Notes: Thank you to everyone who read my first fanfic and favorited it. And a greater thank you to those who left a comment, it was all so uplifting :D
I thought I would probably only write the one fanfic, but then I got another idea. This story is not related to my previous one though, each being standalone stories. I hope you enjoy it.
This one is quite a bit longer so it's split into chapters, each chapter focused on a particular side of the love square. My plan is to post a chapter a day for the next week to get it all out before Frozer possibly ruins us all.
I also made myself a Tumblr account (adrianhjames) to post my work (and it will be pre-scheduled there so may post there before I'm able to get it sorted on here) and to share other Ladybug posts.
I hope you enjoy it, and as before, I'm happy to receive any feedback
"After you, My Lady" Cat Noir offered, holding the door and taking a bow as he held his hand out toward the opening.
"Ever the gentleman," Ladybug replied, smiling at him as she stepped past into the massage parlor. Incense hung in the air but a hint of brewed leaves reached her nose. "I thought so," she grinned as Master Fu turned around from pouring tea.
"How wonderful to see you both together," the guardian observed, passing a cup to Cat Noir before turning to face Ladybug.
"Thanks," Cat Noir replied, raising his cup, "I'm glad we can finally come here together like this."
"You'll need to take these back first," Ladybug pointed out, and he put her cup back down on the side. Diligently, he took the other holders' miraculous jewelry over to the grammar phone, pressing the buttons that would reveal the box they belonged in. One by one he returned them to their places, saving only the turtle bracelet so that he might wear it again himself.
As Wayzz appeared from the bracelet, Master Fu commended her while returning to pick her cup back up and offer it to her again. "Thank you Ladybug, you have stewarded these wisely."
"Thank you for trusting me with them, Master," she nodded as she took the cup, glancing over at Cat Noir.
"And I suppose you've been looking forward to seeing these again," Cat Noir surmised, handing over the Miraculous Grimoire Hawkmoth had had, then unzipping his pocket to bring out the Butterfly & Peacock miraculous. Both Ladybug and Master Fu approached him to behold them, with Wayzz getting closest to the pieces himself, apparently wishing their kwamis to make an appearance by his sheer willpower. The four of them stared at the pin and the broach in silence for a while, a multitude of thoughts passing through each of their minds.
"Thank you Cat Noir, and thank you Ladybug. I am only sorry that it has taken this many years for you to be able to retrieve them," Master Fu lamented. "But I am so proud of how the both of you have grown in that time, and brought together others to fight for what is right and for the good of Paris, no matter the cost." With that final phrase he shared a knowing look with Cat Noir, one that Ladybug didn't notice.
The guardian moved to the middle of the room, sitting with his legs crossed on one side of the mat, Wayzz perched on his shoulder. Cat Noir joined him, mirroring the seated position on the other side of the mat, but in the corner, allowing Ladybug the other corner. She knelt down and sat with her legs folded to her side.
Ladybug and Cat Noir recounted the final battle and all that it had taken for the duo (well, the whole team) to emerge ultimately victorious. And yet, although they were victorious neither of them were particularly upbeat about it. If each of them hadn't been so focused on their own misgivings about the now revealed identity of Hawkmoth – Cat Noir for obvious reasons, and Ladybug because of her concern for Adrien's wellbeing going forward – they might have wondered why Master Fu wasn't actually asking them about their lack of celebration. Really, they should have each been asking the other why they weren't celebrating, but they had developed a close enough bond so as to sense that although something wasn't right, nothing was exactly wrong either.
"Now that we have the butterfly and peacock miraculous again, does this mean you will be returning yours? Will I get to see your kwamis again now?" Wayzz asked, eager to be reunited with more of his kin. The heroes' heads jerked up in unison as they looked towards each other, eyes widening in shock at the suggestion.
"Not so fast Wayzz," Master Fu interjected, "there is still more to discuss". But the question to be considered was out there – what happens now?
"Uh…" Cat Noir started.
"What do…" Ladybug tried, as they tripped over each other's attempts at sentences.
They each stayed quiet for a moment, hoping the other would find the words to ask the questions they knew they needed to talk about. Eventually, Ladybug took a slow deep breath and let it back out more quickly. "Do we have to return our miraculous now?"
Master Fu looked at her, then across at Cat Noir, then back at her, taking the time to assess the emotions that had been passing over each of their faces. "As you know, these are powerful items, to be treated with the greatest of care, as you have been doing these last few years." He continued to look between them as he spoke. "But now that the threat of Hawkmoth has passed I think for everyone's safety the miraculous should all be returned and kept hidden."
Ladybug drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them, resting her nose on her knees. Cat Noir could see the water in her eyes as the words he could only assume she feared had been spoken. His own feelings were close – he wasn't near to crying but the idea of losing the freedom that his miraculous had granted him was not one he had wanted to consider.
"But… Tikki…" Ladybug went to say, unable to get beyond her kwami's name. A single tear rolled down the cheek closest to Cat Noir and she buried her face in her legs.
Master Fu, as committed to his purpose of protecting the miraculous as he was, was still an understanding man. "Do not worry, I am not asking you to leave this part of your lives behind you, and I am certainly not asking you to say goodbye forever to a companion as close as a kwami. I can scarcely imagine getting by without Wayzz by my side."
