Marinette capped her pen with a dramatic flourish. "Done, Tikki!" she cried happily.
The kwami bobbed up and down excitedly. "Good job, Marinette! Now you can do something fun!"
Marinette grinned, packing her homework folder into her school bag. "Any suggestions?"
Tikki bit her lip. "I don't mean to be a pain, Marinette, and I know I'm nagging you, and that you probably don't want to hear this right now, but I think you should work on your Valentine's Dance dress."
Marinette's shoulders tensed, before slumping down again. "I'm not going to the dance, Tikki. What's the point?" she said sadly.
"Are you not going at all, or not going as Marinette?" asked Tikki slyly. Marinette rolled her eyes.
"Haha, very clever," she said sarcastically. "If you must know, I haven't decided yet."
"Marinette, you've only got fourteen days from now to decide!"
"So what?" Marinette glanced at her kwami. "That's two weeks, I've got plenty of time!"
"It'll make life easier if you do it soon," insisted Tikki.
The superheroine raised her eyes to the heavens. "Tikki, the dance is for couples. I don't want to keep playing the third wheel. There's no-one I want to go with, so the answer is no, I probably won't go.."
Tikki's eyes widened in surprise.
"...as Marinette," the girl continued. "But I really don't think I should go with Chat Noir either." She groaned suddenly. "Speaking of Chat, I've got a patrol tonight, don't I?"
Tikki nodded silently. Marinette threw her head over the back of her chair, so her bedroom was upside- down.
"Great," she grumbled. "I'll just have to sort out my issues once I get back. Tikki, spots on," she commanded, her voice devoid of expression.
Once her transformation was complete, the pigtailed hero drew her yo-yo, clambered out of her room, and swung away from the bakery. She lost herself in the familiar rhythm of yo-yoing herself across the city, momentarily lost the pain of her broken heart. But it was temporary relief. Pain like that didn't just go away. It would be back to torture her later.
But not now.
Ladybug landed on the Tower. She was alone on the platform. There was no leather-clad partner, smirking at her and cracking jokes. Perhaps he had forgotten. Or maybe he was just late.
Ladybug leaned against a steel beam, sliding down until she was sitting, knees bent so that her legs formed right angles. She crossed her arms over her chest and gazed out at the city, beautiful in the setting sun.
Checking her yo-yo, she realized that if Chat didn't show soon, she might have to call it a night. No sense patrolling without a partner.
The superheroine put her weapon away and continued to look out at Paris. She didn't want to address her problems, even mentally. Being Ladybug was a break from Marinette, even though Marinette didn't see them as different people. No one knew that Paris' guardian was suffering from the same problems as so many other teenage girls. Heartbreak and indecision. Ladybug snorted quietly to herself. Indecision was an old friend of hers. Heartbreak was not. Disappointment, sure, but not to this level.
Ladybug stood, ready to leave. She clenched her fists at her sides and stared out at her beloved Paris. Could she face her emotions? Would she ever get over her pain?
She knew what most people would say. That of course she could, she was Ladybug, the incredible hero of Paris. That she could do anything.
But she was also Marinette, and she just didn't know.
Shaking her head at herself, the red-suited girl turned to leave. She gasped and flinched when she saw her partner leaning against the very beam she had just been sitting against. He gazed at her intently out of his glowing emerald eyes.
"Evening, m'lady."
"Chat Noir, you should really stop sneaking up on me like that," scolded Ladybug.
He stretched, cat-like, and gave her his iconic grin. "Sorry, m'lady. Didn't mean to make you suffur."
Ladybug couldn't help herself. She laughed. "I'm pretty sure your puns are getting worse."
Chat feigned hurt, pouting. "Aw, come on. I've heard worse!" He looked over and noticed that the laughter had fallen off his partner's face. He bit his lip. His lady seemed to be having mood swings again. Last time he'd bothered her when she'd been like this, it really hadn't ended well. He winced at the memory of the furious fire in his lady's eyes. However, she seemed more sad than irritated this time, so he decided to take the risk.
Anything for his bugaboo.
"Rough day at school?" he tried cautiously, preparing himself for the force of her rage. But it didn't come.
Ladybug sighed and continued to stare out at Paris. "You could say that."
Chat desperately wanted to ask her why but restrained himself. It was time for phase two, and he couldn't stuff this up.
Ladybug didn't meet Chat's eyes. She kept looking over the lights of Paris. Night had fallen, and ordinarily now she would be running over the rooftops, patrolling the city. But she wanted to stay here, under the stars, talking with her partner. She kind of wanted to tell Chat Noir why she'd had a rough day. But she wouldn't for two reasons. One, her heartbreak was meant to stay in her civilian life. This was her escape, and it had no place here tonight. Two, Chat Noir's intentions had been good when he had sent her to meet Adrien. He had truly been trying to give her happiness and did not deserve to hear of her pain.
"Ladybug?" Chat's voice pulled her out of her thoughts, thank God. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course, Kitty," she replied listlessly.
Chat exhaled. He could do this. "How was your talk with Adrien last night? When's your first date?" He worked hard to keep his voice curious and joking. He had to be convincing if this was going to work.
Ladybug stiffened like she'd just seen Medusa and had been turned to stone. He could only just hear her breathing- shallow and gasping.
