Part 3 of 5! Yay!
And I'm on time again!

"Marinette, are you okay?", Tikki asked as she flew out of her purse, a worried expression on her small face.

"Y-Yeah, I'm just-… Ugh, Tikki, this is all so wrong…"

The little Kwami nodded sympathetically, nuzzling Marinette's cheek as her chosen sniffled another time. Marinette held her close but then gently pulled her away to cup her hands around the Kwami.

"You're gonna be cold if you stay out in the open for too long, Tikki. I know how bad you take the cold."

Tikki shrugged and hugged Marinette's thumb closer, closing her eyes.

"I'm warm, I've had plenty of warmth in there. Don't worry about me."

The girl chuckled, softly brushing over Tikki's head. She brought her up to her face again, nuzzling her tiny friend.

"But I have to worry about you. You're so small and probably freezing and-… If I didn't worry about you I'd probably cry. I don't wanna ruin my make up."

Tikki hummed and they remained in this position for a while, just letting Marinette cool off and calm down again, until they suddenly heard a voice speaking up.

"P-Princess?", someone asked and Marinette quickly put her hands, with Tikki, down to the other side. She was really glad it had just looked like she was burying her face in her hands, otherwise this could've gone very wrong.

"Uhm-… Wh-What?"

She turned to the direction where the voice had come from and slightly recoiled as she saw Chat Noir sitting on the railing of the balcony, a worried expression on his usually so cheerful face.

"Princess? Are you okay?", he asked and slid down from the railing to carefully step towards her, his shoulders pulled up. Maybe he wasn't used to girls crying. Or maybe it was just her, "I, uh-… Am I interrupting something? I just-… I passed this place and I saw you here and-… It looked like you were crying…"

Marinette gulped, feeling Tikki phasing into her purse unseen, then she shook her head.

"N-No, I'm not crying! Uhm-… It's okay, Chat. I just-… I needed a moment alone."

He tilted his head at her appearance, then he looked to the side, narrowing his eyes at the party inside.

"… Did someone hurt you? I'll punch them.", he finally said, growling a little. Marinette quickly shook her head again, quicker this time.

"No, no! No-… It's just-… Nobody really hurt me… I'm just-… Ugh, no, it's okay… I shouldn't talk to you like that…"

He reached her now, lifting one hand to gently place it on her shoulder, giving it a little squeeze.

"I'm here…", he said, "I'm here and you can talk to me… I wanna help you…"

She sighed, leaning against him for support. She always felt so natural around him. His arms wrapped themselves around her body and he held her as she trembled, willing herself not to cry.

"You must be freezing.", he commented, having her snort at that. It was obvious she wasn't cold since her cheeks were still reddened from the warm room that sh had just left. He chuckled as well, brushing over her back, "So, Princess, who do I have to throw in jail?"

She huffed, carefully leaning her face against his shoulder not to smudge her make up. She was just glad she had stood in a more hidden corner of the balcony so that nobody would see right away that Adrien Agreste's date was hugged by Chat Noir. Now that would make the media curious…

She bit her lip as she thought back.

Adrien's date, that was right…

"I-… I'm here with a boy…", she began, sniffling again. Chat Noir growled at that and she couldn't help but smile at her possessive kitty, "Relax, Chat. It's just-… You know, that boy asked me to be his fake date for this party… His father wanted him to bring a date and I was a substitute for him to use. I mean, that's okay, we're friends and I guess it's a favor but-… If Adrien had asked anyone else, Alya, Sabrina, I dunno, then-… Then it would've been okay. But I was-… Well-… First of all I wasn't prepared… And-… And, well, there are certain circumstances that made it really hard for me to play the part…"

He didn't reply for quite some time before finally whispering, his voice so soft she had the feeling he was petting a kitten and talking to it.

"… What made it so hard for you?", he asked and she sighed, her hands now slowly coming up to lock themselves around his waist, one of her hands wrapping itself around her other wrist.

"I-… I'm in love with him, Chat…", she felt how he tensed and had to smile once again at how possessive he was, "I'm in love with him and-… I didn't tell him. He didn't know. We're friends, have always been. Nothing more than that. Lately I've noticed that-… He spaced off in the lessons, getting this lovestruck expression that I always get when thinking about him."

