crowns. Ladybug's brows furrowed further, her eyes narrowing.

"You don't remember, right?"

She shook her head; it was still a real fog up there and the pounding still beating in her head wasn't helping her memory to work properly.

"Ah, don't worry, just a silly joke between us while being drunk…" he whispered, looking away from her.

If it was just a silly joke, why did the sparkle in his eyes die out along with his smile?

"The memory may come back to me later on the plan—" She froze on the spot and saw in his horrified look that his brain caught up at the same time as hers.

"The plane!" he whispered, finishing her concern. "What time is it?"

As Chat asked about the time, both grabbed their weapons, the cringes on their faces perfectly matching.

They were now both left dealing with the aftermath and a hell of a race against the clock so as not to arrive late to the airport. Which unfortunately didn't mesh well with Ladybug's schedule—although she was forgiven, she needed to bring all the little rascals (read there, the kwamis) to Alya so she could 'kwamisit' them during her absence.

I hope you still like the mess they both keep creating between them! I must admit I might have enjoyed it a bit too much so... Yeah, I'm dragging this a little bit! It's a slow burn but I promise it's going to be worth it.