Work Text:
"Th’s 's s’ly."
"Everyone knows cats are capricious."
"S'cute. Y'r cute. Ugh, m'hed"
Sabrina burrowed in against Adrien's chest weakly. She was wrapped in two blankets against the cold as he carried her. It wasn't a long trip from the car to the front door, but he wasn't taking chances.
He carried her into his room and laid her on his bed, sorting her blankets while she murmured feeble protests while at the same time cocooning herself deeper in the blankets. Adrien worked a hand in to find her forehead. “You’re burning hot.”
“S’mn has t’ th’nk so. Glad s’yu.”
Adrien laughed softly. “If you’re well enough to joke, maybe you don’t need to be looked after.”
Two small hands took hold of his within the blanket-nest. Adrien gave one a squeeze and moved to take his hand back, only to have her grip become insistent. Adrien smiled down at the lump. “Oh no, Trapped, I’m trapped!”
He felt the light touch of lips against his thumb.
Adrien sat down on the edge of the bed, petting the blanket-brina with his free hand. He could see the rise and fall of her breathing go from labored to steady. Eventually he leaned in and whispered, “I need my hand back to get things organized.”
He felt the pressure of her cheek, a light nuzzle, then she let him go. As Adrien withdrew his hand her voice followed after, the most clear it had been since he picked her up. “Wash that.”
“I promise. I’ll be right back.” Adrien was half a dozen steps to the door before he called over his shoulder, “Don’t go anywhere.”
The lump remained silent, but Adrien’s own mind supplied half a dozen cheeky little comebacks in Sabrina’s voice, and that itself, made him happy. Adrien was making a mental list of everything he’d need as he crossed the Atrium, when a voice gentle yet firm pulled him out of his thoughts.
“Adrien, I’ve been infomed what you intend. I am not sure this is the best course of action. Your father…”
Nathalie.
They’d never quite patched up things the same after his great blow up with his father. The fact that he had managed to restore a tentative, and perhaps healthier relationship with his father even seemed to make it more awkward at times. When he was feeling petty, Adrien wondered if she didn’t resent no longer being able to be the ‘good guy’ adult in the house. Adrien wished he knew how to mend this fence, but he still hadn’t quite figured it out. Someone always put a foot wrong.
“Nathalie,” He greeted with a smile she could probably see through. “It’s just for the night. Father doesn’t have to know does he? We can keep it our little secret.” Adrien winked, touching a finger to his lips. Occasionally humor worked, if Nathalie was in the mood.
It looked like this wouldn’t be one of those times. She glanced toward the doors to his Father’s Atelier then back to Adrien, descending the rest of the steps with the quiet his of her support frame marking her progress. “There are limits, Adrien. I don’t think a girl overnight in the house is one he would take well. If he were to find out…”
“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Adrien tried to keep his voice level, but firm.
Nathalie frowned quietly, her stare very nearly pushing Adrien back into that submissive box he had once lived so completely inside. She broke the silence first though. “Very well, as you wish.”
She did not move on however. Adrien completed crossing to the kitchen under her watchful gaze. He couldn’t keep himself from quickening his pace at the very end, nor keep his heart from racing even after he’d put a solid door between her and himself.
“Alright Plagg, grab what you want, we’re going to be hermitting tonight. No evening Cheese runs.”
Instead of the black cat, the yellow bee poked her head out from Adrien’s shirt. “I am sorry My Lord, but I am not him. Plagg wanted to switch places, and sent me along in his stead. How may I be of assistance to you?”
“Pollen? Where’s Plagg?”
“I assume he stayed behind in your room, my Lord.” Pollen hovered close at hand, paws held together before her.
Adrien considered, then shrugged. Plagg was Plagg. “Well, then I suppose you can help me. We need things that a sick person would want. So, I suppose fruit, juices, I can heat up soup in my room, maybe some hearty rolls in case her appetite comes back. I’ll get some blankets to make myself a place to sleep on the couch.”
