x

- x - x - x -

Chapter 3: Healing Waters

- x - x - x -

Her head hurt.

No, it was worse than that. It was like someone was taking a jackhammer to her brain. She squeezed her eyes tight and tried to ignore the painful pressure that threatened to swallow her. What kind of headache was this? And, more importantly, why did she have it? And…

Where was she?

Marinette carefully peeled her eyes open, wincing at light that was filtering through the blinds.

She was in her room, in the apartment.

Her memory was all sorts of fuzzy, misted by pain. Marinette couldn't remember going to bed. In fact, she couldn't remember much of anything. Was it Wednesday? Was it Friday? Did something happen? Perhaps she was broken. Perhaps the powers of the miraculous were finally too much for her body to handle.

Tears welled to her eyes from the pure agony within her skull. She began crying, hard. Every deep breath sent shivers of pain down her whole body, which only caused her to gasp deeper. It was a vicious cycle.

There was a pressure on her shoulder. Marinette forced herself to look up and focused on the figure leaning over her. Glasses, brown hair, tan skin, a kind smile. "Alya," Marinette croaked pitifully.

Her friend was holding out a glass and two blue pills. "Ibuprofen," whispered Alya gently, "and water." Marinette cried harder, more than thankful. It wasn't easy, but Alya patiently helped her sit up enough to pop the pills in her mouth and drink enough to swallow them down with.

Alya sat at her bedside, stroking Marinette's arm gently, while Marinette cried herself back to sleep.

- x -

The second time that Marinette woke was better. Her head still hurt, but it was nothing like the splitting pain that she had first suffered. Now, it was more like a rather typical bad headache. It also helped that there was no painful light trickling into the room. The world was dark and quiet outside of her window, with the exception of the faint music of crickets.

Marinette sat up slowly and peered around her dark bedroom.

Beside her, chest rising and falling in sleep, was Alya. So, she hadn't been dreaming earlier. That really had been Alya giving her advil. Marinette wasn't sure how Alya was in her apartment, but she was sure glad she was there. She's taking care of me,Marinette realized, but why?

What had happened to her?

Her phone was sitting on her nightstand. Marinette grabbed greedily, hoping to find some answers. Only, what she found wasn't answers. No, instead, she found scrapes. Nasty, long scrapes all along her phone screen. The glass front looked like someone had run a lawn mower over it. Marinette gasped in horror.

With shaking hands, she tapped the lock button. Less than half the glass front lit up, and what lit up did so in thick stripes that were only half legible due to a spiderweb of cracks in the glass. When she tried to swipe on the screen, nothing happened. The touch-screen was unresponsive.

Her phone, her very expensive phone that she had gotten from her parents as Christmas gift, was utterly trashed. Now Marinette was miserable for multiple reasons.

She held the phone close to her face, ignoring the sharp pain in her head from the screen's brightness. Two of the notifications on the lock screen were partially legible. There was a text from her mother, but all she could read of it was:

Mom

Mari, please let us know you are

Whatever came next was blocked by a dead, black bar. That same black bar blocked the top half of an news article alert, the bottom half of which read:

AN EXPLOSIVE SENIOR CITIZEN!

Marinette dropped the phone back onto the nightstand. There was something about that news article's description that sparked a memory in her. There had been an akumatized victim… an old one. Boomer. The name came to her suddenly.

Before Marinette could consider this further, her stomach growled. She was starving!

Carefully, so as to not wake up Alya, Marinette inched out of bed and onto her feet. As soon as she was completely vertical, a wave of dizziness hit her hard. Marinette wobbled and had to grab the edge of the night stand to stabilize herself.

It was a challenge, but she managed to navigate herself into the kitchen and to the fridge. The light from inside of the fridge was blinding, but Marinette's hunger drove her to scavenge through the stores of food within it anyways.

"Mari!" It wasn't Alya who interrupted Marinette's hunt for nourishment - it was Tikki. The kwami zipped into Marinette's vision, looking worried. "You shouldn't be standing up right now! You are still healing."

Marinette brushed off Tikki's concerns and asked, "Healing? Tikki, what happened?"

The kwami's motherly gaze softened. "You have a concussion. At the end of your fight with the Boomer, there was a big explosion. You ended up landing on the sidewalk."

Another voice jumped into the conversation. "You scraped your face so badly that you looked like Two Face from Batman," Alya commented as she stepped into the kitchen.

Marinette froze, her eyes darting between Alya to Tikki. She expected Tikki to fly away and hide, but she didn't. Instead, the Tikki floated forward and gave Marinette's nose a little pat. "It's okay Marinette, I had to make myself known. I had to convince her not take you to the hospital."

