-Goodnight, Moon.- (Chat Noir)

Secrets

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Andromeda found herself waking up in a cold sweat again. She had been reliving the same thing, over and over, every night-- and it terrified her.

"Andromeda?" The tiny Kwami was in her vision as she opened up her eyes. "Are you okay? You're crying."

Andromeda sits up slowly, wiping the tears from her eyes and resisting the urge to fall back asleep. "Yeah," She mumbles, placing her feet over the edge of the bed and staring down at the carpet. "Just a nightmare."

"Do you get them a lot?" Lunna floats over and rests her tiny hand on top of Andromeda's.

"Only for the past year and a half." She responds.

"Oh..." Lunna whispers, knowing she could say nothing to fill the silence.

"Yeah." Andromeda casts her glance over at the kwami. "How'd you find out about all of that again?"

"Once you put on that necklace, we became one. I can see all of it." Andromeda lets out a frustrated sigh at this response.

"I just want to be okay."

The rabbit kwami worries desperately about her user for a moment, before trying her best to cheer the girl up. "Maybe we should go out and see the city tonight? Would it make you feel any better?"

"I have my doubts." Andromeda scoffs.

"We could go look at the stars where the light of the city begins to fade!" Lunna practically sings out this idea. This makes the corner of Andromeda's mouth twitch. If there was one thing she really missed, it was how bright the stars were back at the place she used to call home.

"You got me.... Jump in, Lunna."

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On the outskirts of the twelfth arrondissement, there a few fields in some private property that Andromeda managed to sneak out to. She laid in the grass and looked up at the night sky, picking out constellation after constellation and reflecting on her day.

"I guess Nathaniel must really like Marinette." She whispers. His actions to protect her today made it pretty apparent, especially when he neglected to say anything about Andromeda herself, when she thought for sure the two of them were already best friends.

Or perhaps she was just simply a best friend, and not a thought more.

"I've taken on so much responsibility lately, how the heck am I going to manage the play and school on top of work and work as a hero?" She lets out a sigh. "I'm never going to find the time to actually make friends."

Then again, she thought, perhaps that was for the best.

"Why do you smile like you've been told a secret? Now you're telling lies 'cause you have sworn to keep it-- But no one keeps a secret. No one keeps a secret. Why when we do our darkest deeds do we tell? They burn in our brains, become a living hell, 'cause everybody tells. Everybody tells..." Andromeda sings quietly, still enamored by the stars up above her head. As she quiets down, she's nearly scared to death as a face comes into her zenith.

"Of course I'd find the rabbit out in the field." Chat Noir chuckles as he takes a seat beside Andromeda, whose still clutching her heart desperately trying not to let out a scream.

"Couldn't have been a little bit louder, so maybe I heard you coming!? Man, you scared me!" Andromeda sits up and drops her hands into the grass.

"And risk having you stop singing? Nah." He leans back on his gloved hands. "So why are you up so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing, you know." Chat shrugs in response to her and Andromeda turns her attention back to she sky. "Nightmares."

"You too, huh?" Andromeda gives a slow nod of her head.

"About what?"

"That's kind of personal." Andromeda says, but Chat turns to her with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't even know who you really are, it's not like I could use it as blackmail."

Andromeda supposed he had a point.

"About my mom."

"Oh..." Chat Noir looks out up at the stars. "Yeah, I get those too, sometimes." There's a small silence between the two, but the crickets in the field can be heard chirping, the there's sounds of both the city and the river in the distance. "You know what's always helped me? Getting out of the house, away from everyone and taking in the city at night."

"Well, I don't really live with anyone, but that's sort of what I'm doing." Andromeda gives Chat her best smile. "The stars help me, and the moon. I can just sit back and think, appreciate the fact that I'm here right now, at a time where I can actually enjoy all this. It really puts all the small things in perspective."

"That's a pretty mature way of thinking." Chat Noir rubs his chin. "And you live alone? Man, you must be old!"

"I am not! And I'm not a kid either, so don't call me that again." Andromeda picks at some of the grass below her. "I'm sixteen."

"Careful, don't give away too much!~" Chat teased, but Andromeda rolls her eyes.

"I'm not that worried about you." She responds. "You seem nice enough, with your attempt at comforting me thus far."

"You're putting a lot of faith in someone you barely know." His green eyes were surprised at the girl beside him. So mature, but yet the same age as him? And she sounded a bit foreign, perhaps she wasn't from Paris at all?

"That's kind of my role in all this, you know. My duty as the gray miraculous holder."

"Wait, you have the gray miraculous?" He pointed a gloved finger at her, and she looked down at her outfit.

"Wasn't it obvious?"

Chat Noir laughed, a bit embarrassed. "Well, I'm glad you're here to keep an eye out for us, then..." His face kind of falls, and this makes Andromeda curious.

"What's up with you?" She asks.

"It's just... I really want to know who Ladybug is."

"Are you kidding me?" She furrows her brow. "If you know what I do as the gray miraculous holder, and why it even exists, then you should know exactly why that's such a horrible thing to say!"

Chat laughs again, this time a bit more sad. "Yeah, I know.. I guess I just wanted to see if she could ever feel the same way..." His voice is quiet, and Andromeda feels a bit of pity for the guy who seems to be facing the same problem as her, currently.

"Listen, just try your hardest. You don't need to give away your real identity for her to decide whether or not she likes you. If she can love the hero, then I'm sure she'll love the guy behind the mask, too. But it's important that she doesn't know who you really are right now, or you may lose the partnership and trust you've built up so far."

Chat stares wide eyed at the girl, how was it possible she was so smart, so mature, and so right about everything? At only sixteen?

"Yeah," He sighs. "You're right... Wow, you're like, actually really good at this intermediary thing!"

Andromeda rises to her feet, holding out a hand to Chat Noir.

"I've got a lot of experience with keeping secrets. I know what damage could come from those secrets getting out."

"Sounds like you've got quite the past." Chat adds.

"You have no idea..."

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