Chapter Text
Many centuries ago, magic jewels bestowing extraordinary powers were created: these were the Miraculous. Throughout history, heroes have used these jewels for the good of the human race. Two of these Miraculous are more powerful than the others: the earrings of the Ladybug, which provide the power of creation, and the ring of the Black Cat, which grants the power of destruction. According to legend, whoever controls both these jewels at the same time will achieve absolute power.
Recently, one of these seven Miraculous was stolen, and the man responsible began to twist his newfound powers, creating super villains with his akumas (evilized butterflies) in the hopes of luring these two most powerful to himself. In response, the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous were bestowed unto two Parisian citizens of pure heart and good will. The two heroes have taken up the burden of these secret powers and protected Paris from the evil thief for nearly a year now, and are ever on the hunt to find and stop him.
~ ~ ~
“Chat Noir, coming to you!” Harry yelled at his partner, sprinting around the base of the Eiffel tower, whipping the unbreakable string of his magical yo-yo behind him as he went. He stopped abruptly, and with a mighty yank, pulled the line taut, causing the villain to trip over the strategically placed red-and-black traffic cone -- right in front of his waiting partner.
“A gift?” he said playfully, batting his eyelashes. “For me? You shouldn’t have!”
Harry glared at him, but Chat Noir just laughed it off, leaning down and casually plucking the dark, glowing necklace off of the fallen villain. He snapped the pendant in half on its chain, and out of the cracks flew a black butterfly, convulsing with purple light.
Harry drew a finger swiftly across the middle of his own pendant and swung his yo-yo around again, flinging it at the butterfly to capture it.
“Time to de-evilize!”
A burst of white light came from the trapped butterfly, and when the pendant re-opened, it flew out calmly, now a beaming bright white.
“Bye-bye, little butterfly,” Harry said sweetly as it flew off, blending into the clouds as it went.
He watched it fly away before picking up the spotted traffic cone and hurling it as high as he could, shouting, “ Miraculous Ladybug! ”
It burst twenty feet up, exploding back into streams of thousands of ladybugs that raced all around them, restoring the environment to the way it was before all the fighting. In front of him, the villain transformed once again into a fragile civilian, who sat up, murmuring in confusion.
Harry looked back at his partner to find him already staring back warmly. Harry grinned, holding up his fist. Chat Noir beamed back even brighter and lifted his own to bump knuckles. He opened his mouth to say something, but was suddenly interrupted by a beeping from his own ring.
“I have to go,” he said quickly, as if Harry didn’t already know, as if they hadn’t been doing this for a year now. He waved as he ran off, away from Harry, shouting as he went, “See you next time, Bugaboo!”
Harry shook his head fondly. What a ridiculous cat.
A couple beeps closer to his own ears caught his attention, and Harry immediately raised a hand to his ear and turned to run.
“Wait, Ladybug!” a familiar voice called. Harry looked over his shoulder. Liam Payne was standing there with his phone out, and damn, if Harry could say no to those big, brown puppy eyes.
Harry paused, turning, and Liam ran up to him.
“Ladybug, first I’d like to say congratulations on saving Paris again!”
Harry couldn’t help but smile at his best friend. Not that Liam knew it was him -- no, to Liam, this was Ladybug, hero of Paris and untouchable icon. Not that that stopped him from trying to discover his secret identity.
“Ladybug, I have a question that I think all the viewers here on the Ladyblog want to know-”
Harry thought he knew what was coming. He opened his mouth to tell Liam that a secret identity was called secret for a reason, but:
“Are you and Chat Noir dating?”
Harry blinked. “No,” he said quickly, “we’re just- friends. We’re partners! Teammates! I mean, obviously I’d be a terrible hero without him by my side, but there’s no romance between us. Despite his, erm, flirty nature.”
His earring beeped again. Harry only had a minute before he transformed back into his civilian self.
“Of course, I should’ve known,” Liam responded, grinning behind the screen. “Ladybug’s heart belongs to Paris!”
Not exactly true, but Harry needed to split, so he waved hurriedly. “Thanks for the chat, stay safe, Liam!” he yelled over his shoulder as he ran, using his yo-yo to leap onto roofs and over chimneys.
Harry didn’t realize his mistake for two blocks.
“ Shit ,” he whispered. He shouldn’t have called Liam by his name. Honestly, he’d been doing this for a year , how was he still fucking up? It was so hard to keep up two identities; some days, Harry just wanted to say fuck it and just show everyone the truth -- or at the very least, show his best friend. But, alas, he couldn’t. Harry had to keep his identity a secret for all the same, noble, boring reasons Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne did. It was dumb, seeing as Superman and Batman were so much cooler , but Ladybug had to follow the same unspoken rules nonetheless.
Right as he landed on the deserted sidewalk around the corner of his school’s building, a bright line of light rose around him, ruffling the short curls around his ears and leaving him dressed normally once again. Harry straightened up, undoing his bun as he went.
He checked the clock on his phone as he burst through the front doors. 9:12. Late already. This day was off to a great start. Harry burst into the classroom soon after, shooting an apologetic look at his professor as he hurried to sit down. She just shook her head slightly, used to his chronic lateness. Harry slid into his seat, checking Liam’s stool next to him even though he knew it would be empty. They were coming from the same scene, and he didn’t have the shortcut of jumping over buildings. Sucker. Harry looked around, checking one more seat before settling.
The one in front of him was empty, and Harry stared at it as if that would make the handsome back of the boy who sat there appear. Unsurprisingly, it did not. Louis was still absent when Harry’s line of sight was yanked across the room at Liam rushing through the door, cheeks pink from exertion. It was impressive, given that he’d just run from across town. Harry, despite being the ‘hero of Paris’ that he was, always found himself in awe of Liam’s physical ability.
Liam made an apology to the professor (“Sorry, madame , I was held up by the akuma attacks a few blocks down.”) and slid into the seat next to Harry’s.
“Oh my god, H,” he whispered excitedly. “The best. Thing. Ever . Just happened to me.”
“David Beckham dropped from the sky in nothing but his football shorts and proposed?” Harry whispered back, unable to resist being a little shit.
“Fucker,” Liam whispered back, smacking him lightly on the thigh with his phone. “No. Ladybug said my name!”
Harry raised his eyebrows. “How polite of him.”
“No, H,” Liam responded earnestly and excitedly, “I didn’t introduce myself! Harry, do you realize what this means? Ladybug follows the Ladyblog !”
Harry mirrored his best friend’s surprised joy. At least Liam had arrived at the safest conclusion for the secret identity. Crisis averted, probably.
Liam was about to continue when the door opened again. Harry’s eyes widened and his cheeks pinkened as the boy who opened it walked in confidently. Liam rolled his eyes and turned to face the front.
“You two were made for each other,” Liam muttered to Harry. “Neither of you can get anywhere on time.”
Harry squeaked and immediately slapped a hand to his mouth. The boy’s piercing blue eyes shifted to him. He must have found something nice there, though, because a small smile quirked his mouth at Harry’s wide green eyes and bright pink cheeks. Harry sunk lower in his chair as the gaze swept the room again and the boy sat down in the seat in front of him.
Liam looked at Harry, amused by his suffering. Friendship is great. Harry narrowed his eyes at his friend, daring him to say something. Liam took it as a challenge, opening his mouth probably to mortify Harry even more, but was thankfully cut off by another one of their classmates, Niall, leaning over to them and interrupting.
“Hey, guys, who would win in a fight, Chat Noir or a bear?”
Harry blinked. “Chat Noir or a bear?”
Niall nodded, leaning back on Liam’s desk. “Yup. Me an’ Louis here,” he gestured to the boy next to him, whom, Harry had just realized, was turned around and looking at him with those blue eyes and perfect bone structure and glowing skin and- “-are having a bit of a disagreement.”
“Bear,” Liam said, and Louis’ gaze was shifted over. (Harry did not know how to feel about this particular development.) “No contest. Chat Noir is a skinny punk.”
“I thought you liked Chat Noir,” Louis said. Harry tried his best not to swoon over his beautiful voice and adorable pout.
“Yeah, of course I do,” Liam said, “but, like, it’s a bear. Chat Noir’s good, but when it comes down to it, he’s kind of a little dude. Everyone knows that Ladybug’s the real power there.”
“Chat Noir isn’t short,” Louis said, seemingly offended by the insinuation.
“Okay, Lou, alright, he’s a big strong man,” Niall interjected, still splayed across Liam’s desk. “So, Harry, Chat Noir or a bear? Who would win?”
“Chat Noir,” Harry said without hesitation.
“Really?” Liam asked. Harry turned to him. “Against a bear? 900 pounds of pure animal instinct? ”
“Why do you know how much a bear weighs?” Harry asked.
“Why don’t you?” Liam shot back. He shook his head slightly. “Stop deflecting.”
“Chat Noir would win because of his amazing heroics,” Louis cut in with a triumphant grin in Niall’s direction.
“No way!” Liam responded.
Harry smirked. “Chat Noir would win,” he stated, “because he’d make such an un bear able pun that the bear would just keel over and die .”
Louis huffed in a way that showed he was very amused, but wished he wasn’t. Harry immediately clammed up, blushing deep pink once more. Liam rolled his eyes.
~ ~ ~
Louis dropped into another hard, plastic seat. He looked around the big, empty room as he waited for the others to join him, contentedly early for the only extracurricular he cared for. Louis had a very busy schedule, filled to the brim with fencing, piano lessons, Chinese, and modelling jobs for his dad.
The last of these was by far his least favorite. Louis knew he was attractive, and was very aware of his advantage as the son of Paris’s forefront fashion designer, Gabriel Tomlinson, so he allowed his father to use him as the posterboy for the Tomlinson brand. But, in truth, satisfying his father was the only reason he did it. Louis had never wanted to make a career out of it, had never had the urge to model, and had recently, in fact, realized that he hated seeing himself plastered on advertisements and magazines around the city. This hadn’t been a problem for most of his life, as his father had had him home schooled “to give him only the best tutors Paris had to offer,” but in doing so, had taken away the one thing Louis had asked for: a normal life, where he could have friends other than those of the rich men surrounding his father, and relationships with actual people, and a real youth rather than the pristine, sheltered one he had been bestowed.
Not that he had ended up with a normal life anyways. As soon as his eighteenth birthday came, Louis had moved out. He applied to a college -- this college -- and been accepted. He moved right in, getting along wildly with his flatmate, Niall, but soon after, everything changed. It started with him finding a small box on the table. He didn’t know how it got there. It wasn’t his; he’d never seen Niall with it either. Curiosity pushed him to open it, and opened it he had. That was when the ball of light burst forth and, essentially, he’d been introduced to the superhero life.
Louis had been living a double life for about a year now. As himself, he was a college student and annoying well-known model, whom every girl wished for and none received, as he was not only openly gay, but also terribly in love with someone else. As Chat Noir, Louis teamed up with Ladybug to save Paris from the akumatised victims which terrorized the city every week. Those were the times he looked forward to most, when he was Chat Noir. Not because of the destruction and chaos, but because those were the times he was truly free, when he could be a person and not the face of some brand. Not to mention, those were the times he was with Ladybug. Yeah. That earlier mentioned someone else ? It was him. Ladybug was, Louis suspected, the great love of his life. And if that seemed dramatic, well, Louis was a gay French model slash superhero, so pick one stereotype out of that treasure trove.
Louis shifted in his seat. That love was what had initially drawn him to this particular club, the one he always made time for between “Gabriel Tomlinson’s Son” Things and “Heroes of Paris” Things. He felt ridiculous when he thought about it, but the Ladybug Fan Club made him so happy.
The door to the classroom was pushed open and a blonde girl walked in, trailed by her henchman another girl.
“Louis!” the girl exclaimed in the fakest manner imaginable. She gave life to the rich blonde stereotype.
