Chapter Text
Ladybug was awesome. Ladybug was crazy awesome! How else could Chat Noir possibly describe her? She came up with a plan to defeat Stoneheart on the fly with just a wetsuit and it had all worked out without a hitch. He would have surely been toast if it hadn’t been for her quick thinking.
“You were incredible, Miss . . . uh . . . bug lady. You did it!”, marveled Chat Noir in admiration.
Chat Noir got up from the spot where Stoneheart had dropped him to see Ladybug with a grim expression on her face as she eyed him warily. Chat Noir furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, had he done something wrong to offend her?
Ladybug’s voice dropped to a fearful whisper.
“You could’ve killed Ivan, Chat”.
“Wait, what?”
“You nearly used Cataclysm on him. If you hadn’t used it up on the field goal . . .”
Ladybug’s voice trailed off as she shuddered slightly.
Chat Noir’s eyes widened in horror as Ladybug’s words began to sink in. He really did almost kill the boy that was once Stoneheart. He had seen the effects of Cataclysm first hand, he had seen the field goal instantly crumble into nothingness when he touched it. He never would have tried to use it on Stoneheart if he knew that Stoneheart was actually an innocent boy who was forcibly transformed into a monster by an akuma. He really should’ve let Plagg finish explaining everything.
“You’re right, I was careless. It won’t happen again, I promise”, Chat Noir vowed with a look of shame, “I’ll be more careful with my power-”
A beeping sound came from his ring, indicating that his transformation would soon be over. Ladybug’s eyes turned towards his ring as she began to warn him about the consequences of his transformation timer running out.
“You should get going. Our identities must remain secret”.
Chat Noir bowed as a grin emerged on his face.
“Farewell, m'lady. Let's do this again soon, ok?”
Ladybug watched him slam his baton into the ground and extend it to vault out of the stadium until she could no longer spot his figure.
“I don’t know if I can trust you enough to do this again”, she murmured to herself.
_____
Seriously, what was up with Chloe today? Adrien had never been in public school before, so he had no idea if sticking gum on someone’s seat really was part of the school culture, but nevertheless, it didn’t sit right with him. He just couldn’t wrap his head around why Chloe, his best friend, his only friend, felt that it was necessary to do such a thing. She was always so nice to him, after all.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
Adrien, preoccupied with trying to get the gum off the seat, was startled as he got up to face the source of the voice. The voice belonged to a raven-haired girl with her hair in pigtails, who greeted him with a furious look of indignation and her hands on her hips.
“Oh, uh, I . . .”, Adrien stammered out.
Laughter erupted from a desk behind him and Adrien turned around to see that it had come from Chloe and Sabrina. He really didn’t understand what was up with Chloe today. He really didn’t understand school culture either. It was all just so confusing to him and he wished Chloe would just stop and explain why she was acting like this.
The girl’s eyes widened in recognition before a look of melancholy emerged on her face, her voice turning dull and empty, having lost all of its previous anger.
“Oh, you must be Adrien, Chloe’s told me all about you”.
“Yeah, that’s me.”
Adrien raised his hands in a placating gesture before continuing on.
“I swear though, I was just trying to take this off”.
The girl sighed as she looked away, her eyes refusing to meet his.
“A likely story. You’re Chloe’s friend and that’s all I need to know.”
“Why do people keep saying that?”
The girl didn’t bother to answer Adrien’s question as she placed a tissue over the gum and sat down next to it in her seat. Adrien stayed standing for a bit before realizing that the girl did not wish to continue their conversation any longer. He then went to take his own seat, where he slumped down in resignation.
"Now do you see what I mean about respect?", Chloe crowed haughtily.
No, Chloe, he couldn’t see what you meant about respect. He couldn’t see what this whole misunderstanding had to do with respect. All Adrien could see was that he was a fish out of water, there was simply so much that he just didn’t understand.
Chat Noir kicked and flailed his legs uselessly as the Stoneheart copy refused to release him from its tight grip. He didn’t want to admit it, but it seemed that Ladybug was going to have to bail him out again. He could only hope that she would be able to save him and Alya in time.
