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She heard Chat yowl, then there was a splash. She cringed.
Oh he was going to be so mad.
She dodged a water balloon the size of a small car, and it flew past her so fast and violently that it nearly blew her over. Her hair was plastered to her forehead, dripping water and sweat into her eyes and making them sting and water. She didn’t bother trying to wipe it away, the water on her suite wasn’t much better than her face.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Chat climb out of the Seine, ears flat to his head and a scowl on his feline face. His fur was drenched, his wings weighed down. He looked so upset she nearly wanted to laugh.
Another balloon flew past her, smaller and faster, nearly caving her head in with its velocity as she just barely managed to move out of the way.
Ugh .
The Akuma cackled, hair drenched and plastered in dark trails down its pale blue face. From what they could tell, Cascade was a woman furious after attending a party for children, where she was ambushed with water balloons and thrown into a pool, clothes and all. She kept screaming about injustice and being treated poorly, to the point where the miraculous duo suspected this wasn't the first time something like this had happened to her, and she kinda just snapped.
Now, they were having the world’s most deadly, un-fun water balloon fight known to man. The balloons ranged in size, small as a fist to large as a car, but the size didn’t seem to affect the throwing capacity, as all of them hurled through the air fast enough to hit like concrete blocks rather than water.
Chat had been hit multiple times in the name of saving her, and it was only after her first hit that she realized why he kept going down so hard.
Cascade screeched when she saw Chat climb from the water, and with a fury only Akumas could truly muster, proceeded to violently assault the poor drenched cat.
“Hey now, why don't we call cool off for a minute?” Chat lept and rolled to avoid the balloons, twisting and leaping like he had no bones to speak of. He moved like water, and Ladybug was a little jealous in this particular situation. “You know, go with the flow of a conversation?”
The Akuma shrieked.
“Chat, the balloons in her hair! The akuma is in the balloons!” Ladybug shouted, swinging to a new vantage point as the Akuma’s focus was directed at the cat. She noticed that Cascade had brightly colored shrapnel from an exploded balloon clinging to her dark hair. It was the only real pop of cool on her, her outfit dark and sleek, resembling a diver’s wetsuit. She had a colorful balloon nozzle in her hand as well, which Ladybug had originally thought to be the akumatized object, but the nozzle was attached to a hose that trailed up to the Akuma’s back, where it attached to a dark green scuba tank. The nozzle was where all the balloons of doom were firing from.
“That doesn’t seem very environmentally friendly of you.” Chat quipped at the Akuma, leaping over a balloon like he was playing leapfrog. “You know plastics don’t break down right?”
The balloon he leapt over hit the front of a store across the street, and the whole wall caved in from the impact.
“You know, littering really dampens the mood.” That cat continued, his commentary miraculously never drying up. Ladybug took the opportunity to launch her yoyo and wrap it around the Akuma’s wrist, yanking hard and disrupting the Akuma’s next shot. The balloon went wide, destroying a whole line of cars parked on the side of the street. Then the Akuma’s focus was on her, a snarl on the woman’s face, her vibrant red eyes filled with rage. The nozzle was pointed at her, her yoyo still tangled around Cascade’s wrist.
She couldn’t move in time.
With a roar, Chat pounced, claws first and teeth bared in a bone chilling snarl. He collided with Cascade’s side so hard they both went tumbling, Ladybug’s yoyo getting yanked from her hands along with them. For a moment all that was visible was a tangle of limbs flailing, wings flapping sporadically and tail lashing as they quite literally rolled head over heels and crashed harshly into the road. Then the motion stopped, Chat on top with his wings flared and a snarl still peeling his lips back. He had the Akuma’s hand in an arm lock, wrist with the nozzle pinned behind her back, and with Chat’s other hand he had her gripped by the back of the head, face pressed forcefully into the ground. The Akuma bucked wildly, but Chat held firm, wings and tail adjusting for his balance.
“Ladybug!” He called over his shoulder, and she noticed her yoyo had tangled around the Akuma when they tumbled, but had also tangled around Chat, wrapped around his arm and his back and his legs in a way that made it so he couldn't pull away from Cascade even if he tried.
He also couldn't let go of her long enough to grab the akumatized balloons without Cascade escaping the pin and likely bashing his nose in.
Without hesitation she dashed forward, grabbing the string of her yoyo and willing it to unwind. Which it did with a quiet zzzzt, and then she grabbed the colorful balloon fragments from the tangled dark hair.
