#and I’m sorry to inform you marinette but it’s gonna be the latter

[va-draws]

I’ve been enjoying @buggachat bakery enemies au for quite a while but yesterday’s part reminded me of something and it needed to be done

Reference

And sorry for the not so great handwriting, and the possible typos english is not my first language

[their-destinys-writer]

Infection

Based on the Infection!AU by @thebirdfromthemoon-art (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Ladynoir July Day 11 - Habits

Event organized by @lovesquare-squad

First | <Previous | Next>

Ao3

“Out of all the people in the world, you chose the one who owns a blog to uncover our identities.”

Chat Noir had already been rambling for five minutes since they moved into their current alley. Both Ladybug and Alya, the latter now holding the little miraculous box, simply stared at him as he paced from side to side.

“I mean, you’re great Alya, don’t get me wrong,” he continued. “But I know how you’ve been about us, and you can’t fault me for being a little concerned, can you? Although, you are Marinette’s best friend, and Nino’s… something. And I know for a fact they are very good judges of character. Especially Marinette. But I’m not sure if this is such a good idea. I mean, I know you’ve helped several times now, not just as Rena Rouge, but as a civilian, but you still update the Ladyblog.

Although, now that I think about it, I haven’t seen any new clues of Ladybug’s possible secret identity. Wait, did you do that on purpose?” he rubbed his chin. “That would explain why I haven’t been able to update my notes for a while—”

“Your notes?” Ladybug deadpanned.

“Yeah, my Ladybug notes,” he continued obliviously. “With all the information I know so far of…”

He suddenly shut his mouth close, as if realizing who he had just told that to. Meanwhile, Ladybug crossed her arms and scowled at him for the confession.

“Is there something you wanna say, minou?” she dared.

Chat Noir gave them an awkward smile and scratched the back of his neck.

“I’m sorry, Alya,” he said at last. “I’m just really surprised. But I know Ladybug chose you for a reason, and I know you’re a great friend to Marinette and Nino, sooo… I’m sorry.”

“Hey, don’ sweat it, Whiskers,” Alya waved a hand in dismissal. “I know I used to be a bit pushy back in the day—”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Ladybug murmured.

“—but now I’m in the same boat as you guys.”

Alya puffed out her chest proudly, fists on her hips. That last statement reminded Ladybug about how the redhead was not fully aware of their current situation. She took a step closer to her.

“You’ve proven yourself a great ally,” she said carefully. “Which is why we need your help again.”

The redhead frowned. “You know, normally I’m ecstatic when you ask me to wear the miraculous again, but I can’t help but sense there’s something off.”

Alya is way too intuitive for her own good, Ladybug sighed. Being honest with herself, she still wasn’t sure on whether they should tell their foxy companion about what really happened. The last thing she wanted was to create a rift in the team and worry her best friend.

“See,” Chat Noir started, “the thing is that—”

“I’m sick,” Ladybug intervened. “I’m not feeling at a hundred percent, so we need you to pick up the slack, while I get better.”

“Oh,” Alya uttered, looking at her hero up and down. “You do look a little pale. Whatta you have?”

“Uhh.” She hadn’t thought this far. “I-it’s just a very intense flu. Nothing to w-worry about. I-I swear—”

“Stop,” the redhead suddenly said, raising a hand. “I know it’s important to keep secrets and stuff, but you don’t have to downplay whatever it is you’re going through.”

“What?!” Ladybug feigned surprise. “I-I don’t know what you mean.”

“I can tell by Chat Noir’s kicked-cat expression it’s not just the flu.”

The spotted heroine turned to her partner, who’s cat ears were drooping and his eyes were looking anywhere but at her.

“I know keeping secrets is important for you guys,” Alya continued. “Heck, it’s pretty much a habit at this point. But if this is serious enough to need my help, don’t treat me like I’m an idiot who can’t handle it.”

“It’s… not that I think that…” Ladybug feebly argued.

“Then what gives?”

That you already have to worry about me as a civilian, and you shouldn’t have to worry about me as a superhero too, and l can’t put you through more, Ladybug rambled internally.

“It’s complicated,” she said instead.

“I hurt her,” Chat Noir suddenly joined.

“Chat—”

“No,” he insisted. “You don’t need to protect everyone, Ladybug. Much less when we don’t know what’s gonna happen to you if—You know. If we fail.”

“Okay, now I’m freaking out.” Alya raised her brows. “What’s going on?”

Ladybug and Chat Noir glanced at each other, the one in red hesitant. But with a pleading look from her partner, she relented. Together, they told Alya the whole story, from when they were fighting Le Transporteur, to their visit to the Guardian. Ladybug, on her end, deliberately left out the part between that morning and the bus rescue, hoping to protect her identity. Unfortunately…

“What about school?” Alya asked, somewhat cautiously. “Did you go before rescuing the bus?”

