In Chinese tradition, plum blossom is one of the first flowers of spring, blooming in the cold. Because of this it can mean perseverance and endurance, but it can also mean fragility and transience. Optimism and the coming of warmth, or bitterness and coldness. A beautiful woman, or an unfaithful lover. Under the light of the moon, plum blossom could become so many misunderstandings.

Winter and spring were still at war. An early burst of warmth had brought the almond blossoms out and then a cold snap had dropped them from the trees. The cold lingered unusually long, blackening any petals that had chanced to open, and the remaining flower buds of Paris' gardens stayed closed. In the bitter cold, only the plum blossoms opened unharmed.

Marinette stared at the stars. Not many were visible – the sky had a thin veil of ice crystals across it, lit up brightly in a halo around the full moon. If you squinted just right you could see a hint of rainbow in the edge of the halo, a pale and shadowy hint that just made the sky look colder. The flowers on her balcony were struggling with the cold, like all the other flowers of Paris, and so was she. Her fingers were cramping from trying to finish homework, so she'd climbed up here to stretch out a little before doodling some designs. It hadn't been her smartest idea. Now the rest of her was cramping with cold, not just her fingers.

She turned to climb back inside when she saw a shadow racing across the rooftops. "That cat", she murmured under her breath, lips barely moving. "Irrepressible". It was too cold to be out, but there he was. And... he was changing direction. Had he seen her? She hoped not. Right now, she didn't think she could cope with his braggadocio. Between being late for school, submitting two assignments, an akuma at lunchtime (she'd been so hungry) and then a surprise test... it had been just that kind of day. She didn't want to deal with anything more. Except maybe some warm milk.

Chat Noir revelled in the emptiness of the rooftops. While he normally craved company, right now the thing that felt best was not having anyone to hound him or organise him or arrange his time and activities for him. He could go as fast as he wanted, in any direction he wanted.

OK, so it was sort of a lie that he didn't want anyone around. He just preferred having nobody at all around to having nobody who actually cared about him around. Which is why, when he caught a glimpse of Marinette on her balcony (had he really run this direction? He hadn't noticed), he steered towards her. He shouldn't hope for conversation – she was Adrien's friend, not his, and barely even that – but treacherously, he did. And that sense of deep-down-trusting her had never gone away. He spied a plum tree in a tiny walled garden below, glowing white under the moon, and vaulted down to the wall beside it. Perhaps give her a flower to break the ice. Plum blossom, for feminine beauty, because if he hadn't fallen for Ladybug first he knew his pretty classmate would have caught his attention soon enough. And plum blossom for perseverance and the coming of spring, because he wasn't giving up on their friendship and he hoped she wouldn't either. He carefully snapped a thin long twig off, white with blossoms softly closed for the night. Then he vaulted and ran across the last few roofs to Marinette's balcony.

Marinette was just lifting the trapdoor to climb back into her room when she heard the soft thump of a landing. Sighing, she turned around. "Yes?" she said shortly.

Chat Noir's ears drooped slightly. Maybe this had been a bad idea. He held out the plum branch and said "This reminded me of you, Princess".

She looked down at the branch and back up at him. And down again.

It was just too much on top of a bad day, and she broke.

"What, because I'm so fragile? Of course you'd think that. Clumsy, unreliable, always late Marinette."

"No, I-"

"It's bad enough that everyone at school thinks that. Even he does. For a moment I thought you might be different, but no. All you see is delicate and helpless. You're so caught up in your own ego you can't see that not every princess needs rescuing."

"No! Marinette, listen!" Chat Noir winced, realising how loud he'd gotten, and dropped his voice again. "I wanted to give this to you because you are beautiful." He held out the branch once again.

With trembling fingers, she slowly reached out and took it, and he began to breathe again. He might be getting through to her.

And then... he saw the look in her eyes.

It was flat, despairing. Like there was nothing left. Nothing, that is, except a single spark that began to grow as he watched. Chat Noir took a step back without thinking. Marinette's hand tightened its grip on the branch, slowly, ever so slowly... and then she looked up at him. Her stare struck him with a fury as hard as hate.

"Unfaithful cat!" she hissed at him. "Letting your petals fall on any woman you think will take them."

He stood struck still as stone as she continued.

"So many people think you have eyes only for your partner. But I know the truth. So does any woman you've talked to for more than a moment. You Just. Can't. Control. Yourself. Can you." The last was delivered word by word, each word a surgical needle striking through his suit. And on the last phrase she actually stuck the branch into him, poking hard. He grabbed at it in reflex, as she let go.

Then she was gone, the trapdoor slamming behind her, leaving him clasping the tip of a branch of plum blossom to his chest as if it was a sword straight through him.

A/N: Phew, that's over with! It turns out that I really don't like writing these guys getting all hatey with each other, even though I know they will from time to time because everyone has sucky days and nobody can read minds. So this chapter was really hard to write! You might notice in this chapter and others that the two of them say and think things about each other that anyone watching the show obsessively (*ahem*wasn't me honest*ahem*) would know aren't strictly true. I figure though that they've got these massive blind spots about both of the other's identities, and they're still pretty young, so they're not going to really "get" each other all that accurately, their own egos are going to get in the way, and they're going to make mistakes.