Of Runways and Darkness

Chapter 4

Author's Note: I'm looking to do maybe three or four chapters today because I fell behind last week. This has been a crazy week at work for me! We have testing to administer and it's LITTER-ally eating up all my time. I'm going to bed exhausted and waking up in the same state. It's horrendous. I hate it.

Alright, that's enough of a rant session for me. Please enjoy the chapter!

Adrien was scared.

Terrified really.

At the end of the school day, Adrien had left with Nino after the girl's had run off. He bid his friend good bye as he left for the day and the blonde headed off for the gym locker room so he could change for fencing; they only practiced for an hour since it was Friday but at the end of that time, Adrien found himself blinking curiously at the same two girls he had seen leave sometime before. They sat on a bench, heads close, giggling every now and then. He started to go ask if they would like to walk home together when he suddenly saw Alya lean closer to Marinette. She whispered something. It was adorable to see the way her face twisted the longer her friend gave her an idea.

What terrified him were the words that followed: "You're evil! I love it. I'm sure I can make it work and Adrien...."

"Is going to die. I know." He froze. What? He listened for more but all he heard was Marinette ordering them to leave so that Alya could take a break before patrol that evening. Neither of them spied him.
They left. Adrien followed, his heart pounding like crazy. The girls were gone by the time he got outside and the Gorilla stared at him so all he could do was put on an air of calm before jumping into the car to go home himself.

He was going to owe Plagg a month's worth of camembert since he needed to know why he was going to die and how Marinette was planning to do it.

****

Chat Noir grunted as he vaulted over a rooftop and landed on the next; the feature he loved the most of all of his powers was the night vision he had since it allowed him to see details that none other than the actual alley cats saw in the dark. He knew the seasons were changing. He didn't see his breath like he had in December, January, and February. The thought made his ears and tail twitch. It was such a happy thought that his life, despite his father's frequent absence, was turning into everything he always wanted it to be. Especially when his thoughts lazily rolled to the idea of his girlfriend. Marinette was everything he'd dreamed of since the day he met Ladybug: strong, courageous, intelligent, gentle, caring, sweet. Beautiful. He smirked as he cleared another set of roofs.

Everything was... well, perfect.

Yeah, perfect.

He stood atop the buildings across from Marinette's balcony. There was no missing the busy young woman moving back and forth in her room, every now and then pausing to say something to her kwami, giggling, and then going back to whatever it was she had been doing. There was no doubt in his mind that the pieces of fabric and clothing he saw every now and then were her contest pieces coming to life. He wondered if she would let him see any. She had been really protective of her ball gown back in December (oh, and he needed to remember to return it to her since he'd immediately had any water damage fixed so that she could wear it again for another formal event. Or their daughter could for her first. Either or). His cheeks flushed. There was almost a tremor in his suit which made him immediately think that Plagg was laughing at him. He blew a frustrated breath before jumping over to the balcony. Making sure to land with a thud and give her a second to hide anything she didn't want him to see, he straightened and went towards the entrance. He could hear movement below. He smirked knowing that she was doing exactly as he predicted; a few moments later, she pushed the hatch open, a smile crossing her face.