Disclaimer: never did and never will own it. Thomas Astruc does.
Spoilers: canon until Season 2, Episode 10 (Sapotis)

Adrien stared at his pet project. One month ago, he would have been outside as Cat Noir, to take advantage of some stolen moments of true freedom. But one month ago, there had been that akuma... And it had changed things. Gorizilla had been quite difficult to defeat and he had almost killed several civilians and Ladybug. Cat Noir had been there to deflect the blows barely seconds before they hit, but the last one... He had thought his heart would stop. He had just straightened from having protected the attacked civilian and had been looking for Ladybug. She had been on the other side of the Champ de Mars, the huge fist of Gorizilla about to crush her. He still didn't know how he had managed to cross that distance between them and catch her before the devastating fist fell.

Once back home, he had decided it was enough. The adrenaline rush of saving Paris, of being free and of having at last no impossible expectations to meet had died. If it continued for too long, he would lose Ladybug – or someone would die. He had to find another way. After all, he was supposed to be quite intelligent. So he had begun writing down all he could remember about each akuma they had defeated. He had asked a big map of Paris to Nathalie and had placed a red dot for every birth of an akuma. The number of them was quite worrying. He studied each case carefully, as if they held the key to the problem, but he had to admit, he was no further advanced. He circled two cases that intrigued him: Gigantitan and Despair Bear. In his opinion, Gigantitan was a mistake, as in not the right target.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed when looking at his notes. He was stuck. He needed another pair of eyes to help him progress in the analysis. Ladybug was obviously out of question; how could he impress her with a half finished work? He then thought of Nino, but Cat Noir had no reason to interact with Nino. Chloé would not even listen to him and would just babble about herself – besides, Cat Noir had no affinity with Chloé. He racked his brains for a while, listing mentally all the people he knew before hitting the perfect name. Why hadn't he thought about her before?

-o-o-

This was why, only minutes later, Cat Noir was near Marinette's home, hoping she would be on her balcony. For once, luck was with him: the weather was nice and there was still enough light for Marinette to be sketching outside. He landed softly and took one step forward.

"Er... Excuse me, Marinette?"

She started, mouth wide open, let her pencil fall – and with it, her sketchbook and half what was on the table – closed her mouth and frowned.

"Hello, Cat Noir?" she replied, a bit unsure.

He was already bending to recover her things and held her out the pencils. He had a look at the page she had been working on.

"You have talent," he said immediately. "This looks like it had been imagined by one of the top designers."

She flushed. "Thank you, but I– er, it's not done yet. Still lots of work to do on it. Anyway. You aren't here to speak about fashion. Is there an akuma about? I haven't heard anything."

"No, no. For once, everything's calm. I..." He stopped a moment. He had no idea how to tell her what he needed from her. He was not used to need anything – apart from an ordinary life. And a father who loved him. Oh, and Ladybug's love. Nothing, really.

She was clearly perplexed as his presence here or at the fact that he was not joking around.

"Is there something I can do for you?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes. That's why I came here. Would you have some time for me?"

She gave him an incredulous look. "Do I look like someone who would tell you no when you're risking your life to save all of us? When you saved me?"

"I meant... You have a family, friends, maybe something else planned than spending time right now with a stray cat."

She had to laugh at that. "Stray cat, of course, that's you. You know I would never drive away a poor kitty. So, tell me."

"You see, I had this idea of studying the previous cases. Usually, with Ladybug, we just rush in action and once we defeated the akuma, we must hurry away before de-transforming," he said, a bit defensively, maybe because of the way she was looking at him. "We don't get much time to talk and with real life interfering..."

"I understand, Cat Noir," she said gently. "No need to justify yourself."

He took a deep breath. Why was he feeling so awkward? He knew this was a good idea! He put down his notes in front of her.

"Those are the cases having happened. I tried to find the similarities or differences, or anything that could help us in defeating Hawk Moth, but... but I can't manage to reach anything pertinent," he concluded lamely, head down.

Marinette didn't answer. He looked up. From the look of her, she had not even heard his last sentence. She was reading his notes, her lips moving silently, and her eyes growing bigger by the minute.

"Er... Marinette?"

"Wow. Just... wow. I... You, no, I mean, this... Argh! Wow, Kit– er, Cat."

"Kit-kat?" he repeated.

"Yes! No, no! Cat Noir. Wow, Cat Noir."

