Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Adrien fidgeted nervously in his chair. Across the desk, Fu looked him over with a wise smile, stroking his gray goatee. “Adrien Agreste. Son of Emilie Agreste,” he finally said slowly. “Former protegee of Agreste Skating. And you want to skate for me. Why?”

Adrien shrugged, smiling sheepishly. “I miss skating,” he admitted. 

The simple statement didn’t convey any of the longing he’d felt last night, watching the Miraculous Finals with his roommate Nino, who skated at the Miracle Rink already. It didn’t show just how badly he yearned to be on the rink, feeling the scrape of his skates on the ice, the pumping of his blood as he pulled off complicated lifts and spins. But Fu seemed to understand, lacing his fingers together on the desk with a twinkle in his eye. “But why not skate for your father again?”

Adrien rubbed his temples, squeezing his eyes shut. “I’m not going back there,” he muttered darkly. “Not for all the trophies in the world.”

“May I ask why?”

He glanced up at the short old man, who was leaning back in his chair looking Adrien over with a knowing twinkle in his eye. “Ever since my mother died in the accident, he’s been trying to groom me into the next ‘Emilie Agreste’. I almost missed a competition near the end of last season and he grounded me for two months.”

Fu raised his eyebrows. “That seems harsh.”

“Yeah. I’m tired of the pressure of Agreste Skating. I just want to have some fun, to skate for the joy of it.” Adrien sighed, leaning back in his chair. “I thought that this might be a good place to start over.”

Fu smiled, standing. Adrien was pretty sure he was taller in the chair. “You were correct. I try to make sure everyone in my rink understands the joy of skating before the thrillls of winning.” He looked Adrien over with a raised eyebrow. “Are you worried about my skaters knowing you’re an Agreste?”

“Actually, yeah. I was thinking that if you didn’t mind…” A wave of heat flooded into Adrien’s cheeks as he reached into his pocket, pulling out the black mask. 

The old man nodded, eyes twinkling. “Exellent idea. And what should we call you in the rink?”

Adrien paused. He hadn’t actually thought of that. He needed a new name, something no one would expect an Agreste to use.

“Call me Chat Noir.”

When he showed up for team tryouts the next day, he almost dropped his duffel bag in surprise. There were almost twenty skaters in the rink, each practicing their own moves. Not only were they all exceptional, but every single one was wearing a mask. 

Adrien felt a weight lift off his chest as he adjusted his mask, silently thanking Fu. As he tied on his skates, he watched each skater move, admiring the different styles.

A boy in a gold mask was goofing around near the edge of the rink with a smaller, pink-haired girl in a white mask. There was a bushy-haired girl in a fox mask skating next to who he recognized as his roommate, who was wearing a green mask and had switched out his normal orange cap to match. Nino winked when he spotted Adrien, shooting him a knowing smirk before turning back to his partner. This is going to be fun, Adrien thought with a grin. He finished lacing up his skates and stepped into the rink, taking a deep breath of the familiar cold air. 

A small body hit crashed into his, sending them both tumbling to the ice. “Sorry, sorry!” the girl shrieked, scrambling to untangle herself from him. “I’m so sorry, I’m so clumsy. I’m madly clumsy.”

Adrien scooted back on the ice, taking in the frantic girl in front of him. Her red and black spotted mask matched her simple training clothes, red sweatpants and a red and black polka-dotted shirt. Her raven hair was tied back in two pigtails and her bluebell eyes were darting all over him, taking in his appearance like he’d done with hers. “Are you okay?”

He grinned, standing up and patting himself over. “I’m good. Are you all right?” He held out a hand, helping her to her feet.

She nodded, cheeks red with embarrassment. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“No problem.” 

Before he could add anything else, Fu stepped up to the edge of the rink. “All right, skaters. Everyone please line up in the middle of the ice.”

Adrien skated to the center of the rink, standing between the blushing girl and a boy with blue-tipped hair. The boy nodded at him with a smile, which Adrien returned. 

“As you all know, I thought that wearing masks for the try-outs would be a fun bonding and trust exercise,” Fu continued. He smiled briefly at Adrien before looking at the girl next to him. “To play along with the mystery, we will be using fake names today. All you’ll know about the rest of your team is what you know now, so pay attention. He gestured to the first person in the line, the bushy-haired girl. “What would you like to be known as?”

The confident girl flashed a smile down the line, flicking the tip of her fox-eared mask. “Call me Rena Rouge.”

Beside her, Nino chuckled, looking at the girl next to him with obvious admiration. Oh, Adrien realized. That must be Alya. Nino hadn’t been able to stop talking about her for weeks now. “Today I’m Carapace,” his friend said with a twist of his cap. 

The pink-haired girl introduced herself as Bunnix and her friend as King Monkey, which earned him a snort and an elbow in the ribs from the girl. The boy next to him was Viperion. 

“I’m Chat Noir,” Adrien said, winking at Fu. The old man smiled as he turned to the girl beside him. 

“Ladybug,” she said with a wide smile, putting her hands on her hips. Her blush had faded and her stance had become more confident now that she was out in the ice. 

Adrien chuckled. He’d come as the ultimate symbol of bad luck. She was dressed as the symbol of good luck. “What a coincidence,” he whispered in her ear. 

She shushed him with a grin, looking back at Fu. 

This girl, Ladybug, had seemed to go from a shy, stuttering mess to a confident, bold skater in a matter of moments. 

Adrien’s curiosity was definitely perked. 

By the time try-outs were over, the team had been whittled down to seven members: Adrien, Pegasus, Alya, Nino, Bunnix, King Monkey, and Ladybug. He was impressed by the skill of the small-rink skaters. They didn’t quite have the technique of his father’s team, but they had passion. Adrien knew that the group’s goal wasn’t just to win, but a small part of him hoped for a trophy all the same. If anyone deserved it, it was his new team. 

Adrien’s days soon became full of skating, training, and brainstorming new choreography for upcoming competitions. Their first competition was a few months away, giving the team just enough time to learn about each other’s strengths and weaknesses and build chemistry. This competition had two parts, a group skate and a duet. Fu had decided to wait on choosing a pair for the duet, instead having the team focus on the group skate. “The time will come,” he responded cryptically to everyone’s inquiries. “I will know soon enough."

One by one, the team began to shed their masks, dropping to reveal flushed faces and excited grins. Sure enough, the fox-masked girl was Alya and she seemed just as smitten with Nino as his roommate was with her. 

Adrien, meanwhile, was having the time of life skating with this new group. Everyone was so passionate, so lively. It was nothing like the cold tension from his father’s team. Plagg, one of the team’s coaches, took a liking to Adrien, throwing him harder and harder jumps and moves and seeming almost disappointed when Adrien performed each flawlessly. 

Tikki, the other coach, had been mothering Ladybug from the beginning. More than once he’d caught whispered conversations between the two. Tikki would bring her lunch when she forgot her own or show her a complicated step when she was bored with her own moves. 

Adrien was intrigued by the spotted skater. Besides him, she was the only one who kept her mask and her fake name, tugging nervously at the elastic band holding it to her head whenever the rest of the team - usually Alya - would pressure her to take it off. “I’d rather not,” she’d say nervously. 

It wasn’t long before Plagg began to notice the long looks Adrien would give Ladybug. “Kid, if you stare any harder you might melt her,” he joked when he caught Adrien watching her rehearse with Alix and Alya. 

Adrien rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Plagg. Super helpful.”

Plagg smirked, leaning against the edge of the rink. “You know, if you like her, you should talk to her instead of stalking her all creepy like.”

Heat shot into Adrien’s cheeks. “I don’t like her,” he said, a little too loudly. He ignored Tikki’s curious look from across the rink as he turned back to Plagg with a frown. “I don’t even know her that well.”

Plagg’s smug grin grew. “Really,” he deadpanned. “And the staring is because?”

“Uh… because… she’s a really good skater?” He knew it was lame the minute it came out.

Plagg snorted. “Kid, don’t be an idiot. Just talk to her.”

“I do. All the time.”

The coach rolled his eyes. “I mean talk to her. Don’t talk to the skater. Talk to the girl. All you do is talk about different moves, how practice went. How the heck are you supposed to get to know her like that?”

Adrien ignored the question, turning back to the rink to definitely not stare at Ladybug again. Plagg had good advice sprinkled in with his mixed bag of teasing and insults, although Adrien would never admit it to him. Maybe one day when he wasn’t watching, Adrien would try it.

The next day during rehearsal, Plagg yelled at him from across the rink to meet him in Fu’s office. Adrien skated out of the rink with a roll of his eyes. As he unlaced his skates, he watched as Tikki skated up to Ladybug with a sly smile and interrupted the girl’s practicing with a tap on the shoulder. To his surprise, Ladybug followed Tikki back out of the rink, plopping down next to him to unlace her skates. He glanced up at her with a grin. “Fu ask for you too?”

She frowned as she pulled off her skates. “Yeah. Do you know what it’s for?”

“Nope. Plagg wouldn’t say anything.” He tucked his skates under the chair with his duffel bag. 

“Neither would Tikki.” She shoved her skates down with his and tugged on her ballet flats. “Let’s go.”

Fu was waiting behind his desk with a smile, fingers templed in front of him. “What’s wrong?” Ladybug asked, sitting down in front of him with an inquisitive raise of her eyebrows. 

“Is it because of the masks?” Adrien added as he sat down next to her. 

She jerked to look at him, apprehension dawning in her eyes. “Oh. I didn’t think about that.”

Fu shook his head quickly, chuckling. “No, nothings wrong. And the masks are fine so long as you are comfortable. No, this is about the duet. I’ve seen the two of you skate and I think your styles would be very compatible. I’m assigning you the duet for the competition.”

Ladybug’s eyes mirrored his own surprise. “Us? Why? We’ve never skated together before." Her voice dropped to a whisper as she leaned forward. "And you know I've never partnered before."

Interesting, Adrien thought. How well did Ladybug and Fu already know each other?

"Nino and Alya already have chemistry," Ladybug continued, voice returning to normal. "Shouldn’t they do it?” The team had been talking about the possibility and Nino and Alya were already thinking about a few lifts they could incorporate into the dance. 

Fu shook his head, looking at the both of them with a mysterious smile. “Just trust me. This afternoon I want the two of you to stay behind and start working on some choreography.”

Adrien leaned back in his chair, looking at Ladybug with a grin. “Shall we, M’Lady?”

“What.” She raised her eyebrow, twisting to look at him.

He winked slyly. “You know. Ladybug? M’Lady?”

She rolled her eyes, looking back at Fu. Adrien didn’t miss the slight twinkle of amusement on her face.  “Alright. I’m in. And apparently the cat’s in too.”

On a whim, he clutched his chest in mock hurt. “The cat? Is that all I am to you?” 

This time he got a snort. “Come on, Kitty. Let’s go get started.”

Oh yeah. This is going to be great.

Chapter Text

After practice, the unlikely pair stayed back at the rink as the rest of the team headed out for frozen yogurt. Adrien ignored the excited rush that the words ‘ frozen yogurt’ gave him as he turned to his new partner. “So you’ve never skated with a partner before?” 

She shook her head as she fished through her bag, extracting another hair tie to replace the one that had snapped during practice. “Nope.” She held the hair tie between her teeth as she took out her emergency ponytail, raven hair cascading down her shoulders. 

Adrien blinked, missing her next words. Her hair curled lightly around her shoulders, a single lock drifting in front of her eyes as she slipped her hair ties onto her wrist. He was almost disappointed when she pulled her silky raven hair back into its twin tails, a few locks dangling out as bangs. 

“... the right partner, you know?”

He snapped out of… whatever he’d been in as she looked at him expectantly. “Uh… huh?”

Ladybug looked at him curiously. “Ready?”

Adrien shook himself. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s go.” 

As he stepped into the rink, a large hand slapped him on the back. “Nice goin’, kid,” Plagg muttered in his ear. Adrien didn’t have to look over his shoulder to see the smirk on his coach’s face. 

