Hi, I'm sorry for the long wait. Many many things you wouldn't care about has happened, and I couldn't upload this until now. I'm sorry this chapter isn't long enough after such a long time but I've actually been working on one of the last chapters of this story because it's a special chapter. It was going to be longer, but it's been months and I wanted to post it so I decided to leave it shorter. I hope I won't take too long writing the next one. Or at least, I hope I'll write it before continuing the chapters I won't post in a while.

Should I post shorter chapters more frequently or the usual 7-10k words chapter but less frequently?

I'm really sleepy and tired, so there's nothing else to say. I hope you'll like this chapter!

Warning: This chapter has not being beta-read and English is not my first language. So please understand if it's badly written or you don't understand something. If that happens, you can help me get better by telling me where the mistakes are. Thank you for understanding!

Chapter 4: Comfort

Marinette arrived at her house almost two hours after meeting the other miraculous holders. Master Fu's house wasn't that far away from her, but it was past midnight and Marinette wanted to chat a bit more with Tikki. So, after having a cup of tea and saying goodbye to her Kwami, Marinette finally called a taxi to go home. She admitted being a bit stubborn, but she wasn't stupid. Walking alone in the middle of the night using crutches wasn't the best idea someone could have after being attacked in the street just the night before.

Because she had took so long to arrive home, Marinette hadn't expected to see Chat Noir laying in her bed to peacefully.

"Hello, princess," she heard him saying with a combination of relief, anger and flirtation.

"What—," Marinette started saying but stopped. "I didn't expect this," she admitted.

"I told you I was coming," Chat replied.

Marinette knew she had screwed up. After seeing how he planned to go to her house, Marinette decided to ignore it. If she took a long time to go home, maybe he would think that she decided to stay in Alya's house that night and Chat would go home. It was a big miscalculation thinking that he wasn't bullheaded enough to wait for her to arrive.

"I thought you were kidding," she lied, knowing perfectly that he was coming that night. But that was something he didn't need to know.

"I keep my promises, princess," Chat proudly said, finally standing up from her bed.

Marinette dropped the crutches besides her trap door and tried to walk to her chair, but Chat intercepted her and helped her walk. It was nice to have someone helping so attentively, though Marinette felt like a disabled. Her injury wasn't even that bad for him react that way.

"I appreciate it, but you don't need to come," Marinette reassured him.

Talking was the best way to avoid his possible question.

Chat frowned and sat in the floor right in front of her chair. "What were you doing so late outside?" he asked, ignoring her comment. "You weren't walking alone in the night again, right?"

"I wasn't," she responded. "I'm not that careless."

"So, what were you doing? You shouldn't move until you get better," Chat scolded her.

"Visiting a friend of mine," Marinette said. It wasn't a complete lie, since she had wanted to meet Tikki more than anything. It wasn't the only reason she had wandered outside at night, though.

"At this hour?" Chat frowned.

"Not even my mom interrogates me this much," Marinette complained.

Chat raised his hands in the air as surrender. "Ok, I get it," he said. "I won't ask."

"Thank—"

"I didn't know little Marinette has a boyfriend," Chat teased, a grin appearing on his lips.

"I don't—"

"You probably wanted your quality time with him, I understand."

"That's not—"

"But how shameless of him," Chat said dramatically. "You're injured and even so he still makes you go all the way to his house to—"

"Stop!" Marinette shouted, her cheeks burning bright.

"Oh?" Chat's ears raised up, giving her attention. "Or am I wrong?"

Marinette turned her face away from his gaze, still feeling a how red her cheeks were. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"Then you're not official yet?"

"Stop this nonsense," she pleaded. "I don't have anyone like that."

"Then, someone you like at least?" Chat asked.

Marinette didn't know how to face him. "Why do you ask?"

Chat shrugged. "Curiosity."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"And satisfaction brought it back," Chat added triumphantly with a smile. "That was a good pun, by the way."

"I didn't do it intentionally," Marinette frowned.

"That's because you're a natural!"

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Not at all."

