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“Not that I don’t love spending time with you in spheres, buggy,” Chat says, “but can we be honest and admit this is starting to get weird.”
Ladybug rolls her eyes and tries to make herself more comfortable. As she moves, the fake snow and glitter puff up around them. She buries her face in the crook of her arm and squeezes her eyes shut.
After a moment, she opens her eyes. When she’s sure nothings floating around anymore, she lifts her head from her arm. “Sorry about that,” she apologizes.
Chat rubs his eyes. “No, no it’s fine. Let’s blame the akuma. Because I love breathing glitter.”
“At least there’s no water in here,” Ladybug says. She kicks the snowman between her and Chat. “That’d be problematic.”
He snorts. “Yeah, no kidding.”
She sighs and throws her yoyo at the glass again. It bounces off the snow globe uselessly and lands softly on the fake snow covered ground. Chat’s right, they do spend an awful lot of time trapped together and spheres seem to be a fan favorite.
She looks up to meet his eyes when his ring beeps.
“Well that’s not good,” he mutters.
“Definitely not.” He’s already used Cataclysm or that would’ve been her first suggestion. She hadn’t expected a snow globe akuma to be this difficult. She really has to stop underestimating akuma. “Do you have what you need to recharge?”
“Um…” Chat presses his hands to his chest, like he’ll somehow find food in a skintight spandex suit. “Any chance Lucky Charm might give you some camembert?”
Ladybug squints at him. “ Camembert ?”
He sighs. “Yes, my kwami likes smelly cheese. It is a slow torture.”
“Uh, no promises on camembert but I might get some cheese? Or maybe something to break us out of here…”
“Will you be able to recharge once you do that?” Chat asks. “Because that’s pretty important.”
Ladybug tries to remember if she has extra cookies in her purse. She doesn’t know when the last time she restocked was. She really need to get better about that. “Maybe? It’s worth a shot though, isn’t it?”
Chat taps his claw against the glass thoughtfully and then slams his elbow at it. Ladybug winces. He rubs his elbow. “Unless we can somehow pry that snowman up off the floor and it magically breaks the glass.” He makes a face. “ Ow .”
She scoffs. “Your own fault. I have no idea how to get this awful snowman up.” She gives it another hard kick and it doesn’t even budge. “So might as well just go for it.” She reels her yoyo back in. “Look out,” she warns, before throwing it as high as she can in the cramped globe. “Lucky Charm!”
A red and black blanket falls into her arms.
“ Woooow ,” Chat deadpans. “That’s helpful.”
Ladybug scowls and throws it at his face.
He jerks backwards as it wraps around his head. He yanks it off and glares at her. “Hey!”
“Watch yourself, Grumpy Cat,” she mutters. “And cover your head before you detransform.”
Chat grips the blanket in his hands. “I—” He sighs and throws it over his head, collapsing inward on himself as he leans back against the glass. “Sorry,” he says softly. “I just… The holidays are a tough time of year. I shouldn’t have taken my frustrations out on you.”
Ladybug sighs. “It’s… No, Chat, you’re fine. You’re maybe a little more sarcastic and bitter than usual, but it’s better than the puns, honestly.” Chat snorts and the blanket shifts as he ducks his head. “I shouldn’t have snapped like I did,” she adds. “I’m stressed, I’m tired, I have a test tomorrow, and I really want out of this snow globe.” She pokes the snowman with her foot. “If anything, you’re taking your frustrations on the akuma. Which, also not the best since the akuma victim hasn’t done anything wrong , but it’s productive and hasn’t really been anything more than biting commentary.”
“Is my biting commentary entertaining, LB?” Chat teases. She can tell the tone is forced, but the fact that he’s trying makes her smile a little.
“Nothing is as bad as your puns.”
“Aww, but bugaboo puns are purrfect.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’ve used that one before.”
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Chat curls up more under the blanket.
