This caused Kagami to look up expectantly before returning her attention back to her work. Chat Noir pulled out his staff from his hostler.

He slid it open, typing on his staff’s keyboard the cat sent a message: Meet me behind the school.

After hitting send a beep sound came from Kagami’s bag causing her to pull her attention from the sketchbook and reach into her bag. She pulled out her phone and read the screen. The fencer looked over left and right almost as if she was looking for something.

She peered off the stone banister of the steps before tilting her head upwards, spotting the cat on the ledge of the rooftop. Chat Noir blew her a kiss. Kagami raised her hand catching the kiss while smiling. She stood up tucking her sketchbook into her gym bag before walking down the steps. The cat dashed to the back of the school to meet up with her. After a minute of waiting Kagami appeared, he looked around once more to confirm that the area was cleared.

Chat Noir leapt down letting his boots hit the cobblestone landing beside the school’s large blue dumpster.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” she said back.

“Are you ready?” asked the cat.

“Of course,” nodded the fencer while putting the bag over her shoulder.

With that Chat Noir wrapped his arm around her waist scooping her up bridal style. Kagami secured her arms around the hero’s shoulders. The cat extended his staff in his hand letting the couple ascend into the air. He tipped the staff slightly letting them land onto the school’s rooftop before retracting the staff back to travel size. After the Chat Noir gently placed Kagami back onto her feet. Their eyes locked with each other causing them to embrace once more with Chat Noir wrapping her arms around his girlfriend’s waist.

“I didn’t expect to see you so soon,” said the fencer. “Especially since our plans had changed at the last minute.”

“Yeah, sorry for missing fencing practice. Luckily it’s optional on Saturdays or I would have Mr. D’Argencourt on my case Monday. You know how he is unless you are injured or there’s a family emergency. He wants a written statement about why you’re going to be absent days in advance.”

“He asked about you today since we both told him we were coming this weekend. But I told him you had a last minute modeling job for your father. So I got paired up with Zack instead, he is good but I obviously have a preference. But don’t apologize, soon I saw that butterfly emoji you texted me. I knew you weren’t skipping for fun.”

“I was actually looking forward to practicing today so we could get time together without people taking pictures of us like they will tonight.”

“Yep, that’s what we have to look forward to tonight. When you told me one of your father’s friends had invited you and a plus one to have dinner at her new restaurant that just opened. The first thing that came to mind was photo opportunities and free advertising.”

“My father was insistent since she’s an family’s friend. Plus according to the website the food is supposed to be five stars.”

“Well, we’ll be the judge of that tonight.”

“Wait a second, practice was let out a while ago but you’re still here. Isn’t Tatsu supposed to be picking you up?”

“Yes, but my mother had a last minute meeting with a client today. So I’m supposed to be getting picked up a little late today.”

“If that’s the case I can at least keep you company until then.”

“Definitely, so since you missed practice, how about you tell me what happened today with the akuma?”

“Nothing too different from the usual Ladybug and Chat Noir gives me your miraculous routine. Viperion was there to help us out. The villain, Momentum Trapper’s powers, was pretty impressive since he could alter the speed of whatever he touched. But I’m sure that Ryuko could have taken him. It wasn’t that different from the other times. This is why I wished I would have gotten to go to practice instead. Also with you my chances of getting impaled would be zero.”

“Don’t be so sure. Zack might tell you something different after what happened during practice.”

Chat Noir eyes widened, completely shocked. “Wait what?”

Suddenly Kagami had a mischievous grin on her face as she started to giggle.

“Oh okay I get it,” the cat understood. “Like I said last week, we still need to work on your jokes.”

“Come on, the look on your face was priceless,” the fencer smirked. “But trust me when I say that Zack is completely fine. The only complaint I heard from him is that I really gave him a workout today. Besides you got to admit with all your jokes it shouldn’t be that surprising you have that been a bit of an influence on me.”

“Really? If that is the case, let me try to influence you on something else,” the cat pulled her closer, moving his lips towards hers.

However, before it could happen the fencer held her hand up between them. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Chat Noir let her go before breathing into his hand to check his breath. “Nope, I brushed my teeth this morning.”

