Adrien had every intention to keep his hands to himself the next time Ladybug dropped by. He was determined not to scare her away.

Intentions only get you so far when the girl you've loved for years keeps showing up in your bedroom and kissing you.

Ladybug had barely made it into his room the next evening before launching herself at him, and all plans Adrien had made instantly disappeared. Her lips crashed into his, knocking the breath from him. He made some sort of (probably embarrassing) noise as the unexpected pleasure of feeling her pressed to him once again grew overwhelming, before he pulled himself together.

Just because he hadn't planned on it didn't mean he would complain.

He found himself swept away in the river of her intensity, with no desire return to dry ground.

Ladybug's determination to only go to Adrien's to talk fell apart as soon as she saw him. The knowledge that he held a similar attraction to her as she held for him had been enough to overcome her plans, and he had barely said a word before she had thrown herself at him once again.

She had him pressed against the wall of his skate ramp, her lips on his with a fervor he matched with his own. Time seemed to pass in a blur; at one point, Adrien broke away from her mouth in a gasp, his head falling back against the wood of the ramp behind him. Ladybug trailed kisses along his jaw to his neck, but it wasn't until her lips met his bare shoulder that she registered that she had removed his shirt. She froze, her spandex-covered hand on his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat.

She jerked back, embarrassment flooding her as she realized she'd yet again veered off script.

Sensing her change in demeanor, Adrien reached out for her elbow. "Wait—" He cleared his throat, the roughness of his voice smoothing out, "—wait, Ladybug, don't leave. I'm sorry, we can still talk."

She groaned, turning half away to cover her face with her hand. "You don't have anything to apologize for, Adrien. It's my fault. I just…keep getting distracted by you." She snuck a look back over and nearly moaned again at the sight of him standing there without a shirt, still breathing hard. She caught a look of surprise cross his face at her words before he went red, a hint of a smile taking over.

Adrien couldn't hold back the goofy smile as her words settled over him.

He distracted Ladybug. A sense of euphoria rushed through him at the thought.

She was peeking through her fingers to glance in his direction. He thought it was adorable, the way she seemed so off-balance. He wasn't used to seeing this side of Ladybug.

Apparently, he'd been standing there looking like an idiot for too long; she finally dropped her hands and sighed, staring resolutely away from him. "Speaking of distracting, if you still want to talk, you're going to need to put this back on."

She nudged his shirt over with her foot.

Oh.

"I'm sorry!" He scrambled to snag the garment and throw it back on. When she glanced his way again, however, her hand went back up to her face, though it was a smile she tried to hide this time.

He glanced down and realized he'd put it on backwards.

Idiot. It was a shame all suaveness he'd gained as Chat Noir seemed to flee in the wake of Ladybug showing up in his bedroom.

He fixed the shirt only to look up and see Ladybug marching over, her finger poking his chest as she glared, eyes piercing. "And I don't want to hear you apologize again for something that's not your fault."

"I—" he had to hold back the automatic apology, as well as something else at her sudden nearness once again. He cleared his throat. "Okay. Right. Yeah."

She backed away, looking suddenly unsure.

Get it together, Agreste, before she leaves again.

Adrien reached to take her hand, guiding them over to his couch and sitting, careful to leave her space. He scrambled for something to say, reaching back to the very first question he'd had when he saw her several days before. "Are you okay, Ladybug?"

She seemed to wilt at the question, not meeting his eyes. "No, I suppose I'm not."

Ladybug struggled with his question. She hadn't been okay when she'd first shown up outside his room. However, she had to be careful with what she shared about the reasons for why that was; he was involved with her civilian life, and would figure her out if she started complaining about their classmates.

He'd never really been a part of any of the bullying Lila had done. The other girl was sly enough to keep it hidden from the one person that might have had her back. She couldn't know for sure, however, what he would do if faced with the choice to help her or stand back. Adrien was absent enough due to his own schedule to where he hadn't seemed to notice the way their classmates had slowly started to turn away from Marinette.

Finally, Ladybug took a deep breath. "I wish I could vent to you; it would be nice to have someone who knew. But I can't." She gestured vaguely at her suit. "Well, I can't be too specific, at least. The gist is there's a bully in my school, and this…person…is taking all of my friends away from me. I don't seem to have anyone left."

It felt stupid to admit. Here she was, Ladybug, the 18-year-old superhero of Paris, complaining about a mean girl at school. How pathetic she was.

A hand slid into hers, loosening the tight fist she'd held it in. She looked up to see Adrien watching her, pain in his eyes. "You are… losing your friends? God, Ladybug, I'm so sorry. You don't deserve that. Can you call out this person?"

"I've tried."

It hadn't gone well. Lila was like a slowly growing weed, slipping through the flowers pretending to be one until it was so ingrained, it couldn't be removed easily. By the time Marinette had even caught on to what she was doing, she'd had nowhere to turn without seeing Lila's handiwork.

Adrien gripped her hand tightly. "Well, let me be your friend."

There was a bitter edge to her responding chuckle. "I'm not sure that would work, since I can't exactly tell you much about my life." The look of disappointment that crossed his face had her backtracking quickly, "—but, that doesn't mean we can't try! Maybe we can start with you. I mean, uhm… if you want to?"

Shoot, she hadn't meant to draw attention to how it had looked like she liked him without even knowing him first. Luckily, she seemed to be the only one overthinking things at the moment, as Adrien's face brightened considerably. "I—yeah, I'd love that, Ladybug. Not to only talk about myself, though, that's not what I mean." He flushed slightly, his hand darting up to rub the back of his neck. "But, if that would help you, I can talk."

With matching shy smiles, a friendship began to bloom.

A/N: I love the idea that while Marichat stories usually start out with a friendship that slowly evolves into something more physical, with love happening along the way, a Ladrien story could happen in an opposite way, a long-term hidden love manifesting in something immediately physical, with the friendship part evolving slowly over time. I hope you enjoy my wanderings into this idea! Please leave a review if you can, they inspire me!