“Chat Noir! Extend it!”
His baton suddenly fell right into his hands and with the press of a button, he was able to pry himself out of the Stoneheart copy’s grasp, which caused him to tumble onto the ground. He then found himself facing down the Stoneheart copy, whose fist was headed straight for him, but a familiar yo-yo wrapped itself around him and pulled him away to safety in the nick of time.
“Sorry, I was late.”
“M’lady, have I- Wait, you’re not Ladybug.”
His rescuer looked like she came straight out of a ballet, ballerina skirt and all. Where Ladybug had spots, she was plastered with hearts. Where Ladybug wore red and black, she was clad in pink and white. Where Ladybug wore her hair in pigtails, she had her hair down. And unlike Ladybug, whose suit was quite simplistic, her suit was decked out with frills and bows. They adorned her hair, her skirt, and even her ballerina shoes.
“You can call me Loveybug!”, she introduced herself with a beaming smile.
Loveybug’s eyes turned towards the crowd of Stoneheart copies, who were closing in on them. Her smile fell slightly before returning in full force when her eyes turned back towards him.
“I promise I’ll explain everything. But, we gotta get outta here first!”
Loveybug leapt to the rooftops and beckoned him to follow. Chat Noir, intent on holding Loveybug to her promise of an explanation, leapt after her. They ran and leaped across the rooftops, only coming to a stop once until they had ditched the Stoneheart copies.
“So Loveybug, it’s great to have another superhero on the team! But, do you have any idea when Ladybug’s going to get here?”
Loveybug’s beaming smile fell as a crestfallen expression emerged on her face.
“About that . . . My kwami told me that Ladybug quit”.
“Ladybug quit?! Why?!”, Chat Noir cried out in shock.
“My kwami said Ladybug didn’t feel that she was up to the task of being a superhero, so she gave up her miraculous and had my kwami deliver it to me. I’ll be taking her place on the team.”
Chat Noir’s mind swirled with doubt and guilt. Was that really the reason why Ladybug quit? She was so confident and brave, she’d have to be blind to not see how awesome, how crazy awesome she was. Part of him couldn’t help but think that the real reason she quit was because of him. Because of his power. He remembered how shaken and aghast she was after he tried to use cataclysm on Stoneheart. Did she quit because she feared that he may use cataclysm so carelessly again?
He was shaken out of his thoughts by Loveybug, who tapped his shoulder lightly.
“Um, Chat, we should get going. If we want to stop all of these Stonehearts, we need to go to the source.”
Loveybug then pointed at the original Stoneheart, who had planted himself right on the Eiffel Tower.
“That one!”
Chat Noir quickly brought himself together as the gravity of the situation reasserted itself.
“Alright partner, let’s do this.”
They arrived on the scene not a moment too soon, as they found themselves greeted by the sight of Stoneheart hurling Chloe off the Eiffel Tower, sending her plummeting to the ground. Chat Noir gritted his teeth. He wasn’t sure if either Loveybug or him could save Chloe in time, but if they worked together, they just might be able to pull it off.
Turning towards Loveybug, he found her watching Chloe fall with . . . wonder and awe? No, it couldn’t be, he was probably just imagining things due to being in a high-stress situation. Loveybug seemed like a really nice person, after all.
“Loveybug, I could really use a boost!”
“Oh, right!”
Loveybug, snapping into action, wrapped her yo-yo around him and flung him towards Chloe, allowing him to catch Chloe without a second to spare.
“We’re clear to attack!”
On Roger’s command, the police officers readied their pistols to start firing on Stoneheart.
“Wait! No, don't attack them!”
Loveybug held her hands out, imploring the officers to stand down.
“You know it'll only make it worse!”
“I don’t know who you are, but I have a new plan, unlike you!”, Roger retorted, “Move aside and let the pros do their thing. You heroes have already failed once!”