That only confused Marinette further. "You wanted to take me to the hospital? Wait, Alya, h-how did I end up with, ah, you - ahh!" A wave of nausea hit Marinette and she stumbled back against the counter. A second wave followed shortly and she doubled over, retching. Thankfully, her stomach was empty.

Alya helped her stand back up. "No offense girl, but I don't think you're in the right state for a game of twenty questions."

Marinette reluctantly agreed and let Alya help her back to the bed. She passed out almost the moment her head hit the pillow.

- x -

Over the next forty eight hours, Marinette spent more time sleeping than being awake. She woke for only brief stretches of time, just enough to pee, snack a little, and swallow ibuprofen pills. Alya stayed the whole time, working her blog and texting Nino when Marinette was sleeping.

On Sunday morning, Marinette woke up feeling exponentially better. By this point, her memory had returned. She remembered the Boomer, the explosions, and how Chat had grabbed her. She learned, as she bombarded Alya and Tikki with questions, that Chat had called Alya, asking her to come pick up Marinette. Alya had rushed there and discovered Marinette with half her face gone. Like Two Face, Alya kept pointing out.

"Chat's okay," Tikki also told her, "He wasn't badly hurt. He was just very exhausted and his suit was out of energy. That's why he called Alya."

Marinette also learned that Tikki had been staunchly against Alya taking her to the hospital due a lack of security. Too many hands were the words Tikki used. It would be too easy for someone, a nurse, a visitor, a doctor, whatever, to grab her miraculous and walk off.

Luckily, Marinette was healing fast due to her miraculous powers. Her face no longer looked like raw meat (as Alya poetically put it) and her brain was feeling almost normal.

Sunday evening, the two girls ordered a pizza and picked out a cheesy, romantic movie to watch.

As they curled up on the couch, Marinette told Alya with all her heart, "Thank you, Alya, for everything."

Alya smiled big and stated rather matter-a-factually, "I'll always be here for you, Marinette. I'm your best friend."

- x -

Monday was upon them. Alya's suspension was finally up and, while her parents had been okay with her spending the last few days helping Marinette, they did not want her voluntarily missing any school days. While Alya wasn't so thrilled about having to go back to school, Marinette was excited for it; she was looking forward to seeing Adrien. Oh, and all of her other friends, too.

Alya had been unsure about Marinette attending school at first, but Tikki had assured her it was fine. "Concussions heal very quickly for a miraculous holder," she had explained cheerfully.

"If you're sure," Alya had sighed, relenting.

- x -

Marinette was wearing the hoodie.

She had mindlessly grabbed it out of her closet that morning and had almost put it back once she realized what she was holding. However, then she remembered Chat grabbing her, the panic on his face as he propelled them both away from the explosions. She was pretty sure he had saved her life.

In fact, the more she thought about it, the worse she felt about the whole thing. Her dumb mistake could have killed both of them. If he hadn't acted so quickly… she shuddered to think what would have happened to her, to Ladybug.

All things considered, it hardly seemed criminal to stroke his ego a bit by wearing the hoodie. It was the least she could do.

Alya arrived to the classroom a few minutes after Marinette. She had needed to run home, change, and grab her school work. When she'd settled down in her seat, Alya started telling Marinette about some flirty text messages she had gotten from Nino. Marinette listened and did her best to swallow her jealousy.

No one ever sent her flirty text messages.

Then again, perhaps she'd gotten some over the weekend. Marinette's phone was still busted. Maybe, just maybe, a certain handsome blond had sent her a few cute text messages. Okay, yes, that was very unlikely, but Marinette couldn't help but daydream about it. Anyways, she'd find out soon enough - Marinette was planning on getting a new phone after school. Although it was going to kill her (morally speaking), she was going to charge it on Adrien's credit card.

Speaking of Adrien, he arrived not long after Alya. Marinette greeted him shyly.

Before he sat down, Adrien asked Marinette how she was feeling. Unfortunately, she found herself babbling (oh great so perfect haha yes I am fine yes thank you for asking haha um) in response. It was as the words were spilling out of her mouth that a part of Marinette registered that Alya was looking at Adrien curiously, brows furrowed in thought. However, class started before Marinette could inquire about it.

All the chaos from the week before faded into the background. Sitting in class, listening to her teacher talk about Shakespeare's impact on the English language, Marinette could almost believe that she was just a normal teenage girl.

One class turned into another. The clock on the wall ticked always dutifully.

They were working on a math worksheet, talking quietly amongst themselves, when Alya noticed.

"Oh, no freaking way," Alya said as she, out of the blue, grabbed Marinette's hand and flipped it over. Marinette was caught red-handed (or, green-pawed really).

