The tiny drive weighed heavily in his less destructive hand as he paced back and forth through the tiny, darkened room. As a sometimes superhero, the slight weight would never have usually registered in his mind.

Chat Noir's eyes narrowed. Filled with the earliest findings from his dive through the camera footage through the upper floors of Montparnasse, it was both a blessing and a curse. As much as he hated the thought of destroying its contents, he couldn't afford to screw this one up. Not with so much on the line...

Resolute, his eyes flashed as he tossed the drive up from one hand and caught it in his other claw... obsidian shards committing the device to ashes. First mission accomplished… now, to decide if he should push it, and attempt to see if there was any other footage before leaving for the night.

Of course, it was just his own awful luck that the squeak of the door hinge made his decision to get out quickly for him.

The security guard exhaled sharply, huffing after the energy he'd exerted when rushing out after the phantom Adrien of earlier. He hefted his flashlight, dragging the beam quickly from one side of the room to the other.

As the light reflected off the sheen of leather, Chat's muscles tensed to action, ready to dart away fast...

"Thank goodness." The security guard whistled, pressing a beefy hand to his barrel-shaped chest as he entered the room, then plopped down into the chair. "I was worried over who might have managed to break in; not a single sign of access from the lower floors. But at least you make a lot more sense."

"You aren't… freaked out?"

"About coming across a hero of Paris?" The guard snorted ruthlessly, digging a protein bar from his pocket and snagging a bottle of water that had been sitting atop of the screens. "I figure you have to be here to pick up something that got left behind."

Chat smiled ruefully, feeling a bead of sweat building behind the mask as the first paw print on his ring started to blink. He coughed loudly to obscure the sound. "I mean… you're not wrong."

The guard simply shrugged. "As powerful as you both must be, I have to figure you're only human beneath the mask. Even in the comics, powers always seem to have some type of shortcoming."

The guard nodded sagely as he said this... greying temples peeping out from under his uniform cap as he stared down the array of screens. "So, what is it that you need? I need to get you out of here before the night manager catches wise… a stickler for rules, you know?"

Chat Noir stood to his fullest, most intimidating height. The guard would surely dwarf him if he stood back up, but he didn't have long to press his advantage. "I need to make sure that there isn't any other footage remaining from the whole time of the attack."

The guard peered back over his shoulder at Chat - his eyes widened - and he let out another low whistle.

Grimacing, Chat Noir pressed on. "To be honest, I'd rather keep a copy myself. But it isn't safe. Not for me… nor my family. Not for anyone else who might get in Hawkmoth's way."

"Huh…" The guard mused aloud. "And the big bad hasn't really ever pulled any punches..."

Chat Noir nodded. "Not that I can recall. And - another kiss with my Lady that I can't remember notwithstanding - there is too much chance that something in here could put every single person in this building at risk. Hawkmoth hasn't come back for the footage yet. But it's just a matter of time. And none of us can afford for Hawkmoth to have any hints on how best to defeat us. Or, what kind of weaknesses we might have…"

"Well, this area covers only the upper floors…"

Chat winced, pointing dolefully at the the dusty mess that had fallen to the floor as a chime rang out into the room. "I was in the midst of pulling the footage when I suspected that could be a problem…"

The guard sighed. "I can loop the footage up here, provided you didn't pull all of it for the day. But there is another data station to cover the lower floors. You have any idea how far down you were?"

"Honestly?" Chat sighed. "I don't remember."

The guard swiped off his hat, rubbing the back of his hand across his forehead. "You're sure if we delete that footage that everyone here will be safe?"

"Families, too. As safe as I can keep you." He beamed, holding up his crossed fingers into the thin beam of light from the hall. "Chat's Honor."

The guard's brow furrowed, hefting himself up and away from the desk. "Stay here for a bit. I'll be back with the rest."

"Thank you…"

Chat Noir didn't hesitate once the guard left. His fingers drifted to lock the door as he called off his transformation. "Eat up, Plagg. We don't have much time."

"We're still here?" Plagg's eyes widened as Adrien tossed him an additional half chunk of Camembert. "And I thought it was only my luck that was bad…"

Adrien sighed. "There was more data after all… we almost missed it. But… luckily... I got caught. I'm just not sure how long we have before the guard comes back."

Chat Noir wove through the halls following the guard's careful guidance. He had to avoid most of the cameras - the ones that the guard wouldn't easily be able to mask - as the guard himself headed up to the rooftop on his routine patrol.

