Chapter Text
“Truth or Dare?”
Ladybug gawked at Chat Noir. “What?!”
“I just thought it would be good to have something to pass the time with…” Chat grinned awkwardly, trying to back-pedal. He held up a hand as Ladybug opened her mouth to reply. “No questions relating to our identities, Cat’s Honour. And you can stop any time you want, no penalty or explanation needed…”
Ladybug bit back a laugh at the awkward manner of her partner. She turned away, surveying the streets below for any sign of trouble. She was used to Truth or Dare being a way for teenagers to discover each other’s secret crushes or put them in awkward situations… There was usually a penalty for refusing the given question or dare, but Chat had said that they could stop without that – he was respecting her wishes, as he always did. Curiosity was niggling at the back of her mind. What was he doing this for? Only one way to find out.
“Dare,” Ladybug muttered before leaping to the next roof.
Chat Noir stared, dumbfounded, as the girl in the red suit jumped and ran over a few rooftops. He honestly hadn’t expected his lady to take part in this silly game. The superhero returned to his senses just in time to follow her before he lost sight of her.
As the sworn protectors of Paris, Ladybug and Chat Noir did regular night patrols to keep an eye out for any troublemakers, but aside from the occasional drunken dispute or attempted mugging, the patrols rarely resulted in anything necessary of their heroic personas. It was an excuse to get some exercise and see the city as only a superhero can, but patrols were generally a quiet affair. Chat Noir had been wanting to spend more time simply talking to Ladybug, but she was very secretive. He hoped that his latest idea might help them have something to pass the time when they weren’t fighting akuma victims.
The feline hero caught up to his partner a few streets away and grinned as he saw the scene below them. A young couple were walking down the street and had stopped outside a house. They had obviously been on a date, and were saying goodnight. Perfect, he thought to himself, and dropped down to a balcony nearby to pick a flower from someone’s potted plant before Ladybug could tell him off.
It would seem that his lady was too caught up in watching the scene herself, as she hadn’t even noticed Chat’s presence behind her until he presented the flower to her, right under her nose.
Ladybug grumbled. “Chat-”
“For them,” Chat Noir interrupted, pointing the flower at the unsuspecting couple. “A purr-esent from Lady Luck herself would be well received by the happy couple, don’t you think?” He winked at her.
Ladybug blinked slowly, and a small smile crept onto her lips in realisation. For once, he wasn’t trying to hit on her; this was her dare.
Ladybug nodded and took the flower from Chat’s hand. She swung her yoyo to a chimney on the next roof, swooped down and with careful precision, dropped the flower so that it landed perfectly in the young man’s hand, before her momentum carried her off and out of sight.
Chat Noir smiled and watched the look of shock and delight as the young couple realised what had happened and the man put the flower into his date’s hair, earning a bashful smile from her. Chat vaulted over to the next roof, following Ladybug.
“Taking a flower from a pot plant on someone’s balcony counts as stealing, Chat.” Ladybug said when her partner had caught up with her.
The cat-hero grinned and leant on her shoulder. “Says the lady who stole my heart?”
Ladybug pushed him off her shoulder and groaned. They were not having this conversation again. “Truth or Dare?”
“Truth,” Chat replied, still gazing at her lovingly.
Ladybug mused over what she could ask him for a while, as they continued jumping over the rooftops of Paris. She stopped in front of a small park, and stared down at the statue of the two heroes, still musing. When she heard Chat behind her, she asked softly, “What’s your favourite part of this gig?”
“Being a superhero?”
Ladybug nodded.
“You mean besides our nightly rendezvous?” Chat smirked.
Ladybug rolled her eyes, and Chat looked toward the city skyline, his smile becoming more wistful. “Freedom,” he whispered. “As Chat Noir, I’m free.”
Seeing the look in her partner’s eyes made Ladybug’s heart ache. Chat was always so carefree and silly, yet in that one line, she saw that his black mask wasn’t the only one he wore. Something in his tone made her worry for him and, not for the first time, she wondered what is civilian life was like. She couldn’t ask though. Knowing identities was a risk that they couldn’t take.
Not to mention, it was against the rules of the game.
“Your turn, My Lady. Truth or Dare?” Chat vaulted over to the next roof, continuing their surveillance.
“Can’t risk you being a cat-burglar again, so I’ll have to go with truth.” She was a few steps behind her partner, but Ladybug knew that he would hear her. “Race you to the Place du Tertre first, though.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds before they both sprang into action at the same moment, leaping over buildings and across streets, taking care to check the streets for signs of trouble as they went. As they approached Sacre Coeur, the two heroes were perfectly tied. Ladybug saw the opportunity to get ahead, and flung her yoyo to the top of the cathedral. Just before it was able to latch onto the architecture, something shot out from her left and knocked the yoyo off course.
