Uhhhhhhh... sorry?

Chapter 52: Dark Cupid

"This is going to be horrible, Tikki," Marinette complained. "Fighting Dark Cupid with Adrien?"

"He's still your partner," Tikki rationalized. "And if worse comes to worse, there's always true love's kiss."

Marinette moaned, rolling over and slamming her hand into her pillow. "I can't believe I kissed Adrien."

Tikki didn't say anything, letting Marinette scream into her pillow.

It wasn't just the romantic aspect that had Marinette reluctant to fight Dark Cupid. Dark Cupid could fly, which meant lots of rooftop running for her and Chat Noir. Her ankle was doing much better with the brace and pain medication, but she didn't want to make it worse.

Marinette took a deep breath and pushed herself out of her bed. She had told Alya she was feeling sick, so her parents might check on her, but it was a risk she needed to take.

"Ready?" Tikki asked.

Marinette nodded. "Ready. Spots on!"

Having an ankle injury must suck, Chat Noir thought, painlessly racing on top of the rooftops. He didn't blame Ladybug for procrastinating on this one.

But he thought he had a solution - well, twelve percent of one. He'd need Ladybug to actually figure out how to implement it, but it was a start.

An arrow landed where Chat Noir had been a moment ago as Chat Noir turned sharply. He had plenty practice keeping his path unpredictable, but Dark Cupid wasn't struggling to keep up.

Stupid wings.

Chat Noir vaulted over a street and landed on a rooftop with a roll. An arrow thudded in the roof besides him.

He heard the thump of Dark Cupid's bow, but this time, no arrow landed.

"Starting to think you stood me up on our date," Chat Noir commented.

He could almost hear Ladybug roll her eyes.

"Thanks for the distraction, Kitty," Ladybug said. She whirled her yo-yo, deflecting multiple arrows.

"I have an idea," Chat Noir said. "We need to disable his wings."

"Great idea, except how can we pull that off without - oh, I know! Head for the hotel!"

For once, Chat Noir thought he understood her plan. If disabling the wings wasn't an option, a short ceiling would suffice.

Chat Noir and Ladybug bounded across the rooftops, the tiles slipping and sliding under their feet. It made it hard to run, especially in a zigzag, and nearly caused Chat Noir to fall off the roof.

With a thump, an arrow landed in his arm.

He didn't get a chance to think anything except ow before Ladybug pulled him in, kissing him.

The arrow had no affect.

"What was that?" Chat Noir asked.

Ladybug blushed. "Worked last time."

"Last time?"

But Ladybug was already off, and Chat Noir followed behind.

Two rooftops later and the hotel was within sight. Chat Noir split his baton and sent one half crashing into a window.

Without slowing down, Chat Noir and Ladybug threw themselves into the room. Ladybug tucked and rolled, and Chat Noir landed on his feet.

"Now that's just cheating!" Dark Cupid yelled. "Come out and fight me for real!"

"Wings are cheating too!" Chat Noir replied.

Ladybug grinned mischievously. "Yeah, one would think you couldn't win in a one-to-one fist fight. What? Are your muscles too weak?"

"It's two to one," Dark Cupid complained. "And I'm stronger than both of you!"

"Prove it," the heroes replied in unison.

Dark Cupid huffed and flew into the room, shooting at the heroes like a missile. Ladybug ducked, and Chat Noir vaulted over him and landed on his back.

"Hey! Get off!"

Chat Noir used his good arm to wrap around Dark Cupid's neck, and tucked his legs around his hips. Dark Cupid bucked and turned, trying to knock him off and running both of them into various walls.

Ow. Ow. Ow.

When one of Dark Cupid's wings slammed into Ladybug, Chat Noir was forced to admit his strategy wasn't working.

He dropped back on the ground, and Ladybug moved in, wrapping her yo-yo around Dark Cupid's wings and kicking him into the wall, hard.

Dark Cupid face planted and backed up, just for Ladybug to ram him into the wall again.

"Uh?"

"His akumatized object is on his chest," Ladybug said. "I'm trying to break it."

"This doesn't even hurt," Dark Cupid scoffed. "Weak."

Ladybug kicked him again, extra hard.

Something cracked, but it must not have been the pin, because nothing happened.

Ladybug pulled Dark Cupid closet to her, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She shot Chat Noir a frantic look, and he moved in.

"Uh, Ladybug, the pin isn't on his chest," Chat Noir commented.

"What?" Ladybug asked. "But that's - oh, that's so not far."

Dark Cupid chuckled, and Ladybug threw him against the wall again.

"Is she even allowed to do that?" Ladybug asked.

Chat Noir shrugged.

Ladybug backed up, scanning Dark Cupid for the pin. Her eyes lit up, and she snatched it off of his quiver. She dropped it on the ground, and stomped.

"We need to talk," Chat Noir said, dragging Ladybug out of earshot of The Unclocker and the hostages.

"What did you mean last time?" He asked.

Ladybug blushed. "Ah, so um, we kinda kissed the first time we fought Dark Cupid?"

"What!"

The screech echoed through the room, and The Unclocker cocked an eyebrow at them.

"It's no big deal," Ladybug said. "I had to break you from his spell, and earlier in class Bustier was talking about a-"

"True love's kiss," Chat Noir remembered. "You love me."

"As a friend!" Ladybug lied. "You're my partner, Chat. Of course I love you."

"What love is more true than that of two people willing to fight besides each other?" Chat Noir asked dramatically.

Ladybug facepalmed. Why was her partner so dramatic?

"Thank you," Chat Noir said. "For keeping me from doing all that again. I don't want to fight you."

"I don't like fighting you either," Ladybug replied. She leaned up and pecked him on the cheek. "I love you, Chat. Maybe not romantically, but that doesn't mean it's not as strong."

"I love you too," Chat Noir replied, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

The Unclocker coughed. "Can we please get a move on here?"

"Right." Ladybug moved away from Chat Noir. "Volpina next."

I kept meaning for this chapter to turn romantic (part of the reason I was procrastinating on it so long), and it wouldn't. That's also partly why its so short.

Volpina will be a short one, but then we get to the fun chapters. Mwa ha ha ha.

And it will not be another 9 months this time. (sorry)