Chapter Text
~.*~*~*.~
Her
~.*~*~*.~
He’d been hit.
Ladybug was sure of it.
So when the yellow light of the akuma’s attack faded and Chat Noir’s arm went lax around her back, she instinctively jerked out of his grip and flung out her yo-yo, spinning it between them.
His bright cat eyes blinked in surprise and his claws continued to sparkle high above his head with an activated cataclysm he had yet to use. For a split second they both stood there, waiting. And when nothing happened, Chat Noir let out a grunt of surprise before whipping around, ready to attack the akuma that had hit him in the back.
Instead his hand went limp by his side.
“Did she just make like a tree and leaf?”
A groan came up from the pit of Ladybug’s stomach as she retracted her yo-yo.
“Sorry,” Chat said, mouth stretched into a grin. “You know I can’t resist the classics.”
Not even twenty minutes ago, they had arrived at the Eiffel Tower after the news had shown a woman with green skin dangling from the metal beams by a tangle of vines. Trees had sprung up around the base, growing so quickly that they were already half the size of the monument by the time they got there.
The akuma didn’t even tell them her name.
She just waited, twisting in her swing of vines, mumbling some barely coherent monologue about land and her home and those terrible city-folk who had set up a giant inflatable cushion in case she fell.
“I’m gonna call her Treehugger,” Chat had said, tail flicking in amusement.
Ladybug frowned. “How much do you want to bet she makes the trees hug us?”
“Aw, didn’t know you were such a sap, bugaboo.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, making his mask jump up and down on his forehead.
“I wish I had a squirt bottle right now.”
The akuma didn’t make a move until they had gone in for the obvious akumatized object: a bullhorn made of wood and flowers. Her first strike had wiped out an entire portion of the city and replaced it with trees, leaving the people hiding out in buildings wandering through foliage, completely exposed.
After nearly half of the city was gone and Ladybug had summoned a lucky charm of hedge-trimmers (“That’s oddly straightforward,” Chat Noir had said. “Guess it’s time to cut to the chase?”), the akuma gave up on the city and aimed for her.
Just as Ladybug wondered if she’d turn into a tree, her ridiculous self-sacrificing partner had thrown himself around her, taking the blow.
Except he was fine and the akuma was gone.
Ladybug took a step forward, pushing Chat Noir’s arm into the air so she didn’t accidently brush by his sparkling cataclysm, and took in the view.
Beyond the roads and buildings adjacent to the Eiffel Tower there was nothing but green.
“I think the whole city made like a tree, Chat.”
He stepped up beside her. “Where did everyone go?”
“Good question.” She turned and picked her polka-dotted hedge-trimmers off the pavement and a cold wind blew from the forest, chilling the exposed skin on her cheeks. “I’m sure the akuma is out there somewhere. Keep your guard up.”
"I never put it down.” Chat Noir stretched his arms, bouncing his cataclysmic claw over his head way too carefree for her liking.
“Please don’t cataclysm yourself.”
His bottom lip jutted out, offended, and just as he opened his mouth to speak, Ladybug’s earrings gave a beep.
“Great,” she groaned. “We better find her and fast. Hold this, will you?”
She tucked the hedge trimmers into his belt and ignored the flood of pink that rushed beneath his mask. He didn’t comment, though. Just looked away bashfully and searched the horizon to hunt for the akuma. She was glad to see him stay on task for once, but at the same time a pang slammed into her heart, stilling it for a moment.
Shooting out her yo-yo, she took off, swinging up the Eiffel tower, with Chat Noir catapulting on her heels.
She was breathless when they made it to the top.
Chat Noir leaned on his staff, one hand still hoisted carefully in the air. “I’m gonna go out a limb (“Ugh, seriously?”) here and guess we aren’t in Paris anymore, LB.”
Everything was gone, the entire cityscape had been obliterated, leaving them in a valley of trees. Blue mountains, peaks dressed in snow, stretched tall in the distance and at their foot lay an array of vineyards, miles wide with no civilization in sight.
Chat Noir’s ring beeped, causing him to wiggle his cataclysmic fingers in irritation.
“Where is she?” Ladybug murmured.
“I think Mademoiselle Treehugger gave us a one-way ticket to the boonies.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. She was just turning the city into a forest, not teleporting people. Plus, why would she get rid of us? Isn’t the whole point to ‘get their Miraculous!’ ?”
She said the last part in her best Hawkmoth voice, making Chat Noir grin like the Cheshire. She poked his nose. “Not a word.”
