Ladybug giggled as she dodged to the right, narrowly escaping clawed hands that she knew wouldn't hurt her. The full moon shone beautifully on the streets of Paris, bathing their playground of rooftops in an enchanting glow.
Chat Noir growled playfully behind her, and she stuck her tongue out in return. Then she reached for her yoyo and jumped, swinging across the streets and over a few rooftops. The familiar thud of Chat Noir's feet and clink of his staff against the rooftops told her what she already knew: that her chaton was right behind her.
She took a sharp left at one of the chimneys before landing on her feet once more, beginning to parkour again. Chat Noir began to gain on her from behind- he had always been the faster one when it came to running.
This game of cat and bug (yes, she had groaned at herself at that) ended only when she decided that it would end, allowing Chat Noir to grab her around the middle and swing her around.
"Looks like the cat wins again." He said with a gloating smirk. Victory shinned in his green, cat-like eyes, and Ladybug couldn't help but roll her own.
She'd let him have this one though. That face was too adorable to want to try and turn the tables now.
"So you won." She admitted as he let her back down on the ground. "Where's our dinner date going to be next time, kitty?"
His face lit up excitedly at the prospect, and Ladybug was reminded of the first time she had accepted a date offer of his.
She might not have been over Adrien at that point in time, but Marinette had learned that she couldn't compete against whoever held his heart. She had even admitted to herself once, in her Diary, that she would date Chat if it wasn't for Adrien.
Although at first it had been 'friends only', their partnership quickly grew into something more intimate. She couldn't have asked for any other blonde, green-eyed dork now.
That included Adrien Agreste.
"Well, now that I've caught mew-" He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes again. "-I figured that we could just dance across the rooftops."
"Last time we did that I swear I broke all of your toes." Ladybug dead-panned.
"Oh, come on, bugaboo~!" Chat Noir cooed into her ear. "Not even a slow dance?" He wiggled his eyebrows, and Ladybug couldn't stop the blush erupting on her cheeks.
She opened her mouth to give him some form of witty comment back, but then they froze at the sound of a voice.
"Ladybug! Chat Noir!" They both looked in the same direction. Loe and behold, they had just happened to land across the street from Alya's balcony. She didn't have a phone in hand, thank her luck, but she was waving for their attention. The two superheroes glanced at each other before jumping over.
"Do you need anything?" Ladybug asked.
"Yes!" Alya seemed to squeal and ran to her closet. "Since I'm the runner of the Ladyblog, a company decided that I could test out their toys for them, because they're all Ladybug and Chat Noir themed." She pulled out a bag marked with the words 'prototypes'.
"I already tested them with my little sisters, but it would be amazing if you guys would give your own reviews! I bet the creators would love it!"
Alya enthusiastically offered them the bag, and before Ladybug could say anything Chat Noir had taken the bag.
"Of course!" He said. "As long as my lady agrees?"
Ugh, he was giving her his kitty eyes again.
"Fiiiine." She drawled. "We'll return them around midnight, okay?"
"Alright!" Alya waved them off as they shot away again, eventually landing on a secluded rooftop.
"Alright, let's see here…" Chat Noir began to rummage through the bag. "Action figure, Action figure, yoyo, cat toy, wind-up Ladybug, a few balls…" He looked up at her again, smirking.
"Wanna see who can bounce the ball the highest?"
"You're on." Chat Noir handed her a red, black spotted ball while he got the black one with green paw prints. 'I'll count off. One… two-"
"Three!" Chat Noir slammed his ball against the ground, and Ladybug quickly followed. Neither noticed the loud tinkling noise that came from Chat's ball.
"Stupid cat!" She exclaimed while the balls were high in the air- she was sure that Chat Noir could see them with his night vision, she had lost sight of them a moment ago. "You cheated!"
"Why, I did nothing of the sort, my lady." He said cheekily, that stupidly-handsome smug grin on his face. "You know that I'm always the gentle-tomcat."
"Ha! In your dreams, maybe." She scoffed.
"Oh, but buginette-" He leaned in closer to her, his ears twitching upon his head-
And then the balls dropped.
But instead of two echoing thumps, one of them rang out like a bell was inside of it. Chat Noir froze, head snapping to look at the balls as they bounced and rolled away. Ladybug's eyes furrowed.
"Chat? Chat Noir, what-" Without warning he pounced, chasing after his black and green ball as it bounced randomly across the rooftops.
Ladybug was frozen in shock for a moment, but she quickly came to, grabbed the bag of toys, her ball (which had somehow managed to get stuck in a building), and ran after her boyfriend.
When she finally caught up with him, he was rolling around on the ground and playing with the ball like it was his prey.
