My first Miraculous fanfiction. I just wanted them to be together, but without the worries of the timer. They really don't need Lucky Charm and Cataclysm to defeat the akuma since all they have to do is break the container.

Disclaimer: I don't own Miraculous. All praises for the concept and characters goes to Hawkfather.

Chapter 1: An Unfortunate Encounter

Ladybug jumped over the roofs of Paris as fast as she could.

She had just come home from a false alarm about an akuma and thought she could have a quiet afternoon when Chat Noir called her.

A quick short message.

"Please. Come quick."

As soon as he said that, the connection died.

No greeting, no flirting, no nothing.

Nothing like the Chat Noir she knew.

For a second she thought it was another Copycat, but something about Chat Noir's image that she caught before he hung up made her change her mind about that conclusion.

He looked absolutely drained.

And that was such a difference from the usual Chat Noir that she knew that something was very wrong.

So she made off for his location, after looking it up on her compact and while she ran she reviewed the message in her head.

'Come quick.' He said.

Simple enough, right?

But he said please.

Before he asked her to come, he said please.

Yes, Chat Noir was polite enough, gentleman cat that he was.

But the two of them usually didn't bother with such pleasantries.

Granted they usually didn't have the time as they were in the middle of battle most of the time, but still.

What would possess him to plead with her to come?

That worried her greatly.

She found him on the Notre Dame, behind the great towers.

She almost missed him because he was curled up into a little ball in the shadow of a smaller tower.

A small black kitty ball.

Silently she landed a few feet away from him.

"Chat, what is it, what happened?"

A shudder went through him, visible to her.

Something was very wrong.

"Chat?"

She could see him taking a breath and hear him releasing it before he unfurled a hand from his ball.

She gasped.

Chat's whole costume was black leather, always had been.

His glove, clenched into a fist, was now white.

"Please. Get rid of it." Chat's quiet voice almost didn't reach her.

He slowly unfurled his fist and from it flew a black butterfly.

An Akuma.

"You nasty bug!" The words left her mouth in a venomous snarl.

Foregoing any other words she quickly captured and released it.

Not giving the now white butterfly another glance she ran to Chat's side.

"Chat?! Are you alright?" she asked him as she sat herself next to him, hand on his back.

She felt him draw a shuddering breath when his glove regained its normal black colour.

Then another and another.

For several minutes they just sat there: Ladybug patting his back and Chat Noir breathing, trying to control his breathing to something normal.

Finally he spoke.

"That, that wasn't fun."

"I certainly don't think it was."

There was an undercurrent of anger in her voice, so vicious it made Chat shrink into a slightly smaller ball.

She immediately started rubbing soothing circles on his back, trying to convince him through touch that she wasn't angry with him.

Her anger was directed at the akuma.

Thankfully he seemed to understand as she felt the muscles in his back relax a bit.

"What happened?" she asked, gentler this time.

After a minute he lifted his head.

His mask was glossier beneath his eyes and she was sure that if he took it off, she would see that his eyes were red rimmed.

"Akuma." He said simply, throwing in a shrug.

"I gathered as much." She answered, implying that she wanted to hear more with her tone.

After another minute Chat didn't disappoint.

"I guess I was feeling sad and frustrated. I… I had a bad day."

He hesitated before deciding to plunge ahead.

"My dad cancelled an appointment he had with me today. It was pretty important to me. We had a fight. The akuma came when I was alone in my room."

She could feel the confession took a lot out of him but she wasn't surprised.

That was the most he had shared about his personal life with her.

"How did, you, what?" she stumbled over her words, trying to articulate her thoughts. Which was frustrating enough when it happened when she was just Marinette. She didn't need this when she was Ladybug!

Thankfully Chat Noir seemed to understand her and ignored her little stumble. Hopefully he didn't even notice it, she thought, but while it was good for her, it spoke a lot about his state of mind.

"Plagg stopped it. He just snatched the thing out of the air. I didn't even notice it until he started yelling at me to get a grip." His nervous laugh broke off before it could take off properly.

Plagg, his kwami, perhaps?

She let the thought fall from her mind immediately. In normal circumstances he wouldn't have revealed his kwami's name, so she wouldn't even let herself remember it.

"I transformed then and got away from home. When I got here, my glove was white. Don't know why. It tried to possess me, but it didn't work? I called you. You came."

"Of course I came. I was worried."

He turned his head to her and a hint of a smile came on his face.

"Thanks."

He uncoiled from his little ball pose a bit, releasing a leg to hang over the railing. But he was still far too silent and still to her liking.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him after another minute of silence.

"Sad, I guess. Whatever catharsis the other… victims receive after being healed, I didn't get. Scared, a bit?" His voice was positively tiny.

"That, that was really scary, Ladybug. If I was alone, if I wasn't Chat Noir, I would've…" He shuddered again.

Yeah." She could imagine why it scared him. He would've been a pawn of Hawk Moth's. But…

"But I would've stopped you and healed you."

"Yeah." The word was a sigh.

"You look like you could use a hug."

"Can I get one?" he asked, the words wistful with just a hint of his usual flirting tone. It didn't annoy her today as much as it did on any other day

"Come here, you silly cat."

He curled into her arms and nearly crushed her in his. That was fine for her, she could take it; the hug was for him, he had had the most lousiest day

She didn't let him go until the shudders left him.

Extra Disclaimer: Inspiration taken from Chat Blanc, the concept of which I don't own.