"Save Me" | a Ladrien heart-warmer

Eating

It didn't truly register that he'd left his lunch bag behind until several hours and two engagements later, when he realized it contained his dinner as well.

Nathalie took pity on him and let him order food from a restaurant that met her standards, and he devoured his meal all the more gleefully for the fact that he was probably completely flouting his diet.

And it wasn't until several hours after that, as he was shutting down his computer and feeling thoroughly satisfied with his day while he got ready for bed, that he saw his lunch bag again.

It was dangling from Ladybug's grasp as she tapped on his balcony door, cheerfully swinging back and forth in the light, chill breeze.

Ladybug was at his balcony door.

Adrien tripped over his own two feet in his haste to open it.

Ladybug was here.

At his door.

Ladybug giggled as he wrenched said door open, his heart stumbling worse than his feet.

"Ladybug?" he gasped out, winded more by her presence than anything.

She held his lunch bag up for inspection.

"You left this behind," she said, smiling, and dropped it into his hands.

Heavy. Heavier than it had been when he'd left it, he was sure.

He opened his mouth to thank her or ask about the added weight or both, but she hurried on, fingers twining shyly just over her stomach and cheeks dusted rosy. "I just wanted to thank you for the food. It, um. Helped. A lot."

"I'm glad," he murmured, more than a little tongue-tied, and she gave him a smile that intensified that feeling tenfold.

"S-so," she stuttered, flushing darker, eyes flicking up to his face and then away almost immediately. "U-um."

God, she's just too cute.

He could only watch as she worked her way around whatever was stopping her up, twiddling her thumbs until her eyes had done a full circuit of his doorway and fell on him again.

She took a deep breath and released it, putting her hands behind her back. "S-so. Thank you."

And with that, she stepped up close and pressed wind-chilled lips to his cheek.

Adrien dropped the bag, material slipping through his numb fingers and hitting the ground with a gentle thump.

She pulled back with a light giggle, like she knew she'd just lit up his insides like a festival after dark, and pressed her fingertips to her lips with a shy glance at his through her thick, dark eyelashes.

Woah.

"Goodnight," she bade him, and he was too stunned to stop her.

He waited until he couldn't see her any more to sink to his knees, blushing hot enough to warm the cold air flooding through the door, and trying to pick his jaw up off the floor as he touched the spot she'd kissed with a shaking hand.

It took him a while, but he managed, finding both his jaw and the strength to stand, take the bag inside, and shut the door behind him.

He investigated the bag in a futile attempt to calm down enough to sleep, and found a veritable jackpot of bakery goods topped with a small note:

Thank you for saving Ladybug from her own ill-planning, good citizen. :P

(Sorry about the selection; it was the best I could do on short notice. The spinach puffs are good, though!)

It was signed with her signature Ladybug symbol and a little heart.

Adrien stared at that little heart for a good ten minutes before putting the note on his desk and the bag just under it.

He'd eat the pastries in the morning, he decided.

...If, of course, the butterflies in his stomach calmed down enough by that time for him to eat anything.