"Have you ever had a hickey?"

"Excuse me?"

"Have you ever had a hickey?"

Ladybug sat, ice cream mere inches from her mouth looking at her partner. Now this wasn't the type of conversation they usually had.

"I was just wondering because... well... you've had boyfriends in the past right?"

"Kind of, I suppose - um - yeah? I guess."

"Did they ever give you a hickey?" Chat Noir asked again, this time spinning himself around to face her. The intensity in his eyes was enough to make her burst out laughing.

"No Minou, I had one 'kind of' boyfriend and he never gave me a hickey. We never even kissed."

"Oh, okay." He turned his gaze away from her and looked back out on the river, Ladybug mirroring his actions.

They sat in silence, each looking out over the rippling water of the river Seine continuing to enjoy their 'job well done' ice cream; but now he'd planted a teeny tiny seed in her mind which just could not be ignored. She pursed her lips, before looking back at her partner.

"Have you? You know -?"

"What? Me?" He asked in shock, his voice raising a clear two pitches higher as he turned to face her, "no, no, not at all."

Ladybug raised an eyebrow in question.

"I mean, I had a girlfriend before but we - um - we ... no, nope! Never had a hickey."

Turning their heads back once more, they looked out at the midday sun reflecting on the Seine. Sometimes just sitting around and soaking in the views of Paris was an absolute dream, and being here next to her kitty was the icing on the cake. She wouldn't ever admit it to him, but recently her thoughts may not have been quite as platonic as previous. She was 18 now after all, and she wasn't blind to his looks and charm; anyone in Paris knew Chat Noir was quite the looker.

"I wouldn't be opposed to having one though." She wasn't fully sure if that was meant to come out or not. Hey-ho, maybe it was time she was a 'fly by the seat of her pants' kind of girl. She'd always been so planned and organised.

She felt the breeze from his head turning towards her before she caught the wide shock in his eyes. The move was so sudden she was lucky he didn't knock her off the bench.

"You -" She heard him audibly gulp, his mouth moving with no words. What a guppy! "You wouldn't oppose it?"

She turned to face him, a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Of course not. I mean, if I was with someone of course. I wouldn't just randomly walk up to someone like Adrien Agreste and say, 'hey hot stuff, feel like branding me!'

"A-A-Adrien Agreste? The perfume guy."

"Yeah, the perfume guy." She giggled out. "Even though he's ridiculously hot, I'd want the mark to mean something, not just be filled with lust. If I'm being perfectly honest I'd probably like someone leaving such a telling love mark on me, as weird as it sounds."

"L-l-lust? For A-A-Adrien? Like the model Adrien Agreste." His voice suddenly sounded like one of the chipmunks, the expression on his face matching the voice perfectly. He could be so cute sometimes.

"What is wrong with you?" she laughed, "You know as much as I do, he's one hot piece of ass!"

"Well, it would be kinda wrong of me to think that way, to be honest."

She lifted an eyebrow at him quizzically before turning back to the river. Her mind now filled with her leaving a hickey on two hot blonds. She'd take either, she's not fussy. Both guys walking around with a hickey declaring that they were taken... and taken by her, little old Marinette Dupain-Cheng; secret superhero and supermodels chosen girlfriend. Amen.

"You could ask Adrien Agreste, you know, I'm sure he'd say yes."

Ladybug scoffed, "Yeah right, because Adrien Agreste would want to be with a girl like me."

"Of course he would, you're amazing. Who wouldn't want to leave hickeys all over you?"

Her face flamed pink at the thought. When she thought hickeys her innocent mind said neck, not all over.

"Ladybug maybe, but not 'me' me. Anyway, Adrien would be too nice to do it. He's too sweet to take part in my little experiment."

"Oh, so it's an experiment now?" Chat Noir inquired.

"Call me curious."

Silence blanketed over them once again, obviously both thinking of what to say next, when a child started to scream. Both heroes sprung to their feet only to find the child being chased along the bridge by their older sibling, no akumas in sight. The two heroes looked at each other before laughing and sitting back down, no need for them to jump into action at the moment.

