The ball was a great success.
Dessert was had, then more dancing and mingling went well into the night.
However the whole evening seemed a little off-kilter, as many seemed to be less nervous, and more expecting an akuma to come and crash the evening.
More and more people actively came to the two superheroes with questions, questions about the future of the evening.
More and more times Ladybug and Chat Noir found themselves repeating Ladybug's words, that vigilance would be key.
Of course, the safety of the passengers and crew would be the duo's number one priority, but because of the case-by-case basis of the akumas, it would be hard to predict exact safety measures.
Through this the team was made aware that any staff who were feeling too pressured to work were invited to take the night off, as shepherded and guided by Chef Simon and his assistants Alice and Maria, who were eager to help in any way that they could.
But, it went off without a hitch.
Ladybug received many compliments on her dress, and she just knew that Alya was updating her Instagram as the night wore on. Possibly one of her highlights was when she was encouraged to join a circle of discussion consisting of major fashion designers, as introduced by none other than Gabriel Agreste, who offered thinly veiled constructive criticism and even a tiny smile, which nearly caused Chat to fall over at the very sight.
The dress was by and large well received by the designers, and even though Ladybug was unable to discuss the creation process, through expert eyes the process was unravelled and discussed anyway.
'I could tell straightaway that it's been hand-stitched entirely,' said one, a beautifully tailored woman with a mask the deepest shade of blue. 'I want to know why she made this creative decision. Does she not have a sewing machine?'
Ladybug flushed slightly under her mask. 'Maybe she didn't have access to it at the time?'
'If it's for an event like this, especially if it's for her debut, I would have at least put in the effort.' She lifted her chin slightly haughtily.
'I think it adds a sort of charming touch,' said another, a man in a power suit with fashionably high shoulder pads and a softest pink mask to match his tie. 'And those stripes would have been the devil itself to not hand-sew.' He shook his head with a chuckle. 'They would have been horrendous either way, to be honest.'
'I think it's gutsy, using a superhero to start up.' Said a short, squat man with thick glasses that sat in front of his mask from next to M Agreste. 'That sort of boldness is a necessity in this kind of cutthroat world. And considering how well she pulls it off?' He shook his head. 'Impressive, is what I say. That's putting an awful lot of yourself out there, more than most would be willing to risk.' He looked pointedly around the group, and a few looked away.
'Young upstarts are always willing to do anything to get themselves seen.' The woman pointed out. 'Don't you remember that one last year who crashed into one of our luncheons, and I do mean literally, through a window?'
'Like I said, it's a cutthroat world. But I think Ms, Dupain-Cheng?, has certainly gotten herself some attention tonight.'
Ladybug had to hold in her giggle of glee, looking sideways to see Chat's surreptitious thumps up.
It had taken all that she had to not join in animatedly on the discussions of fashion, of trends, of anything she could with the group, but took careful notes of what each were saying.
She also struggled to calm her jittery nerves, at being under such scrutiny by people who could make or break her future career, but the overall consensus was that it was being well accepted. Of this, she was the proudest she could have ever been in her whole life.
She'd have to thank Adrien for encouraging her to do this later, she wasn't sure she could show how eternally grateful she was for this opportunity.
Frustratingly, the only thing that kept popping into her mind was just kissing him. It was highly distracting, especially when he kept smiling at her through the evening. Not that she didn't want to, just Ladybug couldn't be constantly staring off into space. Or staring at her partner. Which she seemed to be doing a lot of, actually.
But a quick shake of her head would hold off those pesky thoughts, at least for a little while.
But the evening was grand, and she had a spectacular time.
Even with the photographers dogging her every step, she found herself getting into an easy rhythm of answering any questions that she wanted to, and pointedly ignoring the rest.
But she did have to hold in a laugh whenever a particularly personal or crude question was asked, as quite a few times most of the rest of the group of reporters would stop and stare uncomfortably at the questioner until it became awkward. This seemed to be an initiative spearheaded by Alya, who was having a great time by doing so, and protecting her favourite pair of superheroes.
