Chapter Text
“Lucky charm!” Ladybug shouted, throwing her yo-yo up into the air as she waited for the item to drop into her hand. There was no time for that, though. Before she even had time to react a blast from the akuma pierced her side. The last thing she heard was Chat shriek her name and the sound of an object falling onto the ground next to her before it went dark.
She didn’t know how long she was passed out for but the next clear thing she heard was the shrill beeping of her earrings. With a loud groan, Ladybug pushed herself up from the ground, scanning her surroundings. She blinked with confusion. There was no akuma. There was no Chat. She was pretty much alone. Frowning, she called out for her partner, “Chat? Where are you? Did we beat the akuma?”
There was no reply and a cold shiver ran up her spine at that. Her earrings let out another beep and she covered them with her gloved hand as her mouth fell open. She needed to find someplace safe to detransform, and fast . She just managed to duck into a more secure alley as her transformation fell away and she went back to being Marinette. She frowned up at her kwami, digging through her purse for a cookie, “Do you know what happened, Tikki? Where did Chat and the akuma go?”
The tiny god shrugged her shoulders tiredly, blinking her big, bug eyes at her, “I’m not sure, Marinette. Keep your guard up, though. I’m not sure we’re through this just yet.”
“You’re right,” she nodded as Tikki began nibbling on the cookie, “Once you’re recharged and ready to go again, I’ll transform and go find Cha-,”
She was cut off from speaking by a curious voice, “You were saying, purrincess.”
Marinette shrieked, whirling around with wide eyes to stare at her partner who was standing across from her. She swatted Tikki back down, hoping that he hadn’t heard her or spotted the floating kwami. The small god quickly ducked into her purse and she gave Chat a wide, awkward smile as she greeted him, “Chat! You’re here! Great !”
He lifted his eyebrow at her curiously, his lips twitching into a small smile, “You alright, Marinette? It looks like you just swallowed a lemon.”
“Me?! Pfft, no I’m fine,” she chuckled nervously, waving a hand in the air, “D-did you take care of the akuma then?”
Chat’s eyes widened with alarm, “There was an akuma?! Where?!”
“Yeah,” Marinette frowned back at him, “You and Ladybug were fighting it a little while ago when she got hit.”
“You did?!” he gasped in fear, rushing over to check on her. His eyes scanned down her arms and her sides as he checked her over, “You look fine though. Where did you get hit?”
She gnawed on her lip nervously as she backed up a few steps away from him, “I-I said Ladybug got hit. Not me .”
Chat’s brow furrowed into a look of pure confusion, “Yeah... and?”
Marinette gulped quietly, her arms coming up to wrap around herself as she watched him warily, “S-so why are you checking on me instead of her?”
“What?” his head tilted and his frown deepened, “Marinette, you’re not making any sense. What do you mean?”
“I’m saying that your partner might be hurt,” her arms uncrossed as she gestured outside the alley, “And you should probably go check on her!”
Chat ran a hand through his hair frustratedly, “That’s what I’m trying to do ! I don’t understand wh-,” he trailed off as he looked her up and down, “ Oh .”
Marinette sucked in a stuttering, fearful breath, “Wh-what do you mean, ‘ oh ’?”
“Y-you’re not my Ladybug... are you?” he stuttered slightly as he watched her.
Her heart practically stopped in her chest when he said those words. In the next few seconds, it began pumping wildly and erratically. Her eyes darted about the alleyway as she looked for an escape, “L-Ladybug? I-I’m not Ladybug! I’m just plain old Marinette!”
Chat blinked at her for a few tense, silent moments before he burst into laughter. His hands clutched at his stomach as he guffawed, “D-did you really think I would fall for that? Even if we hadn’t already revealed our identities to each other I still don’t think I would have fallen for that little speech of yours.”
“ Ok ,” Marinette dragged out confusedly, “Now I’m not understanding. Chat... we’ve never revealed our identities.”
“Yet,” he wagged his finger in the air as a bright grin overtook his face, “We haven’t revealed our identities yet .”
She gasped as realization hit her, “Oh my god, you’re from the future, aren’t you?!”
“No, my dear purrincess,” Chat purred at her before poking her shoulder lightly, “ You are from the past. That hit you took from the akuma must have sent you forward in time.”
Marinette was instantly hit by a wave of both anxiety and alarm. Raking a hand through her hair, she began to pace, “T-this is bad! L-like really bad! How far in the future are we?! You don’t look that old so we can’t be that far...” she muttered to herself.
“Marinette, what are you doing?” he stopped her by placing his hands on her shoulders.
“Chat, you don’t understand!! You can’t know my identity! There are some very bad things that happen if you do,” she whispered that last line, staring up at him with watery eyes.
“Oh, you’re worried about Chat Blanc,” her partner said understandingly, squeezing her shoulders comfortingly.
