#lovesick bug

Is that why no destruction has taken place? 

She heads towards the victim, hearing their endless iterance of apologies for succumbing to the powers of Monarch. Ladybug reassures them that it wasn’t an issue and asks if they had seen Chat Noir, only to be slightly dejected with their answer. She knows it’s normal for them to not remember anything after an akumatisation, but still, having some information would be nice.

Cheers for her saving the day once again erupt as she leaves the scene. Ladybug prefers to claim credit only where it’s due, and this is certainly not one of those situations. 

She does have a naggy feeling at the back of her head though, that something is a little weird with the state of affairs. And so, she hangs around and searches the area for a little while more, trying to find something, anything that could put her at ease or at least explain that feeling.

Again, she finds nothing out of the ordinary.  

With no choice but to move on, Ladybug returns home, taking detours before landing in her own house and releasing her transformation. Marinette goes about her day as if the Akuma battle had never happened in the first place, before allowing her head to hit her pillow. 

━━━━━━

Being swamped with work has made Marinette forget all about the bizarre event that happened just two days prior. 

With a cup of tea in her hand, she’s about to leave for work when she sees a cat by her window. He’s just observing her as though he has never seen a human before. If that’s true, though, his reaction to her is somewhat peculiar, as a cat that was unfamiliar with humans would normally bolt away if it ever encountered one. But this cat continues staring at her, and Marinette has never seen such a pretty cat in her life. His eyes are so big that Marinette can’t resist taking a picture. 

She sends it to Alya, and she receives an enthusiastic reply instantaneously. The cat remains fixated on Marinette as she texts Alya, and after she has finished her conversation with her, she walks over to the window where the cat is and takes a closer look at it. 

No collar… it’s a stray… better keep away from it.

But she notices his wide, curious, green eyes, and his jet black fur reminds her of her Chaton. 

Where is he anyway? He normally texts her random stuff with the communicative devices that come with their suits, something she secretly loves—especially when it’s done out of the blue—but he hasn’t done that since the last Akuma. She misses him but she figures she’ll see him during their patrol tonight. 

Marinette leaves her apartment and heads to work, far more focused on spending time with Chat Noir in the dead of the night than she is on anything she does at work. 

Ladybug sits at the edge of a rooftop, waiting for Chat Noir to show up at their meeting spot, but he is again, nowhere to be seen. She starts swinging her legs as more time passes, until she sees a black cat in her peripheral vision. 

She watches the cat as it approaches her, and her eyes widen as she recognises him to be the one by her window earlier that day. Ladybug feels her heart pounding against her chest until she remembers that animals can’t speak and thus, can’t expose truths.

She slumps from her previously stiff posture. 

With her knees now under her chin, she takes her bugphone and calls Chat Noir, but to no avail. Ladybug would give it another try if it isn’t for the pressure she feels against her calf. Her eyes leave her yo-yo to see the black cat encircling her and rubbing himself all over her. 

Ladybug thinks that there is no harm in caressing him, so she reaches down to his head. She scratches the back of his ear, and he starts purring, leaning into her hand. 

Chat Noir also likes ear scratches. 

“Since Chat Noir isn’t here, he’ll be missing out on ear scratches, and I’ll be giving them to you instead, er, Chaton Noir.”

He continues purring. The black cat pushes against her hand and Ladybug relaxes her legs over the edge of the building once again. He must’ve seen that as an invitation because he climbs onto her lap straight away, his head now pushing into her stomach. 

“You’re really attached huh?” Ladybug has one hand under his chin while the other thumbs his ear. “This will be our little secret, okay?”

The constant purring soothes her, but her mind drifts to Chat Noir’s purrs when she gives him scratches, something she likes to do right after he does something impressive, or whenever she feels like it—which is most of the time. 

Ladybug misses her Chaton. It’s been a while since she last saw him, and she really hopes to see him soon. 

No, she yearns for it. 

A meow brings her out of her thoughts and the cat is now grabbing her arm with his little bean paws, rubbing his head against her, and Ladybug can’t help but think how cute he is. 

“You’re so affectionate, I wonder if my Chaton would be jealous if he sees you rubbing against me so intensely,” she chuckles. 

Chaton Noir meows in response and Ladybug stares elsewhere, willing that Chat Noir would appear soon with her magical ladybugs. 

The cat jumps off her lap and onto her chest, startling her in the process. He clings onto her shoulders as he rubs his head against her neck and Ladybug’s hands land behind her to steady herself. 

“Are you trying to mark me?”

