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High in the Eiffel Tower, a red-spotted heroine is staring out at the sleeping city below. Well, it's as sleepy as Paris can get without magic being involved. Her legs are swinging off the edge of the tower, bouncing without any particular rhythm. At this obscene height, the wind is strong enough to whip her ponytails across her cheeks. It stings, but at least it's distracting her from the stinging on her shoulders down to wrists.
Ladybug hears the loud thump of boots hitting the metal directly to her right. She turns, a greeting already forming on her lips, just in time to see her partner stumble. Another loud thump rings out into the night as Chat catches himself on the metal railing, breathing hard as he does.
Ladybug's up and next to him before she's even processed the moment. She gently places a spotted hand on Chat's shoulder, heart breaking when she realizes that can feel him trembling. He makes a small chirping noise in acknowledgment, leaning his head against her hand a second later, and Ladybug smiles for what she's pretty sure is the first time today.
His breathing evens out a bit, and she pulls her hand away so that she can hoist herself up on the railing he's braced against. He's gazing out at the city now, seemingly lost in thought.
She reaches out and picks up Chat's left hand, holding it with both of hers. "Bad day?" Her voice is barely a whisper, and the wind is howling so loud no human could've heard it.
Luckily, she and Chat aren't ordinary humans. His ears flick towards her, eyes following soon after. "Yeah."
His voice is louder than hers, he knows her hearing isn't quite as sharp, but it's still hushed. Ladybug isn't certain if the quiet is for her sake or for his.
Gosh, his eyes are green. Is it a cat thing or is it just him?
Focus, Ladybug.
"Me too." Ladybug forces herself to look away before she makes the moment awkward. She absentmindedly begins to run her thumb across his knuckles. "Do you want to talk about it?"
He leans forward and presses his face into the crook of her neck, and she moves one of her hands to hold on so that the extra weight doesn't cause her to fall backwards off the tower.
(She could easily save herself if that were to happen, but it'd be extremely embarrassing.)
He says a muffled, "No," into her suit, so quiet that she would've missed it if she hadn't felt his mouth moving.
She hums in affirmation, then says, "Do you want me to talk?"
This time, Chat just nods.
Ladybug realizes she's still massaging his hand. A bit embarrassed, she moves her hand up to scratch his cat ears, instead. They're both flattened against his hair, but they flick up happily when she begins petting them. She hears a shaky purr start up, accompanied by his arms looping around her waist. She doesn't mind in the slightest. It feels... nice. Secure. It's a relief, knowing that someone cares enough to keep her from falling. Literally, in this case, but metaphorically too.
She bites her lips and tries to figure out what to say. She'd known, of course, what she wanted to talk about when she'd called him, but.. she doesn't want him to feel worse. Then she mentally shrugs. Chat would tell her if she ever made him uncomfortable.
"Alright, my bad day, then."
Chat makes another little chirpy cat noise. She takes it as a go-ahead.
"I didn't even mean to do it today. I was just... doing it before I even realized I had a blade in my hand." Ladybug laughs. It sounds hollow, even to her ears. "I'm so lucky Tikki was busy eating, I even forgot to check if I was alone."
She sighs and buries her face in his hair. It's soft, and smells like almonds. She sort of wonders what Chat thinks she smells like. His nose is pressed right against her.
"Sometimes I wonder if I'll be addicted to this forever." She says, then splutters when she nearly eats a lock of his hair.
She does a series of fake gags, each getting progressively more ridiculous until she ends up making a sound like a llama with the stomach flu. Chat giggles at her antics, his breath warm on her neck.
She grins down at him in triumph. He might be the jokester of their duo, but she absolutely loves it when she can make him laugh.
He adjusts his head, letting his chin rest on her shoulder. His voice is clear, if sad, when he says, "I wonder the same thing."
Ladybug hums, a wordless encouragement for him to continue.
"I started sobbing when I tried to eat lunch today. How stupid is that?" He chuckles, but there's no humor in it.
"That's not stupid, chaton." She's a hero, but she still wants to destroy whoever made her kitty think that he should speak badly of himself. From what she can gather, both from comments and from night like this, it's probably his father that she needs to beat up.
"Kinda was."
"Nope."
"Yes."
