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“What’s this?” asked Ladybug, eyeing the gift that Chat Noir was handing to her.
The cat twitched his tail grinning cheerfully. “You do not know, my lady?” Then he did this graceful little twirl that would make even a ballerina jealous. “It is a present.”
“I can see that.” She replied amusingly, taking the small box in her hands. The heroine inspected it carefully. There was a tag, scented of course.. It said ‘To Ladybug, the sweetest lady in Paris’ written in a beautiful cursive handwriting. “What is it for?”
Chat crossed his arms, shaking his head and pretending to look upset. “You really don’t remember?” Then he sparked a smile, taking Ladybug’s other hand gently in his own. “Today is the day we met, one year ago.” He curled his belt-tail into a shape that vaguely resembled a heart. “Our anniversary.”
“Anniversary?” Ladybug laughed out loud, clutching the tiny present close to her chest to keep it from falling out of her grasp. She pulled her other hand out of Chat’s grip. “This isn’t your petty fantasy, Chat, we’re not married.”
He leaned over to her, peering at into her own eyes with his own charismatic green eyes. “But we could be.”
Beat.
“You aren’t proposing to me are you, alley cat?” Ladybug looked at her present in mock disgust, holding it by the delicate ribbon that decorated the top. Seeing his present dangling dangerously in the paws of his loved one, he fidgeted, but didn’t object. Instead he grinned.
“Maybe I am.” He leaned back, putting his arms on his hips, smiling his ever so sassy smile. When she glared at him darkly, he sighed, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to one leg; using one hand to gesture his sentences. “Unfortunately, it’s not an engagement ring as you probably suspected.” He winked. “But the offer is still up in the future.”
“Uh-huh.” The spotted heroine responded absentmindedly. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind ten-fifteen years from now.”
“Regrettably,” He lifted the dark cattish ring on his hand for Ladybug to see, looking rather solemn. “The only thing I’m married to at the moment is my bad luck.”
“How poetic.” replied Ladybug, unimpressed, looking closer at the present. She shook the box- gently of course, but it made no sound. However it wasn’t empty. Weighted at least two pounds. It must be carefully packed to ensure that the contents were not damage- however small it was.
The slink feline twitched his tail in anticipation. “If you’re not going to open it now, better not leave it in the sun or the heat.” Then he tilted his head to the side. “A fridge or cool place is good.”
“Is it food?” Ladybug asked, tilting her head, forming a gentle grip around the box once more.
Chat Noir gave her an annoyed look, but he didn’t look genuinely ticked off. “If you really want to know, you should open it mademoiselle.”
Before any of them could say something in response, there was an ear piercing scream, shocking the two out of their playful banter. Just as they turned their heads towards the sound, a flying car was tossed in their direction. Realizing what was happening; Ladybug swiftly kicked her catty companion out of the way of the approaching object before making a leap for cover herself.
“Me-yah!” he cried out as he was roughly kicked aside.
With the nimbleness that came as being a ‘cat’, Chat Noir quickly regained his footing, putting his feet and hands in front of him so that he rolled onto his feet. He looked back, trying to see where Ladybug was. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw her on another rooftop. His relief was momentarily broken by something sharp piercing the roof tile right in front of his face with a sickening crack. The textile of the roof didn’t stand a chance and was easily destroyed by the sudden appearance of the quill.
Making a mewl of shock, he took a step back, his belt tail standing on it’s end. He turned his head towards where the sharp shard coming from, only to see a porcupine-like akuma waddling around, screaming about something along the lines of ‘How dare you forget!?” or something of the sort. How ironic, considering the heroes were just talking about something being forgotten.
“Ladybug!” He called out, trying to get the girl’s attention, but he was cut off by the appearance of another sharp quill blocking his path “Yeek! Too close for comfort.” He quickly leaped away spryly on his paws, towards his lady friend in hopes that she had a plan. He wasn’t planning on getting shanked by staggering needles.
-~*~-
“Please be quick, my lady.” He flattened his cat ears to his hair, gritting his teeth as the heroine apprehensively took hold of the quill on his shoulder.