But the night wore on, and the duo called it a night slightly after midnight, much to the disappointment of the crowds.
The staff were reminded to contact them instantly with the hotline should anything arise after they left, and with a final wave to the remaining people, the two disappeared out the wide oaken front doors.
Ladybug found that when she stepped into their elevator that would take them both to their room, she breathed a huge sigh of relief.
It had been difficult crossing the main gallery as it seemed that a storm had come up while the dance continued, however the ship had been large and stable enough to handle the waves the storm was throwing at it. This did not help the torrential rain however that swept along the main gallery, and the high winds that pushed it along, chasing it into every exposed cranny on the ship.
Now they stood in their elevator, letting the doors close with a level of relief. They were both soaked to the skin, even with Chat giving up his coat to protect Ladybug from the icy chill, her delicate fingers clutching the front closed to protect her dress as much as she could.
Chat bent forward to ruffle droplets of water out of his hair, and Ladybug had to shield her face, raising her arms defensively.
'Hey! You know we came into the elevator to get away from the rain, right?' She scolded him, raising a damp finger.
'Oops, sorry my lady,' he grinned, straightening. 'Do you mean this rain?' He shook his hair a little more violently, releasing more droplets over the girl, who let out a high-pitched noise of complaint. 'I'm terribly sorry,'
'No you're not!' She shot back, half grinning and hunching her shoulders into his jacket to hide from him in the enclosed space.
'Indeed I am!' He said indignantly, stepping closer to flick water from his fingertips while grinning maliciously.
Ladybug stepped forward indignantly to wring out one pigtail, where a small drizzle fell directly onto Chat's shoe.
'I am slain!' Chat proclaimed, slumping against the railing, raising to press the back of his wrist to his forehead. 'If thou be merciful, open the tomb, and lay me with Juliet!' He leant on one foot gingerly, bracing himself against the hand rail, and tried shaking off his dripping shoe much like a cat would.
Ladybug hid her grin behind her fingers. 'What, more Romeo and Juliet? How much of a nerd are you?'
'My lady you have no idea.' Chat winked at her with a grin.
The doors arrived at their floor and slid open, and the two paused as they noticed the figure looking at them strangely.
Of course it was Chloé.
'What are the pair of you doing?' She questioned, looking down her nose at them.
They straightened, almost feeling ashamed at their childishness.
'Nothing of consequence, why?' Chat questioned awkwardly, straightening.
The doors started to close again, so he put a hand through in order to step out of the lift without getting trapped halfway between. He waited until Ladybug had gone through before releasing the lift.
'I could hear your voices all the way up.' She exaggerated, tapping one heeled toe impatiently. She was staring between the two of them like she was expecting something from them, and preferably grandiose.
'Well,' Ladybug gazed back at the girl levelly, raising a hidden eyebrow. 'What can I do for you?'
'I just want to understand something.'
They stared at her for a long moment, as if Chloé was choosing this to be the opportune moment for whatever action she awaited, but it did not come. The two superheroes stared at her slightly incredulously before she continued.
'Why are you treating me this way?' She demanded, her unceasing toe tapping a staccato rhythm. 'All I want is for you two to adore me.' Chloé looked down her nose slightly at them. 'You're not like everyone else. Everyone else does what they're told, why don't you?'
'Because, Chloé, respect is something that one must earn.' Ladybug replied steadily, trying to ignore how damp the lush carpet was becoming underfoot from her slightly sodden dress, and how much that steaming would cost.
All she was wanting with increasing intensity was a deliciously hot shower of the luxury type, and this girl was standing between her and the convenient one in her room. The chill was setting in of the slightly cool hallway, and her damp clothes were doing nothing to ease this.
'Well I've decided,' Chloé paused for even more dramatic effect, 'that if I'm going to be any closer to the two of you then I want to know who you really are.'
The two superheroes exchanged a startled glance, one that they did not bother to try to conceal.
