This story takes place prior to Season 4 of "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir." I do not own the rights to any of the characters used within this story.

Chapter 7: Bien Joué!

The kwami of creation floated around the outskirts of the plaza, looking down every side street and alley for her Marinette. She was just beginning to worry that Marinette hadn't come when she saw a familiar pair of pigtails crouched behind an overturned car. Tikki gave out a small squeal of happiness and started to zip towards the girl.

But before she could reach her, the akuma, having managed to grab ahold of Chat Noir's leg, hurled him through the air and into the wall behind Marinette. Tikki slowed her approach. She didn't want to compromise Ladybug's secret identity.

"Chat," Marinette cried, leaving the relative safety of the car to run to his side. The hero groaned and rolled over, rubbing his ribs. There were scrapes on his beautiful face, and a small trail of blood smeared across his cheek. She didn't think as she grabbed his shoulders and rolled the two of them out of the line of fire of the records that struck where Chat had been laying. "Come on," she said as she climbed off him and began pulling him towards where she had been observing the fight.

To his credit, Chat Noir followed her without protest. But as soon as they were out of sight, he grabbed both of her arms, panic in his large green eyes. "Princess?! What are you doing here? I thought I left you somewhere you would be safe! Why did you follow me here?" His words were coming out at a mile-a-minute. "We gotta get you outta here. You could be hurt."

Marinette tried frantically to catch his attention, but the feline hero was too stuck in his panic. He scooped her up in his arms, and leapt into the air, propelling himself with his baton. He landed gently on one of the rooftops overlooking the battle and started scanning for which direction he needed to take her so that she would be safe.

"Chat. Chat! Chat Noir!" But the boy was too focused on getting her to safety and didn't pay attention. Finally, in a fit of desperation, Marinette placed both hands on either side of Chat Noir's face and pressed her lips to his.

She had kissed him once before during Dark Cupid's akuma attack, and she'd kissed his cheek as both Marinette and Ladybug. But knowing that it was Adrien under the mask gave this kiss a different meaning.

The world seemed to fade so that it was just him and her. His lips were soft against hers, and she could feel the heat building in his cheeks under her palms. But he didn't pull away. In fact, the hero's grip on her legs loosened, and she felt him set her down so that she could stand on her own, never once breaking their kiss. Warm hands landed on her waist, pulling her closer. This wasn't how she had imagined her first kiss with Adrien, but, then again, it wasn't really their first kiss.

When the pair pulled back slightly to catch their breath, all Marinette could see in front of her were his peach lips. She almost leaned back in, but the sounds of battle were slowly returning, as did Marinette's plan.

Her eyes widened as she took a small step back, her hands falling from his face to his strong shoulders. Why had she never noticed how strong Chat Noir's shoulders were? How warm his body felt… She blinked and shook her head.

"Chat, I have an idea on how to defeat the akuma!"

Tikki watched from behind a chimney as the two peered down at the plaza. She wanted nothing more than to get to Marinette so that the poor human girl could at least have the safety that came with having enhanced reflexes and some super powers. But she couldn't return until Chat Noir had left; so, here she waited.

"If Rena Rouge and Carapace can lure Wreckord Player over by the blue car in the center, you can use your Cataclysm to drop the statue on him. If we're lucky, it might break the karaoke machine and release the akuma… But it should at least give you some time to figure out what to do next, right?"

Chat was crouched next to the girl he'd just been kissing a moment ago. Looking at her through the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but smile. She really was something else. Determined. Talented. Smart. And so ready to care about everyone. "Well, Princess, it's not a sure fix, but you're right. It could buy us time to regroup, which we clearly need right now."

She turned to him with a smile. "Thanks! I-"

"But," he interrupted, "please get to safety. I…" Chat felt his throat tighten up as his brain finished the sentence. "I can't live in a world without you…"

Marinette didn't know what the end of that sentence was, but she could tell it was difficult for him to say. She laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. I promise I'll be safe. I'll get out of here and find somewhere safe." She fixed him with a small smile. "I'll be fine, Chat. I just want to make sure you will be fine too."

The tightness in his throat refused to release the words he desperately wanted to say. So, the hero simply nodded and stood to rejoin the fight. But before he dropped back down into the plaza, he looked back at the girl who had been saving him all day. He couldn't help it. He stooped down and planted a kiss on her cheek. (He would have loved to kiss her lips again, but he was sure he wouldn't be able to pull himself away if he did.)

He straightened once more, smiled at her, and then jumped off the balcony to rejoin his teammates in the plaza so he could tell them the plan.

Marinette, on the other hand, sat speechless behind the small wall that surrounded the rooftop balcony. Her face flushed red again, thinking about how Adrien had just kissed her.

She was broken from her reverie when she felt something small smack into her chest. Looking down, she felt tears well up in her eyes for the ump-teenth time that afternoon. "Tikki?!" Her hands came up to cup the small kwami to her cheek. "Oh Tikki! I'm so glad it's you! I looked for you in the karaoke lounge, but I couldn't find you! A-and I thought…"

"I know, Marinette!" Tikki couldn't keep the tears out of her own eyes either. "I know. And I'm sorry I put you through that." Marinette lowered her hands so they could look at each other. "But I think right now your team needs Ladybug!"

The girl nodded her agreement, a determined smile on her face. "Tikki! Spots on!"

"Everybody understand the plan?"

"Got it," Carapace and Rena Rouge said in unison.

The trio broke apart and ran in separate directions, Chat Noir ducking out of site as Rena used her Mirage to create his double that ran by her side, drawing Wreckord Player's attention. "Hey! Over here! You're paw-sitively the worst akuma we've had to face yet! What a cat-astrophic decision Hawkmoth made when choosing you. I might even take a cat nap and let carapace deal with this on his own."

"Meow-ch! I don't really sound that bad, do I" Chat thought to himself as he snuck behind the statue. "Of course I don't! Ladybug laughs at my jokes. I doubt she would laugh at those ones… Maybe I'll have to give Rena some better material next time…"

A flash of red caught his eye as it jumped from one rooftop to another before Ladybug landed with perfect poise right where they needed the akuma, a red and black whistle in her hand. Her face was full of determination as she lifted the whistle to her lips and blew a shrill note, fully catching the akuma's attention.

Predictably, Wreckord Player turned to run after the red-clad hero. "Chat Noir! Now!"

"Cataclysm!"

"Bien joué!"

The four heroes pounded their fists together as the Miraculous Ladybugs began working their way through the city fixing buildings, righting overturned cars, and returning Parisians to where they had been before the attack. Four Miraculous began beeping in unison.

"I guess that's our cue to split, later dudes," called Carapace as he and Rena began running out of the plaza.

"I should probably go with them to collect their Miraculous." Ladybug seemed more timid than the last time Chat had seen her. "I'm… sorry I wasn't here sooner, Chat… I'll make it up to you when I see next, okay?"

"No need, Ladybug. I had my own issues with this akuma that were stressing meowt." He flashed her his signature rueful smile for a moment before becoming more serious. "I'm happy you're alright. I don't know what we would do without you… I'll see you for patrol later, yeah?" With that, Chat gave his partner a small salute before bounding in the opposite direction of Carapace and Rena.

A smile played on Ladybug's lips as she whispered to herself, "Oh, you'll see me sooner than that, Kitty. Don't you worry."