@(Un)LuckyLady 🐞 [2]

First Impressions

Dear Buginettes,

I was always taught that your first impression can last a lifetime. Not just regarding how you look or what you say but about your body language and actions.

Ladybug would make a great first impression; she does make a great first impression. She is strong and powerful; she knows what to say and when to say it, always having the right words for any situation; my civilian identity, however, does the opposite.

Now, I hate labels. They conform us in a way that limits our own quirks and personalities, making us the same as others, but we're not, we're each unique and we are special, but that first impression can be knocked by the actions of others. But sometimes a group's actions can add a label to themselves; just as we can from the wrong words and actions.

On the first day of my search, a group of girls made me feel the smallest I ever have in my life. They looked, stared, glared, and although my confidence as a civilian is nowhere near that of my super form (after all I know what I'm doing there) in that moment, I made myself a promise, and that promise was to make myself known. To stand tall and proud.

So fellow 'unlucky in love' bugs here's my next tip: Hit them with an impact they won't soon forget.

Bug out 🐞

@(Un)LuckyLady🐞

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Posted 43 seconds ago

••••••••

"It can't have been that bad, Marinette."

"I punched the guy in the face."

"You were boxing."

"Correction, I was putting on my gloves." Marinette grabbed a pillow from under her head and covered her face with it letting out a loud, harrowing scream.

Alya attempted not to laugh as she sat beside her friend on the edge of her bed, her hand covering her mouth to muffle the sound. "And what did he say again?"

A mumbling was heard behind the pillow before a whimper and another scream.

"Marinette, come on girl, I can't hear you." Stretching over, Alya pulled the pillow away from her face, only for Marinette to battle against it.

"Just let me die in peace."

"Ladybug is not dying of self suffocation," Alya sighed exasperatedly.

"You do it then. Just put me out of this misery. I told you this was a bad idea! Marinette Dupain-Cheng should not be allowed to date." They wrestled with the pillow, Marinette coming off the winner and placing it securely back over her face.

Alya chuckled. "Was he really that hot? I'm sure you can still have him on your list; after all you'll have made quite an impression on him."

The mumbled words that came out of Marinette's mouth made no sense at all. Alya leaned down towards her, listening intently to what Marinette was saying; trying to decipher the muffled words as she continued to speak. Even up close, though, she didn't understand a single mumbled word coming from her best friend's mouth.

"Who's under arrest?"

Marinette took the cushion off her face and slammed it down beside her, sitting up bolt right and, accidentally, pushing Alya off the bed.

"I right hooked Adrien Agreste in the face!"

It took a few seconds...maybe a minute...for Alya to truly understand the conversation. She blinked, Marinette blinked, she blinked again, then the laughter built; and what had started as a small bubbling in her stomach increased to a full throttle uncontrollable belly laugh.

"Girl, you better go and make me some popcorn because this is better than a movie!" She laughed again. "What did Buttercup say?"

"He wanted to know if my hand was okay or if he should get someone from first aid. Why is it always him I make a fool of myself in front of?"

Alya slowly stood from the ground and pulled herself back to sit beside Marinette. "What does he look like these days? I mean it's been at least four months since I've seen him at Nino's. Poor guy can't catch a break at the moment."

Groaning again, Marinette dug the heels of her palms into her eye sockets and rubbed fiercely; the black floating dots warning her not to do it again. "Fit, Alya, and in more than just muscle mass. Honestly, he must spend all his spare time in the gym."

"I hear his therapist said it would be a good stress relief for him. Nino said the guy's even more chill than usual."

Marinette sighed, her eyes going dreamy as she remembered the previous night and the effect of seeing Adrien Agreste's butt cheeks.

"He's still a dream." Her voice was laced with longing and desire, and she couldn't help but kick herself for allowing him to affect her once more.

"So, yay or nay to your possibility list?" The reporter asked, as she moved from her spot and made her way over to the desk where Marinette's notepad was lying. The small booklet which contained all their notes and details about the blog - and, hopefully, Marinette's achievements - and brought it back to the bed. So far, Marinette had zero numbers, names and zero - unless...

