Chapter Text
Chat Noir was feeling pretty down. It wasn’t hard for her to notice. Over the past few days, he’d grown far more reserved than she could ever remember from him.
It was clear things had gotten far more dire when he wasn’t really even punning during patrols.
In the end, Ladybug had no choice but to ask. “Okay, Chaton. This has been bugging me for a while now.”
A soft smile curved his lips when she’d uttered the pun. Unfortunately, it didn’t linger for long.
As she sat down, she patted the ledge of the roof beside her, watching him carefully as he took his place beside her. “What’s been bothering you?”
His eyes grew distant, scanning across the horizon. “I’m worried.”
“About?”
Chat Noir shrugged, smiling sadly. “I’m not sure I could explain without giving you a hint as to who I am under all this.”
“Chat…” Ladybug murmured. She couldn’t fault him for using his head. Especially not when he was doing as she asked and thinking about keeping them both as safe as possible. “If it is really a problem...I’m sure there has to be some way I could--”
He flinched, when she rested her hand on his arm.
Anxious, she pulled her arm away.
Chat Noir shut his eyes, hugging his arms around himself. “I promise. If there is something you need to worry about… I will tell you. As soon as I can figure out how…”
“Can’t I be worried for you?”
“I’m happy you are.” He smiled slightly. “Really, I am. I’m just afraid it really won’t change anything.”
Over the next two days, battles came and went.
When the Akuma were out, Chat Noir’s head was entirely in the game. His reflexes were as sharp as ever, and he was aware of her plans almost as quickly as she could concoct them.
That was why it was all the more frustrating for her that she couldn’t fix this so easily. There was no quick and easy Lucky Charm she could summon to make all right in his world again.
Nothing she could say would make it all better, which meant it was time to do something.
At the very least, she wanted to surprise him to help cheer him up. He was always good at doing that for her whenever she was obviously feeling down.
Goods from the bakery would be easy. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be all that unusual.
She frowned as she neared home, her nose scrunching up as she scanned the line of shops and houses that rushed past beneath her feet, hoping for sudden inspiration.
In her scramble back to school, Marinette finally spotted it.
A single yellow rose.
She bit her lip. The florist was nearly out of the yellow roses. Of course, they had plenty of red, but she didn’t want Chat Noir to misunderstand her intentions.
Shaking her head, she asked the florist to wrap it up so she could safely keep it in her locker at school.
With only a few minutes until class, she was breathing heavily as she sprinted into the locker room.
“Hey, Marinette.”
“Oh!” The quiet voice startled her out of her hasty rush to her locker. Her eyes grew wide as realized who spoke. She hid the rose behind her back. “H-hey, Adrien.”
He blinked as she circled wide, keeping the flower carefully hidden. “I’ll… see you upstairs, I guess.”
Marinette nodded furiously. “Mmmhmm!”
She threw her locker door upon, shoving the flower in with as much care as she should muster quickly before she darted up the stairs.
As she sunk down in her chair, she exhaled.
Adrien shot a worried glance back at her.
She offered a crooked, reassuring smile.
Thankfully, it seemed that even if Adrien had noticed what she was hiding, he hadn’t said a word.
If Alya caught wind of it, there was no way for her to escape a litany of questions she definitely wasn’t ready to answer.