July 10: Disguises
Authors' note: CM and Ep just love a good ball… so disguises was a perfect excuse! A Masquerade Ball is always fun… isn't it? Our last ball, back in Marichat May, ended all sweet and lovey dovey. In this one, if it can go wrong, it does!
CM: Ep! I had an idea! What if we threw a ball for Astruc and Co? They would HAVE to share the rights to Miraculous, then!
Lyra: Would I have to wear a ballgown? Because I'm not so great at walking in heels….
CM: Heels. *shudders* Nah, we'll let Ep wear them...
Ep: Wait, you meant BALL, then? (puts down his baseball glove)
Marinette was stuck in another student representative meeting where they were discussing the upcoming carnival that would be held by College Francoise Dupont. The carnival was a celebration of the superheroes of Paris, all five of them, that would culminate in a masquerade ball. Each hero would have their own booth, and it was the committee's fervent hope that the superheroes would put in an appearance.
Alya had been asked to put the word out on the Ladyblog, inviting all the heroes. Chat Noir had replied immediately, saying how honored he was, and he would be there if at all possible. Marinette had gone to talk to Master Fu, discussing what a moral boost it would be for the three part time superheroes to be seen. After securing his permission, Ladybug went and asked Alya, Nino and Chloe if they were interested in attending. All three agreed, and Ladybug spoke with Chloe at length about safety precautions, wanting her to remain a part of the team, as she could see how much good it had done Chloe in her everyday life, but also concerned for her safety, although Chloe was the only person she knew who had successfully rejected an akuma after it had actually possessed an item of hers.
They agreed to meet up near the school, so that Ladybug could hand over the miraculous, somewhere unexpected, so hopefully Hawk Moth won't crash the carnival. Wanting to also make sure Chat was on the same page, she texted him to meet her at their usual rendezvous point close to sunset. She wasn't surprised when he responded immediately that "he'd be there with a bell on," and tried hard not to roll her eyes at her bug phone.
Chat was waiting for her when she landed, leaning against a wrought iron railing and twirling his tail, smirk firmly planted on his face. Knowing this meant trouble, she stepped over to him. "Milady," he said, dropping his tail in order to perform his customary bow-and-kiss maneuver. "You look stunning as always."
Ignoring his flirting, she gently removed her hand from his paw. "Thanks for meeting me," she started. "I've rounded up the rest of Team Miraculous, and they'll all be at the Carnival; are you going to be able to go? Your message sounded equivocal."
"I'm working on that now," he grinned, knowing he couldn't tell her that Adrien was supposed to be working the event; House of Gabriel had rented a booth and, of course, Father wanted the most recognizable part of the company front and center. "But I plan to go, yes. And you are OK with us being there in, uh, costume?"
Ladybug rolled her eyes. "It's kind of the point," she said.
"But it's also a masked ball," he reminded her. "I can't imagine I'll be the only one there as Chat."
"True," she agreed, then gave his costume a meaningful review. "But I suspect no one will have as detailed an outfit as you."
Chat grinned a bit more, knowing he'd squirreled away the faux Chat costume he was supposed to have worn at the Clara Nightingale video shoot. This is gonna be great, he thought. "Purrhaps you are right," he said. "Will you save me a dance?"
Ladybug rolled her eyes, but agreed.
With a huge grin he asked, "What's the plan?"
"I'm going to meet the rest of the team close to the school the night of the event so I can distribute their Miraculous," she said. "You can meet us at the event proper."
Chat frowned. "You're assembling all three of them. Together."
"Yes," she said, wondering where he was going.
"To give them their Miraculous." That garnered a single raised masked eyebrow.
"Yes - oh, nuts!" she said. "I'll have to fix that."
"Or, you could just let all of us in on the secret," Chat suggested helpfully, and narrowly avoided a bop between the feline ears for his efforts. "I'll be there," he said as he pulled out his baton and made to leap into the evening.
"Just buzz me with a text when you are close?" she asked.
"Oh, you'll know when I arrive," he smirked as he disappeared into the darkness.
"That's what I'm afraid of," Ladybug muttered as she lassoed her way home.
Ladybug had Nino and Alya arrive 20 minutes before she told Chloe to be there and 40 minutes before she told Chat to be there, so of course, Chloe and Chat arrived at the same time, dropping in on a conversation between Ladybug, Rena and Carapace.
Once Rena, Carapace and Queen Bee were all transformed, Ladybug spoke to them as well as Chat, reminding them that, while they were free to come and go as their superhero personas all day, they would return their miraculous to Ladybug after the ball was over… they could attend the ball as either their civilian or superhero personas. The only time they were required to attend in costume was for the presentation at 1500 where all of the student representatives would be presenting gifts to the superheroes.
