Chapter 3

/Flashback

Adrien was staring unseeing at the phone in his hands, obsessing in an unhealthy but completely (hormonally) normal way over this very, very new…agreement? situation? position?...he had found himself…in…with Ladybug. Ladybug. In Ladybug. In a very specific position, nonetheless. At least two…so far, anyway. He definitely had a lot more ideas…

He groaned as his thoughts drew a reaction from below the waist. His left hand flopped to the bed and he scrubbed at his face with his right. He couldn't fault her pessimistic conclusion, it was one he often thought of himself, but he had never even conceptualized that she would ever even consider it an option. Ladybug was so positive…especially when she moaned, "Yes, Kitty." Fuck, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. He grew impossibly harder and strained against his gym shorts.

Ladybug had been withdrawing for weeks, talking less and less, rarely making eye contact. There were no jokes, no even pretend flirting, no warmth, just all business all the time…until the night she did not meet him at the end of patrol and he went searching for her, worried that she was fighting somewhere without him.

When he finally found her, though, he discovered that his worry wasn't even scratching the surface of hers. It almost pained him physically to understand what a burden she was under when the Miraculous meant freedom for him. In fact, without the burden of his civilian life, he wondered if he would have understood at all.

/Begin double flashback

"I won't be able to live my life like a normal teenager, a normal person, and I, I…I just don't want to miss out on what I don't have to miss out on."

"I know what you mean," he said solemnly, his isolated, mostly solitary life at the forefront of his mind. "I…tried to have a girlfriend and I just kept lying to her. It didn't feel right."

Ladybug sniffled and nodded. "Same…he…he knew I wasn't telling him the full truth, and I just can't…I can't do that to someone again. I still…I still...I don't even know!" She had seemed so little, folded in on herself, grasping at her knees. Cat Noir wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to his side. "I'll never be able to have a boyfriend…" she sobbed quietly.

"Was that…the…same boy?" He was bewildered when she shook her head.

"I tried, I tried so hard to move on," she wept, "and that ended in disaster, too. I can never be with him. I just can't. I can't be with anyone."

Sighing, he kissed the top of her head. "I know, Bug, I know. I don't think anything will ever be normal for us. We've been doing this for years and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. How will I explain to my boss why I was late again and not get fired?" He was really thinking about how he would evade his father's ever-growing shadow, but he couldn't tell her that.

"This is just so selfish of me. How dare I? I have super powers for fucks sake, and I'm complaining about that? It's a burden to me? What the actual fuck am I thinking?"

"Shhh, it's OK. I completely understand, you know I do." He reassured her when she started to deny his words. "It's not easy being us, and we're the only two who can understand that." He may have meant Adrien rather than Cat Noir, but she didn't need to know that, either.

"I want to keep doing this," she said, gesturing at them as a pair of heroes, her voice strangling in her throat. "I just don't know if I can." He wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her towards his chest; and she didn't hesitate to embrace him, either, as he felt her begin to sob. At long last, the sobs began to subside, but her hold around him never loosened, nor did his around her.

Suddenly, though, she sat upright, squaring her shoulders. His ears twitched as he listened for the threat, eyes darting around. Then she looked at him fiercely, determined.

"What is it, Bug?"

"I don't know what the future brings, Kitty, but do we really have to miss out more than we already do? I know I can never have a family at this rate, I don't even know that I will be able to grow old, but why shouldn't I live while I have the chance?" His brow furrowed as he tried to process what she was saying.

"A family?" he asked stupidly, his voice pitching up at the end.

"I want to be like other normal teenagers." He snorted, knowing too well what to want that was like. "I want to go on dates, and stay out late, and go to uni…it's just never going to happen…unless…" There was that Ladybug determination again, blue eyes fierce as she stared out across the city. "We'd have to set ground rules, but…it could work." Her eyes narrowed.

"What could work?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this…"

/End double flashback

He couldn't believe she had said it, either. He was still having a hard (very, very hard) time believing it. He had reservations, of course, and initially had denied her. He wasn't ready to go down that route, wasn't sure he could quell his feelings for her more than he already did, but she had made a good point. Were they just supposed to hold out and not experience life hoping that they may, maybe, someday, eventually, be able to be normal? He had already missed out on so much…was he willing to miss out on more? The answer to that question had already been answered on his very first day of school. No, no he was not.

