Adrien/Chat Noir

Adrien paced up and down the room, regret bubbling in his stomach. He had heard the crashes and bangs from outside, probably from another humanized villain, probably one that Ladybug would have to face all by herself.

He wondered if she had done it, but the sounds had stopped - the city of Paris was once again at peace. And Chat Noir hadn't helped one bit.
People would probably stop depending on him, and worst of all, Ladybug. If his father did ever let him go, and he returned to her, she'd simply shrug him off and say, "You weren't there when I needed you."

But it would be too hard for Adrien to explain… saying that his father didn't let him leave his room sounded extremely childish, even though it was the truth.

This made Adrien extremely angry. Him, Chat Noir, one of Paris's only superheroes, was getting pushed around by his own father, whom of which he could probably take down in a second. But still, even when Adrien was Chat Noir, that aura seemed to glow around Mr. Agreste… that aura of undeniable power and riches.

But he couldn't just sit there… he couldn't bear for Ladybug, the love of his life, to give him that cold shoulder. Maybe he should just escape with cataclysm. Maybe it was worth the risk.

"Plagg," he said, turning to his kwami who was currently eating again, "Let's power up."

"What?" Plagg asked, gulping down a bit of cheese. "But I thought that you -"

"Things have changed," Adrien replied. He sighed. "I just can't have Ladybug lose faith in me, she's too important…"

Plagg floated up to his face and laughed. "Alright, Prince Charming. Or should I say, Chat-ming?"

Adrien blinked. "That wasn't so good, Plagg."

"Says the king of puns."

And with that, and a flash of green light, Chat Noir now stood in the room, feeling stronger and more free than ever. He immediately raised his claw and yelled, "Cataclysm!"

Then he ripped through the window, climbed out of it, and disappeared down the side of the building to find Ladybug so that he could explain… something.

There were two issues, however: 1: Chat Noir didn't know where Ladybug was, and 2: he didn't know what to tell her about him not showing up to fight the villain.

Well, he thought, Let's figure out the first issue first. Haha, logical.

There was another major problem with this, though - Ladybug had probably transformed back into whoever she was by now. If only he knew! Then he'd be able to locate her rather than running through down on the tops of buildings, looking down at every girl that could possibly be Ladybug…

Maybe he could get her attention some how. Like reflect a signal in the sky… call it the Cat Signal… he felt like he heard something like that before, but it didn't matter: he had just found a skylight at the top of Gourmet, a fancy French restaurant.

The sky was darkening, but not quickly enough, so Cat Noir used the time to find something to make his signal. He looked out over the side of the restaurant, locating a trash bin that held old food, broken plates, signs, and luckily cardboard.

Chuckling to himself, Chat Noir leaped down into the trash bin, then realized that was a bad idea - PLOP! he landed amidst the old food, making his costume all dirty. But the cardboard was directly in front of him, so he reached out and grabbed it.

He climbed back up the wall, with a lot of grumbling because of the new grease stains on the tight, black leather, then opened his claws, using them to rip up the cardboard into the shape of a cat. Adrien had never been so good at art, so his cat's head looked a little lopsided, but he thought that it would do.

The sky was now dark enough to turn on the skylight, so that's what he did - it shone over Paris as if someone had turned on a giant flashlight. Sticking the cardboard in front of the light, so that a giant kitty reflected in the sky, Chat Noir hoped that this would work.

He sat there for a couple of moments, watching as the first stars of the night started to shine, and wondered if Ladybug could see the signal, let alone want to come. "She's probably mad at me," he whispered to himself sadly.

But just as he was about to give up hope, there was a flash of red light and then Ladybug was climbing over buildings, stopping when she reached him.

He got up, smiling widely; his plan had worked. "Bugaboo!" he greeted excitedly.

She rolled her eyes. "What is it, Chat Noir? Where were you?"

Chat Noir scratched his head nervously - this came the part that he hadn't thought of in advance, and now he was truly at a loss for words. "Well… there was um… something going on in my family."

He stared at Ladybug, hoping this was a good answer.

She just nodded. "Oh, well… it would have been nice to have you."

Something fluttered in Cat Noir's chest. "I'm really sorry, my lady, but -"

"No, no, it's okay," she replied, and gave him a small smile. "I understand."

Chat Noir returned the grin, realizing that maybe Ladybug had faced similar situations as him, that she was just a normal teenager under the costume, too.

"Are… are you okay?" he asked. "Did the monster hurt you?"

"Well, it twisted my ankle," Ladybug murmured.

Chat Noir's heart missed a beat. "Oh, no, I'm so -"

"It's fine," she answered. "Really. We're superheroes, we're bound to get hurt, right?"

"But if I was there to help -"

"Well, you weren't, alright?"

There was an awkward silence of when Chat Noir tried to control his breathing.

"I won't let you down again," he promised.

Ladybug smiled again, making his heart leap. "Cool signal, by the way," she said. "I should have one, too."

Chat Noir shrugged, happy that things were normal between them again. "It's not that great. Just dug some cardboard out of the garbage."

Ladybug laughed. "I would have liked to see that."

There was another moment of silence, and Chat Noir knew that he should probably return home, knowing that his father would most likely suspect him again, but there was something special about this night; the Eiffel Tower framed against the stars that seemed to smile down at him and Ladybug, the quiet, peaceful drone of music from the restaurant underneath, and the cool night breeze that floated through the air.

It was almost as if he was on a date with Ladybug.

"It's a nice night tonight, isn't it?" Ladybug asked, seeming to read his mind and looking up at the stars.

"Yeah," Chat Noir replied. He had the guts to say, "wanna stay out for a little while?"

Ladybug smiled. "Okay."

And so they sat down on the edge of the building, looking down at the city, and Chat Noir's heart couldn't stop beating - this was exactly what he had been wishing for.

Hey, sorry I haven't been posting, but I've got another life under my costume, too. *winks*