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#AO3 Ladynoir
miraculousxyz · 11 months
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a little piece i'm proud of :)
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ao3feed-ladynoir · 1 month
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ladysunamireads · 10 days
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appamarshmallow · 9 months
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Ladynoir July 2023
Summary:
There’s a million things that Marinette could be doing with her summer. Flirting with a masked stranger, who was actually her crime-fighting superhero partner for the past five years, was definitely not on her initial to-do list.
Yet, she couldn’t find any reason to complain, and she could really never get mad at how he always seemed to be at the right place at the right time.
Blame it on the sweltering heat in July, but was Chat… blushing?
( a Ladynoir July fic entry ᕙ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕗ @ladynoirjuly )
***
Chapter 1: Wedding Bells
“Holy kwami shitballs!”
“Marinette!” Tikki yelped in surprise.
Her holder paced the room, staring intently into her phone and letting the light of the screen illuminate only her face.
“What in the fucking akuma-living hell do I do?!” the girl continued to whine helplessly without context.
The kwami gave an extremely concerned stare towards Marinette. She kept typing, then shaking her head and deleting the scrambled words before continuing to huff in frustration.
“Are you like… ok?” Tikki hesitantly asked, worried for the girl’s sudden panicked state.
Marinette only shook her head, flopping into her pink desk chair, and resting her elbows on the table to read the words on her phone screen more intensely.
Tikki moved to hover near her shoulder, squinting to read the small words.
An icon of a blue bird appeared in the corner. Is that the app called Tizzer? Twipper? The kwami tried to recall what it was called when suddenly the word “Twitter” popped into her head.
“Is that the ‘Twitter’ app you’ve been grumbling about lately?” she hesitantly asked.
“Alya told me I should develop a social media presence to promote my designs more, but so far the internet has brought me nothing but trouble,” the girl grumbled.
Tikki squinted her eyes and leaned in further to read what was on her phone, and she distinctly made out the bolded words, “Breaking News!”, on the center of her screen. The kwami’s eyes followed the words of the Twitter post, reading carefully while Marinette continued to sigh.
Breaking News!
After the shocking reveal of Jagged Stone’s sudden engagement, we have already caught wind of an approximate wedding date. The rockstar has hinted that the event will fall upon the 21st of July, the same day as his anniversary with his fiancé, Ms. Penny Rolling--or soon to be Mrs. Penny Stone. On top of this surprise announcement, our very own superhero duo has announced that they’ll be making an appearance at the wedding as a tribute to Jagged’s many songs dedicated to their heroic devotion to the city. This was confirmed by Chat Noir’s tweet yesterday, leaving subtle verification that Paris’ heroes will be in attendance: @JaggedMusic - 1:45 pm There will be NO akumas on my wedding day Hawkmoth! I will personally get the cat and bug to rock and roll with me, back off ! #byebyelittlebutterfly @ChatNoir_Official - 2:10 pm #RockAndRollingDownToTheWedding
This will be the first time the superheroes have ever attended a public event, possibly serving as anti-akuma security guards for Paris’ biggest international rockstar on his big day. Citizens are shocked to realize that this fell under Ladybug and Chat Noir’s job description, and are wondering how much it costs to pay the superheroes to ward off akumas for their own weddings!
Stay tuned for more updates, -The Ladyblog
“Oh yikes, that is bad,” Tikki piped up once she finished reading the twitter announcement. “Your situation may have gotten extremely difficult.” The kwami unconsciously eyed the fancy invitation sitting on Marinette’s desk, addressed to her real self but not to the version of herself in spots.
Marinette spun in her chair, clicking off her phone to only sigh and groan while looking up at her ceiling.
“I am going to kill that cat.”
Tikki floated into the girl’s line of vision, and gave a small smile that encouraged whatever thoughts were going through Marinette’s head.
“You know the words!”
“Tikki, spots on!”
Chat landed on the rooftop she’s been waiting at for the past ten minutes, spinning his baton like he didn’t have a care in the world. That stupid, yet weirdly attractive, cheshire grin was plastered on his face as he walked closer towards her.
“Why the sudden call M’Lady? Miss seeing me already after that akuma yesterday?” Chat teased as he leaned back against a wall.
“I saw your tweet,” she stated flatly. “Since when was it okay to make a twitter account as your superhero persona?!”
