Amira Wayne

Chapter 8: Driving and Partner

"Can you explain to me what happened to cause Theo Barbot to become akumatized?" Ladybird asked him, Chat averting his gaze from her.

He rocked himself using his feet, watching them with interest.

"I may have told him that," he watched as she tapped her foot. "That we were a thing."

"You what?!" Chat flinched, feeling his makeshift ears turn downwards. "What possessed you to say-"

"Because he has a crush in you!" Chat blurted, watching her glare at him. "I thought-"

"Well you thought wrong! Because of your lie, you gave Hawkmoth a chance to manipulate someone!"

"I didn't think-"

"Like if you ever do."

"Excuse-"

"First off, I told you to not go to the statue ceremony, but what did you do? You went ahead and did so anyways. You wanted to bask in the limelight-"

"I was just accepting-"

"-their gift and beliefs that we are superheroes."

"Well aren't we?"

"We're not! We're vigilantes Chat." Ladybird screamed. "We aren't under an organization nor do we have enough members to be considered a team. We're not even partnered up with the government! But if we did, that doesn't matter! We are here to serve the people, not ourselves." Ladybird sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Chat casted his eyes to the city below, watching as the sun began to set.

"Listen. I didn't mean to cause all this. I'm new to all this...this hero stuff. You, on the other hand, you seem to know what you're doing. You're taking this all seriously-"

"As you should be as well."

"But I'm new to this!" Chat cried. "This freedom...this responsibility. Did you know that when we took down Remediator, it was my first time being on the Eiffel Tower? I've lived here all my life and yet...I'm just now started to explore my city.

Up until now, I've always been stuck inside the walls of my own home...everything done for me...it's suffocating..." Chat trailed, leaning into the railing.

He watched Ladybird stand on top of the railing, taken aback when she did a cartwheel in place and finally sat.

Show off.

"To think we're not that different." Chat watched as Ladybird looked at him, her blue eyes staring back at him. "For starters, my lifestyle isn't that different from yours, although it seems my grand-tutor made sure to teach me some basic etiquette."

Chat let out a huff. "I am grateful and honored to have been given the Ladybug. The miraculous also gave me freedom, but if it weren't for already knowing what I do, I would've given it back in a heartbeat." Ladybird confessed.

"Given it back?!" Chat found himself screaming, not believing that Ladybird would do such a thing. "Why would you give up your-"

"If I'm not fit for the job, I'm not going to waste everyone's time trying to get better along the way. I'm not going to risk people's lives for the price of getting experience. We're lucky that the Ladybug returns everything to the state a thing or person was before an akuma attack. If it weren't for that..."

Chat didn't need her to finish the sentence, following her trail of sight.

The sky had turned dark, a few clouds lingering alongside the few stars that dared to twinkle that chilly evening.