“Chloe,” he smiled back. When he had first gotten away from his dad and was out on his own, Chloe Bourgeois was the only person he had resembling a friend. This unfortunate fact was more due to circumstance than choice, however, because her father was just as rich and powerful as Louis’ own, and therefore the two had been shunted off on playdates when they were younger that, looking back, were clearly intended more to give their parents a break from, well, parenting.
“How are you?” she called, batting her eyelashes and stepping out to give him a hug.
Louis remained seated, but smiled back at her.
“Still gay,” he said, anticipating her attempts to flirt.
She laughed. “Oh, Louis, you are so funny.”
Chloe was not good at picking up hints.
“You know, I just got another apartment,” she said conversationally. “This one’s got thick walls,” her tone dropped.
She was, however, rather good at dropping them.
Louis blinked. “What is that now, six? Seven?”
She nodded happily. “My father is so generous to me.”
Louis raised an eyebrow. How was this girl so oblivious to her own privilege. How was she so blind. How.
He waved to the girl behind her. “Hey, Petra.”
She smiled and waved back at him, but the door opened again before she could respond, and they all turned towards the disturbance.
“Oh, hey, you guys are here,” Liam said as he walked in. “Should we just go ahead and start the meeting?”
The three others kind of shrugged, so Liam just jumped right in. This was most of the club, at least all of the members who showed up nearly all of the time. The Ladybug Fan Club was not a popular extracurricular.
“You’re not gonna believe what happened to me this morning,” Liam said excitedly. He continued before anyone could respond. “Ladybug called me by my name!”
Louis looked at him flatly. “It is common courtesy, Lime.”
“Ha, ha, very funny, Lou,” Liam said, not letting his friend’s teasing deter him from his excitement. “But, like, I’ve never introduced myself to him! And he just walked up to me and started talking and, like, do you realize what this means?”
He looked around at his captivated audience. Liam had come to the right club for avid Ladybug fans. He’d know, though, as he was the president.
“Ladybug reads my Ladyblog !”
A smile stretched across Louis’ face. It seemed like such a small thing, proving Ladybug to be a fan of his friend’s website, but it was also one of the precious few facts he had proving that he was a regular person at all. It made Louis feel closer to him, somehow, when he thought about Ladybug being subject to the same everyday annoyances of life that he was. As Chat Noir, he was the closest to him of anyone, of course, but as Louis, sometimes he felt irrevocably distant from the hero he loved. Damn secret identities. Always fucking things up.
Louis longed to discover who Ladybug was under the mask. Not enough to disrespect his partner’s wishes -- no, he’d had plenty of opportunity to sneak a peek after a transformation, but Louis would never break Ladybug’s trust like that. That’s what had driven him to join this club, actually, when Liam proposed it. Of all the Ladybug fans in Paris, Louis would say that Liam was the most dedicated (possibly barring himself). He ran a blog following Ladybug’s every step, even including the uneventful patrols the superhero took around Paris to keep an eye out, and if anyone was going to have clues about his identity, it would be Liam.
“Okay, congrats, whatever,” Chloe said to Liam’s news. “That doesn’t get us any closer to him. If he’s been reading it this whole time, why would knowing it change anything?”
She had a point. A depressing point, but still.
Louis saw the beginnings of Liam’s sad puppy face and jumped to fix it. “Maybe, but it’s nice to know that Ladybug appreciates what you do, Li.”
Liam’s grin reappeared. “It is. It’s really nice.”
Louis laughed good-naturedly. “And it means we have a way to reach him, too.”
Chloe laughed, less good naturedly. “Alongside most of Paris.”
Liam shrugged, smiling. Nobody could drag him down.
~ ~ ~
“Dude, you’ve got to talk to him eventually,” Liam was saying to Harry. “How else are you gonna get him to eventually marry and have nine kids with you?” He chuckled at the found-out look on Harry’s face. “Yeah, H, I know your plans.”
Harry blushed and looked down at his desk.
“I just have the hardest time talking to him, you know? I always end up blushing and stuttering and just becoming an all-around mess.”
Liam sighed, putting a reassuring hand on Harry’s back. “But there’s no way you’ll get him to go to a coffee shop with you if you can’t ask him.”
“I know ,” Harry sighed dramatically, slumping down on the desk and burying his face in his arms.
Liam shook his head fondly at his friend. Just then the door to the classroom opened, and Louis himself walked in with Niall.
“It’s time,” Liam hissed at Harry. Harry groaned, peeking his eyes and burning cheeks out of the jumble of himself on the desk.
“Hey, Lou, Ni,” Liam said conversationally as the other two boys sat down in their seats directly in front of him.
Louis waved, and Niall greeted him back ecstatically.
Harry peeked up at Louis from his collapsed position and nearly melted at the view that greeted him. Louis’ fringe was all messy and soft, poking out from under a maroon beanie, and he looked so soft and warm in his sweatshirt as he gesticulated happily. This is it , Harry thought. This is how I die . He was pretty fine with it.
“How could anyone be so chipper this time of the morning,” Louis was saying flatly to Liam, presumably about Niall. He suddenly gestured towards Harry, whose head was still down on the table and whose curls were swooped up in a messy bun. “See, Harry here gets it.”
Harry blushed wildly and thanked the powers above that Louis had said Harry’s name in his beautiful, bewitching voice. It was maybe a dramatic reaction, but who could blame Harry.
Liam rolled his eyes. “It’s 11:30 in the morning, Louis.”
Louis shook his head dramatically. “And that’s two hours before any civilised person should even consider getting out of bed.”
Harry fought against a flood of imaginary images of a sleepy, soft Louis curled up in fluffy sheets, coated in golden sunlight streaming through a wide window, long eyelashes fluttering as he slowly awakened. He also fought against imagining himself there, wrapped up in Louis’ arms and pleasantly warm, kissing him awake. Harry lost both of these battles by a large margin.
Liam nudged him. Harry blinked, turning even redder and looking over at him. “Sorry, what?”
Niall laughed. “We said, who do you think would win in a fight: a great white shark or Ladybug?”
“The insect or the superhero?” Harry asked.
The other three laughed at him.
“The superhero, obviously,” said Louis good-naturedly.
Harry blushed even harder, if that was even possible.
“I, um- I think, erm, maybe- um-” Harry stuttered under Louis’ gaze.
Liam swooped in to save his drowning friend. “Well, where’s the battle? In the water or on the land?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Louis said. “Ladybug would win no matter what.”
“Really?” asked Niall. “I mean, it’s a great white shark, bro. And Ladybug can’t breathe underwater.”
Louis shook his head again, still smiling in a way that almost seemed like he was holding himself back. “Ladybug’s the best, of course he’d win.”
Harry’s eyes widened and his face burned even more. He was probably breaking some sort of record for redness. He’d never considered that Louis liked Ladybug. It made sense, though. Harry’s alter-ego was the widely-loved ‘Hero of Paris,’ so it only made sense that Louis liked him. Still, though, it made Harry indescribably happy to hear that Louis thought that he (indirectly, of course) was the best . Not that it actually meant anything (other than placing Harry above Chat Noir. Poor kitty. Harry was so much more popular than his partner).
“Ladybug,” Liam agreed. “But, honestly, I’m very ride-or-die with him. You could say Ladybug versus anything and I’d say him.”
Niall laughed. “You’re probably right about the terrain, though.”
“Yeah,” Liam agreed, glancing at Harry. Harry realized that he was maybe about to say something as a segue into Harry asking Louis out. The thought made his stomach twist in anxiety. “If they’re in the ocean he’d have a harder time, but like if he was here in Paris, fighting in, like, a coffee shop …”
Harry glared at Liam from over his folded arms. How dare he try to help his friend like this. It was common knowledge that Harry was physically unable to talk to Louis.
“A coffee shop,” he said flatly.
“What’s he gonna do, break an espresso machine over its head?” Niall laughed, blissfully unaware.
Louis laughed at that as well. “He’s definitely strong enough to.”
Liam nodded along, glancing at Harry. “Hey, speaking of coffee-”
Harry glared at him. Liam started right back.
“What?” Louis inquired, looking between them.
Harry met his eyes, and the whole world shrunk down to the misty blue. He could feel his cheeks burning pink and opened his mouth -- he was supposed to say something, something important -- but the only thing filling his mind was that hypnotising color, and no words came out.
Louis blinked and looked away as the conversation continued to flow around him. Harry buried his face in his arms once more, not lifting it even when he vaguely heard the settling sounds of class starting. One day , he promised to himself, one day I’ll be able to hold a good conversation with Louis Tomlinson .
~ ~ ~
“What’s your suit even made out of, anyways?” Harry said, poking Chat Noir’s side. His partner wormed away, ticklish.
The two superheroes were sitting upon a high roof, watching the lights of their city twinkle around them under the dark sky. Nightly patrols were often boring, but Harry liked them when Chat was there. It made the chore more bearable.
Chat Noir wagged his eyebrows and leaned in, smirking. “Boyfriend material.”
Harry laughed, punching him lightly in the chest. Chat Noir tumbled backwards with a shout. Harry jumped forward to catch him and pull him back up.
“Oops,” he said, laughing.
“Hi,” Chat Noir whispered back, looking all too soft for having just nearly fallen off a roof.
When their giggles subsided, Harry continued his train of thought. “No, seriously, look at this,” he said, poking him again. “It’s all… shiny?” He looked up into his partner’s blue eyes. “Do you wear a rubber suit?”
Chat Noir laughed, running a hand through his messy hair. “Rubber? Fuck, no, that would be so uncomfortable. How the fuck am I supposed to run around chasing criminals if all my skin is being rubbed off?”
Harry laughed again. “The chafing would be ridiculous,” he agreed.
Chat huffed in agreement, softly smiling out at Paris. Harry turned as well, looking out on the city they worked so hard to protect. He saw lights shine through thousands of windows and doors, saw shifting, shaded reflections in the river, saw the famous Eiffel tower aglow for the people, and even saw a light from a close-ish building that must have been his own home and the bakery below it. It wasn’t exactly a rare view -- after all, anyone with a high window could see something similar -- but somehow, this angle felt private. A small wind lifted some loose curls off of Harry’s forehead and the chill of the night sunk heavily through his costume.
“It’s so nice,” he whispered, not wanting to break the quiet spell the two of them had fallen into.
“Beautiful,” Chat Noir agreed.
Harry looked over at his partner, only to find him already staring back. He bit his lip and stood up quickly.
“Let’s check another area,” he said briskly, already walking towards the end of the roof.
He heard the sounds of Chat jumping up behind him, but Harry was already leaping off the roof and through the air to the next. Not thinking, he led them towards his home, and only stopped when they were across the street. The lights illuminating the front of the bakery seemed smudged in the dark. Harry stood on the crest of the roof across from his own building, blinking at his own fairy lights strung around his apartment window.
“That’s cute,” Chat said, pointing to them.
Harry nodded. “I know some of the people in this building.”
It was strange to talk about himself and Liam from an outsider’s perspective, and he didn’t know why he’d reveal something like that to Chat Noir. He was probably just tired. Between akuma attacks, patrol, and regular civilian life, Harry didn’t get a lot of sleep.
He turned around after a minute, leaping onto the next roof and not feeling an ounce of surprise when Chat Noir landed softly behind him, hardly a second behind.
“Why’d we have to go so soon?” Chat asked. “That bakery’s one of my favorites.”
Harry smiled, facing away so his partner couldn’t see his face. He worked at that bakery to help pay the rent and it made him proud that, apparently, the heroes of Paris went there. “It’s probably closed, Chat, it’s like 2 in the morning.”
He couldn’t see him, but he knew that Chat was rolling his eyes as they leapt onto the next roof on their ambling patrol. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see the smirk that always accompanied a terrible pun sweep across Chat Noir’s face.
“I’m sure I could purr- suade you to let us stop for cookies,” he said.
Harry groaned loudly, throwing his head back and closing his eyes.
Chat Noir laughed, catching up to him and standing alongside him on a high-up ledge.
