Chapter Text
Marinette didn’t know what to think of the dare when she read it. How the hell were they supposed to get to the Eiffel tower without touching the ground? She stared at Chat, he didn’t appear phased by the dare. In fact, he appeared almost excited by it. His eyes lit up upon reading it a smile spread across his face. Within seconds he had jumped up on top of the table. She laughed at his action. He offered a hand to her, she took it and climbed up to join him on the table.
“How are we supposed to get there?” she asked him. She assumed that he had a plan given he had jumped onto the table so abruptly.
“Well, we have no way of getting there by ground, so obviously we take the high road,” he said with a smile wide on his face.
She wondered what he meant by the high road. It sounded like a dumb expression to her. She tried to figure out if it was a pun or if he was being serious, yet if he were serious what did the high road even mean. Last time she checked there was no road in the sky that lead to the Eiffel tower. Then suddenly realization hit, by the high road he meant going by rooftop, it was the only thing he could’ve meant. She stared at Chat in confusion as she realized. She knew that they weren’t that far from the tower but what he had proposed sounded dangerous.
She had never been building jumping in her life, and with good reason. Jumping between the buildings was something that people did on TV shows not in real life. She knew that there was no other way to actually complete the dare as they could not touch the ground meaning that there was no way to go via the streets. It just sounded so dangerous to her, who the hell jumps across rooftops?
“I’m clumsy, I’ll fall,” she said anxiously. She knew she was clumsy, she had managed to break her arm trying to do a flip in gymnastics. She could barely go a day without falling over and that was on the ground. On the ground, if her clumsiness hit she knew she’d be fine, the ground was safe. She couldn’t hurt herself too badly if she fell on the ground and even if she did help wouldn’t be too far off. On the rooftops, however, that was a different story. If she fell she would be far more likely to hurt herself. She felt panicked as she thought about it more and more. She could feel a cold sweat trickling down her skin as her breath began to pick up in tempo. She would’ve begun hyperventilating if it hadn’t been for Chat’s hands on her shoulders grounding her.
“I’ll catch you,” he promised. His eyes were fixed on her and she could see no hint of a lie in his eyes. She had barely known him 24 hours but she could tell that he would sooner sacrifice himself than let her fall. She knew that she would be safe in his hands. It helped to quench the fear but it didn’t completely go away. He was probably just as inexperienced with building jumping as she was, the dare was too dangerous for the both of them to manage.
“I know you will. I’m scared,” she admitted. He gave her a sad smile and nodded.
“I know you’re afraid, it’s okay to be scared. You don’t have to go through with it, you can back out, I won’t think any less of you. Just know that it’s your choice, you don’t have to go through with the dare. Even if we end up just before the final hurdle, you can still choose to back out, it’s okay to be afraid Ladybug.”
His words comforted her, she didn’t know why. They made her feel slightly braver like she could complete the impossible. She straightened her back with confidence and smiled at him.
“Let’s do this thing,” she said with a smile that spread across her entire face. He brightened even more and leaped across the tables in the cafe beckoning her to catch up. The customers were less than amused when they leaped onto their tables and the wait staff was very annoyed with them. How they got out of the cafe she hadn’t really processed, she had just copied his every move and suddenly she found herself climbing up a fire escape towards a rooftop. How she’d gotten onto it was still a mystery to her.
He climbed the fire escape incredibly quickly. If she hadn’t been watching him she would’ve sworn that it was impossible for him to climb that quickly. She felt super slow by comparison. However, she wasn’t reckless like him, she took it slow. She watched her every step to make sure that she wouldn’t fall. She had to hope that her clumsiness would not catch up with her and cause her to fall. When she finally reached the top she saw him sitting there and smiling at her.
“How the hell are you so quick,” she asked him in amusement.
“Years of practicing rock climbing,” he answered with a cocky smirk. She realized in that moment that she really did know nothing about him. She would never have guessed that he rock climbed and she probably wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen his climbing skill for herself. He was so easy to talk to that she felt like she’d known him her entire life and had forgotten that they were in fact just strangers.
“You ready,” he asked her as he pulled out his phone. She shook her head, she was so far from ready. How could she prepare herself to jump across buildings with a phone in her hands? Her entire body shook as her fears came down on her like an avalanche.
“Hey, you don’t have to go through with it if you don’t want to. However, I know that if you want to you can do it,” he said as he offered her a reassuring smile. She scratched the back of her neck with one hand as her other hand played with the hem of her shirt. The first part of his sentence was lost on her, she had to prove a point. She had to prove to her friends that she could also play Nerve, even if it got her killed. She knew she was being stubborn and quite honestly stupid but she didn’t care even as fear overwhelmed her. She had to prove her point, whatever that had been.
She was about to question the second thing he had told her when he began to speak again. Somehow his hands found their way to her shoulders and gripped them reassuringly. “You’ve got this Ladybug, I believe in you, you’ve just got to believe in yourself. Can you do that for me?”
Despite the fear that dwelled within her stomach she felt her face heat up at his words and a smile broke out on her face. She nodded despite herself. However, despite his reassurance that he trusted her she still felt worried. The dare was dangerous and one wrong move could send either one of them spiraling into the ground, possibly even to their death. She tried to push the fear out of her mind and instead focused in on him. He had his phone out and videoing now, of course, Nerve’s rules and all. She pulled her phone out and began to video as well. She wasn’t sure how she felt about jumping through the air with a phone in her hand though but when she saw his smile she felt like maybe it would all be okay.
“Do you want to go first or shall I,” he asked as he gestured to the edge of the rooftop. The edge they would have to jump off so that they could get to the next one. There wasn’t even a hint of fear in his expression, how could he not be afraid. She wondered if perhaps he went building jumping a lot, it wouldn’t surprise her she didn’t know much about him. Hell, she didn’t even know his real name.
