Chapter Text
It was two am in Paris, which meant that the darkened city was almost perfectly silent. At this hour, next to no cars were speeding down the shadowed streets, and tourists were no longer crowding around the Eiffel tower. The only source of light was the occasional lamp post glowing a soft yellow and casting long shadows that striped down the buildings and cobblestone.
The waxing moon alone gleamed proudly against the pitch black backdrop, the city's light pollution quietly erasing constellations from the sky. A dim light had crept through the open trap door of a balcony and strayed onto a bed, illuminating a girl's pale face. Her dishevelled mop of hair lay in a tangled mess on her pillow and glimmered vaguely blue in the moonlight. Dark circles were carved deep under her eyes, remnants of nights not as peaceful as this one. Only her even breaths filled the space.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
A shrill shrieking erupted from the phone lying precariously on the shelf above.
A very small sigh could be heard, before a peculiar, ladybugesque creature floated up to the unmoving girl's face.
"Marinette," Tikki murmured, "you know I hate to say this but-"
"No," Marinette groaned. Patting dazedly at the space next to her face, she grabbed hold of a giant cat pillow, threw it on top of her head and promptly fell back asleep.
Tikki rolled her eyes affectionately before flying up to the phone that was vibrating its way dangerously close to the edge of the shelf. Blinking at the brightness of the screen, she quickly scanned the alert - akuma spotted near the Notre Dame, with both superheroes yet to show up.
Squinting at her chosen's cat-covered head, a small smirk appeared on the kwami's face.
‘Good thing i'm already used to this’ Tikki thought, making her way over to the lump formally known as the saviour of Paris. ‘After having to wake Plagg up after century long naps, this will be a piece of cake.’
She brought the still beeping object closer to Marinette, then in one fell swoop, dove underneath the covers, and brought it right up to the girl's ear.
What ensued was an outraged scream and several flailing limbs, before the teenage superhero understood that she was not in fact being attacked by giant, pink, man-eating alarm clocks (last night's dream) or having Lila censor her every word, leaving her unable to tell anyone that she was not viciously swearing at them (the night before that).
"Tikki!" Marinette's head made its way out from beneath the covers, "How could you do this to me! After all we've been through?"
She crashed off the bed and grabbed the mischievous kwami hovering above her. Rubbing her eyes, she peered at Tikki, and muttered a low "What."
"What do you mean what?" came the high pitched reply, "there's an Akuma near Notre Dame and you're still sitting here!"
"In the middle of the night again?" Marinette murmured, climbing her way down the ladder adjoining the two floors of her room and walking over to the vanity table.
"WAKE UP MARINETTE! Chat Noir's probably already there." The sprite flew over to her chosen's face and tapped at her nose.
"Delightful selling point. Really."
Tikki frowned at Marinette's worn out expression and the girl huffed in response. "Fine, fine, just give me a second,” she gently caught Tikki in her hands and set her down on the desk. “I would never really leave that cat out there alone, he's probably just as tired as I am."
Marinette heaved a sigh and quickly snatched up a brush to attempt to fix the mess that was her hair. Tikki shook her head at the comment, watching with pursed lips the shadows beneath the girl's drooping eyes that seemed to darken further each day.
Satisfied that her hair was for the most part away from her face, Marinette called out her transformation sequence in a hushed whisper, before hopping out of her skylight and into the city.
An hour. They had been going at this for an hour already, and they were getting a lot slower for it. Panting, Chat Noir pulled Ladybug down beside him on a random roof before collapsing with a mumbled "Five minute break".
Lying down beside him, Ladybug covered her face before groaning.
"This is ridiculous," She breathed, "It shouldn't be this hard, he's lounging on top of a car for kwami's sake!"
Rolling onto his side, Chat Noir looked up at his lady, and was momentarily lost for words. She seemed to glow in the moonlight, her blue hair coiled up into a top knot that was quickly coming apart, a few loose strands plastered to her face and neck with sweat. By now, her cheeks were almost as red as her suit as she panted heavily next to him, closing her mask-covered eyes. Privately, Chat Noir thought that she looked particularly breathtaking, even in these circumstances, where they had been up several nights in a row chasing down possessed citizens.
Closing his mouth and clearing his throat in slight embarrassment that his mind had wandered off so quickly, Chat Noir's eyes shifted anxiously, looking at anything but the beautiful girl lying beside him.
"I'm sure we'll beat him in a matter of minutes m'lady, now that we're a little more rested up."
The akuma tonight called himself vehicular, and was apparently in a rage because someone stole his brand new car in the middle of the night.
"Where are you, superheroes? I'll have you know with the Ford F-250, I am more powerful than any of your 'magical' tools," a voice boasted nearby.
Chat Noir blinked slowly, "What is he on about."
Stumbling a little, Ladybug got up and began to search for the villain, with Chat Noir following suit.
She narrowed her eyes, walking in the general direction of the obnoxious voice. "Where is that human infomercial? I could have sworn-"
"Ladybug!" Chat called out, grabbing the spotted heroine's waist just as she took a step off of the roof. "Be a little more careful will you? Look, maybe you should go take a nap or something, I can handle this."
"No!" Ladybug pushed herself out of Chat's grip, but quickly stopped as a faint sense of dizziness came over her. She scowled and grabbed at the chimney to her right.
Head clearing, Ladybug looked at her partner and took in the way he leaned against a nearby wall, shoulder's sagging. His eyes had flooded with worry, but still had the dull glossy quality they'd held the last couple weeks. Ladybug frowned; her partner hadn't told a single pun all night. She decided then and there that there was no chance in hell that she would ever leave Chat to fight alone because she was tired. Not on her life.
Meeting the acid green gaze in front of her with a new sense of determination, Ladybug smirked slightly, "Come on then, let's go kick his ass."
Snorting at the way her partner's eyes widened, Ladybug launched herself towards the street opposite, running towards the sounds of horns beeping.
Another hour passed before the superheroes managed to purify the akuma, and even then it was not by the usual means (Ladybug had, in a fit of anger, thrown her yoyo at vehicular's face with a cry of "Beep beep you sad fuck!" and broke the akumatised glasses. Adrien was still cackling about it as he got into bed). Still, success was success.
Stumbling through her balcony at 4 am and very gracefully face-planting into her bed sheets, Marinette let out a deep sigh that turned into a snore midway through. Tikki only shook her head at her chosen, curling up on a little cushion with a sigh of her own.