Geek Fashionista

Ok I got two Marichat requests and a specific prompt involving chocolate from a friend so kiddies, avert your eyes.

~*~

“It’s so hooooot.” Marinette whined loud enough for the neighbors and any pedestrians on street level to hear. Beside her, Chat Noir made a miserable noise of assent. “Look at this. It’s ten o’clock at night and my chocolate’s melting.” She popped the rest of her chocolate bar into her mouth to keep from losing any more of it to the weather.

“Why are we eating chocolate at ten o’clock again?” Chat Noir asked. He took her hand and studied her chocolate-covered fingers.

“Because it’s summer vacation and we’re young and indestructible.”

“I doubt that last part,” he said before taking a swipe at Marinette’s index finger with his tongue.

“Chat!” she cried.

His tongue flattened against the pad of her finger for a better taste, and she completely lost her train of thought. “Hmm?”

If she’d been hot before, she was even hotter now. But she followed his tongue with her eyes, from one finger to another, until all five were clean and he had nothing else to lick but his own lips. “Was that really necessary?” she asked.

Chat Noir grinned at her. “Can’t let good chocolate go to waste.”

“What if I’d spilled some on my chest or something?”

“Well.” He gently pushed her down onto the lawn chair and lowered his head. “Then I’d have had to do this…”

“Chat Noir!”

He froze with his tongue poking out of his mouth and blinked at her.

Marinette hid her flushed face behind her hands. “…never mind,” she said, and shivered when his answering laugh tickled her bare skin. A moment later, she felt his lips brush her collar, then her neck. He moved her hands away from her face and kissed his way to her lips.

“Sorry, princess, I couldn’t resist. Making you blush has become my new favorite hobby.”

Marinette ran a hand through his hair. “You can make me blush all you want, chaton.” She grabbed a handful of blonde and pulled him towards her mouth. “Just not in public.”

~*~

There were many annoyances, small and large, that the citizens of Paris had to put up with now that they had heroes and villains in their midst. Today’s annoyance was the tiny but real probability that one might get hit by a stray Nerf dart on their evening commute.

“Look out below!” Chat Noir cried, and several people ducked for cover as foam pellets rained down on them. A red, laughing blur indicated Ladybug’s passing.

“Missed me!” she cried as she made a zigzagging path towards the Eiffel Tower. It was almost sunset; her parents would be expecting her home for dinner and anyway, she and Chat Noir had both agreed that his night vision made any sort of game unfair after twilight.

She heard the nearby sound of Nerf gun fire and flipped over in midair, used her yoyo to deflect Chat Noir’s assault, then cast it just in time to keep from landing on Andre’s ice cream cart.

“Ah, Ladybug and Chat Noir! Come by for some ice cream soon!” Andre yelled in their wake.

“Yes sir!” They both yelled back.

Ladybug landed on a roof and grabbed a Nerf gun she’d stashed there earlier. She fired at Chat Noir, who caught two of the darts and threw them straight back at her. Oh, he’s good! she thought as she back-flipped out of range. But if she could just make it to the Eiffel Tower without getting hit, it wouldn’t matter how good Chat Noir was. She’d hidden the mother of all Nerf guns up there. The kitten didn’t stand a chance.

She fired at him until she ran out of darts, then dropped the gun and kept running. So close. She sprang into a tree and launched herself upwards. Foam darts hit the tower’s beams in front of her and stuck to them. Almost there! 

“Gotcha!”

Ladybug gasped as Chat Noir’s hand closed around her ankle and yanked her down. She turned, pinned halfway up the tower between his body and a steel beam. He grabbed the gun he’d tucked into his belt and pressed it against her chin. 

“Any last words, buginette?”

Ladybug, sweaty and out of breath, smiled at him. “Yeah,” she said. She reached behind her, snatched the mother of all Nerf guns from its hiding place, and shot Chat Noir in the stomach three times. “You lose.”

Chat Noir dropped his weapon. He clutched his abdomen, tilted backwards, and let himself fall off the Tower. He disappeared into a tree down below.

