a spark, and a fall


ii.

It started with trust.

Honestly, she was kind of forced into it. It was only her third time using her powers—only her first time fighting akuma—and he showed up with complementary powers and she was in a pinch and really, what could she do but trust him?

She trusted him and he saved her. She's never stopped trusting him.

Maybe she doesn't know anything about the boy behind the cat mask, but she knows him, Chat Noir, almost better than she knows herself.

Maybe she doesn't know his favorite color or what he likes to eat or his hobbies or who his friends are but what she does know? Is enough for her.

She knows that he makes the worst cat-related puns and actually thinks they're funny but when things are serious, not a trace of humor can be found on his face. She knows he's flippant at the best of times to hide his embarrassingly overwhelming joy and at the worst of times to hide his embarrassingly crushing heartbreak. She knows exactly how to read his sharp green eyes, brilliant as jewels: bright with mirth, soft with affection, murky with concern, dark with pain.

She knows that when he says horrible, sad things like "You, my lady, are more important than my own life" or "Ladybug is a heroine in her own right but little old Chat is nothing without his lady," he absolutely means them. And that knowledge both makes her mad and breaks her heart a little.

Because he is so, so important to her and the one all-encompassing truth she knows about their relationship is that Ladybug is nothing, nothing, nothing without Chat Noir and she will drill that into his head as many times as it takes for as long as it takes for it to finally worm its way through that thick skull of his and settle permanently into his brain.

Because between them, there is undeniable, indomitable trust, and that is not something many people can claim to have.

Because he saves her, every time, by standing with her, fighting with her, loving her.

And maybe she doesn't love him—not in that way, at least—but she will always, always trust him.


© Copyright 2016 by The Siege