"the moth's apprentice" chat noir x y/n

You Are Ladybug

My head is an awful place to be. I'm not kidding. I couldn't be more serious. Between the overthinking and the overwhelming urge to sit alone and cry about absolutely nothing, my mind might as well be a pile of polluted sludge. Aren't people supposed to want the best for themselves? Aren't we inherently supposed to desire success, fortune, and freedom? The only thing I crave is sanity. 

"Why do you look so down, buttercup?" Marinette asks me from the safe confines of her second story room. She's laying on her back, testing out different nicknames for me. After I accidentally called her 'Mari' a nickname that she's now gotten used to, Marinette has decided that I too need a nickname. "Lila-Liar get your knickers in a twist?" 

"Knickers in a twist?" I raise my eyebrows. "You're testing out old sayings now?" I sigh, not waiting for her to respond to me. "It's just that...I keep getting the sense that I'm supposed to be doing something, but I don't know what. Like, you know when you're desperately trying to remember something, but you can't?" 

"I don't think I follow," Marinette chewed thoughtfully on a pencil as she considered my insane thoughts. "But, anyways, did you see Adrien today? He looked so good." 

I wanted to remind Marinette that Adrien was very much seeing Liar-Lila and she might as well just give up on that fuck-boy and find someone better. But I knew that saying anything against perfect Adrien Agreste was pointless with Marinette. That was the number one thing I learned about her. 

"I'm not so sure, Mari," I picture the blonde boy in my head. His dimpled cheeks and the curves of his shoulders and arms...the fold of lips lips and the way his eyes light up when he's teasing...The mould of his proportions, and how seamless his movements seem to flow when he's — 

"Earth to Pinkie-Pie," Mari snaps her fingers in front of my face. "What's gotten into you today?" 

I emerge from that randomly vivid imagery of Adrien Agreste confused. I don't think I know him well enough to have that detailed a description of him. 

Then, I remember Catboy. His firm, yet slight shoulders, and the smirk that always seems to be playing on his lips. His easy stance and restless movements. Chat Noir was never still. His hands darting to his silver pole, sliding over his hair, tapping on his ears, his bell— 

What the hell? 

"I'm just tired," I shake off the weird feeling. "Do you think about Ladybug and Chat Noir much?" 

Mari face folds into a perfect expression of horror. "No. I don't. I think about them a regular amount. Like average. Maybe even less than that." 

"O-okay?" I smile at her weird response. Maybe we're both a bit crazy. "Anyways, I was just thinking about something strange that Lila said." 

"Everything Lila says is strange. Because it's all lies." 

"She said something about her job at the old folks home, but I thought about it, and there isn't an old folks home near here. The closest one is like — just outside of this area, but Lila said it was near your bakery," I speak. "And — she mentioned something weird about a guy named Hawky." 

Marinette's brain is churning. I can see the gears moving. 

"Beethead, you might be onto something." 

"Beethead?" 

Mari continues, "Hawky sounds awful close to Hawkmoth don't you think?" 

"I guess." I reply. 

"Did she say anything else?" 

"She said something about jewelry too, does that mean anything to you?" 

Marinette's eyes light up in a half gasp. "Not to me, but it might mean something to Ladybug and Chat Noir. This is good, Y/N. This means —" she blinks. "This means, I know who Vixen is." 

"Vixen?" 

"yeah, Hawmoth's new apprentice," Mari responds. "Oh yeah, I keep forgetting you're new here." She pauses, taking a deep breath. "Settle in, Birdy, because this is going to be a rather long story." 

"Birdy?" I baffle at her newest nickname. 

Birdy...

"I like that one," Mari says thoughtfully. Momentarily in awe of her own brilliance, Marinette gathers her thoughts and starts the long tale of Vixen. "Anyways, so last year there was this crazy big explosion after Chat Noir's cataclysm got out of order. It killed Hawkmoth's old apprentice, who was called Raven." 

Raven. My mind ticks. Raven...

"Whoa, someone actually died?"

 "i know," Marinette snorts. "Sorry, I shouldn't be laughing. But you'd think that there'd be tons of casualties with evil Villain no. 1 running around, yet there's only been one." She claps her hands together, startling me. "Ladybug and Chat Noir really are amazing." 

I nod absent mindedly. 

So Raven was Hawkmoth's Apprentice that died. Strange. 

"Vixen took over for Raven, and now Chat Noir and Ladybug — excuse me — Ladybug and Chat Noir, have been trying to figure out what her identity is." Mari finishes. "Story over." 

I tap my fingers on my chin. I may be a little crazy, with that voice and all but I'm not stupid — 

Say it. Y/N, say it. 

Come on, Birdy. 

The words fall out of my mouth before I can stop them. 

"Marinette, are you Ladybug?"