"It's not, uh," Marinette began to say as Alya's scanned the jacket greedily. Before Marinette could say more, Alya grabbed at the hood and yanked it over her head...

… revealing the ears on the hood.

Alya began screeching with laughter, somehow managing to cough out, "It's… a… Chat Noir … hoodie!" Marinette froze, a wave of embarrassment crashing down on her. She knew her cheeks were probably bright red.

To make it worse, Adrien and Nino began to snicker too. At least those two had the decency to cover their mouths as they laughed at her. Alya was laughing so wildly that their teacher yelled at her, telling her she was disrupting the whole class.

As Alya swallowed her laughter back, Marinette sucked up her courage and crossed her arms bravely. "Laugh if you want to," she hissed as defiantly as she could at her friend, "but I think it's cute!" She had made the decision to wear the hoodie, and dammit, she was going to stand by that decision.

"I think it's absolutely adorable," Adrien commented. The sincerity embedded in his comment both caught Marinette off guard and caught her attention. She turned to face him and nearly fell out of her chair.

Adrien's cheeks were pink and his expression dreamy. Completely unabashed, he met her gaze and held it for what felt like forever.

- x -

For lunch, the four friends decided to go to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Although Marinette had called her mother using Alya's phone on Saturday to let her mother know that she was absolutely fine, seriously mama, don't worry, her parents still got emotional the moment the group stepped into the bakery. Marinette found herself swept into a big bear hug by both her parents.

She had to reassure them about six more times that there was nothing to worry about, that she'd only busted her phone and not herself (a lie which she told her parents for their own mental well being). Her mother still looked fragile, dark shadows under her eyes. At one point, Sabine had begun to say something about how these akumas are too dangerous, but Tom put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a look. Sabine swallowed deeply and dropped the topic.

Her parents encouraged them to sit upstairs, in the family kitchen. The bakery was still somewhat inundated with fans and a handful of reporters, whom were thrilled at the fact that Marinette was there. "Thanks," Marinette told her parents, and the four of them headed upstairs, hands loaded with pastries.

Once they were seated and chowing down on Dupein-Cheng goodies, the teasing begun anew. "So, does Chat know you own that hoodie?" Nino asked casually.

Alya snickered. "Oh, he so already knows," she said.

Marinette flushed and smacked her hands onto her cheeks. Sure, it was probably inevitable that Chat would eventually discover the silly hoodie, but did that have be right away? "What!? Why do you think that?"

"Hun," Alya replied matter-of-factly, "you are all over Instagram right now!"

Oh great. She was trending. Marinette groaned.

"Want to see?" asked Alya cheerfully, ignoring Marinette's discomfort.

Marinette replied with a resounding no at the same that Nino chirped, "Oh, show me!"

As Alya navigated the depths of Instagram with Nino cooing comments like oh look there I am in the background, Marinette yanked her cat-eared hood up over her head and hid her face against the table.

"If it's any consolation," Adrien whispered to her, his voice so close that it sent shivers down Marinette's spine, "I'm sure you've made Chat Noir pretty happy."

Marinette risked peaking at Adrien. One arm was propped on the table, supporting his frame so he could lean forward and covertly whisper to her. He was so close. Don't think about it, she chastised herself, stay normal. Which, unfortunately, much easier thought than done.

"I, um." Her brain was malfunctioning, refusing to cooperate with Adrien right there. Marinette forced herself to focus, forced herself to stay calm.

It was hard to do when looking at him, so Marinette reburied her face in her arms. That helped a lot. She felt more normal with the soft fabric of her hoodie snuggled up against her face. Sighing deeply, Marinette managed a proper reply to Adrien, "I'll pr-probably never hear the end of it from him."

Chuckling, Adrien replied, "Yeah, probably not."

"Marinette," Nino spoke up, sounding curious, "if you think that, then why'd you wear it?"

Sitting up, Marinette let out a deep breath. It wasn't a bad question. She clasped her hands in her lap and stared down at them. "Chat saved my life," she told her friends honestly.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Alya asked sarcastically, a playful grin on her face.

She knew Alya was joking around, but that didn't stop Marinette from responding seriously. "Alya, you are wonderful." She met her friend's gaze and continued sincerely, "I love you so much for staying with me, for taking care of me. I'm even grateful to your parents for being okay with it."

A corner of Alya's mouth quirked up in a kind, amused smile. "Yea, my parents are pretty cool."

"But, seriously." Gulping, Marinette explained, "Chat… saved me. I… I fucked up." It wasn't often that Marinette dropped big cuss words like that. Her friends were silent, their stares owlish.

