Tell Me Why You Love Me

Element of Surprise

"I feel like you had an advantage," Chat said, holding a large bag with tissue paper spilling out of the top. "You know who I am, so you know what I like. I had to do my shopping blindfolded ."

Ladybug chuckled. "I told you that you didn't need to get me anything, Chaton."

He waved her off before giving her a quick peck on her lips. "Nonsense. I was able to work around my disability."

She lightly flicked the tip of his nose. "So dramatic."

"Yeah, yeah. Make fun of me all you want, but after present time!" He exclaimed, holding his bag of gifts up above his head like a little kid.

The cute gesture of her boyfriend almost eased all of her anxiety. She had been antsy and restless all day since running into Gabriel at work earlier today. Her eyes might have imagined the wrong thing, it was all so fast. She wasn't entirely sure if what he had dropped was the Peacock miraculous. Nonetheless, she needed more concrete proof. Ladybug had suspected Gabriel many years ago but let him off the hook since he had been akumatized. But who knows? Maybe he did it to keep their noses off his track. After all, she had done the same when she created the illusion of herself when she had the mouse miraculous. She had to investigate further. This is the most she had gotten in years of trying to uncover Monarch's identity.

She thought about telling Adrien. In fact, she desperately wanted to let him in on what she had discovered. But this was his father. What if she was wrong? What if his emotions got in the way of her investigation? What if he still had biases against him? She couldn't risk it, at least not now. She needed to be sure before telling him.

She just had to wait until after their gift exchange to head over to the Agreste mansion and see for herself.

"So, this one is first," Chat said, sitting crisscrossed on the roof as he rummaged through his bag. Ladybug took a seat right across from him with her own gifts lying behind her back. He took out a flat box covered in pink wrapping paper and handed it to her. "Open it."

She eyed him, nervous about what Adrien had possibly decided to buy her with the little knowledge he possessed of her. She ripped off the wrapping paper delicately. It was surprisingly wrapped neatly and sharply. Ladybug didn't expect Adrien to know how to wrap so nicely.

A white box was revealed underneath the paper to which she slid the lid open. Under a thin layer of tissue paper was a folded sweater which she held up to view the front and back. The sweater was black and incredibly soft, with the small green paw print embroidered on the side of the chest and on the cuffs of the sleeves.

"A Chat Noir sweater. Why am I not surprised?"

"Well, you gotta have your favorite hero's merch. That's just essential."

She chuckled. "If you knew my civilian self, you'd probably force me to wear it every day."

Chat placed a hand on his chest. "Force? You should wear it every day because it's a reminder of your dear boyfriend."

Ladybug pressed her lips together. "Or a reminder of my chatty partner."

He laughed as he threw a balled-up scrap of wrapping paper toward her, which she caught. "Yeah, yeah. Next one!" he chimed, taking out a bigger wrapped box from the bag. It was larger and heavier than she was expecting when she took it from his hands. It was wider than her chest.

"Oh god, what is this?" she asked as she tore the wrapping paper from this box.

Chat gazed at her, almost giddy. "I couldn't wait for you to see this one."

Under the wrapping paper was a cardboard box that had a picture of a brand-new commercial mixer from a brand that she had only ever dreamed of touching. That is because this brand of cooking supplies was several brackets out of her price range.