Fifteen

It was strange. Not the fact that the Paris streets were empty on a Friday night nor the way Sir Noir seemed to slow down a bit every time Ladybug fell behind. No, what was stranger to her was the fact that these buildings and streets they passed through seemed eerily familiar. Every twist and turn they made seemed to spark a different candle in the back of her mind. Buried beneath scar tissue and trauma making it a little hard to dig up.

Sir Noir jumped onto a balcony decorated with rusty christmas lights and moldy green lawn chairs. He opened the latched door to get inside of the dark room and left it open for Ladybug to jump in after him.

When her eyes failed to adjust to the darkness, she heard a creak and a thud from behind her as the door she just came through was latched shut. But fear didn't set in just yet. She wasn't powerless and was still curious as to who this man was. "You're a coward, tell me who you are!" She searched for any hint of light as her heart raced for any sound.

In a matter of seconds, she heard a click followed by a bright light momentarily blinding her. Covering her eyes she squinted to adjust. When she did, she saw pink walls and furniture flood her vision making her almost nauseous. Though the room was small it looked to be a child's room to her. Dust particles flew through the air while others still settled on the pink sewing machine in the corner and the furniture scattered around the room.

A twinge a familiarity pinched that back of her mind making the feeling of nausea twist into frustration. One look in the small mirror to her right sent her emotions through the roof. Having had enough, she clenched her teeth and threw her yo-yo and it. Just before it hit and shattered the glass, she saw a reflection of a young girl sitting on the bed beside her trying to fix her own posture.

As the glass shards spread across the floor she stumbles back to hit a dusty desk with different threads rolling to the floor. She turns around to try and pick it all up but the longer she looks the more her head throbs at different memories flooding into her head. She looked up from the desk to the wall hoping to just see the same irritating pink. But her hopes fail her as she comes face to face with dozens upon dozens of photographs.

Though each photo were distinctively different, they all had one person in common. Holding the camera out of frame, Marinette herself was smiling beside each person she was with. Her silly little pigtails even blocking parts of the other person in the photo.

Looking closer, she blinked the dizziness out of her line of sight as she spotted Alya in a few of her photos. Grabbing the wall in front of her, she stabs her hand with one of the thumbtacks. When she lifted her hand to check the damage, she saw a blonde young man with playful green eyes smiling back at her. "I saw him today," she mumbled to herself. Ladybug grabbed the familiar photo from the wall and looked at her past blush only to tear it up in a fit of rage. "Who was that! I know you know who all of these people are, don't make me ask again!" She turned around to face the conniving cat only to see him standing there in the shadows of the room holding something up.

She rubbed her eyes as she stepped closer to him to get a better look at him. He took a few steps toward her to shed light on his black cat suit and the small piece of paper he was holding up to her. Only, it wasn't just a piece of paper.

Ladybug stopped in her tracks when she caught sight of the photograph. She looked up and Sir Noir again then back to the picture and began to see double. It was him. Her mind went blank as she tried to remember just when the picture was taken. She stumbled back and gripped the desk behind her fr support as Sir Noir stalked closer. "W-who are you?" She stuttered as she could barely look into his eyes as he approached.

Instead of answering her again, he tucked the photo away and reached his hands up the her ponytail. In a low, melancholic tone he whispered as he lightly pulled the elastic from her hair, "you're 25 years old Marinette. I thought by now you'd know how to present yourself." Wrapping the elastic around his wrist, Sir Noir caught ladybug just in time to support her from falling onto the floor.

Small talk from over a decade ago hit her like a tsunami making just thinking of any of it feel like she was drowning in a storm. She looked up into his stormy eyes and gasped, "I-" she paused.

"You?" He asked softly as he held her in his arms.

She was about to let the storm gates break when her yoyo started blinking and beeping from across the room. Her mind came back to her and she was on her feet again. She picked up her yoyo and before he could say anything to stop her she broke the nearest window to jump out of.

As Sir Noir watched her swing away, he wondered if he should bother chasing after he anymore. Then, out of instinct, her pulled the wrinkled photo from his pocket then chased after her without a second thought.