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Marinette felt her inner Ladybug flush at the idea of it. Dating Chat Noir as Marinette. Cool. But as Ladybug ? God, they would be the best. Fighting crime with the power of love! Sure, it’s cheesy, but it works on TV.
But as she stared at the magazine cover of the two holding hands, she felt her heart sink. This wasn’t right. She couldn’t look at this any more. Taking a deep breath, she put it back with the rest of the tabloids and continued to look around the rest of the store. She had to find a better gift for Alya.
Though, thinking about it, Alya would want anything with Ladybug or Chat Noir on the cover. Grabbing the magazine, she hid the embarrassing picture of the two by pressing it to her chest. ‘I’ll go for self check out,’ she thought, glancing at her bag to see if Tikki had woken up and seen what Marinette had decided to purchase.
“You’ve seen it too,” the cashier nodded, scanning the back of the magazine. “It’s for a friend,” Marinette flushed, though she knew a majority of the reason for buying it was selfish. “It’s a little crazy. Either way, I’m sure your friend will like it. Have a nice day!” the cashier smiled.
Marinette smiled and waved with her free hand, still clutching the magazine pressed to her chest. She hurried out of the store, and was quick to rush back home to her room.
Marinette placed the magazine on the floor, staring at the cover. ‘Parisian Superheroes… Partners for Life!’ it read in gold lettering. She was a little nervous to see what the inside would hold. And yet, it seemed to open itself.
One, two, three, four pictures of the two superheroes together. She felt her heart flutter. Sure, she only remembered a few, but she could picture it all in her mind. If she could do this as Ladybug… she certainly could do it as Marinette, right?
“Marinette! I can feel an akuma! Transform!” Tikki said, snapping Marinette out of her daydream. “Oh yeah! Um, Tikki, spots on!” she yelled, already scrambling for her skylight.
As she stood on the rooftops of Paris, she breathed in the chilly air, the wind whipping her hair around. She closed her eyes, and stretched out her arms, letting the breeze blow life back into her bones.
When she opened her eyes, there stood her kitty, waiting for her beck and call. “M’lady. What’s the plan for Glaciator this time?” he asked, tapping a finger to his lips. “Hm…” she muttered, letting her gaze drift away from Chat to focus on creating an idea. Away from Chat and then back to Chat, though this time he was on a billboard. She leaned over to see what the other side of the billboard was, and felt her hand fly to cover the bottom of her face.
She was probably bright red. No. She was bright red. Her face probably blended with her suit. “Oh. Okay. Wow. I forgot that happened.”
“We both did. Lucky for us, it’s all over Paris!” he remarked, a hint of exasperation in his voice. “She’s probably so upset…” he muttered.
“Hey, I wouldn’t worry about it! She knows that something probably happened to cause that!” Ladybug rambled, trying to save her skin.
If this was inside the magazine… how could she ever explain herself? If Chat saw Marinette with it, he would think she hated him or something, and that would ruin everything!
She took a deep breath in, and slowly let it out. “Let’s just go fight André,” she said, leaping from the roof before she could do anything more humiliating. Hiding her feelings had always been difficult for her, and the Marinette half of her just wanted to let it all out.
Spinning her yoyo, she pulled Glaciator’s hands together. Clearing her throat, she glanced at Chat to make sure he had her back before making an announcement. “Hey kids! Free ice cream!” she yelled, holding her giant spoon out to one of the older kids. “Just give back the charm,” she told the child before focusing on keeping André’s restraints taut.
“My icecream never fails!” he growled, letting Ladybug pull on his arms to aim them right at her.
“Oh no.”
She released her grip on her yoyo to shield herself, shutting her eyes and bracing for the chill of impact. “What ever happened to making people happy?” Chat snapped, yanking on Ladybug’s arm. Glaciator didn’t answer, only taking a step forward, away from the children.
“Chat, the side!” Ladybug whispered, pulling the duo to the nearby lamppost. “It is clear she loves you! The only one at fault here is you, Chat Noir!” Glaciator yelled. “It’s not like that!” Ladybug screamed, doing her best to be louder than the monster.
It was definitely like that. But Chat didn’t deserve to be targeted. Ladybugs can’t date.
“We are just friends!” she yelled, jumping down to stand beside Chat Noir. “And we are happy that way!” she said, plunging her arm in to the icecream to grab the scooper.
Throwing the scooper as hard against the ground as she could, she let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Tossing her charm in to the air, she turned to Chat. “Lady-” “Chat, I really have to go. I’m sorry,” she said, cutting him off. She gave him a half hearted smile before swinging away to give Tikki a rest.