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Drama queen,” she muttered. She slid down to his level and jumped from tower to tree. “You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”

Chat Noir spat a leaf out of his mouth. “Nope.” He rubbed his stomach. “But man, three shots at close range? You’re so violent, my Lady.” Then he gave her a slightly disappointed smile. “Guess that means no kiss for me.”

“Now hold on,” Ladybug said. “The terms were ‘winner gets a kiss’ and I am the winner.” She tried not to look directly at him. “So I demand a kiss.”

Chat Noir blinked at her, his lips parted in mute surprise. Ladybug sighed, grabbed him by the bell, and pulled him into a kiss that was bolder than she felt. When she pulled away, Chat Noir continued to stare at her. He pointed at himself. “There are leaves in my hair,” he said.

Ladybug giggled. “Yes there are,” she said, and kissed him again for good measure.

IT’S @qookyquiche BIRTHDAY and she’s asked me to bring the teacher AU back from the dead. *claps hands* PLACES, EVERYONE. *bows off the stage*

~*~

Marinette knew it was a set-up. It couldn’t be anything else. She came to the cafe across campus at the same time every Saturday and the tables were usually vacant. So how was it that this Saturday, the day that Adrien just so happened to show up at the cafe, every single table was occupied by one of their students?

“I guess this place is more popular than I thought,” Adrien said. He stood beside Marinette as they waited for their coffee orders. It was the first word either of them had spoken to each other. “Most of the time when I come in here, it’s…”

“Dead?” Marinette offered.

“Yup.”

Silence.

Lucas Sancoeur, who stood behind the counter in an apron too big for him, gave the espresso machine an offended look, then turned his attention to Marinette and Adrien. “You guys might want to sit down,” he said. “There’s a table over there by the window with a perfect view of the river—oww! What?”

“Milking it,” Manon’s voice hissed from somewhere near the floor.

Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette saw Adrien wipe a hand over his face. He gestured towards the only available table. “Shall we?”

She giggled and followed after him. Well, if her students’ overt attempts at matchmaking were going to result in her having coffee with Adrien, how could she possibly complain? 

The place grew suspiciously quiet as they took their seats. Marinette opened her mouth to comment on the nice view, but got distracted by Adrien’s expression. Was it just her, or did he seem hopeful? “I…”

“Excuse me,” Lucas said as he set a vase full of bright pink roses between them. “I, uh, forgot to put these back when I wiped the tables down earlier.”

Adrien and Marinette watched him go, then both of them burst into quiet laughter. “Man, they’re trying really hard, aren’t they?” he asked.

Marinette buried her face in her hands. “I’m so sorry. If we were on school time, I’d lecture them about minding their own business…”

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Adrien said. His smile took on a mischievous quality that reminded Marinette so much of Chat Noir that she almost left to ceremonially cleanse herself. “What do you say we take our coffees to go and enjoy them at the park? It’s a beautiful afternoon.”

Marinette could imagine a dozen adolescent faces pressed against the cafe window, desperate to follow them. “That sounds perfect,” she said.

~*~

“CHAT NOOOOOOIR!”

Chat Noir missed his landing and hit the roof of the Dupain-Cheng bakery stomach first. He slid down the wall gasping for breath, but when his feet touched the balcony he whirled around to face Marinette with what he hoped was a totally smooth smile. “What’s up?” he asked, voice strained.

Marinette sat on the lip of her trapdoor, clearly amused. “Hey, you’re kind of a superhero, right?”

“If I’m not, I probably shouldn’t be running around in a skintight suit using a stick as a helicopter.”

She struck the kind of coy—and slightly provocative—pose he never would have seen as Adrien. “Well, I’m kind of a damsel in distress,” she said. She lifted a hand to her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut. “You see, there’s this big, evil homework assignment that—hey, where are you going?”

“To finish my patrol route.” Chat Noir extended his baton. “I’m on the lookout for people who are actually in danger.”

