Chat Noir and Ladybug fell back into their normal routine after the attack, until one night a couple months later when Chat found his partner flying through the city. He propelled himself through the air with his baton, falling in sync with her. "Evening run, my lady?" Something was off with her expression, but it was hard to see clearly while they were flying at high speeds through buildings and alleys.

"Race you to the Tower," she called to him. He grinned at her, picking up speed as they raced through the city, the familiar destination appearing ahead. His baton was helpful when maneuvering through obstacles, but he was never able to build up quite the speed that Ladybug did, thanks to her yo-yo. They landed on the tower, Ladybug beating him by a solid three feet. She was breathing hard as she smiled back at him, triumphant. "Beat you."

He huffed playfully at her. "Not fair, your yo-yo gives you a bigger advantage. You know I'd beat you on foot." He grinned at the memories of past foot races, in which he had in fact beaten her.

He expected her to rib him back, but her smile faded as she looked at him. She abruptly turned away, sitting down parallel to the edge of the drop off.

Something was up with her. He walked over, sitting so that she could prop herself up against his back. She leaned into him and he relaxed against the familiar touch. He looked over his shoulder to catch her staring out at the city unseeingly. His concern kicked up a notch. "Are you doing alright, Bug? You seem a bit out of sorts." It wasn't out of character for her to start races in the city, but she usually always ended them with witty banter and a friendly goodbye, rather than this melancholy she seemed to be exuding at the moment.

"Do you remember Love Bomb, a couple months back?"

He froze, caught off guard. This was the first time she had brought the topic up since it had happened, and he had just barely managed to shove it all behind him. "Yeah," he finally responded.

"I never asked, but did you get hit? Was that why you didn't make it to the fight?"

He felt nervous, trying to remind himself that he was Chat Noir right now, not Adrien. "Yeah, I did. I'm sorry, Ladybug." He dropped his head; she must be disappointed in him, especially after she learned what had happened with Scarabella.

"Oh, no, you don't have to apologize. I got hit too, after all." She laughed, and he thought she sounded a bit nervous herself. He realized she probably felt very similar about the whole situation, at least in an overarching way. They both had indeed gotten caught up in it, and had both failed to show up.

He couldn't figure out what was bothering her at the moment, however. Was she still trying to work through it all? Had she even been able to talk to anyone about what had happened? "Did you…need to talk about it? Are you okay?" A part of him felt terrible that he was offering to let her talk about something while not knowing that he had been the one she'd been stuck with, but he didn't know what else to do.

"Do you…remember much from it?"

The vague memories lurched out from his subconscious.

Her mouth on his. Touching her, feeling her beneath the suit.

He shoved them away, back into the hidden corner of his brain. "No, not much. Just flashes. You?" He tried to stay neutral, pushing back the morbid curiosity to know her thoughts.

Her response was as simple as his. "Same." She stood up, seeming antsy. Chat reached up to grab her arm before she left.

"I'm always here if you ever need to talk, m'lady." He couldn't help but worry about her, hoping that he hadn't managed to traumatize her those months ago.

She smiled at him. "Same for you." She paused. "Did you want to talk about it?"

Nope, that was dangerous. Time to deflect. "Oh, no, it's all purr-fect around here." He didn't meet her eyes, afraid she would figure out something was off. "Just, ah, putting it all in the never happened file, am I right?"

He smiled, hoping to get an agreement or a laugh from her. Instead, her expression went distant, her response unhappy. "Right." She moved away from him, and he had to fight to stop from reaching out again. "Thank you Chat. I needed that exercise."

He kept buried what he really wanted to say: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. "Anytime, Bug."

She swung away, Chat following close behind.

In the weeks that followed, Chat watched as Ladybug grew more and more intent on rooting out Shadow Moth. Not that that was particularly unusual; they had spent nearly ten years going after him, after all. However, her increased intensity to do so, and subsequent disappointment when they learned nothing new after each attack, seemed to be out of character. He helped whenever he could, though their efforts didn't seem to result in anything new.

Rena Rouge started joining them more often during akuma attacks. While he appreciated the extra help, Chat couldn't help feeling like he was missing something. They had utilized the help of various holders over the years, but never in any regular fashion. Shadow Moth had seemed to be more of a persistent nuisance, rather than something requiring an entire team. The continued presence of their fellow teammate seemed to indicate something he didn't comprehend. Several times after attacks, he noticed Ladybug and Rena having whispered conversations, which usually left Ladybug looking cross with their Fox partner.

One such conversation caused him to wander closer as he overheard Rena's disapproving tone. "—got to stop taking so many risks."

Ladybug's response was terse. "I'm fine, Rena." She glanced over at him as he walked over. He didn't quite understand Rena's critical view, though he had noticed Ladybug's strategies seeming to change as of late.

"You have been pretty intense lately, my lady. I'm supposed to be the risky one."

Ladybug's glare turned to him. "It's fine guys, seriously. I want to try and get our focus back on being proactive about finding Shadow Moth."

This made sense to him from her behavior recently, and he definitely agreed that it would be great to finally remove the threat that had been hanging over their heads for so long; however— "Not that I'm objecting, Bug, but didn't we try that before? I thought we decided that it's impossible to trace him unless he makes a mistake."

