So, here we are again with another idea that hit me about one and a half month ago, but with Christmas being overall busy, I didn't really get to write it down until now. So, what do we have here? Well, all those genderswap pictures floating around in fandom got me thinking: "This is all fine and well, but wouldn't it be even more hilarious if they swapped THEIR BODIES?" My brain thought it was, obviously, because it graced me with a load of mental images and funny situations that screamed to be turned into actual fanfiction. Yeah. The rest of the story should be pretty obvious to you. It spiralled out of control. Again. /D
I will be honest with you, this chapter has been a bit of an ordeal for me. It's been ages since I've written anything else but fluff or PWP oneshots in English and so I really hope this one here turned out ok. And once more, a thousand kudos to my precious beta Ju. Without her sharp eye I would be lost in grammar – I rewrote some parts so many times that I sometimes failed to see the most obvious mistakes /D (Btw, she writes as well, check her stories at AO3, pen name's Saoto 030)
...I should probably also mention that this takes place before the episode "Le Gamer".
With that said, have fun reading, I'll try to post the next chapter ASAP owov
(also, still trying to find a satisfiying way to smuggle two-line-spacings for PoV-changes in FFN's formating, 2k16 edition)
Sometimes Adrien thought it was some kind of weird instinct coming from the powers of his ring that refused to become dormant when the transformation wore of. But he just had known that something would happen today and the feeling hadn't fooled him as he was now on the way to His Lady, transformed into Chat Noir.
Excusing himself from his basketball lessons with a feigned sprained ankle after receiving the news of another Akuma attack, he was doing his best to reach the scene as fast as possible. Ladybug had contacted him just a little ago, saying she would wait for him, that she possibly couldn't take on the enemy alone this time. There was a part of him that thought he should probably worry about an opponent so powerful that Ladybug, brave and strong, would not want to fight them on her own, but he couldn't really bring himself to be anxious. His heart was soaring high up in the Parisian sky as he chased over the roofs of the city, free of any concern. It was rare that she said she needed him, but when she did, he... it was something different than the blind trust in each other they shared in their battles... the simple fact that she wanted him at her side, him alone and nobody else, filled every fibre of his being with happiness.
Seeing Ladybug's small form appear in his field of vision, his steps turned into measured leaps. Although only a few housetops separated them by now, every second he was still running meant one second less he could bask in her presence. His paws touched the shingles below just faintly, thawing distance like feeble ice in the sun, until he was able to close the last few yards between them with a long jump. The feline superhero landed beneath her on all fours and then rose to his feet, slowly and dramatically.
"What can this dark knight in shining armour do for his Lady?" he asked, one corner of his mouth arching up to a confident grin. His gleaming green eyes lay upon her face and he couldn't help but love the way her forehead knit into a tiny frown at his words, a sceptic glimmer in her azure irises, and the twitching of her lips into the ghost of a resigned smile. Her face was always showing so much honest emotion, even with the mask covering most of the area around the clear, cloudless blue of her eyes. Those eyes which were always ablaze with determination, always sparkling – which were the sky he wanted to fall into. He could spend hours drowning himself in this azure depths, silently wishing to see the world like she saw it, to know what put the twinkle in this enigmatic yet so warm and open irises.
But who was he trying to fool, he would never run out of aspects nor reason of adoring, loving, appreciating her. Ladybug never held anything back, it always felt real, made him feel real, alive.
Her glance returned to the street, conveying the situation.
"Keep one of them distracted for me?" she replied after giving thought to his offer and let her hands come to rest on her hips.
"Them?"
He unlocked his eyes from the heroine and moved his attention to the scene. The villain they were about to battle was a pair of teenagers like themselves, twins in a strangely school-girlish get-up which made Chat Noir question Hawk Moth's idea of fashion not for the first time. Floating idly in the middle of the shopping plaza, the connection of their hands never broke as they shot beams of light from the palms of the other at whoever dared to step in their field of vision. Which weren't many people under the current circumstances.