He laughed at the unexpected question, his face contorting with slight shock before breaking wide into a grin.
“It’s for the people!” Chat chuckled. “We are heroes after all, and it’s part of the package of giving the people what they want.”
Ladybug gave a suspicious, inquiring raised eyebrow.
“Your account is anonymous and untraceable, right?”
“Cross my heart, it’s as safe as can be,” Chat swore while drawing an “X” over his own heart with a claw. “In fact, it’s so safe, we should start talking about making you an account! We can be the top two most followed accounts on the app!”
“Oh, mon dieu,” she sighed while slapping her hand across her forehead. “Can you at least use your twitter account to get us out of this mess? There’s no way I’ll be able to attend the wedding as Ladybug.”
Chat’s expression turned into a nervous smile.
“So you see… that may not be possible,” he spoke quietly, while avoiding direct eye contact with her.
She crossed her arms, and expectantly tapped her foot. “Spit it out, or I’ll make you.”
“I may or may not have already promised on all my nine lives to both Penny and Jagged that we’ll both be there, watching them exchange vows and do their first dance and all that jazz… aha…” he trailed off, gathering the courage to sneak a small glance at her reaction to that news.
Ladybug’s face was visibly pissed, making Chat’s gaze shoot to the ground with a nervous gulp.
“And, why… would you do that?” she said with a dangerously darkening tone.
“He said please?” Chat’s voice was meek as he gave that feeble excuse, and Marinette had to take a deep, calming breath to destress herself.
“Chat, one day you are going to get me akumatized.”
“Please! I’m sorry!” he cried, moving in to hug her.
His arms wrapped tightly around her body, and he had leaned down to rest his chin on the top of her head.
“Jagged Stone was my biggest role model as a kid, I couldn’t say no to the man,” Chat whined.
She pouted while trying to push against his chest, all of her movement being feeble attempts of escape. “Why am I not your role model?” she complained under the weight of his hug.
“You are! You are!” he rushed to fix his words. “And maybe announcing that we’re going to be at the wedding will convince Hawkmoth to not create any akumas that day. Jagged also promised us access to all the free food we want …”
“You said yes because of the free food didn’t you,” she mumbled into his chest.
“I won’t lie Bugaboo, it was a great deciding factor I considered when saying yes to him.”
“Do not call me Bugaboo right now.”
“Okay, okay,” Chat Noir relented. “But will you maybe consider accompanying me at the event? It might give us the chance to show the world that were normal humans under these suits. You know, real people? Not aliens like people have been theorizing about on Twitter?”
Ladybug sighed and firmly shook her head against him. When she pushed away from his grasp, he let her go and they separated until their was a great deal of space between them.
“I can’t,” she said, not planning to go on with any explanation.
“Ah-ah! What did we talk about at our last patrol?” Chat pointed out.
“We will be more transparent with each other,” they chorused together. But Ladybug said it in a grumbling tone, while Chat parroted the line with a joyful sing-song voice.
She huffed, debating on how to phrase her next words while Chat leaned back against the wall again, motioning on for her to continue on with an explanation.
“This could be like, identity-revealing level information, but since we are being ‘transparent with each other,’” Ladybug mocked with air quotes. “I was invited to the wedding.”
“Not just Ladybug, the real me too. I can’t be playing security guard all night. If you want to keep up your promise with Jagged Stone then you’ll need to make an appearance on your own,” she added on.
Chat let out a deep breath, his mind processing the information while being deep in thought.
That was kind of a really big tidbit of information about her that she fished out to him. There was very few people their age being invited to Jagged’s wedding, all of them having some type of upstanding background that made them accomplished public figures in Paris.
With the notable exception of the few couple people from his class being invited because of their connections with Juleka and Luka, the remainder of teenage attendees were fairly sparse. Ladybug could be one of those few famous teenage singers, actresses, or models that have worked with Jagged before. Or she was the daughter of a high member of Parisian society, which was the more realistic idea.
As Ladybug began to mutter about something about losing her secret identity, there was this flutter that arose in his stomach.
Of course, Adrien would be a guest at Jagged’s wedding. He was the heir to the Agreste empire, which was also the company that held the title of being a major shareholder for the musician’s brand.
He could see Ladybug at the wedding.
Looking at the beautifully brave yet scary (in a hot way) girl that stood in front of him, he didn’t know if he would be able to survive that type of situation of seeing her unmasked. Just thinking about it made Chat want to internally combust.
