So this little story is a one shot and the characters are aged up in it by about three years. They do know who the other is outside of the mask and this was really just an amusing idea I randomly got the other day. Currently I am working on three more stories plus Detecting Ladybugs and hopefully I'll get one wrapped up soon to post. No promises as to when that might be but hopefully sooner than later. Enjoy!

Chat catches a cat burglar in the night and man comes to realize that he is a peace offering to a very pissed off Ladybug.

A Robbers Way

The man's name wasn't truly important although in his line of work people generally referred to him as Rob. His line of work was a dying art in the city of Paris thanks to some do-gooder heroes that patrolled the night. Yes, Rob was thief, con man, and all around burglar.

Mostly it was a decent living and he never stole enough to get the cops permanently on his case. He stole enough to pay the bills and a little extra for comforts but that was it, although these days most burglaries no matter the score were stopped by super heroes. So far most of his cohorts had been taken in by Chat Noir or Ladybug since the heroes presence alone was enough to make even the staunchest man quail in slight fear. Usually the heroes were careful not to hurt them, they were only human after all, but if they tried anything stupid or pulled a weapon on them, both heroes were happy to let them have it no holding back. That meant that sometimes they were a little rough on the worse criminals but unlike the akuma, criminals were in complete control of their actions. This translated to Ladybug as well as Chat Noir having little patience or pity for them. Really the criminals should have known better. After all these two fought and took down real monsters like it was a cake walk and everyone had witnessed what would happen if you really pissed one of them off.

Most people knew not to mess with Chat Noir. Truly, it took an idiot to not see the freaken claws on his hands and see that he was a cat based super hero. Practically every human on earth knew that cats were territorial and protective of their loved ones. If you ever needed proof of that, all you had to do was watch one of the big cat nature shows to infer that Chat Noir wasn't one to mess with. His smaller female Ladybug partner however was a different story. She was sweeter and less of a heavy hitter although all of Paris had witnessed her dealing her own damage in a fight. Mostly though Pair saw Ladybug as the gentler side of the duo, the healer, the calmer hero, and the one most akuma seemed intent on attacking first. No one ever suspected she was the more terrifying one when enraged. Everyone learned that lesson real quick when The Robber incident happened.

It had been a bad fight that had started as a bank robbery gone wrong. Chat showed up when the robbers created a hostage situation and a citizen inside the bank managed to post a plea of help to the ladyblog. Ladybug had been on her way but Chat was closer and the police were unable to get in the way Chat planned to. With the situation rapidly deteriorating, Chat went in alone. He was more than capable of dodging or reflecting a few bullets away from himself, and he had hoped to have the situation resolved by the time Ladybug got there. Compared to the regular akuma battles, the bank robbers didn't even put up that good of a fight, but then it all went south.

A butterfly took over one of the trapped robbers and the rapid escalation of the fight left several people injured. Ladybug arrived and realizing he was outnumbered and outclassed the akuma had done something unforgiveable. In his desperation The Robber had aimed his weapon at some civilians and Chat Noir had taken the hit to save them. The only videos of that fight were basic cameras that someone had hacked to watch what really happened, but from the video Rob was certain that Chat had been very close to death from that hit. He didn't move once he went down and Ladybug became a force of fury that had terrified every man and woman in Paris. She smashed the akuma through the wall and when it was obvious The Robber still wasn't stopping she had let her fury take over. In the ensuing battle she literally tore the akuma apart before capturing his butterfly. Then holding the butterfly she voiced a threat to Hawkmoth that no one but the akuma heard. Whatever she had said clearly put Hawkmoth in his place because since then almost all the akuma attacks had been mild with little damage and no civilians had been hurt since. There had even been two reports of people refusing Hawkmoths offers because they simply didn't want to tangle with the heroes.

No akuma had pushed Ladybugs patience since then either.

A shudder chased its way down Robs spine and he took a deep breath as the lock he was working on finally clicked open. A grin flicked across his face and as he moved to push the door open a voice called out.

"Puuurhaps you should rethink your actions?"

Rob froze a lump instantly forming in his throat as ice seemed to fill his veins. Slowly Rob raised his one hand that still held the lock picks as he silently pulled the door shut with his other hand.

"I don't have any weapons on me cept a knife and I only steal to make a living. My rents due in two days. Think you can give me a pass?" Rob asked

Chat chuckled behind him. "No, but let's go have a chat with Ladybug and see what she says."

Robs face scrunched and as he was about to turn around a clawed hand snagged the heavy jacket he wore. In the next second he was airborne making him yelp out a curse that made Chat laugh. Then they were on the roof of the very building he had been trying to steal from and Rob fell to knees. Breathing hard Rob slowly twisted looking for the cat themed hero. Darkness licked the edges of the rooftop and it was only the piercing, night glow eyes that gave Chats position away. Those eyes unnerved Rob and trying to be at least a little brave he voiced.

"Ya know I wasn't inside the building. Technically I could have been locking up, or uh finding someplace to sleep?"

"Says the man who's rent is due in two days?" Chat asked as he stepped out of the deeper shadows.

It had been three years since the appearance of Hawkmoth and the once young teens were now well on their way towards adulthood. Chat had grown considerably, his musculature filling his suit in well enough that some women were tempted to throw themselves into an akumas path, if only to be rescued by him.

