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Ladybug stamped her foot. “Chat!” She exclaimed irritably, tired of listening to the verbal skirmish.
The two men stopped arguing and both turned their heads towards her.
“Yes, my lady!” They spoke in one voice, and again turned to face each other – obvious annoyance and anger on their faces.
“She’s not your lady!” Exclaimed Chat Noir, whom she had by this point mentally labeled as ‘hers’, – he was slightly taller and didn’t have a staff, like the other had.
“She’s Ladybug!” The second Chat Noir objected. “And I call her the way I used to!” He had softer features that made him look younger – although from a distance Marinette would hardly be able to distinguish the two of them.
Something weird – even for Paris – has been going on in the city since early morning. People, who duplicated other people – sometimes so accurately, down to their clothes, that they couldn’t be distinguished from the originals, started appearing everywhere. For example, when Marinette hugged her best friend at school, Chloe almost hissed at her, cursing and calling her by her last name with anger and disgust.
Marinette just stared at her in surprise, blinking silently, until HER Chloe came from the toilet and explained that the impudent one broke into her room at her father’s hotel and claimed that this was her room. And since even the parents couldn’t decide who their real daughter was, they sent both of them to school...
But when, after the first lesson, Marinette ran away from school, pretending to be sick in order to find an Akuma, responsible for the chaos, –there was none. No one chased her around the city in a strange costume and demanded to give them magical jewelry, no one shot at passers-by with ridiculous weapons - nothing.
Marinette was about to detransform and return to school when Chat Noir materialized out of thin air on one of the rooftops not far from her. Or rather, then she thought that it was her partner, but judging by what he managed to explain to her before HER Chat Noir joined them and a heated argument ensued between the men, – he fought with an Akuma and got hit by them.
The Akuma called themselves Imposition and threatened to force everyone who behaved inappropriately (namely, simply got in their way or refused to give up their miraculous – in case of superheroes) to be sent to where they would be taught to live differently. What that meant they didn’t know, – the second Chat Noir (or, as her partner stubbornly kept calling him, Imposter) explained, but people just disappeared from view. And, as logically followed from what they could observe around, – those people moved to this Paris, – the same, but different.
“You have no right to call her your lady, Imposter!” Chat Noir snorted, or rather, HER Chat Noir, – Marinette herself was already starting to get angry from all this confusion, and most importantly from the fact that from all these conversations it turned out that the Akuma remained there, in that Paris, where another Ladybug was to fight with them. And she – local Ladybug – couldn’t do anything about it.
“So your Ladybug is completely alone now?” The heroine managed to insert in between their arguments.
Both men turned to her again.
“Not completely alone, of course,” The not-her Chat Noir admitted. “But without me, it will be hard for them to cope…”
“Them?” The local Chat Noir asked suspiciously.
This time, Marinette could agree with his wary tone. There were two heroes in their Paris, and she could hardly imagine how she would have coped without her partner if he would disappear.
“Well, the other miraculous holders, obviously.” Chat-Imposter replied. “Don’t you have those here as well? Rena Rouge? Carapace?” He looked from her to her partner and back again. “Not even Queen Bee?”
Ladybug crossed her arms over her chest in a protective gesture, – the names that didn’t mean anything annoyed her, as if someone was discussing a movie that she hadn’t yet seen, and this made her feel uncomfortable. As if sensing her distress, Chat Noir, who was her real partner, took a step towards her and stood beside the heroine, as if opposing the two of them to their unexpected guest.
“And you never met the person who gave you your miraculous?” The Imposter clarified, – to which both local heroes shook their heads. “I see. Well, have you at least swapped miraculous between yourselves?” He asked hopefully. “I’ve had to work with Tikki a couple of times and it was a great break from Plagg’s constant grumbling, – although he makes me feel much more like myself and I missed the guy.”
Ladybug turned to her partner, slightly taken aback by this statement, and found that he was looking at her with the same expression. Arguing over whether his curse of bad luck should be removed by her kiss was a frequent pastime during their first months of working together...
Chat Noir cleared his throat and turned back to their guest. “You can take off your ring.” He more stated than asked. “And Plagg, doesn’t he bring you bad luck?” He took a quick glance at Ladybug and looked back at the other boy. “I mean, even if I could take off the ring, I wouldn’t exchange our miraculous. She doesn’t deserve to wear that curse on herself.”