There was a moment of silence, where the two of them stared directly at each other. Marinette knew what he wanted to ask, but she was going to ignore it as much as possible. So, they engaged in a little silent war, until Marinette finally averted her eyes.

No way, I can't tell him, or he'll know, Marinette thought.

"I won," Chat proclaimed happily.

"Uh-huh."

"So?"

"It's a secret," Marinette finally said.

"Oh, c'mon," Chat exclaimed. "I probably won't even know who he is, so no harm done, right?"

If Marinette hadn't known who he was, she would've probably told him. But that wasn't the case, and Marinette knew perfectly well that Adrien had just lied. A little white lie, nothing much coming from a superhero that needed to protect his identity. Still, that was taking advantage from his secret identity.

Kind of like cheating. But she couldn't say anything, since she was cheating too.

She still wanted to tease him a little bit, though.

"How do I know you won't know?" Marinette asked, a bit too dramatic. "Maybe I do know your civilian life. Oh, maybe it's that why you're helping me out? I would be really pissed if you're lying to me."

Chat grinned nervously. Even with his suit on, Marinette could almost see how he was cold sweating.

"Uh— I don't, uh… uhm," he tried saying, but he didn't find any words.

Maybe she had gone a little overboard.

Even after a few seconds of mumbling incoherent words, Chat could probably form a sentence. Knowing him, he was trying to find a way out without lying or revealing his identity. Tough task, Marinette admitted.

"I'm kidding," Marinette finally laughed, and Chat visibly relaxed. "I just wanted to tease you a bit. Still not going to tell you, though."

"Ok, fine," Chat complied. "I surrender."

Marinette smiled, happy to have find a way out his question. She was weak against puppy eyes, and this was not definitely the way that she had imagined confessing her love to him. Hell, she wasn't even sure she was ever going to tell him.

Without noticing, Marinette probably submerged into her thoughts while Chat Noir finally stood up. He had to clear his throat intensively to catch her attention, and when he finally did, Marinette wasn't sure why he was offering her his hand.

"Shall we go now?" Chat asked, giving her a polite smile.

"Go where?" Marinette questioned a bit confused.

"To keep my promise, princess," Chat said. "I'm going to take you out to soar the sky, just like you wanted."

Marinette gave him a confused look. "Isn't it late?" she asked. "I'll guess you have duties to fulfill in your civilian life too. I wouldn't want you to be tired tomorrow because of me."

"I don't mind," Chat reassured her.

"Why?" Marinette glared directly at him. "Why would you do that? Guilt?"

Chat opened his mouth but paused before saying anything.

Marinette remembered what she had told him as Ladybug. Don't do things so half-heartedly. Maybe she had been too harsh on him and her words were now rotting him from inside. But she hadn't meant it to be so mean, it was just her insecurities talking, wanting to know why Chat Noir would ever be interested in Marinette.

"I know it may seem like that," Chat said sheepishly. "But I truly want to know you. Marinette, you have always been someone that has captured my interest. And this is my opportunity, I don't want to waste it."

Marinette was speechless.

Me? Interesting?

That was all she ever wanted. If Chat Noir could notice her as her plain, uninteresting civilian form, maybe she really stood a chance. Not just as the perfect illusion that Ladybug was, but as her actual self.

"So, can you trust me?"

Marinette took his hand.

…

Maybe she really had went nuts. When he offered her his hand, she couldn't deny him. Marinette was happy and had a little moment where she had no self-control. And after that, everything happened in a bliss. Chat didn't only take her hand but raised her completely from the floor before agily jumping out of her room and from roof to roof.

Even if she had transformed just the day before, there was no way Marinette could get tired of the feeling of being up in the air. She relaxed the first few minutes, cuddling in Chat's firm hold. But after a while, reason came back to her and Marinette started questioning what she was doing there. Even if Chat wanted to get to know her, she felt like she was not allowed to. It wasn't fair, and she knew that everything was going to fall apart the day that the truth came out.

Who could trust someone that had lied to him during such a long time? Someone that broke his trust? Someone that lied so easily?

