Hello there! There's my story for the spooky season! I didn't want it to get lost in the flood of Halloween fics around the 31 of October so, here it is a little earlier.
Thank you JuliaFc for the quick beta reading.
NOTE: Characters are aged-up to 18 (post Monarch defeat) there's no underage drinking!
Chat Noir frowned as he suddenly felt Ladybug's hands coming to rest on his face from behind, covering his eyes from the dim twilight light. "What are you doing, Bugaboo?" He slowly brought his hands on top of his Lady's, frowning some more.
A giggle escaped her mouth, a lovely little pig snort soon mingling with it. The noise she made playfully echoed in his left ear, deep down his heart. "It's a surprise," she said with an unmistakable smile gracing her voice. "I need my hands now so promise you won't open your eyes and look at what I'm picking up for you?"
A surprise. This was somehow… unexpected and… pretty unusual of her. Plus… Was he smelling a whiff of wine in her breath? Mulled wine? With spices maybe? He could smell cinnamon, that much was clear. It was surprising coming from his partner, and his curiosity was now thoroughly stirred up. To top it all, his heart was throbbing faster with the anticipation bubbling inside of him.
"I won't. Cat's honor." The left hand he raised beside his head came to instantaneously emphasize his statement.
Ladybug's hands soon moved with a new purpose, reaching for what he guessed could be her yoyo, or at least something hidden inside of it, before both her hands settled on his cat-ears. They started to gently fumble with these—which he found strange to be honest. Although, he allowed himself to bask in the way her fingers stroked his hair rather than protest or ask questions.
"You can open your eyes now. Just one last adjustment, and you're going to look adorable!"
This. This only added to his bewilderment.
"Oh, really?" His eyes darted up, but he couldn't see what she was putting on his head.
She hummed, then he felt the loss of her gentle touch as her hands moved off his hair. "There! You're ready!" She presented her yoyo to him in mirror mode, and he couldn't help but gasp before a small smirk quickly replaced his gaping mouth.
"Horns?" Chat Noir raised a brow as he intently took in his reflection.
"For the two of us," Ladybug said as she pointed to hers, and throughout the mirror, he eventually saw the two red peaks pointing on her head.
"These look very cute on you, but I still don't get it?"
"This is Halloween, and we're going to party it up."
He turned around, the grin curling the corner of his lips only widening as he crooked a brow at her. "Are you sure you didn't already start the party without me?"
"M-maybe."
"What did you do to my responsible Lady? What witch cast a spell on you, huh?"
"Some wicked witch called 'growing up', I guess?" She blatantly sighed with a heavy shrug. "I'm sick of the 'eat, sleep, patrol, repeat' thing. It's like listening to a broken record. It gnaws you up to the bone."
"So, Since the Butterfly Miraculous seems to have disappeared with Lila, and that our patrols are useless, you're trying an 'eat, sleep, drink, repeat' instead?"
"Sort of? It's more of a let go. No one can blame us, right? We've been at it for years. And it's been months since Paris hadn't been attacked by Lila, nor Félix."
"And you want to party to have a semblance of normal youth?" he inquired, although he already knew the answer. Chat Noir felt the same about his duty. Even more since his father had been thrown in jail for being the former villain terrorizing Paris. Neither Adrien, nor Chat Noir had had rest since that day. Between Gabriel's trial, the invasive paparazzi and the patrols to find Lila and Félix… His life was hectic.
"Yes," she whispered. "If you'd have me? There's a horror maze at Place des Vosges and some more attractions around there. The music isn't bad and the mulled wine is… delightful."
"Of course, I'll have you. This sounds like a very good idea for the two of us. Though, I won't drink anything, just in case."
"I will return the favor next time. Lady's honor." The ladybug heroine brought her right hand on her heart, her stance stern.
"Fair enough." Chat Noir smiled. "Let's have some fun."
After spending years fighting plenty of strange and scary things; some sort of King Kong, a giant bee-nana, Sentimonsters… Chat Noir thought nothing could scare his Lady anymore.
He was wrong. So wrong.
Zombies were not her thing. His partner was clinging to his arm as if her life depended on it by the time they both found the way out from the horror maze.
"Goodness! It was awful!" Ladybug complained.
"Come on, I know how to soothe all these emotions." He pulled on her arm and dragged her across the park. There was a rifle shooting range with targets bearing the features of Monarch, and he really wanted to give it a try.
Before being able to reach their destination, they stopped to take some pictures with fans—their presence had obviously not gone unnoticed. Chat Noir then insisted on buying her a tumbler of mulled wine with a slice of pumpkin pie. Though he left out the wine for tonight, he didn't do the same with the pie, taking three slices in a row and eating them so fast one would think the hero hadn't been fed in a week.
"Go easy, you'll get a liver stroke," Ladybug chuckled, though concern was palpable in her voice anyway.
"Says the one who's going to end up with a hangover in the morning," he snorted as he engulfed the crust of his last bit of pie in a not-so-gentlemanly manner.
Ladybug stuck her tongue out at him, and the more he sneered, the more he nearly choked to death, until… he ended up coughing. Deep and loud.
In turn, the heroine sniggered but it didn't last long whilst he abruptly went into a full throttle of croaks.
"Chat, you okay?"
