Ficlet Request 4

[mistkitt]

 Originally Posted: 07/02/16

Prompt: Ladybug travels back in time and meets an older, swoon-worthy version of Chat Noir

This is the last request I’m taking for now! Also, let’s switch it up and make older!Chat the one who time travels because he’s the one who gets hit by the akuma 90% of the time.

~*~

It was a perfectly normal afternoon in Paris when a wormhole ripped open the fabric of time and out flew Chat Noir, arms flailing. He flipped ass over teakettle and hit a roof at fifty miles per hour, taking out several shingles before he skidded to a stop. “Oww,” he groaned. He rolled over onto his back and rubbed his sore, stubbly jaw.

Blue sky above. The hard roof below. A slight chill in the air: not quite fall, but not quite summer. He tried to get his bearings. Eiffel Tower in the distance. He hadn’t left Paris, but an intuitive sense of wrongness crawled up his spine and made his tail jerk unhappily. 

Then he recalled something from his youth and a grin took over his sore face. “Ah,” he said, “today is that day!” He performed a kip up and ran a clawed hand through his unruly hair, then turned around just as Ladybug landed a few yards away.

He’d missed this part when he was younger. Right about now fifteen-year-old Adrien Agreste was at the park, desperately trying to come up with an excuse to get away from his photo shoot and investigate the wormhole. Which left twenty-five-year-old Chat Noir to work his magic. Ladybug approached slowly, caution written all over her face. She could tell something was off about him. Too tall. Too muscular. Too adult to be her Chat Noir. She tilted her head and wrinkled her brow. “Chat?”

“Little Lady!” he cried, closing the distance between them and lifting her off the ground in a bear hug. “Look at you! You’re so small!”

Ladybug screamed as he spun her around, then plopped her back down. She took several steps away from him and put her hands up in a defensive stance. “Who are you?” she demanded, cheeks burning.

Chat was all smiles. “I’m Chat Noir.”

“No you’re not! You’re some pervert in a costume!”

His smile widened. “Aaah, you said the thing!” He and his Lady had laughed about that many times. They knew this day would come eventually, and now that it had, he wanted nothing more than to run and tell her all about it from his new, adult perspective. He put a hand on his hip. “Relax, my Little Lady, you know what this is. You’ve time traveled before.”

Ladybug refused to relax. “Time travel?”

“An akuma sent me here from the future. I am your Chat Noir, just not the Chat Noir of the present day. He’ll be here soon enough.”

He waited while Ladybug processed this information. According to his Lady, she’d wanted to keep believing he was crazy, but knew from experience that time travel was very possible with an akuma involved. She’d been forced to acknowledge that he may have been telling the truth. And then…

Ladybug’s eyes roamed up his body. Then I kind of ogled you. Chat smirked. “Enjoying the view?”

“What?” she squeaked.

“Buginette!” Chat Noir—the present day pipsqueak Chat Noir—landed on the roof beside her. “What is it?” he asked. Future Chat remembered exactly what his reaction to himself had been: surprise, followed by offense and protectiveness. His younger self stood between him and Ladybug. “Who are you?”

“Apparently he’s you,” Ladybug said, sneaking another glance at him. Was that a blush under her mask?

“Yeah, and I’m Mayor Andre Bourgeois,” Chat said. His tail thrashed and his fingers curled into claws.

Future Chat was far too happy to be bothered by his younger self’s reaction. Besides, he understood the poor boy. He was in love. Those distant days of unrequited longing were some of his most precious memories. “Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your way soon,” he said. “My Lady will defeat the akuma in… three minutes, I think? I was too annoyed to take proper notice at the time.” He gestured to his young self. “Case in point.”

Ladybug put a hand on Chat’s chest. He shot her a worried look. “So we’re still fighting Hawk Moth in the future?”

“Yes,” future Chat said. “It’s my fault really, but you’ve never held it against me.” He looked at his past self, still ignorant of Hawk Moth’s identity, and his smile returned, tinged with sorrow. “Don’t worry. Things will be terrible for a while, but Ladybug will help you keep your head. Both in and out of costume.”

Ladybug’s eyes widened. Chat dropped his guard. “Out of…?”

“We know each other’s identities?” Ladybug blurted.

“Of course. You didn’t think you’d keep it a secret forever, did you?” A breeze kicked up. Another ripple of magical energy made the hair on the back of his neck stand, but the sense of wrongness under his skin began to ease. Chat Noir grinned at the pair of teenagers across the roof. “Time’s up,” he said.

A second wormhole tore open directly behind him. He saw his younger self wrap an arm around his Lady to keep her steady. “Don’t either of you worry about the future,” he called to them. “Everything is going to be fine!”

A force dragged him in and, in a rush of wind and magic, he stumbled and sprawled onto his back on another rooftop, in a different Paris. Running footsteps approached. “Chat Noir!” He lifted both hands to his face, giddy and incredulous and unable to stop laughing. But by the time his Lady reached his side, his laughs had turned into sobs. He felt her lean over him, her hands coming to rest on top of his. “Adrien, what happened?”

He pushed her hands aside, tangled both of his in her hair, and pulled her down into a tearful kiss. “I love you so much,” he breathed.

Her eyes were still laced with concern, but she smiled down at him. “I love you too, kitty cat.”