too little, too late.
Based on sabertoothwalrus’ wonderful comic here♥ Also on Ao3!
It happens in the worst possible way, at the worst possible time.
It happens, but at first Ladybug is so consumed in her own thoughts that she doesn’t realize it’s happening.
In her mind she’s replaying clues dropped in her and Hawkmoth’s earlier exchange, piecing together plans for their awaited ambush, and at her side, Chat sits silently.
(He’s always there, at her side, so much so that she sometimes forgets when he is. This being one of those times.)
His voice is reserved when he finally speaks, not shy because Chat Noir’s voice is never ‘shy’ necessarily, but it is… quiet, in a way that he normally isn’t either. Vulnerable.
“Ladybug.”
Ladybug turns to him but doesn’t say anything. Her mind is still half-whirring towards a solution for her newest plan, but she meets his gaze as if to say: I’m listening.
Chat Noir looks down at his hands. They’re folded in his lap, his fingers twiddling with his ring.
“Are you still gonna take my miraculous if I tell you my identity?”
Ladybug lets out a gust of air and rolls her eyes. For a split second she’d actually been convinced he had something productive to bring up with her.
“This again, Chat?”
Her hands are behind her, propping her up, and she lets her head fall back between her shoulder blades. For a moment, it relieves the pounding pressure that’s been building in her head since she became the new guardian. Just another reason why she can’t encourage Chat Noir’s obsession with knowing each other’s identities; he has no idea the toll it takes on her to be the guardian. The last thing she needs is him showing up in her personal life too when there is already too much on her plate.
She lifts her head and sighs.
That isn’t fair. Chat has always been a good friend and if they did - if they could - know each other’s true identities, she’s sure he would be an amazing friend to Marinette as well.
“Listen,” she says, softening her tone, “I don’t like it either, but it’s still too dangerous to know each other’s identities! You have no idea what I’ve -”
“Ladybug.” Chat’s voice cuts in like molten steel.
It’s a tone that Ladybug hasn’t heard him use with her before and so it surprises her into turning to him and -
It feels like smacking into a wall.
Chat is no more than a foot away from her but when their eyes meet, it hits her just how much distance has grown between them. Her heart hiccups out of rhythm, as hearts often do when something feels… wrong.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
🗣 attention everyone this is now required reading because holy shit 🗣
also be sure to give op kudos on ao3! 👏✨
YOU COME BACK HERE AND FIX THIS
💔