Still grinning, he shrugged. “Akumas aren’t always the most obedient.” He let out a snort. “Kinda wish I could see Hawky’s smug face when they go rogue.”
“Honestly, I’m sick of seeing his face,” said Ladybug, eyes still scanning the horizon.
"Might be nice to see the top half. Maybe if we knew who he was, we could track him down.” Chat Noir’s sparkling claws seemed to dance through the air, itching to touch something. “He has been a lot less careful lately. Helps having a partner, I guess.”
A sinking feeling spread through Ladybug’s chest. There was something about the way his voice went low that got to her and she wondered whether it had something to do with Hawkmoth or her.
“I guess it's better he stops lurking in the shadows,” she said. “I just want this over with.”
Silence spread between the two of them as they hunted for the akuma. Another chime from their miraculous broke it.
“Well, we have the advantage of higher ground here, but I’m starting to think we need to take the offensive before we transform back,” said Chat Noir.
Ladybug gave a nod and he took off without another word, scrambling down the metal with all the agility of his namesake.
She flung her yo-yo into a tree and searched.
About ten minutes later, she heard rustling through the leaves and whipped around to see Chat Noir emerge from the greenery.
“Anything?” she asked.
He shook his head, cat ears drooping and cataclysm still sparkling uselessly on his fingers. “Nothing.”
“Your hand is making me nervous,” Ladybug said, nodding her head toward the power radiating by his side.
“Oh. Guess it’s gonna just run out in a minute anyway.” With absurd theatrics, he pressed a single claw against a rotten log and it crumpled to dust. His ring beeped again. “I’m gonna find somewhere to transform and refuel.”
“I don’t get it,” Ladybug said while he dodged behind a bush. Her earrings gave a beep and she slipped behind a tree, eyes darting to make sure the akuma wasn’t about to pop up while she was exposed. “It’s too quiet. Shouldn’t the akuma have followed us here?”
“Beats me,” he called back. There was a short lull before he let out a giddy chuckle. "I'm stumped."
Ladybug let out a snort of appreciation.
"Oh, like that one?" Chat Noir sounded absolutely beside himself. "Is the bug finally branching out?"
"Stop while you're ahead, Kitty."
She could hear his magic release and then Plagg’s distinct voice chimed in, mouth already full of cheese.
“Ah, finally! A vacation!"
“That was my only piece of camembert, Plagg,” said the boy that was Chat Noir just as Ladybug’s transformation fell away.
“This is a disaster!” shrieked the cat kwami, flying out into Marinette’s peripheral vision. He buzzed into her arms, practically barrelling over Tikki. “Please tell me you have more sense than that blonde airhead, Ma-URP!”
“Plagg, stop being ridiculous,” Tikki snapped.
“This is an emergency!”
“I have a sleeve of cookies in my bag,” said Marinette, pulling them out. She handed them each one.
Plagg looked ready to weep, but his voice came out snark anyway. “I suppose I have to thank your ridiculous sweet tooth for that, Sugarcube. Oh well, better than nothing.” He stretched out his little arms and accepted, darting back out of her vision to where Chat Noir was waiting.
“You could say thank you,” said Chat Noir.
“For this disgusting stuff?”
“At least your boy has some manners,” Tikki chirped, licking icing from her little mouth.
Marinette smiled at their banter, but it immediately faded. “I’m worried about what’s happening in Paris,” she said. “If the akuma really transported us somewhere, she could be turning the entire city into a forest right now.”
“Maybe she did already,” Chat Noir mused. “Maybe we got frozen in time and this is the future.”
“There’s no mountains in Paris.”
“Waaay into the future.”
“If we went that far the Eiffel Tower would’ve disintegrated.”
“You’ve got me, LB.” He gave a long sigh. “So, now what?”
Marinette looked over her sleeve of cookies. “Now we only get a few chances to get this right.”
She heard Chat Noir's soft chuckle and felt a little spark of warmth flutter through her chest.
“You always know just what to say.”
“Oh Chat,” Marinette said with a chuckle of her own. “If only you knew me.”
~.*~*~*.~
Him
~.*~*~*.~
Those words echoed in his skull for hours.
Because they were stuck in the middle of nowhere for hours. With no akuma in sight.
“It’s getting dark,” Ladybug groaned beside him. “My parents are going to kill me.”
The treetops burned with the sun, but everything beneath their canopy was coated with dusk. Crickets had begun to chirp and once in a while they could hear the soft call of an owl.
