#i feel like a bug under a rock <3 cruel hand why have you lifted my shelter from m;e...........................

[puckpocketed]

’personally I'm considering linking to internet archive pages instead of live webpages for the sake of better archival practice’ wikipedia editor behavior i’m sorry

jadskljakldj HELLO .

[cocoarosalia]

Rocking the Cradle chapter 6: Under the midnight stars

It had been three days since Eloise entered Marinette’s life and in that time she’d been completely absent from her nightly patrols. Sure, chat had been perfectly fine covering for her but she honestly just missed the adrenaline and feeling of blood pumping through her veins.

And she missed chat a little bit...but she’ll only admit to a little bit.

So as soon as she knew her little one was fast asleep she packed a few snacks in a little backpack, transformed into Ladybug and rushed off into the twinkling night for a much needed patrol.

Moments later she sat herself on the roofs of some houses near ‘La place de la Bastille’ just breathing in the night air when she heard footsteps attempting to sneak up behind her.

“Oh my,” she snickered “is that a stray I hear coming ever so closer”

“Never a stray my lady” Chat replied taking a bow before sitting himself next to her “I always have a home when i’m with you.”

“I’m gone for three days and already you’re laying it on thick”

“But wasn’t I always bugaboo?”

Ladybug pondered for a moment while thoughtlessly scratching behind chat’s ears  “I suppose you’re right. However, despite your flirtations you can be quite genuine when you want to be.”

She then stood up and presented the little bag in front of chat “Therefore, in thanks for that and the fact that you covered me the past three days, shall we play a game kitty?”

Chat tried to feign disinterest but his tail gave it away as it frantically swished back and forth in excitement. ‘Curiosity was always my weakness’ he thought bashfully.

“In this bag are pastries from a local bakery” she stated “your task is to tell me exactly which pastries are in the bag and from what bakery understood? I’ll let you have a sniff now and then again after a run. If you can guess them both correctly, all the pastries are yours but if you fail you have to walk the streets and endure all the attention.”

‘Ugh she’s playing hardball’ he grimaced. Adrien got enough attention during the day, he did not need it during the night too. That’s why he enjoyed being chat so much because for once, he could be free as well as hide at the same time. As long as he had the shadows of night, he could do whatever he pleased.

Oh but those pastries! Even from here he could smell their sugary sweetness baiting him so sweetly to just take a chance. ‘Restraint was always my other weakness’ he thought to himself.

“My lady you have yourself a deal” he agreed with his usual cheshire grin. Ladybug handed him the bag but told him to only crack the zipper a little bit so that he could get a good whiff and guess. He obliged and the caramelized, syrupy scent rushed to his nose like an avalanche.

‘Hmm’ he thought to himself ‘I can smell Gâteau de rois, croissants, macarons….but’ He took a deeper breath ‘there’s something else in here that I can’t place, something I don’t think i’ve had before. Or maybe I have? Dammit I can’t remember. Maybe if I-’

His thoughts were cut off short as his Lady took the bag from his hands and placed it on her back.

“I think that’s enough for a first round don’t you?” she said coyly repressing a giggle “Now then, let’s go for a run chaton”

“Wait” He said halting her before her sprint “I want to add something of my own to this wager of ours my lady”

The spotted heroine lifted an eyebrow in intrigue “And what, pray tell, would that be alley cat”

“If I win you must tell me where you’ve been the past three days”

She flinched ‘hmph playing hardball are we? Well he’s had three days all on his own so he’s got to be fatigued”

“Very well kitty I’ll take you up on your offer let’s just hope you don’t mind the spotlight!”

And with that Ladybug raced off the roof, hooking her yoyo on a lamp post and swinging off into the open night air

“I swear on my life I’m going to marry that girl” Chat said with an ever growing grin. Hopping up to stand straight the feline themed hero raced after her, tail flying wildly behind him.

Ladybug felt like her heart could burst with joy at any minute. ‘God I needed this!’ she thought as her feet pounded on rooftop. She could feel chat keeping close behind her so just for a little fun she made an abrupt stop and zipped around a quick corner thinking she lost him.

“Silly kitty” She chuckled “who would’ve guessed three days without me could dull your reaction time”

“Dull them my lady?” Chat said faking a hurt sound “Hardly.”

Ladybug grounded her heels into the gravel below her feet to slow her momentum, only just bumping her nose into chat’s admittedly broad chest just below his collarbone.

‘Fuck, he’s tall’ she thought with her face beginning to flare pink.

Chat was doing no better as he could feel her breath ghosting over his skin ‘dammit, the one time I pull the zipper down a little’

Shaking off the goosebumps rising on his arms chat fell back into his playful side.

“Now then my beautiful busy bug” Chat purred as he bent down to look into Ladybug’s stunning blue eyes “What exactly were you hoping achieve running away like that”

Marinette felt cornered for some reason; like how a cat corners a mouse. But she was never one to back down from a challenge.

“Wanted to see if you could keep up” she asserted not moving from her spot.

The low rumble of chat’s laugh made the hairs on the back of ladybug’s neck stand on ends and most certainly not in the bad way.

“Then now I pass the question onto you my lady” He stepped away to the edge of the roof “Can you keep up?”

He jumped off using his baton to launch himself a good building and a half away, shortly after breaking onto a full on sprint.

“If I wasn’t in love with adrien, and we weren’t sharing a child right now” She muttered to herself, still frozen in place “I would rock his kitty cat world”

And so began their game. Each trying to simultaneously keep up and lose the other. They leaped up buildings, swung around corners, slipped down alleyways to hide in the darkness. It didn’t really matter where they wound up; to them it was the rush that pushed their bodies forward. The air tasted sweet and Ladybug felt like she would never stop.