“I am in danger,” Marinette cried. “In danger of failing this homework assignment.”

Chat Noir stared at her. She stuck out her bottom lip and made her eyes as large as possible. He sighed. How had he gotten wrapped around her little finger again? “Ten minutes, okay?”

Marinette clapped her hands together. “Great! Because I set some croissants aside for you this afternoon and I’d have hated for them to go uneaten.” She dropped down into her room. Chat Noir followed.

“You set them aside… meaning you planned this,” he said.

“Have I ever told you that you’re my favorite superhero of all time? So manly, that thing you do with your claws! And so brave, how you charge into danger to protect Ladybug!” Marinette swooned right into his chest and smiled at him. “Sorry. Went weak at the knees.”

Chat Noir picked her up and hoisted her over his shoulder, snorting at her squawk of surprise. “Yeah, yeah. Show me the homework assignment, purrincess.”

This one’s under a cut because it got too long. ((Reminder that requests are closed and I’m just fulfilling the ones I had!))

~*~

Chat Noir was in trouble.

Today’s akuma victim, dubbed The Idolater, had been blessed with the power to make people fall truly, madly, deeply in love with a designated target. Which would have been fine if the victim had chosen a traffic light or some other inanimate object to make mobs of people worship.

But that would have been too easy.

Chat Noir locked himself into one of Le Grand Paris’s many storage closets in order to catch his breath. He felt around for a light switch. Where the heck was Ladybug, anyway? She usually beat him to the akuma. Maybe she’d gotten stuck in a situation she couldn’t get out of, and at that very moment was making excuses to run off and transform.

He flipped on the lights.

And screamed.

Marinette stood in front of him, hands clasped behind her back, a coy smile on her face. “My, Chat Noir, I had no idea you were so desperate to be alone with me,” she purred. Chat stared at her in complete horror as she took one big step forward and walked two fingers up his chest. “Let’s talk about us.”

“Can we talk about us later?” Chat Noir asked. “I’m kind of busy.”

“Too busy for me?” She wrapped her arms around his neck and it took all of his manners and good breeding not to shove her away. Any other day, in any other circumstance, Chat Noir would have loved to be in this situation. He wasn’t in denial about that anymore. But this lash-fluttering, doe-eyed, disgustingly saccharine Marinette was so out of character that he couldn’t have been attracted to her if he tried.

The love in her eyes was one hundred percent akuma brainwashing.

Chat Noir grabbed her wrists and gently lowered her arms back to her side. “Marinette, you know that I’m almost never too busy for you. This is a special occasion. There’s an akuma on the loose, remember?”

A trace of recognition flickered across her face, then vanished. “What does an akuma have to do with our relationship?”

“At the moment? Everything.”

Marinette grinned. “I know what the problem is,” she said, and poked the bell on his collar. “Don’t worry, chaton, you don’t have to be shy with me.” She flung her arms around his torso and rubbed her cheek against his chest. “I don’t have much kissing experience either. In fact, you want to know a secret?”

“I want to go defeat that akuma and get you back to normal,” Chat whined.

But Marinette didn’t hear him. She leaned up and pressed her lips against the shell of his ear. “You’re the only boy I’ve ever kissed,” she whispered.

Chat Noir’s brain short-circuited. A stupid grin slid onto his face, but then her words caught up with him and he realized they didn’t make any sense. He pried her off him and held her at arm’s length. “We’ve never kissed before,” he said, but when Marinette opened her mouth to speak he pressed his finger against her lips. “Hold that thought. Princess, can you do me a favor?”

The dazzled smile returned. “Anything for you, Chat Noir.”

“Call Alya. Tell her to get in touch with Ladybug, okay?” There was that flicker of recognition again. Chat Noir looked her directly in the eye, hoping his instructions stuck. “I really need Ladybug’s help with this akuma,” he said. Then, with an inward cringe, he leaned closer and dragged his thumb across Marinette’s bottom lip. “And once we’ve taken care of it, I’ll give you a nice reward.”