Marinette had originally been selected to be the presenter for all the superheroes, but declaring that to be unfair, especially since she was always late, and she'd be helping out in her parents' bakery booth (selling hero themed treats), she suggested that someone from each of the grade levels present to a different hero. A random lottery (which Marinette had secretly removed her name from) picked each of the presenters, with everyone from all grades going into the Ladybug drawing.
Alya took time to interview all of the heroes for the Ladyblog, creating an illusion of "herself" interviewing Rena. Carapace stuck close to Rena, much as Nino did to Alya. Queen Bee hung out around her booth, where kids could create their own crowns, secretly enjoying every second, even as she pretended to hate it.
Chat Noir hung out for an hour or so, being given free food samples at all of the booths, and just generally enjoying himself. After that, he disappeared, and Adrien showed up at his father's booth, his genuine smile melting back into the model perfect one.
Marinette spent time at her parents' bakery booth as well as with her friends. She helped out a couple of other class reps sorting out some last minute problems with the ball. After lunch, as time for the presentation approached, she told her parents that she was needed at the Grand Paris Hotel, the location of the ball, and slipped off to transform. She visited the ladybug booth on her way to the stage area, meeting Chat Noir, who was sitting cross legged on the floor of her booth, helping kids decorate yo-yos.
He grinned up at her, obviously having the time of his life. As much as she hated to separate him from his devoted followers, she whispered that it was time to go, and helped him extricate himself from the pile of preschoolers that surrounded him.
Chat sighed audibly, and detached himself from one toddler who had latched herself to his tail and had been playing with his bell. They were joined at the base of the stairs to the stage by the other three Team Miraculous members, preparing to go onstage at their cue. Ladybug couldn't help but notice Chat seemed to be a bit anxious, but she didn't have time to press him as they were herded onto the stage.
Gathered in something of a semi-circle facing the crowd, each of the heroes waited patiently as the invited dignitaries first spoke. Ladybug heard Chat snort on more than one occasion during Mayor Bourgeois' remarks, especially as they began to drag on beyond the five generous minutes that had originally been allocated for him. At length, however, a procession of four students representing the various grades at their school trooped on stage, each holding an item to present to a hero.
Ladybug frowned slightly; she'd known the presenters would be picked by lottery, but one was missing - the one to present to Ladybug. While she had ensured that there was no way for Marinette to have been selected, she'd also carefully contrived that Adrien be picked (Tom had been especially helpful during the lottery drawing), but his absence worried her. She turned to Chat and whispered: "Where's Adrien? Have you seen him?"
Chat, for his part, was looking a little concerned. He'd been very surprised to have been selected to present to Ladybug - not that he would have minded. Any opportunity to be close to her was welcome, but knowing he was supposed to be on stage with her, as Chat, made it impossible to be in both places. So he (as Adrien) had talked Nino into taking his spot. "No," he replied to Ladybug distractedly as he tried to scan the crowd to look for his best friend.
Rena leaned into Carapace. "What's wrong? You look like you have ants in your shell," she whispered.
Carapace leaned closer. "Adrien asked me to present to Ladybug," he said, oblivious to Chat's feline ears suddenly pivoting toward him. "He said his old man was making him work the booth. I told him I'd do it - how could I not? But I also knew I had to be here, so I asked Nathaniel to do it instead."
Rena barely stopped herself from smacking her forehead. "Nathaniel won't be here."
"What?" Carapace choked. "What do you mean?"
"He was invited to show his work at AniCon this weekend," she whispered. "So he asked me to present."
Chat tried to focus as the youngest of the four representatives presented him with a small paper-mache version of him leaping down from a rooftop. It was pretty good, actually - they even had a tiny version of his tail flapping out behind the miniature Chat, albeit propped up with a series of toothpicks. But he couldn't help but overhear Rena.
"-and I had to be here, too. I tried to ask Marinette, but she begged off, saying she would make a mess of it."
"Who did you ask?" Carapace asked urgently. "Cause whoever it is, they're not here."
"I asked Max," Rena hissed.
Chat tried not to facepaw. "He won't be here, either," he whispered to Rena as the second representative handed her a tiny version of her flute.
Rena snapped her head toward Chat, then her eyes rose to his feline ears. She felt a bit of a flush start. "How do you know that?" she demanded.
