Work Text:
Ladybug leapt off the building and rolled onto the roof of the next. The weight of her body landed on the palm of her hand in a faulty moment of judgment. Ow. She took the time to shake the pain from her wrist and make sure Chat Noir was still right behind.
His feet stumbled to a stop in front of her.
“What’s wrong? Why have we stopped?” he asked breathlessly, not hesitating to offer a hand that she gladly took. “We have to keep running, or we’ll get–”
A blasting beam of power shot right past his catty ear, close enough to rustle his hair like a breeze. They crouched to the floor together, ducking behind the spinning wind turbine.
“We’re not fast enough to outrun this one,” Ladybug hissed, sweat gathering on her temples. They were both panting and flush, and Ladybug did not miss the quick up and down glance of Chat’s eyes. “We need to buy time.”
“How so? I don’t think me leaping in front of a beam will solve anything this time.”
“Give me a sec.”
The deranged laughter of the akumitized victim rang out close enough to make shivers crawl up her spine. The poor woman had been screaming about a divorce, believing that she was the only woman on earth undeserving of love. With her blinding ray of evil magic she made every man bow to the nearest woman and kiss her feet. Every arguing couple, every cold shoulder she spotted she forced them to be together, forced their smiles, and for the man to declare his undying passion. If two people were not being overtly romantic, she made them appear so. Maniacally so, but still.
Ladybug had an idea.
A terrible, terrible idea.
“Are you talking behind my back?!”
She managed to grab Chat around the neck and duck out of the way of a beam that would have struck his head. They didn’t have time to catch their breaths before Ladybug was dragging them up and running, pulling Chat beside her.
“Did you think of something?” Chat shouted over the booming laughter and the repeated rays they were barely missing. “I don’t think I can run a second longer!”
“It’s crazy, but yeah! Follow me!”
Chat yelped as they dropped unexpectedly between the buildings, his arms clinging to Ladybug’s waist. She threw out her yo-yo and slung it on a banister just before they smacked to the bottom. His boots scuffed the ground, and his arms squeezed her a bit too tightly.
They landed in a narrow back street behind a restaurant and shopping center. Orange lights hung over their heads and illuminated the brick walls. Potted plants blooming with roses lined the ground. The low lighting and smell of baking bread was romantic. Perfect.
Chat was still flushed with adrenaline. Ladybug looked up at him through her lashes. He immediately noticed her shift in mood and frowned.
“Ladybug?”
“Do you trust me?”
Chat raised a brow. “Of course, why–”
She grabbed his shoulders.
“Kiss me.”
“What–”
“Questions later.” Her chest tightened when he swallowed, following the dip of his adam’s apple and the way his hands twitched forward as if reaching for her.
But he remained frozen, so she leaned in and mashed her lips to his.
Chat made a noise caught between surprised and choked. The weight of his body fell against her hands as she shoved him against the wall, effortlessly. She pressed her lips insistently to his, again and again, gently trying to coax movement, but he stayed stock-still.
Why wasn’t he moving? They couldn’t afford to mess around. Faintly irritated, her eyes fluttered open, only to jolt when his stunning wide green ones stared back. Ladybug should have considered this. Of course he’d be shocked. Of course he wouldn’t understand, with all that no explaining she did. Maybe he was angry. She knew she would be. But it was too much to have expected him to roll with it so easily.
Yet as her thoughts unraveled and her lips slowed, readying for an apology and a quick rethink of a new plan, Chat’s arms lifted and wrapped around her waist. His eyes fell closed and he kissed her back.
She sighed. It felt…nice. His mouth was cool and a bit chapped from running. He couldn’t catch his breath, and she tasted every gasp and soft sigh. But there wasn’t time to think about his warm, large hands sliding down her back, or his wet lips slanting against hers.
They both flinched when someone screamed close-by. It set Ladybug’s focus back into action.
She cupped his face in her hands. “Are you listening Chat?” Her voice was more strained than she would’ve liked.
Chat had a hard time separating his lips from hers to speak. Thankfully, his voice was far more torn. “Barely.”
“De-transform on the count of three.” Faraway cackling laughter grew louder. Her heart pounded against her ribs.
His eyes searched hers, but Chat couldn’t register any more shock on his face if he tried; her lips had sapped all of it up. He blinked slowly at her, dazed, his mouth parted and shiny-red, and something in her stomach twisted.
“Okay.”
Chat met her halfway. When their lips touched, all the breath escaping her in a rush, something popped. Chat sighed into her mouth, pulling her against the wall with him to let her chest lean against his. The throaty sound that she felt more than heard reverberated deep from his throat and hummed between their chests. Ladybug tilted her head and flushed to the tips of her ears.
“One,” she murmured, and she could hear the victim’s screams just outside the alleyway.
“Two,” Chat muttered, who’d been watching her through half lidded eyes, and finally let them fall closed. His tongue slipped between the crease of her lips as his arms hugged her tighter against him.
