Chapter Text
“Sometimes I miss my parents.”
The words were rather sudden, breaking the comfortable silence between them after a nightly patrol. They sat together on the rooftops, the breeze gentle and humid, ruffling their hair and carrying the whiff of spring once again.
Cat Noir’s gaze from beside her was light and glimmered with the beauty of Paris below them. His tone was casual yet carried a hidden weight that Ladybug wouldn’t have caught if she hadn’t been paying attention. His body was relaxed, leaning back on his elbows, one foot crossed over the other, his tail thumping idly on the side.
Before she could remind him not to talk about his personal life, he spoke up again.
“Mom’s gone, my father’s just… doing his own thing. Only sees me when I mess something up occasionally. Maybe once every few weeks, I think.”
That was vague enough to mean anything. It could mean his mom had walked out of them, or was… dead. Ladybug didn’t know which one was worse. His dad was probably a workaholic, something akin. Or an asshole that forgot he had a son every other day.
Something about hearing that coming from her silly kitty didn’t sit right with the supper she had earlier that evening.
Cat Noir chuckled a little, shaking his head as if thinking that missing his parents for not being there was ridiculous. “If I think too hard about it, it feels like everything sucks.”
That wasn’t something she’d ever imagine Cat Noir saying
“But I know it doesn’t. Things are better than before. I’m not alone anymore. I have friends. I have you, and Plagg.” His eyes lifted to the sky. "And it’s amazing. Having people to count on and laugh with. Becoming Cat Noir… I feel so fortunate having been chosen.”
He turned to look at her adoringly—a look that made her heart sink and stomach flutter.
“It’s been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
It wasn’t cold, but Ladybug couldn’t help the shiver that ran down her spine. There was a vagueness to his words that made her toes feel cold—enough that kept him from giving himself away but also twisted her heart.
Funny, she thought to herself. I always felt that becoming a holder of the Miraculous was more of a burden than a fortune.
I guess it’s different for others.
Sometimes, Ladybug forgot that Cat Noir was also a civilian with problems of his own behind the cat puns and faux ears.
She swung her feet that hung over the edge of the roof and tapped the wall below with her heel. “I… didn’t know that.”
Her feline-themed partner sat up, and his padded leathered hand moved to sit over her smaller spotted one, drawing her attention to them. "Can you… promise me one thing, m'lady?"
She tore her gaze from their hands and looked back into his deep, rounded pupils. "Yeah?"
He blinked gently, his smile fading slightly in a way that made her chest heavy. "Don't change." His gaze didn’t turn away. "Please?”
It was a question that had Ladybug curious as to why he’d asked it, but deep down she knew she couldn’t bring herself to ask why. How does one not change? She didn’t know how to respond but found herself instinctively nodding. "Of course not."
His smile didn’t return fully, but there was a twinkle in his eyes as he leaned in to pull her into a firm hug. Ladybug’s arms naturally found their way around his warm vibrating chest. He was starting to purr, an antic of his Miraculous’ that she had been getting used to. “I love you just how you are, Bugaboo.”
Despite her creeping concern for her kitty’s civilian situation, Ladybug smiled softly in return, burying her face into her partner’s shoulder as he did with her. “Me too, kitty.”