Chapter Text
Ladybug swung gracefully through the streets, the cold dry air whipping against her face as she panted with the exertion of her early morning outing. She could hear the soft metallic clang of Chat Noir’s baton on pavement each time he used it to vault himself alongside her, the duo quietly making their morning rounds before heading off to wherever they went while civilian. Content that the streets were safe and free from akuma at the time, Ladybug, swung herself onto the sheet metal roof of a nearby building, her feet softly thudding as she gracefully landed. Chat followed shortly after, his landing equally controlled, but much louder as his baton slammed into the roof when he dismounted, the sound of metal on metal reverberating throughout the soft hubbub of the early risers in Paris. Several people nearby jumped at the loud noise, looking around nervously for the source before continuing on their way. Ladybug glared at the sheepish looking Chat, her indigo eyes boring holes into his back as he shrugged, reaching around to the back of his head with embarrassment as he made eye contact with the girl. She sighed, turning around herself to find one of the many clocks that was scattered around this vaguely suburban area of the city.
“Sorry, milady,” the cat began, finding one before her, “I’ve gonna have to cat-ch you later,” he winked at her before extending his baton and beginning his way back over the rooftops of the city to whatever he needed to do that day.
Ladybug found the tower shortly after he disappeared from view between two buildings, jumping into action when she realized it was 8:09, leaving her a little more than 20 minutes to get all the way across the city before school began at 8:30. She couldn’t be late again or else she would get a detention, and she couldn’t get a detention or else she would be grounded, and she couldn’t be grounded or else she wouldn’t be able to go to the Ball. Normally, there wouldn’t be such a thing, but Chloé Bourgeois, recently enamoured with American culture, had convinced her father to rent out the hotel conference room to the school so they could. Not to be dramatic or anything, but this ball was a once in a lifetime opportunity for her. The best part? It was a masquerade ball, meaning no one would know who was who. She dropped into the alleyway between her school and the building next to it, quickly de-transforming and rushing into her school, her watch telling her she had almost 5 minutes until she was late. She sighed with relief, slowing to a walk as she rounded the corner, and jumping when she bumped into someone else, also rushing and a little flushed.
“I’m sorry, I was running a little late this morning and wasn’t watching where I was going, my bad,” Marinette apologise sincerely, her knee resting on the ground as she picked up her things before beginning to stack up their books as well. She picked up the stack and held her arms out to the other person, her heart stopping when she realized that it was none other than Adrien Agreste in front of her. She froze, the calm neutral smile stuck on her face as she began to heat up, her cheeks and ears beginning to feel warm.
He smiled at her, a gentle blush glowing through his cheeks as he took his pile of books from her, “Thank you, Marinette,” he started as he tucked the books into his bag before looking back up at her, “although I really am at fault, I should have been watching where I was going.” He looked down at his hands, playing with a silver ring that reflected the sun onto the wall beside the pair.
Marinette blinked, her smile having dropped from a wide apologetic smile to a closed lipped look of shock, “N-no, it’s really m-my fault,” she stuttered a little, though thankfully not as bad as she normally does, “Anyway, n-nice to see you Adrien, I um. Gotta go to physics. S-see you after uh, l-lunch.” She stepped around him, her shoulder brushing against his as she continued down the hall towards her classroom. She slid into her seat next to Alya, opening her backpack just as the bell rang signaling the start of the day.
“Wow girl, you’re on time for once!” Alya teased, digging through her bag and pulling out a pencil and notebook before turning to look at Marinette, “and really rosy too, what happened?” she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“Oh nothing, you weirdo,” Marinette gently shoved the other girl away laughing, “I just bumped into someone in the hallway, and I only stuttered a few times while talking to him despite the fact that I couldn’t breath,” Marinette’s voice dropped to a whisper at the latter part of her sentence, which did nothing because Alya immediately squealed loudly, causing three other people around them to stop their conversations and look at the two girls before resuming. Marinette glared at the other girl, turning away to rummage through her bag before the teacher began her lecture for the day.
After what seemed like forever, but was really only a few hours and two classes, Marinette was finally released to go to lunch. She slung her bag over her shoulder, following the masses of students out into the courtyard where she once again met up with her friends, quietly entering the group in the middle of what seemed like a friendly debate.
