Who knew 15 minutes could feel like a lifetime. Each second was like a death sentence. It had been fifteen minutes since Marinette left for the bathroom. A measly quarter of an hour and he had lost her. Alya was going on about the man who had left Mari... a man that could be him. That he both did and did not want to be him. Thankfully, a harsh tapping on his chest forced him to look down. Plagg, looking serious for once, was actually helping. With a lackluster and rather sad excuse, the blonde made his way to the bathroom. The dim lighting, foul smells, and cramped spacing were a comfort and a curse. After making sure everything was secure the little deity faced his chosen. Former model, Adrien Agreste was hyperventilating and gripping a dirty sink like his life depended on it. If you asked him it did.
Plagg just stared at the sad shell of his chosen. Yeah, he was upset with the boy for leaving their Princess without a real goodbye, but he was still his kitten. "All right kid calm down." Frantic eyes turned to him as his boy's gasps echoed off the walls. "HOW! Mari has a kid but she said she loved me and oh my God Plagg! What if he's mine! I- I left her all- all alone t-to deal with it and- "Now that's enough!" Plagg cut him off before the poor kid gave himself an aneurysm. After helping Adrien to breathe again the little cat spoke up, "Kid, you don't know. And you'll never know if you let her go." Adrien just stared at him, "Now go out there and apologize to Princess." The little cat looked at the ground, feeling the weight of what would happen next, "I think you really hurt her."
With a final breath, Adrien opened the door and returned to the table where he promptly ran into one raven haired beauty. As a kind of ode to their college days, he caught her in his arms and promptly drowning in the joyful blue of her eyes. The airy sound of giggles returned him back to planet earth as he placed her feet on the floor. It hit him then, he would always love her but he needed to know. As words and ideas of how to approach the topic wrestled in his mind, she whispered. "I'm sorry Adrien." Everything in his mind crashed as he looked to her. Her smile didn't reach her eyes, "I shouldn't have exploded like that."
For the first time in years, his thoughts were silent as she continued. "Alya gets really worked up about it, and I thought you knew! I'm so sorry but I..." raw emotion drowned the blue in her eyes breaking his heart. After all, no one could ever look at him like that. "Don't worry about it, Mari." The sorrow in his voice rattled him, "I was out of line." A delicate hand was on his chest as the most beautiful smile he had ever seen as Adrien appeared on her face, "No, you were just looking out for me." She looked back to the table, "You all are. It just a misunderstanding." Now that caught his attention. Did that mean… "After all I never told him." Even drowning in tears her smile anchored him. Adrien hugged her even more fiercely "Oh Mari," before he could even begin to think of how to comfort her the ever-obnoxious text tone interrupted them. Bashfully she turned to see what the message said. Chuckling she turned back to him showing him the photo on her screen. "My little Chú and his girlfriend seem to have gotten into a bit of trouble." Adrien couldn't help but laugh, in the photo a poor young woman with honey eyes and tawny skin was, somehow covered in feathers and sporting my interesting magenta spots in her hair. The blond just smiled at her, "looks like you'll need a hand with that. Mind if I join you?" Dramatically she bowed, "It would be an honor Monsieur."
Light hearted with a chuckle in their throats they left the little pub making way to a little bakery in the 21st admonishment. The laughter never died with these old friends as they reminisced of days gone and the strangest Akuma attacks. "Hey Mari," she hummed. "What do you know about those shadow things?" Light bled from the lights surrounding them, a steal in her bluebell eyes chased away her smile piercing the night. "Black widow. A being who believes that she is the proper denizen of creation." She turned to him, "But everything she creates is so… twisted and ladybug can't stop her."
Silence echoed through the rest of the trip until they made it back to her childhood home. Despite the weight of their earlier topic, she chuckled at his obvious confusion, "My boy has been watching the bakery while my parents are visiting family in Shanghai. He's great for business." She gave a little wink and lead them inside.
Chaos, absolute chaos greeted them on the other side of the door. Strange concoctions spilled out of various containers on the counter, floor and somehow the ceiling with a very put-out young lady sitting on the counter while a young man, unhelpfully, prodded and the hardening sludge in her hair. The girl groaned and alerted her friend to their presence. Before Adrien could even give himself a pep talk about how he was going to win over this Chú he was paralyzed. Electrifying blues with a ring of green stopped him in place. "Oh! You're the customer from the other day." The blonde just nodded and shook this boys hand. After a few awkward moments, he finally released the boy's hand, "Yeah. Turns out I'm an old friend of your mom's. Names Adrien." Qiang just smiled as a few hairs fell on his face, "Oh don't worry, I definitely know who you are." With a wink Marinette lightly smacked him on the shoulder saying something about not embarrassing his mother and just doting on him. He only ever responded with a wicked grin and a kiss to her cheek.
"Can you believe them?" The sudden English caught him off guard as he looked to the girl. Now that he wasn't looking at a photo he could tell that she was obviously of Indian descent but her accent was definitely British. His English was rusty so it took him a while to respond, "I can. Mari use to act like that back when I needed to be handled." Laughing as he trailed off he didn't notice the honey or violet eyes watching him. "All right!" Adrien and the girl jumped as Marinette turned back to them, her boy still silently chuckling as he towered behind her. "Let's get Aditi and the bakery all cleaned up." A chorus of groans answered her but soon enough everything was all cleaned. Thankfully Aditi got to keep her hair which was in a stylish bob when not covered in various goops.
Gradually the night came to a close as Adrien escorted his princess and Aditi back to her apartment, turns out the girl was part of an exchange program Qiang's school was doing. After he dropped the girls off the weight of the night's revelations began to crush him. As the hotel room closed behind him Plagg came out and faced him. He had that look again. That of something ancient and powerful but now Adrien had an idea of what that truly meant. "Kid," He flinched at his kwami's voice. There was nothing left to say the underlying tone of the horrible things that the denizen of destruction would do to him if Mari got hurt but also asked a question. Running a hand through his hair and with a deep breath, he answered. "Is it wrong?" Plagg tilted his head as Adrien met his eyes, "Is it wrong I want him to be mine?" With that, the two made an agreement and moments later chat noir was prowling the rooftops in the direction of a certain bakery.
Despite the late hour, a figure was standing on the little balcony that got them all in this mess and set the cat on alert. Cautiously he approached, that is until the figure called out to him. "It's about time you showed up 大师猫." To say he was surprised would be an understatement as his yowl got quite a few shoes thrown at him. Rubbing his jaw, where a rather heavy boot caught him, Chat landed on the balcony only to meet little blue… now that he thought about it, he never did get chick's name. "Well fancy meeting you here…" The young hero gave him a mischievous smirk, "You have no idea who I am, do you?" Chat blushed a bit and held out his hand, "Chat Noir, former partner of Ladybug and hero of Paris." Blue took his hand, "Monsieur Luán, current hero of Paris and son on Ladybug."