Alas though, body limits are a very cruel mistress and it wasn’t too long before they had all but collapsed atop the roof of the louvre. Their chest heaving for even a glimpse of air.

“So maybe going on a full parkour match across paris after being gone for three days wasn’t the stellar idea i thought it was” She said feeling like she was going to hurl.

“Bugaboo, I’m REALLY gonna need you to think of stuff like that before bringing us to the edge of death” Chat wished he could laugh with his statement but he needed every drop of air he could get in his lungs.

“Don’t black out on me yet chaton, there’s still our game”.

Chat groaned

“You know I could keep the pastries you know-” The bag was snatched right out from under her nose

He unzipped the bag, taking yet another hit of the confectionary sweetness. The smell was stronger now from his running. He thought it might hinder his guess and he’d be forced to walk the busy streets.

But then it hit him.

“Gâteau de rois, croissants, macarons AND you tried to slip me up with the beignets!”

Marinette made a sound of disdain “Fine. But you still have to guess where they’re from”

Chat visibly flinched and sniffed again, this time gentler.  He tried to think of all the bakeries in paris to help him but his mind couldn’t shake off the memories that flooded back to him.

‘I can smell Marinette’s shop with these pastries” he contemplated, his body relaxing ‘I can smell all those times her parents took care of me as if I were their own and moreover I can even smell my little ray of sunshine greeting me every morning. I don’t have very many memories with her yet but they’re sweet like these.’

“These are from the bakery on 12 Rue Gotlib, 21st arrondissement. Tom and Sabine’s bakery I think it’s called”

Ladybug sighed in defeat “Very well kitty the pastries are yours”

Trust me when I say that you did NOT need to tell him twice. Leaving a beignet and a croissant for his lady like a gentleman he wasted no time gobbling down the other sweets, having to stop only to drink some of the juice his crush gave him to keep him from choking.

They relaxed on the roof overlooking the louvre, watching people walk in and out as they pleased. The night was quiet and peaceful. The sight was even better as the river seine glittered with the city lights.

“She would adore it up here” Marinette mused to herself smiling as she pictured Eloise running all around the courtyard and finding the garden flowers far more beautiful than the centuries old art housed inside.

“Who would my spotted lady” Chat replied

‘I should totally become mute for the rest of my life’

She tried to come up with a quick excuse “umm no one kitty just a crazy thought from a sleep deprived heroine you know this job makes me crazy sometimes haha”

Chat was not buying it. Not even for a dime. But he still played along for her sake.

“Oh of course my silly mistake. Just one more question...just where were you the past three days”

Nothing…and I mean nothing was coming to mind to pass off where she was. Out on holiday? Its March. Family trouble? He’d ask further. Bad gas? She might be fighting baddies but she was still a lady of distinction dammit.

She had to admit defeat

“I’ve been taking care of someone. A niece of mine”

Well...not the whole defeat

“She’s only been with us 3 days now and she’s five so I had to make sure she was comfortable in my home”

“That’s all you had to say bugaboo. If it’s family matters I can’t question that” Chat thought about his lady with a little girl strapped to her hip and for a moment his partner and Elly flashed through his mind.

Ladybug breathed a sigh of relief but then paused for a moment.

“Do you ever want kids Chat”

Adrien almost choked on the juice he was drinking but covered it up smoothly (Not really don’t let him fool you)

“Well My lady while I’m not quite there yet. To have little ones running around in catbug like costumes with you would be a dream come true and I could confidently say that I’d die a very happy man”

Ladybug went to interrupt but the thespian wasn’t quite done yet as he hopped up on the ledge of the building.

“And to think! Waking up each morning to the sound of little feet running around sending them off on their way to school. The soccer practices, spelling bees, imagine the PTA meetings!”

“Chat I’m gonna need you to really focus here for a second you went so far to the left”

He plopped back down by her side

“Fine. To be honest I’ve definitely thought about it and one day I most assuredly do wanna do the whole ‘cookies and juice box’ thing.”

Marinette was surprised by his candidness. Not that she didn’t think he could be serious she just was pleasantly taken aback by how instantly he could give his answer to something so far in the future.

“How many would you want” she asked genuinely curious

“2, one noble prince and one precious princess”

“You’d spoil them wouldn’t you”

“Absolutely rotten” He then took a pause “But you know, I’d have to give all this up to do it.”

Ladybug was shocked “Why would you wanna do that? There’s so much you’d be giving up”

“Yea I know” Chat agreed “But the way I see it working a full time job then leaping out here every night to save paris I wouldn’t have time to be a real dad for them and that to me is more important. Plus god forbid dear old Hawkmoth found out about them I could never forgive myself.”

She mulled over chat’s words. He was right that there’d be an increase of danger and the work life balance would run her terrifyingly ragged but “I don’t think I could ever give this up”

Adrien looked over to her and saw her face lit up with a sense of determination “You are right kitty but honestly for me I’d be more fired up to fight.” She toyed with one of her pigtails. “I could never imagine just passing this life off on some other unsuspecting teenager just trying to make it through her own life. Plus as they say ‘If you want paris saved right, you simply must save it yourself”

Chat laughed at that last statement “You are truly something all your own my lady. I guess we know who’d be staying home and making dinner”

“Whatever you stupid cat. I could be domesticated if I wanted to be.”

“The very thought of you in an apron making breakfast makes my heart all a flutter”

“Oh shut up you stray”

Ladybug then rolled backwards into a standing position and told chat that it was time for patrol to be over. He agreed and right before they parted ways Marinette left him with a thought

“You know if you were to have kids they’d be complete wild childs, but I won’t deny they’d also have hearts of gold.”

“And if you were to grace the world with your children they’d be maddeningly stubborn but unquestionably loyal”

They then took their leave, both wondering how their wildly loyal Elly would do on her first day of kindergarten.