"He's at a Hackathon this weekend." Chat smiled a model smile as the third representative stepped up and presented Queen Bee with a set of honeycomb-shaped earrings. As she fawned extravagantly over the gift, Chat realized he needed to fix the mess he had inadvertently created. Needing a reason to get off stage for a moment, his eyes hit on the pitcher of water and set of glasses sitting next to the podium Mayor Bourgeois was still standing behind. He just needed to step a little to the left, and maybe his tail could reach-
There was a resounding crash as the pitcher hit the stage and smashed into pieces; the Mayor stepped back, shocked, and everyone else assembled on stage turned to see the cause of the commotion. Conveniently, Chat was crouched down, cradling the major pieces of glass in his paws. "You keep going," he smiled as Ladybug knelt to help. "Let me handle this," he whispered in her ear. "I saw towels and a mop backstage."
"Chat, wait-" she tried to stop him, but his black-cladded form had already backflipped through the curtain behind them, the slight flutter of the fabric the only indication of his exit. Her eyes snapped forward, worried that his exit would throw the ceremony off kilter, but he'd managed to cover his departure behind Queen Bee's continued exuberance over her gift - nearly uninterrupted, despite the pool of water on stage. For once, Ladybug let her go, finding herself more concerned with what had happened to Adrien.
The final of the four kids stepped up to Carapace and bashfully handed him a circular shield made from cardboard. Clearly hand colored by multiple hands, Carapace's face broke out into a wide smile as he thanked the child for his gift. Ladybug didn't pick up what he said to the presenter, though, for Adrien had stepped into her line of sight.
What she saw made her jaw drop.
Face slightly aflame, Adrien was dressed in the Chat Noir costume his father had made for the Clara Nightingale video, although he was maskless and one of the feline ears was at an odd angle, almost as if he'd been in a hurry to weave it into his hair. Smiling a bit shyly, he started up the stairs only to trip over the tail that was trailing him.
In a flash, Ladybug was beside him, catching both Adrien and the small polka-dotted box he'd been carrying. "Gotcha!" she said, and was surprised when he looked up at her with a sly smile. It made her wonder for a fraction of a second if he'd taken a pratfall.
"Thanks," he replied, "I'm not used to having extra body parts."
Standing, he offered her the box. "This is for you," he said.
"The costume?" she teased. "Or the box?"
With a surprising amount of Chat-like swagger, Adrien leaned in and whispered: "Both."
Flushing deeply, and well aware that the other heroes on stage were riveted to the scene before them, she took the box and hurriedly popped it open. Nestled inside brilliant pink crepe paper was a beautifully handcrafted ladybug lapel pin. She smiled, realizing now what her fellow students had been working on in the art studio; slipping it out from the box, she marvelled at the smooth finish of the small wooden bug, the carefully painted red-and-black shell, and the clever placement of two sequins to represent the bug eyes. "Thank you," she breathed.
Adrien smiled outwardly, and breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. His original plan had been to surprise Ladybug with the faux Chat costume at the ball; he'd managed to put it on after finishing his duties at the House of Gabriel booth, then transformed in order to reappear in the nick of time as Chat Noir in Ladybug's own booth just prior to the ceremony. As rushed as he'd been, he still needed to complete the ensemble: the mask was in his costume pocket, and he knew the ears weren't on straight. It hadn't been his intention to be seen this early.
The other heroes crowded around Ladybug, oohing and aahing, and the presenters as well as the Mayor joined in. He used the distraction to stealthily slip back into the crowd and scamper backstage; a moment later, Chat Noir slipped through the curtains holding paper towels in one paw, and a mop in the other. Quietly, he inserted himself into the circle of heroes. As far as he could tell, his sleight of hand had been successful.
"That's quite a gift," he whispered to Ladybug from over her shoulder.
"Yes," she agreed, overwhelmed with appreciation.
Presentations over, the crowd shifted away from the stage and the heroes stepped down, making space for the DJ stand that was wheeled on. As the ball portion of the event got underway, Ladybug quickly gathered the team together one more time to remind them of her earlier ground rules; she caught something in Chat's expression that sent shivers of alarm through her, but he disappeared into the crowd, tail flapping behind him, before she could pull him aside.
Normally, she'd have acted on her worries that Chat was about to push the situation as far as he could without exactly breaking it; but tonight, she, too, had decided to have a little fun. After first ensuring she had spent enough quality time with her fans, Ladybug snuck into a side hallway and located a convenient janitorial supply closet. Once inside, she locked the door and dropped her transformation, revealing the Chat Noir costume she had created some months prior.
Extremely form fitting, she had carefully (and faithfully) replicated every aspect of Chat's appearance, from the boots, to the belt tail, to the kitty ears she had pinned to a blonde wig she was wearing. Her latest addition had been a baton-like holder that cradled her cell phone - it looked as if she had popped it open to make a call, as he often did.
