"Save Me" | a Ladrien heart-warmer

Stuck

"Did... did you get stuck in a tree?"

Highly embarrassed, Adrien clung to a branch with one hand, rubbed the back of his neck with the other, and refused to look Ladybug in the (highly incredulous) eye.

"...Maybe?"

Yes. Yes, he had gotten stuck in a tree. So sue him.

The tree itself hadn't been the greatest of ideas, he could admit now. He'd been trying to get onto the roof while depowered (for science), had seen that this particular tree got pretty close to the ivy that grew beneath the scaffolding, and had decided to see if it grew close enough to let him climb up.

All he could say for himself was that trying his luck had seemed like a good idea at the time.

On the upside, he could now see a much easier route that involved standing on the sill of the gaming room window and catching the ivy that lead up from there.

On the downside, he'd A) forgotten to secure a way down, and B) forgotten to charge his phone, leaving it dead and him without a way to contact Natalie or the Gorilla or even 112 for help.

He hadn't been worried, per se. Even if the household staff wouldn't think to look for him up here when they eventually noticed his disappearance, Plagg was bound to get hungry enough to track down his chosen in a few hours. Transforming on the side of the street right next to his security-camera-saturated home sounded... less than ideal, but it would be better than being stuck up here forever.

Of course, today was the day Ladybug had decided to run her patrol route near his house, bringing her close enough to bear witness to this particular brand of humiliation.

Ugh.

She alighted on the second sturdiest branch on his side of the tree (he was on the sturdiest one) and held her arm out with a half-sympathetic, half-amused grin.

He blinked at her and cocked his head, confused.

The balance of her grin tipped further in favor of amused. "Come on."

When it became clear that that hadn't clarified a thing for him, she tacked on, "Isn't it a superhero's job to rescue kittens stuck in trees?"

Panic burned hot in his stomach for a moment (had she found him out?) before he realized she was merely making a crack at his predicament (if she'd known, he was sure the wisecracks would have been a lot worse), and then it was his face that was burning.

She stepped closer and slipped an arm around his ribs, which got him blushing for another reason entirely. By the time she'd set him down on the balcony next to the door that lead into the east wing, his heart was in his mouth and he didn't even want to know what shade of red his face was.

As it turned out, being in close quarters with his ladylove while in his suit was very different from being in close quarters with her out of it. He could feel the cool temperature-negating substance of her own suit on his palms and the undersides of his arms, could feel the exact degree of the lithe muscle built up along her core and over her shoulders, could feel the softness of her hair and her cheek where it pressed into his shoulder for those few eternal seconds, and, memorably, the way her eyelashes had brushed his jaw, just once.

He stumbled away from her reluctantly, unbalanced on many levels, and had to work hard to look her in the eye as he thanked her.

Her face was quite a bit pinker than when she'd happened upon him, now that he was looking. The smile she gave him was downright embarrassed as she answered (not without humor), "All in a day's work, good citizen."

She definitely didn't know he was Chat. There was no way she'd be this embarrassed about something like that in front of Chat.

(As much as he valued the comfort and trust they'd built together, he couldn't quite squish the thought that that was a pity; she was adorable like this.)

"Anyway," she said, turning around. "Stay safe, look out for akumas, and, uh..." Her sky-deep eyes glinted mischievously and she glanced back at him with a little salute. "Try not to get stuck in any more trees."

He folded his arms and glared at her retreating back, puffing his cheeks in offense over the frantic beating of his heart. "Ha ha, very funny."

He may or may not have imagined the answering giggle.

He dropped his head as soon as she was gone, stewing in a horrible concoction of mortification and adrenaline.

Ladybug could never learn that he was Chat Noir.

If she did, he would never, ever live this down.