Work Text:
She saw them.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng, with her occasional stutter and clumsy steps, with a bakery for a home and a smile as sweet as the pastries. Mari, with a journalist for a best friend, a model for a crush, a mayor’s daughter for an enemy. Princess, with a black cat and a bug kwami for her close friends. Marinette, with a pretty good life and a dream as detailed as her work.
Ladybug, heroine of Paris. Defender of the city, saviour of France, beautiful, brave, smart and everything Marinette could only dream of being. Lady, an almost goddess-like image and a radiance that could light up the whole town. Bugaboo, keeper of her partner’s heart (she hopes against hope it isn't true) and about every heart in Paris. Ladybug, with the sky in her eyes and sun in her smile and the weight of Paris on her shoulders.
They exist, yes, but they exist separately - a watered down version and the other blazing with colour, a mirage and the real deal.
That is, until the day her transformation fades in front of her partner (whether it was voluntary or not, she wasn’t really sure) and her partner laughs his head off. (She later found out it was from surprise, but she doesn’t regret the punch she gave him.)
She realises it's not they, it's her. She can be Marinette, with Ladybug’s confidence and Ladybug can blunder like Marinette (sometimes). She is both yet neither, a very new concept she's grasping. But it's a freeing concept.
She sees her.
She saw them.
Adrien Agreste, son of Gabriel Agreste, plastered across billboards, magazines, her bedroom walls. The perfect son, perfect model, perfect student. He was funny, gentlemanly, handsome even. More than that, he was her crush - with blond hair and sparkling green eyes. Adrien, the boy who lent her an umbrella on his first day at school, the boy who didn't know what it was like to have friends, the boy who stood up for her countless of times, the boy who was so lonely yet so kind. The boy she fell for.
Chat Noir, hero of Paris. Defender of the city, saviour of France, reckless, annoying, infuriating sometimes. Her kitty, with messy blond hair and green eyes that literally glowed with mischief. Chat, who hid behind puns and grins, who deflected her questions as easily as he stopped attacks with his baton, who would protect her without hesitating, who continued to get hurt for her. The boy she falls for.
It's not until the green glow fades and the boy who stands in front of her is no longer Chat Noir, but Adrien, that she realises how stupid she is. It's not they, it's him.
The two have loose strands - where Adrien is broken, a piece of Chat fits. She sees Chat’s smirk on Adrien, Adrien’s kindness in Chat, and hey, why didn't she see this before?
They are two of the same, their contrasting personalities intertwining more closely than she thought they would. It's a very...interesting development. But it's a good one.
She sees him.
She saw them.
Ladybug and Chat Noir, saving the city from akuma after akuma. The duo sitting on a perch on the Eiffel Tower, just talking and watching the sun rise. Ladybug trying to convince Chat Noir that she can take care of herself and start having a little self-preservation please, cat while the latter replying the same way every time: I know, my lady, but I can't promise you that. The two of them knowing the other almost better than themselves, anticipating each other's moves during battle.
Adrien and Marinette, coming up with believable excuses when the other doesn't come for class. Adrien visiting her as Chat Noir in the night to just hang out - your works are purrfect as always, Princess. Marinette entering his room as Ladybug after a patrol to discuss Hawk Moth and the akumas - focus, Agreste. Distractions later, work now. The two of them fighting so hard to keep everyone they loved safe and sound together.
She sees them still - a disheveled girl kneeling on the road and shaking an unconscious body, screaming come on wake up, we've won and even long after her transformation has worn off: come back. Please come back.
She sees her screaming and fighting against the paramedics to just let her go with him. She sees him slipping away before her eyes and remembers how he fell with her name half-uttered. She sees them - Ladybug and Marinette, Adrien and Chat Noir - unravel.
She feels like she's missing a half. She can’t see her other half.
The Camembert in her fridge sits uneaten afterwards. She throws it away, along with the posters and the laser she’d bought weeks ago.
She sees her.