"Do you really need to ask?"

Alya giggled whole heartedly and began to jot down Adrien's name, dotting the 'i' with a little heart. Marinette looked over her roommate's shoulder. She groaned once more and dropped her head down onto her friend's shoulder.

"Really?" she mumbled from her position.

"I just can't believe out of all the gyms in the city you walk into his. It's almost like you planned it that way."

"I swear, I didn't know. Honestly, it's just once again, my super magnetic force brought me straight back to Adrien. I swear he wears a hidden Marinette magnet or something?"

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the chiming of Marinette's cell phone; both girls glaring at the object like it was going to explode. Alya stood again and made her way over to Marinette's phone, taking it from where it was charging on Marinette's desk and letting out the greatest witch cackle Marinette had ever heard. Winifred Sanderson, watch out!

"No!" Marinette exclaimed, shaking her head. "No, no, no!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Buttercup has once again resurfaced, thanks to the mighty pull of Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Alya stretched the phone in the air, holding it like a crazy scientist's experiment.

Marinette stood from her bed before marching over and snatching the phone, rather ungracefully, out of her friend's grasp. "Give me that."

Looking down at the screen, low and behold, there was Adrien's name front and centre.

"Oh no, what do you think he wants?" Marinette worried. She clutched her phone into her chest, a means to ignore the sender of the message.

"Here's an idea... read it."

"What if he's messaging to tell me Gabriel's on the way? That I've damaged his face for the rest of his life, and now I'm being sued for his loss of earnings." Marinette took about two breaths as she spoke, rambling out all her fears as she spoke to Alya.

Alya moved forward, grabbing Marinette by the shoulders and giving her a shake.

"Get... a... grip! No one is suing you. Adrien doesn't even model anymore, remember? He's probably just messaging to check on your hand. The decent thing you could do is message him back to check on his face."

Marinette sighed, pulling the phone from her chest, her eyes burning into the screen as she studied Adrien's name. It had been months since he had messaged her, and after last night she was worried he'd never speak to her again.

She swiped up, closed her eyes abruptly, and slammed the phone into Alya's hand. "You do it!"

Rolling her eyes, Alya took the phone from Marinette's hand, the latter peeping through her fingers to look at her friend's facial expressions. As Alya's eyes widened, Marinette dropped her hands and stared at her friend, willing her to hurry up and put her out of her misery - hands clutched at her chest and covering her heart.

"Oh, Marinette," Alya said, locking Marinette's phone and shaking her head.

"W-w-what's happened?" Her fingers began to fidget as her heart rate increased. She was sooo going to jail for bodily harm.

"I'll need to call Nino," her friend said, avoiding Marinette's question as she handed the phone back and took her own from her pocket. Her face was forlorn; the 'head shake' only added to its ambience. "He's going to be gutted."

"Oh my goodness! I've killed Adrien Agreste." Marinette squeaked, rushing to unlock her phone and find the message.

Her thumbs fumbled to open the correct app, taking her six attempts to select the correct one. She read the message, her heart rate calming down as she considered ways to throw Alya out the window.

"You're a bitch; you know that?" Marinette said, looking from her phone to her friend who stood proudly in front of her.

"So, Ladybug, can we rank him as number one?"

Marinette sighed.

Name a time when he wasn't.

••••••••

Ladybug landed on the rooftop where she'd arranged to meet Chat Noir just after lunchtime. They'd scheduled a two hour patrol, which usually meant between three and four-not that they minded, of course.

However, today had to finish on time because she was meeting Adrien Agreste (yeah boy!) at the gym for him to help her with her cardio workouts. Marinette had her own ideas for that specific type of workout, but her ideas were only compliant if she was dating the guy first.

She paused on a rooftop opposite where her partner stood and noticed something rather obscure. Her usual rambunctious companion, who wasn't phased by anything and oozed self confidence, looked mithered. She stood watching him for a while, his strut taking him from one end of the rooftop to the other, one hand fisted under his chin as he muttered to himself.