“Well, I was actually invited as myself as well,” Chat Noir stated slowly, unsure if he should’ve revealed that information. He realized his mistake wen he watched Ladybug’s face immediately tighten, her eyebrows scrunched together in an unreadable way.
Then she moved forward and whacked his forehead.
Chat Noir yelped in surprise, his arms reaching to the front of his head to cradle the spot where she had hit him.
“Me-owch! What was that for?!” he cried out in pain.
“For making a stupid! Extremely stupid! Decision! For the both of us!” she continued to yell while smacking him lightly in the side between words.
“How was I supposed to turn down the Jagged Stone inviting Chat Noir to his wedding?” he whined, as Ladybug shot him a stone-cold stare and punched his shoulder. “He gave me his teary crocodile eyes! Please have mercy M’Lady! Understand the situation from my point of view!”
“We’re both already going to be at the wedding as our civilian selves!” she huffed while reaching out to shake his shoulders. “Why did you have to make the situation harder for us!”
“I’m sorry!” Chat blubbered. “Jagged was so scared that his special day would be ruined by an akuma, it made me worried about what Hawkmoth could do!”
“Hawkmoth should be the least of your worries, Chaton,” Ladybug snarled with an evil glint in her eye.
Chat peeled himself off the wall, andt urned his body towards the edge of the building. As he began to tip-toe backwards, Ladybug walked slowly towards him like a predator about to pounce on its prey.
“I’m so scared,” he admitted quietly.
“You should be.”
Chat Noir began to run, his body jumping off the edge of the rooftop when Ladybug had cornered him.
“Don’t be mad at me!” he cried out while pole-vaulting in the opposite direction.
Ladybug smirked evilly, giving him a headstart as Chat fearfully watched her expression turn darker and darker.
“Keep running, minou! You better hope I don’t catch you!”
Then Ladybug leapt, rocketing towards the cobblestone street below her, and extending her arm only when she could no longer make out anything in her peripheral vision. When her surroundings blurred, her yo-yo caught onto a building, and the momentum lifted her back to her initial height. There was that one second where she felt suspended in air, floating above everything else and higher than anything in sight. Then she would begin to fall, and she’d reach for her yo-yo and keep slicing through the air.
Between Chat Noir and her, the sky was Ladybug’s domain. But on land, he could outpace her when using his claws and feline speed enhanced by his miraculous. But flight was made for the Ladybug miraculous, and she zipped effortlessly towards Chat Noir, watching him with cocky determination as he kept looking back to only see her zoning in closer on him.
“Please, M’Lady, don’t kill me!” he yelled with a playfully frightened tone, taking a far leap while looping across a tall tower. “What will the people of Paris say when they find my pummeled body, flattened on the rooftops of their city? By their own beloved heroine no less!”
His teasing voice carried through the sharp winds cascading past her. Ladybug was right on his tail at this point, not close enough to grab him, but just a whisker away from being able to.
“Guess we’ll just have to find out!” she sang happily in a sing-song voice while moving in on his trail.
Chat yelped when she made a quick grab for him, and he evaded just by a hair by dropping onto a nearby rooftop.
He nearly howled when she sprang almost right on top of him, landing right where he did, but he had moved forward a couple of inches to avoid her descent.
And then as his legs began to move in an attempt to escape, Ladybug reached for his tail and pulled, leaving Chat Noir falling on to his butt.
“Should I be scared?” he meekly asked as his partner continued pulling him by the tail, his body tired and limp while sliding in the path Ladybug took him.
“Definitely.”
She let go of his tail and turned back to face Chat.
His body was left in a starfish position on the rooftop, panting to catch his breath with his eyes closed in anticipation.
“Do it, finish me off. I’m ready to be K.O.’ed,” he sighed dramatically. “Just please, not the face.”
Ladybug giggled softly,lying down next to him on the rooftop from a similar sense of exhaustion, watching the colors of the sky change to a calm, orange hue.
Their tired breaths came out in a synchronized tandem, and she rested her hands on her stomach to feel the air filling and leaving her lungs.
“You’re too silly for your own good sometimes, Chaton.”
“That’s my best trait Bug.”
“You have no good traits.”
Chat’s eyes shot open, turning his head to look over at the girl lying next to him.
“Decided to not kill me with your fists, but rather your words! I’m appalled!”