Chaton Noir continues doing what he has been doing all this while and her fingers wrap around the cat, pushing him away from her and putting some distance between them. 

“Alright, that’s enough. Only one cat is allowed to do that, and sadly he’s not here.” She stands up and puts Chaton Noir down. “I’m sorry, but see you around I guess.”

She takes off towards her apartment, throwing glances at her back to make sure that the cat isn’t following her. 

━━━━━━

The next morning, everything’s the same as usual. 

Except. 

Marinette sees the black cat at her window again. 

“Oh la la, you shouldn’t be here, Chaton Noir,” she says as she takes out her phone to snap a picture of him. 

He gazes at her with those big familiar eyes and they remind her so much of a certain cat. 

Or maybe she’s just projecting again. 

“It’s not gonna work. And I have to get ready to leave as well. See you later.”

Marinette continues preparing for her day and as she exits the door, she sees the black cat just by her stairs. 

“Erm.” She begins walking down the stairs and Chaton Noir walks with her, and she has to take a photo again, this time sending it to Alya. 

Marinette: the little cat came to see me this morning!

Alya: gurl he’s escorting you 

Marinette: absolutely! he was waiting for me outside my door, and we walked out together!

By the time she finishes texting Alya, she realises she’s a few metres away from the entrance to her workplace. 

Marinette sees the cat sitting at the foot of the staircase and she feels the need to thank it, so she returns to the cat’s side—his pupils have definitely enlarged—and she pets his head a few times, before rushing to work. 

━━━━━━

Marinette sends a picture of the cat outside her window to Alya again. 

Alya: You saw him again!! 

omg he’s meowing 

Marinette: yea, he really wants to come inside 

Alya: LET HIM IN

KEEP HIM

Marinette: NO or i’ll have to take care of him for the next 15 years lol

Besides, she already has a cat in her heart, not that Alya needs to know.

Alya: but he’s so cute!! 

HE HAS CHOSEN YOU 

Marinette: he’s adorable not gonna lie

i’m sure if i open the window one day, i’ll find him in my kitchen

━━━━━━

And another. 

Marinette: look who welcomed me home after work

Alya: HE'S ASKING YOU TO KEEP HIM 

we really should give him a name

Marinette: chaton noir!

Alya: but don’t you already have a chaton noir?

Marinette: no, that's chaton

this is chaton noir

Alya: and what is—

nevermind

chaton noir it is 

━━━━━━

Marinette’s texting Alya the same topic again, but now, it’s for a different reason. 

Marinette: omg alya

this morning I opened my window to let some air in, went to the toilet, and when i came back, he was on my desk 

Alya: HAHAHHAHA

Marinette: alya please help me, this is not the time to be laughing at my misery 

Alya: what? this is a blessing! he’s a stray looking for a home, and he really wants you. 

Marinette: ALYA!

Alya: ok ok erm

don’t feed him any food, i think he’ll leave eventually 

and maybe don't pet him too 

Marinette: i didn't do any of the above, but he’s still coming to me!

She may or may not have forgotten about petting him. A couple of times no less. 

Alya: awww

mr handsome cat liking a pretty lady

makes sense

Marinette: aww thanks

BUT NO!

━━━━━━

Her hand reaches into her yo-yo. This is probably a bad idea. She knows that it’s a bad idea, however, she can’t help but feel bad about how she’s treating Chaton Noir. He merely wants a home, but she isn’t able to give him one. 

The kitty in her heart has already taken up too much space to let another in. 

Ladybug continues putting some other snacks and toys into her yo-yo. She won’t play with him as Marinette, but it doesn’t mean she can’t play with him as Ladybug. 

She makes sure that the cat in question is nowhere to be seen before she leaves for her meetup with Chat Noir. 

Well, if she can even call it one at this point… 

Her heart squeezes at that thought. She understands that Chat Noir has only missed one patrol, but that’s one too many. 

He never misses patrol. 

And she really wants to see him again. 

Ladybug makes sure to bring the snacks that Chat Noir loves too. Yes, she’d be angry at him for his absence, but that doesn’t mean she can’t offer him food. 

She descends upon their usual meeting place, and sure enough, the black cat is waiting for her, tail swaying like the waves of a calming ocean. 

Ladybug feels like she should be scared of the cat—he seems to know the entirety of her schedule, and not even Alya knows that!—but nothing about the cat sends any malicious vibes towards her. 

Maybe he’s just really really really affectionate.  

“Hello, Chaton Noir,” she runs her fingers through his fur as he climbs onto her lap and makes himself at home, tail curling around her forearm. “Is there a reason why you fancy me so much?”

