Chapter Text
“You know, it doesn’t bode well to brood all night long, Princess. A cat’s gotta get her beauty sleep, but it seems as though you’ve never missed a night,” came the teasing voice of the black cat heroine appearing from behind, her blue hair illuminated by the glow of the full moon above.
A few months ago, had the black cat heroine snuck up on her in the same manner, she would have gotten punched in the face. The two heroines stood atop a random rooftop looking over the modern kingdom of Auradon and its castle town.
Ladybug rolled her eyes, thankful that her hood and mask were hiding the blush forming on her cheeks, “Just one more hour and I promise we can call off patrol for the rest of the night, mon Minette. And I told you not to call me Princess.”
The black cat superheroine—Chat Noire—approached her with crossed arms and a smirk before offering a hand to the red and black superheroine. Confused, Ladybug reluctantly gave her partner her hand, where the black cat slowly lifted towards her own lips, bowing slightly before gracing the red and black superheroine’s hand with a gentle kiss. “Then my Lady it is,” Chat Noire stated with a gentle playfulness, all while maintaining eye contact with Ladybug the entire time.
“Minette…” the Ladybug managed to choke out, praying to whatever god was out there that she would be able to regain her composure for the rest of night after a move from her partner like that.
A bigger smile broke out on the black cat’s face as though she’d won the ladybug’s approval of the nickname before she straightened up and released the other hero’s hand—Ladybug immediately missing the warmth.
“How about we split up and cover the rest of the city in half the time?”
“That’s…not a bad idea, actually.”
“I’m not just all looks and talent ya know. Gotta make sure to keep up the brains with the brawn.”
The black cat heroine had the audacity to flex her arms and wink at her counterpart. Ladybug only rolled her eyes with a smile.
“I’ll cat -ch you later.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“No, I’m charming,” said Chat Noire as she walked to the ledge of the rooftop.
“That’s debatable.”
A gleeful “Ha!” was heard as the black cat heroine hopped off the rooftop, extending her magical staff and taking off in one direction. With her partner out of sight, the Ladybug heroine let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.
She really had to get this crush on her partner under control.
“You’re laying it on kind of thick, don’t you think?” came the raspy voice of the kwami of the black cat miraculous, Plagg, from her jacket pocket.
“I know, I know,” said Chloe as she retrieved her hastily abandoned bag from her gym room locker, “It’s just been a busy week and I guess I really needed to let loose a little more than I thought I did.”
“Well then why don’t you ‘let it loose’ on that red haired roommate of yours instead?”
“Plagg!”
The two made their way out of the locker room where the kwami kept silent until he saw her approach her dormitory door.
“I’m just saying, if you spent the time charming your roommate like you do with Ladybug, you can finally move past this juvenile crush of yours and be official!”
“You know she doesn’t see me like that!” Chloe exclaimed in a hushed tone as she unlocked her room. She shrugged off her backpack at her desk and began unpacking her classroom materials as she continued, “I finally got her to stop scoffing at everything I say and now she only scoffs at every other thing I say!”
“Wow. Real progress.” came the unimpressed reply of the god of destruction.
“Look, I just don’t want to scare Red off,” Chloe sighed in admission, “I know we didn’t see eye-to-eye in the beginning, and it’s taken weeks to get to this point in our ‘budding friendship’” the blue haired girl said with air quotes, “the last thing I need is for her to think I’m not being genuine in any compliment that I’m giving her.”
The black cat kwami opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the sound of the window pane jiggling.
“ Shh, just hide before anyone sees you ,” came a muffled voice from outside the window. At the sound of another person’s presence, Plagg wordlessly zipped off under Chloe’s bed. Chloe grabbed for her fencing saber from her sword bag just as the intruder managed to open the window, launching themselves into the room.
Speak of the devil.
“Red!”
The roommate in question threw the hair back that covered her face upon her entry, immediately zeroing in on Chloe. She slowly straightened herself up, raising an eyebrow at Chloe who had stood frozen with her saber in the air, poised to attack.
“Hey to you too, Princess,” her eyebrow raised at the sight of Chloe’s saber, “What, was little Miss Goody Two Shoes gonna run me through with her sword?”
“I-I-I thought you were an intruder!” Chloe exclaimed, dropping the saber in her bag.
“How can I be an intruder? This is my room.”
“Most people use the door to get in their rooms.”
“Do I look like most people to you?” Red questioned, crossing her arms. Chloe gulped, there wasn’t a good way to respond to that. If she said no, then Red may take it that she was calling her weird. If she said yes, Red would scoff at the implication that Chloe was saying she was nothing special. Thankfully, Red went on without waiting for Chloe’s answer.
