Chasing Ladybug 📸 (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic)

4 • Then | The Bugs' Warnings

THEN

Ladybug's eyes widened. "You're in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng?!" She shrieked, her voice loud at a higher pitch than usual.

Cat Noir leapt forward and clammed a hand over her mouth. "Why don't you just tell all of Paris, including Shadowmoth?!"

Aw, he's protective of her... uh, me! A nervous smile grew on her face. "Forry," She mumbled into his gloved hand. With him being so close, and their chests only inches apart, brought a blush under her mask and akumas in her stomach. Cat Noir's in love with me?!

He lowered his arm and stepped back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get in your personal space."

"It's okay," Ladybug said. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng... yeah, I remember her. She was an exemplary holder of the mouse miraculous."

Cat Noir nodded. "Exactly. I think she'd make a great ally to our team."

She crossed her arms. "But I thought you preferred it when it was just the two of us?" She teased with a playful grin.

A nervous laugh escaped the cat. "I had a change of heart?" He offered.

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Cat, do you really think this is safe—"

"Yes, I do," Cat Noir interrupted. "Marinette's identity was only revealed to us, so she's safe from being a target from Shadowmoth. Besides, she's trustworthy. Strong. Incredibly brave. She's... exceptional."

She bit back a grin.

"I will train with her personally and help her get comfortable in her powers," The cat added, hoping to sweeten the pot and Ladybug's decision. "Then we can be the bug-cat-and-mouse team!" He shouted, excited.

Ladybug scratched her arm, unsure. "Cat, I don't know..."

Cat Noir didn't understand the complicity—or the irony—of the situation at hand. Marinette wasn't just Multimouse; she was Ladybug, too. How could she be two heroes at once and keep her secret identity safe?

He rested a hand on her shoulder. "Months ago, you told me you wanted me to shoulder more responsibility, to help out more, and you said so yourself that you were going to trust me more."

"I did say that," Ladybug agreed.

"So trust me now. Let me prove to you that I can be the partner you deserve."

She smiled. "You don't have to prove anything, Cat Noir." She grabbed her yo-yo. "But you're right. I did say I wanted to trust you more and I'm going to keep my word."

Cat Noir's eyes widened a "Really?"

Ladybug opened her yo-yo and accessed the miracle box through a special portal, reaching her hand inside to grab the mouse miraculous. "Here, you should give it to her." She dropped the necklace in his extended hand.

"Thank you—"

"But remember, Cat, you have to be careful. If Marinette's identity is revealed—especially to Shadowmoth—she'll become a new target."

Cat Noir rested his right hand over his heart, promising, "Milady, I would never let anything happen to her." She's too precious.

Ladybug smiled. "That's good to hear, Kitty."

Down below on the sidewalk, Theo stood with his camera raised, zooming in on Cat Noir's hand. A miraculous? Ladybug is trusting this idiot with a miraculous? He could lose it!

He took candid shots as his love started moving, waving to her partner as she ran and jumped off the roof. "Beautiful as ever, Milady."

Theo looked back at Cat Noir. "Who are you giving that miraculous to?" He asked himself, putting his camera back in his bag.

He started his motorbike up and followed Cat Noir, careful to keep a safe distance as to not get caught, but close enough to stay on the cat's trail.

Ladybug swung across the city as she raced home, trying to beat Cat Noir there. She knew he would go see, well, her, immediately. She threw herself up in the air and dropped through the skylight she had left open earlier, closing it as she landed on her bed.

Marinette fell back as her head sunk into her pillow. "What did I get myself into, Tikki?" She worried out loud.

"Why did you give Cat Noir the mouse miraculous?" Tikki asked as she entered her holder's line of sight. "How can you be Ladybug and Multimouse at the same time?"

Marinette rolled on her side and brought her pillow close to the chest, wrapping her arms around tight. "After Cat Noir said he loves me, like me-me, I wanted nothing more than to say, 'Spots off', and reveal my identity to him," She admitted, staring up at a picture of the hero she had pinned to the board above her bed. "But I know it isn't safe—at least for now, it isn't. I let my emotions get the best of me and I agreed without really thinking it over. I have to admit, I'm curios to see how this will all play out. Besides, is it really so bad, Tikki?"

The red kwami glared at her. "You don't even realize how complicated this situation is, Marinette! This is going to backfire!"

The pig-tailed girl rolled her eyes. "How bad could it be, Tikki?"

A soft knock echoed from her skylight.