Song: Angel With a Shotgun – The Cab

AU: None

Genre: Romance

Summary: Marinette's trapped by an akuma, and Chat goes a little feral.

Notes: They know their identities (and have for over a month now), but don't know that the other knows.


She'd been caught unprepared, swept up in a crowd and picked out by the akuma with no chance to transform, and her bag had slipped from her shoulder. She watched with a desperate hopelessness as it fell, handle snagging on a lamppost and saving Tikki from a painful connection with the ground. Heart thudding in her chest, she returned her attention to the grey mass before her. His massive palm enveloped more than half of her body.

Then there was a strangled shout from below, and she whirred her head around in surprise. "Marinette!" he'd yelled in panic and something far more serious than concern. She knew why, this akumatized villain was exceptionally willing to attack.

"Chat! Calm down, I'll be alright. Just handle him like any other akuma," she called down, successfully holding in a pained gasp as the fingers covering her tightened marginally. She saw his head frantically swinging from side to side as he observed the scenery, trying to conjure up a course of action. Then he let out a frustrated growl and just extended his baton, launching himself up to the akuma's level.

She expected him to leer at the akuma, to taunt him into releasing her and more or less just distract him until Ladybug arrived. Maybe swing his baton around a bit.

But not this.

This was feral, a full out attack. It wasn't very long at all until she felt her lungs gain room to breath. The minute his sharp, green eyes caught sight of the giant's fist around her slackening, he swung over and grabbed her, using his baton to coast them from rooftop to rooftop. She was alarmed when he made sure to swipe her bag as they passed it.

Once he was satisfied they were far enough away, he settled them on a flat, empty roof. He reached behind his back to hook his baton, but didn't let her go. Rather, he held her tighter, and brought his other hand around her back as well the moment it was free. Her hands slid slowly from where they'd been hanging on to his neck to his chest, eyes wide as they watched his masked irises flit all over her face. He seemed to be searching for an answer, desperately exploring the contours of her face, but finding nothing.

Her right hand halted over the center of his chest, fingers splaying as she felt the rapid rhythm of his heart. "Chat," she breathed, and his wild eyes finally snapped to meet her gaze. His fingertips delved deeper into the grooves where her waist melded into her back. It wasn't as uncomfortable as she'd thought it would be, to have his claws gripping onto her for dear life.

His right hand tentatively rose, and his knuckles brushed delicately across her cheek. She leaned into the contact, sparks leaping across her skin in the wake of his gloved touch. Was it her, or were his eyes getting bigger, closer?

Then suddenly her bag strap was being pressed into her palm and he was leaping off the roof, hurtling towards where the akuma had been holding her high above the buildings around them.

Still catching her stolen breath, she stood there motionless, staring after Chat's disappearing figure. "Marinette! You have to go help him!"

Tikki. Right, Tikki. Ladybug. He needed her help, she couldn't just stand there. Snapping into awareness, she transformed and bolted after him, swinging carelessly towards the fight. What she saw when she arrived slipped her stomach from its place and launched her heart into space.

Chat Noir was hardly a violent creature, really. He had morals beyond even her, she often thought. He taunted and tricked to win, and his baton was more for transport, distraction, and shield than anything else. But this... was a desperate sort of tactic. He was wild, brash, and she hated herself for it but it was entirely enticing. His body stretched and contorted to attack without abandon, his entire being exuding power and grace.

Her mouth dried up against her will, and she forced herself into action, activating her lucky charm. It seemed like her partner had worn the akuma out rather thoroughly, she observed while surveying the scene, lucky object in hand. Finding an opening where Chat had dodged a messy attack, she launched herself into action. "Chat, Cataclysm!" she commanded, pointing out a lamppost.

From there it had been more or less customary, and they worked in perfect tandem to eliminate the akuma's influence. Once her yo-yo was placed securely back on her hip, she held out her fist for their usual fist bump. Her smile faltered at the dark look in his eyes, though, and she let out a startled gasp as he rushed past her outstretched fist in favor of grasping either side her head and bringing her in for a bruising kiss. His lips were demanding, and desperate, and his fingers threaded despairingly through her hair, as if she'd disappear once he stopped moving against her.

Her eyes were wide in shock and confusion before they slid slowly closed, hands reaching up for his jaw to show him that she was there and she wasn't leaving. Not any time soon.

They drew apart hesitantly when her earrings beeped, and she licked her lips to the lasting flavor of mint he'd left there. "I don't-" she started, not sure what to say. "Why?" she asked at last.

His right hand moved from her hair to her cheek, fingers curling and knuckles tracing over her flushed skin just as they'd done earlier. "Maybe I overreacted, but I can't lose you, M'Lady," he murmured.

Her breath caught, because he couldn't know. There was no way, but the longer her wide eyes peered into his, the more she began to believe it. "I don't understand," she said after a second beep, right before his first.

"I could write a seven-hundred page tome and never be able to explain in any depth how much you mean to me, Marinette," his voice just as low and thick as it had been before. "Anything, I would do anything for you."

Her thumbs traveled from their stations on his jaw to trace his lips, incredulous smile spreading like a wildfire over her own. "Anything?"

"Everything."


Ew, sappy mush.

I can't believe I just wrote that.