"Do you think it hurts?"

"What? Having a wedgie?" She indicated to the child currently being manhandled by their older brother.

"No, having a hickey."

"If it did I'm not sure my best friend would have one permanently on her neck. She's a bit of a wuss." Alya must taste delicious because over the past six months it seems Nino had feasted on her daily. The guy must be a boardline vampire.

"That's true. Maybe it tickles? So, would you ask anyone else to give it a try? Apart from Adrien Agreste that is." Chat asked, crossing one foot over his knee and turning his body to face his Lady.

"I don't know. I can't say I've given it much thought." Until now.

"How about superheroes?"

"What? Like Spider-Man?" she giggled, "If I had to choose, I wouldn't say no to Thor, or - um - what's his name?" She began to click her fingers and tap her knee, her eyebrows creased in a frown as she thought.

"Can you give me a clue?"

"He's in that one with the tree?"

"I don't know how much you pay attention to movies, LB, but I'm quite sure most movies have trees."

She smacked him around the bicep, holding in as much of her chuckle as possible,

"You're a pain in my backside you know!"

"I'm a lovely pain though."

"Maybe." Her cheeks flustered again, the pink hue from earlier deepening into a darker shade of pink. She really did need to get a hold on herself, she knew sometimes he could be oblivious, but her face the colour of a fire engine was definitely a sure sign he was affecting her. "You know, the one with the skunk?" she continued.

"Skunk?" He pursed his lips and looked out over the Paris skyline when it clicked. "Do you mean raccoon?"

"Yes!" She bounced excitedly. "The main guy in that. Star man."

Chat laughed, "Do you mean Star Lord?"

"That's the guy. Yeah, he's hot too. Him, Thor and Adrien... I'd allow them to hickey me anytime, anywhere."

"No offence Bugaboo, but ewwww! Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pratt are far too old to be touching you. I wouldn't allow it."

"What would you do? Beat them off."

"Too right, I own a pretty big stick!"

They looked at each other and burst out laughing, Ladybug placing a hand over her lips as means to control herself, she couldn't help wondering which big stick he meant.

"But you'd allow Adrien?" Ladybug asked, quizzically.

He shrugged, messing with the rim of his boot. "He seems like an okay choice, if you were asking me for my opinion on such matters."

"Cool."

"Yeah, cool."

The silence continued in what could only be described as one of the world's weirdest conversations, and over the years they'd had some belters. One of her personal favourites (and documented for future blackmail) was Chat Noir's detailed description of how turkey tastes different to chicken. The conversation was a lot deeper than probably necessary and she's never looked at a turkey in the same way again.

"What about real superheroes?" Chat asked, suddenly, startling Ladybug and making her lift out of her seat in panic. She wasn't a jumpy person, but sometimes he could really catch her off guard, the escapade at the Montparnasse Tower a prime example.

"Real superheroes? Like 'Hot Dog Dan'?" There was no one way she was giving him the satisfaction of knowing she'd choose him. Not. A. Chance.

"If you're into that kind of thing?" He laughed before coughing. "But I kind of meant like... I don't know? One of the team?"

"What, like, Carapace?" She faked a grimace. No offence to Alya, but Nino was a thousand percent not her type; he wasn't blonde for a start, or green eyed, or looked good in black. She quickly glanced at her partner and felt her heart flutter. Yes, there was a member of the team she would let do it.

"I was - um - I was thinking more-" He began to stroke the back of his neck, moving his eyes away from hers. "Maybe someone you're closer to?"

"Rena? Yeah I'd let Rena." She smiled before turning her head to the side, maybe she could throw out a little fish? "And maybe... you." She shrugged her shoulders knowing full well she'd grabbed his attention hook, line and sinker.

"Hold up, you can't say that so loosely!" He grabbed her arm, giving it a little tug turning her to face him and she had to hold herself back from laughing. Now whose cheeks were turning pink!

"Don't get too excited, Kitty Cat."

