A/N: Kind of a crappy chapter, sorry, but don't worry! The next about ten chapters are in the making.
Chapter 4
"Should we head back inside?" I ask, not wanting to spend much time with my failed assignment. I'm still conflicted about what to do.
We go back inside the manor to see Nino and Alya having some kind of heated discussion.
We sit down and I can't help but notice the tense atmosphere that has built around the four of us. "Are we interrupting?" I ask politely.
"Nino and I have something to tell you!" Alya blurts out. Nino sends a glare that could kill a man her way. Adrien and I watch her expectantly, waiting for this news she's so eager to tell. "We're engaged!" She yells enthusiastically, earning a few shushes from nearby waiters and congratulatory glances from other tables. She quiets down. "We're engaged!" She whisper-yells again, and I feel a rush of excitement.
Adrien and I stared at the two of them for a few seconds before we both squealed in glee. "Oh my god Alya that's fantastic! When did he propose and where?" I questioned.
"Um…" Alya said awkwardly, glancing at her partner for permission. He nodded.
"Actually…" He began.
"I was the one who proposed." Alya finished.
"Oh, good job, man." Adrien said sarcastically, "Alya always had more balls than you."
"Awe, Honeybun's just shy!" Alya said teasingly, jabbing Nino in the side. Adrien and I burst out into laughter at hearing Nino's nickname.
"Honeybun?" We both exclaim. Alya was glowing with happiness as Nino hung his head in embarrassment. "H-Honeybun?" Adrien repeated between laughter. At hearing his nickname again, I laugh so hard my face flushes red and I have to conceal a snort.
We manage to settle down, and sincerely told them what we thought. "No, but, really guys, congratulations." I tell them, reaching over to grab Alya's hand to see the engagement ring. We giggle between ourselves for a small amount of time as the boys talk about wedding plans.
"So, when is the wedding?" Adrien asks politely.
"In about two months!" Alya jumps on his question, abandoning the little conversation we were having.
Her outburst is incredibly adorable, but it doesn't overshadow the shock Adrien and I experienced.
"Two months?" I exclaim, Adrien left gaping.
"Wow, you two sure know how to get things done quickly." Adrien says, slightly still reeling.
"Well, I really wanted it to happen at this wedding place in this park. They have these adorable cherry blossom trees and in the right season all the pretty petals fall down like rain and it'll just be like something out of a movie don't you think!" Alya rambles on and on.
I laugh and Adrien smiles his radiant smile, putting me at ease, making me almost miss what Alya said next. Almost.
"So, Marinette, as my maid of honour you and I are going wedding dress shopping! You gotta help me choose the bridesmaids colours." Alya smirks at me.
"Y-you want me to be your maid of honour?" I stutter, mostly in shock.
"Of course I do, girl!" She exclaimed. "What would be my wedding without you there next to me?"
I start to tear up, and butterflies swarm in my stomach. "Oh wow. Thanks Alya. I-I don't know what to say…"
"Oh my god, Marinette don't cry! It's my wedding you aren't supposed to be the emotional one!" Alya laughs, tearing up herself. We all giggle and Alya and I wipe our eyes. Nino started hugging Alya and she nuzzled into his neck, trying to hide her tears, laughing. "Goddamn it." She mumbled, and tried to straighten out her hair. "Anyway, what about dessert?"
After we finished eating and chatting about the wedding, we all set off for the concierge. We picked up our jackets and scarves, and I regret my decision to wear such a short dress. I take my jacket gratefully, hugging myself as I stepped out of the doors. Adrien and I waved goodbye to Nino and Alya, and I shiver as another gust of wind blows through the streets.
I try to cover it up and turn away from Adrien, but he notices. "Oh, here." He says, unwrapping the scarf he had around his neck and offering it to me. I hesitate before taking it, but wrap it around my neck nonetheless. I's soft, made of some kind of cotton, and very puffy, protecting me wondrously from the wind.
The only thing that made it uncomfortable for me is what it smells like. I never knew the smell of something could make me blush. It smelled like body odour, mixed with green apples. It was what Adrien smelled like. What was it. It's… familiar. God, that's weird.
"Do you want me to walk you to your car?" He offers, and takes my hand. It made my whole arm go warm, and I felt helpless to say no. You're a killer. I remind myself. You can't like this guy. You won't. I plead.
"Actually, Adrien." I begin sternly, unwrapping the scarf slowly and unclasping his hand. "I have to go." I don't offer and explanation as I move away, and say some half arsed efforts at farewells.
He politely lets me go, but reminds me of my promise to go out again another time. "How about ice-cream or something? I can contact you through Nino." He says, and takes a step to follow me. I gulp.
"Yeah. S-Sure. But right now I have to go." I scramble to get away, and as I get into my car I glance at him in my side mirrors. He is clutching the scarf in his left hand, and his other is clasping and unclasping at his side, his eyes drilling holes into the back of my head as I drive away.
Thoughts of him plague me, and I hate it. He's there all the time. I can't do this. I'm not allowed to fall in love.
The next morning, I wake with a splitting headache, and decide that it'd be better to stay in bed and get Tikki to send the work to me instead of go in. My job entails many things, including learning to stomach the sight of missing limbs, and being able to kill on command. But something that one wouldn't expect was to have to be able to fill out paperwork and hack into websites.