'Chloé, that's not something to be lightly spoken of,' Chat started, raising his hands defensively, but Chloé stepped forward.
'Then and only then can I make you love me. It's simple. So tell me who you are.' She demanded.
Both Chat and Ladybug were hyperaware of not being officially suited up, and despite the two kwamis being present in Chat's inner jacket pocket, if she was fast enough Chloé could quite easily demask them right there, with not a mention of a miraculous.
'No, Chloé,' Ladybug said, standing forward and firm. 'You, like many others, just want to use our identities to manipulate us. I'm not going to allow that.'
Chat nodded resolutely, resting a hand on Ladybug's shoulder.
'But it's not fair!' Chloé shot back, snapping her arms to her sides frustratedly.
'Have you tried, just being friendly?' Chat questioned lightly, before pausing with the exact expression of someone wishing he could shove his entire foot in his mouth.
'Yes!' Chloé turned on him. 'All you did was to pull away! It's so annoying! Is it so much to ask for you to worship me like everyone else?'
'Well, yes.' Ladybug replied, stepping forward slightly into a strong stance. 'People aren't just going to worship the ground you walk on just because you want them to.'
'But they do!' Chloé shot back. 'They always have! And they always will! Just like you will!' She suddenly stepped forward and yanked hard on Ladybug's mask in one snatching motion, managing to rip it almost entirely in half before her fingers slipped on the lace.
With the force of the sudden action Ladybug was forced to tip her head forward, hunching and bending forward, exposing the back of her neck to the girl while her mask dangled precariously from one cheekbone, her eyes wide in horror.
Chat rushed forward to push Chloé back, shoving himself protectively between the two girls.
'Are you alright!?' He burst, seizing Chloé by her wrists so that she could do no more damage.
'...Yes.' Ladybug pushed the mask back into place with both hands, before straightening with a dangerous glare. She then whispered something to herself, before straightening and spreading those hands, the real Ladybug mask blooming between her fingers.
She slowly passed behind Chat, out of Chloé's vision, and when she appeared around the other side, her transformation was complete.
She seized Chloé by the top of one arm from Chat's grasp, crushing one of the perfect sleeves of her dress.
'Would you like to try that again?' Ladybug said in a terrifyingly calm voice, and Chloé paled.
Where the edges of the masquerade mask had sat along her forehead and under one cheekbone now ran angry red lines.
Chloé had drawn blood on the superhero, which now ran a free few drops down her face.
'I-I'm sorry!' Chloé exclaimed.
'I'm sure you are,' Ladybug replied, her fingers tightening. 'Now, if you would like to make some friends, or catch a guy, or whatever, try actually being nice. For once.'
Chloé looked imploringly to Chat for help, but was shocked to find he was glaring at her coldly over Ladybug's shoulder.
'What's the matter with you?' She shot between the pair of them, a panicked look growing on her face. 'Aren't you two supposed to be the heroes? Aren't you supposed to keep me happy so that I don't turn into a villain like all the others?'
'We are the heroes. And we will endeavour to always do what is right. And maybe teaching some lessons along the way.' Ladybug said, and Chat landed his hands on his hips with an expression that could have been considered a snarl.
'But I'm horribly upset! And it's your fault!' Chloé shot back, cowering slightly from Ladybug's steel grip. 'I might do something terrible!'
'We can't cater to the emotional stability of everyone in Paris.' Chat shook his head. 'Yes this is upsetting for you, and we understand that. But you aren't always going to get your way.'
'Well I should!' Chloé snapped, but the worst of the fight from her voice was gone. 'I'm the most important person in Paris, or the world!' She said, almost half-heartedly. She knew she'd gone way too far, and she was afraid of the consequences. This much was clear on her face.
'Chloé Bougeois!' Came a voice from behind them, as the doors slid shut with a ding. 'What is going on?'
'Daddy!' Chloé looked up hopefully, and the two superheroes immediately stepped back.
Mayor Bougeois approached them quickly in long strides, his usually cheerful face pinched in concern.