Ladybug spun her feet and slid across the roof, narrowly avoiding plummeting off the building as she retracted her yoyo. She turned her head in the direction of where the projectile had come from and saw a black figure leap from the building beside her and cursed under her breath. “I’ll kill that cat when I catch him.”
“If you catch him!” Chat Noir called back as he gripped the cathedral and leapt up to retrieve his baton from where it had lodged itself in the roof.
Ladybug swore and threw her yoyo for a second time, firmly latching onto one of the statues of the ornate roof before swinging around the building towards their meeting place. She saw Chat standing on a roof overlooking the Place du Tertre and saw an opportunity to beat him at his own game. The spotted heroine swung right past him and landed in the centre of the artists’ square, posing proudly before turning back to her partner to grin smugly at him. Chat Noir had not actually entered the destination yet so, by technicality, she won.
Chat narrowed his eyes at Ladybug and made his way safely from the roof to ground level, before walking over to her slowly. “Going to be pedantic, are you?”
Ladybug’s grin widened. “If you’re going to play dirty, knocking my yoyo off course like that? Yes, I can join your little game.”
Chat leaned in close and whispered, “I love it when you play dirty with me, My Lady.”
Ladybug huffed and fought the blush threatening her cheeks. “I won’t be playing anything with you if you keep that up. Wasn’t it your turn to ask me a question?”
He chuckled good-naturedly and thought for a moment as they walked through the mostly empty square, admiring the artworks on display. Once they had found their way back up to the rooftops Chat asked, “Favourite Akuma fight so far?”
Ladybug blanched. “Favourite? Chat, I don’t exactly enjoy putting our lives on the line. I do this because we have to.”
Chat grinned and narrowed his eyes. “I’ve seen that spark you get in your eyes when we’re in the swing of things, LB. You can’t tell me you don’t find it at least a bit enjoyable.”
Ladybug was quiet for a moment. Her partner wasn’t wrong, but… “I still don’t think it’s right to rank them like that…”
“Yeah, I think I worded that one poorly…” Chat vaulted over the next few streets with his spotted partner in tow.
Ladybug was still deep in thought, as she followed. After a few minutes of silence had passed and they stopped together overlooking a marketplace, she said slowly, “I suppose fighting the Gamer was kinda fun… We got to pilot a real live mecha!”
Chat Noir pretended to wipe away a tear. “Catbug was the greatest mecha love-child a parent could ask for.”
“What do I have to do to ensure you never say that sentence again?” Ladybug looked at her partner, unimpressed.
Chat grinned and sidestepped towards her, he leaned down and tapped a finger on his cheek, indicating that he wanted a kiss. The heroine poked his cheek gently with her finger and turned to survey the market place.
Chat pouted momentarily before his trademark grin returned to his face. “Worth a shot. How about we have a competition to see who’s better at UMS3?”
“Competition? You? Hah!” Ladybug mocked.
“Bold words, My Lady. It seems you underestimate this cat’s gaming purr-owess.”
Ladybug rolled her eyes at the pun. “I don’t doubt that you’re good, Chat Noir… But I do have an unfair advantage.”
Chat held a hand over his heart and bowed his head slightly. “I can promise you, My Lady that I won’t let myself be distracted by your dazzling looks and wit.”
“I have luck on my side, you silly cat.” Ladybug deadpanned. “Besides, where would we even hold this little competition? Going over to each others’ houses would kinda blow the whole secret identity thing.”
Chat laughed awkwardly. “Y-yeah… of course…” But he had a great gaming set up… and if she didn’t know that it was his house… he scratched an imaginary itch at the back of his neck “What if we held it at someone else’s house? W-with their permission of course!”
Ladybug raised an eyebrow at her partner, questioningly. “Who’s house did you have in mind?”
“Adrien Agreste! We’ve saved him once or twice from akumas. I’ve seen his room and he’s got a great set-up! Big monitors, comfy chairs. We’d have a blast!”
Ladybug made a quiet screech as she inhaled in shock. “A-a-adrien?! You want us to break into Adrien’s room for this?” Not that Marinette would mind seeing the inside of Adrien’s room again… but maybe not with Chat Noir in the picture.
“Not break in, we’d get purr-mission.” Chat patted his chest as he started gloating, “I actually happen to be friends with the guy myself, so it’d be no sweat to ask him. I know he’ll say yes to us.”
“You can’t just go and invite yourself over to someone’s house, Chat! Saving him a few times isn’t enough of a reason.”
