When he'd gotten nowhere by Sunday, Adrien decided to try something else.
Maybe he could find out more as his alter ego.
He sent Shady a message as Chat Noir, asking her to patrol that evening.
Unlike the previous meet-up, this time Shadybug stood up well before the time he'd sent her. "Gotta go, Buttercup. Hero work calls." She smirked at him before heading out.
Twenty minutes later, Chat Noir dropped down at the meeting place to find Shady aiming her yo-yo at plastic bottles sitting on a makeshift target in the middle of the roof. "The mangy-cat appears," she drawled, taking out another bottle with a quick shot, only to twist the string and take out two more from targets he hadn't seen on nearby roofs.
"Impressive," he said, noticing far more targets than he'd first realized surrounding the area.
With a shrug, she snapped her yo-yo back up in place. "I've had a lot of time to practice. You ready to lose again, Mittens?"
Chat took off without warning, laughing as he heard Shadybug curse and scramble to follow. "Cat-ch me if you can!"
He led her through the city, avoiding her attempts to trip him up, until their race turned into a normal patrol.
Stopping to take a break on a building, Chat lounged over a railing, Shady nearby as they caught their breath.
"So," he began, "settling in over here? Is where you're staying working out?" He paused a beat before forcing the next part out, knowing it was what he would offer if he knew nothing. "I could help you find somewhere to work long-term if yours is temporary. We've been trying to track down Shadow Moth for four years now and haven't made a lot of headway, so I'm not sure how long you wanted to stick around."
"Sick of me already, Furball?"
"Are you kidding? Having you on the team has been paw-some." He flipped his baton in the air before catching it with his other hand. "We used to have more holders that joined up with us, but there was a close call a few years ago, so it's just been LB and I for a while. I figured you might need to go home before we found Shadow Moth."
He heard her messing with her yo-yo behind him and turned to meet her eyes. "Won't be needed for a while over there, so I'll stay as long as I feel like it. And I'm fine where I am, at least for a little while. I've got a backup."
Chat decided to push just a bit, holding back the guilt. "LB told me you had befriended Adrien Agreste."
She turned an irritated frown at him. "You gonna get on my ass about it too? Well, I don't give a shit. He needs someone to look out for him, and none of his friends seem to want to stand up to his dad and actually spend time with him."
Taken aback by her vehemence, Chat stumbled on his reply as he parsed what she said. "Uh…wasn't planning on it. Just thought I'd warn you it might come with a spotlight you may not want. Wait, have you?"
"Have I what?"
"Stood up to his father to spend time with him?"
"Oh. Not directly. Not yet at least." She eyed him and sighed. "He's letting me stay at his place."
"...His father is?"
She threw a punch at his shoulder. "No, you idiot. Model-boy. God, of course I have to deal with another one of you. I had enough with one stupid cat."
Chat offered her an innocent smile. "But don't furr-get we're lovable cats."
She groaned. "Seriously, how can you two be so similar and yet opposite? You're killing me."
Pushing away the desire to further pun as well as his curiosity about his counterpart, Chat redirected back. "You're staying with him then? Isn't that…" He struggled to come up with how to word what he wanted to say.
"What?" she demanded, irritation in her voice.
"I don't know, weird? I mean, he's a famous model with that recluse dad who never really goes anywhere. The guy has to be a bit strange." He tried not to cringe as he voiced some of his own insecurities.
Shadybug yanked him back off the railing and he stumbled to catch himself without falling flat on his ass. "What the fuck are you talking about? Adrien Agreste is a fucking treasure, and your universe doesn't deserve him."
Chat gawked at her for a moment, face burning. "I…wow. Okay? Sorry. Just speaking from what I see from the outside. Good to hear." He reached his hand up to rub the back of his neck, but stopped and let it drop. "If he does give you any trouble, let me know. I can still find you another place."
She rolled her eyes. "I can find my own place if I need it."
Shadybug took off again.
Chat followed, still wrangling his guilt. He hadn't really learned much about what he'd hoped, but her defense of Adrien had floored him.
It was enough to get him to back off on any further probing. He shouldn't have done it in the first place, but his worry had gotten the better of him. He might not know what was going on with her, but at least he could return to his previous priority of being her friend. She had her own world she'd be leaving for eventually, afterall. Being a friend was smarter.
So that's what he did.
Adrien spent the final two weeks of school trying to balance between Chat Noir and himself.
Something must have really enraged Shadow Moth, as there was an influx of akuma attacks during that time. Shadybug got her wish of fighting interesting villains and monsters as he sent out akuma after akuma, sometimes multiple in one day. It was a good thing they had the extra teammate, as the attacks were getting tiring to defend against.
Adrien constantly had to be aware of where he was when he transformed, knowing that Shady was around and expecting Adrien to stay safe and out of the way.
Meanwhile, as Adrien he tackled another exciting-for-him task; apartment shopping.
His impending graduation marked the time when he could finally get out of the mansion and into his own place, away from his father's direct influence. Of course, his father had thrown a huge fit when he realized how serious Adrien was about moving out.
When Adrien's resolve had wavered in the face of his father's wrath, Shadybug had been on the sidelines, knocking some sense into him and threatening to physically knock some sense into his father. He'd resumed his search quickly at that, fearing that she might actually do it. The last thing he wanted was for Shadybug to get on his father's radar.
So he began to visit potential apartments. Though Nino had offered to room with him, Adrien knew that he and Alya were hoping to find a place together, and he didn't want to get in the way of that. Getting a place of his own meant they could all hang out whenever they wanted, regardless.