Tikki gently slapped Plagg’s arm with a smile. “Leave him alone, Plagg,” she said with a laugh. “Come on, Ladybug,” she added, gesturing to the spotted skater at the edge of the rink. “The first step in choreographing a dance is usually choosing a theme or a song. This competition doesn’t have a theme, so you can pick whatever you want so long as you can choreograph the required steps into it. Do you two have any ideas?”

Adrien had skated to everything from classical to XY. His father had always picked the songs for their competitions. He looked at Ladybug with a shrug. “Not really. You?” 

Her eyes lit up. “Have you heard of Jagged Stone?”

Adrien’s jaw dropped. “Have I heard of Jagged Stone? He’s amazing! Is skating to one of his songs at all possible, because if so, I am in.”

Ladybug looked at Tikki, who looked at Plagg, who quickly stopped smirking at Adrien. “Jagged Stone? Heck yeah. I think some kid last year used one of his songs to win the Men’s Solo Skate at Miraculous. Go for it, kids.”

Adrien turned back to Ladybug. “But which one?”

The spotted girl skated to the edge of the rink, grabbing her phone from her pink backpack. “I have a list of all his Greatest Hits. We could look through it?”

Tikki took the phone from Ladybug with a smile. “I have a better idea,” she said brightly. She plugged the phone into the speakers, hitting play. 

Adrien grinned as one of his favorite Jagged Stone songs blasted through the rink, the heavy rock echoing around the walls. “What are we supposed to do?” he called to Tikki over the music. His father had always choreographed his dances, too. 

“Just skate!” she replied over her shoulder as she glided to the edge of the rink, tugging on Plagg’s arm. “What does this song make you think of? How does it make you feel?”

Plagg followed her with a grin, leaning against the rink wall to watch.

Ladybug smiled brightly. “This is one of my favorites,” she said, twirling quickly in place. “If we’re going to be skating to Jagged Stone, we’ll need really fast-paced choreography.”

“I agree. Something with a lot of movement.” Adrien skated backwards with some simple footwork. Ladybug watched with a smile, her eyes following him around the rink. 

His father had always hated Jagged Stone’s music. He preferred calmer songs with more control. Listening to the rock star had always been Adrien’s way of silently rebelling. It was almost strange to share the music with someone else, although pretty much everything Adrien was doing now was strange. 

The familiar adrenaline of fast-paced skating coursed through Adrien as he raced around the rink. As he passed Ladybug, who was watching with a smile, he grabbed her hand, yanking her into his laps. She shrieked, grabbing his hand as she fought for balance. 

“Sorry,” he laughed, grabbing her other hand. She quickly regained balance but didn’t let go of his hand, laughing with him as they sped around the rink. 

After a moment, Adrien realized that Ladybug had begun to copy his footwork, staring at his feet in concentration. Her movements were clean and smooth, although not as sharp as his old partner’s had been. 

He watched her feet as she watched his, neither of them needing to look up to see where they were going. They slowly sped up, moving in sync with the beat of the music. 

When the song changed, Adrien looked up to find Ladybug watching him, her head half-cocked. She smiled, her blue eyes sparkling as a hint of warmth crept into his cheeks. Please don’t blush, please don’t blush. 

“What else could we do?” she asked curiously, breaking their concentrated silence. 

“How about a turn?” He let go of one of her hands as she grinned. “I’ll just… and then you…” he murmured under his breath as he spun her arm over her head. She followed, spinning quickly before grabbing his other hand again. “Yeah?”

Her eyes sparkled. “Again, Kitty!” The nickname seemed to slip out as Ladybug let go of his hand. Adrien was pretty sure he was grinning stupidly as he twirled her, but he didn’t really care much. 

By the end of the practice, they’d decided on a song, had a few ideas for choreography, and Adrien was pretty sure Plagg had enough teasing to last him a week. That night he crashed in his bed with a content sigh. 

Fu told the rest of the team about Ladybug and his duet the next day during practice. Nino clapped him on the back with a huge grin. “Awesome, dude! Is that why you guys stayed behind yesterday?”

Adrien nodded. “We were picking a song for the skate. We decided on our favorite Jagged Stone song.”

“Dude. You guys share a favorite song?” Nino nodded knowingly. “That’s the first step, man.”

Adrien frowned, glancing over his shoulder. Ladybug was across the rink chatting animatedly with Tikki. “The first step to what?”

Nino snorted. “That’s the first thing I found out about Alya. We bonded over our mutual love for some of our favorite songs. Now we’re going out to see a movie this Friday.”

Adrien grinned. “That’s awesome, Nino! You finally asked her?”

“Nah. She asked me before I could work up the courage.” Nino had the decency to look sheepish. Adrien laughed, shaking his head. 

Adrien’s schedule slowly settled into place. Every afternoon the team would rehearse the group skate. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and all of Saturday, he and Ladybug would stay behind to choreograph and rehearse their duet. Tikki and Plagg would always watch, giving tips and suggestions but mostly silent as he and Ladybug figured it out together. They slowly created their routine, a fun, fast-paced duet with lots of footwork and a few simple lifts. Sometimes Adrien would sit back and watch as Plagg taught Ladybug the lifts, other times Adrien would be the one to show it to her. 

As they skated together, Adrien started to notice some things. 

Thing number one: Ladybug was very good at picking up new moves. 

Thing number two: Her blue eyes sparkled in excitement every time she was able to pull off a lift flawlessly. 

Thing number three: His favorite thing about skating was after they’d finished for the day, when Ladybug was flushed pink and she was panting slightly and wisps of hair were flying in her face and they would go get frozen yogurt from the shop next door. It wasn’t a date. 

Thing number four: If she kept looking so cute during practice and flashing him those exilerated smiles, he was definitely going to be in trouble.

Chapter Text

Adrien dropped his duffel bag at his feet, pulling out his black skates with a huff. He’d completely forgotten about the extra practice they’d scheduled that Saturday and he was pretty sure Plagg was going to kill him for being half an hour late. In his defense, they really shouldn’t celebrate the end of the week with all-you-can-eat-froyo if they didn’t want him to sugar crash Friday night and completely sleep through his alarm. And who schedules a surprise practice for seven in the morning on a weekend ?

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Adrien scanned the rink, frowning when the spotted red of his partner was nowhere to be found. The only people at the rink were Plagg, Tikki, and Fu, who Adrien could see chatting in Fu’s office through the glass walls, and Alya, who was standing with a girl in a pink top and grey sweatpants, sporting twin tails of raven hair. She looked remarkably similar to Ladybug, except for the plain white skates hung over her shoulder and the lack of a mask. She was gesturing animatedly, her wild tone echoing across the empty rink. 

Adrien skated across the rink, grinning at Alya. The pig-tailed girl sputtered off, blinking at him curiously. He grinned at her. “Hey. I’m Chat Noir. I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before?”

“Uhhh… Yeah. I’m M-marinette,” she stuttered, cheeks turning pink. “I’m Fu’s assistant.” 

Alya nudged her in the ribs with a snort. “Some assistant you are.” At Adrien’s frown, she added, “Marinette got another job a couple of months ago, so she only works here mornings and weekends now.”

Marinette nodded, pigtails bouncing. “What are you doing here?” she asked with a frown. “I thought you didn’t have practice today?”

He shrugged, leaning against the rink wall. “Fu scheduled an extra practice for us this weekend. I’m just waiting on Lady-” 

Adrien paused as Marinette let out a shriek, glancing at Fu’s office frantically. “I can’t believe I forgot!” she muttered with a groan, hiding her face in her hands. 

Alya frowned at the panicking girl with a raised eyebrow. “Forgot what, girl? Your paper? Cleaning the rental skates? Someone’s birthday?”

Marinette yanked her hands away from her face, eyes wide as she seemed to remember she had company. “Uhh… forgot to… call… my parents! Yeah, my parents! Maman wanted me to call her when I got here to make sure I got here safe and if I don’t she’ll freak and she might need me for something because the bakery is always having emergencies because it’s a bakery, you know, burnt cakes and flat macarons and stuff and…” She paused, biting her lip. “I need to go.” With a last look at Chat Noir and a wave at Alya, Marinette sprinted away, bursting out the front doors and leaving a stunned silence in her wake. 

Adrien looked at Alya. “Is she…”

Alya shrugged, rolling her eyes. “I never really know with that girl.”

“So… how’d your date with Nino go?”

Alya punched his shoulder with a snort. “How’d you know about my date with Nino, Catboy?”

Adrien smirked. “It’s not like you guys were quiet about it. I think the whole team heard you talk about it.”

Alya looked at him over her glasses. “Or you were just eavesdropping.” She laughed at his mock offended look. “Either way, it was great. We saw the ne-” 

Alya paused as Ladybug shot through the front doors, streaking around the rink and almost slamming into Adrien with an oddly familiar shriek. She put her hands on her knees, panting. Adrien thought she was kind of cute, with her flushed cheeks and wisps of hair flying everywhere. 

“Morning, M’Lady. Oversleep?”

“Ugh,” she groaned, straightening and pinching the bridge of her nose. “Something like that.” 

He grinned, bumping her with his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I just got here too. How about you don’t tell Tikki and I don’t tell Plagg,” he added, voice dropping to a confidential whisper, “and both of us make it out of here alive.”

She giggled, bumping him back. “Deal,” she whispered back. “Oh!” She turned to Alya, who was watching the exchange with a smirk. “I ran into Marinette on my way in. She said that her mom needed her home to help with something? She had to leave right away and wanted me to let you know.”

Alya shook her head in disbelief. “Seriously? That stupid ‘bakery emergency’ thing is real? Here I thought she just really didn’t want to talk to you,” she muttered to Adrien, who frowned as he considered the possibility for the first time.

Ladybug shrugged, cheeks turning a shade pinker. “Apparently? And she said not to worry and that she would text Fu.”

“Kid. Pigtails. Nice of you two to finally show up.”

Adrien fought back a wince at Plagg’s sarcastic tone. If he’d been this late to a practice with his father, he would have been lucky to get home before nightfall. He turned, frowning guiltily. “Sorry, Plagg. I slept through my alarm.”

Beside him, Ladybug nodded. “We’ll stay a half hour late, if that helps?”

Tikki glanced sternly at Plagg. “Knock it off,” she said, elbowing him. Her smile calmed the instinctual panic running through Adrien’s head. “It’s fine. We should’ve guessed that Froyo Friday night and Saturday morning practices are no good together.”

Adrien snorted. “I was thinking the same thing earlier.”

Plagg gave him the side-eye. “All right,” he relented. “Come on, let’s get started.”

As they crept closer to the day of the competition, their moves became cleaner, their timing tighter, and their team closer. Adrien was surprised to find that not only did the group accept him into their fold, mask or no mask, but they actually invited him and welcomed him. He started cracking bad puns - although you’d never hear him admit it out loud - teasing Alya and Nino with the rest of the team, and goofing off with Ladybug during practice. His new team was closer than his old one ever was, no matter how many competitions they’d won together. 

Considering how different training was, it shouldn’t have surprised Adrien when competition day was nothing like Adrien was expecting. Instead of the tight voices, strained looks, and non-stop lecturing from his father, his new team was louder, merrier, and happier on the bus to the competition. Ladybug sat next to him, fiddling nervously with the laces on her signature black and red skates as she chatted animatedly over the seat with Alix, who was responding with surprising focus considering she currently had Kim in a headlock. 

Across the aisle from him, Alya and Nino were huddled over a tablet, playing some sort of video game together. Tikki and Plagg were laughing about something, looking back over the bus. Plagg caught Adrien’s eye with a smirk, nodding to the girl seated next to him. Adrien rolled his eyes, turning to look at Ladybug. She’d finished her conversation with Alix - or rather, Kim had escaped the headlock and was now wrestling with the small girl in the middle of the aisle. A sharp look from Tikki had both of them back in their seats in an instant, Kim having the decency to grin sheepishly. Alix slugged him in the shoulder.

“Are you nervous?” Ladybug asked him, drawing his attention away from the chaotic duo behind him. 

He stretched languidly in his seat, putting his hands behind his head. “Nah. You?”

She shrugged, dropping her skates at her feet. “A little. It’s my first competition.”

