A/N: I've been working on this since April, and it's almost finished. I'm editing through the whole thing, maybe re-working some parts here and there, and then just posting a new chapter every Sunday. I can definitely promise frequent updates with this one.
Tell me what you think.
He sees a little black and red box sitting in the middle of the bed when he gets home from school on the first day and thinks that his father has finally remembers him, that his father cares, that his father hasn't left him like his mother did a year ago. He wonders what's in it. When a little black floating cat comes popping out and tells him to wear the ring, he does.
He's adorned with black cat ears, a tail, and a mask. He twirls, and a silver baton appears on his hip. He looks like a character from one of those animated cartoons he was never allowed to watch as a kid, and he thinks, I could be a superhero. So he goes out and tries to be one.
It's not easy the first time, and it doesn't get any easier afterwards. He learns how to jump, to roll, to go through the world with cat ears tucked in his back pocket and a flawless face in the front. He learns to let lies roll off his tongue, to keep his mask on more often than not. Sometimes, he thinks only knowing his partner makes it easier to lead the double life.
That comes later, though. During his first run, he's quivering with excitement and anticipation, not a single shard of fear in his body.
"I'm Chat Noir," he says, testing the phrase out on his tongue. Adrien rolls the noir as much as he can, trying to impress the girl in the spotted suit. She's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. "You?"
"Ladybug," she says, smirking. She holds out her hand. "Nice to meet you."
They shake hands on a baton balanced across two buildings, and then fall off when one of them misplaces a foot. She saves them with her yo-yo, and he wonders if it's appropriate to ask for kiss when they're tangled up together. Instead, he makes a pun, and is rewarded with an eye roll that becomes iconic later on.
"Stop that," she tells him, blue eyes sparkling brighter than the sun.
"What, being meowvellous?" he asks. " 'Fraid not, milady."
She shoves him off the building.
He falls for her that day, and never gets back up. She pulls him up with her yo-yo, of course, but in his mind, he's stuck in a freefall he doesn't want to stop.
They go on plenty of adventures together after that, of course, but he doesn't remember a moment when he isn't willing to sacrifice himself for her. That doesn't mean that he always has the chance.
::
"Ladybug!" He rushes forwards, sure that she has been gobbled up by the dinosaur. "Ladybug!" His eyes widen, hoping beyond hope that she would be alive. He can't lose her. She is one of the few things that made being Chat Noir bearable. Scrambling onto the dinosaur's jaw, he pries it open, his feet pushing down on its lower jaw as he pushes upwards, wrinkling his sensitive nose against the reptile's meaty breath.
A slimy Ladybug rolls out of the dinosaur's mouth, yelling at Chat to keep the akuma preoccupied. She lunges underneath the oversized lizard's head, aiming for something that Chat can't see. For the second time in as many minutes, Chat's heart leaps into his throat, but he knows that he would just have to trust her.
"Hey!" Chat flips onto the dinosaur's snout and places his feet next to the lizard's nostrils. "Look at me, you oversized lizard!" He punches the dinosaur on the nose, jumping up and down to keep its attention. "Have you ever heard of toothpaste? 'Cause you really, really stink."
Chat flaps his hand up and down around his nose in an exaggerated mimicry of batting away the stink of the dinosaur's mouth. In all honesty, the lizard's mouth is rather clean, if a bit full of saliva. But he resents the lizard for trying to gobble up his lady, so he attempts to humiliate the dinosaur as much as he can.
The dinosaur roars, lunging forward in an attempt to unbalance Chat. Chat suddenly finds the snout beneath him jerking up, and he slides forward in between the dinosaur's eyes, accidentally pressing his hand on one of them in an attempt to stop his skid off the animal's back.
The lizard glares with such fury, then, if Ladybug hadn't purified the akuma a second later, Chat is sure he would've been a dead cat, roasted to perfection and ready to be eaten.
As it is, the dinosaur began to shrink into the zookeeper, and Chat quickly leaps off of him. There's no need to stand on the man afterwards, and he's more worried about Ladybug. Chat runs and wraps his arms around Ladybug in a bone-crushing hug, running his hands around her and patting her hair, reassuring himself that she is safe, safe, and all is fine.
Ladybug huffs in surprise, and then pats Chat's head, running her fingers over his ears. "It's fine, chaton," she whispers, using her little nickname for him. "You did a great job of keeping him occupied."
His only response is to hug her tighter. He doesn't ever want to let her go.
It's not the last time that she scares him so badly, but it's definitely the first.
They create a routine, something Chat knows like the back of his hand. Patrol on Mondays and Thursdays, days where they spar with each other to improve their skills and keep the city safe. Partnering during akuma fights, sometimes twice a week or once a month. Coffee breaks afterwards, in a small café run by one of Adrien's friends who will let them sit and eat with their masks on.
He loves those meetings. It's where he learns so much about his lady, like the fact that she'll only eat macarons from the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
"Why, my lady, are you so picky?"
She reddens. "It's not called being picky, Chat."
He snorts. "I think when you'll only eat macarons from one bakery in all of Paris, that's called being picky."
"Yeah, well –" There's a pause as she struggles to find a suitable retort. "At least I don't make cat puns everyday!"
"Hey!" He pretends to take offense. "I'll have you know that they're catastrophically amazing!"
They devolve into pointless bickering after that. The media catches wind of the conversation, and after that was published, Ladybug gets overwhelmed with boxes and boxes of macarons from the Dupain-Cheng bakery at every chance her fans get while Chat looks on and incapacitates himself through laughter.
The tables are turned on him one day when a little girl professes her love to him in a letter full of puns. Ladybug giggles herself sick at the look on Chat's face when he realizes that he's been handed a ticking time bomb from the cutest kid ever.
::
It's nearing the two year anniversary of him getting the ring when he realizes that he doesn't particularly like being Chat Noir anymore. It's just another mask for him to wear (how ironic, that he would wear a mask under another), but he knows that Ladybug likes being who she is, and he knows that he'll do anything for her. So he slips on a ring and smiles and fights by her side.
He's not happy, not really, but he's content enough to keep doing it. They don't ever tell each other who they are, despite the years passing by, despite them becoming close friends, best friends. Adrien still likes her, still has the largest crush on her, and he's sure that she doesn't know. He covers it up too well with overly flirtatious remarks and a quick joke every time she rejects him.
He doesn't know when they have a time limit, when they have to give up their miraculous, when they can stop being Chat Noir and Ladybug, when he stops meeting her. He doesn't know, so he savors every meeting he gets.
The thought of her leaving never crosses his mind.