Ladybug groans theatrically, jostling him with her shoulder. "Come on. Is my thing stupid?"
Chat lifts his head and stares at her in shock. "Of course not, my Lady!"
"Then yours isn't either. Checkmate, kitty."
She smiles at him, watching several emotions flit across his face while his tail lashes in agitation. He's probably trying to find an argument that doesn't make him sound like a hypocrite. Eventually he just huffs, defeated, removing one of his arms from her waist to tap her nose. "You, LB, are a dirty cheater."
Giggling, she taps his nose in return. "That must be why we keep beating the akumas."
Chat snorts inelegantly, shaking his head.
They sit in a comfortable silence for a moment. Chat's looking at the city and there's twinkling lights reflected in his eyes. Ladybug happily watches his pupils expand and contract as the light dances across them.
She nearly does fall off when he suddenly says, "You'll beat this, Ladybug. You're the strongest person I know."
"I can't stop, Chat. I've tried before." Her eyes are burning. She blinks rapidly to keep from crying.
"I know. But if you want to stop, then someday, that's what'll happen. You're unbeatable." His eyes are wide and earnest and she can tell he means every single word.
"And I'll always be here to help you however I can." He adds.
It's so nonchalant, like he thinks there was never any doubt he would do such a thing for her. Like he doesn't find her disgusting, or stupid, or silly. Like it's a simple thing that he cares so much about her, and always will.
Blinking is no longer enough, and she feels a traitorous tear drip off her mask and onto her cheek.
He's the only one of your friends who hasn't left you. You think he'd stay if you weren't a superhero?
She tells the little voice to shut up. She doesn't want to think about that right now.
Luckily for her, all thoughts are interrupted when Chat wraps her tightly in a hug. She makes a funny little squeaking noise out of surprise but relaxs into the embrace immediately.
She takes a long series of deep breaths until she's sure she's not in danger of bursting into tears, then gently pushes Chat away. He waits patiently as she hops down from the railing and wipes her eyes as discreetly as possible.
"Thanks." Her voice is definitely shaky, but she decides to be proud that it's at least not a croak.
"Anytime, my Lady."
She clears her throat awkwardly. "So, uh. Have you eaten today?"
Chat gives her the most deadpan stare that she's ever seen in her entire life and she can feel herself blushing as red as her suit. "Right, of course not! I mean, not that I expect you not to, but you usually don't, which I do not encourage, by the way, and-"
Chat is obviously trying very hard not to laugh at her.
She firmly clamps her mouth shut to stop the stream of words, opens it again, and then says, "I brought apples. And popcorn."
-
She grabs the picnic basket she brought before racing Chat to a private park that they're technically not supposed to be in without buying a ticket, but it's closed for the night and therefore deserted.
(Also, being the saviours of Paris will get you free access to pretty much anywhere. Not that she wants to get in the habit of abusing that privilege.)
Ladybug sets her yo-yo up to play cartoons while Chat starts unfolding the blanket she'd stowed inside the basket. They both sit down and Chat settles the blanket around their shoulders.
Ladybug breaks into the food, grabbing an apple out of the basket and taking a huge bite out of it. They've done these kind if nights before, she's been learning how this works, piecing together the rules: what he'll eat, what she shouldn't say, and what she can do to help. So she carefully does not look at Chat at any point while she eats, focusing instead on the yo-yo screen.
Sure enough, a leather-clad hand ghosts through the edge of her vision, then there's a slight rustle as an apple is retrieved.
She finishes her apple within the next two minutes, but Chat takes the entire episode to do the same, drawing it out with tiny little nibbles.
The next episode starts and she pulls out the bag of plain popcorn to continue snacking. Chat grabs a handful of it every now and then. Although he still eats significantly less than her, she decides that this idea was very much a success.
‐
The sun is barely peeking above the horizon when she wakes up the next morning. She's in a blanket burrito with Chat, his tail and arms wrapped around her. Somehow, the fingers of her right hand ended up tangled in his hair, and she can feel the minute twitches of his ears. He's purring contentedly into the top of her head, rustling her hair with every breath.
She's laying with her partner on grass that's already damp with morning dew, her arms feel sticky with her own blood, and she can feel Chat's bones far too easily when he's cuddled up against her.
But, despite it all... she feels happy.