Marinette felt her shoulders twitch with some kind of unpleasant sensation, and a shiver ran down her back.
They stopped arguing about the kiss and the ring long ago, but probably out of habit, she didn’t stop taking his feelings for pretend ones – from when they just met and she didn’t trust him yet. And this fleeting remark was like a slap in the face of her inattention, her inability to see the changes, or maybe to see something real that has always been there.
It was as if Chat Noir said everything she wanted to hear, – that he will always be there and want to protect her. But it wasn’t with these words that he said it, she realized, but she simply failed to notice that he had already told her this many times before – with his actions, comforting her after a difficult Akuma, replacing her on patrols if she was sick, being next to her in every fight and not giving any reason to doubt him.
She was still holding the barriers between them out of habit – ever since she thought he was a liar seeking her kiss just to get rid of the ring and run away. And not only was he not going to leave her if he had such an opportunity, but he wouldn’t allow her to take on a heavy burden, from which she didn’t allow him to get rid of...
“...and I got a mirror, just like I wanted!” The guest continued, and Marinette realized that he had been saying something for some time, and she was immersed in her thoughts and didn’t hear a word. “Of course, reflecting the beam coming from the sentimonsder wasn’t the right idea.” The foreign hero said with a nervous, bashful laugh. “But then we figured out how to use it!”
“So, there are two villains in your world and the other one creates these monsters?” Chat Noir asked – her Chat Noir that is, – who was listening intently to the story. “And more heroes to call on when you’re struggling, right?”
“Well, we had two villains, now he alone uses both miraculous.” The Imposter sighed. “But we will defeat him anyway!”
Her Chat took a small step closer to her, moving a little behind Ladybug’s back, as if trying to protect her rear. “We’ll defeat him too. The two of us are enough for it.” He said quietly, but firmly, as if not even for a guest, but for her, or for himself.
Or for the two of them.
And how hadn’t she realized before how much strength his calm confidence gave her?
Probably having this more cheerful Chat also had its advantages, but Marinette felt that she wouldn’t change her serious, sometimes even gloomy partner for anyone.
She leaned back a little, pressing her shoulder to his chest – not sure if she needed support or if she wanted to give it to her partner. But the way his hand fell on her shoulder and gently squeezed it told her that her gesture was right, and probably they both needed it.
“So…” Ladybug began after clearing her throat. “Your Ladybug, she... and you... you two are…” Marinette didn’t know herself what she wanted to ask and how to do it, and who needed the answer, – but the guest somehow understood her question nonetheless.
“My lady and I…” He began, but was interrupted as a red whirlwind swept over the city and the Imposter-Chat vanished into thin air just as he had appeared.
For a while, they stood silently looking at the space he had just occupied.
It was strange for Marinette to see magical powers that were exactly like hers, but definitely not caused by her, and she thought deeply about how many such worlds exist in the universe, and that if not for this Imposition-Akuma, they would never know about their existence...
Chat Noir, the only Chat Noir (and how could it be otherwise?) gently squeezed her shoulder again and Ladybug came to her senses and turned to him. The realization of how long ago she should have corrected her mistake poured into her with new strength and she opened her mouth to say about it when her partner spoke first.
“We don’t need their hints, you know.” He spoke softly, and she realized that he meant her last question, which she herself didn’t fully understand. “We’ll sort out our relationship ourselves.” He continued, and slid his hand up and down her shoulder as if to reassure her.
“You’re probably right…” Ladybug replied, wondering how she could ever mistake his soft, deep gaze for anything other than sincerity. “Listen, Chat,” She began and swallowed nervously. “I should’ve done this a long time ago and I want to apologize for taking so long to realize this. But I... I want to break your curse.”
The man looked at her with an attentive gaze, examining her face, as if trying to understand her motives. Then he sighed, took her hand and bent down to touch her knuckles with his lips. “I have nothing to forgive you for, my lady.” He said softly, straightening up. “And I’d rather get that kiss when it’s not a partner’s gesture of trust, but when it means to you what it means to me.”
He took a step back and briefly bowed only with his head. “See you on patrol.” He said, turned around and jumped to the next roof, quickly disappearing from sight.
Ladybug stood looking after him and feeling her heart pounding wildly.
With all these Akumas, Imposters and Impositions, she completely missed the moment when she started wanting this kiss for the same reasons he wanted it.