“Besides, I may have done it to see if I could scare the person you were talking to… where are they anyway?” Red asked as she glanced around the room.
Chloe froze, “What person?”
‘Really Chloe? I couldn’t have just played it off and said they ran out?’ Chloe screamed at herself internally.
“What do you mean?” Red asked, looking at her strangely, “I heard you talking to someone before I came in.”
“It was my… mom! She called me and I had to hang up before she got worried,” Chloe lied as convincingly as she could. However, one glance at Red’s face told her that her roommate didn’t believe it. Before Red could ask anymore, Chloe continued talking.
“How about you? Who could you possibly be talking to from this high up?”
This time, it was Red’s turn to go pale—to Chloe’s confusion.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Red stated, walking to her side of the room in an attempt to avoid the blue haired girl.
Chloe hesitated before stepping over to her roommate’s side of the room, chasing after the red haired girl, “I heard you saying something about how ‘someone should hide before someone sees them’? Were they like an accomplice or something?” Immediately, the red haired girl whirled around violently to meet Chloe’s startled gaze.
“ Accomplice ?” Red repeated back at Chloe in an offended tone.
‘Crap,’ Chloe thought, ‘ Just when I thought she wouldn’t go off on me tonight.’
“Typical. Princess Goody Goody immediately assumes I’m off committing crimes.”
“N-no! I didn’t mean it like that!”
“Oh? So how did you mean it, then?”
“I just wanted to know why you were out so late and why you had to resort to climbing the window!” Chloe exclaimed, catching herself off guard at the volume of her own voice. She took a deep breath before continuing, “It could be dangerous out there with the Card Queen’s activity in the last few months.”
Red scoffed, “Look, I don’t need to tell anyone my business, especially Miss Stick-to-the-Rules here. And FYI, I can take care of myself.” Red swiftly grabbed some clothes before making her way to their shared bathroom.
“I didn’t say you couldn’t,” said Chloe, calling after her.
“Thanks for the concern, princess, but lay off.” With that, the red haired girl slammed the bathroom door closed, effectively ending their conversation.
Chloe stared after her, exasperated. It wasn’t until she heard the shower start up did she let out a sigh, making her way back to her own side of the room as she rubbed her temples from the interaction.
Plagg zipped out from under the bed and made his way to her side, “Well that went well.” Chloe rolled her eyes and bit her cheek, making her way back to her desk.
So much for progress .
Just as Red slammed the door closed and turned on the shower, the red and black kwami of creation—Tikki—zipped out from her hoodie, giving the girl a disappointed look. Red winced knowing what the little god was about to say.
“I thought you said you’d try being nicer to Chloe,” Tikki said with her arms crossed.
“I’m sorry!” Red whisper-shouted, “She caught me off guard when she said she heard me talking to you. I didn’t want her to suspect anything.”
Tikki sighed, “I get it, but that doesn’t excuse your overly-defensive behavior, Red. I think Chloe’s already proven that she’s more than your initial impressions of her.”
“I know,” Red said, visibly deflating at the kwami’s callout of her behavior, “I just don’t want her getting too close to the truth.”
“Oh Red,” Tikki said, making her way to hug the red haired girl’s cheek, “Just because you have to keep your identity as Ladybug a secret, doesn’t mean you have to be so guarded around everyone else all the time.”
“You can blame my mom for that,” Red muttered.
“I believe we established that your mom isn’t exactly the best role model for love and affection,” Tikki said gently, “And now that you’re not living under the same roof, you can afford to let people in and become your friends.”
“Hey! What do you mean, I have Bridget and Ella!”
“And who’s to say you can’t have more?” Tikki challenged, “Besides you haven’t been the best in letting them in.”
“Again, superhero here.”
“My point is that those two have been thick as thieves before you transferred here. Yes you hang out with them, but you don’t have anybody that you feel comfortable calling your best friend.”
“And you think Miss Goody-... Chloe is best friend material?” Red questioned disbelievingly.
Tikki nodded enthusiastically.
“...Fine, I’ll give her a chance,” Red all but grumbled, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I'm going to take my well-earned shower after vigilantly protecting Auradon all night.” Tikki giggled, letting the girl continue her bathroom activities.
‘ Oh Red, you already have given her a chance,’ Tikki thought to herself, knowing full well that her counterpart was just a bed over.
Oh, what a wonderful predicament the ladybug and black cat miraculous holders have found themselves in this time.