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When she meets him it’s fast and somewhat confusing and it was an accident. She was trying to get the hang of swinging around with her yo-yo and she had wrapped it around the ear of a gargoyle statue. She had tugged it tentatively—albeit a little bit too hard, but that was beside the point and enhanced strength was something she was going to have to get used to.. She had tugged and she had flung herself to the opposite of where she was trying to go. He had been balancing over his staff like a tightrope and he had been doing pretty well until she had swept in like—in her not so humble opinion—a hurricane. Chaotic and a mess of limbs, she had crashed into him and sent them both tumbling to the concrete floor.
She had fallen into his leather-covered arms and she had taken him down with her. Luckily for them—that ladybug luck must’ve kicked in eventually—her yo-yo had coiled around his staff and hung them from it by their midsections. They bounced around at first, the force of gravity and magic colliding. They swung side to side, their arms flailing around.
“Well, hey there,” he had said. “Nice of you to drop in.” Her mind had swelled in recognition at the sight of him. But first she had to apologize. Being a superhero didn’t mean she was exempt from basic manners.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose.” She took him in, from his messy blonde hair to his cat-like eyes. This was her partner. The corner of her mouth twitched. She would be okay with that. He jumped down halfway through her sentence—his legs landing in a crouch and his palm splayed out on the ground.
“I bet you’re the partner my kwami told me about. I’m… Chat Noir. Yeah, Chat Noir. And you?” he had asked. Right. Her name.
“I’m Ma… er… Mar… uh…” she had stammered, her hands and mind busy as she struggled to untangle the yo-yo. She jerked it again, not expecting her hard tug to free her strange weapon. The yo-yo practically flew down thanks to gravity—and what Chat Noir would later claim as the beginning of his black cat bad luck—and hit her new partner in the head.
“Madly clumsy. I’m so clumsy,” she had finished. He rubbed the top of his head for a few seconds, before picking up his staff.
“No sweat, clumsy girl. I’m learning the ropes too,” Chat Noir had said. She clasped her hands together, her face showing some of the embarrassment she felt. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it once again when the floor began to tremble. Chat Noir had watched as a building had collapsed and immediately jumped into action—using his extendable staff to bound and leap himself towards the direction of the fallen building.
“Hey! Where are you going?” she had called out to him. He turned around from the top of the building he had landed on.
“To save Paris, right?” he had responded. He had launched himself forward before she could say another word.
“Ugh,” she had muttered. “Trust yourself, trust yourself…” If her partner could spring into action with no prior experience so could she. They were yin and yang. Two halves of a whole. They could do this. She could do this. She swung the yo-yo and let it guide her to where Chat Noir had gone.
The next meaningful time she sees him, it’s the moment when if she stopped to think about it for too long she can’t think straight. It’s when she’s failed and she’s just about ready to walk away and pretend that her being Ladybug was all a dream. Or in her case a horrible nightmare.
“We’re clear to attack!” Officer Roger had said. Sabrina’s dad , her mind couldn’t help but fill in.
“Wait!” Ladybug had shouted. “No! Don’t attack them! You know it’ll only make it worse!”
Roger couldn’t. No one could. This was her job.
“I have a new plan, unlike you! Move aside and let the pros do their thing. You’ve already failed once!”
She had messed up bad and now no one trusted her. Maybe she should’ve just helped Alya as Marinette and then handed her the bag with the earrings. Let Alya handle it. Or someone else. Nobody needed her. Maybe it was just time to give up.
“He’s right, you know. If I had captured Stoneheart’s akuma the first time around, none of this would have happened! I knew I wasn’t the right one for this job…”
“No. He’s wrong,” Chat Noir had said. He put his hand on her shoulder, sending tingles up her body. “Because without you, she’d no longer be here. And because without us, they won’t make it, and we’ll prove that to ‘em. Trust me on this. Okay?”
She stared into his soft eyes, finding herself getting a little bit lost in them. This was her partner and he trusted her. Warmth bloomed in her chest at his reassuring words. Someone believed in her and he had witnessed her screw-up and he didn’t care. Trust me on this. She could do that. When she was with him it felt a bit like she could do anything.
“Okay.” And that word couldn’t even begin to convey all the emotions coursing through her. She had a friend. A partner. And it wasn’t like she didn’t have friends, but none of them had ever made her feel so important. Was this how friendship, friendship with unwavering faith, was like? Maybe being a superhero—as long as she had him by her side—wouldn’t be so bad.