“Yes, my Lord. I won’t let you down.” Pollen flew into the cupboards on her quest.
Adrien passed through the kitchen into the laundry, a place he’d only recently become acquainted with. It was Sabrina who taught him how to do his own laundry, and now it was something he did to keep up his end of the boundaries he had tried to lay down at home. A boy whose life wasn’t managed by others could ‘manage’ his own clothing. A blanket, sheet, pillow, pillow case, and an extra blanket in case Sabrina needed another one, also a towel, hand towel, and wash cloth, so she could use the shower if she needed to.
Shower . It was an entirely mundane thing, but took his mind back to the first time she’d stayed over, they’d accidentally fallen asleep just snuggled up. Her using his shower in the morning had been something full of childish panic and anticipation before it happened, only to find it replaced with comfort and warmth at the sheer normalcy, and subversion of the anticipated awkwardness.
Adrien rubbed the corner of a towel between thumb and forefinger. A wisp of a daydream danced through his head. An apartment, a shared space, life wonderfully uncomplicated, that earnest smile greeting him over a cup of coffee in the morning.
“My Lord?” Pollen’s small voice broke the train of thought. The images vanished but the warmth remained.
Adrien stepped back into the kitchen. There was a heap of food, drink, and assorted odds and ends on the central island.
Pollen floated above it expectantly. “I believe I have gotten everything.”
Adrien gaped at the pile. “Everything is right. I think we might need to cut back. There’s no way I can carry this all back.”
Pollen’s antennae wilted. “I am sorry, my Lord. I did not realize that was a requirement.”
Adrien rushed over, setting down the linens and trying to figure out how to balance as much as he reasonably could in his arms at a time. I can put the fruit in a bowl. I can carry one juice pitcher in my hand while my arms are full. “It’s my fault Pollen, you did great. Why don’t you tuck back in just in case while I finish this?”
With a bow of her head, Pollen dove back into Adrien’s shirt pocket. He gathered as much as he could, then put away what he couldn’t manage on this trip. It wouldn’t do to be messy and provoke ire when he was already testing his limits. With a small prayer to cross unnoticed this time, Adrien headed back to his room.
He got to his desk just in the nick of time. Spilling as much as setting the armload down. He’d saved the juice pitcher, but belatedly realized… he had only gotten one glass. We’ll figure it out.
On tiptoes Adrien approached his recumbent girlfriend. The mystery as to where Plagg had gone was solved instantly. A small black ball was curled up against the chest of the Sabrina-lump, and as Adrien approached quietly he noticed something else.
Plagg was purring.
The cat kwami's eyes opened slowly. Adrien raised a questioning eyebrow, but Plagg did not rise to the bait. He just settled his head back down, the volume of his purr increasing slightly
Adrien felt bad for interrupting. He circled the bed and laid a hand on Sabrina’s head through the blankets, “Pupper? You awake?”
One hand poked out of the blanket nest and pushed back her cocoon to reveal a pale and pinched face wearing a brave smile. “Yeah,” she whispered weakly.
Adrien brushed back the damp bangs from her face. “I brought some food, and some juice, in case you wanted some before you crash. Is there anything else I can get you?”
She snagged his hand again before he could withdraw it. She began to snuggle it to her chest then realized Plagg. She blinked, then instead tilted her head into Adrien’s hand again before letting go. She murmured, “Juice please, and you’re gonna have to wash that again.”
Adrien wiggled his fingers at her, ”You mean, for the first time?”
From the Plaggball, “That’s my boy.”
Sabrina started a laugh but it didn’t quite make it out. Instead she closed her eyes and pulled her glasses off, letting them fall weakly out at arm’s length on the bed. “I’ll just nap until patrol time.”
Adrien filled the glass, grumbled at himself for not getting ice, and brought it back, holding it visible but in his lap. “Sabs, no.” he chided. “Ladybug can patrol solo for a night, we haven’t seen the Monarch in half a year. You can’t go out like this.”