"Don't get too excited? You've just told me you'd let me give you a hickey." For someone who oozed masculinity it was always a cute moment when he was flushed; cute and endearing... get a grip, LB!

"I never said it was going to happen." she teased, "I was just saying that if we ended up in that position I wouldn't say no."

"So, LB." He coughed, suddenly becoming very serious about the matter. "How do I get myself in that position?"

His enquiring made her smile, he really was a little pussy cat. "Never going to happen Chaton, first of all we have these to contend with." She pulled attention to her suit, Chat's mouth turning into a rather cute little pout.

"We could reveal our identities?" he said, his eyes once again showing hopefulness she'd have to crush. She raised an eyebrow at him, similar to the many, many times in the past. "I know, I know." he huffed out defeatedly, turning his attention back to the river.

Ladybug studied his side profile, taking in his sharp nose, and his well defined cheekbones. Over the years of their superheroing he'd transformed from a cute young teen to a man of pure fantasies, sharing the limelight of her own, alongside Adrien and maybe even sometimes with Adrien; but that was a story for another day.

Her thoughts began to spiral about kisses, and hickeys with her partner and whether the experiment would be too bad an experience, after all it wasn't like she was getting anything anywhere else? Right. Though, having to explain to people how she'd gotten them when she didn't have a boyfriend could become a slight hassle, and she doubted 'I experimented with the vacuum cleaner' would be a reasonable excuse. But if they were to try it, firstly they could hide the spots chosen, and secondly...

"Do you think it can happen through the suit?" he asked, turning at the wrong time and catching her fully ogling him.

She looked away, caught like a child stealing sweets before dinner time. Damn! "I don't know? Maybe? Have you ever bruised through your suit?"

"Only that one time I got cataclysmed. How about you?"

"A couple of times. They were very faint though, so if you did leave one, it would have to be quite a good suck."

"A-a good s-s-suck?"

"Yes, silly," she laughed, rolling her eyes. "If a punch can't bruise me, for a hickey to happen it would have to be quite the love bite."

"Okay, so say I was going to give you a hickey. Where would you want it?"

"It'd have to be somewhere people wouldn't see, so maybe stomach or back?" She caught his deep green eyes studying her with intrigue and decided to up the game a little. "Or my inner thighs?"

The gasp and audible gulp made her bark out a very unflattering laugh. "You're so easy, Chaton. But it's not going to happen, so it doesn't matter." But it did matter because in her head she now wanted it. How the hell had he managed to talk her into this.

You did that yourself! She wasn't sure if that was her inner devil or Tikki. Oh God, she wanted this to happen.

"How about - how about if it did happen? What if we tried it out...like you said, it could be a bit of an experiment. We could give it a code name and everything."

"A code name?" She laughed. "Like what?"

"Like-" Chat scrunched his mouth (adorably she might say) as he thought. "I know, 'The Hickey Hypothesis'."

"The Hickey Hypothesis?"

"Yeah, an assumption, an idea that is proposed for the sake of argument so that it can be tested to see if it might be true. So we come up with variants, choose a theory and then test it."

"You're actually serious about this?" Ladybug asked, raising an eyebrow in question. Please say yes! Please say yes!

"Oh, I am. You have no idea how much!"

Yes! Ladybug bit her lower lip. "Okay."

"Excuse me?"

"I said okay," she giggled, "but I'm not doing this alone, you have to have hickeys too."

Chat bounced in his seat, the joy on his face more than a child in a candy store, and she couldn't help the enjoyment of being responsible for this highly anticipated mood.

"Fine, you can try it through mine too."

"I was thinking more about maybe swapping kwamis. If we use the spots as markers for where we've tested it'll be easier to see if it worked." Ladybug expanded, "I tend to injure myself a lot in my civilian life."

"Madly clumsy." He laughed, "I remember." The statement being answered by her nod.

"So using my spots would help know which is the hickey and which is just another day-to-day bruise."

"I'm okay with that, if you are?"

Taking his hand she pulled him to standing, wrapped an arm around his waist and used the other to swing her yo-yo into the sky. If they were going to do this they needed to do it now before she chickened out.