“Why must you make me suf- fur like this,” Harry moaned.
A pleased gasp sounded from next to him. Harry cracked an eye open to see Chat Noir’s hands covering his mouth and his eyes practically shooting hearts.
“My Lady, did you just make a cat pun ?” he asked, sounding like this was the most beautiful moment of his entire life. “This is the most beautiful moment of my entire life.”
Harry breathed out amusedly, not about to let his partner know just how close to laughter he was.
“Try to keep up,” he said, ignoring the comment and already swinging himself onto the next roof.
Chat Noir let out another delighted laugh, but followed swiftly. Soon enough, however, he was ready with a retort. As soon as their feet touched the cold shingles of the next roof, he said, “Bug, we both know that my puns are su- purr- ior.”
“Oh my god ,” Harry said.
Chat Noir just laughed loudly.
“I’m never talking to you again,” Harry said, leaping away.
Chat Noir followed, still laughing. “Aw, LB, don’t have such a negative cat titude,” he said through his giggles.
“Never again in my whole life,” Harry called over his shoulder as he continued moving.
“You would never,” Chat protested. His continuing laughter was not helping his case.
“Watch me,” Harry called, tamping down a smile.
Two roofs later and Chat Noir’s laughter had died down. Harry turned around, suspicious at the silence behind him, and was suddenly grappled into a hug by a short superhero in a black (leather? Rubber? Plastic alloy?) catsuit. Harry let out a yell and nearly tripped over the edge, grabbing back quickly to regain balance.
Chat Noir laughed again.
Harry groaned. “You are terrible .”
“I am irresistible,” Chat Noir responded into Harry’s neck, briefly tightening his arms around his waist.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Harry said, stepping out of the embrace.
Chat Noir looked around, at the moon and dark sky, made soft by clouds. “We don’t seem to do much sleeping,” he said, walking alongside Harry.
Harry shook his head at the innuendo but continued to stroll.
“We’re busy heroes. Got lots of saving to do, cities to rescue.”
Chat Noir rolled his eyes. “We never leave Paris and you know it.”
Harry shrugged. “I went to the countryside once, on vacation.”
Chat Noir raised his eyebrows. “And how was it? I hope you didn’t find some other superhero to save the town with. Maybe goat themed.”
Harry laughed at that. “It was nice, I guess. I prefer the city, I think, but I can imagine settling down there, one day,” he said. Harry glanced at Chat Noir, who was looking out at the view once again. “When I’m too fragile to battle akumas with you anymore, that is.”
Chat Noir smiled. “We can go to the same retirement home and bother all the nurses with stories from our youth.”
Harry grinned. “I’m not gonna share a litterbox with you, kitty.”
Chat Noir smiled back. “You probably want to live in some garden, surrounded by flowers and safe from fearsome predators like me.” He paused and struck a pose.
Harry laughed.
Chat Noir stepped quickly to catch up. “What, you don’t think I’m scary? Intimidating?” He struck another pose, baring his claws. “Fearsome, even?”
Harry laughed again, ducking in to scratch under his chin. “You’re no scarier than a tiny little kitten, Kitten.”
Chat pouted, and Harry laughed again.
They walked over and around the city for hours, chatting more and laughing more and making bad puns (at least one of them was; Harry only made excellent ones).
The next day, Harry woke up late. It didn’t surprise him in the slightest.
Actually, he would have slept in later, exhausted from the late patrol two nights in a row, but his little red kwami woke him before he could. The tiny alien tapped his face, calmly waking him up and warning him that he was gonna be late to class -- again.
“Ugh, Tikki,” Harry groaned.
“Come on, Harry,” she said in her tiny voice. “You can’t sleep all day.”
Harry groaned again, rolling over.
“It’s already ten-thirty,” she insisted.
Finally, Harry got up, throwing on some clothes and brushing his teeth. He checked the clock on his phone: almost eleven.
“I’ll never make it walking,” he said to himself. Harry looked around the empty apartment; Liam was already gone, probably gave up on waking him. He knew his best friend had gotten in late, Harry had told him some excuse about a night gardening club. Harry was weird enough that Liam bought it easily. The climbing out the window was harder to explain.
Harry glanced back at his kwami. “Maybe Ladybug can make it on time,” he said. “Tikki, spots on! ”
The kwami slammed into him, absorbing into his earrings and granting him his powers. A burst of light exploded around him, and seconds later, Harry straightened up, fully transformed into Ladybug. He laughed to himself. “Liam would lose his shit if he knew Ladybug was standing next to his couch,” he said before promptly leaping out the window.
~ ~ ~
Louis had a rather rude awakening as his own kwami jumped onto his head.
“You’re gonna be fucking late,” Plagg said shortly. He rolled onto his back and threw his head back, brushing his catlike ears against Louis’ face.
Louis groaned, pulling the sheets above his head. “Fuck off, Plagg,” he muttered through them. It was probably his fault that the little alien had begun to curse.
Plagg floated up, shrugging where Louis couldn’t see him. “Whatever.”
He curled up on the nightstand and laid right back down to sleep. Not for long, though, as Louis’ hand soon snaked out of the sheet cocoon and began to slam around the little table, searching for his phone. Plagg huffed at him and flew right back into the small white trash can he lived in. Sometimes Louis felt like he really got the short end of the stick on kwamis.
He finally found his phone and pulled it into the white covers.
“Shit,” he hissed upon seeing the time. Almost eleven. He had a class in six minutes and a fifteen minute walk.
“Fuck!” he yelled as he put his clothes on.
“Shit!” he yelled as he shoved his feet in his shoes, foregoing socks to make up the seconds.
“Aargh,” he groaned as he brushed his teeth furiously.
He looked at the time again. It was too late for him to be on time.
He cracked his neck. “Guess Chat Noir’s going to help me make it, then. Plagg, claws out !” he called, posing as his kwami was pulled, yelling, into his ring. A burst of green light surrounded him as he transformed, and he emerged in his black suit, leather tail swinging happily behind him. Louis grinned as he leaped out his own window. Being Chat Noir and its accompanying freedom always made him feel better.
He burst into class a few minutes late, dressed as himself once more.
“Sorry,” he said to the teacher with a remorseful face. The teacher waved him off and Louis took his seat next to Niall without an issue. Being cute had its perks.
“Late again,” Niall whispered. “Even Harry was on time today.”
Louis rolled his eyes. “Oh, Niall, it just isn't fair if I’m beautiful, clever, and good at managing my time.”
Niall snorted. “It’s not fair either if you're none of those at all, and yet, here you are.”
Louis punched him in the shoulder. “Fuck off.”
The professor continued to lecture, but Louis wasn’t paying as much attention as he should have been. He was still half asleep, and less than twelve hours off from Ladybug finally playing along and making puns with him. It was every boy’s dream, staying out late with his love and messing around under the stars. Well, under the clouds and light pollution, anyway. Close enough.
He drifted off in class, lost in his daydreams of Ladybug and replaying the deep sound of his laugh over and over again in his head.
Niall shoved him awake.
“What-” he said, lifting his head. He looked around at the students filing out. “Whoops.”
Niall shrugged. “Don’t worry, bro, you can see my notes later. I let you sleep because you look worn out.”
Louis nodded in appreciation. “Thanks, man. And I’ve got a late night tonight, too.”
Niall raised an eyebrow in question.
“Some photoshoot,” Louis supplied quickly.
“You models,” Niall said, shaking his head, “and your ridiculous schedules.”
Louis shrugged in agreement, though it wasn’t strictly true. It was his night to patrol alone, and he wasn’t looking forward to it, but it had to be done. Keeping up his secret was almost as tiring as the work itself sometimes.
Louis stood, gathering his bag and walking with Niall out of the classroom.
“We’ve got a while before I go to work tonight,” Niall said. “We should go somewhere.”
“What is there to do at-” he checked the time on his phone. “-one o’clock on a Wednesday?”
Niall shrugged. “Let’s see if anyone can hang.” He looked around before running to Liam.
“Hey, Li!” he called. “Liam!”
Liam stopped walking and turned. Harry, walking beside him, turned as well.
Louis bit his lip. He liked hanging out with everyone, but he was pretty sure Harry hated him. They’d started off a little rocky, what with Chloe being Louis’ only friend and immediately landing him in a feud, and still, Harry could hardly talk to him. He was cool around everyone else; people always said he was such a cool guy, but Louis was pretty sure the two of them had never gotten over their initial issues.
He followed Niall over, and arrived in the middle of a conversation.
“-new exhibit at the zoo,” Harry was saying in his deep voice.
“What is it?” Louis asked.
Harry looked over to him and immediately clammed up, cheeks turning pink. Louis twisted his mouth and looked over at Niall for an explanation.
“I dunno what it is, like, specifically, but I’m in,” Niall said, bouncing on his toes.
“Same,” Liam said.
“Ah, but, Lou,” Niall said, making Louis look back over, “they might not let you into some of the scarier places, like the snake habitat, seeing as you’re small enough to be a child.”
Louis narrowed his eyes at his best friend. “I,” he said, “am not short.”
Niall laughed. “Yeah, okay, sure, Louis.”
Liam laughed, too. Louis turned, fast. “What’s that, Lima? You wanna see how fast I can knock you over?”
Niall laughed again at that. Louis growled at his friends. “I’m tall,” he insisted. “Taller than Harry, probably, even.”
He looked fiercely up at Harry.
Harry raised his eyebrows, but kept quiet. A dimple popped into his cheek, and Louis automatically pressed it. Harry flushed a deep pink color, and Louis backed off.
“‘M big ,” he said once more.
Harry flushed darker. Niall cackled, but what else was new.
Louis was still getting used to having friends, especially such good-spirited ones. They hung out at the zoo for a while (the new exhibit was a panther, proudly displayed in a tall black cage), but eventually, they were all tired and hungry, and the four went their separate ways. Louis and Niall walked back to their apartment, and Louis convinced Niall to buy them milkshakes (“Please, Ni, I am a growing boy .” “Lou, you haven’t grown since you were twelve”). After that, he pretty much passed out on the couch, and by the time he awoke, Niall was already an hour into his shift at the bar.
Louis sat up, running a hand through his messy hair.
He groaned at being awake.
“You look terrible,” came a voice from some far-off corner of the room.
“Shut up, Plagg,” he said grumpily, eyes still closed.
A murmur of assent came from the same area.
“Sun’s going down,” Plagg commented a few minutes later. Louis had still not moved, sitting up on the couch with his eyes shut and shoulders hunched. “Doesn’t look like there’s gonna be any trouble tonight.”
“We’re not getting out of patrol duty tonight,” Louis said, cracking one eye open. Plagg was hovering near his bedroom door, holding a hunk of cheese bigger than himself. Louis frowned. “Why must you eat that smelly fucking cheese?”
Plagg laughed. “You know how you’re truly, madly, deeply in love with Ladybug? How you can’t go on without him?”
Louis grunted.
“That’s me with this cheese,” Plagg said, tossing it into his mouth.
Louis groaned and flopped back down.
“I don’t want to devour Ladybug,” he muttered.
“Don’t you, though?” Plagg said, flitting off to wherever it is he fucked off to so often.
Louis rolled off the couch, landing with a thump on the floor.
“We should probably get ready for patrol,” he said, voice muffled from where his face was smashed into the rug.
Plagg ignored him.
“Plagg,” he said, sitting up on the floor. “Let’s go.”
He walked into his room, rubbing his eyes.
“Claws out,” he said sleepily.
The flash of green light woke him up as he transformed. Louis straightened up once he was in his full Chat Noir getup, stretching his back and shoulders. He yawned a little and leaped out the window, into the rapidly darkening night.
~ ~ ~
Harry had seen the dark figure dash by his building a few times.