She let out a breathy laugh through the nose and shook her head.
“I’m kidding, you have many great traits that I’m not willing to admit to right now, but your humor is just not one of them. Sorry kitty.”
He decided to let out a small laugh at that.
“Sure, whatever you say.”
Then both their heads turned to look at each other, their eyes locking for an intense moment. Marinette couldn’t tell if looking so directly at Chat made her nervous for some odd reason, but despite the content comfort she usually felt in his presence, there was also this increasingly loud thumping coming from her chest that drowned out the city noise.
And by the faint twitch of his cat ear, she knew he could hear her heartbeat clearer than herself.
To calm the fluttering ball in the pit of her stomach, she reached across and flicked his nose. It was a natural gesture between the two of them, something that was familiar in their close partnership.
His smile grew increasingly wide, showing the small kitty fangs that she’s grown to adore.
“What’s on your mind, M’Lady?”
Of course he knew her mind was racing.
Thinking about thoughts that she’s never encountered usually, about him, popping up in Marinette’s head like luminescent bubbles that slowly evaporated as it rose higher and higher into uncharted territory.
Instead of letting those thoughts grow, she just moved a hand to give a small playful shove to his shoulder.
“Just leave the plans to me next time,” she sighed, returning her gaze to the darkening sky.
His eyes trailed back to he drifting clouds, and she could see in her peripheral his slow nod.
“We’re in this together though, right?” he asked hesitantly.
“Duh, I’m your partner.”
Marinette thinks she saw him lift the corners of his mouth in a smile.
“Can you tell me what the girl behind Ladybug’s mask will be wearing at the wedding?” she heard him ask.
A small pause stretched between them.
“Do you think I’m stupid?”
“It was worth a shot!”
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mysticraven20 · 7 months
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Wip
Her feet tangled around themselves and caused her to stumble over the rooftop. The toe of one foot collided hard with the heel of the other, making her hop from one to another to keep her stability. The loss of balance had her colliding with the chimney, her shoulder scraping against the hard, rough brick as she continued to move forward. She had to keep moving.
The red swirl of Ladybug’s continued to dance around in the sky, circulating over her head; a promise of revival, a promise of luck. Her heart begged that the ‘Miraculous Ladybug’ worked the way it always did — rebuilding and reforming. She didn’t have time to stop and check, stopping would steal seconds from her — precious seconds she didn’t have.
Paris began to put itself back together. Growing and growing as buildings and monuments reposition themselves in their pride of place. Back to being important to the citizens of the city, but right now, none of these were important to her.
She hadn’t bothered to stop to check on the victim, or speak to Alya, as soon as the charm was launched she ran – fast, and with intent.
Taking a leap, she pushed herself from the rooftop straight onto the next, she could have been flying seeing as her feet didn’t truly connect to the solid ground. She had tunnel vision; a one track in mind.
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mickeljewel · 1 year
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But Plagg said louder,
“Chat Noir! A—” another bubble. Both Ladybug and Adrien looked up.
Adrien’s eyes widened silently realizing his mistake.
“My Lady… don’t turn around… I’m… not transformed.”
Ladybug’s heart squeezed inside her chest and then began to pound in her ears.
She had been upset over yet another sentimonster wanting freedom and then suddenly having their life stolen away. She was still gripping the scarf and candlestick in her hand. But she suddenly became very aware of Chat Noir’s arms wrapped around her.
Aware of his comforting voice in her ear. Aware of his untransformed fragrance wafting into her nose. She knew that voice anywhere. She knew that scent anywhere. And she’d seen his bare hands and arms for a split second as they had embraced her… and she knew those hands without even having to look at them again. Her heart skipped a beat. Her heart pounded. Her body pulsed. Her heart and entire being just knew. How could she not recognize the boy she loved… on both sides of the mask?
Her breath caught in her throat,
“It doesn’t matter kitty…”
“What?”
“It doesn’t matter cuz I already know who you are,” she whimpered.
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flufflepuffle296 · 8 months
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Literally never seen a more perfect prompt for any couple ever in my life
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sha-nwa · 9 months
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call it even ch 3
“I hate him,” Marinette said, throwing her backpack down. “He’s awful. He’s cruel, manipulative, controlling—”
“I thought you had decided to give him a chance.” Alya climbed up through Marinette’s trap door and shut it behind her.