She reversed the phone camera and ensured the brilliant green eyeshadow beneath her mask hadn't run, then smiled at the overall effect: Marinette looked good as Chat Noir. Chat had been right - there were going to be plenty of doppelgangers for him out there on the dance floor that evening, and she was going to be one of them.
Marinette pushed the door open and moved into the hallway - and immediately collided with Chat Noir. The two of them tumbled to the carpet, apologizing to each other. She felt his paw on her arm as he helped her up, and she turned to face him, only to discover it was actually Adrien.
The force of their impact had knocked his mask off, revealing the eye black he'd put on to mimic Chat's appearance under the mask; as he blinked, she could see he'd even applied it to his eyelids. Marinette hadn't thought about that particular detail herself; to be honest, it was only the kind of thing you'd see if you got up close to Chat, anyway. Without the mask, it actually gave him a vague raccoon-like look. She absently noted that his ears were finally on straight atop his now finger tousled hair, neatly evoking Chat's wild mane.
"Marinette?" he asked, drawing out the syllables in her name as he took in her costume. She thought his eyes were bugging out slightly. "You look… amazing…"
"Thanks," she said, handing him his mask. "This is yours, I think," she laughed.
"Yeah." He turned it in his hands and tested the adhesive she could now see had been dabbed inside the mask before pressing it to his face. "Is it on straight?" he asked.
"Yes…" she partially answered. Only then did she notice that he was wearing Hollywood-style contact lenses, the kind that extended into the sclera. They were definitely feline looking, with oval slits for his pupils; the only giveaway they were fake was their lack of adjustment in the changing light. But the green sclera made him look eerily similar to Chat.
"Marinette?" he prompted again.
"Contacts?" she asked, more to confirm than anything else.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Father had multiple sets ordered for the video. I never put them in, thank God! They itch like crazy."
Marinette wasn't sure she'd heard his response, for with the mask now on, Adrien was nearly the spitting image of her partner. The eyes were wrong, of course, and he seemed a bit shorter than Chat, but the overall effect was there.
She shook her head to clear it, realizing that Adrien had been speaking to her, and, apologizing, asked him to repeat himself. Smiling a smile that to Marinette screamed Chat Noir, she just caught the end of his sentence, something about Alya and Nino. Not wanting to ask him to repeat himself for a third time, she just nodded.
When she just stood there, looking at him, Adrien started to worry if he had blown his identity, but Marinette seemed to snap out of whatever she'd been thinking, and started to head towards the main area. For those who didn't want to dance, there were other activities, including a "Heroes Trivia" where each of the heroes had been asked non-invasive personal questions such as favorite food, sport, color, etc. Marinette had planned to avoid that area, since she knew way too much about each of her miraculous wielding teammates to make it a fair competition, but she was fairly certain that Alya was intending to participate in at least one round.
They were heading towards the trivia room, when a pair of Ladybugs rounded the corner. Alya looked amazing in the costume Marinette had been given during the Clara Nightingale music video debacle, and Nino looked somewhat more uncomfortable, sporting his own spandex red and black outfit. Alya was wearing tinted blue contacts and a dark wig, swept back into two neat pigtails, while Nino wore his regular glasses over his domino mask, but had also added a wig.
After much mutual appreciation of costumes, the four decided to dance to the upbeat music they heard drifting in from outside. Heading out to dance, they ran into Queen Bee. Chloe was transformed, rather than wearing a costume, and immediately grabbed Adrien, trying to pull him out on the dance floor. Allowing himself to be pulled, he managed to grab Marinette's hand before she was out of reach. Marinette in turn, latched on to Alya, and Alya snagged Nino, so the five of them ended up dancing together, much to Chloe's annoyance.
Marinette, knowing that three of the people in her group knew Chat Noir, and how he acted around Ladybug sidled up next to Alya and threw out an outrageous pickup line. Surprised, but eyes dancing with laughter, Alya tried to channel Ladybug and brushed "Chat" off with a sigh and an eye roll. Undaunted, Marinette placed a kiss upon the back of her hand and started extolling her beauty. Nino was rolling with laughter and even Queen Bee had a smile on her face. Alya was desperately holding back her own giggles as she booped Marinette's nose, pushing her face away.
Marinette grinned up at Alya."I know my timing isn't purrfect, since we're actually somewhere that we can talk, instead of the middle of an akuma fight, but I would be feline fantastic if you would dance with me." Snorting, Alya accepted, and the two girls danced, giggling to themselves as they did so.
