Hello! My name is Moth and I want to share a one shot I made for the show. I'm a fan of AU's and I really like the idea of a Chat Noir Marinette, but I thought 'what if I mix the popular thief CN theme with a kwami swap'? And this is what came up. Hope you enjoy it!
I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or it's characters. Lovely image belongs to MegS-ILS from DeviantArt: art/Kwami-swap-693983441
Under the night's dark veil, a silhouette jumped high into the sky as it was parkouring around the city of Paris, so quick and agile that one could just mistake it as a ghost. It came to a stop as it faced a tall building in front of them, taller than most of the buildings around the area, and much more illuminated. Focusing their gaze on the top of the building, the figure performed a long jump to the other side of the street, barely gripping on a ledge with one hand. Now facing a brighter light, the figure quickly moved to a side to avoid being seen through the window of one of the hotel rooms, as the grunt of effort might've startled whoever was inside.
Chat Noir looked down to the street from where she was, and then up to the top of the building. She prepared for a jump and started climbing up through the outside of the hotel. Using several ledges, windows, and decorations of the building itself, she managed to get to the top floor in less than a minute. With one final push, she reached for the balcony ledge and pulled herself up.
"Alright. Where is it?" she muttered after taking a brief moment to catch a breath, looking around the balcony. Before going into hiding after hearing footsteps coming her way. "And you wouldn't believe what happened next. So I was right there, you know? Re-applying my lipstick because you know just how bad it gets after I speak so much to people" a voice that made Marinette angry just hearing it spoke over the phone, and she peeked from behind a wall to find Chloe standing on the rail, looking at the city's landscape. She had her back faced to the room, and Marinette took that opportunity.
Swiftly, she sneaked into the annoying blonde's room and quietly closed the door without locking it. Chat Noir grabbed the empty black gym bag hanging on her back and zipped it open, walking around the room moving things and making a mess, careful to not make too much noise that could alert the owner of anyone else moving nearby, as she searched for what was taken from her earlier that day. As she did so, Marinette tossed other things inside the bag to make it look like a common house robbery. A few spare pieces of jewelry and spare cash were there, but mostly electronic items and other stuff like expensive clothes and shoes. She even grabbed all of Chloe's expensive spare cellphones.
And finally, she found the item she was looking for. A blue flash drive hiding inside a cabinet next to her bed. Marinette confirmed her suspicions once she opened it and saw the little inscription with tape on the top. MDC. "Huh, that blonde brat thinking she could steal the school project" she stashed the flash drive in a hidden pocket of her outfit rather than inside the bag, and was just zipping it up when someone broke in through the door.
"Chat Noir! Stop!" yelled the voice of the Red Bug, the blonde male superhero who was always dealing with her thefts and other crimes. He had seen her sneak into the building from afar and decided it would be better to surprise her through the inside of the building. Chat Noir smirked at him and slung the bag over her shoulder. "Good night, bug boy. I guess you caught me in a bad spot" she said, taunting him with a bad pun like she ones she usually says.
"Whatever you grabbed, give it back this instant" he threatened, not really bothering to see that the apartment was made a mess. "Oh I'm afraid that it won't be possible, Bug-eeyman. I've been wanting to buy myself a pizza with extra cheese and anchovies for this kitten. So unless you want to treat me to it, bye bye" she waved tauntingly and then threw a pillow she had been hiding on her back straight to his face, and then took out her baton, extending it to destroy the room's light, and rushed to the exit.
The pillow attack made Red Bug stumble long enough so Chat Noir could run to the balcony door and burst through it. Chloe had heard the commotion and talking inside, and in a bit of a panic, grabbed an umbrella to try and defend herself from Chat Noir should she try to attack her, even if she was mostly harmless.
As the black criminal burst through the door, she grabbed a leaning chair next to the door and quickly tossed it to Red Bug, who by now was almost near the door. After turning around to the balcony, she found Chloe in a combat stance with a large red umbrella, like the ones you would use on a table. Though she stopped for a second, she ran to Chloe as she pointed the umbrella towards her. Chat Noir just kicked it with her boot, sending it flying down to the street. Then she positioned herself behind Chloe and with one hand held her nose and mouth, trying to ignore Chloe's moaned complaints, and with the other she held her metal baton on one side.
