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starfiretheninja · 5 years ago

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BBRae- Shaking Off the Dust

This was originally a piece for the BBRae Zine, but that got cancelled. Regardless, I was proud that I got another piece done for these two and still want to bring it into the world. Enjoy!

Despite being part demon, a creature associated with darkness, Raven had a standard sleep schedule. The headaches induced from staying up too late tended to aggravate her powers and often required a longer meditation session to alleviate. On this particular night, however, the trilogy Raven was close to finishing was simply too much of a cliffhanger to leave until morning. Her extended reading session paid off, as the book ended on a surprisingly non-cliché and satisfactory note and she was only suffering from mild thirst.

Nothing a little tea can’t cure, Raven thought as she stood up, stretching her tense legs.

Leaving the quiet of her room, she noticed a dim light down the hall. Shuffling past Beast Boy’s room, she blinked wearily at the light that peeked out from under his door. Only unintelligible mumbling sounded from inside. Raven shrugged, figuring he was up late playing a tough level of Mega Monkey: Apes Rising on his GameDude console again. He hadn’t done that in some time, but old habits die hard.

With that, Raven continued on her way. Having made it to the kitchen and satisfied her parched throat with warm herbal tea, she came back past Beast Boy’s room. This time, she heard a yelp, followed by the crashing of Beast Boy and what sounded like a stack of comic books hitting the floor.

Raven sighed. She couldn’t let that go uninvestigated. At the very least, she felt she had to know if Beast Boy had managed to break a toe tripping over his massive collection of nerdy treasures again.

Opening the door, she spied Beast Boy rubbing his face. Around him were his possessions, pulled from his closet and tossed around the room in what, to her eyes, was a haphazard mess. The garbage can in the corner was stuffed well past the brim with dolls—action figures, as he insisted—that Raven was certain he had had since the Tower was first built. Beast Boy caught sight of her. Surprised, then sheepish, he attempted to stand amidst the scattered pile surrounding him.

“Care to explain what you’re up to on this once peaceful night?” she inquired as he morphed into a hummingbird, flitted over the pile, and returned to his human form right in front of her.

“I’m, uh, cleaning up a bit,” he said, clearing his throat.

“If by ‘cleaning’ you mean ‘purging your room of all of your cherished comics and collectibles’.”

“If you’d like to help, then it would get done quicker. Heck, you could pick it all up with your powers.” He gestured towards the remaining work. Raven didn’t take the bait.

“I’d rather not be partially responsible for the post-cleaning regret you could have.” She took a pointed look at his belongings, as if to emphasize just how much he was suggesting tossing out.

“Aw come on, Raven.” He picked up a random comic by his feet and waved it. “Do you really think I’ll miss Goo Goblins #37? I think I’ve moved on past that one.”

Raven shrugged in slight agreement. The admittedly campy-looking comic was certainly goofy enough to make a seventeen-year-old question if he was engaging in appropriate level material. Still, Beast Boy was always one to cling to childish endeavors.

“If you insist,” is all she could comment. If he was truly ready for such an adjustment, she wouldn’t be the one to stop him.

Grinning satisfactorily, Beast Boy took to scooping up his disheveled comics and setting them in lumps just outside his room. Raven stepped further into his room to allow him through the open door.

“I’ll just set these out here for now. Then I can get them into boxes and maybe even pass them out to some kids at their schools. I know a few Dirty Dan fans who would kill for some of these issues,” Beast Boy thought out loud, already beaming at the thought of making a kid’s day.

“Just as long as their parents don’t object,” Raven snarked, hoping that Dirty Dan wasn’t about a kid who refused to take a bath. The last thing Robin would want was a surge of complaints from parents claiming they were bad influences on the youth.

Watching Beast Boy’s slow progress, Raven’s curiosity got the better of her and she leaned down to investigate what kind of reading Beast Boy had invested himself in for all of these years. There were plenty of brightly colored covers of fictional superhero groups. Why these were written when literal superheroes saved the world was beyond her. Beneath that was a handful of light horror, with cartoonish monsters chasing hapless teenage victims. Perfect for a demographic who hadn’t witnessed literal demons in their lifetime. Next was . . .

