pairing: marinette/ladybug and adrien/chatnoir

summary: you guys remember the episode where Ladybug jumps into the jaws of a T-Rex and it was a little part of Chat Noir that died when it happened? cause i sure do, and I think its time to flip the roles (;

a/n: im a lil rusty since its been a while, but bear with me haha

Marinette didn't care for the rain, or rather, Ladybug didn't.

Marinette actually thoroughly enjoyed the rain, to an extent. She adored the light mists that would occur to give a hazy ring of light to her city when she'd perch on her windowsill at night, wondering if her kitty would stop for a quick hello.

The fresh, crisp scent was rejuvenating in a way, as though it were washing the city clean of whatever residue was left of the latest akuma attack. It, mixed with the sweet scent of the bakery below that would drift up through the floorboards, quickly became things that Marinette associated with the smell of home. Whether that meant home in the sense of the bakery, or of Paris itself, or of nights filled with green eyes and cheeky grins, she would never be sure.

Perhaps it was all three things together, but nonetheless, rain was a reassuring occurrence to the girl whose heart belonged to her city.

Ladybug, on the other hand...

If the weather kept up like it was, then Paris would soon become the next Venice and she'd have to consider a boating license.

The city was in a torrential-freaking-downpour.

She and Chat were doing a quick patrol before turning in for the night; both about halfway charged before their miraculous would be up, so they were trying their best to hurry.

Marinette let the disk glide off her palm and along her fingers as the yo-yo sailed into the dripping night, wrapping around the flagpoles protruding from the buildings that Chat was bounding over and onward along their regular path.

On nights like these when they decided to patrol together, conversation was tough because of their constant movement in-between buildings and bounding over the sleepy streets below, but was by no means impossible.

Tonight, though, it was pointless to even try to be heard over the roar of the rain around them. Ladybug had to strain to see the next point ahead in which to aim her disk, and she was sure to keep Chat in her peripherals should he lack the grace and slip on the lip of a building.

Despite all his characteristics that he shared with his feline persona, landing on all fours wasn't always one of them.

She heard his voice then, just barely, but his words were lost in the howl of the wind.

Ladybug pulled hard on the string and swung her legs, allowing her body to shoot straight up against the needles falling from the clouds above as she shot for the building he'd paused on.

"What's going on?" she asked once landing gracefully in front of his crouched position. He stood carefully, leaning on his baton for extra balance on the slick rooftop as he pointed over his shoulder. He waited for her to make sense of the blurry figure out in the distance. It was only due to the copious lights that she was able to make out the figure of the Eiffel Tower a good distance out. "Do you hear that?"

"Ladybugs aren't exactly known for their hearing like you kitty cats," she teased, but strained to listen above the rain nonetheless.

"True," he smirked, sending her a wink. "Guess that's why Fate paired us together," he said playfully. "You complete me."

She folded her arms, the smirk pulling easily at her lips as the job took a momentary backseat."You're being extra cheesy tonight."

Chat clutched his chest with feigned shock. "Don't rain on my parade, Lady. Not on this romantic night we've been given."

Ladybug purposely exaggerated the way she eyed her partner up and down. His hair was laying completely flat, sticking to his cheeks and the base of his neck, and the downpour was making the cat ears atop his head flick continuously in a fruitless attempt to dry themselves. He was stuck in a permanent squint as the water trailed directly from his fringe and over the barrier of his mask. Despite his ears and her spots, she was pretty sure they more so resembled river rats than they did their miraculous counterparts at the very moment.

He was soaked clean through, and she couldn't imagine that she looked any better.

He seemed to pick up what she was insinuating, and shrugged.

"Fair enough," he said, agreeing with what she hadn't said aloud. "But really," he turned and pointed again in the direction of the Eiffel Tower out in the distance. "Follow me, okay? I heard something in that direction that didn't sound right."

"Didn't sound right? In what way?" But he was already off, having retracted the baton and was already three buildings off into the distance before she could pull the yo-yo from her belt.

Thankfully, he was five rooftops ahead when she slipped off the roof, so he didn't notice the lucky throw that wrapped it's way around the gutter of a neighboring building, the slack of the string sending her only a few yards off course.

This rain would be the death of her.

The akuma was actually fairly easy to wrap up.

