Chapter Text
Surreal, that was life right now. After Felix's grand betrayal and Shadowmoth's mad pronouncement the world had felt like it was ending. Then it didn't.
The stress of those first few days had been intense beyond belief. Waiting for Shadowmoth's first move, the city was holding its breath. Perhaps that was the point. Confrontation had proved risky for Shadowmoth in the past, he was letting tension do what brute force could not.
Cat Noir had to be there for Ladybug. Not just as a partner, but as a support. If she called in four dozen extra heros right now he would shut his mouth and deal with it. She needed that from him right now.
Who would be there for Cat Noir though? It couldn't be Ladybug and he didn't hold it against her for a moment. Adrien Agreste's list of friends that he could turn to for this was thin. He had many friends now, but reaching out was still hard. As much as he wanted to fight it now he was still 'Adrien Agreste.' As he sat in class the one face he could turn to floated in his mind. He glanced sideways but couldn't catch more than the sweep of her bob past Chloé. Sabrina was a godsend.
Their times together were filled with no questions, no requirements, no heroics, no families. They were just two people, two friends, two souls who found comfort in being together. He could never put into words how much she did for him, and he hoped dearly that she took from his company even a tenth of what he did hers.
"Nino, did you steal my eraser?" Adrien checked back in his bag as he asked.
"No. Dude, we use tablets. Why do you even bring it?"
It wasn't anywhere. Adrien let it go. Nino did have a point. "My tutors still use paper, it's a habit." Ms. Bustier shot them a look and Adrien quieted.
Shadowmoth and Ladybug bubbled back into Adrien’s mind. He couldn’t even organize his thoughts. Too much was up in the air and all of it seemed bad, so very bad. Thinking of the wide array of powers at Shadowmoth’s disposal and the fact that he would face no limits… Adrien’s mind just shut down at the enormity of it.
“Dude, you okay?” Nino’s whisper pulled him out of a no-win daydream with Shadowmoth holding Ladybug’s earrings still vivid before his eyes.
Adrien blinked to clear away the after images. “Yeah, sorry. I’m fine.” he whispered back.
Nino bumped elbows with him. “You don’t look fine. You should hang out with us sometime soon.”
“Yeah.” Adrien thought of Ladybug again. “Soon, but there’s a big project I have to do outside of school right now.”
“Don’t let it bury you man. Everyone’s on edge lately, but we gotta stick together.”
Adrien turned his head to give Nino a smile. “Thanks, I’m doing okay right now. I’ll see about hanging out soon though okay?”
Ms. Bustier was less gentle this time. “Adrien, since you and Nino seem so keen on talking, why don’t you take turns reading the next several sections to the class?”
At least it kept his mind off other problems, standing at his desk and reading out facts about World War I to the class. He and Nino suffered through to the bell. Leaving them to pack up last out of everyone. Before he did though Adrien turned around to say something to Marinette.
She’d already packed up and was trotting out the door though, head down and a quickness to her step. He’d heard her sighing during class. Was she taking this new Shadowmoth development hard? Was it something else? She’d tried to be there for him when he was being dumped on his father’s world trip. He should try to return the favor.
Adrien turned back around and began packing up. He paused. There sat his eraser, though not as he’d left it. Someone had penciled in lines on it, turning the pink oblong into a cartoon cat-loaf. Adrien smiled at the content little face it now wore. “Well, no doubt where you came from.” He gave the eraser a squeeze in his fist, a surrogate hug. The artist would get that and more as soon as he could get her alone again.
—---------
Sabrina was hurrying for the exit. She had just enough time between classes to grab a latte for Chloé’s headache. She was thinking of her to-do list. She was thinking of whether her father would need groceries today or tomorrow. She had to fit things into place after her time at Adrien’s. It was just a matter of how long she could stay this time.
It had been Adrien’s idea, study buddies. She was so sure it wouldn’t work, but as she stood there petrified he explained her credentials to his spooky dad. Keeping Chloé’s grades up was apparently an excellent recommendation. It did make Sabrina a little proud, She worked very hard for those number three and four spots. She always made sure she got one more wrong on tests than Chloé did.
She was passing the locker room door when an arm reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her in.
“ieee-mmhph!” She was bumped up against the lockers, a hand clamped over her mouth.
Sabrina blinked into green eyes, a Cheshire smile, and when her brain finally followed her into the room, Adrien’s face.
“Hey there miss. You’re looking fetch today.”
Sabrina’s heart was already in her throat, but between him and his wonderfully corny jokes her knees were shot too. Sabrina slumped against the lockers for support but gave him back a little bit. She opened her mouth behind his hand and gave his palm a playful little nip. His eyes widened, then narrowed slowly. He left his hand in place a moment longer and leaned in just slightly when he removed it.