Raising it up for a closer look, it dawned on her just what she was holding.

“Wait, is this-?”

“Crud! My bad!” Beast Boy rushed over to carefully take the book from her hands. “This must have been mixed with my Deranged Daredevils collection. I wasn’t going to throw this one out, promise.”

Beast Boy reached over her to place the book on the singular chair in the room. So far, the supposed ‘safe’ pile consisted of childhood classics, Insect Care for Dummies, 1001 Drop Dead Puns, and a few wildlife encyclopedias. The newest addition was gifted to Beast Boy by Raven for his first birthday after the team had formed. Back then, she hardly knew him, but didn’t want to deny him the joy of receiving a gift from someone he always reached out to. So, she decided on something that could either come across as a gag gift or a genuine appeal to his interests, despite her complete uncertainty on whether or not he would appreciate it.

When he ripped open the packaging and read the title, The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, he lit up.

“Oh, cool! I’ve read some of these before! I don’t know half the words that come out of the kid’s mouth, but the tiger is pretty cool! Thanks, Raven.” He gave her a classic toothy smile and Raven was admittedly relieved that he didn’t reject the gift or feel any disappointment.

That was years ago, though. Was he still so attached to that particular book? Raven had given him far more personal gifts since getting to know him on a more familiar level.

“Why is that one an exception?” she posed the question as he squatted next to the pile she was looking through.

“Hmm?” Beast Boy looked back for clarification, and a light bulb went off.

“Oh! That’s easy. Because you gave it to me. You probably knew I wouldn’t get half the jokes, but you took a chance anyway. Maybe I’d get it eventually, you know?” His voice trailed off at that last statement.

There it was. Something truly was nagging at him, then. That something had pushed him to embark on a spontaneous cleaning spree to either distract or remedy. While Beast Boy was, oddly enough, the toughest one on the team for her to read empathetically, he was normally easy to understand by his actions alone. However, she had noticed a pattern with him over the years. He was the best at wearing a mask. Robin attempted to remain stoic, but one could still tell what he was feeling. Beast Boy, on the other hand, played pretend. Concealing aggravation and hurt with a stream of jokes was his fallback. This left him with buried sadness, which was never good for the long-term psyche.

Considering how to approach the situation, Raven supposed prodding him a bit would perhaps bring more clarity as to the cause of his distress.

“Hmm. I figured your vocabulary would expand.”

“When, though?” Beast Boy let slip out. He asked so sullenly, the way that a child would when they were seeking approval. Raven recognized this tone from her time spent with Melvin as she began her early teen years. The girl wanted more independence, but a part of her still sought to know that Raven was proud of her in everything that she did.

Upon realizing his slip-up, Beast Boy’s eyes darted around the room. He nabbed a toy from the pile before him and held it up.

“Does this one bring back memories or what?” he chuckled, beaming a large smile. It was the singing monkey with the cymbals that sounded while Raven’s manifested fear chased the Titans throughout the Tower.

Raven sighed softly. That was a poor diversion and he knew it.

“Beast Boy, why are you doing this?” she queried, gesturing around the room. “This ‘spring cleaning’ is too out of character to come out of nowhere.”

“Can’t a guy want a little more walking room?”

“Not when it involves pretending that nothing’s wrong.”

Raven’s eyes met his. He held contact for mere moments before the façade cracked.

Beast Boy’s false smile slowly dropped. He knew he shouldn’t be hiding from her. Raven was one of his best friends, after all.

“’s not a big deal,” he mumbled, looking away.

“It is if it’s bothering you,” she responded, gently touching his shoulder to get his attention. Beast Boy turned back to her, setting the monkey down.

How would he start?

“It’s kind of complicated.”

Raven had the time for him.

“Then start from the beginning.”

With that, Beast Boy sat back, leaning his cheek on a propped-up knee. Raven lowered herself into a crisscross, fully facing him. He took a few moments to collect his thoughts, memories reflecting clearly in his eyes.

“Back, ah, with the Doom Patrol, I was just a kid when Mento started training me. He saw that my powers could be controlled and used for the greater good. And I wanted to be a hero! I wanted to help others. But I wasn’t used to getting shot at or transforming so much I passed out. It was rough for a while. And I messed up. A lot.

