26-Undercover Date

Marinette woke up in a panic, to bright sunlight that slanted the wrong way through her windows. To her left arm pinned beneath her. To silence.

It was Thursday afternoon, and she'd had a nightmare during a nap. Cat Noir falling through black mist. Cat Noir slipping through her fingers as she tried to reach for him. Cat Noir calling for her to help him. The images chased each other through her mind over and over until she couldn't stand it and she reached for her phone to text him.

Until she remembered that they weren't texting each other anymore. Neither had sent a single message since their fight on Tuesday.

Marinette pushed herself up on her bed and looked around for something to distract herself from the circular worries that had plagued her for the last two days. Dodgeboy had awakened a new fear of losing her partner, but their argument had lost him to her in a completely different way.

Last night's patrol had been awful. He was there before she was, as usual, and she thought maybe they would be okay. They'd talk about it and be fine. When he suggested they go their separate routes and finish faster, she thought he'd wanted the extra time afterward to talk, so she'd agreed. When they met back up, he barely said goodnight before excusing himself and leaving her.

Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose to stop herself from crying again at the memory.

Just a few hours ago, there'd been another akuma. Another chance to fix it, she had told herself. They'd have to talk to each other, and they'd end up making jokes and flirting like they always did. Things would slide back into place.

The battle itself was nothing. They were perfectly professional, working seamlessly to bring the akuma down. It was amazing how well they could work together even when they weren't on speaking terms with each other. But there was no banter, no warmth, and no speaking beyond what was necessary.

She missed him. She missed him, even though he was right next to her. She spent the whole time wishing he would make a joke, call her his lady, touch her, or even just look at her. The uncertainty made it worse. She still didn't know if she should bring up their fight first. Would it be better to let him come to her when he was ready to talk about it? She'd never not known what to say to him before. The last thing she wanted to do was push him away by pushing him to talk.

That wasn't how it was supposed to be between them. It had always been easy. Easy to laugh. Easy to forgive. Easy to spend time together no matter what they were doing. She wanted it back. She wanted him back. But she had no idea how to get there if he wouldn't even talk to her.

Marinette wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks, then climbed down her ladder. There was another patrol in a few hours. Maybe it would be better. Maybe he would be ready to talk tonight.

Ladybug was only two minutes early. Sunlight stretched across the rooftops, making her shadow feel tall, even as she wanted to shrink on herself. He hadn't beat her to the meeting spot. He always was there first because he couldn't wait to see her. She'd been counting on it.

Things are not going to get better, a panicked voice told her. He still doesn't want to talk to you. You hurt him too much this time.

Two minutes after she did, Cat Noir arrived, exactly on time. His features were cold. Not angry, just sad and distant. With a small nod, he let her know that he was ready to start, and she followed him as they started on their route.

At least he hadn't suggested separate routes again. Ladybug tried to take that as a good sign, but he didn't talk to her at all unless it was strictly business. "That tile is loose." "I heard a noise over there." "That street is clear."

When she asked him questions, how was he doing, everything okay with your dad today, or (desperately) got any cat puns for me, all he would do was shrug and shake his head, if he responded at all. After a few minutes, her attempts fizzled out and she wondered again if she should just blurt out an apology, or if he would ignore that too. Without the perfect thing to say that would fix everything, she decided to stay silent, even as she worried that everything between them was already ruined forever.

Patrol dragged on, the silence stretching out the minutes into hours. Everything was quiet, robbing her of the relief of being useful and working together to stop some petty crime or akuma. By the time they'd finished their route, she was exhausted, but she still didn't want to go home and leave him again. What could she say to make him stay with her, even for just a little while longer? She fiddled with her yoyo, trying to find something and coming up empty.

"So tomorrow-" he finally said.

Ladybug's heart leaped up to her mouth. Tomorrow was Friday. They'd never set a time for their date. It was the first time he'd mentioned it. "Yeah?" she asked. Was he about to tell her when to be ready? Or was he going to tell her he changed his mind about her after all?

"We- Never mind," he cut himself off before he could get the words out. "Goodnight."

Ladybug watched him go until the black of his suit melted into the black of the night. "Well," she whispered to no one. "At least he didn't cancel, right? Maybe he'll text me about it."

But he didn't confirm, either.

She shivered in the cold for a few more minutes before trudging back home, holding onto the frailest of hopes.

Marinette waited on her bed, checking her phone every few minutes, opening and reopening the app, wondering if he'd texted, but the notification just hadn't alerted her.

"Marinette," Tikki said. "Text him or do something else."

"No yet," Marinette always said back. "Just a few more minutes." There was no way she was going to make the situation worse by pushing him to talk.

She waited until she fell asleep.

Marinette woke up the next morning with her phone in her hand, a text notification beeping in her ear. After a confused moment of trying to figure out why Cat Noir was asking her about her homework, she realized it wasn't from him at all. Just Alya.

Her heart broke a little more. He hadn't texted her. Hot tears spilled onto her cheeks. It was Friday already, and the sudden realization that she wasn't going on a date with Cat Noir pressed on her heart like a weight.

She'd missed and messed up chances to ask Adrien on dates. More than once. None had hurt as much as this. This realization didn't surprise her. Neither did acknowledging that she'd hardly thought about her classmate at all in the past few weeks, except to compare him to Cat Noir.