Sabrina’s dominant left brain prodded her. Should we be together like this? Color was rising in her cheeks. He was so close, and in school.
Adrien held up his eraser then touched it to her nose. “Were you the one who drew all over my eraser?” he asked in a tone that knew the answer and also made her stomach do backflips.
Sabrina caught hold of his opened shirt front near the bottom, just a hint of support for herself as she whispered. “I wanted to be sure you could cat-ch any mistakes.” She dropped her eyes as she spoke, but peeked up when she was done to see his reaction.
Closer still, he stepped in and Sabrina was left to wonder if it would be her rising heat that steamed up her glasses first, or his. He spoke with lips bare inches from hers.
“I’d say you’re too much, but I can’t seem to get enough.”
His arms encircled her waist, drawing the small of her back away from the lockers. Her own slipped around him, inside his outer shirt. What might have been a kiss for others turned into a gentle nuzzle, his cheekbone brushing the rim of her glasses. They held each other for a warm moment before she whispered.
“After School?”
“I’ll wait outside the hotel and walk you over.” he breathed against her ear.
“New episode of One Piece.” she mumbled against his chin.
“You know I’m still not caught up.” His fingers rubbed slow circles through her sweater vest.
“Then we have to get you there.” Sabrina drifted her head down to nestle on his shoulder.
“I seem to remember trying and failing to get through an episode with a reindeer.”
Sabrina giggled. “We’ll just keep trying.” she turned her head to nuzzle against his neck.
“Dog-ged determination,” He teased her. He brought a hand up to brush the backs of his fingers against her cheek and mmmm, all of this was so new but so amazing. Manga stills left so much out.
“Just a girl who loves every time you Whisker away.” She brought her arms up and gave into the urge to squeeze him.
A soft sigh left his lips and Sabrina could feel as his weight shifted and some unknown tension bled from him. He murmured,
“Count of three?”
“Four?”
“On five then. One, two…”
They broke apart at the count, and their subsided blushes suddenly bloomed again. Sabrina was more used to it though and so she clapped her hands together once and bounced on her toes.
“I’ll be as fast as I can at the hotel. See you soon,” she chirped and bounded out the door before she ran the risk of squeezing him again. He was incredibly squeezable.
—-----------
Cat Noir was revitalized. He leapt across the roofs of Paris towards the rendezvous feeling barely contained within his own skin. The afternoon had been three courses of homework done while foot-sparring under his desk then snuggling up for one more failed attempt to make progress in One Piece. Instead of watching anime they’d ended up dozing in the slanting orange rays of sunset on his couch. His door, locked recently for the first time in his life, jolted them apart as Nathalie came to check up on them.
Sabrina was dutifully nose in a math book as Adrien apologized to Nathalie for *accidentally* locking the door. The message had been ‘Ten minutes to dinner and Sabrina will not be allowed to stay.’ They’d figured as much, and after Nathalie left they shared a flush faced giggle at avoiding discovery.
A kiss goodbye before she left his room capped the evening. Adrien had tried something new. He had plucked her glasses off and drawn her to him with both hands along her jawline. That gentle vulnerability as she tried not to squint, the feel of being in total control of the moment, it was an intense mix. They still bumped teeth when they went for a deepening of the kiss. Four for four doing that now, and this time they dissolved into laughter from it.
All of it lifted Cat Noir up. The memory of this morning and the uncertainty were distant echoes that could not touch him. As he landed beside his partner he was ready to face anything with her.
“Evening M’Lady. It’s a warm night out. I think summer’s finally here to stay.”
She turned to him and he saw the last traces of worry slip from her face. She smiled and the stars shone a little less brightly in comparison. “I think you might be right. No sign of Shadowmoth, or whatever he’s calling himself now. Petty crime is down as everyone waits to see what happens.” She brought a hand up, ruffling through her blue-black hair. “Is it terrible that I want it to begin already?” She held up both hands quickly. “Don’t answer that.”
Cat Noir pawed at her upraised hands, catching one and giving it a squeeze. “Never tell a cat not to do something M’Lady.” he grinned. “I understand what you mean completely. We don’t have any way of hunting him down and the citizens aren’t safe until we clip his wings again.”
Another smile started to form on her face but it fell before it could finish. “And it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t been so reckless and given the dog miraculous to Felix none of this would hav-”
A black clad hand over her mouth stemmed the flow. Cat Noir wiggled his ears at Ladybug and shook his head. “None of that now, M’Lady. If is the biggest of little words. Give it a chance and it’ll fill your head up and leave no room for anything else. Don’t be an iffy superhero. Be a superhero of will .” He removed his hand and let her other one go.
Ladybug caught him off guard with a rib-aching hug. “Thank you kitty. Every night I tell myself I won’t mope, and every night you have to deal with me making myself a liar.” She squeezed one more time then let go and stepped back. “Alright, now we will go on patrol and if Shadowmoth shows his face we will get the miraculous back.”