“Obviously Ladybug would be able to survive without Chat Noir, she’s the only one who can de-akumatize the butterflies,” Alya argued, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she got a little closer to Nino, both of them tinged pink in the face.
“Do we all remember last time Ladybug tried to take on an akuma on her own?” Nino retorted, “She almost got the entire city of Paris destroyed!”
“That wasn’t her fault, that aku-” Alya was cut off by Marinette.
“I think that they’re both needed to save the city.” Marinette explained simply, “Ladybug is obviously a critical thinker, based on what we’ve seen of her and how she interacts with people, and she’s the only one who can take care of akumatized butterflies. However, Chat Noir keeps her safe while she comes up with a plan and he knows when to stop planning and just jump into action. He also frequently destroys the items the akumas are caught in, or haven’t you forgotten. They need each other, the balance they provide for each other is what allows them such success together, and not apart.” Marinette looked around at the blank faces of her friends, her face getting warm when she noticed Adrien staring intently at her, her gaze dropping to the floor when she realized his wasn’t going to leave.
“She’s right,” Marinette’s head snapped up, “They need each other. Chat Noir couldn’t take care of the akuma without Ladybug, either.” Adrien nodded his head once, the movement concluding his short and simple support of her argument, while at the same time drawing all the eyes off of her and onto him.
Alya sighed, her shoulders sagging a little, “I guess you two have a point,”
Nino nodded his head, his gaze shifting often between the two, “Yeah,” he shook his head a little.
“Now let’s get food, I’m starving,” Marinette chirped up, trying to bring the lively conversation back into the group. Echoes of agreement followed her as she turned to head outside and down the road to the restaurant they go to when no one can decide where to eat.
“I didn’t know you were such a devoted fan of Ladybug and Chat Noir,” Adrien’s voice floated from somewhere not far behind her.
She whipped her head around, shocked to find his bright green eyes only a few mere inches away from hers. “Oh, I-I’m not really uh. I j-just don’t like t-the arguing and uhm.” She paused, her lips parting as she inhaled gently, her eyes never straying from the emerald green ones right in front of her.
“You seem to know an awful lot about them,” his voice lowered just a hint, his eyes narrowing in playful suspicion, “it’s almost like you know them,” he whispered.
Marinette’s face drained of it warmth, her heart skipping a beat, “Pshhh what makes you t-think that they w-would talk to m-me? I’m j-just a boring ole’ c-civilian,” she took broke eye contact and took a step away, blinking and letting her eyes trail up a building to her right, until they landed on the French flag waving gently in the breeze at the top, “I j-just pay a l-lot of attention t-to Alya’s b-blog is all. Y-yeah, that’s it.” She uncomfortably took another step back, her hand coming up to the back of her neck as she awkwardly turned away to catch up with the rest of the group. Her steps were much tenser and longer and she fought the urge to panic.
“What was that about?” Alya nudged Marinette’s side, causing the shorter girl to jump, her head snapping up to meet Alya’s interested gaze.
“Oh nothing just-” she was cut off by a loud crashing from a few streets back, and when she turned around she was greeted by the sight of a huge cloud of dust.
“Akuma!” shouted Nino, turning to sprint the other direction.
Alya pulled out her phone and started live streaming the destruction, catching only for a split second Adrien’s foot as it disappeared into a dark alleyway. Marinette dashed farther down the road away from her friend, ducking behind a bench and some bushes to transform into Ladybug. She flung her yoyo up into the rooftops, flying forward over her friend and nearly slamming into Chat Noir as he too came flying up from the street level nearby.
“You just couldn’t resist running into me for more than a few hours, milady?” Chat joked, balancing precariously on an extended baton as he made sure Ladybug didn’t crash down to the street below, seeing it was his sudden appearance that made her lose her focus on swinging.
“Get off your high horse, Kitty,” she grinned, running her fingers under his chin pulling his face towards hers before swinging herself out of his grip and watching him flail as he quickly regained control over himself and his baton.
The duo swung to the ground a few blocks down, finally getting a good look at the Akuma.
“Ladybug and Chat noir! So nice of you to join us!” the duo screeched, “We welcome you to join our game.”
“No thank you, I’d rather not,” replied Ladybug confidently.
“We don’t take no for an answer, beetle. Truth, or Dare!”