He looked crazy, discombobulated, and just stressed; in all, it was quite a worrying sight to behold. Continuing her way over to the meeting point, she landed in front of him only to startle him out of his thoughts and send him stumbling backwards - right off the rooftop.

Flinging out her yo-yo as fast as possible, she managed to catch him by the ankle and pull him back slowly and securely across the rooftop. The fake smile on his face met her eye as he drew level.

"LB! Hey," he greeted, his usual salute following.

She studied him as he straightened himself up and brushed the nonexistent dirt from his suit. She was curious as to what had unnerved her partner, a slight tightening in her chest from the thought that maybe he was about to ask her out again.

"You okay, Kitty? I couldn't help but notice you seem a little out of sorts?"

"Yes," he said quickly, a little too quickly if you asked her. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow in question.

"No?" He questioned in response to her look, only for her to tilt her head a little to the side. "Maybe?" He shrugged, before sighing. "I don't know."

He began to rub his eyebrows, head shaking from side to side as he considered what to say next, only to give up and collapse down on the rooftop instead. She watched him curiously. Over all their years of partnership, she'd never seen him so unbalanced. His legs were crossed, his knees bouncing, and the incoherent muttering started again.

Sitting beside him, crossing her own legs, she took one of his hands and held it between both of hers. "You know you can talk to me, right? That I'm here for you."

He shifted in his seat. "I feel kind of awkward talking about this specific thing with you."

She winced and dropped his hand. The deepness of their bond suddenly being put into question. He quickly twisted around in his seat, taking her hand in between his. "No, I didn't mean it like that, merde. I don't think I said what I meant correctly. Let me try again."

He let go of one hand, fisting it and taking it to his mouth letting out a little cough. "There's this..." he took another deep breath preparing to speak. "There's this..."

He trailed off on the last word, her head moving in closer to try and hear what he was saying. "Sorry, I didn't catch that."

"A ..."

This time he turned his head away, his voice sounding out somewhere over the rooftop and once again evading her ears. "Come on, Kitty. You can tell me."

He looked at her, looked out of Paris, back at her, and suddenly she was beginning to get worried. He wasn't going to leave her, was he?

"There's this...girl."

Oh.

Oh.

OH!

"What?" The shock radiating from that one word was probably not her best idea. It had come out loud from the revelation and slightly unbalanced, causing her partner to recoil back in shock.

Chat Noir looked as though she'd struck him-hard.

"I didn't mean that the way it came out. It was meant to be more like a 'what? That's great! Why didn't you say something sooner?'" Her fake smile did nothing to make her words seem believable; if anything she seemed even more fake than she was before.

How had she actually meant the word? A nagging feeling hung around in the pit of her stomach as she tried to gather her thoughts together.

So, Chat Noir had a girl? She couldn't help wondering how long this had been going on and how much she had missed. Hadn't he wanted to kiss her mere days ago?

"Just ask the questions, LB; you deserve to know the truth."

Ask the question? Would it be possible to ask a question about what the question was? Or would that just open the door to more possible questions about questions?

"Questions?"

"Yeah," he said, deflated. His shoulders drooped a good couple of inches as his body exhaled out, what seemed to be, his entire respiratory system. Ladybug was slightly worried he was about to pass out. "A couple of days ago, I'm all over you asking for a kiss, and now suddenly, 'I have a girl.'" He used his index fingers in air quotes, framing the words her heart was playing ping pong with.

"Well, I'm not going to lie. It is a little bit of a shock."

"And... how does it make you feel?" He bent his head down, looking at his hands now firmly joined in his lap.

"If I'm not going to lie?" And, of course, she wouldn't, apart from the obvious (secret identities) they'd agreed to be truthful, even when it came to things like this.

Was it awkward? Sometimes.

Had it helped their partnership? So, so much.

"I actually don't know how it makes me feel?" she continued. She never saw the day coming when Chat Noir wouldn't love her. It just seemed like a natural and organic part of her life: like her parents' love for her or her love for Adrien.