Ladybug gasped. “Three.”
The blinding light of their transformations releasing could be seen through the darkness of her tightly shut eyes. But she squeezed them tighter, and pressed closer, as the mounting fear in the back of her mind mixed with a colorful flush of warmth in her stomach. Tremors prickled down her spine. Chat’s bare thumbs caressed her cheeks and slid up the curve of her jaw, and she shivered.
Instinct nearly made her eyes fly open when the screeching woman dropped into the alleyway. Chat gasped, and before he had the chance she slapped her hands over his eyes.
“Don’t stop,” she whispered. Chat’s bare skin burned against her palm; she felt his eyelashes prickle her hand. When his thundering heart settled down, she leaned back into his lips.
Marinette’s blood chilled when the crazed woman flew past them. A beam of light illuminated the two teenagers vigorously sucking face against the wall, supposedly so absorbed in what they were doing that they didn’t even notice the villain.
“See?! THAT is a man who knows what love is!”
A strong gust of wind blew past as the woman vanished, spared a blast from her evil rays. They stayed attached to each other until her cries for Ladybug and Chat Noir were long gone.
Marinette’s plan worked. She couldn’t believe it. Electric with victory, her skin began to tingle all over, particularly where Chat’s breath ghosted over her lips.
“Okay, I think we can…”
Suddenly, a hand swept away from her back to slip over her eyes. Marinette stilled.
“Chat?”
“I won’t look, I promise.”
Her breath caught. Chat slowly turned Marinette, and gently pushed her against the wall. His head slumped onto her shoulder.
“Please.”
He was wrecked. His hand trembled against her cheeks, the other reaching to twine in hers and press to the wall. His words wavered like his knees.
Marinette snagged her lip on her teeth, staring at the dark behind his hand and flushing warm across her cheeks and chest. She took a long, hard breath.
Leisurely, she tilted her chin back and exposed her neck. Her hand squeezed Chat’s.
“Yes.”
That was all he needed.
He braced her against the wall with his solid body and crushed their lips together. Marinette squeaked, encased in his arms and surrounded by heat. His groan washed over her and made the twisting in her gut tighten unbearably and sink lower. She grabbed his shoulders, but then tangled her fingers in his hair, urging him to kiss her harder.
He obeyed. His lips parted and their tongues slid together, and he sucked in a gulp of air that she felt, as it mingled with her breath and when he swallowed it down. The hand that’d been covering her eyes fell to grip her waist. He pushed his leg between her thighs, his mouth feeding into hers, wringing the groan from her lips. Fingers dipped under the hem of her shirt and slid over her abdomen.
“Chat…”
He sucked her bottom lip and pulled back. “You shouldn’t say my name that way.”
The urge to open her eyes was almost irresistible. His voice, rough and broken, licked fire up her spine. If it weren’t for his leg propping her up she would have slipped down the wall. Her tongue swept over her lips, teasing his.
“Shut me up then.”
His smirk was audible. “Gladly.”
“Ladybug!”
“Chat!!!”
The two jumped away from each other immediately, the fire that’d been building in her stomach doused cold. Marinette’s eyes flicked open but she immediately slapped her hands over them.
In her ear buzzed the exasperated voice of Tikki. “What are you two thinking? You need to stop at once and finish capturing the akuma!”
“Yeah, before she has half of Paris’ men groveling at her feet!” came another small voice, unfamiliar to her. Chat grumbled angrily.
The moment thoroughly spoiled, the superheroes shuffled awkwardly in the dark as they mumbled their apologies and transformed. When the lights popping behind her eyes dimmed, she opened them, and found Chat leaning heavily against the wall. His eyes were still shut and his chest heaved. He was beet red.
Seeing him made heat spread across Ladybug’s face before she could stop it. She couldn’t believe she made out with Chat, in the middle of an akuma fight. She grabbed her pigtails and tugged, spinning in a circle.
“Did you…regret that?” Chat’s small voice mumbled.
Ladybug immediately stopped and faced him. His arms were crossed over his chest, but he stared at her unflinchingly. Her eyes widened. The intensity of his gaze was hard to bear, but she steeled herself and raised her chin.
In two deliberate strides she stood in front of Chat and kissed him on the cheek. She was slinging out her yo-yo to grab the nearest rooftop before he could speak.
“Grab onto me. We have work to do.”
Chat’s frown was immediately replaced with a beaming smile. He slid his arm over her shoulder and clung to her waist.
"Oh, wait."
Chat suddenly whipped out his baton and brought Ladybug into his side. He took the hand that held the yo-yo and brought it to his lips.
"You hurt your wrist earlier right?" He winked. "I think I'll be leading the way this evening."
She laughed despite herself when he snuck a kiss to her hand and agreed. They could talk about what the heck just happened later. For now, they had a city to save.