“Don’t be. If we skate like we did last night, we’ll definitely win. Trust me,” he added, sneaking an arm around her shoulders. 

She shrugged his arm off with a raised eyebrow. Worth a shot. “We still haven’t seen everyone else’s skill level. We’re just lucky that the Agreste Skaters aren’t coming. We’re definitely not at their level yet.”

He swallowed down the lump of nerves in his throat. “Yeah. They’re pretty good.”

When she started playing with the tie her pigtail, he sighed, straightening in his seat. “Come on, LB. Let’s play a game.”

She frowned, fingers dropping from the red ribbon. “Seriously?”

He grinned. “Yeah! Come on, Ladybug. Pleeeeeeease ?” He gave her the best puppy eyes he could. 

She rolled her eyes, a twinkle of amusement flashing at him. Bingo. “Like what, Kitty?” 

He hadn’t actually expected to get this far. Adrien paused, thinking of all the road trip games he knew of. “The alphabet game?”

Two heads popped up over the seat. “The alphabet game?” Alix asked. “Sick, dude! I’m in.”

Kim elbowed her. “I bet I could find all the letters before you.”

“Nuh-uh,” she retorted. “I bet-”

“Guys! The alphabet game isn’t a race. It’s a group challenge,” Adrien interrupted.

Max looked up from his phone. “Chat Noir is correct. The alphabet game is a challenge to see how many letters of the alphabet a group can find before arriving at their destination. The letters must be found in order; the easiest to find are vowels, while the trickiest tend to be Q, X, V, and Z.”

Adrien pointed at Max. “Exactly.”

Ladybug sat up in her seat, peering out the window. “And where are we supposed to find the letters?”

“Everywhere,” Adrien said with a grin. “Road signs, liscence plates, the sides of cars…”

“A!” Alya called, startling everyone. She pointed out the window with a smirk. “Red car’s liscence plate.”

“No fair!” Kim shouted. “You star-”

“B!” Plagg yelled from the front of the bus. “Dupain-Cheng Bakery!”

“C!” Ladybug added, eyes sparkling. “That sign says ‘croissants’!”

Adrien ignored Kim’s pouting as he called out the ‘D’, only to be interrupted by Nino with an ‘E’. As his team shouted above each other, the bus bursting into laughter when Tikki slapped a hand over Plagg’s mouth to shout “K!” first, Adrien leaned back in his seat with a grin.

This was what a team was supposed to look like.

Chapter Text

“Oh boy oh boy oh boy,” Ladybug panted over the cheers of the crowd, shaking her hands out as she paced. “What are we doing? I can’t do this! This is crazy! Gah!”

“Woah, LB!” Adrien said with a laugh. It was almost cute to see how flustered she was after spending years working with almost too confident skaters like Chloe. He gave one last tug on his laces before straightening. “I gotta ask- have you ever competed before today?”

She shook her head, eyes wild. “Is it that obvious?”

“Uh… yeah.” Adrien stood, balancing with one hand on the rink wall while he faced her. “You’ll be fine! Just remember to breathe. And count. And don’t look at the audience again,” he added as her eyes flicked to the side. “That’ll just freak you out even more. You already did a great job in the group skate! You’ll be fine,” he repeated consolingly when she rubbed her temples.

“You know that’s a lie.” she said with a huff. “I messed up! In the middle of the routine!”

Adrien tried his best not to wince. Their group skate had gone smoothly until Ladybug had glanced at the crowd and promptly tripped over her own feet. He’d had to catch her before she hit the ground and coach her through the next few steps until she wasn’t beet red anymore. 

“So you tripped,” he said, smiling down at her. “You’ve already experienced the worst that could happen, right?”

Ladybug shook her head, blue eyes glimmering darkly. “No, ‘cause right now the worst that could happen is messing up in both my routines. And this time I won’t be surrounded by other skaters covering up all my mistakes!” She threw her hands in the air, letting out a frustrated cry. “I can’t do this! Fu should’ve picked someone else to skate with you!”

“You’re wrong,” Adrien interrupted firmly. He stepped forward, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking down into her wide eyes. “This may be your first competition, but I’ve seen how you skate when we’re alone. You’ve got talent, skill, but most importantly- you love to skate. Am I wrong?” he added with a gentle smirk. 

She looked down at her red skates, shaking her head with a mumbled “No.” 

“Fu chose you for a reason,” Adrien continued, squeezing her shoulders. “Don’t doubt that.”

Ladybug sighed. “Okay. Okay,” she repeated, nodding determinedly. “I can do this.”

Adrien couldn’t stop the grin from breaking over his face at her newfound confidence. “Of course you can,” he said teasingly, leaning against the rink wall. “You’re Ladybug.”

“Next up,” the announcer said over the hubbub of the stadium, “We have Ladybug and Chat Noir representing Fu’s Miracle Rink.”

Adrien stole a quick peek at Ladybug’s face as he tugged her into the rink. Although her cheeks were still flushed and her hand trembled in his, her eyes had a determined sparkle.

“Ready?” he whispered as they took their places in the middle of the ice, toe to toe. 

She nodded, lips quirking up into a nervous smile. “As I’ll ever be.” Her warm breath ghosted his face as she spoke. This close, he could see each freckle on her nose. If they weren’t about to skate, he’d be tempted to count them. 

Then the first notes of their song played and they were off, skating away from each other with some simple footwork. Adrien grinned as the familiar adrenaline of competing rushed through his nerves. The song was so loud it pounded through him, though his heartbeat was even louder in his ears. As the tune picked up, he and Ladybug met in the middle of the rink again, starting on their laps around the rink. 

The excitement coursing through him was echoed in Ladybug’s eyes. As they fell into the familiar rhythm of their dance, he could feel the tension in her form start to give way to the natural fluidity he was used to seeing. 

It wasn’t until her eyes widened that he realized there was another sound coursing through the stadium: applause. Adrien looked up, feeling like his cheeks would split from how wide his smile was. The audience was clapping along to the beat of their song, some even rising from their seats. 

This . This is what skating was all about. Not fame, or money, or prizes. It was about him and Ladybug and the music and the audience, all swirled into one glorious moment. It was about the wind in his hair and the scrape of the ice on his skates and the feeling of flying. 

As the last chorus of the song played, Adrien twirled Ladybug once, twice, three times, her pigtails whipping his arms as she spun. She bent her knees, falling to the floor in a classic rockstar slide as Adrien skidded to a stop behind her. Breathing heavily, he held the pose as the song finished with a bang. 

The stadium burst into cheers. Adrien pulled Ladybug back up, spinning her back around so they were face to face. Her grin matched his own, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Nice job,” he panted.

“Thanks.” She pushed her sweaty bangs out of her eyes before tugging on his hand. “C’mon, Plagg’s waving us over,” she said with a giggle as she pulled him towards the edge of the rink. They took a moment to bow to the audience before stepping off the ice.

“Dude!” Nino yelled, slapping him on the back. “That was awesome!”

“Yeah!” Alya waved her phone, eyes glinting with excitement. “I got the whole thing on video. You totally rocked!”

Adrien grinned, throwing an arm around Ladybug. “Heh. Rocked. Y’know, cause it’s a rock song?” he added at the confused looks everyone was giving him.

To his surprise, Ladybug leaned into his side with a groan. “Don’t get him started,” she muttered to Alya. “I don’t have the brain cells to deal with him right now.”

“You could say our performance was electric ,” Adrien continued with a smirk. “We really rocked them dead.”

Plagg covered his face with his hands. “Please make it stop,” he muttered to Tikki, who just patted him on the back with a laugh.

“Fine, fine.” Adrien let out a gusty sigh. “Think we’ll beat enough people to make it to the top three?”

Ladybug elbowed him in the side. 

“Ow! Okay, okay!” Adrien said with a surprised laugh. He hadn’t been expecting anyone to pick up on that one. “You’ve got bony elbows!” 

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “How many more people until they announce the results?” she asked Alya, effectively interrupting his flow of rock n’ roll puns.

“This is the last performance,” the red-haired girl said, narrowing her eyes as she flipped through her schedule. “After they’re done, the judges will step aside and sort through everyone’s from both the group skate and the pairs skate. They’ll add the two together and announce the scores from lowest to highest.”

Adrien could feel Ladybug take a deep breath against his side. “So now we just wait?”

“Yup,” he said. He rubbed her arm as he felt her tense up again. “You did great, LB. There’s nothing else we can do but wait.”

She exhaled. “Okay.”

“You guys did great,” Tikki said, smiling encouraginly. “Plagg and I are super proud of you. Right?”

Plagg looked up from where he was leaning against the rink wall. “Yeah, they did great. I mean, the last spin was a little off and Ladybug’s footwork could’ve been cleaner- ow!” he yelped as Tikki poked him in the ribs. “What was that for?”

“Not the time, Plagg,” she muttered, giving him a stink eye. Adrien tried not to groan at the coach’s obliviousness as Ladybug’s eyes widened with horror.

Thankfully, the announcer’s voice crackled to life through the speakers before she could spiral back into panic. “Everyone, please put your hands together for all the amazing skaters we’ve seen today. I’m sure we’re all impatient to see which rink is taking home the trophy, but first our judges need to take a moment to rank the scores. They’ll be back in just a minute, so until then, let’s give another huge round of applause!”

Adrien had to take his arm off Ladybug’s shoulder to clap, which for some reason sent a wave of disappointment through him. He eagerly snaked his arm back around her as soon as he could, grinning as she leaned back into his side with a quiet huff. A tiny tremble ran through her arms as they waited for the judges' results. 

“It’ll be fine, M’Lady,” he whispered in her ear encouraginly. “Just breathe.”

“How are you so chill right now?” she hissed, looking up at him with wide eyes. “Are you even a tiny bit nervous?”

Adrien chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. “Just… practice, I guess.” This part of the competition was actually his favorite. Chloe was usually off cackling with one of the other members of the team about how amazing she’d done and Lila was almost always sucking up to the coach, which meant that he’d be free to sit on the bench and take his first deep breath of the day. 

“Don’t worry,” he added gently as Ladybug turned back to the rink, hugging herself nervously. “You’ll get used to it soon. Just remember, there’s nothing you can do now. You might as well relax because stressing yourself out won’t change a thing.”

Ladybug sighed, rubbing her eyes. “I guess.”

“Alright,” the announcer interrupted, “looks like the judges are back with their final decisions!” He paused as one of the judges handed him a piece of paper. “Coming in last, with the scores of 56.3 in their group skate and 62.8 in their pairs skate is Francoise Dupont Skating!”

The group of skaters to Adrien’s right had varying reactions as the crowd clapped politely, from hanging their heads to hugging each other consolingly. He rubbed Ladybug’s back. “See?” he whispered. “We’re already in the top four out of five.”

She shook her head with a quiet snort as the announcer continued. “In fourth place, with 61.7 in their group skate and 59.4 in their pairs skate, Paris Ice Skating! In third, with 74.5 in their group skate and 69.3 in their pairs, D’Argencourt Academy!”

Adrien took a deep breath as they waited for the audience’s applause to die down. “Now it’s down to the last two teams,” the man said, flashing a grin at the skaters from the podium. “We had a close tie, with only a 5.8 point difference! In second place, with 78.2 in their group skate and 74.6 in their pairs skate, we have…”

Ladybug tensed, looking up at Adrien with panicked eyes. 

“Phillipe’s Ice Skating!”

Ladybug exhaled in a whoosh, leaning against Adrien’s side so quickly he wondered if her knees had given out beneath her. “Kitty, Kitty, you know what that means?” she gasped. 

“And in first place, with 71.5 in their group skate and an amazing 87.1 in their pairs skate, Fu’s Miracle Rink!”

Alya screamed ecstacically, shaking Nino roughly as the crowd erupted into applause. “We did it!” Adrien yelled, grinning so wide he felt like his cheeks would split. 

He only got a flash of red and black before Ladybug jumped into his arms, squealing in his ear. He laughed, picking her up and spinning her around and around and around, letting the world around them blur as he grew increasingly dizzier. Ladybug joined his laughter, eyes sparkling with happiness. 