One large metal-like quill was embedded in his shoulder. Despite his earlier plans of not getting bayoneted by those impressive quills, when he was participating in another one of Ladybug’s well-thought out plans, a stray quill had managed to shoot out and snag him in the shoulder. Of course that had managed to sway the plan, but thankfully Chat was still able to pull out his claws to use Ancient Destruction on part of the building, which had managed to pin down the akuma and allow for Ladybug to break the hat on it’s head; where the akuma was hiding.
Afterwards, Chat clambered up a building before coiling on up on himself in pain. Ladybug had soon joined him and they were now preparing to pull out the giant spike. Chat couldn’t afford going to the hospital and get professional help. They would mostly likely ask him to take off his costume which meant that he would have to reveal his identity. It had to be treated now- however crude the procedure might be.
“Relax a bit, will you, alley cat?” Ladybug replied nervously, looking at the wound anxiously. “You’re making me nervous. If I’m nervous, I might make it much worse when I pull it out.”
“I rather you just pull it now with those elegant hands of yours right now.” Chat absent-mindedly twisted his tail in a knot. “Your luck will get me through.”
“Well these elegant hands could still mess up.” She snapped. “Do you need me to remind you which one of us has bad luck?” Chat quickly clamped his mouth shut. “Just man up a little and make it easier for me.” She swallowed. Ladybug gave a wry smile. “It’s not easy seeing this ugly spike in your shoulder.”
The tip of his tail fidgeted in response. “It warms my heart that you care, my lady, but I rather you pull it out now and get it over with.” He tried not to look at his shoulder. Things always hurt more when you see how bad it really is and was obvious that the poor slinky feline was in pain.
Ladybug swallowed, sucking up all her courage. “Alright, Chat, no more stalling, okay? I promise.” She gave her best smile, though it was still crooked. “When I count to three, I’m going to pull it out okay?”
Chat Noir nodded, not bothering to say anything.
“One...” She tightened her fingers around the quill. “Two...”Chat clenched his hand into a fist, twisting his tail into a knot. “Three!”
“Yeow!” Chat jerked away, grabbing his shoulder with one hand and collapsing on his side, whimpering in pain.
In Ladybug’s hands was the giant quill, finally pulled out from Chat’s shoulder. At first, she just stared blankly at the enormous quill, looking at the red liquid dripping slowly off the end of a sharp edge. She just realized that the clean-up crew should’ve fixed Chat’s arm, but it had ignored him completely. Perhaps it was his bad-luck must have countered it. Then she glanced at Chat who was still squealing in pain and she quickly discarded the quill, making a grab for her companion’s arm to pull him back into a sitting position so she could continue working.
“Me-ow-ow-ow!” He cried out as he was pulled into a sitting position. “Not so rough! It still hurts.”
“Sorry! Sorry!” She released her grip, allowing Chat to recompose himself, grabbing the rag she had picked up earlier so she could at least keep him from bleeding out. “Let me bandage it up. To stop the bleeding you know.”
He flattened his cat ears. “Please do.”
Carefully taking Chat’s shoulder, she took the rag and wrapped it around the wound tight; making sure that it was taut enough so it would allow for the bleeding to stop. The whole time, Chat kept jerking around every time she looped the rag around his shoulder, hindering the process. Ladybug was tempted to scold him for moving around so much, but by the time the idea popped in her head, the rag was tightly wrapped around the injured shoulder, negating any chances of Chat bleeding out. Sighing in relief, the cat looked at his shoulders; touching the bonded wound with the tip of his claw. Ladybug quickly slapped it away at record speed.
“Don’t touch it.” Ladybug scolded. She put her hands on her hips, dropping to her knees and sighing. “Just go home, go to the hospital, and get if fixed for real.” Chat raised his eyebrows. “I still need you around to help me do this hero business. “
“You could kiss it better.” Chat suggested, twirling his tail. She frowned and Chat put his hand down, smiling in appreciation. “I think you fixed it up quite well, my lady.” He hesitantly rotated his shoulder, giving her a pained grin. “See, all better.”