He was sat at the window, enjoying his night off and trying not to wake Liam as he painted his fingernails. But this shadowy figure kept making him jump. Harry was pretty sure the bakery was about to get robbed. He opened the window to get a better look. Sure enough, within ten minutes the figure was back, crouching on a roof across the street. It leapt onto a chimney. Harry squinted. He was pretty sure that the shadowy figure had a… tail.
He sighed and leaned back. It was either a furry who wanted to rob the bakery or the mischievous superhero he knew so well. Harry pushed his chair back, blowing on his red nails one more time before quietly slipping into his own kitchen.
He shook his head (fondly) as he opened a cabinet and pulled out a bag of cookies he’d made today. Silly cat , he thought. Probably just wants some pastries again.
Harry walked back to his window with the bags, slipping out through the frame this time to sit on the roof. He gently closed it behind him, so he wouldn’t wake his sleeping flatmate, and turned around. The figure was still again, squatting on the roof across the street. Harry knew he was watching him. A chill swept through Harry’s body, from the tips of his sock-clad toes, up his legs, and right up to the base of his skull, following the curve of his spine. He probably should've changed out of his pajama shorts.
“Chat Noir?” he called softly, shifting to a more comfortable position on the roof. It was fairly flat here, curving gently to the bottom and getting steeper as it rose into the sky alongside thousands of others. “I thought you may be kinda hungry,” he said. Goosebumps rose on his skin as his thin, cotton t-shirt waved slightly in the breeze. A curl brushed his face, and in the moments that he looked away from the opposite roof to move it out of the way, Chat Noir leaped onto the roof. When Harry looked back, Chat was just a few feet away.
“Hi,” he said, strangely shy. Just because Chat Noir didn’t see that it was him didn’t mean they they weren’t friends. He held up the bag of cookies. “You’ve passed the bakery a couple of times already and I was just thinking that, erm,” he felt ridiculous saying it out loud. “I thought you might want some cookies.”
Chat Noir smiled at him, and Harry felt a little more at ease as the familiar voice flowed out.
“That’s really thoughtful of you,” Chat said, reaching out.
Harry’s bare knuckles brushed against the fabric of his gloves for the first time ever. A spark ignited in his chest, falling down to his stomach and igniting. He ignored it. “Harry,” he said.
Chat nodded. “And I’m Chat Noir, obviously, though you can call me ‘Saviour of Paris,’ if you prefer.”
Harry laughed. “Seems like a bit much, if you ask me. Is that what you put on your coffee at Starbucks?”
It was Chat Noir’s turn to laugh. “Actually, I stick to ‘Honorable Hero’ at coffee shops.”
Harry smiled. He felt warmer near his friend, despite the chilly wind making the hairs on his arms stand out. He rubbed them, settling a little lower on the roof.
Chat Noir’s blue eyes were drawn to the movement. “Oh, are you cold?”
Harry shrugged. “I have blankets in there,” he said, gesturing to his window.
“Oh, so you’re the one with the nice lights,” Chat said. “I like them.”
Harry smiled. “No, actually, I just like to sit outside of strangers’ windows and offer cookies to passing superheroes.”
Chat Noir laughed and sat down next to him. Harry looked at his small frame, sitting crisscross, almost like a much younger boy. He didn’t really know Chat’s age, but it couldn’t have been far from his own.
“Hold on,” he said, climbing up, “I’m gonna grab us a blanket.”
Chat nodded, already holding a cookie in each hand. Harry climbed in the window with ease and grabbed a blanket. As he climbed back out, he half expected Chat to have left, but there he still was, biting into a cookie and glancing back at him.
“Come on,” he said. He offered the bag as Harry sat down next to him, wrapping the blanket around them both. “I’ll share, since you so generously have.”
“Thanks,” Harry said, tentatively grabbing a cookie. “So,” he said after taking a bite, “are you a frequent customer of Stop and Smell the Flours Bakery?”
Chat grinned. “They’re so good,” he said. “And I do love the name.”
Harry laughed. “It’s pretty sweet.”
Chat laughed delightedly. “And these cookies are amazing,” he said. He turned to look into Harry’s eyes, and suddenly Harry found himself very close to his cat. “Do you work there?”
Harry nodded, smiling bashfully and looking down at his socks. “Yeah,” he said. “I guess you could say I kneaded the dough .”
It was quiet for a second as a grin sprouted on each of their faces. Chat Noir laughed loudly and uproariously.
“Oh my god,” he said, clutching his stomach. “That was good. That was good.”
Harry laughed as well, smiling up into the night sky. It was nice to hang out with Chat like this, without all the flirting and attempts at romance. It was nice to see him in such an unpressured context, happily eating cookies and enjoying the company.
“You know, I wasn’t looking forward to patrolling the city alone tonight,” Chat began to say, “but I think you’ve just made it worth my while, Harold.”
Harry smiled. “That’s a nice sentiment, but my name’s not Harold.”
“What a shame. Harold’s a nice name. Very kingly.”
Harry rolled his eyes.
“What, you don’t believe me?” Chat said, smirking. “There were lots of kings named Harold! Harold II was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England!”
Harry laughed. “That’s not true,” he said.
“It is,” Chat said. “I would know, I know everything.”
Harry laughed again. “You’re just making shit up, Kitty Cat.”
Chat gasped dramatically, bringing a hand to his chest. “Making shit up?” he asked dramatically. “Harold, you wound me.”
Harry laughed again. He rather liked interacting with his partner like this.
The two of them sat there for who knows how long, eating too many cookies than what’s healthy and talking in the dim light from the yellow lamps below and golden sliver of moon. The glow provided a soft light on their faces, hardly illuminating Chat at all as he gestured dramatically and laughed happily, closing his eyes and smiling wide. Harry practically glowed himself; he thrived off of the joy and attention of his friend. Most of all, however, he loved seeing this side of Chat Noir, the one uninhibited by his crush or any impending danger.
But eventually, Harry began to drift off on Chat’s warm shoulder, and he had to admit how late it was getting. The exchange of goodbyes was short and unsure, but as Harry fell asleep in his own bed, window ajar and soft light outlining his face, a smile graced his lips. He had good dreams that night.
Meeting up when Chat Noir’s on patrol became a thing for them, somehow. Every third night, Harry would wait at his window for the telltale shadow, sometimes with snacks, sometimes without, but always with a dimpled smile and electricity in his stomach. They’d sit and chat and Harry’s sleep schedule suffered for it, taking all of his nights now rather than just two-thirds of them, but somehow it was worth it. They got along like a house on fire, and within a few nights, the two became close.
Harry had already been close with him, obviously, being his teammate, but this Chat Noir was almost a different Chat than the one he fought akumas with. Or maybe it was Harry who was different.
(“What does this one mean?” Chat asked, tracing a gloved finger over the ink on Harry’s bicep.
Goosebumps followed the claw’s lightly drawn path. Harry told himself it was the cold air.
“It’s a ship,” he said, watching the hand.
Chat’s finger paused before looping back up.
“I can see that,” he said. “But why?”
Harry shrugged, looking into Chat’s masked face. “It’s just a boat.”
Chat scoffed. “Please, it’s not just a boat,” he mocked Harry’s deep voice. “People don’t just get tattoos because they think they look cool.”
Harry shrugged. He lifted a hand to Chat’s face, tracing the edges of the mask and watching his fingers as if they were someone else’s.
“How would you know?” he asked.
Chat rolled his eyes. “This suit isn’t my skin, you know. I’ve got arms to match my face.” He paused, considering his mask. “Well, my neck, anyways.”
Harry nodded, still tracing the outside of the mask. “So you have tattoos, then?”
Chat nodded.
“Can I see them?”
Chat laughed. Harry wasn’t sure what was funny.
“My secret identity wouldn’t be very useful if I just went around showing people what I really looked like, would it be, Harold?”
Harry shrugged. “Oh, right.”
Chat laughed. “And I must keep it a secret. Even Ladybug doesn’t know who I really am.” He sighed quietly.
Harry bit his lip. He suddenly had a ridiculous urge to reveal his own identity to Chat, if only to wipe that look off his face. Harry blinked, willing the silly whim away.
“It’s okay, Chaton,” he said, lifting Chat’s chin with two fingers. “I’ll just tell you about some of mine.”)
Harry climbed back in the window a little earlier than usual one night (he wasn’t sure what number it was, they all went so nicely that he hadn’t been counting). He closed the latch on the window behind him gently, turning around to face his dark room and dropping a bag of crumbs in the trash.
A lamp switched on across the room to reveal Liam, sitting up at his desk.
“So,” he said. “Are you gonna tell me how you became so tight with Chat Noir?”
~ ~ ~
“I have the biggest news,” Liam announced at the official Ladybug Fan Club meeting.
“Didn’t you already, like, two weeks ago?” Chloe asked, inspecting her nails and not deigning to even grace Liam with a look.
Liam ignored her. “I’ve developed a source close to Ladybug,” he said smoothly.
Chloe looked up, interested and not even trying to feign indifference.
“Really?” Louis asked, sitting up straight.
“Well, sort of,” Liam said, shifting from all the attention. Even Chloe’s minion friend was looking at him. “My friend - Harry,” he said, “recently became friends with Chat Noir.”
Chloe slumped. “Big deal,” she said. “He’s just some sidekick. Let me know when you get something real, right, Petra?”
Petra made herself small. “Harry is?” she asked quietly.
Liam nodded, and Petra blushed. Something clicked in Liam’s brain, and his eyebrows lifted a touch with realization.
Louis smirked to himself. Chat Noir certainly was friends with Harry. He would know, as he’d spent hours sitting with him on the roof of Louis’ favorite bakery the night before. He tilted his head as he thought about it a little more. He wondered what would happen if he showed Harry who he really was. Louis scoffed at himself. If anything, this experience had shown him just how much Harry must hate him. He was so different with Chat, so charming and interesting. Much more talkative, too. Not that it was difficult. Besides, he couldn’t break the pattern they had. He couldn’t shatter the soft atmosphere they’d cultivated -- not even cultivated, it had been soft and gentle from the start. Harry had been so sweet, even just noticing him. But bringing him cookies? Who was this sweet angel of a boy?
Louis focused back in on Liam as he mentioned Ladybug.
Louis’ heart began to beat faster. There hadn’t been any akumas all week -- a rare quiet in their busy crime fighting schedule -- so he hadn’t got as much time with him as he’d prefer. Louis rested his chin on his palm. He missed Ladybug, honestly. He still saw him, every third night, actually, but it wasn’t enough . He just -- Louis was so in love with him . And it was ridiculous, because he didn’t even know his real name, didn’t know what he looked like, where he lived, even what his favorite food was, but -- he loved him. So much. So much that he couldn’t even -- like, he could write so many songs to try to express just a corner of it.
Louis jumped, hearing Liam say the name that wouldn’t stop ringing through the atrium of his heart.
“-Ladybug’s secret identity,” he finished.
“Sorry, what?” Louis said. “I got distracted.”
“Distracted?” Liam said. “How can you be distracted? We’re over here putting together the most amazing, exciting, daring-”
“Dastardly,” Louis added.
“Yes! Wait, no,” Liam said, furrowing his eyebrows. He must have picked that up from Harry , Louis thought idly. “We’re just trying to get me an interview with Ladybug for the blog.”
Louis pouted. “How exciting can it be if it’s not even a little mischievous?”
Liam raised his eyebrows. “You don’t think an interview with Ladybug’s exciting?”
“It’s not like he’s gonna just come out with his secret identity then and there,” Louis said. Then, at the shadow of a pouty look on Liam’s face: “But I’m sure he’ll be really excited to hang out with you,” he added quickly.
Liam grinned. “That would be cool.”
“How are you gonna do this?” Chloe asked.
Liam shrugged. “I’m gonna ask Harry if he can get some help from Chat Noir.”
Louis smirked to himself. If only Liam knew.
“You’re asking Harry?” Petra piped up.
Louis turned around quickly, narrowing his eyes.
“Yeah,” Liam said.
She turned a little pink. “Can I help?”