It was hard to keep her voice from shaking too badly. The more Marinette thought about her mistake, the worse she felt.

"There were these ticking bombs everywhere and I should have jumped back. I could have still done my reset charm afterward. Only, it happened so quickly I didn't think like that." She was wringing her hands underneath the table. These words weren't easy to say. "I don't know, I think I thought I could outrace the bombs. I underestimated…"

... how long it took to activate her reset charm and have it swirl down, changing the world around her. She drastically underestimated how long that took. Only, Marinette couldn't get those words out. She was choking up, thinking about how her mistake had put her and Chat (since he had put himself in harm's way to grab her) at death's door.

She couldn't afford mistakes. They weren't a luxury that superheros were allowed.

Alya reached out and squeezed Marinette's shoulder. All the amusement had dropped off Alya's face and she looked quite somber as she told Marinette, "It was just a little, well, lapse in judgement, Marinette."

Anger flashed through Marinette and she brushed off Alya's hand. "That lapse nearly got me killed. Worse, it nearly got Chat killed." It sickened her that he could have gotten hurt (and perhaps did, as Tikki might have been mistaken in her recount of what happened) saving her from herself.

The others seemed unsure of what to say. Not that Marinette was paying much attention to them any more; she was sinking further and further down into her own dark thoughts. She hugged her arms close to herself.

Glancing around the kitchen, Marinette's eyes settled on a family picture. In the picture, a ten year old and careful Marinette was smiling. "Maybe my parents are right… maybe I should pass on my miraculous to someone else," she admitted gloomily.

The table jolted and rocked as Adrien half jumped out of his seat, slamming his hands on the table's top. "No!" He didn't yell it necessarily, but he spoke so fiercely that Marinette, as well as Alya and Nino, shrunk backwards in their seats. It was a surprising amount of emotion rather spontaneously.

Adrien seemed to realize he overreacted to some degree. He cleared his throat and eased himself back into the chair, his cheeks pink. Marinette was utterly baffled. Why did Adrien care so much?

She didn't have to ask. He explained, his own voice wavering like hers had been, "Marinette, mistakes don't define who you are. For the last three years, you've been the best superhero that Paris could ever hope for. You're… you're smart, kind, patient, and, not to mention, a brilliant combatant. You are a fantastic Ladybug."

Her jaw was hanging loosely. Adrien's words were genuine and passionate. Her brain really wasn't sure what to do with this information.

Taking a deep breath, Adrien added one more final comment, "Marinette, fate chose you for a reason."

It felt like her heart might burst. Adrien believed in her. Truly, really, believed in her. Probably way more than she believed in herself.

That's when the waterworks started. Like a old faucet being cranked on, Marinette let out a high pitched whimper before the first tears squeaked out of her eyes. As tears began to flood out of her, she threw herself out of her chair and onto Adrien, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face into his shoulder. Her voice was obscured by emotion and fabric, "T-t-t-thank-nk y-you, A-Adrien!" she blubbered.

"U-um, you're welcome?" he responded, a note of panic sneaking into his voice. His hands wrapped partially around her, rubbing her back like one might soothe an upset toddler.

Oh no, she was making a scene. Marinette drew herself away from Adrien, so embarrassed that she refused to meet his sympathetic green gaze as she did so. Easing herself back into her seat, she whipped her tears on her sleeves. "I-I'm s-sorry." She gurgled, her tears only coming harder now. "T-that, um, t-that was the ni-nicest th-thing…" Speaking was difficult through her happy, ugly crying.

"Ooh-kay," Alya clapped her hands together as she stood up, "Marinette, why don't you and I take a walk? Maybe go check on your old room?"

Her friend knew when to save her. Marinette bobbed her head up and down and got to her unsteadily feet. Taking her hand (and not her sleeve, which was covered with tears and probably a bit of snot), Alya led Marinette outside and away from the boys so she she could sob in peace.

After they'd climbed the ladder to Marinette's old room, Alya offered a handful of napkins to Marinette, who took them thankfully. Blowing her nose hard, Marinette finally found her voice again, "A-Adrien thinks I'm a g-good su-superhero."

Smiling motherly, Alya agreed simply, "Yep."

Marinette blew her nose again, crumbling the napkins in her shaking hands. "B-but he pr-probably thinks," she sniffed, "t-thinks I'm in l-love with Chat."

Alya rolled her eyes. "You already know my opinion on you and Chat."

Marinette let out a wet giggle. Yes, she was very aware of Alya's desire for future catbug babies. A few weeks prior, when the new Incredibles movie had made its way over to Paris, Alya hadn't shut up about how cool a superhero family would be. Only, at the time, Marinette had been secretly rolling her eyes at her friend's comments and thinking to herself, no way, never.

