July 9: Helping Hand
Author's Note: Epcot97 back again with ChubbyUnicornMama for another collaborative chapter. Having helped Ladybug with her homework yesterday, we flip the situation and see how she can help Chat Noir as he works on a speech he needs to give at school. (The two stories are unrelated, though)
Ep: CM, I have a new plan for us to take over Miraculous. It involves a deal with this guy I met at the market - the horns were a bit off-putting, and he said something about selling my soul. Seems legit.
CM: I'm in for selling your soul. I traded mine years ago for a chocolate cupcake.
Chat paced the rooftop over the main library in Paris, holding his school tablet. While he'd never had trouble doing homework in his room at the mansion, this particular assignment had proven to be an issue. His history teacher had randomly handed out oral report topics, and in less than a week, he was supposed to give an overview of the American Declaration of Independence - specifically, how that particular document led to the efforts in late eighteenth century France to overthrow the monarchy and move toward democracy.
Being in front of an audience wasn't really an issue for the supermodel, but he rarely spoke in those situations. Pulling together a five to ten minute speech on a topic that was fundamentally uninteresting to him made him wish furvently he could schedule an akuma attack for his designated speaking slot. With all of the distractions conveniently at hand back in his bedroom, he'd opted to transform the last few evenings and land on random buildings in order to plug away at his task.
Realizing he had, once again, lost his place in the speech he'd written so far, Chat sighed and leaned against a convenient chimney. It was hopeless. If even he wasn't interested in the topic in the first place, how would he be able to create any excitement in the audience? Popping open his baton and looking for any excuse not to continue, he randomly went into GPS mode and discovered Ladybug was two buildings over and moving in his direction.
He slipped his tablet under an arm and vaulted across the rooftops toward his partner. Chat managed to catch her a few blocks from the Dupain-Cheng Bakery, which would have been a backup excuse for him to avoid working on the speech had he not discovered Ladybug roaming. Soaring across the skyline with his baton, one handed, he cracked a sly smile at her when he pulled even. "Good evening, Milady," he said. "Out for a walk, are we?"
Long used to him appearing randomly when they were not called to an akuma alert, Ladybug smiled outwardly but inwardly groaned. She'd nearly made it back to the Bakery after an afternoon working on school projects with Ayla. As usual, she'd left later than planned and had risked transforming to get home faster, the risk being more that this very situation would crop up.
Subtly, she shifted her path away from the Bakery and toward a random spot in the city. "I am," she replied. "I needed to clear my mind a bit," she explained, which was true. Ayla had talked her into re-creating the Apollo landing sites on the moon for their science project and it was a time consuming effort.
"Same here," he said, easily keeping pace with her.
Not wanting to get too far away from the Bakery, Ladybug gently dropped to a rooftop a few blocks away from her home. Chat joined her, and she immediately saw why he'd been springing across the skyline single handed. "What's with the tablet?"
"Homework," he grimaced. "I'm having trouble with something, despite how much effort I put into it."
That was an unusual admission from her partner. She was well aware of the intelligence he hid behind the goofy Chat Noir persona he wore, and her curiosity was piqued. "What's hanging you up?"
Chat looked at her for a moment, and then considered his tablet. He wasn't usually the one asking for help, in either persona; Chat had been more the one providing impromptu tutoring. He looked up at Ladybug again, knowing a fresh set of eyes might be handy, but also concerned that sharing his project with her could reveal more about his alter-ego than might be wise.
Very carefully, he said, "I'm doing a project on how the American Revolution lead to the French Revolution. I just don't know how to make it interesting."
Ladybug nodded. "Is it a paper? I always find it better if you get to do something more creative, whether it is a diorama, model, or even a speech, because then you can always dress up. "
"I am supposed to be doing something more creative. The problem is that I'm not creative. You know me. I'm much better at maths. Things with a straightforward answer. I chose speech. The problem is that I can't even stay awake for my whole presentation, so how can I expect anyone else to?"
"How long do you have?" Ladybug asked. "Not that I want to know exactly when you are giving it, but do we have hours or weeks?"
Chat smiled at the way she was trying to keep it vague. "About a week and a half. Why?"
"I think I may know where you can get a French Revolutionary Soldier's uniform. One of my father's friends was in a play where he played a soldier. He's taller than you, but I could probably roughly tailor it to fit." Ladybug clapped her hands in excitement, thinking of the play Mylene's father had been in a few years ago.
"You can sew? If not, I could probably find someone to do it for me." Chat looked at his partner in surprise, knowing if it was too much for her, he could take it to one of his father's seamstresses.
Smiling, Ladybug nodded. "A little. Enough to take in a few seams. Now, read me this boring speech."
Chat hesitated, not wanting to bring his tablet out and let her see everything he had been working on. Ladybug noticed his hesitation and shrugged. "How about I just turn around for today, and you read it to me, that way I don't see your tablet." This idea appeased him, and Ladybug turned around and listened as he began.