The dark butterfly was almost a welcome sight.
One purification later, a good old miraculous fixaroo of the city, and Chat was able to sit back and climb off the baffled, sopping wet women left in Cascade’s place.
“W-was I Akumatized?” The woman asked, sitting up and looking at Chat and Ladybug with big, horrified eyes. Chat smiled his sweet little closed lipped smile he uses for civilians and stood, lending his hand to pull the woman up with him. Ladybug smiled and put a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder, noticing the faint sound of sirens approaching.
“Yes, but everything is fine now, ma’am, no harm done.” The paramedics arrived, which the heroes were grateful for as the woman was shaking from head to toe, shivering in her soaking clothes. “The medics are going to get you all cleaned up and you’ll be escorted home. Are you alright? Is there anything you need before Chat and I leave?”
“N-n-no, thank you Ladybug. I-I-I’m sorry for the hassle, I didn't mean to get so upset.”
“Hey,” Chat said, reaching for and squeezing the woman’s hand gently in reassurance, “Everyone has a bad day now and then, you’re not at fault for having feelings. The only one to blame is Hawkmoth for taking advantage of you. Everything has been fixed, no one was harmed, so don’t blame yourself.” The woman gazed back at him with wide eyes for another moment before smiling a little watery smile and squeezing his hand back.
Chat led the woman over to the ambulance and police cars, speaking quietly with a few of the officers while the woman was wrapped in a blanket and guided away by a medic, And Ladybug spoke to the press that had swooped in like vultures the second the victim wasn't actively taking all of her attention.
She was just grateful neither of them had to use their powers this time, otherwise they’d be on a much shorter time crunch. She really liked the rare opportunity to actually talk to and comfort the victims when they wake up, and she really, really liked seeing Chat’s soft side when he decides to show it.
With a wave and a smile she shooed away the reports and turned to meet up with Chat, even as the flashing of camera and shouts followed behind her. It was only as he turned and smiled at her that she noticed he was still sopping wet.
His fur was sticking up at odd angles, little droplets of water dripping from the points, and from his whiskers and from the tips of his wings. There were even still droplets clinging to the smooth material of his suite. His wings weighed down and held at an awkward angle while the feathers were wet and clumped, his tail limp about half way up where the muscles weren’t strong enough to hold up the wet fur, leaving this tip hanging oddly, like a weight attached at the end was pulling it down.
“Chat, you’re soaked.” Ladybug laughed at the sight, her kitty’s funny little smile looking hilarious on his drenched face. His grin immediately fell, a scowl taking over in an almost theatrical shift.
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“Why?” Ladybug laughed again, ruffling the wet fur on top of his head, making the longer fur there stand up wildly. Chat shrugged.
“ Pur haps taking a dip in the Sceine doesn't count as ‘akuma damage.’” Chat said, making sassy air quotes with his fingers. “Come on, I don't want the press getting any more photos of me looking like a drowned rat.”
That only caused Ladybug to laugh harder, and as they were leaping away she couldn’t resist calling, “don’t you mean looking like a wet cat?”
That got her tackled as soon as her feet hit the roof, out of sight of the street below.
“I’ll show you a wet cat!” Chat growled playfully, and sent them both for a soggy tumble across the rooftop, both of them laughing. Chat landed on top, as he typically does, and he grinned down at her, full and wide and full of mischief, wiggling his eyebrows. Ladybug shoved him away, slipping out from under him and scrambling to her feet. Then she noticed him spread his wings slowly, deliberately, grin still on his face as he watched her. Ladybug only had a moment to gasp-
“Chat, don’t you dare-”
Before Chat shook himself like a wet dog and absolutely drenched her, water spraying everywhere. Ladybug screamed and covered her face best she could, cold droplets dousing her in a wave. Only when it stopped did she peel her hands away from her face, peeking out between her fingers.
Chat stood with a smug smile on his face, fluffy again, if still a little damp. She peeled her hands away from her face and flicked her arms out in disgust, water flinging from the arms of her suite.
“Chat!”
Chat grinned wider and flicked his wing, water flicking right into her exposed face.
“There, now we match.”
“CHAT!”
And with a laugh Chat took off, pouncing away on all fours to practically gallop across the rooftops. Ladybug took off after him.
“I'm gonna get you for that, you mangy cat!”
And if they both ran across the rooftops of Paris long after the two of them were dry… Well, no one really needed to know about that.