Now, she was thinking about the last two weeks and everything that had happened. "Alya…" Whispering, Marinette confessed, "... I might feel the same." There, she said it. It was out in the open. Starting from the day that Chat had stolen a kiss, Marinette's feelings towards Chat had been shifting, changing. "I think I might love Chat." Marinette surprised herself with how readily the words came out.

"Whoa," Alya responded, her eyebrows rising up.

The sobs then came back anew. "B-but I al-also l-love Adr-drien," softly howled Marinette as she smacked her palms against her face. A long moan escaped her and she whimpered, "My life sucks."

There was something wrong with Alya's face. Her cheeks were puffed out and her lips were sealed shut, as if she was holding her breath. Her eyes darted to the side, glancing into the bakery at the boys. Marinette considered this behavior with curiosity, in between blowing her nose and wiping her tears with the bakery napkins.

When Alya spoke, it was like she was carefully calculating her words, "Marinette… I have a sneaking suspicion that everything's going to end up working out in your favor."

As Marinette's best friend, it was Alya's job to reassure her, no matter what. This was something Marinette appreciated. She forced a weak smile and joked lamely to Alya, "Sure, maybe I'll just m-marry both of them. Are two husbands legal in Paris?"

Alya burst into riotous laughter.

- x -

After school, she and Alya swung by a store to buy a new phone. Alya somehow managed to talk Marinette into not purchasing the least expensive phone, which was more like brick than an actual phone. It's not my money was what Marinette kept saying, but Alya kept replying, it's barely his either, it's his father's .

Alya wasn't a big fan of Gabriel Agreste. To her, putting an expensive phone on the fancy credit card was akin to directly charging Gabriel Agreste's personal bank account - which she liked the idea of.

"I know you don't like the dude either," Alya told her as they looked at one of the newest models of phones. Marinette bit her lip and shrugged. Gabriel Agreste was Adrien's father. It seemed… wrong to dislike him. Then again, that was kind of the main reason to dislike him. Alya pointed this out. "He treats Adrien like shit," she said.

Not only that, but there was also something that always bothered Marinette when she was around him, as if the man was some sort of dark omen.

She settled for a newer, but not the best, phone. After the tech started up the phone and moved over her contacts, sim card, and everything else, Marinette could finally see her text messages from the past week.

She had six text messages from Adrien.

The first three, sent on Friday and Saturday, asked her how she was and mentioned what the news had been saying about the boomer causing a big final explosion. The last three, all sent this morning, were just memes about cats.

Her cheeks burned and she quickly navigated out of the text conversation before Alya could see them.

- x -

There was steam rising from the casserole dish as Marinette removed it from the oven and placed it on the counter on top of a cloth (so it didn't ruin the nice granite). After closing the oven, she inspected her work.

It looked good. Golden brown and crispy on top, yet gooey below.

It was almost seven o'clock. Really, Marinette was running behind. She had spinach finishing up on the stove top and she'd yet to unpack the selection of cheese she'd purchased.

She hurried about the kitchen, stirring this, pouring that, cutting this. Tikki was sitting on the counter watching her, clearly amused. "You know Marinette, I'm sure Chat won't mind if he has to wait."

"I don't want him to wait, I want to be done on time," Marinette fretted as she pried the plastic wrapping off a small block of cheese, "it's a thank you dinner, so it's got to be perfect."

Tikki rolled her eyes and chuckled, but she didn't say anything else.

Tuna casserole, spinach, cheese, fresh milk. According to a variety of websites about cats that Marinette had read, Chat should like this stuff. Well, that is, assuming he ate like a cat… which Marinette was hoping for, because she had no other clues as to what Chat Noir liked for dinner. The two superheroes didn't often dine together.

The oven's electronic clock was dangerously approaching seven P.M. Marinette couldn't help but glance at it via the corner of her eye. As she did so, the slick block of cheese that she had just unwrapped slipped right out of her hands.

It landed with a full thwack on the floor. "Dang it," Marinette grumbled as she stooped to pick it up. Luckily, her floors weren't too dirty, and, anyways, Marinette wasn't about to let this innocuous block of cheese derail her perfect set up for dinner. While Tikki watched, clearly amused, Marinette stalked over to the sink and started washing off the cheese.

Once the cheese was thoroughly rinsed, Marinette turned… and nearly shrieked.

Chat Noir was leaning on her counter, a different, half-unwrapped block of cheese in his hand. There was already a large bite-shaped chunk missing from the cheese.

Clapping a hand over her heart, Marinette complained, "Why don't you knock?"

