hello! I forgot to post this lol but it's been up on my AO3.
enjoy. ;)
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11 weeks before
Fall had begun to inch into winter, leaving the days shorter and the nights longer. The stars always seemed a little dimmer in winter. A little lonelier. Or maybe that was just Adrien, wishing his mother would magically reappear for the holidays.
Ladybug scheduled less patrols as it got colder, trying in vain to avoid sickness from being out in the freezing air for too long. Hawk Moth, who didn't care about their health, seemed to think it was funny to find any reason to pull them out of their warm rooms and classes to become super-popsicles.
Ladybug and Chat Noir did not share this sentiment.
"This is stupid," Ladybug grumbled for the fourth time. She was full-body shivering, and even though Tikki had changed the make of her suit to better acquaint her with the weather, she was still struggling.
"Agreed," Chat said. Plagg had extended the line of his collar and lined it with fur, but his face was still damn cold.
Their new friend, Lilith (really a rather dark, off-brand name even for Hawk Moth), was rearranging Paris' lovely architecture with lava rock. Luckily, the lava rock was cool to the touch and unlikely to revert back to lava, but it was still very concerning nonetheless.
"How are we gonna do this?" Chat asked, falling into step beside Ladybug.
"First, we should make sure that people vacate the area. Could you distract her while I do that?"
"No problem, my lady." And with a final salute, Chat dropped out of sight. Everything was normal and easy, as it always had been. They fought well together, with the practiced precision that only people who trusted their lives with one other could.
Chat liked to joke they were soulmates, only it wasn't really a joke.
"Going so soon?" he called after Ladybug, who was already across the street. The fight had been over before Lilith had really even gotten started, though her lackluster attitude about being a supervillain may have contributed to that.
Ladybug smiled at him, exasperatedly fond. "Gotta get home before I"—she gestured strangely to herself, uncharacteristically awkward but still painfully cute—"turn back into a pumpkin."
She'd said something like that before, he thought, watching her swing away. It was an interesting metaphor for someone as stunning as her to make, but maybe she was talking more about the magic and excitement fading with her transformation.
Chat, stuck on the mechanics of her words (he always was, playing them repeatedly in his head, sparse as they sometimes were, wondering what exactly she meant and how she felt saying them), was a bit slower to move on from the scene. Reporters shouted up at him, but Chat ignored them and leapt in the direction of home.
He was distracted and not quite ready to return back to his late afternoon piano practice. The akuma, which could have been outrageously dangerous but wasn't for some reason, had barely humored him, and even her attacks were pretty half-assed, if he were being honest.
The clouds were moving in, threatening icy sheets of rain with the coming cold season. He should go, he knew, but...
He stopped on a roof by his lychee. As December neared, the classwork load was lightening, and talk of winter break escalating. Students making plans with their friends, discussing travels to see family.
And Adrien had work.
"Your dad is such a jerk," Nino groaned upon hearing that Adrien's availability for their two week break was booked.
Adrien shifted uncomfortably. "He gets a little uptight around the holidays."
"Well," Nino said, throwing an arm around Adrien's shoulder, "there's always FaceTime."
Marinette popped up on his other side, and having caught the tail-end of their conversation, said, "I could swing by with some things, i-if you want."
Warmth flooded Adrien's chest at the offer. "Thanks, Marinette. That's sweet."
Her face was pink from the cold when she blinked up at him. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm going to be working in the bakery a lot, anyway." She puffed up proudly, as she always did when she talked about her parents' business. It was very... endearing. "We get a lot of traffic during the holidays, so I'm not gonna be able to go out much either." She sent him a friendly wink. "Looks like we're both trapped inside for the holidays."
He'd felt a relatively strong camaraderie with Marinette recently, and he appreciated her trying to make him feel better about the situation. "Looks like it."
Chat Noir's eyes slid over to Marinette's balcony, which sat above her parents' bakery just across the street. Her bedroom lights were on, and distantly, he thought he could see her pacing and gesticulating with her arms. Unbidden, a smile touched his lips, and he leapt across the street for a better look.