She was stuttering. She only ever did that when he was Adrien. Had she discovered his identity? How... He had not said anything personal and the notes were purely about Ladybug and him. He had to remain calm.

"Why are you stammering like that?"

She let out a big breath. "It's... I'm impressed!"

He was sceptical. "So, when you're impressed, you can't speak clearly?"

She glared at him. He mulled over this new information. So, if she was speaking, or rather not speaking to him as Adrien, it was because she was impressed by him. He had not taken her for someone subjugated by the 'son of a famous designer' and well-known model. He sighed internally. Still, he preferred the silent type to the aggressive type like Chloé. He was dragged from his thoughts by Marinette's muttering.

"I'm an idiot. We are all idiots. Someone should have made that long ago."

"Is it the fact that I managed to think about it that impressed you? You thought I was all brawn and no brains?"

She looked up from the notes. "What? No! I never doubted that you had brains! Where does this idea come from?"

He returned her gaze calmly. "Everybody knows that I'm just good for fighting and defending Ladybug. She has all the ideas and strategy and..."

"And she didn't think of this!" Marinette interrupted fiercely, her closed fist hitting his stack of notes. "Without you, she's nothing! If you were not there, when would she find the time to have the ideas? She has that yoyo thing with the lucky charm and such, so it's her responsibility to find its use."

Cat Noir was taken aback by her defence. At least, she was no more stuttering.

"Whoa, calm down! I wasn't saying that–"

"Yes, you were. Let's go back to your brilliant idea. Why did you circle Gigantitan? And Despair Bear?"

-o-o-

He took a moment to recover his thoughts. "Gigantitan was a mistake. I'm sure that Hawk Moth did not intend to akumatise a baby. He had no way of controlling him and he would never have managed to get the Miraculous."

She frowned. "So? Your deduction?"

"Someone else was the initial target, someone who managed to calm down before the akuma arrived."

"Either someone good with managing their emotions or else the akuma came from far."

"Or their negative emotions were not very intense and they dissipated quickly," he supplied.

"True. Very true. Speaking of emotions... if I read this correctly, only Antibug and Volpina really tried to do his bidding. The others were just trying to vent their frustration."

"Maybe because both of them were angry against Ladybug?"

"Was any of them angry against you?"

"Copycat. He... I was his rival for Ladybug. Would he had taken her Miraculous, I don't know. Oh, and we forgot Dark Owl. He obeyed Hawk Moth."

"Because he gave him what he wanted. To be a superhero." She read again his notes. "Hawk Moth is emotionally-disabled," she said critically. "Except for the three superheroes, the powers he gave them never solved their problems and the reason of their negative emotions. He doesn't understand people at all."

Cat Noir sighed in defeat. "This is hopeless. We have more questions than answers! This was not a good idea, after all."

Marinette hung down her head. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you," she whispered. "Maybe if you show your notes to Ladybug, she'll find something."

"I agree that she's terrific. The imagination she has when she gets the Lucky Charm! She often says 'What am I supposed to do with this?', but each time, she pulls it off. Still, it's out of question! We started this together, partner, we'll continue together."

"I'm not your partner. She is."

"Not for this project." He bumped her elbow. "Cheer up. It isn't your fault. Using my brains was not a good idea. Asking you was."

"You want to impress her, don't you?"

He stood up and turned his back to her. "Yes," he admitted. "But even more than impressing her, I want to put an end to Hawk Moth's activities." He looked at her. "So if we find nothing with that, I'll ask her. Promise."

"Maybe we can try another angle? Like how to reduce the delay for your arrival or find a way to neutralise the villains faster by studying them before rushing into action...?"

He chuckled. "Rushing into action, that's me, all right. Told you, all brawn–"

"No," she growled. She walked up to him. "There are brains behind those mischievous eyes, and very effective ones. But... your gift is the one of destruction and destructive people tend to act first and think later. Did you ever wonder if your way of fighting was influenced by your Miraculous? Like, if in real life, you're more prone to react with your fists or if you take the time to think. Don't answer," she added hurriedly. "I know you must protect your identity. But think of it, will you?"

Mischievous eyes? Where did that come from? He was so stunned he heard the rest of her little speech in a blur.

"If you allow me...?" he said.

"What?"

He stepped forward and hugged her. "You are brilliant," he whispered.

"Wha– Me? No, I... You. No."