“N-no,” Ladybug responded automatically.

“Wait, I thought you said you did,” Chat Noir frowned.

Shhh, Ladybug mentally scolded him.

“I-I did?”

“Yeah, you said that’s when you noticed it spread to your back, remember?”

Alya’s eyes widened slightly. She couldn’t know, could she? Ladybug was sure the redhead hadn’t seen the contents of the trashcan when she threw up in Ms. Bustier’s class. But then again, her vision had been foggy at the time.

“O-oh, right!” she tried to amend. “I-I mean, I got to school, b-but I didn’t take any classes. When I saw that, I-I just ran off home.”

The redhead squinted, seeming unconvinced about Ladybug’s explanation. Even so, she sighed and crossed her arms.

“This all really sucks, LB,” she said. “And CN, don’t worry about it. If there’s anything I’ve learned from my best friend, is that accidents happen all the time. Speaking of Marinette,” she started rubbing her chin. “You know she has a habit of stuttering when she’s nervous too… Anyway, I hope she’s feeling better.”

“Oh, Marinette’s sick?” Chat Noir chirped in, ears perked up.

“Yeah,” Alya sighed. “My friend and I had to practically carry her home this morning.”

“Wanna see her?” the boy suggested.

“You know, now that I’m out of school, we could—”

“Wait, no,” Ladybug intervened, starting to feel hot under the suit. Since when is Chat Noir so enthusiast about seeing me?

The other two looked at her, Alya with a smug smile. “Why not? We got time to kill.”

“Plus, we could take care of her, too,” Chat Noir reasoned. “Maybe bring her some soup.”

“Yeah,” the redhead agreed, finally opening the box containing the fox miraculous. There was a bright yellow light, and from it appeared Trixx.

“Alya!” the kwami shouted, tackling her charge’s cheek. “It’s so good to see you again.”

“It’s great to see you too, little guy,” she said, nuzzling the little god. “But you know what this means. Trixx, transform me!”

In a flash of yellow, Alya was now Rena Rouge. She twirled around and basked in her outfit, touching the ears and tail.

“I missed this already!” she squealed.

“Can we see Marin—” Chat Noir started.

“No!” Ladybug interrupted, placing a hand on her hip. “I-I mean, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Don’t worry, Buginette,” Chat Noir waved a hand. “Marinette is good with superheroes.” He paused. “Hey, those rhyme. Marinette. Buginette. Marinette. Bugi—”

“I think we should let her rest,” Ladybug insisted, now leaning against the alley wall.

“Are you okay?” Rena Rouge suddenly asked.

“What?”

“You’re sweating.”

Ladybug frowned. She swiped her hand over her forehead, and sure enough, it was drenched.

“You’ve gotta be kidding.”

Buy me a Hot Chocolate?

[la-voce-to-me]

My silly take on a Kwami Swap Au. Hope you enjoy! On AO3

This was not supposed to happen. She was not supposed to be on a roof at two in the morning with a cat hot on her heels, and she was most definitely not thinking of letting him catch her, just to see what would happen.

Ladybug and Chat regularly played games on their patrols to make them more interesting. Sometimes they were word games like one line stories, but most times they were variations of tag. This was the latter. It wasn’t a typical variation, not like games where someone had to only take the streets, or a hide and go seek combo, oh no. This was a bet.

See, after having their powers for several years, it had become a common thought experiment between them to talk about switching powers. Would they be as effective? Would Chat know how to use his lucky charm objects? Would Ladybug know how to use his baton? Could Chat actually swing as fast on her yo-yo? They were harmless little questions that led to a lot of fun banter and some truly terrible puns, but today it led to this.

Their patrol had started a little later than normal due to a civilian arrangement of Chat’s, which usually meant a shorter run through the city. That was what was supposed to happen. Marinette was going to be in bed at a normal hour after staying up late designing for a week, taking advantage of how tired she would feel after patrol. Unfortunately, her ridiculous partner had other plans.

“So my lady, I have a proposition for you.”

“For the last time Kitty, I’m not dating you if we beat the next akuma. We always win.”

“Okay, one- rude. Two, that’s not what this is. I’ve been stuck at the most boring occasion of my entire life for the past several hours, and I’ve decided on a bet.” He said smugly, watching Ladybug’s demeanor change at the mention of a challenge.

“I’m listening…” She said, a slow smile creeping across her face.

“A simple race. If you win, no puns for an entire akuma. If I win… we switch kwami the next patrol.” He finished, a toothy grin gleaming through the slight fog of the night.