“You go first,” she told him. He nodded and backed away from the edge. For a second she saw a flicker of fear flash across his face but within seconds it was gone. He charged towards the edge of the building so quickly that she feared he would forget to actually jump. However he did, he jumped. She ran closer to the edge of the rooftop in time to see him land with a perfect roll on the other rooftop.
She gaped at him from where she stood on the other side of the rooftop. How the hell had he done that with the phone in his hand. There hadn’t even been a moment's hesitation, he hadn’t feared jumping he had just simply done it. “You coming?” he asked with a wave in her direction.
“You’re crazy,” she laughed as she moved away from the edge of the building. This whole thing was crazy she thought to herself, was she really going to jump onto another building. She didn’t even know if it was a jump she could land. The only reason she knew how to even land a jump was because of years of school gymnastics. Her feet began moving without her consent. They moved faster and faster until she was full out running. Panic spiraled through her mind as her feet continued to move. Despite his reassurance that he would catch her if she fell, or his reassurance that she would make it she still feared she wouldn’t. She feared she would miss the jump and plummet to her death for all of Nerve to see.
Her feet propelled her off the building and through the air as she filmed awkwardly on her phone. She managed to land with a roll like he had, however, her roll was far less graceful than his had been. She got up to see that he had been intently watching her. “I told you that you could do it,” he said as he congratulated her on her one successful jump.
“It’s not fair, you’re like an acrobat or something,” she joked.
“Try superhero LB,” he said with a playful smirk. He didn’t wait for a response before he ran towards the next building and flipped through the air, phone and all. She was surprised that the cat ears didn’t fall off his head due to the action. She couldn’t believe his recklessness, jumping between the buildings was hard enough as it was and he’d done a freaking flip. How he’d managed to both land it perfectly and film it on his phone she didn’t know. The one thing she did know was that when she saw the flip her adoration for him grew.
She wondered if beneath the mask he was an acrobat or something. His flips had such fluidity and were so graceful that it was entirely possible. Chat was a mystery to her. The boy who refused to tell her his real name, the boy who wore a mask to cover his face. He could rock climb, he could flip and he could dance. He had grace as well as charm but at the same time, he had a terrible sense of humor. She had known that the second she read his puns. She could help but wonder who Chat Noir was beneath the mask. Who was he really?
She’d been so distracted by her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed him jump onto the next building, and then the next. She rushed to follow him while filming her jumps on her phone. She put much less thought into her jumps this time and just focussed on catching up to him. She didn’t notice as her fear began to fade the more she jumped. She was nowhere near as graceful as him, she didn’t flip she just tried to jump the distance without dying. However, she couldn’t deny the thrill she felt while in the air. It was the same feeling she got when she looked into his eyes, she felt like she was flying like she was on cloud nine.
She caught up to him pretty quickly, mostly because he’d stopped to wait for her. He beamed at her as she landed beside him. His phone was in his hand and he was saying something to it that she hadn’t caught.
“Hello again m’lady, isn’t it purrfect weather for a flight across the city,” he joked as his grin widened at the pun. She resisted the urge to facepalm.
“Puns seriously?” she asked with an annoyed look.
“I happen to think that puns are clawsome!”
“Stop.”
“Why, do they BUG you?”
“Chat.”
“Are they really so pawful?”
“Chat please.”
“Fine, I’ll stop.”
He smiled at her as he lead her to the edge of the building. She blindly followed in confusion. He gestured out to the city skyline and she had to admit it was an incredible view. It wasn’t the same as being on top of the Eiffel tower but it was a close second and having him by her side made it even better. Paris glowed under the sunlight which had been so rare lately. It was nice to see it without the layer of cloud that often covered it.
“Why are you showing me this,” she found herself asking.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” that was all he said about it. She didn’t try asking further and he didn’t elaborate. They turned around and she saw that the were within reach of the tower but there was no way for them to get to it. They were out of buildings to jump across, the only way across now was to go via trees which seemed like a recipe for disaster.
She thought through any way she could get the two of them to the tower now as he sat on the edge and stared out at the horizon. She looked at the streets below in a desperate attempt to come up with an idea when suddenly she spotted what appeared to be a dream come true. An unattended motorbike with the keys in the ignition was right there within reach, it could get them to the tower. However, it was stealing, it was so very wrong.
Suddenly Nerve went off again on her phone and she checked it. It was a simple sentence yet it sent ice down her spine. Steal the bike for $12000. That was a lot of money she thought to herself. Yet stealing was wrong, so very wrong. Yet was it really stealing if she gave it back, she could always just quickly borrow it and give it back before it’s owner noticed.
“I have an idea, get on that bike,” she said to him as she pointed down at the bike she meant. He climbed down the building and did so without protest. She had to admit that he was far faster climbing up than he was down but he was still fairly quick. It shocked her that he had not even so much as questioned her before he jumped onto the bike. She went down to the bike as quickly as she could and before she could put too much thought into it. She started up the bike and began to race towards the tower.
“I didn’t know you owned a bike,” he said in surprise. She didn’t want to tell him the truth so she just kept quiet as she drove them to the tower. The instant they got there both of their phones beeped to tell them that the dare had been completed. He celebrated as he jumped off the bike onto the ground, she, however, did not. Her dare about stealing the bike had also beeped to tell her it had been successful but her heart still pounded in her chest as she dismounted the bike. She lead Chat away from the scene towards the ticket booth. Maybe they could just climb the tower and forget about it all if only she could be that lucky. Both of their phones went off again with the same telltale ringtone. They already had another dare.