Chaton Noir peers into her eyes again, with those big green kitty orbs, and she longs to see her Chaton. She misses the way he lays his eyes on her, as though she hung the moon and stars in his sky. “I’m sorry for treating you like that as Marinette, I’m making it up to you as Ladybug now.”

She yanks out a small ball of yarn for him to play with, but Chat Noir’s favourite snack falls out of her yo-yo in the process, and Chaton Noir immediately jumps at it. Ladybug tries to snatch it back but he’s too fast, and the snack is now clutched in his paws. 

“Oh no!” Ladybug cries as Chaton Noir rolls onto his back and savours the snack, oblivious to her internal dilemma. “That’s for him…”

She retracts her hand as she sees how happy Chaton Noir is. “You’re lucky you look so cute.”

Ladybug hugs her knees as she watches the blissfully ignorant kitty lay on his back as he munches on the snack. “I miss you, Chaton, where are you?”

All of a sudden, Chaton Noir is by her side, rubbing his head against her thighs. Ladybug mindlessly caresses his head, “Thank you for comforting me Chaton Noir, but it just isn’t the same without him, you know?” 

Her gaze focuses on him and realises that the snack he was holding onto was gone. There’s no way he could’ve finished it in such a short time. Chaton Noir couldn’t have gobbled it down, it’s too big for his tiny mouth. She scans her surroundings and notices that the snack is slightly smaller in size now, and it registers to her what he had done.

Ladybug carries him into her arms and snaps a picture of him. She rubs her cheeks against his, “Thank you so much, Chaton Noir.” 

━━━━━━

She should’ve bought the fan when she saw one. 

She really should’ve, else she wouldn’t be in this situation right now. 

And there’s a really simple solution to solve all this. 

Marinette just has to open the window to her apartment, and that’ll allow the precious and cooling air to enter and ventilate her room. 

But she knows that once she opens the window, he’ll be there. 

He’s become a permanent fixture in the view from her window now.  

And it’s… kinda weird now that he’s not there. 

Still, should she risk it? Marinette knows that he’ll appear out of nowhere—he always does—but her neurons are melting in the heat and the solution to it is quite literally right in front of her. 

She sighs and makes up her mind. She’ll be sure to buy a fan on her next trip to the department store. 

But for now, she’ll open the window. 

Marinette walks towards it and her knee knocks against something hard. She looks at the object, only for a smile to etch itself on her face. 

She proceeds to fold said object and carries it over to the window. Making sure that the coast is clear, she opens her window and places the huge piece of cardboard horizontally against the opening. It covers half of the window, but it still allowed the wind to enter her apartment. Marinette sits back and relaxes as the cool air gushes in her face, finally relieved that she wouldn’t have to bake to death.  

But of course, it doesn’t last long. 

Marinette hears the cardboard being nudged aside and she opens her eyes to see Chaton Noir trying to get into her house through that small opening she left at the side of the window. 

At first, she wonders why he didn't just jump over the cardboard. Marinette knows that cats are more than capable of jumping to insane heights, but her pondering got interrupted when Chaton Noir began to scratch the cardboard. 

She scrambles to her feet to grab the handle of the window. However, she trips and falls in the process—her entire body weight pushing against the window—slamming it shut. She didn’t mean to, but the force of the slam startles even her, so she makes sure to check that Chaton Noir is scared away. What she sees instead, is him still trying to push the cardboard aside. 

“It’s impossible, Chaton Noir,” she takes out her phone, “shutting the window has locked it in place. I’m so glad you don’t have Cataclysm to break it down.” 

Marinette snaps a photo of Chaton Noir’s attempt, snickering at how cute and dumb he looks. 

“Gotta keep this for memories’ sake.” 

━━━━━━

Marinette’s phone rings beside her. 

Alya: hey just a thought

Marinette: ?

Alya: could chaton noir be chat noir?

Marinette: chaton noir and chaton are different 

Alya: yea no i mean like think about it

chaton noir is black and has green eyes

chat noir disappeared one day

and there haven’t been any akuma attacks since then

and then there is this random cat that appeared out of nowhere and is like so super overly attached to you for some reason

a cat that you have never seen in your life might i add

Marinette: OMG 

could it be that they got his ring?!

Alya: omg gurl calm down

if they did, wouldn't they be more relentless in getting yours too? 

anyway

why not try calling him chat noir and see how he responds?

Marinette: er, what if he’s just a regular cat?

me calling him chat noir is like i’m projecting my feelings onto him, not that i have any

Marinette knows very well what her feelings are. 