She was talking to someone, he thought, recognizing her rapid speech pattern. She pointed to herself and then motioned wildly to some seeming 'other' person, and Chat leaned against the chimney on the neighboring roof with a grin.
Marinette was such a lively person.
Before he could think better of it, he was on her balcony. It belatedly occurred to him that he shouldn't be there, and Marinette might think it was weird, and what would Ladybug say—
"Chat Noir?"
Slowly, Chat turned.
And there she was, still bright-eyed from her conversation. Surprise shone in her gaze, but she didn't look displeased at his appearance.
"Princess," he said, hoping he didn't sound as awkward as he thought he did. It felt like he'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to, and his heart raced all the more for it. In a last-ditch effort to save his composure, he gave a little bow and sent her a wink. "A pleasure."
An odd look crossed Marinette's face, like she couldn't decide whether he was serious or not, and he could see her trying not to smile. "Yes. On my balcony."
Chat tried to lean against her railing and missed. "Oh? Is this—is this your balcony?" He looked around with feigned interest.
"Yes," Marinette said flatly. "You've been here before."
"Ah." Pain. "Yes. I remember."
Marinette's mouth twisted again, but this time she was unable to fight the smile. "What are you doing here?"
She had a point. The akuma of the day had been defeated, and rarely was Hawk Moth cruel enough to send out two back-to-back. What was he doing here?
"Just making my rounds," he managed, puffing up his chest in hopes of looking important. "You know, hero stuff."
Marinette hummed. "Can't say that I do."
Right. He knew she was lying because she was a superhero. Or—she had been. But her identity had been compromised (by him, no less), and Ladybug had had to take her Miraculous away. He still felt some residual guilt about it, but Marinette seemed busy enough with what she did have going on in her life, nevermind adding superhero duties and a massive secret.
"Is there suspicious activity on my balcony?" Marinette asked, watching Chat's face. He'd forgotten to respond to her.
"I'm afraid so," he sighed, not even trying to fight his grin. "These plants aren't regulation."
Marinette's gaze slid to the wilting flowers. There was a tinge of sadness there, but still, she smiled. "They don't do too well in the winter."
"No," Chat agreed fondly, "they don't."
Marinette fidgeted under his gaze, eyes darting every which way. She was always so expressive, something Adrien liked very much about her. Many of the people in his life walked around with blank faces and business-oriented minds, and it was a little exhausting.
Speaking of home....
"I have to get going," Chat said, and her attention snapped to him like a rubber band. She was shaking slightly, shivering. He rubbed the back of his neck, inexplicably nervous and maybe a little guilty at keeping her outside. "It was... nice seeing you."
Marinette blinked, and a smile bloomed on her face, less teasing. "You, too."
He nodded, wishing he could stay, wishing the weather was nicer so they could just stand on her balcony and watch the sunset, talking idly. She wouldn't mind, would she? Hadn't... hadn't she been in love with him once?
The thought sent a sharp jolt through his chest, effectively spearing his breath. Was she still? Did seeing him give her butterflies? Ladybug flashed in his mind, and like muscle memory, his pulse fluttered.
He wondered then if it was like that for her, too, or if she'd moved on. She probably had, right? Real love was nurtured, and that was how it grew. An unpleasant weight settled in his chest, just a bit crushing, and he quickly pushed that thought from his mind.
Marinette was watching him, he realized as he came out of his thoughts. Curiosity etched into her brow and concern glimmering in her eyes. It struck him suddenly that she was pretty—not that he'd never noticed before, but bathed in the beginnings of sunset with thoughts of love dancing in his head, she was perhaps one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen.
Breath punched from his lungs, he could do nothing but wave and pray he didn't trip on anything as he turned away.
There was a smile in her voice as she said, "Catch you around."
And what could he have said to that? Hours later, staring up at his ceiling, hundreds of clever and charming things came to mind too late.
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there you go! I love pining kids. ❤️
xoxo, j.