Chapter Text
It had only been a little while since Marinette became the miraculous Ladybug that Paris soon would come to love and adore, and she quickly learned that every new adventure has a shaky beginning. Marinette found that she was no exception to this and discovered that one of the many struggles of being a new superhero was that you’d have to get used to your super suit.
Tikki had made it a point to tell Marinette at the start that she was to familiarise herself with the suit and her yo-yo in order to be prepared for when she’d fight bad guys. “To avoid any casualties or wardrobe malfunctions” as Tikki had put it. However, the peculiar feeling of the Ladybug suit still felt odd to Marinette.
Even though Marinette wasn’t the most experienced at sewing and creating clothes, she couldn't for the life of her recognise what type of material this super suit was made from. It was stretchy - to accommodate for all the sharp, quick movements Ladybug did whilst in combat - yet strong and thick enough for it not to tear. It didn’t cause chaffing anywhere and even allowed for air to circulate easily so she wouldn’t die of heat, Marinette also appreciated the odd texture of the suit and how it glistened slightly when the light hit it just right.
Though the strangest thing by far was how Marinette didn’t even dress herself when she put her suit on, it magically created itself onto her skin and moulded to fit her slim figure easily.
“Just shout ‘Spots on!’ and then boom the suit is on!” Marinette recalled Tikki explaining excitedly, flying around Marinette’s bedroom in dramatic waves to express herself.
“But…how does it actually come on? Is there like a zipper? Magical helpers to…I don’t know…button me up?”
Marinette shuddered slightly at the thought of random hands touching her and helping her dress, even if they were magical.
“It’s all magic!” Tikki threw her tiny arms into the air, letting out a few red sparks to accentuate her point.
Marinette knew Tikki meant well with her vague explanations, but Marinette had a hard time believing that her super hero suit would “magically” appear on her body. The whole concept of “magic is real” was also just beginning to cement in her mind, it had been hard to believe in something that for so many people had told her it wasn’t real.
This mindset was quickly discarded when Marinette finally to shouted “Spots on!” in the privacy pf her bedroom and was close to passing out at the sight of a red body suit beginning to appear out of nowhere onto her skin. Though, the shock of how light the suit felt when it was on her nearly killed her.
“It feels like I’m naked!” Marinette cried when the suit had finished magically rolling onto her body.
“It’s just not heavy, nothing to worry about Marinette.” Tikki reassured the young girl who’s cheeks were turning a frightening shade of red from embarrassment. “It has to be light so then you can move easily.”
“But you can see everything in this Tikki!” Marinette wailed, gripping the stretchy material of the suit, pulling it and letting it snap back to it’s original state. “If I eat too much, won’t everyone see?!”
“All the crime fighting you do will make your body healthy and fit, besides, you shouldn’t worry about silly things like your weight Marinette. If you think too much about all this you’ll only stress yourself even more.”
The kwami’s words of wisdom had yet to make Marinette feel empowered but because of these constant little enlightenments, Marinette was soon able to flash back and forth between her civilian clothes and her Ladybug suit. Even if it still felt a like she was naked.
* * *
Using the yo-yo proved to be even more difficult to get accustomed to for Marinette. Tikki made it very clear that the yo-yo would be easy to grip onto despite how thin the wire was because “It’s like a magnet, pulling itself to you. So it’s pretty hard to lose it!” However, regardless of this logical explanation, Marinette still had trouble properly grasping onto the wire and getting her hands into the right position.
“It’s not hurting, it just doesn’t feel…right.” Marinette confessed after practicing swinging back and forth from one low building to the other. “Maybe I’m not doing this right?”
“Every Ladybug is different! What you’re trying isn’t wrong, it’s just not right for you.” The kwami happily explained, though Marinette felt anything but happy over how slow this learning process was proving to be.
Marinette naively thought that the whole process of becoming “the miraculous Ladybug” would be a quick overnight process - everything else happened magically, so why not this? - and was paying for her lack of common sense with the annoying task of learning how to properly hold a wire so then she would die in battle. The whole thought of actually fighting bad guys had been all too present in her mind as of late, Marinette could hardly kill a bug let alone fight a villain.
Would I ever be able to fight someone? She wondered nervously to herself.
An impatient cough brought Marinette back to Earth and back to the task at hand. With a nervous smile to Tikki and after changing her hand position for what felt like the millionth time, Marinette threw the yo-yo, aiming it to an air-conditioning duct at the top of one of the buildings, and swung. The feeling of the wind ruffling her fringe tickled her forehead, her skin felt refreshed inside the suit from the cool air, and miraculously, her hand was comfortably holding onto the wire of her yo-yo.
“Woohoo! Tikki look at me go!” Marinette excitedly shouted over the air rushing through her ears.