Marinette shivered. He pulled away from her and yanked the closet door open. “Got it? Great! See you later!”

He tore down the hall without looking back.

~*~

More than an hour later, Chat Noir knocked on Marinette’s bedroom window. The fight had taken longer than he’d wanted it to because, much to Chat’s dismay, Ladybug had also been under the influence of the akuma’s power. Aggressively affectionate Marinette was one thing. Aggressively affectionate Ladybug was a nightmare. Nothing got done until he convinced her he’d be oh-so-impressed if she saved the day.

Marinette opened the window and stood back to let him in. “Hey,” she said, “heard there was an akuma attack today, but seeing as I can’t remember most of it, I’m guessing I got hit?”

“You guess correctly.” Chat Noir jumped over her chaise lounge, but he didn’t sit. “Just wanted to make sure you’re all right.”

“Yeah!” Marinette rubbed the back of her neck. Her cheeks were pink. “So… what did I do?”

Chat Noir blushed, too. “You were kind of madly in love with me. And, uh, very forward.”

She buried her face in her hands. “Oh God. I’m so sorry, chaton. That isn’t… I do have a tendency to go overboard with crushes, but…”

“Don’t worry about it! I know you don’t really feel that way. It was the akuma,” Chat Noir said, trying not to sound disappointed.

Marinette stared at the floor. “Right. The akuma.”

Silence. Chat Noir frowned, stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around Marinette’s shoulders. She flinched, but returned the hug with no shred of reluctance. “What’s this for?” she asked.

“I promised you a reward for getting in touch with Ladybug for me,” Chat Noir said. He pulled back and kissed her forehead while he still had the nerve. “Thank you, Marinette.”

She smiled at him. “You’re welcome, kitty cat.”

Finally taking on @shiloah18‘s request for Adrinette at the arcade because I relax from writing by writing. 

~*~

Adrien was not crushing. 

What did that word even mean? 

Crushing.

It sounded funny. Felt funny when he said it out loud (much to Plagg’s confusion). 

He didn’t have a crush.

He just really wanted to win Marinette that stuffed cat.

Anyway, he thought as he put another round of coins into the claw machine, Marinette was his friend. She liked cats, and that made him happy. Juleka also liked cats, and that made him happy too. He wasn’t trying to win Juleka the stuffed cat because she hadn’t expressed interest in it. Marinette had. Flawless logic: Adrien had it in spades.

“Dude,” Nino said over his shoulder, “how much money have you wasted on that thing?”

Adrien sighed as the claw came up empty again. “I don’t know, a lot.” He fed the machine more coins.

Nino leaned against the side of the machine with a knowing smirk. “You’re crushing harder than Alya and I thought.”

“I’m not crushing,” Adrien said. He guided the claw over the stuffed cat and pressed the release button. “Come on, come on…”

“Sure you aren’t.”

The claw latched onto the stuffed cat and began to rise. Adrien held his breath. The cat separated from the rest of the stuffed animals. The claw jerked to a stop and Adrien almost screamed when it swung from side to side, threatening to drop its precious cargo. Then it moved towards the chute.

“I so need a picture of the look on your face right now,” Nino said.

Adrien motioned for him to be quiet. Any sudden moves could pop the cat out of the claw’s flaccid grip. The claw stopped above the chute and snapped open. The stuffed cat fell in.

“Yes!” Adrien cried. He retrieved the cat and held it like he couldn’t believe it was actually there. How long had he been at it, half an hour? He scanned the room and saw Marinette playing a dance game against Kim, Alix and Alya hurling verbal abuse at them from the sidelines.

Nino came up behind him and put both hands on his shoulders. “It’s show time, dude. Go get her.”

“I’m not—” Adrien started, but he was already on his way over there. What would Chat Noir do in this situation? Drop a hilarious pun. But Marinette always rolled her eyes at Chat Noir’s puns. No puns. No jokes. Just the truth. What was the truth? Hey Marinette, I’ve been trying to win this stuffed animal for you for the past half an hour because I really appreciate you as a friend and as a human being and also your freckles look like constellations and I like constellations a lot.

