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“You are not a disaster, Kagami.” Ladybug had looked her in the eyes and Kagami was surprised.
“My mother tells me otherwise. She never forgave me for losing when I first came here.”
Kagami tried to shrug it off, but felt like something in her was breaking slowly, as if the pressure was slowly building up and waiting for release. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her.
“You are not what your mother says you are. You are so much more than everything you were taught to believe you weren’t.” Ladybug’s voice, warm and sweet, comforted her and Kagami leaned into her embrace.
“I got akumatized twice. Once was humiliating enough, but twice?” Kagami hid her face behind her hands, “I am a disappointment.”
She felt Ladybug’s embrace get a little tighter and Kagami felt like she was suffocating slightly.
“You are not a disappointment. Hawkmoth does that. He’s the one who targets people and takes advantage of their emotions. It is not you. It will never be your fault for being akumatized.”
Ladybug paused and Kagami broke away.
“You don’t understand, Ladybug. You’re perfect. You don’t have to worry about-”
Kagami stopped talking when she realized that she was laughing, and frankly, it was a gorgeous look on her.
“Kagami, you’re still pretty new to Paris, but I’m far from that.” Ladybug’s laughter began to fade as she straightened up and clutched her yo-yo tightly.
Kagami’s eyes widened in confusion, “I have watched you from afar for a very long time, Ladybug, since I first laid my eyes on you. Everyone admires you.”
Some more than admire you. They like you. More than like you.
“Kagami, I think you expect too much from yourself and I’m far from perfect, but I embrace those flaws. I have to go. My earrings are beeping, but I’ll stop by later if you’re still up by then.”
Kagami gave her a quick bow before Ladybug threw her yo-yo and swung off.
She saw the red car waiting for her and she shook off any worries she had left for the moment. She was going to hold her head up high, even if her mother forced it down.
She was not at fault for what had happened, for the akuma, and even if her mother didn’t believe that,
she
believed that and that’s what mattered.
Kagami wasn’t allowed outside of her room for the rest of the day and her dinner was brought to her. She wasn’t eating it, refusing to, and let it go cold.
Her balcony doors were wide open and she felt the cold air envelop her. It was a good feeling.
She should have been completely honest from the start. It was never Adrien who she had fallen for. That advice for changing her targets should have been a wake-up call for her. She was the one who had said it after all, but at the time she had been referring to Adrien when she had said it.
It was her who needed to change her targets all along and not suppress those feelings.
“You look calm.” A soft voice pulled her out of her daydreams and she saw her, standing there on her balcony, a playful smile on her face.
“I am now,” Kagami whispered and noted how the moonlight really captured Ladybug’s beauty.
“I really do hope you are. I know how hard it is to deal with akumas-”
“What do you mean?” Kagami interrupted and drew closer to her. Ladybug did the same and Kagami was in awe.
“I have had to fend off so many akumas just to keep myself from becoming akumatized. It gets hard, but I manage.”
Kagami looked at her curiously and reached for her hand. Ladybug gave it to her freely and squeezed it slightly.
It was different, seeing this side to her.
“You’re expected to be perfect at all times, is that it?” Kagami asked and received a nod in return. “I know what that’s like.”
“Yeah?” Ladybug led Kagami further down the balcony and they were gazing over Paris together, the cool air kissing their skin.
“It’d be nice to have a break from all these expectations,” Kagami whispered and she felt Ladybug’s head resting on her shoulder.
“Yeah,” Ladybug murmured and Kagami rested her chin on her head. Maybe for one night, they could just be themselves with each other. “I’d love that.”
“I’d love that, too.” Kagami wrapped her arms around Ladybug and felt that warmth in her heart again.