Authors Note
Hey everyone!
So this is a short chapter, but I wanted to get something up. Work has been crazy, luckily there is only one week left of the summer camp! Then school starts back up ^^'
I want to thank my friends Cass and Madison for help with editing.
I want to thank sjsreader, TrinityWrites, wonderfulwizardofhozz, and trisdivergent18.25.21 for the wonderful reviews! They mean so much to me!
Disclaimer: I do not own the character, they belong to the amazing writers at Zag!
Chapter 4 Pivot
"Regardless. It is a pleasure to meet you, my lady." he said, raising her hand to kiss it. She was shocked. This stranger, Chat Noir, her partner, was flirting with her. Or, she thought he was; no one had flirted with her before.
Then it hit her, he was flirting with her, about to kiss her hand. She jerked her hand away, managing to smack to smack him in the face. He pulled back and rubbed at it.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Ladybug scrambled to check if he was okay, before pulling back holding herself, "Are you okay?"
"Yea, don't worry about it." Chat Noir said, rubbing the back of his neck. He knelt down and picked up their abandoned bags, other arm gesturing forward "Shall we?"
"Right, um, could I…" She gestured to her bag "um, maybe, have my bag back?"
"Nope. You first."
"Okay...Thank you." She said, willing herself to move forward without stumbling. "So...um...last night Tikki said a Chat Noir hadn't been chosen yet…" She stopped, realizing how that might have come across. But when she looked over she saw that a smile had nearly split his face in two.
"Yea, Plagg talked to me about it this morning."
"Wow, that must have been crazy to dump on your family last minute."
"Nah. My father doesn't know," he shrugged dismissively, "and I don't usually have anything later than 8. What about you?"
"Same. They know I'm out late, and that I'm safe...they just don't exactly know what I'm doing." she released a breath "I couldn't tell them because they would want to be here which would make me too nervous."
Chat Noir stopped when he realized she was no longer behind him. She saw him turn and winced, knowing that the way she was standing showed how nervous she was. To her surprise, he didn't say anything. He just walked over and stood, waiting, but not pressuring for her to continue.
"I should warn you. I'm terrible at skating in front of others, and I've never skated with a partner before. I probably won't be Ladybug after I flop during practice tonight."
"Well that's a relief." Her head shot up in shock at the painful words, only to see nothing but support in his eyes instead of the mocking expression she expected. "I was afraid I would be the only one going in without any partner experience." He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, almost as though he was trying to level them both. "You'll do great. You wouldn't have been chosen if Tikki didn't believe in you."
"Thanks." She gave him a small smile, then clenched her hands and brought them up, determination setting in. "Let's do this."
When they got to the bench, Chat Noir set their bags on it and pulled his skates out, Ladybug standing nearby and keeping her eye out for their predecessors. By the time he had finished lacing up his skates, she had started pacing back and forth. He was about to tease her when a familiar voice echoed across the rink.
"You keep that up and you're going to wear a hole into the floor, kid."
They turned to see Plagg coming around the rink with Tikki next to him trying to cover up a giggle.
"Plagg, hush up. She's already nervous enough as it is. Don't you remember what our first practice was like when we were chosen?" she chastised, swatting at his arm.
Ladybug and Chat Noir traded an amused glance, seeing that Plagg looked like a kitten who had just had his ears boxed. "Well, at least you were responsible enough to talk to your chosen in time for tonight." She turned to Chat Noir and offered her his hand and a bright smile. "Hello Chat, it is very nice to meet you. I'm Tikki."
He took the offered hand and shook it enthusiastically. "I know who you are ma'am, and may I just say it is an honor to meet you, and be able to train under you and Plagg."
"Oh Chat, the honor is mine. I am so glad that we found the two of you. I know you both are going to be wonderful."
Plagg yawned, not even bothering to cover it, "Yea, yea. Enough of the mushy stuff. Are we going to get to work, or are we going to stand around all night?"
"Right." Ladybug said, stepping forward "What shall we work on first?"
"See, this is the attitude we need. Down to business. Go ahead and get on the ice, we'll tell you what to do once we get our music on the sound system."
"Will do." Chat said, before gesturing Ladybug ahead of himself. "After you, M'Lady."
"Um, okay." she took the guards off of her skates before stepping on the ice and gliding out to the middle of the rink, with Chat following closely behind.
After a bit of skating around the middle, there was a crackle on the loud speakers.
"Testing. 1, 2, 3." Plagg's voice cut in breaking into an off key song, causing them to cover their ears. "Miraculous! Simply the best!"
"Plagg. Cut it out." Tikki's came through, cutting Plagg off. "I hope you can hear us. We're going to play a song. Just get into a rhythm together and try and get used to each other's company. And have fun!"
"Wait, aren't you going to give us some instructions?" Marinette said, looking up to the sound booth, then to her partner who just scratched at the back of his head, before turning back to the booth. "Tikki?"
"Well this is pawsitively confusing."
She snapped around to glare at her partner, but before she could say anything, music began to play. Chat bowed to her with his arm extended to take her hand. "We might as well try. What do you say M'Lady?"