Adrien froze halfway to the dance machine. Oh boy.

Marinette looked away from the screen. Their eyes met. She tripped over her own feet and pitched to the side. At least Adrien knew what Chat Noir would do in that situation. He ran forward and caught her before she hit the sticky arcade floor. 

“Ha! In your face, Cheng!” Kim shouted.

Marinette never took her eyes off Adrien’s. He stared back at her. They might have blinked once or twice. From the other side of the dance machine, Chloe cleared her throat loudly to indicate her offense and disgust, which propelled Marinette out of Adrien’s arms at last. “Th-Thank you catch forming me,” she said. “I mean, catch for thanking me. I mean—”

“I know what you mean,” Adrien said. I like your constellation freckles. They go well with the galaxy that is your face. “Umm.” He held up the doll. “You wanted this.”

Marinette nodded.

“It’s for you,” he amended.

She looked from the doll to him. “Huh?”

“Oh my God, you two are so boring I can’t even stand to look at you,” Chloe yelled before grabbing Sabrina and marching away.

Adrien thanked the arcade for the dim lighting; he could feel the blush sweep through his entire body. “You wanted the doll, so I got it for you,” he said. The way Alya smiled at him made him want to crawl into a hole and die. In the distance, Nino had collapsed against the claw machine, laughing his ass off.

Marinette looked at the doll again. She took it with both hands, cradling it against her chest. “Thank you,” she said. “I love it.”

Your eyes are like suns, the Chat Noir in him replied. “Good. Great. I’ll, uh…” He waved in Nino’s general direction. “Yeah.” Then he turned tail and walked back to his best friend as fast as he could. “Shit, shit, shit. I have a crush on her.”

“Haha, yeah you do.”

Adrien sat in the back of his private car, jiggling his leg. On his lap rested a parcel wrapped in pink, tied off with plain brown string. He let out a miserable sigh and knocked his head against the headrest. The Gorilla sent him a pitying glance through the rear view mirror. 

Today was the day. The day. Marinette’s birthday. For weeks he’d agonized over what to get her. He’d begged Nino for help, casually asked Alya for a hint, Googled “what to get a girl for her birthday” at least ten times, and had even resorted to asking Plagg for suggestions (“Camembert,” he’d replied).

The gift couldn’t be too expensive because that would give Adrien’s crush away. It couldn’t be too impersonal, either; anyone could get her an impersonal gift. He was hopeless at crafts so handmade was out of the question. In the end he’d asked himself what he knew about Marinette’s likes and came up with a list: fashion, the color pink, Jagged Stone, and Chat Noir.

Then he’d entertained stupid thoughts about showing up on her balcony and serenading her. Right. Like he’d be able to get more than two words out around her, even in costume. So he had settled for something both simple and personal: a Chat Noir phone charm. As far as he knew, she didn’t have one.

The Gorilla cleared his throat and Adrien sat up, scanning the front of the school. There. Marinette jogged up the steps to where Alya stood waiting for her. The girls embraced, Alya swinging Marinette back and forth a few times before letting her go. Adrien took a deep breath. It was now or never.

He got out of the car and started towards her, the wrapped parcel held behind his back. Marinette laughed at something Alya said. Gosh, she was adorable when she laughed. Her crinkling eyes, the cute little freckles on her nose, the way she showed all her teeth, her shaking shoulders. And that giggle! She could make the whole world laugh with—

Adrien tripped over one of the stairs. He yelped, but caught himself before he fell, and straightened sharply. 

Marinette and Alya stared at him. “Are you okay?” Marinette asked.

His fingers tightened around the parcel. “F-Fine. I’m—yes. I forgot there was another stair, umm, right there.”

Alya arched an eyebrow. Marinette’s smile widened. “Happens to everyone,” she said, then turned back to resume her conversation.

