Thank you, everyone, who read my previous chapter. This chapter was harder to write but I managed to get it out. Hope you've enjoyed it. Do leave a review if you've enjoyed the story. Leave ideas for puns and Akumas if you can.
The superhero pair sat next to each other on the railings at the top of the Eiffel Tower. They were high above the masses enjoying the night view. Patrol went smoothly, the city was quiet, the civilians probably recovering from the Akuma attack earlier in the day.
Chat Noir glanced towards his Lady, she sat sullenly. Staring into the distance, eyebrows knitted and a frown on her lips. Chat Noir nudged her gently with his elbow in an attempt to knock her out of her mood.
"What's bugging you Bugaboo?"
"Don't call me Bugaboo." came the automatic reply. Chat Noir smiled as he waited for his Lady to continue. "I'm sorry, Chat" she sighed, her eyes downcast. "I have something to tell you." She looked at him straight in the eye. Chat Noir leaned back and kept his silence. He knew that now wasn't the time to rush his Lady into a conversation.
"Somebody… Found out my identity." She whispered. Eyes never breaking contact with Chat's own green cat eyes. She watched as the widened in shock before the narrowed, an expression that she didn't quite understand. Frustration? Anger?
"W-what happened?" Chat asked cautiously, trying desperately to keep a calm tone.
"I landed in an alley and de-transformed, I wasn't checking properly a-and a civilian… He saw me." She whispered. She looked away when she realized that her eyes were brimming with tears. "I-I didn't know he was there, he ran towards me because he wanted to ask about his friend. But I had already de-transformed when I landed in the alley." She explained, she precariously balanced on the railing as she brought one knee to her chest, hugging it in an attempt to comfort herself.
"My Lady, I- I'm not mad at you." Chat started. He reached out to her when she snapped her head in his direction. Tears sliding down her soft cheeks, she gave him a confused frown. "Y-you're not?"
Chat took a hold of her hand in his, her hand was so small contained in his own, but so powerful, he could almost wrap his entire hand around her clenched fist. The fate of the city below them rested in these tiny hands. How could he possibly have blamed her when it was so obviously an accident.
He knew Ladybug, she would never reveal her identity on purpose, not with how fiercely she guarded it for the past two years. It was just a stroke of bad luck that she got found out. It's been two years since they started their superhero careers. Two years of constant companionship (when in suit) and unwavering trust in each other. Chat Noir would trust his life with Ladybug, believing in her with whatever crazy plans she would come up with to defeat whatever Akuma that appeared.
And Chat Noir knew that Ladybug had the exact same amount of trust placed in him. He knew that the partnership they had between the two of them Ladybug protected her identity so fiercely to make sure that both of them would be safe should they ever met in an unsavory connection with Hawkmoth.
This was his Lady. Ladybug who allowed him, pathetic Adrien Agreste who only knew how to do science and look pretty for photos. Ladybug allowed Chat Noir to truly be himself. The confident, pun-loving, all smiles, and witty humor. Living a life away from the strict schedules and unrealistic, suffocating expectations from an overbearing yet distant father.
Being Chat Noir with Ladybug by his side gave him a taste of freedom that Adrien could only dream of. Chat jumped off the railing back onto the platform, pulling Ladybug down to him, she followed his lead and Chat Noir hugged her close.
"My Lady, if it was an accident, then it's nobody's fault. I guess even Ladybug's luck runs out." CHat whispered, not really knowing how to reassure her. He settled with rubbing soothing circles on her back.
"You know, I had always wanted you to be the first person I revealed my identity to." Ladybug whisper was so soft that Chat doubted that if he hadn't had his enhanced hearing, he would have missed. "It's not too late." Chat whispered.
Ladybug tensed in his arms, eyes slowly making their way up to his face. Bluebell eyes searching his own.
The unspoken conversation, the tension in the air. Would she really? Would today finally be the day he finds out who the girl behind the mask really was?
Minutes pass, the two of them engaging in silent conversation, Ladybug still wrapped protectively in Chat Noir's arms. The night air was cool but neither of them was affected. Sharing their body warmth with their embrace.