Louis squinted, pursing his lips. He didn’t know what was coming over him, but his stomach suddenly felt like it had fallen three stories without the rest of him.
Liam nodded slowly. “Alright. If you want to.”
Louis turned back around. “Let’s focus on Ladybug,” he said. His voice sounded too loud, even to him, but he didn’t know how to stop. “What are you gonna ask him? Where do you wanna meet?”
Liam blinked. “I was thinking we’d just sit at a park, around sunset, when it’s quietest.”
Louis nodded. “And you want Chat Noir to ask Ladybug to show up then?”
Liam shrugged. “That’s the idea.”
Louis nodded again, slowly.
Liam turned to the whole group, gesturing excitedly as he spoke. “So I’ll just relay the info to Harry, who’ll tell his new friend, and I’ll let you guys know how it goes!”
Louis was already sitting on the roof that night when Harry climbed out of his window.
“Harold!” he called out, turning around to face him with a bright smile.
Harry smiled the way Louis liked, all dimples and scrunched-up nose. “Hello,” he responded in his deep voice.
He settled down next to the smaller boy, Louis watching him as he got himself situated.
Harry looked up at him. “What?” he asked. “Why do you look so pleased?”
Louis laughed. “No reason,” he said.
Harry leaned in, narrowing his eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Louis smiled back again. There was lots of things, actually, that he wasn’t telling Harry, like his secret identity, for instance. He suddenly bounced forward and tapped Harry on the nose. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” he said.
Harry leaned back on his arms and laughed. “Alright,” he said agreeably. “I guess I won’t ask my question, then.”
The lights reflected in his eyes gave them a shine that perfectly showcased his amusement. Louis leaned in again, suspicious.
“What is it?” he asked.
Harry was clearly trying not to smile, but also clearly failing.
“What?” Louis asked.
Harry laughed quietly. “My friend Liam asked me to do him a favor,” he said. “I only agreed because he threatened to jump out here himself and yell it at you.”
Louis looked at him questioningly. It wasn’t that interesting. He already knew what it was. So why was Harry so amused?
“And…?” he prompted when Harry didn’t continue, smiling to himself as he looked out over the bakery’s little area of street.
Harry shrugged, still smiling with those shiny eyes. “He wanted you to relay a message to Ladybug,” he said.
Louis felt like he was missing something as Harry bit his lip to keep from giggling.
“Okay,” he said slowly.
Harry finally turned to look at him. Louis realized he wasn’t even sitting, anymore, but resting on his the balls of his feet, leaned over Harry with one arm holding him inches from his friend. He blinked, and settled back into a seated position. He felt so distant, all of the sudden.
Harry’s eyes were still shining with mirth. Louis was sure his looked confused as fuck, because that’s what he was. Confused as fuck .
“Liam wanted me to ask you to ask Ladybug if he’d meet him in this park at this time,” he said, handing Louis a folded slip of paper.
Louis was pretty sure he’d figured out the joke.
“Is there a dick drawn on this piece of paper,” he said flatly. “Are you trying to get me to give Ladybug a piece of paper with a penis drawn on it.”
Harry laughed, “No, no! Open it, really, I’m not.”
Louis eyed him one more time before opening the folded paper. He wasn’t quite sure what was up when he did, because all that was there was the promised place and time. He raised an eyebrow at Harry.
“I could draw a dick on it, if you’d like,” Harry suggested.
Louis swatted him with the paper.
~ ~ ~
Harry froze, one leg already out his open window and hair up and out of the way in a bun when he heard the door unlock. He froze, left shoulder still pushing against the frame.
“Harry?” Liam asked from the doorway, directly across from his flatmate.
“Hi,” Harry said, as casually as he could muster.
“What are you doing, there?” Liam asked.
Harry looked right back at him, face still frozen. “What?’
Liam took a step closer. “Why are you climbing out the window?”
Harry looked down at himself, foot planted firmly on the roof. “Oh, this?” he asked. Harry shrugged. His shoulder hit painfully on the frame. “Ow- um, I’m just, you know…”
Liam raised his eyebrows expectantly.
“I heard there was an akuma attack nearby and I wanted to see if I could spot it from the roof,” Harry said.
“Shit!” Liam yelled, jumping into action. “I better get down there before Ladybug does, for the Ladyblog ! See you, mate!”
Liam sprinted right back out the door he had just walked in through, slamming it behind him.
Harry climbed the rest of the way out of the window, transforming behind the chimney.
He rubbed his hurt shoulder as he sprinted over the shingles, throwing his yo-yo and swinging his way quickly towards the trouble.
Harry landed on a knee on the pavement in front of the villain, feeling like the coolest person in the world as he straightened up and transitioned seamlessly into another, just as intimidating pose.
He snapped into action, guiding citizens away as he walked towards the supersized villain, who was jumping around in a fountain and grabbing people as they tried to run.
“Go that way, there’s a bakery that will take you under cover,” he directed to a mother who was trying to pull her two children away.
He heard police cars and news vans pull up behind him and kept walking towards the villain, head held high.
“Hey!” he called to the monster, who stopped snatching for citizens to look up at him. It glared back at him
“Ladybug,” it snarled. “How kind of you to show up early. The real show won’t be happening until sunset.”
Harry glared right back. “I do so love to be polite,” he responded. “But I’m afraid I’m gonna have to cut this party short.”
He leaped at the monster, throwing his yo-yo ahead of him. The thing grunted angrily, swatting at it, but the string tangled around its arm. It yelled in frustration, dropping the citizens in its huge hands. They fell with a splash into the fountain and immediately began to scramble away.
Harry needed to buy time for them to get away, and his eyes were drawn to the empty grassy area behind the fountain. Harry pulled the string taut, jerking the monster’s arm as he tried to untangle himself. Harry began to sprint, running past the fountain and wrapping the string of his yo-yo around the giant body of the villain.
Horns honked louder as Harry got closer to the traffic. Half of the cars were empty, doors swinging open as the citizens ran for cover, and the other half contained drivers so determined to weave through the traffic that they risked their own safety for it. Harry tried to stop, but slid on the thick grass, coming to a stop nearly horizontal next to one of these. He had, however, succeeded in getting the villain’s attention.
Its shadow stretched towards him as it stood up straight and began to walk towards Harry, its weight slowing it down to an ambling walk. Harry made a note of that before getting up himself.
He turned to the civilian car to yell a warning, and froze at the sight of the face behind the window. His eyes grew wide and his cheeks pinkened as he looked, and that wasn’t a reflection in the glass but Louis Tomlinson’s face which mirrored his own expression.
Harry was rooted to the spot, and hardly even registered that this was terrible, terrible timing to discover that Louis was into Harry- well, Ladybug, enough that he blushed at the sight of him. Horrible, dreadful time because not only did Harry not have the time to properly process this development, but their lives were in immediate danger. Well, shit.
“You…” he managed to say before the slackening of the string in his hands reminded him what was at stake here. “You have to get to safety,” he said, steeling himself and snapping into battle mode. Louis’ hand was on the edge of the open window, and it would be so easy for him to put his own on top. Harry blinked the thought away, lowering into a fighting stance and getting ready to pull with all his might.
“Go,” he said one more time, glancing over his shoulder at the other boy, who was still staring at him with pink cheeks and starry eyes.
Harry refocused again before he could get drawn into those eyes again and pulled on his rope, tripping the monster as it lumbered towards him and Harry began to run towards it.
He sprinted right past it, pulling it into a little spinning circle which tore up the grass. Oopsies.
Harry looked back across the park, but the black car containing Louis was now wide empty, doors still swinging from the inhabitants’ exits. Harry exhaled a relieved breath.
“Who knew a Ladybug would be so opposed to local horticulture,” a voice called from on top of the tall fence behind Harry. He turned around to see Chat Noir jumping down off of it to land next to him.
“Little late today, huh, Kitty Cat?”
Chat Noir shrugged. “Got stuck in traffic, but at least I’m here meow!”
Harry gave him a flat look.
Chat laughed at him, leaning in closer. “I know you love my puns, Bugaboo.”
Harry blinked at him, expressionlessly communicating his unamusement. “That’s purr-paw- sterous.”
Chat Noir gasped dramatically, clutching his hands to his chest in joy with a smile more delighted than Harry felt was warranted. “Did you just-”
Harry sighed, hiding the swell of pride he felt in his chest. “There’s an akuma on the ground over there, remember?”
“Right,” Chat Noir responded, facing back just in time to be swatted by a giant fist.
“Shit!” he yelled as he flew back, hitting the fence behind them hard.
Harry turned to face the monster when he saw his partner get back up.
“Alright,” he said, “if that’s how you want to do things.”
He ran for it again, throwing his yo-yo and binding the monster in its string, but he knew they’d need to find something more permanent. Chat Noir, meanwhile, got up behind him and walked up to stand next to Harry, metal staff out and ready to fight.
“I think he’s holding it in his hand,” Harry said, pulling a bit more on the string as the monster fought against him. “He hasn’t opened it once.”
Chat nodded. “I’ll go get it,” he said, starting off towards the monster.
“Not so fast,” Harry said, pulling the leather tail trailing behind him and stopping Chat in his tracks.
“What’s wrong?” Chat asked. “You’ve got him all tied up,” he gestured to the struggling monster.
Harry gave him a look. “How are you gonna get the akuma out of his hand if it’s tied to his leg?”
Chat Noir paused. “...Right.”
He stopped pulling and turned to his partner. “So what do we do?”
Harry pulled on the string again to keep it tied tight and winced when his shoulder reminded him of the forming bruise.
“You alright?” Chat asked, concerned.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Harry responded quickly. “Just bumped my shoulder earlier. Right now, though, I’m thinking we need to get that akuma to open its hand.”
Chat Noir nodded, glancing back at the monster. “Any bright ideas?”
Harry bit his lip and nodded. “Keep him occupied.”
Chat nodded, then Harry pulled his yo-yo back to himself as Chat ran towards the villain with his staff out and ready to strike. Harry threw his yo-yo up in the air and shouted, “ Lucky charm! ”
A red and black-spotted metal staff, similar to Chat’s, landed in his arms.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” Harry muttered.
Chat glanced back. “Bug!” He noticed the staff and continued to talk to his partner as he leaped around the giant, frustrated villain. “Imitation is the sincerest form of cat -tery.”
Harry rolled his eyes at the pun and looked around for a way to put this to use. His eyes caught on the closed fist of the akuma and he smiled confidently as an idea formed. Harry bent the pole into a u-shape and ran towards the fight on the other end of the lawn.
“Get him to swipe at you!” he called at Chat Noir.
“He isn’t already?” Chat called back, ducking another blow.
“We’re gonna push it out of his fist!” Harry yelled back, ignoring the complaint.
Chat nodded at him, understanding what he needed to do and trusting his partner.
Harry ran towards them and, when the giant arm reached once more, slammed the pole over it, essentially stapling it to the ground. Chat jumped on top of the curved metal, slamming it farther into the earth as the monster yelled again, and he slammed his staff into the center of the closed fist.
The monster yelled as a black butterfly emerged from the fist, flying out from the broken remains of the object Chat had just flattened.
Harry was ready, spinning his yo-yo and catching it before it could get far. “Time to de-evilize!” he shouted.
A burst of white light spread from the yo-yo, and a white butterfly gently flew away from the blast. Harry waved sweetly. “Bye-bye, little butterfly.”
He pulled the bent pole from the earth and threw it up in the air.
“Miraculous Ladybug!”
A swarm of ladybugs exploded from it, swooping quickly around the scene and restoring the damage. Grass sprouted back from the trenches they’d dug, the fountain straightened itself out, and, where the monster had lain just seconds before, a confused but de-transformed citizen sat up.
“What’s going on?” she asked, rubbing her head.
Harry fist bumped Chat Noir, who was smirking and chuckling.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Chat replied, wiping at his smile. “Your whole transformation sequence is just so extra,” he laughed.