She put a hand on his shoulder, but he brushed it away with a sudden, clunky gesture to bring his fist to his mouth and cough into it with renewed vigor.
"Chaton?!" Her eyes began to squint frantically as she looked around, alarmed. Quickly chasing the panic and hesitation away, she moved to his side and started to bang hard her hand flat between his shoulders blades, and…
He burst out in laughter. She had been caught in his trap, and it had actually been a little too easy for his liking.
"You're a freaking dork!" she shouted as she threw her hands up in the air and spilled the last drops of her drink along the way in her moment of agitation.
"That's what Halloween's made for, M'Lady! Be freaky, spooky, and silly."
"This is not Halloween's definition but rather the definition of yourself," she muttered through gritted teeth. "I hate you! I hate when you scare me that way!"
"I'm sorry. That wasn't any fun. How can I make it up to you?"
"By staying alive, you stupid alley cat!" Her pitch raised, making people in the park turn around to look at them. "I can't lose you. I've come close too many times before," she added, and this time, her voice faltered in a weak whisper. Tears began to pool at the corner of her eyes, glistening under the moonlight.
Chat Noir gulped. He didn't intend on going so far, nor to make her feel bad by reviving painful memories. Slowly reaching out, his fingers carefully brushed his partner's cheekbones and wiped the fresh tears from under her eyes.
"I don't plan to leave you, M'Lady. You'll have to put up with me for a long time." There were no more tears now that his touch had driven them away, but his hand stayed nestled there, gingerly stroking her cheek in a soothing gesture. "You'll have to stand me for nine lives actually," he murmured.
A small smile which was totally devoted to her made a tentative appearance on his mouth until she smiled back at him.
"You're really silly, you cat demon." A watery giggle left her pursed lips as she reached out to readjust his devil horns on his head.
"But at least, you're laughing now." His hand slowly moved, brushing a lost strand of hair back in place behind her ear. He could hear her breath catch in her throat when he did, and as he made a move in order to back up, she put a hand on top of his. Her breath freed itself in a sigh as she looked him straight in the eyes, a glint of je ne sais quoi shining in her eyes. He couldn't quite place the origin of it, but it was deeply intense, that much was clear.
She was standing so close to him that he could smell the wine teasing his nostrils and almost taste it on his strained lips.
He tried very hard to resist the urge of letting his eyes flick to her lips. Even harder to prevent his lips from taking a forbidden taste.
"I'm laughing, but don't make me change my mind," Ladybug stated very earnestly, giving his hand a squeeze before letting go. "If you do it again, you'll have one less life on your clock," she sternly warned him.
Just the distraction he needed and an effective reminder that he had to snap out of it.
"Got it." His hands fell back to his sides before he grabbed one of hers and dragged her across the park again. "Well, shall we try this shooting range?"
They arrived at the stand in less time than it took to say 'pull'. Both of them taking a rifle, they took great pleasure to smash all the Monarch targets one after the other until they exploded the scoring rate. Finding themselves with so many points they didn't know what to do with them all, they ended up sharing them with the children all around. Chat Noir only kept the bare minimum so he could get something for his Lady.
"200 points. Pick anything." Chat Noir lifted his chin, motioning to the plush pile hanging behind the old lady who owned the stand.
"What about you?"
"I don't mind. I just want to see you enjoying your Halloween evening." He shrugged.
Ladybug's eyes moved from his face to the stand, her gaze zeroing on each and every item until she chose one. The gasp leaving Chat's mouth didn't fail unnoticed. It stopped the old lady in her tracks and made her turn toward him while she was retrieving a plush that was none other than his likeness. This made his partner laugh.
"What happened? Cat got your tongue?" Ladybug sassed as she was finally given her prize.
"A Chat Noir plushie?" He raised an inquisitive brow and took the doll in his hands, scrutinizing it from every angle with a deep frown.
"Not just any old one," she said. "A Chat Noir plushie with horns." She grabbed and pulled the horns out of her hair and placed them on the cat plush's head. "Now it looks just like you."
"Hm, not yet enough actually." He moved the doll as if addressing his partner and cleared his throat, taking on his most charming voice. "Trick or kiss, Bugaboo?" Since the plush couldn't smirk and beat his eyelashes, he did so for it.
The way she grinned before her lips found his wasn't at all what he had expected her to choose between the trick or kiss thing. His whole body tensed with unpreparedness, completely caught off guard. If she had chosen to kiss the Chat Noir plushie, he would already have been very surprised. But now... He had been so taken aback he couldn't even respond to the kiss. Caught up in a freak out momentum, he even ended up pushing her away gently; he needed to understand what had just happened first before getting carried away.
It was probably not the way Ladybug expected him to react to the fact she finally kissed him. She blinked at him in utter confusion, her cheeks flushing a deep shade of red. Well, she had every reason to take it the wrong way. He just screwed up like a moron.
"Ah... Uh… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... I'll go do tricks... I mean I have tricks… things… to do. It's late, and I might be drunk. Yes that is; I'm drunk so… Sorry again." Ladybug took back the plushie and hugged it against her chest with a sad smile, looking at her feet so as to not to look him in the eyes. "I'd better get back home."
With these last words, and not even a last glance, she ran far away from him, leaving him utterly flabbergasted by the turns of events.
Second (and last) part coming on Monday.
Feel free to leave your opinion.
Miraculous kisses!
