Swapped in More Ways than One

(Coccinelle AU) Rooftop Talks

Scene: A quiet Parisian rooftop at sunset. Amelie is sitting on the edge, legs dangling over the side, lost in thought. Coccinelle lands softly behind her.

"Excuse me, miss. Are you alright?" he asks gently.

Amelie yelped, startled, before turning around to see the bug hero, "Oh! Coccinelle! I... I'm fine, thank you. Just needed some air." she said.

Coccinelle approached the blonde cautiously, "It's not every day I find a civilian on a rooftop. Mind if I join you?" he asked.

Amelie nodded, "Please, be my guest." she said, scooting over.

Coccinelle sat down next to her, maintaining a respectful distance.

"I hope I'm not prying, but you seem troubled. Is there anything I can help with?" he asked, concerned.

Amelie sighed, "It's... complicated. Boy troubles, I suppose."

Coccinelle chuckled softly. "Ah, matters of the heart. They can be quite challenging." he commented.

"Do superheroes deal with relationship drama too?" Amelie asked, looking up at him curiously.

Coccinelle blushed slightly, "We're not immune to it, I'm afraid. Even saving Paris doesn't make love any easier." he said.

"That's oddly comforting to hear. There's this boy at my school... he's kind, talented, and so genuine. But I can never seem to form a coherent sentence around him." Amelie said, smiling, thinking of Luka.

"I know the feeling. There's someone special in my life too, but when I'm around her, I turn into a bumbling mess." Coccinelle said, thinking of Kitty Noir.

Amelie laughed, "It's hard to imagine you being anything but confident, Coccinelle." she admitted.

Coccinelle rubbed his neck sheepishly, "You'd be surprised. But hey, maybe we both just need to be ourselves around the people we care about." he said.

Amelie nodded, "You're right. Thank you, Coccinelle. It's nice to know even superheroes struggle with this stuff." she said.

"Anytime. And don't worry, I'm sure this boy of yours will see how amazing you are." Coccinelle stood up and offered her his hand. "Now, can I bring you back to ground level?" he asked

"That would be lovely, thank you." she said, taking it.

As Coccinelle helped Amelie down from the rooftop, neither realizes that the person they're pining for is right in front of them, hidden behind masks and secret identities.

Okay, this is the first one-shot and a glimpse of what I think Amenelle (Amelie/Coccinelle) would be like. I feel like since Amelie already feels some familiarity with Coccinelle since she's Kitty Noir. Plus since she doesn't know Coccinelle is Luka, she's able to get her more personal feelings out. She can still that do with Luka since her fawning is nowhere near as bad as Marinette's to Adrien in canon, however I think Amelie would want to think the boy she has a crush on to think everything in her life is fine (not completely perfect, but fine).

Coccinelle is able to see what the true girl that is Amelie Agreste (well the one when she's not being Kitty Noir anyway). Coccinelle and Luka don't have really a difference between their identities as Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Chat Noir, though Coccinelle tends to be more charming (to varying levels of success) around Kitty Noir. But since he feels he needs to be a hero (and not a partner) around Amelie, he's his already-charming-the-way-is self. Amelie can get the true Luka/Coccinelle kindness without her blushing over him (not that Luka minds).

Unlike in canon, I like to think that compared to the canon version (where they kind of zig-zag about it until season 5), this version of the lovesquare has all parties be attracted to one another, some sides it's just more obvious than others (i.e Amelie as Kitty thinks Coccinelle is a sweet charming partner but is more into the kind, cool and also charming Luka, similarly Luka thinks Amelie is a sweet talented girl who deserves better but can't help but be more attracted to the beautiful funny but caring superheroine that is Kitty Noir). The attraction is there but it's a bit more slowburn than the speedfreeze (blastchiller? whatever the opposite of a slowburn is) that is Kittuka on the opposite end.

Is this making sense? I feel like I've been rambling. Anyway, how you enjoyed this chapter.