Chapter Text
A young masked boy dressed in leather and cat ears coughed and inhaled deeply as soon as he was able to get his head above water as he pulled a mysterious masked girl in a ladybug themed onesie from the Seine onto the raised sidewalk by the river.
The girl coughed up some water and took a deep breath as well after he patted her on the back, as if they had almost drowned.
Which they had.
They both looked at each other, a little tired and mystified as they asked in unison, “who are you?”
…
Ten minutes earlier, Chat Noir and Ladybug had been facing yet another one of Hawkmoth’s akumas.
This akuma’s name was The Oublier and his cry was, “if no one will remember me, then no one will remember themselves!”
This was his fifth appearance, which was part of the reason why he was a difficult akuma to beat, since historically he’d show up and be gone within ten minutes of appearing, as if he forgot what his own purpose was. Sometimes the report of his sighting went out just after he had disappeared because it was like he was following an alarm clock, every four hours on the dot, he’d appear somewhere new for ten minutes and then he’d be gone.
The Oublier was a quick draw and he had excellent aim, using his sunglasses of all things. His bland black three piece suit would have helped him blend in anywhere, if it weren’t for his glowing tie that shifted from one color to the next and his wild white sunglasses that he used to shoot people when he touched the side of them like he was one of the X-Men from the comics, Cyclops. His blue skin and ability to hover a few inches above the ground was also a dead giveaway to his status as an akumatized victim of Hawkmoth.
His attack was dangerous because once someone was hit, his victim would forget who they were, literally. Oh, they remembered most everything minor or random in their lives, like how to eat and how to get to the library, and even who the Mayor of Paris was, but they couldn’t remember how to get home or who they were. Anyone that they were close to that could tell them who they really were, like a close friend or a family member, were forgotten as well. That meant that there were a lot of confused Parisians trying to figure out who they were depending on what was in their pockets.
As soon as Ladybug and Chat Noir had arrived on the scene, she called upon her LUCKY CHARM and told Chat Noir the plan, he would distract the akuma by using cataclysm on a nearby statue, and she would use her lucky charm, a tube of toothpaste to cause The Oublier to slip and then they could get the akumatized item.
Unfortunately, they picked the wrong item, his tie. In response, The Oublier tossed Chat Noir at Ladybug and then chased them to a bridge that crossed the Seine and that was where The Oublier took aim at Ladybug.
…
“Ladybug!” Chat Noir nearly cried out as he saw The Oublier take aim, Ladybug had just landed on her side after being tossed from yet another attempted attack and she was just getting up.
Chat Noir realized that she wouldn’t be able to react in time!
So, the black cat did what the black cat would normally do as he focused his energy and crashed into his Ladybug as he tried to take the hit for her. Chat Noir however, was unlucky enough for them both to be hit by The Oublier’s larger than usual shot from his sunglasses.
The superheroes glowed momentarily as they went airborne and were tossed by the blast into the river from the impact. The Oublier laughed and left.
…
Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other, mystified as they asked in unison, “who are you?”
Then they looked at their hands and realized something else that was important a heartbeat later, saying words that were being said by far too many Parisians of late, “um, wait a minute, who am I?”
Then they heard the beeping.
“Where is that coming from?” Ladybug asked as she reached out and touched her earrings, “oh.”
Chat Noir listened to his ring and commented, “well that’s strange, we both have jewelry that beeps, why is that?” He wondered.
“I don’t know, maybe we should go look for some help?” Ladybug suggested.
Chat Noir nodded as he offered her his arm. “If only I may escort you My Lady.”
She chuckled and took his arm with a happy grin and he led them up the nearby stairs to get to the street above. They were just looking at their reflections in a store window when they heard someone calling someone.
“Ladybug! Chat Noir!” A girl cried in the distance, but being that the superheroes didn’t know their own names, they just kept looking at their jewelry that happened to beep again.
