We check in with our heroes, who have had a bit of a rough week.
A/N: Whoa, sorry about the late upload! Things have been crazy for a couple of weeks (and unfortunately today's upload of the new chapter on AO3 has to be pushed back to September 3).
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
Cat Noir watched as his partner slumped over in exhaustion, her red hair ribbons seeming to wilt with the movement as if sentient. The swarm of ladybugs quickly left the previously-akumatized young woman on the rooftop, leaving her tearstained face free of the makeup that had streaked it before.
"What... what happened? Where am I?" She croaked, looking up into the sky in surprise. "It's... night time? What was I doing?"
"You got akumatized after your boyfriend dumped you," Ladybug responded quietly, offering a tissue. "Are you alright?"
Blinking up at the petite hero, the memories slowly began to return to her and it left her with a look of dawning horror. Tears welled up in her eyes again and she accepted the tissue as she began to sniffle.
"Putain," she whimpered as she dabbed at her eyes. "I thought this was the one. I tried to make everything perfect - what is it about me that's so abhorrent?"
The two teenagers stood by awkwardly as the adult began to sob all over again.
"I've been single for years. Boyfriend after boyfriend after boyfriend, all of them dumped me! I don't understand what I'm doing wrong!"
There was something solemn, maybe pained, in the heroine's face as she stooped to comfort the woman. Cat looked away towards the horizon, noting the thick clouds that obscured the skies. Relationship advice was far out of his wheelhouse - and as inexperienced as Ladybug also was, somehow she seemed to be able to click with victims.
The hero of the Cat Miraculous twirled his belt-tail around in his hands, fiddling with the black leather as the two murmured behind him. Exhaustion was already beginning to take a strong hold on his body, despite the energy that the Miraculous provided. Really, he was more surprised that Plagg wasn't sapping as much energy as he could; he and the Cat were still on awkward terms despite efforts to win the Kwami over (he was always forgiven, of course, by giving the lazy old Cat his favorite cheeses).
Finally, he heard Ladybug call out. "Hey, Cat? I'll take her down to street level. Let's have a meeting once I get back up to the roof."
He nodded his head and shortened his staff, fixing it in place on his lower back. He watched as the petite girl looped an arm around the taller woman's back and allowed her to cling to her shoulders before slinging her yo-yo and leaping off the roof. What should've been a hard landing was softened by the suit taking the blow.
Sitting on one side of the chimney, he murmured the detransformation phrase and heaved a breath as the Kwami separated from his ring. Plagg regarded him with disinterest until he pulled out some camembert.
He heard Ladybug touch down on the roof again and call off her transformation too, and after a flash of light, the Ladybug Kwami zipped over, holding a macaron in her paws. Together, the two Kwami flew away, leaving the teenagers alone.
"How many akumas is that so far?" The girl asked tiredly, leaning against the side of the chimney.
"In the last week alone? I'm guessing ten." Fumbling with his pocket, the boy pulled out a protein bar and, after splitting it in half, extended an arm. "Here."
There was a moment of silence before a soft hand found his, and took the bar. He pulled his arm back and chewed his half slowly.
"I'm getting sick of Hawkmoth working after dark," he commented.
"You'd think he'd give it a rest, but I guess there's some truth to the saying that there's no rest for the wicked." There was a hint of a laugh in her voice. "My parents are gonna be so mad if they find out I've been sneaking out after dark just to fight some supervillain's pawn of the day."
"Yeah..." He heaved a sigh.
The two rested in the quiet of the night for a few moments, finishing their protein bars. The cool October breeze whistled past, and the girl shivered.
"I wish I'd brought a coat," she murmured to herself with a quiet sigh.
"You didn't come out here in just pajamas, did you?"
"I had no choice. I had no time to grab a jacket."
The boy frowned for a moment, before closing his eyes. "Fair enough, I guess."
Time was going by way too fast for them. It seemed like only yesterday that he awakened the Cat for the first time, yet here they were, knee-deep in the world of the Butterfly and unable to claw their way out. Hawkmoth himself seemed more and more eager to catch them off-guard by the week, and had only just begun to extend battles into the night. The idea that he might have his guesses as to who - or at least how old - they were was almost enough to paralyze the girl with fear, but they had their advantages. At least he didn't know where they lived yet.
Marinette thought she might just go into hiding should he start targeting her parents.
A yawn escaped her then, and it seemed to catch the attention of her companion. "Should we call it a night?"
"I guess so, I have school in the morning." Shaking off the residual drowsiness that clung to her, she looked around. "Tikki, Spots On."
In an instant the Kwami zipped back over, entering the earrings with little fanfare. A burst of crackling green and black energy behind the chimney signaled that Cat had transformed as well.
The teenage heroes stood from the rooftop and exchanged glances. Ladybug forced a smile at the blond, and he nodded back in turn.
"Try and get some sleep," he said. "We'll need all of our energy for the future. I hear Jagged Stone is coming back to town this week, and he's bound to attract trouble."
"Oh yeah, I think I did hear about that." She'd heard at least a snippet of it in her texts to the group chat, anyway. Juleka had mentioned Luka was excited about the star coming to their city. "Hopefully we don't meet up tomorrow?"
That earned her a chuckle. "Hopefully."