“That was last week. I’ve been right to despise him all along, actually.” Marinette plopped down in her computer chair, spinning until her dragging feet stopped her. “He sucks. He’s ruining my life.”
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"It's you. It's always been you." [Miraculous Ladybug]
First part of a future diptych... I just finished this one an hour ago and I wanted to share it with you. ❤
It is 23h55 here. I wish you sweet dreams, my dear Miraculous fans...
[Et pour les fans francophones...
Je suis un peu nostalgique ce soir. Aussi, je me permets sans préambule de mettre un lien vers ma fanfiction "Blanc, Rouge, Noir", complète depuis 2020 mais qui continue à l'évidence de vivre dans mon cœur. J'en parlerai un jour de façon plus posée sur ce tumblr, mais en attendant, si vous n'avez rien à lire... Venez jetez un oeil? (Attention, lisez les tags!)]
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miabrown007 · 9 months
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post-Representation reveal for @ladyofthenoodle and @asukiess <3
Time stops when Chat Noir plummets from Marinette’s skylight. She stops in her tracks and stares at him, eyes blown wide behind the polka-dotted mask that sits snug over the mascara streaks on her face. Her heart skips to her throat, because she doesn’t understand. She doesn’t understand what Chat Noir is doing at Marinette’s right now, in this break of dawn, when she was just about to head out to purify the Akuma he and Alya captured. He has even left her a voicemail to cheer her up—he always had an innate talent to know when she needed some cheering up—and he sounded so calm and collected then— Face buried in her mattress, he sniffles now. And Marinette knows that her identity is at stake here, that she’s incapable of explaining away Ladybug’s puffy eyes staring at him from the end of Marinette’s bed, but Chat Noir’s crying. He came to her because something so devastating happened to him that he’s crying.  If there’s one thing Marinette knows, it’s that they have sacrificed enough. She gave up love and gave up her friends for the mighty cause, and in the end, it was her friends and their love that saved the world.  She won’t give up her partner. Never again.
She reaches out, stroking her fingers through his hair gently. “Marinette, I need to tell you that—” he starts, then looks up and his eyes go wide. She smiles down at him. “It’s okay, Chaton. I’m here for you.” His bottom lip trembles, and several beats pass until he finds the voice to whisper, “I love you, Marinette. I’ll never let anyone separate us.” And maybe that should feel like a surprise. Maybe his arms around her and his lips on hers should wreck her world. Maybe, once, they would have.  Now, they feel like a small sound of ‘oh’ at the back of her mind.  Of course, it’s him.  Of course, he’s hers.  Of course, it’s them until the end of the world. She cups his face and smooths the messy hair out of his eyes, kissing away the tears spilling over his black mask. “I love you, too, Adrien. I’ll never let anyone hurt you ever again.” And if he cries harder and buries his face in the crook of her neck, that’s alright too. She hugs him, rubbing his back and peppering kisses all over his face—his nose, his forehead, his crown and his little cat ears—and holds him until he needs her to. She would be his Atlas and hold him until the end of the world, but slowly, his breathing calms and Adrien draws away, wiping at his eye with the palm of his hand. “I need to— I’ll need to go back,” he stutters over a swallow. Marinette shakes her head firmly and holds him tighter. “You are not going back.” His face softens. “My lady,” he begs, and she thinks her heart might give in from the way he says her name alone. “You know I have to before he discovers I’m missing, otherwise—” She cuts him off with a kiss before he gets to finish that train of thought. It’s an option she isn’t willing to entertain. “Your cousin owes me big time. You are not going back. Never ever,” she confirms.  If the surprised fervour and gratitude he dives back in for a kiss with is of any indication, he believes her. Marinette isn’t delusional enough to think Félix would do her a solid as an apology for his theater kid nonsense, but she suspects a chance to be closer to Kagami in place of Adrien will do it. She laces her fingers with Adrien’s, as if gluing them together, but he doesn’t seem to mind. She smiles against his lips with confidence only his support can grant her. “Okay, Chaton. Here’s the plan.”
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burntwaffle12 · 11 months
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I hate getting emails unless...
Archive of Our Own
[AO3] your_favorite_writer posted chapter....
