There were moments in her life that Ladybug knew she would remember exactly as they happened, and this was definitely one of those moments.

As the water sailed from the pool onto her bare legs, she flung herself around on the deckchair.

A body appeared from under the water, shaking blond hair around and sending water flying in small droplets back into the pool, causing a scatter of rainbows around them. Ladybug watched as the muscles in his back rippled in gloriousness from the distinct movement. The water glistened like a cluster of diamonds on the most defined back she'd ever seen. If ever they were going to hire a blond to play James Bond, this guy was a sure thing for the role.

He bounced around a little in the water, before effortlessly diving and swimming under the surface—his very bare, very naked, bum rising above the surface.

Oh wow! This guy was starkers—and she couldn't pull her eyes away!

"Yikes!" A black blur zoomed past her. A very familiar black blur.

"Plagg," the body in the water said.

"Transform, kid!"

"What? Why?"

"Just do as I say!"

A green flash covered his body as he turned around and screamed, one hand disappearing in the water as another slammed over his eyes.

She looked behind her. Something red catching her eye on the back of the sun-lounger...something which should have been on a very intimate part of her body.

Shuffling around, she grabbed her towel and wrapped it around the top half of her body, most accurately her bare breasts, just as he was covering his... things .

"Chat Noir! Why are you here?"

"Why are you naked?" he squeaked back, the pitch was so high she thought he'd go prepubescent.

She huffed. "I should be asking you the same question!"

"I was going for a swim in my pool!"

"Our pool. Uncover your eyes," she said, wrapping the towel around her tighter.

"I - I don't know. I don't want you to feel like I'm perving on you."

She sighed. "Chaton, I'm covered now."

Slowly, Chat Noir uncovered his face, a shy sheepish pull at each corner of his lips. He looked so innocent she could have laughed.

"What's wrong? Has the all great and powerful Chat Noir never seen a woman naked before?"

Please say no! Please say no!

"No! Of course I haven't, I've never - I've always - no!" She wasn't sure if the over denial was a lie or whether he was well and truly on the defence. He pushed himself out the water, and she couldn't help but wonder what that action would have looked like without his transformation.

Was it a bad thing that she was still thinking about his back? She just couldn't seem to stop. The ripples, the tight muscles...she couldn't work out if it was from hours spent vaulting over rooftops, or if he was just working overtime in the gym?

Down, Marinette!

She clambered onto her knees facing away from him, a mixture of wanting to put her bikini top back on and wanting to cool down. He moved onto the swimming pool ledge and posed like he was in the swimsuit edition of Vogue magazine. Posing in a way the sun reflected on his bone structure just right.

He shook his hair out, before brushing it back from his forehead causing him to have a 50's style— slicked back and ready to become a T-Bird. God, why was he so hot!

He looked at her suspiciously. "How did you do that?"

"Um — do what?" She looked around her, unsure what her partner was talking about.

"That!" he exclaimed, pointing to her again.

She looked down at her bikini and smiled. "Oh, this little thing. Well I make most of my own clothes, and I was watching Love Island —"

He chuckled, shaking his head. Standing, he made his way over to her, and sat beside her. Her mind wanted the suit to disappear and show her what taut muscles he had on the front... wait ...reverse.

"No, the suit! How did you get rid of the suit but keep the mask? Your face is still blurred by quantum masking."

"Oh," she said with a nod, her cheeks burning brighter than the sun. "This? Well, Tikki told me about it. I take it Plagg never thought about telling you?"

His eyebrows almost became one as he thought. Finally, he pursed his lips and shook his head. "Nope. He's never mentioned it, but then again he'd had no real reason to."

"He kind of did if he knew you were coming here." She giggled. "By the way, where did they put your things? They're not inside the villa."

He looked confused once again. "My... things? "

"Yeah," she said. "Your bags. They must have had a field day after I told them my other half would be coming later. I can't believe you're actually here. I wonder if they had a bet if I was telling the truth or not."

"I—um—yeah!" he laughed, reaching to rub the back of his neck. "They went wild. Chat Noir and Ladybug, finally together, who would have thought it?"

"Certainly not me," she laughed, though it was as far from realistic as Chat Noir's tail.

"My bags are still in the lobby. Yeah, the lobby. I wanted to get straight in the pool so they said they'd bring them after."

"Cool."

They sat in silence for a while, Ladybug having no idea what to say next or what to do.

"Are you spying on me?" she finally asked. He jolted back a little to look at her.

"What?"

"Did you use your communicator to track me?" Her tone was quite defensive and she wished she hadn't come across quite so hard.

"N-no! Of course I didn't. This was meant to be our own time, but then when I got here they... um ...they..."

"They what, Kitty?"

"Well, they thought I was with you, of course. I'd booked my stay as Plagg Noir, and well they saw me and thought I was with you. So, I hope you won't mind having a roommate." He smiled at her but for some unknown reason it didn't meet his eyes.

