Archive of Our Own ^beta

Marinette stopped at the edge of the roof. The akuma closed in on her. She had nowhere to run. And she couldn’t transform in front of the akuma. Alone. Unarmed. Out of options. Until she heard a voice from the street below. 

“Marinette! Are you okay?” 

She peered over the roof and saw Chat Noir. He was just a black smudge and a shock of blonde hair, but she recognized his worried tone of voice. 

“Nowhere to run, Marinette,” the akuma growled. 

That was true. But Marinette still had a fully powered up Chat Noir waiting on the ground below. Sure, it wasn’t a great plan, but she’d had worse plans. In fact, she’d had worse plans that day. But even though she wasn’t transformed, Chat Noir was still her partner. 

Marinette leapt off the roof. She heard Chat Noir’s terrified yowl as he extended his staff and launched himself towards her. He caught her around the waist. Marinette looped her arms around Chat Noir’s neck, holding on tight. 

“You’re gonna be the death of me, Princess,” he sighed. 

Chat Noir slowly lowered the two of them to the ground. 

“What? You caught me. No biggie.” 

The second her feet touched the ground, Chat Noir put his hands on Marinette’s shoulders. 

“Never do that again.” 

“Don’t you have something more important to be doing right now?” she asked. 

“Fine. I’m gonna go mess this guy up, but this conversation is not over.” 

Chat Noir vaulted up onto the roof. Marinette run into a nearby alley. She had to transform quickly and help her partner. 

“That was very dangerous, Marinette,” Tikki chirped. 

“How? I knew he would catch me. Spots on, Tikki!” 

#

Adrien could hardly focus on the fight, he was so worried. How could Marinette do that? Just jump off a roof without any proof that Adrien could catch her? He had a hard time believing that a competent clever girl like Marinette would do something so reckless. 

“Chat Noir? Are you okay?” Ladybug asked. 

He wanted to say yes, go and confront Marinette about what she’d done that day. But Adrien had a tendency to say the wrong thing, and he didn’t want Marinette to be angry with him. 

“Um, no. Ladybug, could we talk for a minute?” 

Ladybug nodded. She nodded towards a nearby roof before swinging up there. Adrien followed her. 

“So what’s eating you, Chat Noir?” 

“Remember a few weeks ago, when I told you about that girl?” Adrien asked, blushing. 

It wasn’t the first time that Adrien was asking Ladybug for advice about Marinette. He wasn’t great at talking to girls who weren’t Ladybug, and having feelings for Marinette was something that Adrien was not at all equpped to handle. 

“Yeah, I remember when you told me about that girl. How’s that going?” Ladybug asked, a little too pleased with herself for Adrien’s liking. 

“She got caught up in the fight, the akuma was chasing her before you showed up.” 

“Oh my God, is she okay?” 

“Yeah. There was no escape, but she saw me on the street below, and jumped.” 

Ladybug slapped her hands over her mouth. 

“I caught her, but it shaved about fifteen years off my life. God, Ladybug, I love being around her, but she scares the hell out of me. Even though she’s brave and smart, sometimes she does things like this and I don’t know how to react.” 

“You like people who remind you of you, huh?” Ladybug asked. 

“What? No. Shut up.” 

“Look, Chat, she trusts you. Don’t overthink it.”

“I’ll try. This is so lame, but if she trusts me enough to jump off a building, do you think she could like me someday?” 

“Well, your girlfriend sounds a little nutty, but I think you’ve got a shot here.”

Adrien rolled his eyes and shoved Ladybug’s shoulder. 

“We should get going,” he said.

A normal girl will maybe smile at you or try to spend time alone with you,” Ladybug continued. But I guess a girl with designs on a superhero has to get a little more creative.” 

“Now you’re just being a jerk.” 

“You can’t prove that. Bug out!”