Cat Noir spun his baton. “That’s my Ladybug. Last one to the Eiffel tower has to buy snacks after patrol?”
He leapt from the building before she could reply and her answer just became an exasperated, “CAT NOIR!” in his wake.
—--------
“Dog Miraculous!” Cat Noir shouted, vaulting backwards and up to one of the rooftops.
“What gave it away, kitty?” Ladybug landed beside him.
“The ears I think, or maybe the- CAR!” Cat Noir grabbed Ladybug and yanked her flat. A car materialized out of thin air and narrowly skipped over the pair before embedding itself in a chimney stack.
“Split up!” Ladybug was already scrambling to her feet. “And don’t let him touch you!”
“Ruin all my fun, why don’t you?” Cat noir rolled instead of standing, dropping himself back down to street level.
The Akuma was, unsurprisingly enough, a dog. At least it was an interesting one. A humanoid three-headed Cerberus galloped its way down the street toward Cat Noir. As it passed a car it reached out one clawed hand to touch the vehicle. Cat Noir was ready and dove just as the vehicle vanished. It crashed down from above, slamming itself to pieces where he had been only a moment before. A dog that throws cars instead of chasing them, lovely.
The Cerberus lumbered closer, heads snarling. “Give me your miraculous / Give it back / It’s mine .”
Cat Noir squared off, trying to goad the akuma into an open space with less objects for teleporting. The miraculous was obvious: one of the three collars around its neck. Which one though? How to get to it without being touched and teleported to who knew where? Hawkmoth’s lair in a nifty little cage most likely.
Cat Noir circled with the akuma. It was his job to buy Ladybug time. The urge to take the shot, to cataclysm one of the three collars was high, but that could leave him out of the fight and Ladybug in a lurch. He had to be better than that now. But a few exchanges later and he was beginning to think his options were running down. This thing was fast, and three heads had very few blind spots. As he circled and dodged, Cat Noir found himself being steadily worked into a corner. If he ran he risked the Akuma heading for Ladybug. If he stayed he would be tagged for sure. One touch and it was all over. He opened his hand.
“As a hero, it’s my duty to collar criminals. It looks like I’m going down and there’s not mutt-ch I can do about it, but I’ll take it down to a coin flip for Ladybug at least. Catac-ack!”
Ladybug’s yo-yo yanked him backwards and upwards.
“No more last stands from you kitty, I need my partner now more than ever!” She caught him and spun him out of her yo-yo string. “Now, hold your breath.”
Cat Noir just had time to wonder what she meant before he was plunged into a polkadot barrel of slick, sticky mess. Ladybug yanked him back out quickly.
"Go get that collar Cat Noir. I'm right behind you."
And back down he went. Only a cat's balance saved him. Cat noir twisted in mid air and landed on his feet, though his feet seemed to disagree. With a yelp he skidded and ran right into the furry wall that was the akuma.
Cat Noir just had enough time to wonder where it had gone wrong before a clawed hand touched him… and nothing happened. Three throats snarled and the hand tried to grip him but Cat Noir slithered free. He pushed away from the akuma and promptly fell on his butt. His situation became suddenly clear. Cat Noir was coated head to toe in grease. "Gah! Really?" He shook himself as the akuma's heads seemed to be having a growl-argument over what had just happened.
"Up and at 'em Slick Noir." Ladybug skated into view. She turned and lashed out with her yo-yo but to her horror and Cat Noir's amusement the string slid right off her greased finger and the entire yo-yo sailed right into the snout of one of the heads.
"On it Slidey Bug!" Cat Noir jumped up but immediately slipped and had to catch himself in a three point crouch. "Or at least at it."
What followed was a cascade – a cat-scade – of errors. Two greased up heroes trying to wrestle three collars off a flailing akuma before their grease-shields wore off and they were teleport fodder again. Ladybug pried one free just to have it go bouncing out of her grip across the pavement. Cat Noir reached for it but *zoop* it slid away again. Miraculous grease is the worst!
The Akuma tackled him and they rolled across the street before Cat Noir’s lack of friction squirted him free from the embrace. Ladybug pounced the fallen Akuma’s back for another collar, giving him a moment’s respite. One shot, three collars. Ladybug won’t like me trying my odds on one or two. Can’t pick them up with my hands, maybe my baton? How do I hold-
An idea came to him, pulled from a recent anime binge. Cat Noir fumbled his baton out. Please let no cats see me. He chomped down on one end of the baton and dipping his head flipped the collar onto the end ring-toss style. It worked like a charm. He turned and slid back into the fray just as Ladybug got the second collar off. “LAFY B’G!” he shouted around his clenched jaw.