Rob however saw those muscles and cringed fully recognizing the ease at which Chat had carried him up here. He was screwed, although he knew Chat wouldn't hurt him, so long as he didn't try to run or injure the cat themed hero. With a great sigh Rob climbed to his feet and brushed his pants off realizing he had dropped his lock picks when Chat had hauled him up here.

"Can I at least preserve my dignity by walking to the police station? I don't feel like being hauled there over your shoulder and I don't do so well with heights." Rob asked feeling rather resigned to his fate.

Chat grinned moving towards him, but as he was about to speak he suddenly froze. Ears falling flat Chat darted at Rob making the man throw up his hands half expecting to be taken out. Instead with surprising speed Chat darted behind him, his clawed hands coming to rest on Robs shoulders.

"What the hell?" Rob demanded realizing he was shorter than Chat, then all at once he heard a sound that made his blood run cold.

"CHAT NOIR WHERE ARE YOU?!" Ladybugs voice roared from somewhere close and Rob felt his heart quail in fear.

Suddenly, he had an inkling that his capture wasn't random chance. Chat had obviously done something to royally piss his lady off and Rob was about to be the very unfortunate peace offering. The prospect was terrifying enough that he was tempted to pull his knife and see how far he could run.

"Please man, whatever bad things I've done in my life, I ain't never done nothin bad enough to be offered up to a pissed off Ladybug." Rob gasped sweat breaking out along his brow.

Chat didn't get a chance to answer since a figure chose that moment to drop down out of the darkness. Time had done wonders for Ladybug, although she still remained the far shorter pair of the duo. Her beauty had grown though and it was easy to see why Chat was head over heels for her. Right now though she was a dangerous beauty, one that was filled with enough fury to make Rob try and pull out from under Chats claws. The hero stubbornly held on however, and Rob realized Chat was ducking slightly behind him. Seeing Chats movement Ladybugs eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What is going on here?" She asked her voice menacingly soft.

Robs throat went instantly dry but he was saved from answering by Chat.

"I caught us a cat burglar!" Chat said his voice coming out far less confident when her eyes narrowed further and Rob realized it was probably due to the slight pun Chat had made. Chat seemed to realize this too because he continued rapidly being careful not to pun any further. "Just uh… doing my civic duty… I'll get him… to the…police?"

Chats words died off as Ladybugs foot began to tap and Rob felt more than saw Chat cower further behind him.

"Trying to appease me?" Ladybug hissed and Rob knew that his presence had been completely ignored.

"Yes mam." Chat quaked, his answer as simple as possible.

Ladybugs arms crossed making Rob want to shrink down with Chat. "It's not working." She informed him her voice cutting the air like a whip. "That was a weeks' worth of work mister and I'm going to take it out of your hide!"

Chat quivered and Rob didn't even want to know what they were talking about. Suddenly Chats claws were missing from his shoulders and Rob just barely caught the sound of boots edging backwards.

"W-well that akuma is out and about still… I'm sure it will be fixed by the cure…" Chat answered his voice quivering a little bit.

He wasn't lying about the akuma. It was one of the reasons Rob had decided to come out tonight in the first place. With an akuma taking up their attention Rob had hoped to get a nice score without interference.

Ladybug however wasn't appeased by this idea of Chats either because she took one step forwards her hand dropping to her yoyo.

With a yip of fear Rob heard Chat take off and he ducked as Ladybugs yoyo whipped past him. It cracked on stone and Ladybug let out a hiss of frustration at the miss, moving forward as her yoyo snapped back to her hand.

Rob watched her advance, hoping beyond hope that she would simply go after Chat, but as she came even with him she suddenly turned her icy gaze on him. Swallowing hard he inclined his head politely at her.

"Mam…" he murmured face quickly leaching of color.

Even though she was almost a head shorter than him Ladybug gave off the impression than she was staring down her nose at him. It didn't help that she had an overwhelming aura of power cloaking her and her annoyed mood was more than obvious on her features. Ladybug gave him a once over, the unforgiving stare she pinned him with being more than enough to send icy tendrils down his spine.

"I don't have time for you tonight. If I see or hear of you in any way shape or form I will send Chat after you. Then we will have a nice long discussion about your life's choices as you dangle from the top of the Eifel Tower. From there I will leave whatever's left of you for the police to do with as they wish. Do you understand me?" Ladybug snapped her patience for life clearly gone for the night.

Rob nodded eagerly sweat sticking his shirt to his back. "Yes miss Ladybug mam. Never again miss, I'm gonna clean up my act and do something useful." He backed up with Ladybug following until the back of his legs hit the edge of the roof. "I just uh… need to get down."

A savage grin flickered across Ladybugs face and Rob didn't even get the chance to try and run before her yoyo snapped around his waist. In the next second he was air borne and screaming before jerking to a sudden, rather painful stop a few inches from the concrete. Shaking, realizing he wasn't dead he put his feet on the ground and the yoyo released him allowing him to drop to his knees since his legs decided not to work.

"I hope you remember our conversation mister Rob. Now if you will excuse me I have a cat to skin and an akuma to catch." Ladybug called leaping away before Rob could even think to answer.

Heart pounding, Rob slowly managed to make it to his feet and back up to the door where he had originally been caught by Chat. After reclaiming his lock picks Rob stepped away from the door not even wanting to chance going inside no matter the score. A yowl of pain echoed through the night air making him cringe and Rob decided that it might just be time to move to a new city, one with no terrifying Ladybug themed heroes in it.