While everyone was laughing at Marinette's Chat Noir style antics, there was a feeling of cold dread in the pit of Adrien's stomach. Was that how people saw him? Was that really how his princess saw him? Did he come across that, to steal a phrase from Chloe, utterly ridiculous? Eyes burning, he knew he needed to get out of there. More people were stopping to watch Marinette ham it up as "Chat", and Adrien just wanted to get away. He found a deserted stairwell and sat, slumped against the wall, his head resting on his knees, tears pricking at his eyes.
Marinette noted Adrien's departure, but didn't know the reason for it. Once the song was over, she asked Nino where Adrien had gone, expecting him to be hitting up the food or the restroom, but Nino admitted he didn't know, only that he'd looked upset when he left. Saying that she was going to look for him she headed in through the door that she'd seen Adrien disappear into.
He had just transformed into Chat Noir before heading up to the roof to make a complete getaway, when Marinette headed around the corner, calling for Adrien. He answered to it before thinking, and in the knick of time was able to keep his face averted so she couldn't see his eyes.
She stepped up to him, placing a hand on his arm. In a concerned voice, Marinette asked him if he was alright, using his civilian name. Chat nodded, hoping that she would leave it at that and go back to the dance. Being Marinette, however, she couldn't do that. "Then why are you in this stairwell, Adrien? Will you come back and dance with us?" This time, she got a head shake.
Putting her hand on his cheek, she slowly turned his head towards her so that she could see his face. He squeezed his eyes tight shut, but when she sighed, his ear twitched. It was his bad luck that she noticed it, her eyes flying up to his ears, then behind him to his tail, which was flicking slightly at the end, before her eyes searched his face. "Adrien?" He nodded, miserably. "Please look at me."
He tried to turn his head away, but this time she held his chin in a surprisingly strong grip. "Open your eyes." Dressed as Chat Noir she might be, but her words held all the command of Ladybug. He hesitated for another moment, before slowly opening his eyes to look at her. The fully green eyes of her partner stared back, and Marinette let out a gasp. "Chat? Adrien? You are Chat Noir?"
Another miserable nod, before he whispered, "Yes. Please don't tell anyone. Ladybug will be so mad at me. I almost ruined her gift presentation today, and I know she's going to be here tonight. She promised me a dance."
Marinette stared at her partner. Contrary to what he'd indicated, something was very wrong. "Chat, what's going on? What's wrong?"
"Promise me!" he said forcefully. "You can't breathe a word of this to anyone."
Slightly stunned, Marinette leaned away from him and dropped her hand. "I promise," she said quietly.
Chat didn't bother to respond and instead leapt upward toward his escape. Marinette missed nabbing his tail by a fraction, and started to pound up the steps behind them, two at a time. But fully transformed, he made it to the roof long before she did. Pausing at the door to catch her breath, she could see him bounding across the tile, pulling out his baton in order to vault into the sky.
"Chat Noir!" she yelled, infusing as much Ladybug as she could into her voice, "Stop!"
She was rewarded with seeing him pause where he'd landed along the brick facade rimming the edge of the roof, baton in hand. Chat didn't turn, but she could see his ears twitching in her direction.
Frankly, he didn't want to face his friend at that moment; between the stomach punch he had felt he'd taken and the flame on his cheeks, his feelings were very much on display and contrary to his normal Chat persona.
Marinette had crossed half the distance to him when he said softly, "If you see Ladybug, tell her I'm sorry. I'll take a raincheck on that dance." He paused, then added somewhat morosely, "Someday."
He raised his baton and made to leap into the night, and Marinette started to run. Just as he lifted off, she shot across the final distance and landed on his back; she heard his growl of surprise as her arms encircled his torso, but Chat easily adjusted for the extra weight and continued onward.
"I'm not in the mood for company, Marinette," he said as he helicoptered across an alleyway and landed at a trot on the building across from the ball. Gently, he detached her arms from his torso and turned toward her. "I'm sorry. Maybe another time."
She noted he'd dropped the "Princess" moniker he normally used with her, and that, in fact, he wasn't acting very Chat-like at all. "Maybe not," she said, "but I'm here. And I'm your friend. What's wrong? You were having the time of your life not an hour ago."
Chat started to pace, his tail continuing to twist. His wide green eyes landed on her a few times as he walked back and forth, and Marinette simply waited, knowing silence was often the best method for getting someone else to talk. Chat looked so miserable, though, that Marinette nearly couldn't wait him out.
