Heyo!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHOEBE HAVE SOME ANGST
Summary: Marinette is on a roof, crying. She doesn't know how she got there (as Ladybug probably) or where she is (hopefully still Paris), she just wants to be alone. Of course she doesn't stay alone for very long when Chat Noir decides to make it his personal mission for the night to cheer her up.
Pairing: Marinette x Chat Noir
Word count: 1377
Warnings: I read through it once and it's rlly short sorry
Disclaimer: lmao
Enjoy!
—
Tears welled up in Marinette's eyes as she climbed up to her roof and slumped down, casting aside the chocolates in her hands.
Why is it so hard? she thought to herself, Why does everything buzz when I'm near him and why did it hurt so bad when he told Chloe he had someone else he liked?
There was a deep ache in her chest and she looped her arms around her knees, craving some sort of warmth to soothe the cool stinging of everything crumbling around her.
The tears fell from her eyes and ran down her face slowly, making darker patches in her pink jeans where they landed.
She didn't get it. Liking someone was all butterflies and stuttering and nervousness, not this hollow cavern opening up inside. Not the heart-squeezing chest pains that made her want to double over.
Not this.
"Why are you crying?" a voice asked her from above.
Marinette gasped and snapped her head up, hastily pawing at her eyes. "Chat Noir," she whispered.
"Yo," he greeted, before sitting down next to her, "what's a girl like you doing all the way up here?"
She looked around, the world blurry through her tear-filled eyes. They had a perfect view of the Paris skyline - the brightly-lit Eiffel Tower, the bright clusters of stars spread out above them and the full moon was bathing everything in a soft, white light.
It was beautiful, but Marinette barely registered it at all.
"Just… getting stuff out, I guess," she replied in a small voice.
A car honked in a street far away. There was a distant murmuring of a late-night restaurant. The cool night air swirled between them lazily. It was quiet.
"Would having someone to talk to help?" he asked her.
Marinette smiled slightly at how sincere he sounded - the complete opposite to the Chat Noir she was used to.
"No," she sighed, wiping her eyes and sniffling, "but I could use a distraction?"
He smiled that dumb, goofy, goddamn infectious smile and nudged her lightly. "Distractions I can do," he told her, "speaking of which I never know how the Akumatized people get their names like- do they think it up? Does Hawkmoth? Does he have just a hat of supervillain names and when he does the thing he just pulls one out? Is that what happens?"
Marinette gave a spluttered laugh at his completely incredulous tone. "He has been slacking lately, if he does think of them himself."
"I know right?" he gasped, eyes wide and arms outstretched, "Literally what kind of name is Kung Food?"
"A super intimidating one."
"That better have been sarcasm."
Smiling and trying to ignore the way the dried tears felt on her cheeks, Marinette nodded exaggeratedly.
"Good. Because if you weren't I wouldn't be able to speak to you ever again."
She laughed. Actually laughed. Despite Adrien, despite Chloe, Chat Noir made her forget everything for a few seconds and she laughed.
"What about Bubbler?"
"Oh god Bubbler!" he groaned playfully, "Appropriate, I must admit, but more 'clown' than 'terrifying villain fear me.'"
"I actually went to that party," she told him, "for a short time anyway."
Thinking of that party made her think of the present and Adrien and she really didn't want to go down that path right after she managed to stop crying.
Chat Noir immediately picked up on her mood.
"Hey," he said softly, no more than a mere whisper, "it's okay if you don't wanna tell me - I mean, you hardly know me of course. You definitely don't know me - but just know that everything can't always be bad, right? You must have something good going for you."
The corners of Marinette's lips curled upwards. "Well… I have this friend - you know her actually, she runs the Ladyblog - and she's amazing. She constantly looks out for me and pushes me to do things when I'm too shy or nervous to try. And my parents, well, they're a bit intrusive at times, but they're really great."
"Yeah?" he smiled, "Told you so."
Marinette smiled at him, before gasping. "I just remembered a worse one than Kung Food."
"Hit me."
"Mr. Pigeon."
The pair dissolved into giggles.
"No you don't understand," Chat Noir laughed, "he kept making pigeon noises throughout the entire thing! Ladybug and I were trying to be serious about it because someone's been akumatized but it took everything I had not to burst out laughing."
Marinette, of course, did understand, but he didn't know that. A small twinge of guilt settled in her stomach. He wanted to know who she was, and she did trust him, but he now knew Marinette as well as Ladybug, and all she could imagine was that same disappointed look on his face when the inevitable reveal happened.
She wished she could pause this moment, and keep their shared, bubbly laughter in a box forever.
"How did you manage to fight like that?"
His grin widened. "I didn't actually fight that much - I'm allergic to pigeon feathers, you see, but also Ladybug came up with a plan really quickly. She's amazing like that."
What Marinette was feeling was a mix of guilt and modesty and happiness. She couldn't discern one from the other and just resigned to the strange, slightly acidic combination.
"Y-Yeah?"
Chat Noir laid back onto the roof, hands under his head.
"Yeah," he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, "you might think I'm kinda dumb for liking someone like her but what can you do right?"
She couldn't go on like this. She could go on pretending like she didn't know him, like she wasn't hearing these words from him that were meant for a very different side of her. He acted nonchalant, like something like that was easy to say for Le Chat Noir, and maybe, on some level it was, but Marinette could still see the light blush beneath his mask, the awkward shifting of his eyes.
"Chat…" she started, fingers playing with the clasp of her purse, "I-"
BANG!
They both turned around sharply to look at the source of the noise. A small mushroom cloud was rising from a building behind Marinette.
You've got to be kidding me!
"I am L'étincelle*!" she could hear in the distance, the akumatized man's voice echoing through the empty streets, "Unless Ladybug and Chat Noir hand me their miraculous I will blow up the entirety of Paris!"
Chat Noir stood up and winked at Marinette. "L'étincelle isn't a very brûler-ant** name either."
She groaned and leaned back onto the tiled roof. "Just go already!"
"Until next time Princess!" he saluted and promptly fell off the building, before shooting up not three seconds later unharmed, as she knew he would be.
As soon as Chat Noir was out of eyeshot, Marinette let out a breath she didn't know she was keeping in. She actually felt… relieved that L'étincelle had shown up when he had - which was bad because that meant someone had to get akumatized - so that she would get to hold onto her secret a little longer.
I just need more time to psyche myself up, she reasoned half-heartedly, I just need more time…
"We better find a place to transform," Tikki murmured.
—
I'm sorry I can't ending.
L'étincelle means 'The Spark' in French (or it should - idk I used the ever-reliable google translate)
Brûler-ant is a pun on 'brilliant' bc 'brûler' is pronounced like 'brilly' and it means 'combust' look im funny ha (again, google translate —_—)
I hope househorse liked it and again Happy Birthday! I don't even know how old ur turning I win the Best Friend Ever Award™
As Always,
Thornsword