She shot him a look.

“Kidding,” he told her. “I was just so happy to make up for lost time that I forgot our agreement.”

Kagami sighed. “Sorry if that sounded a little standoffish. I just don’t want to get caught “cheating” on my boyfriend with my boyfriend. That’s why we originally agreed about not kissing Chat Noir in public. It’s just a person with a phone to create a scandal.”

“No, you’re right. I’m so sorry I just got swept up in the moment. Anything else we did can be considered plausible deniability. Both of us know if Shadow Moth had the slightest hint of anyone that I love he would weaponize it faster than a cheetah after a case of energy drinks.”

“I can picture the headlines right now, leading tech mogul’s daughter caught kissing a local superhero. The media would definitely eat that up.”

“I can see that considering what happened when I was interviewed by the local news today. It’s supposed to air later tonight.”

“You did?”

“After the battle Nadja Chamack approached both Ladybug and I for an interview. Since Ladybug’s time was running out and still needed to get the snake miraculous from Viperion. I stepped in for her and it was rough.“

“Really?” Kagami looked concerned. “What happened?”

The couple sat down on the rooftop as Chat Noir told the story of his recent interview. He expressed the feeling that the interview felt like more of an interrogation considering that he had felt blindsided multiple times. Majority of the questions were about his relationship with Ladybug. Have they finally become an official couple and why hasn’t it happened yet? Did he do any grand gestures to woo her? Do they spend time with each other besides akuma attacks?

When does he think that they will become a couple? This had annoyed him as each question gave off the theme of romance. He tried to bring up other topics, for example the new heroes that appeared in recent months. Shadow Moth’s new moniker and the sudden upticks of attacks lately.

It seemed that Nadja did not start to follow suit until three quarters in and was still peppered in between the romance questions.

It was clear the interview’s true intention was to find out why Paris’ famous duo haven’t started dating yet.

“It felt like I was about to scream that Ladybug isn’t my girlfriend in Nadja’s face. I didn’t as that would cause more problems than solve them,” Chat Noir admitted. “After we were finished Nadja thanked me and apologized if the questions seemed a little pointed. But her boss told her to replicate the questions to be similar to the previous televised interview we had. That those kinds of questions are what the public expects to hear, especially with me. After she told me that…I don’t know how to exactly describe it. It just made me feel so uncomfortable.”

“I can understand that,” the fencer sympathized. “To be honest, if I was in your place after one request of keeping it focused on the akuma situation. I would have left if that was ignored. Especially since what you were doing for them was a favor more than anything.”

“I didn’t think about that being an option,” the cat put his head in his hands.

“Leaving is always an option in most cases but not everyone can be able to take it,” she assured him.

“But what about you?” he looked back up. “I’m sure that you aren’t thrilled that your boyfriend is constantly being paired off with another girl by the public.”

“No, I’m not. But I’m not concerned because I trust you. I know you won’t cave into peer pressure to try to make something happen.”

“Of course not, but it got me thinking about what the public thinks about me. How Nadja worded it. Does that mean in everyone else’s eyes I’m just arm candy for Ladybug and nothing else?”

“You know that’s not true. You’re clearly more than that.”

“It seems that the rest of the city thinks differently. I risk my life on almost a daily basis with Ladybug and even missed practice with you today. But it seems that what I’m being reduced to. I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t blatant about my feelings with Ladybug when I had them. But so much has changed since then and unlike most things it’s actually a positive one.”

He entwined his fingers with hers.

“Well based on what I know and what you had told me,” Kagami said. “That image the public supposedly have of you doesn’t match.”

“Tell that to everyone else, according to them I’m just Ladybug’s future boyfriend.”

“Are you sure that you’re the same guy you’ve been telling me about?”

“Huh?”

“What I mean is you told me nearly about what you had gone through as Chat Noir. Things such as sacrificing yourself so Ladybug could go back in time, taking Dark Cupid’s arrow, helping to stop Hawkmoth from launching the world into a nuclear world war. How you are acting right now is making me think that maybe you were a little hyperbolic.”

“Hyperbolic?”

“Yeah you know: exaggerated, embellished, overblown…”

“Overblown!” the cat let go of her hand. “Nothing that I have told you was overblown.”

