"Say something... anything..." I begged. "Marinette, please." I felt tears stinging at my eyes and I knew my hands were shaking, but there was nothing I could do to calm myself down as I waited for whatever happened next.
"Adrien…" Marinette whispered slowly, her voice barely audible as she searched for the words she wanted to say. I held my breath as I waited for her to decide what she wanted, each passing second making me feel more and more hopeless. It felt like an eternity had passed before Marinette wrapped me up in her arms and pulled me close to her. "I'm not upset with you." She told me with a sense of confident finality as she held me there, rubbing my back as she tried to comfort me. The emotion I felt running through me as she sat there hugging me finally proved to be too much and my tears spilled over, each of them leaving behind wet spots on Marinette's shoulder.
"I was so afraid you wouldn't want me anymore... especially after what happened between us this morning." I sniffled as I clung tightly to her… it was almost as if I was trying to make sure she wasn't going to change her mind and leave. I was mortified to be sitting here crying on her shoulder, but so far there had been an overwhelming pattern of the people I cared about most in my life either leaving or pretending I didn't exist unless it benefited them in some twisted way. I didn't want to add Ladybug or Marinette's name to that list of people.
"Adrien, listen to me." The girl leaned away from me just enough so that she could cup my face in her hands. I could feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment as she wiped my tears away with her thumbs. "I only said what I did earlier today because I didn't know that you were Cat Noir. I didn't want to hurt him by letting myself be so close to you." Marinette smiled softly then, reaching over to her nightstand to hand me a box of tissues. "I want you to know that I will always want you, whether it's as my friend, my partner, or as my boyfriend…" It was Marinette's turn to blush as she said that last part out loud.
"How did this black cat ever get lucky enough to call you mine?" I teased, my smile brightening a little more when I saw how happy Marinette looked. She smiled at me for a second before leaning in and kissing me sweetly. I let myself melt into her kiss, my hand finding its way up to rest on her cheek. When we finally broke the kiss and she pulled back to look at me, her face was as bright red as her Ladybug suit. I laughed at how utterly adorable she looked, I couldn't think of one thing I disliked about the girl.
"I'm so glad I get to keep you both." Marinette whispered, a huge grin still plastered on her face despite the blush."
"I am too." I whispered back as I pushed a piece of bluish-black her hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it was you I was after all along."
"It's okay, I took just as long." The girl teased, she was about to say something else when suddenly her cellphone rang. Marinette frowned and reached over me to get it, scrunching her face up when she saw her best friend's face lit up on the screen.
"You can't avoid her forever." I told her gently, resting my hand on her shoulder for support. Marinette nodded and took a deep breath before she tapped the phone and brought it up to her ear. "Heeey, Alya." She laughed nervously. "I totally meant to call you back-"
"Uh huh." Alya brushed Marinette's excuse off without thinking much about it, I could hear just from the sound of her voice that she had something more important on her mind. "Are you home?"
"Uh… yeah, I'm home." Marinette frowned, chewing on her lip as she stood up and went over to look out the window. "Why? Is everything okay?"
"I'm not really sure… that's why we need to talk. I'm outside your house right now, I'll be up in a minute!" Before Marinette had a chance to protest, Alya had hung up and was probably already using the key Marinette had given her for emergencies to let herself in.
"Is everything okay Mari?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her as she trudged over to her bed and plopped down, face first, on the mattress.
"Ow." She groaned, sitting up and holding her stomach. "No plopping." She reminded herself before looking back up at me, trying to mask the fear in her eyes. "Alya says she has to talk to me about something..."
"Maybe she wants to talk about why you left school the way you did this morning? I mean she is your best friend, she's probably worried about you." I frowned, wishing there was something I could do to help my girlfriend feel better. Marinette sighed, thinking for a minute.
"Well, I guess that makes sense, but I still have a bad feeling about this."
"Do you want me to go?" I asked as the sound of Alya climbing upstairs grew louder. Marinette looked torn.
"Not really, but it's going to be awfully hard to explain why you're up here so maybe you'd better go. Just for now at least."
"I'll stay close." I promised Marinette, kissing her head before I slipped out onto her balcony just as Alya burst into her room.
"Alya!" Marinette laughed nervously. "What brings you here?"
"I wanted to ask you something…" The girl answered, almost unsure of herself as she rolled Marinette's desk chair over and sat down.
"Sure…" Marinette answered, both nervous and concerned by the look on her friend's face. Alya sighed, shaking her head the slightest bit.
"Mari, you're my best friend in the entire world, so I want you to know that whatever we talk about in this room today is going to stay in here."
"Oh…" That was the only thing Marinette could think to say as a response, she wasn't sure she liked the way this was headed.
"Okay... I'm just going to lay it all out there and see what you have to say about it." Alya took a deep breath. "So, after school I went to the hospital… the one closest to Theo's workshop… and I talked to some of the nurses there. At first I didn't think it was going to be much help because the nurses couldn't give me any information because of some weird patient/doctor rules, but it turns out the lady at the front desk was really helpful. She saw me coming back downstairs only a few minutes after I'd gone in and thought I'd gotten lost or something, so I told her why I was there…" Alya paused for a moment, picking invisible pieces of lint off of her pants before looking back up at her friend. "Marinette, she told me that Cat Noir had been there looking for you…"
"I can… explain." Marinette told her weakly. Alya held a hand up, shaking her head at Marinette.
"No more lies." Alya told her firmly. "Don't think I didn't notice you hobbling around today girl. Ladybug got hurt a week ago and nobody has seen her since… is it just some freaky coincidence that you just so happened to be out of school for no good reason all week too?"
"Alya..."
"Girl, I've never seen you and Ladybug in the same place at the same time. What's going on?" Alya looked so sure of herself, but her confidence only made Marinette feel sick to her stomach.
"I…" Marinette looked away from Alya, biting back tears that threatened to spill over.
"Marinette, you can trust me." Alya reassured her, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. For a long time neither of them said anything. Marinette wasn't ready to tell Alya, and Alya wasn't leaving until she did. "Are you Ladybug?" Alya finally asked, her words hanging heavily in the air. Marinette opened her mouth to say something, but instead of words all that came out was a choked sob. Alya's eyes widened at her friends reaction, hurrying to pull her into a tight hug. "Mari, it's okay." She whispered.
"I… I'm…" Marinette shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "Why is everything falling apart?" She sobbed into her friend's shoulder.
"Marinette what on Earth are you talking about?" Alya asked softly, patting the girl's back as she tried to comfort her. Marinette shook her head and looked up at Alya through puffy, red eyes.
"I'm Ladybug." She sniffled. "I never wanted anyone to find out! Cat Noir didn't even know until last week when I tried to save him."
"Girl, everything's going to be okay. I can see this secret means a lot to you, so I'm not going to tell anyone. Like I said when I first walked in here whatever we talk about in this room today is going to stay in here."
"Thanks Alya…" Marinette sniffled.
"Sure, no problem." Alya told her. "I do have a few questions though."