Ladybug senses it as soon as her feet land on top of the roof with a small thud, yo-yo snapping back into place with a magica click.
Chat Noir’s flattened ears against the top of his head are a dead giveaway as to how he’s feeling, body ever-so-slightly curling in on itself. He’s humming a quiet tune, nearly silently, arms wrapped around himself.
It’s dark for once, a sharp contrast to their usual cinematic backgrounds—sans sandman, and Ladybug pitters towards her partner, wincing at her too-loud footsteps in their quiet setting.
“Hey, kitty,” she decides in the end, depositing herself next to him.
One of his ears perks up at her arrival and words, small smile spreading onto his face. “Hey, LB.”
The smile doesn’t reach his eyes, a feature so striking to Ladybug that she almost does a double take. She’s never seen him so down, so lifeless and sad. He’s usually so happy, parading around with radiant smiles and cunning smirks.
Chat’s never sad, at least not without a viable reason for being so. And if he is, he doesn’t show it around her, won’t let Ladybug see that side of him.
So, yeah, she’s worried about him.
“You ready for patrol?” She inwardly curses herself as soon as she asks it, hand rubbing her forearm. “I-I mean, no, okay, screw patrol. What’s wrong?”
She can see the slightly taken-aback expression on his face with his wide eyes and mouth agape. Only when she scoots closer to him does she notice his tear-stricken cheeks. “I’m fine,” Chat tries, though he can’t look at her.
“Bullshit. Don’t lie to me, chaton. Talk to me, come on. I know I’m a stickler sometimes, but I’m your partner.”
Letting out a soft sigh, Chat turns his body so only one of his legs is hanging off the roof. The other rests against the ledge, his knee knocking into the side of her thigh. “It’s kind of personal?”
“Then be vague. I can’t help you if you tell me nothing,” Ladybug suggests, copying Chat’s movements so their knees are touching. “I want to help.”
“My girlfriend of six months broke up with me today.” Chat’s head is turned away from her, his eyes peering over the beautiful city that is Paris, no doubt trying to lose himself in the twinkling lights.
Girlfriend? She didn’t even know he was dating, let alone that he’s had a girlfriend for six months! It makes sense, if she thinks about it hard enough; his constant flirting and lack of concentration in battles took each other’s place the older they got.
Disappointment was quickly replaced by happiness, which settles over the fleeting pit in her stomach. No, she thinks, shaking her head. That’s not fair to him.
It’s not his fault she was late to the party with her feelings.
“Oh man,” she replies, a beat too late. “Oh, no. I’m so sorry, kitty. That’s so shit.”
Chat shrugs his shoulders and idly swings the foot not pressing into her leg, his hand trailing along the concrete ledge. “She said that it was because I’m apparently ‘not invested enough in her’.”
“What? You of all people ‘not invested’?” Her eyebrows skyrocket up, so far up that she feels like they must be touching her hairline. “There’s no way. That’s a load of crap.”
“That’s what I said.” He runs a frustrated hand through his hair, an unnatural brooding expression lingering on his face. “I’m not that type of person. Once I’m all in, I give you my all. Granted, I may not have loved her the way she did me, but it could’ve gotten there had she given it a chance.”
“You didn’t deserve that,” she tells him, truthfully, her hand coming up to rest against his knee at the defeated look on his face. “You’re such a good person. If anyone deserves happiness, it’s you.”
That brings a genuine, albeit tiny, smile onto his face. He finally looks at her, the first look he’s given her since she arrived, and it lights up her insides with how soft it is. “Thank you, Ladybug. So do you.”
“C’mon, I know how to make you feel better.” With a quick nudge to his knee, she hops off the ledge and tries to pull him up by his hand, much to Chat’s amusement. “Chat, pleaaase.”
“Only because you asked so nicely.” There’s the Chat Noir she knows and loves.
He follows her movements, towering over her once he’s standing straight, and Ladybug has to tug him down by the same hand she had grabbed earlier so she can lock her arms around his neck. She feels him stiffen for the briefest of moments, then he snakes his arms around her waist and hugs her tight, her body lifting off the ground as he straightens his back out.
Ladybug squeals and tightens her grip around him, slightly flustered as her view is of the tour Eiffel comes into view. It’s beautiful, truly, the glimmering lights in the distance reminding her of how much she loves the city and her partner. “Put me downnnn!”
“Never,” her partner murmurs teasingly, giving her body one last squeeze before setting her on the ground. His arms don’t leave her waist, his head laying overtop hers. “You’re a good friend, Bug.”
Friend. It stings a little yet her heart still soars, still beats a tick too quick. “So are you, Chat. I’m lucky that you’re my partner.”
Chat’s first grin of the night is brought out by her words and she counts that as a success.
“Alright, enough cute shit. Follow me, kitty.” She wrestles out of his arms, grabs her yo-yo, and flings herself off the building.
“Wait for me!” Laughter from the two of them fills the air as they zip through the city, contagious giggles and happiness floating around them.
“You have a little something on your face,” Ladybug says as she takes a lick of her ice cream, lips tilted into a smirk. She points to the side of her mouth to show him where the ice cream lingers.
Scrunching his nose up, Chat tries to use his tongue to get it but it’s the wrong side. “Is it gone?”
“No.” With a fond shake of her head, Ladybug reaches her hand up and swipes the ice cream from the corner of his mouth, licking it off her finger. “Mm. Chocolate. Yummy.”
She’s aware of Chat’s falter in step, in him stopping in place and no longer walking next to her. Her lips break into a smile until she hears Chat drawl out a long whine and a sad little noooo. Turning around, Ladybug quickly covers her mouth at the pout on Chat’s face.
He’d dropped his ice cream on the ground.
“Silly kitty,” she says aloud, eyes filled with mirth as she steps toward him, unaware of how the lights bounced off her and made her look angelic—Chat noticed. “How’d you manage that?”
“Don’t you dare,” Chat grumbles sourly, sending her a pointed glare with a cross of his arms. “You owe me your ice cream for making me drop mine.”
Letting out a laugh, Ladybug shakes her head and takes a quick step back, which Chat follows. “Chat, think rationally about this—”
“Hm, were you thinking rationally when you cleaned my face with your finger and then licked it?” He slowly steps towards her as she moves backwards, her grin never slipping off her face at his grumpily flushed expression.
“I’m always the rational one. I can be irrational sometimes,” Ladybug quips, licking her ice cream where it’s slightly starting to melt.
“I don’t know if that’s how it works,” he replies with a raised eyebrow, grinning as Ladybug’s back hit a wall he’d indirectly got her to move towards. “Looks like the cat caught the bug after all.”
Ladybug stares up at him as Chat Noir closes the distance between them, placing his hands on either side of her body on the wall. She ignores the side of her brain that itches to correct his words, and says, “So, what’re you going to do now that you’ve caught me?”
Chat’s face twists in thought, head tilting to the side and eyes looking upwards. “Hm, I think I’ll—” He lowers one of his hands from the wall and winds it around the one holding the ice cream, and grins. “—take a lick of the ice cream that is deservingly mine.”
“You sly cat,” she mumbles under her breath as his eyes twinkle down at her, dimples appearing at the corner of his mouth as he grins.
“Don’t worry,” he starts, leaning in to press a sticky kiss to her cheek, more in appreciation than anything else. “We can share.”
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