“Well why should I believe you?” asked the fencer.

“It’s because I would never lie to you about that.”

“I’d rather have another reason besides that.”

“Okay,” Chat Noir sounded agitated. “Maybe because all those things actually happened. That’s one of the reasons why this city is still standing after all this time. Without my help most of my friends would not be here today. Paris would still be underwater. It would be still encased in ice and the majority of the population would still be dark knights. And that is barely scratching the surface. You would still be under Shadow Moth’s control wanting to skew Ladybug and I like kabobs.”

“Oh really why is that?!”

“It’s because along with Ladybug from the start I have tried my best to help the city. I was chosen out of millions of people to make a difference in this world. That I’m making more of an impact than just posing for my father’s fragrance commercials and billboards. Just from Shadow Moth’s existence shows how much damage a miraculous can do when it’s in the wrong hands. That not just anyone can handle this role especially since all physical and mental anguish we had gone through these past couple months. So I really don’t appreciate you or anyone else suggesting otherwise.”

“Good,” Kagami smiled. “Now remember that the next time something or someone makes you think that you’re less than that.”

Chat Noir’s eyes widened with surprise. “Wait a second, did you just trick me?”

“Tricked implies malice. I was just trying to remind you not to base your worth on what some stranger thinks gets views. You would not have said all those things in the heat of the moment unless you believed it deep down. All those things that I agree on.”

“You do?”

“When have I been the type to sugar coat? If I said I agree with something that means I believe in it. Be honest, Chat before that ridiculous interview, did you really care about what someone else’s boss thinks of you.”

“No, not really.”

“Then don’t let anyone put you in a box. So do you feel better?”

“Much better, thanks for putting everything in perspective. But I feel like we were only talking about me. What about you? Is there anything you want to talk about?”

“Actually there is. I finally got over the art block I’ve been having since last week.”

“That’s great as I know that it’s been bothering you.”

“It was frustrating to have so many ideas but lose the ability to make it a reality. Funny enough you helped me break it.”

“I did? How?”

“Remember what you said in the art room earlier this week when I asked you to pose for me?”

“Yeah, it was something along the lines about a lot of writers are often told to write about what they know. So I said to maybe try that kind of thinking with your work.”

“It was mostly because things weren’t clicking for me. So I tried to apply it to my work. I went through the photos I took on my phone. The logic was if I took the picture that meant I knew something about it. Actually it might just be better to show you,” Kagami pulled out her sketchbook from her gym bag. “There’s still some finishing touches that I wanted to do like a little more shading but other than that it’s pretty much done.”

She opened the book before handing it to him to look at. It was a drawing of the both of them smiling as his arm was wrapped around her shoulder. From looking at the drawing he instantly recognized where this was from just from a bit of detail from their outfits.

“This is the selfie we took together before going to the movie premiere, right?”

“It is. I chose it because it’s a moment I remember vividly and all the feelings that have gone along with it.”

“It’s amazing as always.”

“It’s only a hobby. I don’t have any plans to take it too seriously. Since I know my mother wouldn’t consider this as something for the long term. Especially since what she had said before about my drawings.”

“Kagami, you’re clearly talented. I mean look, you even get my nose right,” Chat pointed at the picture.

She laughed, starting to talk about possibly redoing the picture but this time in a watercolor before moving onto landscapes. The cat could see the spark of passion in her eyes. He did not know how to explain it, but seeing that made her even more beautiful in his eyes.

“You know maybe you should join the school’s art club next year,” he said.

“The art club?”

“Yeah, I’m only saying next year because the school year is about to end soon. So they probably aren’t looking for members right now. If you want I could talk to one of my classmates Nathaniel as he’s a part of it. This way you could get some information before making a decision.”

“My mother would be livid if anything interferes with my fencing. The only reason that I haven’t done anything else involving my art is because she thinks it’s just doodles in my sketchbook I do when I’m bored. If I had to make a decision between the two she would make me choose fencing every time.”

“If I remember correctly they only meet once a week and it’s one of the days we don’t have practice. Kagami, it’s clear that you’re talented here. It would be a shame for you not to do more with it. Especially since your first response was what your mother would think instead of what you think. By the way, what do you actually think of the idea?”