She blinked at him blearily, but slowly levered herself upright. Plagg startled as his bedding was disturbed and Sabrina made a soft cooing sound. She scooped him up into her lap and, to Adrien’s surprise, Plagg submitted to it. He curled back up, those big green eyes closing again, and resumed his purring.
Adrien noted, “You never did that for me, Plagg.”
Plagg remained serene, “You never got this sick, kid. Besides, she’s important to you, she’s important to me.”
Sabrina ran a finger between Plagg’s ears and down his back. Adrien thought the red flush of her cheeks might have deepened. After several slow strokes Plagg settled down again and Sabrina reached for the glass. “You could go on patrol, if you’re not going to the New Year’s party.”
Adrien shook his head. “And leave you here alone? No thank you to either one.”
Sabrina drank a single mouthful, struggling to swallow. Her breathing was getting more labored again, but she persisted. “I’m gonna be asleep again soon. Pollen can find you if it’s serious.” She took a second swallow.
Adrien shook his head, chagrined. “You’re being all practical, and all I’m doing is trying to take care of the girl I love.”
That put a smile on her lips, not a brave one this time, a heartfelt little curve. She looked at him with eyes unfocused half from fever, half from poor vision. “It’ll be a nice surprise for her, seeing you on New Year’s.”
Adrien frowned and reached across to brush his fingers along Sabrina’s jawline, raising and turning her chin to focus her on him. “We’re past you trying to give me away again, right?”
She dipped her chin, nipping his fingertip just once. Her squint was as cheerful as she could make it. “No way, you’ve grrrr own on me.”
The mock-growl brought up a cough and Sabrina took quick sips from her juice to try and quell more in its wake. Adrien tapped her nose when she was finally composed again. “Good, because I think Plagg’s gotten quite fond of Barkk.”
From Sabrina’s lap, “She plays a good game of tag.”
Sabrina gave Plagg another pet. “I’m no good for a New Year’s kiss like this. She’s still your Lady. I don’t think she’d begrudge you one for old time’s sake.”
Sabrina took another sip and Adrien was quiet while she did. He reached across and rested a hand on her knee through the blankets.
Being the only one with a -mostly- secret identity among the group was still odd. He was Ladybug’s Cat Noir behind the Mask. Yet he knew who she was, and she knew Cat Noir knew. He knew she was with Chloé, and he was incredibly happy for her, for all of them really. He had always feared she might pine for Adrien, or Cat Noir. Marinette deserved better than that. Things between Marinette and Adrien were a solid friendship now, no regrets. Things between Ladybug and Cat Noir though… they’d never had that talk. It was on hold. Waiting for the day Cat Noir could be revealed, and Adrien hoped they’d all have a laugh that day.
Adrien let all this tumble in the back of his mind. What he said was, “We’ll see. I can do the patrol. I think I’d rather have a kiss a day late from you though.”
Sabrina puffed herself up as much as her 152cm height and a nasty flu allowed. She gave him a slight smirk, her own version of Chloé’s own, before passing the glass back into his hands. “Y’don’t have to butter me up. I know where my kitty comes for his scritches at the end of the day.”
She wore arrogance like an inside out shirt, and she knew it. The twinkle in those aqua eyes drew a relaxing laugh from Adrien. She always manages that, even sick. He shook his head ruefully. “Alright you. Want anything else while you have a ‘minion?’ Anything to eat?”
Sabrina shook her head, winced, then shook it more slowly. “I’m gonna be lame and just curl back up.” She put action to word, carefully readjusting herself and Plagg as she slid back down into the covers, pulling them up over her head into a new cocoon.