The first thing they did was get drunk. The logistics had been a little messy, but after talking to their kwamis, they worked out a plan to get quickly trashed so at least they knew what it felt like. They also learned what hangovers felt like. The second thing they did was eat pot brownies then played tag across the rooftops of Paris. That one made the news and it had been a very awkward interview when they had to explain about an akuma that affected no one else but them. He thought that would have stopped her with uncertainty that they were doing the right thing, but in true Ladybug dogged-determination fashion, it had only spurred her forward.

He was currently thinking about the list of ground rules they were working on. He had his own list and they were going to meet to discuss them. How was he going to explain that any marks on his body were verboten in a way that wouldn't raise suspicion or give away his identity? He thought about telling her that this family were nudists but that just didn't seem quite right. He was going to throw it out there as a joke, anyway, because it made him smile, probably waggle his eyebrows at her to get her to reluctantly grin and playfully shove him away…then he'd pull her to him and kiss down her neck and…

"Do you even have enough skin left to blink?" Adrien threw his phone at Plagg as the kwami zipped away, cackling.

"Fuck off."

"You wish you could," Plagg cackled anew, flitting off to face plant into a wheel of cheese.

"I will the next time I see her!"

"If only you knew…" he said around a mouthful of cheese, floating back towards Adrien.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing…nothing…just remember this conversation for the future, that's all I'm saying." Then the kwami unceremoniously dropped his kitten's phone on the boy's face.

"Ouch, you little fucker…" the blond grumbled, rubbing his cheekbone. Retrieving his phone from beside his head, he swiped open his phone and began an ordered list of his expectations while trying to also take into consideration what she may insist upon. Focusing on that was only mildly helping the strain in his shorts. The more he thought about boundaries, the more he thought about specific things he wanted to do if she would let him…like marking his territory with his teeth. Hopefully she could have marks on her body even if he couldn't on his. He'd have to ask.

The akuma arrived early the following morning, just after Adrien arrived at school…so, about 10 minutes before most others would get there and another 10 before anyone would be tardy…probably Marinette. That made him smile slightly now that he finally understood how and why she was always chronically late: he had someone managing his hectic schedule, his freedom restricted as it was, but he was sure without it, the tardiness would have been contagious. Without hesitation, he quickly stood (happy for once he didn't have to hide anything) and found a place to transform. The quicker he got to the akuma, the quicker he got to see Ladybug…and hopefully would get to see all of Ladybug.

Cat Noir wasn't entirely sure how he went from fighting an akuma that was surfing the Seine like it was the California coast to Ladybug riding his face, but he wasn't going to complain. He lapped at her lips, tongue circling her clit before delving inside her. He hooked his arms around her thighs to pull her against his mouth, chin glistening while he matched the rhythm of her grinding against his face. The way she tasted drove him wild, a tangy sweetness he never knew could even exist. It was exotic in its own right but even more so in the fact that it belonged to her, was unique to her.

Holding her thighs, he flipped her onto her back, his mouth still attached to her clit, tongue flicking at it. Her thighs squeezed around his ears but he slid his hands from her ass, turning them up her thighs, and sliding them along their taught flesh to just behind her knees. Then he pushed her knees closer to her own ears, mouth leaving her flesh for the briefest of moments before trailing nibbles up her abdomen. As his head nudged against the bottom of her breast, he felt her hands in his hair. A surprised Cheshire grin stretched across face when, instead of pulling at his hair as he expected (and loved), she pushed him back down her body.

"Don't…stop," she gasped, fingers in the locks atop his head as her hips rolled up to meet his face. His ears were deafened by her thighs squeezing tight about them but he could still feel the hum of her moan from her body when he gently pushed a finger into her, curling it towards him as he swirled her clit with his tongue. Breathing was difficult but he would have happily died nine times over if that was the way he was destined to go.

"Yes, yes…more!" she panted, and he slowly added another finger. Her walls grew tight around his fingers while he pulled her harder against his face with his other hand, nails digging into her hip. She fisted his hair, moaning quietly as she reached her climax. His tongue gently teased at her sensitive nub as pleasure washed over her, slowly abetting, and finally her ragged breathing returned to normal. "Oh, Kitty…" she sighed languidly.

"Mmm'lady?" It came out as an appreciation for a taste before turning into the name with which he worshiped her. He teased at her clit one last time, huffing a quiet laugh when she twitched ever so slightly. He brought himself up from between her legs, carelessly wiping at his glistening cheeks as he kneeled before her. Maintaining eye contact, he licked her slickness from his fingers.

The next "Oh, kitty," was throatier, deeper, and his cock strained against his suit as he watched her move towards him, all but crawling up his body to taste herself on his tongue. She fisted his hair again as she pulled his mouth to hers, letting go only to make quick work of his suit.