He shrugged, swallowed, and said cheerfully, "Whoops, I forgot!"

Why was she not surprised? Chat was as Chat was.

"Fine, well, but you're early," Marinette told him matter-of-factly.

His mask quirked in shape as he raised his brows. "Your voicemail said seven." He peeked over her shoulder at the oven's clock. "And it's currently 6:57."

"See?" Marinette replied, flustered, "You are three minutes early! Now you'll have to wait!"

This fact, instead of grating Chat like it was grating Marinette, made him laugh heartily. "I can deal with that."

Now Marinette had to cook with an audience. Both Tikki and Chat watched her as she busied around the kitchen, stirring the spinach, getting out plates, getting out silverware.

Somehow, Tikki and Chat ended up striking up a conversation. "So, Tikki," Chat began, "are you kind of like my kwami in that there's a particular food you prefer?"

"Cookies!" Tikki chirped, waving her arms as if that somehow demonstrated her point, "Which has worked out really well, because, you know, bakery." Chat chuckled at that.

"I'll have to remember that," purred Chat as Marinette began to cut the casserole.

"You must go through a lot of cheese," Tiki replied.

"Oh, tons. And, he always wants the best cheese." He , Marinette realized as she half listened, must be Chat's kwami, Plagg. She had obviously never met the kwami, but she heard about him once in awhile from Chat.

Tikki laughed hard, her face lighting up. "Oh yes, he's always been like that. Always loved the stuff."

"I often imagine his favorite day, out of his whole life, was the day cheese was invented!"

Tikki grew quieter and chuckled weakly, "Yea, I suppose so."

"Almost finished!" Marinette interrupted their conversation with her announcement as she began to dole out the food onto the plates, "Chat, you can take some of the cheese home later for Plagg."

"You'll be his new favorite person," replied Chat, eyeing the various cheeses.

It wasn't until they had their plates and had sat on the couch that Chat, in between bites, commented, "So... this is a curious assortment of foods, Mari."

Embarrassment burned within Marinette. She was very thankful that she had most definitely closed that website page titled WHAT FOODS DO CATS LIKE? In fact, she'd even deleted her browser history afterwards. "Thank you," was all that she politely replied to him.

He stared at her, the corner of his lip twitching. "You do know I'm not really a cat, right?"

She hesitated and then huffed, "You don't have to eat it if you don't like it." Damn it, her great plan was a bust. Oh well, she supposed she shouldn't be surprised. Her own superhero identity was a ladybug and yet she didn't go around licking aphids off plants.

"Oh no, I definitely want to eat it!" As if to emphasize his enthusiastic reply, Chat shoved another fork full of casserole into his mouth. After he swallowed, he continued, "I just think it's cute. Tuna casserole. Cheese. Although, the spinach surprises me. Why spinach?"

"It's good for cats," Marinette replied automatically, quoting what she had read online.

Chat broke into a fit of giggles. "Really? Well, okay then," a purr rumbled through his words, "I'm so glad you're concerned about my health."

He was joking, but he wasn't wrong. Marinette had always been concerned with Chat's well-being. And now, after he has risked his own tail, both literally and figuratively, to save her... Marinette felt even more obligated to care. These sobering thoughts ran through her mind as Chat chowed down on the cat-themed food on his plate.

She was serious when she spoke again, "I am. I care about you, Chat." Marinette met Chat's curious green eyes as they lifted off the food and to hers. This time, she didn't blush.

Silently, Tikki floated out of the living room and into the bedroom, most likely figuring it was time to give the two some privacy.

"Um," Chat murmured, shriveling under her intense gaze.

"Seriously, Chat."

"Oh no, I believe you," replied Chat, still looking rather unsure as to what was happening.

"I let you down." The confession spilled out of her, surprising both superheros alike.

"What? No, Mari, what happened with the Boomer, it was an accident -"

"It nearly got both of us killed."

"You don't know that."

"We can't survive explosions, Chat. We aren't Superman."

"Debatable. We're the closest this world gets to Superman."

"But we're not invincible!"

"Or maybe our suites are made out of kryptonite and accidentally keeping us from being invulnerable?"

Marinette stared at Chat, flabbergasted. It was an amazing trick of his to turn serious conversations into nerdy, random discussions. It was both impressive and annoying. Pinching her nose, she took a deep breath and got back to the topic at hand, "Okay, but seriously Chat. It was my fault. I'm sorry."

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, well, I forgive you. Glad we got that out of the way."

He didn't understand. Feeling even more frustrated, Marinette dropped her plate onto the coffee table. "Chat!" she whined.