Adrien watched, and had to resist the urge to just scoop her up and cuddle her until she was better. It didn’t work that way, no matter how much he might want it to. He did catch an idea while watching though. Setting down the glass on the end table, he moved around behind her as she laid on her side. Adrien carefully considered the lumpen mass before him, then touched his hands to it, kneading in what he hoped was a sort of massage through the thickness.
An incoherent, “Arhmmburrblennmm.” from the blankets made him think he got it right.
Adrien massaged slowly, then let the massages ebb into soft rubs, and the rubs trail off to touches, until he lifted his hands away from blankets that were emitting gently flemmy snores. He got up as silently as possible, and busied himself with making up his couch, having something to eat, and agonizing over whether he should stay until patrol time, or slip out so he wouldn’t accidentally disturb her rest.
In the end, escape seemed best. He left Plagg and Pollen to watch over her and took his reading list for the new semester with him. Lyceé and soccer practice ate up time as hungrily as modeling ever had. Adrien made his way down to the Atrium, intent on staying out of the way in the study. A stern voice cut in just as he put his hand on the door, however.
“Adrien, a word.”
Years of conditioning sent a shiver through him. ‘A word’ from his father had meant only one thing for so many years. That was then. I’m not that person anymore. Some days, Adrien dared to hope his father wasn’t either. He turned.
“Yes, Father?”
Gabriel Agreste crossed from where he had stood at the doors to his Atelier. The silence during the walk was calculated. Adrien had experienced it many times in his life. What was new was the way his father’s face seemed to shift from stern to brief flashes of… what?... Adrien still wasn’t sure. At times it looks like panic, at others grief. Whatever it was, his father had not shared, and Adrien knew no way to broach the subject. Whatever it was though, it was the crack through which they’d managed to be a family for brief flashes again.
He loomed in front of Adrien, hands clasped in the small of his back. “I hear you have a girl in your room.”
An opening already? Adrien flashed a model perfect smile up at his father. “You know Sabrina, father. She’s just staying the night, so I can take care of her.”
Adrien’s ready reply wrong-footed his father. There was a pause before he spoke. “If she is ill, she should be at home.”
It was a solid argument, but one Adrien was ready for with that most annoying of counters: The truth. “Her dad is working the night since it’s New Year’s. She’d be all alone. I suppose I could just stay over there and sleep on their couch, but I thought you would prefer me at home.”
Again, he’d scored another solid hit. Of course, he’d had the advantage of being prepared, of thinking this discussion through before he even began it. Adrien worried sometimes if he was doing something underhanded, planning and playing off his father’s preferences and inexperience, he consoled himself he did it as little as possible. Gabriel had to work through Adrien’s reply, and weigh the alternative scenario Adrien had presented him with.
His voice held doubt where before it had held authority. “We have a guest room.”
Adrien nodded enthusiastically. “I know, Father. I thought this way I would disturb you less, with fewer comings and goings. This way I’m there if she needs anything too. It’s not like we’ll do anything improper.” Not like we haven’t already done plenty of improper things anyway.
His father’s only rebuttal was an off-balance, “Still…”
Adrien went for the finisher. “Father, when Mother was sick, I remember how you cared for her, night and day. I just want to be that person for Sabrina.”
His father’s eyes widened. If his father was any other man, Adrien would hug him right now and tell him how much he missed her too. His father was still who he was though, change was slow. He wrung his hands in the small of his back. His defense was feeble, “Yes, but, your mother and I- She was the- “
Adrien didn’t have to connive his reply. It was true in both meanings. He looked his father squarely in the eye. “I know, Father.”
It was more than Adrien had planned on putting into words this soon. He knew it in his heart. He’d whispered it to Sabrina, and reveled in the pure delight he saw in her eyes each time. He hadn’t had the guts to speak so plainly to his father yet. It couldn’t have come to a complete shock. Sabrina had been the breaking point that launched Adrien’s first defiant rebellion. There was a difference between speculation and confirmation though.