Ladybug considered this for a moment. She knew what a race meant. It was her job to get to the object either before him, or before he caught her. He never had much of a chance at winning in a race on nights like this where mist had slicked the roofs and streets, which is why they had added the tag element. She would do a lot to have an entire akuma battle without puns. It wasn’t that she hated them per say, it was that they were distracting. A pun could worm its way through her thoughts and cause her to spend more time wondering how on earth he produced puns like air than figuring out how to beat an akuma. During patrols she could properly rebut them, but battle didn’t give her the luxury. Also, if she lost…

She had to admit, a good portion of her wanted to see what forms their suits would take. She knew they altered depending on who wore them, and the potential for cool design elements excited her. It also never hurt to compete in new ways, and she was interested in seeing Chat use her yoyo.

“Okay, one exception. When I win, if the next akuma is easy to beat, it extends to one patrol.” Chat’s tail twitched with excitement. Part of why tag fit them so well was that he couldn’t escape the compulsion to hunt that Plagg infected him with, and any prospect of a chase was thrilling.

“Well then… accepted. It’s nice to know you’re so confident, but know I am determined to never be silenced. The buzz of a good pun is too good to pass up.” Ladybug groaned. He laughed. “The usual, my lady?”

“Sure thing kitty. See you there!” And she leapt off the building

*****

“I can’t believe this. You!! You had this! I can’t-” Ladybug glared down at her laughing partner. She had long ago confessed to being a fan of Adrien Agreste, and it seemed that Chat had information she did not, because right in the middle of their route was a giant, new billboard of Adrien’s newest shoot. An advertisement for Gabriel’s men’s line, featuring his son in a blazer and slacks, but absolutely no shirt. His face was tilted down in a little laugh, a small smile that was surprisingly genuine and melted Marinette right to her core. Chat seemed to have known this would be up for their little game, and tackled her right as she hesitated to get a better look.

“Bugaboo, I can’t help your little celebrity crush! You have to be able to work past distractions!” He teased from his spot wound around her feet. He laughed as she blushed and spluttered, a side of her he so rarely got to see.

“Okay, okay! Fine! I regret telling you though. It’s been years and you never seem to let up about it.” She smiled through her exasperated scolding to let him know she wasn’t actually mad. “So. How are we gonna do this swap thing? We obviously can’t meet up as civilians, and I don’t know about you, but meeting up as us and then switching sounds like a good way to get caught…”

“Hm, you know, I hadn’t gotten that far in my plan…” Ladybug scoffed at this, knowing full well he had just hoped they could meet up outside of the masks. “We could have our kwamis deliver the miraculous to each other? Plagg is saying he knows how to find you.”

Tikki agreed with her tinkling presence in the back of Marinette’s mind as she did when she was transformed. With a resigned sigh, she nodded.

“Okay, but… only for one patrol. Wednesday, okay? I’ll send Tikki a few minutes before patrol. Also…” she said as she stood and readied her yoyo. “Don’t feel too bad when I look better than you in the suit.” With a wink, she was off.

***

“Sup bakery girl.” Plagg said as he flew up next to the fidgeting Marinette. She jumped slightly at his greeting and flashed him a smile.

“Hi there! You’re awfully cute. Tikki told me you would be. She- ah- here, she also told me you liked cheese? I hope this is okay…” Marinette passed him one of her dad’s cheese danishes, and Plagg grinned at her.

“I bet you two get along so well,” he said around the danish. Marinette cocked her head.

“Us two?”

“You and Tikki. You’re both… sweet. Sickly sweet if you ask me… not as bad as lover boy though,” he grumbled, licking the crumbs off his paws. “Anyway. You say “claws out” when you wanna transform. I saw Spots on my way here, so I bet A- uh, Chat is on his way.”

“Alright! Plagg, claws out!” Marinette grinned as the familiar warmth of transformation trailed over her skin. She closed her eyes and felt a small weight twitch on the top of her head. Opening her eyes, she found her hair blocking some of her vision. “Uh, Plagg? You… you messed up my hair?” She felt him laughing at the back of her consciousness, making her sigh. “Okay, okay fine, let me fix this mess and I’ll go.”

***

“Kitty! I have a bone to pick with you!” Marinette exclaimed as she landed next to her partner. “I-oh.” Her words faltered as she looked at her open mouthed partner. His hair was neat and was obviously the result of a lot of time, and she wondered if that was how his hair looked de-transformed. It was lighter than it was when he was Chat, just as Marinette’s hair became more blue when she was Ladybug. The pale strands seemed locked in place by a careful application of gel, and if she was honest, it was infuriatingly familiar.