Red Bug went through the obstacle Chat had placed, and saw Chloe had been taken hostage. He glared at Chat Noir and gritted her teeth. "Leave her alone, Chat" he said, Chloe had a frown on her face and muttered something, obviously uncomfortable at having the female behind her so close, and being in such a situation. "You and I both know she's not the best human being" she mentioned.
"Neither are you. Nor I" he said, getting in a combat stance. Chat just clicked her tongue "Touché"
Nothing else to say, Red Bug summoned his trump card, the Lucky Charm, and received a boomerang. Finally something that was straight-forward. Though Chat was relatively close, Chloe's silhouette and the slightly dark atmosphere after she destroyed the lamp didn't allow her to see clearly what had Red Bug just summoned. She took a couple of steps back as he walked forward slowly. "Catch!" he exclaimed and threw something at her.
Chat leaned both Chloe and her to the right to avoid being hit, and then straightened up. "That was mean" she said, faking sadness in her voice. Red Bug merely stood there, and she sensed something. She looked back quickly, and barely managed to duck underneath the flying object, pulling Chloe with her. She pulled back up, and saw Red Bug rushing at her, and Chat Noir ducked down, grabbed Chloe's feet with one hand and threw her behind her like a trash bag, making her fall down the building. "Catch" she taunted quickly after throwing her off and rushed to a side.
Red Bug had no choice but to ignore Chat Noir, sharing a glare with her as they both ran in different directions. Brows furrowed, his bright green eyes found her cat-ish blue ones, as time seemed to slow around them when he broke contact and dived down at the same time as she jumped to the top of the rail and extended her baton, jumping to a cable line and using it as a zipline. Chat Noir backflipped before she collided with the light post and threw her baton somewhere as she landed on the top of the post and jumped to another nearby building.
The yelling blonde saw Red Bug fall heads first and extending a hand, reaching out to grab her waist and turned around to the roof, tossing his yo-yo to get a grip on a shiny item he saw from afar on the top of the building. The yoyo gripped around it and brought them up just as fast as they had been falling a second ago. So much that their impulse brought them a couple of feet above the railing, allowing them both to land directly on the balcony unharmed. When Red Bug set Chloe down, he heard someone calling him from behind. "Yo, bug-boy" he turned to find Chat Noir crouching on top of the metal railing, retrieving something from below. Her baton, the same item his yoyo had gripped on so Chloe and himself could live. She put two fingers on her forehead to wave goodbye as some sort of salute. "You're welcome, and cat-ch you later"she said and then jumped to the other side, using her extended baton as some sort of helicopter to glide down to the building in front of the hotel. Red Bug couldn't reach her in time, and just stared at her from the balcony.
It was dark on the other side, but he could still see Chat Noir's figure standing there, turning to look at him. With gritted teeth, he muttered "One day, Chat Noir. One day you'll get what's coming to you" he said, while mentally drawing a line on some sort of green board that read 'Chat Noir' on one side, and 'Red Bug' on the other. And once again, they were again equal in how many 'points' each one had, as for what referred to her burglaries and mischievousness.
He could almost swear that Chat Noir was doing the same in her own mind. And he could tell for certain that even though it was really dark, he could almost see that dumb grin glued on her face. "That stupid cat" Red Bug thought and slammed his fists on the rail before seeing her silhouette disappear back into the darkness.
He sighed, shook his head and jumped down, heading back home as Chloe yelled over her mess of a room and her stolen things. But mostly about her stolen things. Meanwhile, Chat Noir was still jumping from rooftop to rooftop, the weight of the bag on her back getting a toll on her otherwise much more fluid movements. A couple of minutes later she landed on her own balcony and looked around her before sliding down the hatch to her bedroom. She climbed down to her desk and set the bag on the floor, zipping it open and calling her transformation off. Plagg flew out of her ring and landed on a small black pillow on Marinette's desk. "Aye that was interesting, but don't you think you took maybe a bit too much?" he asked. Plagg was a bit like the demon on one's shoulder, but even he had his limits. He wasn't too harsh about it, but he constantly stated that Marinette shouldn't be too 'criminal-y' since she was supposed to be a hero. Though Marinette thougth she was more like an antihero.
