Between Twilight - Ladrien
The response to this prompt comes to us from @rosie-b! (You can also find it on Ao3)
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She only ever comes in the evening. The quiet moments just before dusk, when the last rays of the sun are still bidding the city goodbye, that’s when she visits him. It was the time that they'd agreed upon, back in the beginning of their unusual arrangement. Then, Ladybug was free from her daily chores, and there were fewer people outside looking up to spot her. Then, Adrien’s schedule was finally empty, and the short gap left at his bedtime — early, for models need their sleep if they’re going to look pretty — could be filled with a visit from his dearest lady.
“Are you sure that you’re okay with this?” she’d asked him in a hushed, anxious voice that first night. She’d looked beautiful in the low lighting, her blue eyes wide and staring at him, his modeling lipstick already staining her lips.
He had smiled in response, moving closer to caress her flushed cheek before placing a kiss there.
“Of course I’m sure,” he’d whispered close to her ear. “You’re all that I’ve wanted for years. If I complained about how I can finally have you, I’d be lying, because I would die for just a glimpse of your smile, Ladybug. Keeping this secret is a tiny price to pay in comparison, and much more than I’d dared to hope for.
“As long as you’re sure, too,” he’d added, suddenly remembering how nervous he’d been only minutes ago while making his confession.
Ladybug had smirked as he’d leaned back, not wanting to leave but not sure if she wanted him to stay.
She’d pulled him closer, pressed a kiss to his cheek as she placed her hand on his back, and then dipped him down. The blood had rushed to Adrien’s cheeks as he processed what she’d done, and she leaned down close to him.
“Of course I’m sure, Adrien,” she whispered to him, and when her lips finally touched his, he knew he’d found heaven.
But they were fooling themselves, and they both knew it. Their relationship was born of a dying dream, in the face of the dark nighttime which kills hope and love. In the final moments of the day, at the last glow of light, she could visit him. And then at nightfall, he would be left all alone. That was what they both knew when they’d agreed to this, to the clandestine meetings and the kisses stolen from the very hands of fate.
Just like the daylight, the chance for them to be together was dying, and once they’d caught Hawk Moth (together, though Ladybug didn’t know that part yet), there was no guarantee that Adrien would ever see his lady again, as a civilian or a kwami-powered hero. This was what he had chosen, and most of the time, he was all right with his reality.
But sometimes he wished she could visit him during the day, that they could walk down the streets like real— like openly dating couples did. He wished he could wave her goodbye as she left and not wonder if that final kiss had marked the last one of all time for them.
He wanted to be able to give her roses.
That was one unfairness he hadn’t expected, though Ladybug had, in her wisdom.
“My family would notice them,” she’d told him regretfully. “Maybe just one every now and then should be all right. But more than that, and it will be obvious I’m hiding someone from them, though they wouldn’t know who.”
She was right. So, Adrien never gave her more than one rose at a time, and even those came sparingly. Someday, when they’d revealed their identities and promised to still love each other, he could give her a whole bouquet, Adrien told himself. He would make sure it was the most beautiful bouquet anyone in Paris had ever seen.
He dreamed about it on evenings like these, in the moments where the clock’s counted time was late but the sun’s light still kept the sky mostly blue.
He dreamed to pass the time, because he was waiting for her.
As twilight began in earnest, he began to prepare for her, making sure that his room was tidy and checking his face in the mirror one more time. He endured Plagg’s lazy teasing and fed him cheese to shut him up, then sat back on the sofa by the window, waiting for the sound of a yo-yo.
He closed his eyes and listened as his mind lingered on roses and kisses at the beginning of night.
“You look pensive today.”
Ladybug’s voice surprised him, and his eyes flew open.
“Lovebug! You know I’m always happy to hear your voice, but you don’t need to sneak up on me like that!”
She laughed, the sound loud and clear. “I wasn’t sneaking, my prince. I think you were falling asleep, was the problem. Did you get tired of waiting for me?”
Adrien’s brows furrowed as Ladybug sat down next to him. “I wasn’t,” he said. “Wasn’t falling asleep. Could never get tired of waiting for you. You didn’t tell me not to call you Lovebug,” he pointed out, feeling slightly concerned. “Are you feeling okay?”
