"Which reminds me, did you decide which deep dark secret you want to tell me?" She asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eye and Chat chuckled.

"It's hardly a deep dark secret, but yes."

"Go for it, kitty."

Chat stood, pulled out his baton, and made a show of spinning it around his body and posing in his signature fighting stance.

"You already know I'm a master with my baton." Ladybug rolled her eyes. "But you don't know that I'm also an expert fencer." He shifted to a fencing stance and jabbed at the air with his baton as though it were a foil. Satisfied with drawing a laugh from her, he slid back down by her side. "What about you?"

"I tried fencing once. To try and impress a guy." She added a bit sheepishly.

"Oh. Um, how did that go?" Chat asked hesitantly. He had secretly wondered if there had been someone else capturing his lady's attention, but they had never really talked about it.

"I wasn't too bad for a beginner, actually. Even without kwami magic. I didn't make it into the academy though." She frowned.

"I um. I meant impressing the guy." He clarified awkwardly.

"Oh. Nothing ever came of it." She said ruefully. "I wanted it to, but it was a flame that I never should have fanned. I moved on a long time ago."

Chat released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He wasn't sure if he should feel relieved. There had been someone else.

"Care to know my deep dark secret?" Ladybug asked when Chat had fallen silent.

"Absolutely." He flashed a wide grin.

"I like to sew." She said simply.

"At least that's a useful skill to have." He commented. "Fencing is mostly useless, to be honest."

"What about in combat?" She asked and he shook his head.

"The baton is a completely different weapon. It's a whole different fighting style and stance. Fencing is good for conditioning and discipline, but there aren't a whole lot of random duels in the streets these days. Except when we fought Dark Blade... and Riposte. What is it with fencers?" He scratched his head.

"Surely, you have other useful skills." She offered, ignoring his comment.

"Do video game skills count?" He quirked a hopeful brow and she giggled.

"I hope so, or my countless hours of playing Ultimate Mecha Strike with my dad have been wasted."

"That sounds nice." He said thoughtfully. "My dad has never been the type to waste time sitting around playing games with me."

Ladybug noticed the sudden shift in Chat's demeanor at the mention of his father. It was as though he automatically tempered the ornery spark of his personality. She began to understand what he meant about his alter ego, and it troubled her.

"What do you do together?" She asked, hoping there were at least some good memories.

"Not much, other than eat painfully silent dinners together." His shoulders slumped as though a weight had been placed on them, and she wrapped her arm around his waist. It was her turn to be there for him. She smiled as he slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"What about your mom?" She further pressed as she let herself melt into his side. He was so warm. "I like to bake with mine."

"She uh. She disappeared a few years ago, so it was just me and my dad." He stared off into the distance with sad eyes.

She stared at him for a long moment. All this time he had been carrying this burden and she had been shutting him out. He had sacrificed himself for her countless times, taking a hit that was meant for her in spite of the repercussions to himself. She had seen him battered and bruised, tossed around like a doll, crushed, poisoned, frozen, and erased from time itself. She had been forced to fight him on more than one occasion when the influence of an akuma turned him against her. She knew the sound of his boots running across the rooftops, his laugh, the twinkle in his eye when he told a particularly groan-worthy pun, yet she didn't know the first thing about the burden he carried. The realization tore through her.

"She taught me how to dance." Chat broke the silence and she look up at him to see the fond smile that had spread. Memories from long ago seemed to dance behind his eyes as he gazed off at the skyline.

An idea sparked in Ladybug's mind. She ran with it before she had the chance to talk herself out of it.

"Dance with me." She gently nudged him as a smile played on her lips.

Chat's look of confusion quickly changed to a smile that reached his eyes. He stood and bowed as he offered her his hand.

"Milady, may I have this dance?"

"You may, sir." She replied as she placed her hand in his. He brought her knuckles to his lips before pulling her close, one hand on her waist, the other holding hers slightly outstretched as they began a slow waltz.

Neither of them seemed to mind the absence of music as they swayed in each other's embrace. Ladybug let herself get lost in his gaze. She had glimpsed a side of him she never knew existed, and everything in her burned to know more. At first, she had thought it would be difficult to cross the dangerous line she had carefully enforced up till now. But now... she wanted to know him. She wanted him to know her.

Slowly their dance evolved as Chat's arms encircled Ladybug's waist, and her arms wrapped around his shoulders. Lost in their own world, they felt themselves drifting closer, closer.

"Ladybug," Chat almost whispered as his nose brushed hers and his eyelids became heavy. "I-"

An explosion thundered through the air, rocking the ground and causing the tower to sway dangerously. The motion knocked them off their feet, sending them sprawling across the the platform. Chat had inadvertently pulled Ladybug on top of him in the commotion. The smile that crept across his face was met with an incredulous glare.

"Not now, kitty." Ladybug growled as she scrambled to her feet.

"Right. Timing." He snapped himself back to the situation at hand. "Duty calls." He said as they jumped from the tower in pursuit of the threat.