"C-Chat? Do...Do you want to know who I really am?" she questioned, her eyes uncertain.
"More than anything my Lady." Chat Noir whispered reverently "I swore a vow that I would love whoever was under that mask. I never doubted myself."
"Then find me Chaton. Find me and if you're right, I'll allow you to take me on a date." Ladybug giggled while Chat Noir could only gape. Was his Lady serious?
"I'll be needing a couple of clues, My Lady." His grip around her tightened, he would never let this woman go. Never let this opportunity to have her in a more permanent position in his life.
"We've met." Ladybug blurted out. "My civilian self and you, as Chat Noir. We've met." She explained, biting her lips as she looked away. Chat could see the barest trace of a blush from underneath the mask. "I'll be waiting for you mon Chaton." Ladybug stepped out of the cocoon of warmth that they had created, the night air biting at her exposed flesh.
"Before you go, My Lady," Chat called out,"Who was the civilian that saw you?" He took a step closer towards her, not willing to let her out of his grasp so soon. Those few minutes when he had her in his arms were far too short.
"It's Felix… Felix Agreste." With that she shot her yo-yo out into the distance and zipped away, flying in the sky with practiced ease. It had been two years, the sensation of flying in the air was almost second nature.
His brother?
The sharp pains in his chest returned full force, it seemed like his brother was accomplishing things that Adrien never could in the short month that he had returned to Paris. His clenched his fist and stared angrily down at the city. Chat took a deep breath and held it. Releasing it along with the frustration that he felt. It wasn't his brother's fault. It was just the bad luck that came along with his Miraculous.
Taking a few more moments to calm himself, before he started to make his way back home. He allowed himself to run on autopilot. He blinked and realized that he wasn't along the rooftops of the neighborhood of his house. He spotted a familiar balcony in the distance and took a moment before deciding to continue forwards. It was summer vacation, surely his Princess was still awake, he remembered how often she would stay up as she completed her work, be it for school or her own personal sewing projects.
True to form his Princess was sitting on her bed, the lamp on as she read a heavy looking book. He hesitantly knocked on her window, waving when she looked up in shock. Well, it was the second time he was visiting her that night.
He watched as she scrambled out of bed and up her ladder to open the hatch up to the balcony. "Chat Noir? What's going on? Why are you here?"
"Can't I check up on my favorite civilian?" He forced a smirk on to his face. Marinette frown deepened as she watched her partner appear to be unaffected. She knew what this was about. She knew it definitely had to be something related to the bomb Ladybug had dropped on him not even half an hour ago.
Marinette squinted at him, searching for something with her bluebell eyes. She gestured her head towards the lounge chair. It was the comfortable corner she had set up, it had a shelter and fairy lights wrapped around it. A small side table next to the lounge chair. Chat sunk into the chair with a sigh. He pulled his legs up to his chest, attempting to make himself as small as possible. Marinette sat at the unoccupied half of the chair.
Marinette sat in silence, allowing Chat Noir time to gather his thoughts. It was the least she could do. Chat didn't need someone to solve all his problems for him. He seemed like the type of person who had a lot of people telling him how to do things. She could sense it in the way he reacted in the early days of their partnership when both of them still hadn't figured just how to work in sync.
Chat would frown and be moody despite saving the day. He would hesitate to follow her orders and when that happened it cost them precious seconds and their odds of winning decrease. So Ladybug did what she did best, she observed and she learned and she adapted. She stopped giving him orders and gave things to do. How he accomplished that task was up to him.
It worked and it contributed to the flawless dynamic that the duo currently shared.
Marinette allowed him to make his own decisions, both as Ladybug and as Marinette. She gave him a problem or task and left it up to him to decide how he would achieve the solution.
"Marinette, I've always been in love with Ladybug." Chat started. "From the first day we worked together and when i first saw her fall on top of me, I thought it was fate." He ignored Marinette's wince and continued on. "We've fought so many Akuma, saved countless of lives. We've always had each other's back."
He looked up to the sky, the moon bright in the sky. The view from Marinette's balcony wasn't the best but you could see the clear night sky with hardly any obstructions.
