A Step at a Time

Saturday brought rain and an akuma. As he fought, Chat Noir thought Papillon must have been taking it easy that week since this had been the first akuma they’d had to deal with all week and its defeat had been absurdly simple, despite the rain.

Sunday was a bore. Gabriel had taken Caline out for the day, not bothering to tell Adrien where they were going. He wasn’t curious, but the courtesy would have been appreciated. He looked forward to meeting up with Ladybug later for patrol, it would be a welcome break in his monotonous day.

He greeted her from under a tarp suspended over a pile of neglected wooden crates on a rooftop in a less affluent part of the city. It still rained intermittently.

‘Hey, Chat Noir,’ Ladybug giggled behind her hand as she joined him under the meagre shelter. ‘Nice place you got here.’

One of Chat Noir’s artificial ears flicked a stray drop of water off. ‘I am but a poor alley cat in need of a warm, loving home. Would you care to adopt a stray, Gracious Lady?’ Chat Noir clasped his hands under his chin, giving her his biggest kitten eyes.

Ladybug gave an inelegant snort and crossed her arms. ‘I prefer hamsters, thanks.’

Chat Noir gasped, a comically exaggerated look of betrayal on his face. ‘Milady, you would prefer a mere rodent over an apex predator?’

In response, Ladybug placed the heel of her palm under Chat Noir’s chin and pushed up. When his head couldn’t go back any further, she pushed straight down. Ladybug caught Chat Noir’s wrist as he began to topple to lessen the impact. 

‘Yeah, you’re a real threat to small, furry things everywhere,’ she laughed, letting go of him.

Chat Noir gave her a mock glare from his place on the ground. ‘I suppose I should be thankful you didn’t kick my leg out from under me as well.’

Ladybug patted his head as she sat on a flimsy crate beside him. She smiled serenely as Chat Noir pulled himself out of a puddle and onto another crate, grumbling under his breath as he did.

‘How have you been, Kitty? Anything happen with that girl?’ she crossed her legs and leaned back, resting on her hands as she faced him.

‘My week was fairly dull,’ he replied, crossing his own legs into a tailor’s position. ‘I found out for a fact that girl likes me, though nothing else has happened there,’ Chat Noir tried to be nonchalant. 

‘Why not?’

‘She was outed by someone else. I suppose she’s too embarrassed to talk to me.’

‘I see,’ Ladybug murmured as she brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.

Chat Noir studied her for a moment before asking, ‘is everything alright, Bug?’ He put a light hand on her back and leaned in. ‘Is there something you want to talk about?’

Shaking her head, Ladybug abruptly stood up. ‘It’s cold,’ she said tersely, ‘and the roofs will be slippery. I’m calling patrol off for tonight. I’ll see you later, Chat Noir.’ Ladybug was running before he’d even gotten to his feet.

‘What the hell?’