When he got too dizzy he set her down, panting. She grinned up at him, hair falling into her eyes and breathe coming in short gasps and cheeks adorably pink with excitement and one thought came slamming into Adrien’s brain so hard he almost fell over:

I think I have a crush on you.

Chapter Text

Four

Years

Later

Adrien’s sneakers slapped against the cold cement sidewalk, creating a beat that the crickets and cars down the street sang along to. His own thoughts drowned out the city’s nighttime symphony. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”

“It’s not you.”

“Kitty, I… I’m sorry.”

He stared down at the sidewalk, watching the rhythmic pattern of his white shoes flash against the grey cement. He’d heard that heartbreak was excruciating. Heartwrenching. Torment. 

Maybe this wasn’t heartbreak, not quite, but it was close. It felt like cold had seeped into his bones, making every thought, every movement sluggish. 

Fingers trembling, knuckles white as they pressed the small mask tightly against her skin. Her eyes had grown wide with fear. 

She’d been scared. Was she scared of taking the mask off or just him in particular? The thought made his jaw clench. 

He took a deep breath, stopping in front of the rink doors. He just needed some time on the ice. The fresh air might clear his mind. Or make everything worse , he thought with a wry shake of his head. Wasn’t the cure to a chill something warm? Hot chocolate or a blanket?

Keys halfway to the lock, Adrien paused, noticing what he’d been too deep in thought to miss: the door was already unlocked. He slowly slid his keys back into his pockets, hesitating for a brief moment before pushing the door open. 

As he made his way down the dimly lit hall, he could hear the telltale sound of Ladybug’s skates scraping the ice. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly how he knew; something about the length of each stride and a feeling in his gut. Adrien stopped, sluggish thoughts finally starting to pick up as he debated going in. 

I should leave her alone. Adrien sighed, turning on his heel. She probably needs some time to think. 

“Who's there?”

Adrien winced, freezing in his tracks. “Uh…”

“Oh. Kitty.” Ladybug’s voice dropped, softer and quieter than her first call. The noise of her skating stopped. 

“I can just go-”

“No!” 

Adrien jumped, almost dropping his skates at her sharp cry. 

After a pause, she asked hesitantly, “Do you… wanna skate with me?” 

He slipped his hand into his back pocket, fingering his mask. “Are you sure?” he called back. 

“Uh-huh.”

Adrien hesitantly slipped his mask on, turning back to the rink. The walk down the hall and through the open door felt almost longer than the one from his house to the rink. Was she still upset? Did she want to continue their earlier conversation? She sounded just as hesitant as he felt. Maybe she didn’t know either. 

Ladybug was waiting for him at the entrance to the rink, playing with the edge of her mask. Her hand shot down as he walked through the door. She smiled nervously at him, holding her hand up in a little wave. 

Adrien quickly strapped on his skates, kicking his bag under the bench before joining her. To his surprise, she took his hand with a small smile, nodding to the ice. “Ready?”

“If you are, M’Lady.” He let her tug him onto the ice, letting out the breath he’d been holding. 

She seemed content to skate around the rink in silence, holding tightly to his hand. Adrien peeked at her face, resisting the urge to say something. He’d pushed her too far this morning and wasn’t too keen on making that mistake again. 

On his second peek, her eyes were already on his face. Her cheeks turned deep pink as her gaze jumped back to the floor. 

“I know, I know,” he couldn’t help himself from saying. “I’m purr ticularly handsome in this lighting.” Aaaaaand… there goes that plan.

Ladybug snorted. “What lighting? That?” She pointed up at the ceiling, where a single fleurescant bulb flickered as if to prove her point. 

She wasn’t slapping down his puns, which was a good sign. Adrien smirked, gesturing to himself. “Milady, you and I both know I look purr fect in any lighting.”

This time she rolled her eyes. “You can’t use the same pun twice. That’s just lazy.”

He shrugged, feeling his smirk grow into a genuine smile. “I say it’s efficient.”

Ladybug laughed, shaking her head. “Oh, Kitty.” 

Adrien laughed too, but a lump jumped up his throat a few seconds in. His laughter quickly died. 

“Kitty?” Ladybug repeated, smile dropping. 

“Ladybug…” Adrien said carefully. He paused as her smile fell away completely. 

Her brow furrowed as she looked up at him. “Yeah?”

With her large eyes trained on him, it was like the words had turned to smoke in his brain. He struggled to catch the right ones, but every combination he put together just sounded wrong. “Could we… talk? About earlier today?” he finally strung together.

Her eyes widened and she shook her head, pigtails whipping back and forth. “Chat, please- can we not?”

“ Why ?” 

He regretted the word as soon as it escaped his mouth. Ladybug dropped his hand, rubbing her other arm instead as she looked away. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbled. 

Adrien grit his teeth. “Can’t I at least have an explanation?”

“No!”

He almost tripped over his own skates. “N- why not ?” he asked, voice rising. “Ladybug, you know how important this is to me!”

She skidded to a stop, turning away so he couldn’t see her face. “I just- I just can’t!”

“But-”

Ladybug shook her head furiously. Before he could reach out she was already halfway across the rink, then yanking her skates off, then the door was slamming behind her. 

And he stood in the middle of the ice, watching as if frozen. The echo of the door reverberated through his body. 

I screwed up. 

Chapter Text

“Again!”

Adrien massaged his aching shoulder. Next to him, Ladybug pulled herself up on the wall, brushing ice shavings off her rear. “Plagg-” she groaned.

“I said run it again!” Plagg yelled. “Go on!”

Ladybug skated up to Adrien, eyes on the ground. “Ready?” she muttered. He nodded, holding out his hand. 

This time the lift was no more successful than the last. Ladybug wobbled in his hands, sending tremors through his whole body as he tried to keep her steady. 

“Enough, enough!” Plagg snapped. “Both of you! Over here. Now.”

Adrien dropped her with a grunt, her skates hitting the ice with a loud thump. The silence in the rink was deafening as they made their way to the coaches, who were leaning against the wall. 

Plagg drummed his fingers on the wall, glaring at his prized skaters from behind shaggy black bangs. “What. Was. That,” he deadpanned. “Did you two suddenly forget to skate overnight? You had this routine nailed yesterday! What’s going on?”

Adrien’s stomach was so heavy he was pretty sure it was going to sink to the floor. “I don’t know,” he mumbled under his breath. Ladybug just shrugged, staring emptily at the floor. 

Tikki, who’d been watching the session in near silence, uncrossed her arms. “Guys, we only have two days until the Miraculous competition. We don’t have time for this, whatever it is,” she sighed, rubbing her temples. 

“We’ll do better,” Ladybug mumbled.

Adrien nodded jerkily. “Yeah.”

The coaches eyes the two in silence for a moment. Adrien squirmed under Tikki’s scrutinous gaze. 

After a moment, she turned to Ladybug. “How about we chat for a minute,” she said firmly, nodding to the other side of the rink. 

Ladybug slowly followed her across the ice, leaving Adrien alone with Plagg. He gulped, turning back to the ball of fury that was his coach. 

“What’s going on with you two?” Plagg immediately demanded. “You were just fine yesterday! What did you do?” he hissed. 

Adrien shrugged. “I finally asked her if she wanted to take the masks off yesterday,” he mumbled. “It… didn’t go well.”

Plagg groaned. “Kid, we talked about this. I told you to take it delicately.”

“Yeah, well I messed everything up.” Adrien threw his hands up in the air. “I shouldn’t have pushed her, I know. I probably should’ve just nodded and dropped it, but I had to open my big stupid mouth and ruin everything.”

Plagg pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like “ young adults.” With a sigh, he straightened. “Okay. Tell me everything that happened.”

Adrien looked across the rink, where Ladybug was talking animatedly to Tikki. Her hands flew around wildly as she talked, drawing sharp frustrated lines through the air. 

“Yesterday, after rehearsals, we were talking,” he said. “I was laughing about how long you made us train-” more like griping about it “-and she said that she was so sweaty her mask kept slipping off. I made a comment about how the whole thing would be easier if we just took them off.”

Plagg gave him a ‘seriously?’ look. “Was it supposed to be a joke?”

Adrien shrugged again. “Yeah. But I noticed she got really upset about it so I… kind of asked her about it.”

“Okay,” Plagg said, raising an eyebrow. “And then what?”

“She got super defensive,” Adrien said, frowning as he tried to remember her exact words. “She said that she didn’t think it was a good idea yet, so I asked her when she thought it would be a good idea.”

“And then?” Plagg prompted. He uncrossed his arms, leaning forward. “Was that the point when you ruined my chances of bringing home my trophy?”

“Plagg!”

“Right, sorry, when your relationship fractured and lost all hope of reconciliation?”

“Plagg!”

“Fine, fine! What happened next?”

Adrien shook his head exasperatedly, throwing his hands up in the air. “She said never! She wouldn’t explain it to me, just said that she didn’t think she’d ever be ready. Then later, at night, when we talked aga-”

“Hold up,” Plagg interrupted, raising a hand and closing his eyes. “You talked again? The same day?”

Adrien nodded. “We bumped into each other later at the rink.”

“And you had the smarts to keep your mouth shut, right?”

“Uh…” Adrien thought back to Ladybug’s hurried escape. “Not exactly,” he admitted sheepishly

Plagg facepalmed. “Do you know anything about women? When in doubt, give them space until they’ve calmed down!” 

“She seemed… mostly fine! Besides, what do you know about women?” Adrien shot back. “You’ve been single since, like, forever!”

Plagg snorted. “Uh-huh. Take another look,” he said wryly, holding up his left hand. 

Adrien frowned. “So? You always wear th-” He stopped when he realized that Plagg’s black ring, the one he’d had since Adrien had met him, was no longer on his middle finger, but one to the left. 

“What.”

Plagg wiggled his eyebrows. “It appears I do know more about women than you,” he said with a snort.

“ How long has that been there? ” Adrien gasped. “You’re- you got married?” 

“Read em’ and weep!” Plagg cackled. 

Adrien’s existential dilemmas were momentarily replaced with a completely new one as he stared slackjawed at Plagg’s left ring finger. 

“Who on Earth would marry you?” he wondered aloud. 

Plagg retracted his hand, giving Adrien an offended frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he demanded. 

“She’d have to be absolutely insane!” Adrien laughed, shaking his head. “I’d love to meet her someday.”

To his surprise, instead of shooting back with an offended comment, Plagg cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted across the room. “Hey Sugarcube! Adrien thinks you’re crazy!”

“Don’t call me Sugarcube!” Tikki yelled back over her shoulder. She went back to her conversation with Ladybug, who was staring across the rink with a confused frown. Ladybug met Adrien’s eyes for a second before looking back at Tikki, hands coming up to hug herself. 

“Anyway,” Plagg continued nonchalantly, as if the last few seconds had never happened. “As the resident girl expert-”

“You and Tikki got married? ” Adrien gasped. “When? Why? When ?”

Plagg shrugged. “Few years ago, I think? Ask Tikki. She’s the one who remembers stuff like that. ANYway-”

“ Why didn’t you tell me? ” Adrien demanded. “Come on, man!”

“A HEM ,” Plagg said loudly, shooting Adrien a pointed stare. “We’re talking about you and Ladybug right now? Focus?”

“Fine, but we’re coming back to this later!” Adrien said sharply, pointing at Plagg’s chest. “And you’re going to tell me the whole story!”

Plagg waved his hand. “Fine, whatever. So as someone who’s lived with a girl for a few years now, one of the most important things to know about them is that it’s never a good idea to push them twice in one day. Take a few days, let them calm down and feel all their feels and probably talk to some other girls or something and then they’ll be ready to talk about it again.”

Adrien opened his mouth to argue, thought for a moment, then shut it again. “That’s actually good advice,” he said with a slow nod. “Surprisingly,” he added when Plagg grinned proudly. “How long did it take you to figure that out?”

Plagg shook his head, eyes wide like he was a soldier remembering past battles. “Too long. Waaay too long.”

“So what do I do now?” Adrien asked, leaning against the rink wall. “Just give her time?”

