boom chicka boom boom
---
All Noir could see was brilliant, inviting pink.
She barely had a second to scramble backwards and squeeze her eyes shut before the glow of a lost transformation disappeared.
Noir was breathing heavily, heart racing at the thought of her partner in civilian form. Every hair on her body was standing up and desperately telling at her to look, look, look.
But she couldn't look. She couldn't. She wouldn't. It was an invasion of privacy, a betrayal of the highest caliber.
But the pink was so tempting, so sweet...
And the little voice in her head was screaming for her to look.
The voice sounded suspiciously like Plagg.
Look, kid! I'm so bored and I really want you to spill the tea!
The tea? Noir tried not to laugh, this was a serious moment.
I've been watching a lot of RuPaul lately. Plagg admitted
How would you even do that?
We all have our secrets. Noir could almost hear Plagg's smirk.
Is that why my Netflix account is full of recommendations to watch a bunch of lgbtq movies?
No?
"Ladybug?" Noir whispered. "Are you okay?"
Tell her she's spicy.
Noir was so close to smacking herself upside the head.
A few sniffles and squeaky murmurs from what Noir assumed was Ladybug's Kwami, came from a few feet away.
Open your eyes you boring little rat.
"I am not a rat!"
Noir grimaced. Why did she say that out loud? Ladybug was having a panic attack and Noir was arguing with a tiny cat in her head.
"Rat?" Ladybug whispered, her voice was barely a whisper.
If you're a rat then she's a little mouse. Maybe she has some cheese for me. She sounded hoarse but the lack of sobbing and hiccuping was a good sign.
"Plagg! It was Plagg!" Noir tried to laugh it off it off but I came out as more of a choking noise.
Ladybug let out a small laugh.
After a few moments of silence, Noir couldn't take it anymore. "Is--is there anything I can do?"
It took a few minutes for Ladybug to respond.
Each second was agonizing, Noir couldn't stop focusing the little ticks from the clock as each and every second stabbed her cat ears. Those minutes were the worst of Noir's life.
"Claws." Ladybug whispered, her voice was so quiet that without her enhanced hearing, Noir would have missed it. "It's the claws."
The hero took a deep breath, allowing the words to wash over her like cold water. It wasn't her that was the problem, it was the claws that must have reminded her of Chat Noir.
She could fix that.
"Claws in." Noir whispered, really hoping Ladybug still had her eyes closed.
Her eyes better be open.
Shut up.
"Do you..." Chloé paused, feeling vulnerable without her suit. "Do you want a hug?"
Why did silence have to stretch so long? Ladybug wasn't responding and Chloé wanted to eat her words.
Of course she wouldn't want a hug! Ladybug hated her, she was her worst nightmare!
A wrecked sound and a hiccup had Chloé squeezing her eyes shut tighter and opening her arms wide, allowing her partner to crash into her arms. The force nearly knocked the two over, but Chloé managed to find her balance at the last minute and hold on tight to the sobbing hero.
The two girls sat like that for a while, eyes closed and gripping each other like the world would end if either let go.
Neither moved, neither opened their eyes.
Wrapped around one another, the heroes let themselves fall into a heavy silence.
---
"Death to the Bug! Death to the bug!"
A crowd--a mob--screamed and hollered at the heroes standing on the steps of the mayor's office.
What the hell was going on?
You've got a hate group! You're famous!
Shut up, Plagg.
Oh wait, Ladybug's famous! You're just her unknown sidekick!
"Death to the cat! Death to the cat!"
Jokes on you shithead, they want me dead too.
Noir shook her head: why was she bragging about that?
Beside her stood Ladybug. After their...Noir didn't know what to call it--they had contacted Aurore's family about what had happened to their daughter.
Judging by the two women leading the protest against Paris' heroes, they had not taken it well.
Ladybug was staring stone faced at the crowd, hands clenched at her waist. Noir's da--Mayor Bourgeois, stood beside the heroes, fiddling with his hands.
Noir wanted to hug him. She wanted to slap him. She wanted to get as far away from him as possible.
Instead, she stood frozen as her partner's side. This was where Ladybug needed her, not on the nearest plane to Hawaii.
"Citizens!" Mayor Bourgeois yelled over the crowd. He managed to make a scream sound timid.
"Today we gather around our heroes in togetherness to, uh..."
The Mayor trailed off, dropping his hands and looking around uncomfortably at the expectant crowd.
Ladybug stepped forward, looking over the crowd like they were her world.
"We're here today to address what happened this morning." Ladybug's voice carried smoothly over the crowd. "Earlier today we lost someone precious to many of us."
Ladybug to a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment.
"Aurore Beauréal was barely seventeen years old when her life was taken from her during an akumatization. And try as I might, my powers couldn't bring her back."
Outraged murmurs rippled through the crowd, many of the were crying.
"We don't know why it was different for Aurore, but trust Noir and I to get to the bottom of this and bring back Aurore."
"That's it?" Someone screwed, shoving their way through the crowd. "You're Ladybug! Fix this!"
Ladybug opened her mouth, looking hopelessly at the people she swore to protect.
Noir couldn't watch her flounder anymore. She stepped forward, brushing her shoulder against Ladybug's. "As Ladybug has already said, we don't know why this happened, but we won't stop until we can figure it out."
The crowd was pushing each other, screaming and crying. They were pushing forward, trying to get close the the heroes in a desperate attempt to find peace.
"Does this mean we could all die if we get akumatized?" Someone called out.
"No!" Ladybug stepped forward again, waving her hands frantically. "We don't know what is going on! But we won't rest until Hawkmoth is defeated and we can fix things!"
"That's bullshit!" Aurore's mother screamed, she was a middle aged woman with graying blond hair and deep blue eyebags.
Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Plagg cackled in her mind.
Noir ignored him, focusing on the faces in the crowd, trying to find someine--anyone--that didn't look like they wanted the heroes dead.
"You're killing out children!" Someone from the middle of the crowd howled.
Ladybug flinched backwards and Noir stepped forward to try and shield her.
Mayor Bourgeois tapped the heroes, gesturing for them to end this now.
They needed to get out of there before it got violent. Ladybug looked reluctant, almost scared, to leave. Noir couldn't wait to get out of there, she didn't think she could be near so many people who wanted her dead without throwing up.
"Fuck you!" Aurores other mom yelled as they walked up the steps and to the doors, Noir looked back once to see her throw what looked like a shoe at the heroes.
The Mayor shuffled them through the doors and back into the building before the shoe neared them.
They may have been shielded by the door, but the dull thud of the shoe hitting the closed doors felt like a death sentence.
--
haha you guys though this would be a reveal