In Love with a Black-Leathered Criminal {COMPLETED}

Part 4

Chat didn't take Marinette's advice as he left, off to an old location he hadn't visited often, the top of Notre Dame where he and Ladybug sat after their patrols. They would sit and talk for what felt like hours, sitting beneath the stars. He sat alone now, Ladybug nowhere to be found. He did miss seeing his partner almost every day, but he liked being free of the heroic pedestal that Paris put him and Ladybug on. He was in the spotlight enough as Adrien, but when Chat became even more talked about, he couldn't handle it. Being a wanted criminal meant that he was free from expectations, even though he was still in the spotlight, the main point wasn't about him. It was always about how Ladybug failed to catch him, again and again.

"Chat Noir...." A stern voice came from behind him. There stood his ex-partner, Ladybug. Her hair was held in a high ponytail, complete with a ribbon that blew slightly in the light wind. Her suit had taken new changes as she got older, and so did his. Black was added to her forearms and hands to look like long gloves, a black V shape stretched down her neck and onto her chest, and the iconic black spots stayed the same throughout the design. Chat's suit, on the other hand, hadn't changed much. The bell was now functioned as a zipper, which Chat held lower, exposing his collarbone and a small bit of his chest.

"Oh excuse me milady..." He stood, just to mock a bow then smirk as he peeked up to the bluenette. "I hear that someone has robbed the Louvre, I am here to help you,"

"Chat..." Her voice laced with frustration and annoyance only provoked his mockery more.

"Are you going to arrest me bugaboo?" He mocked his past flirtatious nicknames. He only called her Ladybug now. He had fallen for someone else, a princess. She stayed quiet, knowing that she couldn't arrest him without proof of him committing any crimes. All she had was his daring escapes, and Paris believed whatever she said.

"So, you still come here too?" Her voice fell in volume, resting just above a whisper.

"I haven't been here in a while, but I like to come when I can,"

"How busy is your schedule that you can't take time to relax, but you can take time to rob the Louvre or a bank?" Ladybug sat down, letting her legs dangle off the edge.

"How do you know I stole all those paintings and that money?" Chat asked, sitting next to her as he leaned back onto his hands. Ladybug rolled her eyes. She had been telling the police about his various crimes but they had never found any evidence, other than alarm systems that had gone off. "Y'know, I'm surprised you haven't caught me yet,"

"You and me both," Ladybug sighed. "You leave nothing behind, I don't understand how,"

"A good thief never reveals his secrets,"

"Isn't that magicians?"

"How about you just join me? You have got to be tired of the fame," Chat suggested, ignoring her previous comment.

"I know Hawk Moth isn't around anymore, but what happens if another Hawk Moth appears?"

"You were the one who lost the butterfly miraculous..." He said underneath his voice. He could tell that struck a soft spot with her. "Sorry..."

"I got Roger and even the mayor to try and find it but all they found was the peacock miraculous in Gabriel's room," She explained. Chat sighed, remembering the traumatic day that was fighting Hawk Moth. He hadn't seen his father since the trial. The words manslaughter, terrorism and abandonment of child echoed in his head every time his father was mentioned. He sighed, knowing that she was right, he might have to come back to being a hero if someone like Hawk Moth started terrorizing Paris again.

"I'll deal with that day when it comes, if it ever does," He let out a worried chuckle, knowing that it wasn't an impossible situation. The silence that fell between them was interrupted by the sound of sirens in the distance. Chat felt his heart jump. As they saw the red and blue lights turn towards Notre Dame, Chat and Ladybug stood up in a panic. "Did you tip them off?" He looked to Ladybug.

"No, did you steal something?" Ladybug asked in a panicked manner.

"No, how do they know where I am?" Chat asked. Something in Ladybug's head made her body grab Chat's hand, and run with him. "Where are we going?" Chat asked as they ran across the rooftops.

"Anywhere away from here," Ladybug wasn't sure where they were going to hide, but they needed to get out of there. As she passed by her old high school, she remembered that her parent's bakery was nearby. Ladybug quickly turned around, and landed on her balcony, ducking into the hatch door and into her old room.

"Marinette's bedroom?" Chat asked, climbing down the ladder from the loft bed. As Ladybug looked around, she remembered all the memories that she and Tikki made in that room, along with Alya and Marinette's other friends. Ladybug had never thought of an excuse as to why she brought them to her old bedroom.

"Y-yeah, she and I are.....friends," She lied. Chat didn't say anything in response, but he seemed to believe her. As they sat in her old bedroom, waiting until the police sirens that ran throughout the city stopped, Ladybug was thankful her parents hadn't woken up and checked in her room. Once the sirens outside seemed to stop, Ladybug and Chat Noir went their separate ways. Chat Noir lept toward the Agreste mansion, only to realize that Ladybug was headed towards Marinette's apartment building. He secretly followed her back, watching as she landed on the balcony that he had perched himself on so many times in the past and de-transformed, leaving Marinette to go back inside wearing the pyjamas she was wearing when he saw her earlier that night.