Harry crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “ You’re saying I’m extra?”
Chat laughed again, and was interrupted by the beeping of Harry’s earrings.
“You better go,” he said. “Time’s almost up, and your carriage is about to become a pumpkin again.”
Harry laughed. “See you next time, Kitty!”
And he ran from the park, rubbing his shoulder.
~ ~ ~
Louis dropped heavily onto his seat in class two days later, sighing. He was so fucking tired. Between his job, akuma attacks, patrolling the city, and writing essays, he was hardly getting any sleep at all. Not that he didn’t love being Chat Noir or sitting with Harry on the roof of the bakery -- it just meant that he was exhausted all the time. And even when he did sleep, his dreams were plagued by his masked love: the elusive Ladybug. Normally, he’d love those dreams Ladybug starred in, but lately, they’d been a series of him getting so close, only to have him dissolve just before Louis could touch his face. It was, in a word, terrible.
Louis was brought from his thoughts by a movement behind him. Liam and Niall had arrived and were taking their seats.
Louis grunted a greeting, too tired to properly say hello.
“Someone’s grumpy,” Liam said, raising an eyebrow.
Niall chuckled. “He’s always grumpy,” He rubbed Louis’ unstyled hair, making it fluff up. “Lou’s like a little disgruntled kitten.”
Louis glared at him. “I am not little ,” he said.
Niall laughed, taking his seat next to Louis. “Of course not, Lou.”
Louis glared at him a second longer before turning to Liam.
“Li,” he said, “I want to help you in your quest to find Ladybug’s identity.”
“Kind of an abrupt transition there,” Liam commented.
“And the whole ‘quest’ thing seems a tad overdramatic,” Niall commented.
“Do you want my help or not?” Louis asked.
“He’s got deep pockets,” Niall said. “Could be useful to have someone who’s able to summon private helicopters dipped in gold.”
Louis smacked him.
“I wouldn’t turn down some help,” Liam said. “Got anything specific in mind?”
Niall cut in. “What if you jumped on people and just, like, randomly slapped red masks on their faces,” Niall cackled.
Louis smacked him.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Niall,” Liam said.
“Alright, alright,” Niall laughed.
“Do you even want to help?” Louis asked.
Niall shrugged. “‘T’s not like I have anything better to do.”
Harry suddenly arrived and sat at his own desk behind Louis, yawning.
“Morning,” he said in a sleepy, deep, gravelly voice. Louis was more into it than he cared to admit.
Liam turned to his friend. “Late night?”
Harry nodded, sinking low onto the desk.
Niall laughed, wagging his eyebrows. “Tommo, here, had one too.”
Louis threw his empty coffee cup at Niall. Not that Niall knew it was empty. He yelped and ducked, making it hit him square in the face. Niall blinked in confusion and Louis laughed.
They turned back to the conversation just in time to catch the tail end of a meaningful look on Liam’s face. Louis turned back to Harry, who was yawning again. He held in a smile, because Louis knew where Harry had been hanging out last night. Where he’d been hanging out every third night for a while, now.
Last night in particular, he had brought Chat Noir chocolate croissants, one of Louis’ favorites. They were delicious, as everything from the bakery was. Louis wished he had one now.
“So, Harold, up to anything particularly wild last night?” he asked, grinning and leaning in.
Harry’s cheeks pinkened. “Not really,” he said, shrinking away.
Louis leaned back a little, grin fading a touch. He didn’t know why his classmate hated Louis while he enjoyed the company of Chat Noir so much, but the irony wasn’t lost on him. To be honest, he was kind of sad that Harry didn’t like him, because now that he’d gotten close to him, Louis really enjoyed his company.
Harry was clever and funny and happy and clumsy and sweet and utterly ridiculous but somehow even more endearing for it. Looking at Harry and listening to his thoughts was utterly captivating, like staring up into the universe with no clouds or smog to block the infinite view, so you could see through to all the galaxies and stars and color. It was sad that it was something Louis could only experience under the disguise of the night.
Louis blinked. The conversation had moved on without him.
“A T-rex or Liam?” Niall was asking.
“A T-rex?” Liam asked incredulously. “I want to say me, obviously, but it just isn’t fair to pit me against a dinosaur!”
Harry laughed. Louis beamed at the image and tucked the memory away safely.
“The T-rex,” he said definitively.
Liam laughed and poked his shoulder.
“Excuse me, Liam,” Harry said, mock-offendedly.
Liam responded with a crinkly-eyed laugh.
Niall cackled again. That boy never stopped laughing.
“Oh, hey,” Niall said, turning to Louis. “I just remembered; we’re going to the arcade later, right? After your art history class, right?”
Louis nodded. “Yeah, mate, excited for it.”
Niall grinned. “Sweet.”
Liam leaned forward. “Which arcade are you guys going to? I’ve heard the one by the bakery is good.”
Harry nodded. “Yeah, it’s really, erm,” he made eye contact with Louis and stuttered, eyes going wide and cheeks going red. “Great- um, they’ve games got good. Games good. They -- they have…” he bit his lip and looked down at his desk.
Louis bit his own lip.
“Yeah,” Niall continued, paying no attention to the minor stroke Harry had just experienced. What a good friend. “‘Ve heard they’ve got loads of retro shit, you know, like from the ‘80s and all.”
Liam nodded. “We go down there sometimes,” he said, gesturing between himself and Harry.
The simple movement made Louis’ chest twinge for some reason, in a feeling akin to jealousy. But that would be ridiculous. He was going there today.
“Yeah?” Niall asked. “Do they let you bring in snacks?”
Liam laughed. “I don’t know if they’ve got a policy on it, mate.”
Niall shrugged. “I would’ve brought it anyways.”
Their professor spoke up then, ending the conversation.
“Okay, we were supposed to do a bunch of notes today but I have a headache so we’re gonna watch some cat videos and go home.”
Louis and Niall cheered.
He winced. “Headache,” he said again.
“Oops!” Louis said quietly and apologetically. “Sorry.”
He nodded and turned on the projector.
It was one of Louis’ more pleasurable classes of the week.
“Dude,” Niall said as they were getting up a few minutes later, “meet me in four hours by Stop and Smell the Flours, alright?”
Louis nodded. “Wouldn’t miss it,” he said.
He missed it.
Four and a half hours later, he ran up to Niall outside the bakery, regret spelled out all over his face.
“I’m so sorry,” he said.
Niall stood with his arms crossed, unimpressed. “Again,” he said.
Louis bit his lip. He wished he could tell Niall the truth, but he couldn’t very well just pop out and say “Hey, man, just FYI, but I’m that cat dude who runs around fighting dangerous villains every week -- and, oh, yeah, by the way, I’ve been lying to you about it for a year now.” It would be ridiculous. And, as Ladybug always painfully reminded him, secret identities were called that for a reason.
Louis bit his lip. “I had a work emergency,” he tried. It wasn’t exactly false.
Niall raised an unimpressed eyebrow. He was generally a chill dude, but Louis could tell that he was pissed .
“A modelling emergency? What happened, Lou? Did a photographer develop a pressing need to photograph you right away ?” he said coldly.
Louis felt terrible. He hung his head in shame and wished he could just tell Niall the truth.
“If you’re gonna blow me off,” Niall said, “ again , at least don’t lie to me about it.”
He brushed past him and left. Louis stared hopelessly after his best friend.
Louis began to slowly walk home; Niall probably needed his space for now.
~ ~ ~
“There are over a dozen people in this class and NONE OF US CAN AGREE ON WHAT LADYBUG AND CHAT NOIR LOOK LIKE? ”
Kim was standing up on his desk, gesturing wildly and frustratedly. None of the class noticed, however, as all seventeen of the students were busy arguing. Loudly. Almost all, that is.
Harry was slumped over on his desk, chin on his folded arms as he tiredly watched Chloe and Niall yell about the length of Ladybug’s hair.
“I’m telling you, I’ve seen him up close! Ladybug has shoulder-length, wavy hair!” Chloe was yelling, shoulders tense and looking ready to spring at Liam’s face.
“Girl, no,” Niall argued. “He always has his hair in that bun, but it’s definitely longer than that! And it’s not wavy , it’s curly as fuck .”
Harry sighed. He turned his head, observing Petra looking about ready to smack Liam.
“He’s probably got some sort of magical disguise magic,” Liam snapped. “So nobody can really tell what he looks like and protect his secret identity.”
“That’s ridiculous , he already wears a mask ,” Petra said (yelled).
Liam gave her a withering look. “Yeah, because a mask is gonna stop people from recognizing their best friend fighting supervillains.”
Petra sprang at him. Harry averted his attention so he’d have a veritable excuse for not jumping to his friend’s defense.
“He’s taller than me!” Chloe was saying angrily. “I’d know , I’m his best friend .”
Niall snorted loudly.
Chloe slapped him with her little purse. Niall growled -- literally growled at her.
Harry heard a groan from his left. He swivelled back to face it.
It was Louis, the only other one sitting down sleepily, with a reluctant look on his face.
“Is it bad if I don’t intercede to stop my best friend from being beat up with a designer clutch?”
Niall was currently bent over on the floor, crying uncle as Chloe ruthlessly slammed him with her pink leather bag.
Harry laughed, watching Louis watch the fight, unmoving.
Suddenly, a loud sound across the room caught their attention.
“Don’t be stupid, Liam,” a girl was yelling derisively from a few desks down. “If Ladybug had some sort of magical disguise, wouldn’t he make himself look attractive?”
Liam and Chloe both froze, swivelling and glaring simultaneously.
The girl continued, ignorant of the imminent danger. “Like, he wouldn’t give himself that messy bun and those beady dark eyes!”
Liam and Chloe leapt at her with a yell.
Harry drew a hand to his mouth in shock. “Oh, shit .”
He looked around at the fighting classmates. Who knew the people cared so much about Ladybug and Chat Noir’s appearances?
He heard a sigh from in front of him. Harry glanced at Louis once more.
The other boy was slumped over his desk, as Harry had been a few minutes ago. Louis shook his head, watching his finger trace a shape on the wood under him.
“Green,” he muttered. “Ladybug’s eyes are green.”
The butterfly tattooed on Harry’s stomach was suddenly flapping its wings, shifting around all the intestines and tapping a beat on his ribcage.
His attention was suddenly caught on a yell from a few desks down. Harry’s gaze was jerked from Louis’ form as he gaped in horror at Liam. His best friend was practically burning with rage, leaning over the girl who had questioned his theory. The poor girl would probably never dare to even speak in the same room as either Chloe or Liam ever again.
Harry finally stood up and rushed to the other side of the room, grabbing Liam and pulling him off of the girl.
“Stop, Harry, stop!” Liam argued, grabbing at the air angrily.
“Li, Liam, man,” Harry said, pulling him away. “Stop fighting.”
“She insulted Ladybug!” Liam said indignantly, in the tone one would use to defend the honor of their mother.
Harry chuckled at his friend’s loyalty. “It’s not like he can’t take it,” he pointed out.
Liam pouted at him. “It’s about the principle of it, Harry .”
“I know, Liam ,” he said back.
Harry glanced back at the scuffle behind them and thanked god that he wasn’t responsible for Chloe. She was currently yanking the girl’s hair and threatening her to take it back. Harry had to admit that his fans were loyal and once again reminded himself to never do anything to offend them, upon pain of death.
“Yeah, you’re right, Haz,” Liam said, stilling. “Let’s go.”
Harry nodded and let go of his friend’s arms.
Liam immediately leapt toward the girl to reprimand her.
Harry watched his friend go with a frustrated look and a small stomp of his boot. He heard a little laugh behind him and spun around.
Louis was a few feet away, one hand covering his mouth and the other cutely wrapped around his own waist. He was watching Harry under his long eyelashes and the round pink of his cheeks proved that he was hiding the cutest little smile. Harry immediately melted into a red mess. Louis was too adorable and had caught him with his guard down.
