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The first thing that hit him was the silence.
When Adrien re-entered the ballroom, the room was strangely hushed. It was a curious sight; all these socialites glittering in their finery, struck still by some unseen force. They say that money talks and wealth whispers—but in that moment, no matter their affluence, it was complete, utter silence that reigned.
He sidled up to Kagami, who was peering at the curtained-off area intently. “What did I miss?”
Just then, half the lights went out. Adrien didn’t jump, but it was a near thing.
Kagami said, “I’m not completely sure. But I heard someone say—”
Someone shushed her. She glared into the dim room. Kagami turned back to Adrien, opening her mouth to continue, but it was then that a spotlight flicked on, bright and arresting as a lighthouse beam, directing their gaze toward the same area Kagami had been studying. It was a stage, Adrien realized. The curtains swept open. A lone figure stepped into the light, and Adrien froze in instant recognition.
Hair swept high into a bun, she was masked and draped in a dress as red as her namesake. She brought the mic to her mouth and smiled, showing her teeth, white against scarlet lips.
“Good evening, Paris,” said Ladybug.
“Good evening, Ladybug,” someone called. Ladybug flashed a grin in the voice’s direction.
“Ladybug?” Kagami asked, confused.
“Ladybug,” Adrien said. Reverent. He glanced at Kagami.
She was frowning uncertainly. “I’ve never heard of her before.”
The music began— piano, Adrien identified, with a musician’s certainty. Ladybug opened her mouth and any response Adrien had died on his tongue.
“Les amours perdues,” Ladybug crooned, “ne se retrouvent plus.” The lost loves no longer meet.
He knew this song, but from Ladybug’s lips, it was truly—something else. Her voice, low and honeyed, seemed to charge the air. Next to Adrien, Kagami fanned herself discreetly, and he thought he could see spots of red on her cheeks. Adrien laughed quietly, but in all honesty, he understood—he was red and flustered, too. As she sang, Ladybug swayed ever so slightly, cradling the mic like a lover, eyes shut. The crowd seemed to sway with her; held captive by her voice. As if she were a siren, Adrien thought, and she had us all under her spell. Well, he supposed she would be the closest he’d ever come to hearing one.
“Les amours perdues,” she sang, “ne sont pas loin pourtant, car les amants délaissés ne peuvent oublier.” The lost loves, though, are not far away, and the deserted lovers cannot forget.
Adrien shivered. Ladybug sang on.
“Are you cold?” Kagami asked under her breath.
“No,” Adrien said.
“Then—”
“Shh. I want to listen.”
Kagami might have rolled her eyes, but it was hard to tell in the dark. Adrien focused on Ladybug again. She was already halfway through the first chorus.
“Mon amour, on s’aimera toujours...” My love, we will love each other forever.
Ladybug opened her eyes and her gaze went, unerring, to find Adrien in the midst of the sea of people.
“Toujours.” Forever. “Toujours, toujours, toujours, tou—”
Ladybug stopped, and at the same time, the music cut. She was still looking at him.
“Toujours,” Adrien breathed, and he wondered, could she read his lips from all the way there?
Ladybug looked away and the moment was broken. “Les amours perdues,” she began again. Was that a tremor in her voice? “Ne se retrouvent plus...”
At his side, Kagami leaned closer. “She’s good,” Kagami whispered.
Adrien, still looking at Ladybug, said, “I know.”
“Is this your first time hearing her sing?” Kagami asked.
There was a small, strange smile on Adrien’s face. “No,” he said.
“Mes amours perdues,” Ladybug sang, “hantent toujours mes nuits, et dans des bras inconnus je veux trouver l’oubli.” My lost loves still haunt my nights, and in unknown arms, I want to find oblivion.
And she was looking at him again. The song went on, and the music played, and Ladybug sang, and she was still looking at him. All too soon, she was at the second chorus, near the end of the song.
“Tous les serments de coeur, tous les serments d’amour.” All the promises of the heart, all the promises of love. She reached out, grasping for something invisible.
“Tous les, serre-moi, serre-moi dans tes bras.” All the—hold me, hold me in your arms. Her fingers curled around air. Her nails, Adrien noticed, were painted scarlet.
“Mon amour,” Adrien whispered under his breath, in time with the melody, “on s’aimera toujours.” My love, I will love you forever.
She sang, “Toujours, toujours, toujours, toujours, tou—”
The music cut, again. Ladybug swallowed.
“Les amours perdues,” she whispered, and in the hushed room, her voice, soft and intoxicating, made Adrien feel dizzy. “Ne se retrouvent plus.” The lost loves no longer meet.
No one dared speak. “Et les amants délaissés,” Ladybug sang, “peuvent toujours chercher.” And the deserted lovers can always search.
“Chercher, chercher...” Ladybug shut her eyes. “Chercher.” It left her in a sigh.
The room held its breath. After several seconds, Ladybug opened her eyes and smiled, dazzling. “Thank you,” she said.
All around Adrien, people burst into applause. Ladybug curtseyed shallowly, gracefully, and retreated into the depths of the stage.
“Oh,” Kagami said. “That was. She’s—she’s talented.” She was still fanning herself lightly.
Adrien ran a shaking hand through his hair. “She’s talented,” he agreed.
Ladybug opened the dressing room door two seconds after he knocked.
“Adrien,” she said, breathless.
“Ladybug,” Adrien answered, cheeks warm.
“Come in,” she said, and Adrien did.
She closed the door behind him. Some strands of her bun had come free. Adrien wanted to tuck it behind her ear.
Instead, he said, “I didn’t know you were performing today.”
Ladybug shrugged and spread her hands. “Surprise?”
