#but also i love this song bc its so sad and angsty and also DOUGIE SINGS IT

[hanaasbananas]

Power to Play Chapter 5

A series of ficlets each based off a song from the McFly album Power to Play

AO3

Prev//Next

I'm Fine

“Wh– get away from me!”

Ladybug blinked, startled as the akuma victim pushed her hand away, scrambling backwards to get away from her. All around them, the miraculous cure was doing its work, knitting everything back together and repairing the city but the woman didn’t seem to notice or even care, her eyes fixed firmly on Ladybug as she got to her feet. 

The woman swayed slightly and Ladybug offered her hand again. “Ma’am are you–” 

“Don’t .” The woman spat out venomously. “I don’t want your help.”

Of course she didn’t. Ladybug suppressed a sigh, her cheeks growing hot with embarrassment. She half expected to see another akuma coming their way, but the sky remained blessedly clear. 

“Right. Okay then,” forcing a smile, Ladybug turned to Chat—who had been watching the exchange with a furrowed brow, his mouth drawn into a thin line. Her earrings beeped. “Chat? Will you uh..will you get this lady down safely from here? I have to go.” 

“No problem, My Lady.” Chat extended his baton and addressed the woman, his voice noticeably harder. “Come now, madame.”

Not trusting herself to say anything else, Ladybug simply nodded and zipped away, trying hard to ignore the feeling of Chat’s gaze on her retreating back as her eyes burned with unshed tears.

She should have been used to it by now. Had thought that she was, but anti-Ladybug sentiment had been growing in recent months, with multiple articles and news outlets questioning her ability as a hero. 

Chat Noir was her biggest defender against it all of course. Though she’d asked him to take a step back and be less vocal after he’d had a go at some people who had suggested–to her face–that she give up the mantle of Ladybug entirely, that she should pass it onto Chat Noir and ‘let real heroes sort things out’. 

She had never seen him so angry. A few other outlets followed his example, trying to push back against the negativity when she herself couldn’t.

It didn’t help, however, that Hawkmoth had decided to take advantage of people's resentment of her, fanning the flames by sending more and more difficult akumas and specifically akumatising those who seemed to have a problem with her.

Generally, she tried to avoid reading anything about herself–Alya had even taken her phone and muted any and all variations of the words ‘Ladybug’, ‘Paris’ and ‘hero’ on every social media platform that she had and it had helped, but…to see such vitriol in the eyes of the people she was saving…it was still jarring and took her by surprise every time.

Ladybug sighed, her shoulders slumping as she landed in the empty backstreet behind her flat and detransformed. She would get through this. Public sentiment changed all the time– Alya had told her multiple times– and this would blow over soon, she was sure of it. In the meantime, she couldn’t let it affect her. 

She wouldn’t let it affect her. She was fine. It was all fine.

*

Chat Noir had a large folder with him when Ladybug met him for patrol later that evening.

“What’s this?”

“How are you doing?”

They both spoke at the same time. Ignoring her question, Chat set the folder down and patted the space beside him. Slinging an arm around her shoulders when she sat down, he pulled her close and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Immediately, she felt the tension that had been thrumming through her body all day melt and Ladybug sighed contentedly. 

For a long moment, they simply sat there enjoying each other's company in silence until Chat spoke. “You know, I really let that lady have it earlier for being so rude to you–”

“ Chat!”

“What?” He said defensively, pulling back to look at her. “Did you really think I wouldn’t say anything?”

Ladybug sighed, this time, for an entirely different reason. “No,” she admitted. “But you shouldn’t have.” 

“Look, I know you’ve told me not to but I saw your face earlier when–” 

“It just caught me by surprise, that’s all.” Ladybug interrupted. “It always does, that doesn’t mean I’m not alright.” 

Chat didn’t seem convinced but she didn’t care. He didn’t need to know that she’d made two cakes and three batches of cookies that afternoon in an attempt to stop herself from wallowing in self loathing; to forget the hatred that had twisted the akuma victim's expression when she had seen her. 

He definitely didn’t need to know that she’d cried for twenty minutes when one of the cakes had ended up overcooked.

“C’mon, let’s go patrol.” Ladybug rose to her feet and stepped past him.

“Ladybug.”

“I’ll go um…I’ll go this way.” Unspooling her yo-yo, she prepared to throw it when Chat grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her. 

“My lady.”  Chat’s voice was low. Still holding onto her wrist, he turned her gently to face him. He regarded her steadily, his green eyes soft and swimming with concern. “You can’t keep bottling this up. It’s not healthy.” 

Ladybug swallowed past the lump in her throat. “What do you want me to say?” she cried out. “I have to be fine! I can’t afford not to, because what if I get akumatized? Then what?”

“Then–”

“Then we’d be screwed, that’s what! ”

Chat was staring at her, wide eyed but he did not try to interrupt, standing quietly as Ladybug pulled herself out of his grasp and began pacing back and forth. Now that she’d started, she couldn’t stop. The dam had finally burst, and a torrent of words poured uncontrollably from her mouth. 

“And–and I don’t know what they want from me–it’s like they’re just waiting for me to explode so they have another reason to hate me and I just…I have to be fine because otherwise they’ll know that they’re getting to me and get worse!

“You know, –sometimes I just want to shake these people and yell at them that I’m trying my best ! Why can’t they see that?  

“I wish I could just get mad and say fuck you to all of them, you know? All those people going on panels and dissecting every fight like they’re somehow perfect and would have done better!” She scoffed. “I’d like to see them try to do what I do every day.”

Breathing heavily, Ladybug looked back towards Chat, startled to see that he had moved to stand right behind her.

“C’mere.” He enveloped her in a hug. Wrapping her arms around his waist, Ladybug closed her eyes and let herself relax in his embrace. They stood like that for a while until Chat pulled back slightly to look down at her fondly. He was smiling. “Feeling better?” He asked.

“I–” Ladybug paused. She was surprised to realise how much lighter she felt after her outburst, how the weight seemed to have lifted from her chest. “Yeah, actually. I am.”

Chat shook his head ruefully, gesturing to the discarded folder at his feet. “And here I thought we’d have to set fire to all these articles–” he wrinkled his nose, “no, they aren’t articles, more like rag pieces. Whatever–point is I thought it might be cathartic to–”

“To burn them?”

“I mean…” Chat shrugged “I don’t think we need to now. Unless…” his raised his eyebrows, expression mischievous. “You want to do it?”

Ladybug was already reaching for the folder. Laughter was bubbling up in her chest–the first genuine cheerfulness she had felt in a long time. “ Absolutely.”