"Do you know what she means to me, Princess?" Chat asked softly, green eyes stared into blue irises. Marinette shook her slowly, her interest piqued. Chat hardly spoke of his feelings of Ladybug., of why he had fallen for Ladybug in the first place. He spoke of her, he spoke of her amazing skills in the battlefield. He didn't tell Marinette what made him fall for Ladybug.
"She gives me hope." He sighed. "My home life… It's not the best, Princess. I feel like a prisoner in my own home. I'm not allowed to do anything that hasn't already been predetermined into my schedule. I can't even hang out with my friends without submitting a request 3 business days in advance." He clutched himself tighter. "It's tough. My father… He cares about me, I know it. I just wished he showed it in a different way." He felt a small hand on the top of his own clenched fists.
"I used to think that I would be stuck in that house forever, no friends, barely any family. I'd have nothing but my father's legacy to my name." He spat bitterly."When I received my powers, it was like I was finally able to breathe. When I met Ladybug It was like my eyes had finally opened. Here was this girl, terrified out of her mind, with powers she didn't know how to control. And her biggest concern was still the people of Paris." Chat smiled wistfully.
"She understood that being Ladybug was bigger than her. Bigger than her fears. Because she's the only one who could purify the Akuma. I understood that she was bigger than me. She took the role of Ladybug like a duck to water. Like a kitten to playing with string." He playfully batted Marinette's pigtails, making the girl smile at him.
"I fell in love." Chat sighed. "She's just a normal girl, like you. Like how I'm just a normal boy. We just happened to have received super powers. Despite all her fears and anxiety, she scraped every single ounce of bravery she had and took the mantle of Ladybug." Chat rested his head on Marinette's hand that still held on to his clenched fist. "I vowed to love that girl behind that mask, Princess. It's been two years but I still do."
Marinette ran her fingers of her free hand into Chat's messy wind-blown hair. She was desperately trying not to blush at Chat's words. He really did love the girl behind the mask.
He really did love her.
"I've always thought that I'll never be able to reach Ladybug, Princess." Chat sighed. Marinette could feel the warmth of his breath on the back of her hand. "She's like an unattainable dream but tonight… Tonight, she asked me to find her." Chat smiled slightly. "It's like I can almost touch her. The girl behind that mask. I'll introduce myself to her and I just know that we would be the best of friends. We would sync just as well as our civilian selves as we do when we're transformed."
"I'm scared, Marinette." He looked at Marinette with wide green eyes."What if she sees who I really am and we can't get along. What if her civilian self actually hates my civilian self." Chat continued, tears forming in his eyes. "What if my civilian self isn't good enough for her?"
"Oh Chat, don't be silly, if what you've said about how being Chat is the truest version of you, then there's no way Ladybug would hate your civilian self. Or are you saying that you would reject Ladybug's civilian self?" Marinette proded. She scooted closer to the cat, pushing him aside, Chat Noir stretched out and rested his legs on top of Marinette's own.
"Of course not, no matter who her identity is under that mask, I'm confident I would- will love her." Chat argued. "Then I don't see the problem Chat." Marinette replied with a gentle smile. Chat Noir stared at Marinette in wonder before giving her a grin.
"Thank you, Princess." Chat nuzzled her hand before swinging his legs off of Marinette's lap. "It's getting late, this cat's gotta scat." He made his way to the edge of the balcony. He let out a gasp of surprise when his arms were full of one of his best friends. Marinette hugged him tight, Chat marveled at the strength she held in her tiny body. A moment later she let go and looked up at him with wide blue eyes. "Have a good rest Chat. I wish you luck in finding Ladybug."
Marinette watched as Chat Noir leaped across the rooftops into the distance when he was out of sight did she finally make her way back into her room. Pulling her blankets up to her chest, she snuggled in bed and smiled to herself. Her heart fluttering in her chest as she replayed Chat's earnest words.
Watching him be vulnerable in a way he had not let anybody else see him, not even Ladybug knew this side of Chat Noir. Marinette couldn't help but clutch her cat pillow closer to her. Imagining that it was the firm warm body of her partner.
Leave a review if you've enjoyed this chapter. Leave Akuma ideas and puns if you can.