The black spotted suit hugged his body in all the wrong ways, and Toris sighed as he glanced back down at it; school today like usual started off with the usual flare of harsh kids, and he barely felt like he took a deep breath, and his life flew by into whatever this mess was.
Toris would claim later on as he witnessed now that his suit design was probably better fit for a woman and not a nearly adult aged man; it made him almost want to hideaway from whatever this mess is and just escape the responsibility tied tightly around it with a big black and red bow.
He'd always put his responsibilities first, so he begrudgingly left his house to go discover whatever disrupted the city and released the chance for a male Ladybug to save the day.
'LadyBeetle' would be his name though it felt awkward as all can be to have lady thrown in his name somewhere; Tikki had dutifully explained to him just a half an hour before that the gender of the Miraculous holder didn't matter. 'We, Kwamis, are genderless, and thus the gender of our holders can go either way.'
Just Toris felt like a woman would look much better in spots than a Lithuanian raised man; besides, he was half convinced that he'd look better in a catsuit as Tikki had willingly explained that his partner would be a catsuit wearing superhero.
Just his luck, his 'stunning' though he'd probably never admit to thinking that, partner was a woman; her blond hair fell in a beautiful mess around the synthetic ears on her head, and her soft scarf tail swung behind her as if it was a real tail.
Naturally, she called herself, 'Cat Noir,' because she'd insisted that the pretty name of the color black in French sounded much better than Black Cat. 'Why call myself, Black Cat, when that just brings bad luck to mind?'
Toris didn't have the heart to tell her that her powers revolved around bad luck and that his were just the opposite; good luck definitely belonged to the ladybug as far as Toris had been aware, just ladybugs weren't all that masculine to begin with.
He did end up looking up whether black cats were always bad luck when he got home that day just in case he needed that information to help soothe his partner's paw when she realized that she was stuck as the bad luck incarnate superhero.
She truly seemed like more of a stroke of good luck to Toris's day and life than anything else though that was another thing that he was a little afraid to tell her, to see such a strong, confident woman rise to the challenge had certainly shifted his world in more ways than one.
He certainly was nowhere near as confident or brave as she was; hopefully, she'd forgive him for all of that regardless.
Toris had no idea why Cat Noir seemed much more curious about his secret identity than she probably should have been especially since she told him that she was in a relationship of all things with someone else in her civilian life; pieces, hints, of her identity slipped out more often than Toris could probably count them up.
"So why can't we reveal our identities to each other?" Cat Noir asked as she leaned against his side on another patrol turned quiet and uneventful.
"Tikki insists on them staying secret, and what happens if someone manages to torture the information out of us or we get our minds taken over? We'll be in huge trouble since both identities could be found out that way." Toris couldn't help but admit; he trusted Tikki with his life and besides all of her advice had been true to the bone and very heartfelt. Her gentle nature just put him right at ease.
"Just, we know how to keep our thoughts particularly hidden." Cat Noir sighed, "I kind of wanted to tell my boyfriend before he just dumped me. I guess that I wasn't meant to be with him."
"What happened?" Toris should know better than to ask his feline themed partner about her personal life, but she loved to share and his curiosity got the better of him sometimes. At least no one said that curiosity killed the ladybug, er, ladybeetle.
"He decided that he wanted better than me. Of course, he didn't know that he was dating a kick ass superheroine. May be he would have thought that I was rightfully awesome as he clearly should have." Cat Noir leaned her long legs over the building as she shifted closer; Toris was never sure whether he should reach out and comfort her when she came that close or just stay right where he is.
"Well, he should have known that he was dating someone incredible, but not because you're a superhero. You're an amazing person, because of who you are, not what you do on the side." LadyBeetle spoke up with the gentle demeanor that he'd become known for other than his business oriented approach.
"Well, I'd honestly rather date a superhero than just a plain Jane, you know?" Cat Noir leaned against his side, "And besides, my personal life is irrelevant, tell me about yours." Cat Noir smiled that cheeky little smile of hers as if she honestly believed that she'd gotten away with something or other.
"You know why I can't." LadyBeetle was more adamant about his secret identity than his female counterpart was though he hadn't quite managed to convince her ever that her identity was better kept secret.