Adrien hurried past them and into the school. Nino stood just inside the front doors, shaking his head. “Dude, really?”

Adrien sighed. “She was laughing. Can you blame me for getting distracted?”

“I can.” Nino slung an arm over his shoulders. “The bright side is you have a whole school day’s worth of chances. As long as you don’t mess them all up, you’re good.”

Unfortunately, a girl in one of the lower years got akumatized during the lunch break, resulting in classes being dismissed for the rest of the afternoon.

~

Ladybug noticed Chat Noir was significantly less perky that night. He lay on his back with one leg swinging over the side of the Eiffel Tower, a hand on his stomach, ears drooping. They’d taken down an akuma in the afternoon—which had thrown a damper on an otherwise great birthday—but that couldn’t be the source of his mood. She poked his leg. “You okay?”

Chat sighed. “I guess.” He didn’t look at her. “Just wishing I wasn’t such a coward.”

“What are you talking about, chaton? You’re the bravest person I know.” She blushed beneath her mask. Well, it was true…

“In costume, maybe. In my civilian life? Not so much.” He gestured down the length of his body. “Despite the incredible package, I’m not as purrfect as you might think.”

Ladybug’s face reddened even further. She hadn’t been thinking about his package. No sir. Not her. She swung her legs back and forth, worrying at her bottom lip. She wanted to tell him it was her birthday. Why did they have to put that on the list of things they couldn’t know about each other?

Chat sat up. “Anyway, Paris is quiet tonight. I think I’ll go home and drown my sorrows in video games.”

“Oh. You’re leaving already?” He helped her to her feet and she held onto his forearm. “But not without a hug, right? Mopey cats need hugs. It’s scientific fact.”

Chat Noir managed a smile. “Sure,” he said, holding his arms open. Ladybug stepped into them and wrapped him up in a tight embrace. Her heart beat wildly. Could he feel it through their suits? Just in case he couldn’t, she pulled away from him before he noticed. “Thanks, buginette. I actually feel a little better.”

“M-Must be the magic,” she said. She watched him vault away from the tower and leaned against the nearest beam, holding both hands over her heart.

She’d gotten exactly what she wanted for her birthday.

“Yes, but I don’t get why we’re here,” Adrien said as he picked up an elaborate theatre mask. Nino took it from him and held it over his face.

“We’re here because you’ve never been, and that’s reason enough, my friend,” he said. “I have a whole bucket list of places in Paris your dad probably never let you go.”

Adrien stepped further into the mask shop. Feathers, sequins, and glitter decorated leering faces that stared at him with vacant eyes as he passed. A shudder ran through him. Did it have to be so dark in there?

He bumped into someone. “Ah!” He turned around. “I’m so sorry, I thought you were—Ladybug?”

Gaping at him from behind a gilded eye mask was his Lady. In civilian clothes. A baby blue raincoat and pink boots. Her mouth fell open. Adrien’s heart nearly escaped his chest. “Y-You…” Civilian clothes. “You’re out of costume!”

“Marinette? Where’d you go?” Alya rounded the corner. Adrien panicked, grabbed Ladybug by the shoulders, and pulled her into his arms, ready to shield her with his body so she could escape unnoticed, but it was too late. Alya spotted them. “Oh, there you… are? Hi, Adrien. Did I interrupt something?”

Adrien blinked at Alya. His gaze lowered to the trembling girl in his embrace. The girl who was apparently Marinette. Not Ladybug. 

His hands opened as if someone had pressed a release button. She stepped away from him. Eyes on the floor. Fingers wrapped tightly around her purse strap.

Definitely Ladybug.

She pulled the mask off her pale, horror-stricken face.

Definitely Marinette.

And Adrien had to resist every urge to pull her back into his arms and help her escape the store, away from the staring masks, away from Alya, away from him.

Art trade with @yunyin! Her request: a funny/awkward reveal where the kids come up with a code word/phrase in case they can’t transform and need to convince the other of their identity. And what’s funnier/more awkward than Ladrien?