“No way, kitty cat, go home.” Ladybug emphasized her sentence with the flick of her hand.
Instead of moving, Chat shifted his position so that he was facing her. He cocked his head, flicking his tail interestedly. “But I haven’t seen you open your present.”
“What? My present?” She asked. Then she clapped her hands, reaching into her pouch and bringing out the gift in her hand. “Right, you gave this to me before we were attacked.”
“Indeed, my lady.” He leaned closer, making sure that he got full view of her opening the present. “I want to see your reaction when you open it.”
“If I open it, will you go home?” Chat nodded. Ladybug sighed. “Alright, alley cat, but you have to uphold your end of the bargain.”
He lifted one hand, then crossing one his claws over his heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
“Don’t do the die part, yet, kitty cat.” She warned, pointing an accusing finger at him.
Chat nodded, smiling. Ladybug hesitantly took one of the ribbons on the present. She glanced over at her companion, who looked excitedly at her with bright green eyes. With ever growing interest, she pulled the ribbon off, allowing her to lift the cover of the box. She gasped, looking between Chat and the present. I
nside was a round chocolate piece. On top of the piece of chocolate was a carefully crafted ladybug, but instead of black spots, it was tiny adorable black hearts. Under the ladybug was the words ‘With Love’. On the inside wall of the box, it read Richardt Chocolate, and she gaped at him.
“I specially ordered it just for you, my darling.” Chat explained excitedly. “I made sure it was perfect, even though you are going to eat it anyway.”
With her eyes wide, she dumbly stared at her present. After all this time, Chat Noir had been chasing after her and she’d always brushed it off a playful banter or some sort of hopeless puppy love, but Richardt Chocolates? They cost at round 100 Euros per pound. She swallowed her mouth, which felt cotton dry.
“H-how much did this cost?” She exclaimed unsteadily, shaking the box in front of Chat’s face, although she was quite aware of how expensive this present really was. Ladybug needed to hear this from Chat Noir.
Chat twitched his tail with a charming touch. “The cost means nothing to my love for you, my lady.”
“But, but...” Ladybug clutched the chocolate piece closer. “I can’t take this, Chat. This is really really expensive, isn’t it? Don’t you have any other girl to give this to?”
“None other than you.” Chat replied firmly, still beaming happily; pleased with her reaction. “Money’s nothing without something to spend it on.” He tilted his head happily. “Spending it on you is really an honor on my part. There’s no need to worry about how much I spent on a piece of chocolate. ” He winked. “You deserve the best.”
Feeling the pricks of tears in the corner of her eyes, Ladybug vigorously rubbed the palm of her hand on one eye, trying her best not to be overwhelmed. Now she felt really guilty for not remembering this stupid anniversary and giving something back. What she feeling so guilty for? It’s not really a special occasion. Well, maybe it is, it was the start of a lifelong partnership between them. As a list of potential items to give to Chat Noir popped in Ladybug’s head, a particular ‘item’ caught her attention. Rubbing her face gently, she wondered if she did give the catty companion her gift: would the mischievous feline ever let her live it down? She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about him, but guilt overwhelmed any resolve to disagree.
“Well, as promised,” Chat said, starting to stand up. “I have seen you open your gift and now I shall depart for home and...!?“ Ladybug roughly grabbed Chat’s leather collar in a tight fist, pulling him closer to her. “M-my lady?” He squeaked, somewhat fearfully.
“Chat, I’m sorry that I couldn’t get you anything.” She looked angry; Chat flinched, but he did not pull away. “This is my present, nothing more, okay?
Chat swayed his tail uncomfortably as he remained in Ladybug’s hold, wincing as his shoulder was positioned in an awkward angle. However, he made no effort to escape. Chat Noir trusted her not to hurt him. Too badly. “Are you alright, Lady –!”
With a sudden pull, Ladybug pulled Chat Noir’s face down so she could give him a kiss on the cheek.