Adrien smiled. “A good one.”
Ladybug perched on the dressing table, swinging her legs. “Good,” she echoed, blushing. “That’s good.”
Adrien leaned against the wall across her. In the cramped dressing room, the distance between them was sparse. “Where else will you be performing this season?”
“Here and there,” Ladybug breathed. “I’m not telling.”
Adrien laughed. “You’d make me attend all the society events just to hear you sing again?”
“Yes,” Ladybug said. “You’ll have to check the clubs, too.”
His cheeks hurt from smiling. He had missed this. Missed her. “Anything for you, chérie,” he said, and Ladybug went bright red.
“Adrien!” she yelped, and Adrien laughed again, feeling almost dizzy. He had missed that, too. He took one of her hands in his, and brushed his thumb over her knuckles.
“Adrien,” Ladybug said again, embarrassed.
Adrien looked up, and was struck once more with how beautiful she was. “I missed you,” he said earnestly.
“I missed you, too,” Ladybug said, breathless.
With his other hand, Adrien cupped her cheek. Her skin was hot to the touch. “How long do you have?”
“I’m—I’m done for the day.” Ladybug’s hand covered his. “You?”
“No one will miss me.”
Ladybug smiled, crooked. “I’ll have you all to myself, then.”
Adrien grinned. “Yes,” he said, and Ladybug closed the space between them and kissed him, finally, and he shifted his arms so that they were thrown around her neck. Her teeth clacked against his. She made a surprised gasp, an apology already on her tongue—Adrien only laughed, bubbly. He pressed his lips to hers again, and for quite a while they were silent, save only for gasped breaths and the sound of lips against lips.
“I like,” Ladybug rasped in between kisses, “the way it looks on you.”
“Mm?” Adrien kissed her again.
After a few more seconds, Ladybug broke the kiss, and said, “My—my lipstick.”
Adrien glanced at the dressing mirror behind Ladybug and blinked at his reflection. There were stark crimson stains all over his mouth and some on his cheeks. With his rumpled hair, and the dazed look in his eyes, Adrien looked—well. Adrien looked ravished.
“Oh,” he said faintly. His heart beat, thunderous, in his ears.
“Mm.” The corners of Ladybug’s lips lifted. Her own mouth was a ruin of red.
“I,” Adrien began, “Can I—” He stopped.
Ladybug tilted her head. “What is it?”
“I want to—”
Ladybug was still looking at him like that. Wide-eyed and entranced.
Adrien made a noise of frustration. “Oh, to hell with it,” he said, and tugged her face to him and kissed her.
She giggled, and Adrien could feel her smile against his lips. “Someone’s eager,” she said. “What were you saying?”
“I want—” Adrien kissed her again, and with no small amount of trepidation, he confessed, “I want to kiss away the rest of your lipstick.”
Ladybug squeaked. “Oh. Oh!” Another giggle burst from her. “Okay.”
“Is that—” Another kiss. “An order?”
“If you like,” Ladybug said, distracted with his lips.
Adrien leaned his forehead against hers and grinned. “Well,” he said. “Your wish is my command, my lady.”
He kissed her again, and again, and again, until they had made a mess of lipstick smears on their faces and both their cheeks hurt from smiling.
She sang quietly, “Mon amour, on s’aimeras—”
“Toujours,” Adrien whispered. Forever. “Toujours, toujours, toujours, toujours, tou—”
She took the opportunity to kiss him yet again. Adrien decided that of all the renditions of Les amours perdues he’d heard, he liked this one the best.
The sun was well past the horizon when Adrien finally exited the building, having reluctantly wiped the evidence of his tryst from his face. He walked idly down the steps leading into the outer courtyard, a dazed smile on his lips, and—
“Adrien!”
Adrien jolted, hastily swept a paranoid hand over his face, and spun to find a frazzled Kagami rushing towards him. “Kagami?” Had she been waiting here, all this time? He voiced this.
“Yes, and yes,” she said icily. “Where were you?”
“I—I was—”
“Walking around? Wandering? Lost?” Her voice rose higher and higher with every word.
Adrien winced. “I’m sorry.”
Kagami crossed her arms. “Don’t,” she said angrily. “You said you were going to go straight home, but then I called your landline. And they said you never—”
“Never arrived?” Adrien winced at the deadly glare she shot him. “I’m sorry,” he offered weakly.
Kagami stared at him. Then she sighed loudly. “I thought something had—you can’t keep vanishing on me like that, Adrien.”
“I’m an adult,” Adrien protested. “I don’t need you to hold my hand.”
“I know. But it’s late, and you’re very obviously wealthy, and even just walking to find a nearby cab could get you caught in a mugging.” Kagami crossed her arms. “And I,” she started. She looked away. “I was... worried, Adrien.”
Adrien softened. “Oh,” he said. “I appreciate that, Kagami.”
Adrien smiled at her, and tentatively, Kagami smiled back, close-mouthed and uncertain.
At last, she said, “We should get going.”
Adrien cast a backward look at the event hall. “Now?” he asked, but he already knew the answer.
“Now.” Kagami took him by the arm and dragged him, laughing, over the cobblestones. “I have lost precious hours searching and waiting for you.”
Adrien laughed again. “Thank you, Kagami.”
“You’re welcome.” Kagami huffed. “But I would appreciate it if you refrained from doing so again in the future.”
Adrien looked back, and saw Ladybug in the distance, exiting the building. He didn’t know if she could see him clearly from there, but he blew her a kiss anyway.
He turned back and let himself be led by Kagami, fingertips still pressed to his smiling lips. “No promises,” he said.