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querade · 4 months
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TIL that Adrienette is AO3's second most popular straight ship, and I don't know if it's funnier that the first most popular straight ship is Dramione, or that ao3 is so gay that adrienette is still #31 overall
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ao3feed-ladynoir · 21 days
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ladysunamireads · 1 month
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appamarshmallow · 9 months
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Ladynoir July Day 2
(This is part of a series on AO3 btw! So check out the link above to access the first chapter <3 )
Chapter 2: Emergency Contact
It had been only 24 hours since that tweet by Chat Noir had been posted.
Only a couple hours since she saw Chat last night, chasing him across rooftops while he ran for his life.
Marinette giggled quietly at the memory, making Alya raise a slight eyebrow in her direction.
“What could possibly be happening in your head right now to make you go all starry-eyed like that, girl?” her friend questioned with suspicion laced clearly in her voice. “You said you were over Adrien months ago, what is happening?”
Marinette rolled her eyes at the question, smiling at her friend’s inquisitive nature.
“I just remembered something Chat said on patrol once, it was surprisingly funny,” she supplied instead of giving the whole truth to satisfy her gossip-driven friend.
“Oh, right,” Alya nodded, as if just remembering who Chat Noir was. “Yeah, no big deal. Just you, my best friend in the whole wide world, giggling and kicking her feet while thinking about her literal superhero partner—emphasis on superhero, because you are also a literal superhero—who wears a skin-tight leather suit, has the body of a Greek god, loves animals, saves animals, has fantastic morals, and a great sense of humor! For you to have never been attracted to Chat Noir at all seems like an actual federal crime at this point.”
“Why must everyone bring up his leather suit in my presence?” Marinette groaned, falling back into her bed.
“How can you not?”
“It’s a very small detail about his physical description.”
“More like…,” Alya trailed on, stretching her arms to the sides. “About this big of a detail. By the way, this is the approximate shoulder width I think he has, but you can help confirm that for the Ladyblog since you saw him yesterday.”
“Why do you need that kind of information for the Ladyblog?” Marinette asked with a suspicious stare.
“Tsk, tsk. Asking all the wrong questions my friend,” she tutted. “You should be thinking, ‘why do the people not know Chat Noir’s shoulder width size? And what can I do to help the poor, desperate people?’”
“Why are you trying to guilt me into telling you his physical measurements,” Marinette said with a quirked grin.
“Because I can already tell that my methods are working on you. Should I mention the thousands of curious minds on the internet, not being able to properly eat or sleep without knowing the true answer behind the question I’ve presented you? Or do you already know of their suffering, and are unwilling to satisfy the minds of these innocent souls!”
“Alright, stop! Stop!” Marinette exclaimed while laughter began to bubble up in her throat.
She sat up in her spot on the bed, and moved Alya’s hands slightly closer together, but still leaving a great deal of space between them.
“Stretching your hands out that far is just unrealistic. He’s about from here to there,” she answered.
Alya grinned mischieviously, her eyes intently focused on memorizing the exact distance that Marinette had presented to her.
“Ugh, I wish my phone had enough juice to capture the width of Chat Noir’s shoulders right now!” Alya complained, moving to look down at the phone screen on Marinette’s desk from her position above on the bunk bed.
She scrambled down and unplugged the phone from the charging cable.
The mood in the room seemed to immediately darken as Alya grew quiet.
“Oh, shit,” Alya muttered to herself while unlocking her phone, climbing back up into the bed and sitting in her previous position across from Marinette.
“What happened?”
Her friend shook her head, turning her phone for Marinette to see.
“There was an akuma attack across the city thirty minutes ago, and I completely missed it!”
Marinette’s heart thudded to a stop. The soft pulsing thrum, coming to a halt as the wind was quickly knocked out of her.
“...What?” she asked slowly, digesting Alya’s previous words.
Her friend looked up from her screen momentarily, and then her eyes returned to her phone. Then as if processing who was sitting in front of her, her jaw dropped.
“Ohh… double shit,” Alya gasped, processing for the millionth time during their friendship that Marinette was Ladybug. “Wait, if you’ve been with me in your room for the past four hours, then…”
“Then, I fucking missed the akuma attack!”
Both girls yelled and jumped off the bed, rushing to turn on Marinette’s computer monitor.
“As in ‘happened thirty minutes ago,’ do you mean the akuma battle started or ended thirty minutes ago?!” Marinette cried out as she began typing in a news site that she often frequents for immediate akuma updates.
Alya double checked her phone, looking at the many messages she’s gotten about the lack of footage on the Ladyblog.
