amour chassé-croisé

“Uh, yeah. I didn’t wanna say anything, but you definitely look a little more…droopy than usual.”

[Ladybug had almost never seen Chat Noir like this—usually, he was chock full of energy and bad puns, but today he looked about ready to curl under a rock and stay there for a couple years. It was almost unsettling.]

[The sight caused a little seed of guilt to burn in the superheroine’s stomach. It was pretty much her fault he’d gotten tossed in the river the other day in the first place, and while she wasn’t a nurse, something told Ladybug that his dip was the cause of her partner’s droopy-ness.]

“Think you’ll be okay? If you need to bail, I can finish the rest of patrol…”

“Oh, no way... I’m not letting you walk these dark rooftops alone, My Lady.”

There was a pause in the middle of his sentence, as if Chat Noir had zoned out for a good few moments before remembering he had been in the middle of something. Considering the impossibility of getting him to slow down at any other time, that wasn’t an extremely promising sign.

At least Ladybug’s kwami was functioning again - he’d heard all about Plagg’s counterpart getting sick the day before, how Ladybug had to pretend it was a cat to get treatment, and how that miniature crisis had delayed her joining him in battle. It seemed like both of them had been riddled with problems this week, but at least Chat Noir could push through this...

He leaned for a wall which was farther than he’d thought it was, stumbling, catching himself a second later. So maybe his depth perception was a little off, and he still felt like he might see his lunch again before the night was through, but that didn’t mean he was useless. 

After yesterday, he had to prove he wasn’t.

“--Whoops! Must be a crosswind up here. Trust me, My Lady, your knight is in full working order.”

jackady was a wild ride from start to finish

“I don’t think you could have even called it soup. It was just…stuff, in a liquid form.”

[Honestly…Marinette knew Chloé had it out for her already, but to sabotage the soup, just to get back at her? It was a whole new level of awful, even for the spoiled girl. Still…she was glad Adrien had said something to her. They’d known each other for a while, Marinette was aware, and while Adrien usually kept himself out of their skirmishes ( which she could understand—and Marinette wasn’t helpless when it came to confronting Chloé ), it was nice to see him stand up to her.]

“Hey, don’t worry about it too much. Everything worked out, right? But…thanks for saying something.”

“I guess it did...” 

Of course she’d blow off any worry Adrien showed - Marinette was just like that. She never wanted people worrying about her, especially when she could stand up for herself; but while Adrien had always been on the fringe of things before, able to stand aside without a clear enough view to take a side, this time...

“--No, I mean it. I need to explain - for me, anyway.” Green eyes flickered away, scanning the few loose pebbles in the courtyard, white teeth worrying a a full lower lip in a way which was far more damaging when he had fangs. 

“I’ve known Chloé for a while, you know? And before I started coming here with her, when it was just us, she was nice. I don’t want to date her, I don’t like her that way... But up till yesterday I wanted to believe she had good reasons for being so mean to everyone.” A tanned hand rose to rake through sun-gold hair, a sigh of frustration leaving newly reddened lips. “I always figured there was stuff I didn’t know, so I never said anything; but yesterday...”