One long day of school later, Adrien opened the door to his room only to feel disappointment at not seeing Shadybug inside.
He began on his homework, knowing that he'd be out later that evening for the patrol. He stayed focused until he heard a thump on his window, looking over to see Shadybug sliding the glass open.
Adrien jumped up from his seat, striding over to hold out his hand to help her through.
She took one look at his proffered hand and rolled her eyes before jumping through on her own.
"How are you doing?" Adrien asked, dropping his hand.
She eyed him. "I really don't understand you. I followed your dear old dad today, and that guy is so cold his balls must have frozen off." Adrien snorted out a laugh as she continued. "Where's your mom?"
His humor faded. "She died a few years ago. She was the opposite of my father."
"Oh." She looked uncomfortable for a moment, before the puzzled frustration returned. "Geeze, your mom died and you were left with that? So, how are you all happy sunshine boy, tripping over yourself to help someone like me, instead of angry and closed off?" Her question came out like a demand, and Adrien could nearly hear the words she didn't say.
…Like me?
He slowly sat down on his couch, considering how to answer. "I'm…not always happy. Maybe not even most of the time. But I am when I'm around people – around my friends – and when I'm…" When I'm Chat Noir, he wanted to say, but he stopped himself. "When I'm doing things I love. I really like helping people. Spent a long time growing up by myself. I was homeschooled until I was 14, and even when Mom was alive, she was often gone with Father while traveling or working. I didn't really have any friends, not until school." He stared at the ground, picking at a stray thread on his jeans. "I know how happy it made me whenever someone was there for me, so I guess that made me want to share that feeling with others." He looked back up at her then. "I'd like to help you, too, if you'd let me. I could be your friend, or at least someone to talk to, if you wanted."
Something was brewing behind her eyes. She slowly shook her head, causing Adrien's stomach to drop as he expected her to deny his offer again. "You…how are you even real?" Her gaze hardened. "People will take advantage of that kindness of yours. You need someone who will look out for you. Your current so-called friends clearly aren't up to the task, if they haven't even tried to sneak around the rules to hangout in your own private bedroom." Adrien tried to interrupt to defend his friends – they'd tried their best, after all – but her next words stopped him. "I'll be your friend, Agreste. But only for your sake. Not mine."
Happiness filled him at the small victory. He opened his mouth to speak, but she ignored him, marching over to the couch and leaning down to dig around underneath. She yanked out the book she had apparently stashed there, flopped on the cushions and began to read.
A smile crossed his face as he watched her read, before he gathered his homework and joined her.
After some time had passed, he chanced asking her a question. "Can I ask if your parents are around back at home?"
Something tightened in her expression. "No." He sensed something there, but was unable to work it loose.
He tried again. "What about…how old you are?"
"Twenty-two."
"Ah." An answer was a plus. "Are you in school, then?"
She snorted. "No."
"Work?"
"I'm Shadybug. That's all that matters. Fucking amazing at it, and that's all I care about. Don't have time for anything else."
His heart twisted at that. "What about your partner, is he the same?"
"I don't know and don't care. He does his own thing."
Sensing he'd hit a dead end, Adrien let it be, reaching forward to grab one of his gaming controllers. "Do you play?"
She shut her book. "No, but I bet I could still beat your ass, Blondilocks." Shady snatched the controller from his hands.
Fishing out his seldom-used second controller, Adrein started up Mecha-Strike 3.
Shadybug did not in fact beat him, despite her efforts. It was clear to Adrien that she didn't have a lot of experience with video games, though he could see from the gleam in her eyes how much she was enjoying this one.
Eventually she hissed out with victory, "Ha!"
He shot her an amused look. "I still beat you."
Her grin sharpened. "I came close. Just watch out next time."
Returning to her reading, Shady went back to ignoring him. As time ticked closer to nine, Adrien started shooting looks her way. He needed to wait for her to leave first for the patrol, but the longer she sat unconcerned with the time, the more he wondered if she even planned to meet them.
Maybe she didn't even know what time it was. He was going to need to come up with an excuse.
He looked at his watch and sighed. "Almost nine."
Shadybug didn't even look up at him. "Past your bedtime, Sleeping Beauty?"
Flushing, he sat up straighter. "No. But I need to head out. My father set up a late meeting for me with one of his clients."
She scoffed. "Course he did. Have fun with that."
Adrien stood up, hesitating. He usually transformed and left through his window, but with Shadybug not budging, he was going to have to come with a Plan B, and actually sneak out of his house without his father or Nathalie discovering him. He paused at the door. "I'll be back in a couple hours. You're still welcome to the bed."
Making his way carefully through the house, he finally snuck out the window of another room, keeping his eye out just in case Shadybug happened to be leaving as well.
Finally, he touched down at the meeting spot in front of a perturbed Ladybug. "You're late."
"Sorry, my lady. Got held up."
Her eyes scanned the area. "Didn't pass Shadybug on the way, did you?"
"I uh, don't think she's coming. She didn't exactly answer when I checked on her."
Ladybug turned her frown on him. "You were supposed to keep tabs on her."
"I am!" Quite closely, in fact.
Lifting her yo-yo, Ladybug made a call. To Chat's surprise, Shady answered, though by voice only. "What?"
"Are you coming to the patrol? We need to go over some things."
Chat could hear her sigh echo from the device. "Fine, I guess I'll come to your little playdate. My schedule opened up anyway." She hung up.
With a snap, Ladybug replaced her yo-yo and turned back to him. "Did you figure out anything new from her?"