Chloé's mind was visibly racing frantically, but Ladybug stepped up to plate.
'We ran into each other at the lifts and got chatting.' Ladybug passed off, waving a hand dismissively, attempting to hide her bleeding face subtly.
'I could hear your voices.' The mayor said. 'To me it looked like you two were hustling my daughter. She sounded very indignant.'
'No!' Chloé burst out. 'That's not true at all!' She looked between them, before taking a deep breath. 'We were just talking. About how great friends we all were.'
'What happened to your face?' The mayor questioned Ladybug, who started flailing.
'She walked into a door.' Chloé lied smoothly.
Ladybug reached up to discover a droplet from her cheekbone had dripped gruesomely off of the tip of her chin.
'Here,' the Mayor said seeming to accept this answer in that he wasn't going to get the real one. He offered her his silken pocket square without another thought.
'Thank you,' Ladybug replied, patting at her face delicately. With her clumsiness, this was not her first facial injury rodeo, but she was reluctant to bloody such an expensive accessory.
'Well, what on earth were you talking about?' He questioned between the three of them.
'Growing up?' Chat awkwardly shrugged. 'Teenage angst?'
Ladybug nodded her agreement, but Chloé looked like she was fuming again.
'That is not it at all.'
'Well, what would you like to say we were talking about?' Chat suggested with a lopsided grin.
'I, you,' Chloé stammered slightly, then made a movement like she was tossing her ponytail angrily before remembering that her hair was in a tight bun. 'Whatever. I've had enough chatting, I've grown tired.'
'Well, come along then my princess,' Mayor Bougeois smiled, trailing after her back towards the lifts. 'Let's get you back to your room.'
'I'm not a child, Daddy.' Chloé shot back, without much venom.
The look she sent the two before the doors slid closed was resolute, but she knew that she had been beaten.
The two superheroes knew that she would not cause such problems with them again.
After a long moment of staring at the doors in silence, Chat let out a low whistle.
'Well, that was exciting.' He said.
'Exciting to say the least.' Ladybug replied, turning to head towards their room.
Chat trailed after her lightly, fussing over her face. Plagg appeared from his shirt collar, and insisted on giving first aid advice throughout the short walk, to the point that upon reaching their room door Ladybug threatened to have them both sleep in the hall.
Chat made to put his hand into his jacket pocket for the card, only to recall that it wasn't presently there. 'I think you're still wearing my jacket with the key in it, my lady.' Chat smiled, turning to face her ruefully.
Ladybug looked down at herself. She laughed awkwardly, before scanning the corridor quickly.
Deeming it to be empty she detransformed, holding the masquerade mask to her face with one hand. With the other, she dug into Chat's jacket pocket and produced the key.
She handed it to Chat who unlocked the door and let them into their room.
Once inside, Adrien immediately pulled his gloves off, then started unclipping his false ears with haste but practice. 'Let me help you with that mask, my lady, just hold on.' He said as he finally got one clip undone.
'Thank you.' She replied, seating herself delicately on the couch and looking at the glove on her free hand with a small amount of frustration. 'I'm glad we got those photos back to Alya.' She started, smiling ruefully. 'I know how she thinks, I'll bet she was getting desperate. My money says she was going to go for the Shakespeare thing and climb the balcony tonight or tomorrow.'
'I think you might be right.' Adrien said, finally removing the other ear, then coming over to her to help. 'It was either going to be Shakespeare or a battering ram.'
He took the weight of the mask from her hand, then started to carefully pry it forward to test which parts were still attached.
When they had affixed the masks, they had been glued in five places; a short line below the cheekbones, and a longer line above the eyebrows, making up the four corners of the mask, as well as a small dob on the bridge of the nose between the eyes in case of emergencies.
Chloé had ripped Marinette's mask it seemed from her left side, nearly tearing the mask down the centre before the blob, which only then gave way, and finally took out the attachment line above her right eye and a small fraction of the shorter remaining cheekbone line before her grip gave way.
