Takes place in the Netflick movie universe. After the montage but before the rooftop ice cream/sparring scene.

Just want to point out that in the movie universe, Adrien isn't a model. They included enough about his dad being a famous workaholic fashion designer, but nothing about Adrien being the face of his brand. So Adrien's not exactly a celebrity.

Ladrien June 2024

Day #12: Sparks

In the park after school, Adrien and Nino were just hanging out in the park. They sat side by side on a bench, both with soda cans in their hands. And once again, Adrien was asking Nino for love advice.

The tips he had given him before that he'd been trying out on Ladybug weren't exactly working like he'd hoped.

Be mysterious, like he's wearing a mask. That was easy enough while he was Chat Noir.

Show confidence, make jokes, and stay cool. He had done all of that and she wasn't showing much interest in him romantically. They had definitely passed the butting-heads stage and were good friends at least. They still teased each other but it was more playful than genuinely mean.

But he wanted more than that. He was falling in love with her and he wanted her to fall for him. Ergo, he needed more advice.

And while Nino was more than happy to help his best bud out when he needed it, his curiosity was too far peaked to ignore anymore.

"Okay, now I gotta ask, dude," the DJ said.

Adrien lowered his soda. "Ask what?" he asked.

"The only reason why you'd be asking for all this love advise would be because you need it for a certain someone," Nino said. He had to know. Maybe he could help him even more if he knew who. "So…who is it?"

Adrien was so glad he'd stopped drinking his soda because he was positive that he would have spat it out and choked a bit if he had.

Instead, he was silent for a minute, biting his lip and putting his can down on the bench beside him.

"You promise not to laugh?" Adrien asked, turning his head to look at him.

"I would never laugh about love, dude," Nino reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Feeling a bit better, Adrien took a steady breath. "It's…" he started to say but stopped to look around, checking for anyone who might overhear. Luckily, the park was basically empty except for them. The only people he saw were a few just passing by on the side walk outside the park. Then he said a bit quieter, "…Ladybug."

Nino's mouth hung open for a second or two. "Ladyb-!" he exclaimed in surprise but Adrien hushed him with a hand over his mouth. Someone on the sidewalk would definitely hear if he spoke that loudly. When Adrien removed his hand, Nino apologized quietly. "Sorry. Ladybug!" he whisper/shouted. "You got it bad for the super heroine of Paris?"

"Yes," Adrien admitted than sighed. "You probably think it's ridiculous," he said, leaning back against the bench, staring up at the leaves of the tree they were sitting under. "I mean, half the city must be in love with her. And why wouldn't they? She's strong, brave, charming, smart, kind-hearted, and beautiful. So beautiful," he sighed dreamily, imagining her face as he started passed the branches and into the clear blue sky. It was almost as blue as her eyes. But as the image disappeared, he sighed dejectedly. "I'd probably seem like just another obsessive fan boy if I tried to talk to her," he lamented.

Nino frowned and pat his shoulder again. "No, man. From how you just described her, it sounds like you like her more than for just her being a bad-ass heroine," he tried to reassure him. Adrien looked back at him, a bit comforted by his words, and smiled. Nino smiled back. But he was still puzzled. "But it is a bit odd, given that you've never even talked to her," he added. Adrien sat up straight. "Have you talked to her?" Ladybug didn't interact with many civilians as far as he knew but it wouldn't be totally unheard of if they'd at least spoken once somehow.

"Uh…" Adrien hesitated. He'd more than just spoken with her but Nino couldn't know the details about that part of him. "No. She doesn't know me at all," he said quickly. There. That part wasn't a total lie.

She only knew him as Chat Noir. Not as Adrien. He was a nobody to her. His only way to her was through Chat Noir after all.

Nino shrugged, accepting that despite that his bud had never even talked to her before, he was respectfully interested in her. Then the two stood up and walked over to a recycling bin a few yards away to throw out their empty cans. "Well, if you really feel that way, then you definitely need to talk to her." As the DJ spoke, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked up to the top of a building that overlooked the park and, by some miraculous coincidence, it was none other than the spotted heroine herself. She was just standing there, looking around at the view. It didn't look like she was busy or in the middle of some sort of danger. And her feline partner wasn't in sight either. Excited as his brain hatched a brilliant idea, Nino glanced at Adrien who was lazily gazing down at his wrist watch, checking the time. "Who knows? If you play it just right, she might end up liking you back," Nino continued on with a knowing grin.

"You think?" Adrien looked back up to his best friend. "But…how would I do that?" he asked. How could Adrien possibly get close enough to Ladybug to even try?

"First, turn around and look up," Nino said, gesturing up to the building behind him with his head. Adrien raised a brow but did as he said. The blonde turned around then turned his gaze to the sky. At first he didn't see anything, until eventually, his eyes finally landed on what he must have been talking about. Adrien's heart fluttered at the sight of his lady, standing up there, proud and strong. Graceful and radiant as ever. As he stared, Nino's grin only grew. "Second…LADYBUG!"

Adrien jumped at the sudden shout. He turned back to Nino, who was waving his arms like crazy while continuing to call her name.

"Nino! What are you doing?!" Adrien grabbed at his arms and tried to hush him. If she was transformed, she might be busy. He didn't want to bother her, especially since they didn't have an emergency.

"Setting you up dude," Nino replied in a normal tone before continuing to try to get the heroine's attention. "Ladybug! Down here!"

Adrien blushed as he looked back up at her. He could see that she had definitely heard Nino and was looking down at them.

~*LB+AA*~

Ladybug was out for a simple patrol. She was mostly just out to clear her head after finishing her homework early and just wanted to get some fresh air. And she was growing to love getting fresh air while running along rooftops as Ladybug more than just walking down the street as Marinette.