"Did they give you the key?"

He frowned. "The key?"

"Yes, Chaton, the key . Just if you need to get in and out whilst we're here you're going to need your key." She looked at him suspiciously as tiny beads of sweat coated his forehead.

"Oh, that key? Yes, they gave me the key."

"There's only one bed," she stated, not entirely sure why she said that to him, and even more so why she even thought about it.

"It's okay, Bugaboo. I'm quite sure I can't make you fall in love with me by sharing a bed."

Oh, if only he knew!

She giggled as he laughed, both sounding as fake as Chloé Bourgeois's recently plumped up lips. This wasn't them, they were never this awkward. Yes, they had strange situations, but this was something else entirely.

"About the transformation?" Chat Noir asked, messing with his hands in front of his body. Even at 18-years-old he still had his young teen mannerisms.

"Oh yes, so you need to say 'power down' and it'll take away your suit but keep the mask and the quantum masking."

She wouldn't admit to him she searched for it after a rather... active ...night's dream, and he most certainly didn't need to know it featured him as the main star.

"So, you just say 'Power down'?" A flash of green encompassed his body before leaving his flesh bare. From his neck, right down to his toes and everything in between, literally everything , was now out in the open . His bottom was as bare as the day he was born.

Screaming, she threw her towel over his lap and slammed her hands over her eyes.

"Can you please make sure you have something on underneath your suit before you do that next time?" she squealed. She felt the sun-lounger they were on suddenly lift as she guessed her partner stood and moved away from her.

"Let me just..." His voice changed in volume as he moved further away, hopefully to grab some clothing. "Okay, I'm good!" She slowly uncovered her eyes, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw he'd at least put on some shorts...she could live without him adding a top.

She couldn't help admiring the view in front of her. He was the definition of defined. A modern day Gladiator, with abs to wash clothing on and thigh muscles the size of her waist. He was dry now. His body held a wonderful natural glowing, golden tan and made her look as pale as Casper the friendly ghost.

"So..." she said, Chat Noir coming to sit with her again. "...nice place, isn't it?"

"Oh, um, yeah! I haven't seen much of it yet. I only just got here, so..."

They both sat nodding at each other. Oh, man, why was this so awkward? They looked like bobble heads in the back of an American pick up truck. They knew each other inside and out! They could talk for hours when they were back in Paris...

What if we can only be friends in Paris? No, that couldn't be right. They were fine in Shanghai and New York. She just needed to get a grip of herself.

"Perhaps we could go exploring...together...if you want to."

"I – um –" Ladybug seemed to be stumbling over her words a lot for someone who should have had this clear. But then again, she always lost herself when she started to like someone, and her partner was in the firing line at the moment. She straightened her back and pushed out her chest a little.

Perhaps this was the opportunity she needed to show him she was worth a chance... again. Over the past couple of weeks, his flirting had become less and his overall interactions with her were a lot more friendly . She never thought she would hate the word so much.

If she wanted to separate Chat Noir and Adrien, this was a perfect opportunity to do it. She knew where she stood with Adrien, he'd made it clear to her he wanted more and was willing to wait for her. However, she couldn't stop thinking about her partner and right now, seeing him here, wet and topless, it was him she wanted to know more about. Sure, it could destroy the world, but wasn't that the whole point of love?

No, Marinette, no it's not!

She wasn't sure if that was her angel on her shoulder or Tikki in her head, but one thing was for sure, she was going to grab this opportunity and go with it.

"I went to the spa earlier today, and they were very against me getting a massage by myself...maybe we could go together at some point."

Chat Noir nodded. "That sounds great. It seems they're very much into things being done in twos, so maybe we could also take part in some of the other events, if you want to."

"Sure. What were you thinking?"

Chat Noir looked around with his lips pursed. "We could hire one of those bikes, or see about one of those karaoke nights? I'm up for anything really. I want to let my hair down and have some fun, after all, it'll be back to business when we get back to Paris."

Ladybug smiled. "That sounds great, Chaton." She stood from the sun lounger and headed over towards the door to their villa. "I was going to explore the hotel grounds, if you want to come with me? You don't have to. I mean, it's just a walk, but it might be fun if we walk together."

Chat Noir stood up, too, nodding. "Sure. I'll just need to go to reception quickly to see where my baggage has gotten and then we can go."

"Excellent. I'll meet you here—in the kitchen—in about thirty minutes then?"

"See you then." She smiled at him, taking a step backwards before taking another two forwards and stretching up onto her toes. She kissed him on the cheek and wrapped him in a warm, sweaty hug. "I'm really glad you're here, Chaton."

He smiled back. "Me too."

Turning on her heel, she grabbed her book from the sun lounger and made her way into the villa. This vacation had suddenly become a lot more interesting.