“How long do you have?” Ladybug asks. She fiddles with her earrings. She has less than five minutes and it’s making her anxious. The snowglobe they’re trapped in isn’t in a very public area, but there’s still a chance that someone could walk by and see her if she detransformed. She could also join Chat under the blanket, but that might mean revealing herself. They could keep their eyes shut but… She would rather be safe than sorry.
“Three minutes,” Chat murmurs. “But why wait?” He pulls his feet underneath the blanket. Ladybug highly doubts she’d know who he was based on his shoes, but she doesn’t question it. “Plagg, claws in.”
The blanket lights up as he detransforms, glowing for a moment.
“Seriously?” a voice Ladybug doesn’t recognize asks. “You don’t have cheese.”
“I was running late today, okay?” Chat protests.
“Um…kwami?” Ladybug asks.
“Plagg,” Chat says. He lifts the blanket and a black, cat shaped kwami zips out.
“Got any cheese?” Plagg asks.
Ladybug blinks in surprise. “No?”
Plagg rolls his eyes. “Typical. Kid, I need cheese.”
Chat sticks his hand out from under the blanket to rap on the glass. “Wanna break this for us?”
Plagg makes a face before making himself comfortable on top of the snowman’s hat. “Nah, I’m good.”
Ladybug hums thoughtfully, watching as Chat pulled his hand back under the blanket. “Got anything sharp on you?”
Chat shifts, she assumes he’s reaching into his pockets. “Like what?”
“Any sort of pocketknife, keys, anything like that?”
He snorts. “Like I would be allowed to carry around a knife .”
Plagg snickers. “If your dad found out he’d never let you leave the house again.”
“I have…my phone, a stick of gum, and…” He sighs. “I’ve got this pen.”
Ladybug furrows her eyebrows. “You sound…disappointed?”
“It’s just…” He lifts the blanket a little to hold on the pen. Ladybug takes it carefully and rolls it in her palm. “I’ve got a few of these.”
“It’s a nice pen,” she says politely as she gently places it back in his hand. It’s so strange to see his hands bare. She almost forgot that he didn’t constantly wear black spandex gloves.
“My dad has gotten me one for my birthday for the past couple of years,” Chat admits softly. “It’s… I mean, I get something so it’s better than nothing. But now I have these pens. They’re just…pens.”
“Oh, Chat,” Ladybug murmurs. She could’ve guessed something was going on in his home life, she can’t imagine anything less than a warm and loving family. She thinks Chat deserves that more than anyone.
“It’s fine,” he insists. He fiddles with the pen. “I’m used to it.” He taps the glass with the back of the pen. “Sometimes I just want to—” He hits the glass with the tip of the pen.
Crack!
Ladybug’s eyes go wide and Chat freezes.
“Was that…?”
She nodes, before realizing he can’t see her. She stares at the spiderweb like fractures in the glass. “Yup.”
“Did this just…” He slowly pulls the pen away from the glass.
“See, you didn’t need my help,” Plagg says. He floats down from the snowman’s hat lazily. “You going to finish the job or are we going to keep sitting here in fake snow?”
“Uh… I mean, right!” Chat holds the pen out to Ladybug. “Maybe someone who can see should do this.”
She takes it from him, studying the pen carefully again. “How?” she asks, mostly to herself.
“I’m considering a miracle,” Chat says.
That works for her.
She scoots over to where the cracks are. She hits the pen against the glass once more and then presses her palms against the glass. She gives it a gentle shove. It crumbles to pieces and falls to the ground next to the snow globe, shattering into smaller pieces.
“I can’t believe this,” Chat mutters.
Ladybug hops out of the globe and helps Chat out, careful to make sure he wasn’t stepping on glass. She didn’t want it going through his shoes. “See you once we’ve recharged?” she asks, yoyo in hand. She’s going to go hide and recharge as quickly as she possibly can. And restock her cookie stash as soon as she gets home.
“Wait,” he says suddenly, grabbing her arm. “I, uh… Thanks. For listening.”
She smiles at her blanket covered partner. “Of course.” She squeezes his hand. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
As she swings away, she swears she hears Plagg say, “I can’t believe those awful pens are actually good for something.”