Marinette held a hand to her temple, frustrated after struggling to find a conclusion from the previous events of the day.
"It just doesn't make sense, Tikki!"
Her small friend looked up at her wearily, indecision written clear as day across her features.
"Why would Adrien have scars from doing parkour?"
Marinette began pacing the small quarters of her room once again.
"Hell! I'm Ladybug! I take hits every day, and I have what... three?!"
"Maybe he really is just bad at it," Tikki offered.
Marinette shot her a doubtful look, "Really? Adrien, the spitting image of perfection, bad at parkour?"
Tikki shrugged, "It's not impossible Marinette."
Marinette threw her hands up in frustration.
"No, that can't be it!"
She groaned, flopping back onto her chaise.
Tikki flew down to her chosen and smiled at her fretful expression.
"You don't have to know the answer to everything, Marinette, maybe this is one of those times," Tikki said softly,
Marinette sat up abruptly, eyes narrowing down at her kwami.
"Why are you trying to divert me from this? Isn't it the least bit concerning to you?"
Tikki looked away from her, which struck Marinette as odd; why was she struggling to respond to her nervous questioning today? Usually Tikki was fast and intelligent, yet today she seemed... off?
"I think you worry too much Marinette, you have scars after all!"
Marinette thought over that for a second; that was right... she did have scars too. But it still didn't make any sense for Adrien to have them too unless he was-
The familiar sound of her patrol alarm echoed through Marinette's small room. Whatever she had been thinking about sat on the tip of her mind, she clawed desperately at it for a moment, trying to remember just what it was, before giving up and going to unlock the latch leading to her balcony.
"Marinette?" Her kwami asked, eyeing her warily.
The butterflies in Marinette's stomach chose this moment to begin their onslaught, "Tikki I just want to go check on Chat now. Everything else can wait until later."
Tikki's pursed her mouth, clearly displeased with this answer. Which only puzzled Marinette even more.
"What is it?" Marinette questioned
"Nothing."
Marinette's eyes bored into her kwami,
"There's clearly something you have to tell me so say it!" She hissed, eyes widening as soon as the words left her mouth.
"Marinette." Tikki sighed "I am not in the mood."
Marinette closed her eyes and took in a few deep breaths, "You're right, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you."
Tikki placed a comforting palm on her chosens cheek. "It's fine, now go quickly before you are late." Tikki said, voice softening considerably.
Marinette nodded, and transformed.
She unlocked the latch, sticking her head out into the cool breeze of the night. Eyes darting around to make sure no one would see Ladybug emerging from Marinette Dupain-Cheng's room.
A few clips of her yo-yo later and she was in full swing. The cool air calmed her, whistling in her ears and pushing her hair back.
When Ladybug arrived at their usual meeting place she took a seat on the overhang of the roof, wincing as the cold bit into her, the suit stopped most of it but enough got through to be unpleasant. She let her gaze wander over the city, it was beautiful at this time of day.
The afternoon sunset quickly turned to a dark night sky as she waited.
She kept nervously looking at the time on her compact, and after thirty minutes had passed she began to consider leaving.
He had never been this late before, nerves began to twist her stomach into knots.
Still she sat for another, ten and then twenty minutes.
Then at last she heard the familiar heavy thud of boots behind her.
She turned sharply, eager to talk with him.
But when her eyes met his hollow expression she felt all words leave her mouth, she managed to get out a quiet.
"I wasn't sure if you'd come."
"Neither was I." he replied, posture completely shut off.
"But it's okay!" she cut in "It's not like I haven't been late before and I know you were upset so..." she trailed off.
Still he said nothing, eyes devoid of their usual spirit.
"Chat Noir."
He looked up, eyes still not really focusing on her.
"Why are you upset?"
And then his face broke, contorting into a terrible look of distress.
She stood there for a moment, glued to the spot, not really sure of what to do.
"I'm being so ridiculous Ladybug," he said, his eyes fixated on a stray pebble near his foot, "It's so humiliating,"
She shook her head violently, because he wasn't being ridiculous at all! Something was clearly upsetting him a great deal.
She closed the distance between them in just a few steps and wrapped him in a tight hug.
"I won't think any different of you Chat Noir, please tell me what happened."
He sighed, taking a few deep breaths. Before sinking slowly to the ground, cat ears pressed firmly against his head.
She followed suit, keeping her arms around him, trying to comfort him in anyway.
"Lucky charm doesn't fix everything."
Her blood ran cold, what could he possibly mean...? Instantly, she began to look him up and down for any injuries she might be able to see through the skin-tight suit.
"Okay..." She replied hesitantly,
"I have marks on me from some of the worse akumas."
"I have a few too," She said, "I can help you come up with an excuse if that's the problem?"
His expression became strained, and she searched his eyes for more information.
"But that's not the problem?" She asked,
He shook his head,
"How much detail can I go into?" He asked, voice bitter.
She bit her tongue, automatically wanting to tell him as little as possible to keep their identities she knew that he would be careful and it wasn't as though she knew him outside of this, so instead she said, "As much as you need," and squeezed his hand reassuringly.
Even at his worst he thought of her and her stupid need to keep their identities secret. He really was incredible.
"My friends, they saw the marks." A grimace made it's way to Chat Noir's face
"I don't really have the best home life and they assumed the worst,"
"I'm sorry Chat, that's terrible."
"I already gave them an excuse and I think they believed it but..."
"But?" She replied, urging him to continue.
"My family is kind of a touchy subject and even if my dad hasn't really been there for me, he still tries." His eyes became glassy "He's probably one of the most important people in my life right now and they were so quick to jump to conclusions and then didn't even listen to me!" He hissed, leaning into her embrace.
"I'm sorry,"
"It's not your fault," he said in return, resting his head on her shoulder.
So why did she feel like it was? Guilt and shame spilled from her heart and filled her lungs. She felt sick.
Probably because the situation was eerily similar to what had happened today, she made a mental note to apologize to Adrien and stop questioning him. Even if she didn't buy his parkour story it was obviously private.
He yawned, nestling his nose in the crook of her neck. She allowed her head to rest onto his as well, inhaling his calming scent of vanilla and oranges.
This all felt quite intimate to her, which was something she and Chat Noir were not supposed to be, no matter how good it felt... She stretched, an innocent action that forced him to pick his head up.
He got the message. Standing up, he held out a hand for her. She took it and he hoisted her up.
"Thanks for this Bug."
"You know I'll always be here right?" She asked, searching his eyes.
He placed a chaste kiss on her forehead, "I do."
She spluttered, her cheeks reddening.
His lips pulled up into a grin, that for the first time that night, touched his eyes.
As happy as she was to see him properly smile, she couldn't stop the annoyance rushing through her because he had kissed her. Her eye twitched and her posture stiffened, he seemed to notice this because he glanced at his staff.
"Gee would you look at the time! I really should be going!" He said, taking a step away from her.
"Chat Noir!" She screeched, taking a step towards him.
He began to fully bolt from her, loud laughter tumbling from his lips.
When he was completely out of sight, she shook her head halfheartedly. The smile fell from her face as she remembered why there was an unpleasant feeling building in her stomach.
She just had to head home quickly, sleep and make it up to Adrien in the morning. She will be fine, he won't hate her. Hopefully.