Chapter Text
They see each other a lot after Stoneheart, but there’s always one moment that Ladybug could never seem to get out of her head. In the back of her mind it’s a constant loop of Chat, Chat, Chat... Even when she’s with Adrien and her brain’s short-circuiting, she can still manage to connect it all back to her partner with his puns, and messy hair, and unwavering faith in her, and his smirk that always seemed to make her feel that same warm fuzziness that she had felt during Stoneheart. She had never really realized why it was always him in her thoughts no matter what she was doing. But when she would see him—like flipping through channels on cable—her memories would flicker through her mental scrapbook of him until pausing at the exact moment that made her heart skip a few beats and her stomach flutter.
When it happens there’s a few things that lead up to it. Smaller pieces of the puzzle that if she examined just a little bit closer everything would click. It starts with her hanging upside down from her yo-yo—the side of her heels touching and her head low—so that she can hide from Dark Cupid in plain sight. She watched as her childhood friend that had been turned into a villain, flew above searching for her. For the next few minutes they’re enemies and she’s not even supposed to know who he is. It was a fact: Ladybug wasn’t supposed to know the akuma victim even when she did. And even if he was in control he wouldn’t recognize her. No one did. Clumsy, ditzy, flaky Marinette wouldn’t be anyone’s number one suspect for confident, clever, cool in the face of danger Ladybug. She was only admired when she was somebody and she was only somebody when she was Ladybug.
“Falling for me already, m’lady?” Chat Noir had said, snapping her out of her insecurity-riddled contemplations. He was standing on his staff, which he had lodged in between an opening on the building. She had gasped at his sudden arrival. Good, her partner was there. They were better together than apart. Everything was always easier when he was with her. Or at least it felt that way. His words sunk in. He was such a flirt. Sometimes it almost seemed like he had feelings for her, but she knew better than to assume. Just because they were close didn’t mean that he was in love with her. His flirtyness was just a part of his personality. He had flirted with her as Marinette and he flirted with her as Ladybug. It meant nothing.
She smiled at him, her whole face lighting up when she looked at him. He twirled his tail in a few circles—his other hand resting on one of the many window panels beside them—before releasing it in favor of helping her down. He held his hand out to her and she took it—still hanging from her yo-yo, but this time rightside up and her legs still in a crouch regardless of the fact that she was standing on nothing—and pulled her down next to him.
“I need to talk to you,” Chat had said. She loved talking to him and sometimes they would talk during patrol until the afternoon sky had painted itself into a lovely scenery of streaks and hues of the sunset, but for now they had a job to do.
“It’s going to have to wait. Dark Cupi—” she had started. He had pulled her in even closer, their faces only a few inches apart. Her mouth fell open as her expression transformed into one of astonishment. He shushed her and put his pointer finger between their lips—his hand almost touching her exposed chin.
“I swore to myself that I’d tell you as soon as I saw you,” Chat Noir had said. Her eyes widened. What was he going to tell her? And why did it have to be today? Maybe he did love her. Her heart swelled at the thought—they could start dating, and get married, and have three kids, and a hamster named—no, no. They wouldn’t do any of that because he didn’t have feelings for her and he wasn’t going to confess them and she wasn’t in love with him. Marriage and kids and hamsters were Adrien reserved things only. She didn’t have a crush on Chat Noir, and she certainly wasn’t in love with him. Her heart belonged to Adrien and only Adrien.
“Ladybug, I—I—” his expression melted into a look of fear, “look out!” He wrapped his arms around her tightly and spun them around, using his body to shield her. She watched in horror as her partner was struck by one of Dark Cupid’s arrows. She inhaled sharply, her worry mixing with her unease.
“Chat Noir!” she had exclaimed.
“Ladybug, I—I loathe you!” he said in a menacing tone.
“Chat Noir, snap out of it!” she had said desperately. She wouldn’t just have to fight alone now, she would have to fight him. He gripped her even closer to him, as if he was trying to force all the air out of her lungs.
“You’re nothing, Ladybug, and nothing to me!,” he said harshly, pure hatred dripping from his words. Ladybug squirmed in his arms, trying her hardest to break free from his grasp.
“ I hate you! ” he sneered. He doesn’t mean it, she thought, he’s under a spell. She jumped on his foot hard—his words inspiring a new motivation to defeat the akuma. He yelped in pain and released her. She launched herself up into the air, using his staff as the catalyst. She could fix this. And then everything could be normal again. No, not could. She would fix this. She had to.