"Chat Noir?" She asked, a bit scandalized. "What are you doing?"
"Pouncing." He replied without a second thought, the ball bouncing away from his hands just as he tried to catch it. He growled and jumped after it.
An idea occurred to Ladybug, and she reached into her bag.
If Chat Noir acted like that to a ball with a bell inside… how would he react to some of the other toys?
Ladybug rushed ahead and caught the ball, turning on the robotic black cat and placing it in front of Chat Noir. Her boyfriend's eyes went wide as he froze, eyes not leaving the tail behind the cat. The robotic cat's tail was swinging left and right like a metronome, allowing Ladybug to ponder upon the predicament.
Chat Noir had never really acted like this with anything else before. Not during any akuma attacks as far as she could remember, much less any patrols.
"Chat Noir?"
"Yes?"
"Why are you acting like a cat?" He pouted.
"I don't know." He admitted.
"What do you mean 'you don't know'?" Ladybug quoted, trying to look him in the eye. His eyes were still stuck on the metronome-cat.
Now this was growing annoying.
"Chaton, did your kwami say anything about this?"
"Once." He admitted.
"And…?"
"I'm more prone to act like a cat."
"Why?"
"Dunno." Ladybug groaned and began to pace.
"Great! Just great!" She elaborated. "My boyfriend can't handle himself around toys! How do I end up in these situations anyway? What is my life?!"
She began to rant, her arms making weird movements as she let out any pent up stress she might've had with her words and actions.
Meanwhile, in our dear Chat Noir's mind, he was focused on only one thing.
The cat toy his Lady had placed in front of him.
Why isn't anything else moving? Was it dead?
He reached his clawed hand out slowly, aiming for the toy. His tongue poked out of his mouth in a 'blep' fashion as he finally reached a little more.
He had to know, his curiosity was killing him.
Eventually, he managed to reach the distance-
And bat it with his 'paw'.
The hollow clang that followed shocked him so bad that he yelped, jumping up and attaching himself onto the closest object he could. After all, loud noises meant attacks, and he wasn't ready to defend himself from the attacker.
"Chat!" Ladybug exclaimed. Oh, he had grabbed onto her.
He should get down. That's what his Lady most likely wanted, and he'd do anything that she asked.
But… He didn't want to get down. It could still attack him.
"It was going to attack me!" He shouted in defence of his actions, trying to portray his thought process to his partner.
"... What?"
"That… thing!" He exclaimed, completely scandalized. "It was gonna attack me!"
"... Chat Noir, we fight massive akumas on a daily basis, and you're scared of a toy cat?"
"..." He didn't know what to say, so he said the truth. "... Yes…"
"Oh my gosh." He heard Ladybug face-palm. "I've fallen in love with a literal idiot. An idiot who's scared of cat toys and acts like an actual cat. Why do I even bother?"
Some part of him felt offended by his lady's words, but now shame was starting to sink into his subconscious. He buried his face into her neck, embarrassment showing on his face in a shade or red that was darker than his lady's suit.
"Chat Noir, get off."
"No."
"Chat Noir-"
"Let me die of shame~!" He exclaimed. "I can't face the public now-"
"Chat-"
"Tell my friends and family that I loved them!"
"Kitty-"
"Chat Noir: Death by Embarrassment." He held his hand out in front of him, already imagining the words on his tombstone. Ladybug opened her mouth this time, but Chat Noir continued anyway.
"Maybe Hawkmoth wants my Miraculous to slowly torture someone by way of cat toys."
"Alright, tomcat." Ladybug finally got to speak, tugging a bit at his arms. "Let me go so that we can return these to Alya. I have one serious report to give her."
After Ladybug gave Alya a lengthy report (thankfully avoiding any questions as to why) they were wandering back on patrol.
"Thank you." Chat Noir finally said, looking deeply into her bluebell eyes. "I… honestly have no idea what came over me. I'll have to talk to Plagg about it."
"Good." Ladybug kissed his cheek before whirring out her yoyo. "I have to head home now- good night, kitty!" Chat Noir waved after her, a soft smile on his lips as she disappeared into the distance. He bowed to no one in particular, only one girl on his mind.
"I shall count the moments till we meet again." He promised, and then in a dash of black, he disappeared.
In the park, the lone toy that Ladybug had forgotten to pick up continued to wave its tail.
Surrounding it, however, wasn't a bunch of grass. It was a group of cats- watching the tail go back and forth like the superhero had done only moments before.
One such brave soul reached its paw out, swiping at it. A softer version of the sound Chat Noir made responded, and all of the cats jumped and meowed in protest, running from the area.
The lesson of this story?
Cats are adorable. ;3