Plagg nodded. “Since you’ve already messed things up, just talk to her and tell her you’re willing to give her all the time she needs. Then try your absolute hardest to NOT ruin things again.” He gave Adrien a pointed stare. “I’m counting on you to make sure the two of you can work together well enough to pull off this skate, okay?”

Adrien nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, Plagg.”

The coach slapped him on the back. “Don’t worry about it. Now let’s just wait for the girls and we can get back to practice.”

For once, Plagg's advice was actually helpful, Adrien mused as they waited. He watched Tikki and Ladybug, who were still talking quietly. Tikki pulled Ladybug into a hug, rubbing her back soothingly as she murmured in her ear. 

After a moment, the girls skated back across the rink, joining him and Plagg at the wall. Adrien tensed, watching Ladybug out of the corner of his eye. She seemed… smaller, like she was curling in on herself. Her eyes were red. 

“Alright,” Plagg said, pushing away from the wall. He faced his skaters with a raised eyebrow. “Now can the two of you work together now?”

Adrien nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, Ladybug nodded too. Adrien breathed a sigh of relief. So she doesn’t hate my guts. 

“Okay.” Plagg looked between the two of them, meeting Adrien’s eyes with a nod and a determined grin. “Take it from the top.”

Chapter Text

By the time the morning of the competition dawned, Adrien and Ladybug were finally on speaking terms again. Although they weren’t quite performing as well as before, it only took a few run thoughts to pull themselves back into the routine and execute it well, much to Plagg’s delight. 

Adrien weaved in and out of the massive hordes of people at the competition's rink, looking for Plagg. He was sure the coach had some last words of wisdom before the skate and since the Miraclulous Rink was right in the middle of Paris, everyone had shown up in their own cars. So far he’d seen Nino, Alya, and Kim, but Ladybug and the coaches were nowhere to be found. 

“Ah, Felix. Have you seen Chloe? She’s disappeared…”

The loud hubbub dropped away as Adrien froze, stopping in his tracks. The female voice had already disappeared, no doubt in search of his old childhood friend. 

Nathalie. 

And where Nathalie went, the laptop with his father came too. 

“... should be here. No one’s seen her?”

Adrien ducked behind a wall as Nathalie walked by again, no doubt going back to Agreste Skaters’ dressing rooms. His shaky breathing seemed deafening in his ears. He peeked out, catching a glimpse of Nathalie’s red streak and crisp black suit as she disappeared into the crowd. 

Adrien hadn’t seen anyone from his old group since he’d left. He’d known they were coming to the Miraculous Competition - they wouldn’t miss it for the world - and thought he was prepared to come face to face with them again, but Nathalie’s voice was like ice in his veins. 

With a shaky inhale, he slipped out from behind his wall and darted through the crowd, darting towads the dressing rooms. 

Thankfully the Miracle Rink’s dressing rooms were near the back of the building, so it was quieter the farther he went. Adrien found the (thankfully empty) boy’s room and hid inside, closing the door with a quiet click and leaning against it. 

Just breathe. It’s been years. You’ve got your mask. You should be fine. 

“... not like you’ll ever be good enough to join us on the ice. I don’t know why you even try, Dupain-Cheng.”

 Adrien raised his head. He knew that voice too. Chloe, his childhood friend, whom Nathalie had been looking for earlier. What are you doing here? 

“Honestly, it’s pathetic! The thought that someone like you thinks you have what it takes to skate?” 

Adrien winced at the cruel laugh. Yup, that’s Chloe. A part of him, the one that still felt a little guilty for leaving his childhood friend without a warning or goodbye, wanted to hide in the dressing room until the competition was over and never come out. But whoever was on the receiving end of her ire most likely didn’t deserve it. He sighed, steeling himself. At least it’s not Father. 

“Weak little knobby-kneed Marinette. You’re so clumsy you probably wouldn’t even make it into the rink!”

Adrien froze, hand on the doorknob. Did she just-

“Chloe, don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

He knew that choked up voice. Marinette! Rage bubbled up inside him, washing away the panic. “Hey!” he snapped, yanking the door open. “What’s going on out here?”

Chloe shrank away from Marinette, who quickly wiped a hand across her cheek. “Who are you ?” she shot back, nose curling up in a sneer. “A mascot? Can’t you see we’re busy here?”

Adrien stalked closer, clenching his fists. “I’m Chat Noir. Marinette is my friend, and she doesn’t deserve any of that.” He glared down at her. “You should go,” he growled. “Nathalie’s looking for you.”

Chloe glanced between him and Marinette. “Hmph!” With one last dirty look towards Marinette she stalked down the hall, purse swinging back and forth with her long strides. 

Adrien took a deep breath, turning back to his friend. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks,” Marinette said. Her usual bubbly demeanor was gone, leaving a blankness on her face. “You should get ready for the competition,” she added abruptly. 

“I know,” Adrien said, sighing. “I just… are you sure you’re okay?”

“Mmhmm. Fine.” Marinette took a step past him, reaching up and wiping at the corner of her eyes. “I gotta go find Fu. See you later.”

“Okay.” Adrien watched her go, wanting to (gently) smack Chloe. He knew she could be cruel, but he’d hoped she changed somewhat in the years since he’d left. 

Right before Marinette turned the corner, Adrien found himself yelling “Hey! Marinette!”

She paused, looking over her shoulder. “Yeah?”

“You want to skate?” 

She shrugged, looking down at her shoes. 

Adrien smiled. “I think that if you ever tried, you’d be awesome at it.”

To his relief, a hint of life sparked back in her eyes. “Really?” she asked quietly. “But I would start so late. Everyone else is years ahead of me.”

Adrien nodded. “Expierence can be helpful, yeah, but if you have a passion for… anything, really, you’re bound to be great. That’s what my mom used to say, at least.”

Marinette’s lips curved up into a small smile. “Your mom sounds smart. “

“She was.” Adrien pushed down the little bubble of grief that tried to rear its head. “Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do, okay?”

Marinette nodded. “Thanks, Chat,” she said softly. “That means a lot.”

“No problem.”

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck as Marinette disappeared around the corner, letting out a gusty exhale. That didn’t go too bad, he thought wryly. First time seeing old buddies and I almost have a panic attack then yell at my oldest friend. Great start to the day. 

“There you are!”

Adrien jumped at the finger suddenly in his face. “Geez, Plagg, you’re gonna give me a heart attack!” he yelped. 

Plagg ignored him, steering him out of the hallway. “We’ve been looking all over for you guys! Have you seen Ladybug?” he demanded. 

Adrien shook his head. “Has no one spotted her yet?”

“Nope. Tikki’s looking for her.” Plagg stopped, eyeing him for a moment. “You okay?” he added, eyes narrowing. “You look like you just survived World War 3.”

Adrien shrugged, grimacing. “I’m not really sure yet. Do you want me to help look for Ladybug?” 

Plagg paused, seeming to consider his options. “You’ve got 10 minutes,” he finally sighed. “If you haven’t found her by then, meet us at the rink. The competition starts in 15.”

Adrien nodded, giving Plagg his best Grin of Confidence (™). “I’ll be there. I think I might know exactly where she is,” he added under his breath as he turned away. 

He and Ladybug had been partners for years. At this point, he was pretty sure he knew most of his spotted partner’s rituals and habits, especially surrounding competitions, and something he’d picked up pretty early on was the pre-skate cookies. 

Ladybug had a HUGE sweet tooth, so much so that he was sometimes surprised she didn’t just live in a bakery or something. Whenever she was nervous she tended to grab something sweet to snack on and competitions were no different. Every time they skated in front of a crowd, he always ended up finding her in front of a vending machine, munching on a bag of cheap chocolate-chip cookies (why she didn’t just bring her own cookies instead of eating cheap vending machine crap was beyond him).

After getting directions from a busy rink worker, Adrien made his way through the crowd to the building’s only vending machines, right across from the entrance. 

Gotcha! Easily distinguishable from the rest of the crowd was Ladybug’s classic red mask and pigtails. Adrien dodged a harried mom frantically pulling her toddler to the bathroom, waving as she shouted an apology over her shoulder. “No probl- hey!”

Someone was standing behind Ladybug, fingers outstretched near her face. At his startled yelp, both girls turned around. 

Brunette pigtail things. Foxy face. Too-sweet innocent smile.

Of course it was Lila. 

“What are you doing?” he demanded for the second time that day. 

Lila backed up as Ladybug’s startled eyes darted towards her. “I was just about to say hi!” she said sweetly. “We’ve never met but I’ve heard all about you!” she gushed, turning to Ladybug. “I’m-”

“You were about to take off her mask!” Adrien interrupted. 

Ladybug took a hasty step back, fingers shooting up to touch her mask. “Of course you would, Lila ,” she muttered, eyes narrowing menacingly. 

Lila shook her head, frantically waving her hands. “Of course I wasn’t! How could you accuse me of something like that?” she cried, lip trembling. “You don’t believe him, right?” she begged, grabbing Ladybug’s arm. “Why on Earth would I want to take your mask off? That’s just cruel!”

To Adrien’s delight, Ladybug shook Lila’s hand off, shaking her head in disgust. “Thanks, Chat,” she said, clutching her cookies tightly as she walked over. “That could’ve been a disaster,” she mumbled under her breath. 

Adrien laughed, shooting a grin at Lila as she stalked away with clenched fists. “Yeah. You okay?”

She nodded, shoving another cookie in her mouth and looking away. “Totally fine.” 

Adrien frowned, finally noticing the way her knuckles whitened around the cookie bag and her red-rimmed eyes. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks,” she said, eyes flicking up to his. She gave him a weak smile. “That could’ve been a disaster. If I’d have known Lila was here…”

“Wait, how do you know Lila?” 

Ladybug frowned, swallowing her bite of cookie. “We were in school together years ago. How do you know Lila?” she shot back, perking up slightly. 

“Uh…” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “That would kinda give away some stuff.”

“Oh.” Ladybug took another bite of her cookie, chewing thoughtfully. Adrien could practically see the gears in her head moving. After a moment, she mumbled, “Go ahead. I don’t mind.”

Adrien blinked. “Really?”

She nodded, cheeks pinking. 

“But I thought you didn’t…” He paused, trying to find the right words. “Weren’t ready,” he amended. 

“I’ve thought about it,” she said slowly, rubbing her arm. “And…” Ladybug sighed, her voice going quiet. “Kitty, I really care about you. And I guess I didn’t realize how important to you the mask thing was. I’m really sorry if I hurt you.”

Adrien had to remember to breathe. She was apologizing ? About the thing they’d both subconsciously agreed to avoid talking about?

I guess her talk with Tikki helped? He wondered. His with Plagg had definitely helped some. Whatever had happened, he wasn’t about to screw it up again. 

“I didn’t realize how scared you were about it,” Adrien said, choosing his wods carefully. “I shouldn’t have pushed you. I’m sorry too.”

Ladybug smiled up at him, her eyes gently crinkling. “I need a little bit more time to think, but I really want to think about it. Could you just be patient with me?”

Adrien didn’t know whether to grin, do a cartwheel, hug her, or propose right there. Instead he nodded, smile growing. “Of course! I’m willing to wait, as long as it takes. I’m really sorry, again, for pushing you out of your comfort zone. And thank you, Ladybug. This means a lot to me.”

“I know.” To his surprise, she threw her arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes to reach him. Adrien wrapped his arms around her, grinning into her hair. 

Plagg was right, he thought happily, reminding himself to thank the cranky coach later. 

PLAGG !

“Plagg’s looking for you!” he yelped, belatedly remembering his mission. He pulled away, realizing that the entry had mostly emptied out. “We gotta go!”

Ladybug grabbed his hand, pulling him into a run. “Then let’s go!” 

Adrien laughed in surprise, almost tripping over his feet before catching up to his lady. 

Scratch the thank you, when this was all over Adrien was going to buy Plagg everything in the Cheeses Monthly Magazine. 

Chapter Text

The Miraculous Skating Competition consisted of a few different events, lasting the span of a full day. The afternoon was for the junior competitors and the morning for the teens and young adults and each age group had three different events, a female solo, a male solo, and a pairs skate. The only difference between the two age groups was that the older competitors had an extra event: the Mystery Skate. 

