Months earlier

Adrien looked out the enormous windows of his room, enjoying the snow-coated view of the city of Paris by night.

"It's Christmas in Paris, all is cheery and bright," he hummed to himself. "But I am all alone tonight…"

It had been almost two weeks since the night of Christmas Eve, since he had run away from home, met Santa Claus, fought his akuma, and, most astounding of all, ended the night enjoying a meal with his friends and family.

But his father's brief burst of humanity hadn't lasted. He'd gotten a couple more flashes of the father he still remembered from before over the days following Christmas, but for the most part his father had reverted to the Gabriel Agreste of after , the man of stone. And, of course, there had been only the most cursory attempt at Christmas celebrations. Gabriel hadn't done much of anything with Adrien, nor had he let him bring in his friends or go to visit Chloe as he had done during the last few Christmases and Christmas breaks before .

I want to… no, I need to get out of here, Adrien thought. Spend time with other people if I can't do anything nice with my father or…

Anyway, I can't visit friends as Adrien, even the ones I have. Father would never permit it. But as Cat… I wonder…

He grinned. "Plagg," he said, clenching his hand into a fist. "Claws out."


Chloe jumped as something rapped on her balcony door.

"Yes?" she said.

There was another rapping.

"What in the world…" she muttered. She set down her book, rolled out of bed, padded over to the balcony door, and pulled it open, wincing away from the blast of icy air.

"What…" she started to say, then she recognized the person standing there. "Cat Noir?!" she blurted out. "What in the world are you doing here? Is there another akuma coming after me?"

"Nah, Purr -incess," said Cat Noir with a lazy grin as he stepped inside, sliding the door shut behind him. "I just wanted to drop by and chat a bit."

"It's like 10:30 at night!" Chloe blurted out. "And what would I talk with you about, anyway?"

"Well, we could talk about Ladybug," said Cat Noir. "I'm her partner, and you're her biggest fan. Or we could talk about your day. Did you do anything fun with your dad today?"

Chloe stared at the leather-clad superhero for a moment, then rolled her eyes. If it gets this idiot to go away and leave me in peace… she thought.

"Actually, yes," she said, settling back onto her bed and tucking the sheets over her lower half. "My dad took me to see Twelfth Night at the theater today."

" Twelfth Night ", Cat Noir said. He grabbed one of her chairs, spun it around, and sat down on it backwards, his chin resting on his arms, which were in turn resting on the back of the chair. His grin suddenly grew. "Ooh, right, the Shakespeare play! Was it in English or French?"

"In English," Chloe replied. "My English is quite good, thank you."

" Oh, I know, " Cat Noir said with an impish grin, suddenly switching from French to English.

" A moment, " Chloe said, following suit. " You speak English? And how did you know I spoke it?"

Cat Noir grinned cheekily and pressed one gloved finger to his lips. "It's a secret," he said. " Anyway, Twelfth Night is certainly appropriate, given that it is Twelfth Night tonight. Is that why your father decided to take you to see that play today? "

" Possibly, " Chloe replied. She momentarily considered switching back to French, but that felt uncomfortably like backing down from a challenge now. "He did not say, and I did not ask," she continued.

" So what was your impression of the play? " Cat Noir asked.

" Very entertaining, " Chloe said, " though I had some trouble following what was happening, and I rather suspect I missed some of the jokes. "

" I have the same trouble, " Cat Noir said. " My English is very good, probably almost as good as yours, but even so I have trouble with the language of Shakespeare. To be fair, I suspect native English speakers do not fare much better. "

" You have seen Shakespeare?" Chloe asked, surprised.

Cat Noir chuckled. " I am not always the Black Cat, my princess, " he said. " There is another me, under this mask. A normal boy, with a normal life."

" I knew that, " Chloe retorted angrily, feeling herself blush.

" And I knew you knew," Cat Noir said, his smile still unruffled. " So you liked the play? "

" I liked it enough, " Chloe said. " I have seen better, though. And enjoyed other Christmases more."

She sighed. " I miss Adrien," she admitted, then wondered why she'd admitted that to Cat Noir of all people. Confiding in the leather-clad hero felt oddly natural, as though, like Adrien, he had long been her friend and confidant.

" Adrien? " Cat Noir said, with an odd expression on his face she couldn't quite place.

