Talk
Ladybug and Chat, for all their silliness, do talk seriously sometimes.
Sometimes.
(Post reveal.)
"You're Ariel," Ladybug announces one day as she drops in, her yo-yo retracting as she speaks.
The picture of eloquence, Chat responds "Huh?"
"You're Ariel," Ladybug reaffirms, nodding her head.
"Like… the mermaid," Chat says slowly, trying to wrap his head around why his Lady would call him that.
"Yes." Ladybug didn't seem inclined to explain without prompting, so Chat acted in kind.
"Why?"
"Well, you're pretty much a real life Disney Princess-"
"The only Princess I see around here is you," he interrupted, seeing an opportunity.
Ladybug continued, ignoring him. "And so I got to thinking, though why Chloe compared you to Snow White I'll never know."
"I'm smart enough to not eat an apple from a strange woman who just happened to stumble upon the house I'm hiding in to avoid being murdered," he agreed.
"Anyway, so I thought about it and you are a real life incarnation of Ariel."
"Again I ask why. She's purr-ty claw-some and all, but I fail to see how she and I relate."
Ladybug just stared at him with an odd combination of frustration and fondness with a little bit of incredulity as well. This kin d of stare wasn't unfamiliar; Chat tended to see it after a particularly awful pun. (Sorry. Claw-ful.)
"Think about it!" she exclaimed. Chat settled in, seeing the look in her eye. "Ariel wanted to learn about humans- which we could technically say the same thing about you but you were more of 'I want to know what a normal life for my age is' rather than fire and forks and stuff- and pursued it relentlessly. She goes against her father's wishes, makes a deal with a magical being,"
"Hey, Plagg isn't Ursula." Adrien felt the need to defend the cat kwami. Sure, Plagg could be a little shit at times, but Adrien learned that that was normal for cats. Plagg never actively went to harm anyone, he just caused a lot of mischief is all.
"I was about to say 'although your deal involves less soul-binding and is with a creature who doesn't want to take over your kingdom/kill you', but you beat me to it," Ladybug said flatly. "Anyway, she goes and learns about humans and-" she interrupted herself and blushed. It was hard to tell since their masks generally covered the areas where the blush appeared, but Chat could see that he ears had turned red as well.
He didn't push, letting her decide whether or not to finish her sentence.
"And found love along the way," she muttered. If there was any more noise, and if he wasn't Chat Noir, he wouldn't have caught it. But it wasn't and he was, and so he did.
"You know, I think you're a lot like Kida," he began. It was Ladybug's turn for confusion.
"Who?"
"Atlantis: The Lost Empire; it wasn't a very popular movie for reasons that are beyond me. I'll show it to you later. Anyway, Kida's the royal of that movie. She reminds me a lot of you. Her default is friendly but she takes no crap from anyone. She's about 8500 years old-"
"Are you calling me old, Alley Cat?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who said I was 5000 years old," he shrugged. Ladybug huffed.
"I didn't either. I simply stated that I was older than a college student."
"Anyway, jokes aside, Kida's also willing to do what she has to for her people, going as far as to sacrifice herself for them… sort of."
"How do you 'sort of' sacrifice yourself?"
Chat shrugged. "She knew someone would help her in her time of need."
Ladybug's ears regained their red tint once she caught the implication of that sentence.
"Is that your roundabout way of telling me you'll always be there for me, tomcat?"
Chat grinned his Cheshire grin. "I don't think I need to tell you in a roundabout."
Ladybug hummed in assent.
"She reminds me a lot of you, is all," Chat murmured, swinging his legs over the edge. Heights, at one point, had been somewhat terrifying for him. But knowing Ladybug was there and that he could catch himself had taken away most of the paranoia, leaving only a healthy amount of caution.
Ladybug put a hand on his shoulder, and he leaned into it a bit. She sat down next to him and leaned on him, and he returned the favor, slinging an arm around her waist.
"Why don't we call it a night? You can show me that movie at my place," Ladybug offered.
Chat hummed. "In a moment." The sight of peaceful Paris at night with his best friend by his side was too good of a moment to let go of quite yet. Ladybug seemed to agree since she didn't protest or make a move to get up.
A few moments later, the feeling faded, and the two made their way back to the bakery to watch the movie. After that had finished, Marinette turned to Adrien and asked him bluntly "should I start calling you Milo instead of minou?"
Adrien chuckled, something Marinette felt from her position by his side. "Only if you want me to call you Princess out of costume as well."
"Eh, I kinda like Spots," she said, shrugging. "You'd better get going if you want a decent amount of sleep tonight."
Adrien grumbled but got up anyway. Calling out to Plagg, he transformed into Chat once more before turning to Marinette.
"Thanks for humoring me, Princess," he purred.
Marinette rolled her eyes, but hugged him good bye. "Anytime, alley cat. See you tomorrow."
And with that, Chat leapt through the trap door window and off into the night. Marinette sighed but smiled as she lay down on her bed, taking care to not disturb Tikki as she slept.
"Goodnight, Tikki," she muttered as she followed the kwami's example.