After a moment Ladybug breathed out and her shoulders relaxed a little. Cat Noir was not sure what to make of what the guardian was telling them.
"For the meantime there is no longer a need in Paris for Ladybug and Cat Noir, but although the miraculous will be kept safe you will still be welcome to come and visit at any time." There was a positive and a negative to this news which both of them felt. Relieved to know that they did not need to say a final goodbye to their closest friends, the thought of no longer being the superhero personas that had been such a big part of their lives was a lot to handle.
"You want us to give up being who we are?" Cat Noir eventually questioned.
"Never," Master Fu responded, "but who you are is not these masks, these suits, these powers. You have these roles because of who you are – you are not who you are because you have these roles." This was going to be a lot for the two of them to process. After some more silence the guardian spoke up again. "The big question that I cannot answer for you is: are you now going to tell each other who you are under the masks? Or do you wish it to remain secret?"
Cat Noir immediately turned to glance at Ladybug before querying what had been said. "Why would we need to keep keeping it secret?"
Ladybug spoke up, the tremor in her voice only slightly noticeable now, "Because Master Fu said 'for the meantime'," she highlighted. Lifting her head from her legs she looked over at him. "You said 'For the meantime there is no longer a need for Ladybug and Cat Noir.' You mean we might have to take up these roles again in the future?" she asked, turning from the guardian to Cat Noir as she spoke.
"It is possible," he confirmed, "and there are no other people I would want to take up the role than you two." While the compliment warmed each of their hearts, it was not enough to battle the difficulty of coming to terms with giving up the roles in the meantime.
"So we might want to still keep our identities secret in case there's a next time, for the same reasons we've kept them secret this time…" Ladybug offered. Cat Noir sighed heavily. Whatever reservations or concerns he might have himself held about sharing identities, he had always wanted to be able to once Hawkmoth was defeated. And Ladybug knew this. She hadn't meant to take that away from him after so long. "What do you think Master Fu? What do you think really? Is another threat likely?"
He answered her in as straightforward a way as he could. "Possible, yes, likely, no. As I say, I cannot answer this question for you."
"And we're supposed to decide this here and now?!" Cat Noir demanded. "This is a lot to process!"
"No, it does not need to be today. Take all the time you need," he answered, taking some of the pressure they had been feeling off. Obviously they couldn't just keep their miraculous forever under the guise of 'taking time', but this afforded them some breathing space. "Come Wayzz, let us leave them to talk." The duo stared at each other as Master Fu left and busied himself in another room.
"As if today wasn't heavy enough," Cat Noir pondered out loud, shifting around to lie on the mat on his back, arms extended out on each side, and stared at the ceiling. Ladybug may not have understood the extent to which he was feeling that but they both felt a weight after the events that had transpired.
"I know," Ladybug agreed. Sensing the need to reassure and comfort him she turned as well and lay down alongside him, resting the back of her head on his outstretched arm and looking up too, her hands held together over her stomach. "I don't know, Kitty, I'm sorry," she apologized.
"Why are you sorry, My Lady?" He asked her with an expression communicating to her that he really didn't know why she would feel that.
"I know you've wanted us to be able to share identities since day one, and I know I've always said we couldn't while Hawkmoth was around. I'm sorry because now that we're here, now that he's dealt with, I still don't know if we can share identities." She sighed and turned her head to face away from him.
"Bugaboo, don't ever think I could be disappointed in you," he reassured her. She turned her head over to look at him and the smile he gave her was so gentle and caring that she couldn't help but smile back at him. "The thing is, I want us to be able to continue our friendship after all of this, but we need to know each other's identities for that to be possible."
"I know, Cat, I know." She returned to facing the ceiling as she continued to think it all over. "But what if we are needed again, what if sharing who we are under the mask now puts us in danger for something we don't know about yet? That's a lot to think on." Ever the pragmatist Ladybug had to think about every possibility, and Cat Noir knew this – heck, it was one of the things he admired about her.
"Ladybug," he called, drawing her gaze back to himself, "I will always respect you in this. Please take all the time you need to think about it, because I would want you to be absolutely certain before we were to reveal ourselves to each other." Once again, the honesty and openness with which he spoke to her brought a heartfelt smile to her face. She couldn't doubt the care he had for her, even if she knew she didn't return the romantic feelings he harbored.
"Thank you Cat, I couldn't have ever asked for a better partner." With that she wrapped an arm around him and rested her head on his chest, as he brought down the arm she had been laying on around her back and side and held her there, his other hand moving to behind his head. They lay that way for a while as they each thought about the possibilities in front of them. Finally, she spoke again. "How about this," she suggested, "we each take the next week to think about what we should do." Cat Noir lay there, considering her idea and "hmm"-ing as he did, and she shifted herself on to her front, leaning up on her elbows to further explain her plan. "It's Saturday today, so why don't we meet up on Friday to talk about what we've been thinking." Cat Noir looked at her as she spoke, momentarily distracted by her captivating blue eyes but able to take in her proposal. "That way we can come back here next Saturday to tell Master Fu what we've decided."
Taking a moment to weigh up the possibilities, he decided quickly on what he thought of the plan. "Ok," he agreed, adding with a grin and winking, "it's a date!"