Surprisingly, that's all I do for the whole day. Unsurprisingly, people all over Miraculous forget or either can't be bothered to do the paperwork that helps to erase our targets from any archives on the planet, so I'm stuck with having to actually finish everyone else's work.
It's painful, and I have to constantly take breaks because of my headache, but it's better than having to deal with Nathanael breathing down my neck. Honestly, what's with that guy?
After the sun goes down, I get a call on my untraceable phone. I pick up, expecting it to be Tikki or someone else from work.
"Hello?" I answer.
"Ladybug?" A hopeful voice calls. I know that voice, even though it's so muffled over the phone.
"Chat Noir." I grumble, making sure any of the politeness I showed when I first answered was completely erased. Or, more so, any of Marinette that I showed was completely erased. "What." I ask bluntly.
"I just… I wanted to meet you." He says, getting straight to the point.
"And why, little Kitty, would you want to do that?" I ask, taking a sickly sweet approach to scare him.
"Just, meet me. Please?" He asks again. I hesitate. What on earth would he want to talk about?
"Fine." I say, after a long pause. "Where and when?"
I leap onto the top landing of the Eiffel Tower with a grunt, and my legs ache when I've reached there. My lungs burn, and my chest is rising and falling unsteadily.
After a short conversation, Chat and I decided on the Eiffel Tower as our place to meet, around 9:30pm. With all the lights on, I thought he was trying to pull some romantic crap and set the scene. Leave it to Chat Noir to come up with something clichéd like that. But with the amount of smoke and fog in the air, it's hardly beautiful.
I look around, and the view is anything but pretty. Sure, the lights are glittering, but the moon is hidden behind threatening storm clouds, and there are both angry and friendly honking cars filling in any blank spaces. People fill the streets, in tiny cars or riding bikes, ignoring other pedestrians as if they didn't matter at all.
The lights.
The sounds.
The people.
It's all a cacophony of modern ways, thrown together. This is why I only talk to certain people. This is why I became what I did.
At 9:35, Chat shows up, heaving in front of me, his black mask covering his face. "Ladybug." He gasps, bending over, hands on his knees.
"What is it you wanted to say to me, Chat Noir?" I speak directly at him, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Gimme a minute, wouldya?" He takes deep breaths, and moves to sit over the side of the ledge. I stay standing until his breathing evens out, and he uses his baton to pat the place next to him, an invitation.
"What makes you think I'd lower myself to your level?" I hiss. I know it's a stretch, and that he only wanted me to sit down, but I can barely contain my rage.
"Ladybug." His eyes droop, but he never turns towards me. Keeping his eyes cast downward onto the hazing bright mist that is Paris. The yellow glow outlines his muscular toning, and reflects against the light sheen of sweat on his brow.
He sighs, and stretches backwards, so his head is upside down when he looks at me.
"What are you doing, Tomcat?" I ask, not at all friendly.
He watches me for a moment, saying nothing, before quickly turning over, with a feline grace. He stalks towards me, and keeps coming closer. He grabs both of my shoulders, and it takes me a moment to react.
I twist his left hand backwards, turning his body so my knee is on his back. "What are you doing." I repeat, a dangerous quiet in my voice.
"I just wanted to see your eyes." He whispers, after a pause.
I stop pushing. My eyes? What could he possibly want with seeing my eyes? "Why?" I snap, driving force back into the lock I've put him into. He is kneeling in front of me, his back to me, my breath warming the side of his neck, the power and skill I possess dangerously close to breaking his arm.
"Because." He starts, "They remind me of someone else's eyes." His baton clatters to the ground, since he can't hold it, breaking the silence.
The seriousness, the sincerity of his words. That's the only thing stopping me from breaking his arm. The only thing that's making me allow him to rise again. The only thing allowing his curious face to stare at me, to caress the sides of my face, and open his neon eyes to mine.
He takes a step closer, and soon we are keeping each other warm with our body heat.
His breath mingles with mine, and I start to absentmindedly want a mint.
He stares for long enough that people who weren't well acquainted with each other's faces would make them uncomfortable. I want to move. But I don't. I don't flex any of the muscles in my body, because of how important this seems to him.
The moment is not at all romantic, and it doesn't make me feel anything aside from sympathy towards Chat. Because at the same time that he's studying my eyes, I'm studying his. And the underlying thing I notice behind the bravado of the toxic colour, is the solitude. He's lonely. I guessed that all assassins were. But this… This was overwhelming.
When he finally let's go, I can't tell if its minutes, seconds or hours that have passed. He simply says, "Thank you." Before starting to walk away, beginning a long climb down.
A chill crept up my spine at the finality of those words. They seem less like something out of gratefulness and more like what someone were to say to another while they were on their death bed. Almost like they would be giving up on someone.
What, exactly, is he giving up on?
My body moves by itself, climbing my way down the opposite side of the tower. I'm confused, angry, frustrated, and most of all, just hurting. Hurting because he never explains anything he does, and most of the time that's been okay. When we were partners I never had to ask what he was planning next to figure it out. I just always knew.
But, now…
I can't seem to reach him at all.
