Miraculous Startline

* Games

"Claws in!" Chat Noir yelled as he flew through the high school doors.

Adrien swung a hard kick at a trash can and let out a grunt upon impact. The scowl carved into his face deepened when the trash can didn't budge. Adrien was infuriated, normally, he would be hopping on one foot, clutching his poor, bruised toes. He was so angry that taking his anger out on the can seemed painless. Adrien raked his fingers through his hair as he continued to make his way down the corridor to the art room. Kicking open the door and marching in, a noticeable gasp rang out as a stunned Kagami stumbled back.

"Shit! Sorry." Adrien quickly apologised, taking a deep breath in to calm his anger. "I thought it would be empty." He admitted.

"It's okay- what, uh? What's wrong?" Kagami asked, cautious of the boy's anger.

"It's- it's.. ugh, it's complicated." Adrien said, taking a seat on an art stool. Facing away from the window, Adrien looked at the paintings hung on the walls, projects and sculptures displayed on desks and sketches drawn in books. He found it calming, the colours, the expression. It made him feel calm, it was his happy place.

"Lady Darkmoth?" Kagami asked, pulling up a stool and sitting next to him.

"Kinda, it's Marinette- we had a fight." Adrien admitted with a sigh, his scowl replaced with a frown.

"About Lady Darkmoth?" Kagami asked again.

"Yeah, among other things." Adrien replied, lifting his eyes to look at Kagami.

She simply smiled at him. No prying questions, no sympathy, just a smile.

"It must be hard, for both of you, with everything you're going through, I could hardly imagine what it's like," Kagami said.

"Yeah, that's- yeah." Adrien said, unable to find the word to properly explain that yes, it was hard. With his father, Marinette, school, recovery and with the entirety of Paris depending on him, day after day and year after year.

Kagami smiled again, as if telling him it was okay to not be okay. Even though he didn't say anything, she knew what was wrong.

"I admire you, how you do it all- especially after the accident." Kagami said, her smile turning warmer and more genuine.

"Thank you, that means a lot." Adrien said, taking Kagami's hand in both of his.

__

Ladybug swung through the air, a cold sweat coating the back of her neck. She couldn't discount the possibility that she wouldn't be able to find Adrien, that he had really left her alone on the rooftop. All of the reality movies she had seen flooded her mind. The lover that got mad, jumped in a car, and died, just like that. There were no dying words, no last wishes. Marinette was afraid, terrified that the last words she would ever say to her beloved Kitty were words of anger.

Her feet touched down at the top of the Eiffel tower. She clamoured to the top, her heaving breath goring more labored as she rushed to the top. Adrien would be there, wouldn't he? This was the best view in all of Paris, and time and time again they had met here to talk, to eat.

She pulled herself over the edge and lifted her eyes to see nothing, only an empty, beautiful skyline. She asked herself, a half sob escaping her parched throat. "Where could he be?"

Ladybug paced the metal beams, the ting of metal echoing below as her hands clutched her head, struggling to think of a place Adrien would have gone, to vent, to calm down.

Her mind went to the school, where Adrien found Nino and all of his friends. School was empty now, but besides his house, and the Eiffel tower, Ladybug couldn't think of another place he would be.

She swung to the front of the school, and landed near the entrance, when she saw Ms Mendeleie exiting the building. With a gulp, Ladybug ducked down and hid behind an outcropping. The homework assignment last week had been hard, and Ladybug felt that she asked a few too many questions. Ladybug watched as Ms Mendeleiev make conversation with another teacher and jumped up, swinging over to the next building. Marinette was not in the mood to have any sort of talk with her teachers at the moment.

Ladybug remembered that Ms Bustier liked to keep the windows open, so she headed to the back of the building, intending to slip through the open window.

When she got closer, she saw movement and noticed that people were in the classroom. Ladybug edged closer and jumped to the balcony to get a closer peak. She leaned closer, her nose squished against the window as she squinted her eyes to get a better look.

She gasped when she noticed it was Adrien, who was holding Kagami's hand. Kagami's head moved towards Adrien, and it was more than Marinette could take- yet her eyes remained glued to the pair. She watched Adrien shift nervously in his seat, Kagami inching closer and closer. Adrien didn't pull away as Kagami's eyes shut.

Ladybug glued her eyes shut, she couldn't watch- so she ran
Ladybug jumped off the balcony and swung away, tears clouding her eyes.