One hand came around from behind Gabriel, beseeching. “Adrien, think. You are young. This isn’t-”
“It is for me, Father. I’d like your understanding, if not your blessing. I am happy, she is happy. We are happy. You and I both know, there’s plenty in this world that can cut happiness short. Why do the world’s work for it?”
Adrien saw his words strike home like a physical blow. Something took place in his father’s eyes that he still couldn’t understand. His father turned his head, then body, sharply to the side. “She may stay.” His father’s voice was unsteady, but hardened, “But only for the night!”
“Of course, father!” Adrien beamed, relief palpable.
A silence stretched into awkwardness. His father cleared his throat. “I will return to my Atelier now.”
Adrien nodded, though his father still wasn’t looking at him. “I will see you next year, Father.”
Gabriel glanced at him in momentary confusion, and Adrien saw his dark eyes were shimmering with unexpressed emotion. Adrien’s joke sank in an instant later, and his father rolled his eyes. “Indeed. Perhaps I can finally expect to pass the rest of the year undisturbed.”
Adrien was so caught off guard he didn’t laugh until his father was already halfway back to his Atelier. Adrien waved with sudden unexpected joy at his father’s back. “I’ll miss you, Dad.”
He ducked into the study, to save his father from having to respond, and set to his reading list for the next hour. Neither kwami disturbed him, which he took for a good sign. As patrol time neared Adrien headed back to his room, careful to be as silent as possible opening the door.
Plagg floated up from his perch and over to Adrien. He spoke softly. "She's still sleepin'. I might've got the fever down though."
"You?" Adrien whispered back in surprise.
Plagg floated to the untouched stash. He picked up a walnut in his paws and muttered, "No cheese for a hungry kwami."
Adrien took out his emergency slice of camembert and unwrapped it on autopilot. Plagg brightened, dropped the nut, and chomped hungrily on the offering.
"Yeah me. Everyone knows a cat's purr helps people heal. A kwami's purr is ten times as strong. Pollen will take over when we go out."
Curious, Adrien approached the bed. Pollen was still laying atop Sabrina. The bee kwami had sprouted small iridescent wings which were a blur of motion, emitting a low buzz that was not a purr, but had a similar quality to it. She dipped her head in greeting before returning to buzzing.
Adrien marveled. He asked quietly, "Can all kwamis do that?"
Plagg was licking his paws clean, "Not all, everyone has their talents."
Adrien gave his kwami a light poke. "You're amazing, Plagg."
Plagg snickered. "Of course I am. Now let's get you out for a fun run."
Adrien picked up Sabrina's glasses and set them on the end table. Then he bent down, her face was peeking out of the covers. With infinite care he brushed stray locks back from her open mouth.
"Plagg, how can I leave her like this?"
His kwami floated up, patting Adrien's cheek. "The same way Tikki and I leave the other kwamis when we have to, kid. You think about how happy you'll be when you see her again."
Adrien sighed, but nodded. "Claws out, Plagg, quietly."
As silent as his namesake, Cat Noir slipped into the night.
"Starting without me, M'Lady?"
Ladybug fumbled her yo-yo toss, but rapidly recovered. She rounded on him in surprise. "Cat Noir?"
He spun his baton, giving her a cheeky smile. "Indeed, has it been so long since you saw me in the fur? While your kwami swapping plan is brilliant, I must say it has left us with little cat and bug time."
Ladybug’s smile was genuine though confused. “I expected to be doing this one solo. Your protegé’s sicker than her namesake.”
Cat Noir touched the back of one hand to his forehead and swooned dramatically. “You wound me, M’Lady. What sort of mentor would I be if I did not take up my pupil’s burdens from time to time?”
Ladybug rolled her eyes and gave him a small shove. “See, I knew letting you do this would go to your head.”
Cat Noir spun his baton once and leaned back in. “A big head just means my ears are easier to scritch, M’Lady.”
Ladybug gave him another, gentler, poke. Her expression went from bemused to serious. “How is she doing?”