"You're frowning too much," Chat said, surprising Marinette. "You're going to get wrinkled."

"I'm not," she said defensively, though she knew it was true. Marinette looked around her, not recognizing where she was. "Where…?"

"Notre Dame," Chat answered quickly.

"What?"

"Have you never been to Notre Dame?"

"It's a bit far away," Marinette tried to excuse herself.

"Such a lame excuse," Chat laughed, finally letting her stand on her own two feet. "The Louvre is close. And the Eiffel Tower isn't even that far away, and I pretty much saw you walking there by yourself."

"Well, I just haven't had the opportunity to come here," she confessed. "I think I haven't been too interested."

"Not religious, huh?"

Marinette walked slowly to the edge of the building, paying attention to every little detail. "You could say that. Papa is, but mama is more of a Taoist, though she keeps it to herself. They didn't want me to be caught up between two different religions, so they decided to let me choose. And I guess… I just haven't paid attention to it."

"Your parents sound so nice," Chat commented a bit bitterly.

It took her a moment to understand his behavior. Then, she remembered. Gabriel Agreste wasn't the best dad someone could ask for, having neglected his child for years and being overprotective of him.

Marinette bit her lip. "And you?"

Chat sat down at the edge, something he usually did everywhere they went to. He liked being half in the air. "Me?" he said back, "Are you asking about my parents or if I'm religious?"

"Both?" Marinette said carefully.

"Well," Chat started saying, his gaze fixed at the horizon. "My mom was very religious, and she tried to raise me like that, but she has been gone for a long time. And my dad… he doesn't have much time for anything else asides work."

"Sounds rough," Marinette commented.

"It's not that bad," Chat smirked. "I'm busy all the time between work, fencing, studies, and saving Paris. I don't have time to feel sorry about myself."

He was letting out more things that she should be able to know, and Chat probably noticed too. He went stiff and cleared his throat, gazing at Marinette from the corner of his eye. If Marinette didn't already know his true identity, she could have start wildly wondering about his identity. Chat didn't trust her enough to just reveal himself so easily like that— and she understood that, because they were the same. Asking any more than that was out of question.

Instead, Marinette giggled. "Is saving Paris always in your agenda?"

Chat visibly relaxed. "It's tough being a superhero."

"I can tell," Marinette said. "Always being able to go wherever you want, flying in the sky at night, having superpowers! Being loved by everyone! Such a bad life."

"Hey, it's not that easy," Chat reclaimed. "I put my life on the line every day. And I don't have time for anything else, I don't even sleep. Gosh, I miss sleeping eight hours."

Marinette laughed, and even though her laugh mentally stopped around the middle, she pretended that everything was alright. Chat was being funny and overreacting to everything, just to make the situation more enjoyable. But some of it was true. The first year after starting to be a superhero, Marinette remembered always being tired. She would always be late to school—even when she lived just around the corner. It was tough, and it was hard to maintain her grades while falling asleep in every class. After a while, she got used to sleep almost nothing, her body start working well with less and less hours to sleep. Still, they were just as human as anyone else, and sometimes a good full amount of sleeping hours were the best gift anyone could give. Marinette guessed that it had been even worse for Adrien, having his schedule always packed even without his superhero life.

And here he was, not sleeping because of her. Adrien was awaiting a day with photoshoot starting from 7 o'clock to almost midnight, going back and forward from the university to the Trocadero to continue his job. Marinette knew that he hadn't sleep much the night before either because of his patrol, and now he was with her, stubbornly maintaining his promise.

It was around two in the morning. If they continued talking and then Chat returned her home, he was going to be in his house around four in the morning.

Which meant no sleep.

"Should we head back now?" Marinette asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Chat twirled his tail. "Why? We just got here."

"I'm getting kind of sleepy," she lied, avoiding any eye contact.

"You're lying," Chat giggled. "Stop it, it doesn't suit you."

"Why do you think I'm lying?" Marinette frowned, her voice defensive.