“Y-you know?!” she gasped, watching as he looked at her with confusion. Marinette shook her head once to rearrange her thoughts, “I mean... I just... I swore I’d never tell you.”
He nodded slowly at her, “Yeah, I can see why. But, Marinette, there are some things that you’ll realize once you know who I am under the mask. Some things that will make a lot more sense afterward.”
She nibbled her lip nervously when a wave of realization hit her for the second time that day. Stepping away from his arms, she made an attempt to dart outside the alley when her partner stopped her, “You’ve gotta let me go! Cha- I mean you , need me! The akuma attack is still happening and I’m not there!”
“Don’t worry, purrincess,” Chat held his hands up to both reassure and calm her down, “I remember this. You dropped the Lucky Charm when you got hit and I figured out how to use it. It’ll be okay. In fact, past me is probably about to save the day as we speak.”
Marinette heaved a sigh of relief, practically sagging back into his arms, “Thank god!”
Chat wrapped his arms around her as he rubbed her back lightly, “I’ve got you, Marinette. You’re not alone in this. Don’t worry so much,” he murmured.
“Thanks, Chat. That means so much to me. You mean so much to me,” she smiled up at him.
His green eyes glittered down at her as a slow smile took over his lips. His gaze seemed to dart to her lips for a few moments before he brought it back up to her eyes. She blinked at him, but before she could comment, he spoke to her tauntingly, “You know, Chat Blanc wasn’t the only thing you told me about. You also told me who you liked .”
Her mouth dropped open and she scrambled away from his arms. Marinette tripped over her words as she spoke, “I-I did?”
“Yep!” Chat popped the p cheerfully, “And I’ve gotta say, purrincess, you can do so much better than a model.”
She blinked at him for a few moments in shock. Oh wow. I really did tell him about Adrien. I wonder why. I know he likes me. So why would I hurt his feelings by telling him? Marinette frowned to herself. Once she got over the initial shock, she scoffed at him, “Oh really? Who would you suggest then?”
“Mmm, I don’t know,” he hummed before wiggling his eyebrows at her teasingly, “How about a literal superhero?”
Marinette giggled to herself as he began flexing in front of her. Rolling her eyes at him, she flicked his nose lightly, “You’re cute, kitty.”
“Future Ladybug does not disagree with you,” Chat winked at her pointedly, almost like he was trying to tell her something.
Shaking her head with a snort, she opened her mouth to tease him back when she felt her vision begin to darken. Blinking down, Marinette felt herself begin to grow numb. Gnawing on her lip, she looked up at him, “Chat... I think I’m about to go back.”
He nodded at her with a soft smile, “Take care of yourself, purrincess, and remember, I’ve always got your back. Also, you’d better transform if you don’t want our reveal to happen now .”
Marinette’s mouth dropped open, “Thanks, Chaton! I almost forgot! Tikki, spots on!”
The magic rushed through her and she quickly transformed back into Ladybug. She grew dizzier as she did so and she could barely hear her partner as he spoke to her.
“Oh, and Marinette, if it doesn’t work out with that oblivious Agreste kid, do you purromise you’ll date me instead?” Chat purred with a teasing smile. His eyes glinted like he knew something she didn’t.
Raising a curious eyebrow, she nodded slowly at him, “ Sure .”
“I’ll see you then, purrincess,” he gave her one final salute before her vision went completely dark.
Like before, Ladybug was unsure how long she was out for her. She did come to hearing her partner’s voice call out to her, though, “Ladybug?! Ladybug, are you alright?!”
Blinking up with a small groan of pain, she looked up into the alarmed eyes of Chat Noir. They were lying on the grass, with her in his arms and she quickly reassured him, “I-I’m fine, kitty.”
“Oh, thank god, LB,” he clutched her tighter, “I was so worried! You disappeared!”
“I’m alright,” Ladybug chuckled weakly, “I was sent to the future.”
Chat gasped at her, eyes widened curiously, “You did ?! How was it?! Did you meet future me?! Was I as charming and suave as usual?”
With a roll of her eyes, she patted his shoulder before sitting up, “ Sure , kitty. Now, did you manage to get the akuma?”
“Yeah, I defeated it using your lucky charm,” he beamed at her and held up a pencil, “And I managed to purify the akuma using my cataclysm!”
Ladybug smiled brightly at him, taking the pencil back as his ring beeped, “Thank you, Chat. You really saved the day today, and you really saved me. But, you may want to get going before I learn your identity.”
“Oh, right,” he grinned sheepishly at her as his ring beeped once again, “I’ll see you later, then, bugaboo. I wanna hear all about your adventure in the future !”
Watching him go with a happy smile, she whispered quietly, “We’re going to be alright, Chaton,” before throwing the pencil into the air to let the magical ladybugs fix up the damage to the city.