Cat Noir bobbled his head, ”Oh, she’s in good hands, the best I think. She’s got Mr. Agreste Jr. looking out for her.”
It was still strange, talking about himself in the third person. More so now that everyone else knew each other. He was still a person apart, for security sake, and this double existence had begun to wear. Cat Noir was becoming more and more his own person, with his own expectations, notions, and limits. It had led to Adrien feeling freer when using the other Kwamis. Yellowjacket, Hearthog, Tymethon, and Retrouver all had no history, no assumed connections, despite being the same person under the mask. Cat Noir was still first and foremost Ladybug’s partner, both to others, and to himself. The nonsensical sense of it all chaffed now and then.
He’d missed a beat, trapped in his own head. Ladybug was looking at him with her head tilted. He had to backtrack and empty his head enough to let what she had said filter in. ‘That explains why he couldn’t make the New Year’s party. Good for them.’
Her words were encouraging, her tone mixed. Cat Noir replied with a playful leer, ”Do I detect a hint of jealousy, M’Lady?”
Ladybug jolted as if stung. “What? No! No of course not, don’t be silly. I mean, I did have a tiny crush on Adrien like, forever ago. That went exactly nowhere though, and it’s probably for the best. Can you imagine what it would be like being around Adrien and trying to keep heroing a secret? No, I definitely never thought about what it would be like to be in Agreste manor, curled up in bed sick under a polkadot comforter, while Adrien spoon fed me soup before laying beside me and reading me stories until I fell asleep.”
By the end of her litany, Ladybug was poking her fingers together and staring at a spot on the rooftop. Cat Noir was struck by how much she had become her whole self since her reveal. How will I change? Not too much I hope. I like me now. Cat Noir tapped his baton against his lips. “Well, M’Lady, you can still have a beautiful blond spoon feeding you soup. Personally I think Le Grand Paris has a homier feel than Agreste Manor anyway. Though, from what I have heard you had better hope the soup is not home made.”
The hue of Ladybug’s blush had changed. Her nervously hunched shoulders had relaxed, her fingertips stayed together, and her darting eyes had quietly gone distant. “Yeah…” she murmured wistfully.
Cat Noir let his Lady bask in whatever memory or fantasy she was floating in. It was a rare treat these days for her to drift so openly. For a brief moment she was his out of place partner, starting her heroing career all over. He didn’t know who was behind the mask. Complications, trials, and hardships were all for the future, he could marvel at the idea of her, instead of being devoted to the reality of her.
The frozen moment came to an end. Ladybug swayed then blinked, shaking her head. She caught him staring and rubbed the back of her head, the Marinette word-engine spinning up. “I mean, her cooking isn’t that bad. Okay, maybe it is, but she hasn’t had much practice. She was trying! Though, it was my room, not the hotel. The pulley she used to wheel food up to my bed was just adorable, and she didn’t complain once about sleeping on the duvet. I mean at least not until I was better-”
Cat Noir’s chuckle pulled her out of her ramble. She eeped and tilted her head again. “So umm, maybe don’t mention that I let that slip? Oh geez. When did I get so bad with secrets?” Ladybug covered her face with both hands.
Cat Noir tsked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “About the time you decided they did more harm than good most of the time, and I think you were and are entirely right about that.”
She laid a hand gently on his chest. “Someday kitty, we’ll get you out of the shadows and with the rest of us. I just keep feeling as soon as we do, Monarch will decide to come back. For a Ladybug I’ve got a history of the worst luck.”
Cat Noir squeezed her tightly once, then let her go. “You used up all your luck getting a partner like me. Now, shall we be off? At least one of us has a party to get to.”
Instead of the expected comeback Ladybug moved her hand from his chest to his cheek, her voice remained serious. “Not all of it, but quite a bit, Kitty. You’re more a partner than a bug could have ever hoped for, through everything. Every New Year, I’m thankful you are a part of my life.”