Loveybug, initially taken aback by Roger’s response, steeled her resolve and fired back.
“I am Loveybug and I will succeed where Ladybug failed.”
Loveybug proved to be just as capable as Ladybug and together, they had Stoneheart defeated once again. The akuma was purified this time around, so Stoneheart had been defeated for good. A beeping sound came from his ring, indicating that it was time to make his leave.
“Uh oh. You see that?”, Loveybug remarked as she pointed at his ring, “Time to split. See you soon, Chat Noir”.
Loveybug prepared to zip away with her yo-yo, only to be stopped by Chat Noir, who had grabbed onto her hand.
“Wait! Let me just say that you were amazing out there”, he pleaded with her, “If you’re thinking about quitting because you have doubts about being a superhero, they’re completely unfounded.”
Loveybug just smirked and gave him a boop on the nose.
“Silly kitty, I just said that I’d see you soon. Unlike Ladybug, I’m gonna stick around, so you don’t need to worry about me quitting on you.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that, m’lady”.
Chat Noir watched Loveybug zip off into the distance with her yo-yo before making his own leave. He had meant it when he said that she was amazing out there. How else could he possibly describe her? Not just anyone could have marched right up to Hawkmoth and called him out for the lies he spewed out. Not just anyone could have boldly promised to the people of Paris that they had nothing to fear because they had Loveybug and Chat Noir to protect them. All in all, Loveybug was simply amazing and he really didn’t want to entertain the thought of her quitting.
Adrien walked into the classroom with a pep in his step. His first day at school had gotten off to a rough start with the gum incident and Stoneheart interrupting roll call, but now that Stoneheart was defeated for good, he felt like things were getting back on track. He waved at the raven-haired girl whose seat he was trying to remove gum from. In response, she looked away in despondency, she evidently wasn’t over the gum incident yet.
Adrien, dejected, took his seat, where Nino offered him some advice.
“Dude, you wanna make friends, right? Well, go talk to Marinette. You know, about the chewing gum.”
“But what should I say to her?”
“Just be yourself.”
Adrien perked up. Be himself? That he could do. That he could definitely do. He was lucky to have Nino as a friend, he wouldn’t know where to begin without Nino.
Marinette looked so sad, standing outside of the rain by herself like that. At first, Adrien thought it would be for the better if he left her alone, but it seemed that she didn’t bring an umbrella. The right thing to do would be to offer her his umbrella as a peace offering and try to clear things up, so that was what he was going to do. Besides, he didn’t really need his umbrella since his bodyguard was here to pick him up.
“Hey.”
Upon noticing his presence, Marinette’s eyes widened in surprise as she backed away from him. As his eyes met hers, he could see that they were frantic with dread. Adrien’s face fell, did she really detest him that much? Nonetheless, he still had to try to make amends with her.
“I just wanted you to know that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat, I swear”, Adrien explained as he opened up his umbrella, “I've never been to school before. I've never had friends. It's all sort of new to me.”
Adrien then held out his umbrella for Marinette to take. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion before she hesitantly reached out towards the umbrella. To his surprise, instead of taking the umbrella, she slowly pushed it back to him.
“You can keep it. I’d rather take my chance in the rain.”
With Marinette refusing to accept his apology, being himself had been rendered a failure. Adrien sighed as he watched Marinette run back home in the rain. Plagg peeked out of his shirt and let out a groan.
“Yeesh, first day of school and you’ve already had a lover’s spat.”
“I just wanted to make friends”, Adrien uttered morosely as he walked to his car, “It’s not as easy as the shows and movies make it out to be.”
As Adrien entered the car and his bodyguard drove them home, he sulked and noted to himself that he really was a fish out of water. He just couldn’t escape the feeling that he was an outsider looking in.
Unbeknownst to both him and Marinette, Master Fu and Wayzz had been present to witness their entire conversation.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen, Master.”
Fu rubbed his chin hair.
“It certainly wasn’t. Hopefully, those two will grow closer with time. They are made for each other, after all.”