When she reached the corner of a building next to a small park, she stopped. Just to admire the view for a moment.

"LADYBUG!"

When she heard someone call her name, her first instinct was that someone was in trouble. An akuma or a normal problem.

She looked down to the street level until she spotted two young men in the park. One was waving their arms to and fro wildly.

It only took her a second to recognize them. It was Nino and Adrien.

She blushed and bit her lip at the sight of her crush. But she quickly snapped out of it to focus. Nino was the one waving and shouting her name. Something might be wrong and they needed her help.

Without wasting anymore time, Ladybug jumped down from the building and landed right in front of them.

"Is everything okay?" she asked them.

"Ladybug! Wow, I can't believe we're meeting you this close and in person," Nino gushed a bit.

Adrien, meanwhile, was just embarrassed. "Uh, I'm so sorry, Ladybug. Nothing's wrong," he quickly said to her.

Ladybug's stance relaxed a bit. "Oh. You don't have an emergency or anything?"

"No," Nino replied. "Sorry for alarming you. It's just-" he said, pushing Adrien further in front of him, closer to her. "My friend here is a really big admirer of yours and he really wanted to meet you." Nino then grabbed Adrien's wrist and raised it up toward her, offering Adrien's hand out to shake.

"Nino!" Adrien grunted quietly to his friend, turning around to glare at him.

Nino released his wrist and whispered, "Come on dude. Now's your chance. Introduce yourself," he encouraged, giving him a gentle nudge in the back.

Adrien turned back to Ladybug, who was staring at him. She had this almost bashful look, mixed with a bit or curiosity.

Adorable.

Well, here she was. Right in front of him. This hadn't been how he imaged trying to talk with her for the first time as himself would be like. But it was happening. So he might as well try.

And this time, he was going to do things a bit differently.

Nervously, he raised his hand up and extended it out for her to take. "Um…Hi. I'm Adrien," he said with a friendly smile.

Ladybug glanced down at the offered hand for a second before looked back up at his kind and gorgeous face before smiling back. Then she took his hand and shook it. "Hello, Adrien. Nice to meet you."

As they squeezed each other's hands, both felt a warm, tingling sensation spark through them. And when they looked back up into each other's eyes, there were even more sparks.

Nino watched with a proud smile as the two shook hands and gazed at each other with something possibly more than just a pleasant greeting. And now that he'd set his bro up, the best thing was to see where he took it. Thus, he had to make himself scares.

"Oh! I just remembered. I have to…um…call my…dentist," Nino stuttered. He needed a quick excuse. "I should probably do that before I forget. So I'll just step away and make that call. Right now." And with that, Nino pulled his phone out of his pocket, pretended to push a button, raised it up to his ear, and turned away—but not before throwing Adrien a quick wink.

Nino stepped away. After he was a fair distance away on the other side of the park, Adrien and Ladybug released their hands, bashfully looking away from the other.

"So…" Ladybug started to say. "You're a fan?" she asked, a bit less nervous now.

Adrien was her friend outside of the suit but she was still nervous around him more often than not. But now that she was in the suit in front of him, she felt a tad more confident. And it was also a big confidence boost that he admired her so.

"Well, yeah," Adrien replied. "I mean, what you do is amazing." He wasn't going to use Nino's original advice. It hadn't worked when he was Chat Noir, so he'll try a different technique as Adrien. "But I'm actually more curious about the girl underneath the mask."

Ladybug looked at him curiously again. "What do you mean?"

"I just mean, you showed up in Paris to fight Hawkmoth's akumas just a few weeks ago. So, I'm guessing before that, you were just a normal girl with a normal life," he explained. He'd been the same, which was exactly how he'd known that. "I bet that normal girl must be pretty special to be able to become a super hero."

Adrien's gentle smile when he said that made the heroine's heart melt.

"Wow," she uttered. "No one's ever said anything like that to me before. You're very sweet, Adrien," she said, making Adrien blush. "Um…I should probably go," she said after a minute. She needed to get back to her room before her parents noticed her absence. Adrien frowned in disappointment that she had to leave, but he understood. "But if you even need me, just call out," she told him.

"What if it's just to talk again?" he asked, somewhat serious. The rest, he was just plain charming.

Ladybug grinned and stepped a bit closer to him. "If I'm not busy, I don't see why not," she shrugged with a matching playful grin to his. She hesitated for a second, nervous again, before deciding to go for it. She leaned in, her lips aiming for his cheek. Adrien, seeing this and responding fast, turned his head and kissed her cheek as she kissed his. Then they both copied the act with the other's opposite cheeks. When Ladybug leaned back, both their freshly kissed cheeks were on fire. "Au revoir," she quickly said before grabbing her yoyo and flinging herself up and out of there.

Adrien watched her disappear over the roof of a building, both his hands lightly touching the spots on both his cheeks with a dopey grin.

Nino's original advise might not have been that helpful, but he at least helped him a great deal by calling her over to them when he saw her, then left them alone to talk.

Finally. What hadn't happened the first night he met her as Chat Noir had happened the first day he met her as Adrien;

The sparks were flying between them.

Sorry this was a bit late. I actually wasn't done with it before today so I needed to finish and proof-read before posting it. I'm behind.

(I wouldn't be if the prompt calendars were available a bit sooner. They were all quite early last year, except the Marichat May list. That one was super late, leaving me less prep time. But this year, they've all been fairly late, which means very little prep time for me to brainstorm, outline, write, and proof-read). Sigh.

Next chapter will be the 14th ;D