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Ladybug had one mission: today, she was going to confess her feelings to Chat Noir.
She was certain of them now, certain enough to tell him to his face. After months and months of second-guessing herself every time her heart fluttered at his smile and refusing to admit how happy it made her to be around him, she gave in. And when she gave in, when she let herself feel all of those feelings, it hit Ladybug so hard that she nearly fainted when he playfully winked at her the following day. Hiding her feelings was much, much easier, but she had to admit that it made each patrol more exciting when she knew that she’d be with someone that made her as utterly giddy as he did when she was around him for two hours at least.
It felt good to let herself finally adore him, she knew that much without a doubt. The mere thought of him loving her as much as she loved him made her heartbeat quicken and brought a grin to her face. Her only problem was her complete and total fear of admitting those feelings. Although she was very nearly completely sure that he felt the same way about her, a sliver of guilt always managed to slip its way into her thoughts. What would happen if she told him that she loved him and he laughed at her, or told her that it was too late? It didn’t sound like him to do either of those things, he had promised that he’d wait for her forever, hadn’t he? Why keep him waiting even longer if she could make them both incredibly happy?
Drawing in a deep breath, she transformed and leapt from her window, a newfound confidence practically radiating off of her as she made her way to the Eiffel tower. After quickly scanning the area, Ladybug sighed in relief. He wasn’t here yet. His temporary absence gave her time to relax and think about everything she loved about him, maybe those thoughts would completely shoo away any last-minute fears she had.
Everyone already knew that she found him attractive, if she was being honest, who didn’t find him attractive? Of course, she loved his hair, and the kindness of his eyes, and the easy-going smile he always seem to wear when they were together, that was obvious. But Ladybug loved so many other things about him too.
It was very possible that she loved everything about him.
Which, two months ago, she would have denied wholeheartedly. It was impossible to love everything about someone, wasn’t it? At least that’s what she told herself. In reality, she found that once she finally stopped denying her feelings, even his flaws seemed endearing.
And she knew, in the back of her mind, that he loved everything about her, too. At least, she thought she did.
He’d seen her mess up and trip and make mistakes, but he never stopped looking at her with unmistakable adoration in his eyes. He never expected her to be perfect, he only expected her to be herself, because it was all he ever really wanted. And their past fights and brutal heartbreaks didn’t matter to her anymore, because she’d always found it inside of herself to forgive him, because he was someone that deserved to be forgiven. Even if an argument was Ladybug’s fault, Chat Noir always went out of his way to make sure she was alright. Every time. He was the kind of person that would risk everything if it meant he was saving someone else, his dignity included. Even Ladybug from two months ago couldn’t have found a way to deny that. And, after a bit of time, she thought that might be the thing she loved about him the most. In fact—
Distantly, she heard a quiet but incredibly recognizable “Woohoo!“ followed by faint clicks of a baton, slowly coming closer, detaching her from her train of thought. Remembering what was happening and what she was about to do, new nervousness crashed into her with the outstanding force of a massive wave.
What if she said too much?
What if she scared him away?
Ladybug felt him approaching the tower, his presence magnetic, she always knew when he was near. That was part of being soulmates, wasn’t it? If only she could tell him that.
He was getting closer and for some reason, she decided that she needed to run.
So many things could go wrong.
What if he didn’t love her anymore at all? What if she was wrong?
Oh, God. She couldn’t do this.
So, as gracefully as ever, she dropped to the floor and crawled as quickly as she could into an elevator plastered with an ‘Out of Order’ sign on the front. Great plan, Ladybug, she internally scolded herself.
As she settled onto its floor, she decided that the elevator seemed sturdy enough, and that she could always catch herself if it were to break or start free-falling down the Eiffel Tower. However, she very instantly discovered that its stability would not be the problem. The little box was full of dust, and it tickled her nose as soon as she breathed in.
Boots clicked as her faithful superhero partner landed right where she had been standing a few moments ago. She hoped that he would assume he’d gotten there first, but she was fairly certain that he’d gotten a glimpse of her on his way over.
Ladybug convinced herself to breathe. She was being ridiculous, there’s no way he could have lost all of his feelings for her, and she understood that, but the more that she came to that conclusion, the more embarrassed she became for hiding at all.
Another breath, she can hear him lightly walking around the perimeter of their meeting point. Damn her for asking him to meet her here and damn her for hiding from something she’d been planning for so long. Even if he didn’t love her, she still needed to tell him, right? Didn’t he deserve to know?
A deep inhale through her nose to calm her rapidly beating heart and…oh. How convenient, she needed to sneeze.
Desperately.
Now, she couldn’t leave out of pure humiliation, and if she didn’t find a way to silence or push away this sneeze, she’d reveal her hiding spot.
Please, she silently begged anything and everything.
Please go away, she silently begged the sneeze specifically.
And, as if it were the greatest blessing ever bestowed upon a person in history, the need to sneeze seemed to disappear.
Ladybug finally let her shoulders slump, listening as his footsteps continued to tap near her. She would just have to wait this out, she supposed, already trying to come up with an apology to Chat Noir in her head. The guilt growing in her chest was distracting enough that control seemed to slip away from her.
And she sneezed. Loudly.
The footsteps stopped and she quickly tried to think of the nearest thing that she could jump off of to get out of this situation. Her unnecessary need to make everything difficult annoyed even Ladybug herself, sometimes.
Only seconds after, he was in front of her, a curious smile on his face, “Bless you, m’lady,” he said, and with a bit of a flourish, he handed her a black handkerchief.
