Running from the Night (A Ladybug and Chat Noir Fanfic)

Chapter 10

Chat Noir watched the bracelet crumble into dust, the purple akuma fluttered past him. The fight had been quick once Ladybug had let down the dome and became the target of Princess Fragrance's attacks. Chat Noir was able to slink behind her and grab the akumatized bracelet before she even knew he was there.

"No more evil-doing for you, little akuma," Ladybug purified the butterfly before throwing the lucky charm into the air, letting it fix the damage that had been done. Chat noticed that Chloe had been braiding Mylènes hair. As Ladybug's magic took away the effect of the akuma Chloe jumped back with a scream at the predicament she had found herself in. He snorted at her over the top reaction and felt a hand land on his shoulder.

"Time for me to go, Chaton," Ladybug said with a small smile.

Now that they were out of the fight, Chat got a good look at the unified suit she was wearing and he had to admit she looked good in it. Her dark blue eyes looked lighter than usual, this was helped by the fact that her mask now had a bright green colour around her eyes as if it was eyeliner. The top of her suit looked like an athletic style crop top with the hood up, all in green. The red of her suit peeked out from underneath and from her waist down she had diagonal lines separating the red parts of her suit from the green. Chat felt his face heat up realizing he was staring and looking her up and down. It was just because he was interested in the outfit design, that's all.

"R-right," he stuttered, why was he stuttering, "see you around M'l-Ladybug." He felt heat rise to his cheeks. He watched as she turned and put the green shield on her back and used her yo-yo to pull herself to the rooftops in a fluid motion. He once would have lingered to watch her leave but he swiftly turned around, he had a girlfriend and she wasn't Ladybug.

He used his baton to vault up to the roof in the other direction. He waited for the school day to resume, it would be easier to slip back into class once he was sure there weren't civilians hiding in the normally empty rooms for him to detransform in. He sat down and put his baton away, even in his suit his feet were sore from all the extra lessons and shoots he had been doing.

While he was waiting he mulled over the unification Ladybug had used. He didn't think the turtle Miraculous looked like the lucky charm she had summoned but he wasn't usually one to question her strategies since they were always a bit eccentric.

Even so, if they had needed the turtle's power it would have been better to use another person, there was strength in numbers. He also didn't like how quick she was to unify the two powers, he remembered the time he had unified with the snake miraculous, it was taxing on his body. He shook his head trying to get rid of the sneaking doubts. He stood up and made his way to the classroom he had transformed in, he checked it was clear before letting the transformation wear off.

"Here you go Plagg," he handed the kwami some cheese from his bag. Adrien moved towards the door but stopped short of opening it. He loved school but Lila had been pestering him all morning. He hadn't really been listening to what she was saying but she had started taking photos of the two of them together. She constantly hung onto his arm with no regard for how tight she was squeezing him. He had been lucky that there was an akuma so he had an excuse to leave.

He would just have to hope Lila lost interest in talking to him. He opened the door and made his way to class.

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By the time the school day was over Adrien was exhausted. His muscles ached from the exertion of the fight and then sitting in the same position all day. He had barely been able to keep his eyes open during classes and he couldn't really remember what he had learned in any of his classes. He found himself standing at the top of the stairs that lead out of the front doors staring at the black vehicle waiting for him. It reminded him that he had four more hours of scheduled tasks before he would be able to even sit down. The very idea made him want to curl up into a ball and sleep right where he stood.

Before he could register what he was doing he felt his feet step backwards. He turned back towards the school and walked to the bathrooms.

He found himself looking into the bathroom mirror, after splashing water on his face, the water dripped down into the sink. Adrien was very aware of the eyebags that had formed under his eyes, the makeup artists had been commenting on it more and more with every photoshoot. He also knew that his mind felt sluggish, it was hard to think, his language instructor had told him he was using the grammar of a four year old.

Then there was his piano teacher, his hands didn't want to move with their usual grace so the teacher had called him sloppy and had yelled at him for at least an hour about wasting his time. He felt his hands grip the edges of the sink as anger pulsed in his head. He had wanted to yell back and tell them to leave him alone but he could never do that. The rush of blood made him woozy and he had to lean into the sink to keep his feet under him.

"Hey kid," he was faintly aware of Plagg's voice beside him.

"What," Adrien muttered, trying to make the headache that was forming go away.

"You look like you're about to keel over, do you need some cheese or something?" Plagg said, floating in front of his face. If Adrien didn't know better he would have thought the black cat was actually offering him some of his precious cheese.

"No, I'm fine Plagg," he said as he dried off his face. A thought crossed his mind but he tried to ignore it. He moved to leave the bathroom and he felt another wave of exhaustion. The traitorous thought came back.

What if...

"Plagg, Claws out!" The surprised kwami was pulled into his ring in a green flash. Adrien immediately felt stronger, his head felt clear and he was much less exhausted. He took a step towards the window. His step faltered, was he really going to do this? If he left this bathroom as Chat Noir then Adrien was going to miss his appointments.

He looked at the door and then back at the window. The idea of de-transforming back into the exhaustion he felt as Adrien sounded worse than anything.

He took into a run and launched himself out the window immediately using his baton to pole vault himself away from the school. The air rushing past him felt better than usual as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop. He ran faster and faster. The wind that whipped through his hair was exhilarating.

His foot hit something and he felt the world shift under him. He hit the ground hard and rolled in a somersault to try and dampen the force against his body. He sprawled out into a star position as his chest rose and fell rapidly.

Laughter bubbled up into Chat's mouth as he considered how that fall would've looked to anyone who could have seen it. He pictured Marinette playfully mocking him for how uncharacteristically clumsy it was; he could practically hear her claiming she was supposed to be the clumsy one. The laughter died down and he was left looking up at the sky.

He loved looking up at the clouds; it made him feel free and unburdened. He spent a considerable amount of time watching the clouds float by until his eyes grew heavy. Even as Chat Noir his body was exhausted, and although he didn't intend it, he rapidly fell asleep on the rooftop.