“It sounds nice. Especially since when it comes to art it feels like something just for me. That I don’t have my mother’s expectations attached to it compared to everything else. But at the same time I don’t want to cause any more unnecessary conflict with her either.”

“Well for something like this maybe you should. But I wouldn’t call it unnecessary, especially since it’s only one day after school once a week. It’s not like you are telling her that you’re quitting fencing for the rest of your life. It also might look good on applications for university showing you have a diverse skill set. That could be a selling point you could use.”

“You are being really persistent with this. Nathaniel is not paying you for recruiting people right?”

“Oh no you got me figured out. I do actually get fifty euros per person. After this I’m going to get to Nino’s house and give him the exact same speech,” Chat Noir’s tone dripped with sarcasm. “But back to being serious here. I’m being so persistent because I think that this might be something that you would enjoy. It’s still your decision. It’s also because…remember what you told me a few minutes ago. Not to let anyone put you in the box. I think that’s something that we both can work on.”

Her eyes widened if realization had struck her before nodding. “Touchè. I’ll take you up on that offer with the information. You can talk to Nathaniel on Monday.”

A beep sound came from Kagami’s gym bag causing her to pull out her phone and check the screen. “It’s my mother, she must’ve sent it through Tatsu. She said they had to take a different route because of some road construction. But she will be here very soon.”

“I guess I should bring you down now,” Chat stood up and walked toward the ledge.

He pulled out his staff and extended downward to hit the cobblestone below.

Kagami walked over after putting her stuff in the bag. The cat scooped her up just like before and slid down the staff with her like a firefighter. Once the couple reached the ground, Chat Noir released her. He retracted the staff back to travel size length prior to ducking behind the blue dumpster. A flash of green light went off as Adrien came out afterwards.

“Did you think I would let you leave without a goodbye kiss?” he smiled.

She started to approach him when there was a honk from a car’s horn.

“It must be Tatsu,” she froze.

“Wow when your mom said soon she wasn’t kidding,” Adrien frowned. “I guess I should keep you and make her wait.”

“I guess,” she sighed, peering around the corner before spinning on her heel back to him. “You know what? She can wait a moment.”

Kagami moved forward wrapping her arms around him while bringing their lips together into a soft tender kiss. Once it was broken she pulled back. “I’ll see you tonight.”

The fencer walked away wrapping around the building’s corner to leave. Adrien smiled, certain that this was truly how it feels to be loved back.

It made him glad that he finally changed targets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally a story that wasn’t a Honeybee story some might say. Honestly I’m kinda with you. I hope everyone likes this story especially since it did stray from what I have known for these recent months. Before anyone worries this does not mean that Honeybee stories are done. It’s just this time I wanted to change it up. As while I do enjoy writing Sabrina and giving her more attention than the show might ever will. At the same time I wanted to not limit myself. Kinda like in the movie Encanto with Isabella’s song What Else Can’t I Do? Who also felt like she was limiting herself with her powers.

There will be more Honeybee content in the future. It’s just there’s a few stories I want to work on that doesn’t involve Sabrina in the slightest. You know unless I shoehorn her in. But to be honest I’m actually excited about it. So I hope you like it in the future. Also sorry for the delay but after Sugar Rush I suffered a serious case of writer’s block. I will admit that this post is a little self indulgent as I still personally feel that the show seriously made a mistake not letting these ships actually have screen time as proper couples instead of giving them the Old Yeller treatment. I know that the Love Square is the endgame it’s pretty prevalent in the current episodes.

But I haven’t kept it hidden that don’t mind reading and writing about different ships. At least from a writer’s standpoint, if I can make a couple work, I will try it. If the couple is portrayed in a healthy way in other works. I’m not going to be against it. Especially in fan works, sometimes it seems they can be more creative than the show. Personally I feel like with the right writer any character or group of characters can get a good story.

So hopefully I had succeeded with being entertaining with these stories. Especially since I’ve been pretty rusty when writing romance over here.

This story is also available on Wattpad.

The song this week is a “La Vie En Rose” cover by Annapantsu.