"Well, that's new. What's their power?"
Her lips turned into a critical line and she shook her head. "I don't really know yet. We need to be careful."
Chat Noir nodded in return and was rewarded with a thankful smile. "Can I count on you?"
He grinned. "On every of my nine lives."
·
Ladybug took in the afternoon air with a long breath, steeling herself for the fight to come, as she watched Chat Noir chase over the roofs to the other side of the battlefield. She had been in the fabric store nearby and about to shop material for a new design when their new villain had appeared.
Or rather, the new villains. It was really a first for Hawk Moth to actively put two combatants against them and she could only guess about the reason. But no matter if it was because he was growing desperate or more powerful, she knew that this fight was not going to be an easy one. Especially since their current enemies' ability was another mystery to solve, as she had already stated to her partner. She scarcely had found a chance to interview the villains' victims that had fled the streets, and those few exchanges had resulted in a gutter of quickly spilled out syllables before the people had shoved her aside and ran as if the devil was behind them. More than once a nagging, overwhelming guilt from staying put like this instead of helping had her brought close to the point of throwing all care aside and picking up the fight alone. Sheer willpower had been the only thing that had kept Ladybug from acting against better knowledge and she was glad that her partner had arrived at last to even out their numbers.
It was strange enough, though, that the akumatized girls just seemed to take on pairs like themselves, and that those persons left the encounter unharmed - outwardly, at least, since there was this unshakeable feeling something significant about them had changed.
The teenager stopped musing when she saw Chat Noir's signal from a building afar. She raised her hand in return.
Whatever it was, time to put an end to this mess.
·
Chat Noir tested his muscles, felt their strength and flexibility amplified by the magical artefact on his hand, and let his shoulders roll back and forth. The trust the superhero had in both his partner's and his own abilities was unwavering, but this fight was sure going to be a bit of a hassle under the given circumstances. It was better if he didn't jump unprepared. He was eager to prove himself to His Lady, yes, but definitely not to ridicule himself in front of these beautiful, heavenly eyes. At any other time he would not have minded too much if it meant to entertain the girl he loved with those little, idiotic bouts he was somehow bound to fall into every now and then. Yet there was something almost tangibly different about the whole situation and he had learned to trust those instincts. No fooling around today.
At Ladybug's sign he somersaulted from the roof and landed gracefully right in front of their enemies. Their attention was on him in an instant. His lips arched into mocking sneer.
"Hey, Double Trouble!" he shouted, although the reaction he received was... not quite the one he had expected. An eerie silence spread across the battlefield and a moment of mutual, bewildered staring passed between them.
"How do you know our name?" the girls asked in unison which made Chat Noir almost lose his stance. WAIT. That ACTUALLY was their name?! For real? The superhero raised his brows below the mask, disbelievingly. Hawk Moth sure had some weird sense of humour. It was so much like his own, he realised, frowning in utter confusion, that he almost began to wonder if they were somehow related.
"Well, that's only one of my many mewraculous talents," he replied, regaining his cool. "And another one is putting evil copies of the St. Clare's Twins into place."
"AS IF!"
The last remark had done its job. Anger clouded the pair's painted faces and the hands that weren't linked to each others' shot up. Watching the spheres of raw energy growing on their palms, the black-clad superhero reached for his staff and put himself in a fighting stance. He grinned viciously.
It was mere seconds after he had heard the signature sound of the uncoiling yoyo string that he saw a flash of red and how the wire slung around one of the twins. He waved that unfortunate soul goodbye when it was yanked away forcefully, the smirk still shining bright from his lips.
"Wha-?!" The surprise was clearly visible on the remaining enemy's face. But the Lucky Duo had only just started yet and the opponent Ladybug had left him on a silver plate would very soon come to know that. Before the cat's prey had a chance to gather herself, the teenager planted one end of his staff firmly on the ground. He sensed the familiar tug in his stomach when his body was pulled into the motion by the extending weapon which carried him away from the street and right towards the floating villain.