“I feel that,” Louis said loudly over the yells of their classmates in relation to Harry’s obvious inner conflict about backing up his friend, and gestured at Niall, who had obtained a purse of his own and was now battling Petra, seemingly to the death.
Harry grinned, having painstakingly taken his eyes off the precious boy in front of him. When he swung his gaze back, the adorable had hardened into straight up (gay up) attractive.
“Should we leave?” Louis asked, eyebrows raising and small thumb pointed behind him, at the door.
This was too much. Harry would die if he spent longer in Louis’ presence.
He found himself nodding. “It’s probably safer,” he said monotonously.
Louis laughed, louder than was probably warranted, eyes crinkling and grin shining.
Harry tripped over a desk when Louis turned around to go.
“Shit, are you alright?” Louis said concernedly.
Harry blushed again. He was doing a lot of that; he wondered when his blood vessels would get tired.
“Oops?” he offered.
Louis grinned and offered a hand. “Come on up, Bambi, and let’s get out of here before someone gets killed by a flying shoe.”
Harry laughed at that, accepting the dainty hand and pulling himself up. He blinked down at their still entwined hands after he was upright once more.
“What?” Louis asked, drawing his own hand closer to himself.
“Nothing, sorry, erm,” Harry said.
Louis tilted his head. “What?”
Harry rubbed his own wrist, right where the tattooed ink of an anchor was permanently embedded. “I just, like, our tattoos - they line up.”
Louis looked at his own wrist, where a rope was tattooed into an infinity symbol. He grabbed Harry’s hand again, turning them over a couple of times. Harry wondered how he was still on the ground rather than floating off into the atmosphere.
“Look at that,” Louis said, looking up, face breaking into a grin like the sun clearing clouds in the sky. “They match.”
Harry was hyper-aware of the way their hands were still clasped together.
“Come on, Styles,” Louis said, turning again and pulling him towards the door. “Let’s get out of this war zone.”
They headed for the door, and, as Harry ducked under a flying journal, he caught Liam making an exaggerated thumbs up at him from across the room. Harry blushed harder, if it was even possible at this point. The girl Liam was fighting took advantage of his distraction and smacked him in the face with a laptop case. Harry flinched, but grinned at the instant karma for embarrassing him. Harry was quickly whisked out the door by the boy he secretly loved before he could see Liam’s retaliation.
Louis let go of his hand when they emerged from the chaotic classroom, but fell back to walk next to Harry. The emptiness of his hand was a shock to Harry’s system, but it was nothing compared to the electricity emanating from the presence just an inch or two by his side. Harry watched his own clumsy feet as they walked together, if only to hide his burning face.
Louis was gesturing animatedly as they went. Harry took a pleasure in learning this about him so closely. It reminded him of someone, but he couldn’t quite recall whom. Probably didn’t matter, anyways. He had more important things to focus on.
~ ~ ~
Louis walked down a sidewalk with Harry happily, wandering towards nowhere in particular and just enjoying the sunlight and always-there smell of freshly baked bread. He glanced over at the boy beside him, smiling at the smile Harry was directing at the ground. It was nice seeing it in the daylight.
Their nights of hanging out together on Harry’s little section of roof had become some of the highlights of Louis’ weeks. Aside from spending time with Ladybug (despite the crime fighting and constant vigilance) and hanging out with Niall, it was the happiest he ever was, and a stark contrast to the loneliness of his home life. Not that he wasn’t used to being alone -- his childhood had given him enough of that.
Louis walked a few steps before realizing that Harry had stopped. He turned around and walked towards him.
“What’s caught your attention?” he asked.
Harry blinked down at him, blushing at being caught distracted.
Louis tilted his head and Harry ducked his own shyly. It was -- dare he say it? -- adorable.
They began to meander over towards the concrete edge; Harry sat down on a cold metal bench, keeping his eyes focused on the water. Louis, in turn, kept his own eyes fixed on Harry’s contemplative face and the furrow of his brow as he expressed himself.
“I like watching the river,” Harry said. “The wind makes the waves…” he muttered the last part, gesturing with his hand. The rings on his fingers glittered in the same way the sun did on the water of the Seine.
Louis smiled at the cute little show. “Yeah, that’s true.”
Harry looked up at him, smiling wide enough for two dimples to pop into his cheeks.
Louis grinned at that. He loved when Harry’s dimples did that; if he had been Chat Noir right now, he would have poked a finger in them happily, but as Louis Tomlinson, he had a name to uphold, and it wouldn’t do to go around poking the faces of pretty boys.
After some time spent sitting on a bench by the river and talking brightly, Louis offered to walk Harry home.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Harry said.
Louis smiled at him. “It’s no problem at all, really, I love that bakery.”
Harry grinned. “I work there, you know. ‘M a baker.”
Louis did know. “Oh, really? Is that how you got those sweet buns?” he asked before he could stop himself. Harry’s green eyes flew open wide. Louis immediately bit his lip. He was about to stammer out an apology when Harry burst into delighted laughter, even bending to slap his knee.
Louis started laughing, too, half from shock and half from the adorableness of Harry’s laughter.
Before he knew it, they were back at Stop and Smell the Flours.
“Well,” Harry said, dimple still in his cheek (it hadn’t left since the river; Louis felt a strange need to keep it there as long as he lived), “this is it.”
Louis stopped walking and looked up at the familiar roof. It was different from street level. “I guess it is.”
Harry shifted on his feet. “I’ll see you in class, then?” he asked, cutely biting his lip. His nervousness was adorable, but Louis wished he’d relax, like he did around Louis’ alter-ego. It must have been due to his societal status or something.
“I definitely will,” he responded. Louis knew he’d see him sooner than that, though; tomorrow night was his turn for patrol.
Later, when he got home alone to his big old empty apartment with its stylishly gray walls and pristine furniture, Louis missed the company. It was as if there was a balloon deflating in chest that he hadn’t noticed until it began to leave.
He plopped down on his couch, finally letting Plagg out of his jacket pocket.
“ Finally ,” the kwami groaned. “Stuck in that pocket -- starving and alone -- listening to you flirt for what must have been days -”
Louis rolled his eyes. “Oh, fuck off,” he said. He pulled his shoes off. “I wasn’t flirting.”
Plagg rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Okay. Sure.”
Louis padded over to the fridge. “I wasn’t .”
Plagg followed him. “ Oh, Harry, ” he said in a ridiculous falsetto. “ Harry, your curls are so cute. The river is so romantic. Your eyes are as green as moldy cheese! ”
Louis scrunched his nose at his friend. “I didn’t say any of that. And -- moldy cheese? Really?”
Plagg shrugged. “Maybe my memory has been affected by my hunger.”
Louis tossed him a slice of cheese. “I’ll say.”
“You were definitely flirting, though,” Plagg said through a mouthful of cheese.
Louis threw up a middle finger. Plagg laughed. “What’s that saying; don’t bite the hand that feeds you?”
Plagg cackled. What was so familiar about that -- shit! Louis burst up and grabbed his shoes.
“I have to go meet Niall for lunch!”
He threw them on and opened up his denim jacket for Plagg to fly into. He did, but not without grumbling.
“Shut up,” Louis said, snatching his keys and hurrying to the door. “We’re gonna be late.”
He checked the time on his phone as he hurried to the cafe: 1:29. There was no way he was gonna make it on time.
Louis ran anyway, fueled by his guilt.
He ran up to Niall a few minutes later, late, but not by much.
Niall raised an eyebrow, impressed. “I wasn’t expecting you for another half hour.”
Louis shrugged sheepishly. “We did say 1:30.”
Niall laughed good-naturedly and clapped a hand to his shoulder. “Let’s see if you last the whole meal.”
Louis shoved his friend’s hand off of him with grin. “Fuck you.”
Niall cackled and they walked into the cafe.
Soon enough, they were nestled into a nice little nook in the corner of the room, sitting in intricate metal chairs with a sandwich and a drink for each of them.
“I still think we should’ve gone to Stop and Smell the Flours,” Louis said.
“Harry’s bakery?” Niall said through a mouthful of food.
“You mean the bakery with the most delicious chocolate croissants in the whole world?”
“No, I mean the one Harry works at that you’ve started talking about all the time. But, yeah, that too.”
Louis scoffed. “I do not talk about that place all the time.”
Niall pulled out his phone.
“Hey,” Louis said. Niall didn’t look up. “What d’you think you’re doing?”
“‘We should stop by that bakery,’” Niall read monotonously off the screen.
Louis frowned at the oration of his text. “There are lots of bakeries in Paris,” he defended.
Niall’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t look up as he read another one. “‘I would literally take a bullet for a roll from Stop and Smell the Flours.’”
Louis ruffled at this personal attack. “I was hungry!”
“‘Is it legal to move into a bakery you don’t own.’”
Louis scoffed. “You don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“I mean, you could always move in with Harry and Liam if you’re so thirsty for those pastries,” Niall suggested.
Louis threw a chunk of bread at him. “Go fuck yourself.”
Niall cackled, popping the bread into his mouth.
They continued like that for a while, long enough for Louis to forget about the weird balloon feeling in his chest and get swept away by the light conversation.
“What the fuck is ‘American cheese?’It’s not even actually cheese-” Niall’s rant was cut off by a loud static sound from every TV in their proximity -- every TV in Paris, maybe.
They turned simultaneously to look.
A broadcast from across town filled the screens; it seemed an akumatized victim was crashing around a street, toppling cars and causing citizens to scatter.
Louis rose quickly. “We should probably leave, it may not be safe.”
Niall waved it off. “It’s all the way across the city, Lou, I think we’re fine here.”
Louis bit his lip, staring worriedly at the screen. Chat Noir had to get there to keep the akuma from making any more chaos.
“Ladybug has arrived on the scene!” A reporter said, strangely calm for someone crouching behind an overturned van. You probably got used to it after a while.
Louis glanced at Niall, who was watching him closely.
“I’m just worried,” he said. “I think I should go.”
Niall looked confused. Louis knew he needed to get to his partner to help.
“I just-” Louis said. He quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Shit, sorry, I have to take this call.” He sprinted out of the cafe with the phone in his hand, leaving Niall sitting in confusion.
He weaved through the sidewalk, catching darting glimpses of all sorts of people: tall, short, colorful, a familiar looking blonde boy- Louis jumped into an alleyway before he could think about it too much. He turned a corner in the narrow passageway until he was alone and out of sight.
“Plagg, claws out!” he yelled, striking a power pose as green light engulfed him and transformed him into his superhero self.
He didn’t hear a little gasp around the corner over the wind whistling in his ears.
As soon as Louis was ready, he leaped straight up (with the help of his expanding baton) onto the roof and began to run towards the site of the attack.
~ ~ ~
Harry was utterly exhausted the next day as he walked out of class. Between an akuma battle, late-night patrol, and being high on Louis, he hadn’t rested much recently. Harry hadn’t gotten a full night of sleep in ages ; it definitely wasn’t healthy, but it was worth it to protect Paris and hang out with Chat Noir.
“Mate, you have to go home and take a nap,” Liam was saying.
Harry yawned. “No, ‘m fine…”
Liam raised a critical eyebrow. “You’re still in your clothes from yesterday.”
Harry mustered a sleepy grin. “At least ‘m not in my sleeping clothes.”
Liam grimaced. “It’s probably best to keep that horror between us, for the sake of our classmates’ sanity.”
Harry laughed. “I’m sure they’d appreciate it.”
Liam laughed again, swinging an arm around his shoulders. “Maybe Petra would…”
Niall stepped in line with them. “What’s going on?”
Liam grinned at him over Harry. “Harry here is planning a pajama day.”
Niall grinned. “Nice! I’m in.”
Liam laughed for a moment before letting Niall in on the joke. “Harry sleeps naked.”
Niall started cackling so hard that he actually stopped walking.
Liam grinned happily, like a proud little puppy. Harry was endeared, though it was hard to feel much at all through his exhaustion.
