Tikki's eyes widened .

"Marinette! It's Chat !"

Marinette shot up from the pillow she had buried her head in and hurried to her feet .

"Spots on !"

A minute later , she had run across enough rooftops and found a good spot to talk without being seen . She pressed the accept button on the incoming call and was immediately bombarded by questions by a desperate , panicked voice .

"LADYBUG !ARE YOU OKAY ?IS SOMETHING WRONG ? I'M SO SORRY ! PLAGG WAS TIRED AND I DIDN'T KNOW AND ...."

She gaped at the frantic look on his face , eyes filled with worry and guilt . Wait ! What ? He thought ...What?

"CHAT ! STOP! ...I'm fine , nothing's wrong , relax ..."

"Where are you ?"

She blinked at his demanding voice as his eyes moved from hers , trying to figure out where she was from her background ...which was the sky .

She sighed . Seriously, she was supposed to be the panicked one .

Suddenly , the memory of him being knocked out the window and tossed over the car , both times unsure of whether or not he survived and a vague but reoccurring image of him bloody , broken ,...in pain ...flashed through her mind .

The last one wasn't real , but the first two were.

"Chat ..."

She saw Chat focus back on her , his eyes furrowed in confusion .

"...Yes? ...my lady? ..."

He didn't know .

He didn't have the slightest clue about why she called him.

"...do you see the ladyblog ?"

He froze . His eyes widened and he began to fidget , trying to figure out what Alya had put on the blog .

"Um...yes?...not recently though ..."

He looked so panicked , probably thinking he did something wrong .

"Check the latest posts ...and meet me tonight at the tower , if you're free , of course ."

Chat noir blinked in surprise before narrowing his eyes and asking in complete seriousness .

"Are you okay , my lady ?"

Annoyance grew in her.

Was she okay ? Yeah , sure she was . She just spend almost an entire day unsure if her partner had died or gotten severely injured because he was protecting the girl who rejected him and then got tossed over a car while she watched him run into danger Without transforming . Not to mention , he didn't seem to even realise the emotional pain he had caused her and thought She needed help and was Worried about Her !

Yeah ! She was just peachy!

"Are you free tonight ?"

Her voice was hard . She was pretty sure she was glaring at him and the satisfying panic on his face was proof . He quickly gave a nervous grin and tried to joke it off .

"Wow ! My lady . Are you asking me out ?..."

His voice was light , teasing ..., desperate ..., but she wasn't in the mood .

"Chat ..."

"...I always knew you would come arou..."

"CHAT !.."

He paused and looked at her as she pinched her forehead and breathed with her eyes shut , trying hard not to start screaming . No! This conversation had to be face to face . And she needed to be calm and talk to him . She had to make him understand .

"...I understand , I'll meet you there at midnight ."

She opened her eyes to a blank screen .

He cancelled the call .

He was gone .

But he was okay .

Now she just needed to remember that last bit until she saw him tonight . Surely , he can stay out of trouble until then . She wanted to see him now but then their voices would attract people during the day and they would have to go home for dinner .

No .

They needed to talk without distractions.

Marinette went back to her room and detransformed . Tikki flew out with a worried look in her eyes .

"Um...Mari ..."

Marinette turned to Tikki with a confused look .

"What's wrong, Tikki ?"

"It's just ...it's Friday night ..."

"So ?"

Suddenly , Marinette's mother's voice resounded from below .

"MARINETTE, WE'VE GOT A BUSY DAY TOMORROW ! MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER TO FINISH ALL YOUR HOMEWORK BY TONIGHT !"

Blue eyes widened with horror and fear as realisation set in before turning towards the shrugging kwami , then to the stack of homework she had to complete that weekend , then back to her kwami . Her mouth opened and closed before stuttering out a desperate plea for reassurance.

"...I...I...I can finish ...before midnight ...right ?..."

Tikki gave an encouraging smile .

"Sure !...maybe ?,...if you start right now ?"

Sabine Cheng shook her head at the loud groan of frustration that resounded from her daughter's room . Honestly , if Marinette just did her homework regularly , she would have to stay up most Friday nights to finish everything before the weekend rush .

Still , this weekend was pretty packed with orders , so it's best if she got started soon .

.

.

.

.

"WHAT DID I EVEN DO?!!..."

Adrien went over every bit of his memory and he could Not think of a single think he had done to piss her off .

Okay , that wasn't true . He could think of a few things, But nothing too bad ! And she was pissed ...At Him ...but WHY?

He quickly jumped into his room and detransformed , not even stopping for a second before turning on his computer and opening the ladyblog .

Well! At least she was calling because of him and not because something happened to her . It would kill him if he wasn't there for his lady .

"You are such an idiot ."

He turned around to see Plagg flying next to him.

"Wait ! You Know why Ladybug is angry with me ? ."

Plagg just rolled his eyes and flew away in a huff.

"Of course , I do , Moron ...I'm not telling you though ."

"...not even for camembert ?"

Plagg hesitated . Hesitated ? ...when he was offered cheese ? WHAT THE HECK DID HE DO?

"...I'll explain the details after you talk with her if you give me the cheese now ." Plagg bargained.

Adrien raised an eyebrow .

"What's the point of that ?"

Plagg gave a smirk . Adrien frowned . The staring contest lasted about 5 minutes .

"Give me a hint and it's a deal ."

Adrien said , pulling out a piece of camembert.

Plagg grinned and grabbed the cheese from Adrien's hand before zipping away .

"Hint : It's not because you did something wrong , just stupid ."

Vague and useless . Not that he expected any better.

