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So there’s a bit of an elephant in the room.
And Rooster Bold doesn’t know if it’s an actual elephant in the room, or just his brain working faster than his actual brain cells (wait, no that doesn’t even make sense–).
But either way, he’s about 90% that one of his superhero teammates is also secretly his superhero-fanatic boyfriend. Is fanatic the right word? Wait– that’s not the important part right now.
Penalteam had been… interesting, to say the least. Roo had never expected to be a superhero, let alone one chosen by Ladybug herself. Her recognising him at all was surprising by itself. But the question popped into his mind when he realised that he wasn’t the only newbie in the fight, in fact there were three more fresh-faced superheroes in the field.
So that, naturally, had got his brain running. Why four extra? Did Ladybug know in advance that she’d need their exact powers to win? Why add them to the team then? Had she been eyeing them all as recruits beforehand, or was it a spur of the moment decision?
Unfortunately, in the middle of a city-scaled soccer match, he didn’t have much time to ponder. The ball could have come for him at any time, after all. But unfortunately, Roo’s always had a bit of a problem with leaving his head in the clouds.
To cut to the chase: There’s Caprikid, right? Red hair, grey and white motif, with the superpower to create whatever he draws with his paintbrush. Roo’s brain is practically screaming ‘look! There’s the Illustrator!’ every time he’s near the guy. And the natural evolution of this thought process is ‘look! There’s your boyfriend! Look at him go!’
He didn’t get to sit down and properly analyse this thought process until later that night, when Ladybug had come into his room to collect his miraculous (which, by the way, is its whole can of worms. How the heck did she know where he lives!? Was she stalking him!? Could they know each other as civilians!? Dang it, too many questions), and brought the incident well into focus for him.
A few weeks later, neither he or Nathaniel have broached the topic so far. Which just makes him wonder if they both are actually aware there’s a topic to be broached, but then again they’re both painfully socially inept at times.
Finally, there’s an akuma, and Ladybug comes back to his window, holding out a black box that had practically burned a hole into his memory.
Stepping back into the field feels, somehow, even crazier than the last time. He’s running around in a more-detailed costume than most heroes, and yet he still feels terrifyingly exposed. There’s also the fact that he’s never parkoured before in his life, and the suits not changing that lack of skill nearly enough for him to keep pace with Ladybug.
And then, without warning, the girl slips out of sight.
Roo freezes, eyes darting around in search of the heroine, but not spotting any flashes of red. He frowns, doing another rooftop scan in search of Chat Noir, but similarly finding no sign.
This is bad. He does not know what he’s doing here. Does Ladybug seriously think that writing about akuma fights gave him enough experience to be completely ditched!? Because, aha, it really didn’t!
Then, thankfully, there’s the zip of Ladybug’s yo-yo, and the girl lifts herself into the air, while also dropping a screeching Caprikid onto the rooftop.
Well then. Elephant time!
“You okay, Nath?” he asks, cutting right to the chase. He extends a hand to the fallen hero
Caprikid nods, taking his hand and allowing Roo to help him back to his feet. Once they lock eyes, though he pales.
“What did you just call me?”