Work Text:
Ladybug clutched at one of the iron bars from the Eiffel Tower's top, the pounding in her ears increasing the more she leaned towards the streets far far below. The morning breeze caressed her cheeks and swayed the featherweight attached to her shoulder blades that was and wasn't part of her.
“We can always try another day,” Chat Noir shouted from below.
“No, no, I–” Ladybug sucked in a breath as she adjusted her footing on the Tower. “Today.” She nodded emphatically. “Today I'll do it. No more stalling.”
“Ok, then.” Chat Noir sighed. “I don't even know why you're so scared. It's not like we haven't jumped way higher than it should be possible all over this city for the past two years.”
Ladybug bit her lips, reaching a hand behind to brush her fingers on the delicate material over her back. It stretched out at the touch and Ladybug snatched her hand back, afraid she would break it.
Would it hurt? Chat Noir didn't seem to be in pain when he took out his tail belt. But then again, he had it from the beginning, it didn't just sprout out of nowhere one day.
Groaning to the sky, Ladybug pulled herself to an upstanding position and, before she had time to regret it, jumped.
She saw Chat Noir dashing to the railings, eyes wide, at her sudden jump. She resisted the urge to yo-yo back to safety and kept her eyes on the fastly approaching roads. Controlling her breath as best as she could, focusing on the thin, translucid, cape parted like wings on her back. Willing them to move like she knew they could.
The roar of the cars crashed against her ears, citizens were starting to look up and point and scream at their heroine. Some with excitement, some wondering why she hadn't gotten her yo-yo yet.
Ladybug closed her eyes and blocked it all out. They would just distract her. Focus on your back. How it feels to be weightless. She did it multiple times, just now she didn't have a yo-yo to launch herself in the air for her. She didn't need it. She could do it by herself. She could. She could. She could.
The air was taken out of Ladybug's lungs as she was forcefully pulled up.
She remained there unmoving, vaguely aware of a crowd gathering underneath her. The rapid flap of a thin cape that shouldn't even be able to move sounding from either side of her head and she almost didn't want to look at them. Afraid that would break the spell and send her crashing to the ground.
“You did it!”
Ladybug instinctively turned around—in the air!—to see Chat Noir perched on a chimney, eyes gleaming in delight as he looked at her.
“I did it!” She giggled and flew to him faster than she thought she could and tackled him in a hug, bringing them both up to the sky.
“Wow, ” he breathed when she stumbled a bit and he almost slipped out of her hold. “Ok. You did it, now back to solid ground.”
Ladybug grinned down at him. “Look who's the one afraid of flights now.”
He turned a flat look to her. “You're the one with wings. I'll stick to my area of expertise, thank you very much.”
Ladybug pouted and released him.