I hope everyone is doing well. I'm lucky the company I work for has studios across the globe so they've left it up to the individual studios to make decisions on going back into work. So despite the state opening up, we are working from home indefinitely.

So expect more updates. I have a pretty lengthy one shot written, but it's still not coming across the way I want. So you'll have to wait for the Break Up Fic ;D

I was super inspired by a tumblr post of Chat with a beard and am EXTREMELY disappointed that no one else is drawing this. I am SO attracted to my man with a beard and it takes him like a solid 10 months to grow one so it's not all that common. I never thought I'd be attracted to a beard but...damn.

Set: They're 20/21 in this. Been together a couple years, but not yet living together.

Ladybug slumped against a chimney a few streets from the akuma and nearly let her legs give out beneath her. She was tired. So tired. For the last month of fighting akuma every week alone, it was starting to quickly wear her out. Patrols? No problem, those were exercise more than anything. Boring, but doable.

She caved about two weeks ago when Queen Bee cornered her after an akuma attack that she was struggling with and demanded to know where Chat was. Ladybug admitted he was gone, wouldn't say when he planned to get back, but assured her that he would. Chat would never abandon her.

But Ladybug must not have been able to keep the slight anxiety off her face. In a moment of deep concern Ladybug rarely saw from the blond girl, Queen Bee said she'd step up and try to be more available until her partner returned.

But today's akuma had warranted a full roster and they were still struggling.

"Hey," Queen Bee snapped, both with her tone and her fingers. "Look alive, Ladybug."

"Sorry, sorry," Ladybug sighed, straightening.

She huffed and put her hand on a cocked hip. "You and Chat can deny your feelings for each other all you want, but you both get so mopey without the other," she sighed dramatically, crossing her arms.

Ladybug bit her tongue but her eyes flicked to Rena Rouge, who grinned and winked back. She wasn't denying her feelings for Chat Noir to anyone but Queen Bee. Not that Ladybug was ready to admit to her who she was. She did feel bad that everyone but Queen Bee was in the secret-identity-loop. Sometimes.

Maybe if Chloe was capable of keeping her mouth shut…

"Be nice, Bee," Carapace scolded.

"I'm not mopey," Ladybug grumbled finally. "He just said he'd be back two days ago, and he's not here." Adrien had been scarce on details, but hadn't been able to get a signal long enough to tell her when he'd be back. She'd gotten one "change of plans, sry" text three days before he had last said he'd be back and hadn't heard since.

"It's cool," Carapace soothed. "We'll take out Captain Cold over there, and you can go wait for him at the Tower for the rest of the day like you did yesterday."

"Oh, my god you didn't." Queen Bee glanced between Carapace and Ladybug with a giddy chuckle. "Did you really?"

Ladybug huffed a sigh and wound up her yoyo. "Thanks for that, Carapace, really."

Queen Bee let out a shrill laugh, and for the first time in a long time, Marinette wanted to clock Chloe.

"Let's just finish this, please," Rena cut in, placing a hand on Ladybug's shoulder. "We can tease the lovebirds later, preferably when the other half of the party is here to share in receiving the ridicule."

The akuma was some air conditioning employee, and Ladybug didn't have the patience left in her to figure out what had happened. She knew it was bad practice, she knew it was beyond shitty, but she let Rena Rouge and Queen Bee take the reigns in figuring out where the akuma was and began making the plan to slow it down—usually Chat Noir's job.

Her ire began to grow. She'd lost so much sleep that week alone trying to maintain her usual presence in her life while taking most of the superhero responsibility since Adrien was away. They'd made a careful plan, but it had crumbled over time when his trip got extended twice turning a two-week photoshoot on some island off the coast of Venezuela into more than a month.

After about half an hour of attempting to take Captain Cold down, Ladybug was running on fumes and Rena must have sensed it. She had taken Chat's role as protector over after a hit that had Ladybug pinned to the side of a building with a pipe.

"Get her down, I've got your back," Carapace mumbled, putting himself between the girls and the akuma.

Queen Bee landed next to Carapace as Ladybug and Rena dropped from the wall.

"Can you get it together, please?" she snapped. "I know you can do better than this. I don't know why you're so distracted, but everything you're doing is half-assed—"

"Queen Bee—" Carapace tried.

"You're going to get someone hurt."

Ladybug blanched and her breath caught in her throat. Anger and shame coursed through her veins like ice.

"Enough," Rena snapped. "We get it. She's off her game. But there's four of us, and we're still struggling to take him down."

"We'd be struggling less if she could get it together." Queen Bee crossed her arms and stamped her foot. "Ridiculous!"

Ladybug ground her teeth against a retort. Queen Bee was right. Chloe was right. When she got majorly distracted years ago, Chat Noir almost died. She was going to get someone hurt. She clenched her fists and took a breath before moving past everyone to peer over the edge of the building.

