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Chat Noir was pissed off. Very, very much.
Not only had the stress of his civilian life caught up with him, but the fact that his father and Nathalie had no respect for him being on holiday—HOLIDAY for God's sake—and were filling his days with photoshoot after photoshoot after interview after dubbing session for the Ladybug and Chat Noir movies... It was exhausting, to say the least. Now, the last task was something he had always been happy to do before. However, the writers of the show had recently taken a strange road where his character seemed to be romantically involved with Rena Rouge and, well, he didn't enjoy dubbing those parts. Chat Noir was for his Lady only—maybe Marinette—what was he thinking? His lady only! Anyway, his day was so full he'd barely managed to scrape out a few minutes to join Ladybug in the usual daytime patrol.
Not that it mattered anyway, because his Lady, as usual, was so late that by the time she showed up he'd finished his round and was ready to go home. She looked tired; dark marks under her eyes and a paler complexion than usual. But she also looked relieved that the round of patrol had been dealt with.
Until a loud bang cracked in the distance. They knew that the only being that could produce such a sound was an akuma. The akuma victim was the director of the local cinema. The profits of the new Ladybug movie weren't as good as he'd anticipated (somehow Chat Noir wasn't surprised) and the man was understandably upset. Luckily the fight wasn't too hard on the heroes, because Chat Noir could see that Ladybug was dragging herself around and wasn't concentrating. So when she captured the akuma and released the purified butterfly, Chat Noir put a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay, Buginette? You look exhausted."
She took his hand into hers and gave him a grateful look. "Thank you for noticing, Chaton. No, I'm not well, I could really use a break."
She seemed to be ready to say something else, but they both felt a hand on their shoulder and they turned around, looking rather surprised to see the ex-akumatised director of the cinema.
"If the heroes of Paris need a break, especially after they saved the city from my silly self, I can't sit there and do nothing. Please, Ladybug and Chat Noir, there's no better place than the cinema to relax. You can watch the latest Avengers movie. On me."
"I don't think it's a good idea," said Chat Noir, remembering what happened the last time he'd dragged Ladybug to the cinema, just because she didn't want to talk. He shuddered at the memory, but the director was adamant.
"I insist. If you're afraid to be disturbed, don't you worry. The whole screen will be reserved for you. I will air the film at one unscheduled time, only for you two. How does that sound?"
And that's how they found themselves sitting in a completely empty cinema room, one next to the other, juice and milk in one hand, a massive bowl of popcorn in the other, waiting in silence for the film to start. What a fortunate stroke of serendipity.
Ladybug was strangely quiet, so Chat Noir took the occasion to give his Lady a good look. And didn't like what he saw. "Are you not sleeping well, M'lady? You're always the most beautiful woman I know, but I’m concerned about those marks under your eyes."
She was putting more popcorn into her mouth, but stopped at his words and put it back into her bowl, letting out a big sigh. "I could tell you that everything is good, Chaton. But I'm tired of lying. No, I'm not okay. Not at all. I haven't been able to sleep well in the past… month," she said after tapping her fingers on her chin. "I'm worried. All this new responsibility, Su-Han who told me that he's going to breathe down my neck to ensure I don't make mistakes, Papillon's akumas getting scarier, and it's starting to hit close to home… I feel as if Papillon upped his game and we can’t do the same. It's so frustrating!"
He saw how she balled her hands into fists and how she started shaking with anger. Since it hadn't worked the first time he'd tried it, back when he had invited Ladybug to the cinema himself, he hesitated to try the “arm on the shoulder” trick again. This time it worked though, and he pulled Ladybug closer as, despite everything, his lips curled in a happy little smirk.
"You know, I don't really care about the movie. I'm here to listen if you need to vent."
She shook her head. "No, Minou. I don't want to talk about stressful things today. It was lucky that the director accommodated us in a cinema room all for ourselves. And I'm looking forward to watching this movie, even though I'm feline that you're chancing your lucky 'arm' a little bit, Chaton." She giggled at his surprised look—and how could he not be surprised, when his Lady punned not once, but TWICE in the same sentence? She flicked his bell as she continued, "Do you think I'm blind and I haven't noticed your arm on my shoulder? Nice move, by the way, Minou. Second time lucky!"
She giggled again and scooched herself closer, placing her head on his chest and moving his arm to wrap around her firmly. He didn't need to be shown twice—in seconds, he squeezed her to his side. As the film started and he lost himself in the story, he thought that maybe, just for once, he could forget about his frustration and his growing anger. For once they could be just a boy and a girl, in a cinema room, watching a superhero movie. That sounded very much like a date.
And a date sounded good.