How Chat Noir Got His Bell Back

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/29361462.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: F/M
Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug
Relationship: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Character: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Plagg
(Miraculous Ladybug)
Additional Tags: Romance, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension,
Pining, Denial of Feelings, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Sort Of,
Reverse Lovesquare, When duty and desire meet
Language: English
Series: Part 5 of When Duty and Desire Meet Series
Stats: Published: 2021-02-11 Words: 2292

How Chat Noir Got His Bell Back

by midnightstarlightwrites

Summary

When Chat Noir asked for an upgrade to his super suit, he didn't expect the results to reveal
some deeply buried feelings.

Things are starting to get complicated. How much longer can he deny his attraction to
Ladybug?

A reverse love square AU set in the When Duty and Desire Meet AU

Notes

Hey everyone hope you enjoy the fic! For timeline reference, this chapter is set in between
the Origins chapters of WWDM and the Dark Cupid chapter. Happy early Valentine's day!
<3

“Claws off!”

Adrien stood in front of his bathroom mirror, leaning over the counter. He placed one palm flat
against the glass and stared down into the sink, breathing hard. The plug hole was dark, deep as an
abyss, and Adrien imagined the now comforting thought of it opening up and swallowing him
whole.
“Plagg,” he croaked. “What. Did. You. DO?!”

“I did what you said,” Plagg shrugged, responding to his croak with a cackle. “I upgraded your
suit.”

Adrien launched himself off the mirror, spinning in a remarkably acrobatic way given his current
state of distress. It was rather like an ice dancer performing a routine with the added stress of a
flamethrower in their peripheral vision. “That is NOT what I meant and you know it!”

Plagg grinned, shaking his head and lounging backwards, as though he was lying on a tiny invisible
deck chair. “Well then you should have been more specific. You asked me to upgrade your suit the
same way Ladybug had hers upgraded. Her upgrades were aesthetic. So yours are aesthetic too.”

Dragging a hand down his face Adrien fought the urge to march into his fridge and dump all of
Plagg’s stinky cheese into the bin. “Ladybug is going to laugh so hard when she sees me. Change it
back!”

“No I don’t think I will,” Plagg replied. “Honestly, this is the thanks I get? It takes a lot of work
and energy to change the appearance of your suit, you know. I’m never appreciated in my time.
And like I said, you weren’t specific so I had to use energy in connecting to you on a miraculous
level.”

Adrien frowned. “What do you mean?”

Plagg floated out of the en-suite, back into Adrien’s bedroom towards the mini fridge, where his
smaller stash of cheese was kept. Adrien followed, crossing his arms over his chest and checking
the time. He was due to go on patrol any moment but couldn’t stand the idea of going looking so
patently uncool.

Around a mouth full of brie, Plagg explained. “You think the suit has stayed the same since the
dawn of Miraculous, kid? Nope! Sometimes we kwami go for decades without being activated, so
we have no idea about anything that’s happened in the meantime. Technology, mindsets, even the
rise and fall of empires, none of it. So we connect to our wielders on a subconscious level to
quickly catch us up to what the world is like. And we adapt the suits to reflect your own
subconscious and find the ideal hero look for the era. Or do you think the Ancient Greeks fought
wearing spandex suits? You know there were no smartphones the last time I had a Chat Noir? And
people said stuff like ‘let’s surf the web, cowabunga!’”

There was a pause as Adrien allowed himself to let that knowledge sink in. It made a lot of sense.
There was no way a Chat Noir from Ancient Greece would look like him. But then…

“But why would my subconscious make me want to have...well...THAT?!”

“Hey it’s your subconscious, I’m just taking it for a walk!”

Groaning, Adrien checked the time again. He was going to be late if he didn’t get a move on
quickly. He slunk over to Plagg in the most un-model-like way possible, too glum to maintain a
perfect posture. “You really won’t change it?”