Less than a minute into his speech, she stopped him. "I'm sorry, Kitty, but that is definitely going to put everyone to sleep. You are so full of energy and passion, why is there none of that anywhere in your report? This is just a dry recitation of fact. Where's the humanity? Where are the stories? Where are the puns? OK, scratch that last one, no puns in your presentation."
"Milady! Did you just pun?"
Blushing, Ladybug changed the topic. "OK. Want to meet up Wednesday? I'll snag the uniform, and you make that presentation more interesting."
Chat nodded and confirmed the location. Bowing, he kissed her knuckles. "Thank you for your help!" With that, he bounded across the rooftops, and Ladybug dropped into a nearby alley, even later than she'd been when she left Alya's house.
Ladybug wasn't surprised to find him already waiting for her on their agreed-upon rooftop when Wednesday evening rolled around. Normally, he would be already turned in her direction, expectantly watching her approach, but that evening, he was pacing the rooftop, speaking to himself with occasional glances at his tablet. Only the swiveling of one of his feline ears in her direction let on that he knew she was near.
Gently landing on the tile, she unslung the garment bag she had over her shoulder. "Kitty," she said pleasantly. "Hold this for me while I unzip?" she asked.
"Absolutely, Milady," he said, setting his tablet down on the half wall closest to him.
Ladybug hooked the bag over his claw and unzipped the bag, then carefully pulled out the costume she'd (well, Marinette) had borrowed from Mylene. Comprised of breeches, a waistcoat with mandarin collar and stockings all in white, the ensemble was completed by a blue heavier overcoat, trimmed in accents of red. Gently laying them across a sidewall, she retrieved a traditional French tricorn hat, which Chat immediately grabbed with his free hand and gleefully tried to fit over his feline ears.
"Well," he said a bit sheepishly once he realized he'd have to fold both of his ears down to make it work, "I won't have to worry about that without my transformation."
"I'm shocked, simply shocked," Ladybug teased, "that you don't have cat ears in real life."
Chat rolled his eyes. "I might have to figure out how to keep them," he said, smiling slyly. "I think they give me and edge with the ladies."
Now it was her turn to roll her eyes.
Taking the bag off his claw, she stood back and contemplated Chat. His costume was, literally, skintight, so she reasoned having him don the uniform while transformed should give her somewhat accurate measurements. "Carefully put this on," she said to her partner, "and mind those claws! I need to return this intact."
"I'll thread myself in slowly," he winked, setting the hat down and then started to wiggle the breeches on.
Ladybug popped open her yo-yo storage area and removed her tape measure, saying as she worked, "Why don't you go through your new and improved speech for me?"
"Sure," he said, though he was partially distracted trying to weave his claws through the linen undershirt.
He went through his recitation the first time, finishing up with only a few long glances at his tablet. "That is much better," she said as she snapped the buttons closed on his waistcoat. "I might have to let this out a bit," she murmured. "What will you wear under this?"
His long pause made her look up, and she caught the flush. "Uh… I suppose I can't wear this over my normal attire, huh?"
"I wouldn't recommend it, no," she laughed. "I'm going to go with 'standard undergear.'"
"Ah, sounds good," he laughed nervously. "Is this wool?" he suddenly asked. "It won't itch, will it?"
"Might be." She made a few mental notes. "Okay, do your speech again. It ran a bit long, so see if you can't speed up your delivery slightly." She glanced up again. "And despite what I said earlier, the pun you added is funny and appropriate."
He smiled at her praise and started in again. Less than an hour later, Ladybug had her small set of alterations jotted down on the Bug Phone's notepad, and Chat had refined his delivery into a tight, seven minute presentation that had her both enthralled and, at times, laughing. "I think you've got it, Chat," she said approvingly.
He'd managed to get back out of the uniform without damaging it, and she was zipping it back into the carryall. "How long do you need for the alterations?" he asked.
"Day or two." She looked back to him, warily. "Wait. When exactly is your speech?"
He had the good sense to look guilty. "Friday."
Ladybug sighed. "Meet me here tomorrow night, then," she said, knowing it was going to be a long night.
Chat bounced on his toes and then, in a flash, zipped in to kiss her on the cheek. "Thank you for doing this, LB. I owe you big time. Name your price."
"Don't worry, kitty," she laughed. "I'll collect when the time is right."
True to her word, Ladybug returned the following evening to find Chat waiting for her once more. He had his tablet, plus a second little box sitting atop the brick half wall. "Good evening, Milady," he purred, kissing her hand with his usual over-the-top flourish.
"Chat," she smiled, again hooking the carryall to his claw. "I've made some adjustments, let's get this on you and then you can give me the full treatment."