She wanted Cat Noir. Wanted to be with him. Wanted things to be fixed between them, but not so they could go back to the way they had been. Friendship wasn't enough for her anymore. All it took for her to see that was losing him.

Marinette pulled up the texting app, mind finally made up. Secret identities or not, she was going to be with him if he would still have her.

Marinette: Are we still on for tonight? We never decided on a time.

She didn't try to, but she counted the seconds until he texted her back. 36. So quick. Had he been staring at his phone, too?

My Dork: I guess, if you want to.

His tone was clipped, terse, not excited to be talking about this. Not excited to be going on a date with her. She pushed through the prickle of disappointment.

Marinette: Sure.

My Dork: North Bell Tower at six okay?

Marinette: Sounds great.

She laid on her bed, waiting for another ten minutes before admitting that another text was not going to come, and rolling out of bed to get ready for the day.

Her necklace bounced against her collarbone as she bounded up the face of the Notre Dame. Darkness had already settled in, but the building was so familiar that she had no problem leaping from railing to gargoyle. The yoyo would have been faster, but the physical effort was like a relief valve for her jangling nerves. What was this date going to be like? Would he talk to her, finally?

She stopped just below the roof, taking a deep breath, before finally jumping up and lifting herself over the railing.

A circular dome took up almost the entire square roof of the bell tower. The only flat section was a triangle in the corner where she stood. The metal dome in front of her reflected soft moonlight, but that was the only thing she saw, hard edges of rock and darkness and enough slivers of light to show her that she'd been stood up.

Hands shaking, Ladybug backed up, not stopping until she was against the railing, leaning on it for support. No, not stood up. Maybe she'd gotten turned around and climbed the wrong tower. He had said north, but maybe she was on the south. When she turned around, the other tower was just as silent and abandoned. The wind whistled around her.

No, there must have been some other explanation. He was running late or something. Or he'd left her a note telling her the real location. Yes, that was it. A series of clues, and she had to search the city for him.

Running a hand along the rough stone railing, Ladybug walked the length of the bell tower, searching for some sign. As she walked, the corner opposite from where she had landed, which had been completely hidden by the dome, came into view.

Sparkling fairy lights glowed around a table set for two. As she got closer, she could make out flowers lining the railing. Soft music played. It was beautiful. He must have spent ages preparing this for her, more than just today. And how on earth had he dragged an entire table up here? She rapped her knuckles on the tabletop. It wasn't even a folding table. An actual wooden table with a red and black tablecloth. She couldn't stop herself from chuckling at the lengths he would go to impress her.

Warmth bloomed somewhere around her feet and filled her up. Peeking under the table, she realized he'd brought a space heater, so she wouldn't be cold. His thoughtfulness touched her as she continued to survey the setup.

Two things left her confused as she circled the table, running the edge of the tablecloth between her fingers. One, why go through the trouble of setting everything up and not ask her to come? Why spend the time making it look so nice when he couldn't even stand to talk to her? And two, where was he?

A shuffle by the railing caught her attention, and she finally spotted him in the shadows. Reflections of the fairy lights sparkled in his eyes.

"Thank you," she said. "This looks beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it he said," he said, pulling himself out of the darkness.

She waited until he was standing next to her before again saying, "Thank you."

"For what?" He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, looking at the table like he was debating sticking around for dinner or not.

"For inviting me."

He nodded, looking at the small bluetooth speaker on the table, and still not her. Silence threatened to squeeze the door closed on the little conversation that they had started, and Ladybug scrambled for another topic, reaching for the questions she'd had when she first saw what he'd planned.

"How long did it take you to set all this up? A long time?"

"Uh." He scuffed the toe of his boot on the ground and watched its progress. "Yeah. I've been working on it since, well, since Tuesday night."

More questions pushed over her tongue and against her teeth. What had really happened that day? Was he still mad at her? Did he still hurt at all? All she could bring herself to ask was, "Why didn't you ask me to come?"

He shrugged, but after three days of getting nothing out of him, she'd had enough. "Cat Noir." She kept her voice quiet, but he looked up at her anyway. "Why didn't you ask me?"

He hesitated, then said, "I thought you wouldn't want to anymore. That you had changed your mind about me." He walked away to pull a chair out for her, but the way he looked away told her he had something else he wanted to say, so she stood, waiting, until he sighed and continued, "I wanted to pretend for as long as I could that you still wanted to come. I didn't want to hear you tell me no."

"I'm sorry," she said, putting all the grief and anxiety she'd felt over the last few days aside. He needed to know that she still cared about him. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner that I still wanted to. Why didn't you talk to me? You were so quiet. I thought you wanted space."

"Space," he said, shaking his head, "is not something I will ever want from you. You weren't talking about it either, so I thought..."

Ladybug waited, hoping that he would open up and tell her, but she knew he wouldn't, so she would have to guess. "You thought I was still angry."

"Yeah."

"Want to know a secret?"

His head tilted to the side, curious.

"I was never mad. I was terrified. You could have been killed, and I didn't even know about it until you collapsed in front of me. When you didn't tell me about it, I thought you were trying to hide it because you didn't trust me or something. Then I had no idea how to fix it. You always hold back so much information. I couldn't even guess at what to say."

Cat Noir slid the chair back in place, then walked toward her, not stopping until they were nose to nose.

Author's note: Two.