“Whoa, mate, you alright?” Niall suddenly asked, looking at Harry worriedly.
“Yeah, ‘m good, just…” Harry yawned. “Tired.”
Liam put his arm around Harry’s waist in a quiet effort to prop him up.
Harry smiled at him and patted his chest. “Thanks.”
Niall grinned. It seemed to be his default emotion. “Hazza, mate, you need to sleep. Go home and take a nap.”
Harry shrugged, straightening up in Liam’s grip. “No, I’m fine,” he insisted.
Liam shook his head. “Stubborn motherfucker.”
Louis walked up to the group. “Somebody say my name?”
Niall laughed. “Nobody here cat -called you, Lou.”
Louis seemed surprised by the pun; Liam looked confused. Harry was too tired to really feel a reaction, so he just observed.
Niall grinned. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?”
Louis seemed thrown off.
“I don’t get it,” Liam muttered.
Harry shrugged.
“Niall?” Louis asked.
“Yeah, Lou?” Niall responded, chipper as ever. “What’s wrong? You feline alright?”
All the cat puns had begun to rest strangely with Harry.
“I’m… confused,” Louis finally settled on.
“That’s okay, Lou,” Niall continued calmly. “Nothing we need to call any purr- amedics for. That would have been cat astrophic.” Niall winked, grinning widely.
Now this was downright suspicious. Even Harry felt it through his sleepy haze.
“I’m gonna take Harry home,” Liam cut in. “He needs a nap.”
Harry laughed. “Yeah,” he agreed easily.
“ Cat ch you later!” Niall called as they walked away.
“What was that?” Liam asked as they meandered home.
Harry shrugged. “I don’t know, but it was really weirding meow -t.”
Liam groaned.
“Oh, shut it,” Harry said, laughing. “I don’t need your bad cat titude.”
“Not you, too!” Liam laughed.
“Puns are, like, 58% of my jokes, Lee-yum. You know that,” Harry said earnestly. “I have to defend my meow -n.”
Liam laughed. “Like crown? That one was weak. I’m literally about to drop you on the street.”
Harry laughed. “I think you mean litter- ally.”
Liam sighed dramatically. “I hate you.”
Harry grinned and kissed him on the cheek. “Love you, too, Li.”
Liam laughed, and the two walked in silence for a moment.
“That was weird, though, right?” Liam asked.
Harry nodded. “Seemed kinda out of nowhere.”
Liam nodded. “What could the context be for cat puns?”
Harry stopped walking. He suddenly felt more awake.
Harry only knew one person who would drop everything to make a terrible cat pun, and, conveniently, it was someone whose real name he didn’t know.
“What?” Liam asked. “H?”
Harry shook his head. “Just had a weird idea for a second there.”
Liam raised an eyebrow. “Every idea you have is weird.”
Harry smacked him. “Fuck off.”
Liam laughed, walking quickly to catch up with his newly mobile friend. “Wait, though, what was it?”
Harry shrugged. “Just, like…”
“What?”
“Well, honestly, I’m shocked you haven’t come up with it yet, running that superhero blog and all.”
“What are you getting at?”
Harry laughed. “I want to wait until it clicks for you.”
Liam smacked him in the shoulder. “Dick.”
Harry laughed.
“Wait, Harry,” Liam said suddenly. “Superhero blog? Are you saying what I think you are?”
“Depends,” Harry responded. “What do you think I am?”
Liam gave him a look. “You know what you were implying. You think Niall is Chat Noir!”
Harry looked back at him. “It’s crazy, right?”
Liam shrugged. “Is it?”
Harry glared at him. “I don’t want to talk to Superhero Conspiracy Theorist Supreme Liam right now, I was asking Engineer Major Liam Payne, who uses his common sense and logical reasoning when he speaks.”
Liam laughed. “There’s only one Liam. I don’t have any alter-egos. No secrets.”
Harry gave him a shit-eating look. “I have a secret.”
Liam shot him a flat look. “Fuck off .”
Harry giggled.
The two finally arrived at the door to their building and Liam let them in. They walked up the cold stone stairs, painted white with paint then grey with time and thousands of footprints (and not only on the floor, from the time Liam drunkenly dared Harry to walk on his hands down the stairs. Stupid, drunk Harry accepted. And he almost made it all the way). Harry’s exhaustion once again caught up with him. He nearly sat down on the steps as Liam unlocked the door, and was out of his clothes and in his bed before Liam could even thank him for at least leaving his underwear on.
~ ~ ~
Harry’s little stretch of roof was empty that night when Louis, as Chat Noir, leaped onto it. He slunk towards the window, silent and cat-like in the dark, barely visible in the dim light of the streetlamp behind him.
Louis peeked into the window frame. It was shut, and the only light filtered in from a different room, too far away to see into. He leaned closer and squinted again, trying in vain to find Harry.
All of the sudden, he overbalanced and fell with a crash through the window. Thankfully, it swung open without breaking, but the loud sounds had caught the attention of someone in the apartment. He heard startled talking through the door and growing closer.
Louis scrambled under the nearest bed just in time to miss the slice of light that expanded across the room as someone opened the door. Louis could only see the sock-clad feet. The dinosaur pattern reminded him of Niall, which quickly reminded his brain -- wait, now wasn’t the time. He had just accidentally broken into Harry’s flat.
The person at the door hummed in confusion after apparently doing a quick sweep of the room. He crossed and shut the window -- locking it this time -- and left, closing the door behind him and leaving Louis in darkness once again.
“There’s nobody there,” a muffled voice said behind the door.
“That’s weird,” a deeper, sleepier voice said. Clearly this one was Harry. Louis felt a warm smile spread across his face unwillingly. He tilted his head to hear more.
“Must’ve been the wind,” the first voice, Harry’s flatmate, responded.
“Or we’ve got strays,” Harry said. Louis couldn’t see him, but the picture of Harry’s amused grin and deep dimples filled his mind.
The other man laughed. “You’re welcome to check for a cat in there,” he said, “but I doubt you’ll find one. It must’ve been the wind.”
Louis climbed up on the bed and sat cross-legged, awaiting Harry’s entrance.
Harry cracked the door open and stepped in, face lighting up once he saw Chat Noir.
“I think I’m gonna go to sleep, actually, Liam,” he called over his shoulder.
“Goodnight,” his flatmate responded, the sound of the TV already turned back on.
Harry closed the door behind him as he quietly walked in and moved to stand in front of Louis. The faint light from the window painted him in blue and orange, like a work of art Louis would trade his whole lifestyle for.
“Silly kitten,” Harry said, smiling and shaking his head. “It’s rude to break into somebody’s home.”
Louis smiled up innocently at him. “How do you know this isn’t mine? Maybe you’re the cat burglar here.”
Harry giggled, swooping down to sit close to him. Louis ignored the way his heart skipped a beat.
“It’s not burglary unless you steal something,” Harry responded quietly, mouth distractingly close to Louis’ collarbone.
Louis looked down at him under his eyelashes. He felt Harry’s curls brush against his shoulder and arm; he shouldn’t have been able to through the suit, but undeniable goosebumps were rising in the spot.
“Maybe I’ll just have to find something to steal,” he said, looking away.
Underneath him, the mattress dipped and the covers moved as Harry shifted.
He gasped dramatically, but still quietly enough as to not arouse Liam’s suspicions.
“You wouldn’t,” Harry said, clutching his chest with a fake mortified face.
Louis laughed quietly, standing up. He turned to face Harry, looking down at the boy’s open face. He bent over. It was nice being bigger than Harry for once.
Louis smirked before twirling around and wandering around the room, leather tail swishing behind him as he searched for something to take.
He plucked a little plastic dinosaur from a shelf and turned around to face Harry’s bed -- only, Harry was no longer there. He was now standing close -- very close -- to Louis himself, who was forced to tilt his head up to see his face in full. Harry’s eyes were directed downwards, at the little toy in Louis’ hands.
“Good choice,” Harry said casually, as if he wasn’t crowding Louis’ space in the soft moonlight and making his stomach feel all sorts of bouncy. “That’s a sauropod. They were the biggest plant-eating dinosaurs on the planet.”
Louis swallowed back the weird feeling. “Why do you even know that,” he asked flatly, slightly wavering at the end when Harry’s eyes latched onto his with a swoop of his eyelashes.
Harry shrugged, backing off and looking away. “Why would I buy something without knowing what it was?”
Louis was quiet. Harry responded to the silence anyways.
“You can have it, if you like.”
“Harold!” Louis chastised, making Harry look back into his eyes. “Now I can’t steal this!”
Harry laughed into his hand. Louis turned around, placing it perfectly back onto its shelf. He wandered around again before picking up a rose placed delicately on the desk.
“What’s this?” he said, voice as prickly as its stem. He didn’t know where the heat was coming from.
“A rose,” Harry replied.
Louis looked down at it, twisting its stem in his hands. A boy as pretty as Harry probably gave it to him, somebody who loved him and who Harry deserved; Harry’s boyfriend had probably given it to him somewhere super romantic, like on a boat ride at night just before Harry swooped in and kissed him passionately-
“Where’d you get it?” he asked.
“Picked it in a park the other day,” Harry replied easily.
Louis relaxed slightly. It was weird to get jealous over this, wasn’t it? Why did he care so much?
“You can have it, I’m never gonna use it,” Harry responded.
“ Harold! ” Louis pouted, crossing his arms and stomping his foot. “If you keep offering your things to me, how am I supposed to steal anything?”
Harry laughed. “Oops,” he whispered. “Sorry, Chaton .”
Louis placed it delicately back where it was.
“Maybe I’ll actually use it like I’d planned to,” Harry said.
Louis looked back at him, heart beating louder than normal.
“What do you mean?”
Harry shrugged, looking down and picking at his pajama pants with his fingers.
Louis knew he was blushing despite the faint light.
“I was gonna give it to someone,” Harry said. Louis swallowed back a particularly painful bit of air.
“Oh, really?” he asked. It sounded much more casual than he felt.
Harry shrugged. “It’s nothing, really,” he said shyly. He paused, but Louis waited for him to finish. “There’s a boy,” he said slowly, the way he always talked.
Louis felt very rigid all of the sudden.
“He’s very cute and very nice and funny and just all-around the most captivating person I’ve seen in my life.” Harry sighed. “Not that he’ll ever know I think that.”
Louis turned around fully to face Harry. Clearly, the boy was upset, and Louis would do anything to bring light back to that face. In a friendly way, though. He wasn’t in love with Harry; that was for Ladybug. Right.
“Why not?” Louis asked softly.
“I can hardly string together a sentence around him,” Harry responded remorsefully. “It’s hard to even control my muscles when I see him.”
Louis frowned. “I’m sure you’ll tell him someday,” he said kindly. “And when you do, you know he’s gonna be all over you, like,” Louis swooned dramatically across Harry’s chest, batting his eyelashes and beginning to speak breathlessly, “oh, Harry , you’re so handsome and strong . We should get married and have twelve children!”
He ran his finger across Harry’s jawline and tugged lightly on his curls when he reached the end. Harry was laughing, now, but his arms had risen to loosely encircle Louis’ waist.
They both laughed until they ran out, and were still standing like that when their breath evened out.
Louis stood up and walked to his desk again. “Anyways, I need to steal something.”
Harry nodded solemnly.
“And you look like you need some sleep,” Louis added.
Harry pouted.
“Not that you don’t look beautiful, as always,” Louis quickly added without a hint of irony.
Harry smiled angelically.
“But I really must be off,” Louis said. “You know, things to do, supervillains to watch out for.” He swiped a strawberry chapstick off the desk. “But I’m taking this with me.”
He laughed as he ran for the window. “And there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” He called as he swung open the window and jumped up nimbly onto the ledge.
Harry laughed. “Good-bye, you cat burglar.”
Louis giggled, getting one last look before he leapt out into the night. “You’ll never cat ch me!”