Landing safely on her bed, the fading magical glow told her that she was just Marinette now. “Marinette, you have to go back!” Tikki yelled, as loud as the tiny kwami could be.
“Why? Those billboards are everywhere. I can’t be seen gawking at another one,” she sighed, covering her face with her hands.
“You didn’t catch the akuma.”
Marinette jumped up from her bed, hitting her head on the lip of her skylight. “Oh, god, that hurt,” she hissed, biting down hard on her lip. “Ow, ow, ow,” she repeated, shuting her eyes tight.
“Marinette? Do you want me to go get an-” “No, it’s fine. I have to go,” she said, pushing through her window much more slowly this time.
“Tikki, spot-” “Wait!” Tikki interrupted, gently pushing Marinette’s head in the direction of the billboard. “Oh.”
Her kitty stood in front of it, almost like he was ready to pounce. “What’s he doing?” she thought aloud, walking over to her railing.
“Hey kitty!” she called, waving her arm to catch his attention. She saw him smile and turn toward her, leaping from the roof to land flawlessly next to her. “Mademoiselle,” he said, gingerly kissing her hand.
She smiled, almost forgetting about the throbbing of her head. “Whatcha up to?” she asked, hoisting herself on to the railing to be at his eye level. “I noticed that Ladybug seemed a little embarrassed by the, uh, many billboards. Couple of the Year, apparently,” he half laughed, glancing back up at Marinette as if to check her reaction.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me. I’m not dating her,” he added. “I know. I think it’s cute that you care so much to clarify that,” she smiled, looking down in her lap. She slowed her swinging legs to a stop. “Can I tell you something?” she asked, glancing up for a split second before looking back at her lap.
“Of course.”
She took a deep breath in, letting her hands fall to her sides to firmly grasp the rail for a sense of grounding in the ocean of emotions.
“I screwed up. No, I screw up. I screw up a lot, and I screwed up today. I let my feelings get the best of me and I screwed up,” she breathed. Paris seemed to be in total silence. The sun was setting, the sky blooming in shades of pink and orange. Everything seemed to be perfect except for her.
“So?” Chat Noir said, reaching out to grab her hand. “Everyone does. The fact that you realize it makes that even better. You’re honest, Marinette. I like that about you,” he said, pulling her gently off the railing.
“You’re too forgiving. What if I screwed up, like, big time? And I put you in danger?” she asked, looking up at his eyes. “Well, you’re in luck, because I’m a super cool super hero.”
She smiled, placing her head against his chest. His hands rested on her back, and she felt closer to him than she ever did before. “I know this right here is how rumors get started,” she muttered. “Yup. But I don’t think either of us mind, Purrincess.”
“This is silly. I can’t, you can’t, we can’t… Nevermind. My words are getting jumbled. I just…” “I will protect you. I promise.”
She pulled away, her mouth hanging open. “What about from that?” she said, her voice almost as quiet as a whisper.
“I… I don’t know how. But I will. I can’t go back on a promise I just made, right?” he smiled, even in the face of danger.
André seemed to be several stories taller than he was before. The akuma hadn’t even had time to duplicate that much. There was no way he could’ve had this much anger to Chat!
“Hey!” she yelled, trying to get its attention. “Marinette!” Chat said, pulling on her hand to get her to step down. “Why don’t you cut it out!” she yelled again.
Glaciator turned to look at the duo, towering over them. Marinette looked up at the akuma. It was much less scary when you had superpowers.
She felt her grip on Chat’s hand tighten. Glaciator wasn’t doing anything. Just… looking at them.
“I see. Perhaps I was correct all along.”
The ice cream disappeared with a flash of purple, and in the place of Glaciator was regular André, thankfully not trying to hunt either of them. “The akuma!” Marinette gasped. “Not this time!” a loud voice drifted. She leaned over her railing to see her father proudly screwing on the lid of a jar holding the purple butterfly.
“Sorry for causing all this trouble. My dad will probably be up here soon. You remember what happened last time,” she sighed.
“While last time was a mess, I wouldn’t hate trying again. But I should probably get home. See you around?” he asked, already fixing himself in a perching position on her railing.
She wanted to pull him back in to her arms, to confess her mistakes, to explain that she was Ladybug and that she felt terrible about putting him in danger.
She wanted to say ‘stay’.
The two locked eyes, and he seemed to understand what she longed to say. He took a quick moment to step down from the railing, and gave her a hug. “I’ll be around, Mademoiselle.”
He leapt from the rooftop like a dove being released from a cage. In a blink of an eye, he was gone. But the feelings would always remain.