Chapter Text
They stood like that for ages until Chat backed up, raising hands. “M’lady, wait! I can explain-”
“There’s nothing to explain!” she hissed, backing up and spinning her yoyo. “You’re with Hawkmoth, of course! If you have the Peacock Miraculous, and the Sentibeings are against us”
Chat trembled. It was going exactly as his dreams went. “M’lady, let me-”
“Don’t! Don’t you dare call me Your Lady, after you went behind my back and sided with Hawkmoth!”
She advanced forward as he backed up. His cat ears dropped in sadness and fear. Tears pricked his eye. “You don’t get it, just let me talk-”
“YOU GET NO WORD IN THIS, YOU’RE THE ONE WHO SIDED WITH HAWKMOTH!” she screamed, and she lunged. Chat blocked her strike. And they fought. Ladybug fought ferociously, striking immediately after Chat blocked her.
“Why won’t you let me explain!” Chat said, still keeping his blocking fast. If he didn’t start fencing at 8 years old, he would have been dead cat, with how fast Ladybug’s strikes were.
She stopped her strikes, furious. “WHY DO YOU THINK SO?” she yelled, and he flinched violently. His cat ears were practically glued to his hair. “YOU’RE THE ONE WHO WENT TO HAWKMOTH! YOU ARE PLUMAGE IRISÉ! YOU HAVE THE PEACOCK MIRACULOUS! THERE’S NO OTHER EXPLANATION!”
She stopped her attacks and glared at him. “I hate you!” she hissed, violently chucking the brooch to Chat in anger. “I don’t understand why I didn’t see this before. I- UGHH!” She pulled at her pigtails hard. “I can’t believe you! I should have just left you. I’m not Your Lady anymore. You’re not My Kitty. My Kitty wouldn’t have ever done this. OH! I guess he did, because he did!”
She swung up her yoyo, hooked it, and swung off.
“M’lady, WAIT! Don’t- don’t leave me!” he screamed, choking on his words, extending a hand as if trying to reach for her. “Please! Just let me explain!”
She turned back, her eyes filled with anger. “Don’t ever try to talk to me again.”
And with that, she left.
Chat stood frozen like that for a moment before his knees buckled. He grabbed his cat ears and pulled them down to muffle the sound.
“No… M’lady,” he choked out. Tears fell down his eyes. “Please… just don’t leave me…”
He cried, curling up. He felt like he was drowning in the Seine again, but this time it was that same pool of loneliness he felt in his room. And this time, there was no polka-dotted pigtailed-princess to save her prince. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t feel. He felt like the world was all tumbling and crashing down on his shoulders. He wanted to scream. He wanted to break something. He wanted to destroy something…
“CATACLYSM!” he screamed, and the black darkness swirled around his hand. He looked around, looking for something to Cataclysm. He settled for a pole on the building. As it crumpled to ash, he felt relieved, seeing something falling in the same state he was right now. Rain sprinkled and sparkled around the city, a very appropriate time for Chat. Time didn’t matter to him now, because he just sobbed and screamed.
And no one seemed to hear his cries.
”Can they even hear you?”
”Or is no one helping you because they don’t want to?”
”Is it because you’re worthless?”
”Or you’re just not enough?”
”They all hate you, you know?”
”Because you can never, ever, ever be enough!”
”You can’t even keep a simple secret!”
“Stop it! Stop it, Stop it, Stop it!” Chat yelled at himself. He was shaking badly now. The rain poured down, getting him soaked, but he didn’t give a damn.
“-Noir? Chat Noir? Chat Noir, are you there!?”
Then he realised, he wasn’t shaking, someone else was shaking him.
“Chat Noir! What’s wrong?” the voice said. Chat Noir instantly recognized it. He looked up. It was Nino.
“N- Nino,” he said, his voice shaky and raw. “Why… Why are you here? Get inside, it’s pouring out here”
“You literally cannot be talking right now,”
“Why are you here?”
He shrugged. “Well, this is my apartment, and my room is right below this terrace, and I heard some screams and a whole lot of arguing above me. So I came up and saw you.”
“I… I’m sorry for disrupting you,” Chat said. “But I really have to go, I have-”
“No you don’t,” Nino said, grabbing his arm. Chat flinched, his eyes wide.
“What do you mean I’m not going?” he yelped.
“It means you’re going to talk to me about why you were screaming and crying and… Cataclysmed a pole, while it’s raining. And you and Ladybug argued, assuming by your reaction. Why? Come in.”
Chat frowned. “I can’t,” he said. He’s always wanted to go to Nino’s house, but not like this. “I don’t wanna burden you,”
He grabbed his hand and pulled it to get him standing. “I’m not taking no for an answer, cat dude,” he said. “You and Ladybug save Paris everyday, we should give back at some point,”
He laughed bitterly. The sentence was so ironic he couldn’t help it. “At this point I really don’t think I am helping Paris,”
Nino huffed. “I. Don’t. Care. You’re coming with me now
“I-” He stopped, knowing there was no way out. “Okay, I’ll come,”
“I wasn’t gonna give you a choice,”