"The ends justify the means, Plagg. What matters is that I got what's mine back. Now shut up and just eat" she said, holding the flash drive in one hand and tossing a piece of cheese to her kwami with the other. That always shut him up. He ate happily as Marinette organized all of the things she grabbed. She was careful not to make too much noise so her parents wouldn't come and check; she hid all the most valuable items like the jewelry inside a small footlocker hidden under her desk. It was about halfway full; Marinette just kept them hidden so they became more expensive as time passed, waiting until she could just sell them at a pawn shop or something when she was older.
A couple of miles away, Adrien had just climbed into his bedroom window, and dropped down on his couch as he turned on the TV at a low volume. He wanted the noise, not to watch it. He called his transformation off and the little Tikki hovered for a moment then moved on top of the glass table between the TV and the couch. "That was quite the arenaline rush" she remarked as Adrien rested his head further back into the soft cushion. "Yeah. But at least we made it" he answered, but then remembered that Chat did manage to escape with her loot. "Partially" he added in the end. Tikki simply shrugged. "Can't win them all"
He stood up and started preparing for the next day, setting his alarm and leaving his clothes in someplace nearby. Adrien removed his everyday red dress shirt to change into his pajamas. "I don't get it, Tikki" he said out of nowhere, to which the little creature emmited a small 'hmm?' rather than answer directly, Adrien kept going with his rant. "She saves people from fires, armed robberies, akuma attacks, and other incidents in a list of endless things. But then that same night I fight her because she had stolen something" he trailed off a little in the end.
Adrien sighed. "I don't know anymore" he said finally as he turned off the TV, which was showcasing the villain attack from a couple of days earlier. The tiny kwami just replied. "Equilibrium, Adrien. Hero, antihero, villain. You'd be surprised at how the universe finds a way to balance itself"
"It's something inevitable sometimes"
The next day at school, Chloe got a bad grade on a school project delivered that day, whereas Marinette got a straight A, and Adrien couldn't help but notice the new pair of black boots Marinette was wearing; it really was a good fit to her usual 'urban' style she was always seen wearing. He talked to her about it when he encountered her in the hallway, and when asked about them, Marinette just shrugged it off as she adjusted her dark gray hoodie. "Aye I grabbed them on offer a while back, just never really had a chance to use them. Just added a couple of details to fit my style" was all she said about the matter before they talked about something else as they walked back to the classroom.
Their friends joined them as they finished their conversation near the door. "Yeah, that might be a good fashion tip to try. Thanks, Mari" Adrien said patting her back. She pointed her index fingers at him as she adressed him "No prob, man". Then, Chloe stormed into the classroom, obviously pissed. Alya raised an eyebrow and asked a general question "And what's up with her?" everyone shrugged, and Marinette was the one to answer. "Looking for her brain, probably" she said chuckling. Adrien just rolled her eyes at his friend's comment but smiled nonetheless; she was a fun person to be around, that was for sure. Meanwhile Marinette tried not to look so nervous since she obviously knew what had made Chloe be in a bad mood today. She slapped her friend Adrien's back softly as she turned to the other two people with them. "Better get in. Mendeleiev is probably on her way" she said, and everyone nodded and followed her inside the chemistry lab.
Not even half an hour into the class and an alarm was heard after a blast outside. It woke half the class up from their sleep and broke the other half's chatter, and everyone walked outside of the classroom calmly, as if already being used to it. And they were, after so many akuma attacks. As they were walkiing down the hallway to get to the main courtyard, Marinette poked Alya in the shoulder "Gotta use the washroom" she said briefly then took off. Meanwhile, on the other side of the hallway, Adrien made an excuse to slip somewhere else. Plagg flew out of Marinette's pocket in her hoodie and looked at her with a raised brow. "Ain't not rest for the wicked" she simply said with a grin.