He waved to the older man as the elevator doors parted and the guard stepped through to perform a perfunctory loop of the rooftop. "I formatted the drive downstairs. And I'll cover up your escape when I get back down to my station…"

Chat Noir's shoulders slumped in relief. "I really can't thank you enough."

The guard chuckled, steps heavy against the wet concrete. "No problem. I created this little trick so I could sneak in an extra break here or there… might as well use it. At least it went to good use this time."

Grinning, Chat Noir extended a claw.

"Mind if I get a picture?" The guard smirked, accepting the handshake. "My wife is a bit of a fan. She just spent all of dinner gushing over your little kiss up here." He winked merrily. "You see, once upon a time, I managed to propose to her up here when this building was nearly brand new."

Chat beamed, leaning into the frame. "If I can ever purrsuade Ladybug to marry me someday - after this has all ended - I'll be back with an invitation for you and your wife."

Chat Noir sighed, before swinging away out of the night and back in through his own window, dodging the cameras his father had littered about their rooftop.

Still damp from the storm, Adrien fell wearily into his bed as Plagg spiraled free of the transformation.

The guard's romantic optimism was infectious, giving him fleeting hope. But the slippery, rain-slick rooftops on the journey home gave way for all for the harshness of reality to set in.

The closer he got to home, the more Adrien had realized that lovely dream might ever only be just that.

Marinette didn't like him.

At least, she didn't like him any more than as a friend. Of that, he was sure. She'd never said anything. In fact, often enough, she barely spoke to him at all... except in jumbled statements.

Ladybug told him herself - more often than he'd ever hoped to hear - that she had feelings for some other boy. Of course, if Marinette had liked him, surely she would have admitted so when the posters in her room were revealed to all of Paris.

Or, when most of Paris thought she was his secret girlfriend when she'd helped him sneak away to see his mother's movie.

But no… she was just a fan of his work… and an even bigger fan of fashion.

He'd seen her incredible creativity on a near daily basis, and that creativity included a talent for fashion, too. He had no doubts that her hard work ethic would ensure that she would make it in the industry; you didn't sit as close to the camera as he did without hearing the perks and the pratfalls.

She worked so hard in fact… that he was starting to recognize another problem.

She was so serious about being Ladybug - about keeping them both safe - that she specifically asked him never to find out who she was behind the mask. Serious enough that she'd never even asked for so much as a hint about who he was…

But now, he'd betrayed her trust… even without meaning to.

In working to eliminate the evidence that they'd even been there, he'd made a far greater mess. He'd wanted to keep her safe, but he'd only managed to put her more at risk.

He'd hoped for some hint about how he'd snagged her heart in the midst of it all… but the one clue he'd gotten had assured he might never capture it at all.

And the best that he could figure? The only reason she'd given him a chance today at all… was that she hadn't known who he was in the first place. She hadn't known they were friends. She hadn't known about her own feelings for this other guy. And it was all because Hawkmoth had seen to take her memories - and that agency - away...

Adrien sighed wearily, as Plagg devoured a fresh ration of Camembert with greedy abandon.

He was glad of Marinette's friendship. He always had been. Only, everything that he had done to try to keep her safe might even lose him that…

A queasy feeling came over him, and he realized… there was no way he could tell her. Even if he was willing to risk their friendship, he'd just destroyed every scrap of proof… aside from his word. And, there was no way she'd be happy with (or would welcome) a transformation - he'd suggested it before, but she always shot his proposals down, exasperatedly.

The large amount of insight he'd gained in a single day was staggering, but his mind didn't feel assuaged despite the things he knew now. There was no doubt in his mind that she truly didn't want to know his identity, and there was no way he could tell her that he knew hers. He knew that he would keep her secret - keep her safe - with every ounce of his being; he would have anyways.

But, the one thing that Adrien didn't know for certain was how he would (or could) prevent Hawkmoth from ever using him against her…

He closed his eyes, hugging a pillow tightly to his side. The villain had already done it more than once, and very easily brought back every prior weapon in his arsenal once before…

The trick to keeping Ladybug, well and truly safe, even from himself? That was the only thing he wished he'd learned today.

Notes:

The End? Well...not quite.

There's another one shot or two that I might add into this Messy-verse, after the episodes air. ;)

Stay connected! :3