"What, Marinette?" He sighed and copied her, sliding his almost-finished plate next to hers. "Do you want me to be upset? Do you want me to lecture you? 'Cause I'm not going to do that. It's just... not what I do. I'm on the receiving end of too many lectures. I'm not about to start giving them out."

That response took the wind right out of Marinette's sails. She wasn't sure what she wanted, but pushing Chat to fill a role that he wasn't comfortable with wasn't it. Although, yes, admittedly, a part of her kind of wished he would get angry at her, would tell her you have to be better. She felt like she deserved it.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered quietly.

"Oh, jeez Mari," Chat stuttered, guilt bleeding into his words, "I didn't mean to snap at you. I just..." He paused, as if unsure how to phrase his next words.

She finished his sentence for him, "You care about me too."

Tilting his head, he agreed simply, "Well, yes, of course."

Three years of partnership. Three years of having each other's backs. Three years of bad puns and unabashed flirting. Three years of Chat caring about her.

And yet, she pined over her friend Adrien, who, like Alya, believed she and Chat were a match made in heaven.

Maybe they were right.

What is true love, if it wasn't someone who was willing to die for you? Maybe Mari had always been blinded by her own trifle infatuations?

Marinette shifted onto her knees and inched forward on the couch, until her knees bumped into his thigh. Confused, Chat asked her hesitantly, "Mari?" His voice was soft.

She moved fast. Reaching forward, she tugged him towards her and crashed her lips into his, just like she'd seen in any good romantic movie. However, in her haste, she ended up smacking teeth with him. "Ff-uck!" he yelped, echoing her own hissed cuss. They sprang apart, each grabbing at their own respective faces.

The taste of iron spilled into Marinette's mouth as her lip began to bleed. Mentally, she was kicking herself. Only she, Marinette the klutz, could turn a kiss into a headbutt. Marinette had watched tons of beautiful, romantic kiss scenes in dramas and movies - they had all looked so simple! "Oh hell," she whined, her words a bit mushed as she sucked at her top lip carefully, "Chat, I'm so so sorry! I don't know what's wrong with me."

Oddly, in response to her self-deprecating apology, Chat began to laugh. His laugh was rather infectious and Marinette, in spite of the awkwardness of it all, found herself laughing too.

"I don't want to complain," Chat managed to say in between his guffaws, "but ow. I think you broke my face."

"Good news then," Marinette replied playfully, her cheeks hot, "it was already broken. So no harm done."

More laughter. Eventually, Chat became somber once again. As Mari licked tentatively at her slightly sliced inner lip, Chat slid himself down the couch, removing the space between them again.

"So..." he whispered, his eyes searching her face cautiously.

Heat began to build up in Marinette. She allowed herself to lean in towards him once again, slower this time, their breaths mingling in what little space remained between them. "So..." she echoed.

She was really doing this.

"What was that about?" Chat asked her softly.

"Like I said," Marinette whispered just like him, her cheeks reddening as she admitted again, "I care about you."

His face lit up, his eyes crinkling under his mask. Chuckling softly, Chat reached up and traced his claws along her chin. It sent shivers down her back. "Well, in that case, why don't we try that again?" Despite her stinging lip, Marinette couldn't help but agree.

His lips were warm and dry as they pressed into hers. They meshed well with hers. I'm kissing Chat, she thought, her hands snaking their way around his shoulders.

It felt right.

She wanted more. Marinette sat up a little in order to get a better position. Chat was more than willing to tilt his mouth back, his hands gently grabbing her waist and helping stabilize her.

The kiss intensified, lips mashing together greedily.

Trembling. Someone was trembling.

It wasn't Marinette. It was Chat. He was trembling under her fingers. It caused Marinette to freeze when she realized, when she felt the shake in his shoulders. Why was his whole body basically vibrating? She wondered with shock.

He seemed to realize something was wrong and he pulled back, his green eyes peeling open. They looked a little dazed. "Mari," he whispered, "is something wrong?"

"You're trembling," she whispered and was surprised at how hurt she sounded.

Marinette couldn't blame him if he was realizing he didn't like her like that. Perhaps only now, reality was sinking in and he was thinking, oh no, thanks. I prefer girls with their life more in order.

That's not what he said, thankfully. "Err," the boy muttered, "that's, well, um, it's, ah, sort of, kind of, ah, a... purr." Chat did not sound happy to be admitting that out loud.

A dopey grin snuck onto her face. "I thought you weren't really a cat," Marinette accused.

"Shut up," he replied playfully, reaching up to tug on one of her pigtails.

Like two celestial objects, each exerting their own gravities, they began to drift together again. Him, with a new, stronger purr rumbling through him, and her, with her dopey grin becoming even dopier. Closer, and closer, and closer, they got.