“Mento never let me forget any of the mistakes I made, even long after I learned from them. Sometimes, it took longer than it should have to learn, but I eventually got it. But that wasn’t good enough for him. It was for Rita, but Mento was the one in charge, so there was never an end to it.”

Beast Boy exhaled, stopping for a moment to likely push away memories that were crawling out of unpleasant depths of his subconscious.

“And that’s part of why you left?” Raven prompted.

“That was a big part of it. Just one day decided that I had enough, and I thought I could grow stronger if I became the sidekick of someone who could actually help me build on when I did something right. And when I met you guys, things were finally different, and everyone could rely on me in a fight. That felt good and I thought that maybe I wasn’t a total screw up after all. But today, with the mission I just- I messed up really bad and I knew what I did wrong right as it was happening.”

Oh.

Raven and Starfire had split off from the boys to tend to another emergency and didn’t hear back from them until after their mission was complete. Robin had seemed somewhat frazzled, but otherwise they had been successful as well. She hadn’t heard about any particular difficulties on their end.

Beast Boy continued on, his frustrations spilling out at this point.

“I mean, Robin and Cyborg were able to fix it, but Mumbo almost got away. We had him, but I slipped up and he did a lot more damage before we nabbed him again. That’s the kind of dumb mistake I made when I was just a kid, except back then, people died.” He nearly choked on his last words.

Raven’s thoughtful expression instantly morphed into a mixture between solemnity and shock. She had no idea he carried such a weight.

“Beast Boy . . .”

He let out a humorless laugh, his eyes unfocused and unwilling to meet hers.

“Do you ever just . . . get frustrated that you haven’t changed at all? Sometimes I still feel like the kid that can’t follow an order without screwing something up. I’m trying to get better at my job, but that’s not enough when lives are in danger,” he agonized, reaching up to grip his hair in his fist.

His emotions were beginning to overwhelm him. Beast Boy was so used to holding these demons in that he didn’t know how to handle them when they reared their ugly heads. And he hated himself for dumping his worries on Raven. She didn’t need to be dragged into his problems; he should be able to handle them on his own by now.

However, one fact that Beast Boy forgot was that Raven was a healer. She knew that part of the healing process included recognizing the hurt so one could fully recover.

“Beast Boy, you’re right to feel frustrated over this.” Raven began gently, so as to properly acknowledge his despair. “But you have grown up through the years that I’ve known you.”

“Today might prove you wrong,” he sighed defeatedly.

“One bad day doesn’t always indicate a pattern. Failing to react well under pressure happens to even the most disciplined of people.”

“Does it happen to you?”

Raven blinked. Where did that come from?

“What do you mean?”

“You’re always so in control and know what to do. I just don’t know if I can ever be as level-headed as you are.” Truthfully, though he complained about her supposed standoffishness when they first met, Beast Boy always admired her ability to remain calm. She could be cranky at times, but Raven was the Titan to turn to when you needed sage-like wisdom and a calming presence.

“. . . Not always.”

Beast Boy paused. He met her earnest and somewhat hesitant eyes. Where did that come from?

Raven pressed her lips tightly together, then, ever so slowly, began to speak.

“Sometimes . . . I think that I’m still as much of an isolated shut-in as when the team formed. You guys understand my snark, but I still go too far at times and I can tell the others don’t want to tell me that I hurt their feelings. We all struggle with insecurity, Beast Boy, no matter how well we hide it.”

Beast Boy leaned toward her, resting a hand in the space between them.

“You’ve grown so much though, Raven. I’ve noticed how much more you smile nowadays, and you actually talk to us about what you’re thinking about. I don’t think you would have been caught dead in my room like this when we first met,” he cracked a small smile, realizing just how intimate their situation was.

Raven relaxed, quietly grateful that the Beast Boy she knew was reemerging.

“No, I wouldn’t have.”

Now it was her turn.

“But the same goes for you. You take initiative when it’s called for and frankly, some of your strategies are the reason we make it through rougher battles.”

“Name one time,” Beast Boy held up a finger, still not entirely convinced.

