It Takes Time

Chapter 2

A blush formed on Chat's cheeks but she tried her best to ignore it, finding relaxation in the darker haired male's touch. She nuzzled her head against his hand, leaning closer and closer to him.

Ladybeetle laughed, ruffling the girl's hair before retracting his hand and standing up, receiving an audible whine from the feline hero. "Come on, Chat, now isn't the time to be sitting around doing nothing. We have a job to do." He stood up, glancing back as he walked off to make sure she was following.

"A little longer, paw-ease~" She pleaded as she caught up with the leaving hero, hugging his arm in an attempt to get the attention she had been getting prior to him standing.

"You really are impossible." He scratched behind her ear for about a minute more before prying her off of his arm. He tried not to laugh, wanting to show her that it was time to be serious, but it was to no avail. She was like a child. More accurately, a kitten. And a needy one at that. And as much as he loved her, in a platonic way, she tend to get under his skin from time to time. Other than that though, he loved having her around. She was fun, carefree, passionate, expressive. She was his best friend. Aside from Alyn of course. "An impossible flirt."

"I am not a flirt. Why do you keep accusing me of being one?" Chat huffed as she glared up Ladybeetle. Her tone wasn't exactly annoyed, but more curious. She was genuinely hurt by the fact that he just thinks of her as some flirt who will hit on anything that breaths. She was more than that. She had deeper emotions than that. She didn't know that he saw her as being so shallow. 

"I've seen you flirt with other people." He pointed out, retracting both of his arms so he was completely detached from her.  This was exactly why they didn't talk about these kinds of things. He knew it would just lead to some kind of argument if they were to talk about their personal lives. He wanted to drop the conversation completely, but he knew that pulling that would just end in her getting even more pissed. "You've flirted with that one guy, Marin."

"But I don't understand why I'm such a big flirt in your eyes. Aside from you, I think I've flirted with one other person. And even with him, I don't really try to. He just says things that remind me of you and something that might sound similar to a flirt comes out. I just... Look, I know Marin in my civilian form, and when I'm Chat... I get to see a side of him that I never see when I'm myself. I think he's scared of me, or he just flat out doesn't like me at all when I'm A- my civilian form." She sighed, tears welling up in her eyes and threatening to fall. Ladybeetle liked Adrienne, but he didn't like Chat. He didn't like the side of her that was the real her. He liked the fake, perfect daughter, famous model side of her. And that wasn't who she was. She avoided eye contact with the other hero, not wanting him to see her crying. 

He definitely felt guilty now. He never really realized how much that one word hurt her. And even more guilt washed over him at the fact that he couldn't tell her that she was flirting with the same person. 

As he thought about it, he could only remember her flirting with him, as both persona's though. Does that really make her a flirt? It seems illogical to think that. Not once has she flirted with the other boys that they've encountered. She's never flirted with Clovis, or Alyn, or anyone else for that matter. It was just him. Does the fact that she doesn't know they're the same person justify the means?

'I'm overthinking this,' he thought to himself, 'you like Adrienne anyway, why should it matter who she flirts with?' He nodded to himself, deciding to not give a reply to Chat's rant. Not that he didn't want to prove his point, but because he couldn't. She was completely right and there was no way he could argue with a lie. "We should get back to patrolling, we shouldn't be messing around." 

Chat sighed softly but nodded in agreement. She wanted to talk it out with him. She didn't want him to see her as a flirt. It all came back to one major thought in her mind. If he were to find out that she was Adrienne, how would that affect their relationship? How would it change how he feels about her? It could either make it or break it with him. Not that she'd want him just to start to like her because of her normal persona.