Chapter Text
Marinette turned the invitation over and over in her hands, looking at the elegant writing and the fancy paper but not really seeing them. In fact, she had totally missed Chat’s arrival for patrol because when she heard his voice next to her she almost dropped the invitation.
“What’s this, m’lady?”
It was a simple question. It required a simple answer - an invitation. Then why was it so hard to say it? What was it about this innocent piece of paper that scared her so much? It was the easiest thing in the world to just send back a simple “no, thank you” and forget about it. Why was she agonising over it?
“They are organising a gala. For us. Paris wants to celebrate us,” she forced herself to answer, the words leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.
They were superheroes. They risked their lives to protect the people of Paris. They weren’t celebrities that liked dressing up to the nines and attending pointless parties.
“Oh. So you just want me to agree that we’re not going?”
The words finally managed to help her snap out of the stupor she’d found herself in.
“What do you mean?” She asked, blinking in surprise as she looked at Chat.
“You clearly don’t want to go. So we’re not going,” he shrugged. He read her so well and obviously did not object to her decision. If only it was that simple.
“We can’t say no. It’s not polite, is it? After all, it’s for us. Not some other unidentifiable cause,” she pointed out. This was what was troubling her the most. “They are even raising money for charity!”
“Well, they didn’t ask us if we wanted something like this organised. We’ve said many times that we’re not celebrities,” he reminded her.
“Pfft, as if you’d have any problem acting like a regular celebrity, waving at the fans, charming everyone, just being glamorous,” she made a poor attempt at humour. Which for some reason made her partner wince. It must have been worse than she thought.
“I can do it if I have to, but I also don’t think it’s an integral part of who we are,” he said in a subdued voice.
“Why can’t I be like this? More easy-going, able to have fun,” she groaned.
“Because this is a job for you, m’lady. You’ve made it clear many times.”
“It’s… not that. Fighting villains, yes, that’s a job. But this,” she waved between them, the random rooftop that had witnessed a lot more casual hangouts that she could count, the Eiffel Tower glittering in front of them. “This is just us being silly most of the time. I can enjoy this. I do it every time. It’s not hard.” You make it easy. The last part she couldn’t say out loud. She was still afraid of overstepping a boundary. Yes, even as fondness filled her heart, she was careful.
“Well, we can always pretend that this gala is like a regular patrol and casual talk afterwards.”
“But there will be people! And everyone will be staring at us. They might even expect us to dance,” she said, her voice dropping to a horrified whisper.
“None of that should scare you, I’ll be there to protect you,” he winked at her, making her snort. “I mean it! I can talk to people and well, people looking at me don’t bother me at all, you can hide behind me.” She giggled at the image in her head of her using Chat as a shield from unwanted attention. “And we don’t have to dance. But I’d very much like it if we did.” He was no longer joking. There was something in his voice and in his eyes that made her shiver. Longing.
Oh no. There it was. What she’d been trying to avoid was that a part of her actually wanted to go. Exactly for this very reason. She’d be there with Chat. She knew she could enjoy herself with him. Maybe a bit too much. So the first instinctual reaction had been a hard no. Because it could be dangerous, right? She might be tempted too much.
“Think about it,” he cleared his throat, looking away. “But yeah, I have no problem with not going, if you don’t want to. It’s up to you.”
She appreciated this. The fact that he left the choice to her. But this also scared her so much. Because she’d have to reason with herself.
*
“A gala for Ladybug and Chat Noir! Can you imagine if I could somehow sneak into that?” Alya sighed, looking dreamily at her phone.
The news was out there. Everyone knew that it was happening. It was just that no one knew if the superheroes would be there. Well, apparently they just assumed that it was happening.
“It would be just another boring party,” Adrien shrugged. Of course, he was used to such occasions and they no longer impressed him.
“You’re not going?” Marinette asked shyly. Maybe if she knew that there wasn’t a chance for her to bump into someone she knew, she’d be more willing to go. Not that you need an incentive! She scolded herself. She needed a reason not to go!
“Pfft, no,” Adrien snorted. “I think I have something else that night ,anyway.”
“We can just get together and commiserate about not being able to go,” Alya turned to Marinette.
“I think I’m looking after Manon that evening,” Marinette lied. She didn’t realise it immediately but this was what sealed the deal for her. She shouldn’t have lied. She should have agreed and having a solid excuse not to go would have worked great. Instead, she’d tricked herself. She had to go now. What was more, she had to admit that she wanted to go.
Great.
*
“Brush up on your dancing skills, kitty, we’re going to a gala!”
Marinette was trying to ignore the enthusiasm in Chat’s eyes at her words and failing, but it was even harder to ignore the excitement building up inside of her. Uh oh. What had she gotten herself into?