"LB? Are you alright?" This time it was careful concern. Chat reached out to touch her. She felt as cold as ice.
"I'm sorry, Chat," she whispered, voice cracking. "Can we not talk about it right now, and just go on patrol? Please?" Her voice was pleading, and it cut him like a knife to hear the pain in it- pain he had caused.
"Sure," he said gently. "But LB…."
"Yeah?"
"My mama used to say that a problem shared was a problem halved. Maybe if you told me later, it would make you feel better." Chat felt bad for manipulating her into telling him, but he desperately needed this. It was all part of the plan.
"'Used to say'?" asked Ladybug. "Did you lose your mother?"
Chat wanted to curl into a protective ball, just as he always did whenever someone brought up his mother, trying to shield the precious few memories of her that he had left. But he answered her question. "Yes."
"I'm sorry," said his partner gently.
"Yeah, well, thanks, LB." Chat ran his clawed hand through his hair, messing it up even more.
"Patrol?" asked Ladybug.
Chat grinned, and bowed deeply, extending his baton. "Ladies first."
By the time he looked up, Ladybug had already leaped off the Tower and was dipping downwards. Smiling, he followed her, and the guardians of Paris began to patrol their city.
Later, an exhausted pair of superheroes came to rest again on their starting point. Both panting, they stood quietly for a minute, catching their breath. Their uneventful patrol had ended with a grueling race to the Eiffel Tower that had tested their parkour skills and left the two competitors out of breath.
Once their chests were no longer heaving and they were breathing normally again, Chat turned to Ladybug. "I don't want you to feel like you're being pressured to do this, m'lady," he said gently," but if you want to talk about it, I'm all ears."
Ladybug's shoulders slumped, causing the moonlight rolled over her suit with the movement. She sighed heavily. "Okay. So I went to Adrien's and talked to him. He said… that you'd told him that I turned you down for him." Ladybug went slightly pink beneath her spotted mask. "Then he said that there was something he needed to tell me. I got excited, thinking that he was going to say that he loved me…." Ladybug stopped and turned away, leaving Chat with a view of her back.
"Look at me, LB," said Chat softly, scooting around to face her.
"Adrien rejected me," she said flatly. "He- he wasn't nice about it either. Wasn't considerate of my feelings at all. He said that there was another girl. I…. was really upset, and I- I didn't want him to see that he'd hurt me. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction." Ladybug's gloved hands curled into fists, tight little balls of anger. Then she looked up at Chat, eyes glossy with unshed tears. Then she broke. Her careful damn that had been holding back her emotions burst, and she began to sob, trying to twist away from her partner.
Chat Noir was having none of it.
Instead of letting her try to hide her tears, Chat grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug. "Shhhh," he whispered into her hair, stroking her back gently. "It's gonna be okay."
She trembled. "I'm so sorry, Chat." Her voice was muffled, as her face was pressed against Chat's chest. "It's just that… he broke my heart, really and truly, and it was meant to stay in my civilian life! Patrol was meant to be an escape because no-one thinks that their wonderful Ladybug will have all the problems of an average teenage girl. I was meant to go out and have a nice time with you, and forget about him! But I just can't." Her tears came down like tiny waterfalls.
Chat let her cry, holding her close the whole time. His arms were wrapped beneath hers, encircling her narrow waist, pressing her to him. Not in that way, but because it would stop her from shaking so much as the sobs wracked her body. She wept into his chest, and Chat's heart ached for the pain that he had caused her.
After a long minute, Chat loosened his grip and held her by the shoulders. She gazed up at him, her bluebell eyes gorgeous in the moonlight. He smiled tenderly and brushed her tears from her cheeks with his gloved hand.
"You know, I think I know what might cheer you up." Suddenly Chat grabbed her hands and twirled her around like they were on a dance floor, not on the cold steel beams of the Eiffel Tower.
Ladybug wasn't ready and slipped out of his grasp. She stumbled towards the edge, and she lost her footing. Ladybug cried out, arms flailing, eyes wide with fear. Chat lunged forwards, only one thing going through his head.
Their hands joined as Chat grabbed her, managing to pull her back to safety. He knew that she would have been able to yo-yo away and save herself if she actually had fallen, but that didn't matter to him.
They stood close together, facing each other, hands clasped and held at chest level. Chat gazed down at her, unable to keep the pure adoration out of his eyes. Never before had he wanted to kiss her so badly, to declare his undying love, to pick her up and crash his mouth down onto hers. The only thing restraining him was the knowledge that if he did kiss her, his entire plan would go down the drain, and he'd probably end up hurting her even more. Better to wait until he'd carried out the plot, and all his dreams would come true.
He smiled at his lady. She smiled back. "Sorry, Kitty," she whispered. "I wasn't ready."
"Then let's try again, shall we?"
This time, Ladybug didn't fall. They moved together so well, each other's motion so familiar that it almost felt like they'd done it before.
But that was impossible. Chat knew for a fact that he'd never waltzed with his lady.
It didn't matter now. All that mattered was that his plan worked, and that Ladybug got the happiness she deserved.
Hi again! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I certainly enjoyed writing it, but I have no idea why it was so much fun! By the way, my writing schedule might be a bit unusual this week, as I have a basketball grand final to train for. However, I'll try to get you at least two chapters, so stay tuned!