A few days later, Neeks was finally letting me rejoin patrols and fights. As thanks, I did in fact get him some M&Ms, but I made sure to only give him a small handful and hid the rest away to snack on at a later time or give him the next time he could have chocolate. He was pretty happy either way, so there were no real problems with that.

There had been one Akuma attack that day, and the looks on Ladybug and Chat Noir's faces when I appeared were just as priceless as the first time, although they quickly turned into happy looks. The three of us managed to subdue the Akuma with relative ease, and they filled me in on what I had missed. Apparently they had found a lead on where Hawkmoth was located, and now we had to figure out just how to get there with the element of surprise and when to attack.

We would have talked more but Chat Noir was close to transforming back and we all had to go back to school, so we said our goodbyes and decided to meet back up at patrol.

That night I left for patrol and found Chat Noir waiting by the place he had dropped me off after the Oogie-Boogie incident. I stopped by him, noticing how he was completely unaware, and grinned. Time for some payback. "Boo!" I shouted from behind him, making him cry out in surprise and turn around to face me.

"Wolven!" He whined, his own ears flattening against his head as I doubled over laughing. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Now you know how I feel!" I teased with a smile, lightly punching his arm. "That's payback for when you scared me!"

Chat Noir huffed and pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Fine..." He mumbled, before smiling gently at me and patting my shoulder. "You look much better now. I'm glad to have you back, Wolfy." He said softly, making my own smile grow.

"It's good to be back, Kitkat." I said softly, taking his hand and starting to pull him towards the meeting place for our patrol. "Come on, let's get going."

Chat Noir laughs and grins, letting himself be pulled. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What?" I glanced back at him, my smile never leaving.

"Remember when we just talked and walked around, only the two of us?"

At my nod, he continued. "Then, I was wondering if we could have more of those together. I had fun last time."

"I would love to." I smiled brightly, happy that he wanted to spend more time with me. "I had fun, too." I bit my lip though when I remembered how I had rushed away as quickly as I had. "I am really sorry about leaving so suddenly last time, by the way. I just... I realized something then, and it surprised me so much I had to sort it out."

"What'd you find out?"

I bit my lip, debating if I should tell him or not. After a moment I looked at him again, smiling. "I'll tell you after patrol." I promised, and even though Chat Noir didn't seem to like that idea, he nodded.

"Alright."

A few minutes later we arrived at the actual meeting point with Ladybug and waved to her from where she sat waiting. "Hey, Ladybug!"

She stood up when she saw us, coming over and hugging me. "Welcome back, Wolven! It's been surprisingly lonely without you around."

I laughed, hugging her back. "Yeah, well, I would have been back a few days ago had my Kwami not been overprotective." I said with a small laugh, feeling one of my ears flick in what must have been Neek's irritation cutting through. Ladybug laughed and smiled.

"Well, I think it's sweet."

I nodded, smiling. "He means well."

We went on to patrol and they caught me up a bit more about what had been going on while I was gone. They had talked with Master Fu and learned about their Kwamis and their superhero persona's past, and, as stated before, they had found Hawkmoth's lair. They still had no idea about their identities, though. Apparently, Ladybug still didn't want to breach the topic.

We talked for another hour or so before Ladybug decided to call it a night, heading back home and leaving Chat and I to walk around by ourselves. We wandered around the town for a little bit before going to the Eiffel Tower and climbing it, sitting on the observation deck with out feet hanging out over the side. It was peaceful.

"So, what'd you want to tell me?" He asked after a few minutes, and I looked over to him again, biting my lip once more.

"Well..." I began hesitantly, looking at him and then back out over the city. "Y'see, I, uh... I know you outside of being a superhero..." I took a deep breath, tensing in anticipation as I said the lasts part, "I... know that you're really Adrien Agreste, Chat." I said softly, looking at him earnestly.

Chat Noir- Adrien, stared at me with wide eyes, shock written all over his features before his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Wait a sec-" Recognizability dawned in his eyes and he sort of squinted at me like he wasn't sure if he was seeing clearly. "Jasper...?"

I smiled weakly and waved at him, ears tilting a little from how unsure I was. "Hi, Adrien." I said softly, and he suddenly broke into a lopsided grin, a bubbly laugh escaping him. He hugged me tightly, nearly squeezing the air from my lungs.