Alya: just try and who knows, he might be by your side all along

Marinette: … 

okay… 

━━━━━━

Pacing around at the top of the Eiffel Tower with a few sweat drops on her forehead, Ladybug ponders as to exactly what to do with the suggestion Alya has thrown at her. 

On one hand, it’s ridiculous, so so ridiculous. Because there is no way in any universe possible that Chaton Noir is her Chaton. It’s just— Ladybug believes that she would’ve known if that were the case. She knows that it isn’t logical but she can’t help but believe that she would know if it was him. 

On the other hand, ever since Alya planted the seeds of possibility in her mind, Ladybug has been playing her carefully created moment of truth in her mind on repeat, even though it goes against all that she stood for. She feels guilty for wanting Chat Noir to be Chaton Noir, but if it really were the case, that means she’ll finally be able to see him again. 

Not to mention, even though her heart belongs to Chat Noir, she has really been enjoying Chaton Noir’s company as of late.

Is she cheating on him if she feels this way?! 

Her hands fly into her hair, who is she kidding, she’ll feel guilty either way, it’s a fucking mess now. 

Ladybug sits down on the platform and takes deep breaths. She doesn’t know what to do! Just address him as Chat Noir? What if she calls him Chaton Noir instead of Chat Noir? Habits die hard. Also, Chaton Noir has always been responsive to her regardless of what she said, like he doesn’t understand human language and just looks at her curiously and with all his attention. That or he has been looking at her exactly like how Chat Noir focuses on her when she speaks… 

Which is it?!

She’s officially going mad. 

She needs to jump off the Eiffel Tower. It’s dangerous enough to preoccupy her mind, she’ll think about the others later. Ladybug drags herself across the platform, and steps off of it, plummeting down straight to the base of the structure. She needs to act fast if she doesn’t want to smash into the metal that is already beginning to curve outwards. Ladybug throws her yo-yo, and she hastily retracts the wire so that she doesn’t smack face down onto the ground—she still needs to find her Chaton—and Paris still needs her as their protector.

After being flung into the air again, she soars across the bridge, her trajectory that of an arc, attaching her yo-yo to lamp post after lamp post before reaching her destination. She gracefully lands on her feet at the top of the Trocadéro, adrenaline pumping through her veins from the novelty of doing something that crazy. Ladybug finally looks back at the Eiffel Tower, trying to imagine how she looked when she was speeding through the route she had just taken. 

Her mind was definitely not thinking about the Chaton Noir situation as intensely as before, and now she has to deal with it. 

But first, she has to find him. 

As she reaches for her yo-yo again, the meowing of a cat catches her attention, and Ladybug immediately whips her head in the direction where it came from. She sees an orange cat and is relieved but sad at the same time. She really needs to find him!

Another meow of a different octave catches her attention and she sees the cat that has been in her dream for a while now. 

Ladybug dashes to him—the cat alarmed at the speed she is approaching him—and snatches him in her arms. She throws her yo-yo and zips away, with Chaton Noir screaming and meowing at the top of his lungs.

Once they land on a rooftop, she gently places the now shaking and shivering black cat down, and proceeds to sit right across it. Chaton Noir shakes his head and blinks a few times before approaching her.

“Stop,” Ladybug thrusts her right hand towards him, and he looks at her before sitting back down on the spot where he barely moved, ears drooping. 

“Chaton Noir,” and immediately his tail moves and curves. 

She audibly smacks her own head, of course it was impossible to call him Chat Noir, but the movement of his tail gave her an idea to work with. 

“Stop moving your tail.”

Chaton Noir stops and lays it flat on the tile, ears still droopy, but head tilted nonetheless, still staring at her with those wide green eyes. 

“I’m going to need you to cooperate with me,” Ladybug physically cringes at what she’s saying. “Move your tail.”

And she sees him tapping the end of his tail against the tile. 

“Stop.” And it relaxes again. 

Okay, I can work with this. He understands me perfectly well. Here goes…

“Chato— ChAT Noir!” He wiggles his tail again, and Ladybug physically jumps on her spot, blood coursing through her veins as she has finally found him!

“Chaton Noir, it’s really yo—” 

Her heart beats faster as he keeps wiggling his tail. He’s not Chat Noir?

Think! What can she do right now?

“Carapace?” He continues moving his tail, albeit less than before. Until it finally stops. 

“Please help me here,” she pleads, “move your tail when it’s you and don’t when it isn’t.”

“Carapace.”

His tail immediately lies flat.

“CHAT NOIR!”

The black cat rises on all fours and runs towards her, tail swivelling behind him as he crashes into her open arms. 