His continued silence gave her time to take in the rest of his outfit, which had- “POCKETS? Tikki are you fucking joking? Why don’t I get pockets?” This seemed to startle something in Chat, as he proceeded to burst out laughing.

“She- oh my- she said! She knew you’d be mad!” He managed between giggles. Ladybug continued to frown, only spurring on his laughter. He slowed his chuckles as if remembering something, and struck a pose. “By the way, my Lady, what else do you think? I think I wear it better..”

“Oh don’t you even start! I had to go back and put my hair in this stupid bun because your kwami messed up my hair! It’s not fair!” She threw back, letting a small smile slip at his continued preening. She struck a pose of her own, hands on her hips with one leg slightly forward, and her head held high. “I happen to think that even with this disadvantage, I rock your suit better than you do. You’re just jealous.” He coughed a laugh, delighted at the confident banter.

“Well Bug, you certainly look good,” he purred, leaning close to her. Ladybug stood her ground, accepting his game. “But... I have to say… the bun is my favorite part.” She tilted her chin higher, and he took another step forward, nearly making their noses touch. He blinked, realizing how close this actually made them. “Wow. When did you get so short? I’m bending down a little and still tower over you.”

“I’m sorry not all of us can be giants! My mom is like 150cm! You only like the bun because it makes me look taller!” She stomped her foot which started Chat’s giggles again. Determined to bring back their challenge, she ducked under him and sashayed away, making sure to throw a ridiculous model face over her shoulder at her partner when she checked to make sure he was looking. He was, and was obviously trying hard to not show how hooked he was on her little show. “Still Chat, what do you think? I love the way the black makes my eyes pop in the mask, and the pockets have new little paw print charms on the end. Plus, these boots!” She accentuated the word with a little twirl. “They’re so...macho. I bet I can kick so much better now!” Ladybug’s teasing glance met Chat’s slightly dreamy look. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to return the show. It was a competition, after all.

“Well, I have to say, I think the red is a beautiful contrast with my own eyes, has there ever been a more classic combination of colors? And... the… do you hear that?” Chat asked as Marinette felt the ears on her head twitch, and she turned in the direction of the noise. With her newly acquired night vision, she could clearly see Alya down below, frantically taking pictures. A small grin flashed on her face as she turned to the squinting Chat. “Well kitty, it appears we can have a judge for our little contest, shall we?” He looked slightly bewildered as she took out her baton and swooped down near Alya, but followed nonetheless.

As it turned out, neither one of them were particularly talented at each other's weapons, and both ended up in a tangled heap in front of the dazed reporter.

“Oh my gosh, Ladybug? Chat Noir? Have you changed suits? Is this the result of an Akuma? What sort of power does it have to cause this? Can you not use each other’s powers?” She asked in a flurry.

Chat was the first to rise, and offered a hand to Ladybug. They looked at each other and then Alya, deciding how to phrase the situation without alluding that their kwami had been flying freely around the city.

“There is no Akuma, this is the result of a... training exercise. Anyway, we have a question for our most dedicated reporter.” Ladybug cleared her throat and struck a pose, hoping dearly that Chat was also making a fool of himself. A slight flush of embarrassment came over her face as she realized how silly they probably looked. “Who wears it better?” She held her breath as she waited for Alya’s reaction.

The girl slowly circled, examining the duo while struggling to keep a straight face. As Alya came back around to the front, a small blush appeared on her face as Ladybug winked at her.

“Ladybug! I-I mean, like you both look adorable in each other’s outfits, but like Ladybug, you- you look… as strong as you are, really. I love those boots, especially. But Chat! You just... You look like you’re playing dress up. You actually kinda remind me of a classmate with your hair like that…” Alya’s blush had gone from fire truck to nonexistent as she reexamined Chat, and he faltered.

“WELL we need to finish up patrol! Gotta practice! To learn how each other's weapons work! Yup! Gotta go! Good one my Lady, I must agree that you are the bugs knees in my suit!” he exclaimed as he wound up the yoyo to escape any further investigation. Before Ladybug could shout a warning, Chat was yanked by the magical toy and thrown across the Parisian sky. Ladybug shook her head and turned to Alya with a smile.

“Thanks for judging! I’d better go make sure that cat doesn't injure himself, so I’ll be off! It’s pretty late, will you be able to make it home safe?”

“Yeah! I’m actually going to the store...” Alya trailed off looking at Ladybug like she had appraised Chat moments earlier.

“Midnight ice cream cravings?” Ladybug giggled, oblivious to the questioning on Alya’s face.  “Yeah, my friend gets them a lot. Have fun with your chunky monkey, and goodnight!” And with that she haphazardly followed Chat’s trajectory, leaving an awed Alya in her wake.