Work Text:
Ladybug has never claimed to be a sensitive person.
Marinette sure is, but Ladybug has always been what Marinette wishes she could be.
Brave, calculating, and blunt.
She didn’t expect that side of her to actually cause her to become hurtful, especially not towards Chat.
She could blame it on 108 different things: the miraculous swap had her on edge, she was nervous about the sentimonster and akuma mix, she just plain wasn’t feeling well-
But she would be lying.
The truth is that he looks damn good in that suit and it’s setting her on edge because she never realized just how much the black of his suit hides delicate lines of his muscles before.
And how wow his eyes really are green-
“Pound it!” She goes in for the fist bump and Chat- Mr Bug- follows the motion but the energy is gone. He looks dejected and tired, Ladybug feels her stomach drop into her feet.
All at once the taunting, the harsh attitude, hitting him with his own damn baton came rushing back to her all at once.
Her poor kitty, how could she have been so mean?
”Can we talk?” She asks and he nods unenthusiastically. Seeing as that response usually led to cheers and puns, Ladybug knows she’s really fucked it up this time.
Finding a safe place to detransform and allow their kwamis to swap their miraculouses back is easy enough, but actually having to face him is going to be the hard part.
Transforming back into Ladybug felt like finally putting her clothes on after a long day of wearing someone else’s, but it does very little to console her.
Coming around the corner she finds Chat lounging out, back flat against the warm concrete roof with one of his legs propped up.
“I’m sorry for the way I acted today, that’s- that’s not like me.” Ladybug says quietly as she joins him on the roof, easing herself down to lay with him.
”I know.” He says shortly.
”Chat, we need to talk this out.”
”What’s there to talk about? You think I’m simple and useless.” He spat, fangs bared, not at her, never at her, but at the sky instead.
His eyes well up with tears, the eyes she now knows for a fact they’re green outside of the suit.
”Simple wasn’t meant to be a bad thing and I didn’t say you were useless, kitty.” She tries to hold his hand, but he doesn’t curl his fingers amongst hers. They’re just limp in her grasp and Ladybug can feel the lump in her throat starting to choke her.
”It was implied.” He says shortly, pulling his hand from her grasp to run it through his wild locks.
”Chat please don’t act like that, I just got in a mood and I took it out on you.”
Yeah it was a mood all right. Trying to force herself to keep her eyes away from the red spandex that showed off the contours of his muscles better than the dark fabric of his leather ever could. The fact she finally knows his eyes are actually green. So fucking green it made her stomach knot up. He seemed more human, less cat, more real, and the things that did to her made her angry.
So angry.
“It was a mood all right,” he bristles but at the very least his fangs aren’t bared anymore, “I was actually having an incredible day and then you treated me like that.”
”I-I’m sorry Chat, really I-“
At the sound of her choked reply, Chat forces himself to relax. He’s mad and hurt, but that doesn’t give himself the right to hurt her and he knows that. He reels it in, murmuring a sorry.
”No, I definitely deserved that.” She mumbles, discreetly running her gloved hand beneath her eye.
“No, you don’t. I don’t understand why a bad mood would cause you to act like that, but I get it. Sometimes I get overwhelming, it’s only natural you would snap eventually.”
”Chat, I shouldn’t be snapping at you at all, that’s not healthy communication.” She mumbles, frustrated to hear the absolute resolution in his voice.
He sounds like he believes he deserves the way she acted towards him.
That thought alone is causing her eyes to well up with tears again.
”What did I do wrong then?” He asks and Ladybug sits up, staring down at him.
”Chat you didn’t do anything wrong.” She says firmly when they make eye contact and all she can think about is how she knows they’re green green green.
”Then why did you lash out, bugaboo?” For once she doesn’t tell him off for the nickname, but just lets out a nervous sigh.
She was the one just preaching about healthy communication, right? There’s one thing that Ladybug and Marinette have in common: they’re not hypocrites.
”Your eyes are green.” She mumbles finally.
He blinks at her, “Well, uh, yeah.”
”I never knew if it was your suit or not, but your eyes are green outside of the suit too.”
”What? You got a thing for green eyes or something?”
Her face goes blood red.
”Oh my god, you do!” His time is teasing and Ladybug shoots him a playful glare.
”Chat hush.”
”Only if you continue,” he cracks a smile, “so the sexual tension made you all cranky?”
”I- I wouldn’t say sexual tension, that’s a bit much.” She hesitates and Chat let’s out a gleeful cackle, his tail whipping happily against the concrete.
”Oh my god my lady finds me hot.”
”Chaaat.” She whines and he grabs her wrist to pull her back to lay with him. She goes down fast, caught off balance but he cushions her with his arm.
”Yes m’lady?”
Well since we’re being honest today I might as well just keep going-
“In my defense, red shows off curves and contours better than black.”
“Yeah?” His tone is full of amusement and she can feel from the stutter of his chest that he’s holding back a laugh.
”Yes. So as you can see it’s not my fault, but the suit.” She huffs, squishing her face comically into his arm.
Hooly shit that is a toned bicep-
“So you’re saying you were looking at my- ahem- curves and contours?”
”Chaaaat.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop.”
”Thanks,” she mumbles against the leather of his suit.
”So, m’lady, how did you end up without your miraculous?” He questions and sleepy from the warm sun beating down on her, she’s hardly thinking when she answers.
”Oh I was doing a fashion shoot with some friends and took my earrings out like an idiot.”
”Actually- same. Except with my ring obviously.”
Ladybug pulls back and glares at him hard, he returns the glare mockingly.
But then all she can think of is green.
”Adrien?” She asks hesitantly and by the way his entire body tenses she knows she’s right on the money.
Oh my god she’s snuggled up with Adrien Agreste on a roof top!
She goes to pull herself away from Chat’s arm to flee, but he knows her too well and wraps his other arm around her to keep her anchored.
”Oh my god oh my god-“
“Calm down, it’s okay, there’s no reason to freak out.”
“Yes there is! I’ve literally had a crush on your stupid face since you gave me that umbrella and I-“
”Marinette?”
”Fuck!”