Adrien sighed and turned back to the screens . He scanned Alya's report of that afternoon's 'incident' . Wow ! Chat noir saves the kid! Nobody remembers seeing the hooded man ! Who is the Cat ? Blah ! Blah! Blah !...wait ! A thank you video from the mother ?

He pressed the link and a video file started playing . First , it was a video of Alya ...

"Chat noir , if your watching this . Please listen to the citizen you helped today ..."

...then the screen turned to film the mother with the kid in her arms , both having dried tears in their eyes .

" ...I don't know who you are. And even if this wasn't a big deal for you , Thank You ! Thank you So Much ! You will never understand how grateful I am to you for saving my precious baby boy ..."

He paused the video .

.

'Oh Sweetie ! You are our precious baby boy ...'

.

Mom ...no...ladybug ...think about ladybug .

Would his father ...NO ! He had other things to worry about ...

Like Ladybug and why she's upset with him.

He shook his head and took in the image of the woman and her child , looking so grateful . She looked like she was the one who escaped near death . It was so clear how important her son was to her .

He smiled .

No matter what Ladybug was upset about , he did good this time and He knew it.

He resumed the playback and listened to the grateful mother and the little kid who gave him a cute 'Thank you , Catty !' of his own .

He didn't understand. Why would she be angry with ...

Adrien's eyes widened .

"Of course !..."

Plagg looked up from his cheese .

"Figured it out , brat ?"

"...Of course ! she's upset because I risked my secret identity ..."

Plagg stared at him blankly as he once again became confused .

"...but then why would she call me last night? ..."

Plagg lost it .

"BECAUSE YOU NEARLY DIED , YOU IDIOT !"

Adrien fell off his chair in surprise at the outburst , before looking up to see his kwami glaring down from above him .

"I...I didn't ...wha...but ...that was this afternoon ...she called..."

Plagg rolled his eyes . Then gave him a maniacal grin before speaking in a tense voice which demanded that he listen very carefully.

"When was the last time she saw you ?..."

"...um...at...the akuma attack?.."

"And what did she last see ?"

Adrien frowned . What does that mean ?

"Me getting knocked out a window ?...but that's not new or anything ..."

"And heard the sound the miraculous gives when it wears off? ...and see a flash of light ?..."

His eyes widened . He imagined how that would have looked for her.

"...she ...she thought ...I ..."

"I want cheese . I Deserve So much cheese for this ."

Adrien waved him off .

"Second drawer on the right . Below the fashion magazines "

Plagg shot off to claim his prize leaving Adrien to his revelations. He fell flat on the floor and began mumbling .

" That's why she was so panicked ? She thought I fell out a three-storey building without my transformation. And then today , I run in front of a car and...AAARGGGGHHHH!..."

He clawed his face with his hands in frustration , her entire demeanour making sense to him now .

She was worried .

She wanted to talk .

In other words : he's going to get a lecture about 'valuing himself ' and 'how important he is ' etc, etc ...seriously, a part of him wonders what she'll say this time . Mention how much his family will miss the kid whose birthday doesn't matter ? Or how much of an amazing partner she was stuck with ? ...they were poor arguments . It's not like his dad or Ladybug ever Wanted him as a son or a partner . They were stuck with him and he did everything he could to not let them regret it.

The only person who chose to stay with him completely of his own free will was Nino.

There was no way she could understand . Mainly because she didn't want to .

She made it very clear she didn't want anything to do with him outside of the masks .

She had a life she loved outside the mask and people like that will never understand his life . They don't want to ...and he doesn't want them to . He knows he's blessed . Looks , money , fame , ...he really can't complain. He just Can't .

But he likes being a free-spirited , impulsive , loud-mouth . Sure , Chat noir's personality's a bit over the top but he Liked it . He Loved it .

He loved how he could flirt with her and she would tease him back , How he could act as ridiculous as he wants and never get told he was being disgraceful .

He loved how she would treat him like a silly boy , instead of a famous model son of a major fashion entrepreneur.

He loved how she would laugh with him and make him feel like he actually means something without his legacy behind him .

He didn't want to loose that .

Ladybug was kind , gentle and so , So wonderful . Heck ! She Cried when she rejected him .

If he gave her a real reason to feel bad for him , she would never see him as that careless , silly kitty again . She'll try to be nicer , more kind , ...and he didn't want that . He wanted to make her happy , not pressured to look after him .

She didn't want him in the first place ...and all the fights may have brought her closer , gotten her used to him , but...

.

'...why couldn't I have gotten someone more mature as a partner ? Why did I have to get stuck with a ridiculous flirt like you ?...'

.

...he never forgot. He's sure she did but he remembers how they were in the beginning.

She never wanted him .

She wants him now but someone as kind and selfless as her would warm up to anyone with time , but that didn't mean...arrghhhhhh...whatever !

He'll meet her . She'll try to talk to him . He'll laugh it off , act like he wasn't thinking . (He wasn't thinking anyway , so that's not really acting ). He'll tease her , she'll get mad , yell a bit and they'll move on like they always do .

He loves the time he has with her . If he has to make her a bit angry to keep her from worrying about him , so be it .

He doesn't want her to become careful around him or worry about him .

He refuses to become one of her problems .

Especially, when she could leave him anytime she wants .

She only hangs out with him due to the akuma , and it took a while for their professional partnership to move to friendship , in the beginning, she would come during the attack , then leave as soon as she could , trying to talk to him only as much as required ...and he's not risking them going back to that .

He can't lose anyone else to a silent relationship .

Especially not his lady .

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AN:-

This chap was pretty much rambling. Still, hope you liked it .

Please read and review.