“You need to trust your subconscious more, kiddo,” Plagg replied, sighing in content as he finished
his last mouthful of cheese. Now that Adrien was closer, and less hysterical, he could spot the
telltale slump that showed Plagg was tired. He wasn’t lying, he had used a lot of energy to change
the suit. “You must have chosen that for a reason. I don’t know what for, but it’ll be hilarious
finding out.”
Next to Plagg, Adrien’s phone lit up, the telltale alarm letting him know he needed to leave for
patrol this instant or be late. Reaching down and shutting the alarm off, Adrien felt a growing sense
of despair. When he’d seen how amazing Ladybug’s new suit looked, how cool and confident she
appeared in it, the way her hips…

Well, anyway, all he’d wanted to do was have a suit upgrade too. He’d wanted something cool,
something flashy but not too much. At most, he was thinking of a hood, maybe a few green
highlights here and there.

But no. Instead, his subconscious mind was a bully.

“You’re not going to skip out on Ladybug, are you?” Plagg clicked his tongue, startling Adrien out
of his thoughts.

“What? No of course not!” he cried, outraged by the idea. No matter how stupid he looked, he’d
never in a billion years think of ditching her.

Without another word, Adrien transformed. Chat Noir stood at the windows of the manor,
watching his reflection with a sigh. The new weight around his neck might as well have been an
anchor.

This was going to be fun.

The night air was humid, as if a storm was coming though there weren’t any dark clouds on the
horizon. As Chat grew closer to the roof of the Conciergerie, their current meeting spot for patrols,
his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he could spot Ladybug sat with her legs dangled over the
edge, on the north side.

He hopped over, scaling the walls and coming to a stop close by to her. Staying in the shadow of
one of the building's many turrets, he waved. “Good evening Ladybug!”

Ladybug got to her feet, her head swivelling in the direction of his voice. “Ah! There’s my Kitty-
Cat! Right on time, maybe even a little late?” her voice dipped, teasing him and Chat felt a
traitorous heat spread through his chest. He loved it when she teased him.

“I would never keep a lady waiting!” he laughed nervously, keenly aware of the weight around his
neck and trying to angle himself so that his neck didn’t catch any of the city lights.

From the short distance away, and with his dark vision, Chat could see Ladybug frowning. Of
course she could sense something was off. He couldn’t hide it forever, but he could stall a little
longer. She wasn’t suspicious enough yet.

She must have decided to let it slide for the time being, mercifully, as she hummed and began
talking business. “No akuma sightings so far. It’s been a few days since the latest attack, so we’re
due for one. Best keep eyes and ears out tonight right?” Ladybug approached him and he took a
step back instinctively.

“Right!” Chat nodded, trying to ignore the way Ladybug froze at his gesture. “Akuma attack likely,
gotcha!”
“Chat,” Ladybug cut through his rambling and oh no it was her tone. With one step backwards
he’d tipped her over into suspiciousness. Now she was using her concerned, investigative voice on
him. “Is something the matter? Why are you in the shadows?” she giggled. “Are you going through
another brooding superhero phase?”

She took another step forward. Chat took another step backwards. “What? No,” Chat chuckled,
elongating his syllables and cringing at how fake he sounded. “Being a brooding superhero is
much less fun right! ‘Lot of sticking to shadows and stuff.”

“Chat that’s what you’re doing right now,” Ladybug pointed out in that patient way that always
made him feel so safe, like his feelings and wants and opinions did matter, like he didn’t have to
hide. She approached him again and he drew back again. “You know you can tell me anything,
right? If something is bothering you. We’re a team.”

As much as those kernels of truth usually gave him joy, that night they only served to further his
embarrassment. Deep down, he knew he was being ridiculous. The whole situation was ridiculous
in fact. But there was something keeping him going, keeping him from desperately fighting her
from seeing his new look. Was it pride? Or something else? Even he couldn’t determine it. He kept
walking backwards until-

“Chat the ledge!” Ladybug called in half-exasperated, half-concerned warning but it was too late.
Losing his balance, Chat slipped backwards off the ledge.

He was about to grab his staff and right himself when he felt Ladybug’s hand grab him instead.
Partly over the ledge, he was finally exposed to the city lights. For a second, they both froze, chest-
to-chest, Ladybug’s eyes wide and sparkling and Chat couldn’t look away no matter how hard he
tried.

Why was it so hard to look away from those eyes? He’d always known she had pretty eyes. It was
one of the first things he noticed about her. But now..

