#also I did write. ladywalker one bed. last night. but. that's a secret.

[asukiess]

🐑ladywalker, there was only one bed, hurt/comfort

you get kinda sheep and dog because I couldn't summarize the snippet that was coming forth from the aether, and I couldn't get the snippet out of my head! <3

After a long string of battles where Ladybug's deteriorated focus causes one too many close calls, Cat Walker devises a plan to help her get more than an hour of sleep.

(fake fic ask game)

"If you wish, I'll ask the front desk for more pillows, or an extra duvet," he offers from the edge of the bed.

She curls further into the nest of duvets and down pillows piled on and around her, but she still can't help but shiver. The room once designated by the hotel's owner for Ladybug and Chat Noir has been empty for months now, and the pillows tucked neatly away in the closet have grown stuffy and cold.

"I don't think that's necessary," she says, unsure of how to fix this problem. At this rate, she doesn't think tonight will be any different. All it is, is a different bed.

And if she wasn't so exhausted, she'd kick herself for being such an unsolvable problem. All she has to show for the last disastrous few months are dark circles and someone else fretting over her.

And he'd done everything perfectly.

Why wasn't that enough?

"Do you want anything else?"

In the shade of the blankets, Ladybug bites her lip. It's always about what she wants and she doesn't even know the answer herself. She has an idea, but...

"Maybe you could," she starts, her voice so small it breaks, so she clears her throat to try again. "You could join me?"

The blush that blooms feels suffocating. The only noise she hears over the blood pulsing past her ears is the dull hum of the air conditioner, and she's nearly curled into the fetal position now, squeezing her eyes shut because that was so stupid, why would you ask--

"Okay."

She registers him lifting the covers, the dip in the mattress from his weight, and there's no chill from the outside as he slides next to her, just far enough away that it feels impersonal. Opening her eyes, she realizes that her knees are the wedge between them. Unfurling herself, slow enough that she hopes maybe--maybe this time he won't make her say it, can't he just get the hint?

But he doesn't move any closer.

Staring only at his chest, like it's the only solution she can find, she moves closer until her cheek presses against one of the golden paw emblems. She sucks in a breath; it's impossibly cold on her cheek.

Her hands find their way to tangle in the braided cord; his stay at his sides. Both actions and inactions do nothing to quell what's gnawing at her, and she hates how he makes her think so much sometimes. All she wants to do right now is focus on how his chest is rising and falling, how she wishes she could know if his heart beat like hers. Doesn't he wonder that too? Doesn't he--

"Do you want me to...to hold you?"

It's silly how fast tears spring to her eyes. Silently, she nods, and suddenly there's an arm under her head, and one snakes over her, envelopes her, with a hand cradling the back of her head. She lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, and her heart jumps at how he sighs into the crown of her head.

His armor is still too thick, separating in ways Chat's didn't, and there's embellishments that keep her locked out. There's a shared heat that's soothing, but it's more like kindling than a fire.

"Is this what you want?" he whispers.

She nods, burying her face in his chest, because all that's left for her is this bed.