Work Text:
It’s been 16 days since she realized she’d fallen for her kitty, and she’d spent half of that planning out how to tell him, the other having a bit of a melt down because she’d fallen for her partner.
But finally, after almost a week of planning, she’d gotten it all set up. A small, but romantic picnic on the Eiffel Tower, up where civilians couldn’t get too, and she’d made fresh macaroons that afternoon. She’d went a little overboard, lining the floor with candles and rose petals, but she couldn’t deny that she’s a bit of a romantic. And the idea of seeing Chat’s reaction was worth the extra money she’d spent, she loved it when she managed to make him blush, which she’s realized over the past few years is easier than she expected.
While her kitty could talk a lot of game, a simple, innocently flirty pun back could have him flushed for minutes afterwards.
She could feel butterflies in her stomach as she waited at their normal meeting place, fiddling with her yo-yo.
There was the sound of footsteps behind her and she turned, a smile already spreading across her face.
Chat grinned happily at her, and she could feel heat rising up her neck as he pressed his lips against her knuckles.
“Good evening, m’lady.” He let her hand fall slowly from his and she missed the warmth moments later.
“Good evening, Chat.” The words came out softer than she meant, closer to a whisper. “S-so,” Ladybug pulled at one of her pigtails lightly. “Uh, I was thinking we could skip patrol tonight, it’s been pretty quiet and I thought we could use a break.” She finished a bit awkwardly and her face flushed.
He didn’t seem to mind, or notice, and the fond look never left his eyes, but she could see his shoulders sag a little.
“O-oh, yeah,” He rubbed the back of his neck, chewing on his lip.
Before she could respond again, to clarify she didn’t mean they needed to go home, there was a loud explosion a few blocks away from them.
Ladybug forced back an irritated sigh and hoped silently that this wouldn’t take too long, she did have plans for the night.
Two hours later she realized it was unlikely she’d be able to go through with her plan tonight, hell it was unlikely she’d be able to do more than say goodnight to him after the battle.
She could feel the exhaustion in her bones and it made her movements slower than normal, it felt like ever ounce of energy was being sucked from her body.
Though that was probably on purpose, judging from the numbers of sleeping bodies littering the sidewalk.
Ladybug was pretty sure she’d heard the akuma say something about being angry due to not getting enough sleep because of their boss, but thinking that hard about it made her lightheaded, it was taking all her focus to just keep her eyes open.
There was a thick layer of clouds, or smoke, she couldn’t tell, above them, and light colored flecks of air floated down onto them, going into people’s lungs as they inhaled and putting them to sleep.
She briefly glanced over at Chat, who was standing across the road from her, and she could see that he was leaning heavily onto his baton, but she wasn’t sure if it was because the hit he’d taken a few minutes ago was worse than he’d let on or that it was due to sleepiness.
She hoped it was the latter.
Ladybug looked around, her red and black scissors clutched tightly in her hand. She snapped her yo-yo around a light post by Chat and swung herself over, landing on the top of the post.
She could see flecks falling slowly around her.
“Chat, I need you to destroy the bus stop next to her.” Her voice got quieter and quieter as she swooned, her eyes drifting closed for a second.
She reopened them to see Chat’s worried face above her, and she couldn’t see the surrounding buildings anymore.
“Bug?”
Ladybug hummed a little in response, lifting herself up onto her elbows.
“What happened?” She asked while looking around.
They were inside of an old, abandoned greenhouse, the windows were cloudy with mold and years of musk building up and there were old, unrepaired holes in the roof.
He had had her lucky charm pressed gently against her mouth and nose, to prevent her from inhaling anymore of the dust that put her to sleep, and it fell onto her lap as she sat up.
“You passed out,” His voice was quiet, and she could see his eyes struggling to stay open. “It’s been less than 20 minutes and the akuma hasn’t made any progress, it’s still on the block by the school, but doesn’t seem to be in any hurry.”
She nodded as they got up and she held onto his arm gently, glancing down at his other arm which hadn’t moved from being wrapped around his chest.
“Are you okay?” She asked, pulling him softly towards her.
“Yeah,” He said it a bit too quickly, and they both knew it.