Wind hissed in the superhero's ears as his lean figure cut through void air with an amazing speed while waves of adrenaline washed through him, whispering promises of freedom. It felt like he was chasing for the sky – he could go higher and higher if he wanted to and fully dive into the excitement coursing through his veins. That very feline, feral part inside of him purred at the very thought and wanted to jump in readily, but he had too many battles behind him to know what this would lead to. Giving in to those tempting voices would only leave him dangling on his Lady's yoyo string one way or the other, rescued from a peculiar situation, and he didn't want that, couldn't allow that to himself today.
Today he would shine, he vowed silently and pushed his legs away from the staff so that his feet found home in the twin's stomach the moment he reached her.
The akumatized girl was knocked back and the air out of her lungs. She staggered – this gave Chat Noir the chance to swing around on the upper end of his baton and to assault her once more. This time, he managed to get a hold on his opponent's clothing and used the force of spinning motion to send her flying down to the street below.
Although he had lost not a single second to follow his enemy who had hit the concrete very hard, he still hadn't been fast enough. Shaking off her daze, she rolled out of his reach and quickly lifted herself from the ground. Double or Trouble – Chat Noir still hadn't decided on how to call his half of the twins he was fighting against – then detached a weapon from her back. The black-clad teenager first didn't really want to believe his eyes when he saw the net strung from laser-beams sizzling between the pear-shaped end of a staff, but this was indeed a very futuristic-looking Lacrosse-pitcher she was holding there. "Oh, you can't be serious..." he mumbled, before hauling himself into the next attack, crossing weapons with the girl. "...the thing with the St. Clare's twins was just a JOKE!"
·
A short glance to her partner was enough for Ladybug to recognize that this battle was going fierce on both sides, yet there was this unshakable feeling that she had chosen the more aggressive one of the twins as her opponent. Ever so often the heroine tried to attack, multicoloured, glowing balls cascaded down at her from the nightmarish edition of the sport tool her enemy had equipped herself with. There was quality and skill behind each hit, and although the small projectiles seemed to have a completely different effect than the double-shot rays the girls had cast at civilians... she wasn't exactly keen on contributing her body as a test subject to find out what said effect actually was.
Constantly oppressed in a state of defence, Ladybug had only scored a few blows so far from which half had been lucky shots and far from being strong enough to do any serious harm. Beyond that the heroine still hadn't made out the object the Akuma resided in.
Without that knowledge a Lucky Charm was out of question, too, and the twin would do hell to tame down her attack rate and leave chance to receive a better look. Ladybug gritted her teeth. Easy spelled different.
She gave up her rotating shield for a moment and threw the yoyo right into the direction of her enemy, but was deflected by a well-aimed, small sphere midway.
Recovering her weapon, Ladybug dived away from the counter strike and wheeled herself behind the next car. Its alarm bleared off when the balls smashed into the carbon frame before another shot hit the vehicle's electronic circuit and reduced it to a murmured blubber. Her opponent was good, the heroine had admit so much. Or maybe fighting alone was just harder.
She tried for a different tactic then. A dash forward from her cover and her yoyo was up again in a wild spin. Never lowering her defence she started to describe a circle around the akumatized girl with her run. If she made her turn just a little more and then quickly zipped back, she might be able to attack her exposed, unguarded rear.
The plan was simple to a point it was almost ridiculous and went amazingly well – until her back met an unexpected obstacle and she started tumbling. A rather ungainly hop to the side saved her from losing her balance, and stopping her approach for a moment, she twisted her head over her shoulder to see what she had bumped into. The teenager's eyes widened.
"Chat Noir? Shouldn't you be on the other side of the battlefield, keeping the second twin busy?"
"I am sorry, my dearest Buginette, but somehow I am always magically drawn towards you. Must be fate. I will go..."
