#crescent moon queue

“Blue,” Adrien said, watching her.

“And your dad isn’t dressing you because…?”

“He doesn’t know I’m going,” Adrien admitted, and caught Ladybug’s smirk out of the corner of his eye. She was always in support of him being a little more rebellious.

His father had turned down the invitation to the party, as he often did. But Adrien was determined to go. Audrey Bourgeois was going to be there, and he wanted to be there to support Chloé. He would have liked it if Marinette could be there too, but the guest list was tight. Really tight. Adrien was taking Gabriel’s invitation, which was why he was on the list.

“Well, let me see. If Chloé is in blue, that means you’ll need to be in a complimentary color.” Ladybug tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Green would do. You look so nice in green.”

“Thanks?” Adrien said, a little surprised, but it was like Ladybug couldn’t even hear him. He supposed he should’ve expected that; she got that way whenever fashion or design was involved.

“Adrien?”

Nathalie’s voice, and the sudden knock on the door, made both freeze.

Then, before Adrien could even blink, Ladybug threw herself across the room and out the open window.

“Adrien?” Nathalie said again, this time opening the door. Adrien quickly clutched the shirt to his chest so that she wouldn’t see him, embarrassed. He was used to dozens of people seeing him in his underwear during photoshoots and backstage at modelling shows, but it was somehow different when he was in his bedroom.

“What is it?” Adrien said, hoping that he sounded calmer than he felt. This was exactly why Marinette had stayed transformed in the first place, and he was positive that Nathalie hadn’t seen her, but that didn’t make his pulse slow.

Nathalie frowned, her eyes running across the room. “What were you doing?”

“Just getting ready to take a shower, that’s all,” Adrien lied. He knew it didn’t make any sense – it was the middle of the day, and he was standing here in dress clothes – but he couldn’t think of any other excuses.

“… Right,” Nathalie said slowly. “Well, I wanted to let you know that your Chinese lesson has been extended to two hours on Tuesday because your Thursday session has been canceled. I’ve updated your schedule.”

“Right. Two hours on Tuesday. Got it.” Adrien gave her a thumbs up.

Nathalie’s frown deepened, but she left and closed the door behind her. Adrien exhaled slowly, standing frozen to the spot until he heard the sound of her heels clicking back down the hallway. Only then did Ladybug’s head poke back up over the windowsill.

“She gone?” Ladybug asked softly, and Adrien nodded. He wished he could have a lock like a normal kid, but his father would never stand for that.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

“It’s no problem. That’s what I’m transformed for. And hey, I had a stroke of inspiration while I was hanging around out there.” Ladybug pulled herself up and nimbly hopped the sill, hurrying over to Adrien’s closet. She rummaged around until she found a shirt, which she held up.

“That one?” Adrien said. It was a white shirt with some green detailing around the color and green buttons. He took it from Ladybug and pulled it on. One by one, he fastened the buttons before he straightened the collar and smoothed out the sleeves. Then he spread his arms for Ladybug’s approval.

“And you? What do you have on your schedule for tomorrow?” Queen Bee asked, looking back at him.

“Shockingly, nothing. My dad is still out of town if you can believe it,” Chat said with a shrug.

“I really can’t. What happened to the guy who didn’t even want to leave his house?” Queen Bee said, to which Chat shrugged again.

“No clue, but I’m not complaining. Nathalie went with him, which means that I have more free time than I know what to do with right now. So long as I show up to all my usual stuff, no one is keep track.” He grinned, looking adorably excited. “Marinette and I have plans tomorrow afternoon.”

“Of course you do,” Queen Bee said with a small smile. “I’m shocked that you’re not following her home right now.”

Chat’s smile turned sheepish. “I wanted to, but she said she’s going to be really busy in the bakery. Her parents have this big catering order so her mom won’t be there. I offered to help, but she said she’d rather I rested instead. Then I said she should get the chance to rest too so that wasn’t fair, and then she rolled her eyes at me and used her yoyo to escape.”

Queen Bee shook her head, more amused than she wanted to let on. She could see where Ladybug was coming from though. A few days of late nights weren’t going to kill her, Ladybug, Rena Rouge, or Carapace. But Adrien’s schedule was usually so crammed full that he was lucky to get a full night’s sleep. Ladybug was right when she said that Chat should be taking the opportunity to rest as much as he could.

“Anyway, then I tried calling Nino. But he wasn’t answering his phone. So… maybe I’ll just do another patrol. I don’t really want to go home.” Chat’s voice dropped, his ears drooping. He now looked every inch the sad, dejected kitty cat, and Queen Bee sighed.

“Would you knock it off? Ladybug isn’t even here to see your poor kitty act,” she said.

Chat kept it up for another few seconds before pouting. “Why doesn’t it ever work on you?”

“Because I’ve known you for like thirteen years, Adrikins. You don’t have to pout. You’re always welcome to come home with me,” Queen Bee said, faintly exasperated.

“Really?” He perked up immediately. “Thanks! I wasn’t kidding before. I really don’t want to go home. The mansion sucks when my dad and Nathalie are there, but at least when they’re around it doesn’t feel as empty as it does now.”

Queen Bee smiled, carefully covering up the stab of pity that struck deep. “Well, at least at the hotel you’re literally never alone in the building,” she said. “Now come on. Let’s go. If we wait any longer, I’m going to fall asleep where we stand and you’re going to have to carry me home.”

“I could totally carry you home,” Chat said, and Queen Bee snorted.

“Knowing my luck, someone would get a picture and then we’d have people on the internet speculating about whether Chat Noir is cheating on Ladybug with Queen Bee,” she said dryly. “I’d rather not deal with that, thanks.”

Chat crinkled his nose. “You could do a lot worse than me, you know.”

“Adrien. I am not having this conversation again,” Queen Bee said, now fully exasperated. “Are you coming or not?!”