“I don’t know, this is weird.” Ladybug commented as she looked at his ring, it was black with a partial of a cat’s paw print, there was the main pad and two little pads left.
“You’re telling me.” Chat Noir answered as he glanced at her earrings, “that’s a really strange design. Your earrings kind of look like a ladybug pattern, but there are only three dots.”
“Ladybug! Chat Noir!” The young woman caught up to them. She was carrying a cellphone like she was taking a video. A young man wearing headphones was hot on her heels. “Wait!” The two heroes in question looked at her as if they had no idea who or what she was talking about, but it was clear that she was talking to them.
“Alya, Babe, wait for me next time.” Nino complained as the young man with headphones arrived at her side.
“Sorry Nino, but we have to get this scoop! Are you two okay?” She addressed the two masked heroes.
“Um, yeah.” Ladybug said and Chat Noir nodded to agree.
“But we don’t remember who we are.” Chat Noir explained as they both shrugged as Alya and Nino gasped.
Alya’s eyes went wide but she quickly recovered from the shock, taking charge of the situation and turned off the video she was taking, thankful that she hadn’t been live streaming for once.
“You’re Ladybug.” Alya pointed at Ladybug and then she pointed at Chat Noir, “and you’re Chat Noir.”
“Dude.” Nino muttered.
“Long story short, you are super heroes.” Alya tapped on her phone and brought up a thirty second video of highlights of one of their past fights, and other important moments.
“Really!?” Chat Noir asked excitedly.
“Really?” Ladybug asked in disbelief, “I don’t feel like one.”
“Don’t interrupt. This is just a thirty second video after all.” Alya explained and the two heroes were quiet as they saw themselves fight an akuma, Chat Noir kiss Ladybug’s hand, Chat Noir doing some amazing acrobatics, Ladybug yo-yoing around town and finally, Ladybug kissing Chat Noir when he was possessed by Dark Cupid’s arrow. Both heroes blushed at first about that, but then they grinned at each other as if it wasn’t such a bad idea.
Chat Noir grinned and quickly threw his arm around Ladybug flirtatiously.
“Sooo, does that mean that we’re a couple or something?” Ladybug asked somewhat uncertain about the idea as Alya grinned widely as if to say ‘yes!’
Chat Noir was about to comment something flirty but then their miraculous beeped again. Alya looked at Ladybug’s earring, “that means that you only have two minutes left.”
“Two minutes until what?”
“Until you lose your transformation Dudes, look I don’t know how you’re going to do this, we don’t know your secret identities. Ya gotta keep them to yourself.” Nino explained.
“Maybe de-transforming will help them remember?” Alya offered.
“Totally, but it wouldn’t be right if we found out who they were.” Nino looked around, “look, you two should go and find an alley or something for some privacy so no one will figure you out.”
“Totally,” Alya agreed, “If de-transforming doesn’t help your memories, maybe your kwami can help you out.”
“Our what now?” Ladybug asked.
“Just… trust us and get going!” Alya instructed as their miraculous beeped to mark their final minute.
Ladybug laughed as Chat Noir picked her up and said with a smirk, “one hidden alleyway coming up.” Then he started running, glad to find that his muscle memory worked fine as he jumped onto a nearby building, jumped over a few rooftops and then landed in a secluded alleyway.
He gently put her down and gazed at her appreciatively as she giggled and asked shyly, “so what do we do now?”
“Well, we have about thirty seconds until this de-transformation or whatever, so what do couples normally do when they’re all alone?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her as he held his chin thoughtfully.
She giggled again at his antics and blushed as she put her hands on his shoulders and drew him close. “Well I don’t remember to be honest, but would you like to make a new memory?”
He almost looked surprised, but then he went with it, putting his hands her on waist and pulling her toward him as he leaned down and whispered, “I would love to My Lady, may I kiss you?”
She nodded, “please.”
They were still kissing when their transformations fell and two tired kwami floated out of their miraculous.
Plagg laughed and Tikki only commented, “oh, dear,” but then she giggled too.