“The initial charge against the Brotherhood. Morphing into a jellyfish to filter Scarecrow’s fear gas. Disabling that bomb as a cockroach so you wouldn’t be detected or incinerated,” Raven listed off confidently.

Beast Boy looked down, pondering her words. His shoulders relaxed and a soft smile slowly crept up onto his cheeks.

“Huh. I guess that was pretty mature of me,” he chuckled.

“You know,” she started, peering her head down to catch his eyes once more. “If you’re so worried about making mistakes, maybe talk to Robin about changing your training routine. Having variety might help your ability to react appropriately to any situation.”

“Yeah. That’d probably be a good place to start.”

“Also,” she began, gesturing to the mess around them. “Growing up doesn’t mean getting rid of your childhood joys. It just means you step up without being asked to.”

“I suppose you’re right. But I’ve been meaning to clean up for a while. Kind of hard to stay focused with so much clutter in your room.”

“Maybe leave it until you get a good night’s sleep,” she suggested.

“Eventually, but first there’s something I want to try.”

“And that would be . . .?”

Beast Boy reached back and grabbed the treasure that had sparked their night of revelations.

“Giving this book a try.” He waved the Calvin and Hobbes compilation before her. “You’ve granted me so much wisdom just now, I must have aged a few decades mentally. That is, if you’re not too tired.”

His hopeful expression was too much to pass up, especially at a time when he had opened up so much to her. It was out of character, but Raven was willing to give it a shot.

“I think I’m up for a little humor.”

Beast Boy mock grabbed his heart.

“Such an anomaly only comes once every other blood moon, so I’ll have to cherish you discovering your sense of humor.”

“The anomaly will pass faster the longer you talk about it.”

“Got it.”

They sat on the floor together, each holding one end of the book. Page by page, Beast Boy laughed outwardly at Calvin’s incessantly precocious dialogue. His eyes lit up as he brushed Raven’s shoulder, giddy to share the joke with her. Raven, in return, chuckled at Hobbes’ playful antics and allowed Beast Boy to see her rare carefree expressions.

What happened next truly made their night. The punchline was perfectly worded and timed for the both of them and they shared a singular moment of genuine laughter. Raven’s only a brief chortle and Beast Boy’s a lengthier guffaw, but the laughter of two friends nonetheless.

Raven could have denied the moment and blamed her increasingly delirious state. But she wasn’t about to deny Beast Boy the rare opportunity to have made her laugh. After all, sharing this moment with him was the best feeling she had all day.

#bbrae #beast boy #raven #teen titans #fanfic #i write

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sariahsue · 6 years ago

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Seeing Double, Chapter 6

Summary: Ladybug has discovered Cat Noir’s secret identity, and he doesn’t know that she knows. And she doesn’t know that he knows hers. He doesn’t know who Marinette has a crush on. She doesn’t know why Adrien is suddenly flirting with her.

Read chapter 1 here Read chapter 5 here

Cat Noir sprinted down the hallways of the school, which were almost completely abandoned. His sensitive ears could pick up some fearful crying ahead, and he pushed himself to go faster. Marinette... would Ladybug beat him there? Or had she gotten caught up in whatever was happening? He shouldn't have left her. He should have just transformed in front of her. No one else had been there to see.

He rounded the corner to the hallway where she'd been, only to find that empty as well.

She didn't like Cat Noir. At all. She'd been disgusted at his declaration on her balcony yesterday. Horrified.

He turned another corner and could make out Ladybug's distant voice. She must already be there, facing the monster alone. It was confirmed when a new voice yelled, "I'm not Jeremie! I'm Big Wig now!"

Cat Noir had attempted to sooth his broken heart by telling himself that it was better this way. If they'd been together as superheroes and she never wanted to reveal identities, there was only so far their relationship could go. This was better for the long term. Then again, he knew already who she really was, so what did that to do his argument?

He should have just told her he'd found out, as soon as he'd found out. Maybe she'd be mad, but he'd feel better being honest. The yelling got louder, and he pulled out his baton, gripping it tight. He'd tell her as soon as the battle was over.

A nagging doubt, which sounded a lot like Plagg's voice, reminded him that she didn't seem too fond of Adrien either, and did he have a plan to deal with that?