~*~

It wasn’t until the akuma trapped Adrien and Ladybug in the elevator together that Adrien remembered two things: one, his ring was back at the studio on the fifth floor, and two, he wore pants made entirely out of faux fur, and nothing else.

“Th-Th-That’s an, umm, interesting outfit…”

Ladybug sat in the farthest corner of the elevator from Adrien, his abominable snow pants, and his naked torso. Adrien gave her a glum look. She was probably trying to make the best of what would have been an ideal situation had there not been an akuma on the loose. In fact, being trapped in an elevator with Ladybug was near the top of Adrien’s list of ideal situations. But again, the akuma. His lack of a ring.

“Sorry,” Ladybug said, “I’m sure Chat Noir will be here to rescue us soon.” Doubt crept into her voice; she stared at her open yo-yo, no doubt wondering where the heck he was.

Adrien ran a hand through his hair. This was not how he’d wanted to reveal himself to her, but at the current rate the only thing that would get them out of the elevator was a Lucky Charm, and she wouldn’t use one as long as she thought Chat Noir was coming. Thankfully, they’d prepared a code phrase for a situation like this.

“I have a plan,” he said. “But you have to be the one break us out of here”—he swallowed—“because Chat Noir has a midnight rendezvous with the arctic foxes.”

Ladybug stared at him, dead silent. Adrien’s eyes darted from the wall to her to the control panel, then back to her, then to the elevator ceiling. She remained silent for an uncomfortably long time. Adrien sighed. “Listen, buginette—”

Ladybug screamed.

Adrien flailed backwards and hit the wall. Ladybug’s scream died almost as soon as it started. She scrambled to her feet, hyperventilating, and looked around like a trapped animal. All Adrien could do was stare at her. This was her reaction to finding out his identity? Did she have an irrational fear of models or something?

“You…” She gasped. “You!”

Adrien flew into panic mode. “What about me?!”

“But—” She held a hand to her head. “That doesn’t make… actually, it might make sense, come to think of it.” Then her eyes widened and she stared at him, horrified. “Oh my God.”

Adrien’s gaze lowered to the floor, along with his self-esteem. “Ladybug… do you dislike me that much?”

“I kissed you.”

The words took a moment to sink in. He blinked. “You what?”

She seemed to be recovering now, if only a little. “Never mind, we need to get out of this elevator. You need to get your ring—”

“When did you kiss me?!”

“—and then I’m going to kick the akuma’s ass, Hawkmoth’s ass, and maybe my own ass while I’m at it. Lucky Charm!” 

One magically provided blowtorch later, Adrien held onto Ladybug’s waist as her yo-yo reeled them up the elevator shaft. He tried not to think about the proximity of his half-naked body to her skintight suit. He tried not to think about how dead he’d be if he fell from that height. Thank goodness for fear, otherwise he might have had another awkward situation to explain to his Lady. “So,” he said, “guess the cat’s out of the bag, eh?”

“Don’t start,” Ladybug snapped. “And what the heck are you wearing?”

“I’m not entirely sure.”

“You look ridiculous.”

“I’m aware of that.” 

They arrived at the fifth floor elevator doors and, using their combined strength, pried them apart and made it out into the hallway. Ladybug retracted her yo-yo. Adrien reluctantly let go of her. They stared at each other for a long moment, Adrien’s face the picture of sorrow, Ladybug’s somewhere between stubbornness and horror. He took a step back. “I’ll meet you out there, then?”

“I don’t dislike you,” Ladybug said. She fiddled with one of her pigtails. “It’s kind of the opposite.” Around her mask, her face was bright red. “I-I’m a fan,” she admitted, with what sounded like tremendous effort.

A slow smile spread across Adrien’s face. She was a fan. His heart performed several athletic feats in his chest. He leaned closer to her. “Oh really?” he purred.

Ladybug, in typical Ladybug fashion, gently pushed him away. “Don’t you dare try to seduce me while you’re wearing whatever the heck that’s supposed to be!”

