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“Ladybug, have you ever kissed a civilian before?”
The two teenage superheros sit under a secluded tree, playing uno away from public eyes.
“Mmm, I don’t think I have.” She replies, looking thoroughly through the seven cards she has left in her hand. “Wait, are you asking if I’ve kissed someone while I was Ladybug?”
“Yes.” Chat responds, drawing what feels like the fifteenth card from the deck since the start of his turn. “Ugh, why is it that when I need the color, it suddenly disappears from existence!”
Ladybug smirks. “I don’t have that problem.”
“Well duh, you’re Lady Luck herself. A-ha! Finally a green card!”
Another turn passes before Chat re-asks his question. “So what’s the verdict? You’ve kissed someone as Ladybug or not?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever kissed someone as Ladybug.” She says looking at the green leaves above them in thought. “I’ve only ever kissed you. Twice.”
Three times, she smiles to herself. Then her grin quickly drops, and her heart begins to speed up when she finally realizes where this conversation is going. Maybe if she just moves on to a different topic then–
“I’ve kissed a civilian before, and it was terrible!” He dramatically places his hands that still held his cards against his eyes. Chat leans backwards until his back hits the grass, exposing almost all of his card's colors.
Ladybug gapes at him. Okay ouch, I didn’t think the kiss was that bad. Am I a bad kisser? Oh my god, what if Adrien thinks I’m a bad kisser!
“Were they that bad of a kisser?” She asks a little too eagerly.
Chat sits up in a second. “No! In fact she was quite the opposite.” He hides a blush and rubs the back of his neck. Ladybug stares at him curiously, urging him to continue.
He takes a deep breath and hurriedly spits out, “ShekindagotakumatizedlikeraightafterIkissedher.”
“Oh.” Is that why he thought the kiss was so bad then? Ladybug has long moved on from the brief phase in which she developed a crush on her best friend, but the reality finally sinks in about how messed up that kiss really was.
Aside from the part where Monarch was unknowingly incredibly close to obtaining her Miraculous, there is a guilty underlining in the fact that Chat thought he was kissing a whole different girl, not his superhero partner. Even though their failed ‘date’ ended with him apologizing for taking advantage because of the power imbalance, the truth is that really, she took advantage of him not knowing her identity.
“She ended up okay though right?”
“Yeah, but I had to kiss her again so she wasn’t akumatized, and then I proceeded to tell her that the second kiss wasn’t romantic, and then Andre the Ice Cream Man got akumatized again, and then I left her in the porta-potties, and then–”
“Chat Noir!” Ladybug places her cards in her lap. He stops rambling and locks eyes with her bluebell ones. Her heart begins to race faster again under his gaze, worried that he’ll somehow recognize Marinette behind her polka-dotted mask.
Ladybug swallows and continues. “Calm...calm down a bit. It doesn't sound like it was too terrible.” She kindly offers.
“It was totally unfair of me though!” He bites the inside of his cheek. “I took advantage of her feelings. I-I really love her, y’know? But she only sees this side of me as Paris’s superhero. Plus it’s even worse by the fact that I know her in my civilian life, which I obviously didn’t tell her buttt…”
Whatever else he was saying, Ladybug ears stopped listening. Or rather, her brain began to stop processing. It was like she had a mini devil and angel on each of her shoulders. One persuading for her to dip into the curiosity, and the other forbidding it.
This conversation was getting too dangerous and if she didn’t put a stop to it soon, she may find out the person behind the kitty ears.
Ladybug picks up the cards back up from her lap, and continues her turn. “Kitty, I don’t think Marinette would be angry with you. Emotions can be big sometimes so don’t blame yourself for her akumatization or the correct decision to reject her.”
She tries her best to focus on the game, strategizing her win with the three cards in her hand. When she notices Chat hasn’t discarded a card yet, she looks up.
Across from Ladybug, Chat Noir stares at her with his jaw comedically hanging open.
“Wha-what is it? Did I do something wrong?” She looks back down at the discarded pile and lifts her last card to check if it was wrongly placed. However, both cards matched the same vibrant green.
“I never said her name.”
Her stomach drops.
“Hm?” Ladybug plays dumb, avoiding his eyes.
“I never said the civilian I kissed was Marinette.”
As ridiculous as some of her lies are, all of them tend to miracally work. Although in this moment, no excuse or made-up reason is popping into that creative brain of hers.
“Uhm-”
“Oh my god.”
“I-I can explain.”
“You let me kiss you!” He stands up in an outburst. “Wait..you kissed me first!” Chat points a finger at her.
Ladybug makes her way on her feet, the uno game forgotten. “Look I know you’re angry–”
“Angry?! No, I'm ecstatic right now! Do you know how amazing this is, Marinette?!”
She hurley slaps a hand to his mouth and glances around the empty park. “Shh!! Not so loud.”
He nods and Ladybug slowly brings her hand down from his face, revealing the widest grin she’s ever seen on that boy.
“You okay?” She cautiously asks.
“Yeah, this is just so..unbelievable! I mean the concept of Ladybug kissing me is something that would’ve driven me insane months ago.”
“I’ve kissed you before. As Ladybug may I add.”
“Yes, but not willingly.”
Ladybug then becomes all too aware of the close proximity in the secluded area and begins to walk backwards. Chat doesn’t take the hint and follows her until her back hits the rough bark of the tree.
“Okay yes, it happened, but don’t think too much about it now because I got a boyfriend!” She places a hand against his chest and pushes him gently back.
Chat Noir keeps on a goofy smile, grabbing her hand on his chest. “Oh, I know you do.”
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She skeptically wonders.
He raises an eyebrow.
Suddenly Ladybug’s lungs beg for a shallow breath. “You know me…” She says hesitantly, “...in real life.”
Chat leans in close to her ear. “You know, I never stopped having a crush on Marinette.”
“R-really?” She shudders from the warm air against her neck.
“And that guilt I was holding? It was really because I’m now dating her as my civilian persona.”
“I see.”
“You do?” He leans back just far enough for his face to be a few inches from hers.
Ladybug shyly nods and warps her arms around his neck before letting out a shakily sigh. “When you first said it was terrible, I thought you were referring to the kiss.”
“That kiss was the opposite of terrible – uh, well before you got akumatized. Ohmygod you almost got akumatized!”
Feeling bold, Ladybug releases her transformation and leans her face into his leather chest. Chat wraps a hand around her waist and the other cradles the back of her head. “I was really irresponsible that night.” She mumbles.
He lets out a soft chuckle. “You weren't the only one.”
Marinette’s big blue eyes look up into Chat’s fully green ones. He stops and admires the beautiful girl in his arms, a girl who just became twice as incredible.
A smirk begins to bloom on his face.
“What are you thinking?” She furrows her eyes.
“That last kiss didn’t end so well, so why don’t we recreate it?”
Marinette blinks, then pushes him away and sits back down.
She grins. “Only if you win this round.”