But he didn't have any more time to wallow. He bounded up the stairs to the second floor and took one last turn, and there she was, his Lady, back to him, spinning her yoyo like a shield and crouched defensively. Behind her cowered Chloe, who was wailing loudly. Her hands clenched in her hair, which had turned dull brown with patches of gray. It was greasy and stringy and snarled, and it hung far past her elbows in matted clumps.

Ladybug hadn't noticed him yet, as someone deeper in the hallway held her full attention. "A bad haircut?" she said. "Really? I'm having trouble believing that you're the most distraught person in all of Paris."

"Chloe made fun of me in front of Sofia! She will pay!"

"Well," Ladybug's voice faltered a little bit, but her yoyo didn't slow. "I guess I can sympathize with getting humiliated in front of your crush, but still."

What? She could? Had he witnessed the whole scene yesterday? Had she been extra flustered because she knew "the other guy" was watching him flirt with her?

No, he couldn't think about this right now. Cat Noir shook his head and used the cover of their distracting conversation to inch closer and try to assess the situation.

The akuma hadn't changed much in appearance. Cat Noir had recognized the boy by face but not by name. Jeremie, he had said. He was a year younger than Cat Noir and about a head shorter, and his head was really the only thing about him that had changed. Where he usually had thick, mousey brown hair that reached past his ears, now he had thick, long locks that floated behind him, like his hair was underwater.

Jeremie, or Big Wig, stood in the middle of the hallway surrounded by two dozen whimpering students who were lying scattered across the floor. All of them had grotesque manes of hair, but there was something wrong. Why weren't they running? A few of them looked around from their fetal positions and called for help.

Ladybug still didn't know he was there, but Big Wig did. He plucked a large hand mirror with a long handle from his belt and leveled it at him like a sword.

"Don't let it hit you!" Alya's familiar voice screamed.

A jet of white mist shot in their direction, and Ladybug and Cat Noir both dodged to the left. Hair spray, probably. Shooting from a mirror. Okay. They took shelter behind the open door of a janitor's closet, bracing it in front of them like a shield. Flecks of hair spray ricocheted off of it harmlessly.

"Ack!" Ladybug squawked when she saw him. "When did you get here?" But she didn't wait for an answer. She popped out from behind the door and tried to lasso the mirror away from Big Wig, but she missed. When she reel her yoyo back in, he could see her hands were shaking, and his heart broke a little bit more. He hadn't even said anything yet and she was already so upset that she'd missed an easy shot. He had to do something, bring back the normal.

He extended his baton until it hit Big Wig in the chest and pushed him against the far wall, pinning him next to the doorway there. Ayla peeked out through the opening, phone in one hand, and she gave him a thumbs up with the other. None of the other students had moved, and Chloe still whimpered softly and clutched at her hair, which was now so long it touched the floor.

"I'm actually really excited for this akuma," Cat Noir said loudly, bringing Ladybug's attention back onto him for just a brief moment. He gave her a lopsided grin, hoping it would make her relax.

Her eyes met his, then darted all across his face, almost panicked. "Oh, no," she said. "I'm so doomed."

"Because of the akuma?" he asked. Or was it because of him? He tried not to visibly wilt.

"No, because you're-" She cleared her throat and turned back to stare at Big Wig, who was wriggling underneath the end of the baton and shooting hair spray into a cloud in front of him. "Why are you excited, Cat Noir?"

"I've wanted to fight a hair-based akuma for ages. I've got so many good puns. But I really wished we could have faced him in some... cat-a-combs."

Ladybug whirled back on him. "I knew it."

"What?" he asked, alarmed. Had he messed up again? Had he made it even worse?

"You go home, and you sit in your room for hours, and plan all these terrible puns in advance. I KNEW IT!"

"Oh, come on! That one was really good." He jerked forward suddenly as Big Wig finally managed to get out from under the baton.

Ladybug spun her yoyo in anticipation and muttered, "It was okay."

His heart leapt.

She didn't hate him.

They both snapped back to attention when the purple outline of a butterfly briefly lined Big Wig's face.

"You're right. I guess it is your turn. Thanks for the help." Shifting his focus back on the duo, he said, "Time for those miraculouses!" Big Wig's hair fanned out behind him as he took a single step toward them.