“Um, definitely ended thirty minutes ago!” Alya supplied with a wince as she stared at a selfie that the akuma victim had posted with Chat Noir.
“Shit!”
Marinette’s worst fears were confirmed when the news site’s headlines stated,
“Chat-Noir’s Solo Debut Against the GarbageMan!” and “Ladybug Nowhere to be Found as Garbage Monster Rampages Paris?”
Instead of dwelling on the situation, she jumped to transform, letting the pink glow wash over her while climbing up to her skylight.
“Assuming that our hangout is over, should I leave… or?” Alya yelled towards Marinette as the girl in question jumped up to her balcony.
“Might come back late, see you tomorrow!” she responded promptly while shutting the trapdoor.
Marinette didn’t feel all that bad about cutting her and Alya’s hangout shorter than usual, because her friend knew the importance of superhero duties after all. But a little bit of guilt pinched her as she sprang off the railing and swung randomly away from her balcony in the humid summer air.
As she ran across a series of rooftops, Ladybug took out her Bug phone, pulling up Chat Noir’s contact.
When she clicked the green call button, Marinette expected for the line to ring a couple of times, and then fall dead — probably because the akuma already had been defeated so long ago.
But she was surprised when Chat almost immediately picked up, his voice filling the other end of the line.
“Three days in a row,” he said slowly. “What good things have I done recently to be graced by M’Lady’s presence once again?”
Ladybug stopped moving and let out a couple of deep, confused breaths.
“What?”
“Turn around sweetheart.”
She immediately spun on her heel, setting her eyes against his.
Chat’s green eyes were teasing, happy even.
Not one thing in his expression showed that he was disappointed with her for accidentally missing the akuma alert.
Then she saw it, a sharp gash against his cheek. It wasn’t a large, ugly thing. Rather, it looked like the type of scratch that Chat would be able to brag that he got from a fist fight with a bear, or from holding off a thief from robbing an elderly woman. But a large wave of guilt washed through her all the same.
He caught her eyes, staring at the cut with an aghast expression filled with remorse.
“Oh, this old thing?” he pointed to the red marking on his face. “Yeah, I got it from wrestling a dozen elves in the woods. You wouldn’t believe the muscles those little minions got!”
“What really happened?” she asked with a concerned huff.
“The akuma threw a crushed Coca-Cola can at my face,” Chat shrugged.
“You’re joking,” Ladybug said with a small breathy laugh.
When she stepped closer to inspect the cut, he didn’t move away but rather leaned forwards.
Ladybug reached out with a hand to tentatively grab the side of his jaw, moving it to tilt his head slightly to the side for a better angle of the red mark.
“Oh my god, that is definitely on the precipice of leaving a scar,” she muttered, letting the guilt deepen further and further into the pit of her stomach.
“Anything you can do to fix it, my Lady Love?” he said with a voice that was annoyingly mocking her, his bright eyes screaming back at hers with delight.
“Stay still,” she replied with an eye-roll.
Ladybug reached into her Bug phone, which also served as a infinite space for her things, and pulled out a band-aid.
Chat quirked an eyebrow.
“Is that gonna un-scar this…?” he asked with suspicion.
“Shhhh,” she shushed him. “It’s made out of magic remember?”
“Rigghhhttt,” he replied unsuredly, watching her lean in closely to carefully apply the band-aid.
When the mark was patched up, Ladybug’s fingers lingered on his skin. A momentary second where she knew she was done with removing the cut, but the air between them had grown thick, and she had to let down a tight gulp before pushing against his chest to give some space between them.
“So, about that akuma…,” she nervously trailed on, trying to remember the akuma’s name.
“GarbageMan,” he finished for her.
“Right, him,” Ladybug nodded curtly in thanks. “Was the fight okay? Anything I should worry about besides that scratch? I have the time to do some fixer-upping right about now.”
Chat shook his head.
“Just a bit of litter was left behind since there was no miraculous cure, but the community service guys already got that covered. The fight was fairly quick too, so there wasn’t much time for the akuma to really leave behind any permanent damage.”
“How’d you get rid of the akuma?”
“Broke the akuma object and cataclysmed the butterfly.”
When Chat revealed that piece of information, he noticeably looked away, avoiding eye-contact with her. Something dark flashed in his eyes, a type of burden that Marinette could only describe as guilt.