Finally, he stopped pacing directly in front of her. His masked eyes flicked up to her faux feline ears, and he gently ran a claw along one; she thought a shadow of his wry smile might have appeared, but it was gone before she could say anything. "Not bad," he said after the silence had stretched into minutes. "You made this yourself, I imagine."
"Yes," she said. "For Halloween."
"That explains why you wanted all of those measurements," he replied, and this time, that smile was actually there.
"Yes," she smiled back.
"Is that how you see me?" he asked, suddenly pivoting to the topic at hand. "The way you were…" he trailed off, and his face dropped down to stare at his boots. "I don't know how to say it. Mocking me? Maybe?" He looked back up at her, pain evident in his eyes. "Do I really come across as some sort of off-kilter catsanova?"
He waited a beat. "It's not an act, you know," he said almost too quietly for her to hear. "Not all of it, at least."
"Chat-"
"I realize as Chat Noir I say and do things Adrien would never dream of doing," he continued, stepping away from her again. "And to be honest, I'm kind of proud of the puns." He flicked a look back at her. "It's a particular talent to come up with them as we're fighting akumas," he added with that shadow of a smile.
"We weren't making fun of you," Marinette said defensively. "At least, not intentionally."
Chat was looking at her, hard. As he'd been reliving the experience of the dance floor over the past few moments, his feline brain had suddenly pointed out that Marinette knew a little too much about his interactions with Ladybug. That insight was followed quickly by another that destroyed what little was left of his heart.
"It's hard for me to see that, Milady," he replied. "Especially when it comes to how you apparently feel about how I express my affection for you - and my desire for it to be reciprocated."
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
Her eyes widened as he did his normal bow-and-kiss for Ladybug, but in the extremely exaggerated manner Marinette had performed on the dance floor. "Please allow me to fawn all over your beauty that has no compare in this realm," he said icily, punctuated with a smacking kiss on the back of her hand. "That."
Marinette found her own cheeks slightly flaming beneath her mask. It hadn't been her intent to hurt her kitty, but then again, she'd not realized he was actually in the room, either. Guiltily she knew it shouldn't have mattered, and she might have crossed a line. But then her brain skipped backward. Had Chat called her Milady?
Suddenly she realized some of the pick-up lines she had tossed out to Alya on the dance floor had been actual ones Chat had used.
On Ladybug.
Marinette's cheeks turned crimson with the realization only two people had ever heard them. Her eyes found his, and she immediately knew it had not been a slip of the tongue on Chat's part. And she also knew how deeply she had wounded him; from his perspective, both his crush and his friend had just, quite publicly, trashed him. Knowing how small Adrien's circle was made her feel infinitely worse.
"Oh," she said simply, and found herself sagging into a seated position on a convenient chimney. "Wow."
"We all wear disguises in our lives," Chat said. "Some are more obvious than others. This," he said, waving his paws around his costume, "is more of who I am - who I want to be - than the person you see as Adrien."
He turned away from her. "I just didn't realize how you truly felt. Now I do."
"I didn't know," Marinette started. "How could I? It all feels like an act."
"An act," he repeated. "If so, it's one I managed to keep up non-stop since we first met."
"That's not what I meant," Marinette replied, getting a little hot. "Look at it from my perspective-"
"Seriously?" Chat cut her off. "Your perspective? I think I am now well aware of that."
Marinette found herself unable to respond. He had a point, as far as it went. For her part, she was still struggling with the base fact that Chat Noir, the partner that always had her back, was also Adrien, the friend who would do anything for her. He wasn't wrong - Chat certainly might be a freer, more roguish persona, but at his core were all of the aspects of Adrien she had fallen in love with. Viewed through those lenses, she could see how the dance floor escapade would cut him to the quick.
"I'm happy to run you back to the ball, Milady," he said, still looking away from her.
"Okay," she said simply, still unsure what to say.
Chat quickly moved to her and ever the gentleman, gently encircled her with one arm. It took less than a heartbeat for him to launch back across the roof and adjacent alley, landing carefully next to the stairwell they had used. "Enjoy yourself," he said, smiling sadly; she was nearly certain he was fighting back tears. "I'm going to leave now; I need to some time to recalibrate."
He paused for a long moment, then drove the dagger home. "But rest assured, I will be completely professional from now on."
"Chat!" Marinette started, but he'd turned tail and launched back into the air and was gone. She stared into the space he'd disappeared into for a long moment before pulling open the door to the stairwell and trudging back down to the ball.
Marinette hadn't been gone all that long, but the ball had begun to lose steam. Entering the ballroom she could tell that aside from the three other members of Team Miraculous, most of her schoolmates had already departed with more making one last swing past the booths on their way out. She paused at the doorway, then backed out to return to the janitorial closet she'd used previously to transform back to Ladybug, knowing she would soon be collecting the Miraculous jewels.
