The Boy In The Coffin

Dream

the question is as hard as

Swallowing rocks and as

Brutal as stormy waters

Crashing to shore.

The question is not always why,

But how do we let go without

Falling apart—without crumbling

From loosening our grip on what was

And what could have been

—Alex Elle

It's a quiet Sunday evening. The type of Sunday where it's so quiet that something is just bound to break that silence at some point or another. That's how it usually is around Paris, not just exclusive to Sunday. But since Adrien and Marinette don't have school on Sundays, the two agree that weekends are their patrol days.

There's been nothing for a couple of weeks now, nothing, meaning absolutely no akumatizations. That can only mean one of two things: that everyone's doing a fine job of keeping their explosive emotions locked away, or Shadowmoth is plotting something big.

To be safe, Ladybug assumes the latter. She always has to assume the latter. There's no chance that man, wherever he hides away in the shadows, has decided to just take a break from everything he's worked toward for years now.

It's the cusp of summer, so the two heroes walking side by side along the rooftops of Paris have sweat sticking to them like those skin-tight suits they must wear when on duty.

Today is quiet for more reasons than just the fact that there's really no reason for Ladybug and Chat Noir to be patrolling. It's that Chat Noir hasn't said much for the whole ten minutes they've been walking, which is odd for the chatty cat. He began their meeting with his usual playful banter to which Marinette had several witty comebacks. But after that, he didn't talk. It's a nice change, but only for a little while.

When it comes to Chat Noir, much-needed silence sometimes becomes less of a relief and more of a...well...a problem, as ironic as that is. Maybe it's just the summer's heat getting to him, but Marinette knows better than to brush off his silence. Just as that peace turns into something more worrisome, Ladybug had been about to speak, but then Chat Noir did first.

"M'lady, would it be so terrible for us to skip patrols today?"

Before it even happens, Chat Noir already knows that Ladybug is going to flash an offended look at him, and saves the shock as she does just that.

"What do you mean, skip patrols? That's a terrible idea. What if something happens? We always get caught with our thumbs up our asses whenever we drop our guard. We can't assume things are going to stay quiet as they've been. And I really don't feel like going home just to smolder in the heat today," she rants.

Chat Noir smirks at that, his bright green eyes hooding over themselves in a smug demeanor. "You couldn't be any more obvious about the fact that you love spending time with me, Ladybug." He stretches his arms in quite the conspicuous way, wrapping one around his partner's shoulders.

The girl with dark hair has gotten accustomed to Chat's very obvious attempts to flirt. She knows well enough by now how he feels, and on the flip side, he knows very well how she feels. Marinette swipes her fingers cooly against his to brush them away. "It's way too hot to be sticking close like that," she says, ignoring his teasing.

Chat Noir responds with a flippant chortle. "So you mean if it was a bit chillier, you wouldn't mind?" he asks. "You also didn't deny what I said," he purrs softly.