A Perfectly Ordinary Ladynoir Story
In hindsight, falling into Chat Noir’s arms was usually a mistake.
“Are you sure you couldn’t see yourself falling for a guy like me?”
Ladybug let out a snort, eyes rolling behind the black and red mask as Chat lowered the pair of them to the ground.
“Really?” Ladybug laughed, somewhat incredulously, nodding over Chat Noir’s shoulder. “We got a jilted tailor that’s got the city in stitches-”
“Nice one,” Chat said, tearing through the side streets as red thread chased after him.
“Thank you,” Ladybug said, yo-yo lashing out and batting away a needle zeroing in on Chat’s back. “You really want to bat those eyelashes at me now?”
“Might be our last chance,” Chat said, leaping up and over the roof-tops and landing in a low crouch, depositing his partner on the rooftop. “Sure there isn’t anything you want to tell me? Maybe one last kiss before the icy hand of death envelops us both.”
“Later,” Ladybug said, throwing an arm out to shield Chat Noir as The Fashionista grappled up onto the ledge, needles clutched in her hands as she zeroed in on the pair before her. “Unless you want to find out what a pincushion feels like.”
“I’ll hold you to that later, Buggi,” Chat Noir said, extending his baton with a flick of his wrist.
“Somehow I knew you would,” Ladybug sighed, latching onto a weather vane and swinging out of the way of a hail of needles as Chat Noir flanked the akuma around the side.
Perched on the edge of the rooftop, Ladybug watched Chat drop the now de-evilized victim on the doorstep of her parent’s house, shooting a salute and a wink at her mother. He was, at his core, a corny little tomcat, who couldn’t miss an opportunity to act like he was auditioning for the remake of The Princess Bride.
Of course, that made it harder for Ladybug to take him seriously.
He was a tease, and part of Ladybug resented Chat for flirting like his words had no effect. Chat had winked, hand-kissed, and flirted his way through every girl they ran into. Even as he left the former Fashionista, he couldn’t part without offering her a kiss on the hand before springing up to the roof where Ladybug was waiting.
“She okay?” Ladybug asked.
“Fine, fine,” Chat said, rolling his shoulders with a small sigh. “Little rattled, of course, but I figured that much; not every day some weirdo brainwashes you and makes you his flunky.”
“That what the hand kiss was for?” Ladybug asked, brow arching in Chat’s direction.
“Was I really supposed to ignore a lady in distress?” Chat snorted, turning to his partner with a slowly spreading smile. “Jealous?”
“You wish, man,” Ladybug snorted.
“…maybe I do,” Chat Noir said, hands leaning on the top of his staff, glancing across at his partner with a small smile that made Ladybug’s heart skip a beat. “I wouldn’t mind if said you didn’t like me kissing other people.”
“You know…you do this thing where you almost look sincere when you say stuff like that,” Ladybug said, head cocking to one side. “I almost forget you’re joking.”
“…when did I ever say I was joking?” Chat replied, soft enough that Ladybug almost didn’t catch it. And it was easy for Ladybug to pretend that Chat’s confession fell on deaf ears; easier than confronting the truth that he might actually be sincere in his endless teasing. Easier than wondering how their relationship might change were Ladybug to call him on his bluff, pull him in by his bell collar, and kiss him so hard he never even dreamed about flirting with anyone ever again.
Instead, Ladybug opted for certainty, offering a fist for Chat to clumsily brush his knuckles against as though they didn’t each want a little more.
The moment the transformation wore off, Tikki tore into the box of cookies on the desk in a hail of crumbs that scattered over the half-finished calculus homework.
“Hey, hey, watch it!” Nino said, picking the kwami up by her back and pulling her away from his desk. “I don’t think my teachers are going to buy the fact that my pocket-ladybug got food all over my homework!”
“Shorry,” Tikki said, swallowing a mouthful of chocolate chips. “Long day.”
“You’re telling me,” Nino said, flopping belly first onto his bed, the afternoon replaying in his head as Tikki floated over.
“…you know, you wouldn’t be the first Ladybug to fall in love with Chat Noir,” Tikki said, patting the back of Nino’s head as he buried his burning face in his pillows.
“Just…eat your cookies,” Nino groaned.