They were in costume again. After they’d tried their cell phones (no service) they had transformed back, but their weapons were just as useless. Apparently magic technology was just as reliant on good ol’ fashion civilization as smartphones.
The two had stopped swinging and catapulting some time ago, when it was clear they were wasting energy. At least he was. Chat Noir swore he could feel the cheese disappearing from Plagg’s stomach.
Ladybug seemed magnificent as always, swinging nearly effortlessly from tree to tree, but the nature of his catapults meant he mostly had to keep dodging them. When his shoulder slammed into a trunk for the seventh time (“ow, my lucky number!”) she suggested they take the rest of their hike on foot.
“I’ll probably be grounded for a month. At least,” Chat Noir said, already mourning the loss of friends and what little privileges he was allowed. “How long do you think we can hold our transformations without using our powers?”
“What’s our record for patrol?”
“Three hours maybe?”
Ladybug whipped out her yo-yo and opened it to check the clock. “Broke that already.”
Wind whipped through the trees, bitter cold and the only other sound Chat Noir could hear besides snapping branches and wildlife was Ladybug’s stomach.
“Ugh,” she moaned. “I picked the wrong day to skip breakfast.”
“Cookies?”
“They’re for the kwamis. We need to reserve as much as possible so we don’t get caught out of costume.”
Guilt settled in his empty gut. “I’m sorry. I was running between pho—activities today. I think I left my bag with the camembert at one. Not that you’d want stinky cheese.”
“I might even take the stinky cheese right now,” Ladybug moaned, then catching the way his cat ears drooped she gave him a nudge in the side with her elbow. “It’s okay, Kitty-cat.”
“I should’ve been more prepared.”
“I should’ve woken up on time for once and eaten breakfast.”
He gave her a pained smile. “Hunger does not look good on you, bugaboo.”
“Sympathy looks worse on you,” she said, flicking his ear.
His smile went more genuine until she shivered. “You cold?”
“Only where the suit isn’t.” She rubbed her nose and sniffled. “I’m going to start snotting in a minute. Super attractive.”
Chat Noir bit his tongue so he wouldn’t comment. “If I detransformed I could give you my jacket,” he teased instead.
Her eyes slid sideways, taking him in, and for a second his heart stopped.
“You have one tiny enough for my nose?” she asked.
A grin spread across his lips. “With little sleeves for each of your nostrils.” His cold cheeks warmed when she laughed and his smile grew bigger. “So as not to block the flow.”
Her smile grew as wide as his own. “For the air or the boogers?”
They both broke into childish giggles that echoed in the silence of the forest. When it finally drew to a stop, Chat Noir’s tail flicked behind him, still amused.
A comfortable silence fell between them even though the unspoken dread was there. He could feel it bouncing around them and neither of them needed to mention it. The strange behavior of the akuma had them both on edge. It seemed like she would jump from the bushes any moment to seize their miraculous. The entire time he’d been out of costume, he was wondering if she watching from the shadows.
He knew Ladybug was thinking the same thing. Her eyes were always searching and her fingers never ceased their grip on her yo-yo.
How could he read her so well when he didn’t even know her?
How could she think he didn’t?
His tail automatically drooped to match his cat ears.
“Uh-oh,” Ladybug said.
The tail and ears instantly shot up. “What?”
“You did the droopy thing.”
“Huh?”
“The sad cat.”
“Oh.” Chat Noir shoved his hands into the suit’s pockets and tried not to slump.
“You look like a kitten that got caught in the rain,” she said.
He raised a brow at her.
“In the bath?”
His cat ears went flat again. “I’m sensing a theme.”
“On the way to the vet? In need of a deworming?”
Chat Noir gave her his best hiss.
“Watch out or I’ll have you declawed.” Her bright smile nearly obliterated her words from before, but the moment he realized he wasn’t thinking about them, of course, made him think about them.
“Do you really think I don’t know you?” he asked.
Ladybug instantly sobered. “What?”
“You said, ‘If only you knew me.’”
“Oh,” she said. “You know, the real me.”
His claws gestured up and down her body. "This is the fake you?"
Ladybug rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t.” Chat Noir’s belt tail flicked in agitation and he saw her eyes flicker toward it. He never had to hide how he felt when he was in costume. The suit didn’t let him even if he wanted to. “I’m more me when I’m with you than when I’m just me.”
She gave him a little smile before turning back to the wind in the trees. “What does that even mean?”