Chloe met her first, reminding her how ridiculous it was that she'd had to return the Bee Miraculous at all. Ladybug was too emotionally drained to argue the point and simply snatched it from a very surprised Chloe. Alya and Nino were a few minutes behind her, walking hand-in-hand as always, creating an unexpected ache in Ladybug's heart. Alya seemed to pick up on Ladybug's mood, and sent Nino on.
"You-"
"I've got to go," Ladybug said abruptly as she unslung her yo-yo from her hip and zipped away from her astonished looking friend.
Still being fairly early, superhero-wise, Ladybug dragged out her return trip to Master Fu's, then dragged her return to the Bakery even further. Part of her knew she needed to track down Chat and try and straighten out everything; the other part emphatically insisted he'd overreacted and would be just fine after he'd cooled off. Her heart was refusing to aid in her decision, so she opted for the easier of the two paths and slipped back into her bedroom at the Bakery.
Chat had found the highest point in Paris he could easily climb, and was perched atop the radio antenna on the Eiffel Tower. Normally he would have worried about being so visible, but that evening he really didn't care. He had no desire to return to his rooms at the mansion, and dropping in on Marinette seemed equally as unpalatable. Chat had his back to the setting sun, and amused himself for a bit watching his cat-shaped silhouette creep across the Parisian landscape. The lengthening shadows mirrored his mood, but ever aware of the possibility of akumatization, he held the worst of his feelings in check, settling into a quasi-desensitized state of packing his heart and everything around it into cold storage.
The weekend passed, but Hawkmoth seemed unaware that the duo were vulnerable and gave them the weekend off. It wasn't until the following Monday that Adrien was forced to face Marienette once more at school, and it went about as well as he'd expected.
He gave her the cold shoulder, and she seemed willing to respect it. Both Nino and Alya noticed the sudden shift in attitude between their respective best friends, but attempts to prod either into an explanation were met with stony silence.
Providence in the form of Hawkmoth deigned to intervene as school ended for the day, with an akuma appearing in the school library. Marinette found a convenient corner to transform and was relieved to find Chat dropping in next to her as she raced up the steps to the library. She'd never actually doubted that Chat would neglect his role no matter how he felt about her, but she'd worked with him in the past when he'd been in a bit of a mood and knew it often clouded his judgement.
True to his word, though, he was completely professional and followed her lead without question. Taking care of the akuma turned into a perfunctory exercise, and as they stood after clearing the scene, she realized he'd not uttered a single word beyond what had been necessary. Tentatively, she raised her fist for their traditional bump. He stared at her for a long, long moment before returning the gesture and saying with her, in unison, "Pound it."
Then he turned and leapt toward the door. Unsure of what, exactly, she was doing, Ladybug followed him as he vaulted through the courtyard's open roof to land in his crouch on the tile. She dropped next to him and found herself staring at his masked eyes, eyes that were blazing with a mixture of anger and hurt.
"There was a time," he said neutrally, "when I would have given anything to have you follow me."
"I realize that now," she said. "Look, Chat, I want to talk about what happened."
"Not here," he said. "And not today." He turned to leap away from her and this time, she was able to snag his tail before he got away.
Chat swore as he came up short, language she'd never heard from him before. "I really hate it when you do that," he said, turning on her, eyes flashing.
"Sorry," she said, dropping his tail from her fingers. "Meet me at the Bakery tonight, Chat."
He bristled slightly as it had come out as a Ladybug command, and thought about saying something. Instead, he nodded tightly, and then leapt away from her. Ladybug again found herself watching his black-clad form whisk away from her. She sent up a silent prayer that Chat would keep his promise and appear on her balcony that evening.
As they'd not set a specific time, Marinette prepped as if Chat were going to appear at any moment, half working on her homework and half keeping an ear out for the telltale rubbery thump of his arrival. As the evening dragged on, she started to worry he'd not show; it grew into a deeper concern when her parents turned in for the evening with the gentle reminder that she, too, needed to get to bed as it was a school night.
Once she was certain they'd retired to their room, she transformed to Ladybug and popped open the Cat Tracker. Her eyes widened when Chat's green paw appeared on her location, and she immediately pushed her way through the skylight and onto the balcony. Scanning the space, though, she didn't immediately see him.
She turned and looked upward, though, when she heard his very quiet, "Hello."
"How long have you been here?" she asked, slightly cross before realizing that was the wrong way to start this conversation.
