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It was sheer luck that put Adrien in the seat next to Nino’s. If not for that, he could only imagine that he’d probably know him about as well as the average classmate did – that is to say, not very well. Adrien was at once everywhere and nowhere; rarely absent from school and an active member of the fencing team, but he might as well have fallen off the face of the earth when it came to anything involving his dad or his home life.
Still, there was a reason that Adrien was rising to the top. Between school, fencing, learning Chinese, and everything that came with modeling, the guy was non-stop.
--
For such a quiet kid, this Chat Noir really had a mouth on him. Puns didn’t come with the power of Miraculous, but Plagg wouldn’t blame anyone for assuming that they came part and parcel with him and the ring. This one also had a tendency to run his mouth, which had gotten him into some serious trouble with Copycat. Plagg knew to hold his tongue on the subject of that particular Akuma, but he would be lying if he didn’t say that he considered Chat Noir’s careless remarks a contributing factor in Hawk Moth evilizing the sculptor.
For now, it seemed like Adrien might have learned from that particular mistake, but the thought that his almost too well-intentioned chosen might inadvertently give free ammunition to their enemies did not sit particularly well with the feline kwami.
Then again, that was the price to pay for the power of bad luck.
--
Adrien was really good at making time for everything and everyone but her, and Chloé knew it. It hadn’t been an issue when he was being homeschooled, but something about being in public school had changed him. Even though they were now in the same room for 8 hours a day, he felt further away from her than he had ever been. At this point, she’d be satisfied with just a fraction of his time, but even that seemed like an increasingly difficult thing to get when he practically disappeared as soon as school let out.
Whatever. Maybe it was some kind of weird “new kid” phase.
--
Chat Noir was more mysterious than she had given him credit for. He was as goofy as he was selfless, as capable as he was unlucky, and as devoted as he was charming. Taken together, Ladybug was unsure of how to feel about him beyond her appreciation of their partnership. It would never stop worrying her whenever he put himself in harm’s way, yet he would at the drop of the hat. She couldn’t forget the way her heart dropped when he protected her from Dark Cupid’s arrow and Timebreaker’s touch. It never got any easier.
How did he do it? How could he fight every single day like tomorrow wouldn’t arrive?
--
Alya had once considered renaming the Ladyblog. The name didn’t reflect that Ladybug and Chat Noir were a team, but the name was just so catchy that she couldn’t bring herself to pass it up. Still, there were times when she was pretty sure that there were exactly two kinds of people: the ones who saw Chat Noir and went, “oh, that guy’s cool”, and the ones who went “who the hell is this?” (Chloé might as well have been their spokesperson).
From what she could tell, Ladybug seemed to fall into the former category, but that wasn't something that she could tell the people when it was otherwise unsubstantiated. Neither superhero had exactly agreed to an interview, much less said anything of substance to her at all. At least Ladybug had said something to her, even if it wasn't much, but she had yet to get even a single word out of Chat Noir. Occasional goofiness aside, he was always focused on fighting the akuma, and he was damn near impossible to get a hold of once the job was done.
She had to give him credit: he was practically non-stop.