"I'm not trying to be mean but—" Queen Bee was defending, matching Rena's glare with her own.

That's when she felt it, and it was like a bucket of ice and a shot of adrenaline after days of no sleep. A breath of air after being under water for hours. Relief after a stressful month. Finally, she breathed internally. Finally.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Chat sighed when he dropped down in the middle of their group in front of Rena Rouge with his cat-like stealth. Carapace and Queen Bee jumped in surprise at the sudden voice, and Ladybug whirled around to scold him, but froze.

No one said anything and the silence was making Chat Noir twitch nervously. He glanced around at the others, clearly confused by the tension in the air.

"Dude, that beard is glorious," Carapace breathed, moving to stroke it. Chat swatted his hand away.

"You look like you're thirty," Queen Bee stated simply. "Gone for a month and that's all you bring back?"

Ladybug simply stared, taking in the thick layer of dark blond hair coating Chat's chin and cheeks. It wasn't long, but it was thick and even and well beyond the stubble that she would usually spot on him on his worst days. This was…

Their eyes locked and he grinned. Her heart thudded in her chest and she frowned back. This was new. This was a new feeling. She could feel her face going red, but she couldn't look away. She knew she was attracted to him, but this was more intense than just a physical attraction. This was everything—mind, soul, and body.

Suddenly Chat's grin dropped. "Oh, come on, LB," he sighed in exasperation, his eyes finally flicking away from being locked with hers to something over her shoulder. With a sweeping motion, he released his staff from its place at his back and extended it to knock Ladybug's feet out from beneath her. He dove and caught her, Carapace following suit and throwing a shield up above them just as a blast of arctic air blew past them.

"We have to finish this now," Ladybug declared in a growl, climbing out of Chat's grip. He frowned when she would no longer look at him.

"We haven't exactly been relaxing, Ladybug," Queen Bee snapped. "Not like you—"

Carapace sighed, feeling the heaviness in the air lift at Chat Noir's presence.

Chat Noir turned to him. "Catch me up, what have you guys tried?"

"Gladly, bro," Carapace grinned, glancing at Ladybug's tense back.

-x-

"Dude, it's good to have you back," Carapace sighed happily as Ladybug did her thing purifying the akuma.

"She tired?" Chat asked, glancing over his shoulder at his partner. Despite her mind being more distracted, she'd managed to fall easily back into step fighting alongside him. It had made fighting the akuma much smoother, but her agitation only grew. And Chat Noir sensed all of it.

"She's been a little overworked the last few weeks," Rena interrupted. "It's all good. Just maybe tell her to take a nap after this." She winked at him.

The usual crowd of reporters swarmed them as Ladybug helped the man off his knees. Rena and Queen Bee took charge of answering their questions for a moment while Ladybug caught her breath before joining them. The boys waited patiently up on a roof behind them, chatting quietly about all the things Chat had missed.

Ladybug was tense. She could feel it in every muscle, and she had to work not to shoot glances at Chat Noir. She'd done well during the fight keeping focused despite the rock in her stomach begging her to just look. If she had, she would not have been able to look away.

She lingered, watching as the reporters dispersed, getting all the information for their new articles. But Rena grinned wickedly, jumping into her line of sight, before dragging her by the arm.

"Like what you see, girl?"

"Stop it," Ladybug hissed. She waited for the other two to propel themselves up the side of the building before following. Her heart leapt as she spotted him next to Carapace. Was it the distance and time apart that had made these needy feelings so intense? Or was it something else? Maybe it had always been like this and the time apart had only shown her just how intense it had always been.

"Long time no see, My Lady," Chat grinned again when the girls landed on the roof.

"You're late," was all she managed to get out between clenched teeth.

"Sorry," he mumbled, moving to stand in front of her before lowering his voice. "Cell signal was shit and you know they can't speak to one another so far apart."

They had found out through trial and error during some of their travels over the years that the kwami had trouble keeping in touch across great distances.

"If you hadn't gotten back soon I was going to replace you as her sidekick," Queen Bee huffed with a smirk.

"You wouldn't replace me, would you, Bugaboo?" Chat teased, glancing back down at Ladybug, who was finally looking at him now. Well, glaring really. She couldn't have been that mad he was late, could she?

"You're not my sidekick," she grumbled.

Rena laughed. "That's my position."

Queen Bee's head snapped to her. "Says who?" she demanded.

"The Ladyblog," she smirked.

Carapace sighed. "Here we go—"

"That internet garbage?" Bee scoffed. "The author of that blog wouldn't know the difference between a fact and a rumor even if it was labeled."

"How would you know?" Rena challenged, clearly beginning to get offended.

"Enough, please," Ladybug groaned, rubbing her hands down her face. Her fatigue was catching up again.

