Tell Me Why You Love Me

An Idea

"Oh my god, now is when you show up?" Ladybug exclaimed, clearly exasperated at her dear partner, Chat Noir, and his entrance to the battle while she was purifying the akuma.

He held up his hands in surrenderance as he walked towards her releasing the purified akuma in the sky in the middle of the wrecked street. "I know, I know. I'm sorry, M'lady. I was in the middle of something and couldn't really find an excuse to leave. It seems you got it all handled though, right?"

She grunted in frustration as she set her lucky charm free to fix the damages of the aftermath. "It would have gone much faster if you were here. There were too many close calls, and now I'm going to be late for an event I had to be at an hour ago."

Chat sighed. "I'll make it up to you... somehow."

"You said that last time."

"Well, it's kinda hard to try to fix things when we only see each other when there's danger. We rarely patrol anymore, either. Especially now with your fancy job."

Ladybug sighed. He was right. It was getting harder and harder to find the time and excuse to fight the battles. It wasn't like high school, where she could excuse herself with little to no consequences. Now she's 22 years old with a full-time job and adult responsibilities. She even has to move around her schedule just to hang out with Alya and the rest of the group.

Chat continued. "Though, I guess it's not really an excuse. You're able to get here in time with a job and your presumably busy civilian schedule. I'll really try to make it. I swear. I don't want you getting hurt because I couldn't be here."

"It's okay, Chat," she said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll admit, I'm lucky I have a job that gives me flexibility. The last thing I want is for you to jeopardize your real life's reputation for this. I can handle it. Don't worry."

He didn't seem totally satisfied with her statement. "I should be there for you. I don't not want to be Chat Noir. Getting my miraculous was the best thing to have happened to me. I just—I wish there was a way for me to be in the know in case I'm not nearby, you know? If I had known this akuma fight was going on sooner, I could have slipped out when I had the chance. It wasn't like how we were younger."

Ladybug tried to come up with a solution on the spot. There had to be a way around this issue. With the akumas stronger than ever before, she needed her partner by her side. Luckily, she had managed to get the more manageable akumas when she was on her own, but who's the say that won't change? It had been happening more and more often lately. That is, one of them usually picks up the slack of the fight on their own until the other shows up. There has to be a way to communicate with each other without letting the other know of their identity.

"Do you have time to meet up tonight?" She asked.

"Err, I think so. Why?"

"Meet me at our usual spot. I'm going to figure something out to try to make this easier on both of us. I just need a bit of time."

"Oh, yeah, of course. See you at 9?"

Ladybug nodded. "That should be good."

"Perfect," Chat said with a wink. "I'll see you then, bugaboo."

Then off he went. Probably to wherever he was trapped prior to the battle, Ladybug assumed. But now, she had a new project to work on, on top of all the designs she needed to finish before her deadline.

When Marinette reached back to her apartment after the fight, she immediately called out for her roommate and best friend, who just so happened to be tucked away in her room.

Alya had quickly opened her door that led straight into the living room, which is where Marinette had hopped through the window too. She gave a pleased smirk.