"Her life seems to be dedicated to being Shadybug."
His partner let out a huff of air. "Great, fully dedicated to villany, then."
"No, I don't think that's right," he protested. "I think her civilian life has caused her a lot of trouble, somehow."
"That's no excuse to become a villain," she responded tersely.
"My lady, she needs help. That's what we do, isn't it? There's something there underneath, I know it. "
She sighed. "As long as she stays on her best behavior." Her mood shifted then, as she gave him a warm smile. "It's very you, Chaton, to help a lost soul."
"As a certified stray myself, I can't help but take them in."
A few moments later, Shadybug landed. "What's up, losers?"
His partner's smile flattened. "Thanks for joining us." Switching to a more neutral tone, she continued. "I wanted to make sure you understood what the situation was here, so we can effectively plan."
Ladybug proceeded to give an explanation of where they stood with Shadow Moth.
Eventually, Shadybug cut her off. "Alright, alright, I get it. Shadow Moth bad, fight akumas, find his base, yada yada. I don't know why we had to meet to go over this. I'm very busy."
Chat Noir tried to keep a straight face, a funny feeling passing through him at the knowledge that her definition of very busy apparently meant hanging out with Adrien.
He could see Ladybug's temper rising quickly and jumped in. "If we're good with all that, let's move on to the important stuff. Like proving I'm faster than two Bugs put together." He grinned as they both turned to him with narrowed eyes.
Then Shadybug took off.
"–hey!" Chat leapt immediately after. "I didn't say when!"
In front of him, Shadybug cackled as she swung from building to building. "Aww is the wittle kitty angwy that the big bad bug got a head start?"
"Course not," he yelled as he raced to catch up. "You needed it, after all. Gotta make it fair."
"Fair? Where's the fun in that?" Without warning, she flung herself high in the air, twisting around and shooting her yo-yo back at him. The string wrapped around the bottom of his baton, and she yanked it out from underneath him, sending him toppling unexpectedly to the ground. He rolled as he hit.
"Hey!" Ladybug cried out, outraged as she landed beside him. Chat Noir ignored her, a grin on his face as he leapt back into the race, one that turned more competitive as Chat also began trying to trip Shady up with his baton.
They made it to their spot overlooking the Eiffel Tower, collapsing on the roof. Shadybug won by a longshot, unsurprising considering how she seemed to be very used to playing dirty. Ladybug landed last, glaring at the other spotted woman.
"You could have hurt him," she said, eyes flashing.
Something sparked in Shady's eyes. "Oh please, not possible in our suits. You're just jealous because he actually had fun, for once."
"We have fun all the time!" Ladybug hissed, turning to him, eyes demanding. "Don't we, Chat?"
"Yes, of course," he said. When Shadybug turned her own glare on him, he squeaked out, "But, this was fun too!"
Ladybug stood in front of him. "We don't hurt other teammates."
Chat had to move to the side to see Shadybug roll her eyes before pushing her mouth out in an innocent pout. "You can't take all my fun away, Sugar Spot. This bug doesn't do well in a cage." Her lip curled as she stared down her counterpart. "My evil ways might just escape all on their own."
Chat interrupted Ladybug as she tried to respond. "LB, it's alright. It was just a race, not during a fight."
As he took in the angry expression on his partner's face, a piece of him wondered if there was something else there causing her issues with the new arrival. Glancing between them, he wondered again if they might be the same person underneath.
His partner turned away abruptly. "Let's patrol another night. I need to go. We're set on the basics." She swung away, disappearing quickly into the night.
"Tightass," Shady mumbled. He was surprised to see a flash of something that resembled disappointment cross her face before it was gone behind an icy shield that she directed at him. "Well, are we done then?"
He contemplated her blank expression. "I could show you some of our normal patrol areas, if you want? I'm not sure how different your world is. Might be good to familiarize yourself."
She shrugged. "If I have to."
They spent the next hour moving through the city as he pointed out various landmarks. She hadn't given any indication whether her city was changed from this one, so he gave her a tour as though she knew none of it. The fact that she didn't complain (much), or insist that she already knew where everything was kept him going. They kept up a banter throughout as she insulted him at every turn, while he knocked each one away with a joke or pun.
Chat Noir thoroughly enjoyed himself. It was a different dynamic from what he had with Ladybug, and it kept him on his toes.
Whether the same could be said for Shadybug, he didn't know.
An hour later, they parted ways, Chat taking a roundabout way home, trying to make sure that he avoided her on the way back.
When he made it to his room, he was a little surprised to not find Shadybug. It wasn't until he had brushed his teeth and showered that she reappeared, climbing quietly in through the window.
"You went out?" he asked her, offering her the sandwich he had grabbed from the kitchen on his way up.
Shady took the sandwich. "Yeah, last minute meet-up with the heroes." She said the last word with a mocking tone before taking a bite.
"How did it go?"
Swallowing, she dropped the rest back down on the plate. "Fine, I guess. The red one doesn't like me. Not surprising, seeing as I'm the more awesome version of her." Her mouth curled, and despite the outward confidence, there was a bitter edge to her words.
"Maybe she just needs to get used to you. It's gotta be strange."
"Maybe." Shady picked the sandwich back up, eating the rest as she walked past him back over to the bed. She put the empty plate on the side table before climbing in and burying herself under the covers once again.
Adrien turned out the lights. "Goodnight," he said quietly. She didn't respond as he made his way to the couch.
A/N: Thank you for reading! Thanks for sticking through this necessary build up! Leave me a review if you like it so far!