"I'm sorry," Cat Noir said. "I can't give you mine. It's an old family hair-loom."

Ladybug groaned. "And how long have you been saving that one?"

"About six months. Was it worth the wait?"

"No." But when he looked back at her, he could see that she was fighting a smile. That was progress. He felt a flutter of hope, but he knew he shouldn't press his luck with her today.

Big Wig didn't move far from the wall. Instead, he used his mirror like a club, batting away their long range attacks with ease. They were going to have to get closer to him, and Big Wig knew it. Picking their way through the minefield of victims wasn't going to be easy.

"Why aren't they moving out of the way?" Ladybug asked quietly.

One of the girls tried to raise her head up. She tugged and twisted but couldn't pull her hair away from the tiles. Cat Noir glanced back over his shoulder at Chloe. Her hands were still tangled in her hair. "I don't think they can," he said.

"It sticks to stuff!" Alya said. Ladybug gave her a grateful nod.

They weaved and bobbed through the students, careful not to step one anyone, but Big Wig wasn't making it easy. He relentlessly sprayed at them, forcing them to dodge and not letting them get closer.

It took only a few seconds of this before Ladybug realized that "We're going to have to split up. He can't hit both of us at once." She looked at him to make sure he'd heard her, and Big Wig struck, sending a long jet of hair spray at her. Cat Noir dove and took the hit for her.

Clumps of his blond hair fell out and his scalp tickled as new strands sprouted in their place. He made the mistake of pushing black hair away from his eyes with his right hand. When he tried to pull away, he couldn't. Oops. That was dumb. Double oops, because now he couldn't use Cataclysm. And his hair kept growing.

"Cat, are you okay?" Ladybug asked.

"Oh, My Lady, it's a tragedy! My modeling days are over! Will you still love me even though I'm ugly?" He froze with his mouth hanging open, akuma forgotten. He hadn't meant to do that. She didn't like him. She would push him away. He couldn't bear to see that look of horror on her face again, but he couldn't look away from her either.

She didn't seem upset, just surprised, then like she'd had a fantastic idea, then like she was about to challenge him to a race she knew he couldn't win. His stomach twisted, and he wasn't sure if he was suddenly excited or nervous. She leaned into him, letting her nose brush his. "Of course I'll still love you, Chaton."

What.

Alya wolf whistled at them from the doorway as Ladybug darted away from him, eyes on the akuma, and took all Cat Noir's air with her. Did he hear that right? What did she mean? Was that flirting?

He needed to help her, back her up, so he took one step forward and tripped on somebody's leg.

The battle was like most other battles, except for the fact that Cat Noir was questioning reality the whole time. When he took another dose of hair spray for her, she declared he was her hero. When her flirting caused him to trip a second time, she came to his rescue. As she pulled him up, she'd brought her lips so close to his ear that he could feel her breath tickle his skin, and then she asked in a soft voice if something was distracting him. He'd just about died. When she'd given his bell a flick and winked at him, he'd been left so speechless that she'd asked if the cat got his tongue.

With each flirt, he got more flustered, and Ladybug's smile grew wider. Why was she flirting with him? Did she mean it, or was she just trying to tease him?

Between the two of them – mostly Ladybug, because Cat Noir was having enough trouble walking in a straight line, never mind attacking – they managed to back Big Wig into an empty classroom. Alya hung around near the door, phone up.

The classroom wasn't much better than the hallway. Cat Noir's hand was still stuck in his hair, and there were four rows of desks in the way, but it was more contained, there weren't any people to trip over, and Big Wig was having trouble maneuvering around the desks. He couldn't keep his eyes on both of them and watch where he was going at the same time, so he kept bumping into things. The classroom was the best they would be able to manage.

"Give me your miraculouses!" Big Wig yelled, a slight tremor in his voice. His floating hair seemed to shiver the more nervous he became.

Ladybug pushed a desk out of her way. "It seems you're in a hairy situation, Big Wig. Why don't you just hand over the mirror?"

She was making puns, too! It was the best day of his life!