"Thanks," she rolled her eyes, ignoring the racing of her pulse as she took it from him and quietly blew her nose. When she was done, she folded it and handed it back to him reluctantly.
He chuckled, returning the cloth to one of his many zippered pockets and scanning the space, “I'm not one to judge, and I won't ask, but I can't imagine this broken elevator being very comfortable. Or fun. In fact, you’re lucky I was here right in time. How else would you have recovered from that adorable and impressively passionate sneeze?”
Ladybug stuck her tongue out at him playfully, “You’re right, incredibly lucky. I should be eternally grateful for your chivalry.”
Chat Noir smirked, “What can I say? It comes naturally,” and, to prove his point, he extended his hand to help her up. She used it to get onto her feet, never giving up an excuse to touch him, and wiped some leftover dust from her suit once she managed to escape the allergy elevator from hell safely.
“Why do you even have a handkerchief on your person anyway? Fighting a lot of dust villains recently?”
He grinned mischievously, “I’m allergic to feathers remember? It’s great to have on hand when I’m around pigeons or Ladybugs in distress.”
She snorted, “You’re terrible sometimes.”
Chat Noir shrugged, tapping her nose before turning around to walk the perimeter of the Eiffel Tower again, “You love me.“
True.
But she had to tell him.
She was shocked into silence for only a moment, suddenly wracked with nervousness again, before stepping into place beside him. It’d be okay. This was Chat Noir. Her best friend, her partner, the person she’d do anything for. It’d be okay. She knew it would be.
Ladybug had only been with him for two minutes, at most, and, immediately, all of the previous fear she’d been bottling up inside seemed to melt away, because he was here. He was right here, and he loved her. She could see it in the way he looked at her. For once, she was happy she was right. It would be okay, after all.
“You’re not wrong, kitty,” she finally said, with the kind of confidence she could only muster when she was with him, “Couldn’t have taken me any longer to figure it out, though.”
He froze, turning to face her instantly, “I’m sorry?”
Ladybug shrugged her shoulders, trying to be nonchalant, “Were you ever planning to ask me why I wanted to meet you here on a random Sunday afternoon? It is nice out here today, though, if we didn’t have something important to discuss, I would have loved to just sit up here with you for a while.”
Blinking, Chat Noir seemed to finally remember that this wasn’t a patrol. “Oh, right. What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s perfect.”
He nodded slowly, very clearly still trying to understand what she meant, “Oh...Good.” Chat Noir furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at her, helplessly confused.
Biting back a laugh, she gave him a second, letting herself ramble, “The weather really is nice, today. It’s not too terribly windy or too hot right now. Just right, I think. I’d say it’s—“
“Ladybug.”
She smiled, meeting his eyes, “Yes?”
“Please, I’m… Well, I didn’t mean to interrupt you, but I am very desperately requesting that you elaborate on your previous statement because…” he paused, searching her face.
Ladybug raised an eyebrow, teasing, “Because?”
Some of his confusion fades and is replaced with a look of pure determination. Certainty, maybe. She decided it was probably the way she was smiling at him that had given her away, but she wasn’t upset. He knew what she'd said, and he knew that she knew that she'd said it.
His voice was a tad shaky, presumably out of excitement, or maybe out of a similar nervousness to what she was feeling earlier, “Did you confess your love to me a second ago? It sounded like you did.”
Ladybug considered teasing him a little more, giving him more time to think what she said over, to let him continue to wonder so she’ll never have to stop seeing the glimmer of hope in his eyes. She loved that glimmer. It was confirmation. He did love her, and he wanted her to return those feelings more than anything. She could keep him waiting, if she wanted. But she couldn’t find it in herself to make him do it any longer.
Or maybe she was the one who couldn’t wait. She'd been waiting forever.
Taking a step closer, Ladybug reached up to tap his nose, smiling softly. “It’s possible, it might even be why I asked you here today,” she said, “Maybe I’ve been dying to tell you for months. How crazy would that be?”
They were standing much closer to each other than they probably should have been, she could take one more step and tilt up her head and he could kiss her. Oh. As if re-remembering the gravity of the situation she was currently in, her heart sped back up. She had to make herself breathe.
Chat Noir seemed to be in a state of pure awe and surprise, gently touching his nose where she’d tapped it, “I…” he took a deep breath, “Really?”
She nodded, “Mhm.”
“But, how come you were hiding in the elevator?”
She cringed at the very recent memory, cheeks flushing lightly, “I was nervous.”
“Why?” his eyes were locked on hers.
“I convinced myself that you didn’t love me anymore, just a little bit.”
He managed a laugh, finding her hand with his own, “Impossible. I could never.”
Ladybug finally tore her gaze away from his to look at their interlocking fingers, “That works out then, doesn’t it? Requited love always tends to go better in the long run.”
“I think so.”
She looked up at him again, marveling at the intense adoration that seemed to appear across all of his features. Ladybug wondered if she looked the same to him.
“I love you,” she whispered, the most honest words she’d ever spoken to him.
“I love you, M’lady. Always,” he told her, pulling her closer to him and wrapping her in a hug. She relished in the feeling of it, in the feeling of freedom that she’d finally gained from telling him the truth. Ladybug decided that she’d never been happier in her life. He pulled away just barely, presumably to speak, but he looked like he might kiss her right there, on Paris’s most famous landmark, for everyone to see.
She wasn’t even shocked when he did.