"...DOWN!" The saccadic interruption to his speech came with Ladybug's shout and a yank to his bell, dragging him to the ground along with her. Two of the gaudy balls collided just above their heads and exploded, dusting their hair with glowing particles. Beneath her, Chat Noir huffed, the sound full to the brim with annoyance. He was back on his feet in an instant.
"What's their problem?! Are they sore that the teacher mistook them for each other in class?!" he shouted angrily while he dodged another wave of the multi-coloured Lacrosse-balls with his staff.
·
The attacks died down for a second and once more the expression of surprise graced the twins' faces. Chat Noir just gaped back. Bullseye? AGAIN?!
He felt Ladybug's gaze upon him, the blue irises burning holes in the dark leather of his suit. "I don't know how you do this, but you better stop before you cause trouble."
"It's not my fault they are walking clichés," he defended himself gruffly, but then a playful grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. "...although, there would be an effective way to seal those lips of mine."
She rolled her eyes. "Yes. Less talking, more fighting." He couldn't help the sigh that bubbled up from his throat. It had been worth a try, although he was fully aware that this was neither the place nor the time for such flirtatious banter. He inclined his head to hint a bow. "At your service, My Lady."
They parted, each taking on their respective opponent again. The girls were close to eradicating the last of hard-won distance between them, and Chat Noir couldn't let that happen. But instead of being assaulted with la'crossfire, he unexpectedly was hit by fierce words first.
"You know nothing! You don't know how it feels to be mistaken for the other ALL THE TIME," she screamed and he realized that his last remark had rubbed upon a spot that better had been left untouched. The twin propelled herself up in the air again and then dived into his direction head-on, the basket of her pitcher filling rapidly with a rainbowy assortment of balls. The young superhero jumped aside as the first salve hit the ground. Asphalt burst and smouldered at the place where he had been moments ago. Chat Noir lips shrunk to a thin, stern line.
This was not good. That wasn't even going good. He quickly spun around to face the next assault but realized at once that he was no longer the target. Oh no.
·
"LADYBUG!"
It was the last she heard before Chat Noir's weight collided with her upper body, the force of motion pulling her off her feet. She muffled a surprised gasp against his shoulder when she was dragged into flight and his arms wrapped around her small figure, pulling her close. She felt his muscles grow tight as they hit the ground again, cushioning her from impact. The two entwined heroes rolled over the concrete, rubble and dust brushing over them, and it was only after they came to a halt that he loosened his grip. "That was close", her partner commented and pushed himself to the knees to give her room to scramble up. Ladybug was just about to drag herself out and up again the moment she saw it. Their enemies had descended right behind them, one pair of hands linked, the others raised, and aimed both at Chat Noir's back. Her blue eyes widened in shock. There was no time to think anymore, just to act as a ray of light detached from their palms. "Watch out!" she yelled and flung her arms around her companion, pressing him down and shielding him.
Ladybug felt an electric jolt on her skin and suddenly there was a sensation of being ripped apart. There were no other words for this – if there were any at all – it was like being struck by a thunderbolt that burned nerves, muscles and bones mercilessly. A stinging white as sharp as thousand needles to her eyes clouded her vision and her body went numb to everything but this agonizing pain that seemed to strip the flesh from her very soul. She screamed, screamed against that cruel fire consuming her insides. Her shrill voice mixed with another one right below her, yet the flicker of worry was washed away by another wave of pain, and so her clamour went on until there was no more air in her lungs.
She was not sure if she had passed out for a moment, but as she regained consciousness and control of herself again... something was different. The energy flowing trough her veins due to the transformation, this distinctive, strong current of power supplied by her Miraculous felt... more raw, unbridled and the weight of a body was pressing down on her.
She opened her eyes. "Chat..." The word got stuck in her throat. That was not her voice. "Ladybug?" THAT was her voice. With a sinking feeling in her chest the heroine's gaze shot to where it was coming from. And found two azure irises behind a red, dotted mask staring back in disbelief. Her hand rose. It was black-clad. Like the rest of her suit. Chat Noir's suit.