"Well, okay." Cat Noir smiled, shrugging one of her shoulders, and bouncing her blonde hair just above it, "I guess that I'll have to drop hints before I can convince you." Her brand of logic always saw a positive spin to it despite whatever the opinion was of the person that she was talking to, as if she could always spin things right back around to her favor.
"You really shouldn't, Cat." He'd found that the easiest way to address her usually included the first part of her superhero persona's name since she really didn't want to be reminded of bad luck and since apparently, it was way cuter.
"I will though." She swung her feet carefreely over the edge of the building, "I dated Nikolai for the longest time. We've known each other since we were kids and sort of fell in love along the way, but we're both more than a little stubborn." She laughed as if the weight of her secret identity was nothing between them.
"Really?" The only person that he'd known to go on even a single date with Nikolai, one of the scariest people that he knew, was Amelia, a sweet girl around his age that left to see just how far she could test fate.
She still was the number one pitcher and batter for the school's baseball team even though she was the only female member, and the only ever allowed to join the team in its long history that was a girl. There was not enough generated interest for a separate female team to start up even though Amelia had the stubborn streak to get just about anyone to join if she set her mind to it.
"Yeah." She murmured, "We've went to school together since we were really, really little, and Nikolai, believe it or not, has a soft streak a mile wide."
"So you're close then or were close?" Toris already worried that he was stepping over landmines with the words that tumbled out of his mouth right now.
"Yeah, I just don't know where we'll be later on." She shrugged, eyeing him with her peripheral, blue eyes gleaming in radiant joy.
"Hopefully, you'll still be close." Toris had never been an expert at dealing with women and only counted himself lucky for figuring out Cat Noir from all of this time working beside her. It felt normal to relax after patrol and talk to her as if the world around them had been muted quiet, as if they were alone.
"Yeah, hopefully." Cat Noir spun around to face him, "How about we meet up here tomorrow, and you tell me whether you've figured out who I am or not?"
"Y-You really shouldn't." Toris's words fell on deaf eyes as his partner in fighting crime spun away from him.
"Cool, see ya later." Cat Noir's lips pulled up in a playful smirk as she dove away, baton falling into her hands in just the right angle to help her find her way back to wherever she may live which may be closer to Toris's house than he'd care to admit.
LadyBeetle had no idea why he'd even chosen to come back to that building or witness her drop right into place with the surprising grace of the cat that she resembled.
"So LadyBeetle?" The woman that could very well be Amelia spoke up from the roof top, "What do you think?"
"A-Amelia?" He instantly regretted the words that came tumbling out without fail from his lips, especially when her eyes lit up in clear understanding.
"Yeah, you got it!" Her bright smile reminded him too much of the stars at night even when she detransformed before him, "Meet Plagg, he's quite the little rascal, and naturally, LadyBeetle, meet me as well, Amelia Jones though you probably know me already."
"Amelia." Toris took a deep breath, "We really shouldn't."
"You know mine already. Come on!" She begged, twirling on her toes, her well worn tennis shoes bounced as she swayed and practically hopped on her feet.
"Tikki, spots off." Toris really doubted that he should take the leap that she wanted him to, but he couldn't say that he wasn't hopelessly in love with her.
"Toris!" She squealed, and he suddenly felt like a present on Christmas Day, "I should've known. You're an absolutely incredible person, practically an angel." She bounced over to him, so much excitement pouring forth from where before was just nervous energy.
He barely had time to think before she plunged into his arms, and he caught her there, reacting on instinct, letting his arms find her when she dove for him.
"Amelia," His voice felt far too soft; could she even hear it?
"Yes?" She cuddled closer to his chest with that radiant smile that looked as if it would never go away on her face.
"I wasn't expecting that." He'd doubted that she'd really known him well enough to care about who he was, but he'd clearly been proven wrong.
"Me either." Her voice faded away to nervous chuckles, "Besides, now we can try for something a little more than just superhero partners, so friends?" She backed up to hold her hand out for a handshake.
"And may be more one day," Toris nearly flinched at the words that worked their way out of his throat as he shook her hand; she brought out the spontaneous side to his character that he'd never have expected anyone to wield on the tips of their fingers.
"And may be more one day." She echoed in front of him.