“You okay, minou?” she asked softly.
“Yeah, I just felt kind of uncomfortable having to kill that butterfly,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck in that awkward way whenever Chat felt uneasy. “I know I hold the powers of destruction, but there was something icky about using my cataclysm today. We always see the butterfly cleanse and fly free, but knowing that it was under Hawkmoth’s cruel influence against its will, and having to watch it disappear into ashes in my own hands? I just feel unnerved, that’s all.”
Marinette was pulled back to that conversation with Alya earlier.
Her Chat Noir really did have good morals and a crazy love for all forms of animals.
She left her hand on his arm in a comforting manner, rubbing it to soothe him.
“That’s good that you feel that way, Chat. It means that you’re deserving of these powers because you know that your ring shouldn’t be unleashing death,” she reassured him. “I’m sorry that I left you no choice in having to destroy the butterfly. My phone was off, and my friend’s phone was dead so I didn’t hear the alert. I promise that as soon as I heard of the akuma, I transformed right away and called you.”
“I trust you,” he reassured back.
Marinette shook her head and looked at the ground, thinking about how much she had messed up.
“There must be something I could do to prevent this from happening in the future,” she muttered to herself, her hand still rubbing circles on his arm.
“Do you think your Kwami can sense that I tried calling your Bug phone earlier? Maybe your Kwami didn’t say anything since you said you were with a friend?” he questioned.
Marinette tried not to wince, since the friend she was with was Alya, someone who knew Ladybug’s secret identity.
“No, I went to the bathroom alone, so I don’t think my Kwami can sense those type of things when I’m not suited up,” she lied.
When Chat let out a hum that signaled that he was trying to think of something, the cogs in Marinette’s head began to steadily move together like a well-oiled machine.
One thought led to another, turning on the lights in her head with a slowly-forming idea.
Chat watched her expression change, moving quickly from thoughtful to contemplative then back to thoughtful.
Then Ladybug reached into her Bug-phone (or now Bug purse?) and pulled out a black marker.
“What are you doing with that?” Chat questioned warily as Ladybug popped open the cap, moving closer to him with a mischievous glint in her eye.
“Close your eyes.”
Her partner crossed his arms, showing his extreme reservations with being drawn on.
“That marker is not going on me.”
“Pleaseee, Chaton,” she begged, hovering the tip of the marker close to his face.
“You know calling me ‘Chaton’ is my weakness,” he complained before shutting his eyes, subtle annoyance etched across his features. “I always get the short end of the stick of your plans.”
“Sorry… Chaton.”
He grumbled more as she went up on her tippy-toes and lifted up his bangs while laughing, writing a twelve-digit number on his forehead.
“Ha. Ha. Great plan,” Chat laughed with heavily laced sarcasm once she put the cap back on the marker. “What does it say? Oh! Oh! Let me guess. I’ll put my bets down that you wrote either ‘stupid’ or ‘sidekick’ on my forehead.”
“Neither. I gave you my number.”
A long pause stretched between them.
“W-What?!” he asked incredulously.
Ladybug nonchalantly dropped the marker back into her Bug phone, her gaze returning back to Chat’s one of shock.
“It’s for emergency purposes, ONLY,” she emphasized carefully. “I want you to let me know immediately the next time there’s an akuma. I feel extremely bad I missed this one.”
“Oh my god, you really did write your number on me” Chat Noir muttered to himself in disbelief. “And it won’t rub off once I get home? Please tell me that was a permanent marker, we can’t risk it!”
He lifted up his bangs, wondering if it would smudge with the sudden gesture.
Ladybug checked the digits on his forehead.
“Still perfectly legible,” she said with a thumbs up.
“And since that problem is fixed, I should be heading back home. See you soon?”
Chat Noir nodded dazedly back at her.
“Yeah… yeah, see ya.”
Marinette laughed a little softly to herself, and jumped lightly off the edge of the building, swinging freely in the direction back to her home.
***
Marinette awoke that night with a buzz underneath her pillow.
She reached tiredly for her phone, fishing it out like a needle in a haystack.
And Marinette found only one notification.
Unknown Number - 12:17 am
Still on for patrol tomorrow? /ᐠ. ᴗ.ᐟ\
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mysticraven20 · 9 months
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A Masked Game
Ready Player Two…
On AO3, WattPad and Fanfiction.net
@ladynoirjuly
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