" Adrien Agreste, " Chloe said. " Gabriel Agreste's son. I used to be his best friend when we were growing up, up until his mother disappeared early this past year. After that… his father was always a little eccentric, but he grew much worse in the months following his wife's death. Tried to lock Adrien away from me, until eventually Adrien grew so desperate for real human company that he actually ran away from home in order to attend public school." She laughed, but it was a hollow laugh.

" After the first couple of days, Adrien's father let him come to school," she continued, "but our relationship has never been the same since. It used to be that we were inseparable, the closest of friends, but now he ignores me to spend time with Cesaire and Lahiffe and Dupain-Cheng. "

She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling them burn. " This is the first time in years that Adrien and I have not spent time together over the Christmas break. "

There was a pause, then Cat Noir blinked and shook his head. "Well, that got depressing fast," he said, switching back to French. "Let's talk about something more fun… got any more big plans before school starts back up again?"

Chloe felt herself perk up, glad to be changing the subject. "Well…" she said, switching back to French herself.


Cat Noir slipped back in through his window and dropped to the floor of his room.

No fuss or bustle, thank God, he thought. Looks like I got away with it. It hadn't occurred to him until he was already on the way home from Le Grand Paris that he was risking his father coming in to check on him, finding him absent, and assuming that he'd been kidnapped... again .

But it looks like Father didn't check on me, he thought. Can't deny that's welcome here and now, even if it hurts in general. Though I suppose that if he were more of a parent, I wouldn't have had to sneak out tonight.

"Plagg," he said, "claws in." Green lightning filled his view for a moment, and he felt the fiery energy of the Cat Noir magic drain away into his ring. The green glare faded, leaving only the shadowy form of his room. Fortunately, shifting out of the Cat Noir transformation had left his eyes adjusted to the dark, so he could more or less see what he was doing.

Adrien quickly made his way across the room and climbed into bed, snuggling himself under the sheets. He glanced over to where Plagg perched on his headboard, visible only as a pair of glowing green eyes in the dark. "Well," Adrien said, "I think that went well."

"I suppose I'd have to agree with that," Plagg drawled. "I'm glad to see you getting out and spending time with anybody, even if I have to question your choice of companion. I mean seriously, why the blonde queen of all humans? Why not pigtails, or the one that says "dude" all the time?"

"Nino, Plagg," Adrien said. "His name is Nino. I know you know that. And… I'm not sure why I didn't go to Nino's. I suppose it just didn't occur to me. Chloe was, is , my oldest friend, and she's the only one who I've ever gone over to visit. It just… feels weird, to imagine visiting Nino or Marinette like that."

"And visiting blondie doesn't?" Plagg asked.

"Yes… no… It feels weird, but a different kind of weird. The kind of weird it always feels to speak to someone as Cat Noir who I know as Adrien. But visiting Nino or Marinette like that, seeing them in their rooms… that would feel weird even as Adrien. But I've been over to Chloe's plenty of times."

"Though Chloe wasn't wrong that she and I have been drifting apart lately," Adrien added contemplatively. "Before tonight, I hadn't visited her in… I don't remember exactly, but it must have been months at least. Possibly not since…" he trailed off.

"Anyway," he said, "I'll have to try and make more of an effort to reconnect with Chloe as Adrien. She's as lonely now as I was before I met you, and I'm probably the only person who loves her enough to do something about that."

"And maybe I can pay her more visits as Cat Noir," he added with a smile. "I enjoyed our conversation tonight, and I don't think I can talk to her like that as Adrien, without your influence to free my tongue."

"Thank you for that, by the way," he added. "Thank you for giving me the courage to be who I want to be. I don't tell you enough how grateful I am for that."

Plagg's eyes vanished, and Adrien saw the black kwami's form move in the dark. "Oh, stop that," he said. "Just because they call that sort of stuff 'cheesy' doesn't mean it's as good as Camembert. Tikki's the one who goes in for the mushy stuff, not me."

Adrien laughed. "Good night, Plagg," he said, before rolling over and closing his eyes.


A few days later

Chloe stepped into her room, closed her eyes, and let herself slump slightly and let out a sigh of relief. She enjoyed going out, spending time with Sabrina and her father and doing special things, but even she got tired, especially after weeks in a row. And especially especially when she hadn't seen Adrien since school let out for the Christmas break, and after seeing her mother having fun without her in New York, again, on social media .

She opened her eyes again and started violently, letting out an involuntary squeak. There, lying on her bed with his arms behind his head, was none other than Cat Noir, with an enormous grin on his face.

"Evening, Purr -incess", he said.