Chat trembled by now and she had to grin a little.

"You must be freezing, Chat.", Marinette cheekily commented but he didn't react to that. Only then it occurred to her that he was upset. She leant back and saw his jaw set and his eyes hard, th same expression she had seen on Adrien as she had talked to Silvio.

"Chat?"

"You-… You're in love with him?", he choked out and she caressed his cheek, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Chat, are you okay?", he glanced to the side before huffing, catching her gaze again.

"You-… You said you're in love with him… Did you mean that? And-… H-How did you feel when-…", he squinted his eyes before opening them again, "Please-… Please answer…"

She was a little dumbstruck and confused but he looked so desperate, so upset.

"I, well-… It hurt. It hurt really badly… But he needed me. He needed me to be a good friend so I agreed… And-… and then I met Silvio and-… He's everything I wanna be. Successful while still so young, talented and already renowned, despite his age. And-… I guess while I was star struck, I-… I dunno, I let him have his fun. I danced with him, well, he practically pulled me to the dance floor and-… It was so fun, it was relieving after the horrible start of the evening, so-…"

She didn't realize how each word hit him like a bullet and just continued talking.

"… Well, I danced with him and I felt free for once and-… I felt beautiful and talented with him that I hadn't felt next to Adrien and-… Next thing I know is that Adrien's interrupting the dance and acting all weird and-… Almost overprotective, you know? Like a father who doesn't allow boys to turn their heads after his daughter. I-… I asked him why he did that and he said Silvio had looked at me like an object.", she sighed heavily, leaning her forehead against Chat's chest. He numbly hugged her again, his green eyes lost in the dark as he replayed the evening with the important aspect of her having a crush on him. He gulped, his chest feeling tight.

"But, well-… I knew Silvio wouldn't ever be a partner for me. He knew that as well. We just had our fun, it was like-… An entry to this new world that I wanna be a part of. Dancing with a young designer just-… I know it made room for my future. I know I've been seen now, not only by Silvio but also a lot of others. He-… It was basically a business dance. We talked about it while we danced, actually. We both know there's nothing romantical about that. Well, he flirted a bit but that's just teasing, I guess… Well, we actually talked about how he'll make sure to make my name known if I still decide to take the path of a fashion designer after school."

"A-And…?", he finally whispered, his voice lost to his guilt.

"Well… When-… When Adrien said Silvio saw me as an object-… He couldn't have been more wrong. I-… He failed to see that I've been the object for him the whole evening long. While-… While Silvio saw the human, saw the designer I could become. It's just-… It was so, so wrong of Adrien to-… Assume I had been the object to Silvio when he had asked me to be his fake date for the evening!"

Chat pressed his lips together and didn't say anything while Marinette desperately tried to keep her tears in. She sniffled a few times but finally she calmed down, now really feeling the cold.

She began trembling and snuggled closer to Chat, seeking his warmth.

But his arms were still loose and his body was without any strength. Had he become so upset with how her evening had gone? She propped her chin up on his chest, looking up to him.

"Chat? You okay?"

"… You're freezing.", he replied after a few moments, not meeting her gaze. His voice was free from all teasing, "You-… You should wait here for a moment, then go inside. I'll grab this Adrien and kick his butt to talk to you."

Her eyes widened and she shook her head as Chat parted from her.

"No, no, wait! Don't tell him about my crush! Please! Please don't do anything to him, I-… I don't want you to."

He finally met her eyes again, green slashing at blue but halting before any damage could be done. His gaze softened suddenly and she once again felt like she was the calming kitten.

"Okay, I won't tell him and I won't do anything to him. But I'll make sure he regrets using you like this."

She gulped as he sent her a swift gesture as a goodbye, then set off, over the roof and away. In contrary to his advice she didn't wait a bit and then return. Marinette immediately stormed inside, calming her steps as she was through the doors but her gaze never slowing down. She scanned the hall from the top of the flight of stairs that led up to the balcony and gulped when she finished her search.

Adrien wasn't here.