Hi. I'm into Miraculous Ladybug now.
This was inspired by a fic on A03 called "The Ladybugs and The Bees" (it's real cute, do go check it out!) and an ask I received on tumblr the other day.
It had been two months since he had seen her, the summer break splitting them apart due to various commitments neither could go into much detail about. But while Marin remained in Paris, Chat Noir had completely left the country. Not having her around filled his patrols with a silence he wasn't used to. The city was quiet in other ways as well, as not a single akuma had sprung up in her absence. It put Marin on edge not knowing when disaster would strike and he would have to take care of it by himself.
Thankfully he didn't have to fret for long, as Chat Noir's return date arrived and even if he hadn't actually seen her yet, he was at ease just knowing she was back.
He felt something else with her return, a great anticipation at the thought of how noisy his patrols would be once again. The lack of company, while nice at first, had made the task a chore, when normally it was his favorite part of the day. Near the end he even had to hype himself up in order to leave the house.
Now he was raring to go, nearly bursting at the seams since he woke up. The clock ticked by fast as he helped around the bakery and filled the hours with other activities but it was still too slow for his taste. By the time for patrol actually arrived, he could barely contain his excitement.
"You're awfully hyper tonight." Tikki commented, her tone good-natured as she watched Marin buzz around the bedroom. He had only to clean up a few stray clothes and boxes around his room before he could go and he wanted to get it done as fast as possible.
"I'm just a bit excited for patrol is all." He admitted, shoving a shirt into his dresser drawer haphazardly; he'd properly deal with it later.
Tikki considered him carefully, glancing at the calendar on the wall before looking back at him. "Today Chat Noir is back." She said.
Marin stopped, his room effectively "cleaned," and took a seat at his desk. He swiveled in the chair to face the kwami, who was perched atop his computer monitor. "It won't be so boring tonight." Marin shrugged, trying to downplay how eager he actually felt.
Tikki noted how her partner's foot tapped antsily on the floor and the barely contained grin that threatened to stretch across his face. She smiled, some hidden meaning behind it that he didn't pick up on. "Well then, let's go!"
Marin stood, brushing aside the loose hair in front of his ears to reveal the plain black piercings. "Tikki, Spots On!"
A burst of light filled the room and moments later Lady Beetle emerged from the out cove on the roof and was swinging towards his destination above the Paris skyline.
Lady Beetle touched down on the rooftop of their usual meeting place and took a seat near the ledge. Chat Noir wasn't here yet-he was early to be honest-and he figured sitting would be better than pacing around.
He still couldn't control his antsiness though and found himself swinging his yoyo up and down like a regular one. When that grew boring, he tried several tricks he knew. He got quite into it, his concentration on doing a Lindy Loop only shattering when a soft chuckle sounded behind him.
"Having fun?" Chat Noir asked.
He reeled back his yoyo before he turned to greet her. "Just a little." He admitted with a small grin.
She padded over to his side as he stood. "Ready to go then, my liege?"
Lady Beetle rolled his eyes at the title but stopped midway when he noticed something was off. He had to look up to meet her eyes. His gaze quickly shot down, searching for some sort of box she was surely standing on but found none. His brows screwed together and his gaze returned to her face, the gears in his head trying to process this new abnormality.
At his staring, Chat tilted her head to the side in confusion. "My liege?"
"Did you get taller?" Lady Beetle blurted out.
Chat blinked several times at him before seeming to register their sudden height difference. She took a step back, studying him with an unreadable expression.
When she didn't say anything, Lady Beetle continued. "You're at least a head taller than me now." As he said this, he realized there had been other changes to her too. Her face shape was slightly sharper, her hair was longer, her hips more pronounced, and her chest-he quickly ceased his line of thought there, hoping she wouldn't notice the sudden heat on his face.
"I did grow a bit while I was away." Chat finally affirmed.
"A bit!" Lady Beetle gaped. "Try a few meters! You're a giant now!"
Chat worried her bottom lip and by her expression he could tell she was bothered. He shouldn't have been so insensitive, Lady Beetle realized too late. He opened his mouth to speak-to say an apology or something else that probably wouldn't be well thought out-but she cut him off. "Let's go patrol."
Before he could object or say anything, she launched herself off the roof, using her baton to land onto the building across the street.
Lady Beetle silently scolded himself before quickly following after. "Chat, wait up!" He called though she kept going. With the added length to her legs, she had managed to keep ahead of him for several blocks. Only when he practically ran after her did he catch up.
"Chat." He said, latching onto her arm to keep her in place.
She didn't pull away but she didn't look him in the eye either and he could tell he had really hurt her. 'Way to go, Marin.' he silently chided himself.
There was a long pause, as Lady Beetle tried to think of what to say. Finally he settled on a simple apology first. "I'm sorry, Chat." He said sincerely, letting go of her arm to rub the back of his neck. "That was asinine of me."
Slowly, Chat turned her striking green eyes to him. Her mouth twitched upward a little but he could still see the vulnerability in her eyes so he forged on. "I was surprised, I didn't expect to suddenly be shorter than you." Lady Beetle said, watching her carefully. "Though that's no excuse for my reaction."
"It's O.K.." Chat said with a minuscule smile.
"I'm really sorry!" Lady Beetle blurted again.
Chat shrugged lightly. "It's fine, LB. I expected this from my classmates anyway." There was something she left off there and he realized it on his own: She knew how others would react, stupidly and without thought, but she hadn't expected it from him, her partner and her friend.
Now Lady Beetle felt really horrible.
"Well, for the record," he began, meeting her gaze evenly-his head had to crane upward to do so, certainly something that would take some getting used to-"I think it's fine that you're taller. And you look nice. You look nice taller, I mean and I-I'm glad to have you back. Uh, I mean, that you're back. It's good. That you're back. And taller, uh.."
Somehow the jumble of sentences he had just splurged pulled a genuine laugh out of the girl, a smile lighting up her face. It put him at ease, to see the hurt gone from her features, but her smile also set his heart racing at an unfamiliar (when around this blonde, anyway) rhythm that he wasn't quite sure how to react to.
"Thanks, Bug." Chat grinned, swinging her hips to one side so her tail flicked the other way. She was certainly back to her usual self. "I missed you, too."
Lady Beetle's ears heated up at the statement, the pace of his heart quickening. He had never directly said he missed her but hearing her say it made him realize that he indeed had. No wonder Tikki had looked at him like she had earlier... He cleared his throat to give some retort but his attention belatedly caught on the new nickname. "Did you just call me 'Bug?'"
Chat only grinned wider. "Yes, you're a small bug now, after all."
Now Lady Beetle's cheeks turned red for another reason. Bug! He wasn't that short, he was still average height for his age! With one look at her face though, the obstinate denial of the nickname died on his tongue. Despite righting the situation, he still deserved the nickname after hurting her like he had. He'd hit his growth spurt too one of these days and surpass her in height again but until then he could handle another nickname.
"It's not like I shrunk." He muttered half-heartedly instead, not saying anything further as his partner giggled and pulled out her staff.
"Ready for patrol, Bug?" She asked, twirling the weapon in her hands.
Lady Beetle returned her smile, pulling his yoyo from his waist. "After you, Kitty."
EXTRA:
Little did Marin know, the nickname stuck for far longer than he had hoped. Even after years passed and they had both reached the limits of their puberty, she still had at least five inches on him. Not that he really minded; it was something to be excepted when your girlfriend was a model, after all.