"I can tell," he shrugged. "I don't know why I know, but it's really easy to tell. It's some kind of… cunning."

"Cunning?"

"Yes, you know," Chat stopped, trying to find the words, "like foretelling? I don't know if that term is the one I'm looking for."

Marinette smirked.

"One of your powers is foretelling?"

"What? No!" Chat exclaimed. "I'm nothing that powerful. I don't even know if that's possible."

"Well, you exist," Marinette resonated. "So, it's possible. You're the living representation of magic being real."

There was a moment of silence afterwards, and Marinette was afraid to look back at Chat. She was getting an obnoxious feeling in her back, like someone looking at her too attentively.

"Do you really think so?" Chat asked.

Marinette didn't even waver. "Of course. You have such a powerful ability."

"I'm nothing compared to Ladybug."

So that's what it is about, Marinette thought.

"Listen," Marinette started, walking towards his feline friend to pat his shoulder. "Have ever think about it carefully? You're the most powerful superhero Paris has. Rena creates illusions, Carapace shields, Ladybug just magically creates things that could be of help. They don't have any actual combat power, but you can destroy whatever you want. And you're amazingly good at fighting. Chat Noir is the most fearsome hero, the only one that could destroy an entire city if you would want to. Don't get depressed over people being so oblivious."

After Marinette finished her rambling, there was a short silence in which Chat Noir didn't move. His eyes were fixed on hers, face to face without any word.

It was too intense, too sincere.

And then Chat hugged her. It wasn't a tight embrace, but rather just a soft cautious affection, with his hands gently touching her waist and his head resting on her shoulder.

"How do you manage to say what I've always wanted to hear?" Chat purred, finding comfort against Marinette's warm skin.

"I don't recall saying anything out of the ordinary," Marinette managed to say, trying to fix her uncontrolled breath.

She was afraid that her heartbeat would be too loud.

But Chat didn't seem to mind how fast her heart was bursting. Instead, he cuddled like a cat against her, delighted by the soothing sound of her heart.

After a few minutes, Marinette relaxed. She was still anxious about things she couldn't pinpoint, but Chat had always had the ability to comfort her. Somehow, her mind just suddenly stopped worrying about unnecessary things and focused on enjoying the long-forgotten sensation of pure, reliving happiness.

Since when did she stopped enjoying her time near Chat?

Since I was so afraid about everything that I started ruining things.

Marinette let her arms fall down, realizing how she had let her guard down. She was contradicting herself. Her mind and her feeling and actions didn't match. All she wanted to do was to hold him and never let go, but her reasoning told her that she was making a mistake.

Chat could notice her movements and how her body tensed, and while still half drugged from the moment, Chat rose his head to look at her expression. Their noses innocently bumped, leaving them just a few inches away from each other and waking them up of their short dream.

It took a few more seconds for Chat to regain part of his common sense and put more space between them without letting go of her.

He still had his eyes halfway closed. And he was leaning down again.

Marinette took a step back and laughed nervously. "Well, that's what I think at least. The other ones are powerful too, I guess. And it's still magic, so anything is possible, right?"

"Yes," Chat replied, a smile forming on his lips. "It does exist."

There was a bit of mystery on his tone, but Marinette averted her eyes to look somewhere else, her heart beating fast. For a moment, she had gotten too confident and forgot that she was just Marinette, and Chat Noir shouldn't be close to her. And this was the man she had feelings for since she was a kid. Just because she had always been comfortable around Chat didn't meant that she wasn't going to blush with his shiny smile.

I thought he was going to kiss me, Marinette thought, but shook that absurd reasoning from her mind.

"Notre Dame is indeed beautiful," Marinette commented. "But we can't enter right now, so there's nothing else to see, right? And it's late, so we should go back."

"You're right," Chat nodded and extended his hand. "Then shall we, princess?"

Marinette took his hand hesitantly but didn't come any closer. She was still feeling self-conscious.

"C'mon, don't be afraid of me," Chat smirked and pulled her closer. Still hesitant, Marinette circled his neck with her hand in a slow motion, feeling how his muscles tense under his suit to secure his arms around her waist to shift her up. "Ready?"

