Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
★ ─── 悪役
Chat Noir protected the wick of the last candle as he carefully set it aflame. The soft flickering cast the bouquet of roses by the basket in heavy shadow, which he lifted up to his face, gazing at the petals.
Red. An obvious, vibrant red that always pulled his mind to his hero partner. One of his most trustworthy companions and someone he found himself thinking and caring less and less about, both one and the same.
The arrangement of this dinner was simple and elegant. He put as much effort as he could muster into setting it up, preparing everything exactly as he would want it for a date.
Yet the person he invited wasn't the one he wanted to do this with. At least, he didn't think so anymore. Still, he wanted to be entirely certain that there was no romantic interest left in his heart for Ladybug before he changed targets. He wanted to test the butterflies in his stomach and see if they would rouse at the sight of her.
He created the perfect atmosphere for it. All Ladybug had to do was show up.
She hadn't been certain about whether she would make it, which Plagg helpfully pointed out before he went ahead with the plan anyway, but he held out some hope.
Chat Noir looked out over Paris, taking in the familiar sights of the city as he waited. The slight chill of the air was barely felt while he was transformed.
He tapped his clawed finger tips against the metal railing, drumming along to the same piano music in his head that he'd left playing in his room.
Time passed rather slowly amidst his boredom, and it had Chat half-wishing he'd met up and spent time with Nino and the others like they had offered him earlier that day.
In the distance, he spotted Marinette walk out onto the small balcony attached to her bedroom, her torso slumped. Chat wondered briefly what she was upset about and was about to turn around, only for a giant ice-cream snowman to attack her.
His dinner with Ladybug would have to be postponed until even later.
After deakumatizing the ice-cream seller, Chat directed Ladybug over to his set-up, who felt guilty over not meeting him sooner.
She hummed sadly to herself after taking it in. "It's really beautiful and I'm glad that I came, but I... I don't want to lie to you or string you along." Ladybug approached him, hands clasped to her chest. "You're important to me, Chat. You're a dear friend."
"How would you be lying to me?"
"It's because I'm... in love with someone else. I'm sorry."
Despite the words and the harsh reality they should bring him to, Chat Noir didn't feel anything over the rejection. He grinned warmly at her, offering a singular rose from the bouquet he'd brought. "I understand, M'lady, you're my best friend, too. You can keep the rose. It goes with your costume."
The encounter left little to be desired. Even pretending to be a couple in order to defeat the akuma didn't spark anything inside of him, and he felt so sure that it would. That it should. If anything, he was more disappointed about the time he'd wasted rather than her initially not showing up.
He's lost what he felt for Ladybug, and he found a deeply resonant comfort in the statement. Chat Noir finally abandoned the red that had become a constant in his peripherals and set his sights on someone new.
"Come on! The hint takes us over here."
"Adrien, please—" [Y.Name] grunted as he narrowly missed being swung into a random passer-by. "A-Adrien, wait, where are we going?"
"Hang on, we're almost- aha! There. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon."
"I'm following!" he reassured, trailing after the blond while he pulled him into a jog towards the famous sweethearts ice-cream maker, André. [Y.Name]'s brows shot up upon noticing. He peered down at the back of Adrien's neck as they got closer, wondering if this was truly happening.
"I haven't seen these two before," André commented. "For a relationship delightfully new, I have the perfect combination for you! A mouth-watering salted caramel paired with the sweetest of apples, and a small scoop of banana to top it off."
Neither corrected the slight mistake as Adrien took the ice-cream gratefully in one hand, still holding tightly onto [Y.Name]'s with the other. "Thank you. Let's eat it over here."
[Y.Name], now able to walk freely, moved closer to skim over the small stack. "Does each flavour represent something?"
"I think so. What do you think they each mean?"
[Y.Name] rolled a lock by his ear between his fingers. "Well... the yellow of the banana reminds me of your hair. And the pale tan of the apple reminds me of your skin. If it was any paler, maybe it would remind me of that stupid overshirt that you wear all the time." His touch tranferred from the blond strands to his cheeks, squeezing them playfully between one hand.
Adrien's lips were forced into an exaggerated pout. His eyebrows furrowed and he knocked away [Y.Name]'s hold. "I'm not wearing to today. I'd say I've been making good use of the clothes we got."
"No, you've just thrown on a hoodie instead. But it is something else, I suppose." Adrien made a face at the teasing before he shoved a tiny spoonful of the dessert into his mouth. [Y.Name] took note of his action and swiftly changed the subject back. "What do you believe the last one stands for?"
"If the others are for me like you suggested, then it has to have something to do with you. Like... you're well-balanced, like the sugar and salt?"
[Y.Name] kept to himself how the caramel colour reminded him of Azzie and his own suit upon transforming. Rather, he picked up the other spoon, having a taste as well. "Maybe you're right. But Adrien, do you know the legend behind André's ice-cream?"
"I, yeah, I do," he looked away bashfully, realising what they had shared.
"So what do you want to do about it, hmm?"
"I... um... I want to, uh..." The same skin that [Y.Name] had caressed flushed deeply under his watchful eyes. The blond grew more and more flustered, unable to get the words out.
After allowing him to marinate in his own awkward fumbling for a minute, [Y.Name] decided to ask instead. "Adrien, do you wanna go out with me?"
"Oh gosh, yes!" Adrien threw himself at him in relief, wrapping his arms around [Y.Name]'s shoulders while simultaneously trying not to crush the stem of the waffle cup. "Yes, yes! I really do."
The smile on his face was all teeth, his excitement unable to be contained as he laughed, returning the embrace with an equal amount of vigour.
Adrien almost teared up over it all, his emotions running on a constant upward trajectory, his heart skipping a beat.
It was so incredibly good to be swept up in the way he'd been busy imagining for weeks now. Being there, under the shade of the trees, the rushing water of the river fading nearby conversations into white noise, acting like they were the only two people in the world, it felt right.