“It means exactly what I said. I’m more me when I’m around you. More than I ever am with anyone else.”
She looked at him again, her bluebell eyes taking him in, searching until he was sure he was drowning. She seemed to have a million questions and he knew she wouldn’t ask them.
“What about Plagg?”
Chat Noir snorted and then, upon thinking about his kwami he gave a little sideways smile. “Okay, if you don’t count Plagg.”
“So you’re saying the real you is the fake you?” asked Ladybug, gaze flickering away to somewhere more distant.
“Not exactly. Just that the real me doesn’t get the liberty of being the real me.”
“So when you're not Chat Noir you're different. You’re saying exactly the same thing I did. Just backwards."
"Well it's not like I'm a completely different person."
Ladybug gave a little hum at that.
Chat Noir stopped walking just as she ducked under a low lying branch. It only took her a second to turn around to find him with his fists clenched, cat claws digging into his palms.
"I know you,” he said, looking her straight in the eye. “I know the exact moment you’ve come up with a plan. I can tell what you need me to do with just a look.”
“I know, but that’s—”
“I know when you’re seriously sick of the puns and when you give me a hard time just for the fun of it. I can tell when you’re happy or angry or sad, even when you try to hide it.”
“Chat Noir.”
“I know that some days you wish you didn’t have to be Ladybug anymore,” he murmured.
“I…”
“I know Master Fu shouldn’t have left you so much to handle on your own.”
She went silent then and, for a moment, he was worried he’d angered her.
“I mean, not that you can’t handle it," he added quickly. "It’s just that you shouldn’t have to. Not alone. I, I hate seeing you have to deal with all these extra responsibilities and I can’t even—”
“I know.” Ladybug smiled then, just this sort of sad little smile, with a hint of appreciation. “I wish I could give you more.”
“Then do it. I can help you, Ladybug.”
“You already do, Kitty.”
“You’re my partner.” My other half, he thought, but didn’t dare say. A sort of sick desperation welled into his throat, making his claws prick his palms again. “Why don’t you trust me?”
She stiffened, but whether it was at his words or at the familiar beep of her earrings, he couldn’t be sure.
“I guess we should find somewhere to detransform,” he muttered when his ring gave its own warning.
Ladybug chewed on her lip and Chat Noir quickly tore his eyes away to walk past her, dread hunching his shoulders. Just as they were side by side her hand snapped down to his, pulling him to a stop.
“Don’t you dare, Chat Noir,” she said, squeezing his fingers with all the strength of a pissed off superheroine.
His voice came back low and hoarse. “Dare what, Ladybug?”
Her fingers wrapped impossibly tighter around his and he actually winced a little.
“Even suggest that I don’t trust you.” And then she was marching ahead, pulling him behind her as if he were a naughty child dragging his feet.
“What are you—?”
She didn’t answer, but she gave him another firm squeeze, making him let out a yelp.
“Okay, I’m sorry!”
But she didn’t relent. Instead, she dragged him along woods and brush, ignoring his apologies. Their miraculous beeped again.
“Ladybug?”
She started to mutter something under her breath, her ever vigilant eyes scanning the forest for the akuma that had yet to appear. The grove of trees thickened around them and just when Chat Noir was sure they’d need to mow down the brush to move any further she whipped around and shoved him square in the chest. It was only then, when his back slammed against a tree, that he realized what she was about to do.
“You don’t have to—”
“Sit!”
He did. Like an obedient puppy he crossed his legs and plopped in a heavily covered thicket created by weeds and downed branches. There was just enough room in the bramble for her to plop beside him, her knee knocking into his with the same sharp anger that was still clear on her mouth.
Her miraculous beeped again.
So did his.
“Ladybug, I didn’t mean—”
“Just shut up and close your eyes,” she said, closing hers first.
So he did. He shut out the world and felt her hand slip through his, more gently this time.
“It’s better this way,” she mumbled, sounding suddenly less sure of what she had done. “We need to stay together.”
He gave a nod even though she couldn’t see it. “Okay,” he mumbled, electricity dancing over his gloved palm.
And then there was silence, just leaves and whispers in the wind until the miraculous let out their final warning.
Adrien could feel the magic seep off his skin until his palm pressed, moist and naked against hers. They sat there for a long moment with nothing but the sound of crickets between them before Plagg broke the silence.
“Where’s my cheese?”
Adrien let out a low groan and he felt the girl that was Ladybug let go of his hand, leaving his sweaty palm cold.
