PLEASE READ: For those that follow me on AO3, yes this is the first chapter of Five Minutes there, but I feel it works better as a prequel, so I'm setting it aside in its own little fic. For everyone else, a while ago on tumblr myself and thescuttlebugg started bantering around headcanons for a storyline featuring previous Miraculous holders. Thescuttlebugg ended up writing three prequels to set things up, then allowed me to take over for the main fic. I cannot post thescuttlebugg's prequels here (which really should be read before this), but I CAN link them, and they do set things up and help make sense of what happens in Five Minutes itself later on. Those three prequels, in order, are The Sancoeur And Barbeau Ex-Superhero Support Club, Something To Remember Yourself By, and The Proper Care And Keeping Of Kitten Noirs. All of those, plus Five Minutes, make up the fic series we're calling Reinforcements Needed; Previous Superhero Experience Preferred. Please read those three one-shots before reading this. They can all be found on AO3 with a quick search, or just by hunting down my username, which is identical to my username here.
The effects of the Miraculous persisted for the rest of their lives.
It was the price that a Holder payed, Nathalie knew. Not all of the effects were bad, mind you. She just had to be mindful of the fact that she was three times as strong as she looked and twice as agile and flexible.
It certainly made leaving notes taped to her kitten's window much easier.
Still, not all of the side effects were welcome. Like right now.
Ladybugs would always be sensitive to the cold. When Nathalie was a little girl she had loved playing in the snow, but right now she was wishing that Gabriel would choke on his newfound love of flavored waters as she froze her ass off.
Normally her extra thick coat and layering was enough to fend off the Paris winter chill, but normally she wasn't sitting in at a train station glaring at a blaring 'Delayed – Akuma' sign right where the time for the train she needed to take to get home SHOULD be.
Because the best time to set an Akuma on the city was in the middle of a damn blizzard, at least according to her asshole boss. And according to the news-feed on her phone (courtesy of the new Ladyblog app that people could post updates about Akuma locations to), the ongoing battle had decimated one of the stations between this one and the one she needed in order to get home.
And at this point if she returned to the Agreste mansion she couldn't promise that she wouldn't track down Gabriel and punch him in his stupid nose. Because even after the fight was over and the current Ladybug fixed things, it would take at least half an hour for the trains to be up and running again, if not more.
Grimacing as she shoved her phone into her purse and trying to fight down her shivers, Nathalie turned and pushed her way out of the station. At this point she had one choice left.
At least Theo's apartment was in walking distance.
His dark eyes were at first confused, then softened into sympathy when he opened the door to her shivering, snow-pelted form. With the same silent understanding and trust that had characterized their teamwork when it had been their job to be out there fighting, he guided her inside and helped her with her coat. By this point the cold had her feeling fuzzy around the edges and so, so tired.
The next few moments were a blur, so that it felt like she had just blinked when she found herself nestled on his couch (an old, beaten up, overstuffed thing that tended to try to engulf the unwary that she secretly loved because it smelled like him), stripped to her underwear and under at least three blankets as Theo turned on his little floor heater and aimed it in her direction.
She blinked again, and then Theo was standing there, holding a mug a few inches from her face that smelled deliciously of coffee. Warmth was beginning to slowly seep back in, and her mind was beginning to clear, so she sat up with his help and took the mug, sipping at it (two sugars and a cream, he still remembered how she liked it). The warmth almost stung her throat and stomach, it was such a shock to her system, but she kept drinking as the heat thawed some of the ice deep inside.
"The Akuma's been taken care of," Theo said, once he was sure that she was warmed up enough to be coherent. "But the trains will be down for at least another hour."
By which point it would be dark, and there was no way he would allow her to walk to the station through a blizzard anyways. Not after she had already ended up like this.
"Have you eaten?" When she shook her head, he got up and headed to his kitchen, returning with some hastily thrown together sandwiches and a couple mugs of microwaved soup.
Her Tomcat was many things. A chef was not one of them.
Once they had both eaten, Theo flicked on his television, setting it to the news (no surprise, the current story was the Akuma attack, and Nathalie was already plotting how to get back at Gabriel over the next few days, because bad enough sending an Akuma out in this weather, but were the zombie sheep really necessary?) before stripping to his boxers and sliding in behind her.
Nathalie was still feeling the cold, and pressed back gratefully as Theo wrapped his arms around her waist with a low rumble of a purr deep in his chest. He had always seemed to radiate heat, and once she had jokingly called him her own personal furnace, but for now she was grateful for the warmth and the scratchy slide of his stubble-laden cheek against her own.
"You need to shave." She mumbled, finally feeling up to talking again.
"I know. I've been working on my latest project, I had just finished up a shower when you got here."
Nathalie hadn't even noticed his hair had been damp when he answered the door, although she could smell the body-wash he favored, now that she knew what to focus on.
"… Sorry for barging in."
"You know I'd never turn you away, Bug," He rumbled, voice a little gravelly from his ongoing purr. "I think I still have some of your clothes buried in my closet somewhere."
The unspoken request hung in the air, and Nathalie found herself leaning back into the warm embrace. "… I guess it won't hurt for the night. Just because of the storm."
She didn't have to look to know that he was grinning, and she rolled her eyes and shoved lightly at him. "Smug cat."
"Stubborn bug." He countered, and all was right with the world, the winds outside slowly dying down and the snow falling, thick and heavy and quiet, as sleep claimed them both.