Ladybug frowned and reached out with her unoccupied hand, dragging her fingers across the side of his chest while pressing down lightly on each rib.
She tried to ignore the fact that she could easily feel his ribs.
He flinched as she pressed down again, his clawed hand wrapping gently around her wrist.
She whispered a soft “sorry” and he let her lift her hand up to his face, tracing the edge of his mask where she could see a dark bruise forming, one that she knew hadn’t been there before she’d fallen.
“I’ll be fine, Bug.”
They didn’t move for a second and she sighed, brushing her fingers through his hair as she pulled away.
“Let’s get this over with.” She tried to give a supportive smile, but she could tell it fell short.
It took them almost 20 more minutes before they were able to get the upper hand and grab the akumatized object, but as she threw her lucky charm in the air she could feel her muscles relax as the magical ladybugs fluttered around her body rapidly before spreading out around her.
She took a deep breath before looking around for her partner, who was standing a few feet away. She grinned at him, and made to step forward, but the urgent beeping from her miraculous stopped her.
He gave her an amused grin and she pouted a little.
“Well,” He moved so he was standing next to her. “I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow night, m’lady.” He moved to grab her hand, like he normally does when they say goodbye, but she moved her hand before he could.
He gave her a confused look and she laughed a bit sheepishly.
“Uh,” Ladybug bit her lip. She’d had every intention of saying goodnight a moment ago, but she moved anyway. “Could you wait? O-on the roof? Just uh, let me feed my kwami.” She stumbled around her words a bit with a flush, stepping back. “I um, I wanna talk,”
Breathe
“To you, I need to talk to you about something.” She let out a shaky, nervous giggle which cut off quickly when she noticed the worried and insecure look in his eyes. “N-nothing bad! I just, ugh.” She groaned, looking down and covering her face with her hands.
She peered between her fingers when she saw his boots appear near her and she looked up, letting her hands fall. He smiled down at her, and her heart thumped loudly enough in her chest that she was worried he could hear it.
“I promise I won’t be long.”
He reached up and tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear, his claw dragging softly across her skin.
She shivered, letting out a shaky breath.
“I know,” Chat whispered. She could feel goosebumps trailing up her arms as his finger dragged across her jaw. “I’ll wait,” He used his finger to tilt her head up a little and he kissed her forehead softly. “I’d wait fur-ever for you, m’lady.”
She couldn’t tell if it just felt like she swayed or if she actually did, but she reached out and gripped his shoulder anyway, gazing up at him.
He blinked slowly down at her, very slowly.
She remembers Alya telling her about something about that a few years ago after they got into a playful, but serious debate over whether or not Chat was really in love with Ladybug. Apparently it’s a sign of affection, love and trust, from cats at least.
And sure, her kitty wasn’t a cat persay, but she’d heard him purr a few too many times for a regular human, and while she’d never say it to his face, she is guilty of liking a few tweets (lovingly) calling him a furry on Twitter.
“Bugaboo?” Chat said quietly.
Ladybug blushed as she realized she’d been staring up at him for almost 10 seconds of silence.
Her heart pounded against her chest, almost painfully and she took a deep breath. She licked her lips as she draped one of her arms around his neck, the other coming forward and flicking his bell softly.
“You’re such a flirt, kitten.” Ladybug whispered teasingly.
She could hear him suck in a breath, and his face heated underneath her fingers. She smirked a little and, while ignoring the hard thumping in her chest, leaned up and pressed her lips softly, and quickly, against his lips. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.” She purred, but couldn’t stop the giggle at the shocked flushed look he gave her as she stepped away before he could react.
She felt proud of herself, at his reaction, at being able to leave him speechless and flushed with a simple brush of their lips.
Her face flushed at the thought and she could feel butterflies in her stomach as she threw her yo-yo out and swung through the air.
She knew she needed to calm down and get herself together before she saw him again, but just for a minute, she can focus on how warm he felt when he was near her and what it felt like to kiss him, on how soft his lips felt against hers.
Ladybug sighed breathlessly as she landed in an alley, a soft look staying planted on her face as her transformation fell and she slid down onto the cold ground, softly brushing her bottom lip with her finger thoughtfully.