Superheroes & Sweethearts

9

"Rena! Use your illusion to cast me from her right!"

"On it!" She replies, sending the image as I asked.

"Now I've got you, Ladybug!" She laughs evilly to her right.

"Not quite!" I shout as I come from her left, knocking her off her feet and down onto the concrete, the akumatized object sliding out of her hand and a few feet away, where I pick it up and break it.

Clearing the butterfly and the debris, Rena and I return the girl back home, then hurry into an alley, where Alya returns the miraculous.

"Thank you again for helping me, Alya."

"Of course! I'm sure it's difficult with Chat gone." She pulls me into a short but tight hug, which I actually really needed.

Our conversation ends quickly as I use my yo-yo and shoot away from her, landing on a nearby garden rooftop. I didn't have to use my lucky charm, so I have some leftover time before transforming back. 

I call Chat. He usually doesn't answer, which is expected. He's gone on a business deal, not focusing on being Chat Noir. I understand why. He usually responds to my calls though, leaving me a voice message in reply, but I haven't had an actual conversation with him in nearly 4 months now.

To my surprise, I hear a click, followed by "M'lady?"

"Chat?" My voice is surprised, and I feel like I could cry from how happy I am to speak with him.

"Hi." The one, simple word is soft, but it takes all my breath away.

"Hi." I reply. There's a few moments of silence before either of us speak again.

"How've you been?" He asks.

"I'm okay. How are you?"

"Suffering. I want to come home already."

I can't help but laugh a little. "Where are you now?" I decide, trying to maintain small talk.

"Poland." He sighs, "At least the food is good here, I think I almost got food poisoning in London. Something about the fish and chips was not right."

I laugh. We talk for a while longer, until we slowly run out of things to talk about.

"Have you seen those Adrien Agreste photos recently?" He asks, catching me off guard.

"Yeah, some of them, why?"

"Do you think we look alike?" His voice has a certain tone to it, but I focus on his words.

"What? No, I don't."

"Well, who do you like more? Me, or Adrien?"

"Well you know I've had a crush on Adrien since I was like 14, but you.. well, I've never made out with Adrien Agreste." I sit on a nearby bench, needing to focus more on his words as he asks me these odd questions.

"Do you want to?"

"Hm?"

"Make out with Adrien Agreste?"

"Mmm, well.." I trail off, trying to keep my voice calm, even while talking about such an odd subject. "Adrien did have a photoshoot in his underwear, so I'd say you have some competition."

"Oh really?" He chuckles. I hear a distant voice, and after a moment, he speaks again, "I've gotta go, m'lady. I'll talk again when I can." And then he hangs up.

And I finally release a long breath.

Then, my yo-yo beeps, and I open the message from chat. I gape at the image he's sent me. The front of his suit is down, exposing his bare chest; bitten between his teeth, a photo of Adrien's underwear photoshoot, a smirk on Chat's lips. 

The caption beneath, 'Still think he's better?'