The Mystery Skate was what set the Miraculous apart from all the other skating events in France. Sometimes it was a jump challenge, sometimes it was a technical test, sometimes it was a repeat of the pairs skate but with an extra element like no music or half again as fast. To make it to the Miraculous you had to be good enough that they were confident you’d at least have a chance in the mystery skate. 

Not only did the Miracle Rink have the pressure of making it through the mystery challenge and holding up their title as one of the best rinks in Paris, they also had a lot of history with the Miraculous. It had originally started as a small competition hosted by the Miracle Rink decades ago. The Miracle Rink had held the trophy for the first dozen years, but once the competition grew large enough that it moved into its own building and Fu took over the rink, they lost the title and hadn’t held it since. No team of Fu’s had been able to scrape past third, maybe second place. This year, however, they had Ladybug and Chat Noir. Plagg and Fu were confident that they had a fighting chance, but that didn’t mean they didn’t need to work harder than they ever had before. Morale was high, energy was low, and both the coaches had been pushing the team as close to the breaking point as they possibly could. 

Needless to say everyone was a little high strung as they waited next to the rink. Alya and Nino, the two soloists, huddled next to each other, Nino anxiously marking through his routine while Alya watched and helped him when he forgot his moves in a state of anxiety-induced panic. The rest of the team, there for support, sat on the benches, reading the schedule or playing on their phones. 

Plagg, who had been pacing next to the rink wall, jerked around when Adrien and Ladybug jogged up. “Sorry!” Adrien panted, hands dropping to his knees. “Took a while to find her.” Ladybug grinned sheepishly. 

Plagg shook his head. “DON’T do that to me again!” he said harshly. “I almost thought you wouldn’t make it in time!”

“Sorry,” Ladybug echoed apologetically, plopping down on the bench and pulling on her skates. “It won’t happen again.”

“Better not,” Plagg muttered.

Tikki put a hand on his shoulder, nudging him away from the couple. “Everything alright?” she asked, brow furrowing. “Did something happen?”

Adrien traded glances with Ladybug as he sat next to her, pulling his skates out from where someone had stashed them for him. “We ran into an old acquaintance,” he grunted as he shoved on his skates. “It didn’t go well.”

“Tell you about it later,” Ladybug added, glancing up at her coach. 

Tikki shook her head. “Alright. Well, you’re just in time. They’re about to start.”

Adrien laced his skates, fingers slipping on the rough material as he hurried to get them on. He had just finished when a female voice echoed from the speakers of the stadium. 

“No need to wait, it’s time to skate! I’m Nadja Chemack and welcome to the annual Miraculous Skating Competition!”

The crowds in the stands cheered, drowning out the end of her sentence. Adrien shrugged off his puffy parka as Nadja reclaimed the attention of the audience. “Let’s meet our teams!” she announced. “First out on the rink, the winners of last year’s Miraculous, Agreste Skaters!”

Four skaters entered the rink, waving to the crowd. Even from a distance, Adrien was able to recognize them. Lila, lips curved up in a sweet smile, clung to the arm of a stern blond: his cousin, Felix. It seemed as though after he left, Chloe hadn’t found another partner, as she skated in alone, waving and blowing kisses at the crowd. Last but not least was a new kid, the male soloist. Adrien didn’t know him, but his smug smirk and cocky two-fingered salute matched the Agreste Brand perfectly. He was sure that this kid was just as good as the rest of the skaters in his father’s group. 

Adrien was so caught up in watching his old teammates that he almost missed the introduction of his current ones. Ladybug tugged on his elbow, snapping his attention back to her as Nadja’s voice crackled out of the speakers: “... the underdogs of the competition, but this year they’ve got a new pair of skaters that haven’t lost a skate so far: the Miracle Rink!”

He shot Ladybug a smile as he grabbed her hand, skating out onto the rink together. Alya and Nino came behind them, waving to the crowd. He could barely hear the scratching of their skates on the ice over the noise of the cheers and clapping. 

“Nervous?” Ladybug whispered, looking up at him. 

He grinned, the familiarity of her smile and voice hitting him like a brick. They’d only been fighting for two days but now, having her back by his side, it seemed like forever. 

“Nah,” he said with a shake of the head. “We’ve got this in the bag. Or my name’s not Chat Noir,” he added, a last minute tease. 

To his delight, she took the bait. “It really isn’t though,” she said, giving a mock exasperated sigh. “I guess we’re doomed.”

They laughed quietly together, skating around the rink in a slow lap with all the other contestants while Nadja explained the agenda for the day. 

“I missed you,” she said after a moment. 

Adrien’s grin softened to a smile as he looked down at his partner. “I missed you too,” he admitted. “Let’s never fight again.”

Ladybug giggled, bluebell eyes sparkling. “Agreed. My parents always say that you can never be angry on a stomach full of sweetness, so next time we feel like arguing, let’s go get froyo instead.”

“ Deal, ” Adrien said with an emphatic nod. They both laughed, looking up as the skaters started to file out of the rink. To his amusement, Nino gave him a thumbs up as he and Alya passed them, jerking his chin at Ladybug. “ Nice job,” he mouthed. 

Adrien rolled his eyes, ignoring his friend. Nino hadn’t let the whole Ladybug thing drop ever since he realized that his celebrity roommate, the guy who could easily get any girl in Paris, was having girl trouble. At least now that they’d made up, Nino had lost that teasing right. 

Adrien sat on the bench with Ladybug, leaning back in his seat as Alya skated out on the rink with the rest of the female soloists. The pairs went last, after both solo events, so he and Ladybug had almost an hour and a half to kill before their event. Plagg insisted that they stay in the rink instead of wandering around the building after an incident two years ago with Kim and Alix, so he and Ladybug spent the time watching the skaters, pointing out their favorite parts of the routine and wincing at poor choreography choices or tiny slips. 

To his delight, they fell back into their natural rhythm quickly, bantering and laughing and just enjoying each other’s presence. He noticed that Ladybug was more prone to trailing off and falling deep in thought than usual, but he’d take a slightly more thoughtful Ladybug over one who wouldn’t speak to him. Honestly, he was a little in shock that everything had smoothed over so well. 

Near the end of the men’s solos, Plagg pulled him aside, out of earshot of the rest of the team. “I see everything got worked out,” he said with a grin, wiggling his eyebrow up and down. “How much do you owe me?”

Adrien groaned. “A lot,” he admitted. “Lila - one of the other skaters - tried to take her mask off when she wasn’t looking and I stopped her. She was the one who started the apology and we just sorta… worked things out.”

Plagg whistled. “Nice job, Adrien. I thought you’d never work that out.”

“So did I,” Adrien said with a shake of his head. “I think she’s just as glad to have us back as I am,” he added with a grin, glancing over at his partner. She was laughing about something with Tikki, eyes squinted shut with mirth. 

The two of them looked up as the music stopped, the last soloist bowing to the judges. Tikki waved the both of them over to the bench as Nadja started talking again, voice echoing around the stadium. 

“That was the last of our male soloists! Now as you all know, the judges are going to take their time with these scores, announcing everything together at the end. No one event is going to carry the team through to the trophy, however! At the end of the Mystery Skate, the judges will compile the scores from each event into one grand total. The team with the highest score will be the winners!”

As she rambled on, the zamboni came and smoothed the ice out, creating a new, clean slate for the next event. 

“All right, next up in our line of events is the Pairs Skate! Everyone get ready, because our pairs have been training for weeks to bring you their beautiful routines! The theme for this skate is ‘Storytelling’. We want each of our teams to bring an easily watchable story to the ice, something everyone can follow. We want drama, we want magic, we want to feel something!”

Adrien exchanged glances with Ladybug, meeting her determined eyes. They’d practiced their skate for weeks. They knew the steps. They’d be fine. 

“For our first pair, we have Ladybug and Chat Noir, representing Fu’s Miracle Rink!”

They skated out onto the slick ice, waving as the crowd clapped. After a bow to each side of the stadium, they made their way to the center of the ice, Adrien wrapping his arms around Ladybug and pulling her close to his chest. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears as he pressed his chin to her head. 

Then the first notes of their song sounded and they began to dance. 

Their story was a simple one. Ladybug, dressed in a sparkling white costume over her red skates, was an angel who couldn’t fly. She reached for the sky, trying her best to lift off the ground, but could never manage to touch it. 

As she skated around the rink, arms outstretched, spinning and leaping, Adrien followed her, always one step behind. He tried to reach for her but she pulled away, not wanting him to hold her back. 

But she couldn’t fly. She fell to her knees as she realized her dream of touching the sky would never come true. 

As the music slowed, Adrien finally caught up with her. He grabbed her hand, lifting her to her feet. The music started to pick up again as he pulled her into motion, skating around the rink. Faster and faster and faster, Ladybug gripping his hand as they raced in circles. 

Then, when she was skating alongside him, Adrien lifted her up and held her over his head. Ladybug laughed, arms outstretched as, finally… she flew. 

She couldn’t fly on her own. 

But they could fly together. 

As the music stopped and he set her down, arms aching from the strain of holding her high, the audience erupted into cheers. Ladybug fell into his arms, panting. “Nice job, Kitty,” she breathed into his ear, her voice barely discernable above the excited crowd. 

“You too,” he panted back. 

Ladybug looked up, mouth opening to say something else, then froze. Adrien blinked as he realized that her face was inches away from his, her breath warm on his face. Her eyes were wide, the emotion in them unreadable, as her lips parted. So close, his brain murmured on repeat. She’s right there. So close. Are- is she coming closer- WHAT’S HAPPENING-

“Wow! An incredible performance from Ladybug and Chat Noir!”

They jumped apart, Ladybug’s whole face turning pink. Adrien was sure his was a similar shade as they remembered that they had an audience. With a quick bow and wave, they hurriedly skated off the ice.

Chapter Text

“Nice job, Romeo,” Plagg muttered in his ear as he stepped off the ice. Adrien shot him a look, ignoring the way his coach snickered. 

“Giiiiirl!” Alya squealed, pulling Ladybug away. Adrien smacked away the urge to grab Ladybug’s arm and pull her back into his side with a giant mental stick. “That was amazing! I never saw it all put together!”

Ladybug blinked, seeming to shake herself. “Uh- yeah! I guess none of you have seen it yet.”

“It rocked, dude!” Nino said with a giant grin, pulling Adrien into a one-armed hug. “Nice work!”

Adrien grinned back. “Thanks! With our duet and your and Alya’s solos, we’re definitely taking the trophy home today!”

“Not too hasty, Chat Noir. We still have the Mystery Skate ahead of us.”

Adrien jumped as Fu spoke. “Hey! What are you doing here?” he said, turning to greet the owner of the rink. 

Fu smiled, arms clasped behind his back as he looked up at Adrien. “I wouldn’t miss this event for the world! Plagg promised you’d bring home the trophy for me.”

“They better,” Plagg grumbled. “We’ve worked too hard to NOT get to shove it in Agreste Skaters’ faces. Three consecutive wins…” he trailed off, dark eyebrows lowering. 

Tikki patted his shoulder, attention half on her anxiously grumpy husband  (Adrien was still trying to wrap his head around that) and the other half on the pair skating now. Adrien let his eyes trail Felix and Lila, who flowed seamlessly across the ice like a well oiled machine, for a brief moment before pulling himself away. “We’ve got it handled, right, Ladybug? Ladybug?” he repeated when her eyes stayed unfocused. 

She snapped back, laughing awkwardly as Alya elbowed in the ribs. “Yeah, yeah, of course! In the bag!”

Adrien frowned. When the conversation turned back away, Ladybug’s smile dropped. She stared out across the rink, eyes slowly glazing back over as she looked at nothing. 

He sat on the bench next to her, the movement jolting her back into the present. “You okay?” he asked carefully. 

She nodded, lips twitching up in a smile. “Yeah. Fine. You?”

“I’m… good,” he said slowly. 

Ladybug nodded again, offering him another smile before turning back to face the current skaters. 