After touring one spot by himself, Shadybug dropped down to him as he walked to the next one, only a block away. "I looked at that one through the windows, Buttercup; it seemed perfect to me. Why are you even still looking?"
He shrugged. "It was only one bedroom. The pictures made it look bigger than it was."
"You really need more than one bedroom for just yourself?"
He raised his eyebrow at her. "Well, if I get the choice, then I need a bed. The couch works temporarily for me, but I'm getting a second bedroom."
She froze for a moment and he paused his own steps until she started walking again, slower this time. "You're…okay with it if I keep staying with you then?" Her voice was neutral, though he thought he could sense something else beneath.
"Of course. I hope you'll have more freedom too, since you won't be limited to one room. I just need to make sure I find a place you can get inside discreetly."
"True," she said. "I don't need ShadowFly finding out I'm staying with you and thinking he can use you."
"Oh." Adrien felt red creep up his neck. "Well, yes, that too. But I was thinking so that the media doesn't hound you. The one good thing about living in my father's house is the security keeping people out."
She shot him a sly look. "Pretty poor security, really, seeing as you let in the big bad wolf with none the wiser." She sauntered ahead of him and Adrien found himself unable to look away from the exaggerated sway of her hips. She launched herself up in the air just as a group of people turned onto the block, several of which pointed excitedly after her.
"That's her! That's the new hero, Shadybug!" He saw her turn back at their voices, extending her hand in a short wave before she disappeared. It took Adrien a few seconds to get back into gear and his mind off of his soon-to-be roommate.
The next apartment he viewed was a success, located behind a gate and with a hidden balcony in the back. Perfect for Shadybug – and Chat Noir – to leave from.
During that time, Adrien learned that despite the hardened outer shell Shadybug projected, she did indeed have a softer side, one he discovered when he finally managed to find one of the hidden books she was reading.
The corner of it gouged into his back as he sat down on the couch. He reached behind, snagging the book and pulling it out. A glance at the cover revealed a woman in a long flowing gown sitting in a garden, looking away from the reader. Then Came You, by Lisa Kleypas.
Ah yes, he'd read this one.
The book disappeared from his hands, snatched by Shady as she leaned over the back of the couch. "Hey," she hissed at him. "Hands off."
He turned around to face her, though she had her back to him as she marched away. "You like to read romance?" He tried to keep the surprise from his tone, but must have failed because she abruptly turned on her heel.
"Don't you dare laugh at me, Goldilocks."
"I'm not laughing, Shady. I'm just surprised. I thought you'd be more of a…" he gestured to his bookcase, but words failed him.
She put a hand on her hip, her eyes narrowed. "What, you thought I'd like to read about bad guys concocting evil plans or something? Self-help books for villains?"
He snorted. "No, I don't know. Nothing wrong with romance; you can see I own them, after all. But Shady, you aren't evil. You gotta quit saying that."
She grunted at him, an improvement over the last time he'd said something similar. She collapsed on his bed, bringing the book in front of her face in a clear dismissal.
His quest to help her realize she wasn't as bad as she kept telling herself was a slow one, tackled one small piece at a time.
From what he'd gathered, she'd been pretty much on her own even before the person she called the Supreme had given her the miraculous.
The whole miraculous situation seemed much more fraught in her world than his; at least here, only two of the miraculous were being used for nefarious purposes. Most of the ones on her side remained in control of the Supreme, being utilized for various political aims. She hadn't been very specific, and Adrien still had to pretend that he didn't have prior knowledge of how the miraculous worked, so he was still working with breadcrumbs.
They'd been so busy with akumas that he hadn't been able to come from the Chat Noir angle again either, though his friendly relationship with her as Chat was miles ahead of Ladybug's, who seemed to have trouble getting over her holdups.
It was approaching graduation day when he first started nudging her in a new direction. "Shady," he began, getting her attention by nudging her feet that were crossed and resting on his leg as they lounged on the couch. "Thanks again, for helping out with Shadow Moth. It looks like your help has been really valuable with all the attacks lately."
She let out a sigh. "Yes, I know. I'm the best, and obviously he's pissed and trying to get rid of me. What else is new?"
He saw the corner of her mouth twitch, and he knew she was joking, even if she never admitted to it. "Have you considered that… maybe your skills could be used for more, on your side?" She didn't shoot him down immediately, as he'd expected. He rushed to continue. "You've helped a lot of people here. Have you heard what they say to you, after fights? I've seen it on the news." Most people in Paris had been excited to watch her fight. Only some complaints popped up, mostly surrounding the language she didn't hold back from using, though that had gained her surprisingly more fans than angry parents.
A ghost of a smile crossed her face. "Yeah, I've heard it. But I told you, people love me over there too."
"Is it really the same?" The silence that came was answer enough, that she'd perhaps been exaggerating in her descriptions of her public reception. "What if you used the power to protect people over there, too?"
Her mouth thinned into a line. "If I started doing that, the Supreme would just make the other holders come after my miraculous. I can't take them all on. I don't care about anyone over there enough."
He placed his hand on her ankle, giving it a light squeeze and deciding to let the conversation fade. Despite the face of the answer, her words encouraged him. She had started considering it, even if her answer was still no. That was progress.
Not bad for three weeks.
Her eyes snapped to his, freezing him. He couldn't interpret the intense look in her eyes, but he realized he was still touching her leg with his hand. Clearing his throat, he moved his hand off her. "Sorry." He carefully shifted out from under her, standing and walking away.
Maybe your plan to be roommates with her isn't the smartest thing if one look does you in.
He subtly adjusted his pants as he walked to the bathroom.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please leave me a review if you're liking it so far.