“What?” Adrien wiggled his hips in her direction. “You don’t find this attractive?”

Ladybug hid her face behind her hands. “Stop!” she shrieked. “We have a job to do!” 

Adrien laughed out loud, ridiculously relieved that Ladybug did not hate him. He grinned at her, unable to contain his happiness. “You go downstairs and distract the akuma. I’ll join you in a minute,” he said. He ran back in the direction of the studio. A moment later, he heard his Lady’s voice from across the hall.

“Looking forward to it, minou!”

He may or may not have floated the rest of the way.

It’s 2:45AM and I want to write Ladrien. These moods are too rare to pass up.

~*~

Adrien Agreste stood in a nondescript alley, holding an umbrella. Fat snowflakes wafted from a darkened sky. City lights spread across the thick cloud cover to offer its citizens an extended dusk. The bitter cold seeped through Adrien’s gloves, his black wool overcoat, the blue scarf twined around his neck, and the turtleneck underneath. But he stayed rooted to the spot, moving only to keep warm.

Footsteps overhead. Right on schedule. He tilted the umbrella back and saw her land on the roof of the building in front of him. “Ladybug!”

She gasped. Her arms windmilled as she leaned backwards, then bent forward, then finally caught her balance. Her head whipped around, blue eyes wide. Adrien lifted a hand in greeting.

Ladybug hopped down from the roof and landed in front of him, her earnest smile instantly replenishing his dwindling supply of warmth. Adrien wondered if she realized how transparent she was when she looked at him. Unguarded happiness. An almost childlike glee. And in the same breath he felt a pang in his chest, because she never looked at Chat Noir that way.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Just taking a walk to enjoy the snow,” he lied. He was there because he—or rather, Chat—knew Ladybug’s patrol route like the back of his glove. When it started to snow, he’d worried. Would she be out there in nothing but her suit because both her Ladybug sense of duty and her stubbornness would keep her from going home for a jacket? Yes. Absolutely yes. God, he wished she’d take better care of herself. “Are you cold?” he asked even though he knew the answer.

“Freezing,” Ladybug said. She rubbed her hands together and stamped her feet. Her lower jaw trembled.

Adrien unwound the scarf from his neck. “Well then aren’t you lucky you ran into me?” He draped it over her head and shoulders like a cowl, taking care to tuck it into place. Even in the dim glow of a streetlamp he could see the adoration in her large blue eyes. He wanted to drown in it. “Come here,” he said.

Wordlessly, she stepped forward. Her arms slipped around his torso, hands coming to rest on his back as she pressed her face into the front of his turtleneck. Adrien’s heart ached with each little shiver that ran through his Lady’s body. He buried his nose in the scarf covering her hair, pulled her closer, and entertained silly thoughts about how his strong, brave Ladybug was just a normal girl underneath the mask. A girl who yearned to be warmed up by a boy on a cold winter’s night.

“You smell like chai tea,” she mumbled.

Adrien smiled. “Tis the season.”

Ladybug shook her head back and forth. “Too strong,” she said. “It’s like drinking liquefied Christmas.” 

She leaned back and frowned at him. Adrien pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. Her eyelids drooped in an almost sleepy way. He pulled the scarf up over her mouth and kissed the faint outline of her lips, because she still wouldn’t let him claim them otherwise.

“I have to go,” she murmured as she touched her forehead to his.

“Aww, but you just got here,” Adrien said.

She smiled, removed his scarf, and lightly fingered the fabric before she wrapped it around his neck. “I’ll come visit you this weekend. You can warm me up all you want then.” He opened his mouth. “Within reason.” He closed it. She reached out and stroked his cheek with her thumb. “Thank you.”

Adrien caught her hand and kissed her fingers before letting it go. “Stay warm,” he said. She turned and cast her yo-yo, climbed up the alley wall, and vanished over the edge of the building. Adrien gazed longingly at the vacant roof. “I love you,” he whispered.