There was a long pause between them, one that in a world filled with different choices would have been filled with something more. Instead Cat Noir took her hand from his cheek and brushed his lips against her fingers. “And I you M’Lady. I can safely say, without you, my life would not be what it is. It would be so much worse both in and out of the mask. I owe you a great deal of my happiness, and I will never forget.”
As he straightened back up Ladybug kept her hold on his hand even when he let go. “I still love you, Cat Noir. Is- Is it still right to say that, to feel that way?” Ladybug was puzzling through her words as she spoke. “I don’t mean it as, like, ‘What if?’ I don’t want things to be different. Am I allowed to hold these two things in my heart at the same time?”
The answer to that was easy. “I believe so, M’Lady. If not, then we’re both in trouble. This kitty feels more strongly than he ever imagined possible about more than one person in his life. If love’s the word that fits, then that’s the word you use. Life has taught me: don’t let the idea of ‘how things should be’ stop you from enjoying how they are .”
She brightened as he spoke, and as he finished she nodded. Then she smirked and tapped his nose with her yo-yo. “When’d you get to be the smart one, Kitty?”
Cat Noir stepped back, cupping his chin and grinning toothily. “Well, in matters of the heart, we both know I’m pawsitively unstoppable.”
Ladybug laughed and shook her head. “Annnnnd it’s gone.” She spun her yo-yo up. “Let’s get to patrolling, Goof Noir.”
The Paris night was far from quiet, but the presence of Ladybug and Cat Noir was usually enough to quell any disturbances among New Year’s revelers. Cat Noir spotted Roger once during the circuit, and thought about who was waiting for him back at home.
The New Year’s Kiss never came up. Even with permission, even with two romantics and all the reasons in the world, it just wasn’t who they were anymore. When Cat Noir thought of a New Year’s kiss only one vision came to mind.
Ladybug wished him a Happy New Year. He used the same joke on her as he had on his father, eliciting a groan. He wished her fun at the party, and she apologized for not being able to invite him, parents wouldn’t understand. They parted ways and Cat Noir headed back towards home. Yet along the way, he stopped several times. The Eiffel Tower, Monte Parnasse, the Arc de Triomphe, and lastly a late night vendor selling hot chicken soup to night time revelers. The clock hands were pushing towards that fateful peak by the time Cat Noir landed on the precarious sil outside his room.
Cat Noir peeked inside before he hooked his claws around the pane to pry his window open. He had expected to find stillness, a slumbering Sabrina he might wake up with his late-night delivery. Instead he saw-
“Oh, silly Sabs.”
Cat Noir dropped into his room.
Its occupant did not look up.
He crossed on silent feet to the bed.
She did not look up.
He leaned over, raising his hands with fingers out, ready to tickle.
A pencil darted up, poking him in the nose. “Dontcha dare. I’m sick.”
Sabrina looked up. Her face was still flushed, and her eyes red behind her glasses. Her hair was matted from sleep sweat. The silk pajamas he’d brought her in were wrinkled from fitful sleep. There was a slump to her shoulders, making her even smaller than normal. Yet under it all, she was smiling.
Cat Noir swatted the pencil playfully, hooking it out of her hand with a claw tip and batting it into the air before sending it skittering across the room. His look of utter triumph was met with a puffed-cheek pout. Cat Noir stooped and scooped up the soup-container, offering it out. “What gave me away, little miss?”
Sabrina’s eyes brightened. She inhaled the scent of the soup then rearranged herself cross legged in her nest and took the container, cracking the lid and taking a quick gulp with no spoon. “Ha-ha-hoott..”
Cat Noir chuckled. He climbed further onto the bed, noting the day planner, soccer schedules, training schedules, class schedules, and miscellaneous schedules in a semi-circle around Sabrina. Cat Noir pawed a few out of the way before flopping helpfully on the rest. There he waited, looking up with half-lidded eyes expectantly.