"Yes."

It was a weird feeling. Marinette hadn't notice before, but Chat had a firm grab and his arms didn't budge at any moment, no matter how much time had passed. She felt safe and comfortable. Trusting him was easy, and that scared her. But everything else overlapped her anxiety, letting her relax and enjoy this short moment again.

Arriving was too fast for her liking, and when Chat Noir landed on her balcony, Marinette grumped.

"Did you like it that much?" Chat teased, leaving her on her bed.

Marinette took a few seconds to snap out of her drunk-like behavior. After everything that happened, Marinette couldn't believe how she had let her guard down a bunch of times just because Chat was treating her differently.

"Thank you for today," she said. "I didn't expect it, this was nice of you."

"Anything for you, princess," Chat said, making an exaggerated bow to her.

Marinette frowned. "What is it with the princess thing? Stop calling me that, it's weird."

"Well," Chat smirked. "You're my princess, so why wouldn't I call you that?"

"Why would I be your princess?"

"You just are."

"Uh-huh," Marinette muttered sarcastically. "Poor Ladybug, she would be so jealous if she heard that. A mere girl taking her spot in the kitty's life."

"You've misunderstood, purrincess," Chat purred the last word, looking at her directly to see the annoyed face of Marinette at his pun. "She's my lady, and you're my princess. There's no need to fight for the role."

"Not like I was going to," Marinette laughed.

"I bet you love being the princess," Chat joked.

Marinette shrugged. "I'm honored."

He dropped her softly on her bed but didn't enter her bedroom. Instead, Chat squatted on her balcony and looked at her through the hole of the open trapdoor.

"Should we go during the day?" Chat said unexpectedly.

"What?" Marinette exclaimed. We and day sounded too out of reach for them. "I don't… think that's a good idea."

"Why?" Chat frowned, but then his expression changed. Marinette could almost see his blush behind his mask. "Oh, right. You're a civilian."

Marinette bit her lip.

Being in her room, looking at her daily life doings, reminded her that the dream had ended. She couldn't afford to get close to Chat as Marinette and putting themselves at risk because of a silly debt. She was a civilian, and he was a superhero. Any relationship could be of use for Hawkmoth and all the secret identity deal would be for nothing.

She could go as Ladybug. But that was out of question right now.

"Chat," Marinette said firmly. "You should stop this, I'm just a person that got hurt. Many other girls have been attacked on the street at night, and I wasn't even hurt that badly. So why are you treating me like this? It's no good if you give a preferable treatment to some random girl that happened to talk to you once in a while."

"You're not a random girl," Chat replied.

"I am," Marinette counterattacked. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She knew the reason. She was his friend, or at least, Adrien's friend. But Chat needed to learn how to separate Adrien from Chat Noir.

Chat didn't know what to say.

"It's hard to explain, princess" he said after a while.

"Stop it," Marinette grumped. "I'm not really your princess."

"But you are!"

"Why?" Marinette almost hissed.

"It's hard to—"

"Explain, I know," Marinette laughed sadly. "That's just because you can't. You have no reason."

"I—," Chat started saying, out of breath.

"Stop this preferable treatment," Marinette continued, closing the trap door. "Or you're going to lead people to think weird things."

Chat forced the door open, but Marinette struggled to keep it closed. He seemed like he was about to faint while Marinette was forcing to close the trap door. When she almost succeeded, Chat blurted out. "I like you!"

Marinette could only look directly at Chat's green eyes blowing with just as much surprise as her.

They were both shocked, unable to understand what just happened.

"Chat—"

"No," he said.

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

The trap door suddenly closed with a loud click, becoming an obstacle between the two of them.

Marinette opened the door and tried to follow him, but her movements were too sluggish because of her cast. By the time she managed to stick out her head, Chat was already jumping to the next building.

Her body stopped functioning, and Marinette fell down on her bed, too many thoughts going around in her mind.

A short-muffled cry came out of her.

"What the hell was that?"