Chapter Text
It wasn’t often that Adrien caught up with Ladybug after an Akuma fight, even rarer had it been him out of disguise. That certainly didn’t help the rapid beating of his heart.
He watched as she pulled out her yoyo and began to wind her arm back, realizing his chance for her to notice him was slimming down much faster than he would like to admit.
“Ladybug can I ask you a favor?” The words slipped out of Adrien’s mouth before he had time to comprehend what he said. They felt weak and he doubted she could hear it over the whirling of the string, yet, in a swift motion, she recoiled her yoyo back and whipped around to find who called out for her.
Adrien couldn’t help the whooshing feeling he felt when their eyes met. Even after looking at her countless times as Chat, there was something different about the way she made him feel out of superhero persona, it was like he was stripped bare of everything he had to protect himself from her piercing gaze.
“Is everything alright, you aren’t hurt are you?” She broke her gaze away and scanned him for any injuries that could be spotted. She strode over and grabbed his arms to check for any if there was anything she could miss, with a nod of her head she let go his arms. It took most of his willpower to not grab back unto her,
“No, I was hoping you could uh,” Adrien racked his head for any ideas of what he could possibly think of as a good excuse for her to stay with him any longer. It wasn’t helping that she was watching him with deep concern reflecting in her eyes. “Could you walk me home?” he pushed the rest of his words out while still formulating a response that wasn’t a total lie. “I was out with some friends today and didn’t tell my father, I don’t wanna risk contacting my bodyguard and getting into any more trouble.”
Ladybug’s eyes began to grow wide, Adrien felt his heart weakened a little, quickly he shot his hands up defensively, “It’s fine actually, I don’t live far I can make it on my own.” He started to turn around and walk away before her hand was gripping him to keep him in place.
“I don’t mind,” she squeaks out before clearing her throat. “I don’t have anything else and it’s my job to protect civilians, like yourself- Not saying you’re I’m sure you’re capable of handling yourself,” She let out a huffy breath before continuing to ramble to Adrien. If he wasn’t so entranced that she was still holding onto him he might have noticed how similar she was to one of his friends.
“Here, just grab me and I’ll yoyo us back in no time” Ladybug huffed out before letting go of him to grab at her yoyo wrapped around her waist.
As much as Adrien wanted to cling onto her and never let go, he knew that there wouldn’t be any chance to actually talk to her if they went back that way. “Wait, I have a fear of heights, could you walk with me back please?”
Ladybug froze up for a second before nodding vigorously and following right next to him on the sidewalk.
Adrien knew it felt silly to get excited over the little things, such as accidentally bumping into each other every few steps. “So Ladybug,” he began keeping his voice cool even with the slight pink creeping up his cheeks, “does it feel weird seeing your face everywhere on the media?”
Ladybug rolled her eyes and pointed at two of the signs in front of them, “I don’t know, does it feel weird for you to see your pretty face plastered all around Paris?” If Adrien wasn’t clinging to every word that fell out of her mouth, he doubts that he’d even notice the tiny compliment she slipped out.
“The Ladybug thinks I’m pretty that’s a pretty big honor,” Adrien grinned at her and couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled out when she jumped back embarrassed. “I was pretty sure you the one who’s much prettier between the two of us.” He bumped her with his shoulder and felt his chest swell up when her own face was starting to fill in with a red color.
It didn’t take long for Ladybug to rebuild her courage and find a way to retort back at him, “It’s your job to be pretty, that makes you the prettier one, I only have to be friends with everyone, besides Hawkmoth.”
“Well, that’s where I’d like to counter your point!” He yelled back, there was no point for him to mask his excitement now. “You get to be the pretty friend of everyone, I’m only a stranger who has no impact on them” Adrien shrugged his words off and waited for her to have a comeback, but, Ladybug stopped walking to stare at him with large eyes. Her mouth opened a little into a slight pout.
“You don’t mean that do you?” She asked quietly, worry flooded into her voice.
“Mean what? Adrien asked back, they continued to walk at a slow pace back to his house. He could see the front gates coming up from their close distance.
“About only being a stranger, you have people close to you, don't you?” She asked him with her frown growing larger.
“Of course I do, but it’s hard for me to see them, like today, I had to sneak around just to be out with them for only an hour.” Adrien shrugged it off as if it were nothing, but that didn’t stop the concern he saw growing in Ladybug.
“That’s not a good way to see things Adrien, you need more people who are close around you.”
Adrien felt his body feel hollow at her words. He had people around him all the time- like Nathalie. Plus his life as Chat Noir, though his only close friend then was Ladybug. The same Ladybug who was standing outside his house with him, worried about his welling being.
“Adrien I’ve come up with an idea.” Ladybug cut through the silence he hadn’t noticed was there. She grabbed his wrist and pulled his sleeve up slightly, grabbing the pen from his upper pocket, she scribbled a series of numbers across his forearm. “This is my personal phone number, you are now officially a friend of mine, and as my friend, you can call me whenever you feel like you need a friend. I also can swing by when I think you want a friend, any objections?” The dazzling smile spread across her face was infectious, and even if he wanted to say no, there was absolutely no way he could.
“Thanks, I don’t know what I would do without your help.” He reflected back his own bright smile and wanted to say more to her before the sound of beeping came from her.
Instantly, she reached out a hand to her earrings, “Well looks like I’ll need to go right now, see you soon!” She reached around her waist and launched her yoyo out, before giving a hasty wave over to him.
Adrien watched her zip through the skyline, allowing a small sigh to escape his lips. Almost immediately after sneaking back into his room, he slid into his bed and tried to come up with a message to send to the lady of his dreams.
“You’ve got it bad.” A snicker came from the small cat lying near him.
“Shut it Plagg.” Not even the snide comments coming from his other friend could ruin the nearly perfect way he felt.
That was until he noticed the number she gave him was already in his contacts under the name "Marinette".