Ladybug reached over and folded his hand in hers.
“I’m fine, Adrien. You already know my preferences, so why should I have to repeat them all the time?”
Adrien watched her in disbelief. “You just scolded Chat Noir for calling you Buginette this afternoon. Why are my nicknames special?”
“Because you are!” Ladybug said with a smile that dimmed when he didn’t laugh. “Okay. You looked pensive, like I said, and a little sad. I didn’t want to scold you while you were looking like that. And… you still do, kind of, look like that. What were you thinking about before I came?”
Adrien nearly jumped. “Oh! Nothing! No, it was just a long day, and I was waiting for you, which was fine and you weren’t late and I was okay, really.”
“You were okay?”
Ladybug wouldn’t let go of his hand. That was fine, only he really felt like getting up and pacing or maybe hiding himself in his bedsheets and taking the express elevator down to the center of the earth, so it could hide his embarrassment there.
“I am okay, Ladybug. Really.”
She frowned and watched him closely.
“If you say so. But you know you can tell me anything, right?”
Adrien nodded. “I know I can.” But you can’t, he added in his head.
Or maybe out loud, judging from the hurt look on his girlfriend’s face. Perfect.
“I didn’t mean to say that! And I didn’t mean it like that, either! I just meant, well, it’s unfair for you, isn’t it? That I can tell you anything—" Well, not really. “—but you can only tell me so little, even when you want to say more. It’s unfair to you, not me.”
“Yes, it is,” Ladybug said, chewing on her lip. “Yes, it is unfair to you. Is that what you were upset about?”
Adrien spun around to face her fully. “No! It wasn’t that, I was just— I was wishing I could give you roses. Not just one, but a whole bouquet, or maybe one flower every day, or both. It wasn’t anything else.”
Ladybug still looked unsure. “But I’m the reason you can’t give me more than one flower,” she said slowly. “Are you mad at me? Did I do anything?”
This was going much worse than Adrien had wanted it to.
“No! I’m not mad, I swear! You’re also the reason I have someone to give roses to! And I’m really happy about that!”
Ladybug seemed to relax a little. “Okay. Then, what’s bugging you?”
“That it’s not a good time to make use of that pun,” Adrien joked.
Ladybug was not impressed.
“You know what I meant. If you’re comfortable sharing with me, then please do! I want to be here for you, Adrien. Please let me be.”
There wasn’t much he could say to that.
Adrien sighed. “I’m not upset. I really am being honest about that. I guess it just bothers me sometimes, that this is all the time we have together. I’m glad we have it, and it’s more than I ever expected I’d have, but doesn’t it seem a little like we’re cursed, that we’re fighting fate doing this?”
Ladybug shook her head. “What do you mean? I thought it was a blessing that we could have this time at all.”
“Well, yes! But haven’t you thought about it? How we can only meet while day turns into night, in between twilight and dusk and darkness? Is this all we’re allowed to have? When Hawk Moth is gone, when you beat him the way I know you’re going to do, what happens? You told me before that you might need to give up your Miraculous. If that happens, how will I see you again? What if this is all the time I’ll ever have with you, and I can’t even give you enough roses to make it feel as special as it is?”
Ladybug’s face softened. “It always feels special enough to me, with or without the roses. Just being with you means so much to me! And, Adrien, I promise we will have more time than this. When Hawk Moth is gone, I— I might need some time, but then I promise I will tell you who I am, under the mask. And we will be together in the day, go on dates in the park and kiss and not worry about the rest of it. I worry, too, you know, but at the end of the day, you’re always there for me. And I think, that’s enough. We are blessed, Adrien. What we have is a miracle. It could never be a curse.”
Adrien smiled and tried not to cry.
“Thank you,” he choked out. “I’m sorry for worrying. That was silly.”
“It was just your big heart showing how much it cares,” Ladybug said, tapping the spot of his chest where it lay. “I could never complain about that, and you better not apologize for it. I love you, Adrien. Just remember, we’re stuck between twilight now, but after that, after the night that follows, then comes the dawn. And we will have it one day. Together.”
“Together,” Adrien affirmed, snuggling into his girlfriend’s warm arms. And they stayed like that, together, watching the stars emerge, waiting for dawn.
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