“You are such a killjoy,” scolded Tikki.
“Oh, please, you can admire them anytime you want at sc—”
“Plagg!”
“Stop being hangry,” Ladybug scolded his kwami. Her knee shifted against his and then Adrien felt a touch on the inside of his thigh. Not on a thick magical suit as she hurled him through the air… just a graze of her bare hand on his jeans.
He almost died. So many reasons.
She immediately jerked back. “Sorry,” she squeaked. “I’m trying to find my bag.”
“S’kay,” he breathed.
“I’ll get it,” said Tikki.
Adrien could hear the kwami ruffling through material and then the distinct sound of chewing.
“Not bad,” piped Plagg. “Could use more cheese.”
“Okay, okay,” Adrien groaned, trying to sound normal even though his heart was racing. He could feel Ladybug pressed against his side and it made his whole body go hot despite the chill of the wind.
“Only two more cookies,” Tikki said, sounding very sorry.
“Okay,” said Ladybug. Adrien could hear the pitter-patter of leaves beneath her tapping foot. “We need to be smart about this.”
“Smart would have been remembering the cheese.”
“I said I was sorry,” snapped Adrien, trying to direct angry brows in the general direction of his kwami.
“I think it might be a good idea to keep our powers in reserve for now,” said Tikki. “You two aren’t strong enough to hold your transformations without some rest.”
“We’re going to have to sleep here, aren’t we?” asked Ladybug with a pitiful whine.
“At least for a little while.”
As if on cue, the wind seemed to pick up and, even through the dense thicket, Adrien could feel its icy chill. Ladybug shifted again, tense beside him and he began to thread his arms from his sleeves. His elbow knocked into the foliage, pushing him sideways until he was pressed tight against her. He was glad her eyes were closed so she couldn’t see him blush.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He shuffled his left arm behind her back once his right was free. She felt smaller without her suit. More delicate with cotton and fabric instead of magic on her skin.
“Giving you my jacket,” he muttered.
“Oh,” she said when he threw it in her direction so he didn’t have to keep touching her. “Thank you.” He could feel her moving beside him and then suddenly she let out a little laugh. “You wear Gabriel?”
Adrien instantly went red. “I thought you weren’t looking.”
“My head is under a jacket. Which you clearly spent some money on.”
“It was a gift.”
“I didn’t peg you for a fashionista, Chat Noir.”
A smile stretched over Adrien’s lips. “Are you trying to say I’m unfashionable, LB?”
Ladybug’s elbow grazed his ribs as she thread his jacket onto her arms. It made him go warm all over again, even though he had nothing on beneath but a white tee with his father's logo on the pocket.
“I’ll have you know I’ve been told I can pull off a pretty mean cat walk,” he said.
He could feel the vibration of her groan on his arm. He let out a laugh and he swore he could feel the heat in it, creating a cloud in the crisp air. If he opened his eyes he was sure he’d see waves of steam slipping from his skin into the night.
“I can picture it now,” she sang with a laugh dancing in her throat.
“That funny, huh?” Adrien asked, feeling both offended and exposed. If only she knew how close she was.
She giggled. “I'm just imagining you moonwalking down the runway.”
“Please, he’d be a disaster,” said Plagg, sounding far too amused. “My boy doesn’t have a fashionable bone in his body.”
“Plagg.”
“Oh, be honest, you’re hopeless. I’m surprised you can tell your shirt from your pants.”
Ladybug gave a little snort beside him.
“Very funny, Plagg,” Adrien grumbled.
“I think it might be best if you two camped here for the night,” Tikki interjected, steering them back on course. “I can gather some kindling for a fire to keep you warm.”
“I’ll help,” said Adrien, shifting forward until he felt Ladybug’s hand on his chest, holding him back. He wondered if she could feel his heart hammering through it.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said quietly.
“Don’t worry, Ladybug.” Looking straight ahead, he opened his eyes to take in the forest, darkened by the setting sun.
If he just turned around he would see her: her blue eyes bright against her skin, the full shape of her nose, whether or not she had more freckles to match the ones that peeked from beneath her mask.
“I won’t look,” he whispered.
“I know,” she said. “I trust you, Chat Noir.”
Her words hit his back, little warm puffs seeping into his shoulder blades and behind his ribs where they squeezed and wouldn’t let go.
Whatever her other protest was, it seemed to disappear at that and he felt her touch his back, pushing him along. “Just don’t go too far.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him, buganette.”