“Watch out!” Tikki yelled the warning just before the beginner superhero’s faceplanted into the wall, giving Marinette enough time to somewhat break her fall with her arms.
A low thud! resounded on Marinette’s impact, making her groan an “oof!” and drop to the ground rather ungracefully. The kwami was quick to fly down to check on the girl and when she showed no irreversible injuries - the super suit was obviously doing it’s job well - Tikki let out a loud sigh of relief.
“See you got the hang of it! Even if you did swing into the wall, at least now you know how to hold the yo-yo right! I’m so proud of you Mar-“ Tikki’s praises were cut short when a black shadow jumped down from the building opposite to the one Marinette crashed into, the kwami quickly magically zapped herself back into Marinette’s earrings before the unknown shadow touched the ground.
“Wow, that was some fall there!” The shadow spoke. But Marinette soon saw that it wasn’t a shadow at all, but a boy! “I mean cats always land on their feet so it’s not like you could help falling that hard!”
Marinette stared up at the boy - still on the ground after her fall, her yo-yo unwound around her - and saw that he had bright green eyes that resembled a cats, shining through a black mask much like her own and on top of his bright blonde head were a pair of black cat ears to match.
“Oh I get it now, you’re supposed to be a cat. It make sense since you're so full of yourself.” Marinette spoke calmly with a sarcastic edge to her voice, getting up from the ground and rolling her yo-yo back up. She usually never spoke to people like this, especially a stranger, her parents raised her to be polite to everyone she met or else she’d seem rude and untrustworthy. But this cat boy was easily getting on her nerves, e hand’t even offered her a hand to help her up, or even check to see if she was alright.
Marinette looked at the cat boy, taking him in. He was wearing a suit that was similar to her own, except that it was completely black, to add to the whole “cat look” he was sporting, the boy also had boots shaped like cats paws, gloves with claws built in and a long black belt that doubled as a cat’s tail. Marinette thought to herself that if she had designed the outfit herself she, would’ve scrapped the paw-shaped boots completely because they made the boys feet look enormous, like a circus clowns feet.
“Full of myself! Listen lady I don’t know who you are but you’re talking to Paris’ newest crime fighting superhero so you should watch what you say!” The cat boy replied hotly, his face growing a light shade of pink from.
“You should watch what you say kitty,” Marinette moved closer to the cat boy, pointing one red finger at him, “because this “lady” is also a superhero and one who is much better at fighting crime than you!” She didn’t know why she claimed she was better at crime fighting than the rude boy, she hadn’t even fought anyone yet, having no real proof of her skills. “So scamper off and be a good kitty cat before you get in my way.”
“You don’t have to be so defensive towards me lady.” Cat boy replied cooly, easing closer to Marinette. “I’m not such a paw-ful guy!” He spoke innocently, an angelic smile to match as if he didn’t just saw the worst pun to ever exist.
The pun itself caught Marinette off guard, making a small smile slip through and crushing any tough image she was putting on in front of the boy.
It wasn’t even that funny, she thought, so why am I laughing?
“My lady has a sense of humour! Oh well, in that case…” the boy theatrically coughed into his hand before he straightened himself up, “just wait for my other purr-fecf puns, I have some really claw-some ones!”
Is this guy for real?!
Marinette felt her lips twitch and her smile grow bigger and brought her hand up to cover her giggles. The puns weren’t what was so funny, it was how the boy thought they were funny. His whole “tough boy” facade he had put on was beginning to crack and Marinette could see that he was just a young boy who said horrible jokes with such sincerity and honesty. He really was just a huge dork in a cat suit.
“My name’s not “my lady” by the way kitty!” Marinette retorted once her giggles settled, “It’s Ladybug and nothing else.” She put her hands on her hips, giving the boy a stern look to drill into his head that she wasn’t “his lady”, bad puns and giggles aside, Marinette didn’t need someone wasting her time when she had serious business.
“My name isn’t “kitty” either, but I like the nickname.” The cat boy then began to bow dramatically, sweeping one arm behind him and the other across his chest. “Chat Noir at your service…my lady.” He finished with a mischievous grin, his green eyes flicking up to Marinette’s in playful manner, as if daring her to play along with his game.
She didn’t correct Chat Noir this time for calling her “his lady”, she just gave him one last stern look before putting her hand out to shake with his. He seemed taken aback by the formal approach, but didn’t object when his hand slid into hers. The feeling of his gloved hand over her own was odd because she still had her super suit on so she couldn’t feel anything, but when their hands touched Marinette felt…something. Not a “spark” or something cliche like that, it was the same feeling Marinette got when she first put the magical Ladybug earrings that Tikki had given her when they first met.
“So...you’re a superhero too?”