Accident of the Evening

Brooding Truth

Madame Bustier dismissed them and left the studio after an hour of going over the routine. She was finally happy with it. Ladybug was sitting with her back against the mirror, her hair back down around her shoulders, her water bottle hanging empty in her hand. Adrien gave a small smile as he offered her his water.

"No, Chat, you need to drink that," Ladybug shook her head when he offered but he shook his head in return.

"This is my second bottle," he said to her. Ladybug looked at him for a moment before taking it with a thank you. She drank deeply from it and Chat sat beside her, resting his head against the mirror.

"That was intense," he muttered under his breath before taking a sip from his own bottle.

"I know, but she gets like that when something important comes up. Believe it or not, she's been worse," Ladybug told him with a small smile.

"What? When?"

"My first year of ballroom, like five years ago, some famous dance concert came to Paris and we were a local opening for them. She was so stressed the whole month before; like we had a routine set and pretty much perfect two weeks before the show and she just kept pushing and pushing and kept finding flaws in the routine... The night before, my parents woke me and I was in the living room performing the routine in my sleep," she laughed.

"Wow, so we're lucky then?" he asked. He could feel the sweat on his brow as he smiled and he could see a sheen on her face, but neither of them minded. She looked different this way, raw somehow.

"Yeah, very," Ladybug smiled as she rested her own head back against the glass. "So why did you go to Marinette's last night?" she asked after a moment.

Her voice was so soft in comparison to moments ago, all the joking was gone and she was wary.

"How'd you know?" he asked.

"Well, for starters she sent me a message on the app, and also, you're wearing the spare mask she had." Ladybug looked at him sideways before looking back up at the ceiling.

"Oh, she did? Did she um, say anything about, um," he trailed off, looking at his hands.

"You can have my messenger information. It's Ladybug23 and the passcode is 'spots on' without the space," she told him he nodded, reserving it into memory.

"Why do you have a passcode?" he asked.

"So random people don't message me and try to find out who I am," she sighed, sitting up and turning to face him. "Now stop avoiding me, what's up?" she asked, her blue eyes harder than usual.

Adrien sighed.

"I got some news last night," he began, trying to think of a way to tell her without revealing everything. "Turns out, I'm only going to be here for six more months. My family... we're... relocating," he said carefully.

"Oh that's terrible," she said, grabbing his hand. "Wait, no, I didn't mean, it's just, you've got a life here, you know? It must suck having to pick up and move away," she looked down at his hand in hers and gripped it a little tighter.

"Yeah. I mean, it's not the first time; we moved here when I was little, but it's been so long..." he trailed off and focused on staring at her hair. It was slightly damp at the roots from exertion, but it was so pretty. It was so dark it almost looked blue and the way it fell in slight curls around her face could take his breath away.

"Chat?" Ladybug asked after a moment. She took a deep breath and met his eyes.

"Yes, m'lady?"

"Will you dance with me, after the ball? Until you move, I mean. We could still do private classes, I don't mind, really." She began rambling, clearly nervous by being the one to ask. Adrien smiled widely and lifted her hand to his lips, kissing it gently before meeting her eyes.