"There have been no changes for years. I can't stand sitting around and playing this game over and over again by his rules." A hint of desperation shone through her words.

Rena put a hand on Ladybug's arm. "I agree, it's frustrating. But do you really think the timing is right to go on any more of an offensive?" She gave her look, which seemed to just cause Ladybug to tense up. Chat agreed with Rena, though he felt like he was out of the loop on something.

Ladybug sighed. The look of defeat on her face was bleak enough to make him put his own hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "We'll get him, my lady. He'll make a mistake some time. We've got a great team here to take advantage of it when he does."

His words didn't seem to help much as she took off, leaving the two of them behind.

Chat turned to Rena. "Is something up with her?"

Rena frowned at Ladybug's disappearing form. 'She's…just having a tough time right now." She didn't give him a chance to ask anything else before she took off herself.

Chat was left alone, thoughts in a tangle as he worried about his partner and tried not to be frustrated that he was being left out of something.

A few days later, Adrien walked up to his father's office in his old home for a meeting. As he neared the door, he heard voices slipping through the open door. He was about to turn around to give some privacy, but the sound of his friend's name gave him pause, and he backtracked to listen at the gap.

"—Dupain-Cheng has informed me that she is expecting a baby, and is requesting time off for upcoming appointments. I merely wanted to make sure that you were aware." The voice came from the tablet Gabriel always carried with him. Adrien leaned closer to the door, surprised to hear that Marinette was pregnant. He hadn't even known she was dating anyone at the moment. She had missed the past couple of times their friend group had hung out; this news suddenly made the absences make sense, especially if she had been not feeling well. He smiled, happy for his friend.

"She's your intern in the design department, yes? As long as she is able to continue her preparations for the fashion show later this quarter, then I have no issue. Is she planning to stay with the company?" The woman – Marinette's boss – replied in the affirmative. The conversation ended after that, and Adrien entered for his own meeting with his father, though his thoughts remained on his friend.

He headed for the main office after he finished, seeing that he had time before a shoot later that evening. He was eager to see Marinette and offer his congratulations.

He saw her bent over her desk as he approached. "Hey Marinette!" She squeaked and turned abruptly, the papers in her hands flung out and falling to the floor. "Oh, shoot, sorry! I didn't mean to sneak up on you." He began helping her gather the papers back up again.

"Oh no, I'm sorry." She sounded flustered as she grabbed paper after paper. "I'm just so flumsy — no, I mean clumsy — argh!"

Adrien couldn't help smiling at his friend as she took the papers back from him. She had stumbled on her words often growing up, though she had seemed to grow out of it as they got older, only for it to come out at unexpected moments. It was one of her quirks that he enjoyed about her, though he used to think she hadn't liked him or had been frightened of him. "You're fine; I forgot how easily you startle. I should have been louder walking over."

She laughed at that. "Yeah, I guess you should ring a bell when you come talk to me."

Adrien had to keep himself from laughing out loud, picturing the bell on his suit he wore as his alter ego. She hesitated before sitting back down in her chair facing him. He remembered his reason for visiting then. "I just wanted to come and tell you congratulations."

Marinette's eyes went wide as she stared at him, aghast. "What?"

Adrien felt like he'd accidentally taken a misstep. Had he misheard earlier? "Ah, I mean, I overheard your boss telling my father you were having a baby." He couldn't stop himself from glancing down to her stomach, though he couldn't tell anything with the heavy sweater she had on.

When he looked back up, her face was red. "Ah, yes. Um, I mean yeah, thank you." She didn't meet his eyes.

He floundered for something to say, blurting out the same thought he'd had earlier. "I didn't realize you were dating anyone."

Her gaze stayed down. "Erm, I'm not."

"Oh." He felt mortified. He hadn't even considered that possibility. In fact, he slowly realized that it might not even be a happy situation for her, judging by her reactions. Concern began to trickle through him. Had the father broken up with her when he found out? Or a one-night stand, or…something worse? He wasn't entitled to know any of that, even as her friend, but the concern for her grew. He'd already dug himself in a hole he didn't know how to get out of, so he aimed for indirect. "Are you…okay?"

She answered quickly. "I'm great! Yeah, just fine. Thank you for the congrats, though…"

"Ah good, I'm glad." He wanted to believe her words, though something still bothered him about her responses. He made to leave, but hesitated. "If you need anything, Marinette, I'm here, okay?"

She lost some of the tension that she'd been holding onto through their conversation. "Thanks, Adrien. You're a good friend."

The smile she paired with her statement sent an unexpected jolt through him. "I'll see you at the next hangout, yeah?" He hoped to encourage her to come again with his words. She nodded to him, and he walked away, fighting his urge to pry and find out what was bothering her. He'd already stuck his foot in his mouth once, he didn't need to do it again. Still, she remained on his mind, even after leaving the building.

A/N: The thought of Adrien's lack of certain social skills resulting in his interaction here with Marinette made me laugh while writing this scene. Poor guy just trying his best to be a good friend. Please let me know what you think so far!