"Oh my god, Jasper! You can talk!" He said excitedly, making me laugh softly as I hugged him back.

"Y-Yeah, I can." I said breathlessly. Chat grabbed my shoulder and pushed back, staring me in the eyes.

"This is amazing! I mean, I had my suspicions but this is- oh my god!" Chat Noir laughed and hugged me again, and I laughed even louder this time.

"You are such a dork." I laughed, tail swaying happily.

Chat Noir laughed and moved away again, eyes twinkling. "Sorry, sorry, I'm just- I'm really happy. This is great, y'know?" He laughed again and leaned back, looking up at the stars. "We can talk without a notepad, and you just seem so much more happy as Wolven. You really look like your having fun. You... You look free."

"I feel free. I can breathe more easily, nothing hurts... I can talk like I used to. You never realize how great something is until you lose it, you know?" I sighed, looking up at the stars as well. "...I think I know who Ladybug is, too." I say after a moment of thought, and Adrien laughs.

"We know her in real life, too, don't we?"

"Yep!" I laugh, smiling. "But I won't tell, because she seems rather adamant on not letting anyone know."

"Sounds perfectly reasonable to me." He hummed, and after a moment of thought, spoke again. "Hey, um, do you really not want anything special for your birthday?"

I looked at him again, seeing how he bit his lip and seemed nervous, and I nodded. "Anything I get from you guys is special enough for me. I've already got everything I could ask for." After a moment I added, "Don't spend too much money on me, okay, rich boy?" I smiled, teasing him lightly.

"I got it, I got it. I won't spend too much money." Adrien laughed, bumping his shoulder with mine.

"Hey, while we're on the topic of birthdays, what do you want for your birthday?"

"I'm about to sound like a hypocrite, but anything is fine, as long as it's not a pen." He said, so serious it actually made me laugh. I gave him a thumbs up, grinning.

"You got it." I laughed, and Chat Noir smiled brightly.

"Good."

We fell into comfortable silence, which was sometimes broken by random topics of conversation, and after a while Chat Noir's miraculous beeped. He frowned, staring at the ring. "Aw man, I really have to go?" He grumbled, deflating a little bit. I bit my lip and nudged him gently.

"Hey, we could do this again tomorrow... And maybe we can sneak in a sleepover at some point?"

Adrien looked at me hopefully. "You really want to?"

I nodded quickly, smiling at him. "Yes. Yes I do! Adrien, bud, I love hanging out with you. You and Nino are like, my best friends. I want to give you a high school life every kid deserves, and that includes sleepover and hanging out at night. We're doing it whether your dad likes the idea or not."

At the mention of his dad, Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. "I swear he means well, he just- he's changed since mom disappeared."

I bit my lip and sighed, leaning back and kicking air. "I'm sure he does, but locking you up in your house and controlling almost every minute of your day? That's no life for a boy our age. That's no life for anyone." I looked at him, smiling at him reassuringly. "You're an amazing son, Adrien. You do as your told and that's great, but... You deserve to have fun."

Adrien sighed, standing and stretching. I quickly focused my eyes to his face and forced them to stay there. Whose idea was it to give Chat Noir that suit? Seriously, teenage hormones are a bad thing paired with that suit.

"Yeah, well... Nino's been telling me that same thing for a year now."

"So what's stopping you from listening?" I stood as well, nudging him again. "Come on, let's go before your Kwami gets upset and changes you back." I said softly, and after a nod from Adrien, we started off towards his house. We traveled in silence and the closer we got to his house, the more Adrien seemed to dread going back. I nudged him again and he smiled at me.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I guess. I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"You know it." I smiled brightly, and hugged him when we reached the gate to his house. "Sleep well, Adrien. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you later, Jasper." He went over the gate and went to his bedroom window, entering his room after a moment. I waved to him once more and went home, detransforming once I was in my room. Neeks gave me a cheeky smile, tail swishing as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You like him~" He sang, making me blush. He laughed and nuzzled my cheek before flying over to bed, yawning. "Anyway, it's pretty late. Let's go to sleep, yeah?"

I nodded once more, and after getting ready for bed, crawled right in, sighing happily and curling up under the sheets. I fell asleep moments later.