Adrien was in a foul mood by the time patrol rolled around.
He hadn't slept well, which made his early morning photo shoot and the punishing akuma that followed all the more grueling. That didn't even count the math test he was sure he'd bombed, plus the ton of homework he needed to do over the weekend. Who knew if he would even finish it all? Another long shoot was scheduled for tomorrow, and Hawk Moth would probably send extra akumas just to spite him. His mood was so bad that he wasn't even excited about patrol, but he hauled his sorry self out his window and trudged across the rooftops anyway.
When he was just two blocks away from their meeting place, Ladybug sent him a text on his baton. He checked it more for the excuse to stop than the desire to see what she said.
The message read simply: Bring the blanket.
He shoved the baton roughly back to its spot and turned around, bristling at the terse order. With his luck today, she wanted him to return it.
Stomping all the way back to his house, he yanked back the duvet and revealed the blanket, which he wadded up in his arms, leaving the bed unmade. He didn't feel like putting in the effort to make it look nice for no one.
It only took a few minutes until he was close enough to see their meeting location. A flat section of roof sheltered on one side by a taller portion of the building. Ladybug was kneeling there, in the middle of a pink blanket and taking something out of a bag. A few jumps closer, and he could smell the chocolate and sugar.
"Cookies?" he asked when he landed next to her.
"Sorry for making you turn around." She stood, holding the overflowing plate out to him. "I needed more time to set up and panicked."
He stared at the plate, hands still full of crumpled blanket. Ladyfingers and lemon cookies and macarons and lots of ganache drizzled over everything.
"Oh," she said. "Here." She shifted the plate to one hand and grabbed the blanket from him so they could switch. Then she turned back to her setup. At the head of her pink blanket, leaning against the brick wall, was a giant black pillow. It was shaped like a cat's head, with large ears and a hand-stitched face made with green thread.
Ladybug shook out his black blanket, folded it in half and sat with it across her lap. "Well, if you're not going to eat them, can you bring them over here?" She patted the spot next to her.
Did she make the pillow like she had his blanket? It matched the color scheme. The cloth looked like the same type. He put the cookies between them and sat down, only to have her immediately pick up the plate and slide in close to him.
He really loved the blanket she'd given him, and how cuddly she was whenever she and it were both near him. He barely managed to stop himself from leaning into her warmth. To distract himself he asked, "Did you make the pillow, too?"
"Yup, finished it last night. It's for you. Isn't it cute?"
His voice felt suddenly too heavy to use, so he just nodded.
Balancing the plate of cookies on her knees, she pulled out her phone. "You seemed upset this morning, and I wanted to cheer you up. So, movie night?"
Huh. Some time between his arrival and now, she'd managed to clear his bad feelings without trying, and he hadn't even noticed. "Sounds good," he said.
"You want to talk about it?" Her hand hovered over the screen.
His mouth twitched. He did want to. "Can't. It's mostly what I've been doing all day."
Ladybug chewed the inside of her cheek, like she was actually… considering? But she shrugged, and the moment passed, and the faint sound of opening music spread out over the silence between them.
After thirty minutes, Chat Noir wasn't sure what movie they were watching, even though he'd been staring at the screen for all he was worth.
Because Ladybug was touching his hand.
It had started out so slowly that he'd thought it was accidental, just a light brush of her fingers against his wrist, so he dutifully moved his hand out of the way (but still close enough for it to happen again - just in case).
And it did happen again. After just a few minutes, the edge of her hand slid right up against his.
He frowned at the screen, unseeing. She'd been doing a lot of touching like this lately. He'd thought it was unconscious at first, but there had just been too much - it had to be on purpose.
He just couldn't figure out why. His Lady was many things, and indecisive was not one of them. If she wanted to hold his hand (or do anything else), they would be doing it already. And she wasn't coy either. She wouldn't be playing with him. So what was she doing?
Ladybug's hand started to move again. An explosion on the tiny phone screen was nothing compared to the explosions that were happening in Chat Noir's brain as she started mindlessly playing with the tips of his fingers and stroking his knuckles.
Every muscle in his arm clenched with the effort of holding still. He shouldn't react. She might pull away if he did. So he chanted don't, don't, don't as he imagined grabbing her hand and kissing it, the back of it, the palm, every fingertip and knuckle, dragging his lips around her wrist, and up to the soft hollow of her elbow, and higher and higher until he reached her mouth.
But he kept himself very still, not even a twitch, until his arm ached with the effort, and she finally pulled her hand away.
Author's note: The next chapter will probably be the longest one. :)