A pool of dread puddled in Adrien’s stomach. Not again… did I do something wrong? Was this about their… whatever had happened after their skate? 

Had she been about to kiss him?

Adrien’s cheeks warmed at the thought. He rested his chin in his palm, trying desperately to look like he was just enjoying the skate while surreptitiously covering his red cheeks with his fingers. 

What if she had? 

Was this why she was acting strange? Was it because she had been about to kiss him? Or was it because she thought he was about to kiss her?

Had he been about to kiss her?

His cheeks burned. 

With a sigh, he peeked through his fingers at her. To his surprise, her cheeks were pink too. She stared across the rink, her eyes wide and unfocused. 

Was she thinking about the same thing he was?

He felt like groaning. Why was his relationship with Ladybug always so complicated? 

To (not very successfully) shake the thought of Ladybug out of his head, Adrien focused on Felix and Lila, who were almost done with their routine. The foxy skater hadn’t changed a bit since he’d last skated with her. Her routine was almost flawless, although for someone who loved to act you’d think she’d put a bit more emotion into it. 

He supposed that couldn’t be helped, though, when she was skating with Felix. He snorted as he suddenly remembered Felix’s old nickname, the Ice King. Chloe had given it to him in a fit of laughter, patting herself on the back when Adrien pointed out that ‘Ice’ poked fun at both his frosty demeanor and his skill on the rink. 

Their skate ended with a perfect flourish and they bowed to the judges before skating off the rink, Lila’s careful smile growing at the noise of the cheers. Felix waved with a smirk to the pair of skaters waiting to step onto the ice. 

The next pair was good, if not great, and the ones after them were even better. Adrien fidgeted in his seat as he watched the skating, hyperaware of Ladybug at his side now that he wasn’t thinking about his old teammates. Occasionally she’d look at him, giving him a tight smile before quickly glancing away. 

Yup, I ruined it again, he finally decided. She thought I was going to kiss her and now she’s upset. Adrien wasn’t sure whether he should talk to her about it and risk another blow-up or just give her the space she needed to think about it. 

While he was distracted thinking, the event flew by. He jumped  when Nadja’s voice crackled over the speakers, cheering enthusiastically. “That’s all for the Pairs Skating Event! We’ve seen a lot of talent today. Everyone gave it their best shot, and WOW! Every skate was incredible!”

She paused as the crowd clapped and cheered. A few feet away Kim let out a piercing whistle, almost shattering the eardrums of those closest to him. 

“Now,” she continued, voice eager, “it’s the event we’ve all been waiting for: the Mystery Skate! We’ve already been over what this is before, so let’s just get to it! The theme of this year’s Mystery Skate is…”

The stadium held their breath in anticipation. 

“Improv!” 

Adrien instinctively looked at Ladybug and smiled nervously when he realized she was already looking at him, brow furrowed. Improv? She mouthed, raising her eyebrows. Adrien shrugged. 

“A random song has been chosen for each team. Everyone will get a different genre of music, from rock n’ roll to classical to pop. The challenge is to create a routine on the spot, on the ice, to a song you’ve never heard.”

Everyone in the crowd murmured to each other as Nadja laid out the rules. 

“Points are awarded based on flow, ingenuity, and sinchronization. You may use similar techniques to your previous routine but you may not use them in the same order. When the event is over these points will be added to each team’s current combined score, creating their final score. The team with the most points gets to take home the trophy! Now without further ado, let’s see the line-up for our skaters!”

Plagg and Tikki broke into rapid whispers, glancing back and forth between Adrien and Ladybug as the large TVs hanging above the rink flashed on, blinking a list at the stands. To Adrien’s relief, he and Ladybug were next to last, with Lila and Felix three pairs ahead of them. Across the rink, the first couple exchanged nervous looks, talking animatedly with their coach. They only had a few moments before Nadja was calling them to the rink, their coach calling last minute advice after them as they skated out. 

When their first notes of what Adrien immediately recognized to be jazz played over the speakers, the pair awkwardly moved into motion, getting a feel for the song as they skated around the rink.

“Improv, huh?”

He turned to Ladybug, who was watching the pair with a thoughtful frown. 

“Nervous?” he asked, shifting in his seat so he could face her better. 

Ladybug shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. We’ve done some improv before, but only to songs that we’ve already known.”

“Let’s just hope it’s Jagged Stone. Then we’d have it in the bag,” Adrien joked. 

To his relief, she giggled, eyes crinkling. “Or Clara Nightingale,” she added. “I think I’ve memorized all her songs.”

They both looked up as the pair skated past them, the wind from their movement rustling Ladybug’s bangs. Her freckles popped against her pink cheeks. She really was the prettiest girl Adrien had ever seen. How in the world had he gotten lucky enough to get her as a partner?

“Ladybug, are you all right?” he found himself asking. Ladybug looked back at him, cheeks turning a shade darker. “You just… you seemed a little off earlier, like something was wrong.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, shrugging one shoulder. Her eyebrows lowered into a concerned frown. “I’m sorry, Chat, did I worry you?”

Adrien laughed awkwardly. “Kind of. You can’t really blame me, after the week we’ve had.”

Ladybug laughed softly. “I promise, it was nothing you did. I just had something on my mind.”

“You sure?” Adrien couldn’t help himself from asking, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. 

She nodded, putting a small hand on his leg. “I promise,” she said with a smile. “If you do something wrong, I’ll tell you.”

Adrien wasn’t sure if that was comforting or worrying. “Good to know,” he said with a chuckle. “Same here.”

“Hey, you two.”

Their view of the ice was blocked by a pair of black pants. Plagg put his hands on his hips, looking down at the two of them. “You guys gonna be good?”

“... what?” Ladybug’s hand dropped from his leg as she gave Plagg a confused frown. “We’re always good.”

“No, no, not your skating . Your communication ,” Plagg clarified with an impatient sigh. “Are you guys gonna get it together and be able to pull this improv thing off?”

Adrien and Ladybug’s eyes met with matching looks of realization. “Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Adrien said with a laugh. “Don’t worry, Plagg.”

He narrowed his eyes at the two of them. After a moment, he turned around and marched back over to Tikki without another word. 

Ladybug blinked. “... I’m glad he’s your coach,” she finally said with a giggle. 

Adrien rolled his eyes. “You get used to him. Eventually.”

By the time it was the Miracle Rink’s turn to skate, Agreste Skaters had had the best routine. Lila and Felix had managed to pull off a few lifts and their skate had been the smoothest. Unfortunately for him and Ladybug, another couple had gotten a Jagged Stone song, meaning that they’d have a completely different genre for their skate. 

When Nadja called their names, Adrien grabbed Ladybug’s hand, their fingers entertwining reassuringly as they skated out onto the ice. “Ready?” she whispered, looking up at him with those big blue eyes. 

He nodded, smiling down at his partner. “I’ll follow your lead?”

Ladybug beamed. That was how they always did improv. She gave the cues, chose the jumps and twists. He followed her lead and trusted her choreographing skills. They’d tried the other way once, where he led her, but as they’d ended up on a pile on the floor, they’d figured it was best she led from then on. 

After their bows, they waited in the center of the rink. Adrien took a deep breath, the crowd seeming to take one with him as they waited for the song to start. 

After a moment of silence, piano notes rang through the speakers. It was a delicate instrumental, sweet piano notes and violin harmonies weaving together as the song began. Ladybug looked up, closing her eyes as she listened. 

It was only a second before she gently tugged on his hand, leading him into a slow skate. Adrien followed behind, smiling as he watched the gears click in her head. When she turned, he followed, spinning her around. Ladybug dropped down, falling into a gentle twizzle as she pulled him down too. 

The music picked up and he and Ladybug glided across the ice, pulling off simple moves together as they fell into a rhythm. Each dart of the eyes or nod of the head communicated a direction or movement that only the two of them understood. 

When the music rose to a crescendo, Ladybug jerked her chin up, eyes sparkling. Adrien grinned, wrapping his hands around her waist and hoisting her into the air as he spun in a gentle circle. 

“Throw me.”

It took all his training not to fumble. “What?” he hissed up. 

Ladybug met his eyes, cheeks pinkening as the blood rushed to her head. “Throw me,” she repeated. “Next to the red ad over there. It’ll be fine!”

“Okay,” he whispered, shaking his head. His muscles trembled as he pushed up and over, launching her into the air. Ladybug’s skates hit the ice with a thud and she fell into a gentle spin, grinning madly as the crowd cheered. 

Adrien shook his head fondly at the rush of excitement in her eyes. He knew that look. I guess we’ll be doing that again.

Sure enough, only a few moments later she looked at him with a beaming smile. The audience held their breath as he tossed her, clapping and whistling when she hit the ground. Her eyes sparkled at the perfect landing. Adrien could feel the idiotic grin on his face as they continued the skate. 

Their jumps were in sync, their twirls unified. Her eyes told him all he needed to know of her intentions and each lift was easy. 

As the music built in intensity, so did each quick look she gave him. Adrien felt himself be pulled to her, placing his hand on her waist, circling her around his body. His breath hitched as she looked up into his eyes, her face glowing with excitement. The applause of the crowd faded into the background as they looked at each other, her smile slowly slipping into a wide-eyed stare. 

“One more,” she whispered. “Ready?”

Adrien nodded, throat suddenly dry. At her nod, he lifted her up into the air, breath gasping through his throat at the strain. He let the smooth gliding of his skates turn into a spin, the room flashing around and around as they twirled. When the strain got too much he slowly lowered her, their hands intertwined. With her weight pulling against his their spin grew faster until the room was just a blur. 

Adrien was so wrapped up in the moment that it took him longer than it should’ve to realize that his mask was no longer sitting on the bridge of his nose, but had slipped up slightly, starting to obscure his vision. He widened his eyes, trying his best to communicate to Ladybug that something was wrong without throwing off the skate. 

To her credit, Ladybug picked up on it almost immediately. Her mask was slipping too, the red edges creeping up underneath her wide blue eyes. To his surprise, her face froze, keeping up the spin almost as if on autopilot. 

He squeezed her hand, jolting her back to reality. Ladybug looked at him, then out at the audience, gears clicking, before finally… shaking her head.

This time it was Adrien’s turn to freeze. What- she didn’t mean what he thought she did… did she? 

At his stare, she gave him a hesitant smile, shaking her head again. 

He raised his eyebrows, mouth opening in shock. You sure?

In response, Ladybug threw her head back, closing her eyes and letting the mask slowly slip further and further off her forehead. … She means it.

So he mirrored her, breaking into a grin so hard his cheeks hurt. He could feel his mask slip farther up his face, creeping up and up and up his hairline, until it flung off his head, clattering onto the ice a few feet away. When it was echoed by a second clatter, he skidded to a stop as the music slowly came to an end. 

He didn’t manage to get a good look at her face before she grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss.

Chapter Text

Her lips were soft. That was the first thing he really registered, warm lips against his. The noises of the crowd faded away until it was just him and those lips, and Ladybug’s hands on his shoulders, bunched up in his costume. He didn’t remember slowing to a stop, but he did remember pulling her closer, as close as he could, putting a hand on her back and one in her hair and kissing her . He didn’t think he’d ever done something so lovely as kiss Ladybug. Her lips still faintly tasted like the cookies she’d finished hours ago. Of course Ladybug tastes like cookies. What else?

When they finally separated, he couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face, so wide he thought his cheeks might split. Ladybug’s mouth was open, her eyes sparkling. “I just did that,” she whispered, her breath ghosting across his face. 

“... Yeah,” was all he could manage. 

Ladybug had freckles. Without her mask, he could see them spattered across her nose. Her cheeks were pink, whether with excitement or cold or adrenaline or their kiss, Adrien had no idea. 

Although, staring at those freckles, Adrien realized that they looked… familiar. 

He leaned back slightly, taking her in. 

His jaw dropped. 

“Marinette?”

Marinette. Who he’d talked to less than four hours ago. Who he saw at least once a week at the rink. 

“I’m an idiot,” he breathed, staring down at her. 

