Nebula - Adrien Agreste

Chapter 25 - Revelations and Pet Names

"Was it really necessary to interfere with our fight?" I wondered, crossing my arms over my chest when I met up with Serenity Swan that night. He always seems to know the nights that I patrol, and parts of me think he purposefully shows himself in order to talk to me.

He smirked at me, "probably not but you guys were struggling. Surely you've done this before?" He asked me in amusement and I huffed, rolling my eyes.

"We've always found a way to defeat them," I argued with a roll of my eyes. "Ladybug's not supposed to know you're here, remember?" I reminded him with a scowl. "Now she definitely knows! And you don't know how relentless Ladybug is when she figures something out and wants to know the answer! Hell, when I first started out it took her weeks before she came around - and even then we had to go to Master Fu and have him talk to her. With me in the room!" I snapped, scowling when Serenity Swan had the audacity to laugh at the scene that was probably playing in his head. "It's not funny!"

"Sorry, sorry!" He apologized, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'm just remembering my Ladybug. She was the same way..." He trailed off in amusement, chuckling faintly.

At that my face softened. I had forgotten there had been another Ladybug before this one. "So why is it you got to keep your Miraculous, but the other Ladybug had to give hers up?" I wondered out loud with a tilt of my head. While I was thankful to have my Ladybug and Chat Noir, I found it weird that they didn't get the chance to keep their Miraculous'.

Serenity Swan's face scrunched up. "Very different circumstances," he murmured, making me frown. What did he mean by that? "I have to go. We're about to have company." Before I could ask what he meant he disappeared - almost like I was talking to air.

"Bat Queen?" A familiar voice echoed in my ear, making me relax slightly and turn to see the tom cat looking at me in concern.

"Hi Chat," I smiled softly at him as the boy beamed at me, strolling over to me effortlessly. "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight." Adrien had told me his father had some evening photo-shoots for him to do, which he rarely ever did. Plus he didn't ask me to join, which made me believe the photo-shoots were purely for his fashion line.

"I wasn't expecting to be let out early," he chuckled faintly before frowning. "Who were you talking to?" He wondered, glancing forward where Serenity Swan had just been standing.

Swallowing thickly I glanced over my shoulder where he had been standing before sighing. "Serenity Swan. I wanted to know why he interfered, but he wouldn't tell me why. Just sidestepped the question..." I admitted with a sigh. Maybe it didn't matter. He was trying to help, and in the end he did help.

I was mostly worried about Ladybug going overboard and trying to figure out what happened.

"You've been talking to him a lot here recently," Chat Noir mused, tapping his pointer finger on his chin. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were cheating on me," he pouted, slouching a little.

I grimaced at the insinuation. "Chat, he could be my father, ew!" I gagged, placing my hands over my face dramatically. The cat boy laughed, reaching forward and bringing me to him - giving me a hug. I hugged him back, sighing deeply into the embrace. "I just don't want him getting into any more trouble than what he's already in..." I trailed off in defeat; Chat tightened his arms around me at the tone of my voice.

"I'm sure he knows what he's doing, love," he murmured, making me go stiff in his arms at that. That was new. Though it seemed he didn't realize he used the pet name.

"Love?" I questioned, this time his arms were stiffening around me. I glanced up to look at his face that froze as I grinned. "We're on pet-name bases now?" I teased, and the tom cat narrowed his eyes on me.