His masked feline eyes looked down from his perch atop the chimney. "A while," he said, pausing. "I wasn't sure if I wanted to actually be here, to be honest. This felt like a half-way point."
Ladybug nodded at his logic, knowing it was at least a partial victory that he was even there. "Do you want to come down?" she asked, moving to the railing that he often alighted on.
"No," he said.
"All right," she replied, "I'll join you, then." Deftly, she leapt to the chimney and looped her yo-yo around it, lumberjack style, and shimmied her way up to Chat, coming to a stop just below him. She could see him fighting the temptation to say something. "I have food down there, you know," she pointed out.
"I can smell it, LB." He raised a masked eyebrow at her as if to say, obviously.
"Of course you can." Ladybug shifted slightly. "So, here's the thing," she started, carefully watching his eyes. "I can't obviously undo what happened at the ball."
Chat's face remained impassive, but he also didn't appear ready to leave, so she continued onward.
"You could see, maybe, how I might not view your antics at Chat as being anything other than meaningless flirting, right?"
"How would I?" Chat replied. "It's not like we ever talked about it," he added with a trace of snark.
"But I told you, repeatedly, there was another boy."
That brought a snorted chuckle. "Indeed you did. My apologies at not understanding the message." He shifted slightly. "And forgive me for doing what any would have done in my position: redoubled my efforts to convince you to take a second look."
"Ah," she said, seeing now how the two of them had created a virtuous loop: the more she pushed him away, the more he'd pursued her. Ladybug looked at him again, and saw once more his pain; it almost hurt her more that he might truly think she felt anything other than affection for her partner.
She released her yo-yo and dropped to the tile of her patio. "I am sorry," she said, slowly walking to the railing, leaning over it to watch the river. "I had no idea you would feel this badly, and it pains me that I've hurt you." She paused. "That was never my intent. It never could be."
There was a flutter of air next to her as he dropped beside her. Tentatively, he joined her at the railing. "Do you really see me that way? The way you acted on the dance floor?" he asked, very quietly. "I get it if you do."
Ladybug turned halfway toward him. "No," she said. "I don't. Do you I think you can be a little over the top? Definitely," she added with a half-smile. "But now that I know the depth of your feelings for me, I understand why you're mad."
He sighed, and his ears flopped forward a bit. "I'm not mad any longer," he said. "I'm disappointed, I guess. And I'm sorry I wasted your time." Chat turned and leaned his costumed back against the railing, folding his arms in the process. "I don't regret my attempts to woo you," he continued, "and I would do it all over again, even knowing you are-" he paused, looking sidelong at her, "-well, were my best friend, too."
Ladybug's eyes widened. "Whoa, kitty," she said, putting a hand on his arm. "I value our relationship too much to have it dashed against the rocks. I'm still your friend - still want to be your friend. I hope you still want that, too."
He didn't say anything, but as she waited, she felt him raise a paw up to the hand she had on his bicep and carefully wrap it. "I do," he said quietly. "But there are some potholes in the road to be repaired."
"I don't disagree with that assessment," Ladybug replied. She thought for a long moment, then added, "I'm willing to make the effort."
Chat turned and looked at her, his masked green eyes searching hers. "I'm not interested in just a friendship," he said carefully. "Not any longer." He pulled his paw from her hand and stepped away from the railing. "I want a true partnership, one built around love." He looked back at her. "And understanding."
Without thinking, Ladybug found herself saying: "I do too."
That brought him up short. "You do?"
"I do." She could see he was skeptical, and why wouldn't he be? She hadn't exactly endeared herself to him with her past few days of action. But that gave her an idea.
She stepped toward the skylight. "Hang on," she said, with a slight glint in her eye.
He watched as she disappeared and then returned a moment later, holding a small canister of colored sugar, the kind normally shaken out over a cupcake. Ladybug quickly decanted a handful of the red and white crystals into her gloved hand, and then threw them to the air.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" she cried as the sugar tumbled back out the sky and all over the two of them.
Chat frowned as he shook the sugar out of his mane. "What was that?"
"My own version of a Mulligan," she smiled. "I've just wiped away everything from the past two days. Don't you feel better?"
Despite himself, he smiled. "A clean slate, then?" he asked. "We start over?"
"Not exactly," she replied. "We are starting forward of where we were. That gives you something of a head start on my heart."
She leaned up and kissed him, firmly. "Now, kitty, do you want to join me on that road?"
Chat had a cautiously hopeful expression on his face. "I won't stop punning. And I definitely won't stop being who I am when I'm with you. Can you live with that?"
"Yes," she said, without hesitation. "Yes, I can."
And she knew it was the truth.