Ladybug’s hand shifted at his collar, snapping him out of his reverie. He fought not to panic. A
slight tinkling noise filled the air and Ladybug blinked in confusion. That was it. That was the
moment Chat Noir felt the inevitable revelation upon him. For the one place, the one place,
Ladybug had decided to grab him, was the place he’d tried to hide all along.

His collar.

“What’s this?” Ladybug asked, pulling him back up to standing.

Play dumb, play dumb, play dumb , a voice in his head sounded.

“What’s what?” he asked, his nonchalance coming across more anxious than anything. Either way,
judging by the look on Ladybug’s face, she wasn’t buying it. She opened her hand.

And gasped liked he’d never heard her gasp before.

“Chat,” she repeated, “What. IS. THAT?”

Chat Noir stared at his feet. Sure he’d been expecting her to be surprised, but mainly he expected
her to laugh and tease him and think of him… actually he wasn’t sure what she was going to think
of him. Logically, he knew Ladybug wouldn’t judge him. But even so, he hadn’t expected her to
sound quite so shocked.

“A bell,” he finally admitted, scuffing the floor with his big toe. “I got a costume upgrade too.”
The squeal that pierced the air was enough to rattle the windows of the palace below them.
Immediately, Ladybug was closer to him.

“Oh my god it’s so cute!” she rambled, absolutely flushed with glee. “Chat I love it! What a good
upgrade! And such a great idea too! It makes you look so much more friendly and approachable,
and it’ll be so good for the kid akumas! They can ring it to cheer them up if they’re upset but it
won’t hurt if they play with it like it does your kitty ears. Oh and it just looks so cute too! Can I
ring it?”

Chat, who was flabbergasted by this rush of enthusiasm but by no means pleased by it, only took a
few seconds to recover. A happy warmth spread through his insides at the fact that Ladybug not
only accepted his new upgrade, she applauded it. It pleased her. He’d made her proud and that was
more than he could have ever hoped for.

“You can ring my bell anytime,” he winked.

It was meant to be a light tease, a silly joke, similar to one of his regular puns. The very second the
words slipped from his mouth, however, he regretted them. Why on earth did he choose to say
something so suggestive?

Ladybug herself flushed as red as her suit. “Oh, well- I,” she spluttered, growing suddenly shy, the
way she sometimes did. Though Chat had noticed she did it less the more time they spent together
over the years. “I guess I totally could bell your ring, I mean, ring the bell. The bell around your
neck. Yeah.”

Now it was her turn to look embarrassed, and she was moving away. He couldn’t have that.
Rebuking himself internally, he reached forward and took her hand, pulling her back towards him.
He did so gently, and was relieved to find her calming down, accepting his touch.

“Sorry,” he whispered, unable to say what he was apologising for exactly, but knowing he
definitely felt it regardless.

The redness in Ladybug’s cheeks dimmed to a light dusting. With her free hand, she reached up to
tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. His eyes followed her fingers, fixed on her dark, soft hair,
and suddenly Chat felt a tugging in his heart. Some sort of yearning he was unable, or more so
unwilling, to put a name to.

He led her fingers up to the bell and released them.

Ladybug poked the bell. It rang slightly, a gentle tinkling sound. She grinned, the awkwardness
melting away. She poked it again, harder, and the noise grew louder. The third time, she flicked it
and the noise rang out loud and clear. She giggled, delight pouring from every fibre of her being.

“So you like it?” Chat asked, just to be sure.

“I love y-it,” Ladybug stammered, flicking the bell even louder. The sincerity rang from her voice,
louder than any bell could be, and that was his version of salvation. “It’s perfect. And you know
it’s sort-of cute too? Like a stray cat who gets a collar when it’s adopted. It’s like you’re fully
declaring Paris is Chat Noir’s home, that you’ll protect it forever.”

He tried not to think back to what Plagg had said about his subconscious, about how he was the
one that chose the bell. Though he got the sneaking suspicion that Ladybug was half-right.

But the bell didn’t show that Chat Noir belonged to Paris.
No. As Ladybug grew closer than she’d ever be around him normally, relaxing and laughing and
playing with the new bell, he definitely felt that it wasn’t for Paris that his subconscious chose the
bell.

He tried not to think about what that could mean.

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!