Carapace, ignoring the girls, had come closer to Ladybug and Chat Noir. "Can I touch it?"

"No," Chat said stiffly, leaning away.

Carapace smirked. "Don't you think his beard is magnificent, Ladybug?"

"Stop."

Catching on, Chat Noir grinned and Ladybug braced herself. "I was considering shaving it, but it's kind of growing on me."

That halted the two arguing and all three girls groaned.

"If I told you otherwise, I'd be a bald-faced liar."

Ladybug sighed. "Chat Noir, go home."

"I just got here, Bugaboo," he laughed. "Didn't you miss me?"

Ladybug's earrings beeped, blinking down to two spots. "I have to go soon."

"Mind if I comb over?"

Ladybug grit her teeth and looked up at him—cheesy grin, beard, and all. A warmth spread from her stomach outwards, and it took everything in her not to jump him in front of their teammates.

He softened at whatever look was on her face. "Sorry, Bug," he grinned. "I missed you."

And then he reached up and in what was probably a brand new habit formed over the last five weeks—he stroked his beard. Ladybug nearly broke. She reached out and caught his bell in her hand.

"Ooh, kinky," she heard Carapace mumble. One of the girls swatted him.

"Go home, Chat Noir," Ladybug commanded lowly through clenched teeth, but the way her hand gripped his bell, her fingers inching towards his throat slowly before she jerked away, he knew he wasn't in trouble.

"Ladybug, wait—" He reached out to stop her from swinging off the roof but missed and instead watched her go in silence.

"I don't think she likes your beard, dude," Carapace sighed.

Queen Bee laughed. "Oh, I think it's quite the opposite. If there hasn't already been a reveal, there's going to be one tonight."

Before Chat could question her, she flipped off the roof, too.

"See? I told you they know who the other is," Carapace whispered loudly to Rena behind him. Rena swatted him. "Why else would she tell him to go home? It's so she can go find him. She can't if he's flipping around Paris."

"Boy, do you want to die tonight?" Rena asked him seriously. She turned to Chat Noir. "I have a feeling you won't have to go find her. Make her sleep, though, alright? We can all catch up at breakfast tomorrow."

"Did you just dump your suitcases and vault over here?" Carapace asked, sobered. "You look exhausted, too."

"Not as bad as her, I guess," Chat mumbled, crossing his arms. "I slept on the plane."

"Well," Rena said, gripping Carapace's arm, "we'll catch up tomorrow. Have a fun night!"

And then he was alone on the roof. Not exactly the welcome home he expected…

-x-

Adrien was pulling clothes out of his suitcases on his bed and throwing them into separate piles behind himself when Ladybug slipped through his window. Wordlessly, she marched towards him and let her transformation release.

"Marinette—"

"Who's home?" she demanded as she made her way to him. Once again, she studied him, how different he looked with such a simple addition…

"No one. Father and Nathalie are returning in a couple of days—"

Marinette reached out and dragged the suitcases off the bed, uncaring about what was in them or where they landed. She turned to Adrien and pushed his jacket off his shoulders, entangling her fingers in his t-shirt and pulling him towards her. While she kept his lips busy, she helped him push his jacket the rest of the way off his arms.

"Miss me?" he breathed.

Marinette let her fingers brush over his beard and felt a warmth build deep inside her, a need arising and taking over her. "I like your beard."

Adrien let out an amused chuckle. "I can tell."

She pushed him down on the bed. "I really like it."

He let his hands settle on her sides as she climbed up to straddle him. "It can't stay."

"Sure it can," she encouraged breathlessly, moving to his neck.

"No, I'm sorry," he laughed, moving to flip her over. But for the first time in their relationship, she didn't let him switch positions of dominance.

Marinette pinned him down on his back, her lips at his ear. "Not today, Kitty."

"Oh, I disagree," he grunted huskily before hooking a leg around her and easily flipping them over. "You threw my Armani suits on the floor."

"They were in the way—"

He lightly dragged his chin across her throat and up to her ear, eliciting a ragged breath from the woman pinned beneath him.

He chuckled, deep and throaty. "Didn't think you'd like it, to be honest."

"I'm just as surprised as you," she mumbled, recapturing his lips. Her hands made quick work of his belt. "But I like it."

"I'm liking what it's doing to you."

"Hmm," she sighed, looking up from his jeans zipper to his face. "What else are you going to do to me?"

Adrien grinned a Chat Noir grin and Marinette's heart leapt in her chest. "I really, really missed you, Marinette."

The soft smile he got back melted his heart. "I missed you, too, Adrien. More than you know."

He paused, hovering over her, and she took the opportunity to flip them again. "It can't stay," he laughed.

"Let me present you my argument for keeping it," she said before arching back to pull her shirt over her head.