Sabrina scrunched her nose at him, then sniffled, which led into a cough and a dive for a tissue before a sneeze. She managed to not spill the soup in all this, answering him before going back for another sip. “This awesome soup. I could smell it a mile away, dog or no dog.”
Cat Noir reached under himself to pull out the day planner. He flipped through a few pages before asking mildly. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting? This doesn’t look like resting.”
Sabrina pressed a hand to the back of the book, smooshing it against his face. “I had a nap! I’m fine. It’s just some planning. I stayed on the bed!”
Maybe I have a type, after all. Cat Noir mrrfled against the pages of the planner before peeking around it. “You still look like something the me dragged in.”
Sabrina eyed him. “You’re sleeping outside tonight, Kitty.”
Cat Noir pouted. “But it’s my house!”
Sabrina half turned away from him with her soup, lifting her chin. “Shoulda thought of that sooner.”
Cat Noir raised a hand, threatening tickles.
Sabrina eeped and squirmed away. “Nonono! I’m sick!”
Cat Noir sat up, leaning in close with a smug smile, “Well, which is it?”
She glanced down, voice dropping. “Okay… I’m sick. I just wanted to be up, you know, in case you came back in time.”
Cat Noir felt his heart twist in his chest in a familiar and happy way. He reached over, plucking the soup from her hands and setting it on the table. “Well, it turns out I did. Almost exactly when I intended to.”
He brought out his baton, snapping it open to show the time. It was 11:59. Sabrina squirmed herself back over to him, eyes wide and cheeks even redder with anticipation. Cat Noir held up one finger, hoping the glint in his eye might mitigate what came next. The clock ticked over to 12:00. Sabrina looked confused as Cat Noir kept his finger up, watching the seconds tick… tick… tick… She didn’t ask what he was doing. She just waited, trusting . That gave his heart another happy twist. It was beyond words, having someone set themselves so gently into your hands that their love weighed not a thing.
12:01
Cat Noir leaned in. The kiss was a gentle one. She was still sick, and they had all year to add many more to the tally. When it ended she had one hand up through his hair; still its classic look despite Adrien’s own new style. He leaned into the petting and she gave him a happy little grin. “I forget how boofle-y your hair is like this.”
Boofle-y. It was both perfectly accurate, and perfectly Sabrina. Cat Noir touched noses with her. “Should I stay this way a bit then?”
She shook her head,”Gotta let Plagg out. He’s been stuck working all year .”
Cat Noir froze, just taking a second to appreciate this girl before him. Then spoke the words to transform back. Plagg took one look at the pair of them and gave a knowing, toothy grin before floating off. When Adrien looked back at Sabrina she finally had a question for him.
“Why did you want to wait?”
Adrien scooted closer, moving papers and blankets to shift himself up beside her. He looped his arms around Sabrina’s waist and rested his chin on her shoulder, letting her shoulder length hair brush his face. “I wanted it to be a New Year kiss. A kiss all by itself in this year, not sharing anything with the past, just the present and the future.”
She brought her hand up without turning her head, running her fingers over his new hair and down along the side of his neck. “You’ve been thinking.”
Adrien nuzzled into that screen of ginger hair, nose bumping the side of her neck. “Mmmhmm.”
She let her hand fall, resting atop his around her waist. “Want to talk about it?”
Adrien hmmmed again. “Not yet.”
“K,” and it was as simple as that. God, I love her. Then, “Can I have s’more soup yet?”
Adrien repeated the ‘hmmm’. “Not yet.”
He leaned, pulling her with him as he fell onto his side. A little shifting had them spooned, her little spoon snuggled back against him.
Sabrina murmured without conviction. “You’re gonna get sick.”
Adrien squeezed her again, and used a leg to nudge blankets up where she could grab and pull them up over both of them. He nuzzled the nape of her neck and closed his eyes. “Mmhhmm.”