She was flustered and stuttering again. Another hint to why she couldn't speak properly in his alter ego's presence?

"Yes," he said firmly. "Thank you for everything, Marinette. I'll go over what we said and come back to you just as soon as I have another idea."

She looked crestfallen. Thinking back of their last exchanges, he added, "Or when I have more data. Which should happen sooner than finding a clue."

She scowled. "Believe in yourself," she said.

He grinned at her. "It's a case of the pot calling the kitten black, little lady."

He disappeared from her balcony before she could answer.

-o-o-

Nevertheless, he took her advice to heart and thought of all the new leads he could follow. But first...

"Plagg? Was she right? Does my Miraculous affect my thinking?"

The kwami was turning a quarter of Camembert in his paws with the utmost fascination and took a bite before answering lazily. "Which thinking? We're here to destroy and protect the Ladybug Miraculous. Where's thinking in that? Unless you're speaking of cheese..." He took another bite and almost purred in satisfaction. Adrien shook his head in despair but promised himself fiercely that next time, he would take the time to think before madly attacking. Maybe like this, Ladybug would not be in danger again.

-o-o-

The following day, at school, he eyed Marinette with curiosity. As she was arriving with Alya, she was chatting animatedly but – he had checked – not a word of his visit to her had appeared on the Ladyblog. So Alya didn't know. It was their secret, one he had someone to share with.

"Good morning, Alya, Marinette."

"Good morning, Adrien. Nino is late?"

"Good rien, Ad-morning. Er... Goodning Adrimor. Oh! Hum, hello?"

He almost saw it coming before it happened and his hand shot forward to catch her as she stumbled on the steps.

"Adrikins!" shrieked Chloé. "How can you stand touching her? She's not even wearing designer clothes like I am!"

"Need to purr-ify what the cat brought in," Marinette muttered.

Adrien gaped at her. Had she just been making cat-puns? She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, short night."

It was true she looked tired. He wondered immediately if she had worried for him. The day would have gone in a blur if there hadn't been an akuma alert. Someone he didn't know, an underground conductor who had been attacked by a passenger furious the underground was late because of incidents. It had not been easy to reach the location and he was not feeling very at ease. Sort of claws-trophobic. Ladybug rolled her eyes.

"The akuma is in his snipe card," he said.

She turned to him, surprised.

"I arrived here a bit earlier than you and... he didn't see me at first, so I studied him a moment."

"Good job, my kitty," she said, ringing his bell.

He almost purred. She had said 'my kitty'.

"Any other insight?" she asked, readying her yoyo. "Hey, why was the conductor akumatised and not the passenger who attacked him?"

"Milady, if Hawk Moth akumatised all the passengers furious with the underground, trains and general rail system, we would be paw-sitively submerged in akumas every day. They are almost used to the problems, so their anger generally fades quickly. But the conductor is probably not used to being attacked every day."

"Fortunately for him," she said.

"That must have driven him wild."

"You had better puns than this one. Now, who are you and what did you do with Cat Noir?"

"I'm hurt, milady!" he protested. "I'm dashing, funny, witty and head over heels for you. I'm the cat's whiskers! Why do you doubt me?"

"Usually, Cat Noir can't wait to be in thick of the fight. And you're still here, talking to me."

His face darkened a little and he leaned toward her. He had some problem with personal space.

"Not when it puts you in danger," he whispered.

He straightened and took a step back. "Considering that he's currently occupied with venting his anger on all the passengers, if we go fast, we should be able to defeat him quickly. Maybe you could come at him from the roof of the train while I keep him occupied, then you should be able to catch the akuma with him none the wiser. Does it look paws-ible to you?"

She nodded. "Be careful, kitty."

Discreetly, she jumped on the roof. Cat Noir let out a big breath. He had not been sure she would accept to listen to him. He moved his head a bit, making his neck crack. Fighting the urge to jump forward had been hard, but Marinette had been right. It was due to the influence of his Miraculous. He owed her one.

Almost to his stupefaction, his plan worked fine and Ladybug did not even have to use her Lucky Charm. She de-evilised the akuma and they watched everything go back to normal, for once not in hurry to leave for fear of being de-transformed in front of everyone.

"Congratulations, Cat. That was the easiest yet, thanks to you."

He bowed to her. "I live only to please my lady. If you're safe and happy, then I'm happy. Paw-sitively."

"Time to bug out! Real life is calling!"