Chat declares his love... she denies... they carry on their day. She had never thought this routine would change.

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "To be honest, it's always been the two of you. She's a really special girl." He let out such a love sick laugh that she almost vomited over the side of the rooftop. "I met her around the same time as you, and to be honest if she'd been who I'd met first... well..."

He didn't say anything more, but he didn't need to. If he'd met her first, he would have gone after her first; the unspoken words were as clear as day.

"I'm happy for you. Everyone deserves love." Her lips had suddenly grown extremely dry and craved the touch of her tongue to soften them once more. Her heart was hammering in her chest, struggling to break free and be heard; the reaction startled her. Her eyes widened at the realisation that this wasn't her normal feelings for Chat Noir, yet she still wouldn't allow her head to place them.

"Hum," he let out a little laugh, "I'm just trying to get to know her again at the moment. There's a long way until we get to the 'L' word."

Ladybug attempted to smile at her partner, knowing full well it was as fake as Chloé Bourgeois's blonde hair. This was the first time she'd ever heard him, truthfully, mention a girl or a girlfriend, or anyone he liked. It had always only been about her and now... there was this someone else. Someone she didn't know anything about, but someone who'd managed to capture her sweet kitty's heart, a heart she never considered she'd have to share.

Was she a nice girl? Would she look after him? Would him being in a relationship affect their easy going relationship? How would he feel in her shoes? Actually, she thought, scrap that last question.

He was still talking; words of praise and awe were thrown out about this mystery girl who apparently sparkled greater than all the stars in the sky. She looked up at said stars and had never been more grateful for the city's air pollution, as the gradually darkening sky was once again clouded over, stopping the stars from being seen. If she couldn't see the stars, and couldn't see the glittering lights, then it didn't exist. She, whoever she was, couldn't sparkle like something that wasn't there.

"I've actually decided to follow your dating blog."

She looked towards him and couldn't help but notice the nervous neck rub as he admitted that he, the great Chat Noir and Paris' number one hero, needed dating advice, and from her too. She could have collapsed with laughter there and then. What a joke! Did he not understand what a failure she was when it came to love.

"Oh!" She had no idea what else to say. Was there anything else she could say?

"Yeah, and believe me there was definitely an impression when we met again for the first time in quite a while." He laughed to himself, and she couldn't help the cringe smile forming on her face as she remembered her incident with Adrien last night.

"Sounds like she's really made an impact on your heart." She looked over at him and saw the most genuine, caring smile she's ever seen on his face.

He let out a small laugh and she missed the words that followed. Something about a face?

He looked gorgeous. His perfect white teeth gleaming against the backdrop of Paris, his eyebrows softening, looking so ridiculously happy her heart overflowed with feelings of longing and loneliness. She always wished someone would look at her this exact way. If this was how he looked thinking about this girl, she couldn't help but be jealous of her.

Oh, merde, what was this cat doing to her heart?

"So?" Ladybug coughed. She moved and attempted to get more comfortable on the rooftop. She wasn't entirely sure if the intolerable feeling was external or internal. "When will you see her again? If you haven't seen her for a while, how come you have time now?"

"I was actually really lucky as she kind of fell into my lap. Who knows? Maybe she's following your blog too."

...And wouldn't that just be the way. Another couple helped by the amazing matchmaking skills of Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She closed her eyes. It had to happen for her one day; it just had too! It was her turn, dammit! She'd waited long enough; there just had to be someone out there who loved her like this.

"You'll have to keep me informed."

"I'll do what I can. Identities and all."

Ladybug nodded in response, her own rules kicking her hard in the ass. Patrol continued for another 30 minutes, Ladybug deciding she'd had enough of his love sick sighs and called it a day. Concentrating on her own love life and heading back to her apartment. She packed her gym bag ready to meet Adrien, hoping that tonight would be the start of her own romance.

She didn't know if it was her competitiveness or the overpowering jealousy of her partner, but one thing was for sure, by the end of the evening, she was going to have a date, and if she got her way, that date would be with Adrien.