Cat Noir came up next to her. Only one more row of desks separated them from the akuma victim. As one, they leapt over the chairs, but Big Wig was ready. Hair spray filled the air, and he knocked Ladybug to the side mid jump. Cat Noir caught her around the waist and steadied her against his chest (mostly on purpose), but he couldn't shield her hair from the attack. Her hair grayed and thinned and lengthened. When they'd regained their footing, he'd realized his mistake. Carried by the momentum of her fall, her pigtails whipped around, slapping against their sides and sticking the duo together, chest to chest.

Ladybug realized how close together they were and went beet red and kept her eyes on his shoulder, all of her confidence evaporating. Alya cackled manically from the doorway.

"S-s-sorry," Ladybug squeaked out. "Sorry. Sorry!" She pulled her arms in, like she wanted to protect herself from him. This was his fault. He had to fix it.

"Not that I mind being lock-ed together with you," he said to break the tension, "but do you think this is perm-anent?"

"Ugh!" Ladybug hadn't yet turned to face him, but her blush went down slightly. "Why must you always pun?"

"Because puns are hair-larious!" Well, she hadn't started stuttering yet. That was good.

"No, they're still awful. Even if they're coming from- Never mind." She struggled to break away from him, and Big Wig took a few steps toward them, reaching for Ladybug's earrings.

Cat Noir took a few stumbling steps backward, dragging her along with him. "Can you still get to your yoyo?" he asked urgently. With his hand still tangled against his head, her special move was their last chance.

She got his meaning and called for her Lucky Charm. She caught a red and black-spotted cardboard box with the words "100 Pencils" printed on the side as Cat Noir dragged her away from Big Wig again.

"What are you planning on doing with that?" he asked, trying to think of something witty. "Write a hundred essays about why he should give up?" Oh, yes. So clever. Very intelligent. Ladybug was sure to be impressed. In his defense, it was hard to think with her pressed up against him like she was and Alya in the background, yelling at them to kiss already.

Ladybug propped the box against her hip and fumbled with the top flap with one hand. "No, I'm going to write you a hundred love letters."

"P-please do," Cat Noir whispered.

Alya screeched.

"You two are nauseating," Big Wig said.

But Ladybug had the biggest reaction. She stared up at his face when she heard his words and did something she'd never done before. She dropped her Lucky Charm. Pencils burst from the box and skittered across the floor. Big Wig laughed.

"Oh, no!" she cried. She tried bending her knees to pick of the pencils, but that only pulled Cat Noir down with her. Their foreheads knocked against each other and their drooping bangs tangled and stuck fast, holding their faces even closer together.

Now was not a good time to think about kissing her, but he couldn't remember what he was supposed to be thinking about instead.

Ladybug's earrings beeped, and she twisted away from him as much as she could. He couldn't see what she was looking at, but she suddenly said, "Wait, I've got it. Follow my lead, on my signal."

Cat Noir could barely see through his matted bangs and around her, but what he could see wasn't encouraging. Big Wig stalked closer to them, free hand outstretched. "Your hair's already at your waist. What are you going to do when it reaches the ground? You'll both be trapped." He hefted his mirror in front of him. "Or I can just speed up the process."

Cat Noir tensed, ready to move when she gave the word. Her face twisted up in concentration, waiting for their perfect moment.

Big Wig squeezed the handle of the mirror and released a cloud of hair spray.

"Now!"

They dove through the mist and right toward the akuma. Big Wig dodged, but slipped and rolled on the pencils at his feet, completely unbalanced.

Ladybug shifted her weight and looped her arms around Cat Noir's neck, carefully avoiding his long hair, and he was ready when she tucked her feet up and gave the akuma a kick. Big Wig spun his arms in an effort to stay upright, but he fell right through the lingering cloud of hair spray and fell. His beautiful flowing hair crinkled and went limp. Big Wig managed to break his fall with his arms, but the tips of his hair brushed the tiles and stuck fast, and he dropped the mirror. It clattered to the floor and slid just out of his reach. He strained, but he couldn't reach it.

"Phew," Ladybug said, lowering her feet back to the ground and blushing furiously. She didn't unloop her hands from around his neck. "Let's, uh, finish this off. Hey, Alya? Could you get the mirror for us?"

"No, sorry," Alya said. "Got to record."