“Plagg,” growled Ladybug and Tikki all at once.
Plagg laughed and fluttered onto Adrien’s shoulder, giving his ear a tap. “Don’t worry about this one, Sugarcube. He’s as dense as they come.”
Adrien swatted at him like a fly. “Hey.”
“Plagg!” the girls yelled again.
The cat kwami giggled to himself the entire time they were gathering firewood, a never ceasing chuckle in Adrien’s ear. And even though the wind whipped against his bare arms, Adrien never did feel cold, still warmed by her words and the memory of her hand around his, skin to skin.
They returned to the thicket just as the sun had set and the real chill of night had settled in.
“We’re back,” he warned, shutting his eyes. He could hear rustling in the leaves, like the sound of hopping. “What are you doing?”
“Jumping jacks,” panted Ladybug. “Trying to stay warm.”
He felt himself smirk at the girl in his imagination, working out alone in the woods, wearing red. “Is it working?”
“Not at all.”
Adrien stumbled forward with arms full of firewood to add to the pile Ladybug had already collected, knocking into a few trees on his way. Keeping their eyes closed was ridiculously inconvenient.
By some weird kwami magic, Tikki got a flame going in their makeshift fire pit. They huddled around it and it was only then that Adrien finally noticed how cold it had become. He could see flames dancing through his closed eyelids and it was hard not to feel vulnerable like this, blind in the dark with no magic suit to protect him. He shuddered a little at the thought of the akuma showing up now, even though he knew Plagg and Tikki were on watch, ready to transform them in a moment’s notice.
“I wonder what’s happening in Paris right now,” Ladybug said.
Adrien could hear the chatter in her teeth and he had to resist the urge to wrap around her to keep her warm. She loved someone else, she’d told him more times than he could count now. He needed to be her partner, not her boyfriend.
“Nothing good,” he said. “On a better note, can you imagine how pissed Hawkmoth is that his akuma sent us to the middle of nowhere?"
"That is a better note." She let out a loud involuntary brrrrr and when she was only met by his silence, she asked, “Aren’t you cold?”
“Only a little. You should move closer to the fire.”
“I’m pretty sure I’d need to sit in it to get warm enough,” she complained.
The woods around them seemed to come to life in the lack of his response. The soft sound of the owl had grown louder and the wind cracked at branches and limbs. It left Adrien on edge and he heard Ladybug take a little gasp when a branch fell somewhere in the distance after a particularly strong gust.
Then he heard her shifting in the leaves, snapping branches in the thicket.
“Can I just…?” she started and then her hands were on him again, her bare fingers ice cold on the skin of his bicep.
Adrien went rigid as she patted around him blindly, trying to feel her way to God know’s where. She settled on curling her hands into his shirt. Her shoulder pressed into his chest and her pigtails tickled his nose.
“You are warm,” she mumbled, hunching further so she was practically sitting in his lap. It took all his self control to keep his eyes closed. Then, even though her teeth were chattering, she added sternly, “This, this is for pure survival purposes.”
“Sure it is,” goaded Plagg from somewhere above them.
“D-don’t encourage him,” said Ladybug.
Adrien wasn’t sure what Plagg was encouraging. He couldn’t even find his voice.
"Ha!” Plagg let out a loud wheeze. “If you only—"
"Shhhh!" snapped Tikki.
“Mmnn,” said Adrien.
“Chat Noir?”
“Nnnn.”
Ladybug shifted across his legs. “Don’t be weird.”
He shook his head fervently and was still only able to get out a few incoherent syllables. “N-n-uh.”
The girl that was Ladybug (for she definitely was a girl: soft and small and oomph —okay, her elbows were not soft) shivered against him as she rearranged herself in his lap. She buried her arms in his stomach, forcing all the air from his lungs.
“P-please don’t make me move,” she begged.
Adrien finally found enough semblance of a brain to speak. “I-I’m, you’re good.”
“Good.”
Her hair brushed over his fingers. He let one twist into her strands, so loose he hoped she couldn’t feel it. She curled into a tight ball, sinking further in and he tried hard not to let himself look, to just take in the feel and smell of her: sugar and bread and everything that was a home he didn’t know.
It was just comfortable enough to allow him to feel the fatigue. It crept in slow, leaving his limbs heavy as they draped around her. He shifted back against a tree so he could rest his head and her body followed.
“Don’t you dare purr.”
Adrien smiled into her hair. “No promises, LB.”
And even though he couldn’t see her, he swore she smiled too.