Then There Was You

Chapter 4

The air was cool and crisp when Ladybug left from her balcony, but the rain had thankfully been holding off for now. The spotted heroine sat high up on the Eiffel Tower admiring the view when she heard the thud of her partner landing behind her.

"Good evening m'lady, how are you on this feline evening." Chat gave her a low theatrical bow making her giggle and she patted the space next to her for him to sit.

"It's been really quiet actually. There haven't been many people out. How about you Chat? You seem happy tonight." Chat plopped down next to her, laying back with his hands behind his head.

"Got to hang out with a friend a bit today, hopefully I'll get to see more of her tomorrow." Chat closed his eyes and let the cool breeze blow over him, a smile playing on his lips.

"Her?" Ladybug questioned. Chat popped an eye open.

"Yeah, she's...ah...a friend. So no need to feel jealous, Bug." He added teasingly with a wink, but Ladybug wasn't quite buying it. She could swear there was a certain kind of sparkle in his eyes as he gazed up at nothing in particular, and was that a hint of pink poking out from under his mask?

"Hmmm, so you say Chat, but I think your face betrays you." She said teasingly. Chat sat up and looked at her surprised, but she just giggled at him. "It's fine you know Chaton, if you want to spend time with another girl you have every right to. Besides, I've got a chance to spend some time with the boy I like and I think maybe he might finally be noticing me." Ladybug looked off into the distance with a soft smile on her face. Before when she would talk about the boy she liked, Chat always felt a stab of sadness and dare he say jealousy, but this time that didn't happen. Instead the only thought he had was being able to see Marinette tomorrow, and his heart was filled with warmth and joy. Had something in him really changed that much?

"Well he would have to be blind not to notice" He said quietly. Ladybug knew he was being sincere, but she just shrugged.

"I don't know really, I'm not the same person under the mask. Truth is I've been sending him mixed signals for so long I'm surprised he sees me as anything at all, but I'm determined to make the most of this new opportunity. It might be the last one I have." He looked at the way her eyes smiled and for the first time, he really hoped that this guy would see Ladybug for the wonderful girl she was.

"I know what you mean Bug." He looked down, fiddling with the ring on his finger. He suddenly felt really sad at the thought that after graduation he might not see much of his friends anymore. Heck he hardly saw them now. What's it going to be like not seeing them everyday at school? Not seeing Marinette everyday? It wasn't something he really wanted to think about. "Well, ah...should we maybe go do our patrol?" He said as he stood up. He offered Ladybug his hand to help her up. As he held it though, he felt a strange sense of familiarity in it, but his heart didn't quicken like it used to, not like it had when he'd held Marinette's hand.

Chat had a lot of time to think while running on his patrol. His friends had started putting in applications for jobs or university for when school finishes, but for Adrien, his future was already being set in stone, laid out for him by his father and he felt powerless to fight it. Chat might have freedom, but Adrien was becoming more and more restricted and he hated it. He hated the fact that he was technically an adult with no say in his life whatsoever. Chat returned back to the Eiffel Tower first, leaning against the steel structure lost in thought about what the future held for him. He did have one choice though, one opportunity to find some happiness for himself with a girl that had always been there, right behind him.

"All clear your end, Chat?" Ladybug asked cheerily behind him. Chat hadn't heard her return, but turned and tried to smile for her.

"Yeah, you were right, not many people out tonight." Ladybug looked up at the darkened sky overhead and unhooked her yo-yo.