'It would probably be easier if I just completely took this off.' Adrien admitted, eyeing the remaining line with a practised eye.
'Go ahead, I just want the mask off of me.' Marinette said, the stinging pain from her other wounds almost bringing tears to her eyes. The sharp relief of being Ladybug for a short period had significantly lessened that stinging, but now it was back in full force.
'That's not what Ladybug's been saying to me.' Adrien eyebrowed her jokingly, and she blushed.
'I, you, shut up.'
'That's more like it.' He grinned.
Marinette hid as much of her face as she could in the mayor's handkerchief, hurrumphing at the boy.
He tugged at the remaining line experimentally, to see it was still holding firm.
He sighed.
'Something the matter?' She questioned, peeking around the handkerchief.
'Let me get some makeup remover. Maybe that'll help.' He said, standing and disappearing back into the bedroom.
'Okay,' she said, taking back up the mask.
Tikki appeared over her shoulder, and she looked her over seriously.
'Are you alright?' She said.
'Yes, Tikki.' Marinette smiled. 'I have't been beaten yet.'
'Here,' Tikki suggested. 'Let us take the mask so you can at least take your gloves off. Plagg, get over here.'
Plagg looked up from the coffee table with his cheeks already bulging like a chipmunk. 'Wha'?'
'Oh, whatever.' Tikki waved a dismissive hand at him, before taking Marinette's mask from the girl.
'Thanks Tikki.' Marinette smiled, carefully removing her gloves and her necklace.
'Here, I found it,' Adrien said, appearing back into the room, waving a container around.
He sat on the couch once again, and with great care he removed the rest of her mask.
If she hadn't been flushing at the proximity with which he worked, she certainly was when he tapped her nose when he finished the job.
'There you are. I found Marinette under all of that.' He grinned, sitting back and winking at her.
She had to take a second from that.
'I-I've stopped bleeding, I think?'
'I think you have.' He smiled. 'Thankfully it doesn't look that deep.'
'You should kiss it better.' Tikki suggested from relaxing next to Plagg, and both teenagers flushed red. 'Isn't that something that humans do?' She said with a wicked grin in her eye.
Plagg looked at her with a jokingly disguisted look. 'Really?'
'As the oldest creature in this room I think I'd have the authority.' Tikki smiled.
Adrien stood, still red. 'I'm going to try to get this mask off in the bathroom.'
'O-ok.' Marinette replied, also red, and also stood. 'I'm going to get into my pyjamas in there.' She nodded towards the bedroom.
'Right.' Adrien said, ruffling his hair.
As one, they fled into the respective rooms.
'You can come in, if you like.'
Adrien flinched slightly at being addressed, and stepped through the door like he'd been caught peeping.
Marinette was hardly doing anything worth peeping for, she was curled up and on her phone with the bedside light on in her aforementioned pyjamas.
'Right, sorry.' Adrien said, approaching his bed. 'I didn't want things to be awkward,'
A beat, before, 'well you've done a great job of that, haven't you?' Plagg said from his shoulder.
'Shut up, Plagg.' Adrien said, as Plagg zoomed over to his cheese. 'Who are you texting?' He questioned, changing the subject.
'Alya.' Marinette replied, still not looking up. 'She's telling me all about the ball, and about what happened with Chloé.'
'Yes? What's she saying?' He got into his own bed, rolling on his side to look at her.
'She's calling herself a superhero. She says she should be next in line for a miraculous.' Marinette smiled.
Adrien laughed, and she looked up at that. 'Is that so?'
'Yep, she's also gushing about the photos. Apparently she's going through them on her laptop as we speak.'
'I hope she likes them.' He shifted slightly to make his pillow more comfortable.
'I do too. But from what she's saying, she certainly seems to be satisfied.' Marinette said, looking back at her phone with a contented look.
'Don't stay up too late, my lady.' He grinned.
Despite this, the chatter continued long into the night.
I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY
I hope you like it?
To make up for it, I'll update soon!