love will thrive

"Marinette!" Alya ran up to the stairs and craned her head, squinting up at the open door to Marinette's room. "Marineeeeeeette!" With a huff, Alya stomped up the steps and peered into the room, her eyes scanning the pink furniture and Adrien photos methodically. A loud thump resounded from above; a few moments later the trapdoor to the rooftop garden opened.

"Marinette!" Alya heaved herself up from the staircase and plopped down onto Marinette's fuzzy carpet.

"I'm up here!" Marinette's voice floated down from the balcony. She sounded out of breath and a bit winded. Alya waited a few impatient seconds for Marinette to clamber down steps before scolding the poor girl.

"Marinette, you said you would be downstairs and waiting for me the moment the akuma attack ended, where were you?" Alya paused to take a breath before continuing. "Furthermore, you promised you would be at the akuma attack with your phone to take more videos of Starfyre and post them to the Ladyblog right after you took them but I don't see any new videos from you, hmmmm?" Marinette cringed, pulling a stray hair away from her flushed face. Alya blinked. Flushed face?

"Marinette, what in the world have you been doing?" Marinette cringed again, fiddling with her thumbs and biting her lip.

"I was...I was running after the akuma! Yeah, I was running after Starfyre to take footage of the attack." Marinette sucked in a long breath and bent over, exhaling forcefully.

Alya squinted suspiciously at Marinette's curved back. "Then why didn't you post them?"

"I-I was attacked! Starfyre almost hit me but I dodged and forgot to post the video," Marinette straightened and rummaged through her bag. Pulling out her phone, she scrolled through numerous videos before shoving the screen in her friend's face. A shaky video of the glowing, swirling nebula of stars that surrounded Starfyre played on the screen. Chat Noir could be seen deflecting deadly balls of galactic "fyre", but no Ladybug.

~~~~~~•

"Chat, keep her distracted!" Ladybug twisted in the air and landed lightly on her feet. Ducking behind a wall, she crouched down and brought up her phone (she had hidden it in a potted plant outside the park). Shaking her head, she started recording and ran out into the open, weaving her way between balls of fire for a few seconds before ending the video. Ladybug wiped a few beads of sweat from her head. Alya was the best friend anyone could ask for but sometimes she really was crazy.

"Ladybug, watch out!" Chat's voice was urgent. Ladybug whipped around, her eyes widening and phone clattering to the ground. A ball of fyre was soaring her way. As if in slow motion, Chat leaped in front of Ladybug and took the hit, his body flying backward and turning into a possessed henchman.

Ladybug cursed under her breath. She should have known better. Ladybug gritted her teeth and hurled the Lucky Charm at Starfyre. (She didn't even look at it, she just wanted to end this fight.) The lampshade stuck on Starfyre's head, blocking her view and enraging the akumatized woman. Ladybug zipped to Starfyre and grabbed the akumatized necklace, breaking it over her leg.

Her normal purifying routine was a blur. As soon as the city was returned to normal, she pushed past the news reporters and fans and grabbed Chat's arm, pulling him into a deserted alley. Chat blinked confusedly, staring at her with a weird look. He quickly became fearful, though, because Ladybug was livid.

"What-what did I do?" Chat backed up under Ladybug's angry gaze.

"Chat, stop trying to protect me." Ladybug punctuated each word with a sharp jab of her finger to Chat's chest. "You are going to get hurt." Ladybug's eyes were stormy and...something else. Chat peered into her sapphire eyes, searching for any sign of other emotion. That's when he saw it.