They spent the next half hour or so with Ladybug fussing over final adjustments to the uniform, and Chat refining his delivery. He had improved greatly, coming across as if he were having a casual yet informative conversation, playing into the uniform where it worked the best for his topic. The alterations Ladybug made were, according to Chat, "Purrfect," and required only minimal tweaks.
After carefully helping Ladybug put the uniform back into the case, and promising to follow her instructions on care to the letter (she had her doubts about that), he settled in on the brick wall next to the box he'd brought, and tapped his paw in the space beside him. "Have a seat, Milady," he said, smiling.
Ladybug had pointedly ignored the box, especially since it had the Dupain-Cheng Bakery logo on it. She now had an answer to the mystery order her father had filled that morning. "What did you do?" she asked, feigning ignorance but knowing it was-
He slit the box with a claw, revealing a small triple-layer chocolate torte. Chat had cleverly pre-sliced it and placed the two pieces on plates, one of which he handed to his partner. "I'm aware of your fondness for sweets," he reminded her. "I know I still owe you, so consider this a down payment."
Chat couldn't know that this particular cake was long a favorite, so her enthusiasm was genuine as she dug in and quickly demolished her portion; Chat raised a masked eyebrow - and moved the remains of his slice out of her reach. "Thanks," she said, laughing.
They chatted for a few more moments, Ladybug managing to steal some icing from Chat's plate in the process, and then parted, but only after Chat confirmed he'd meet her back there on Saturday evening to return the uniform.
Friday morning, Marinette dropped off her recreation of the Asterix, the first French satellite, in her history classroom so she didn't have to carry it around all day. The project having been inspired by the project she and Alya were working on for science. She knew that the first person had set foot on the moon 50 years ago that summer, and was daydreaming about what it would be like to spacewalk, as she waited for the other students to file into the first class of the day.
Morning classes went by peacefully, and Marinette was almost late back from lunch. She walked into class with a minute to spare. She saw Chat in the front row, dressed in his borrowed French Revolution military uniform and idly wondered if his ears were uncomfortable in the hat. Waving, she passed him to get to her seat, and then realization hit. Spinning around, she completely missed her bench seat and landed, sprawled, in the aisle. The spill was enough to cover her rising panic at the fact that, sitting in front of her in class was Adrien Agreste, wearing Mr. Haperele's old costume that she's spent several hours tailoring for Chat Noir.
The boy in question turned around, and was out of his seat in a flash, extending his hand to help her up. Marinette stared a few moments too long, picturing him in black, with a mask over his features. She shook herself, and reached out to let him help her up. "Nice outfit. I don't think that's a Gabriel design." She nodded at his uniform.
He smiled at her. "No. I borrowed it from a friend, and she adjusted it to fit me." A dreamy look flittered across his face. "She's amazing."
Simply nodding, Marinette made it into her seat this time, waiting for Adrien's speech as confirmation of what she already strongly suspected. When his turn came and he started in on the lines she already had half memorized as well, any doubt slipped from her mind. This WAS Chat Noir, but how on earth would she tell him. She figured the best time was when he returned the uniform the next day, so that there wouldn't be a fuss made at school.
The next 24 hours or so were some of the longest of Marinette's life. She overanalyzed everything, both on her own and with Tikki, but they both knew that she would have to tell him that she knew who he was. For the sake of their partnership, she would also share her identity with him. In the past, it had deeply hurt him when she'd kept secrets from him, even when they weren't hers to share.
Finally, the designated hour rolled around, and Ladybug was on the roof, pacing, when Chat appeared. He handed her the garment bag saying "Thank you so much. Everyone seemed to enjoy the speech."
Ladybug nodded. "Yes, it was great. I really like the way you changed up the last line."
Chat froze. How had she known that he had changed the last line? He hadn't decided himself that he was going to do it until lunchtime yesterday, and inspiration had just kind of struck. Slowly, he turned to face his partner. "You heard it? Were you listening in, or are you in my history class?"
Ladybug laughed. "When I walked into class yesterday, I saw you sitting there in your uniform, and I thought 'Chat looks ready for his presentation'. It was when I realized Adrien was the one in uniform that I, uh, missed my chair." With a grin taken straight from Chat Noir's repertoire, she added, "You could say I was a real space case."
Chat's normally large eyes grew enormous. "Marinette?" he squeaked. When she nodded, unsure of how he was going to react to that he added, "You borrowed the costume from Mylene's dad." Another nod. "That explains her comment about 'That girl can fix anything'. She meant you, adjusting her father's costume to fit me." One more nod.
Ladybug looked at him. "This is not how I was expecting to find out who the other one was. We need to work extra hard to keep out family and friends safe."
It was Chat's turn to nod. Ladybug reached out a hand to her partner, the one who was always there to offer a helping hand, or a shoulder to lean on, in or out of the masks. Smiling at her, Chat interlaced his fingers with hers, and pulled her into a hug. "I'm so glad that it's you, Milady."
"Me too, Kitty. Me too."