It relieved Ladybug to know that there was a reason behind the ungodly amount of rain. The duo were even able to stop the poor girl and break the akumatized weathervane in her hand before her tears flooded Paris completely.

It was when she was saying goodbye to the butterfly that it happened.

The sniffling young girl, who was standing much too close to the edge on the metal beam of the Eiffle Tower to begin with, lost her balance and started to slip over the edge.

That was when everything started to move in slow motion for Ladybug.

Before she could even make a move for her belt, Chat, being reckless, rash and impulsive and stupid and brave, ever so brave, planted his feet and yanked hard on the girl's arm, using every bit of his momentum in pulling her back upright.

But in doing so had sent his straight over the edge.

"Chat!" His name had been ripped from her chest, the sheer force being the first thing she'd heard clearly all night since the rain was only beginning to wind down. The girl was screaming as well now, but Ladybug completely disregarded her in favor of swinging her yo-yo blindly over the edge as she ran up on the beam he'd gone straight over.

There was no time to aim, no time to be strategic. There was no lucky item to throw up into the air and magically set everything back into it's place. There were no words or clever puns that would magically set Chat back where he belonged... beside her.

It's not like she could save this city without him.

So her disc was sent blindly over the edge of the Eiffle Tower, and she begged for all the luck in the world and all Tikki could supply her.

"Please," she whimpered, her chest constricting when the string suddenly became taught in her hands. She yanked her arms backwards and peered over the edge as much as she would allow herself, and the sob broke it's way free from her chest before she could stop it.

She yanked as hard as she could, beginning to back away from the edge as she pulled and pulled and pulled on the slack-the string tearing through the material covering her hands. She could feel it biting into her palms but still she pulled and heaved until a pair of black, pointed ears slowly emerged overtop the metal.

His hands were next to appear, and she watched as he sluggishly pulled himself up the rest of the way before collapsing onto the floor, his chest rising and falling as he took in deep gulps of air as the adrenaline coursed through the both of them.

Ladybug dropped the string as he lifted his head, shooting her a weak grin.

"Guess it's raining Chats and dogs tonight, huh Lady-oof!"

In all the time she'd known him, she'd classified Chat as many different things.

He was cheesy, and flirtatious and much too cocky for his own good... but never had she known him to be rendered speechless.

But perhaps that was only because she was squeezing all of the air from his lungs.

She pulled him even closer still, hiding her face in his neck in hopes he'd mistake her tears for the few drops of rain that were still falling.

She felt his hands on her back that, at first had been stiff in shock, begin to run slow circles on her back.

"I'm sorry, LB," he said softly, for once no hint of teasing flirtation in his voice.

She squeezed him once more before pulling away, staring at him through wet lashes.

Her eyes begged him with the words she couldn't say aloud. Please, never do that again.

He tilted his head sadly, his small smile sympathetic as he lifted her chin. "We're heroes, my lady," he said softly. "I'd absolutely do it again if it meant saving someone."

She nodded, slowly gaining her bearings as she remembered the young girl staring at them wide-eyed from off to the side.

Chat pressed his lips to her forehead, whispered a thanks for saving his life against her skin that was chilled from the rain before leaving her side to check on the rattled school girl.

As she watched his retreating figure, the way his ears were still flicking the water clear, the way he knelt down and comforted the small girl who nearly cost him his life, watched the way he could still smile while she was still coming down from the fear of losing everything she didn't even know the universe was capable of taking away from her...

She began to see her kitty chat in a new light.

The rain around them had all but died down completely by the time they'd dropped the girl off at her door and saw to it that she made it safely inside.

The precipitation was hardly more than a light mist by the time she was hanging by her last dot and he his pad, but still they were struggling to part for the night as they walked along the center of the street, heading in no particular direction.

Ladybug knew they'd have no choice but to part soon, but she was standing so close to him that their shoulders bumped with every other step.

She could smell the fresh, crisp smell of the remnant rain and the familiar scent of Chat, and her mind filled in the blanks of her parents bakery.

Because, walking down the empty street with nothing but the streetlights to guide them any which way, she reached for him.

Paris wouldn't be Paris, and Ladybug couldn't be Ladybug without Chat Noir, and the night could have gone so, so very differently.

So she reached for him, and it felt safe.

He felt like home.