ＭＡＳＫＥＤ ＣＡＴ．

         A sigh slips past her lips. Paris is always beautiful at night, but it’s hard to appreciate the sparkling city when such a heavy topic weighs on its two protectors. Ladybug has to fight the urge to fidget with her akuma capture, if only to give her hands something to do.    

         There’s no way to say this without sounding a bit harsh, but…“It’s not the fact that you had to leave. It’s that you didn’t tell me. My feelings about things that happen in your civilian life aren’t important. We need to treat the responsibility we have as heroes as a higher priority: I can promise you right here and now that I wouldn’t have been disappointed if we’d just talked about it.”

        “And, I mean, it’s over and done with. What happened in New York happened, and we move on now. But you shouldn’t ever feel like you’re disappointing me when it comes to things like this, because I get it. I wouldn’t have…thought you were incapable, or something. I know you aren’t.” 

               (🐱)┊EMERALD HUES WAVERED. unable to return a glance as he continued to perceive the city below instead. Those lingering remnants of building repairs haunting his very thoughts. Generally he would be over the moon to spend the night with his crush but...he couldn’t just pretend as if nothing happened. Not when Ladybug’s the new guardian now, he had to be better than this ! for that very reason; he was prepared to endure whatever punishment she had for him. 

                    Though...her response had a warmth to it. Promptly managing to recall the feline’s full attention. Green hues finally returning a glance; a relief-look foremost.    

                  ❝ merci, milady. ❞ he softly mused, brows furrowing bashfully as a small smile plastered his features. Chat needed this; and although he couldn’t repair the past...this talk alone is enough to help him get through the night. ❝ oui. You have my word, the next time you leave the city I won’t hesitate to contact you the moment things start getting hairy. Cat’s honor. ❞ on cue he flicked his bell, retrieving that ever familiar grin across his facials.  

Well, she had her answer.

But it didn’t feel the way she had expected it to. Lila had anticipated… she didn’t know? Relief? At least the pride that usually came with unlocking a piece of someone’s puzzle? Instead, a pit dropped into her hollow stomach. Adrien was… defensive. And to be defensive was to be upset. And she couldn’t imagine that fully dragging his identity out into the light would make him any more comfortable.

And this wasn’t the kind of thing she had time to think about. No time to plan out step-by-step how she would recover from this. She had two options: to backtrack, or to press forward. And as she recalled the stories of heroes and heroines that she and Adrien (mostly Adrien) used to admire, the answer became so obvious.

She wasn’t supposed to know. Not now, not ever. It wouldn’t matter if it was the fault of her own intuition–Adrien would bear the blame and the burden. And that was assuming that this promise of friendship that they had just shaken pinkies on meant that she was worth protecting to him. Was not the damsel in distress the downfall of all great heroes?

But, bitterly, Lila remembered that she was not Adrien’s damsel. She was, more aptly, she side-story, the three-episode-arc that would come and go. And who wastes their one slipped secret on someone who wasn’t even in the main cast?

Still, she was nothing if not an honorable friend. She had allowed her jealousy to drop her into the wings of darkness over and over again. Today, she would do Adrien a favor by painting on her too-practiced innocence and tilting her head at his sudden outburst.

“Meant what?” She seemed to wait, but lost patience before he’d have time to offer a real answer. Lila lowered her hand now, gently reaching to hold his and hers. Friends held hands, didn’t they? She wouldn’t know, so her quick decision was that, at least in this room, they did now.

“Really, though…” It couldn’t hurt to jump back to the topic that had brought them here. Wasn’t he offering to be her companion for the foreseeable future…? “Thank you.”

            (🐱)┊HE’S DONE IT. He really screwed up this time. Adrien didn’t think their conversation would of end like this. From sharing their parental figures, to their fond silly memories, only to lead up to...this concerning matter.

               He couldn’t blame her though, not when she didn’t do anything wrong. It’s Lila’s forte to be cunning; a trait that probably isn’t “favored” among others but——the model had always respected that side of hers. With how scary the world could seem sometimes...having a trait like that could be of major use. At least she knew how to face obstacles on her own; without a miraculous. Which is why he wouldn’t take anything back ! He meant every word earlier, about those heroic traits. Granted the brunette didn’t do much rescuing compare to Ladybug and Chat Noir but...it’s the caring part of her that he was referring to. Even if it’s just showing a bit of empathy every now and then; it still counted. Heck- who knows where he would of been if she hadn’t been there for him throughout his childhood. He owed her plenty.

            But what now.. ? It would be a hypocrite move to lie about being ‘Chat Noir’, yet, he couldn’t phantom the notion of putting his companion in danger either. OR- maybe she didn’t notice ? 

❝ non. it’s moi who should be thanking you. ❞ he softly mused, deciding to act and shove his bashfulness aside. this once.  

            Upon touch the model raise their entwined hands. Emerald hues parallel with hers. Leaning over to plant a subtle kiss on the surface of her held hand before wrapping both of his hands on hers.

“Yeah! And they’re that I’m not through with you yet!”

Or better yet, Takeru wasn’t going to let Blanc unleash what he knew he could unleash with that paw of his! Where he was trained in three different types of martial arts, Takeru also knew how to street fight, too. Leaping straight at Blanc to tackle him might not have been an honorable move to his grandpa, but in a street brawl, anything went! 

And jumping right at the cat in an attempt to bowl him over and straight onto the sidewalk was exactly what Takeru would try next! Anything to try and pin that ‘cataclysm’ hand of his to  the ground so he couldn’t do anymore damage.

              ( 🌀 )┊BIG MISTAKE. what an opportunity; only to be wasted. Blanc gave him an ‘out’...to flee while he had the chance. However, his opponent didn’t learn when to quit...to Blanc’s satisfaction. ( how invigorating... )  

             ❝ tsk tsk. wrong answer, mon amie. ❞ he murmured, feral hues illuminating the closer Takeru’s presence became. A deranged grin plastering his maw as he didn’t bother dodging this time around. Allowing the other to pin his hand right into the ground, which did got rid of his superpower——however instead of disappearing; the energy was released below. Causing a quake to spread across the school’s ground, fortunately for Takeru, the tremor’s path ceased before making contact with the school. but just barely. 

@darkchose | starter call ! 

A short glance is sent Chat Noir’s way; the heroine isn’t nervous, exactly, but this probably won’t be the most fun conversation in the world. “Chat, I’m not…if something had come up, and there was no way for you to avoid going to New York for whatever reason, that’s not a problem. Sometimes things happen in our civilian lives that we can’t get away from, you know? It’s just…”

“We could have worked something out if you’d told me. I don’t want you to think that I’d be…disappointed in you, just because a change that you couldn’t control happened. That’s not why I was upset. You know that, right…?”

        (🐱)┊HE DIDN’T DESERVE HER. Reasonable, compassionate...the heroine never faltered to make him feel better after one of his notorious mistakes. Still, this time it was far too dangerous. Chat came to realize that, and because of it he couldn’t forgive himself. At least, not fully as of yet. 

         ❝ I know i know but——would you have said this if someone got seriously hurt in Paris ? or worse. Good reason or not...it was still careless...you had every right to be mad at moi. ❞ I should have known better.