 “Chat Noir!” she cries as she rubs her cheeks against him. “I’m not crazy! I’m not crazy!”

“Oh my god!” she suddenly drops him as she stands up with unwavering clarity. “You know my identity! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!”

Ladybug starts pacing around in circles on the rooftop again, hands in her hair, and Chat Noir follows close behind, meowing loudly to gain her attention. She eventually feels a weight on her shoulder as something bumps against the side of her face.  

She turns to her left with wide eyes and remembers that she has a more pressing issue to deal with. 

“Oh my god! How can you become human again? This is a nightmare!!” Then she faces forward. “Unless… Lucky Charm!”

And Chat Noir fell off her shoulders at the gesticulation she had just busted out. 

A plate of spaghetti falls into her hands, drips of tomato sauce landing on her face in the process. 

“The heck am I supposed to do with this?!” Ladybug asks out loud as she glares at the messy plate of spaghetti. “Gah!!”

Chat Noir climbs her figure once again, stopping beside her shoulder and licking her face—to get her to calm down or to lick the tomato sauce off her face, Ladybug does not know. What she does know is that doing so has formulated a new idea in her mind.  

“Ha, there’s no way,” Ladybug places the plate down on the roof and grabs Chat Noir from her shoulder, enabling her to face him directly. Her cheeks begin to redden and her arms begin to tremble, “There’s no way this is going to work but let’s try anyway.”

Ladybug brings Chat Noir closer, she sees his tail wiggling endlessly, and she knows straight away that he has been waiting for this moment since forever. That makes the two of them. She angles her head to the left, nuzzling her cheek against his squishy ones, just to tease him. But it wasn’t as much of a tease as she would like it to be, going by the purrs he releases. She pulls back and eyes a certain spot, making sure she would not miss it before closing her eyes, lips pressing against the cute forehead space between his eyes.  

The effects are immediate. A cloud of magic surrounds the black cat as she feels herself losing her grip on him. She lets go when she sees the silhouette of a human. 

Her hands clutch themselves close to her racing heart, recalling the list of things she can do once human Chat Noir appears. She can finally tackle him into a hug, run her fingers through his hair, press herself against him, enjoy the feeling of his arms around her, and on and on it goes. 

Ladybug gasps as she sees a face that she recognises, a face not concealed by a black mask, a face that isn’t her Chaton. Instead, she sees— “Adrien?!”

She witnesses Adrien’s look of adoration directed at her, eyes that make her heart beat even faster than before she’s becoming dizzy from it. 

Even so, before she could succumb to the dizziness, she blurts out, “But— But you’re not Chat Noir!” 

Adrien takes a step towards her with a face so soft and so in love. She can’t take it anymore. 

Where is her Chaton?! 

“No, no. Wait, how are you a black cat? I could’ve sworn that you’d be an orange cat if you ever turn into one. Where is my Chaton!” she cries, hands grasping the side of her face. 

Her light protest of asking him to stay where he is must not have been clear enough, because Adrien is now wrapping his arms around her, pulling her in and removing her hands from her face. Ladybug’s eyes grow wider at this, and she directs her attention to him, desperate to ask what he’s doing but he beats her to it. 

“One,” he starts, bright green eyes still admiring her, “I am your Chaton, my Lady. And two, aww, you thought about me turning into a kitty before.” He teases her as he boops her nose. 

Ladybug wonders how her eyes have yet to pop out of her sockets. 

“WHAT?!” 

“Plagg, transforme-moi !” 

It’s Chat Noir’s hands that are around her now. Adrien’s lovely and heart-racing smile is Chat Noir’s. He has been by her side this whole time. Chaton Noir is Chat Noir. Everything that she has ever said to Chaton Noir, Chat Noir knows. And Chat Noir, in other words, Adrien, her first and only love, has heard all the embarrassing declarations she has made about him. 

Ladybug feels hot as her cheeks flush red. “Cha— Chaton?” 

He flashes a beautiful smile. “My Lady.” 

Ladybug buries her face into his neck, hitting her fists against his chest. “How dare you… You heard… everything…” 

Chat Noir places his hand on the back of her head and pulls her closer, his own face nuzzling her hair. “You’re every bit as crazy as I am about you.” 

Ladybug jumps onto him so suddenly Chat Noir loses his balance and they both fall onto the rooftop. “Ah—”

His breath hitches when soft lips land on the side of his face. “You better make it up to me for disappearing on me for so long,” she says as she plants a kiss with each word uttered. Chat Noir cups both of her cheeks to bring her lips over his own.