Marinette's eyes inspected the black mask and its grooves. The mask itself was flawless, just like hers. No scars, no marks, nothing to disfigure the armor. Like hers, it repaired itself. The armor which protected their identities, which protected themselves, was so much stronger than either of them. It could survive.

Ladybug and Chat Noir could die and yet, Ladybug and Chat Noir would live on, in someone new.

It was such a sobering thought that it caused a tiny dam in her brain to burst, releasing the next whisper, "I would have died on Thursday if it hadn't been for you."

Chat froze, a thousand emotions flashing across his face.

Meanwhile, Marinette only felt longing. She felt the need to wrap her arms around him and bury her face into his. She wanted his warmth, his reassurance. Together, they'd managed to survive so far and, together, they'd manage to survive longer.

Only, when Marinette went to eliminate what little space existed between them, closing her eyes as she did so, Chat croaked, "God dammit." His whole body moved and their contact was broken as Chat slid to the far end of the couch.

He looked like a wounded animal, angry and sad at the same time. "Chat…?" Marinette was utterly confused, not sure as to what provoked this response.

Shaking his head, Chat grumbled, "Is that…" He swallowed and dropped his head into his hands, fingers digging into his hair. "... is that why you kissed me? Because I saved you? Because you, I don't know, you feel like you owe me?"

Her mouth felt dry. It was an unwarranted accusation! … and yet, maybe it wasn't.

Because, honestly, Marinette wasn't sure of the answer. Why was she kissing him? Yes, she undeniably liked Chat Noir as a person. Yes, she undeniably thought he was cute. Yes, she undeniably felt something, some sort of attraction. But, were these things enough to override the ancient crush she'd been harboring for Adrien? Marinette feared that the real answer was, no.

She did want to like Chat Noir. Truly, really. She wanted to make him happy. After all he'd done for it, it really did feel like the least she could do. The problem was, love didn't quite work like that. A dinner painstakingly prepared was one thing. Giving someone your heart in thanks? That was different.

Chat Noir wanted her love. Not her guilt. So, instead of answering, she started to cry.

"I-I'm sorry, I... I don't know," she whimpered, her voice like sandpaper.

Chat's body went limp, like a puppet when the puppeteer lets the strings drop. Groaning, Chat slipped right off the couch, landing in an overly dramatic puddle on the floor, one leg still half on the couch. "Marinette, you're killing me."

"In multiple ways." The tongue-in-cheek joke popped out so automatically from her. In fact, it took her by surprise, her tears halting as she began to giggle weakly.

Chat sighed deeply. "You're a dangerous woman."

They stayed like that for a good minute, the only sounds coming from the chirps of crickets outside. Chat stared at the ceiling while Marinette stared out the balcony, both wrapped up in their own thoughts.

It was Chat who broke the silence, "Marinette," she hummed in acknowledgement, "you've got a lot on your mind. There's probably things you still need to, um, figure out." By things he probably meant like, how to live her life now that it was an utter mess. "Let's just… not aim to complicate things right now."

Wasn't that the truth. Marinette felt like a kid buried in a ball pit, with no sense of which way is up.

"Okay," she agreed reluctantly.

But, how would she manage to climb herself out of her mental ball pit? The more she swam, the deeper she went.

She'd known Chat for three years; surely she should know him well enough to decide whether she liked him or if she liked Adrien. Three years! That was a statistically large chunk of her current life span. Her and Chat had been masked partners for all that time. In some ways, they were as tight as Batman and Robin. Although, in other ways, they were admittedly as distant as strangers.

Strangers.

That word caused a tightness in Marinette's chest.

They'd had three years of partnership and yet, she couldn't put a true face and a name to those green eyes. For all she knew, he could be someone close to her, like Nino or Nathaniel. Okay, well, both of those two had been akumatized, but it practically everyone had been at some point. At this point, Marinette had no good leads as to who Chat really was. She was completely and utterly in the dark as to his identity.

Who is this boy?

That question embedded itself into Marinette's brain.

As Chat picked himself up off the floor, saying something about let's just watch some TV, she was mulling it over.

As Chat grabbed the remote and opened up Netflix, she was waffling back and forth about it.

As Chat picked some silly fashion show commenting oh this looks good (it didn't, it was one of those over-dramatic, fake fashion shows), she had made up her mind.

The host of the show was explaining the rules over the opening music when Marinette looked at Chat and told him, "Chat, I want to know who you are. I'm ready to know. Tell me. Please."

- x - x - x -

A/N:

This chapter was last edited on 6/25/2019.