Marinette giggled. Her eyes roamed over her face, squinting as she took him in. He knew the moment it clicked. Her face went slack with shock. “ Adrien Agreste?”

In his own shock, Adrien said the first thing that popped into his head. “Cat’s out of the bag?”

Marinette slapped his shoulder, snorting, and just like that, Ladybug and Marinette crashed together into his head until he was smacking himself for not realizing it earlier. “How long have you been waiting to say that?” she snickered. 

Adrien shrugged, grinning. “Years, at least.”

Two shrieks echoed around the building, cutting through the silence that Adrien was just now realizing surrounded them. Adrien blinked, remembering for the first time in five minutes that they weren’t alone. 

“Holy crud, is that Adrien Agreste?!” 

At the announcer’s gasp, the crowd burst into frenzied noise. 

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “We should probably…”

“Yeah,” Marinette said, cheeks dark pink. They skated to the edge of the rink, stepping off the ice to the sound of screams and cheers and- was that a whistle? 

Adrien shook his head as Kim whistled again, much to Marinette’s obvious embarrassment. 

Nino grinned widely, coming forward to clap Adrien on the back. “Finally, dude! Took you guys long enough!”

Marinette’s jaw dropped. “You knew?! ” she gasped. 

“We’re roo- mates…” Adrien finished slowly, words petering off as he noticed Alya. 

The brunette was gaping, eyes slowly widening and eyebrows lowering alarmingly. “You- what- Ladybug- all this time?!?” She finally managed to gasp furiously. 

Marinette seemed frozen between grinning sheepishly and turning pale and ended up doing both. “Sorry?” she squeaked. 

Alya grabbed her friend by the shoulders, face mere inches away from Marinette’s. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME.” 

Marinette squeaked again. “I wasn’t ready!” 

Alya opened her mouth, looked at Adrien, then froze, eyes growing even wider. A manic grin spread across her face. “Girl. You’ve been skating with Adrien Agreste. You just kissed Adrien Agreste. Your celebrity crush.” 

Adrien had to blink, suddenly unsure if maybe this was all just a pre-competition dream. “What?”

Marinette, who was turning red enough it almost looked like she still had her mask on, slapped a hand over Alya’s mouth. “Let’s talk out there, shall we,” she muttered. She hurried Alya into the hallway, refusing to meet Adrien’s eyes as her ears turned red.

Adrien turned to Nino, who looked like he was choking. “Celebrity crush?”

Nino broke, laughing so hard his red face almost matched Marinette’s. “You- her- crush- !” he wheezed. 

Nonplussed, Adrien turned to Plagg. The coach just snickered. “Doing all right there, lover boy?”

“Crush?” Adrien repeated. 

He jumped as Plagg suddenly flicked him in the forehead. “Hey!”

“Better snap out of it,” Plagg muttered, looking over Adrien’s shoulder. “We’ve got company.”

Adrien shook himself, turning around before his Marinette-adled brain was able to click together what was happening. If he’d been able to, he’d have probably just run out the hallway door with the girls. 

Nathalie was walking toward them with her tablet in hand, a few of his old teammates in a cluster behind her. Dread pooled in his stomach. 

“Adri-kins!” Chloe shrieked, sprinting forward and throwing herself into his arms before he had the common sense to back up. “Where have you been ! Why were you skating with Dupain-Cheng?!? ”

Adrien grunted as her full weight hit him. “Chlo- get off, please,” he managed, doing his best to push her leaden weight away.

“But- Adrien!” 

He winced at her shrill voice in his ear. “Please, Chloe?”

To her credit, Chloe begrudgingly backed away a few steps, putting her hands on her hips. “Well? Why were you skating with her ? And where’ve you been ?”

“I’d like to ask the same questions as Miss Bourgeois.”

Adrien shuddered. His father’s cold voice seemed to creep down his spine, doing a few loop-de-loops before finally landing in his stomach. “Father.”

Even through the tablet, he could clearly see Gabriel Agreste’s disapproving stare. “Where have you been, Adrien. We were worried sick about you.”

“I- I’m fine, Father.”

Gabriel raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “I can see that. Now tell me, why did you disappear?”

Adrien fought the urge to curl in on himself. “I needed to get away,” he managed to say clearly. 

“Well, clearly you have. It’s time to come back now, Adrien. Agreste Skaters needs you.”

Of course. Adrien wanted to laugh, or maybe whine. Of course his father cared more about his company than his son. Of course the first thing he talked about was Adrien’s skating. Of course. “No thanks,” he bit out.

Gabriel raised the other eyebrow. Adrien ignored the looks Lila and Felix exchanged. “I’m not interested. Besides, I’ve signed a contract with the Miracle Rink for at least another season.”

“I’m afraid he’s legally ours, at least until the end of the year.” 

Adrien jumped, having all but forgotten about Fu’s presence. 

Gabriel glowered. “At least come ba-”

“I’m not going back home,” Adrien interrupted, eyes narrowing. 

“Yeah, the dude’s with me now!” Nino added, giving Adrien a grin and a thumbs up. Adrien felt a pang of gratitude for his best friend. 

Gabriel steepled his fingers. “If this is about your partner, we’ll take her too. Agreste Skaters could use a talent like hers.”

Lila’s eyes widened angrily before she smoothed her face out, plastering on a sickly sweet smile. “I’m sure we could find the perfect spot for her, right, Ms. Nathalie?”

“Of course,” Nathalie said with a nod. “You two would be our new partner skaters.”

This time Lila wasn’t able to stop the anger from seeping through her expression. Evidently that wasn’t the answer she’d been expecting. “Right,” she muttered through a clenched jaw. 

Adrien shook his head. “Neither of us are interested. Now excuse me, I have to go.” He spun around on his heel, doing his best to ignore Nathalie calling after him as he stalked towards the door. Bitter frustration and instinctual fear swirled around in his mind.

He’d spoken back to his father. What on earth was wrong with him?! He never spoke back to Gabriel! 

But, Gabriel couldn’t do anything to him. It wasn’t like he was going to ground him, or make him practice overtime, or stop him from hanging out with his teammates. 

Adrien closed the door behind him, letting out a heavy sigh as it cut off the stares of his friends, old and new, the cold glare of his father, and the noise of the hectic crowd. They were second to last, right? He suddenly felt bad for whoever had to skate after him and Ladybug. Had they even started yet? He wasn’t sure. 

He slumped against the door, taking another deep breath. In the last ten minutes, he and Ladybug had completely improvised an entire routine, he’d found out the love of his life had been in front of him this whole time, his identity had been revealed to an entire stadium full of people, and he’d confronted his father after four whole years. That had probably been the longest - and yet somehow shortest - ten minutes of his life. 

Speaking of the love of his life… Adrien could hear a pair of hushed whispers (and the occasional hushed squeal) coming from around the corner. A smile made its way onto his face as stifled giggles echoed through the hall. 

“Hello?” he called as he pushed himself off the door and made his way down the hall. “Am I interrupting?”

“Nope, come on over!” Alya called back. Adrien heard a quiet shriek from Marinette that was quickly stifled as he approached. 

Alya, whose hand was over Marinette’s mouth, grinned like she’d won the jackpot. “We’ll talk some more later,” she said, pointing a demanding finger at her friend. When Marinette nodded, Alya took off, sprinting back towards the stadium. “See you later, Ch- Adrien!”

“Bye!” he yelled, holding back a snort until Alya was safely out of hearing range. He looked back at Marinette who was slowly turning pink again. 

“You- uh, you didn’t hear any of that, did you?” she asked, playing nervously with a pigtail. 

Adrien shook his head. “ Purr -omise,” he said with a grin.

Marinette rolled her eyes, giggling. “Of course.” After a moment, she added “How are you doing? You know, with all that.” She gestured vaguely towards the door. 

He shrugged, quickly sobering. “Fine. I just escaped from my father, so… good, I guess.”

Marinette bit her lip, eyes darkening. “I probably could’ve timed that a little better. I had no idea that you were, y’know… you.”

“Yeah. I mean, no!” he hastily corrected as her face fell. “Yeah, it could’ve been timed a little better, but I’m not upset!”

She gave him a doubtful look. “I just exposed your identity to the whole entire Paris. ”

Adrien coughed back a snort. “You mean to ‘all of Paris’?”

Marinette waved it off. “You know what I mean. I just… if I’d known, I definitely wouldn’t have…” She trailed off, cheeks pinking again. “Not that I’m upset either! I just don’t want you to be upset. Argh! I keep messing up!” She buried her face in her hands. 

Adrien shook his head, gently pulling her hands off her cheeks. Marinette avoided his eyes, chewing on her lower lip. 

“M’Lady, first of all, I’m not upset. This has been the best day of my life!”

Marinette looked up at her nickname. “Really?”

He nodded, grinning. “You just kissed me. Yeah, it’s the best day of my life.”

“Oh,” she squeaked. 

“And yeah, it maybe wasn’t the best timing, but they’d have figured out who I was eventually. Actually, it was a nice clean reveal. Everyone knows my identity in one fell swoop.”

That got a small laugh out of her. “I’m glad you’re not upset with me,” she said quietly. “You… you aren’t, right? About my identity, I mean, not about the whole reveal thing.”

This girl. Adrien shook his head with a bemused chuckle. “Of course not. It’d be kinda hypocritical to be upset with you, since I did the exact same thing.”

Marinette shook her head, frowning. “But you didn’t. You had a really good reason. You were hiding from your dad, and you didn’t want us to see you as ‘Adrien Agreste’, best skater since his mom.” She gestured wildly. “I didn’t really have a good reason, though. I was just… scared.” 

Her quiet voice broke his heart. “Marinette, that’s a perfectly good reaso- wait, does this have anything to do with what we talked about earlier, after the whole Chloe thing?”

Marinette looked back down at the ground, rubbing her arm. “Yeah,” she admitted after a moment. “I just… I only started skating when I was fifteen. Most people have years and years of experience by the time they compete. I only had three.”

“Remember what I told you?” Adrien asked. He took her hand in his, gently rubbing the back of it with his thumb. She watched the movement, the corner of her mouth turning up. 

“Yeah. Experience is important, but not as important as passion.”

Adrien nodded. “You love skating. And you’re really, really good at it. I’ve skated for almost all my life, ever since I can remember, and you’re perfectly at my level. Just because you don’t have as much experience as someone else doesn’t mean you aren’t as talented.”

Marinette looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes. “Thanks, Kitty,” she whispered. “That means a lot.”

Adrien pulled her into a hug, resting his chin on her soft black hair. He could feel Marinette take a shuddering breath against his chest. “Y’know, that’s why I decided to go through with the whole unmasking thing,” she mumbled into his shoulder. 

He pulled back just far enough that he could look down at her face. “What?”

Marinette smiled up at him, reaching up to wipe the tear off her cheek. “What you said to Chloe. I thought you would judge me. But you defended Marinette, not Ladybug, to someone who I thought you didn’t even know. And then you protected Ladybug from Lila. You could’ve let her unmask me.”

Adrien scoffed. “Why on earth would I do that?”

“ Exactly ,” Marinette said with another smile. “You didn’t even think that you could see me without my mask on. You could’ve told me you got there too late. You could’ve come up with a ton of excuses. But you stopped her. You let me take it at my own pace. I realized that you… you cared. Enough to give me time.”

Adrien tried hard to stop the blush from forming in his own cheeks. “Oh.”

Marinette laughed at him, nose crinkling. “About time you were the one blushing.”

“Celebrity crush?” he shot back, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Her cheeks turned red. “Seriously?” she said, laughing. “That’s so low.”

He shrugged, gently booping her pink nose. “It worked, didn’t it?”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “That’s besides the point. It was underhanded.”

“Well, is this underhanded?” Adrien leaned closer, face inches from hers. When she didn’t pull away, he pressed a kiss to her lips. He could feel her trying to fight off a smile. 

“Nope,” she whispered against his lips. He pulled her closer, fighting back his own smile when she kissed him back. 

It didn’t really surprise anyone when Ladybug and Chat Noir’s skate won the trophy for the Miracle Rink. After all, they were an unstoppable team.