Her fingernails made bright red lines down his chest and he hissed, "No marks," even as she nipped at his neck; he was unable to make himself stop her. To hell with the consequences.

"They won't last," she nibbled at his collarbone, then breathed, "I promise," across his nipple while her hands forced his suit down over his shoulders. She bit at the sensitive flesh there, earning a sharp inhale from her paramour. He tore his arms from his sleeves and not a second later she was pushing him onto his back, all but clawing at the suit to pull it down over his lean legs.

She ghosted her lips over the ripples of his abs, her breasts dragging across his thighs. He groaned, almost unable to stop his hips from involuntarily thrusting upwards as she let her nipples tease his straining cock in her quest to bite at the flesh of his torso. Agonizingly slowly, she made her way lower, and, as he clutched at the sheets to restrain himself, tortured the sensitive skin on his head by first barely licking it before breathing hotly across it. He shuddered.

"Cold, Kitty?"

"Ladybug, if you don't - "

"If I don't what?" she challenged with a no-nonsense tone, glancing up at him from beneath her lashes while the beginnings of a smirk pulled at her mouth.

He didn't know what to say. Of the few times they'd lived only in the moment, she had never taken charge as she so often did during battle. Her natural ability as a leader was always something he had admired, and although the boldness in the moment was alluring, he felt the need to challenge her, and he couldn't suppress it.

"If you don't suck my dick or -" but her mouth was already on him before he could say anything more.

Barely wrapping her lips around his head, she slowly pushed them down, stopping just after the crown. Her tongue flicked at the sensitive ridge where the head met the shaft before she brought her mouth back to the very tip. A few more quick repetitive motions made him involuntarily thrust. Without pretense, she took his entirety into her mouth and throat and he groaned loudly, his hands immediately grasping at her hair and head, both aggressive and gentle in wanting to hold her there but also not hurt her. Then she was back at the tip, her cheeks concave as she created a perfect seal around his dick and sucked in hard. The pressure and her hot, wet mouth were indescribable.

He tilted his head back into the sheets, one hand leaving her head to grasp the sheets. When she deepthroated him again, he took the opportunity to hold her there for a few quick thrusts, sensing her pulling back when she needed to breathe and giving her the room to do so. The way she wrapped her lips around her teeth before bobbing over his head drove him wild and it wasn't long before he was moaning, losing all established rhythm as his hips bucked involuntarily. She held him at the back of her throat as he came, swallowing him whole and only, achingly slowly, withdrawing her mouth down his shaft once his hips had relaxed back into the bed.

The rest was routine, the hurried frenzy to make themselves presentable before returning to the pessimistic reality of their civilian lives as they both swung and vaulted off in disparate directions as to not leave any hint to where they were each actually heading.

Adrien was sitting at his desk, test finished and turned in, worrying over whether they were doing the right thing, him and Ladybug.. He had already fallen hard for her from the very first day, and with each passing day he fell harder…but now, now, he wasn't sure if he could even see the top again, and the fact that it didn't bother him bothered him. Could it really always be this good? Could it be even better? What could be better than exploring each other, learning just which kisses, especially where, could elicit the delicious sounds he daydreamed about? Better than the way her mouth tasted on his, the flavor of her skin, slightly dewed with effort?

Barely suppressing a groan, he dropped his head into his hands, knowing this was probably the best it would ever get, before scrubbing at his face…but what was that smell? He stopped mid-scrub as the realization rushed over him. He hadn't had a chance to wash his hands.

He couldn't help it as a grin stretched across his face, the same face he hadn't had a chance to splash water on, either, though he wasn't able to smell anything there. (Later, he would realize he had just assumed the suit transformation would take care of it like it did everything else.) His hands dropped to his lap as he stared at them, so many things careening around his head that he couldn't make sense of them, almost like he was standing in a crowded room of people all shouting to get his attention so he couldn't make sense of a single thing any one of them were saying. Could anyone else smell it? Would they know what it was? How many things had he touched? Would those smell, too?

Then Marinette passed him as she descended the stairs to turn in her own test and time slowed as he turned his head to look at her. He caught the same smell, his senses heightened by latent powers from the suit. Time really slowed, his pupils blown wide as he watched her figure return from the teacher's desk, eyes darting to take in every detail of her figure. The very same smell that was on his hands walked back past him again as its bearer returned to her seat just behind him…where she had always been…since his very first day of class and the very first day they met…Ladybug. Unique indeed.