Ladybug wrinkled her nose. "You just want to see if we'll fall over each other trying to get it, don't you?"

Cat Noir gulped.

"It's a dangerous akuma!" Alya said. "Surely, you don't want a civilian risking her life? Now, hurry up. I've got a great angle and my battery's getting low."

Ladybug grumbled, but started maneuvering through the scattered desks and around the still struggling akuma. Her earrings beeped a second time.

Cat Noir tried to focus on where he was putting his feet. Tried to focus on not brushing his hair against the desks. Tried to focus on the still-struggling Big Wig. Tried to focus on anything except the return of Ladybug's small smile, how cute her freckles were up close, how warm she felt next to him, how much he wanted to keep her there.

"All right," Cat Noir said when they reached the mirror. It had slid between two desks in the front row. "I can see it. It's right next to my foot." He kicked it closer to her. "Want me to stomp-"

"I'll get it," she said. She bent and reached, but she caught him by surprise, and ended up unbalancing both of them. He hit a desk on their their way down, but that wasn't what took his breath away. Alya had been right. When he blearily opened his eyes, he was flat on his back with Ladybug on top of him, her nose in his cheek.

"Sorry!" she squeaked. "I didn't mean- I th-thought I could reach-" Her face was so red he could barely tell where her skin ended and her mask began. She reached out and hammerfisted the mirror, then rolled until they on their sides and reached for her yoyo. With a quick flick of her wrist, she cleansed the akuma and called for her cure. When their hair had been magically fixed, she retreated quickly and refused to look at him, instead focusing on herding Jeremie back out the door. He didn't need much coaxing, and he darted past Alya as soon as he was back on his feet. Chloe had been right. It was an awful haircut, poor kid.

Alya blocked the door, trapping the duo inside and holding up her phone. Ladybug's earrings beeped a third time. "You've got a few more minutes, you know. You two should kiss!"

Cat Noir sucked in a breath and took a step backward. He carefully avoided looking at Ladybug, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw her jump in surprise. He'd love to. But he still wasn't sure what his Lady wanted. So he put his hands up and was about to make his apologies for ruining her scoop when he felt a hand reach up to his neck and pull him down.

He barely had time to register what was happening, barely enough time to feel the small peck against his lips, barely enough time to feel the warmth of her closeness, before she let him go and ran for the door past a dumbstruck Alya. Ladybug glanced over her shoulder at him as she turned the corner and smiled shyly at him. Then she was gone. She had kissed him? Cat Noir stared at the spot where she had disappeared for a solid ten seconds before turning back to Alya, who was getting a closeup of his amazed face.

"You got all that, right?" he managed to croak out.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm livestreaming it."

"Good." He lightly touched his fingers to his lips. She had kissed him! "Because I'm going to download that to every device I own."

He looked around the room in a daze, Alya's phone still on him. A few of the chairs were still out of place, so he started setting them back into place. Well, he tried to. He told his feet to move, but they were still frozen in place from the shock. He leaned forward to move, but he unbalanced and tipped over, smacking his face against a chair on the way down.

"Are you okay?" Alya asked.

"Never mind," he replied from the floor. "I'm not happy you're livestreaming it."

"Wow." She reached out one hand, keeping the phone trained on him with the other. "You've got it so bad."

"I know."

He stumbled out of the room, waiting until he was sure she had gone down a different hallway and was completely alone before calling off the transformation.

"She wouldn't have kissed me if she hadn't meant it, right?" Adrien asked as he slid down against a row of lockers.

Plagg slipped out of sight and back into his shirt pocket. "If I agree with you, can I have extra cheese?"

"Sure."

"Then you're right. She's totally into you. Congratulations. Gimme my cheese."

He still wasn't sure what was happening. She'd said that she liked someone else. Her behavior over the past 24 hours had been erratic. She'd run away from his attention every time he'd ever offered it before, but he couldn't get one unexpected truth out of his head: he still had a chance.

Read chapter 7 here

#watch as cat noir devolves into a flustered mess #reveal #kiss #fanfiction #ladynoir #miraculous #seeing double #awkward #ladybug #chat noir #adrien agreste #pre-relationship #post-reveal #identity reveal #fluff #flirting #akuma #flustered chat noir

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