Her head came up and his Lady caught on in an instant. She threw the collar to him, or at least made a best effort. It soared wide and he was left to scramble and skid his way to another ‘winner.’
“Stay put Kitty! I got this!”
It was a kind of torture watching her wrestle three snapping heads in a gloopy melee. He didn’t doubt her abilities, but his hands itched to be in there, to be helping her. She needed her Cat Noir. He had vowed to himself she would never need to look for him again. She needs you now, to be right where you are. The truth didn’t help much. He kept wincing each time the Akuma’s paws caught hold of her, fearing this time would be the one that got through her coating and sent her away.
It never happened though. Clamped beetle-like over the head with the remaining collar she slipped it off and threw it to him. The akuma immediately shrank and two of its heads vanished. Ladybug toppled free while Cat noir lined up his last catch.
One 'Cafakish'm' later all three collars were gone and a butterfly floated free. Ladybug two-handed her yo-yo string to keep hold of it while purifying the akuma.
They blinked in the sudden silence. A confused security guard sat where the akuma had been. We did it. Cat Noir's mind caught up with the sudden finish. The grit on his hand would soon be the dog miraculous. He dropped his baton from his teeth and the klank was startlingly loud. His eyes met Ladybug's.
They slammed into each other in the next breath. A joyous slippy bouncy hug ensued. Cat Noir tried to lift her up but went over onto his back with Ladybug sprawled across his chest. Recent warnings flashed through his mind and he pulled his hands away from her. "Sorry! Sorry!"
She grinned and learned down, kissing his cheek. "Bleck!" She wiped her mouth on her sleeve, "oh eeeew!" She wailed, piling grease on grease over her lips. "Enough of this. MIRACULOUS LADYBUGS!"
The red rush cleaned them up and restored Paris to its proper order. Cat Noir felt a sharp poke and reached under himself.
"Your prize M'Lady." He pulled out the dog miraculous and offered it to her.
Ladybug took it and stood, offering him a hand up. She looked down at the civilian. "We need to get going. There is an akuma-possession hotline you can call if you still feel woozy. I'm sorry you went through this, but in a way you've helped make Paris just a little bit safer tonight.". She turned to Cat Noir. "Let's bug out."
At the end of the night they paused in their usual spot, watching the moon creep further as they sat. Cat Noir's mind drifted to the recovered miraculous. Was it coincidence? Shadowmoth had never been all that original, he might have figured the same trick twice would end it quickly. Now it was theirs again.
"With the dog ours again M'Lady, future battles should be easier."
Ladybug's reply took a while. She spoke softly when she did. "I don't think we can do that kitty. I don't want the dog in play ever again. We've seen what it can do. The risk is just too great."
That surprised him. Cat Noir told himself the violence of his emotional reaction had nothing to do with who he thought the holder was. "M'Lady, we can't afford to be timid. He's still got fifteen of the miraculouses at his disposal. We need every ally we can muster."
Ladybug gave him a wan smile and hugged herself. "You and me against the world is not enough anymore?"
Cat Noir blinked. He scooted closer and turned to face her. "Everything's become so much more serious, M'Lady. With so many lost-"
"I know!" Ladybug snapped, but then withdrew immediately. "I know okay? I know they're lost and it's my fault."
“Bugaboo, no…” the word slipped out, but it sounded different to his own ears. Apparently hers too because she let him continue. “You’re the only one still holding it against yourself. Paris, me, and any heroes you chose to bring back. We’re all going to be focused on helping you.” He reached out to take both her hands in his and she didn’t resist. ”M’lady, you need to stop beating yourself up. If you don’t, you’re doing half of Shadowmoth’s job for him.” Cat Noir gently shook her hands with each of his next words. “Today was a victory. Act like it.”
Again gratitude blossomed. How many times would it take to get through? However many it is, I’ll do that many and then one more. Ladybug leaned in for another hug and Cat Noir supplied it. Those were in unlimited supply as well for his Lady in spots. After letting the hug linger she drew back. “I’ll think about what you said kitty. It is a good idea, but it’s also a big risk. There’s also the fact that the dog holder was only with us on one mission. They’d be in over their heads.”
“Hey, I happen to know someone who is the best guardian any hero could ask for. She’s got a partner who isn’t half bad either. I’m sure they could supply all the advice and help a fledgling hero needs.”
A light blush pinked Ladybug’s cheeks. It was enough to make Cat Noir’s heart leap. There was still an ‘if only’ tangled up in his heartstrings, even after he’d come to terms with it. She did something else unexpected, reaching up to ruffle the hair beside his right cat-ear. “Okay kitty. I’ll think about it. Now I’m going to go before you turn on the charm even more. A bug’s only human you know.” She flashed him a smile and got to her feet. Without waiting she turned and swung off into the night leaving behind one confused black cat.