"Save Me" | a Ladrien heart-warmer

Gaming

It's wonderfully, horribly, terrifyingly easy to see her after getting her number: all he really has to do is ask.

You, me. Ultimate Mecha Strike. Rematch?

If I remember correctly, i'm in the lead. Why would I give you a chance to steal my throne? ;)

Because there is mercy in your soul, and you'll let poor mortals attempt to overthrow you

True

I'll be there in 10

__________________________________

"Fatality!" Ladybug squealed, jumping up from her seat on his couch to dance in place.

"Wrong game," Adrien said, watching her swinging hips.

Ladybug had the cutest, dorkiest, most endearing victory dance he'd ever seen, and he'd seen Marinette's.

"Sore loser," she teased, posing with her hands behind her head while letting her 'lucky' silver controller dangle from her fingertips. The stance emphasized her generous hips, and the midday sunlight painted in her in high contrast: blue eyes and scarlet suit, summer incarnate.

Adrien's mouth watered.

He swallowed a little and made a noncommittal hum. It was awfully hard to be sore about losing when victory looked so good on her.

"Seriously," she laughed, turning back to the screen. "Why do you keep picking Ultimate Mecha Strike when you always lose?"

"Why do you keep picking racing games?" he dodged, because 'I like watching you win' would come out weird no matter how he said it. And she did always chose racing games when it was her turn to pick — despite the fact that, at some point, she would inevitably hand her controller to him in a funk after a good fifteen minutes of struggling with the first lap of Rainbow Road.

She gave him a fleeting, funny little smile and backed the game up to the character selection screen, murmuring something that was swallowed by the sound effect.

"What?" He could've sworn she said...

"Nothing!" she yelped, reselecting LB-03. "Game on!"

Because I like watching you win.

That was obviously not what she'd said, but Adrien couldn't unhear it.

He couldn't unhear it so thoroughly that he lost the next five rounds even worse than he normally did, and he normally lost by a landslide.

"Okay, okay, mercy," Ladybug said after his fifth wipeout. "Let's continue this when you're awake enough to pose a challenge."

"Harsh."

She just grinned and stretched. "Text me when you want another rematch."

Adrien reached for his phone.

She nudged his shin with her foot. "Smartass."

"Your smartass," his mouth answered for him.

Shit.

She stared at him.

He stared at the far wall.

"R-right!" she squeaked. "My sm— Um. Well. Later."

"...Later," he echoed, dropping his head onto the arm of the couch.

He thought with more than a bit of mortified despair that if he was going to survive knowing Ladybug in both his hero and civilian personas, he should probably invest in some impulse control and brain-to-mouth filters.

And had she seriously started to accept that comment?