“Didn’t you hear me, LB? We’re close. Really close.” ‘Couldn’t be closer if we tried,’ Adrien thought to himself.
Ladybug shook her head. “He’s a busy guy, I wouldn’t want to disrupt him. I’m pretty sure he has more than his fair share of extra-curricular activities. Plus regular study and homework to keep up with. He doesn’t need the distraction.”
Chat smirked. “Been keeping tabs, huh?”
Ladybug spluttered.
“We could always organise it for a time when he’ll be busy with a photoshoot or something. Then we won’t be disturbing him. I’ll ask him tonight!”
“No! Don’t!” Ladybug shouted, panicked. “I really don’t think this is a good idea, Chat. I-I-I mean being in his room without him? T-that’s not really something he’d be comfortable with, I’m sure. A-and what if someone else walked in on us, huh? That would be hard to explain and we could get ourselves and him in trouble! Not to mention we might be giving people extra information about us that could risk identities or something.”
“Scared you’ll lose to me bugaboo? We could always play co-op, you know. We already make such a miraculous team.” The feline hero winked at his partner.
Ladybug groaned at his pun and folded her arms. “I’m not scared of losing to you, Chat. These are legitimate concerns. You should be more cautious sometimes.”
Chat sighed. “I can guarantee he won’t mind us using his room. If you doubt me, feel free to pay him a visit and ask him yourself. His door has a lock, and we can go late at night when people won’t be moving around the house anyway.”
Ladybug’s cheeks flared red at the mention of visiting Adrien. It was one of her many daydreams she had, but she’d never had the courage to put it into practice. Chat had mentioned the idea so casually, and it sounded enticing, but… no… no. She couldn’t.
“You’re forgetting another little detail,” Ladybug countered. “Adrien is in the same class at school as that Alya girl. You know, the one who runs the Ladyblog? If word of this got out to her, she’d go crazy!”
Chat Noir frowned. Ladybug really thought he would go telling everyone? He could keep a secret! He shook his head. She just doesn’t know Adrien very well …yet. “Word won’t get out, I paw-mise. Adrien will keep his mouth shut.”
“Chat this is reckless, and stupid. We can’t just-” Chat cut off his partners words with a finger to her lips.
“Me thinks my Lady doth protest too much.” He smiled fondly at his partner. “How often do we just get a night to have fun and hang out together? I’ll make certain that everything happens smoothly and there will be no repercussions. You have my word.”
Ladybug looked into her partner’s eyes for a moment and then started chuckling. “You’re very serious about this, suddenly.”
Chat feigned a hurt expression. “I’ve never been anything but serious when it comes to spending time with you, My Lady.” He took her hand in his and bent down to kiss it, but she pulled back before he could reach.
“How could I possibly have thought otherwise?” Ladybug smirked at Chat. The latter chuckled back and rubbed one hand at the back of his neck. “Fine… But I’m checking to be sure that your idea isn’t going to put Adrien out in the slightest. If I get even a hint of an idea that he doesn’t want to do this, then we don’t. No complaints. Okay?”
Chat beamed. “When should I-uh Adrien expect to see you?”
“O-oh… umm…” Ladybug swallowed. She would have to go visit Adrien. At his house. In his room. Adrien. Oh no. No no no no no. What should she say to him? She’d make a fool of herself, probably trip over her yoyo string and tumble into him. Then he’ll fall back and crack his head on a table, he’ll have to get sent to hospital and that will tarnish Ladybug’s reputation forever. Worse: he’ll hate her and never want to marry her! Ladybug opened her mouth and mumbled some gibberish.
Chat cocked his head slightly at his partner’s strange expressions. “I’m pretty sure he’s free tomorrow evening. How about some time after 9? I’ll let him know you’re coming so he leaves a window open. Oh! Just make sure you swing onto the right side of the roof from the house with flowers across the street – you should avoid the security cameras that way. I’ll put out some glow in the dark markers for you.”
Ladybug nodded slowly, trying to process everything that he had just said. She mumbled the important information. “After 9… flowers… glow markers…”
Chat grinned. She was actually agreeing! “Great! Looks like patrol’s over for tonight, so I’ll go pay a visit now, and you can go tomorrow. Good night, Ladybug, sleep well.”
“Yeah, goodnight Chat.” Ladybug replied automatically, barely registering what he had said. Patrol was over? She looked around to see where she was. She didn’t even remember the last section, having been too caught up in her thoughts. Chat seemed more alert tonight, so he would have spotted anything untoward, she hoped.
After standing on a rooftop for several minutes by herself, Ladybug made her way back home. She didn’t have the brain power for any of this tonight. She needed sleep.